Heritage

Let's say Grim goes out to help create more shelters and/or shores up damaged buildings with Craft (Structural) before she calls Serge. I'll do one roll for each. Making shelters: 12 Boo! Maybe she should take extra time to build them! Taking 10 would give her DC20 on additional projects.

From the Secret Blog of Gretchen McDaniels March 15th, 2015 So I have to put this down somewhere, right? My boss is insane; I've known this for some time, but now I have proof. She shared with us her 'terrible secret', which I'd mostly figured out other than being wrong about all the details. She is the freak I thought she was all along. So I Googled her; she used to be a total badass, but now she's pretty much a soccer mom. I confronted her with this information, along with much proof of her current lameness. I presented a plan of action to reverse this process, volunteering myself as her personal crime-fighting assistant. She said yes; the journey begins. Today she announced that in honor of the Ides of March (?!), she is initiating the Cato project: inspired by a series of movies starring Peter Sellers in the 70s, my boss is going to start attacking me, pretty much at random. She will use a wide array of disguises, and at no time will I be safe. In addition, she will begin training me in her private gym, aka the creepy room above her garage. The point of this, she said while evilly sipping her peppermint mocha, is to toughen me up. She thinks my new job will put me in danger; since she will now be attacking me, I guess she is right. Evil has whipped cream on its nose.

Lynn drained her cup of coffee and signalled the waiter. "Can we get the check and some to-go boxes for this?" She indicated the rest of Thaelia's pizza. The bookstore owner returned the purse to her Vault and paid the check, and the trio was soon back outside on their way back to the station; once they were back on the platform, she began to furtively sniff the air, hoping to catch a whiff of ichor. "The things we have to do for this job. I've had to do this as a dog a few times to do this properly; y'know, keeping my nose to the ground?" She shook her head. "Reaaaally hope I don't have to do that today."

After working with Gretchen for about an hour, Grim finally remembered to call her brother; it took a while to get through, but eventually she reached him. Ben, Sarah and the kids were all thankfully okay, but they'd been evacuated to a nearby elementary school and didn't know when they'd be able to go home. They'd grabbed their emergency kits and the visitors' bags, and were currently occupying roughly twenty square feet of a gymnasium, which they were sharing with dozens of local families. Ben was happy to hear his little sister and her friend were safe, and proud to hear about their aid efforts; he encouraged them both to stay and help out as long as they could, and promised there would be a cot or sleeping bag waiting for them. Much relieved, the two young women (well, one of them was young) went back to work; Grim shared her contact info with Tria and Fly (no sign of the Man in Black and White, but he looked like a loner), and then they worked until they were almost ready to pass out. After much coaxing (exhaustion helped), the fae finally managed to convince Gretchen to climb into her transdimensional Vault, where the poor thing instantly fell asleep on the soft pine needle floor, wrapped in one of the conjured emergency blankets. Grim then shrunk down to pixie size and flew off towards the evacuation center, practically falling out of the air several times due to fatigue. The next day dawned with stiff necks and impressive bed hair as the various Epsteins arose from their makeshift beds for a late breakfast of kosher MREs; yes, Ben the worrywart was exactly the kind of guy you wanted to have around after a natural disaster. As Lynn rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she suddenly realized she'd mistakenly left Gretchen in the Vault all night; horrified, she ran into the nearest bathroom and drew a circle in the air, and was greatly relieved to see her assistant was not only fine and still asleep, but actually enjoyed a better night's rest than anyone else! After breakfast, everyone washed up with sanitary wipes, and Lynn and Gretchen got ready to head back out into rubble to make a difference.

Due to the nature of her upbringing, Miracle Girl was inclined to trust the American military, so she decided to risk it and come clean, but on the off chance things weren't on the up and up, she would allow Blod to do her thing and remain out of sight. Casey floated out from behind the bouy and smiled like a kid caught sneaking out to head to the local late night juice bar. "Hi! Brave young flying teenager looking to help! Call me Miracle Girl." She indicated the bouy with a wave of her hand. "Traced a problem with the computers at our secret base to this location; what brought the Guard out here?"

Casey groaned and rolled her eyes. <"Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that! I haven't really had time for dating since I got my powers last summer."> She sighed and brought a big bite of lasagna to her lips. <"Well, here's to being single!"> Then she looked somewhat philosophical and shrugged. <"Still, being able to eat what I want without worrying too much about a diet ain't so bad!"> The big blonde then took care of her soup before returning to the subject of powers. <"Teleportation sounds pretty cool; I can fly, which I totally love, and I'm pretty much bulletproof. I can also do things really fast!"> She let go of Vicki's hand and in the blink of an eye had done her hair into two cute pig tails. <"So at least if I have any dates, I'll be ready pretty fast!">

Y'know what, MG is pretty much a law and order type; if she has reason to think these guys are legit CG, she's going to approach them. Any objections?

So strange to think that the man she knew, in many ways, never existed; was it all a sham, or were at least some of the kind words and thoughtful gestures real? It would take her a while to fully process all of this; maybe she could look up her old therapist back in Atlantic City. "Well, running the store is my full-time job, plus I'm back in school, though there's no hurry on my degree, that's just...something I feel the need to do. But if you want, I can give you my card-" Lynn held up two fingers and a crisp white business card appeared. "I can travel through that, believe it or not, as long as I'm within two hundred miles, so I can be here in a jiffy if you need me. But if you want to keep any secrets from me, better keep it in a box or something, so I can't snoop." Turning back to Seahawk, she sighed and tugged at the front of her jacket like it was a pair of suspenders. "To be honest, I have no flying experience on Earth, or at least not this Earth; mostly weird ground effect craft like skimmers, the odd microlight and my late husband's flying motorcycle. Oh, and Martian low gravity flippers; those things can really move!" She grinned. "And of course, the occasional spaceship..."

Holy crap, I got a 20 on an untrained check - woo hoo!

Lynn folded her arms across her chest. "What, other than the fact that it's totally bizarre and uses that tech in a completely frivolous way? I-" Then she frowned and looked at her feet. "Yeah, okay, I guess some weirdo could have made that over here..." Then she looked up and raised a finger. "Actually it's not old, it's contemporary; it's from a world where the technology progressed, but the design aesthetic is still locked in the 1870s." She shook her head. "No idea why; they just really liked spittoons and stuff. You want something to eat?" She pulled open her fridge, which primarily seemed to hold alcohol and baking ingredients. "Uhhhh...I make a mean omelet!" The bookseller pulled out a beer and twisted it open. "Once you're done looking at that, I have something even cooler to show you." She winked and took a swig.

The blonde girl shrugged. "I'm sure something will come up, but we live in Freedom, so unfortunately weirdness strikes here a lot." There was a loud gurgle from her stomach, which brought a hint of pink to her cheeks. "Okay, sounds like I'm ready to eat, too!" She fixed herself a plate, piling on her typically large portions "Hmm, tofu dogs aren't too bad, but I think I'll need to eat twice as many of them!" Casey chewed for a while, then took another swig of Coke. "I think you have to remember how lucky we are; we have these options, these powers or gifts. We live in a country that's not at war within its own borders." She shrugged. "I mean, it sucks that your sister is so messed up, but at least you're in a position to do something about it; that has to count for something, right?"

Casey grinned. <"Air Force; 'Aim High!'"> She made a zooming gesture with her free hand, then shook her head. <"Nah, as long as he's not a pilot, we're cool; that's where the rivalry comes in."> She winked as she returned to her lunch, switching hands to make it easier. <"Hey, this is pretty cool; so much for talking with your mouth full!"> She proceeded to finish of her chili salad with impressive speed. <"As far as the arm wrestling goes, I'm a lot stronger than I look."> She put down her fork and flexed her arm; the muscle was fairly impressive in and of itself, but the golden glow that surrounded her hinted there was more to the story. <"I can actually bench press several tons."> She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed. <"So other than the 'hand talking', what can you do?">

At the mention of the name, the bookstore owner opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Uh...okay, that's fine. Please, follow me into my office." As Lynn turned and started heading towards the back door, Gretchen cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows, then jerked her head towards the maybe-possibly-not-a-criminal. Lynn stopped and pursed her lips. "My assistant is reminding me she is in fact part of the team, and anything you say to me you can say in front of her; is that acceptable?" Gretchen didn't wait for a response; she scampered in back to fetch Lance, who was unpacking boxes in back, to get him to cover the register. At first he seemed to be annoyed. "What, I was in the middle of something!" Then he noted the unusual young woman, and his employer's somewhat strained expression. "Oh, 'special order', I get it; no problem." 'Special orders' was the codeword Silberman's staff had come up with for superhero-y stuff now that they knew about Lynn's other life; it wasn't exactly James Bond, but it sufficed. Lynn gestured toward her office door. "Shall we, Ms. Trois?" Gretchen grabbed her reporter's notebook and a pen, and made ready to follow the two metahumans inside.

Lynn stroked her lower lip thoughtfully. "And how close to the truth is the 'public story'? Is that what really went down?" She furrowed her brow in thought. "I remember...there was a moment when we were fighting the Beast, when like a little- well, actually he was full-sized, but compared to that thing he was little, but some version of Dok was sort of...squirted out of that whole necrotic mass." She shook her head and grimaced in disgust. "So disgusting! But I guess if that was the real Dok, the old one...yeah." She said nothing for a few seconds as she digested this information, slowly rubbing her jaw as she stared off into space. "God, he must be...so f###ed up now; probably on meds 24/7. I'm guessing it's impossible to see the man himself?" Finally the changeling vigorously rubbed her fingers through her curly hair and sighed; for a brief moment, her pointed ears were visible. "Man, alright, now we come to damage control." She bit her lip as she looked between the two women. "Look, I'm sure I've cost your company a lot of money and man-hours; I have some money, but you're probably less interested in that. If I could volunteer my services in any way to help work off the debt in trade, I'd be more than happy to help." She shrugged. "I don't know how much use a scientific research firm has for 'elfin magic', but I am at your disposal."

Okay, so this was all getting pretty weird; she picked up that this Sam's powers might be limited to men, which explained the 'no girls allowed rule'. It also sounded like she might not look normal; maybe her powers came at a price? A mutation might explain the references to wings and apparently non-standard arms- wait, a female who guys bring things to, with wings and weird arms? Could it be...like a bee thing? Eww! At first she though she was being ridiculous, but then Endeavor suggested she might not be far off. Nervously looking back towards the boy, Casey followed the other two young heroes outside. "He mentioned Sam didn't like it when women come over; do her powers only work on men, because that would make sense. Or maybe she's just jealous. Or both."

Lynn frowned, and looked down at her hands, her fingers twisting into knots. "I know he mind controlled us; the docs on Otherworld said...the nanites must have been in our system for at least six months, which means the food he brought over at Christmas was probably tainted..." She stopped and looked from one woman to the other. "He was our friend...our benfactor...and he did that to us." Then for a few seconds, she couldn't speak as she tried to find the strength to continue. "I was ready...to kill a child; I was looking forward to it! Do you have any idea what that feels like? To remember that feeling inside you? It feels like...death; like you'd rather be dead." The changeling pulled a handkerchief out of thin air to wipe the tears away, which were flowing in earnest now. "So we beat him; I was knocked out by the end, but Bill told me we won. He picked me up, with a banged-up leg mind you, and took me back to my parents' place, where I was...curled up in a ball for three days. After that, I couldn't leave this world fast enough."

What would Casey have to roll to recognize that name? Not sure if she has the skills for it.

"Wow!" For a second, Casey involuntarily pulled her hand back, startled by the intimacy of the contact, but then she shook her head and grimaced in embarrassment. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting...I don't know what I was expecting. Here, let's try that again." She reached back over and took Vicki's hand in her own. <"Okay, wow, this works! La la la la la la!"> She laughed out loud and shook her head. <"Sorry, it's just...'trippy', as my mom would say."> Then she frowned. <"Wait, what branch of service? Please don't say Navy, because then we'd have to arm wrestle, and I think I'd win."> She shook her head and made a comically sad face.

Gretchen had seen a lot during her trip with her boss to Japan, both good and bad; in many ways, the experiences they shared in Sapporo changed her on a fundamental level. She could now look at her life as being in two phases: before Japan and after. But some things about a person never change; they are intrinsic parts of who we are, bound into the core of our very being, and Gretchen McDaniels was no exception. She may look at the world through new eyes, but she was, and always would be, a snarky barista. When the odd girl approached the counter looking like a stilt walker dipped in cotton candy, Gretchen could only blurt out, "What the hell are you wearing?" Luckily her boss was in earshot (with her freaky ears, it was hard not to be), and she came scampering over, a big bright smile smooshed into the middle of her face. "Hi, I'm Lynn Epstein, owner of Silberman's Books! How can I help you?"

Tagged!

Casey was deeply disturbed by what the kid was saying; it sounded like Saku was dead-on about this being some sort of mind control. The headache sounded like he was trying to resist the control in some way, which was a hopeful sign; maybe the longer he was away from this Sam, the stronger his resistance became? Maybe this Sam had to recharge her 'drones' through physical contact or proximity. The blonde shifted forward slightly and gave the boy a friendly smile, and did her best to maintain eye contact. "My name is Casey, and I want to know all abut Sam; she sounds really interesting! What's she like? Has she known your dad for a while?" It sounded like something bad might have happened to his mom; the thought made Casey sick to her stomach, but she did her best to keep the horror of her face. "What's your name, by the way? And was that your brother with you earlier?"

Lynn looked between the two women, shook her head and laughed. "I'm, I'm sorry; for a second there I had dollar signs for eyes." She ran a hand through her curly hair. "The fact of the matter is, Bill and I had already moved out of the Brownstone weeks before; all the really valuable stuff was long gone. Heck, the only reason we were even in the building was to pick up a few odds and ends." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "I don't need your money, and Bill's gone, so he certainly doesn't need it...though if you made a donation to the Nature Conservancy in his name, that would be nice. He'd have liked that." The changeling looked wistful for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and slapped her thighs. "So, why the hell am I here? Good question! I've been out of town for several years, and by 'out of town', I mean a parallel dimension, and by 'years', I mean decades. Bill and I left this world in 2011 and I just got back last summer; not only did I miss out on countless birthdays and family events, but I missed the chance to see Frozen in the theater, which still pisses me off." She took a sip of water, then continued. "Look, the point is, I have no idea what happened with Dok and everyone else after we left; if you Google it, all you get is he retired and the company rebuilt, yadda yadda yadda. But we all know that the really important stuff never ends up on the Internet, or at least not any of the sites that I go on." She leaned forward, a pained expression on her face. "So what the hell really happened?"

It always bothered Lynn when someone called her 'kid', but when you're tiny and ageless, you kind of have to grit your teeth and let it go; plus Seahawk seemed to be on her side, or at least more so than the clearly irritated Miss A, so she had to cut her some slack. "Well of course Jack didn't tell you anything; the guy's Captain Compartmentalization! If he played his cards any closer to his chest, they'd have to be surgically removed." The changeling drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair. "Look, I'm sure everything you said about the card was true; it was booby-trapped in case I ever tried to enter the building with it, presumably to prevent me from stealing Dok A's secrets." Then she held up her finger. "Ah, but I was right about exactly one thing: it did verify my identity, and was clearly designed to interact with the building's systems. So if-" Suddenly she stopped as something finally registered. "Wait, did you say 'Compensatory Fund'? When did that pay out?" Then she started to do the math. "It must have been after me and Colt disappeared! Colt didn't have any next of kin here, and my mom probably refused it and called it 'Nazi blood money'." Lynn looked apologetic and shrugged. "No offense." She scooted forward in her seat and tried to play it cool. "So how...how much was that? Per person?"

Bump!

How much time to we have until Grim has to meet with the seller?