X-Factor #1: Trials


Written by d-knight7, edited for content by that hack, DM.

X-Factor exited the building, to the deafening roar of cheers and applause.
Hundreds of people crowded around the police barricades, desperate to touch them, or get something signed.

The team just stood there, completely stunned by the reception.

Val chuckled down the comm-link, "What's the matter Alex, not the reception you were expecting?"

"Um, no, to be honest. I mean I know the whole point of this team was to give people some mutant role-models, but I'm so used to being met with jeers and threats, this, this is just...wow."

Val laughed down the link, "Betsy, why don't you field most of the questions. See if you can't lead your eloquent leader through the media land mines."

Betsy laughed, "Sure thing Val, I'm used to handling the Paparazzi, this will be easy. Ooohh, MTV!"


There was a whirlwind of questions and answers, photography and meet and greets. Finally exhausted by it all, Alex managed to find a quiet spot by a SWAT van and let his dashing bright smile drop. His jaw was aching.

"There's my hero man", teased Lorna, giving him a hug.

Alex shrugged, "Am I the only one floored by all of this? Mothers that would normally lock their doors at the word mutant, practically throwing their babies at us for kisses. I mean the mayor shook my hand and got his picture taken with me! The man is practically an anti mutant ####, but he was acting like I was the new Captain America or something."

Lorna grinned, "Well you are! kinda. We're on the side of the angels now honey. When they see us we're heroes first, mutants second. We're Uncle Sam's guys now, red, white and true blue. How did that old song used to go again? Oh yeah. (Begins to sing) "When Captain America throws his mighty shield, then all those who tried to oppose his shield must yield. When he's lead to the fight..."

"Enough!", laughed Alex, kissing his wife on the forehead, "you'll have me saluting the flag in a minute."

"There you two are! We have an exclusive interview we need to give", scolded Betsy, waggling her finger at the couple.

Lorna nodded, and gave Alex a salute. "After you Captain."

"Oh brother", sighed Alex.


Shane: This is Shane Ruban for FAX news. So Havok, your new team is the toast of the town. How would you credit your instant popularity?

Havok: Ahem. Well, we're an officially sponsored hero group, which I think people approve of. If something big and nasty eats your car you can't call the cops, the army normally bounces bullets off of it, so who do you turn to?
People have had to just wait for whatever vigilantes wander by to deal with it. I think people like knowing that there is a licensed, highly trained team out there to take care of these things.

Shane: Sensational. So what was this squabble all about Havok?

Havok: The, um battle was to stop some kind of museum thieves. We know that they were super-powered, altered somehow, and that they were after an Egyptian artifact.

Shane: Yowza. So what were they after, King Tut?

Havok: Ahem, no. They were after one of the three oldest known items from ancient Egypt. They are collectively known as the 'Abodes of the Enslaved'. Legend has it that they house the spirits of the gods, whose mission is to oppose the 'Dark One'. He's a kind of Egyptian bogey man, he pops up in Egyptian myth from time to time. Experts can't really agree on much involving this 'Dark One', but what is hinted at is that all that opposed him were enslaved to his will. They're really quite exquisite pieces, from the first dynasty. The carving work is incredibly advanced compared to other works of the period. Some experts believe that...

Shane: Whoa, sounds like someone knows his mummies!

Havok: Ahem. I, err, saw a documentary on Discovery.

Shane: We believe you Hav. Still, you sure made those fellas 'walk like an Egyptian'.

Havok:............Um, indeed. They're being taken to a new detention facility the government has created for people with super powers, it's called The Vault. They can receive the special care and rehabilitation they need there.

Shane: That's swell. So, I guess there is one question on the lips of every American. Who does your costumes? I hear Armani was consulted.

Havok:.......................................

Havok's emergency beeper went off, and he practically leaped up from the interview chair.

"Sorry Mr. Ruban, duty calls."

"I understand completely, and please, call me Shane. Go get ‘em champ!"

Havok nodded, and with no small degree of relief boarded the Quinjet.

As they took off, Havok got Val Cooper on the comm-link. "Val, if you EVER get me a solo interview with that man again I will shoot you."

“We’ll all shoot her,” joked Betsy. “That man must have a degree in tedious. Rachael and I had to leave half way through; his droning was giving us headaches.”

Laughter echoed around the cockpit as they headed to the emergency.

As Shane Ruban watched the Quinjet rocket in to the distance, something cold slithered behind his eyes, and a smile of pure evil adorned his face.

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As X-Factor landed they noticed people running away from the area in blind panic. They ould see people in suits of armor wrecking the place.

"Japanese, Chinese, German, quite a mix of old armor. Whoever is inside of them certainly wasn't going for a theme." stated Alex.

"There's no-one in them." said Betsy. "I'm getting nothing from them. Wether it's magic, machinery or George Lucas I don't know, but there's no-one in those suits."

"Then we don't have to hold back then. Let's trash some antiques X-Factor."
=========================================

Game:

X-Factor team
E Havok 38
R Bishop 61
U Ult Phoenix 86
R Psylocke 29
_____________
214 pts

vs

Animated Armour
LE Wiitchblade(#221) 63 (+Auto Regen 12) 75
Exp Darkness 48
LE Sister Magdalena 34
Vet Ian Nottingham 34
Rk Ashleish 14
Rk Ashleish 14
_____________
219 pts

No set map.

X-Factor

Initiative: 6+3(9)
Objects: 1+5(6)

Mu hahahahahaaa!!! You are doomed, doomed I say!

Wait, there's no one in these suits? How am I supposed to write dialogue?

I think I have just ONE out of all of those figures. Ish.

Anyway, on with it:

Initiative: 4+4 = 8
Objects: 4 + 2 = 6

Object re-roll : 4 + 1 = 5. Ish.

Havok is up to the E already??? I thought you'd only played one issue?!

1 game and 1 training and npc xp. Also I set up alot of the moves in the games so Havok could get the max XP available on the board. Plus he's dirt cheap. I worked it out with DM, he JUST barely scrapes in.

Objects reroll: 2+5(7)

I won't be able to post till this evening.

Good luck, may the best not-just-suits-of-animated-armor-team win

HAHahahah......wiht Wakanda writing for them they aren't just suits......they're suits with style.

Darn that U Phoenix is a great figure!! Just checked out her stats. That is one crazy good team you're got there Shaun!

Here's my team with their clicks of life:

Animated Armour
LE Wiitchblade(#221) 7/7
Exp Darkness 6/6
LE Sister Magdalena 5/5
Vet Ian Nottingham 6/6
Rk Ashleish 4/4
Rk Ashleish 4/4

Thanks As soon as they can afford the Elf they'll be perfecto

Let's have Marvel B as the map.

Do you want to choose your side then set up? It would save me having to let you choose side, then I set up, then you set up, then I go. Up to you.

This should be fun :]

Marvel B? The Marvel Maps have numerals instead of letters as far as I can see. Do you mean Marvel 2 (The street intersection).

Man it is a lot quicker to get started when the map is set already!

Okay, I'm going to assume you meant the street intersection one and go ahead with my set up....

Set-up

Animated Armour
LE Witchblade(#221) (Samurai Armour) 7/7 O2
Exp Darkness (Viking Raider) 6/6 V2
LE Sister Magdalena (Shao-tzung Warrior) 5/5 R2
Vet Ian Nottingham (Roman Centurion) 6/6 S2
Rk Ashleish (Norman Soldier) 4/4 N2
Rk Ashleish (Saxon Crusader) 4/4 Q1

Light Objects: Q8 & P9
Heavy Object: D9

Yes, Marvel 2 is correct, don't know where I got Marvel B from

Good luck
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Setup

X-Factor team

E Havok N2
R Bishop M2
U Ult Phoenix O2
R Psylocke P2

HO: I3, I8
LO: I18
---------------------------------------------------------------------
X-Factor turn 1

Havok picks up Bishop and moves to N15, placing Bishop in M15.

Phoenix picks up Psylocke and moves to O15, placing Psylocke in P15.
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RECAP

X-Factor team

E Havok N15@ (6/6)
R Bishop M15 (6/6)
U Ult Phoenix@ O15 (7/7)
R Psylocke P15 (5/5)


Animated Armour
LE Witchblade(#221) (Samurai Armour) 7/7 O2
Exp Darkness (Viking Raider) 6/6 V2
LE Sister Magdalena (Shao-tzung Warrior) 5/5 R2
Vet Ian Nottingham (Roman Centurion) 6/6 S2
Rk Ashleish (Norman Soldier) 4/4 N2
Rk Ashleish (Saxon Crusader) 4/4 Q1


HO: I3, I8, D9
LO: I18, Q8, P9

Good luck to you too.

Animated Armour, Turn 1

The Shao-Tzung armour creeps forward to Q8.

The Roman Centurion follows behind her to P7.

Just two actions right? I'm cool with that.

Animated Armour
LE Witchblade(#221) (Samurai Armour) 7/7 O2
Exp Darkness (Viking Raider) 6/6 V2
LE Sister Magdalena (Shao-tzung Warrior) 5/5 Q8 @
Vet Ian Nottingham (Roman Centurion) 6/6 P7 @
Rk Ashleish (Norman Soldier) 4/4 N2
Rk Ashleish (Saxon Crusader) 4/4 Q1

X-Factor team

E Havok N15@ (6/6)
R Bishop M15 (6/6)
U Ult Phoenix@ O15 (7/7)
R Psylocke P15 (5/5)


HO: I3, I8, D9
LO: I18, Q8, P9

"I saw something glint on the rooftop, I'm sure of it. Psy, get over here and give me some of your mojo" shouted Havok.

Psylocke moved back, and mentally enhanced Havok's attack. He spread the plasma beam wide, and as well as setting fire to the Roman armor, a suit of Chinese armor became visible on a nearby rooftop.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
X-Factor turn 2

Psylocke moves to N16.

Bishop outwits the ESD on the Roman Centurion armor.

Havok pushes to use an EE attack on the Roman Centurion Armor. AV9 vs DV15. Roll is 2+4(6), HIT for 2 damage (1+1 for Enhancement). The splash hits the Shao-tzung Warrior armor, doing 1 damage after toughness (1+1 enhance-1 tough).
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Recap

Animated Armour
LE Witchblade(#221) (Samurai Armour) 7/7 O2
Exp Darkness (Viking Raider) 6/6 V2
LE Sister Magdalena (Shao-tzung Warrior) 4/5 Q8 @
Vet Ian Nottingham (Roman Centurion) 4/6 P7 @
Rk Ashleish (Norman Soldier) 4/4 N2
Rk Ashleish (Saxon Crusader) 4/4 Q1

X-Factor team

(3)E Havok N15@@ (5/6)
()R Bishop M15 (6/6)
()U Ult Phoenix O15 (7/7)
()R Psylocke N16@ (5/5)


HO: I3, I8, D9
LO: I18, Q8, P9

??

Ian Nottingham is away from the edge of the roof. Without being able to check the map right now (I'm at work), I don't know how you could've possibly targeted him.

Well this is interseting.....I've just checked the map poistions.....and I found some things you might both like and hate.

1) For Havok(N-15) targeting Ian Nottingham(P-7)....he's listed in both your move post and your position recap as being in P-7. That's not on the roof. That's on the ground. Clear LoS.

2) Knowing that Ian(P-7) is on ground.......Sister Magdelana(Q-8) is on the roof and not afffected by any splash from EE attack.

That's what I see at least.