Thevshi

Multi-Girl The two Bernadettes glanced at each other a moment before focusing back on the purple haired Consuelo. "This is pretty much normal fer us." The original Bernadette replied with a slight shrug. But then the other Consuelo seemed to panic slightly and flew off down the hall in the direction the institute scientist had gone, with green haired Consuelo quickly flying after. The two Bernadettes let out a collective sigh as they started off after the two Consuelos, still trying to figure out just how they were going to deal with this situation, short of just punching out the purple haired version.

Timeout Out in front of Freedom Hall, a BWM iX electric SUV pulled up on to the front. Inside where three Claremont students, Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers and Baltazar Botez. A number of the young heroes attending the League's holiday party had approached the event with uncertainty and apprehension. Among those was Lawrence, although for rather different reasons. Like Amaryllis, Lawrence had attended many of these parties, and grown up regularly interacting with the members of the League and many other adult heroes that were likely to be in attendance. In fact, it was this connection that him feeling apprehension. When he started at Claremont, he knew that his family's wealth and status could be an issue with some of his classmates (who he had learned from his foster sister and other experiences in the hero community, often came from very different situations). Add to that his very close connection to the League, well, that could very easily lead to what Consuelo sometimes said about Parker, that he was acting superior to everyone. Of course Lawrence couldn’t change either of these things, so it was just a matter of how he handled them. He did his best not to flaunt his wealth and generally try to be grounded in his interactions with his peers. As for his mom’s identity and the League, he had chosen to just not bring it up. There were times that he might inadvertently say something that might hint at the connection, but tried to gloss over it. Tonight he fully expected things to come crashing to the forefront. So, he figured he might as well have fun while it did. Stepping out of the SUV, Lawrence handed the keys to the valet as he looked over to his friends. "Well guys, welcome to Freedom Hall." He said with a smile. Having not yet decided on any individual costume, Lawrence was dressed in a finely tailored blue suit with a vest under the jacket, with a light blue dress shirt and a tie that was mostly dark blue with lighter blue points. As the trio made their way inside, Lawrence took a moment to look around, seeing multiple familiar faces, including his mom, who was (unsurprisingly) among a small crowd of people. He also spotted several of his classmates from Claremont. Turning back to Parker and Baz, the blond teen waited to see where they might want to go.

APPROVED!

Velocity Velocity had seen Geckoman make his entrance, and recognized his wife from a long, long time ago. She gave Mizuki a warm smile as the teen made her way back to the group the speedster was talking with. But before she could introduce her, Fluer made her entrance, causing Velocity's smile to widen as she glanced to Luke and Muirne, nodding her head towards the tree. "And there she is now." When Stesha made her way over to the group, Velocity hugged her in return. "Well, you know how I can get when I put my mind to something." She replied as she gave Basile a wide smile and lightly grasped one of his hands. "He is getting so big!" She then glanced over towards Amaryllis. "And always good to see you Ammy." She said before offering the tween a hug. "Fluer, I believe you know most everyone here," She then turned back to the group, "Grimalkin, Crimson Tiger. And of course Nightscale and Shadowborne, who were just asking about you." The speedster then indicated Mizuki, "and this is a new Claremont student, Torpedo Lass."

Multi-Girl Bernadette gave Charlie a slight look as he responded. It was so often hard to read him, one of the many things that was both intriguing and aggravating about him at the same time. The redhead guided them out of the crowded areas and into one of the side hallways before stopping and facing him. "I'm kiddin' o' course." She stated, most likely unnecessarily. "But…" "Back when ya were still at Claremont, I spent a bit o' time strugglin' with whether ta let you know how I felt. An…then ye were gone." The Irish teen stated. "I don' need ta know why, or where, or anythin'. But, now yer back, at last fer now, an' I don' plan on regrettin' what I didn' do again."

Multi-Girl Bernadette could not help but grin at Michael's reaction to learning who Charlie was, not to mention Charlie's to having someone fanboy over him. The redhead gave everyone another smile as she and Charlie started off into the Hall….on a mission. "O' course, one o' the social exceptions ta makin' out at an' event like this." She replied to Charlie's first question. She then laughed at his second. "Not a bloody thing. Not my bleedin' fault they jump ta conclusions an' did not get that I just plan ta use ye fer the night an' be done with ya." The Irish teen gave him a playful grin.

Multi-Girl After dodging the shadow tendrils from Murine, Bernadette was worried that she might have to fight her as well. And then Charlie made his dramatic entrance, dressed in a new costume he went after Ms. Scorpion and sending her sprawling. Bernadette felt her breath catch at seeing him in action once more. Whatever confused emotions she had had earlier after receiving his text after his long absence were gone. And then Shift burst in, and working with Luke, the two put Shields down, freeing those he had mind controlled. With the number of opponents dramatically reduced, the many duplicates still in the warehouse were no longer attacking. A couple of the duplicates that had been fighting Ghule took a few steps back from her, holding their hands up in front of them to indicate they were no longer going to attack her. "Ye were bein' mind controlled." One of the pair said to the confused Ghule. "By that slimeball." Stated the other, pointing to the unconscious form of Shields. Meanwhile, the original Bernadette turned to one of the few actual enemies, Chump. The duplicate that was fighting him knew what she wanted to do, so launched a kick at him. The former police officer easily blocked the attack, but it was never meant to actually do much, just get his attention as the original and a couple other duplicates moved in. The two duplicates both arrived first, one delivering a knee to Chump's stomach, while the other delivered an elbow slam to the upper left side of his chest. The original Bernadette was right behind, swinging powerful right hook at Chump. *WHAM* The powerful hit barely caused Chump to budge as he took the hit with seemingly no effect. Bernadette and her duplicates took a step back as she shook her right hand. "Ow."

Okay, Multi-Girl's duplicate will use Aid to set up for Multi-Girl to attack Chump, getting a 20, giving a +2 on the attack roll. Multi-Girl will attack, getting a 21 which I expect hits Chump given he is entangled, that is a DC 28 toughness save.

Multi-Girl Bernadette felt a pang of guilt as Consuelo called out to her. She knew the other girl was very worried about how things might go tonight, and the redhead was one of the few present that would not be affected by the aura that the green haired teen gave off. Looking back, she thought a moment, she was not sure if Shift was going to be here, but glancing around she spotted some that would don. Looking back to Consuelo, she gave the other girl a reassuring smile. "I think I see Angelic over there by the food. She would probably know better than me if there are any other synthetic heroes here." As she continued on with Charlie, she took out other phone and sent Consuelo a quick text.

Velocity Velocity was listening to the conversations, while without turning her head keeping an eye on what else was going on in the lobby area as more guests continued to arrive. The speedster could not help but smile slightly as Luke asked Lynn about being on the Interceptors. Given her long tenure on the League, people often forgot that Velocity had been part of the original Interceptors along with Grimalkin, although to be fair, her time on the team had been very brief. When Muirne asked about Fleur, the speedster gave her and Luke a reassuring smile. "As we indicated that night, Fleur has comeback from such injuries before. She is here….somewhere," Velocity gave a general gesture back further into the Hall, "I expect she would appreciate a chance to see you two again."

Multi-Girl Running up next to the wall, Bernadette put her back to it as Jonah came over. Lacing her fingers together, the redhead half boosted, half tossed the taller teen up the side of the wall where he could grabbed the edge of the battlement and pull himself up on the walkway. The Irish teen then took a couple steps back herself and took a running leap up to the wall, vaulting over the onto the walkway next to Jonah. Taking a moment to take in what was going on, Bernadette saw Neko out in the courtyard drawing the attention of most of the soldiers. With a nod of her head, Bernadette hopped down inside the wall, moving over behind the barracks building. Once Jonah hopped down after, she started leading him along the inside of the wall, using the distraction and what cover there as to make their way towards the inner wall and the next portion of the fortress. Up above, Starshine glided down to one of the doorways off the walkway. Stepping through, she caught sight of the backs of two guards up ahead as they stepped out the opposite door leading to a walkway that gave them a view of Neko’s performance. Just inside the doorway was a wall on which several hooded clocks hung, apparently for rainy or colder weather. Down in the courtyard, more soldiers began to gather around as Neko continued her performance. For the moment at least, it seemed that all eyes were focused on her….

Yes and yes Though to clarify, you would not need to spend the HP to do both

Bernadette gave Mizuki a nod as she excused herself and headed off to get something to drink. Judging by the younger teen’s expression, she seemed troubled by something. She gave Michael a warm smile at his compliments and nodded at the question about whether she would sing. "Aye, tha rest o' tha band will be showin' up later." And then Charlie did one of the things he did best. The redhead started slightly, her right hand instinctively balling into a fist. But she quickly relaxed and otherwise managed to maintain her composure as she rolled her eyes slightly. "I bloody hate it when ya do that." The Irish teen turned slightly to Charlie, glancing down at his suit before looking back up and giving him a smile. "Hmmm….nice suit." "Let me introduce some friends." She continued, turning back to the group. "Rot…La Puma Negra….Magic 8 Ball….an' Golden Star." Indicating each of the other teens in turn. "Everyone, may I introduce Tha Stormcrow, tha Raven's former understudy." Bernadette then said, gesturing with both hands toward Charlie. "Now, ya will have ta excuse us," the redhead continued, wrapping one arm around Charlie's nearest arm, "we need ta go find some bloody mistletoe." With that, she started further into the Hall, pulling Charlie with her.

Well, you mentioned adjusting a headset in one of your earlier posts, I also had Lawrence talk over the headset earlier as well. @Huckleberry There are eight of them, at least that are readily visible.

Velocity At the familiar sound of Lynn's voice, Velocity turned to give her oldest and dearest friend in the superhero community a warm smile. "Happy holidays to you Grim! Looking fabulous, as always." The speedster responded as she returned her friend's hug. They were then joined by another hero, as Mali made her way over as well. "Happy holidays," Velocity said in greeting as well, "Crimson Tiger, isn't it?" "Allow me to introduce Nighscale and Shadowborne." The speedster continued, indicating Luke and Muirne.

Multi-Girl "Oh, no problem Vicki." Bernadette replied to the younger girl with a smile "I missed tha first couple o' these after I started a Claremont, sorta regret it." The Irish teen added as she generally led the group into the Freedom Hall. While not exactly as superhoro fangirl, she was still felt a sensation of awe at the realization where she was, but did her best to hide it, something she had gotten practice in with her recent performances at various venues throughout the city in the last few months. She glanced back slightly towards Carmen and Consuelo, glad she had managed to convince both to attend. Hopefully things would go better than Consuelo was anticipating. Glancing to one side, the redhead spotted Luke and Muirne talking with Velocity and gave a little head nod in their direction, planning to catch up with them later. Focusing ahead, she saw who Consuelo called out to and came over to Michael and Mizuki. "Hey Mizuki." She said before looking to Michael. "Golden Star, right?" She asked, although she recognized Michael, she had been at Claremont long enough to learn when to use real names and when to use codenames.

"Well, I hope you take my advice and not think too hard about it tonight." Velocity said with a grin. As she was talking to the two teens, she spotted other guests starting to arrive in a waves. Giving Mizuki and Golden Star a warm smile, she added, "I hate to have to break away, but other guests are arriving, so need to step away for the moment. I will try to catch up again later tonight, but if either of you ever need anything, or just want to talk, the school knows how to get in contact with me." With another smile, the speedster was then gone in yellow blur, although not moving nearly as quickly as she could, given the confined space and growing crowd. A moment later Velocity came up to Luke and Muirne as they made their way inside, slowing down from a littler further away so she did not quite so suddenly appear. "Nightscale, Shadowborne, good to see you both again. Welcome to Freedom Hall." She said in greeting with a wide smile.

Velocity gave a warm smile as Golden Star mentioned looking to her as an example. There may have once been a time where the speedster found it surprising that others looked up to her, but she had long learned to accept that came with high profile of being part of the Freedom League. "Well, I'll let you in on a secret, all of us where once in the same position of trying to figure it all out as well. I expect you will work it out." As the discussion turned back to legacies, the speedster gave Mizuki an understanding smile. "As I said, a legacy is complicated. I have known a number of legacy heroes, and there was even a time early in my career where some in the press tried to push me being some sort of legacy to Johnny Rocket. I adore Johnny, but I never tired, or wanted to take his place, and we were teammates for many years before he retired. Thankfully that idea never really went anywhere." The speedster had listened as the discussion continued and started towards more details about what had occurred with the death of the original Torpedo Lass and Mizuki gaining her powers. Velocity had read the Navy's report on the incident, an event involving the death of a known hero was something flagged for the League's attention, and had been about to try to steer the conversation away from what was likely a painful topic, but she was momentarily distracted as one of the League’s staff members came over to discuss an issue with some of the catering. By the time she was able to turn her full attention back to the two teens, Mizuki had already told a somewhat abridged version of what had occurred. Velocity gave her a very concerned and reassuring look. "It was very upsetting to read about what happened. I can tell you that there have been efforts to locate the individual responsible, on several fronts. Unfortunately thus far there have been few leads." "While I certainly do not want to be dismissive of what happened to you, one bit of advice I can offer is to learn to make time to focus on things that you enjoy from time to time. You seem like you have been doing that, but as you go further down this path, you will find yourself more and more thinking about all the things in the world you feel you could be, or should be, addressing or trying to fix. You have to learn to accept that you cannot be everywhere, all the time, even when you are as fast as I am." "As for your costume, as I said before, I think it looks fantastic." The speedster then added with a wide simile. "Nothing against the Claremont colors, but I think your palate is better."

Multi-Girl "Ya don' bloody say." Bernadette muttered back to green haired Consuelo as the two watched the purple haired version, apparently from some other dimension destroy a portion of the wall to search for whatever it had been she had been looking for. The redhead's mind was racing, she had learned a bit about alternate dimensions in one of her classes at Claremont, and it was well known there were examples of dimensions where things were a mirror reflection of things in this dimension, where someone that was good was bad, and vice versa. But learning about it and being confronted with it where two different things. But one thing was clear, they needed to find a way to stop this alt-Consuelo. Suddenly, there were two Bernadettes standing there as she summoned a duplicate. "Come on, lets get after her an' see if we can talk her down." The redhead started off after the purple haired Consuelo, her duplicate following close behind. "What is so important about this power multiplier you are lookin' fer?" She asked.

Multi-Girl As the last song finished, the lights on the stage stayed mostly on, although portions of the stage were still somewhat dimmed. Bernadette stepped back from the mike, taking off her blazer and laying it down on an amp near the drums. A trio of other girls came onto the stage, moving to three mikes on stands off toward the right side of the stage. One of the girls was a blonde in a white mini dress, the other two brunettes, one in a pair of blue sweatpants and sports top, the other black jeans and a leopard print sleeveless top. Those in the crowd that actually knew what Bernadette could do likely realized that the three girls were actually some of her duplicates wearing wigs. Bernadette quickly rolled up the sleeves of her white blouse to her elbows and flipped up the collar as she looked back out toward the crowd with a smile on her face. The redhead then strutted back towards the mike, earning her several cheers and cat-calls, which she just excepted with a wider smile. And then she started the next song… Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want As Bernadette sang out the first lines of the classic pop song, Summer and the rest of the band began playing the accompanying beat, but with a much more energetic rock edge. One of her disguised duplicates took the return response. So tell me what you want, what you really, really want I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want So tell me what you want, what you really, really want I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna really, really, really wanna "zig-a-zig", ah At first much of the crowd was in something of a stunned silence. Whatever they had expected next from the band, this had not quite been it. But that quickly changed as the energy of the performance set in. While Bernadette took the lead vocals, she and her disguised duplicates alternated parts, while at other times singing in pairs or all together. All the while, giving an animated delivery and managing to blend the pop song lyrics with the rock tempo of Summer and the rest of the band. If you want my future, forget my past If you wanna get with me, better make it fast. Now don’ go wastiiiiin' my precious tiiiime Get your act together, we could be just fine I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want So tell me what you want, what you really, really want I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna really, really, really wanna "zig-a-zig", ah By this point, the crowd had been caught up in the energy of the performance, joining in for some of the chorus at times. Bernadette, her duplicates and the band kept the high tempo and energy of the rock version of the classic pop song going throughout, finally finishing with one last chorus, If you wanna be my lover

Just a reminder of where everyone is in terms of HPs: Timeout 4 HP Magic 8 Ball 3 HP Rot 2 HP Torpedo Lass 2 3 HP So, now in addition to the Koopas, there are clowns to deal with.... Let me know planned actions and some reflex/drive rolls (and depending on the action, may need more rolls).

Timeout Lawrence saw what was lying ahead and could see Vicki and Consuelo steering toward the two powerups along the track. The two koopas between him and the two girls seemed to be starting to try to ram them, so the blond teen reached out with one hand and a temporal distortion erupted between the two koopas, washing over both of them. One of them managed to pull away from the distortion, but the other was caught it in, coming to a complete halt and frozen in time. With that at least partially successful, Lawrence stepped on the gas as he sought to catch up with Vicki and Consuelo. His red racer speeding along the course as he steered toward the inner part of the turn, turning sharply as he did not slow down. The Koopa that had resisted Lawrence time stop speed toward Vicki, only to have her disappear from its view, causing it to slightly loose control as it tried to get back in course. With no opponents to challenge them, the two teen girls each got one of the power ups, while Lawrence caught back up with them. Further back, Mizuki began making ground as well, outpacing the Koopa that had been playing bumper car with her, so she was past the time frozen Koopa, and had two other Koopa’s behind her. Now there was only one Koopa between her and her teammates and she had close the distance with them. As the racers all rounded the lake and started to the north, up ahead loomed a seemingly oversized Ocean Heights Amusement Park, the course going right through the park, with its rollercoasters and other rides. But the racers also noticed something else as they drew closer, riding out on to the track from the park were several clowns on unicycles, each juggling pies and seemingly focused on the racers as they approached. "Looks like the first twist from Quirk." Lawrence commented over the headset comms each racer had.

Okay, getting caught up with this: Lawrence is going to try Time Stop on K2 and K4: That is a DC 16 reflex save to avoid K2 gets an 11, K4 gets a 19, so K2 is frozen. Lawrence is going to try to catch up, getting a 29 K3 is going to try to ram TL2 again, getting an 18, so he fails to keep up with her as she speeds ahead. K1 is trying to catch up, but gets a 15 so does not make any headway. K4 is going to try to ram Vicki, but will miss as he is fooled by her illusion. Vicki and Consuelo will both get power ups: Consuelo gets a banana (which she can use as a range attack against an opponent to cause them to take a -10 to their Reflex save for a stage of the race) Vicki gets a bomb (which she can throw at an opponent (group of opponents) for an area attack. If not thrown next stage, it will blow up in her hand!

Multi-Girl As the first song ended, Bernadette walked back up to put the mike back in the stand as the lights through the club and on the stage began to dim. Soon the only light was a pale light that shone down from above onto Bernadette. Off in the shadows to the side of the stage, Summer began playing a soft melody as Bernadette let Summer repeat the cords a few times before she began to sing. Similar to the melody, the redhead went with a higher and softer pitch. I am light as a feather I’m as stiff as a board I pay attention to things that most people ignoooooore And I’m alright with the movies That make jokes about senseless cruelty, That’s for suuuuure And I am built like a mother And a total machine I feel for your every little issue I know just what you meeeaaan And I make light of the darkness I’ve got sun in my mother@$%#in’ pocket, Best belieeeeve Yeah, you know meee The lights on the stage suddenly came on as the entire band began to play at a much more upbeat tempo, which Bernadette matched with her lyrics as she became more animated as she sang. I forgive and I forget I know may age An’ I act like it Got what you can’ resist I’m a perfect all American… The tempo dropped back down to just Summer’s soft melody and a light snare drum as Bernadette once again standing still to sing the lower tempo portion of the song before becoming animated once again as it reached the finale.

Velocity Seeing Gaian Knight and Tiamat move over to greet a group of teenage girls that had just arrived, Velocity turned slightly so while still talking with Mizuki, she also was able to acknowledge Golden Star as he entered the hall. "You are very welcome." The speedster said with a wide smile as she looked at the young hero. "Golden Star, isn't it?" She asked, thinking back to reports she had read about some of the teen’s recent exploits. "Have you met Mizuki, also known as Torpedo Lass?" The League member asked, indicating the Japanese teen beside her. "Although, we were just discussing how complicated it can be to take on a legacy."