"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.