Reassembly II: Creatures of Light and Darkseid (M&M 3e)

[herodofcows]

Spoiler: Blood and Ice

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The Winter Soldier looks at you warily as you make your pitch. He's no longer shaking, but the deer-in-the-headlights look is far from gone. When he speaks, it's with the sort of emotionless monotone that you've come to associate with his withdrawal from the conversation.

"I'll pass. Thanks."

He turns to move away, and then pauses for a moment.

". . . Send me your friend's phone number if you want. Maybe I'll call him."

And with that, he vanishes into a nearby alley.

Madalina, for her part, shoots you a glare that quickly softens into an expression of unclear emotion as you make your plea. She seems torn for a moment, her mouth a thin line as she looks down at the now-gasping Dracula. The former Lord of the Vampires turns to look at her, and gives her a silent smirk through the bloody mask of his face.

CRACK

A gesture from Madalina, and Vlad Tepes' neck twists to an unnatural angle. He slumps, face still plastered with a snide grin.

Madalina breathes heavily as she turns to look at you, eyes blazing over brimming tears.

"It helps ME," she hisses, but her voice breaks as she says it.

Home is a mixed affair. Madalina remains quiet through the bulk of A New Hope and quietly excuses herself as the interminable final medal scene stretches out. Arlington attempts to make some stilted conversation with her, but she's clearly not in the mood (he also expresses a willingness to help any friend of yours that he can).

When morning comes, Madalina has left a letter on the kitchen table.

My dear granddaughter,

I prayed upon the events of last night, and the Lord has made my course clear: I will do penance for my hubris and cleanse the vampire scum of this Earth. The tools of my blasphemy shall be turned to righteousness, and so I will scourge the fruits of that sin.

With my former prince dead and gone, his hellspawn will be unguided and directionless. To hunt their evil across the world shall be a labor of years, perhaps decades. Yet do not despair: my curse leaves me unaging, that I might return to my time unaltered. I shall eschew all rest, take no human blood. I will not succumb to the baseness of my curse: if my vaunted arts cannot provide for my unnatural thirsts, then I shall feed from the beasts of the field, of the gutters and the rooftops. If my cause is righteous, the Lord will provide, as He provides His flesh and blood for the sinners of the world.

I shall return when I can: weak as I am, I am no ascetic to deprive myself of the greatest pleasure this era has reserved for me. I shall likewise contact you through electronic devices, that I might be there should my family need me. Perhaps I shall likewise call upon you: I have a grandson in this time as well, and I will not shirk the chance to teach him his fatherly duties.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you: the road of my penance is long, but I am set upon this path by the love of the Lord as much as by my love for you. By your guidance and example I have learned the errors of my ways and come to see much that had been hidden from me by my hubris. I have much to learn, and my road is long, but your lessons light my way and my steps will be guided by your example.

Not least among these examples rests my new moniker. As the crusaders did in my day, and as the super-heroes do in yours, I shall take a new name to remind myself of my purpose. The meaning is twofold: it shall remind me of my purpose in the explicit, and its resemblance to YOUR chosen name shall temper my actions in the implicit. My mission is not, and indeed cannot be one of vengeance. Vengeance is for the Lord. For me, there is only my new name.

May God keep and provide for you,
Penance, once Madalina of Latveria

Potence gets 1 Hero Point and 2 pp

Spoiler: Dawn of the Crusader

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Logan takes a hefty swig of the brew as you make your speech, likely composing his thoughts as he does so. He winces slightly, although this is likely more the result of his continued snobbery towards American beers.

“Ain’t just about what you regret.”

He sighs, and crushes the can in his hands as he continues. Logan isn't usually one to get DRUNK drunk (his healing factor being what it is), but you've noticed that drinking can put him in a sufficiently maudlin frame of mind that the result is much the same. It's some kind of Pavalovian reaction: the taste of beer makes Logan sad.

“Yeah, I put you on a road, all right. Me, that magic s***, and now the Phoenix. A long and bloody road ending in a six foot hole.

“I been around for a while, kid. Wiped a lot of people off my knuckles, more’n I can even remember. Some deserved it, most probably didn’t. Don’t know enough 'bout my past to say one way or another. But I know blood an' death an' loss. An' I know that f***in' bird” (this last he spits like a very different four letter word) “means all three, f'r you an' f'r me.”

He looks at you, face wooden.

“I know enough about me to know that I'm not a builder. Family, friends . . . I know in my gut that I ain't had much o' that before Chuck took me in. An' I tried to build since, Fred. Tried to build somethin' with the X-Men, with you, with Kitty . . .

"But now you got that f***in' bird. An' every time that bird shows up, I gotta wipe someone I love off my claws.”

This . . . puts a new wrinkle on what you'd understood about the Sinestro incident in Manhattan. Most of the X-Men that had been present for it didn't want to talk about it, but you'd figured out that Jean had gone full Phoenix to contain it. The assumption had been that Sinestro had overpowered her and killed her, only to burn himself out in the process. With what Logan's saying, it sounds like there's more to the story.

“So if that's the road I put you on, then I got regrets. I got all the regrets in the damn world.”

Sarah gets 1 Hero Point and 2 pp (calling it because this'll pick up with Augur's arrival in the Crossover)

Thunderstruck gets 1 Hero Point and 2 pp (calling it because Thokk wrote a perfect ending)

Spoiler: Family Meeting

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You don't hear the Druid's voice, but J'onn's presence comes through strong and sure as the Lizard listens to what you have to say.

~Don't worry, Rene. I think I've located you. Druid is working on repairing the link but I'm moving in. I'll get you out of there!~

The Lizard, meanwhile, seems to ponder your question. You can see its tail has reached out behind it towards a nearby desk. Unnaturally prehensile, it has curled around a pen and appears to be jotting down notes.

"Want make To-tum prey. Want not be prey. Not prey for Bat-man. Not prey for hu-man. Not prey for To-tum. Lizard rise. Lizard shed Cah-ners. Lizard, Bil-dur, Croc shed hu-man, To-tum. No more be prey."

Nodding to itself, it seems to come to a decision.

"To-tum out . . . hunt. Hunt Lizard, make prey. To-tum eat Bil-dur, make prey. To-tum find Croc, make prey."

It tosses aside the scalpel and moves towards you with the syringe.

"To-tum weak . . . Bil-dur make prey. No hunt. Safe. Make To-tum weak . . ."

As it approaches, you hear a rattling at the door and the ground begins to shake. Something, and you have a shrewd idea as to what, is rapidly approaching upon leviathan footsteps. The lab remains mostly clean, but you can see moss growing around the borders of the doorway, reaching through the gaps, twisting through the keyhole . . .