alderwitch
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Taylor's eyes flashed at the swordsman dangerously but before she could snap at him, Jack had begun his cool response. Taylor didn't think she'd ever loved Jack more than in that moment as he defended both the son she knew he still had grave misgivings over and her own neccessity in the fight. For all of the doubts that she'd faced in their marriage, Taylor didn't think anyone could have been more rock steady. She turned her gaze away from her husband and back to the swashbuckler, her voice controlled, "I'm afraid we don't have a choice about my participation in the battle, even if I were willing to sit this out. I'm the only one here that's close to a match for Dark Star on the sheer raw power spectrum. The three of you are all close range. None of you can catch an asteroid, or stop a worm hole, or bend time and space into a pretzel. I can."
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Taylor swatted at him half heartedly for the birds and bees comment although she was smiling, "I understand the mechanics just fine, thank you. Please don't tease Jack, he's not really alright with all of this." She gestured down to her abdomen before sighing and answering his question, "It isn't going to be a pleasant conversation, no. My parents know I'm a super hero but really none of the rest of it. I had to come out about that after the wedding. They don't know Jack's a vampire. They're not going to be happy about a baby born four months after the wedding no matter how I spin it."
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"Sure," Alex agreed with Eddie, as they waited for Mark to do the introductions. She had a flicker of impatience as the two teens stared at each other but shrugged it off as she gave Eddie the information he requested, "It varies greatly on the psychic. Some merely take the pain away and make you think you're not wounded. Some can actually take on your injuries, so you'd be fine and they'd have a bullethole or whatever. There's what I do which is telekinetic manipulation at the molecular level and then there's biopsychinetics." She paused for breath and then added, "Well, to start. There's a lot of variations, really."
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Alex's brow furrowed, not responding to the chatter as Mike steered her gently towards the cafeteria, "Favorite class? That's tough. It would have to be either the study of astrophysics and interstellar communications with Dark Star or... Ethics for the Metaphyisical Mind." Alex frown deepened and she added, "Oh, or driver's ed. That was fun too."
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Alex gave's Mike arm a solid pat and and took a judicious step behind him, "It certainly couldn't hurt. I think you'll get a chance though. And you really did do well considering how fast you were going. We should practice some sharp turns though, I think."
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Alex sighed softly at that, glancing back to the field. "Oh, well. We'll probably be better off practicing in the room when its available anyways. We can always head over to manor if we have to." She smiled up at Mike and complimented him, "That was a nice stop."
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'Time Out!' Alex's mental voice announced to everyone on the field, including the stranger. The tone in Seraphim's head was a sweet piping soprano, 'Student on the field.' Alex unfolded her legs and floated up to snatch the flag for their side and tuck it into her belt before she flew over to land by Wander and Mike.
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Dhampir. The baby is alive for all intents and purposes but possesses some of Taylor's mystical connection to the Void. He'll actually be native to that plane, not prime.
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Taylor hesitated, her expression screwed up with some reluctance before she admitted, "Well, I do have full control of what parts of me are solid to prime at any given time. It takes a bit of concentration. I don't know if it would help at all." The idea of phasing and letting Archevielle poke about her insides was about as tantalizing as stepping back in the creepy scanner. "And, no, medications don't generally work on me. I'm willing to give the teleportation thing a go."
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Taylor nodded her agreement, her mouth twisting downward, "Stesha took the blast that he meant for me." She gestured to the shroud but her eyes didn't flicker doward this time. "I'm willing to be bait for any plan we concoct. I also would suggest we spring the trap at night. We work better at night." Her gaze flicked to Jack then and she took a step back by him. "Which gives us roughly twelve hours to cobble together a strategy. The sooner we get it done, the sooner I can see about setting up a few extra wards."
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"I'm Phantom in costume, Taylor out of it, and this is my husband, Jack," Taylor gestured over her shoulder at him, "I think its safe to say that he knows some of Derrick's memories. He recognized me out of costume which isn't something his evil clone would know. There are no other Phantoms accross the cosmic coil and everyone who knows my secret identity is here on prime. I think we have to assume our Dark Star is comprimised. Hopefully, he still lives." Her voice was measured and steady, despite the puffy eyes, with a core of steel behind it. "There are few who could successfully hurt Dark Star and everyone I know of who could is now in this room. I don't see a point in involving anyone else as he'll simply use them as collateral damage and weapons."
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"Oh, poor Derrick," Taylor whispered brokenly. As the phone rang, she picked it up and listened to Ace's voice before she teleported to them, leaving the phone in mid air. Jack was quick enough to catch it and if he didn't, it really didn't matter in the face of everything else that day. What was one broken handset. Ace's phone call was responded to as a young woman teleported into the manor. Petite, she wasn't much over five feet if at all. Dressed in a black maternity top and jeans, she didn't look a thing like the interdimensional guardian Phantom. She blinked into existance as Jack finished talking and said, "The car is fast-" Taylor placed a hand on either of them and they were pulled through the endless dark of the Void before emerging in the arcane library in the apartment, sigils glittering warningly on the floor and walls, "-but not that fast."
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"I can also hide the flag," Alex pointed out helpfully, "But it doesn't matter because their offense is gonna be Mike. He has his crazy x-ray vision now." She headed back to the flag, floating over to it easily where she assumed the lotus position about four feet off the ground. "Okay, team, go get that flag!"
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The intro for Moira's Seraph.
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Some sort of mix up (which a good half of Young Freedom blamed Next Gen's antics for), led to their time in the training room being taken up. With some grumbling, they'd headed out to the quad for team manuevers instead. Thus, they were arrayed on the field debating the merits of touch football versus capture the flag for training time. After some debate, capture the flag was decided on. With the gold team comprised of Hellion, Psyche, Wander, and Edge on the gold team and Zephyr, Breakdown, Phalanx, and Geckoman on the blue team. Each one went off to hide their flag to the best of their ability and discuss tactics. As usual, Mark had left the rules confined to 'good sportsmanship' so really, anything went. Psyche trailed after the other three after they'd hidden their flag, leaving it up to Mark to plot out the strategy while she scanned the quad for the other half of the team's and their scrap of blue.
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"Evil as in another Dark Star." Taylor responded into the phone, her voice still tight. "Call me and I'll pick the both of you up. Hurry." She didn't bother with the niceties as she simply hung up on Ace. If Dark Star didn't know where she was, it wouldn't take long to figure it out. Taylor hugged herself for a moment, glancing down at her sticky leotard before she wished her costume back into the void. Back in the clothes she'd pulled on in the morning, Taylor waited impatiently for Jack to finish putting the wards up. When she knew she wouldn't interrupt the arcane ritual, she went back into his arms with a choked sob.
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Taylor looked between the two of them noting the usual crackling tension and sighed. She reached for Jack's hand, threading her fingers through his and squeezing slightly. "Whatever you have to do." She'd rather, of course, have both of them there. If wishes were horses, though... Taylor shook her head and reluctantly unlaced her hand from Jack's. "It was either start shopping or a rotating diet of pizza and chinese take out. But I do like take out."
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"No." Taylor said baldly, wiping her hand off against the fabric of her costume. "There's an evil Dark Star and he killed Stesha. We'll need anyone you can think of who could help. Anyone who can hurt Dark Star. It's a short list." She glanced up automatically as Jack started activating the wards, her fingertips covering the phone as she let Ace process that and murmured, "Am I risking going out to pick him up or are we giving directions?"
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"I don't know." Taylor said thickly. She turned away from the wreck on the table, turning her face into Jack's shoulder. Although muffled by his shirt, her words were clear, "I'll call Ace. If anyone could pull a rabbit of of his hat, it would be Ace. Maybe he can call in the Freedom League to take out Dark Star. Or a tank. Or the Freedom League, with a tank." Taylor scrubbed the sleeve of her uniform accross her face and reached for the desk phone to call the immortal adventurer. While the phone rang, she tucked Stesha's hair back out of her face and began to try and straighten her limbs out into some sembalance of calm repose. "Jack... could you also bring a sheet or something?" She covered the mouthpiece of the phone as she asked before she moved it back to her mouth, "Ace?"
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Taylor set her gently down on the heavy desk, bloody fingers searching for a pulse that she knew darn well that she wouldn't find even as she answered Jack in the flatly steady voice that bespoke a finely controlled rage, "Dark Star. An evil Dark Star did this." She reached up and peeled the mask of her costume off before she tossed it aside furiously. "He'll be back, after all, he was aiming at me but she got in the way. She shoved me and just took the blast right in the chest. A full on graviton bolt from Dark Star and it tore her apart." Taylor brought both fists down on the desk in an expression of impotent fury as she shouted at the corpse of her best friend, "You should have let me take that blast! Damn you, Stesha! Damn you!"
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"Stesha, NO!" Taylor cried out as she hit the ground with a solid thump. From her prone position she had a perfect view to see Stesha take the massive blast of power intended for Phantom. The sickening crack as her friend's all too mortal body flew through layers of wood and plaster and stone. She vanished out from under her cloak, the billowing folds collasping slowly in on themselves as she ported to the broken wreck of Stesha's body. Hopefully, this Dark Star was as limited in his teleporting as the other was. Pushing to move as quickly as she could, Taylor gathered up Stesha's bleeding form and teleported back to the safest place she could think of - the library of her apartment. "Jack!" Taylor shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Help!" With a thought, she shoved the books and scrolls on her desk to an untidy heep on the floor, trying to clear someplace to set Stesha. In her heart, she knew that no one could be so mangled and still survice. Taylor had seen death too often to not know it in the face of her friends, but damned if she'd not try.
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Taylor leaned into the hug with a soft sigh. Not for the first time, she was thankful for the twist of fate that had crossed her path with the half demon. Not only could he understand the problems but he wouldn't give her that look of mingled horror and pity that those who knew of Jack's nature tended to have. "It's a boy." Taylor said quietly, her eyes silently expressing her wordless thanks, "And you're right, we have to keep it quiet. Not only would the vampires be after my head but the hunters wouldn't be far behind. Once you're a bit more up to speed, we'll start slipping out of this world to ones that move a little faster to try and cut down on just how vulnerable I am right now. I am sorry to put this weight on your shoulders so suddenly. It was, well, clearly not planned."
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As the wave of sickly magic washed through the room sucking the life from the living, Taylor twisted to the side, phasing into the void to avoid the brunt of the spell and flickering back into existence in time to see Jack's chest pierced by the fist of the monstrosity. Her breath came out in a low hiss as the white glow of power in her eyes darkened to pure black. Clear over the din of battle, Taylor growled, "Put - Down - My - HUSBAND!" With fingertips curled into claws, Taylor grabbed the very fabric of reality and ripped screaming rents into it to allow the void to spill forth in pools of pure shadow and arcs of light that lanced out to strike at the enemy.
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And as Phantom can't make that reflex save (Phantom doesn't dodge ) here's my fort save: 26
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34, with an hp burned for that reroll. I have one HP left which I will use to surge and attack ze bad guys with my aoe attack. That's a dc21 reflex followed by a dc26 tou save if they fail. 20 tough if they succeed.
