Avenger Assembled

"They will be very surprised that I am dating Miss Americana. I do not look like...the sort of man she would be with. But they will not pry," he judged. "They will accept it for what it is, and not go looking for the truth. As for that truth...will they ever know?" Steve asked Gina before he could stop himself. He regretted the words once they were out, but with the deed done pressed on with only a moment's hesitation. "I...I would ask nothing of you that you are unwilling to give, now or ever," he went on, looking across the table at her. "I am content with what we have had, and with the prospect of doing more together even through a disguise. But as things stand between us now, will there ever be a time that people can know what we are to each other?"

Silence from the cybernetic entity stretched on forever before it seemed to come to a decision. "Very well. I concede that it will assist the progress of human history if I continue to empower minds with a greater interest in combating the cultural forces of entropy. I will remove the augmentation from Officer Danson's mind." It reached out and put a hand to the semi-conscious woman's forehead; it was all undramatic, there was a slight flare of light, and then Danson slumped into genuine sleep. For the first time since they'd arrived, she looked at peace. "But the progress of science will brook no delay. The discoveries that Danielle Danson would have made WILL be made." It turned and looked significantly at Wail. "I will give you what you seek as well. Now it is time for me to leave."

The airlock irised open, allowing the Claremont students access to the simulated interior of an alien spaceship. Holograms and illusions aside, the interior of the ship certainly seemed real enough, and it was a start when their own door slid shut behind them. Black pitted walls the same color as the exterior hull loomed on either side as they stepped in, green illumination coming from a series of narrow light strips along the ceiling casting oddly-colored glow everywhere. From everywhere there was the distant sound of low humming, and Sharl wrinkled his nose against the smell of mint in the air. Citizen studied the alien writing along one wall, a square script Koshiro had seen before, and translated, "It's Galstandard," he said, then added for the others, "the standard language that's used in FTL ships for safety. Old style, too. Command deck is up one level, engineering is down another level, something called 'delivery' systems a level below that." He shook his head. "No sign of where the crew is. A ship built like this probably wouldn't be automated, there's no reason for corridors this wide or an atmosphere this good."

"I agree," said Mark after a moment's thought, his face unusually serious. "The Liberty League has always been a family as well as a hero team, right back to the good old days. We should be open to keeping spaces open, but we should be selective too. We're about more than just getting talent together. The Liberty League name is about history; about coming together to save the world when there's no one else who can do the job." That was all something they had experience with, even if their traditional opponents had been rather graver than the Nazis. "And these are some damn fine burgers," he agreed to Trevor. "We should have you cook at all our meetings. Hey," he added, "is it weird if your girlfriend asks you if you've ever thought about being somebody's chief enforcer?"

25 Computers with Skill Mastery

"Yeah, I can," said Citizen, grateful for the knowledge she was providing to this situation in which he was at sea. He stepped back for a moment to put his hand through the nearby wall. It wasn't that hard to reach out into the electrical and Internet connections inside the building, trying to find the spoor left behind by one particular target. "I've dealt with ghosts and wizards before, but if whatever that thing is is going to start hanging around Freedom City's networks, better to take it out while we can. We have enough issues with loose hackers programs on the local 'Net already, between one thing and another..."

"Oh, jeez!" exclaimed Citizen as a blast of energy from one of the drones knocked a big hole in the side of the skyscraper. Without hesitation, he threw himself into the breach and took up a position in front of the hole, hoping against hope that the well-reinforced structure would hold out against further attacks. When one of the drones was foolish enough to get close, he flew forward and landed a wild punch with his solidified fist that sent the mechanical monstrosity careening through the skies, temporarily cut off from its masters control. Too fast to take them out by attacking their circuits, he thought, have to do this the Earth way! Now just...well, all the rest of them to go.

Citizen stepped up and connected to the "base" computer, cocking his head and peering out the window of the airlock as he did so. "The base computer isn't compatible with the onboard systems. I'll have to get in there personally to see if I can interface with the starship's mainframe. If it even has a mainframe." Some alien designs made a lot less sense than others, as Sharl had had reason to learn to his peril. "As for where it came from, saucers are pretty generic designs for interstellar cultures," he added for the benefit of the two humans, "it's a shipframe that works with most FTL and antigrav designs, and it's pretty geometrically simple." He peered at the ship outside, which looked more like Earthly wrought-iron than anything else. "I'm going to guess that's a Lor craft, though, because it doesn't have the exterior guns of most Grue ships, and it's not as patchwork as most Khanate vessels. That's a ship that's been through some heavy weather recently."

When he saw Sage coming for him, wearing a costume that looked a little too familiar for his tastes, the flaming Tronik teen didn't hesitate. "Cobalt Templar's dealing with the bad guys!" he called, though his voice said he already knew Sage was on that. "I'm with you," he added, whipping around to join her in the air. "Can the others make it?" he asked her worriedly, his voice practically on fire. They were dependent on Kimber being able to make Koshiro's airplanes to all get over in time, no easy task even for the master of origami himself, much less the former Ghost Girl.

That's a 30 with Diplomacy, Skill Mastered.

"Why don't you just tell her where she is, and you can go back into the system," suggested Edge, his voice grave, but not necessarily antagonistic. "You're already down, and between the four of us, not to mention the telepath we know, you're going to spill the beans sooner or later. I mean, for pity's sake, look at them," he said with a gesture at Cannonade, Midnight, Wander, and Vanguard, "All the scary bad guy stuff is just going to make them want to beat on you harder till you talk. Spare yourself a lot of pain and embarrassment and just talk now." This was hardly the first time Edge had been the velvet glove around someone's iron fist, and this was nothing new compared to stuff he'd seen Midnight and Wander do over the years.

Eira went upstairs to join Mr. Archer in the control room, and a few minutes later they got their announcement from upstairs. "Today you'll be doing a special training session," came their teacher's voice, "where you'll be tested on your crisis response as well as your combat abilities." The empty room rippled, and suddenly they found themselves standing inside a small, confined area: an airlock emblazoned with the symbol of the Freedom League on the side. There were spacesuits hanging on racks to one side, the sleek, blue and gold ones favored by the League, shaped to match the body shape and costumes of the various heroes, complete with outside utility pack for Koshiro's paper. "For the purpose of this mission, assume you are all adult members of the Freedom League. An alien spacecraft has come out of a wormhole near the Lighthouse and you three have been sent to explore it and figure out what's going on." Through a window in the airlock, they could make out the craft, a black saucer-shaped craft roughly as large as the League's own Lighthouse station. "The craft has Earth-normal gravity and breathable atmosphere, but be on your toes. Anything could happen."

The Doom Room doors hissed open behind them, and in floated Citizen and walked Eira. Sharl was in costume, complete with shades and blazing chest symbol, while Eira had pulled on one of the rare Young Freedom sweatshirts that were still being made for the new team by James Prophets' old merchandising company. "Hello Mali!" she said with a gregarious wave and a heavy Swedish accent. "I have come beck!" "Hey guys," said Sharl with a smile, "Koshiro, this is Eira, she's the girl I've been telling you about. Eira, this is my room-mate Koshiro. He does cool stuff with paper." The little blonde girl bowed to Koshiro and gave him a cheerful wave. "Eira's going to be watching us train, and staying out of the way! Miss A and your dad would kick my butt if you get that new body scuffed." "I will be good," promised Eira with a little sister's big, innocent smile. "I know you may be doing something very exciting, and I do not want to get in the way. I will be in the safe spot."

OK. Citizen is going to try and fly up and intercept the next drone that takes a potshot at that part of the building. (IDK which one that'll be) 30 DC 23 Tou save. I don't think Sharl's fists count as physical damage, but if you think they do, I'll try something else.

When his call was done, Sharl briefly stepped back to rejoin the others. "Eira begged and pleaded with her dad, and he said she can come back and watch us exercise. Summers gave her free run as long as she's with me, so we'll see how that goes." That kind of trust from the school's headmaster was something that still surprised Sharl a little, especially when he and his friends were planning something that could potentially get them all in trouble, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome. Just a little lie, so we can do so much good. "Why don't you guys go down?" he said with a nod back towards the Administration Building, "and I'll catch up with you in a couple of minutes?"

Eldritch smiled thinly. "Ah, you're a fan. A pleasure. Just be careful what you read in those funnybooks. Some of them might teach you magic." He winked, and made a few gestures in the air and opened up another mystic gateway, simultaneously levitating the unfortunate Mystic Force into the air to pull him through the gateway after him. "You should have nothing to fear from Malador for this particular engagement, though of course he will seek to devour your soul as he does all life that does not bend to his will." He hmmed, and gave a little salute. Fleur de Joie, always a pleasure, Bee-Keeper, a pleasure making your acquaintance!" And with that, he was gone!

"He is a fool," exclaimed a voice from the air as, from a swirling mystic passage that glowed with arcane seals, the Master Mage of Earth, Adrian Eldritch himself, flew out to join the other two heroes. "Malador prefers cultists to impersonators, and this young man's failure as a criminal will make the dark lord very wroth. One does not take that face lightly. Good day Fleur de Joie, Bee-Keeper," said the legendary mystic with a polite, courteous nod to both the Freedom Leaguer and newly-minted hero. "I can take this unfortunate young man back to my sanctum and mystically cleanse his aura so that his efforts today will _not_ be noticed. And then, prison."

"It's an ethics and combat exercise, not just working out," said Sharl with a little shrug. "Those are always weird. One time Cobalt Templar and Papercut and I had to deal with a peasant uprising in a simian-dominated alternate dimension, it was some kind of historical exercise left over from the Freedom League of forty years ago. And speaking of Koshiro..." He caught sight of Papercut just across the way and waved to Koshiro, who was just heading for the Administration Building that overlay the Doom Room too. "Hey, Koshiro! Over here!" he waved. "Koshiro, Mali, Mali, Koshiro," he said, knowing that Koshiro would remember the girl he'd told him about. "I...oh, shoot, I gotta take this." He cocked his head and seemed to be listening to an inaudible phone call as he took a step away. "Sure, just meet us at the Administration Building," he said aloud to no one visible, "Maybe we did leave it there."

Eira's dad turned out to drive an extremely nice, extremely large European sports car of a make Mali didn't recognize, his tanned good looks and blonde hair making him look a little like an aged Olympic skier. He and Eira were soon talking at each other in Swedish before the little girl thanked both Sharl and Mali before climbing aboard the big electric car. Mali just had a glimpse of Eira doing something that looked exactly like sticking her index finger into the car's cigarette lighter before the door closed and left her alone with Sharl and the holo-dog. "I don't know what we're getting into today, but better not bring Lora. Run home, doggie!" said Sharl as he pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons: within seconds, a glowing portal appeared and the woofing dog ran right through it. Just another day in Claremont. "Eira's a full-body cyborg," he told Mali as they walked. "She was very ill, but Miss Americana and Dragonfly worked together to make her a full-body robot body to live in. They'll make her more and more as the years go by, until by the time she's an adult she'll have an adult body waiting for her. I spent a lot of time with her last year, after she'd been uploaded but before she had a body to live in. It was pretty neat," he said reflectively. "So how about you, how have you been? I heard you had a thing with, what are they called, ninjas the other day?"

The football game was still in its opening moments several minutes before the kickoff as Trevor and Erin took their seats on Corbin's big couch in the rec room. Erin recognized that the Heroes were in fine shape for this preseason game with a strong roster that looked keen to carry them forward into the coming season: maybe they were no Seahawks, but they were a community-owned and operated institution that the crowd obviously loved. As usual it was standing room only in the cheap seats as the team's mascot Captain Pigskin led the fans in the usual chant: "Let's go blue and gold! Heroes Assemble!" and the crowd went wild. While Trevor was familiar with the criminal histories of several of the East Coast's more notorious sports 'stars', the squeaky-clean Heroes front office meant he'd never had to have a professional encounter with anyone on Freedom City's native football team. Dressing as a superhero was pretty common among fans not wearing the team's colors, either in garb or with it painted in letters on their bellies, and looking in the back the announcer panned over several "veteran fans of this beloved franchise!" dressed as classic heroes of his grandfather's generation, complete with a little old lady (albeit one at least two decades younger than Travis) looking proud of herself beneath a black foam fedora. Soon Corbin and Quo-Dis arrived down to watch the game not long before kickoff, Quo-Dis sequestering herself along one side of Corbin so he could sit close to his friends. "The pizza will be here soon," she commented, still pretending nothing untoward had happened. "The man on the news this morning said the Jets were evil, but that was just sarcasm," she said firmly. "I am sure we will crush them anyway."

"I saw the library, and some of the flying students, and the gymnasium with all the equipment for very strong people. I have to return back to Miss A's lab soon," said Eira with a little pout, looking up at the teenager who was obviously a favorite big brother-type. "I am not supposed to overstrain my new batteries when they are not done testing them. But coming here was more fun than being in a hotel room again!" "Yeah, your dad is here with the car," agreed Sharl, cocking his head as he picked up an electronic signal. "I guess we'd better start over there. Hey Mali, I was going to go downstairs and train after this," he said as he and his companions turned and started the other way. "you up for it? I think some of the rest of The Team were going to be down there." Mali could read the caps on the words well enough; with the kids on superteams like Sharl, it was easy to guess which one he was talking about.

He grinned back with his oddly misshapen smile, though it was the smile that Gina knew meant he didn't really understand the joke. "It will be a fine time," he said, a little nervous as he contemplated the reality of all those eyes on him. It occurred to him, a little belatedly, that those eyes would surely remember the strange-looking man who dated Miss Americana when he was with some other woman, but he was too attached to this victory to give it up now. We have come forward impossibly far already. More will follow. "I suppose I will have some questions to answer from my friends when they see me with Miss Americana," he said with a nervous laugh. "Hopefully they will believe our story. It is almost true."

Quo-Dis calmed down a little when the visitors were out of sight, or at least seemed to unwind a little. she added regretfully before turning to head into the rec room.

"I have seen plays." He didn't elaborate. "And opera on television, but those were always large women in armor singing very loudly. I will be interested to see what one is actually like." He had learned, more than one, that despite how easy it was to see the world through television that it did not give an accurate depiction of human life. "I did not know you had taken singing lessons." Gina, in fact, had discussed her childhood with him extremely rarely, part of the unspoken pact that kept both their pasts off-limits. "Those are...for learning 'culture', yes?" he hazarded. "Like on Pride and Prejudice, where the women have learned music and poetry so they can find wealthy husbands."

Citizen looked distinctly uneasy at the talk of people gaining power, social or otherwise, from quasi-supernatural entities of unknown origin. "You've got to be careful about making deals with things you don't understand," he said out loud. "Stepping through a door is always a risk even if someone's there to catch you." He shot a look at Temperance, trying to get a grip on the situation. "You seem to know something about those things," he said with a nod to the place where the former electrical being had been standing. It wasn't a person, and from the sound of things it might not even be dead. "What was it, and is Gloria here still in danger?"