The X-League [IC]

[industrious]

Adrien Chenkov

He nods then.

"What do we have to do?"

[SuperCracker]

Aegis, Sea of Spiders

Yeah, I get it, Doc's not a team player, he thinks to himself, before shouting to Logan. "Fine, then take it as a strong suggestion. Either way, we gotta find that thing and get it into the temple before we're all dead!" When Adrien asks what he needs to do. "As soon as Doc finds it, you stun it, then I'll roll up and grab ahold of it and try to run it into the temple for a touchdown."

[Sojobo]

Rose, Franklin; Physical Plant Party Pooped

RockFranklin's blow - more like slap - is more than enough to knock the man out; his eyes roll up in his skull and he goes limp. The lights are still out; everything is still illuminated by the red flood lights powered by the emergency generator. There are also the four unconscious bodies lying at your feet.

The walkie-talkie crackles to life and a voice - Lex Osborn's - booms over it. "We've seemed to have lost power in the lab; I smell trouble. Guards, sweep the building! I want to know what Superman is up to... guards? Report!"

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Obviously, you beat him senseless.

Remember in minion fights you can roll saves for the minions to resolve things yourself - you get more freedom to do whatever you want to them and be awesome, unless you'd prefer I resolve it for you. I just like reading the players' fluff, its the only reward I get for all my hard work. ::sniff::

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders; Hunt for Root October

Logan sniffs the air, and growls to himself. "These things all smell the same... like computer circuit-boards. I can't tell them apart..."

He is distracted momentarily by a tidal wave of spiders rushing towards him. Seeing how far behind he is from his allies, Logan leaps onto the back of a spider and kicks off, sailing through the air to land on all fours besides Chenkov and Jubilee. The three of you are back to back on the land island, surrounded by the broken bodies of spiders. More are crawling over their fellows to reach you.

"Also, if you hadn't noticed bub, this is a HELL of a lot different than running simulations in a lab!"

Jubilee burns down a spider that gets too close with her fireworks. "Yeah, well NOW what? I don't like the sound of that System Scan thing..."

Vic's car is pretty beat up at this point; he manages to run over 3 or 4 more spiders before the engine compartment explodes into smoke. He kicks open the door and dives out, scrambling over the spider bodies to get to the land island to join everyone else. "Getting hard to concentrate... too many of them. Hrmm... 5 Processses, 5 Monitors. This was Power and that was Security. Process of elimination?"

[SuperCracker]

Aegis, Sea of Spiders

"Damn, Doc. You can smell when I got beer in my room but ya can't sniff out this guy?" He gives him a grin, trying to keep his mood up... after-all, wouldn't do any good to panic over the impending doom.

"Vic's right. Trial and error. Ain't the most graceful solution, but sometimes... ya have to just roll with it. Everyone fan out and get yourselves a spider!" And with that, Aegis leaps up into the air towards the next CHS. He's starting to take this more seriously. His wasn't the only life at stake-- these kids too... and Doc.

Aegis comes down with a furious punch as he falls, the impact of his fist causing a thunderous boom, and if it hits, Aegis tries to get a deathgrip on the spider and hold it down, to see which one it is.

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Just one attack, All-Out Attack for full. Got to try and hit.

(1d20+15)[34] Damage DC 25
And if I hit, grapple. (1d20+24)[39] I'll choose to pin him so I can get a look at which spider he is.

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders; Hunt for Root October

In what is fast becoming his signature move, Aegis bounds over to one of the three remaining CHS's, leaving the Monitor Man to stay and guard the temple, and slams his fist unerringly into the CHS... except, not exactly as he intended. Instead of smashing through the CHS as he expected, his fist enters the creature's body without rupturing it, as if the thing were a giant beanbag. What is more, his fist feels like it is being sucked into the spider's body.

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This particular CHS has a Sustained, Suffocating Snare Aura 10 you just activated by successfully hitting him. Make a Reflex Save, DC24. Grappling him may not be a good idea at this point; it'll reactivate its Snare aura.

And to add insult to injury, I actually rolled well for this sucker: it doesn't get hurt. Can you guess which CHS this one is?

[Bango Shank]

Franklin, Physical Plant

Thinking quickly, Franklin picks up the dropped radio and does his best not to smash it in one stony hand. He considers changing out of his granite form but decides the way it distorts his voice might actually work in his favor here by making his voice deeper and harder to understand.

"Physical Plant team here. Power's out but nothing damaged. Heading to ITS next sir. Over." He replies quickly into the radio. Hopefully they buy it...

[Sojobo]

Franklin, Rose; Physical Plant

There is a moment of silence on the radio. The red emergency illumination continues to cast everything in a ghastly way. Then there is a verbal explosion from the walkie-talkie.

"I can't trust you idiots with anything! Physical Plant means nothing to me, CEREBRO is everything! YOU SHOULD HAVE CHECKED INFO TECH FIRST! Run and hide, fools, I am sending the Hordelings there now to do your job, and if they find you, they will rip your organs out!"

[Bango Shank]

Franklin, Physical Plant

Franklin's eyes, hidden somewhat behind layers of rock, widen a bit.

Damn!

He quickly motions to Rose, hoping she overhead the conversation and knows what he's thinking. They have to get to the ITS and CEREBRO (whatever that is) before those Hordelings. He points down the hall they first came in and then arches his hand to the left, indicating the turn down the hallway that had been marked ITS at the intersection that first brought them here.

"Uh, No need for that sir! We are on route now! Will report in the moment the situation is...handled." The distress was real enough, and might lend some merit to the cover. The moment he stops talking though Franklin keeps off the radio and immediate switches back to his invisibility form (though he keeps visible for the moment).

"We gotta move." He says to Rose, turning and taking off down the hallway on the path he had indicated. As he runs Franklin focuses on raising his personal force field, feeling it coat him from head to toe as he moves. Whatever these Hordeling things are, they were no doubt very very bad and the last thing he needed was to run in there with no defenses at all.

[industrious]

Adrien Chenkov

"That definitely seems like the root."

While the young existentialist is loath to commit himself too far, he is more than willing to go the extra distance, just to be safe. Attempting to replicate his trick, folding and refolding areas of the digital map they were inhabiting, Adrien conjures a micro black hole. The screen readout by Aegis grows dark, and the man feels a slight tug as the localized gravity begins to orientate towards the center of the computer.

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Spending a hero point(2 left) to create a new Alternate Power. Perception-level Blast 11, for a DC 26 Toughness save.

Rolls(if needed):

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(1d20)[19]

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(1d20)[19]

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(1d20)[6]

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders; Are You an Astronaut Cuz That Is A Nice Blackhole

Once again calling upon his crazy physics-mocking powers, Chenkov generates a micro blackhole that Steven Hawking would approve of, right in front of the CHS's screen. Portions of its liquid metal skin - you and Aegis are thinking its liquid metal, since they were playing Terminator 2 in the Marvelle House rec room the night before - run off from its body and are sucked into the blackhole, and the creature tries to squirm away before too much of its mass is lost.

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Chenkov's Perception Blast 10 does some damage, Bruising/Injuring the creature.

Unknown Error: CEREBRO Core Integration, Line 533. Initiate System Scan? Y/N

"What in the world... initiate the scan, now...

Superman; Have Mercy

Bringing your Kryptonian strength to bear, you manage to pry Mercy's magnetically interlocked hands apart and pop her off your back; she does manage to sink her claws one last time into your costume and is still hanging on to you like a rabid wombat. However, doing so forces you to slow down; Harry Osborn manages to get around the flak and urges his hoverboard on to catch up to you. A large retractable blade springs from the suit's forearm, humming with energy, and propelled by his hoverboard he charges straight at you, hoping to skewer you with it.

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Harry charges you, giving him +2 to attack and -2 to Defense. Since you are grappling with Mercy, you lose your dodge bonus to him (including from your Defensive Attack), reducing your Defense to 12. He hits you with quite a bit of room to spare; fortunately for you, he has neither Power Attack nor Sneak Attack and didn't use his Autofire Blast rockets this time. Make a lethal damage save, DC25.

Some distance away, the Black Javelin phases back into view and begins firing its autocannons at Harry Osborn; unfortunately, the shots miss or plink off the Goblin armor harmlessly.

"Uh, Supes, the Black Javelin isn't a superiority fighter... I don't have a lot of useful armaments left here..." Dick buzzes in your comm.

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Since the Black Javelin is firing into melee, the shots are at a -4 penalty since Dick doesn't have Precise Shot and his attack bonus with the Black Javelin isn't that high anyway; he misses.

Still gripping onto your costume, Mercy flips herself around, this time attempting to wrap her legs around your torso and force one of your arms behind your back in a nasty joint lock.

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Grapple check to Pin once again, she got a 39. Then its your turn.

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders; Spiders Strike Back

Unknown Error: CEREBRO Core Integration, Line 533. Initiate System Scan? Y/N

"What in the world... initiate the scan, now..."

The red dusty sky begins to change color, darkening; the rectilinear flashes of light are starting to look less like the natural phenomena of lightning and more like circuitry. Even the rocky red ground under your feat and the entire volcano caldera is starting to look distinctly more polygonal.

"I do not like the sound of that!" Jubilee says, once again blasting back the wave of spiders encroaching upon your little island. Vic simply stands back, trying to catch his breath. "Looks like Tim needs help..."

Logan doesn't even spare him a glance. "Kid's strong... he'll be fine." And with that, he leaps off to another island and another CHS, hoping to find the "root" process. "Damnit, this one is the Defense System!"

"Which leaves that one," Jubilee says, pointing a sparkling hand to the remaining CHS and land island. Even as she speaks, the CHSs identified as Security and Power finish rebuilding, and heave themselves back up onto their sharp metal legs.

Meanwhile, the CHS you now know to be CORE Integration reaches out its legs to haul Aegis bodily inside of it.

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Its using its Aura Snare once again, hitting you easily because of your All Out attack and entangled status. DC24 Reflex save again, and keep in mind you have a -4 Dexterity penalty because you are entangled. Wait, can you even make this save? I guess you could spend a Hero Point to try to counter it somehow.

[FirebirdFlying]

Rose, On the Way to ITS

Running now… The moment of relief she'd felt when Franklin's bluff worked disappeared about as quick as she registered what Osborn was saying. Hell, I'm not cut out for this. She's already tired, adrenaline doing hardly anything more than making her twitchy as she runs.

[Sojobo]

Rose, Franklin; Running to ITS

At some point during your hustle to what was called ITS, the lights come back on. You get to the intersection once again, and notice the security camera that was there is now permanently disabled; it looks like somebody fried it. You head toward ITS, throwing open a door and racing down multiple flights of stairs leading you deeper into the building's subfloors. You come across more disabled security cameras... and also the crumpled bodies of guardsmen. You hope Barbara had been this way.

Warning: Intruder Alert

Shoot, did you get spotted? Did Barbara?

It was like a scene out of some sci-fi movie, when the protagonists are racing through the stricken spaceship on their way to the escape pods: the flashing red lights, the blaring alarm, the unconscious bodies.

Finally you make it to a large room partitioned off by glass walls, filled with row after row of server stacks, wires, and computer terminals; printed on the entrance was the quaint words "Information Technology Services," as if this were the IT department of a quaint little company.

Yes, quaint was the word for it. Several of the glass walls are shattered; there are about a dozen guardsmen lying unconscious and battered on the ground, many with their limbs bent at unnatural angles. And in the middle of it was Barbara Gordon, a blur of motion as she handled two remaining guards; she twisted one man's wrist way beyond its natural range of motion, causing him to scream and drop to his knees, then used him as a stepping stone to deliver a stunning spinning upside down kick to the head of another guard, who was knocked unconscious immediately. Flipping over from her kick completely, she landed behind the first kneeling guard, and delivers a smart blow to the back of his head; his eyes roll up in his head and he faceplants.

Barbara looks up at as you both enter. She is sweaty, covered in blood and cuts. "Where were you guys?" she says breathlessly.

"Probably off lolligagging," comes Zeb's voice. You can see him in the back, his hand around the arm of what looks like some scientist. The scientist looks completely disinterested in what is going on, despite his bleeding profusely from a head wound, and is typing into a computer terminal.

"Shut up, Z. Don't make me regret saving you. Keep working."

Barbara herself moves over to a terminal, pulling several wires from a compartment in her gauntlets. She starts working.

"Franklin, you're handy with computers, right? See what you can find. Rose, you think you can read their minds?" She says, indicating several unconscious people in labcoats mixed among the crumpled guards.

[SuperCracker]

Aegis, Sea of Spiders- IN a Spider

The punch is about to hit, he howls in delight, "GOTCHA B****!" Then the punch connects, but instead of a satisfying crunch, his hand was trapped. His eyes widened, then narrowed in anger. "Lemme go, fool!" He starts to thrash, but his strength works against him-- like quicksand, it just causes him to get stuck further inside of the spider, until he's almost completely submerged. Before he's swallowed up, he shouts, "Wait a minute, I ain't John Connor--"

So, trapped within, he holds his breath. This isn't good. Although it didn't help the first time, maybe it'll work now. He attacks his spider-prison with every bit of force he can muster.

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Concentration check to hold breath and attach: (1d20+6)[15]

Attack against snare. All-Out Attack for 2 (cause it's all the non-dodge defense I have) and power attack for 4. Attack roll: (1d20+8)[21] DC 29.

[Sojobo]

Aegis; Inside the Spider

Being inside the spider is very... weird. You feel physically entrapped but also mentally boxed in, as a whole stream of numbers and nonsensical words fill your head in an endless barrage. You can't breathe.

Struggling, you flail out wildly, reaching for something physical to grasp on to. You manage to punch a hand free of the creature and partially exit it; however, one leg and one arm are still stuck.

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You actually rolled a 9 on your Concentration roll, since you have no ranks of Concentration and have a Wisdom modifier of 0, so you lost 2 rounds of air, but thats moot because the "snare" portion of the creature took 10 on its toughness roll (for being an object), resulting in a 24, 5 less than your damage DC of 29. Its "disables" the snare, freeing you from being bound, helpless, and suffocating. You are still, however, entangled.

The CHS suffers Feedback; it fails its save, even using the Snare's 14 rank as Toughness, and has 2 Injuries. Of course, you're damaging his precious system is drawing Osborn's attention even more, as...

Error: CEREBRO CORE Integration Stalled at 84%. Initiating System Scan...

An electric shock seems to pulse through the fiber of everyone's being. It seems to last for an eternity.

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Industrious, SuperCracker, gimme Will checks por favor.

[Bango Shank]

Franklin, ITS

Franklin is glad to see Barbara rather than Osborn's troops, and anything that didn't involve getting shot at sounded like a plan at the moment. He quickly slides up to a still in tact computer console and does his best to interpret the data flowing across the screen.

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Computer Roll (1d20+15)[18]

"Problem. Something called Hordelings are on their way here."

[FirebirdFlying]

Rose, ITS

"…Yeah." It seems like it would be useless to resist, and silly. It's a matter of life and death, after all. Although I could just pretend… "I'll try."

She stands somewhere near the middle of the pile of bodies, but shifts her focus not to the people, but to the things. What's been happening here, I wonder?

[Sojobo]

Franklin, Rose; ITS

You manage to orient yourself with the computer network at this installation.

It seems that whoever Zeb was mind-controlling had the credentials to bypass the lower tier security; Barbara seemed to be working on the higher level defenses, which to your eyes look extraordinarily dense.

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Bypassing the security will require a DC40 roll; you and Barbara have comparable computer skills. You can choose to spend a minute and roll a DC20 computer check to reduce the final DC by 2; each failed check results in wasted time. Every failure of more than 5 will increase the DC by 2. You can keep spending time and making computer checks until you're happy in the OOC; fluff out a post about your hacking prowess if you like, too. If you have other ideas, let me know, though I'm off to work till midnight.

The more time you spend, the less time you have to prepare for/escape from those Hordelings, whatever they are.

"Hordelings? What the hell are Hordelings? I do not like the sound of Hordelings..."

"Work faster then," Barbara said, her face a mask of intense concentration.

In the distance, you can hear a faint rumbling coming from above.

[Bango Shank]

Franklin, ITS

After several intense minutes of hacking and shifting through terrabites of data Franklin backs a step from the console.

"Got something. This whole thing is some massive project called CEREBRO. They've got a psychic strapped into a machine powering the thing to find and cloak metas around the world. Our friends are in some kind of 'dream world'. I think we shut this thing down properly and we can get them out." He turns towards Barbara. "If we do this wrong though it kills them all. The psychic, Megan Morse, is in that big circle building."

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders

The electric shock passes, and everyone seems ok, if very perturbed. "Did NOT like that. At all..." Vic growls through his Rorshach mask. There is now an odd synthetic quality to his voice now. He looks up and around - the sky is now completely, utterly black. The "volcanic caldera" you are in now looks like a perfectly symmetrical, red polygonal bowl, devoid of any real features or textures.

The spiders teaming around you are also beginning to look distinctly polygonal, like poorly rendered sprites in a video game.

"Please, hurry!" comes the girls voice. "I can't stop the Scan!"

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You all make your Will saves, but you are now "mentally suffocating" - you have to make a Will save, DC10, every round starting with this one, or fall unconscious. The round after falling unconscious, you are dying. Each round you succeed increases the DC of the next round by 1.

Industrious, you still have your turn this round.

[industrious]

Adrien Chenkov

One last spider. Process of elimination dictated that that one construct's destruction spelled their salvation. And time was running out.

Adrien's pistol sweeps towards the root process, and fires twice. The shots zig and zag as he manipulates his field, bouncing them off gravitic distortions to create a more accurate-and hopefully more powerful attack.

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Using Extra effort for an extra standard action, and spending a Hero Point(1 left) to relieve the after-effects.

Attack 1:(1d20+12)[26]
Attack 2: (1d20+12)[31]

DC 23 Toughness saves each time.

Add'l Rolls:

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[roll]1d20[/roll

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[roll]1d20[/roll

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[roll]1d20[/roll

[Sojobo]

Sea of Spiders; A Scanner Darkly, Round 1

The shots ring out and pixellated smoke issues from Chenkov's gun: the bullets defy all laws of projectile motion and slam into the Root CHS with incredible force, bringing it to its... well, whatever passes for knees for the things.

However, each shot has bizarre and global repercussions: with each impact, the world itself seems to scramble - polygons become larger, more coarse, more pixellated, and reality begins suffering bizarre streaks and planes of rainbow colored light that kaleidoscope across your vision and vanish. Its as if the world were an LCD screen that had just been punctured.

Vic and Jubilee cry out in pain, while Logan simply grits his teeth and curses. The CHS Aegis is tangling with reels back as parts of its body simply disintegrate from the reality flux, and hordes of spiders suffer the same fate.

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I majorly flubbed its first Tough save, and it fails by more than 5; its Staggered/Disabled (but not stunned because it is a construct). The second save I manage to not fail so badly; the creature, overall, is now Injured and Disabled.

However, the thing has a very interesting defense: it will, in any round that it is damaged, as a Reaction, release an Area Blast X effect, Limited to the highest damage it took that round; in this case, everyone has to make DC23 Damage saves. It IS the root process of this entire reality, after all.

Vic and Jubilee are Bruised; Logan makes his save.
Core Integration fighting Aegis is now Staggered (oops) in addition to having 2 Injuries.
Lots of spiders disintegrate.
Power, Security, and Defense are Bruised.
Chenkov is currently only Bruised form before, pending this damage save.
Aegis is entangled.

System Scans: Chenkov and Aegis made their saves for this round.

Round 2 starts: Remember to make your System Scan Will saves, DC10.

[SuperCracker]

Aegis, Graphical Glitch Sea of Spiders

Man, he hadn't seen graphics this bad since his old Playstation 1. However, that searing pain in his "body" made it a little more problematic than bad visuals. He grits his teeth and stands tough. It's not that he has a powerfully strong mind like a psychic does. It's just because he's that. DAMN. STUBBORN. "Get offa' me, 8-Bit!" Aegis shouts before performing a super-powered karate chop (he doesn't actually know karate) in the parts of the spider that were holding onto him. The cutting power comes from the amazing force of the blow, not any actual sharpness-- of course.

"Keep it up, Adrien! Hey girl," he shouts to the controller of the faceless man, "When that thing goes down, you grab it and-- do whatever ya need to do to it!"

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Full all-out attack and some power attack on the snare.

Attack: (1d20+12)[27] DC 28 damage.

[FirebirdFlying]

Rose, ITS

"How fast can we do it safely? Because these Hordelings don't sound pretty. Single minded killing machines."

[Sojobo]

Franklin, Rose; ITS

"Did you get that?" Barbara says, speaking into her comm.

"Yes," comes Bruce's voice. "Your priority is that psychic; she is the key to saving our teammates. Oh, and insert the data worm; I want to do some hacking of my own."

"Got it," Babara says, sticking a little dongle into a computer port. "Lets pack up and go."

"Finally." Zeb looks at the labcoated man he'd been controlling for a moment; the scientist's eyes roll up into his head and he collapses to the floor. Everyone heads out into the hall; as Zeb gets close to Rose and Franklin, he says somewhat sheepishly, "Sorry about falling behind before, I... I'm not used to this crap..."

Out in the hallway, you can hear that weird rumbling noise: its coming from the stairs, the only way back up to the ground floor and out of the Cube shaped laboratories.

"Well damn... single minded killing machines, you don't say?"

[Sojobo]

Sea of... Polygons

The weird glitch hits Aegis hard; looking down, he can see his body is becoming more and more polygonal as well. Gritting his teeth, through sheer force of will, he manages to chop through the last bits of... pixels?... Core Integration was using to suck him in. Already badly damaged, Core Integration reels back, its tether to Aegis severed, and collapses to the ground, shimmering polygons flaking off its body.

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Aegis is Bruised, Staggered, and Stunned, but uses Extra Effort to shake off the Stun. Using his single standard action, he breaks the snare and is no longer entangled: CORE Integration suffers feedback, and because of all of its previous injuries, fails big. Its KO'd. Next round, Aegis will be Fatigued.

Warning: CEREBRO Core Integration hang. Reallocating resources to System Scan.

Another wave of electrical shock jolts through everyone's body, though with increased intensity. Jubilee and Vic cry out, their bodies spasming violently, before their eyes roll up into their heads and they crumple like ragdolls. Logan once again grits his teeth and with the intense concentration of a wounded animal, shakes it off. He leaps toward the island the Root Process is on, but in mid-leap Power, Security, and Defense - now nothing more than a whirling mass of silvery geometric shapes - crash into him and knock him to the ground. He claws at them but is unable to break free of their digital embrace. "Chenkov!" He screams, his body lost under the swarming silver - the parts you do see look bloody. "End it!"

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With more and more processes under attack, the System Scan gets ramped up this round: DC18 Will Save, Aegis. Aegis barely makes his save. Industrious, your previous rolls are enough to spare Chenkov from the effects. The others aren't so lucky.
-Jubilee and Vic are unconscious
-Logan is grappled.
-Reality is really screwy.

Industrious, remember that the girl asked you to bring Root into the temple. Since you are a gravity controlling speedster, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out a way to do it before the System Scan DCX kills everyone.

Superman; Above the Base

Whatever you are doing, Bruce's voice crackles over your comm. He speaks in code, which you interpret to mean:

"Superman, I Team has found the target, a metahuman in the large spherical building. Can you shake the Osborns?"

Rose, Franklin, Superman; Genoshan Base

Wherever you are, Emma Frost's panicked voice comes over the comm. "Hurry! Jubilee and Vic have mentally flatlined! The others are in shock!"

[SuperCracker]

Aegis, 8-Bit Hell

He's starting to be able to tell this isn't his body. That shockwave wouldn't have rocked him so hard if it was. The scan hits, and it hurts bad, but he fights it off, throwing his head back and letting out a yell-- no, a roar! "KEEP IT UP, OSBORN! You ain't killin' me with a keyboard! Tex, it's all on you, kid. I believe in ya!"

[industrious]

Adrien Chenkov

He had to think quickly. Had to think quickly. Had to...

He couldn't. Think quickly. Under pressure like this. It was lunacy, lunacy to assume that he could do all this. He was seventeen, this was only a week into the school term, and, and, and...

"Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you?"

Adrien Chenkov closes his eyes, and opens them once more. And as he does so, finds the time to think, stretching and slowing it down to suit his processes. And here, there is music, too. He doesn't know where it came from-the recesses of his mind, perhaps?-but finds that it doesn't matter. It exists. It is pleasant. There is little else to be said.

It's simple, once you stare back and have the time to see things rationally. It's so simple. The answer, right in front of him all this time, and yet he couldn't see it.

The field collapses, but the music continues, and Chenkov renters the world, the world that is an illusion but still matters. Their existence in the world makes it matter. Purpose can wait.

"Existence Precedes Essence"

Around him his friends and comrades are falling or have fallen. He looks at them, and breathes. He didn't know if he was capable of doing it. But he had to try. What other choice was there?

He stares at the Root Process, and with a wave of his hand, folds the rules that govern this world once more. Not to destroy, though. What purpose was destruction, if this world was but an illusion? No. This was a folding of space and time, a uniting of two points that had previously been separate. The idea hadn't been his own; he was inspired by an author he had read as a child. But it was brilliant, all the same.



"...the individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others. He justifies his existence by a movement which, like freedom, springs from his heart but which leads outside of himself."

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Philosophy aside, here is my power stunt, using Extra Effort. A Perception-level(+2), Teleport Attack(+2) with Accurate(+1) and No Save(+2) extras at rank 5(*5). 35 pp brings me just under the limit.

The "attack" sends the Root Process inside the Temple. No attack roll. No save. Totally broken. But narratively necessary.

[Sojobo]

Rage Against the Machine

The Root Process was there, and suddenly... it was not. Gone. In the blink of an eye, and only Chenkov knew where it went.

Chenkov, and the girl. "Thank you..." whispers the girls voice from everywhere at once. The virtual world begins rumbling, shaking, as if reality itself were suffering a fault-line slip; you all find your attention drawn to the temple, which through it all was the only thing that had kept its resolution.

Its alien architecture shimmered, shivered, shrank... the Monitor Man turned around to face it. "Thank you for protecting me, Father... even if you were just a memory," comes the voice, and the Monitor Man holds up his arms to the temple, as if in worship. His body disintegrates into dust, the CHS trapped within him freed at last - only to be disintegrated as well.

Everything was getting painfully white, impossible to see.

"Please... tell Franklin to find me..."

You shut your eyes against the brightness, and when you open your eyes again...

Rose, Franklin, Aegis, Chenkov; Subbasement of the Cube Building

... you are standing, dressed in medical gowns, in a hallway filled with crumpled men. Rose and Franklin are in form fitting black uniforms, gaping at you. Behind you, Zeb and the Institute's head librarian are also gaping at you.

"What the HELL just happened? Where did you come from?" Zeb demands.

Rose, Franklin, and Superman's comm buzzes once more: its Emma Frost. "Tim and Adrien have disappeared from the infirmary! The others have woken up, but are disoriented. What did you do?"

Oh, yeah, that rumbling noise? Its getting really really close.