Electra

One local institution that hasn't gotten much use in the past few years is the Albright Institute, which is where adult superheroes used to go for powers testing and advice in how to use those powers. Albright is also a place for people to go if they think they might have metahuman potential. If you feel like your hero or other heroes needs support in learning how to use their powers, that might be a good place to expand upon again. There are also a number of places where different types of adult heroes congregate: The Freedom League, The Lab and the other superscience HQs, Parkhurst for mystics, etc. The problem with a publicly known training center for superheroes is twofold. First off, it would be a trouble magnet. Some supervillains merely want to carry out their evil schemes in peace, but a surprising number will gladly take an opportunity to try and take down some heroes, especially if they can take those heroes unawares. Knowing exactly where that center is gives villains a perfect target, and a metahuman population that is mostly trainee heroes and non-heroes is going to be tough to resist. The second problem is one of secret identity for the people who work/train there. Part of the appeal of Claremont for the kids who live there is that they can be normal people as well as superheroes. That wouldn't be the case at any public training center. Superheroes are good for ratings, but only if you can say something about them that nobody else can, like what their secret identity is. A place like that would quickly be crawling with tabloid journalists, reality show scouts, and simple curiosity seekers. On balance, it simply doesn't seem that a school like this would seem like a good idea to anyone thinking of building it in-universe. If there's sufficient interest from adult heroes, perhaps a place like Claremont could offer a couple of evening continuing education classes for heroes who need more training?

Wander Change of Shift (Meetup Vignette) A Few More Weary Days (NPC Spotlight Vignette) Gathering Like Clouds (6) Faded Giant (2) Double Date of Doom (7) Greater Love (1) Fleur de Joie Change of Shift (Meetup Vignette) World on a String (NPC Spotlight Vignette) Sanctuary: Panacea (13) Forge Works (3) Miss Americana Robot Rumpus (NPC Spotlight Vignette) Unfair Science Fair(3) Pepper's Ghost (3) Papercut Mile in My Shoes (5) In Another Life (6) All points to Wander for tabulation, then all points to Papercut

Character Meetup Wander/Fleur de Joie "Change of Shift" It was almost midnight on a Friday night, but for once Erin wasn't working security at HAX or out patrolling the city. Instead, she slouched on a massive overstuffed leather couch, watching Yo Gabba Gabba and wishing desperately that she could change the channel. Channel surfing was not an option, though, since to do so would require moving her arm four inches to pick up the remote. With a green-haired baby asleep in one arm and a sharp-toothed toddler using her opposite leg for a pillow, she wasn't about to stir even the slightest bit. She hadn't been able to feel her arm for an hour or more, but it seemed a small price to pay. Erin was just starting to nod off herself, strange visions of giant puppets unfolding behind her eyes, when soft footsteps brought her immediately alert. She relaxed when she caught a glimpse of green hair around the bulk of the television. Moments later, Stesha Lumins, better known in Freedom City as Fleur de Joie, walked in. She was dressed to the nines in a blue evening gown, and though she looked a little bit worn down around the edges, she smiled when she caught a glimpse of Erin and her charges. "Looks like you had a busy night," she whispered, slipping off her shoes to cross the room. Erin smiled wryly at that, grateful when Stesha scooped up the baby (who didn't so much as stir at being moved, after all,) then flexed her arm to try and get the blood flowing again. "They had fun," she murmured back. "I thought JJ would push her around, but she held her own pretty well. And there was no way she was going to go to bed while he was still awake. Since he stays up pretty late, that made things tough, but not too bad. Did you all have fun?" "Oh yes, it was wonderful," Stesha told her, keeping her voice low even as she sat down in the couch's matching easy chair to rest her feet. "It was great to get out to a party for a little while, and to spend some time with Jack and Taylor. Even if Derrick couldn't come, it was lovely. I really appreciate you watching Ammy too." "No big deal," Erin said with a shrug. "I was already watching JJ, so another kid didn't add all that much hassle. And she's cute."That was certainly true; Amaryllis Lumins took after the best of both her parents, and if it weren't for the green hair, she probably could've been on the cover of baby magazines. As for JJ, well, he was a handful, but Avenger had helped out with the Daisy situation, and even in a town as friendly as Freedom City, favors begat favors. "Where is Mr. Lum- um, Derrick?" she asked curiously. "It's like nobody's seen Dark Star around in ages." As soon as Erin said it, she realized it was the wrong question. Stesha's face fell a little, much as she tried to hide it behind a smile. "He's been working off-planet lately, sometimes out of this galaxy entirely. Wherever someone needs a hero, no matter how far away or how long it takes, he wants to be there. Freedom City has so many heroes protecting it, and Earth Prime as a whole has so many, it's easy to forget sometimes that there are places without a single hero to help them when things are desperate. I miss him, of course, but it's such important work." She pressed her lips against Amaryllis' soft hair for a moment, making the baby sigh in her sleep before nestling into her mother's shoulder. "But you know," she added, changing the subject as though it were trivial, "it's very nice to finally meet you. I've heard about you for ages, but our paths have never seemed to cross." "Yeah," Erin agreed. "Trevor said he went over to your place and helped fix your generator awhile back. He gave me one of your cookies." "He's a nice guy," Stesha confirmed with a smile. "Quiet, but he's obviously the dependable type. You know, after he did that for me, I put together a bouquet for him, for someone special on Valentines Day. I didn't realize until I talked to Taylor weeks later that it was for you." "I remember that," Erin nodded. "They were really pretty, and they lasted a long time. Trevor's not really a flowers kind of guy, so it was a nice surprise." "Sometimes you have to train a guy into being a flowers kind of guy," Stesha advised with a chuckle. "But just because a man isn't romantic doesn't mean he doesn't care." "Oh, he's romantic, he's way more romantic than I am," Erin told her. "He's the one who remembers important dates and plans trips and stuff, but he's more into useful gifts than flowers and stuff. And sometimes you just don't want useful." She paused, unsure why she was saying all this to someone who was basically a total stranger. Stesha was just the sort of person who was easy to talk to, especially in the middle of the night when she was tired "Useful has its place," Stesha agreed, seemingly unperturbed by the confidential turn in the conversation. "But it's nice to get something that you wouldn't buy for yourself. You might need to drop a few hints." "I'm not good with hints," Erin admitted with a frown. Stesha laughed. "There's always the direct approach, I suppose. I love Derrick with all my heart, but he is the most hopeless person when it comes to hints and innuendo and subtlety. When I want to make him aware of something, I usually have to beat him over the head with it." "Well, I could do that," Erin decided, cracking a small smile. "Way more my style." On the couch next to her, JJ began stirring, yawning and blinking sleepy eyes that had just the faintest hint of red. "Uh-oh, I think naptime might be over. Do you know where Jack and Taylor are?" "They should be here soon, Taylor wanted to run by the store for a few things first." Stesha grinned. "Apparently for some reason it's less hassle to shop in formal eveningwear in the middle of the night than to take JJ out and try to sit him in a cart for half an hour." "Mm, can't imagine why..." Erin shifted quickly on the couch when JJ began sniffing her leg. "Hey, none of that now," she reminded him sternly. "No biting, even if you could break the skin." JJ sniveled, giving her a pathetic look that showed his tiny fangs. "If you need to go home, I can hold the fort here until they get back," Stesha offered, moving over to the couch and sitting down. JJ, who obviously knew Stesha as well as he knew Erin, snuggled up against her but made no attempt to bite. "JJ and I are good buddies. And hey, our favorite show is on!" She gestured to the TV where DJ Lance Rock was once again opening his magic boombox. "Well, if you really want to..." The overly responsible part of Erin wanted to stay till the bitter end, however late the Farettis wound up stay out. That part, however, was quickly overwhelmed by the part that wanted to go home and not watch any more kid shows for awhile. "Tell them I'll give them a call tomorrow, could you? And it was nice to meet you. Thanks." "My pleasure," Stesha told her. "And thank you again for watching Ammy. I'm sure I'll see you around. Freedom City really is just a small town in some ways." As Erin left, Stesha settled in on the couch with JJ on her lap, comfortable with the children even as she wished she weren't quite so alone tonight. Erin was lucky, she thought, to have someone she was eager to go home to.

Fleur wrinkled her nose at the smell of the gas, but seemed otherwise unaffected by the toxic blast. After checking to make sure her comrades were also doing all right, she turned her attention on the ship itself. There was still no sign of life from within, but it was obviously a viable threat, even after all these years. "I don't have any Grue," she told GK, "but that sounded like some kind of alert or alarm. What else usually happens when you come visit the Captain?" she asked Scraps. "Is there any more gas, or lights, or other things you typically see?" She took a few more tentative steps as the gas cleared.

With the robot's chassis popped open, Miss A took a set of slim tools from her purse and began poking around inside, carefully inspecting the inner workings of the sophisticated gynoid. "This is strange," she said aloud for the benefit of the others. "The technology here is close to cutting edge, with processors and engineering that's not more than a couple of years old, at most. But the parts themselves are much older. This is classic Foundry tech, and probably at least forty years old. It looks almost as though someone took several old Foundry robots and stripped them down, then reassembled the parts with some modern chips and megaprocessors to create a brand new robot of a heroine no one has seen in decades." She sat back on her heels and shook her head. "It doesn't make sense to me," she admitted. "But as far as I know, even the Foundry doesn't keep hold of its outdated tech for this long. There's a STAR Squad warehouse facility in the Fens that has, or had, a number of deactivated Foundry robots. I wonder if they're still there."

Fleur stepped carefully off the platform, using vines and runners to shore up a path for everyone towards the ship. "It doesn't look as Victory described, he may have found a different one," she mused aloud. Under ordinary circumstances, she might have interacted with the local plant life to get an idea of whether anyone had come this way recently, or whether anyone lived here, but there were simply no plants anywhere besides what she brought along. The air was acrid in her lungs, bitter with the taste of contaminated sea breeze and lingering pollution. "Hello?" she called. "Is anyone there? We don't want to hurt you, we'd like to help if we can. We just have a few questions!"

"Pretty," Wander complimented Midnight with a dry smile, "and effective too. Let's see if it can take a punch." Pushing off from the side of the ship, she aimed herself at the center mass of the thing, using her suit thrusters to avoid the burning tendrils. As she floated, she drew back her bat, holding it in both hands as she smashed the center mass like she was aiming for the fences. The eerily silent impact sent her tumbling away in the other direction before she could see exactly what she'd done, but it seemed certain that the colorful alien thing was not having a very good visit to Earth. She tucked her arms and legs in to help control her roll, and was grateful not to be prone to motion sickness.

Wander is Slowed, so she is at -1 to attack and cannot make a move action and a standard action both. Her attack is also at -1. Ick! Luckily, her good buddy Sage will be setting up for her, so the monster will be considerably easier to hit. Full power attack against the monster, Slowed 1d20+4=21 All right! That's DC 30 toughness, or rather, +2 to the overall damage.

"Earth Prime?" Koshiro repeated. "I think I've heard of that place in classes before. The Western capitalist warmongers used nuclear weapons on civilian populations to irradiate the country and subjugate the people. I don't understand, though," he told his counterpart. "If the Allied Forces won, how are you even alive? Even the Japanese victory barely saved my grandmother from the death camps." "They never became death camps here, not like what the Nazis used," Koshiro replied. "I guess maybe because the Japanese never landed on the continent, and never really made a strong showing for an invasion, it was enough to keep us locked up." He shrugged uncomfortably. "They took everything my family had, plus years of their lives, but they all survived." "Survived as part of a conquered slave nation," Koshiro pointed out spitefully. "Gave up is more like it-" "Okay, first off," Koshiro interrupted, "that's total BS, because we weren't part of that nation to start with. My family was American citizens and proud to be that way, it was America that abandoned us. It's also total BS because Japan is doing pretty damn well now, and is a strong ally to the US. But most importantly, is this really something vital to argue about right now?" The other Koshiro looked more than ready to argue, but like his counterpart had earlier, he throttled back. "Later, then. We need vacuum tubes to fix our device. The computer program can fix the machine, if we get the right parts. Fighting here and now won't do anybody any good, but it's basically inevitable with the reichheads leading my team, though I don't know about yours. The faster we're gone, the better. After a moment's consideration, Koshiro nodded. "I think I can help you," he said. "It's old tech here, but there's antique stores all over, some pretty close by. I just have one more question. What are you doing in Freedom City, if Japan controls the West?" That got a humorless smile from Koshiro. "Officially, a young officer exchange program. Unofficially, to see how bad the Nazis are getting their asses kicked by the resistance. He caught the other Koshiro's raised brow and shrugged. "Too early to say. I have to get back before I can make any findings, much less report them." "Yeah, all right," Koshiro agreed. "We might have to break in if nothing's open at this hour, but I've got some money to leave. Let's go before I have to listen to the moral panic about it." "One second." Koshiro pressed a button on his communicator to summon the team's electronic servitor. "I don't know exactly what we need, but Tulink does. It won't tell anybody."

Fleur climbed back onto the platform, taking her seat with great unconcern in order to demonstrate that it was all perfectly safe. "I wonder if he means the crashed Grue vessel," she commented. "That's the only one I can think of right off, but Lord knows there must be others in this place. Victory mentioned seeing it when he was overflying the ruins for me. That was nearly two years ago, though, and he didn't mention seeing anyone alive around there." She frowned at the second mention of the men in black, wondering exactly how many creatures might be living on Sanctuary with her all blissfully unawares.

Wander watched approvingly as Cobalt Templar gave the monster a solid, brain-rattling hit with his giant fist, and even smiled as Midnight took out the Madrigal Martinet with grace, efficiency, and style. It looked as though the fight was going to be over quickly. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye she saw Nightmare Doom moving, heard her speak. It was obvious that Corbin was her target, and for a moment Erin saw him now as he had been, new and barely tested, pulled into a situation way over his head by his own heroic nature. With barely a thought, Wander shoved the end of her bat between two scales, using it to vault across the giant head and over Cobalt Templar, right into the path of the black and red energy blast. The blast took her full in the chest and for a moment she was free-falling, not even trying to catch herself as her entire body seemed to freeze, inside and out. Even her heart and lungs went still, creating a panicky sense of pressure and suffocation that almost overwhelmed the sensation of falling. Finally, after what was only a couple of seconds but seemed like an hour, she dragged in a breath and cleared the spots from in front of her eyes. She got her legs underneath her at the last second, managing a safe, if hard, fall to her knees that had her leaning heavily on her bat to stand up again.

Darned Interpose. Wander fails by 5

"We don't want to hurt anyone, Scraps," Fleur assured him. "Not you, not the captain or his daughter. If you like living here and you're happy here, we don't want to interfere with that. But my greens are sick, and without our greens, my friends and I can't live here, nor can the bees, or the people who have come to live with us in the west. And if the greens stay sick, I worry that my little daughter could get sick as well. So we very much need to speak to anyone who might know about how the world used to be, or about things that might have changed recently. If you could take us to the Captain, perhaps we could speak to him. And if his daughter needs some greens, I could give some to her," she added winningly.

The two Koshiros met up in the dilapidated hallway, in a corner that was screened from the larger room and so dark they could barely see each other from a foot apart. They were strangers, but at the same time they were family, more or less, and there was an instinctive level of trust there. Koshiro trusted himself first and best, and that probably had something to do with it as well. They spoke in whispers, in rapid-fire Japanese. "Who are you guys? the Koshiro in the hoodie with the cranes asked with some consternation. "Where did you come from? How did you get here?" "My name is Agent Koshiro Watanabe- the uniformed Koshiro with the falcons began, with just a trace of humor, only to be cut off. "Wait a second, Watanabe? What happened to Grandpa James?" Koshiro blurted. Koshiro shrugged impatiently. "A mistake, an indiscretion. Grandmother was ostracized enough for that without us all having to carry the name. Is this really vital right now?" "You're right, keep going," the other replied, though he looked as though he had a bad taste in his mouth. "I'm from the North American Co-Prosperity Sphere, but I'm working with them," he jerked his head in the direction of the others, "just for this mission. No matter what the big one says, we're here by accident. We were supposed to be meeting an informant, but he showed up with that strange machine and activated it. It killed him in the transit, and that dog monster appeared. We need to repair the machine to go back where we came from. Now where are we? And who are all of you?" Koshiro mouthed the words "North American Co-Prosperity Sphere again, his mind racing at the implications. "Are you saying you guys conquered the United States?" "The West Coast, and parts of Canada," Koshiro confirmed impatiently. "Decades ago, at the end of the Greater East Asian War." "World War II," Koshiro translated automatically. "Japan won half the country in World War II and..." His eyes widened as the pieces fit into place. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you from Erde? Are those guys Nazis?" he asked incredulously. "American Reich, yes, Koshiro confirmed impatiently. "But you still haven't answered my question. What world is this? Who are you allied to here?" "You're on Earth Prime," Koshiro told him. "The Axis lost the second World War here, and there's no more Nazis, no more Imperial Japan. We're superheroes, and we're, um, patrolling for crime, more or less." Trying to explain the tangled path that had led all of them to the warehouse seemed too complicated. As one, the two Koshiros turned to look at the standoff outside, wondering what exactly to do about this mess.

Despite the chaotic visual field of the rubble, all three riders aboard the stone platform were experienced heroes. Stesha spotted the boy at about the same time as the others did, just as they touched down on the top layer of rubble. Although she had no idea how anyone could be alive in a terrible place like this, where the air reeked of bad water and rot, someone obviously was, and that needed to be addressed first thing. She took a few tentative steps towards him, vines snaking out a few feet ahead of her to stabilize the shifting debris into a solid path. Pushing her hood back, she gave the stranger a nonthreatening smile. "Hello," she called out. "We're not here to hurt you. My name is Fleur, and this is Gabe and GK. Who are you?"

Fleur notices the boy using Skill Mastery

"I suppose a trip to Lonely Point is the logical next step," Stesha murmured, sounding a bit uncertain. "The atmosphere is unpleasant, but it shouldn't be dangerous as long as we don't spend much time there. But I admit I don't know much about what conditions are like out that far. I've never really explored any of the ruins myself. When I first began working on the project, I was pregnant with Ammy and didn't want to risk the contamination. Then later... I guess I just didn't go. It makes me sad," she admitted. "To look at it and remember that everything we're building here is because all those people died. But we have to see if there's anything there that will help us." She looked over to Tarrant. "I'm going to need a ride to get out there. Anything green and growing got blasted off the planet out there and never came back, so I have no avenue to teleport."

As loathe as Erin was to leave the vicinity of Midnight's fight to the death, she couldn't exactly leave the others to fight the giant mutant creature without her. She was already in motion by the time Sage dashed up the creature's back, distracting and distressing it to give the others a better shot. Wander wasn't one to let an opportunity like that pass her by. Leaping into the air, she landed on the monster's head and delivered a blow right where she thought its ear would be, but the thing shook it off as though she were nothing more than a fly. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed her bat in both hands and jabbed it straight into the scaly beast's eye,missing the eyeball but stabbing into the sinus cavity in a way it obviously found very disturbing. As it roared and shook its massive head, she yanked back the bat and held it ready for the next attack. "It's tough!" she called to the others. "Look for weak spots or attacks that aren't going to just hit its scales!"

Okay, Wander's got +5 to her defense and +5 to all her rolls from being Inspired, and a flat-footed opponent with +0 defense. Under the circumstances, she's going to try a stunning attack with her bat, in the hope of keeping the Kaiju from attacking anyone while they all close in and worry it to death. Move Action: Get into melee range with the monster using running and leaping Standard Action: Full Power Attack, inspired, stunning attack, with bat: 1d20+10=22 All right, that's a DC 25 fortitude save from the monster, which apparently he passes. Crap Spending HP to surge for another shot at him. Same attack. This one's a 28, and also a critical hit, thanks to her Improved Crit 2. DC 30 fortitude save this time.

NPC Spotlight Amaryllis Lumins "World on a String" Well it's early in the morning, full belly, clean bum! I got my cup of Cheerios in case I want some. Jacket, hat, diaper bag, carried out the door, And I know where we're going cause we've been there before. There's a warm breeze blowing and it tickles my hair And the sun shines down, everybody's there, Every day is such a good day... -Jonathan Coulton, “Strollertown†The morning sunlight filtered into the nursery, green and orange and pink through the walls of leaves and flowers, bouncing off the window suncatcher and sending rainbows flickering over the crib's white railings. Amaryllis woke when they hit her face, rolling and stretching before clambering to her shaky feet and hanging onto the bars for a look around. No Mama in the room, which was definitely a problem she'd need to handle soon. For now, she was content to put a few new tiny teethmarks into the railing, then drop down on her bottom on the mattress. The lights and music on her aquarium toy kept her busy for a few minutes, but eventually her own thumb was not enough sustenance to soothe her growling stomach, nor her fuzzy blue bear sufficient company. “Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!†she yelled, standing and shaking the bars like she was about to stage a prison riot. “Maaaaamaaaa!†It didn't take long for Mama to get the message and walk in, looking silly with her hair every which way and wearing one of Daddy's shirts. Ammy didn't remember much about Daddy, but she had been told about his clothes. Mama called her babydoll and said she was up very early, but Ammy was not impressed. If the sun was up, it was early enough to be awake and playing and eating! She suffered herself to be diapered and changed out of her pajamas and into a butter-yellow sundress, but complained bitterly when Mama brushed her wispy green hair and clipped a yellow ribbon into it. Someday, when she was big, she was never, ever going to brush her hair. With one hand wrapped firmly around Mama's fingers, she walked into the living room on her own two feet, bear in tow. Mama put her into her high chair and gave her a pink sippy cup, which Ammy promptly relocated to the floor. She was not interested in the sippy cup when what she really wanted was her morning bottle. There was a brief battle of wills then, with Mama replacing the cup as quickly as Ammy could push it off, and that was pretty funny. She started to laugh, and Mama finally gave in and gave her the bottle. Well-pleased, Ammy magnanimously sat in her chair long enough for Mama to put clothes on, too. After that was mushy oatmeal with fruit, chased with a wet washcloth, and then Outside! Outside was always the very best part of the day. The moment they stepped outside, Ammy's hair turned greener and she began to squirm to get down. Before she could go anywhere, though, Mama used her magic and took them to see the bees. The bee meadow was busy this morning, with all kinds of big huge bees flying around and visiting the flowers. Mama talked to some of the big bees, waving her arms and yelling up to them so they could hear her. Ammy, released to her own devices, toddled through the grass and chased the smallest baby bees, each one about the size of a large dog, as they buzzed tantalizingly just out of reach. It was fun! Sometimes they would turn too fast, unsteady on their new wings, and she'd crash right into them, and they'd all fall into the grass in a pile until Mama or one of the big bees lifted them up and sorted them out. That was especially fun. She was sad when it was time to go, chanting “Bee-bee-bee-bee†as Mama whisked them away again. They went to the village next, where all the grownups were busy in their garden, taking fruits and vegetables and putting them in baskets. Amaryllis helped too, taking berries from a bush and putting them into her mouth, and that was very delicious. When Mama saw what she'd done to the front of her dress, she sent Ammy to play with the other children. That was fun because they shared their interesting toys with her and showed her how to put scribbles on the concrete pad outside the cookhouse with colored chalk. Someone got out the hose to try and wash away the drawings, but that just made the chalk wet and painty. By the time Mama came to get her, Ammy was pink and blue and green all over, just like the rainbows in her crib! They went home then, and Ammy got to take a bath and wear overalls with a duck on the front instead of a dress. At lunchtime, Mama packed the basket and they went to see Tarrant, who lived in a house in the sky. Ammy liked to stand on the edge, holding Mama's hand, and look down at the grass that was far away. They ate lunch with him while Mama talked with him about things and Ammy picked up Cheerios one at a time with pincered fingers. When she got bored and restless, Tarrant slid her chair all over the room and spun it in circles until she squealed with laughter and forgot about being bored. When lunch was done, she fell asleep in a little rock grotto lined with moss, one thumb firmly in her mouth. When Ammy woke up, she was outside again, her head bouncing gently against Mama's shoulder as they walked through the meadow outside the big church. Mama was talking with the men who lived there, making the grass grow as she walked through it, different kinds in different colors of green with every few steps. That was pretty interesting, but not nearly as interesting as what Ammy saw when she lifted her head. “Tohw!†she shouted, pointing excitedly and squirming to get down. “Tohw-tohw-towh!†As soon as Mama let her, she was down on the ground, running and crawling to get close to the big black-and-white spotted creatures who had captured her attention. The cows watched her placidly, chewing and chewing while they let her pat their soft noses and bristly legs. One of the men showed her how milk came out of a bag on the cow, but Mama would not let her touch and try for herself. That was annoying, but she did like getting a glass of milk. After they talked with the cows, Mama took Ammy to the grocery store, which was very far away from all the other places they had gone to. Everything around the grocery store felt so very different, with less plants and way more noise and smoke and people. It made her have to fuss some, but a nice lady with an apron gave her a frosted sugar cookie, and that helped. The lady said something about her hair and Mama laughed, but Ammy was too busy to pay attention to that. They filled up their cart with groceries, and then they went in the line and Mama gave a man a plastic card and he gave Ammy two smiley-face stickers. When all of the day's errands were taken care of, Mama and Ammy went home to their leaf house once again, to put away the groceries and play and relax. After dinner, Ammy was starting to feel tired when the phone rang. Mama answered it, and she was very excited because it was Daddy. She gave Ammy the phone, and Ammy listened for a moment to the semi-familiar voice on the other end, then gave the phone back and wandered away. Phones were fun, but only up to a point. As the sun went down and the bugs started singing, Mama put Ammy into her pajamas and laid her down in the crib with a kiss. It had been a very adventuresome day!

"I can put you in touch from here," Stesha offered. "I can verify that the air in here is clear of prions, then open a tiny portal enough to allow cell phone service. We can't keep it open very long, but it should be enough to help us get information." She shuddered once, then scratched her head as best she could with the many braids. "The quicker we get this wrapped up, the better. Everything feels off, just a little bit, it's like wearing a really scratchy shirt that you can't take off." Spreading her hands, Stesha commanded the plants that made up her house to go to work clearing the air. They obeyed her command, the combined effects of thousands of waving leaves and open transpiration pores creating a sudden strong breeze through the room. "Clean for now," she told them, then touched her finger to a flower in a vase on the table. Its center irised open, just wide enough that they could see a bit of the empty living room at Stesha's old apartment through it.

Across the divide of the room, the two Koshiros studied each other, each of them standing a bit apart from their respective teams, each outside the discussion. The one wearing the uniform jacket jerked his head infinitesimally towards the broken down hallway that led to the warehouse offices, where they'd be invisible to the others. The Koshiro in the hoodie nodded just as fractionally, glancing towards his own team. By the time he looked back, his double was gone, melted into the shadows of the abandoned warehouse. Just before Papercut moved to join his doppelganger, he flicked a crane with his fingers, sending it bouncing gently off Corbin's elbow. A glance in the direction the crane came from would let the ring-bearing hero catch his teammates eye for just a moment before he, too, took to the shadows.

The Koshiros are being sneaky! Their stealth check is a 29.

"Well, the theory Anne gave me," Stesha began, blowing on her tea, "was that it was always around in minute quantity, but dormant until there was a biomass available in which it could multiply. So while the planet was blasted and dead, there was no way for it to propagate itself and we didn't see it, but now that there's a substantial regional ecology, it's back and growing again. I don't think it's a bad theory, but I can sense it in the low parts-per-billion range right now, so it seems as though if it had been laying around this long, I would have noticed it before. We could've disturbed something in the construction we've been doing." She took a sip of her tea and looked at them. "The other possibility is that someone or something is deliberately trying to sabotage our project. We already know that at one time the Grue had an interest in this Earth, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for them to be so subtle in this case. Or there could be another survivor or group of survivors who we haven't found and who don't want us here. All I know for sure is that the strongest concentration of prions is in the direction of the Freedom City ruins. Can either of you get in touch with anyone on Prime who could tell us where biological weapons or records of them might have been stored eighty years ago?"

Miss Americana nodded approvingly at Sharl's efficient technique, but frowned as the rest of the drones regrouped to attack. Cannonade managed to recover from the shot fired at him, but he'd been hurt already and didn't look like he was up to take much more. The hero she didn't know was holding his own against the drone that shot at him, and as for the other one... She let out a noise that was very like a growl as the last drone's shot bounced off her chest, charring a large patch of fabric on her once-colorful blouse. "That was Giambattista Valli!" she snapped at the drone, firing a very irritated laser blast that sent the wretched thing reeling. Despite her annoyance at losing a favored wardrobe piece, Miss A still had bigger fish to fry. Dragging Chimera along by the arm like a giant broken doll, she flew over to where Cannonade faced off with his drone opponent. "They could use some help by the exit," she told the other hero, "it's vital to prevent a civilian logjam or someone could get trampled." A true fact, and one that would allow for an honorable retreat if he needed it.