Electra
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Wander didn't seem upset by the admission, or pleased either, just interested. "You got them out right in the nick of time, then. The Terminus doesn't waste time once it starts devouring a planet. Monsters, but really efficient ones." She kept pace with Tona effortlessly, not even breathing hard as they jogged along. "This Steam General, I don't really know anything about him. Steelegrave and Mandragora yeah, and the Madrigal Martinet and Omega, but I haven't dealt with any of the rest of them. Was he the one in charge of taking out your planet?"
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"We have this fabulous invention called windows that allow us to view all those things from the warmth and privacy of our own home," Gina replied evenly, scraping one sandwich onto a plate. "And if this is uncommonly warm, I don't even want to think what a cold night would be like. Where I come from, we put on our winter coats at 40, and don't take them off again till planting season. And don't get me wrong, it's a terrible place, but at least they've got that part right." She dumped a pile of wings and a pile of tater tots on the plate, then dropped it on the table in front of him with a bottle of ranch dressing. "Bon apptetit."
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"Change is hard," Erin agreed. "It feels like you've finally got everything going the way you want, and then suddenly it's all in flux again. But you've rolled with worse changes before, you'll find your feet again. Plenty of people stay in Freedom City after graduation anyway, you might end up going to college with all your high school friends." She hmmed at the mention of Dr. Marquez. "I know how that is. He just doesn't let go," she empathized. "I heard about the Annihilist thing, but only in passing. How did it go down?"
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"God no," Erin rolled her eyes. "I used to worry that he was going to pop something in his head during one of my training sessions and I'd get even more detention for it. That guy has no idea how to relax." She grinned, deciding to avoid the topic of Wander-fans altogether. There weren't many, thank god, but it was still a really weird feeling. "Course, I never bothered not giving him a hard time whenever I could. He's a slave driver. My first year on campus, I was training six hours a day, sometimes more! Just lucky I don't need to sleep much. Do any of the teachers give you problems?" she asked. "For not knowing all the surface world stuff?"
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She tsked at him, her eyes still on the bread she was laboriously browning. "What have I told you about spending time in other womens' bathtubs?" she reminded him, voice mock-stern. "Though it's kind of reassuring to know that I'm not the only one whose subordinates come up with some truly dumbass prototypes." Once Steve sat down, it wasn't more than a minute or two before an Emerson robot rolled up to him with a mug of hot cocoa on a tray, accompanied by a small dish of mini-marshmallows. It had taken weeks for Gina to tease him into admitting a preference for any specific beverage, until she'd finally pointed out that he was making her do far more work guessing than she would just programming the robot to make what he liked. "There's a special on Freedom City Architecture on the DVR you might like," Gina reported, "or we could have a look at the new sci-fi premier they've been doing allt the commercials for, with the blue guy? And I think there's a SuperCrime! marathon on too. Lots of options."
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"They're doing okay, still settling in but finding their feet. I put that new girl, the self-taught one I was telling you about? Put her in with the two MIT grads, it'll be fun to see how that shakes out. They've got the high-dollar education and are used to being the best at everything, but they're both pretty affable, all things considered. I can't wait to see what happens when the mechanic chick from the south side starts running rings around them." Gina smirked. "It feels good actually being able to recruit freely. Three years ago MIT engineers wouldn't have touched ArcheTech with hazmat gloves. All this work is finally paying off." She turned in his arms to pat his scarred cheek before slipping away and back to the stove. "You're gonna make me burn the grilled cheese again if you don't watch it. And I know you say you like it anyway, but you're lying."
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"Hey, I'm in the kitchen!" Most days, Gina spent the normal working day incommunicado, projected into her robot and only sneaking out for a few minutes every few hours to tend to the needs of her body. She had, with great reluctance, installed a treadmill in the corner of her basement and walked on it for a little while everyday, on the theory that on those occasions when her body was in actual danger, it might be nice to be fit enough to at least jog away from it. But by the end of the day, she usually tried to be upstairs so they could have a meal together and maybe watch some television, their version of date nights. Tonight, Gina had pulled out all the stops, putting frozen hot wings and tater tots in the oven, and was in the process of toasting grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove at the same time. She gave him a quick smile, relieved as always to see him back. "You're late. Long day?"
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The cold wind and the fog were unnerving as they swirled around Stesha, but it wasn't until they transited that things got very bad. The second her feet touched the gray permafrost of Hel's kingdom, every link that connected her to the living world seemed to sever at once. She gasped for air, feeling shriveled, wilted, completely uprooted and left out to die. She stumbled after him as he led her forward, and managed not to fall to her knees until they were in the still chilly, but far less unfriendly environs of the brand-new future. "God..." With shaky fingers, Stesha unpinned her braids and unbound her hair, letting it soak up the weak sunlight that filtered through the cityscape. The bottom few inches had gone entirely yellow, brittle blonde split ends that would have to be trimmed away. "Well," she finally said, looking at everyone from her seat on the ground. "This looks different."
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Miss A makes the reflex save The remaining shrapnel does not penetrate her Impervious Toughness
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Holly considered that offer for a moment, then nodded once, firmly. "It's a deal. But I'm probably going to need some help," she admitted. "My teacher is trying to get us to divide decimals, which is stupid because if you divide decimals then they're obviously fractions and not decimals anymore, but when I tried to point that out she just said I was wrong and not paying enough attention, but it's hard to pay attention even when I want to because of stupid having-to-shield all the time when everybody is so bored that they're just wandering around in their own brains and making a ton of noise, and I still think I was paying attention and she didn't want to admit that I had a point." Holly glowered at this grave injustice. "But anyway, I don't know how to do it and we're not allowed to use calculators. Which is also stupid."
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"It took forever," Wander said with a sigh, remembering those days. "I was... I was pretty raw when I first got to Claremont. I knew one style of fighting, and it wasn't anything I could use in Freedom City, so I had to pretty much start from scratch. My first mentor, this lady named Thunderstanding, she had me practice with this big metal ball, but I couldn't actually hit it. I was supposed to swing at it as fast as usual, but then just brush it with my knuckles. It was so frustrating, eventually I'd usually just snap and whack it a good one and it would crumple. My first bat, Mr. Archer gave it to me to help me control how hard I hit things and people, it was basically full of high-tech foam padding. It took years of constant training to really get to where I almost always have control. But it also made me a pretty damn good fighter, so hey, worth it." Leaning in, she asked conspiratorially, "So, does Mr. Archer still get those veins popping out on his forehead when he gets really frustrated during a training session?"
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Wander >That's The Way You Need It (19) >Incursion: Drop the Needle (8) >Night Light (15) >I Know What You Did Last Summer (10) Fleur de Joie >Incursion: Stop-Thrust (2) >Southern Hospitality (9) >What's Eating You? (7) >May Your Days Be Merry and Bright (3) Miss Americana >March Madness (5) >Lift Me Up So High (11) >Ain't No Cure For the Robot Blues (12) >Incursion: That's Amore (2) >Will Die for a Paycheck (21) Hologram >Children of the Barricade (11) >Incursion: Mind Over Matter (1) >Everybody's Fool (2) >Take Me To TV Land (2) NPC >Midnight Dynasty (3)
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"Now I feel old," Erin said with a very slight pout. "I only graduated... wow, almost four years ago now. That's a little weird." When the waitress stopped by, she gave her order, fried cod sandwich, coleslaw, and Coke. "I guess it makes sense, being on the surface for you must be like being in space for me, except for the breathing thing. Control is hard, but you can do crazy jumping stunts. Do you have to do a lot of training to compensate for the difference in your strength out of the water, or does it just feel natural by now?"
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"Oh, Mark, you know, Edge," Erin clarified. "We never used to go by our codenames at school except when we were training, have people forgotten our real names already?" She sighed, but it was good-humored. "And yeah, it was a pretty good punch. Knocked him right out, but he was okay in a few minutes." They walked into the restaurant and sat down at a table that was chipped formica with the pattern worn away, but was at least very clean. Erin glanced at the menu then set it aside, resting her elbows on the table. "I've been kind of wondering, how does it feel to live on the surface? I mean, I got shoved to the bottom of the ocean in a fight a few months back, and it was awful. Does it hurt to have to live where it's dry all the time?"
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"You're probably right about that." Wander pulled a phone from her belt and thumbed it on to have a look at the time. "All right, I think it's about time to pack it in for the evening. It's nice to meet you, Mirror, good luck with the heroing gig." She dug further into the phone pocket, pulled out and handed him a flat white card with two stylized letter Ls on it and a phone number. "Here's the contact number for the Liberty League, my team. If you ever get yourself into trouble or anything, give us a call. We help each other out around here."
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"I heard a little bit about that," Erin nodded, "that was good work, getting all those people away from the Terminus. Most worlds aren't nearly so lucky." She took a long breath at that, let it out. "It's hard when you finish up what you've spent years trying to do, even if you manage to succeed in doing it. Kinda leaves you at loose ends for what to do next. After that thing with Omega, when somebody told me I'd fulfilled my life's destiny, my first thought was, 'I'm only eighteen, what am I supposed to do now?' But you'll figure it out, and hey, now some of the pressure is off. You could always try joining a super team."
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"I think he might have had that in mind," Erin offered. "It's nice to be able to talk about things with someone who's not a teacher or a classmate, but who's gone through some of the same stuff. I don't mind listening, and I'll try to help if I can. Plus the firs time I went up against Medea she grabbed my brain and I just about punched Edge through an impervium wall, so there's a score to settle with her. And Mark probably wouldn't mind helping as well," she added with a short laugh. "Look, we're almost there." She pointed to a slightly ramshackle-looking cafe in the shadow of the bridge, a faded red awning over the door. "It's not much to look at, but the food is good. And the coleslaw. You like coleslaw?"
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Paige looked at the monitors, then back at Alek. ~I remember them,~ she assured him. ~I helped some of them like I helped you.~ She concentrated on the screens until two of them changed, a young boy's scowling face becoming an image of him frowning thoughtfully over the first Harry Potter book, and a young girl with tears on her face turning into the same girl studying a handheld videogame as though it were alien technology. ~When all of you were rescued all at once, the League called in every friendly adult psychic they had in their files. I was living in LA at the time, but I took two weeks off to pitch in. I worked with you and Maeve and Ben mostly, but I won't forget any of you. None of us will.~ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, withdrawing from Alek's mind as carefully and painlessly as she'd entered it. After a moment she opened her physical eyes, watching until he did the same thing. "If you like, I can look into them for you, find out what I can about where they are now and how they're doing. The League keeps tabs, I'm sure."
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"Ice cream!" Ammy chirped immediately, obviously ready to abandon her dinner at the prospect of something more appealing. "Dinner first," Stesha reminded her, handing her another chicken nugget. "And eat it nicely." Ammy pouted, but began eating her nugget without shredding it to bits this time. "I understand how you feel," she told Maybelle softly, "but often it's the enemies who hit us where we live that we need the most help with. You've got a real talent, we need to keep you around Freedom City for a long time." While they'd been talking, Stesha had eaten up a fair portion of her stroganoff, and now she chased a bit of sauce around her plate with her bread. "But yes, once we're done we'll have some ice cream, any pink flavor would be ideal." "I love pink," Ammy announced, then took another bite of her food.
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"They were probably pretty surprised when the glass started fighting back," Wander observed. "That's weird even for Freedom City. What I really don't understand is why anybody commits crimes in Freedom City. I mean they do, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have to patrol at all, but the likelihood of succeeding is just so low with all the heroes around. There are some supervillain types who do it here specially because they like fighting the heroes, but ordinary crooks, I can't imagine there's much benefit in it."
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"Guess we have to go to hell and back just to get home," Stesha joked weakly, looking at the circles Frost had inscribed on the floor. They meant nothing to her, but they looked pretty menacing, especially after the bit about Nifelheim. "Thanks for all your help," she told Dr. Daniels and the others. "We wouldn't be getting home without you. I hope you never have to see us or those giant insects again!" Folding her hands, she waited for Frost to finish the inscription that would take them back to the future.
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"Ouch," said Wander. "Remember to tuck your body before you jump, and never take a landing on your wrists if you can help it. Shoulder's much better." She spoke with the air of someone well-acquainted with all kinds of falling. "Maybe make a helmet part of your costume," she added drolly. "Seems like a lot more superheroes should do that, but hardly anybody wants to wear one around all the time. I guess that mask of yours at least keeps your face a little warmer." She paused and did a rather impressive standing leap to the roof of the building next to them, looked around, and came back down again. "Still quiet."
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~You're more than they ever could have imagined,~ Paige agreed firmly, making herself watch the screens along with him. ~Strength that's tempered with restraint and compassion is a force he'll never understand. And you are far more than a weapon.~ She turned away from the screens to look at him.~Are you ready to wake up now, or is there more that we need to look at?~ The mental journey was tiring for both of them, but Paige could hold out longer if she needed to. She'd just make Richard order something for supper while she took a long afternoon nap.
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"It would certainly help getting around the mall," Wander observed, a speculative look on her face. "And there are lots of places that have security mirrors and stuff, you'd just have to be ready to handle falling to the floor when you popped out.But pretty much anyplace with a bathroom has got to be open to you." A small grin curved her lips as she thought of something else. "So how did you figure out that you could walk through mirrors in the first place? Is there a funny story there?"
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With the scene bathed in light, Wander loped up to the side of the car and knocked on the window. As Mirror watched, she had a few words with the driver and gestured towards the back of the car. The car's wheels stopped spinning and the reverse lights went off as the driver listened to whatever she was saying. She sauntered around the car, perfectly surefooted on the ice, and grabbed hold of the tow hitch with one hand. In a moment, the car was dislodged from the snow and back in the middle of the road. It seemed to take a few seconds for the driver to realize he was free, then he shifted into gear and drove away with a wave and a grateful beep-beep for the pair of heroes. "That's a good power," Wander decided, looking up at the light as she walked back to Mirror. "That's much harder to do in the dark."