Electra
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"I think I have some inkling," Stesha responded with a half-smile as she stirred sugar into her coffee. "It looks like you've had some changes in your life since last time we got together. But you seem happy?" It was half a question; Megan looked happy, but they were both women entirely accustomed to wearing masks. "I remember you saying once that you and Robert had some time-travel and future prophecy shenanigans complicating your relationship. Does this have something to do with that?"
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"Coffee would be great," Stesha replied, walking over to the windows for a better look. "Cream and sugar if you have it." The last time she'd been up this high, it was to pull a rogue plant controller off the top of Pyramid Plaza, but the wide-angle view was more reminiscent of the times she'd gone flying with Derrick, back when they'd been dating. Her powers had been so new then, and flying over the shining towers of Freedom City with a superhero had been like a giddy dream. It was strange how long ago it all seemed now. She twisted the gold band on her finger for a moment, then turned her back on the window and deliberately refocused on matters in the here and now. "I love your place," she told Megan as she took a seat on the couch. "The view is spectacular."
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Miss Americana looked a little unsettled at the reminder of the Curator's last mission on Earth as well, her face tightening briefly as she glanced at the knight in shining armor. There were plenty of reasons that ArcheTech and its subsidiaries had not taken a leading role in the investigation and dismantling of the wreckage from that event, some of them more personal than others. Assumung Katastroff came out of this little adventure unscathed, she'd have to contemplate a little light "I told you so"-ing. But that was for later. As they walked inside, she looked around the facility with an analytical eye, taking in screensful of data and tucking the information away for later perusal. She cracked a few knuckles, a seemingly idle display that Caradoc, at least, would know meant that she was realigning her own internal energy processors for some new exercise. "I may be able to get a look inside the facility without popping the locks first, assuming they haven't had time or inclination to completely shut down every machine in the facility.Any booby traps I should know about?"
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"Yes, thanks." Stesha set down her pile of papers and shrugged out of her coat, passing it to Megan while still looking down the hallway. She folded her hands together and looked around the apartment for a moment, letting her mind settle. "So..." she finally began, a faint smile on her face for the absurdity. "Either it's been way longer than I thought since you and I last caught up, or some things have changed. He's very cute," she offered, walking down the hall towards the living room.
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Stesha couldn't help but blink at the surprising appearance of a little boy in Megan's orderly apartment, any more than she could stop the raised-eyebrows expression of surprise at hearing the speedster refer to herself as "Mommy." But she'd been working in Freedom City for a long time, so within seconds she'd covered it with a warm smile for the little boy. "It's very nice to meet you, Lawrence. I love the Harry Potter books too. When my little girl Ammy is older, we're going to read them together." Theories immediately filled Stesha's mind, dimensional refugee, accelerated gestation, time-travel, genetic cloning... there were really all sorts of ways to come up with a child suddenly, and her friends and acquaintances had experienced most of them. She held onto her questions for the time being.
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"It's harder because they're not actually fighting with us," Fleur speculated aloud, "so it's not a matter of concessions or negotiations on our own behalf. But there might be things we can do to ease tensions down there, just as a third party with a lot of interest in not getting too shaken up. But I guess we won't know what they want or need till we get down there. We'll follow your lead," she told Canadian Shield. "We have a lot of room to be flexible with how we use our own powers to defuse the situation, and I can call in other people if there are skillsets we need and don't have."
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Stesha popped out of an evergreen bush with ten minutes to spare before her meet-up with Megan, plenty of time to cross the street and ride the elevator. She was in her civilian clothes today, for all the good that did her. After almost five tumultuous years in Freedom City, the small woman with the long, long green braids was a pretty recognizable sight to inhabitants who paid attention. It was probably just as well that she spent so much time on Sanctuary these days, made life much easier. On her way up to Megan's place, she paused long enough to smile hello to the doorman and buy a selection of newspapers and magazines from the newsstand in the lobby. It was nice for all their transplants to get regular news from home. Right on the dot of 10:15, Stesha walked down the hallway and knocked on Megan's door. She'd never been to this place before, but it was nice, clean and quiet and spacious. Thirty-seven floors up was too high in the air for her own tastes, but she suspected it would not bother the speedster at all. Certainly navigating the stairs would be no problem in an emergency!
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Erin furrowed her brow as she watched the proceedings, less attuned to the speeches and posturing than to the flickering of the shadow-figures surrounding the room's perimeter. The too-deep darkness bothered her on an instinctual level, as did potential foes whose outlines she could not make out, but there was something else as well... She caught in a quick breath of surprise when the shadow whispered to her, but it sharpened her gaze even more. Something was different here, not all of those figures were equally dark and ethereal. They looked... not familiar, but something about them was something she'd seen before. Finally, she stepped between Midnight and Edge to whisper, "Those shadows, the ones at eleven and one and nine o'clock, does that look like Terminus energy to you?"
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"Well, the first thing we'll need is a remote headquarters," Miss Americana said, taking a look around the empty tarmac. "I have a feeling it's about to get pretty damn cold here now that the sun's going down, and we can't exactly work in the parking lot. Going in there blind, especially at night, is not our best option. It's been two days already. If Katastroff is still alive, he's found a place to bunker down and wait for help. He's smart and he knows the lay of the land, so he's got a decent chance." She turned to the lead scientist. "What kind of internal surveillance have you got in that place? Visual, audio, remote drones?"
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Erin tries to resist any illusion effects. She is terrible at resisting illusion effects. But she stares so long and so hard that she can take 20 on her Notice check, for a score of 35.
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Fleur's eyes widened as she took in the implications of the briefing. "So our mission is to prevent a civil war between two deeply entrenched factions?" she asked, her voice sounding a little faint. "If tensions are running as high as you say, I can't help but thinking that any meddling we as outsiders do is just going to pour gasoline on the fire that's already burning. The xenophobic contingent, at least, is hardly likely to listen to what we have to say." She massaged her forehead with her fingers. "And even if we tried to convince them, I imagine the progressives aren't going to be content with staying underground just to preserve the peace.' She looked around at the others, some of the grass she'd been playing with already starting to curl in on itself and wilt. "Have we got an ace up our sleeve that might tip the odds for us?" she asked. "Otherwise... we may want to start shaking the League's tree for more geokinetics to hold the world together."
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Wander furrowed her brow. "Dinosaurs didn't get wiped out by people on our world," she pointed out, even as she stepped closer to the cleric. Her bat was in her hand but undeployed for now, her body subtly interposed between the angry raptor and the rest of the party. Mostly reflex, really, this was a group who could certainly handle a little melee if it arose. "Mammals weren't even around when dinosaurs lived. Well, I guess there were like, mice and rodents and stuff, but nothing big. No humans. A giant asteroid fell out of space and killed most everything, including the big dinosaurs. And then the little dinosaurs evolved into birds, and the little mammals evolved into humans, something like that. And it wasn't a million years, it was what, like sixty million years?" She glanced back to the others for confirmation, wishing she'd paid more attention to the boring parts of biology class. "Anyway, you saw a crappy movie. And you've got a portal, which is probably bad news" Wander took another step closer to the battered raptor. "What are you planning on doing with it, besides watching the scifi channel?"
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The doorbell rang, followed by a brief commotion as someone with very squeaky shoes entered the house. "Hey Corbin," Erin called from the foyer, "sorry we're late. Ran into some half-assed speedster knocking over a jewelry store in Lantern Hill, then wound up chasing him halfway across town. And off the Pramas Bridge," she added ruefully. Erin was in her civilian clothes this evening, but they were civilian clothes that looked like they'd been rolled in dirt, swum in, and then seen a number of miles on the back of a motorcycle. Her hair wasn't in much better shape, but at least she was smiling. "No harm done," she assured everyone, "and he's in jail now, so hey." She turned back to look at Trevor, coming in behind her. "We should see if they have some security camera footage from the bridge, that thing you did with the bike," she told him. "That was cool." Swinging back around, she tried to focus herself into the party-with-friends mindset after the endorphin rush of even a ridiculous chase. "Smells good in here."
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Even as shaken as she was, Gina's hands were efficient as she went to the bulkhead storage area and began drawing out the baffles hidden there. Emerson rolled out from under a table to assist her, and soon she was snapping the panels into place, creating a beige and silver wall around the gurney. Without a trace of psychic ability herself, she was relying on secondhand accounts that the baffling would work, but her R&D people were the best around. "We'll get you better," she told Peter, "I promise. I... I have connections, people I can talk to. Miss Americana, she'll help. Best in the world, best at everything." Gina scrubbed her hands up and down her face, marshalling her thoughts. "If they can't make this go away, they'll make it so you can live with it and be all right. Everything's gonna be okay." She patted his hand, quickly, awkwardly, almost as though she expected the touch to burn. "You... you get some rest now. We'll take off soon."
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Fleur sat down as the world began to twist and reshape around them, taking a comfortable crosslegged position with her hands in her lap. Gaian Knight was a careful driver, but falling over thanks to an unexpected corner was just undignified. "We don't have much information to go on so far," she remarked to Canadian Shield. "Freedom City doesn't see a lot of subterranean action, given how many heroes have underground bases scattered around, so it's never really come up. What can you tell us about what we're likely to be facing?" As she spoke, she idly waved a hand over the grass near her on the platform, the leaves following her hand as though stirred by wind. "And what approach are we looking for? Stricly diplomatic?"
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Fleur took a moment to button her coat as they arrived, but her smile was warm enough as she greeted their opposite number. "It's very good to see you again," she said, stepping forward to clasp hands with Canadian Shield. From close up, she had to crane her neck back to look the Canadian leader in the eye, and she had to resist the momentary temptation to make herself a footstool from the underbrush. "And you as well," she added with a friendly grin for Bombardier, taking his hand as well. "I heard about what you did at that stunt show over Lake Erie, that was quick thinking! You'll have to tell me the story later, if you and Comrade Frost are not too busy telling lies over drinks," she teased. She turned her attention to the quiet young woman. "And you must be Wendy Go?" she guessed, giving the girl a reassuring smile and taking her hand with both of hers. "It's lovely to meet you. I'm Fleur de Joie, and these are my colleagues, Gaian Knight, Tiamat, and Comrade Frost. We're looking forward to working with all of you." Introductions taken care of, she turned back to Canadian Shield. "We want to help in whatever way we can."
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"I know the True North agents," Fleur said with a nod, "or at least know of them. Canadian Shield will probably be the key, she's been in on every Ignean interaction I've heard of, so she ought to know what's going on. Bombardier's a good guy, though he's more a sky type than underground." She shrugged a little. "He'll make do, I imagine. I haven't met Wendy Go, but I've heard of her. She's a cadet, sort of the equivalent to a Claremont student tagging along with the League. I don't think she's been on any international missions before. She's a shapeshifter or some kind of animal totem, turns into a big white monster that can throw houses. She seems like a sweet girl, and she could come in handy. Anything else we need before we head out?" She looked at the others, automatically lifting a hand towards the flowers in her hair.
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With the Orthodox raptor obviously cowed, Wander stayed to the back of the group and allowed the conversation to unfold while she kept an eye on the party outside. There was a lot of understandable curiosity among the guests, but it looked as though the Commander's subcommanders were already moving to keep the looky-loos at bay. That was good, as Erin suspected that whatever the species, a young female on the day of an important party wouldn't want people gawking at her while she was half dressed and made up. (At least she assumed it was makeup, unless Runs-With's fight with the cleric had involved a box of acrylic paints.) "How did the old boyfriend get into the house anyway?" she eventually asked. "Was he invited?"
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Fleur's using skill mastery for her rolls Knowledge (Life Science) 20 Gather Information 31
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Fleur looked up from the pile of papers she'd been studying and massaged her temples with the tips of her fingers. "We've got a lot of information to dig through here," she observed, "but I don't know how useful it's going to be until we know more about what's happening now. And these underground missions are tough to begin with." She rose from the table and walked over to the largest window, tipping her head back and closing her eyes to let the morning sun shine down on her face and turn her hair bright green. The plant controller had traded her usual cowl for a fitted hip-length trenchcoat and eschewed her mask, making her look less a superhero and more a tired woman who'd made an unusual coiffure decision. "I've mostly been reading from the geographic info pile," she remarked without turning around. "Who've we got coming in from True North? Maybe one of them knows enough to give us the scoop on what exactly we're getting into."
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Miss A goes on 21
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For once, Wander didn't take the time to inventory the layout of a new building the moment she was teleported into it. There was no way to get a bead on this place anyway, and the warping walls and shifting floors were so disconcerting that she forced herself to ignore them. Just like in the Wreck Room, she told herself. Just Archer trying to throw you off. She took a deep breath and drew her bat, pushing the special effects show out of her mind. Off to one side, she could hear Edge speaking, and though she paid little attention to the words, she understood what they meant. It didn't matter that the world was falling apart at the edges once again, or that they were facing magical foes with unguessable powers, or that the lives of everyone in Freedom City could be hanging in the balance. She was with her friends, fighting as a unit, and they'd faced far worse odds. The leprechauns had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into. Just as Mark reached the crescendo of his speech, Wander took action. Flicking her bat open with a snap of her wrist, she ran two steps and sprang into the air, tucking her body into a ball and turning three tight somersaults as she flew over the heads of the leprechauns. She unfolded her legs and landed with a bounce, nearly stumbling as the concrete turned to slick marble. Just a trick. Her silver bat reflected the sick light of the energy whorls as it struck out, smashing into the first leprechaun left, right, and finally center, as she grabbed it with both hands and used it to clothesline him to the ground.
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Opting for the classical approach, Wander is going to target one of the leprechauns with an acrobatic bluff. Skill mastery means it's a DC 27 for the dude. Follow it up with a full +5 power attack with the Bat o' Doom. Result is not great, it's a 21. I'll spend an HP to reroll if it doesn't hit, otherwise it's DC 32 plus autofire.
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Wander replied to the Commander's courtesy with a head-dipping bow of her own, for all that it made her feel a bit twitchy to be dropping her gaze in a room full of predators. It didn't help that the room smelled like an abattoir full of alligators, a combination that was not pleasing to her mammal hindbrain. "We're happy to have been invited," she told the large raptor. "Seeing your city has been an eye-opening experience. I just hope that we're not breaking any protocols by coming like this. We don't want to cause any offense, especially during a celebration." There, that was diplomatic enough for anybody. With any luck, maybe they'd avoid a riot happening before the actual danger even showed up.
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Erin stood back and watched Trevor intimidating the giant messenger with interest but no alarm until the dimensional portal opened up. In her experience, anytime one of those popped up, the situation could get volatile very quickly. In seconds, she'd bounded up to the top of the corpse, then to the shoulder of the messenger. Stepping up behind Midnight, she planted herself just behind his left shoulder and rested a hand on her bat. "If you know he died there, and you caught Typhoon there, how did the body get here?" she asked. "And why even have a trial, if you're so sure?"