Interlude: The Time Gem

"Speaking of wristbands, get those. They are trouble." Energystar twirls her staff and charges Marvel Boy.

EnergyStar, seemingly unhampered by the dense ocean about her, strikes Marvel Boy with her vibranium staff, knocking him back and continuing to keep him off balance after MantaMan's blow.

Across the chamber, Benni backs up towards the entrance, hoping to prevent Marvel Boy from leaving if need be. Unfortunately, something smooth and cold blocks her path. Turning around, Benni sees that her progress towards the entrance is now blocked...

...by a monkey. In a spacesuit. With a robot.

It's like some flashback to a 1950's sci-fi flick...

The robot and the gorilla each grab one of Benni's arms, as if trying to restrain her.

Meanwhile, a discharge of energy explodes from Marvel Boy's wristbands, slamming into EnergyStar.

Cap, PowerSurge, and Pulsar stand on the opposite side of the room, apparently distracted by something that remains unseen from the other heroes' vantage point.

"We have more company", Cap announces, not even looking in the direction of the two new arrivals Benni is busy with.

"I don't know what your problem is", Marvel Boy snarls, "but after how long it took us to find her, you can bet you won't be leaving with her as long as we have anything to say about it."

"I must be dreaming.. this can't be real!!" Benni yelps in surprise as she sees the monkey??? in a space suit followed by the robot?? "A robot, I can handle a robot, just advanced robotics.. but a MONKEY!!! Hey! Let GO!" Benni snaps as they grab her arms. She braces her feet against the floor of the chamber and tries to smash the two into each other.

Since they have grabbed her arms, do I need to roll to hit?

Strength Roll: Remarkable: to smash the monkey and robot together.

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 1

Benni, trying to break free from the grasp of the extras from an old Ed Wood movie, loses her footing on some of the sea slime covering the passage's floor and is unable to pull free.

She does however, feel the strength with which she is being held and realizes she did force her two opponents to shift in order to keep their control of her when she tried to move them...

Maybe EnergyStar was right about her increased Strength...

Across the room, where Cap, PowerSurge, and Pulsar were standing, three more individuals come into view...

Two are men in space suits, similar to the one the gorilla holding Benni is wearing. You finally notice that the symbol on the front of space suits match the crest in the middle of Marvel Boy's shirt. The men do not appear to be alien, however. In fact, one appears to be of Asian decent and the other of African decent...

The other individual is a human female...extremely beautiful...wearing no protective gear at all, much like the rest of you. She has milky white skin and long blond hair and as you look at her you find her beauty so captivating it becomes hard to look away...

You are all enthralled be her beauty and no longer feel the need or desire to fight. The gorilla lets go of Benni. The robot does not. Benni doesn't seem to mind.

Marvel Boy stops fighting, moves into a defensive stance, and then drops to an "at ease" position.

"I assume there's been some sort of misunderstanding", the blond woman says, her voice ringing like a beautiful melody through your ears even though you are standing on the ocean's floor north of the arctic circle. "Perhaps we should all explain ourselves without resorting to any further violence."

That sounds like a wonderful idea to each of you. She is so wise and beautiful. Thoughts of frolicking with puppy dogs in fields of wildflowers dance in your heads.

The Asian man in the space suit walks over to the shattered coffin. "I guess the coffin was damaged over the years."

"It wasn't", Marvel Boy answers. "This is a projection, not unlike the ones I make: holographic and telepathic. I'll disable it."

The withered corpse and shattered coffin disappear, replaced by the image of a young, regal-looking woman with long blond hair, encased in a block of ice. Within the block of ice, near her clasped hands, rests the gem you seek.

"Oh, Bob!", the beautiful blond woman who has you captivated calls to Marvel Boy, clasping her hands and smiling broadly "She looks beautiful!"

"Yowza!", the gorilla adds.

All of you are now gathered in the chamber, surrounding the frozen woman. You still feel no further desire to battle each other, but you still aren't sure what's going on here.

Incredible Intuition feat

Benni blinks her eyes as the beautiful woman walks up to the coffin, entranced by the woman's melodic voice. Benni's eyes grow wide as the illusion drops from the coffin and reveals a young regal woman inside of an ice block and holding a strange stone in her hand.

Benni walks forward to get a closer look, "Who are you? And who is she?" Benni asks with awe in her voice. She completely forgets that the robot is still holding on to her as she attempts to step forward.

with a Remarkable Str, she can automatically move something with a Typical weight. If it takes more then that to move the robot, she will get stopped since she is using her strength without thinking about it. And is in a very peaceful mood for some strange reason.

Stepping towards the ice block, Benni absentmindedly drags the large, blue robot, still attached to her arm, with her as she steps forward.

As the comely blond woman turns to answer Benni's question, the young-looking Asian man in the space suit steps forward, brandishing a credit-card sized badge.

"I'm Jimmy Woo", he says, "agent of SHIELD."

...more to come.

Benni blinks and steps back as the asian man jumps in front of her and flashes his badge, " Aren't you the movie director guy....wait..no that was John Woo." Benni starts to ask, although she has zero reaction to him being an agent of shield, "SHIELD?? What's that?" Benni hasn't noticed that she dragged the robot with her, but furrows her brow as she wonders why the robot is still holding her arm and walking beside her.

Jimmy Woo explains that SHIELD is an international security agency (many of you already familiar with the group and its leader, Nick Fury). The group he has assembled here are agents he has worked closely with since the 1950's including Ken Hale (Gorilla Man), M-11 (The Human Robot), Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson), and Venus. Yes, that Venus.

He also introduces Agent Derek Khanata, the African man who is accompanying them. Derek seems to have almost as much of a shell-shocked look on his face at all this as Benni has.

Woo also mentions to Bob that the AEF has been hanging around with someone who appears to be Marvel Boy, but he has not had the opportunity to investigate the individual...

Woo claims that the person on his team is the Marvel Boy and that the one who has been following around the AEF is an impostor. This, of course, in no way explains the third individual who appeared to be Marvel Boy who died in battle against the Fantastic Four back before the Secret Wars...

The individual in the block of ice is Namora, the cousin of Namor, the Sub-Mariner, who was believed to have died several decades ago.

Benni blinks.. takes several deep breaths, "Right... Shield..the comic book organization."

Benni blinks as she looks at Venus again and starts getting lost in looking at her and then shakes her head as she tries to process that this is the "VENUS" and takes another deep breath whispering to herself, "ookay...this is a dream.. just go with the flow."

"Ummm... which Marvel Boy is the one with Thanos??" Benni asks confusedly as she tries to keep score of all the Marvel Boy.

"Wow, she is remarkable well preserved in that ice." Benni comments as she examines the ice block... wondering how it can preserve someone for decades....in deep water. "hmmm.. we are in artic north... so the water can be below freezing temperatures... North Atlantic so high salinity content... and if the ice block was brought in here.. it wouldnt melt from temperatures..but how to keep the flowing water from wearing away at the ice block.. maybe a forcefield of some kind??" Benni steps forward distractedly reaching for the ice block with her right hand. Benni seems to try to find rational scientific explanations for stuff when she is feeling overwhelmed.