Electra

"Well, even a small piece of impervium would certainly be a conversation piece," Miss A allowed. "It's quite rare. I hope she appreciates the effort you're going to." She pushed a few more buttons on the machine, a single crease of concentration appearing on her perfect forehead as the scanner continued not cooperating. "When you interact with the physical world, how do you usually handle it?" she asked as she worked. "I know you have telekinetic powers, but do you experience any tactile sensations when dealing with people and objects?" Sharl's thumbnail sketches on his teammates had been useful, but hardly thorough.

Koshiro seemed just a touch disappointed at the decision not to go soaring off into the sky, but his grin was still broad as he banked the plane into a daringly steep descent that pushed the both of them a little bit closer together. "Your wish is my command." The plane landed without so much as a bump and folded itself down flat. "Looks like they're just getting here anyway." Climbing to his feet, he extended an unnecessary hand to help Mali up and strolled over to meet the other couple. At Citizen's introduction, he gave Temperance a nod of greeting and wondered if they were seriously going to be using their code names all night long. That seemed like it would make romance awkward at best. There weren't a lot of really romantic ways to say "Crimson Tiger," and shortening it to CT would do weird things to his brain after a year of training with Corbin. He'd figure out some way to work around it. "You got a radio that can pick up the sound from the movie?" he asked Sharl.

Miss A goes on 15

"Mind control is something we see, oh, not as often as the more conventional physical force type villainy, but it crops up often enough," Fleur told the rookie heroine. "It can be very challenging to deal with. We're actually at something of an advantage in this case because there is a physical vector and the spread of the control is limited by that. If a more pervasive form of mind control had been going unchecked as long as this has, it could've spread to cover the tristate area. It's still dangerous, but it's a containable threat." She walked to the edge of the platform and looked down, considering the town spread below them. "Stealth isn't going to be a factor," she decided. "Whatever is pulling the strings knows we're here, and I can't imagine they're not waiting for us already. I could try and put eyes and ears inside the jail, but I think our best bet and the best choice for the safety of the prisoners is a frontal approach that concentrates all the attention of the possessed people on us. If we can draw them out of the jail and into the fight, the risk of collateral damage is minimized." She looked to Gaian Knight for assent or argument there.

"Yes, I had some of the milkshake, and some cheese as well," Fleur said, looking mildly concerned, but not afraid. "I have a natural immunity to poison that should hopefully stave off the effects. Besides, it sounds as though the prisoners in the jail were being kept in there and fed huge quantities, and even then some didn't succumb to the control. It probably takes awhile to build up in the system. All the same, let's keep an eye on each other. Anyone starts acting strange, we'll know why." With the manager's office empty, she released it from the stranglehold of vines, even as she returned to Gaian Knight's stone platform. "We can call in the League to help with a major crisis situation," she told Vector, "but we need a better idea of what we're dealing with first. Let's see if we can sort the town and go from there."

Fleur smiled at Benjy. "That's right, you'll be spending a few hours on Sanctuary. I'm sorry things have worked out so that you couldn't read us your essay at the festival, but if your dad says it's okay, when everyone is safe again, I'll give you the full Sanctuary tour, all right? Now everything is going to be very green for a moment, so don't be scared." As she spoke, a vine snuck its way under the door and sprouted a flower big enough to encompass all three civilians with its soft pink petals. It engulfed them for a moment, then settled to the floor, the people inside gone. "All right, that's three people safe and out of the way," Fleur said with some satisfaction. "Shall we go to the jail and find your friend?"

"That's a good idea," Fleur said to Vector. "We'll go that way as soon as we're finished here." She turned to the window again and did a quick assessment of the occupants. The man and the two boys seemed all right, sound of mind and healthy enough for people who'd had nothing but processed corn syrup to eat or drink for the past few days. Tired and scared, but not mind controlled. "I'm going to send you to a safe place at my headquarters," she told the dairy owner. "It's very safe, and there'll be food there, changes of clothes for you and the boys, and first aid kits if you need anything taken care of. You'll be alone there for a little while, but don't worry. As soon as this business in town is taken care of, I'll come and bring you back." She paused for a second. "I just have one question. You're the dairy owner, how did you manage to avoid contamination from the milk? It seems like it's everywhere around here."

"We'll get to that," Miss A promised her eager subject with a half-smile. "Right now I'm calibrating equipment, trying to find the proper energy range to use to scan you," she explained. "All energy, whether it's natural, man-made, or in the realm of what some people call magic, has enough tangible effect upon the universe to be detected, measured, and explored. The trick is in finding the right tools to use for that measuring. You have a very unusual type of energy, so it may take a little while to dial in on that and get a look at you through my scanners. But that's all right, I've got all afternoon." She fiddled with the machine, changing the scanning range, altering the frequencies by fiddly little fractions of a degree. "I've been curious, actually, what do you plan on doing with the impervium fragments you asked for in trade? It doesn't seem as though they'd be useful to you."

Erin, back in her blue uniform, looked around suspiciously at the quiet building and the dispersing crowd. It wasn't that she wasn't glad that the bomb was disarmed, far from it! And it wasn't as though she didn't trust Mara's ability to do all manner of scientific miracles between breakfast and lunch, because she'd seen enough of that with her own eyes. It was just that, even with the comical shenanigans of the Thieves' Guild, everything had been too easy. Despite all the security leaks, things had stayed quiet and calm. Erin didn't trust easy. "Is there anything else for us to do here?" she asked Mara, even as people began to brush past on their way into their vacated homes.

Miss Americana muttered a few choice words under her breath, but lost no time in flying for the roof. "If he's still here, he's up in the attic," she told the others. "I'll burn a hole in the roof so we can get in fast and by surprise. Harrier, you're in first, then me, then you, Nick. Be ready for a fight, but hold off on the heavy blows till we know what he's packing. We don't want to kill him by accident, or hit any potential hostages. Ready?" With that, she unleashed her laser beams at full power, cutting a surgically-neat circle in the roof within a few seconds time, big enough even for an Omegadrone to pass through. "All right, go!"

"So you remember general knowledge, but no personal tidbits at all?" Miss A nudged, even as she frowned slightly at her scanner. She could detect a temperature variation in the vicinity of Ghost Girl, very noticeable in the strictly climate-controlled lab, but no trace of her presence on anything but the visible light sensors. Even those didn't seem certain of themselves. "I'm going to try some different sensors now, don't mind me." Setting aside the handheld scanner, she rolled a boxy sensor system the size of a refrigerator into place at the foot of the bed and activated it. A soft green light played over Ghost Girl and the bed as the machinery hummed softly.

Miss A was very interested at the talk of Ghost Girl's physical remains, but it seemed impolitic to ask after their whereabouts just yet. Scanning the bones might be quite informative, but it also seemed like a good way to upset the gregarious energy being. It was a question to save for later. She flipped open her handheld scanner and activated it, pointing it at Ghost Girl to see what readings it might pick up. "So you have no memory of your original life?" she asked as she worked. "Nothing at all, no vague impressions, sensations of deja vu, dreams or flashbacks?"

"Don't worry," Fleur called reassuringly to the people inside the house. "You're all going to be safe. I can send you out of town until everything is settled, but we need to know what you can tell us about what's going on in the town." She opened a window in the wall of plants to correspond with the building's window. "Is something wrong at the dairy? Why is everyone yelling in... Greek, I think, and acting possessed? Has it been going on long?" With the crisis over, she lowered the truck to the ground, but took the precaution of setting it gently on its side so it wouldn't be going anywhere for awhile.

Miss A blinked and considered that, watching the girl's face distort and distend. "Yes, I can't say I'd like seeing that face in my window on a cold winter night," she decided, her tone mild. "So after the biological death of your physical form, your consciousness persisted , but you weren't really yourself?" she asked, hoping to clarify the story a bit. "You didn't remember who you were, or have coherent understanding of the present, desires for the future? What happened to change that?" She positioned a small microphone near the exam table, testing it with a flick of her finger. "Was it all at once, or more gradual?"

"Your best approximation will be fine," Miss A assured Ghost Girl with a smile. "Right now, any position that is comfortable for you is fine, so long as you stay around the exam table. I'm going to do some very basic scans, take some video and audio footage, and generally try to establish a baseline of which of my instruments can detect you. Renee from downstairs mentioned that you passed through the security sensors without tripping them." She brought over a small handheld video camera and activated it, setting it on the counter to record. "While I do that, can you tell me a little about yourself? Anything you'd like."

"Those tests were probably conducted quite differently," Miss A replied diplomatically. "For this series, I'd like to use various kinds of equipment in the lab to measure your energy emissions across a wide range of spectrums. I might ask you to do a few simple powers demonstrations, if you're comfortable with that, but it'll mostly be sitting or laying down and talking." As she spoke, Miss A took a pristine white labcoat from a rack and shrugged it on over her russet and slate-blue pantsuit. "If at any time you feel any pain, or anything we're doing makes you feel uncomfortable, I want you to let me know right away, all right?" She picked up her pad computer and smile at the ghostly apparition. "Do you have any questions before we start?"

Making a mental note to have a quick apology chat with the staff in the forensic biology lab, Miss Americana stepped forward to greet her guest with a smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Ghost Girl." She let the mom remark pass, though a small, vain part of her wanted to protest that she was too young to even be Sharl's honorary mom. It was beside the point. "I'm very glad you were able to meet with me today. I'm looking forward to working with you to map out your unique energy signature. Have you ever had a complete full-spectrum scanning done before?"

The receptionist stared after the retreating spirit for a moment, then with a philosophical little sigh, walked around the desk to retrieve the pass as she alerted Miss Americana that her visitor was on premises and would most likely not be arriving through any doors. Upstairs, Miss Americana acknowledged the message and looked around for signs of impending visitation. She had the biosciences lab set up just the way she wanted it, with scanners and sensors cribbed from all over The Lab to cover nearly every contingency. She was very interested in studying the makeup of this alleged post-life entity, but god only knew what sort of equipment would be necessary to get readings at all. For the moment, though, everything was pushed to the sides of the lab so as not to spook (ha-ha) the patient, so the middle of the room was occupied only by a very pedestrian-looking physician's exam bed, a table and a few chairs.

The receptionist looked mildly startled at the sight of Kimber, but had seen enough unusual things here that she wasn't nearly as shocked as the average civilian might have been. "Your name please, and who you're looking to see?" It took only a moment for her to bring up the necessary information on her sleek computer touchscreen. "Yes, Ghost Girl, Miss Americana is waiting for you in the biosciences lab on 14 East. Take this pass and-" She stopped for a moment in the act of holding out a plastic visitor pass to Kimber. "Ah, that is, if you can take it?" she hazarded delicately. "Or I can have you escorted, if that would be simpler."

"Oh, I hate when this happens," Fleur exclaimed, even as she brought up her hands in a defensive posture. She was especially glad now that Amaryllis was safely back on Sanctuary; though it was rare that a villain concentrated on the harmless-looking plant controller, it was much better not to be carrying vulnerable cargo! "Try not to hurt anyone too badly, this has got to be some kind of mind control! Maybe it really is something in the milk!" She waved her hands and suddenly, yards away, thick tree-trunk vines crashed their way out of the earth in front and to the sides of the speeding truck. Whiplike tendrils wrapped around it, and in seconds the truck was twenty feet in the air, spinning its wheels helplessly in the grip of the plants.

All right, going to use Move Object to try and snag the dairy truck before it has a chance to hurt anybody, including the driver. It's a terrible roll, but apparently it is not hard to hit a truck! She's going to hoist it in the air and let it spin its wheels.

Even as Citizen and Temperance checked the security on their sides of the building, a shadowy form swept overhead in complete silence, banking wide to circle around the rooftop a few times. Koshiro typically used white paper for his planes, the better to coordinate with his team, but for tonight's jaunt his paper airplane was dark gray and metallic, almost like an impossibly agile ultralight. It was more subtle, and it looked cooler, both of which were important considerations. As they flew, he sat crosslegged in the center crease of the plane, controlling it effortlessly as he looked back at his companion. "Looks like they haven't shown up yet," he told Mali with a grin. "We could always ditch them, see where the wind takes us." He was obviously kidding, but there was enough teasing dare in his tone that it was clear he was game if she was.

Fleur goes on 24

34! Eat it, ? !

Fleur frowned as she took in the whole scene, all the parts that didn't make sense. "That doesn't sound like sovereign citizen talk," she pointed out. "It sounds like he's afraid of you. Either way, if he has his children in there with him, you'd better not go in there with guns blazing!" she scolded the sheriff. "We need to know a lot more about what's going on here." A quick reach into her pouch netted a big handful of seeds, which she tossed in the direction of the cinderblock building. "We'll keep him under wraps," she said, loudly enough for her words to reach into the building as well. "He won't go anywhere, but you can't get at him, either. Everyone's going to be safe until we assess the situation!" Under wraps was the right term for it, too. Even as Fleur spoke, vines were crawling up over the building and encasing it in a living wall of green, while trees sprang up in a thick and leafy protective fence. In moments, the manager's office looked like something lost in the middle of the jungle for decades. It would be a lucky bullet that even found the building, much less made its way inside, and there was no way anybody was getting out anytime soon.