Driven beyond panic at the sight of their leader's charred and smoking body, the remaining Wraiths attacked savagely, giving no heed to their own safety. Despite the hysterical cries of "Die, Earthers!", their reckless attacks were easily avoided by the Guardians.

Wraiths turn 15

1) Push. Dire Wraith(#3) attacks Peter Quill. 8 vs. 16 (Defenders TA). Roll: 3+2=5. Miss. Dire Wraith(#3) takes 1 pushing damage.

2) Dire Wraith(#4) attacks Adam Warlock. 9 vs. 16. Roll: 1+4=5. Miss.

Guardians of the Galaxy
1) Peter Quill (90) (1/6) [12 AP] M12
2) Rocket Raccoon (65) [2 AP] KOKOKO
**w/Armor Piercing (10)
3) Major Victory (49) (2/6) [4 AP] M13
**w/Guardians of the Galaxy ATA (4); Stunning Blow (10)
4) cm087 Adam Warlock (61) (6/8) [9 AP] K15 @@
Total: 289

vs.

Dire Wraiths
1) Wraith Patriarch (jl021 King Shark) 100 pts KO!
2) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts KO!
3) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts (2/8) L13 @@
4) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts (4/8) K14 @
Total: 280

LO: H14
HO: D17

Map: http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils2...&u12=x565y-103

"Oh, shut up already!" Quill said as he clocked the Wraith upside the head, knocking it to the ground unconscious.

Guardians turn 16

1) Quill attacks Wraith 3 with RCE, 9 vs 14. Attack roll is 6,3 (9) for a hit that does 4 damage (-1 toughness, 3 total) to KO the Wraith. Quill gets 4 AP.

2) Vance attacks Wraith 4, 7 vs 15. Attack roll is 4,4 (8) for a hit. Vance does 1 damage and gets 1 AP.

Guardians of the Galaxy
1) Peter Quill (90) (1/6) [16 AP] M12 @
2) Rocket Raccoon (65) [2 AP] KOKOKO
**w/Armor Piercing (10)
3) Major Victory (49) (2/6) [5 AP] M13 @
**w/Guardians of the Galaxy ATA (4); Stunning Blow (10)
4) cm087 Adam Warlock (61) (6/8) [9 AP] K15
Total: 289

vs.

Dire Wraiths
1) Wraith Patriarch (jl021 King Shark) 100 pts KO!
2) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts KO!
3) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts KO!
4) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts (3/8) K14 @
Total: 280

LO: H14
HO: D17

Map: http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils2...3&u10=x569y-65

His rage overwhelmed by terror, the Dire Wraith facing Adam Warlock emits an ear-piercing scream as he turns and flees. Blinded by his fear, the wretched creature makes a feeble attempt to slash Peter Quill as it escapes, but runs headlong into the wall before the blow connects.

Wraiths turn 16

1) Push. Dire Wraith(#4) CHEMMING. Break away roll: 5+2 (PLASTICITY) = 7. Success! CHARGE to L11 and attacks Peter Quill. 8 vs. 16 (Defenders TA). Roll: 1+2=3. Miss. Dire Wraith(#4) takes 1 pushing damage.

Guardians of the Galaxy
1) Peter Quill (90) (1/6) [16 AP] M12 @
2) Rocket Raccoon (65) [2 AP] KOKOKO
**w/Armor Piercing (10)
3) Major Victory (49) (2/6) [5 AP] M13 @
**w/Guardians of the Galaxy ATA (4); Stunning Blow (10)
4) cm087 Adam Warlock (61) (6/8) [9 AP] K15
Total: 289

vs.

Dire Wraiths
1) Wraith Patriarch (jl021 King Shark) 100 pts KO!
2) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts KO!
3) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts KO!
4) Dire Wraith (mu016 Miek) 60 pts (2/8) L11 @@
Total: 280

LO: H14
HO: D17

Map: http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils2...&u12=x565y-143

------------------------------------------------------------

And if I'm not mistaken, that's the game. Great game! It was a lot of fun. Thanks for letting me villain again! :knockedou

No problem at all. This was definitely a lot more fun that the previous one.

Guardians of the Galaxy
After Annual #2
Adam Warlock (61 Points); 48IX/3IA
(U CM87)
w/Extended Range (10 Points)
Mantis (35 Points); 14IX/0IA
(R SV67)
w/Maneuver (8 Points), Vault (3 Points)
Gamora (79 Points); 26IX/3IA
(U SI54, R GG33)
Major Victory (Vance Astro) (49 Points); 12IX/3IA
(R SV58)
w/GotG ATA (4 Points), Stunning Blow (10 Points)
Jazinda (Skrull Warrior) (30 Points); 3IX/1IA
(R SV04, E SV05, R GG04)
Peter Quill (Star-Lord) (90 Points); 9IX/3IA
(E HA25)
Rocket Raccoon (65 Points); 2IX/2IA
(V HA28)
w/Armor Piercing (10 Points)

Team Experience: 21TX/0TA
Team Total: 400
Squad Size: 250

Individual Damage Points
1) Peter Quill: 16 IAP/TAP (4 IXP/TXP)
2) Rocket Raccoon: 2 IAP/TAP
3) Major Victory: 5 IAP/TAP (1 IXP/TXP, 1 IAP/TAP)
4) Adam Warlock: 9 IAP/TAP (2 IXP/TXP, 1 IAP/TAP)

Team Total KO Points: 220/4 = 55; 13 TXP, 3 TAP

Guardians of the Galaxy
After Issue #13
Adam Warlock (61 Points); 51IX/0IA
(U CM87)
w/Extended Range (10 Points)
Mantis (35 Points); 14IX/0IA
(R SV67)
w/Maneuver (8 Points), Vault (3 Points)
Gamora (79 Points); 26IX/3IA
(U SI54, R GG33)
Major Victory (Vance Astro) (49 Points); 14IX/0IA
(R SV58)
w/GotG ATA (4 Points), Stunning Blow (10 Points)
Jazinda (Skrull Warrior) (30 Points); 3IX/1IA
(R SV04, E SV05, R GG04)
Peter Quill (Star-Lord) (90 Points); 13IX/3IA
(E HA25)
Rocket Raccoon (65 Points); 3IX/0IA
(V HA28)
w/Armor Piercing (10 Points)

Team Experience: 42TX/3TA
Team Total: 400
Squad Size: 250

With their leader down, the Guardians holding their own, and Adam Warlock downright scaring the out of whoever was still standing, the remaining Dire Wraiths made a hasty retreat with their proverbial tails between their legs.

“FLEE ALL YOU LIKE! IN THE END IT SHALL SAVE NONE OF YOU!” Warlock shouted after them. Sensing others nearby but temporarily having forgotten his friends, the man turned with fists raised in the direction of the other Guardians.

“Woah!” Quill exclaimed, putting his hands up defensively. “It’s alright, Warlock, it’s us!”

“My apologies, friends,” Warlock said as he let the energy from his body disperse and he fell to his knees. “I… experienced things during my time in Wraith captivity, none of it pleasant. I am ever grateful for your freeing me.”

“That’s what teammates are for,” Vance Astro replied.

“Speaking of which, we need to regroup with the rest of our team,” Quill said. “The Wraiths may actually be the least of our worries right at the moment.”

“Less of a worry than this?”

The three turned to see Rocket holding some kind of Wraith Energy Sphere containing a tiny prisoner, who looked terrified.

“What, or who, is this?” Vance asked.
“No idea,” Rocket replied. “I just know she was being held alongside Warlock.”

“We can worry about her later,” Quill said. “For now, may I suggest we get our team back together and get off this station?”


Something wasn’t right.

As Gamora looked out across the horizon of her homeworld of Zen-Whoberi, she could not shake a feeling in the back of her mind that whatever she was currently experiencing was wrong somehow. Whether it was the pristine balcony-level view of Zen-Whoberi’s regional capital city of Zenooberon, with the peaceful, pleasant citizens going about their day; or perhaps the immensely unnatural feel of the full-body dress she was wearing in spite of something telling her it had been tailored to her exact figure for an unparalleled fit; or perhaps even the idea that she should have been feeling a sense of peace and happiness, she knew that something was wrong.

She just didn’t have the slightest clue as to what that something was.

Gamora looked around to get a sense of her surroundings. While something in her head told her she knew these surroundings, her gut was telling her to question anything that ‘something’ told her. Taking note of the room on the other side of the doors, she walked inside to what seemed to be some kind of master bedroom. To her left, the woman noticed a mirror, one that allowed her to get a full view of what that something in her head told her was the “real” her.

Except that Gamora’s gut told her that the woman in the mirror was a lie. There was something not right about the way she looked, from the elegance of the dress to the way her hair was done or even in the ring…

“…A ring?” Gamora thought. Yes, there was a ring on her finger; a beautiful one at that. Some kind of wedding band, except that the memories she supposedly had of how she had gotten it felt incomplete. This only furthered the woman’s suspicions – if her life was supposedly as wonderful as the voice in her head was telling her, then why did her memories of it and the man she was supposedly married to feel so incomplete?

“Gamora?” A voice came from the door, one she knew she recognized, but from where was fuzzy. Through the main doorway came a man who seemed a mix of real and unreal – Adonis, his name was? Yet even that didn’t sound right.

“Gamora my dear, there you are!” ‘Adonis’ said as he fully entered the room and came to Gamora’s side. His clothing, an expensive-looking cloak and suit, spoke of a man of wealth, power, and importance. As he reached her, he took note of the concern that Gamora seemed to be emanating.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Yes,” Gamora replied. Looking back out through to the balcony, for a split-second the world changed – it was a wasteland, laid to ruin in the aftermath of total annihilation. It was almost imperceptible, but it felt far more real than anything else she had seen thus far.

“What is it?” ‘Adonis’ asked.
“Everything,” she replied.
“What?”

“This isn’t real,” Gamora said. “None of this is real.”


“REPORT THAT DIRE WRAITH CLEANSING PROCESS HAS COMMENCED,” MATANI reported to the Collector as he operated near the container currently holding the comatose form of Gamora.

“Very good,” the Collector replied. “Keep me advised of any irregular occurrences or emergencies, but otherwise spare me the regular updates until the process is completed.”

“UNDERSTOOD AND CONFIRMED,” MATANI replied.

“Now that that is seen to…” the Collector said, speaking his thoughts out loud. He returned to the process of calibrating Gamora’s stasis system. While her physical body was now fully repaired and unquestionably preserved, her mind was another matter.

The Collector was preferential to preserving his collection as pristinely as possible, which included preservation of the mind. This meant that direct alteration, lobotomy, or simply turning off the brains of his collectables was an option of last resort when he was absolutely, positively certain that there was utterly no other choice. Even then, such an option was near worthless anyway since a body without a proper mind did not store well in the long term.

Not in a long term that most mortals of the universe could understand. But the Collector, as long lived as he was and intended to be, was preparing his collection to last for eternity, and there was no sense in assembling a collection that would spoil after a few short millennia. Practically no time at all as far as he was concerned. His vast experience told him that trying to store individuals for such periods of time, even in stasis, wrecked havoc on a body if its mind was not properly stored as well.

The mind was indeed a hideous thing to let go to waste – and once the mind went to waste, the body would soon follow; relatively speaking, of course.

Since most of his collection was not stored there willingly, it meant that the Collector required a means to keep them docile that wouldn’t ruin them over time. That made his current virtual reality technology invaluable, creating a false environment pulled from the deepest of the individuals' subconscious memories and experiences. It was intended to keep them from realizing what was going on. What they experienced was never quite a certainty, some relived old memories while others lived out a life of fantasy. Still others experienced life as it could have been in another life not lived, a ‘what if’ scenario that might have been preferable to their real life.

The important thing was that it worked -- most of the time. In some cases, it simply took more work than others. From the looks of things, Gamora was an individual who would require quite the alignment before her mind accepted the reality the machine crated for her.

“Hmm…it appears that she’s rejecting the environment…” the Collector said as he thought out loud. From the readings he had acquired, Gamora’s was a particularly defiant personality. This would be a challenge he had not experienced in some time.

His hands moving across the instruments and panels, the Collector changed the frequencies for the pod…