Iron Fist, Venom, Ms. Marvel, Yellowjacket, Bishop, Wolfsbane enter Scene

A voice rises from the midst of a thick plume of smoke filling the center of the upper floor of the Avengers Tower. The sound is perhaps more familiar than a loving father but the tone is an unsettling noise that would cause concern for even the steeliest hearts. “I would say ‘welcome’ but you have rarely been far from me and this place in recent times," comes the voice. "Nevertheless, hail to your servitude or what is left of your existence.” The smoke clears barely enough to reveal a man standing near the center of what was once the grand meeting room in the penthouse of Stark's building, now shattered and smoldering throughout, leaving a few patches of supported floor on which to stand, over a steep drop into the thick smoke and the interior of what is now formerly Avengers Tower. The man is dressed in a crisp, black suit, its sharpness betraying the ragged destruction around him. He is a being without outward supernatural alteration, but a person who would attract attention on the street purely by his body’s solid build and posture of extraordinary confidence -- a physical self-assurance that could only belong to one man. The visible features of his face and his blond hair are also familiar, as well as a mouth recognizable from an opening in an equally familiar mask, and from it a voice that has lent courage to those following it into the greatest of battles. Any stomach would flip at the realization that though this looks like Steve Rogers -- the mighty Captain America -- before them, the voice betrays any semblance of that being fact. The face is partially obscured by an unearthly crimson hue around his head, but clearly there is a smile that could once be familiar from the end of a hard-won battle but is now perverted into a sinister grin, and a mouth that grinds its words, distorting a sound once comforting but now holding a dark premonition solely from its resonance. He also holds the iconic, patriotic shield, gleaming any less than usual perhaps from being obscured by the curtains of smoke around it or from now being possessed by the essence of evil. “And another step of the grandest plan finally comes to fruition. Patience, as always, brings success to the victors. Now you assemble here once again, Avengers and hangers-on, on the remnants of what once was but will be once again, refashioned in the ultimate and grander power. And I have you to thank, self-serving champions, in aiding me more than I could have ordered directly. You took your orders every step of the way, without fail, as the pieces on a chess board you have always been.  In destroying the refuge of Hydra to cover my exploits to bringing the fight to my own enemies to providing the means to not only destroy my greatest enemy but to take all that he ever had from him to freeing valuable allies. For that you have my gratitude. To reward you, I shall allow you to serve on the front-lines and continue to bring forth this new world.”

Add Roter Kapitänschädel

Behind the man who appears as the most popular hero of all time is a cadre of superhumans, hovering in the air or standing mightily and ready for action. One is a super-looking man, wearing a domino mask and a red and yellow costume with a trail of a golden cape; a woman appearing wondrous by her arms and legs thick and lean with a presence as imposing as any opposition; a man obscured by a drab, natural gloom reminiscent of bats but truly carrying a darkness around him; another man hovers higher and shines brighter than the rest, as if leading with a lantern, resplendent of colors not just green but an entire spectrum, each hue bringing with it a power more substantial than the last; and a streak of light who appears to be a man when it stops long enough to register, but moving too quickly to be followed by a human eye.
There could be others behind them but like everything else outside of the center of the room, they are obscured by thick, itchy smoke. They stand behind their leader, fists clenched, teeth gnashed, crouching slightly in action-ready poses.



Add Hyperion, Nighthawk (alternate version), Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, Blur

As outside, a multitude of Iron Man armors fly about propelled by repulsors, scurrying around with the urgency of commanded task but flying out of sight before it can be observed what those tasks are, their number appearing greater as they are condensed in a smaller space. Their orbit seems to have the sinister man as its center but while they do not make contact or interact with him, they frequently fly in front of and behind and around him, their armors catching what rays of sunlight come through the shattered walls of this large room, and their flight disrupting the shapes of the smoke but never diminishing it.

Tony Stark, in his most powerful suit of Iron Man armor, is strung up with thick wires and cables, some of them spurting electricity, his body hanging from a fragment of a ceiling held up by a portion of wall that barely withstood the destruction of the building. Within a helmet shattered to shards, his head droops, hopefully only unconscious.

At the far end of the room, Clint Barton -- once Hawkeye -- lays immobile in a ball, constricted by chains, his back to those who have entered the area. Near him, a man familiar enough to other Avengers even out of costume as the Falcon, lays prone, wearing a green, torn hospital gown and his birds’ wings and covered in blood.

Behind the assembled foes is a large bank of machinery, perhaps in a laboratory adjacent to the room that has become the hub of the events transpiring, but it is difficult to discern through the smoke that is even heavier in the distance.

Add Iron Mob 3d6

Spider-Man, Machine Man, Storm present as potential PCs
She-Hulk, the Wasp, Shang-Chi, Human Torch (possibly Taskmaster)</i> present as NPCs</i>

Anyone not interacting with the main action may choose their Affiliation for their first action in this Scene. Otherwise, everyone should assume to be at Team.

Scene Distinctions:
The Remains Of The Interior Of Avengers Tower
Plumes Of Thick, Hot Smoke
Severed Cables With Live Electricity

Doom Pool: 2d6, d10

New, Available FX:
* High Stakes: Borrow a die (d10 or below) from the Doom Pool to add to your own dice action. At the end of the action, return the die to the Doom Pool stepped up by 1.
* Lack of Leadership: Earn a PP by taking d4 for your Affiliation in a dice action.
* Strong Leadership: As a free action, spend a PP to give another PC a d10 for their Affiliation for their next dice action.
(A die used from Strong Leadership cannot be used in the same dice action as Lack of Leadership.)

* Remember that every post with a dice pool must have the current tally of Plot Points and a choice for next action if it's your turn.
* PP tally rolls over from the previous chapter.
* Also remember that all Opportunities rolled are automatically bought, at a rate of 1 PP per dice pool (to be translated into Doom Pool dice).
* The maximum amount of Plot Points a hero can have at any one time is 5.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:24, Wed 13 July 2022.

"So it was you. When Beast said the Tower fell... and Bucky mentioned his best friend had betrayed him... and Kang told us we were at a pivotal moment in time. They were all talking about you. About this. What they warned us about... It all makes sense now."

Danny jabbed a finger straight at the Cap impostor.

"Here's your only warning. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

Danny had been there for most of what the Skull had mentioned. He remembered the devastating explosion of the HYDRA base and the collateral damage it had wrought. He still had bruises from the battle with the Wrecking Crew, the fight snowballing into a duel with Dr. Doom at the nearby Latverian Embassy. The team's stinging defeat at the monarch's hands had been made all the more painful when they traded him their own survival for a future debt. And Danny would certainly never forget being flung forward through time to be brought face to face with Kang the Conqueror. The master of time's cryptic warnings about this day and what it would bring were still ringing fresh in his head even now.

"Listen up, everyone. Everything we've been through, from HYDRA, to the Wrecking Crew, to Kang-- all of it-- it all comes down to this."

Danny had known in his gut that it was all leading up to something, and here it finally was. He was sick of chasing his own tail as the group encountered one unsolvable mystery after another. And he was tired of megalomaniacal mad-men prattling on about what might as well have been string theory to his ears. For too long now, he had felt a need to get back into his own element-- the middle of a fight. And now the person he had to assume was responsible for all that the team had recently endured was right here in front of him, goading he and his friends into a physical confrontation-- the Iron Fist's bread and butter. The Skull might not know it, but he had just offered up exactly what Danny was looking for.

He cracked his knuckles as he walked to the head of the group. Danny had never much been one for speeches, in fact avoiding them in his day job at Rand. But the sickening sight of the corrupted Captain America brought the righteous anger bubbling up from inside, and he had to channel it somewhere. He turned to the team.

"Look, we've had some kinks to iron out with this team. Some of us have been too reckless. Others, too cautious. A few of us have checkered pasts. And, hell, for some of us, this is our first day Avenging. But none of that matters now. What matters now is saving our friends-- and maybe the whole freakin' world-- from that psycho over there. And he already threw the first punch. So let's do this. Together."

As Danny walked forward, he didn't need to check if the others were following. He trusted they had his back. Golden Chi lit up his palm as he ran into the ruins and leapt at the Iron Mob, prepared to strike a blow for justice against the Skull and the evil that his army represented.

"AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"

Spending 1 PP to use the Strong Leadership SFX and give Venom a d10 Affiliation on his next action.

Team d6
The Remains Of The Interior Of Avengers Tower d8
Enhanced Strength 2d8 (from Iron Fist SFX)
Combat Master 2d8

02:57, Today: Iron Fist rolled 3,4,3,3,4,5 using 1d6,1d8,1d8,1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 3,4,3,3,4,5.  Danny attacks the Iron Mob head-on.

Total: 9
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 0
PP's: 0

Next: Yellowjacket
This message was last edited by the player at 19:50, Wed 13 July 2022.

"Everyone, careful! That's the Squadron Sinister! They're incredibly powerful!" Yellowjacket shouted his warning, but it felt like closing the barn door after the horse was gone. They were in huge trouble, and they knew it already. Telling them something that they could have guessed was probably pointless. "They're killers!"

Small, but strong, Yellowjacket grabbed up one of the crackling cables and flew it at Nighthawk, the only member of the Squadron without powers. He was a brilliant strategist, though — the brains of the crew — and needed to be taken out quickly. Hopefully his diminutive size would make it hard for Nighthawk to defend.

Team d8
Severed Cables With Live Electricity d8
Stunt: Zap with cable d8 (-1PP)
Shrinking d10
Combat Expert d8

Yellowjacket rolled 5,2,7,9,1 using d8,d8,d8,d10,d8 ((5,2,7,9,1)).

Total: 16
Effect: d8
Opps: 1
PP remaining: 1


Next up: Venom
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Wed 13 July 2022.

* Defend from Iron Fist's physical attack on Iron Armor Mob, Total: 9, Effect: d8 (msg #2):
Team    3d8
Constructed By Tony Stark    d8
Swarm    d8
Superhuman Durability    d10
Iron Fist Mental Stress    d10

Iron Armor mob rolled 7,4,6,4,3,7,9 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d10,d10 ((7,4,6,4,3,7,9)).

Total: 16, Effect: d10

As per Iron Fist SFX, on an unsuccessful attack, Iron Fist’s Enhanced Strength shuts down

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Yellowjacket's Opportunities

* Defend from Yellowjacket's physical attack* on Nighthawk, Total: 16, Effect: d8 (msg #3):
Team d4
A Dark Knight    d8
Enhanced Reflexes    d8
Combat Master    d10
Yellowjacket Mental Stress    d10

Nighthawk rolled 2,3,8,1,4 using d4,d8,d8,d10,d10 ((2,3,8,1,4)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Yellowjacket)

(* Presumably. Always note the clearest intention of your dice action.)

Doom Pool: 2d6, d10 +d6   3d6, d10

Next Action: Venom


Iron Fist jumps into the fray but the martial artist doesn’t oppose faceless minions that can knocked down with a few BIF!s and POW!s -- these are suits of armor created by Tony Stark himself, each and every one intended to be the ultimate tool in saving the world (and himself). Stark may not have gotten to mastery over artificial intelligence, but each is a mechanical masterpiece so complex that it would appear their own life, even if it still necessitated some form of control. The most random one that Iron Fist strikes -- the first red-and-gold version, with the points on the front of the helmet and the ability to fly -- takes the blow straight on. The attack sends it deep into the building's smoke to obscure the result, but it is instantly replaced by another suit to seem like they did nothing like suffer a loss.

BZZT! A tendril of electricity snakes from calbe held by the tiny Pym to the decidedly un-diminutive Nighthawk, with enough power to knock the foe to what is left of the floor. The man on the receiving end stays down for longer than a combatant should, still and smoldering from the attack. After a moment he raises his head and looks up, with a certain clarity not present previously. The smoke swirls around him as he pulls himself up to a knee and clenches his fist.

With chaos erupting around him, the man in the suit with the shield does not flinch. Instead, his head draws back and his smile widens, revealing more of a pearly-white contrast to the scarlet glow around his skull. “Finally you begin to see the light,” the man says. “That it has taken so long as to be painful is only a benefit to me.” He chuckles a sound like grinding bones. “That you are so eager to make the first strike instead of asking the most pertinent questions is what has made you so incredibly easy to manipulate. I can suspect that this will only be simpler than I would have dreamed, Avengers.” The laugh becomes louder, the head drawn back more.

I think I will buy that Opportunity to shutdown Nighthawk's Gear (Limit). Fried in the attack, we can say.

Yellowjacket uses Limit: Gear to shut down Nighthawk’s Utility Belt (though in the future shutting down for a Limit is an option for the character with the Limit, not another player)
Step up Doom Die

Doom Pool: 3d6, d10 (-d10/+d12) = 3d6, d12

The Wasp flits around the area as is her manner, then circles around whatever Yellowjacket is doing after his successful strike. “Pym, you moron!” she cries. “If this situation isn’t what it seems, he might have been the only one to help us figure it out!” She comes to a stop in the air near Pym. “If you were competing for the smartest person in the room, you just went to the bottom of the pile! Even Venom is thinking first! Now he -- “ She points to the empty spot where Nighthawk was considering his next move just a moment ago. “Where’d he go?” Her voice shrinks as her body would. “That’s probably not going to be good.”

The flight-or-fight response was well ingrained into Bishop since he was a child. Mostly flight.  Fighting was for when you had no choice, or if you knew for certain you can win.  Until he could be convinced of either, he wasn't going to budge, not even when one of the Avengers initiated an attack

"What is this about?  Why are we attacking them?"

"And once again, all you're ever willing to do is criticize. If you're so damned smart, how about a suggestion instead of a complaint?" Hank had never been more tired of his ex-wife than he was for this misadventure. She seemed only willing to point out his every flaw or failing (ignoring the rest of the team, of course), and did nothing to help resolve situations. "Do you think we're going to save our friends lives by talking?"


1 XP when you try to make yourself feel better by pointing out the shortcoming of a loved one.

Danny's voice itself became like unto a thing of iron: "Bishop, did you not just see the future we're trying to prevent? We're fighting to rescue our friends and save everyone on the planet-- including mutants-- from going extinct. You know, like that whole reason you're here in the first place?"

He pointed at the Skull, gesturing with the other hand to the fallen Avengers in their midst. "You think you can blow up Avengers Tower, attack our friends, and then host a friendly little Q&A? No. I'm done talking to you," he warned the villain. "You-- Squadron! Tell us what made you sink so low as to join up with that lowlife. Then I'm gonna punch his red skull so hard it turns purple."

Mac growls as Venom begins to cover his body again slowly, "We have two questions long-winded meat!"

Mac vanishes as Venom raises to his full height mouth impossibly wide with likely extra teeth as he drools out, "Number one would we be allowed to eat our foes on this front line? And number two, when we get tired of your rambling and devour you does your red skin mean you taste of apple or cherry?"

OOC:
Next Action: Roter
Reaction: Roter

Total: 10 ED: d4
Opps: 1
PP: 2 (1+1 Opp purchase, -1 purchase extra dice into total)
Desired outcome: Mental stress on the red one that talks to much.

Solo d10
Unrelentingly Savage d8
Shapeshifting d6
menace Expert D8
19:42, Today: Venom rolled 6,2,1,2 using d10,d8,d6,d8 with rolls of 6,2,1,2.  Attempting cause emotional aka fear stress on ze Crimson Captain. –
This message was last edited by the player at 01:47, Tue 19 July 2022.

Janet pulls up in the air across from Yellowjacket and becomes equal size, turning her attention to her ex-husband and away from the turmoil around her. “Hank, I love you but if you could just -- “

SWAK!

The Wasp disappears from the air just as if she had vanished. Only the after-image of a streaking form remains, and that is gone in an instant. The literal blur who struck her from the air is instantly on the other side of the room, then another, then another, only visible for a fraction of a second when it halts at random spots around the place.

Whatever is left of Janet's body is dispersed elsewhere in the room, out of sight.

Emotional attack (scaring) on Yellowjacket:
Team    d4
Hesitant   d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Yellowjacket Mental Stress    d10

Blur rolled 4,3,9 using d4,d4,d10 ((4,3,9)).

Total: 13, Effect: d4

No physical powers can be used to defend this attack. Only defending Specialty is Menace

The Wasp knocked out

Doom Pool: 3d6, d12 (-d6/+d8) = 2d6, d8, d12

Reaction Needed: Yellowjacket

She-Hulk clambers up to the area of battle just in time to see her ally and best friend swatted out of the air. “They’re attacking us so I don’t care if this is the good or bad version of the Squadron, we have to pound them into dust!” Then she leaps into the air and the midst of the fray, in her berzerk frenzy to avenge her friend heading toward the powerhouses of the team, each her equal but together certainly the challenge of her life!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Sun 17 July 2022.

The clouds above flashed several times and then parted while the thunder boomed in response to the flashes of light. Ororo floated through the separation of clouds, her hair and cape flapping in the wind as she slowly glided toward her teammates.

As Storm floated down to land on the remnants of the tower, she jutted her chin toward the crimson source of evil. "You are not welcome here. Leave or face our wrath."

She looked over toward Iron Fist and nodded her approval of his response. Talk was cheap and it was time to pound some villains. He could see her eyes fade to white as the clouds overhead swirled and flashed menacingly.

Creating an asset: Storm-controlled Cyclone Overhead
Dice pool: Team d10, Strong-willed leader d8, Weather Supremacy d12, Mystic Expert d8
Total: 14 Effect: d12
17:50, Today: Storm rolled 10,4,4,2 using d10,d8,d12,d8 with rolls of 10,4,4,2.  Create Asset.

"Jan!!" Hank shouted as the one called Blur swatted his ex-wife like a fly. He wasn't sure if she was dead or alive after that hit. All he knew was that Blur was going to feel copious pain for what he'd just done.

Team d8
Epic Guilt Complex d8

Yellowjacket rolled 8,3 using d8,d8 ((8,3)).

Total: 11

I guess it's on
Bishop still didn't have a firm grasp of the situation.  He didn't know who they were fighting.  He hardly knew who he was fighting with! And how could he know he wasn't playing right into 'Kang' hands?

He was way over his head, and he knew it.  There was no way for him to figure it out, so he might as well do what he always did.  Survive.

Bishop's power was contingent on how much energy he could absorb to power his own abilities.  With enough of it, he could become nigh unstoppable.  He noticed the exposed power cable lying around, and after picking it up with his bare hands he wrapped it rightly around one right arm for a constant surge of Power

"Who wants some?"

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Venom's Opportunity

* Defend from Venom's emotional attack, Total: 10, Effect: d4 (msg #10):
Team    d8
In the Body of Captain America    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Enhanced Stamina    d8
Menace Master    d10
Venom Emotional Stress   d8

Red Skull rolled 3,2,1,3,2 using d8,d4,d8,d10,d8 ((3,2,1,3,2)).

Total: 6, Effect: d8

Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to 0
1 Opportunity (available first to Venom)

* Yellowjacket takes Emotional Stress d4

* Doom Pool (2d6, d8, d12) reaction to Storm's attempt to create Storm-controlled Cyclone Overhead Asset, Total: 14, Effect: d12 (msg #13):
Storm Emotional stress d12

Watcher rolled 6,3,5,8,7 using d6,d6,d8,d12,d12 ((6,3,5,8,7)).


Total: 15, Effect: d8

While no other human in existence could call up a weather event like Ororo, the mutant's mind is too scattered to focus on a force great enough to combat the oppressive heat and humidity of this New York summer day in the high afternoon. A trail of rain is summoned but it dissipates into steam before it reaches the building from the sky.

Though the smoke from inside Avengers Tower coalesces around Venom to give his form an ultimately terrifying cast, the man with the red glow about his skull and the shield does not flinch. Instead, his sinister smile grows. “Yes, yes, how delightful,” he says. “Punch my head to bloody dust. Devour my entire body so that it never resurfaces in this mortal realm. Please. I encourage you. I can fetch a silver tray to aid in offering it to you. Destroy this body and complete the revenge on my greatest foe by finally and utterly obliterating him! Be my accomplice to hurry along the accomplishment of the last step of my great master plan! Ha!” His laughter is, of course, replaces any mirth only with evil.

Red Skull Grandstanding adds d10 to Doom Pool

The Skull holds out his hand to collect some spots of what little rain comes from the sky in his palm. “Your impotence is appropriate. I have been in this building longer than you, mutant.” He spits the last word. “You have less right to be here than I. I claim this place and will insist that you leave. You may stay as it serves my purposes, but if you must scurry away before meeting the fate about to befall you, do so now. Stay and serve. Fight as I know you must, but should you survive, prepare to kneel.”

Doom Pool: 2d6, d8, d12 +d6 (-d6/+d8) +d10 = 2d6,2d8,d10,d12

Next Action: Bishop
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Tue 19 July 2022.

Spider-Man, hanging around as usual, finally -- and inevitably -- pipes up, though slightly more serious than usual. “Crap. He has a point,” he says, on a web attached to an exposed girder above. “About one of those things.”

Karla hated this.

Hated being the affect of some over-arching game she didn't understand.  And leagued only with those who themselves couldn't explain it to her, in spite of how long they might have been playing it.

But there was evil and there was evil. The first kind didn't bother her...reckoning she might forever have a toe in it.    The latter sort...it stood before her now, she'd no doubt of that.   For the sake of any world worth living in, this guy had to be stopped.

But as her gaze flicked again over the opposition, her instincts and common sense all yelled that wasn't going to happen here.

She had committed to the Avengers...mostly.  The leader of whom had made an entreaty for them to Assemble and face the foe.   He seemed so earnest, so nobly intended...the very sort of virtues that were not going to win the day.

Even Storm's awesome power was inconsequential here.   It was the final underscore Karla needed to make her decision.   She stepped forward and said to the enemy:

"You must be really f--king proud of yourself.  I know I would be.   Listen, how about a deal;  I'll leave the field of play, and leave you to it.  All I ask in exchange is him."     She pointed to the chained up Clint.

"One of the weakest Avengers, and no one much likes him.  Not much of a hostage for you, exactly.  But as it happens, I owe him one.   So how 'bout give him to me, then I'll just get out of here?"   

Hank gave Ms. Marvel a sidelong glance.

"Disgusting," he sneered. "You're a disgrace. Trust me: I know."

Years ago, Hank had disgraced himself as an Avenger, and the taint still clung to him like tar. But he had never backed down from a challenge. Whoever this was wearing Carol's suit dishonored it, and the Marvel name.

Besides, Clint was one of his oldest and dearest friends, one who had helped him through some of his lowest moments, and he wouldn't tolerate him spoken about in that manner.

For all that Pym was a scientific genius, he was a buffoon when it came to other types of intelligence.   All the subtlety of peatmoss...

His ill-considered attack on Nighthawk being an example.   And his inability to recognize a bluff when he heard one.   It was good, though;  if anything, it added credibility to her ploy.

She smiled.  "Why don't you go beat Jan, Pym.  It's about all you're good at it.   You'll save these guys some work."   

Bishop ignored the conversation which, once again, he couldn't quite follow.  Something about Pym hitting the Wasp, which, if he did, he really couldn't blame him for.  In fact, he wanted to swat the annoying insect earlier, during their last fight, when she only served to distract and confound him.

His best friend right now was the loose power cable.  In a few seconds he would have enough power to put someone out.  He really didn't care who at this point.  It was going to work on the 'first come, first served' policy.


Bishop rolled 6,6,2,7 using 1d10,1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 6,6,2,7.  create an 'energy battery' asset.  Durability 1d10, Severed Cables With Live Electricity scene distinction 1d8, combat expert 1d8, team 1d8. Total 15 (spend PP to add extra die to total), effect 1d10.
Current PP: 1-1=0.

Doom Pool (2d6,2d8,d10,d12) reaction to Bishop's attempt to create Energy Battery Asset, Total: 15, Effect: d10:
Bishop Distracted Complication d6

Watcher rolled 2,4,4,4,2,2,3 using d6,d6,d8,d8,d10,d12,d6 ((2,4,4,4,2,2,3)).

Spend d6 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total
Total: 11, Effect: d12
Higher reacting Effect die steps down acting Effect, to d8

Doom Pool: 2d6,2d8,d10,d12 -d6 = d6,2d8,d10,d12


Bishop grabs the cables at his feet -- some snaking around on their own accord, propelled by the wild electricity flowing through them -- and his power starts sucking the energy from them. It's not as much as he thought -- there must be more than a few of the power conductors going to Stark's laboratory, and he wouldn't have a lot bundled together to the same destination. Still, it's enough to power-up the energy-wielding mutant, and perhaps to get that insect-woman off his mind. As annoying as she is (was?), she has (had?) a bewitching nature about her.

Next Action: Ms. Marvel or villain
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:30, Wed 20 July 2022.

The electricity that Bishop takes in leaves him surrounded with a majestic glow which might also be a beacon. As both teams of combatants break into skirmishes in the space, they scatter about, stepping or leaping carefully to avoid falling into the gaping holes in the floor that lead down into a smokey abyss.

Though the man hovering and bathed in his own glow is closer to Bishop, he turns his attention elsewhere. Instead, the woman with the massive body structure bursts over the craters underfoot headed straight toward the energy-absorbing mutant. The attack lacks any grace that a warrior woman could be presumed to have -- just a charge and a punch, without the ingenuity that combatants often throw in to garnish such a crude move -- but she makes up for it in might, and even victory if the one punch does its intended task.

Physical attack on Bishop:
Team    d6
Hesitant    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Multipower/Supersonic Flight    d8
Multipower/Godlike Strength    d10
Combat Master    d10
Bishop Mental stress    d6

Power Princess rolled 6,3,4,10,2,5 using d6,d4,d8,d10,d10,d6 ((6,3,4,10,2,5)).

Total: 16, Effect: d10

Doom Pool: d6,2d8,d10,d12 (-d6/+d8) = 3d8,d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Bishop

It might have been wiser to get out of the way of the charging woman - if Bishop was in any way light on his feet.  If the attack was crude, the defense was doubly so.  Bishop just stood there and put his shoulder forward, trying to absorb the brunt of the assault with pure strength.

Team 1d8, Unflinching Distinction 1d4, Superhuman Durability 1d10, Combat Expert 1d8
Bishop rolled 6,2,7,8 using 1d8,1d4,1d10,1d8 with rolls of 6,2,7,8.  Reaction roll vs Power Princess.  Spending PP to add a die to the total. Total 8+7+6=21, effect 1d4.
PP:0+1-1=0

The Fist looks from Spidey to the Skull, giving the villain a closer look. Then his eyes widen through his yellow mask as he makes a startling realization.

"Now I get it. So it's not just some crappy cosplay. That day some of us fought those androids inside the gym, they slapped some weird little device onto Cap's body... And now this...." He looks around at his companions. That particular memory feels so long ago, but it's clear that the consequences are still following them all even now. Danny calls out to them:

"Everyone! He's got control of Cap's body. We need to bring the Skull down but we cannot give him what he wants. That means we hurt him as little as possible." He looks at Venom. "Sorry, big guy. He's not on the menu." He nods instead toward the Blur, who knocked the Wasp from the air with a brutal slap.

"The minions, on the other hand..." He doesn't finish the sentence, figuring the team can always reel Venom in if he gets too out of hand. Maybe.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:00, Sat 23 July 2022.

Conflict surged within Karla Sofen, as she listened to Iron Fist's words.

Uncomfortable conflict.   Life -- choices -- had been so much simpler, not so long ago.  As the titan of a woman attacked a member of the team, she had an impulse to retaliate, and support them.  Part of her actually felt bad for not doing so, but...

It would spoil the tactic she was attempting with the faux Captain -- the Skull in Cap's actual body? -- and what might be a chance to get Clint out of there, to receive the medical help he appeared in need of.

And so, rather than waiting for their nemesis to reply, she elected to preempt a little:

"C'mon -- it's a good offer.  I'll take him, and then get the hell out of here. How about it?"   

So said, Karla became intangible, and started making her way nearer toward the trussed-up Clint...

Ms. Marvel rolled 2,6,1,8 using d10,d8,d8,d8 with rolls of 2,6,1,8.  Intangibility Asset.
Intangibility + Team + Psych master
Total = 14  Effect = D10
1 opportunity for DP
PP = 2
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Always post your current PP count at the end of any post that you roll a dice pool

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Ms. Marvel's Opportunity

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

The Skull-as-Cap stands his ground amid the increasing chaos, keeping his head held high with a small smile, clearly entertained by the disaster he has caused. “Ah, you foolish Miststück,” he says calmly with a dollop of amusement in his tone. “For once you do not need to run away like a feeble, beaten dog with its tail between its legs. I want you here,” he says, letting the words slither from his mouth. "Finally you will have a purpose."

Doom Pool (3d8,d10,d12) reaction to Ms. Marvel's attempt to create Intangibility Asset, Total: 14, Effect: d10:

Watcher rolled 4,1,3,9,3 using d8,d8,d8,d10,d12 ((4,1,3,9,3)).

Total: 13, Effect: d12
Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d8
1 Opportunity (available first to Ms. Marvel)

Doom Pool: 3d8,d10,d12 +d6 = d6,3d8,d10,d12

Though she has to dodge the billowing clouds of smoke inside the building, Ms. Marvel is able to phase her body outside a state of corporeality to be intangible, but not mix with the heavy particulates in the air.

Next Action: Doctor Spectrum
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:22, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Spider-Man stays on the outskirts of the skirmish, webbing errant debris cast from the fight to keep it from falling with velocity and destruction to the street below. But his attention and mouth can’t be divided. “So let me get it straight,” he says, dodging among the Iron-suits that can’t quite keep up with him. “So this joker has been pulling the strings for this long dressed up like Cap and sending the Avengers out on all these fake missions just to stir a pot? I guess I get antagonizing other villains since bad guys hate everybody, but what was the point in going after Kang? One of his versions shows up every once in a while and realizes he can’t change the timeline we’re in and he goes away. Was he even bothered by it?. Was that a loss or did he miss the point?”

The man who had risen above the rest of the squadron while glowing of all colors of the spectrum turns away from the fray and across the crowd seems to focus on the translucent Ms. Marvel. What could have been a weighted pause could also be waiting for the moment that this enemy could turn material again, and he takes the moment to strike. A blast of flashing colors that turn over into all possible hues streams forth from the gem he holds in his fist, as fast as light itself, charging destructive force toward the woman in the black leotard and red sash, possibly getting her when she is tangible enough to e harmed by the colorful assault.

Physical attack on Ms. Marvel:
Team d4
Hesitant    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Energy Blast d10
Combat Expert d8

Doctor Spectrum rolled 4,3,3,3 using d4,d4,d10,d8 ((4,3,3,3)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total

Total: 10, Effect: d10

Doom Pool: d6,3d8,d10,d12 (-d6/+d8)-d8 = 3d8,d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Ms. Marvel

Karla had never fought Spectrum personally, but she knew who he was, and what his prism could do.

Before the mutli-hued assault flashed at her -- like the dance floor lights in some tacky nightclub -- she saw her enemy focus on her, and raise his hand.

And reacted; not by depending on her intangibility, but rather by striving to not be standing on the spot where she'd been targeted.

Reflexes equivalent to an elite Kree warrior, and indeed the shadings of one within her own psyche, plus knowledge of tactics and her intangibility rendering her lighter and more nimble... these all served to take her out of harm's way:

Ms. Marvel rolled 8,8,1,5,2 using d10,d10,d6,d8,d8 with rolls of 8,8,1,5,2.  Reaction dice pool.     Combat + Superhuman reflexes + Buddy + Echoes of the Moonstone + Intangibility asset

Total = 16; effect = D8 

Karla sneered at the Skull:  "Okay, f--k you, then!   I'm going to help these guys kick your ass!    And why did you really want Cap's body, hey?   Is it because you got tired of all the ladies laughing at the size of your Luger?"

1 Opportunity for the DP
1 Opportunity unused; available for other character
PP = 2
Next up:  Wolvesbane
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Ms. Marvel's Opportunity

The Affiliation of the heroes in this Scene is Team. (Affiliation is a situational detail, not a choice.)

Black Panther prowls his way around the perimeter of the battle, leaping over great holes in the floor, eventually making his way to flank the Skull, but at a sizable distance across the room. The Skull-as-Cap keeps his wide grin and confident posture, standing nearly in the center of the chaos, amused by the disorder around him.

Anyone following Black Panther’s route can use his Cover Master as a Power Stunt at d12 if creating a stealth Asset.

Doom Pool: 3d8,d10,d12 +d6 = d6,3d8,d10,d12

The sheer number of Iron-armors appears to increase, either drawing more from outside or from another cache of Stark’s munitions discovered and brought to life, or at least mobility. They fly and hover and swoop in and around the fights going on in the room, navigating with ease or at least not causing a calamity if they bump into something. But while they are not an immediate obstacle, they can be in the way, and taking up space, causing the space of the large interior area to shrink, especially with the fists and debris and super-powered blasts being thrown around. Causing the greatest hindrance would be to Storm, who struggles to keep aloft in the middle of the space, less elegant in her acute internal anguish. As she barely stays aloft in the air, the armors whip around her, not attacking but getting in the way of any intention. They could be little matter for a powerful mutant to use matter-manipulating powers to cleave a space through them, but their space-confining crowding could prove difficult to Storm in particular, who has never been comfortable in confined spaces for as long as she can remember.

Iron Armor Mob attempt to create Crowded Complication on Storm:
Team    3d8
Mechanical Action (without individual direction)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8
Cybernetic Senses    d6
Supersonic Flight    d10
Storm Emotional stress    d12

Iron Armor mob rolled 8,2,4,1,3,2,10,11 using d8,d8,d8,d4,d8,d6,d10,d12 ((8,2,4,1,3,2,10,11)).

Total: 21, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Storm)

(If Storm is knocked out from this, the next-highest Effect die (d8) will be spent from the Doom Pool to create a Scene Complication.)

Doom Pool: d6,3d8,d10,d12 (-d6/+d8) = 4d8,d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Storm

While, somewhere below Storm on the beaten floor, Machine Man, who had been immobile since arriving in this place, begins to move again but trembling, to shaking, to what would be to a human a seizure, his elongated limbs shooting out of control, yet the android stays standing.

After failing to create so much as a cloud under her control, Storm was assaulted from all directions by Iron-armors en masse. One wouldn't think that such a number could move with such efficiency and co-ordination, but they did. And it quickly overwhelmed Ororo. She didn't like confined spaces, but she had trained extensively in the evasion of projectiles during combat. Yet she was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number, size, and strength of the assault.

Reaction:

Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d4
Subsonic Flight: d8
Combat Expert: d8

Total: 7 Effect: d4

19:00, Today: Storm rolled 1,4,1,3 using d10,d4,d8,d8 with rolls of 1,4,1,3.  Reaction.

PP = 0 to start +1 for d4 +1 for Opportunities = 2

Can you be knocked out from a complication?

According to Status Tracker, there are still 2 other reactions pending? If not, Spider-Man can go next.

Picking the next action comes after taking an action, not rolling a reaction

Yes, you can certainly be knocked out from a Complication

Storm knocked out

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunities

Storm, master of the open skies, is too enclosed in this space and surrounded by foes for her power to fully flourish. Hanging above the fray, she gasps, desperate for air she can usually guide with but a thought, then gasps again, then the current that was keeping her aloft dissipates beneath her and she falls to the stricken floor of this high-rise structure. She tumbles toward an open crevasse, lucky not to have fallen into the hole and down down down dozens of stories to whatever object stood up to the building’s implosion and would certainly not give in to her fleshly, mortal body when she crashes into it. For now she hangs perilously beside the crumbling opening, her arm hanging limply while her cape catches the end of the wind she conjured, and the combat around her continues to break away the rest of the area, including where her body rests dangerously, absolutely a terrifying sight for her teammates.

Create Storm Dangling Precariously Scene Complication d8 (which can be added to a dice pool in addition to Stress/Complications/etc.) (spent from Doom Pool)

Doom Pool: 4d8,d10,d12 +d8 -d8 = 4d8,d10,d12
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:15, Tue 16 Aug 2022.

Spider-Man swings around the room, continuing to web flying debris to stop it from being flung from the battle to the street below, when his extraordinary senses pick up a sudden sight. “Hey, T’Challa!” he calls. “I didn’t know you were -- WHOA!” the dodges just barely out of the way of the oncoming assault!

Anyone creating an Asset for rescue can use Spider-Man’s Web Constructs as a Power Stunt at d12 or add d6 and step up effect die by +1

BWOOMF!

BWOOMF!

BWOOMF!

The immense sounds of She-Hulk and Hyperion trading blows is enough to rattle the entire structure below and around their battlefield. Neither combatant tries to dodge or evade the other’s strikes, instead taking each punch so they are in position to give one back -- assuming they survive each hit. So far neither has given in, with the occasional pummel sending the other back a few feet, but only to redouble their effort and bring it back with a fresh onslaught of fists. Bruises are starting to build, with half of Shulkie’s face starting to swell already, and much of Hyperion’s jaw knocked into an alternate place on his head, and huge purple welts are growing all over their chests and shoulders. Whatever item in the vicinity is loose enough to fall already has, and now parts of the wall are breaking off and the floor will surely soon follow.

“You think we can't handle you, Skull? Once we get Steve back he'll take you down by himself!” She-Hulk hollers with a muffled voice, possibly around busted teeth, as she winds up the next punch, the sound of her fist crunching louder than most anyone’s else strike. “We're going to clear your goons out of here then we'll eat lunch!"

She-Hulk’s next punch forces Hyperion back farther than he has gone so far in the tussle, over the biggest hole in the floor, but his power of flight saves him from the sudden descent. Turning back, he pauses as if to catch his breath, then reaches to his side to find a machine console nearly bigger than he is, and rips it from its embankment then over his head, then straight at She-Hulk and any nearby heroes in front of him. Spider-Man dodges out of the way and She-Hulk brings up her massive arms to defend herself, but other heroes in the way are not nearly so lucky!

Physical attack on Iron Fist, Venom
Team    d8
Hesitant  d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Godlike Strength    d12
Area Attack    d6
Combat Expert    d8
Iron Fist Mental Stress    d10

The highest Effect dice from this roll not used against the two heroes will be spent from the Doom Pool to create a Scene Complication (which can be added to a dice pool in addition to Stress/Complications/etc.

Hyperion rolled 4,3,12,6,6,2 using d8,d4,d12,d6,d8,d10 ((4,3,12,6,6,2)).

Total: 18, Effect: d10 on Iron Fist, d8 on Venom

Create Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complication d8

Doom Pool: 4d8,d10,d12 (-d8/+d10) -d8 = 2d8,2d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Iron Fist, Venom

"Everyone, we need to coordinate our attacks!" Danny called out. He wasn't used to being the group tactician, but then, necessity was the mother of invention. "Focus on the weak links and hit 'em where it--"

As a huge piece of wreckage hurled by Hyperion suddenly sailed toward him, he stopped cold. " -- hurts." Stunned by the sheer mightiness of the opposition, he hesitated an instant too long-- the type of thing that often happens when one's own life is flashing before their eyes. By the time his reflexes kicked in, he wasn't sure if it was already too late to spring out of the way.

MOVE, DANNY! a voice yelled from inside his head.

Danny goes for a last-second dodge.

Team d6
Young Dragon d4 (+1 PP) (I'm too young to die)
Enhanced Reflexes d8
Acrobatic Expert 2d8

15:46, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,4,3,7,6 using 1d6,1d4,1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 1,4,3,7,6.  Iron Fist races out of the way as Hyperion hurls wreckage at him.

Total: 13
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 1
PP's: 1 +1 from Opportunity = 2

If I can spend a PP to change that Physical Stress to Emotional, to represent Danny being shaken by the overwhelming odds here, I will do so.

Venom growls and punches forward shattering the piece coming towards him, "Wait your turn meat!" And looks back to Cap/Skull, "You talk a lot for a minion. How we know you aren't trying to trick us to eat Villian which Spiderman wants to turn into this years love interest he kisses while upside down in rain?"




OOC

Team d6
Unrelenting Savage d8
Scorpion Durabilty d10
Symbiote Reflexes d10
Combat Expert d8

Total: 19 (-PP to keep extra dice)
ED: D10
PP: 0 (1-1)
Opps: 1



09:29, Today: Venom rolled 3,7,5,9,5 using d6,d8,d10,d10,d8 ((3,7,5,9,5)).

Extraordinary Success steps up acting Effect die against Iron Fist, to d12, as Emotional Stress

“No battle-cry? No reaction to getting the snot beat out of you, Domino Mask?” She-Hulk howls. “If you want to take a break, just stopping punching back so I can put you down for the count!”

And the two combatants leap at each other and pick up pounding each other again, with the immense force of their blows landed on each other rattling what is left of the walls and floor.

BWOOMF!

BWOOMF!

The occasional KRRRACKL.

BWOOMF!

Anyone rolling a dice pool against Hyperion (alongside She-Hulk) can use She-Hulk’s as a Power Stunt at d12 or add d6 and step up effect die by +1

Since arriving at this battlefield soaked in violence and evil, the Human Torch and Shang-Chi have kept to the back, staying just out of the midst of the fray, as well as not contributing to the already over-crowded space. Johnny Storm, in particular, needs room for his flame-sheathed body and combustible powers, so he rises above the group of heroes coming apart to join the various fights going on in the area, as well as stopping debris from falling to the ground below, and generally just trying to survive the onslaught of superior, fresher power. Johnny cranes his head to find a clear target, but in the disorder, once he finds someone to hit, someone -- often Spider-Man -- inadvertently jumps in front, or gets blocked by an iron suit against which a fireball would be useless, and a swath of smoke obscures his view.  It’s time for a different tack when he lowers his hover closer to an ally. “Shang, I have an idea,” the Torch says, keeping his eye on the various scuffles as he details a surprisingly effective strategy to take out the Squadron Supreme then defeat the Red Skull without harming Cap's body.

As the young Johnny speaks, Shang, having stood stock-still and silent, slowly turns to him and raises a hand. As his hand nears its apex it grows enlarged, quickly to a size larger then his upper body, huge enough to require a feat of strength to even be held aloft. Then it closes into a gigantic fist. Johnny does not break his view until Shang brings the gigantic fist down on him, then it is far too late. The Human Torch is smashed into the floor with a KRASH then left as an unmoving heap of a human body.

Human Torch knocked out

Behind the heroes, Shang-Chi turns back to look ahead and his facial features then body features transform. In a moment he has morphed into a larger being than the lithe Chinese martial artist was, with green skin, large, pointed ears, a rough, serrated chin, and a purple costume including a high collar and a long green cape. His fist unclenches as it shrinks back to a size befitting a humanoid, like a hunter of men from Mars.

Shang-Chi replaced by The Skrull

Next Action: Machine Man

X-51 -- the man who is a machine or the machine that is a man -- continues to experience a standing seizure, his appendages, including his head and neck, stretching at quick, random moments in random directions then shrinking back into his body again. From a certain perspective, this grotesque dance could be seen as a combat, a physical manifestation of a clash going on within his metal body, perhaps the fight of his existence. Finally, his hole body spasms like he’s been struck brutally, forced to recoil into a backward lean almost all the way to the ground, feet staying firmly planted on the beaten floor. Slowly and without seizures his body pulls to an upright posture again and he points ahead, to nothing in particular. “ThereZZZX -- “ he blurts, sounding like a voice through an old radio. “Someone is -- “ he sputters before the language cracks into static. He is frozen, as if all mechanics in his man-like machine body have suddenly willed themselves dead, and he seems to stand there for a moment before imbalance takes him and he very slowly capsizes forward, still keeping the stiff posture but being taken by gravity, pulled increasingly faster toward the floor, then into the hole in front of him and, without a sound, gone in an instant into the abyss below everyone’s feet.

Next Action: Red Cap (new round)

The Skull-Cap stands, arms crossed, ever amused amid the chaos that never touches him. “Ah, heroes,” he guffaws. “I must commend you. Your predictability has made this all so easy, just like I saw in my magnificent plans. It is truly like pushing around the pawns on my own personal board of chess. I salute you! Ha ha ha ha ha!” And he pitches his head and shoulders back again in wild entertainment.

Behind him, the smoke clears enough to reveal at the back an enormous, silver machine, easily the size of a standard bedroom but here just a corner of what was once Stark’s grand social area. It is covered with monitors and gauges and dials of all shapes and sizes, though many are round, and occasionally a bank will light up like a jolt of electricity is charging through appointed sections of it. Literally at the center of it is its main attraction, a prone body splayed nearly naked and spread-eagled with arms and legs out-stretched, held in place with straps at the wrists, ankles, neck, and, perhaps to protect some modesty, across the groin area. The body is Caucasian, slender and moderately fit, but showing no life. In particular is his head, shrunk slightly to the shape of a skull and as red as a piece of coal in Hell!

Red Skull Grandstanding adds d10 to Doom Pool

Doom Pool: 2d8,2d10,d12 +d10 = 2d8,3d10,d12

Next Action: Iron Fist

Danny drew a slow breath, trying to still his racing heart. An instant too late, and the young Dragon would have been crushed beneath that flung piece of heavy machinery. And the man who had hurled it at him was just standing there like nothing had happened. He may have been more powerful than a locomotive, but what was going on in that head of his?

"These Squadron guys don't talk, or react, or strategize with each other," Danny commented to whoever was listening. "They just fight us. It's like they've been programmed for it, no different than Stark's metal suits."

The Iron Fist thought back to earlier, when he had attempted a form of hypnosis on Kang. His goal then had been to earn his own freedom. But now he wondered if he could use that power in a different way: to free his opponent's mind from whatever dark influence might possess it.

Once more, Danny called upon the Chi of Shou-Lao. Meeting the eyes of the Skull's mightiest soldier, he willed his own spiritual energy to flow forth. As he allowed it to wash over his opponent like a great wave, the Fist spoke his mantra:

"The Skull is the true evil here, not thee. By the power of the Iron Fist, you shall be free!"

Nice rhyme, Danny.

Inflict Mental stress on Hyperion to release him from brainwashing(?).

Team d6
Living Weapon d4 (More used to fighting with my fists)
Mystic Expert 2d6
"Chi Hypnosis" Stunt d8 (-1 PP)

02:28, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,1,5,2,5 using 1d6,1d4,1d6,1d6,1d8 ((1,1,5,2,5)).  Danny tries to release Hyperion from possible brainwashing.

Total: 10
Effect: d6
Opportunities: 2
PP's: 2 + 2 Opportunities = *4

Next: Ms. Marvel

Karla had little personal experience of Iron Fist.   And, whatever, contributions he'd made in recent months, he wasn't yet an Avenger in her head.   Just by virtue of whom had become fixed in there, as team members, through the years.

But, she had to admit, he was pulling his weight here, stepping up and playing leader, in the absence of anyone else doing so.

Surely Cap's consciousness was in the Skull's body.  Were all of the techno-gadgets that bound him keeping it that way?  It crossed her mind that if those were put put out of commission...No, scratch that; not a good idea!   I'll leave it to Pym, or someone else who knows what they're doing!

Karla was no saint;  but even she didn't want to be responsible for inadvertently frying Captain America's psyche or brain...

Which, amidst all else transpiring, brought her attention to Storm. 

Grudgingly, she'd always admired Ororo. So staunchly a heroine, yet without things she saw as weaknesses in some of the others.    She didn't overthink, just flew to where the former X-Men was precariously slumped.   Levitating nearby, Karla did what she could with her knowledge of first aid -- perhaps moving her, if that was needful and safe -- as well as cajoling in the voice that served her so well as an ace psychologist:

"You got smacked good, but you need to get up, hun!  The team's counting on you; and there's a Skull we need to crack quick."   

As well, her photonic power was ever so lightly applied, to create a supportive warmth, and a reassuring glow...

Ms. Marvel rolled 10,9,7,3 using d10,d10,d8,d8 with rolls of 10,9,7,3.  Revive Storm attempt.
Team + Energy + Medicine Expert + Brilliant Psychotherapist
Targeting Condition on Storm
Total = 19;   Effect die = D8
NOTE:   The original effect on Storm was at 21.    If I need to beat that, I'll spend 1 PP to add a third die from pool to my effect.    I can't find in the rules whether that's necessary or no.
PP = 2   (or 1, if a PP is necessary to make this work)   

Next up: Yellowjacket
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Sun 28 Aug 2022.

So the real Red Skull was just at the back of the room, rather than in some remote location. This would help, probably, but only if Hank could get there to shut the machine down! He kept trying, but one member of the Squadron or another kept getting in his way. He was tiny, but the room was crowded.

Finally, he made it to the machine. It was nearly as complex as anything he'd ever seen. Hank was sure he could figure it out if he could get a few minutes alone with it, but there was no chance of that happening. So he'd have to fall back on the perennial Plan B: Fly inside and rip out wires.

He flew inside, and he began to rip out wires.


Team d8
Need to Prove Myself d8
Shrinking d10
Tech Master d10

Yellowjacket rolled 7,5,4,10 using d8,d8,d10,d10 ((7,5,4,10)).

Total: 17
Effect: d10

BWOOMPF!

Hyperion takes another wallop at She-Hulk that doesn’t take the jade giantess out but knocks her back an extra step. As she comes back to redouble her attack, Hyperion takes a pause, just long enough to catch Iron Fist’s call through a narrow space in the din and clatter around them. Hyperion’s eyes are hidden behind his domino mask, but he faces Iron Fist across the distance of the big room, though obscured by the plumes of smoke and crumbling walls between them, but stays still for a moment. Even if he may not listening, the sound stretches his pause.

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Iron Fist's Opportunities

Defend from Iron Fist's mental attack, Total: 10, Effect: d6 (msg #43):
Team    d8
Plumes Of Thick, Hot Smoke    d8
Iron Fist Emotional Stress    d12
Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complications    d8
from Doom Pool    d8

Hyperion rolled 1,7,4,2,4 using d8,d8,d12,d8,d8 ((1,7,4,2,4)).

Total: 11, Effect: d12

1 Opportunity (available first to Iron Fist)

Doom Pool: 2d8,3d10,d12 +d8 -d8 = 2d8,3d10,d12


The big man is immobile for another moment and his lips curl inward to reveal his teeth. But, with his eyes obscured, it can't be told if he is fighting an inner turmoil or he is bracing himself for She-Hulk's next mighty strike. BWOOMPF! right to the face, which staggers him, but he comes back for the attack.

Next Reactions: Doom Pool

"Tch... Damn!"

Straining from exertion, Danny cuts off the outward flow of Chi, finding it has no effect on his opponent. No, whatever fog is clouding his enemy's mind is too thick, too impenetrable, for the spiritual awakening to take root.  "If they're being mind-controlled, I can't tell," he pants. "I tried a trick just now to release the red one, but I don't think it worked." He sighs. "Maybe if I had a better grasp of psychology."

Iron Fist instead draws the Chi back into himself, focusing it-- as ever-- into one palm. The golden hue of his hand had faded upon the massive release of Chi he expended in striking one of Stark's suits. But now his fist begins to glow once more, shining among the black smoke like a golden ember.

Spending 1 PP to buy Hyperion's opportunity and recover Enhanced Strength that had been shut down by failed use of Iron Fist SFX in Msg #4.

PP's: 3 - 1 = 2

OOC: I realized later this was written in past-tense. Edited for present-tense.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:14, Thu 01 Sept 2022.

Doom Pool (2d8,3d10,d12) reaction to Ms. Marvel's attempt to remove Storm Dangling Precariously Scene Complication, Total: 19, Effect: d8 (msg #44):
(Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complication    d8)

Watcher rolled 7,6,6,7,1,2 using d8,d8,d10,d10,d10,d12 ((7,6,6,7,1,2)).

Total: 14, Effect: d12

Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d10

1 Opportunity (available first to Ms. Marvel)

Storm stirs but her eyes do not open. Whether she is conscious or not, or if her action is aided by Ms. Marvel, she rolls over, from her side to her back, just far enough to get away from the edge where she was dangling. Just as she gets to more stable ground, a glass case topples within arm's reach of her, spilling a dozen baseball onto the floor, then all of them scatter over the edge and down into the nothingness of the interior of the building. An alarm from the case notes their value with a shrill cry but the sound squelching into silence is a metaphor for how little the worth of those balls is now.


Next Reaction: Machine (Doom Pool)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:25, Wed 31 Aug 2022.

Doom Pool (2d8,3d10,d12) reaction to Yellowjacket doing something to the machine, Total: 17, Effect: d10 (msg #45):
Yellowjacket Mental Stress    d10

Watcher rolled 4,2,2,9,1,4,7 using d8,d8,d10,d10,d10,d12,d10 ((4,2,2,9,1,4,7)).

Total: 16, Effect: d12
Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d8
1 Opportunity (available first to Yellowjacket)

Yellowjacket, at near the size of an actual insect, enters the guts of the machine. and does as he intends, ripping out wires willy-nilly. Being inanimate objects they offer no resistance, and, at first, there is reaction to what he is doing.

Only feet from Pym, on the other side of a heavy panel on the machine, another participant steps not from the shadows but from a plume of thick smoke, as if materializing from anywhere other than the back of the room. He stands near the machine holding a crossbow at the ready as if on very serious guard. The man is huge for a human, dressed in black with a sleeveless shirt and rippling muscles, but the skull etched across the mask covering his head is a dead give-away: this is Crossbones, the Skull’s right-hand man. The only thing more confounding and frightening than why he is appearing now is only where he might have been before now!

Add Crossbones to Scene

Crossbones may have not looked right at Yellowjacket entering the machine, but the big man can see the fireworks going off in it so his suspicions may be aroused only for a moment before they become brutal action.

Next Action: She-Hulk

Hyperion comes back for another attack, though this time he lacks the speed from before. From She-Hulk's last monumental wallop or from Iron Fist's forceful words or just from being present here, his agility has slowed, just enough that She-Hulk can see him coming and ducks from his sluggish punch, then returns an uppercut right to the underside of his chin, knocking his head back, with his body following. A sharp KRRACKT this time, unlike the relatively softer blows from previous. The strike rattles the surrounding walls, sending chunks of what is left of the ceiling down, with a girder falling and landing just feet from Hawkeye on the other side of the room. Hyperion stumbles back even more slowly than he came, catching himself in the air to come around from the attack but his head still hanging. "When you have something to say," She-Hulk says, finally sounding the least-bit winded with that massive effort. "Let me know how that felt!"

She-Hulk deals Physical Stress d6 to Hyperion, but Collateral Damage SFX adds d6 to Doom Pool. (Previous action bonus from She-Hulk in msg #39 no longer available.)

Doom Pool: 2d8,3d10,d12 +d6 = d6,2d8,3d10,d12

Next Action: Spider-Man
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:46, Thu 08 Sept 2022.

Though Yellowjacket shrank to the size of an insect to all but disappear from the events happening in the room, one with the sense to track him and happened to be swinging close enough to the side of the room with the machine could see the scientist shrink and fly into the machine. When the monitors and gauges on the machine start sparking and going haywire barely a moment later, it’s not difficult to put together that there is mayhem going on inside it, and he who should know better is the cause. Spider-Man, nearby, calls, nearly a panicked cry, “Pym! What are you doing?!? We don’t know what that machine is for! It could be the only thing keeping Cap -- or his brain -- alive!”

Spider-Man mental attack on Yellowjacket (to stop him from damaging the machine further):
Team d6
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility (not moving to stop him before he went in)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Psych Expert d8
Yellowjacket Mental Stress    d10

Spider-Man rolled 4,3,1,8 using d6,d4,d8,d10 ((4,3,1,8)).

Total: 11, Effect: d6
1 Opportunity (available first to Yellowjacket)

Being that this is a mental attack, no physical powers may be used to defend, and Psyche is the only Specialty that can be used in the reaction pool.

Doom Pool: d6,2d8,3d10,d12 (-d6/+d8) = 3d8,3d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Yellowjacket
Next Action: Hyperion

"I am sick of people yelling at me! Second-guessing me!" Hank threw down the wire he was holding. "It's bad enough to get it from my ex-wife, but now I have to listen to Spider-Man?"

Team d8
Towering Intellect d8

Yellowjacket rolled 8,2 using d8,d8 ((8,2)).

Bishop wasn't too bright, but he was smart enough to realize they had no chance of surviving this fight unless they somehow managed to break whatever hold possessed Captain America.  putting his trust in Pym, he decided to take down the man who stepped forward to protect the machine, giving it everything he got!


Team 1d8, uncompromising 1d8, 2d10 energy blast (with SFX), 1d8 combat expert, 1d8 resource
Bishop rolled 7,2,4,6,1 using 1d8,1d8,2d10,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 7,2,2,2,6,1.  energy blast at crossbones.  Total 13, effect 1d10.
New PP total: 0+1=1

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunities

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 13, Effect: d10:
Focus/Team & Plumes Of Thick, Hot Smoke    d6
(step up Doom Pool die)
Combat Master    d10
Bishop Mental stress    d6
Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complication    d8
from Doom Pool    d8

Crossbones rolled 2,10,1,1,8 using d6,d10,d6,d8,d8 ((2,10,1,1,8)).

Total: 18, Effect: d6
2 Opportunities (available first to Bishop)

Doom Pool: 3d8,3d10,d12 +d6 (-d8/+d10) -d8 = d6,d8,4d10,d12

Even viewing it from across the crowded battlefield and through the smoke, Crossbones had already moved out of the way of Bishop’s target when he saw the mutant aiming with raised, energized fists. The dodge is little effort for the mercenary, and it would be a wide, disregarded miss in any other circumstance, but Bishop’s blast strikes the big apparatus by which Crossbones is standing sentry and rends a side of the machinery apart. Chunks of the machine go flying along with wires that have recently been torn apart from the inside, but the size of the thing, even with the sheer power behind Bishop giving the attack his all, saves it from falling apart completely. When most of the sparks cease moments later the machine is how it was, with no indication how much damage was caused to its function. However, barely an instant later, the body strapped to the machine jerks upward in a violent spasm, straining the constraints at his wrist, ankles, and waist!

Crossbones continues his guard, no reaction whether the destruction was help or hindrance through his stoic mask. He does not even ready a counter-strike to his would-be attacker.

BWOMPF! She-Hulk slugs Hyperion yet again and sends him staggering backward a few feet in his hover. The two combatants have exchanged blows since their fracas started and plenty of bruises have been administered but neither has slowed their pace of doling out violence. She-Hulk seemed to gain the slightest advantage with that blow to her opponent, then with this newest one he pauses once more. This time he stops. Throughout the rest of the area, the rest of his team stop likewise, most of them earning a pause as they have asserted dominance over their sparring partners. Even what had been a streaking blur up to this point reveals himself to be a lithe man in a spandex costume once he slows to a halt on the far end of the room. They all look blankly, somewhere around them, past their adversaries. Hyperion, having started this advent of cessation, looks up slowly, nose bleeding and muscles bulging. Though his mask is ripped, his eyes are still obscured, but he glares straight at She-Hulk in front of him. The jade giantess likewise stops, but her body is still in motion, backing up as Hyperion gathers his might. “Uh -- “ she says, but anything she could mutter matters not when the giant dressed in yellow and red bursts toward her, fist initially pulled back then thrust forward in a streak and into the face of the green Avenger, and would have gone through it if not for her substantial might. KRAKT!, as clear as brutality in the open space. Her head is forced aside with the blow, almost all the way around, with her body following, and sending her tumbling to the crumbling floor. She hits the surface with enough force to make anything on it bounce -- the entire floor -- and another panel of a wall falls. Hitting face down, she slowly puts out a mighty arm to push herself up, but even agonizing moments later she has not gone far enough that her hair is gathered on the floor obscuring her face.

She-Hulk takes Physical Stress d8

Danny grimaced as the sound of the blow fell upon his ears. The Iron Fist knew a solid punch when he heard one. It wasn't often he had reason to worry about She-Hulk, but as he saw her go down, his eyes widened as he called out with a note of worry in his voice: "Jen!"

Still gathering his Chi, he wasn't yet in a position to go to her aid. His eyes fell upon the mighty Venom as he scanned the room.

"We've gotta do something about the heavy hitter. Think you can trap him?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:42, Mon 26 Sept 2022.

Venom points at himself and then at She-Hulk, "You want us to restrain that? That is not a minion!"

He crouches, "Allonsy! Wait no we did that joke already."

After a moment he leaps towards Hyperion, "We apologize in advance in case your organs taste delicious as we'll take your spare ones!" And to highlight Venom's less than solid construction he turns into a giant blob with a mouth which is filled with teeth and try to swallow Hyperion.

OOC

Total: 12
ED: d10
Opps: 1
PP: 1

Team d6
Unrelenting Savage d4 +1 pp
Super Strength d10
Shapeshifting d6
-1 PP to activate Envelop d6
Combat expert d8
11:10, Today: Venom rolled 5,1,4,6,6,2 using d6,d4,d10,d6,d6,d8 ((5,1,4,6,6,2)).

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Venom's Opportunity

Defend from Venom's attempt to create Envelop Complication, Total: 12, Effect: d10:
Team    d8
Last Son of Argon    d8
Godlike Durability    d12
Combat Expert    d8
Venom Emotional Stress    d8
Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complication    d8
From Doom Pool    d6

Hyperion rolled 7,5,2,8,4,7,2 using d8,d8,d12,d8,d8,d8,d6 ((7,5,2,8,4,7,2)).

Total: 15, Effect: d12

Doom Pool: d6,d8,4d10,d12 +d6 -d6 = d6,d8,4d10,d12

Once again, Venom is more teeth than he is power. Though he talks a good game, his effectiveness wanes, even when standing among the good guys. Whether from what this team has been through, general exhaustion, or the stifling heat of the day on this battleground, when Venom needs it he is left with little fuel in his symbiote tank, at least not to call the power he needs. His tendrils meander in the air instead of shoot through it, and by the time they reach their mighty opponent, they are thin and confused. They touch the caped man but not near any magnitude to envelop their foe in anything but words, and nothing to which he reacts. To twist the knife farther, a thick block of the floor above them falls, squashing a few of the most hapless tendrils.
This message was last updated by the player at 08:14, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

While She-Hulk props herself up slowly from the floor, the domino-masked man draws back, not reacting to Venom's attack but taking no further action. He does nothing, but the part of his face that isn’t latticed in thick bruises is blank. He seems to look over the action but at nothing in particular. His torn, yellow cape flows lightly with the minimal motion of his hovering above the broken floor. It is a minor retreat, but his sudden stillness after blasting She-Hulk with his fist is a jarring contrast to behold.

Spider-Man dodges another Iron suit, landing to perch on a pile of rubbish that used to be a meeting table whose wax probably cost a million dollars, next to the hero that could help the most. “We’re getting what’s left of our butts handed to us here,” Spider-Man says, with a darker tone than what usually facilitates his quips. “A plan to take them straight-on isn’t much of a plan. And right now we’re being more of a danger to Cap, if that’s who’s in that machine. We need to figure out something more than this because this isn’t working.”

The hero that can help the most get an extra d8 for their next action dice pool, for interacting with Spider-Man.

As if to replace the withdrawing mighty man, the fellow wielding light recoils amidst the rubble of the building and its still-falling pieces, reaching for his head and groaning, the first sound made by these combatants that was not the direct consequence of violence. But just as he doubles over and his fingertips reach his temple, he suddenly stands bolt-upright, with the hand that holds the source of his power outstretched. When his arm is fully extended a multitude of colors burst from his fist to slice through the heroes near him -- and those beyond as well!

Physical attack on Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Bishop, Venom:
Team    d4
Resisting    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Energy Blast    d10
Area Attack    2d6
Combat Expert    d8
Crumbling Battlefield    d8
Iron Fist Emotional Stress    d12
From Doom Pool    d8

Doctor Spectrum rolled 1,4,10,5,6,8,3,8,8 using d4,d4,d10,d6,d6,d8,d8,d12,d8 ((1,4,10,5,6,8,3,8,8)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total

Total: 26, Effect: d12 to Bishop; d8 to Ms. Marvel; d6 to Iron Fist & Venom
1 Opportunity (available first to Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Bishop, Venom)

Doom Pool: d6,d8,4d10,d12 (-d6/+d8) -d8 -d8 = 4d10,d12

Reaction Needed: Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Bishop, Venom
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

Mac and Venom had barely pulled themselves back into a cohesive whole before the colors of pain was introduced to them as they tried to dive behind the debris around them, "This isn't working too well! We eat minions and annoy Spiderman!"

Once he is struck and pretty much splattered around the area he is in with an almost naked Mac slumped a back wall again, "I think I'd like to go back to the Raft now....it should be Meatloaf day...."



OOC:
Total: 18
ED: D8
PP: 1 (+1 from Opps): 2


team d6
The Remains Of The Interior Of Avengers Tower distinction d8
Superhuman Durability d10
Superhuman Reflexes d10
Acrobatic Expert d8

08:15, Today: Venom rolled 1,5,8,10,2 using d6,d8,d10,d10,d8 ((1,5,8,10,2)).

This message was last edited by the player at 16:22, Fri 30 Sept 2022.

Stand up and fight, or run away.  These were the two options as far as Bishop was concerned.  If there was a smart way out of this, he expected one of the scientist guys to figure it out.
For now, all he could do was absorb some of the enemy's attention.  He was good for that, at least.

Team 1d8, Uncompromising 1d4, Durability 1d10, Combat 1d8
Bishop rolled 4,4,1,8 using 1d8,1d4,1d10,1d8 with rolls of 4,4,1,8.  reaction to Doc Spectrum.
Total 12 vs 26.  Spending a PP to activate Energy Absorption SFX, stepping up Energy Blast back to 1d10
New PP total: 1-1+1+1=2

"Spider-Man is right."

She-Hulk. Venom. Was there anyone here this big slugger couldn't outmatch? The situation was dire when Danny and the team had arrived. But with every passing second, this fight seemed more impossible to win. They needed a new strategy.

Okay, Danny, think. What's the plan? What are we doing here?

The Tower was crumbling all around them. A team of Avengers lay around the room in scattered defeat. And at the center of it all was the Red Skull, gleefully goading Danny and his allies into... what? Destroying Captain America's body? When the Fist took into account everything the team had been through up until now, it just wasn't adding up.

"If his goal really was to destroy Cap's body," he thinks aloud. "He would have already had plenty of time to do it before we even got here. So there must be something else he's after."

Okay, makes sense so far. But doesn't help us getting our butts kicked.

"We need to get Cap back. Get him and the others somewhere safe, so they can help us figure out what's really going on here."

He turns to the group. "It'll take everything we've got, but I'm sure we can- wha?!"

And then a multicolored flash of light blazes toward him, and it's all he can do to pull off another desperate dodge.

Pull off another desperate dodge.

Team d6
Living Weapon d4 (Forced to play defense)
Enhanced Reflexes d8
Acrobatic Master 3d6

02:16, Today: Iron Fist rolled 4,3,3,4,2,2 using 1d6,1d4,1d8,1d6,1d6,1d6 with rolls of 4,3,3,4,2,2.  Reaction to Dr. Spectrum's energy blast attack.

Total: 7
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 0
PP's: 2 + 1 = 3

Karla was distracted some listening to Iron First;  who was making a good deal of sense -- again, she reflected he really did seem to have some leadership qualities...

The sudden flash of light in her peripheral vision alerted her --  and her knee jerk response was to go intangible.

Which came with a twofold issue:   the first being that power was far more optimal for physical attacks, rather than energy.   And the second that, something about this conflict, her attempt to use that particular power --  it brought an echo of memory, confusing images and impressions, from the part of the moonstone that dovetailed with her subconscious.

And, not only did that power fail to protect her from Spectrum's assault, it also slipped out of her volition, leaving her in a mostly immaterial state, unable to have any effect at all on those around her.   Not that she was in any shape to do so, even so --  involuntarily crying out, as she endured the force of the blast...

Reaction vs. Spectrum's attack --  Epic Fail!!
Ms. Marvel rolled 2,4,4,3 using d8,d10,d4,d8 with rolls of 2,4,4,3.
Team + Intangibility + Echoes of the Moonstone + Combat
Total = 8  Effect = D8

Limit - Flood Of Memories: Change any Kree Moonstone Augmentation power into a complication to gain 1 PP. Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to recover the power

Intangibility D10 becomes a complication.

PP +2 = 4
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Mon 03 Oct 2022.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Venom's Opportunity (msg #60)
Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunity (msg #61)

Venom: Attacking Extraordinary Success deals d8 Physical Stress
Bishop: Attacking Extraordinary Success deals d12 Physical Stress/d8 Physical Trauma (pending discussion with player)
Iron Fist: Attacking Extraordinary Success deals d12 Physical Stress (pending Chi Healing SFX)
Ms. Marvel: Attacking Extraordinary Success deals d12 Physical Stress/d6 Physical Trauma



The beams shooting from the masked man’s gem are silent but nearly fatal, pushing each combatant to their very limits. Venom, furthest from the attacker, takes the least of it and is still merely badly singed to his interior, human skin. If the symbiote urges him on, surely his human inside realizes the dire possibilities of what could come from this conflict. Bishop is overloaded by power, perhaps more than he has ever been. Being taken to these limits was last done during his training in that far-away place, with sadistic methods to press him as far as his mutant powers  could go. Now he’s taken as much from this unworldly power assaulting him, instantly pushing him farther than he thought he could go. Still, he draws in the power and stays standing, but how much longer he can go is in question. Iron Fist cannot be sure how deep the strike went into his body, being a flash of light across him, but a burst quick and powerful enough to cauterize whatever harm it did, leaving him oblivious to the lasting damage. This battle would be the worst place to self-check for personal injury, but to keep going could be a dangerous predicament, for wherever he winds up when the shock wears off. Extraordinary methods may be necessary. Ms. Marvel, closest and already familiar with the attack, takes the most damage when the beam slices through her on an energy frequency beyond what her intangibility can tune to. Maybe she missed it by only a degree, but it is a time like this that shows her how her mastery of science in the psychological realm does not extend to physics. The heroes are left hobbled in their worst conditions so far, and yet the battle and the danger rage. There is no guarantee that keeping on will not result in defeat, but stopping now would mean certain failure! How much further can they go?!

Doom Pool: 4d10,d12 +d6 +d6 = 2d6,4d10,d12

By the time Iron Fist would have felt the slightest hint of a presence behind him, he would have already been dead. Masked by the tumult of the chaos around them, as well as bearing a mastery of stealth, a particular foe could sneak up on him and deliver a final, fatal blow. In another time and place it might have happened, but at this one, that foe stopped with their killing tool only an inch away from Danny Rand. When Iron Fist can take a look at the man behind him, Nighthawk, in his dark indigo and black uniform, showing even more a power over stealth to stay obscured even against the brightness of the afternoon sunlight bathing the area, holding a black, bladed weapon shaped like a hawk perilously close to the back of the martial artist’s neck, now halted and held by a trembling hand. Nighthawk’s face is twisted in anguish, also trembling, taken over on the inside by pain from an invisible foe. He makes a great effort, his face red and drawing sweat, holding back or pushing against an unseen force. His other shaking hand raises slowly and shakily to hold his head and his eyes shut tight, finally dropping his weapon with a clatter and issuing a tormented cry: “AAARRRGGGHHH!” Both hands come to hold his head and he pulls himself back, struggling against an internal enemy. While Iron Fist’s life may have been spared in this split-second, his would-be killer has been left with his own intense struggle.

Nighthawk adds d8 to Doom Pool

Doom Pool: 2d6,4d10,d12 +d8 = 2d6,d8,4d10,d12

Meanwhile, two of the Iron Man armors -- a classic red-and-gold set and a sleek, new model, unfinished in gray -- collide in the air, causing neither harm or slowing down, but drawing a cloud of sparks when they pull away from their crash.

"Damn it, it's too much!"
Bishop just barely managed to contain the surge of energy. He couldn't take much more of it.  Unless the tiny man succeeded in wrecking the machine, he had half a mind to bail out of there.

Just as it occurs to Bishop that this may have been a momentous event taken from a grade-school history lesson -- if only he could remember what had happened (or will happen) to earn such a place -- the combatants known by some as the Squadron Supreme each drop to their knees, grasping their heads, much like Nighthawk. Blur writhes in agony, the Skrull moans, Power Princess shakes her head violently and tries to rise to her feet but slumps back again. As they fall to the floor tenuously holding together, only one of their number stands: Hyperion. Though his body shakes, he clinches his fists and stands, muscles tensed and ready for brutality. No feeling appears in his eyes, buried under Hulk-made bruises.

In another part of the room, the Deep-Sea or Deep-Space Iron Man armor with the bowl on its head freezes in mid-air. A hitherto-unseen Iron Man armor in orange, on the floor, faces the direction away from the action. The black Stealth Iron Man armor hits the ceiling, taking down half of the overhead floor, sending it down the massive hole in the floor where the heroes and their foes stand and into the dark oblivion that was once the interior of Avenger Tower.

Crossbones holds his silent stance, knife in hand, near the machine and the body in it.

The Red Skull, untouched in the middle of the chaos, stands and smiles widely at all around him, with a mouthful of perfect, white teeth.

Blur, The Skrull, Power Princess, Iron Armor Mob, Crossbones step up Doom Pool:
Doom Pool: 2d6,d8,4d10,d12 (-d6/+d8) (-d6/+d8) (-d8/+d10) (-d10/+d12) (-d10/+d12) = 2d8,3d10,3d12
5 Opportunities available

Next Action: Red Skull (new round)

The Skull-as-Cap stands in the center of the chaos of once-heroes writhing on the floor and clutching their heads and numerous Iron Suits colliding with each other and what is left of this great room. Hyperion hovers above the floor, fists ready, his tattered cape fluttering lightly in the hot wind that has blown through this shattered arena. Slowly he shifts toward where the Skull is standing, in front of his master, between the Skull and wherever there is the greatest assemblage of heroes.

At last the Skull leans back to expand his chest in pride, clutches his hands front of him, and, with a sound even more like gravel, speaks. “Take the body, if you must. I have left that mind of pathetic, broken ideology in my former, crippled body, and now I finally stand on victory. That the device that made that exchange is as good as destroyed -- by your helpful hands -- and now I may live out my days in this body, conquering with no limits in sight. I would thank you for your aid but our allegiance does not end today. In fact, it is merely beginning. We -- you and I -- are on the precipice of the greatest battle this world, if not this universe, will have seen, and sides must be taken. There is no choice. You will mark my words: Those in between forces shall be crushed. As my forces are clearly superior, guided by the form of your greatest leader, you would be fools to not honor my leadership. So you may take the body of the verdammt Captain as payment in advance for the services I shall call upon and which you will be wise to honor. To choose otherwise, to take another side or none at all, will end in defeat, yours and whomever chooses to ally with you.”

He pauses, as if awaiting an answer, though not one with violence, despite the vulnerability he expresses with making himself the most open target of all here. But suddenly -- and silently -- a figure emerges from a plume of smoke behind him, a sleek, dark form bursting from the obscurations of the surrounding area and exploding into the fray, aiming at the grand foe before him. His pounce is so mighty and committed that he seems to freeze in mid-air, his trajectory leading him right to -- and through -- the Red Skull before him. The intention is clearly a vicious stealth attack, coming up from behind the Skull and unbeknownst to the ruling villain. Claws catch a flash of light as they extend, ready for a blindsiding assault that could only be deadly, upon the body that was once the legendary Captain America. By the time his attack is revealed, the Black Panther is only an arm’s length from it!

Next Action: Anyone who wants to attack the Black Panther to stop him or who wants to create an Asset to help him
As a free action, anyone can spend a PP to help or hinder the Black Panther (along with narration for what you are doing to affect the attack)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:32, Wed 26 Oct 2022.

Damn it! Hank had mis-identified how the machine functioned. He assumed that because Cap/Skull was still in the machine that the machine was necessary to keep Skull/Cap in charge. But instead, it just seemed that the Skull had been too lazy to take his old body out of the machine. He didn't care about it anymore. Thus, Hank's attempt to stop the machine had simply broken it... and now it was about to burst into flames unless he did something to stop it.

[Fire suppression (Attacking the Doom Pool directly)]

Team d8
Epic Guilt Complex d8
Shrinking d10 + d6
SFX: Miniaturized Arsenal. When using Size Of An Ant to create tech-related assets, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
Tech Master d10

Yellowjacket rolled 5,7,7,1,2 using d8,d8,d10,d6,d10 ((5,7,7,1,2)).

Total: 19 (Spending 1 PP to keep 3rd die)
Effect: d12 (stepped-up d10)
Opps: 1
PP: 1
This message was last edited by the player at 17:16, Tue 01 Nov 2022.

Attacking the Doom Pool is not an allowable action

Miniaturized Arsenal is used for creating Assets

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Yellowjacket's Opportunity

Doom Pool (2d8,3d10,3d12) reaction to Yellowjacket's attempt to attack Doom Pool, Total: 19, Effect: d12:
Yellowjacket Mental Stress    d10
Crumbling Battlefield    d8

Watcher rolled 3,7,9,3,7,8,1,11,7,5 using d8,d8,d10,d10,d10,d12,d12,d12,d10,d8 ((3,7,9,3,7,8,1,11,7,5)).

Total: 20, Effect: d12

1 Opportunity (available first to Yellowjacket)

Doom Pool:2d8,3d10,3d12 +d6 = d6,2d8,3d10,3d12

KRAK! An spark that would be small to a standard human is an explosion bigger than Pym is at the moment. POPK! goes another one. Then KUH-KLUNG! and shaking the whole thing -- something falling into the housing outside. If the interior of this machine is like a big house, the fire Pym smells is not inside the room where he is. But it’s somewhere, and likely close. What’s in his current space is wires, wires connecting to things, and things exploding that are connected to wires. Any panic would leave him tangled in his competition for space, but any attempt at escape could leave him charging straight into that fire, wherever it is. Or fires? Perhaps Pym succeeded in his mission into this device, to conquer it and whatever intentions it had, and now he's taking the life out of it -- perhaps in more ways than one!/

Still reeling from the multicolored Squadron member's beam attack, Danny is already in a bad way when the next opponent makes his move. The hair on the back of his neck stands up as he suddenly realizes an enemy is behind him. Too late, he senses a blade at his neck-- a disturbing realization during the most favorable of battles. Now, in the heroes' darkest moments, it is a chilling reminder that their enemies here are in a whole different league. The slightest twitch, and Nighthawk will cut the Fist's throat, bleeding him out before his body even hits the ground.

And yet, the avian assassin isn't seeing it through. Instead, the blade trembles, and eventually falls away from Danny's neck as Nighthawk doubles over, clutching at his head:

Whatever is happening, Danny takes the opportunity to stagger away and place himself in a more advantageous position among the rubble. As he again surveys the battlefield, his healing hands clutch at his own wounds, salving them with Chi. I won't be caught off guard again, he thinks. I won't.

Spending 1 PP to recover my physical stress using Chi Healing SFX.

And then he sees the Black Panther moving into position toward the Skull. One glance at the Wakandan warrior's posture is enough to tell Danny everything. The glint of the claws only confirms what he already fears, as instincts take over and he rushes to stop certain disaster.

"NO!" is all he can shout as he dashes toward them. His hand shines with golden light as he reaches out-- not to strike the Panther, but to catch hold of his wrist before the deadly blow falls upon Captain America's body.

Rolling to stop the Black Panther from damaging Cap's body. I suppose this would be a complication, "Restrain the Panther".

Team d6
Young Dragon d4 (+1 PP) (Street-level hero vs. Avenger)
Enhanced Speed d8
Acrobatic Master 2d8

01:21, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,3,1,6,4 using 1d6,1d4,1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 1,3,1,6,4.  Danny attempts to restrain Black Panther.

Total: 10
Effect: d4
Opportunities: 2
PP's: 3 + 1 from Opportunities = 4

Next: Ms. Marvel
This message was last edited by the player at 08:38, Sun 06 Nov 2022.

The Watcher said I can't currently take any dice actions, and there are no actions that don't involve dice, as far as I understand;


Still hampered by her own power gone awry, as well as reeling from the effects of Dr. Spectrum's assault, Karla could only watch through pain-hazed eyes as the Wakandan liege sped at the body that once belonged to Captain America.    Iron First moved swiftly to intercede; she almost couldn't look...she would rather hate to see that body die with someone else in it.

Karla began backing away from the fray, wishing she'd avoided this colossal cluster f--k altogether...

Next:  Venom

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Iron Fist's Opportunities (1 of 2)

Doom Pool (d6,2d8,3d10,3d12) reaction to Iron Fist's attempt to create Restrain the Panther Complication, Total: 10, Effect: d4 (msg #71):
Iron Fist Emotional Stress    d12
Crumbling Battlefield Scene Complications    d8

Watcher rolled 2,3,4,9,10,1,3,8,7,4,7 using d6,d8,d8,d10,d10,d10,d12,d12,d12,d12,d8 ((2,3,4,9,10,1,3,8,7,4,7)).

Total: 19, Effect: d12

Counterattack (using the other of Iron Fist's Opportunities) deals Iron Fist d12 Physical Stress

Doom Pool: d6,2d8,3d10,3d12 =d6 = 2d6,2d8,3d10,3d12

Danny leaps to his feet as his wounds fade, leaving only a tingling where there was once great, grinding pains, but he has less motivation than he thought. His hands shake until they are made into fists and his eyesight gets woozy and his face feels hot and the floor seems to shift underfoot, even more than it had before, as it continues to fall apart. Having seen the Panther just before the beginning of his strike, the mighty Iron Fist has the jump but where he lands becomes in front of the superior Hyperion, who slides over to come between Danny and his target. Without a single word, the bruised, masked man makes a slight gesture with his arm, which becomes a shattering back-hand across the Fist’s face, sending the hero flying and freshly beaten. Iron Fist is left on the opposite side of the room from where he started, battered again.

Not far from where Iron Fist lands, Hawkeye either stirs or the floor beneath him -- what is left of it -- shifts, sending his body rolling to the other side.

An instant later, when Black Panther should already be one second past his vicious attack, the body that was once Captain America spins backward, to face his attacker, his arm following to punch a hand at the neck of his foe in a move so viciously smooth he could have spent his life practicing for this very moment. The Skull plucks the Panther out of the air by the throat, the rest of the Panther's lithe body following through with the momentum but his head being jerked back by the hand around his neck, violently yanking the rest of him, hard enough to snap a spine. But life is expressed when the victim brings his hands up to pull himself away from the grip, to no avail. The Black Panther hangs limply by his neck, hanging on to the arm of the Skull-as-Cap, who shows no discomfort in holding his enemy aloft.

“An attack on me, the most brilliant tactical mind in existence, in the body of a honed warrior?" the Skull barks. "You did not think I would see the intention of your attack when you entered this battlefield? You did not think I would not know who you are?”

The Skull’s grin comes both as a sign of his victory and from gnashing his teeth. If he could not crush the Panther’s windpipe with a firm squeeze of his fist around the throat, he could surely constrict the flow of air enough that life would be pulled from his opponent, bringing death so much more slowly than the mercy of snapping a spine. The Black Panther writhes in the grip, but can find no purchase in his struggle, in the steel grip of the ultimate enemy who could choose to snuff out his living as easily as breathing his own plentiful air.

Spider-Man, with his costume torn nearly completely from one arm and torso and any exposed skin covered in cuts and bruises, settles on a pile of rubbish that looks like it was an expensive, shiny desk. “That’s the king of Wakanda, bonehead!” he says, squatting in a ready position but hesitating to pounce. “You’re about to get an entire badass country coming down on you!”

The Skull’s strong, resolute face looks down at the prey wriggling at the end of his arm. “Is that so? Are you a king? Is that who you are?” He flicks his wrist, shaking the body of the Black Panther, stressing his enemy’s spine but apparently not quite breaking it, as the Panther struggles, with slightly less urgency, as air is getting harder to come by in his lungs.

“Who you truly are?” The Skull shakes the body again and the form of the Panther shimmers. The body shifts and rolls cascade down its surface then fade, to be replaced by the form of Wolfsbane, as most of the heroes here saw her previously. The form settles, but still in the iron grip of the Red Skull in the body of Captain America.

The glow fades from Danny's hand as he impacts the floor, rolling to a stop against a heap of rubble. His whole body has gone limp, and he does not stir.

I'll buy the Watcher's Opportunity for a Stunt d10 on my next turn.

PP's: 3
This message was last edited by the player at 01:00, Sun 20 Nov 2022.

Wolfsbane’s writhing at the end of the Red Captain’s arm becomes slower and weaker. When her struggles to escape the clutches of her captor become little more than the magnitude of muscle spasms, her body begins to shimmer again, rolls of distortion cascading down her form to reveal… the mystifying mistress of malicious manipulation, Mystique!

“This is who you choose to trust? To stand beside you in battle and assume she will not slit your neck and not your opponent's? You are her enemy more than any shared foe and yet you welcome this mutant into your guard, to open yourself to a strike so swift that you will not realize your own woeful ignorance before your heart takes its last beat? She would kill you with a breath and you cannot make the effort to end it? Perhaps the necessary action must be taken for you.”

KRACK goes the sound of Mystique’s neck.

With a flick of his wrist and hardly an effort from his arm, he tosses the body away, halfway across the room, only by luck landing on a spot of flooring that hasn’t fallen through to the empty interiors of the skyscraper below. The body rolls, limp, to become a heap on the edge of the precipice.

The Skull-as-Cap continues with a snarl. “Have you nothing to say for yourselves? Death from your moral high-ground, haughty honor, and blind obedience -- not the assassin in your midst -- would endanger the greater plans I have engineered. Your ends would bring about some joy to my ranks but such victory is deserved to be taken by me, the architect of the grand design that succeeds expectation, when I should choose to end you! Your lives are a benefit to me now, presently saved from this vile creature. Plentiful suspicion can be a powerful guard, especially when to not see what is in front of you reeks of the most base stupidity! But say nothing -- I shall take the luck of your survival as an expression of gratitude -- and servitude! You will bow! You will serve!”

As if to punctuate the Skull’s words with violence, a sound like an explosion happens overhead -- CRASH! -- when two Iron Man suits -- the popular red-and-gold one and the Silver Centurion -- collide, sending sparks and metal flying in all directions. Spider-Man, among any others, dives out of the way when the Centurion hits the floor, taking out the section over which Hyperion was hovering just moments ago. The original gray armor putters through the air then turns upside down and drops, tumbling into the abyss below, followed by the Silver Centurion. The mangled red-and-gold armor hits the floor but the structure underneath it holds.

The Squadron still hold their heads, though their cries of anguish have stopped. Hyperion slowly takes his hands away and begins to look around but still kneels in vulnerability.

From the far side of the smoke two bodies are thrown into the meager clearing that has been made in the battle, not far from where the Skull stands. It is two men limp from defeat, though their bodies show no particular damage, save for their faces: one, wearing a technical suit but not armor plating, has a new bruise on the side of his face, from force enough to knock him out; the other one, wearing a red body-suit and a helmet, has no similar bruise but the bottom half of his face is covered in fresh blood, spouting from his nose. Both of them drop to the floor on their bashed faces, then slump to a stop.





From their point of origin through the smoke comes one more figure, though this body in full control of its faculties, standing upright with confidence, and not even breaking a sweat in this heat and among the violence. Her voice comes before she enters from the obscurity: “That should make it easier.” It could only be: Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. “Hopefully that didn’t ruin anyone’s plans to take them all out one at a time.” She rubs one wrist lightly with the other hand then steps to a stop, hip jutting slightly, and looks at the Skull with no expression.

The Skull looks back.

Mac spits a bit of blood from his mouth, "We were going more for we are nearly dead but acting all the way dead..." He looks down at himself, "Though to be honest this is more like mostly dead even Venom isn't moving that fast this time."

Across what was once the staging area of Stark’s wide office but is now a slag of pieces barely hanging on to what was once the entirety of this level the through wisps of smoke, the Skull in Captain America’s body and the Widow stare each other down. “Ah, the magnificent Black Widow,” the Skull says, the slime in his voice finally overtaking the familiarity in what was once Cap’s, now with a fully sinister tone that tends toward dark and gravelly. “Perhaps, at least, there is a worthy opponent today.” But the chrorle that follows betrays that he would ever consider such a thought. “If there was ever an opportunity for you to recover the Captain’s mind and body, you are far too late. Kapitän Scheiße! For my old foe to reform his mind with his body -- alas, his very soul -- it would require my permission and cooperation, neither of which you shall ever acquire. The only way you could ever -- “

WHOOSH!

The sudden appearance makes no sound but the displacement of air and smoke away from it creates a brief, rushing sound, as well as moving the obscuration. The Skull and Widow face down across from each other on one side of the room, with the assembled heroes, the Squadron, and various Iron Man armors that have hit the floor scattered about, but fewer near the far side, where the enormous machine with the body strapped to it rests, with Crossbones looking on. Though being farther away affords a much greater amount of smoke, hiding the machine entirely if not for its size, and now obscures a form that has appeared suddenly, silently, and without warning. Only an indistinguishable silhouette of the figure is apparent, as the rest is completely enveloped within the smoke.

The Skull draws his attention away from his previous task, and, as the closest figure to the machine and this new individual, can react to their identity. When he recognizes the figure, the smallest shudder betrays his haughty composure. “You!” he exclaims, somewhere between a shocked wail and a distressed cry. "You shall not take this victory from me!" The Skull suddenly seems to realize who he now is and squares his shoulders, crouches into a battle position, then jumps into the smoke toward the mysterious figure. The fog swirls for a moment as furious activity happens within it, along with the sounds of scuffling feet and slaps and cracks that could be the result of a close physical confrontation, then FWOOSH! and the fog parts to send the Red Skull flying back close to where he started, hitting the floor with a perceptible creaking below him. Back in the mists, Crossbones is sent to the other side in the same manner, but where he falls is out of sight.

The figure stirs in the mist, still obscured, and moves toward the large machine near the back of the space before anyone can make their own approach on him -- or her -- or it. The machine is tall enough that some of its top peaks out above the cloud, enough that the person strapped to it can be seen, then as they are removed from it, with shackles snapping then the body shifting off the device and into the mists and obscurity. The Skull moves not from the floor but turns back to face the direction of his attacker and reaches out, more helpless than the former owner of his body had ever been. “Scheiße!” is all he gets out before the dark presence of the figure, now with their size enhanced by carrying the body from the machine, quietly but quickly fades, leaving the cloud clear, then, as if to prove the point, parting to reveal no figures at all where they once stood. The machine now stands empty where it once held the body essential to the hope of returning the legendary Captain America to his rightful existence. The only movement other than the languidly swirling mist is Crossbones slowly getting to his feet and heading toward the Red Skull, who has frozen, helpless on his knees. The Skull-in-the-Captain’s-body shuffles one leg around to plant a foot on the floor and the creaking beneath him becomes louder, until it is a distinct, pitched SQUAWK.

Then the entire floor gives way. Everyone not already airborne drops into the yawning, bottomless abyss that was once Tony Stark's monumental homage to power. Flying capabilities are useless to those who are unconscious, which is more than a few, and there are no convenient hand-holds to reach out to. Before anyone can summon a thought for rescue, everyone is falling down down down into the bleak, hot vastness that was once the interior of the Avengers Tower, now destroyed and scooped into a defeated, empty shell.

Choose one NPC to save. Feel free to contribute to the narrative how you save them.

Mac tries to grab onto something as the ground beneath them falls away, "Venom! Now would be a good time to wake up!" Mac's shoulder pings off a bit of debris sending him tumbling in the air before Venom covers him again, "I hate this DREAM!" "It isn't a dream you paramecium-brained glob! Stick Stark to something he isn't in a suit like us!"


Venom still flailing slightly growls, "We will come back to that insult meat!" And Venom starts flinging webs out as best he can to try and stick Stark to one of the walls or at the minimum wrap him to soften his impact. "DId they dig down to your marbles core? This fall is comically long!"

Yellowjacket zips out of the machine just in time, and sees the floor (and everything on it) begin to drop away. He'd be useless at insect size, he realized, but maybe he could save someone at Giant-Man size. As he grew, he grabbed the nearest non-flier, barely even registering who it might be, and just kept growing until he felt his feet hit another floor. He pushed off, knowing full well that floor was also about to collapse, and leaped out the side of the building.

Landing safely, Hank opened his hands. He had She-Hulk.

He rolled his eyes. If there was one member of the team who could survive a building collapsing on her without assistance, it was She-Hulk.

If he'd been feeling useless before, he certainly did now.

Danny slowly comes to, propping himself up on an elbow as the room finally stops spinning. With a groan of pain, he massages his face where Hyperion's counter-attack had bloodied it. If the Iron Fist is conscious and able to move, that probably means his neck isn't broken. Well, at least there's that, he thinks.

He can barely squint through his swollen eye to see what's going on or where he is. It feels as though he could have been out cold for either five minutes or five months. With another groan, he realizes the Red Skull is somewhere in the middle of another speech, prattling on about gods only knew what. That means it's probably the former.

The foggy-looking colored shapes nearby might be his teammates, still fighting the good fight in his sudden absence. Danny knows they will need a miracle to pull off a win here, and his own re-entry into the fray isn't nearly enough. But right now, it's all he can contribute. With a mighty effort, he grunts, strains, and slowly rises to his feet.

Aaaand the floor's collapsing, he notices to his annoyance.

The black-and-red shape sliding toward certain doom doesn't consciously register in his brain as the Black Widow. It feels like a lifetime since he gazed into those eyes, or enjoyed the sound of that voice, but the memory they spark is enough to compel him to act. Instinct propels him toward Natasha, wrapping her in his arms as the floor gives way. If nothing else, maybe his body can help cushion her fall.

Down, down, into the darkness they plummet.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Fri 14 Apr 2023.

The floor disintegrates away in sections, leaving some of the heroes effectively airborne before what's below them falls away, giving them a moment to reach out and attempt a rescue for anyone they can grab.

Iron Man is conveniently near Venom, though the symbiote’s webbing only sticks Stark on a wall panel that cracks away and falls nonetheless.

Yellowjacket grows by instinct, so quickly that he’s suddenly dizzy, and almost misses Janet, the winsome Wasp buzzing up to him, at a size small enough that her sprouted wings can carry her, though she levitates erratically. Tragically, the wings are severely damaged, only one working, with the other flapping so hard that it breaks when she gets near enough to her Pym for him to rescue her as well, but then loses her altitude and falls like all the others. She reaches out to grab her once-beloved Hank and just misses it. As she falls into the hot, hazy darkness below, her terrified eyes cry like her words: “Haaaaaank…”, she calls until she is lost in the dark and her fate below.

Black Widow’s spider-line finds purchase on a piece formerly jutting out of the ceiling above until her weight pulls it down, leaving her falling as well, until Iron Fist catches her in his arms and finds the last piece of flooring to hold onto -- but how long will it hold with the two of them hanging from it?

That's it.  It finally happened.  His day has come, and only because he broke his one role.
That's what you get for trying to play a hero.  A nice obituary.  Only in his case, he wasn't sure anyone would bother writing anything in his memory - even if there would be someone left alive after his demise to remember him.

The floor gave beneath his feet, and Bishop was sucked into the abyss, to his certain doom.
There was nothing he could do to save himself.  Nothing he could hold on to.  Cursing the Skull with his last breaths, he desperately found the strength for one last act of defiance - an energy beam directed at Tony Stark's crippled armor.

He hated the man.  Blamed him for everything that was bound to happen. The two of them clashed ever since he came back to the past.  But right now, he hated the Skull even more.  If he could power up Stark's armor, and if Stark regains consciousness before he, too, is buried under several tons of concrete and steel - then Bishop might get his revenge after all.

While other events were transpiring, Karla was mustering concentration in the way only someone who was both a trained psychologist and possessed the essence of an elite Kree warrior could manage.   It was enough for her to overcome the malfunction of her intangibility power, barely in time.

Clint!  Seeing him plummet, she reacted rather than thought. And for someone who so rarely formed attachments at all, it was a brief, bare moment of truth testifying to the fact that she was changing.

She dove, swooped and caught him; still weakened as she was, her strength was yet enough for this task.   And once she had him, flew up, out and toward safety as swiftly as she could.

And though it was hardly at the fore of her mind, there was nonetheless a resolve taking form.

She detested it when someone else pulled the strings as thoroughly as the Skull had here.   And his smug, self-satisfied demeanor throughout the encounter, right up until the end.   A reckoning promised to be more wholly satisfying than any she'd taken part in before...

Bishop fights desperately for his consciousness and is able to get off one good shot, until the energy beam goes wide when a sudden hot, stinking gust blows up from below. Bishop’s rapid descent into the abyss below slows then stops, held aloft by a persistent rush of wind across from Storm, who, by the strained look on her face, has life enough left in her only to conjure the concentrated weather to save one other person, who has been chosen as Bishop. The mutant’s strike leaves a crater in the wall less than a foot from where Venom stuck Stark in his shattered armor, but is presently coming unstuck as Venom’s effort was not one borne of concentration. Stark leans forward as the webbing dissolves, pitching toward the void below. Stark’s life has been saved, but perhaps only for a moment.

Ms. Marvel was near Stark -- dodging Bishop’s blast only by luck -- but she chose Hawkeye instead, who becomes a limp burden in her grip. She has enough left in her tank to levitate in space with the weight of both of them, but it won’t be long that she can keep it up. The webbed Stark isn’t far -- while she can’t recall ever battling him face-to-face more personally than in a team of her compatriots fighting a batch of his people, perhaps she could admire what he’s built -- literally, the building around them which is monumental enough to now be a catastrophe when it falls, but also frequently leading or aiding teams that have defended the planet if not this universe -- and how he could be instrumental to whatever unearthly event in the super-powered community is happening that the Red Skull alluded to. Even if she couldn’t be Stark's savior, it could be good that someone was, and that he’s here on her side.

Just when Storm’s gusts falter, Ms. Marvel feels she has nothing left, and Stark tips forward enough to rip out of the webbing and fall, they all land on a green, glowing platform -- a giant, translucent hand, holding the rescued heroes and their rescuers in its wide, open palm. Pym, at giant size, is able to find some room, thinking he landed on a surface below, but in reality here on this floating, solid hand.  This group of saved heroes includes the Squadron Supreme, caught by an over-burdened Hyperion, fortunate that his teammates were within his near vicinity. Off to the side of the construct, floating independently in the air, is a shuddering Doctor Spectrum, holding the wrist of his hand that holds a glowing object, with a glowing line connecting him to the hand that has become a lifeboat for these heroes. With a last one to gather, Hyperion peels Stark from the webbing that surely saved the armored hero's life. Some of the heroes have been saved, while the rest, and their foes -- all living, human beings -- fall to the depths of what was once the mighty Avengers Tower!

The giant, green, glowing hand floats through the collapsing Avengers Tower and into the hazy air outside. The makeshift barge levitates slowly, with some instability coming from its controller, the battered Doctor Spectrum. The hand shudders and dips at points, in accordance to Spectrum's body quivering due to the effort and harm he's taken, no worse than any airplane's turbulence, but the concern would be the distance from the street below, equal to the former Tower's height, 93 lofty stories. It would nearly reach the clouds if any had been spared on this blisteringly hot day. When transparent patches shimmer through the hand, the street far, far below can almost be seen.

In the palm of the floating hand, Storm lies prone and spent. Surrounding her are Venom, the giant Yellowjacket, Iron Fist, Bishop, She-Hulk with a face looking suspicious even through her massive bruises, Black Widow rubbing her knuckles, Ms. Marvel with a comatose Hawkeye, and the rest of the Squadron Supreme. Hyperion lets the wounded, webbed Iron Man go, so Stark can stagger away slightly. Then Hyperion looks up and around and steadies his head with his hand. "Wh -- where are we?" he asks, the first time his voice has been heard since this scenario has begun.

Mac starts laughing a wet hacking laugh, "Oh we wish we could forget Stuff as easy!" He shoves himself bodily away as his legs snap and pop as they straighten back to normal, "You and your friends just played stomp everyone around us like ants. I think you are at the 'Oh no I was wrong let us all hug and have ice cream stage'."

He gets himself propped up to at least sit up, "Though I'd prefer you let me stop by a butcher shop to replenish all the organs I can feel Venom just tearing through to get me mobile."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:58, Fri 30 June 2023.

"New York," Yellowjacket replies to Hyperion. "You just got finished trashing Avengers Tower."

Hyperion looks back at the demolished Avengers Tower, with no recognition on his face then the horror of the destruction wrought. "We -- " he mutters. He turns back to Pym. "I don't even remember where we were last. Not here. Not there." Much of the active energy he around him ready for a fight dissipates, to be replaced by a sudden, nervous jitteriness. "If we can't ask for your forgiveness for whatever we did there, could you at least understand that we -- we didn't know we were doing it?"

The green, glowing hand holding the heroes slowly floats for a few blocks over the city then alights on the roof of a building, which is tall but not so high as to miss the throng of people on the street below amassing around the emergency vehicles making their way to the Tower. Once the hand is close enough to the surface of the building for the heroes to hop or be carried off, Doctor Spectrum falls to his feet, with Power Princess catching him just before he tumbles. Nighthawk eyes the gathering suspiciously then inches slowly toward the side of a wall that provides the only shadow in the area.

Mac chuckles as he leans his head back as Venom reforms around him, "Oh we forgive you. We have been there many times. Rage, sorrow, some version of mind control we've been there." Venom retracts slowly, "Forgiveness doesn't stop the real issue of blame...and the sheeple are about to flood in demanding villains and we are not going back into some tube for Shield to cut up."

Hank grumbled slightly, but he grudgingly forgave the Squadron for their actions. It wasn't their fault. He'd been mind-controlled once or twice over the years. And he'd had a major psychotic break during which he invented the Yellowjacket persona in the first place. And who could forget the undiagnosed bipolar disorder? Yes, he'd been a bit of a loose cannon at times. He'd have to forgive the Squadron.

The question was, would he ever forgive himself? For any of that stuff, or simply today? He couldn't close his eyes without seeing Jan plummeting into darkness, calling his name. Was she dead?

"Among other things," Danny mutters, gingerly rubbing the large purple bruise on his face. The heightened emotions of the fight hadn't fully subsided yet, and he had been regarding the Squadron with suspicion and lingering hostility. But as the Fist looks inward, he begins to realize his ill temper is misplaced. The young Dragon's fire isn't for Hyperion and his crew-- he is angry at himself. For taking the Skull's bait and charging into a war zone before he knew what was really going on.

Shang-Chi... Wolfsbane... Captain America... Who else around here might not be who they seem to be? The team had already been hit with far too many surprises since they got back to New York-- mostly, the unpleasant kind. The Black Widow's sudden re-appearance, however, is a more... positive... development. As soon as he reasonably could, Danny would speak with her in private and see what she knew. If anyone could shed some light on what was going on, it would be Natasha.

For now, Iron Fist considers Hyperion's words before replying. "What do you remember? Anything about the Skull's plans, or how he was controlling you? He mentioned something about a war coming."

He casts a glance at the heavily injured Avengers in their midst. "I'd like us all to help each other. Us--" he gestured to his allies-- "to make sure you don't all break bad again. And you--" he nods at the Squadron-- "to help us go find Captain America, and... whoever that was. But if we're going to reach that point, then first, I need to make sure the friends we did manage to save aren't dead."

As he kneels to examine Iron Man, Hawkeye, and the other wounded, Danny prepares to apply healing Chi to their injuries. He would leave it to his allies, meanwhile, to keep mending the divide between the different teams of heroes. Venom had already accepted the Squadron's mea culpa, and Danny could tell Hank might be ready to do the same. Where did that leave the rest of the team?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Sat 15 July 2023.

While Hawkeye and Storm lie motionless, Iron Man helps himself up while looking around.

Just as Hyperion relaxes into hearing the peaceful, calm words of Iron Fist, a now-familiar voice booms from the back of the gathering of heroes stepping off the giant, glowing hand. "No!" shouts She-Hulk as she steps to the masked super man. "You do not get a free pass for an apology! You wrecked Avengers Tower! It's gone because of something you did, whether you knew it or not!" She stabs a mighty finger in his face. He does not move but he does seem to gain some inner esteem from the accusations and stands straighter. "You'll excuse us if we don't just accept the words of a guy we barely know -- and used to be a criminal -- when, since the last Avengers meeting, we were tricked into killing a hundred Hydra soldiers, destroyed most of Mid-Town and nearly started an international incident with Latveria, helped blow up the X-Men's mansion and let one of our own disappear into the sky, and maybe disrupted the space-time continuum with a little venture into the future -- all under the thumb of someone we trusted to march into Hell beside, only to find out he's been one of the worst villains of all time! And now you're here acting like you don't know what's going, but you're connected to that and we're going to figure out how before anyone's going to let you fly out of here alive!" As She-Hulk shouts at the slightly-less-than-majestic figure before her, spittle flying from mouth, someone standing at the correct angle a few feet away could notice that, instead of shrinking from the exhaustion of everything that everyone has been through, she seems to be growing larger in size. "And you better pull off an Oscar-worthy performance because, if you'll excuse us for an eternity, we're just about fresh out of trust -- and any reserves we had!"

She-Hulk Mental attack on Hyperion:
Team d10
Impulsive    d8
Godlike Strength/Collateral Damage    2d12
Psych Expert   d8 --

"Jen," the Black Widow says, suddenly but bravely appearing beside the jade giantess. "We have larger issues to worry about."

Mac chuckles, "The shapeshifter probably turned into a flying squirrel to land safely and then into a snake to slip away knowing her devil luck. Venom you are cursed in love bud. I'm not letting you pick our plucky potential love interests!"

The symbiote reforms, "We are not cursed! Eddie..." A fist smashes into his own face, "Stop bringing up your X!"

They steadily get to their feet, "We'll back up the jade hottie here. Us Villain types tend to waffle about blame. "

Iron Fist kneels and tends to the wounded, listening solemnly as She-Hulk vents her rage at Hyperion. He doubts he can physically stop those two titans coming to blows again even if he cared to get between them. It isn't that Jen is wrong, or even that Danny blames her for feeling a certain way over all that has happened. Only that she is simply too close to the tragedy-- too personally affected by everything going on, by virtue of her past with the Avengers-- to cope with it all. Danny can tell that whatever comes next will require him and the other "try-outs" to step up in a way that She-Hulk and her Avengers family can't be asked to. He speaks to her firmly but compassionately:

"Natasha's right, Jen. What's done is done. No matter who started it-- or lost control of their actions-- we're all on the same side now. The Squadron could have left us to die in that collapsing Tower if they'd wanted to. But here we are."

Everyone here had in some way fallen prey to the proverbial snakes lurking in the grass: the Skull, the shapeshifter, and the Squadron. But who moreso than the august Avengers themselves-- Tony, Clint, and all the rest-- to tragically miss every sign of "Captain America's" impending betrayal before it hit them head-on? Danny didn't even want to consider how he would respond if his bonds with Misty, or Luke, or Colleen were used to hurt him in the same way. It was unthinkable, and his heart ached for what Jen and her friends had endured.

"I know I can't stop you. So go on and hit him if it would make you feel better. I sure as hell wanted to, just a minute ago. But you ought to know it won't bring us any closer to making sense of all this. Or getting back at who's responsible for it."

Danny is too focused on his thoughts-- and on healing the unconscious Storm, who lays before him-- to turn and face Jen as he speaks. But he can tell from She-Hulk's ragged breathing that maybe she is still listening. As he casts a look around at his teammates, his grave expression offers a window into his thoughts. Perhaps he doubts whether Jen and company aren't all too attached to what Captain America and the "Avengers" name traditionally stands for, to see that the entire game has now changed-- and that it is time for a new rulebook entirely.

In the wake of things, and reorienting after all of it, Karla found herself of more than one mind.

In her affiliation with the Avengers, she had tried, to some degree, to reexamine her ways of operating and make a few adjustments in the name of membership.  While it would've been going too far to say she was proud to be with the Avengers, it had meant something, all the same, and served as a catalyst that a part of her knew she needed.

And on the other hand...it had been impossible not think of how the team could stand some change, and how she might be the one to encourage it.   She listened to the others, particularly their dialog with Hyperion, and found herself reminded of those thoughts.

She frowned slightly when Iron Fist examined Hawkeye, but quelled that mistrust, certain by this point that the martial arts master meant nothing but good.

But of course, every doctor of psychiatry was also an MD, by requirement and training.   So once Iron First moved away, Karla did her own check up of Clint's vitals, just to make sure.  Assuming there was no crisis, or anything more she could do, she moved on, looking after others and assisting their would-be leader in that work.

At one point, nearing Hyperion, she remarked, "You guys got your heads f--ked, by a real master.   I agree that after telling us all you can, you should assist us, with no grudges or hard feelings.  At least with some of us," she smiled briefly, before her expression grew wholly serious. "Because we're going to need everyone and everything we've got to come up with a winning hand against this enemy."  She also added, to everyone in general:

"Oh, yes.  On the matter of that shapeshifter, let's just say, that she and I are acquainted. And dying that way isn't something she'd do." 
This message was last edited by the player at 17:33, Mon 24 July 2023.

Hawkeye shifts slightly, stirring incrementally from unconsciousness.

She-Hulk seethes, her muscles clinching and unclinching and trembling in rage, her nostrils flaring, her mighty fists balling tightly. But not advancing on the questionable hero in front of her. She stays still, as does Hyperion, both locked in each other’s stony, intense stare. The only sound coming from them is She-Hulk’s huffing and puffing. But neither moves against the other.

Black Widow backs off from She-Hulk. "Maybe not the best path of action when the psycho is agreeing with you, huh?" She keeps an eye on Venom them Hyperion and the Squadron then relaxes slightly when she looks back at Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, and the rest of the team. “We can get back to knocking the crap out of each other once we at least know who the enemy is. But first things first, is everyone okay? Physically? Or mentally?”

Chants from a crowd rise up from the street below. Through the noise one word is fairly clear: “Aven-gers -- Aven-gers -- Aven-gers.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:38, Tue 25 July 2023.

"Physically, I'm fine," Yellowjacket replied. "Mentally... not so much."

Was Jan dead? He didn't know. He wouldn't grieve for her until he had proof, because Avengers had their ways of surviving the unsurvivable... but his sense of guilt was still running overtime.

Tense moments pass between She-Hulk and Hyperion, but the more there are, the more the two combatants cool and eventually back off of each other. She-Hulk puts down her mighty fists and Hyperion relaxes his tense pose. They keep each other in a locked stare but both soften enough that a first guess while looking at them wouldn't assume they're about to bash each other.

Eventually She-Hulk blinks. "At least we have our fans down there," she says after sighing.

The sound rises up from the crowd below: “Aven-GERS -- Aven-GERS -- Aven-GERS,” with some added commotion.

Black Widow turns from Pym then takes a step closer to the edge of the rooftop then looks over and down. "I... don't think they're cheering us on," she says.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:11, Tue 08 Aug 2023.

Hank looked out over the street. It sure sounded like cheering.

Mac chuckles as he stretches his back, "You guys aren't used to mobs being after you? That is death by a million opinions of what you should have done better despite being the only one doing anything. This part is the only thing even we feel the Spider deserves and we like to see him suffer."

As Venom reforms, he flicks a web strand to some still-standing structure, "We are going before Shield finally gets in place to tube us again. Amusing that this run as trying to be a hero was shorter than Eddie's try."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Tue 08 Aug 2023.

"We've been through a lot, Natasha. More than we can even comprehend. But we're alive." Hank's simple reply had summed up how they all felt. No one had even dared voice the question of whether those left behind in the Tower were alive or dead: Wasp, Spider-Man, Falcon, and the Human Torch.

Friends. Allies. Heroes.

Danny stands back up quietly. In his arms now is the unconscious Storm, who had done her best to ensure the team's survival through their recent trials. Now, though, the brave leader of the X-Men only lies limp and unmoving in his gentle grasp.

"It's just..." he adds with a sigh, "Storm won't wake up. My Chi healed her injuries, but it can't bring her out of whatever mental state she's in." He looks down sadly at Ororo, whose eyes are shut to the concerned comrades all around her. He's not sure when they might open again, but he hopes-- prays-- that she's okay. That she wakes up from this...

Coma? He didn't ask it out loud, so as not to tempt fate. Anyone could tell at a glance that the condition Ororo was in seemed serious. Perhaps she had struck her head during the Tower's collapse... or fallen prey to an enemy's attack... or maybe, in straining to keep this rag-tag team together for so long, she had simply exhausted herself past all limits.

Danny looked around at the team: pioneering Pym, voracious Venom, mysterious Ms. Marvel, and blunt Bishop. "I can't ask you all to give any more here than you already have. You all risked your lives to stand with me and fight the Skull." He bowed his head deeply in gratitude. "Thank you." Sounding almost like he was dismissing them, it was clear from his gesture that if they now chose to depart, the Iron Fist would bear them no ill will.

"For anyone staying behind..." Danny turned his head and looked out over the city. "The Rand Building's not far. Opening my doors to the Avengers is the least I could do on a day like this."

"Well, I can offer my opinion as a licensed pyschotherapist," she said on the heels of Hank's comment. "Everyone one is mentally f--ked up, in some way. Just a question of whether it's to a point of being serious."

She listened to the chanting with the others, smiling faintly at Natasha's and Venom's exchange, and concurring with both of them.

She frowned as Iron Fist spoke about Storm. "Let me take a closer look at her.  Probably, it's nothing I can do anything about. But let me rule that out."    Karla possessed an amount of respect for Ororo.   Beyond her power level, and how helpful that could be, she was also a person they'd be better off not losing.

"Oh. And for the record, I'm not staying behind.  Among larger, more relevant motives, I'm also severely pissed off," she added, on her way to try and assess Storm.

Iron Fist thought about all the mind-bending things he had experienced in his short twenty-some-odd years. Losing his parents as a child. Entering a mystical land of kung-fu. Fist-fighting a dragon and claiming its power for himself. And that was long before getting recruited into the Avengers... being flung forward and back in time... and meeting a nasty assortment of madmen and metamorphs. Even now, his mind was still reeling from it all.

"Do you have a business card?" he asked Ms. Marvel. "I, uh... could probably use a little bit of therapy, after all I've been through."

Danny hesitated as his ally examined Storm, feeling self-conscious of his handiwork. "There was only so much I could do. My hands can heal to an extent, but I'm no doctor. If you have medical advice on treating her condition, I'll take it."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:03, Fri 11 Aug 2023.

When Iron Fist hands Storm off to Ms. Marvel, Black Widow is there to pat his shoulder in reassurance. She doesn't have to say it was a good speech. She-Hulk nods at the battered martial artist, now separating herself from Hyperion and the Squadron Supreme.

Stark looks over the ledge of the building. Chants from the street rise with volume all the way to the top of the building: "Aven-gers GO! Aven-gers GO! Aven-gers GO!" Stark doesn't take his eyes away. "Uh, I don't think they're asking for the team to assemble into an anime robot. They're... pretty angry. As in 'Avengers go AWAY. They're breaking windows and seemed to get some effigies to light pretty quickly. Someone's stirring them up but I can't see who." Stark's voice lowers, turning to one unlike his own. "I've seen this before."

Stark winces at what he's looking down at, then finally back to the team. "If you're concerned about injuries, I have a base not far from here with a full medical unit ready to go. We could take care of Storm and Hawkeye" -- he looks to Bishop and Ms. Marvel then to Venom -- "And plenty to... eat. At least you all could rest comfortably. And it'd be more discreet than the Rand Building." He looks around to any takers.

"Sounds like a plan, Tony," Hank said. "Let's go."

As to the card, she indicated her bathingsuit-esque costume with a brief, vague gesture.  "Sorry, no pockets, and my purse is back at home."

"Aven-gers GO! Aven-gers GO! Aven-gers GO!"

"Well. That is unfortunate.  If the team's rep is trashed, we could always form a new Thunderbolts, hey?"   She joked, indicating her costume again, more specifically its bolt insignia. "It's one reason I wanted this costume. A bolt logo is far more appropriate for a former Thunderbolt than it was for Carol."   

She didn't hesitate as to Stark's offer and nodded. "I'm all for it too."

Danny nodded to Tony. It was good that the team were in Iron Man's metal hands now. No doubt once the team was healed up in Stark's medical bays, they would return to search the rubble for any sign of survivors. It was a rescue effort best left to the Earth's mightiest superhumans, one of which Danny... was not. "If you need me again, you know where to reach me," he said, smiling at Natasha and placing Storm in Bishop's strong arms so he could offer a handshake to the Shellhead. As he drew closer to Tony, he gave a quick nod toward Bishop and muttered, "Watch your six around the Terminator over there." And, looking at Yellowjacket not unkindly, he added, "... And our friend, 'Quick-Draw'."

The Fist reached into his gi with the other hand and fished out a crumpled business card. "Here. My old Heroes for Hire card. Must've lost my Rand ones somewhere." Along with listing his and Luke's contact info at the bottom, it read:

POWER MAN & IRON FIST
HEROES FOR HIRE

"FROM THE STREETS OF HARLEM TO K'UN-LUN,
WE'VE GOT BAD GUYS ON THE RUN!"

*SENIOR DISCOUNT!

He handed it to Ms. Marvel. "Offer stands, by the way." Danny probably didn't need to mention that, as with any professional service he hired, he tended to make for one well-paying client. "Be safe, all. I need to go see my family."

He looked at Venom, then nodded down toward a nearby rooftop. "Hey, big guy. Mind spinning me one?" However injured Danny was, Rand wasn't far away-- and it had an upper-floor quiet room perfect for healing meditation.

If Venom agrees, and if I can use my Stunt d10 left over from the battle, I'd like to have Danny make his way down to the rooftops by rappelling on a symbiote web. He's heading home to Rand Enterprises.

If the team had an intention of sticking together, Iron Fist could be the one to take it apart by leaving.

Black Widow lithely steps to the martial artist and, close, touches her hand to his arm.

Venom chuckles and fires off a webbing line for Iron Fist, "Rare someone trusts our webs."

He looks back at Stark, "We with you for now canned meat. But have food ready we getting close to feral." He starts throwing webs sorta like ladders up to other building areas, "SHould be stable enough for us to move...we can carry one if needed. "

Hank purses his lips at Danny's joke at his expense, and says nothing for the moment. His eyes are not on Danny, though, but on Natasha.

Bishop was the last one to dig himself out of the rubble.  He stayed quiet for the most part, only grimacing when the topic of 'therapy' was mentioned.  He was pretty sure they would need an entire team of experts to sort himself out.

"We're sure nobody else is trapped down there?" he finally said, once it looked like the heroes were ready to depart.  Lots of people working at Stark's tower, he didn't want to leave anyone behind if he could help it.

"No, we're not sure at all," She-Hulk says in reply to Bishop. "There's probably a lot of people under the rubble of the building." She turns, about to go into a crouch to leap down to the mess of rubble and people below.

"Wait," Hyperion says, holding a hand to her, not close but to emphasize his request to pause. "There are surely people, and they'll need some help getting them out, but for the Avengers to go down there now in the middle of that mad crowd would probably be more dangerous -- for them -- than it would be worth. And who knows how law enforcement would regard you right now."

She-Hulk actually stops, then turns toward him.

"I'll tell you what," the majestic but battered man says. "Let us go down there and take care of it. The Squadron Supreme has more than enough power to help rescue survivors. If they don't identify us then won't cause any harm by being there. And it's the least we could do for the trouble we were a part of."

Most of the rest of his team assemble behind him, tired heads recovering from being controlled but held high, ready to serve.

"The rest of you can go about getting to the bottom of who's really behind all of this. With the hope that it's only one force and they can be stopped."

He looks mainly to She-Hulk, who looks back as firmly.

"Please."

Nighthawk withdraws his hand from his cowled face, the pain of the former incident fading into a visage of grim resolve. "If you plan on going after this Red Skull...you're going to have to be prepared for every eventuality."

Turning to the others with a sweeping gesture, "We've seen what he can do, and we can't afford to have that happen again." He concludes with a defiant stance, "Consider this world-class detective on the case...I'm in."

A moment passes as Danny considers Natasha's plea. To pull himself away from her-- that mournful gaze, the note of sadness in her voice-- is perhaps the most superhuman feat the Iron Fist will accomplish all week. But nonetheless, it is what he is going to do. What he feels he must do.

"I'm sorry," he tells her. "But I've got my own people to look after. Misty. My friends. Everyone at Rand. This whole thing we've been doing was supposed to be just a... 'try-out'. Remember?" Whether Danny is talking about something beyond just his provisional Avengers status could be known to he and Natasha alone.

As he gently sidesteps her, he gives a quick salute to Tony and the rest. No doubt the old school Avengers and new recruits alike will be safe under the guidance of Iron Man. Better the team has its original second-in-command to lead them than a fresh-faced recruit. "Goodbye," he says, not daring to look back at Natasha, for fear he will falter.

Yes, a recruit. Had Danny really yelled 'Avengers Assemble'? It already seemed like a distant memory. Whatever survival instinct had compelled him to do an impression of Captain America, looking back on it now made him feel slightly embarrassed.

As the Iron Fist hopped onto Venom's web-line and walked it like a tightrope toward the nearest rooftop, he thought back to a drunken bet he had made with his best friend. It had involved the topic of being an Avenger, and whether Danny had the 'right stuff' for the job. After the events of the last 24 hours, someone owed someone else money.

Note to self. Check in with Luke.

Using my Stunt d10 to have Danny exit Dr. Spectrum's floating platform. I would like for Danny to use his Solo Affiliation now.

The heroes assembled on the roof, bruised and bloody and beaten but still ready to stand, watch as Iron Fist leaves. Stark taps something into a device. Hyperion’s vision is keen enough to find Nighthawk from the sparse afternoon shadows. She-Hulk kneels at the unconscious Storm’s side and, with gentleness uncharacteristic of a hulking brute, brushes the mutants’s cheek, checking on the life that is still there, barely.

Black Widow sneers at Iron Fist’s back. “Apparently you have to pay some people to be heroes.”

Iron Fist leaves the Scene/adventure
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:25, Tue 26 Sept 2023.

No, they didn't have to pay Iron Fist, even with his 'Heroes for Hire' gig. Heroes for Hire did more pro bono work than anything else, if Hank's information was correct. And Iron Fist had no need for anyone else's money. But sometimes HfH meant that he had other places to be... which was hardly unusual for any Avenger. It wasn't a full-time job for any of them.

It was hardly sporting of Natasha to take that shot at Iron Fist. But Hank had suspicions about her already.

Black Widow shifts her gaze to Yellowjacket while he is lost in quiet introspection. “Penny for your thoughts, Pym?” she asks, keeping the scowl she had reserved for their fleeting teammate. “If we get a collection together maybe we can hire a hero to do his job. For what might be coming, it's going to be full-time and as much overtime as possible. To start. It comes with the territory, for those who can put in the work. And we can use as many as are willing to stay and do it.”

She-Hulk shoots her a glare that says Okay, can we be done with that now? but doesn’t say it, even though it’s speech and action that move events forward.

Hyperion approaches Nighthawk then gives his teammate a hearty handshake. “You’re a fine representation of the Squadron Supreme for what comes next,” the red-and-gold-garbed man says. “You know how to get ahold of us if you need us. Call out to the Skrull and we’ll pick you up.” The Skrull, in battered but undisguised, full regalia, with fists on hips behind the big man, nods steadfastly.

“Is everyone ready who’s going?” Stark announces to the assembled throng. “We’ve got lots of bottled water and bandages at the safehouse. Whatever you need.” He looks over to Doctor Spectrum, who is still resting and cradling his wrist. “Hey, green lantern,” Stark says to the man who, as part of the Avengers, has stood against and beside him, as part of the Squadron, for many missions. “Can we get a ride? We don’t have enough fliers to get across town. There’s Gatorade waiting.”

"Hm? Oh, nothing." Hank kept his thoughts to himself for the time being. He went and gathered together with the others.

Venom shakes his head, "We are going to go with the grumpy one. We remember you red walking past the tanks at Shield."

He flicks out a line, "And getting paid to almost die is alot better than being stupid and doing it for free. Stark we will come for free if you got leads on helping Cap. He protested our tube as much as we did."

With that, he takes off following Iron Fist.

As he swings away, "Getting paid isn't part of being an avenger? We at least get minions' pocket change before all this!" "Told you they were dumb!"

Returning Hyperion's hearty grip, Nighthawk nods saying, "Expect a call, but we need something more than firepower at the moment - we need Intel. I'll see what I can uncover, maybe discover a weakness of some kind. Something tells me this Red Skull's power isn't inherently derived. If so, then maybe there's a way to break the connection...I'll keep you posted."

Bishop was content to let the squadron supreme handle the rescue efforts.  He wasn't concerned about being identified by the mob below (he doubted any of them have seen him before), but it was probably wise to lay low just the same. He moved to stand next to Pym, giving Stark a gruff nod:

"Ready when you are"

"You doubt I've got whatever you need? I'm Tony Stark," Stark says. "Come back to the safe-house and we can talk about money -- " Then trails off when Venom turns away. He blinks as the behemoth goes away. "Or not."

Hyperion nods to his compatriot then the other heroes. "And we'll pass on whatever information we find to you, and to you all. We'll meet up again soon."

From behind Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum takes a step forward toward Stark. He releases his wrist long enough to pull off his mask, revealing a sweating, weary face, emotionally battered if not physically. He sighs then forces out the words toward Stark. "Whatever you need."

"Okay, Tony. That's enough." Tony could talk about money for days. "Let's go already."

Venom leaves the Scene.

A visibly anguished Doctor Spectrum holds his hand out and a giant, glowing, translucent, green platform appears from the gem on it. The heroes step aboard, and Stark makes his way toward Spectrum at the front. “Thanks, Jeeves,” Stark says, sniffing the air. “I’ll give you directions for where to go. Top secret location and all that.” He looks out over the city. “Chop chop.”


+1 XP to those who started and ended the adventure (Bishop, Venom, Ms. Marvel, Yellowjacket).

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

ACTS OF VENGEANCE 2 continues!