Avenger Assembled

Eira wobbled distinctly when Pan moved the phone, but stabilized quickly. "I am never shy about getting what I want," she told him. "and you are very lucky I have no nausea reflex." She looked him up and down, seeming to like what she saw, then reluctantly glanced Micah's way. "So how soundly does he sleep?"

Judy's eyes widened and she threw her arms around Lulu, her embrace fever-hot as she held her friend. "Oh, Ah'm sorry, Ah'm sorry," she said as she held Lulu tight. "Ah should never have asked you that, Ah promise Ah'll never bring it up again..." As she held onto Lulu, Lulu felt things from inside Judy's mind - not clear images like her own, but sensory and emotional impressions. Daddy, big and jovial, a presence that could fill the room or turn thundercloud angry when crossed. Momma, cool and sharp, the disciplinarian because Daddy was always working to make things better, just how everyone in the family had to work to make things better. The knowledge that her family was the safest, most trustworthy place on Earth, and that everything would be all right if she just did what her parents said. And then the slow trickling reality that told her the hard, cold truth. That her family had picked the world over her, and her sisters had picked obedience over her, and that all her sacrifices pointed only to the alien song of cold and naked stars above. Seeming to sense the connection, Judy pulled away, looking nervous.

Eira made a dismissive but not unfriendly sound, the sort that meant she was dismissing Lulu's reservations without rejecting the promised present. "Actually," said Eira confidentially, "it has been deadly dull." She yawned for effect with a glance as she looked around, then handed her present off to Danica. "This is my design," she said grandly as the robot turtle began playing an old song that was actually older than Danica! "It has a full terabyte of memory, and you can use it to access any terrestrial station if you are tired of the library. It also has many audiobooks, and some streaming stations." She added as she put her hands behind her back, "I even added a small dimensional buffer, so it will work inside your shell. Danica has a fine shell," she told her parents. "And is a good friend."

Mr. Kuzkin could be (well, was) something of a stick-in-the-mud - but he wasn't the type to make trouble with no one complaining. He gave Eira a teacherly 'watching you' look, nodded to Leon and left the teens to sort out their own drama. Besides, it looked like someone was horsing around with the free weights across the room. "Thank you," said Eira, shaking her head as she watched Kuzkin depart. "That is the trouble here, there is always someone watching." She smiled at Leon and extended her hand. "Eira Katastroff Natt och Dag. You are Leon, yes?" She smirked, her grip firm, and added, "I could have hit you." She flexed the fingers of her free hand, and a faintly glowing volleyball appeared in her palm. "The hologram is faster than human neuro-muscular fibers can fire."

Judy thanked Lulu, but it didn't seem like she wanted anything. She sat down on Lulu's bed and looked around. "Nice room." Her face struggled with thoughts as she looked around, then finally voiced them. "Lulu, do...do you ever miss your birth parents?" she asked softly. "The way things were with them - before your powers." She spread her hands wide, taking in the room, not sure how to go further.

The students were in the gym, getting in a little free time after classes before supper. Leon had just come down off the rock wall, his feet safe on the mat, when he heard the voice call out. "Think fast!" When he turned around, there was a volleyball whipping towards his face so fast it seemed to blur - and then abruptly vanished into nothingness inches before it might have struck. "Hah!" The speaker was Eira Katastroff, hands on her hips and looking pleased. "You are fast," she said cheerfully as she approached Leon. Leon had seen the blue-haired Swede lifting weights earlier, but she showed not a hint of sweat on her pale skin, her blue and gold leotard just visible under her fully-zipped Claremont outdoor jacket. She was about to say more when she was approached by Mr. Kuzkin, the elderly drama teacher having volunteered to monitor the evening workout routine, who firmly informed her that dangerous pranks were strictly forbidden in gym class, while Eira shot back that a silly hologram could hardly have actually hurt him, and...

"...no," said Ashley softly. "No, I won't lie to another child, not about this. I can't believe that after ten years, you'd still..." She looked away, not willing to finish the argument in front of so many staring eyes. "I won't betray the Raven's trust," she said more loudly. "but I think I'm done here. Call me if you actually need something real," she said cooly. "But I'm done here tonight." She didn't make eye contact with the kids, there was no use dwelling on it - but she did give Alek and Calliope sharp looks before she turned and headed right out the door.

"Omigosh the real Raven!" said Judy, putting her hands together and not quite glowing at the sight. "That is so amazing!" Ashley gave her ward a long-suffering look, then shrugged as she made eye contact with Winnie Napier. "I wouldn't know," she commented laconically. "I'm just a teen vigilante." She tossed back a shot of the ginger ale as she returned to Judy's side. "All the Ravens here in one room, like one big heroic legacy...Hey you guys," said Judy suddenly, "Did you know there's a universe where Ashley is the Raven? Isn't that crazy?" "The multiverse is full of worlds where everybody's evil, a zombie, or the Raven," said Ashley, "and I happen to know that two out of those three are true. So what's the plan?" she asked.

"Since some of us are seniors this year," said Judy, "Ah was thinking we could answer any questions you new girls might have about the place," said Judy blithely. She winked and added, "Corinne can even tell you the _real_ stuff and not get in trouble for it!" She folded her hands on her lap and looked around, then said, "Ah think what Ah like the most about Claremont is how good everyone is. And Ah don't mean, you know, putting on capes and running off to save the day. Not everyone here does that, anyway. Ah just mean that when Ah first came here, Ah was...afraid, a lot of the time, and being here with good people helped make that better for me. So if you're feeling afraid," she said with a sympathetic look at Miurne in particular "just remember that almost everyone will be your friend. Some people are still so scared of who they are that they might not be nice, bless their hearts - but Ah know everyone here will be good."

That got Pan back a blown kiss - and then something interesting as his phone began glowing brightly. Gradually next to his bed, a familiar figure began to take shape. Eira was wearing a big, billowing black T-shirt with the words POWERWOLF emblazoned across the chest and tight black jeans, a cocky smile on her face as her blue-white hair came into focus. Well, almost entirely. If Pan looked closely, very closely, especially with his powers, he could literally see right through her. "Hello there, my little sovande skönhet," she said with a smile, leaning down to peck him on the lips, her barely-there touch like a firefly's lightning. "I was worried I'd get _bored_ tonight," she complained, "but then I realized the new hologenerator could bring me right to you."

When the party had a quiet moment, Judy sat on Ashley's bed and smiled at everybody while Ashley glowered beside her. "Hi everybody!" she said cheerfully, "some of us know each other already," she added with a wink to her friends, "but some of us are new faces this year, so Ah thought we could go around the room and say our introductions." She took a small, colorful beach ball out from behind her and said, "Mah name is Judy Smith and Ah'm from somewhere else," she said seriously. Her accent was distinctly Southern as she spoke, not quite thick as molasses but certainly thick enough. "Mah powers involve control over the electromagnetic spectrum," she said in an obviously memorized speech. "Mah codename is Daystar, because the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." She handed the ball to her sister. "Ashley Smith," said Ashley cooly, "my powers involve getting in a fast car and driving the Hell out of Freedom as soon as my sister and I graduate. On the street, they call me Watchdog." She gave the girls a sneer before wrinkling her nose to lean back to study the party. "She's not nearly as mean as she sounds!" added Judy cheerfully as Ashley whipped the ball at Callie.

Fall 2020 It was a couple of days after move-in day, late enough that it was after curfew and the dorm hallways outside were beginning to quiet down, when Pan's cellphone chimed: "Are you decent? ?"

With a smirk that showed perfect white teeth behind blue-painted lips on her pale face, Eira introduced herself to Danica's parents with a firm albeit slightly clammy handshake. "Dr. Munson, Mr. Holmes, it is a pleasure." Her eyes unfocused for half a moment before she offered, "Baby Cecil looks advanced in his pictures." She then leaned back against the wall, the robot turtle under her arm the brightest colors on her outfit. Turning back to Lulu, she offered, "I know you do not actually use crystal balls, but it can be decoration for your lair - or you could gift it to Adam." Her grin widened. "You do not even have to tell him that is you who has the remote control for it."

"Corinne!" Judy squeaked, quite literally lighting up for a moment at the sight of her friend, a rainbow-quicksilver light filling the room for an instant as she wrapped her arms around the very tall dancer. Ashley was a bit less enthusiastic but didn't turn down the embrace either, taking a quick hug before excusing herself with a disgruntled look on her face before she returned to the bed. Judy was quick to make introductions. "Everybody, this is the dancer Corinne Conrad," she said loyally, "she was mah first real friend at this school and she is the best! Are you gonna show the new kids the ropes?" she asked with a playful grim.

"NEJ!" shouted Angelic when she saw the bullet graze Pan - but then she peered close with eyes that saw faster than any human's, and just as the dust rose she saw him alive and in the air. "Get to the Ecogrid!" she called as she dived through the rising clouds around them, her wings folded around her body as she zipped along towards the only major source of electromagnetic energy within a hundred miles. A few stray shots rang out but as far as the teen heroes could tell; the plan had worked and nobody could actually see them. For her part, once she was in the superstructure of the complex Angelic was out of the growing duststorm overhead - so she landed at the base of the complex's small radar dish to discourage any shots from coming her way.

Angelic: Flies towards the Ecogrid! It's the only place she can fly at any speed, given how her Flight works! Da Troops: Ready an action to shoot the first super they see! https://orokos.com/roll/842215 = 17! They cannot see anything though. Crystal-Gazer is up as soon as I post IC.

Eira went to work with a cool but not actually hostile efficiency, first rolling up the sleeve, then sterilizing the wound with alcoholic wipes. "It is not as bad as it appeared," she said, half-sympathetically as she put a cotton pad over the wound. "Limb wounds bleed but are rarely dangerous, as long as they are treated." She was quiet for a while as she worked, wrapping a bandage around Ryder's arm. "There, that should hold it, yes?" she said softly. "Does it hurt?" she sounded more curious than worried.

Eira looked at Ryder and declared, "Why did you not say anything? Suppose you had fainted while we fought the idiot!" She cocked her head as if listening to an inaudible noise, then said, "Wander is on her way to retrieve the drive and the idiot; come on." She opened the door to a nearby office, leaving it half-open so they could make sure their prisoner wasn't escaping, and pulled a first aid kit off the wall. With a practiced hand she cracked it open and looked Ryder over. "Do you need help removing that?" she asked him unsmilingly, his body reflected in her metallic face as if he was facing a girl made entirely of chrome. "I have enough sharp implements to cut through a great many devices." She did something inside her wrist, and her datacable wriggled free (clearly coming from underneath her arm), its tip looking razor-sharp.

No one had been looking at Eira while Veronica's powers were active, a situation she took advantage of to declare loudly "Oh no!" When everyone looked at her, her eyeballs were out! Bluish orbs hanging on the end of glowing fiber optic cables hanging somewhere over her cheeks, leaving behind empty sockets that showed blue-tinted metal underneath. "I rolled my eyes so hard-" With a snap, she pulled them back into place and glared at Veronica. "-they fell out!" Ostentatiously ignoring the Danger heir, she turned to Nocturne and said, "Eira Katastroff Natt och Dag. Do not threaten machines in front of one - it is a microaggression." She smirked at the term, seeming more amused than annoyed at Natalia, and went on talking to Lulu. "I left something on your bed," she offered, "I 3-D printed the quartz crystal from the University of Pennsylvania's Chinese Rotunda, then inserted programmable nanofibers. It has the processing power of an Apple Mac Pro and full access to wifi." She raised her hand over the turtle, which leaped upwards into her grip as if drawn by invisible wires. "This is for someone else."

Judy talked with Ashley for a few more minutes, saying a few things that sounded distinctly like codephrases, then hung up with an "Ah'm sorry, Ashley...yes, it _is_ mah fault. Ah'll talk to you later....Ah love you." "Mah backup team is on its way up from Philadelphia," she said disconsolately as she slumped back against Lulu. "And Ashley is cutting her vacation short. At least Ah'm somewhere safe," she said with a hard smile. "Or Ah might have to make mah way on foot to an extraction spot. Wouldn't that be fun." She rubbed her eyes and admitted, "Ah'm sorry, Ah'm not very good company right now. It's just...it's hard on days like this. When Ah have to pretend to be normal for everyone in the...in the country."

Inside, the Smith girls' room was decorated in cheerful bright colors on one side, adorned with a combination of the sort of Christian pop art you can find at garage sales and what looked distinctly like cut-off Lisa Frank images, and on the other with posters of female-led punk bands, Popular Mechanics covers, and pictures of big, snarling dogs. (The snacks were mostly on the other side.) Judy played the hostess to perfection as new people entered, supplying everyone with paper nametags and Magic Markers, along with what distinctly turned out to be pocket-sized copies of the New Testament. "You don't have to read those right now or anything," she said cheerfully, "but everybody should have at least one book, and why not that one!" There was only so much room for a party inside the dorm room but the Smith sisters seemed to have extra room: for one thing there was only one bed, and that on the rough side of the room. There was a PS4 set up along one wall and set to Gang Heroes, a karoke mic in another corner, and personal party kits complete with little noisemakers for everyone. Judy really had outdone herself. With a grin, she pointed at her stereo and it began to play more Taylor Swift. She didn't make a move towards the snacks; neither did Ashley, who looked to be sitting on her bed with a territorial look on her face. "Come on in and have fun, everybody!"

Lulu's door creaked open, the darkened room inside lit by what was clearly a Jacob's ladder and several small red lamps that cast the darkness into eerie shadows. Slowly, a tortoise crawled its way into the hallway, its green and gold metallic body shining in the overhead lights. It moved with a faintly audible whirr of motion as it approached Lulu, Veronica, and Prudence - then began to play music from somewhere in the realms of electronica, its volume, power, and clarity seeming to far exceed a device no bigger than a box turtle. Eira Katastroff Natt och Dag followed shortly after it, her slim body wrapped in a baggy white lab coat over black boots, then looked up at the others with a smirk. She made a slight gesture at the turtle, which quieted. "Lulu. Veronica." She looked at the Danger heir and the Danger heir's adult nursemaid and her smirk widened before she turned back to Lulu, her face serious as she said, "I hope you still want the window side."

The strange thing was, Room 410 had been occupied even when Chronia had arrived, and she'd heard noises and conversation there even in the dead of night recently. And now, all of a sudden, the door flew open as the sound of Taylor Swift noisily filled the hallways! Judy Smith strode out into the hall and pulled off her sunglasses, beaming cheerfully at everyone, and if Lulu had seen her looking very differently a few months ago she was all smiles as she beamed at everyone, her red plaid skirt, heels, and white shirt making her look straight from the 1950s - with only the small gold cross around her neck a testimony to the values of a different era. "Howdy, y'all!" she called cheerfully. "Welcome to the fourth floor!" She stepped out and air-kissed "Maggie" with a wink in her direction, then turned to Olivia and Kendra. "Hi there! Ah'm Judy Smith, and this is mah sister Ashley." "Charmed," drawled Ashley Smith from the doorframe where she stood, her leather jacket (bearing a bright red snarling dog on the back) and jeans vaguely fitting the greaser theme, though the bright pink hair definitely didn't belong. She looked over her sunglasses at the other girls, peering suspiciously. "We happened to arrange ourselves a little party in our room, if y'all are so inclined!" She pointed to a gaily-decorated room complete with paper streamers, a punchbowl, and a table covered in what might be Chex-Mix. "It's senior year, right? We'd better live it up a little!"

"That is what I am saying!" said Angelic, snarking. She put her hand on Malachite's neck. "Come on. Tell us what the Brotherhood is and we can spare you a further beating, yes?" That got them an address and a location, anyway; what sounded like a cult run out of a backroom in Riverside. They seemed to have real magic, though, for all that Malachite's magic seemed to be limited to teleporting and summoning magic throwing knives. When it seemed like he was done talking, Eira simply pulled out a roll of duct tape and gagged him. "People capable of arcane manipulation often have verbal and somatic components to their abilities," she said confidentially to Chitin, "so binding and gagging is often wise." She flipped him over with superhuman strength and did the same. "Is Yellow functional?" she asked seriously.

Judy's eyes widened. "We can't tell the Freedom League," she whispered. "You haven't...you haven't told Velocity, right?" Her eyes were as big as saucers. "They'd tell - they'd tell the world. And then everyone would know." She typed onto Lulu's phone, sighing as it rang, then held it to her ear. "Hello? Hello no it's not that bad, it's okay...Ah'm...Ah teleported," she said, looking at Lulu, "Ah landed in Lulu's house." She started pacing anxiously, then said "Oh-okay." She shot Lulu a look. "Ah'm on call-waiting," she said quickly, "her emergency line from the White House just rang. They must know." She laughed bitterly and said, "Well Ah guess Ah don't have to worry about being pulled out of Claremont this year if Ah'm teleporting across the country willy-nilly. Can't let _that_ happen during a rally..." she said, her tone edging bitter as her phone rang again. With an apologetic look, she picked it up. "Yes? Yes, Ah'm safe here. No, no, um, radiation around here looks safe, so Ah think everyone else here must be safe too..."