Avenger Assembled

Angelic People think that because I believe in science, I must not understand magic. And I will admit, there are some things that are beyond me - for now. But of course I know about magic, all kinds of magic. It is a magical world we live in, yes? You can keep talking all you like; I have modulated my auditory receptors so I can no longer hear your ultrasonics. I have been tempted with flesh by fairy tale creatures so. many. times. But then I haven't had real human flesh of my very own since I was eight years old, and I've been around the fantastic people who make up this world even longer than that. There was the seiðr on my 12th birthday, who told me he'd make me a real little girl if I'd help him get into the DNA-locked vaults of my uncle Fenris. I told Fenris what he was doing and he struck her down with his giant hammer - boom! (I think he was making a game of it so I wouldn't be frightened, but I was fine, it was very funny.) When I was fourteen a jotunn princeling my age told me he could make me his bride with magic - if I thought I was strong enough. I was strong enough to knock out his front tooth as my answer. (Don't worry. Aegir is a friend now. He just needed to see I was strong enough.) When I went into space with Sharl for my 16th birthday, there was that nanowitch on the craftworld of the Lor, who told me she could transform me into a human girl if I would just unlock her cage. But that was stupid, I told her, because why would a walking Drexler-apocalypse make me flesh? I would be stupid to think she wouldn't just gobble me up afterwards and I am not stupid. Then there was that time at Claremont when I went into the fairy tale world with Pan - but you've already heard about that story. Oh it's cold in there is it? Yes I imagine it is. You're lucky I was wearing the iron earrings and not the tongue stud today, yes? Otherwise you'd have it through you and not around you. Hm. Now your offer was very clever. You wouldn't just make me human, you'd make all my friends human, too. Kimber a wife to her wife, Miss Americana and Harrier together in the sun without a scar on their bodies, Percy and Pan husbands to me, children of my own in a castle where no one would ever get sick or sad, all that made us different or strange washed away in a fairy tale world inside your cairn. But you forgot one thing. You cannot tempt me with what I do not want. And I want nothing that you have to offer me. Your magic makes your stronger than death? Idiot! I am niece to a ghost and sister to a man who never born! As a girl I played with one soaked in the blood of the innocent and as a woman I met my own shade! You have spent a thousand years in this tomb and I left mine behind before I could ride a bicycle! I am not some pitiful little girl, lying in a hospital bed, weeping because she knows she'll die before she ever truly lived. Best not to struggle against that, you will only hurt yourself before Phantom gets here! I have lived. I will live. My children will be steel and lightning. The stars could go black in the sky and I could yet live. You think you can tempt me with a fairy tale because I was uploaded into a machine? I. Am. A. Fairy Tale.

Neko leaned warmly against her boyfriend, then her eyes happened to fall on a nearby bodega that also advertised itself as a drugstore. She considered what to do for only a moment before saying, "I will be - back! Just need to use water closet." And with that, she scampered away, almost catching her tail in the door in her haste. Meanwhile, it wasn't Owain's place to say anything, but he had eyes for the resemblance between hart and hind as much as any man. "Mm. Alice? Your pardon." He touched her arm gently as he would any lady to which he was neither bound by blood or marriage, then pointed in the direction of the black-haired man, a question on his face.

Neko was all smiles when Chris and Liz arrived with their little one in tow, happy that behind her the boys had everything in a semblance of order. "Hello!" Behind her, the parents could see a wide variety of wholesome educational and entertainment activities taking place. Some kindergarten-age kids were watching PATRIOT PAWTROL, that beloved show about the all-American team of dogs who fight crime - for America. Some older kids (nobody looked to be above the age of 12 or so) were hanging back on their phones or chatting with peers. Another group of kids were doing a paper project in the company of one young man, another were watching another as he did a complicated juggling routine. There were a few twists, of course - the obvious non-human children here, the way the young man working on the paper was levitating and folding it with his mind so the little kids could see it happen, the six arms on the juggler, the hovering translucent girl, no more than two feet high, who was just flying through the door marked BABIES AND HELPERS ONLY. "Welcome!" said Neko with a smile for Cassie, her ears high above her head, her tail curling behind her. "I am Neko Musume and these are my helpers, Leon, David, and Lulu." She pointed back at the baby room for the last one. "They would love to play with you! Will you be staying with us for a while?"

Ashley took a moment to applaud the Claremont kids and Velocity, because that was what you did. "Phil's actually a clone of my brother-in-law." She put the phone away and went on. "It's how the Lor do it, it's easier than it is up here. I wanted to adopt but this was a good compromise. The missus was a little hesitant about having a kid at all." It was an unguarded moment, and she tried to move past it. "He's a good baby. Sleeps really well, loves low-G. He's actually up on the Moon with his uncle and mom right now." She snorted. "Which sounds like I'm a lot drunker than I actually am."

Oh, I'm sorry, @Thevshi, I just saw your question to me! The illusion as currently active takes up the entire area she can reach; towering as high as it will go. Initiative: Neko: 19 Kid Gawain: 12

"That's fine," Eira told Michael with a smile. "Not everyone who works with scientists has to be a scientist. Sometimes it can be - helpful to have an outsider present for the really important operations." She took Michael's soda jerk card, then added, "I've worked with a wide variety of Earth's leading science heroes, from Miss Americana to Dragonfly." Catching Carmen in her line of sight, she added, "Whether you plan to work as an independent hero, a government metahuman, or simply conduct civilian business, a super-adjacent job in high school can help you write your own ticket when you have graduated, yes?" She made sure everyone got her card, then went on more seriously, "If you never learn to do anything but be a superhero, you'll never be anything but one - and that is not enough."

"Wouldn't know her," said Copycat tiredly. "Big-time hero like that is probably home with her wife and son for Christmas." She looked over at the other Freedom League members, who didn't seem to mind being here with just their work friends and family. "I'm just a pussycat who works for Uncle Sam." She hmmed, looking Jean up and down. "Hey, speaking of, I do have those pictures," she said, "if you want to see." She pulled a generic phone with a cat sticker from her purse and showed Jean a collection of pictures of herself, wearing her mask and jeans and sweats, a tiny human infant on her lap. Well, not fully human - maybe Jean wasn't fully versed on the anatomy of the dominant species of from this dimension, but the babies usually didn't have pointed ears.

"Yes ma'am!" said Percy with immediate respect, sounding a trifle younger than his years - but of course who could tell that with an elf. He didn't sound intimidated necessarily; just understanding in a way beings from Earth-Prime often weren't. "Angelic has been working closely with me for some time on importing new technologies for-." He looked at the Senator's spectral plight for a moment, hand on his chin, and said "Oh-hoh! I remember this one!" "Sweetling we said no business talk tonight," said Eira, taking Percy's arm. "Why don't you go get me a drink, yes?" She steered him off towards the bar, and an order of peppermint vodka. With Percy off for the moment, Eira went about networking, first with the current generation of Claremont students. Everyone got a smile and a handshake, and a business card pressed into their hand for KATASTROFF CONSULTING. "I'm looking to hire short and long-term interns to be the face of the next generation of technology experts," she said cheerfully, "if you're interested, come see me in the new year, yes?" Consuelo, who she'd met before, got a particular smile. "Interested?"

"Hey Jean," said Copycat, an air of cheerfulness surrounding what sounded like fatigue. She'd shot a look over at Carmen as they talked, but her erstwhile protege seemed to be handling things about as well as a teenager could. Can't fight all her battles for her. She fiddled with her left ring finger for a moment, missing the bands that of course she'd taken off to protect her identity in case the worst happened. "Told you that was the right color."

Neko This was - well, this was a challenge. Neko's childhood had been among people for whom single births were an ill omen indeed, twins were common, and triplets enough that she could remember far more than three. (Their magic, inside and out, certainly helped with this.) The Espadas household, a prosperous house where two women had had multiple children together with their husband, had been rather underpopulated by her standards. But this crowded room was full of children, all of whom had some sort of strange power. Even with the two men to help her, it was difficult. But not unpleasant. Sniffing the air, she directed Leon to a little girl who was proudly trotting around despite a filled nappy, got Horrorshow busy with the snack tray for the kids who couldn't or mustn't eat bread for whatever reasons, and never quite stopped moving. Things were going well so far; and a quick check of her phone's money app told her that she was making money! Well. They all were making money.

I think we're good, assuming she does touch down in range of Neko

At the bar, a woman in an ivory cat mask and black dress was sitting by herself. Protectron's powerful robot intellect had identified her as Copycat, a part-time heroine and former sidekick of the Raven's. She had headed straight for the bar and immediately ordered something strong. Oh great, the goddamned robot is judging me. She looked around. She'd talked with Fleur about how she'd be stopping by but not introducing herself; but none of the rest of the League had heard exactly about how the Patriot was going to be leaving the family, and the identity, home tonight. With a sigh, she said, "Fake drinks are never going to be as good as the real thing. How about just...hell, just a cold beer? Give me the best you've got."

Angelic Angelic looked from Percy to Ghost Girl, then back again, hesitating just a moment before she took his arm. "Come! There's someone I want you to meet!" She was still hovering just a little when she reached Ghost Girl and her spectral prisoner, to which she gave hardly a glance before she introduced the man she was with. Percy Pepparkaka looked rather like a romance novel hero to Kimber's eye; his skin tan, his stubble faintly present, his brown hair tousled, his body firm beneath his well-tailored suit. He also smelled like gingerbread, had pointed ears, sparkled with a familiar magic, at least to Kimber's eyes, and his suit was red velvet lined with white fur, matching Eira's Christmas-themed version of her usual costume. After Eira's introductions "This is Percy Pepparkaka, he is an engineer visiting us from an Arctic magical community," Percy said in a warm, honeyed voice - "Charmed! I had no idea Angelic knew so many important people." He smiled at the sight of Basil, Cassie, and the other young children, and then gave Eira a knowing wink. Eira winked back with the look of someone with a secret, then said "His dimension only intersects with this dimension from American Thanksgiving to January 5, so we are trying to have a little time to explore. Magic," said the young woman with absolutely no magical resonance on her at all, no more so than any other piece of machinery, "it can be very inconvenient! Percy, this is my tant Kimber. You had to work tonight too, yes?"

Owain's Concealment is up now - and affecting Starshine if @Tiffany Kortalets it.

All the soldiers were watching now, or at least as many as she could plausibly have arranged. Neko knew ways she could get all of their attention, but that she would not do, not for the attention of whatever stray kami with a fascination for medieval Japan had caused all of this. When she was done singing, she smiled and spread her arms. "<Now,>" she said, raising her voice so that it carried to the entire castle. "<You have shown me hospitality, great ones.>" She bowed and raised her head, and as she did so her eyes seemed to flare to brilliant gold, a tail unfolding behind her back and ears over her head - and then another tail, and another, as fire rose behind her. "<For that - you will live. IF! YOU! KNEEL!"> She snapped her fingers and ran as a demon rose behind her - its body vast and face unspeakable, horns writhing with the impaled, wailing bodies of the innocent, a red rain of blood dripping down its black, grotesquely swollen flesh as it bellowed to the sky. "<KNEEL! BEFORE! YAMA!>" Recognizing (with something of a shudder) one of Neko's favorite illusions, Kid Gawain dived behind the next line of defenses in the castle, diving into what he called in his mind the 'inner keep' even if he supposed it must have a different name in Japanese. This was not the first palace of a fey warlord he had breached, whether in stealth or any other disguise. As soon as they touched down, he reached for Starshine's hand and said aloud "Anweledig" before they vanished from view.

Okay, let me do some IC posting.

Eira's greeting of Voltage was friendly enough, as was her introduction of "Percy, from, ah, a magical community in the Arctic," to her uncle's old friend. She even brought herself almost down to ground level, her boots just barely touching the ground. She was about to ask after his welfare when there was a dramatic shift in circumstances. "Oj!" said Eira ebulliently as the Christmas tree opened up and discharged a family. Suddenly the hard-nosed very genius was a little girl meeting the Freedom League with her uncle and her American family all over again. "Look at that!" She grabbed Percy's arm, pointing excitedly at Fleur and her children. "Yes, it's very impressive," agreed Percy, sipping his peppermint white Russian cocktail. "Can she control all trees, or just the fir?" He caught her look and laughed. "älskling, of course I read your files. I know who these people are. A pleasure to meet you, Voltage - Percy Pepparkaka, at your service." Up close, the man smelled distinctly like - was that warm gingerbread?

When the doors were thrown open wide, the Patriot took the lead, even though everyone was distinctly sure she'd been in the back when Spaceman, La Puma Negra, and Golden Star worked together to throw the door open. The group found themselves in a room that looked like the master control room at NORAD from a WWIII movie, dotted with computers, keyboards, and a glowing map of the Earth on the wall. There were numbers counting down on the wall; it looked like they only had about twenty minutes until - something. "Hah!" Lady Liberty was hovering in the air, surrounded by a patriotic glow, as she confronted the heroes. "You're too late! In twenty minutes, this world will be free! No gods, no masters!" Without hesitation, the Patriot drew the gun at her side and licked off a shot at the floating heroine, which she dodged, leaving a noticeable divot behind in the steel ceiling. She looked like she had in her last news appearance, long black hair, red white and blue costume, but she seemed to glow from inside with a silver light, filigrees of circuitry visible beneath her skin. Meanwhile, Lady Liberty's compatriots squared off against the other teen heroes. "We don't have to do this," said a blue-haired. blue-colored, blue-bodied androgynous person who smiled at Spaceman with glowing silver eyes. "We can share what we are with everyone. No more wars, no more violence, no more supervillains!" "It's time for humans to evolve!" said a caramel-skinned woman in a green and purple unitard squaring off against Gamma Buzz. "Why should they be trapped in one body, one form? We don't need to selfishly horde our gifts." La Puma Negra got - well, she got something very familiar. It was clearly Neko, or something that looked very much like her, eyes silver, body lined with circuitry as she said, "La Puma Negraaaaa," said Neko, her voice a low, accented sing-song. "They'll never call you a freak again. Everyone will be special - just - like - you."

When she'd had enough sake that she felt pleasantly warm, Neko said "I better not. That is - a lot." She leaned on Leon as they walked, her footsteps a little shaky but not showing a sign of it on her face. "Idle wagering is no way to spend your time," said Owain in that gentle way that showed he actually meant it but didn't have any malice behind it. "But you are always welcome to ride a horse at my side." He hesitated a moment, then admitted, "I have thought - to try myself as a police rider." There were only a few cops here, since it was the Fens and all, and none of them were particularly close. "They seem a potent symbol. But to lie to find work is - an irksome thought. What are you doing to make money?" he asked the others.

Well, Neko's illusion + high interaction skills are not technically passable by bystanders. =D Are you looking for them to get into combat? I can take care of that, I had some ideas for the convenience store. But if we're doing something else you'd like to do now that we're out of it, that's fine too.

Okay. Let's talk about what your plans are so we don't step on each other again.

If you like.

Angelic was indeed present for the Christmas party, her usual costume modified to match the times. Her usual white and gold outfit was now white and red, with white fur on her skirt line and torso, giving her the look of a hero dressed for Christmas. She was alert and smiling, hovering slightly in the air as she talked, her red boots with white laces just off the ground, and introducing everyone to a man she identified as Percy. Percy, who looked to be about Angelic's age, looked like a hero from a Hallmark Christmas movie brought to life; his skin tan, his jaw square, a faint stubble on his cheeks. He wore a business suit that was cut tight and close and looked expensive, at least if you ignored that it too was red and lined with white fur, giving him a look of a man who'd bought a very expensive Christmas novelty suit. The only thing that made him look abnormal was a faint aura of magic for the initiated and distinct points on his ears. "This is good," Eira was happily telling the League catering staff as she sipped some vegan hot chocolate. "Vanilla almond milk...nothing like this back home, yes?" she said with a wink at Percy. "Very good," agreed Percy. "Hmm - how does one milk almonds, again?" Eira laughed and started explaining the process to him.

Though of course he hadn't had his powers as long as many a veteran hero, Spaceman had flown through his share of heavy metal objects. But he'd never had an experience like this. He came out through the wall on the opposite side of something and found himself suddenly hovering far, far above what looked to be the Arctic below. But there was no air here, no heat, no light (but wait, how could he see anything if that was the case?) - and suddenly, as if that logical thought had broken through something, he was falling and falling, powerless, pinwheeling - And he was back in the trophy room where they'd started, barely able to hear the conversation down at the end of the hallway. "He's gone!" the Patriot had declared, her voice breaking with raw agony. "I can't believe - they're dead! They're dead!" she practically wailed to the heavens before putting her hand on Michael's shoulder. "It looks like it's all on you now, son."

Neko's demeanor shifted from pleasant to unpleasant for a barely perceptible instant. She looked at Ramon and said in an icy voice. "Look at this." She pointed down at the sushi which Consuela could see was suddenly swarming with insects; loathsome cockroaches and maggots crawling from fish and rice so overrun with swarming insect life that the sushi rolls themselves were visibly twitching and moving. "Is this what you serve people?" she asked, her tone sharpening like a katana held to the throat. "That is disgusting. You are disgusting." She slapped her hand against the table. "Look what they did!" There was much confusion and alarm from customers at the sight of the swarming mass of insects, defensiveness and not a little fear from the employees - and in the hubbub, Neko threw down cash and took Consuela's hand as she stood up, taking the girl's hand in hers and not incidentally bringing the food with them. Once they were outside, the sushi returned to normal. "That one was free," said Neko cooly. "I will have to tell them an evil witch was there the next time I go in." She popped a sushi roll in her mouth, then offered another to Consuela.