Avenger Assembled

Y'all have enough time to take 10 or 20 on Notice if you like, you can just go ahead and roll the skills that help explain what you spot. Life Sciences: The air here is hot and really humid (enough that everyone but you and Judy are sweating just a little) and smells a bit like the ocean, but is otherwise perfectly fine for humans - and so's the gravity. It probably means something that they keep the cargo hold like this; like maybe it's how they live? It's dark enough that your teammates probably can't see very clearly, except by the glow of the white lamps on the high overhead ceiling - maybe another clue about the beings that took you. The floor is smooth and multicolored, all in shades of grey, with dark squiggly marks. @TheAbsurdist @RocketLord - your guys' turn.

Prime - Short hair, T-shirts and jeans - M XX - Long hair, T-shirts and jeans - F Solarpunk - Ponytail, big sunhat with solar cells built in, natural colors. - F Apocalypse - Shaves their head, is obviously wearing old clothes. - F Mirror - Undercut, favors dark colors that look like fatigues - M Dieselpunk - Crewcut, brown leather bomber jacket, raygun. - M Dystopia - Bowl cut, because that's how you look, citizen. Nehru jacket, slacks, like normal people have. - M

Prime and XX still have trouble explaining to people that no, their gender identity hasn’t really changed? Sometimes they don’t bother. Solarpunk is an environmentalist vegetarian. They didn’t use to bite their nails but now they do. What in the name of the Powers Above is wrong with the multiverse? Apocalypse has some PTSD. They like things quiet and they don’t like sudden movements. They tend to eat a lot. Strong hands. A lot of farming goes on at their version of Claremont. Mirror is an asshole. It’s hard to tell how much this is because they think they need to be to look tough (their homeworld is terrible) but they know not to cause too much trouble when it’s their turn. WW2 is a clean-cut all-American patriot ready to fight bad guys, albeit someone stuck in the past in some ways. They like working out and flirting, and they hate Nazis. Dystopia really did not enjoy those first couple of weeks going semi-cold turkey. They’re pretty crabby in the vlog everyone maintains for their counterpart. Solarpunk rotates from a universe where there's a giant statue of Gaian Knight and Fleur de Joie holding hands in front of Freedom Hall to a universe where there are sometimes super-zombies, and then to a universe where most people are evil. Solarpunk has it rough, man. (Mirror got beaten up by some Golden Age types who did not appreciate their sense of humor at all, though, which has smartened them up considerably about how to behave when they're away from home) Apocalypse on the other hand did fine in the transition because if you want to go, #(#% they'll go

There's our universe. We call ourselves Earth-Prime - but then that's what most universes call themselves. That's Monday. There's the universe sometimes called Earth-XX - the one closely linked with ours where gender is inverted. That's Tuesday. We know these already. There's another universe where everything went beautifully right after what everyone calls The Last War (and what we call World War II), in which a new, green utopia of peace and tolerance was built - a world powered by solar power and biomatter. It's not Heaven but everyone has enough to eat and enough to do, and the lion has lain down with the lamb all over the world, guarded by its greatest defenders. That's Wednesday And next to them there's a universe where everything went wrong; a world where the skies and the land burned when nanotechnology went awry, a place where only the last stand of civilization saved the planet but at a terrible cost. There are metal deserts and ruststorms, and seas so clear you can see to the bottom but not for any good reason. And the Infected, oh yes. That's Thursday. And next to them there's a universe beset by another disaster altogether - not that easy place where everyone is just a mirror of themselves, but a universe where the Centurion crushed the heads of those bankrobbers in 1938 and laughed doing it, one where humanity has long since fallen to costumed beings drunk on their own power who are all-too-human for all their power. That's Friday And next to them there's another universe that's stuck in both the past and the future, a world where "everything is slick and streamlined, with geometric shapes and clean parallel lines constructed of shiny metal and glass, lit prominently by neon", a world of rayguns and jetpacks and shiny cars, a 1942 of our wildest dreams, except it's 1942 and Hitler is on the march in Europe, the Nazis powered by the worst excesses of super-science to conquer all. It's the 1940s of our dreams - but also our nightmares. That's Saturday. And next to them there's another world. Everything is great here, at least that's what all the books produced by the government says. Humanity almost destroyed itself in a great war but then the supers uplifted us into the future. It's a world where cassette tapes play the music that's safe for us to here, big colorful capsules deliver us the medicines that help us live in peace with one another, full of "CRT displays, computer systems reminiscent of microcomputers like the Commodore 64, freestanding hi-fi systems, small LCD displays as opposed to full color screens, floppy disks, and loads of analog technologies." That's Sunday.

Okay, start looking for what you can see, @RocketLord @Electraand @TheAbsurdist - roll or Skill Master whatever seems applicable.

A brightly-glowing Daystar looked from one hero to another, and when she spoke her resonant voice was awash with alarm. "Aliens!? We got kidnapped by aliens? How can you be so calm?" Inside her glowing persona, it did not sound like Judy was very calm about it at all. Watchdog put a hand on her arm, then an arm around her. "It's okay. It's okay. We're going to get out of this, and we're going to get back home. Besides, aliens aren't so bad, right?" The hug, and the words, seemed to calm Judy, and after a moment or two they stepped aside - Judy glowing, Ashley drawing her sidearm. Well her laser pistol, anyway. "Sound off. What can you see?" "Um, we're in a big room," said Daystar, peering up at the ceiling. "And there's...there's lots of radio chatter," she said. "Ah don't understand any of it because they're not speaking English, but Ah can hear what sounds like music, and people talking to each other, and oh Lord that should _not_ be on the radio..." Her shimmering rainbow colors rippled for a moment before she added, fear edging her voice "Ah can't hear anything from Earth at all." "That's okay," said Watchdog, "we may just be in a big box. That's probably why you couldn't teleport back. All right, I've got the same radio chatter," she said, voice slightly muffled by her helmet. "Big room - bigger than it needs to be," she said, looking up at the ceiling. "If this is that ship that was flying overhead, this has to be a significant piece of that ship we saw. Maybe this thing mostly hauls cargo...?" Ashley was doing her best here.

"It is a date, yes?" said Eira in a tone of voice that said she wasn't exactly asking. "I know a place," she said. "We can go to the amusement park this weekend - there is always trouble there. And if there is not, we could make some of our own." She grinned at the thought, sliding her hands inside her bulky jacket pockets before she added, "If you are not afraid of trouble, that is." she added with a wink at Leon.

Judy shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then excused herself to go to the powder room - Ashley following a moment or two later. There was a conversation in there that was muffled enough to be incomprehensible but clear enough to be audible; followed after a few moments by the sound of water running. When they were done, the two 'sisters' stepped out together and Judy made a beeline straight for Callie. She gave the other girl a big hug, her skin almost hot to the touch. "It's okay," she whispered almost inaudible, "Ah know how hard this must be for you," then stepped back to give her a sympathetic look. "We're going to give you and your other self the best party you've ever had." For her part, Ashley looked around uneasily and found herself standing next to Alex - struck and not for the first time by how the two of them were the oldest in the room, and she was the oldest of them all. She shot Callie a look, then shot Alex one, raising a questioning eyebrow.

But I know what I seek, Lost Boy! And then that voice gone again, seeming to slip away down the corridors as the lights kept flickering... "But they told us-" "Never mind!" said the leader of the small detachment, struggling to his feet. "Sgt. Axel Larsen, Royal Danish Army," he said by way of introduction. "You are Angelik," he said, looking at Eira, "and you others...come with me," he said. "We'll take the stairs," he told his men and the young heroes, "the elevators have been on the fritz for hours, so has everything electrical. It nearly killed that poor girl down in the infirmary, but if you are real supers, you can get her back to the mainland and away from all this." They were all pressed together in the firestairs but the soldiers knew their movements, and soon they were on the second floor - only to find a growing scene of chaos as all the lights in the building flickered on and off, twice, thrice, and a child's laughter rang out again. Eira didn't seem to hear any of it, but stuck close to Pan, seemingly grateful for his presence along with her other friends.

Eira raised an eyebrow at Natalia, snapping her finger back into place with an audible click-click-click. She, Abby, and Davyd were the senior members of the team this year, but between one thing and another they had never actually met to discuss how they might work with the younger students. "As I do not eat except for pleasure," she said cooly, "it is of no matter to me."She hmmed, then added, "Though it must be vegan. We are not contributing to the animal slaughter industry for a school project." There was real disgust in her voice at the last point, even as she began staring off into space, her eyes unfocusing.

Eira blinked a few times, studying Micah, sitting in that cool immobility that came from lacking a nervous system that would compel her to shift about unnecessarily. "There are psionic heroes who could empower your mind if you are interested," she offered. "The Blue Fox is one of my aunts. I could take you to her castle and she could help you improve your mind." That was Eira, the others knew - if there was a solution to the problem, one moved towards it. "In fact," she said suddenly, "we could perhaps go there now, if you are interested. It is heroic business after all."

Looks pretty good! Do you have access to Worlds of Freedom, the book that talks a little bit about the semi-canonical future of the FC setting?

The OOC

Watchdog walked out from under the elephant just long enough to stick her hand out in the rain, drops falling on the uncovered stretch of wrist between her jacket and her glove. "That is warm," she growled, "I don't like it. Daystar, you should get inside." "Watchdog, it's just some rain," said Daystar, sounding a little tired as lightning flashed in the dark, dark clouds overhead towering impressively over the small city skyline of Margave City. "Ah don't think it's going to hurt me unless it's from Venus or something, and then Oh My Lord, look!" She pointed upwards at what at first looked like nothing but a cloud moving inside the cloud overhead, until the heroes realized exactly what they were looking at. A huge ship, easily as large as the WWII battleship moored offshore at the nearby museum, was swooping down out of the cloud, no, at the _center_ of the cloud overhead, and was swinging down directly over their position - directly over them and the elephant! "Daystar, get out!" said Ashley without hesitation, grabbing her glowing arm as the ship swooped in overhead, its shadow casting the area around the elephant on the boardwalk (and several blocks on either side into darkness. A distinct glowing cone was now emanating from its belly, encompassing the elephant and all who stood beneath it. "Ah...ah can't!" declared Judy. "Yes you can-"No Ah mean Ah can't, something's blocking it!" And then a voice from overhead, booming loud enough it must have made windows shake all over the small town said: "ATTENTION HUMANS! IF YOU WANT YOUR GOD RETURNED, SURRENDER YOUR GOLD TO THE KRAKEN ALLIANCE!" and the flash of light grew infinitely bright for just a moment - And then they were elsewhere. Or rather, elsewhere was with them, because they were still under the elephant and the nearby hotel was standing by, but above them and all around was a big, metal-walled room that curved overhead just big enough to include the half a city block or so that had come with them. They were caught!

"At times. The headmistress is very observant but not even her eyes can be everywhere." Eira smirked, then added, "But escape must have its rewards. If we were going to take someone with us, it would have to be for quite the adventure." She looked over her fingernails at Leon, leaning against Pan, and asked "What did you have in mind?"

"She says she is free this Saturday from 3-5," replied Eira immediately. "And she will have equipment standing by for your scans." With her dataspikes fully withdrawn, she gave the other robot a look of true human sympathy - and then suddenly, awkwardly, pulled Shift close into a hug. "It will be all right," she promised. "You will not have to live like that anymore. There is a whole world beyond the place where you were made."

Fall 2020 The kitchens Between one thing and another, Orange Squad had not had many opportunities so far to get to know each other. But with the traditional American holiday season settling in, it was evidently time to change that. Professor Lynn has spread the home ec class throughout the big Claremont kitchens as best she can, trying to stay out of the way of the hardworking group of student professionals and community volunteers who actually make the meals Claremont students eat. "All right, everyone, I have your assignment. All of you represent different culinary legacies to one degree or another," she said, giving a special smile to Ryder who was clearly already one of her favorite students, "and it's the integration of the whole into one that makes for a really good team!" She smiled, hands inside her apron, as she went on, "what I want you to do is come up with a dish that truly represents your blended legacies. And don't think I'm asking you to cook your lived identity, either, because that's nonsense. Come up with a dish that represents a combination of your past, your future, your skills, and your talents - and prepare a version of it that can be served at dinner tomorrow evening. That's just in case your first attempts don't work out," she added with a smile as she moved among the group of students. "remember, there are accidents in the kitchen - but only happy ones!" Eira extended the finger on her left hand and then began unscrewing it, slowly undoing each joint with an audible click-click-click, watching the organic students as they talked to the home ec teacher. This was not a class to which she had contributed very much.

"W-what?" Eira made a horrified noise, but her hands didn't tremor as she removed her dataspikes from their connection to Shift. "That is terrible!" She sounded thoroughly appalled. "Surely the League must have evaluated your systems - what could Daedalus have been thinking? As soon as we have a free afternoon, I will take you to Archetech. Miss Americana's computers have the storage capacity to hold multiple fully sentient minds in passive storage, there will surely be room for you." It was a bit as if she had found out that Shift was homeless and living on the street. "Miss Americana is the smartest person in the world and the greatest cyberneticist," she said with belief palpable in her voice.

Angelic paced the floor, her face set in a hard, staring frown. "It is a...Biblical reference, I think. To the story of the good thief and the bad thief." Eira had never talked much about religion with her friends, but as usual could never quite pass up the urge to supply a helpful fact. "We will go in and see them directly," she said. "Show them what we are." And with that, she spread her wings, bringing about a great thrum of barely suppressed magnetic energy - and flew through the floor with an enormous crunch of drywall and masonry. The hallway she'd picked was empty, briefly, even as the storm above cast waves of water down on her quicksilver body. "Listen to me!" she called. "I am Angelik of Sweden! I am not an imposter. Something has been taken from me!" A group of armed soldiers burst through the door and seemed about to train their weapons on Eira when suddenly there was the sound of a child's laughter - and they tripped, falling like cartoon characters stepping on an oil slick. And the others heard "Not here!"

"Hm. Shapeshifters will naturally have a fluctuating body image. My own has evolved considerably since my initial upload." She gave a throaty chuckle, then tilted her head, glowing white eyes behind Shift's back as she began withdrawing her dataspikes in a slow tik-tik-tik of carbon fibers disengaging from carbon fibers. "I will not be able to install the port today, but the procedure will be simple enough over the next few weeks. It will require another series of visits. What do you use for your offsite memory storage?"

"That is hard," said Eira, her holographic hands folded in her lap, sympathy in her simulated voice. "You should see a therapist." She shot a glance at Pan. Eira did not dream and had not since she was a small child with an organic brain; something that had come up occasionally in their conversations. "Our memories of what we have done and what we have felt are what makes us a person. Understanding them and...coming to terms with them will make you feel safer." She smiled thinly and added, "Whatever it is that powers my..feelings, it is not the same as what powers yours. She would have as much luck taking the love of a character in a video game. That is not something I worry about," she lied.

"What is there to talk about?" asked Judy softly, legs folded up under herself as she sat on the bed. "Ah have made some of the best friends of mah life at Claremont; people Ah knew for sure cared about me for who Ah am, not for who my Daddy is. I almost..." But then she'd already told Lulu that story. "But Ah never should have come there. Not...not secretly, anyway. Maybe Daddy would have had to keep it secret from the country, but not from...not from everybody else. There was only one reason to do that, and that was his shame over what was hidin' in our family tree." Her eyes glowed slightly as she spoke, an echo of the rainbow within. "And Ah know Ashley thinks the same thing, that it was a crying shame, but what can she do about it? She can't tell the world without telling the world everything. And anyway, Ah...ah asked her not to."

"When you close your eyes and picture 'Shift', what do you see?" Eira clarified. She explained as well by opening up a subneural pathway between them for illustrative purposes - demonstrating to Shift a strange image. The girl with elaborate, towering blonde hair in the beautifully-flowered rococo dress looked very little like Eira's external pierced-and-punk-rock presentation, but it was clear enough that it was the same person. After a moment or two, the impression vanished together.

She's the only one who can hear it (currently) - she heard the voice and felt its speaker descend into the building.

"But there must be some limits," said Eira teasingly. "After all, every hero loves a redemption story, yes?" She wrapped her arm around Pan's midsection. "If they threw him out for every little thing, where is the redemption? There must be some room for...adventure!" She demonstrated that by scooping Pan up in her arm and flinging him casually into the sky - with his weight (as they both well knew) it was a thoroughly easy trick. She could get some good distance, too.