In an endless black space, the odd trio of Moon Knight, Cloak, and Dagger float together in silence. A cold breeze ripples through the group as Cloak seems to press on through the darkness, quietly guiding them all toward some unseen destination. There is nothing to mark their progress by other than the occasional passing of what look like stray chunks of floating obsidian, caught in the glow emitted from Tandy's form. In the silence of the void, the heroine turns to Moon Knight. It appears she can no longer handle the silence.

"So... We both like the same color," she says with a half-grin.

"I guess we do," Moon Knight replied, his own grin hidden behind the full face mask, featureless but for the eyes. "Do you wear it for that look of terror when they see you coming?"

As Carrion's vehicle door slams and the truck's engine rumbles to life, Spider-Man's is preparing to leap towards it and stop the villain's escape. Venom's pleas for help reaches his ears just before his feet leaves their sticking place. Looking between Venom and Carrion a few times, Spider-Man grumbles in frustration.

Spidey sighs.

"What else can I do? Even if he is a bad buy...and biting off more than he can chew...and he's a bit of an ass...GRRRRR! Venom, you ass! You owe me for this!"

Spider-Man THWIPPS out a webline and swings towards the brawl between Venom and the villains, but not before tossing out a Spider-Tracer onto the bumper of Carrion's truck.

This will help me track him later. I just hope that he doesn't do more harm before I can reach him!

Spider-Tracer Resource d6 (Tech Expert d8)
1 PP

Adding 1d6 to the Doom Pool for Domino's opportunity in Msg #288.

Doom Pool: 3d6

The Doom Pool reacts to Domino's attempt to get free of her restraints:

3d6
Metal Restraints d8
Domino's Physical Stress d6

21:17, Today: The Watcher rolled 1,4,3,2,2 using 1d6,1d6,1d6,1d8,d6.  Domino attempting to get free of the metal restraints.

Total: 9
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 1 (Available first to Domino)

Domino wins with 2 extraordinary successes. "Metal Restraints" d8 scene distinction is eliminated. Spent 1d6 doom to add a 3rd die to the total.

Doom Pool: 2d6

Gritting her teeth, Domino decides she has had enough of this. No more listening to this drivel the villains are spewing. No more being a captive. And pretty soon, no more Carnage.

Coming back to her senses fully, she feels out every nook and cranny of the restraints. Though the cuffs on her wrists are metal, the rest of the contraption is more like a straitjacket. She thinks back to her old days training with Cable. There was a certain trick he'd taught her to get free of these kinds of restraints. It wasn't pretty, and it hurt like hell, but it just might get her free.

Steeling herself, Domino wriggles an arm away from her body as far as it will go, then jerks it back against her ribs. Then again, harder this time-- and again. The third time is the charm, and she hears an awful snap as her shoulder dislocates. The pain is excruciating, but it's nothing she hasn't felt-- and pushed through-- before. She doesn't dare make a sound that would alert Carnage to her little trick.

There. That should do it.

Slowly, wincing from the pain, she manages to draw an arm up and out of the restraints. Once one limb is loose, the rest is child's play. In minutes, she rips the last of the device away and breathes her first sigh of relief in what seems like an eternity. One glance through the thick plexiglass separating her from the pilots confirms they haven't got a clue she's wriggled loose.

Sweet freedom.

Clearing away some of the loose luggage nearby, Domino spies her staff as well as a med-kit she can use to patch herself up. A second metal crate-- this one locked-- bears a logo she recognizes: explosive ordnance. Moon Knight did say that she could help herself, didn't he? She spies a metal pin on the floor that came loose as she was working her way out of the restraints. It looks as if it would make an excellent lockpick.

"Loose Luggage" scene distinction goes away. New scene distinctions are "Locked Artillery Case" and "Plexiglass Divider."

Next post will set up Tigra's available actions in this Transition Scene.

Moving carefully in the rear of the death-copter, Domino didn't want to be noticed awake and in action.

Nearby, her staff lay ... tossed carelessly aside.  Thankfully, it seemed, Carnage didn't seem to think that Domino would be coming back to consciousness any time soon.  That was possibly why he'd not bothered to cuff her properly, also.

She opened a hand towards it, like some Jedi Knight ... and, by some stroke of luck, the chopper just then tilted in a way that caused the staff to roll straight into her outstretched fingers.  With a sigh, Domino deftly sheathed the extendable staff into her belt.

Then, reaching out to a nearby compartment, she pulled free one of Moon Knight's medkits.  And using it (and 1PP), she quickly went about healing her Physical Stress.
Do I need to make a roll for that?

As she did so, she began to consider what the immediate future held for her ... and willed circumstance and luck to start falling into place for her.  Spending 1PP to trigger a 'Story Effect' in her favour.
She wasn't sure, right now, how that was going to play out; but she was beginning to feel that maybe she could turn things around for herself now that she was regaining her wits.

As Carrion clambers into his eighteen-wheeler and drives off, the villain takes no heed of the many civilians in his path! Tigra's companion Iron Fist just manages to get a little boy out of the truck's path in time before the villain would have ran him right over. As he shoves the boy to safety, the truck clips the hero on his side. He falls to the ground with a cry of pain.

"OH, HELL NO!" shouts Luke Cage. As the truck passes by, he lashes out with a fist that connects with earth-shattering force. The blow rings out across the stadium, his mighty punch knocking the truck clear to one side. It wobbles for an instant, one row of wheels spinning in mid-air, before it barely rights itself and continues on. As it passes by Tigra, there is a loud crash as something in the open trailer shatters to pieces.

As she escorts several nearby civilians through her magical portals, Tigra turns to look for the source of the noise. She looks up just in time to see the contents of the trailer barreling toward her. Although the broken metal-and-glass vat sails clear, the symbiote goo inside gets flung straight at her!

Tigra gets to decide if she will spend her XP to obtain the "Symbiote Suit" power set.

More follow-up posts coming shortly.

"Usually the bad guys are more afraid of him," says Dagger, nodding toward Cloak as their robed ally leads them on. "Between you and Ty, I think this team's got the 'fear factor' covered."

"This isn't a 'team,'" says Cloak sternly.

"Whatever," replies Tandy, rolling her eyes. After another moment, she adds, "What's taking this so long, anyway?"

Looking around, one hardly gets the sense the trio has made any progress through the darkness whatsoever.

As Daredevil kicks open the door to the press box, a nightmarish scene awaits him. Above a pair of crates placed on opposite ends of the floor, two people hang suspended by metal chains around their necks. The one not struggling is instantly recognizable as Ben Urich, investigative journalist for the Daily Bugle newspaper and Matt's longtime friend. The man's racing heartbeat must have been what kept Matt from recognizing him before... though now it's gone deathly still.

The other is the Black Cat herself! She dangles in midair, kicking her feet as she claws uselessly at the chain around her neck. If the vigilante had sight, he might see in the dim moonlight that her face has turned nearly purple-- a sick reminder of who did this to her. The fact she has any fight left in her at all may only be due to the protective spell placed on her by Tigra earlier.

Daredevil has faced many horrible decisions in his career thus far, but this one might be worse than even he imagined. Does he try and help the man his senses are telling him might already be gone? Or does he go to the aid of the woman he knows he can still save?

Transition Scene continues. Daredevil gets the narrative choice to decide which of the two hostages he will try and save.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:29, Sun 30 Aug 2020.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 296):

Tigra had to decide in a split second - try to dodge the slime coming her way and put civilians at risk, or, well did she even have a choice at this point? Tigra braced for impact, and the goo swallowed her whole.

Surprisingly, it didn’t feel bad at all to part of a Symbiote takeover. In fact, she kinda liked not having full control of her body and the extra tentacle limbs would sure come in handy in battle. Boy was this Symbiote hungry, and tacos sounded great right now. Tigra’s stomach growled.

Umm, hello Symbiote...being. My name is Tigra, and I know this is weird for both of us, but let’s focus. Save now and eat later. I’ll get you all the tacos you want. I think Spider-Man said there was some restaurant back on 3rd Avenue. Just work with me, will you? I wanna see what we can do with your powers and my magic.

Tigra felt the rumbling in her head when the Symbiote replied, "At last! A mighty feline form! I have longed to be a lion for so long! We will rip them to shreds and they will hear Symba's Mighty Lion Roar !"

Tigra saw a distorted reflection of a Cat-Person-Symbiote on one of the crashed vehicle's side mirrors.

All right then, Symba. Technically we are in tiger form, but uh, we can work with lion if you'd like. But get this - we look totally awesome! You gotta meet my current mentor Wong, he makes the best food in the world, aside from that famous Taco place Spider-Man mentioned. When Wong sees us, he is gonna poop his pants! Don't think he's seen something as cool as this before.

Spending 15 XP in exchange for a Symbiote Suit.
Replacing CHOSEN CHAMPION OF THE CAT PEOPLE power set with the SYMBIOTE SUITE power set.
Spending 5XP to change character distinction from Magic is awesome! to Mighty Lion
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Fri 04 Sept 2020.

"No, we're not a team," Moon Knight agreed gruffly. He worked best alone, anyway. "More of a team-up.

"Isn't teleportation usually instantaneous?"

In reply to Spider-Man (msg # 293):

As Spider-Man prepares to go to Venom's aid, the hero hears a second "THWIPP!" beside him. Glancing over, the Doppelganger flashes him an odd, fanged smile as it follows the hero's lead with its own web-line. Where before the simple-minded creature had used its webbing with an animal carelessness, it now studies Spidey's spread-fingered approach and mimics the pose. Though its three-fingered hands are less than practiced, and its expression as alien as ever, one can't help but get an odd feeling that this "Doppelganger" is slowly becoming more human.

Spidey doesn't have much time to think on it before he is sailing toward Eddie, his strange companion at his side. The villains surrounding Brock react with alarm as their ambush is thwarted.

"Yuck!" groans Typhoid Mary. "What is that horrible thing?"

"That would be Carnage and Shriek's 'son'," sneers Jack O'Lantern. "Aww, look, the ugly little bug thinks it's Spider-Man!"

"No wonder they ditched him," rasps the Scarecrow. "It must have been embarrassing keeping that grotesque thing around."

Though it had appeared quite ready to web up the villains, Doppelganger lowers its hands. Hanging its head, it lets out an odd, wheezing moan. Some of Spidey's nearby allies turn, looking for the source of the strange noise. Even as he nurses his injuries from the exploded pumpkin bomb, Venom seems annoyed with the strange six-armed being who calls him "grandfather."

"Aw, jeez, Doppel... You're killin' me here."

"Ooh, speaking of killing things..." grins the Scarecrow behind his fearsome mask. "The city awaits! Looks like the night's just getting started, boys and girls!"

Spidey's spider-sense activates just in time as Carrion's truck suddenly flies past him. Leaping to safety, he sees the three villains hop into its open trailer, laughing as they hurtle away from the heroes. Spidey's only reassurance is the sight of the small, blinking red dot on the underside of the truck-- his well-placed Spider-Tracer that will later help him bring these evildoers to justice!

Transition Scene continues. Spider-Man earns 3 XP for hitting the 2nd HERO OR VIGILANTE? milestone:

3 XP when you let a member of Carnage’s Family go so that you can help an ally, or abandon an ally to pursue a member of Carnage’s Family.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:04, Wed 02 Sept 2020.

Beyond the window of the Carnage-Copter, the full moon gives off a pale glow. Using its light, Domino sets about the unpleasantly familiar task of patching up her injuries. First order of business is to staunch the bleeding stab wound given to her by Kasady's bladed hand earlier. The disinfectant stings as she pours it over the gash. Hopefully the burning sensation means it's strong enough to kill any leftover symbi-goo. She dries the wound, then adds a bit of gauze and tape to finish the job, and suddenly she feels like she's ready to to roll.

Then the hair stands up on the back of Domino's neck. She looks up to see Shriek watching her through the plexiglass divider.

"So, 'Domino,'" the villainess says softly, her smirk visible through the darkness. "Do they call you that name because you're such a pushover?"

Transition Scene continues. Domino recovers Staff d6 and spends 1 PP to recover from her d6 of Physical Stress.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Wed 02 Sept 2020.

"Hey," Moon Knight says to Dagger, snapping his fingers. "Is it true that you're a healer?"

He'd been stabbed, strangled, shot at, blown up and burned... all in all, a typical Tuesday. But if there was going to be a showdown with Carnage and his cohorts, Moon Knight needed to be at the top of his form if at all possible.
This message was last updated by the player at 23:35, Thu 03 Sept 2020.

Daredevil doesn't even have time to curse. He springs into action, not hesitating to decide between the two hostages since the choice is obvious: if Black Cat is still alive as it seems, she has a chance of making it, but Ben is in a much more dire state. "Hang on!" he calls to the person in the room to whom the encouragement might make a difference. Whatever moral area that Black Cat aligns herself with, she's a willing participant in this life; for all the trouble Ben gets into in the name of uncovering the truth, he's an innocent. If she gets mad at him later, it means she survives.

Daredevil leaps at Ben, grasping for the chain from which the reporter dangles, taking the chance that the extra weight and inertia from the jump could pull it down and save Ben. Every millisecond could mean the difference between life and death, so Daredevil makes this count.

"To anyone watching, our teleportation would seem instantaneous," Tyrone replies to Moon Knight. "It only feels longer because time and space aren't the same for us in here. We still have to pass through the darkforce dimension."

He slows his rapid progress forward, causing his two companions to nearly bump into him from behind.

"But you two may be right. Something feels... unusual. I can't explain it."

He begins to examine their surroundings more closely, though there appears to be nothing there save for black smoke and stray, floating boulders.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:09, Fri 04 Sept 2020.

"I can heal people," Tandy replies, scowling at Moon Knight. "But usually not the ones who treat me like I'm some kinda dog."

She folds her arms with a slight hmph and busies herself helping Cloak examine their surroundings. After a moment, she turns back to Moon Knight with a more sheepish expression.

"...Though I guess that fall you took earlier was my bad. And we'll need you in top shape to help us against Carnage."

Still gripping Moon Knight's hand, she says, "Hold still and I'll see what I can do."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Fri 04 Sept 2020.

Dog? Moon Knight had no idea what Dagger meant by that, but she seemed to have moved past it, so he let it go. He wasn't the touchy-feely sort.

However, Dagger's touch was precisely what the doctor ordered. Through it, he could feel flesh healing and bone knitting, as the damage Bushman and Carnage had inflicted subsided.

"Thank you," he said. "Now if we could just get to where we're going already, there are some bad people who need eviscerating."


Moon Knight spends 1 PP to heal d6 of Physical stress.

"Quiet," says Ty, holding up a hand to shush his partners. "I'm trying to figure out-"

Before he can finish, something flies toward the group from behind one of the nearby boulders. In the thin glow emitted by Tandy, the trio can just barely make out its shape. Dagger squeezes Moon Knight's hand, giving a small yelp as she points at what is unmistakably a severed human arm. It sails past them in an instant, disappearing beyond the veil of smoke that surrounds them.

"Uh, guys?" Tandy says, visibly startled. "You saw that, right?"

"Yeah, I saw that." Moon Knight wasn't scared, but Dagger clearly was. He had no capacity for comforting her, though. He could barely process the concept. Maybe Cloak would step up in that regard. "Is there any chance we can put a pin in that and come back to it later?"

With bandage tape still in her mouth, as she tended swiftly to her wound in the most battlefield medic way she could, Domino simply flipped Shriek the bird, before going back to her work.

As best she knew, that perspex barrier between them didn't come down ... and until they landed this bird (or one of them climbed around to join her in the back), Domino had some time to work.

Moments late, she tossed the medkit aside, and pulled her shirt down over the bandaged wound.
It still stung, but it was now operable.

That was when she noticed the small, portable tracking unit ... receiver with attached transponder.  Spending 1PP for resource 'Tracking device'
Snatching it up, she slipped it into her belt for future use.
Moon Knight had said that she could help herself to whatever she wanted ... she just wished she could have some guns.

And with that though, as luck would have it, a tilt in the choppers trajectory brought the nearby Locked Artillery Case sliding to her side.
With a smirk of gratitude, she drew from her boot some basic lock picking wires that she had stashed there, and went to work opening the case.
Her Checkered Past and her Covert skills, and the Superhuman Reflexes with which her fingers reacted to the most minute sensation coming from within the lock, were going to come in handy now.

Action: overcome the 'Locked Artillery Case'
d8:    Solo
d8:   Checkered Past
d10:  Superhuman Reflexes
d10:  Covert Master
Spend 1PP to keep an additional die towards the Total.

- rolled 1,4,4,6 using d8,d8,d10,d10.  Open the Locked Artillery Case.

Total: 14
Effect: default d4
Opportunities: 1 for the Watcher ... +1PP for Domino

PP = 2

Next: Whomever

Keeping a calm control of himself, Daredevil moves to get Ben free of the deathtrap. DD's been in enough dilemmas like this to know that any small judgment error could lead to disaster. Having just survived a deadly game of superhuman-baseball, this danger may even pale in comparison. And yet with the life of a close friend hanging in the balance, it's gotten all the more personal.

A cursory scan via his superhuman senses tells DD what he needs to know about the situation. The chains around both victim's necks are hooked through metal brackets in the ceiling that might have once anchored TV monitors. Judging by how the ceiling panels are sagging, this equipment wasn't meant to bear weight much heavier than that. The solution seems simple: tear it down!

Wrapping one arm around the un-moving reporter, Matt grabs hold of the chain with his free hand and gives a mighty tug. As DD drops more of his weight into the maneuver, the ceiling gradually buckles and at last gives way. He catches the metal anchor in one hand and tosses it to the floor, then sets about undoing the chains around Ben's neck. Soon, he's free of them.

There's no time to celebrate, though. For the sound of only two heartbeats in the room is already giving the blind vigilante the news he had feared all along:

No pulse.

Transition Scene continues.

"Love to," Tyrone replies to Moon Knight. "But I get the feeling someone here isn't allowing us to leave."

He extends a pointed finger toward the boulder nearest them. Squinting through the darkness, one can just make out the sight of a small, irregular shape jutting out above the craggy rock. Two red eyes sitting in a grotesque-looking head appear to be watching the heroes. They widen in what might be an amused expression as the creature slowly begins to stand...!

Shriek laughs and squeezes Carnage's shoulder. "Did you see that? She flipped me the bird!"

As the villains react with distracted amusement, Domino finds a sliver of opportunity she can use to her advantage!

Stepping up 1d6 in the Doom Pool for Domino's opportunity in Msg #310.

Doom Pool: 1d8, 1d6

Doom Pool reaction to Domino attempting to remove the "Locked Artillery Case" d8 scene distinction.

"Locked Artillery Case" d8 Scene Distinction
1d8, 1d6 from the Doom Pool

14:43, Today: The Watcher rolled 7,4,4 using 1d8,1d8,1d6.  Doom Pool reaction to Domino attempting to open the Locked Artillery Case.

Total: 11
Effect: d6
Opportunities: 0

Though Domino wins, her d4 effect die steps back due to the Doom Pool's higher d6. Result is no effect.

Domino draws a metal shim from her boot and tries her hardest to jimmy open the padlock on the nearby locked artillery case. Unfortunately, military-grade hardware is often kept under military-grade security, and the contents of this crate are no exception. She soon finds her metal tool is too bent to be of any further use, and with a sigh, she tries to think of another plan.

Transition Scene continues.

Apologies, Domino. When I suggested that action, I had forgot again there aren't supposed to be dice rolls during Transition Scenes. You can have that 1 PP back. Doom Pool resets to 2d6.

"What the hell is this now?" Moon Knight grumbled as the ugly demon-thing emerged from behind a rock. "I don't have time for this."

I know what to say, Jake said from the back of Moon Knight's mind. Let me talk.

With a sigh, Moon Knight gave Jake momentary control.

"Good evening," Jake said as Moon Knight's usual voice took on a distinct Brooklyn accent. "As a duly designated representative of the City, County and State of New York, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension."

That oughta do it. Thanks very much, Jake.

Shriek gets to her feet and strolls to the rear of the ship, taking a seat by the reinforced window near Domino.

"Shame about your ol' pal Deadpool, huh? He was so torn up about you replacing him with that Moon Knight guy. But choosing the right partner is so important, isn't it?"

"You can say that again, babe," laughs Carnage from the front of the ship.

"I'd already blown apart the loudmouth with a sonic blast," the villainess continues. "But to think now that whole building came down right on his head... No way is he coming back from that."

She holds up Domino's teleporter. "Surprised he didn't just hang onto this himself," she smirks. "Could have saved his own skin, if not for trying to help you. How touching."

Her wicked eyes narrow as she glances toward the pilot. "Now, Carny, what are we going to do with her?"

Transition Scene continues.