alderwitch

Power stunting from: ESP 12 (200,000,000 miles, Visual/Auditory; Extra: Duration: Sustained, Flaw: Action: Standard, PF: Subtle, Rapid x 6 (1,000,000 times faster)) (43) To: ESP 11 (Extra: Duration: Sustained, Affects Others, Flaw: Action: Standard) (44)

"My powers would make that scenario easier, I must admit. I'm little-miss-fix-it, after all." Alex acknowledged with a small smile and ducked her head a little at that, "So, you're good with your hands? My boyfriend is too. He likes fixing things up a lot. He says its nice for things to be simple, sometimes. That there isn't enough 'simple' things left in the world. I think you'd like him." She glanced around the empty streets as they walked, her eyes bright with curiosity and she occasionally drew to a stop to look up at the building faces now and again, "I think you probably help more people than you realize."

"Ace, love, when its in a museum the proper term is 'replica', not 'fake'." Bombshell said silkily, her gaze staying on his face as he glanced over to the case. She circled one fingertip around the rim of her glass as she said with deceptive laziness, "I suppose that means you're ready to donate that musty bomber jacket to a musuem? It is so very retro after all."

"We're ready," Taylor said, tucking the transcript safely into the void before she stood up carefully with the much more complacent infant. She leaned in to brush a kiss over Huang's wrinkled cheek, "Thank you, Uncle. Not just for the information, but for understanding."

"Indeed, here I am, indulging in frightfully early cocktails with Ace Danger. Certainly my entree into the League of Absolute Evil is assured now. My entire plan was, after all, to ply you with liquor and take shameful advantage to make certain you looked the other way while I knicked the golden statue over there. Dash it all, Ace, always ruining my schemes," Bombshell smirked at him over the rim of her martini glass.

"He was talking to both of us," Alex protested laughingly, blushing fit to match her dress but she unwound herself from Mike's arms to quickly step out and offer James an easy hug, "Ignore Mike, you look great and I, for one, am glad to not have to share you with arm candy of the week. You'll dance with me, won't you, James?"

"No, I didn't use any sorcery at all, that's the strange part of all of it." Taylor said with another huffed sigh and smiled despite herself at the soft grumbling noises as the baby settled into actually sleep. Taylor covered her skin back up carefully and settled Jack Jr. a bit more comfortably in her arms. "He was a surprise... just like normal people have although in this case it was ever so much more surprising." In someways it was a relief to talk the mystical end of it with someone who understood, "We'll manage. It's too important to do anything but manage."

"Ohhh.... hmm.... Okay, lets try this. It's a near-Earth but uninhabited..." Taylor proceeded to describe in minute detail one of the verdant green earth dimensions. She knew that it was of similar enough atmosphere to cause no problems, "How's that? Do you think you can do that? I'll be right behind you and I'll pull you back if you miss and end up somewhere else. Sadly, I think the only way for you to learn is trial and error but at least you have a safety net. When I got lost, I just had to meander my way back no matter how long that took."

"Mmmm..." Bombshell murmured noncommittally and saluted him with her drink when her delicate fingers closed around the stem. She lifted the glass to her lips before picking the thread of conversation back up once more, "But now, we know. At least until she decides its best for us not to know anymore and then we'll all be surprised when another individual reveals themselves on the scene. I wonder if I'll be in oodles of trouble the next time too. Really, its rather unfair to sod off for thirty or so years and expect me to still be on the straight and narrow. I do need rather constant minding."

"Oh, do you like it?" Alex asked curiously, tilting her head to the side without probing further. Either he had successfully not tripped the teen psychic's mental alarms or she was simply not concerned with trying to get past any deceptions he might be spinning. "Its not that different from what I do, I think. I spend most of my time troubleshooting while everyone else runs everything that's already set up. I like it better than the setting up part. It's a lot simpler to keep a machine running than to build it up to run right in the first place."

Taylor's brow knit in ever greater concern as she flipped back and forth through the spidery transcription and sighed when she finally set it down. Her hands curled around the baby protectively, "I... don't think I'll show Jack that one. We'll find a way around any problems. It's what we do." Surely, if they could save the world on a regular basis, they could keep their only child safe. Not only from the world, but from his own dark legacy. "Thank you, Uncle. It's better to prepare for trouble that might occur than have it catch you unawares."

"When its just me? I just picture the plane I'm going to and step sideways into it. I have to open a portal to take other people through -well- if I don't pop them in the Void for the ride." Taylor said, frowning as she tried to find away to explain the concept. "I mean, all that keeps you from stepping into anyworld you want is the Veil, so I just step through that instead of stepping forward through the standard three dimensions. Does that make any sense?"

"Of course, I did. You know, a little forewarning that they were the same person would have been, perhaps, warranted," Bombshell took the martini with a graceful nod of thanks and a vaguely dirty look. She frowned at Ace. "I am going to laugh and laugh when you finally fall, Ace Danger. And then probably send you a whole case of scotch." Her expression softened marginally as she added softly, "Thought he was gone for good after that whole... Incident."

"Ohhhh, I'd forgotten about that debacle." Taylor said with another laugh and nodded, "Sure, call him on up. It'll give you someone to talk to while I do my scrying. If you see Jack when he comes in, just tell him I'm in the library." Of course, it would be even odds that they'd actually see Jack. He did have a tendency to lurk around even in his own house. Taylor ignored it the same way she ignored the fact that she hadn't yet got him to take his shoes off every time he walked in the door. Marriage after all was about compromises.

Taylor's laugh was soft and husky and her hands slid down his side as she stepped in close behind him. The echoing tones of Phantom slipped away, leaving only the naturally husky tones of Taylor's as she teased him, "Well, as fun as a strip search would be, it might be a big awkward if someone showed up here suddenly. You might be able to hide in the blink of an eye but I have this silly little feeling that you wouldn't be the only one losing clothing." Her hands played over his sides and pockets, playfully, even as she pointed out, "All your weapons are natural, so I rather doubt I'll find brass knuckles. Although it would make me wonder just what you'd been up to lately..."

"Fan-tas-tic," Taylor said as they settled down to work out the specifics. She left the baby in Jack's arms just in case the tension started to rise back up again. Plus, it meant that she her hands free to eat for once, while making it less obvious that Jack wasn't eating. Hunh, I wonder if Jack has noticed that the baby is really excellent camouflage... Of course he has. "If this is going to be like flag football with the shirts and no-shirts teams, I'm bringing my camera," Taylor teased her husband with a dimpled grin. "You are making the 'flag' an actual flag aren't you?"

"Oh, Ace, that's what every generation says. Remember our parents generation had the war to end all wars and still there was a worse one after that. Sometimes, I don't look forward to the next one. Other times, I rather think that's the only time I'll really be of any use." Her smile was just as glittering and just as hollow. "What a depressing debacle this has been. Cocktails?"

"You think that Jack Jr. would be the best one for that? At least he's definitely hearty." Taylor laughed a little and brought Stesha out a refill from the kitchen that she set on the coffee table. "Hopefully I'll find him tonight. I know Jack will want to strike quickly. I think Derrick will make a wonderful father. The instincts are pretty strong. I mean, I had my worries how Jack would adjust but he's so good with the baby. Its a little amazing honestly."

"I know..." Taylor sighed and leaned over the baby, rubbing her fingertip over his petal soft cheek and then over the spikey dark hair, "It's been hard for his daddy and he's has all of his human experiences to draw from. Jack Jr.'s never going to be human. His eyes... he already tracks too well for a baby. Too hyper focused. He reminds me of a little kitten but I know that's going to get more and more difficult as he gets bigger and stronger." She reached out with one hand to take the paper and start skimming it as if it wasn't in an ancient hand. "Oh... this is a real find! I've never seen this record before." And Taylor hand searched and searched for any sort of note of a vampire hybrid or anything like it.

"I know," Alex said sadly, tucking her hands into her pockets, "Youth outreach can only do so much and its really hard when you have all these powers and advantages to say 'Hey, stand up and be just like me. It totally won't get you stomped into the pavement by the bullies in your school'. Or worse, they try and do stupid, stupid things to get powers to make it all better. So you've got to find a way to reach out and try and say, 'no, you've got all the power you need' without sounding like an after school special. The best program we have for it is a big brother sort of thing but that's still hard and there's just never enough people to go around." She sighed and then looked up at him with a small smile, "So what do you do?"

It was only by virtue that Ace was both a master of his own emotional facade as well as the fact that he actually knew what sort of emotions this thing brought up in someone who had lived it, that Ace could catch the subtle flickers of emotion across the smooth beauty of Bombshell's face. She lifted one hand to lightly touch the glass case over one of the faded photographs and smiled faintly, "I forget, you know, just how young we all looked in those days. Of course, you and I can just look in a mirror and see the same basic thing. You can tell, however, if you know where to look that we actually were young in these photos." She glanced down and laughed, "Oh, thank God, they got my birth-date wrong, still. Thank heaven for the little vanities."

Taylor laughed as Moira began the attempt to butter Stesha up. Her eyes twinkled, "She has sisters, you know, who generally get first dibs on that maid-of-honor slot. Either way, I know I'm out of the running. We had a private ceremony and only invited everyone to the reception. Which is not a bad idea, by the way, if you can get away with it." She added the last as an aside to Stesha and went to sip her tea, "Although, you can probably still plan a bachelorette party." Taylor grinned at that, her expression entirely amused at the sort of havoc that was likely to be. "I wonder who Derrick will have as his best man."

Bombshell slipped her arms around the other woman's shoulders and returned her kiss, nibbling along the corner of her lips almost playfully. 'Well, Darling, you know what they say. Always leave them wanting more? With all those years under that red and gold belt of yours, I have to find some way of staying mysterious.' "Besides," she said huskily, her lips charmingly pink from the minor make-out session, "You're the one with semi-mortality to worry about. Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. I promise. I'll always turn up like your very own bad penny." Bombshell leaned in to share another deep kiss before asking with raised brows, "Sneaking into strongholds? Just how many strongholds can one organization have?"

Phantom sat quiet once more, her head tilted to the side and her white glowing gaze implacable. She ignored the impassioned speeches for the soul of the single mortal, her cloak billowing around her silently and as intangible as she was. She was here, after all, to make sure the two that were empowered didn't cross any lines as her soul was no longer mortal enough to be swayed to any forces. She, after all, had a different master and was, in her own way, just as bound by oaths as any god. "That Orb is no play-thing, Odinsdotter, I would be very, very careful who you let near it." Gloved fingertips came up to touch the pendant around her throat mindfully, "You may find that the consequences go far worse than you imagined when you least expect it."

It was only with great restraint that Bombshell contained herself while the heroes spoke. Partially, because Elena would be even more cranky if she had to bail her out of jail and partially because she was briefly entertained by being tossed around by giant octopus arms. Most people would have probably been sick to their stomach but Bombshell was, after all, a highly skilled acrobat. As she was handed over, she did her best to look at least vaguely repentant. "Yes, alas, if only my wicked wiles worked on women," she said with an utter straight face as she was a much, much better liar than Scarab. "At least I have time to repent on my actions. And I really did need to talk to the Scarab." She slipped easily into the invisible chair, her ankles loosely crossed and looking remarkably at ease at being floated about high above the streets below. 'Thank you, I take that as the backhand compliment that it is. I really do need to talk to you.'