Electra

"Who are you?" Fleur called out, even as she dug in her pouch for another handful of seeds. "What's the threat you're talking about? We're charged with protecting this world from all different kinds of threats. We might be able to help you, but we can't allow you to keep using innocent civilians. Let them go and I'm sure we can find a way to help you contain... the Exo-Threat," she finished, slightly tentative on the unfamiliar phrase. To the others, she whispered, "I might be able to get the workers out, but it would be one at a time, and I don't know what it would do to them if they're under some sort of magical possession. It's very risky!"

"The pilot shoudn't need to land at all," Wander pointed out, automatically running her fingers over her sheathed bat as she looked to the window. "We may as well get as close as we can, maybe even cut it off. We don't want to be stuck chasing it through this kind of terrain. She smiled a little ruefully when she saw Edge's choice of weapon, then took it from Cannonade to free him up to carry the trap. Shouldering it like a bulky rifle, she began to make her way to the back of the plane. "You got a parachute on you," she asked Midnight offhandedly, "or do you want a ride to the ground?"

Koshiro was a bit slow to take his outer gear off after the race through the cold, his cheeks and nose still red from the wind even after he'd shed his school-issue coat and changed from boots back into sneakers. Once he could feel his fingers and toes again, though, the undeniable and huge appeal of being in a place where no one got to go, a place that had been closed off and perfectly preserved for decades, easily overcame any lingering discomfort or guilt. That could wait for the plane ride back. "Can we go anywhere we want?" he asked Harcourt. The lobby was interesting enough, but it was obviously for public viewing and that wasn't really what he was interested in. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his roommate start to change color. "You okay, man?"

"It's nice to meet you, Weaver," Fleur said, her smile genuine even if she seemed a bit distracted by the circumstances. "That business with covering her eyes was excellent work. I'm Fleur de Joie." She turned to Carlton, her brow creasing with puzzlement. "You and your wife are foster parents?" she asked him. "I was under the impression that the child had been adopted." That could simply have been a miscommunication, she knew, especially in the heat of the moment. "Do you have any idea how Madame Zero would've known where to find you?"

"It's probably a good idea to call," Wander murmured in agreement. "This is bigger than we can deal with, and I'm sure other agencies are going to want to talk to her. AEGIS is as good a place as any to start." She turned back to the imprisoned Nazi. "Even in prison," she said flatly, "you'll be better off here than you would be back on Erde. Cooperate with the authorities, prove you're remorseful for the things you did, and maybe you'll even get out of prison one day." Even with the murder charge hanging over her, Ratner had a pretty good case for having committed crimes against her will. Erin wasn't sure how she felt about that, but it was better than sending anyone, even a criminal, back to certain death in another universe. She looked over to Midnight. "We probably ought to clue in the police to what really happened at the concert, too. Somebody will need to be on top of spinning it so all the Neo-Nazis don't go even crazier."

"Why don't we just set the whole thing on fire?" Koshiro suggested, his eyes a little too wide as he looked around. All these trees so close together and looming down was enough to make him nervous even before you tossed in the fact that some of them were alive and evil and trying to kill them. "Collins obviously isn't anything close to human, so maybe those other cultists aren't either. We take out the evil trees, stop the ritual, and then Kimber can freeze everything solid, including the bad guys if they're trying to ooze away. We don't want to get close to those things."

Miss Americana studied him for a moment, her eyes cool and assessing. She knew quite a bit about New Freedom simply as a matter of curiosity, and had delved even further once she'd taken the helm of the world's foremost institution for the study of superpowers. If Roosevelt was defying the commands of Leah Harper and the powers behind her, he could be taking a grave risk indeed. She tapped a panel recessed discreetly into her desk. "Maurita," she said mildly, "institute yellow protocol, raise secondary security screen, and delete all surveillance records for the past twenty minutes. Hold my calls." The afternoon light streaming in the windows dulled slightly, as though suddenly passing through a much thicker window. She glanced toward Sharl's console, giving him the infinitesimal nod that indicated he could stay. Folding her perfectly-manicured hands on the desk, Miss A returned her full attention to the visitor. "I assure you," she told him calmly, "I understand your desire for security. What is the problem you need help with?"

I'm going to be gone for the next couple of days. Sorry for the inconvenience in the threads I'm in, feel free to assume my characters are keeping quiet and to the background as necessary.

"If there's a trail, we can follow it," Wander predicted, looking out the window two rows down from Edge. In contrast to the reality warper's dour mood, she was looking more relaxed than she had been for quite awhile, maybe since summer or even before. The holidays with their load of emotional freight were over, and she and Trevor were pretty okay again, and things were looking up. She'd even consented to let Frank muscle her into a shimmering silver dress so she could ride around town in a limousine and attend several immensely fashionable parties with Trevor. She wasn't even going to pretend that had been any hardship. The Hunter scion, for all he preferred masks and uniforms, looked very, very good in a tuxedo. The sunglasses he wore for his unspecified "eye condition" did make him look a bit like a spy or a secret service agent, but that wasn't too bad either. And when they'd both relaxed enough to take a few fast swings around the dance floor at a party thrown by one of Travis' friends, she'd almost forgotten it was the holidays at all. Now, three days later, she was rested and alert, ready to get back to hero work. She still hadn't clued Mark in to her reduced powers, but figured the occasion would arise eventually. She did worry a little bit about leaving HAX for a few days with the security still so new, but Harrier- no, Steve Murdock, she corrected herself in her head, would do a fine job looking after things for a couple of days. Last time Cannonade had called them for a job, it had blown open an interdimensional espionage plot. It seemed wise to listen when he'd called about this one. "Do we know anything about what happened to the civilians last time something like this was recorded?"

Koshiro let out a mouth-soaper of an exclamation as the thing dissolved, running towards the sorry, soggy mess that had moments ago been his best weapon. Many of his origami birds still flew, though some of them with obvious damage that had them dipping and looping crazily, but dozens of the little sculptures had been on the ground or in the path of the pouring milk and were now soaked and smashed to oblivion. He gathered up the ones he could, straightening crimped wings and crooked beaks as best he could, then took off after the others, the remainder of the flock trailing behind him in a ragged train. "What are we supposed to do when we find her?" he demanded. "What if she's got more of these things? She'll kick our asses!"

"I... I'm not totally sure," Fleur admitted, her eyes opening but remaining unfocused as she continued to watch through the plants. "Six maintenance workers, looking like they've been mind-controlled or hypnotized, but at least they're alive. They're spread evenly around the chamber, and in the middle, on the floor, is a sort of low platform that might be impervium. It's got..." She blinked, tried to verbalize it. "It's grooved almost like an old record, and the air is full of static. I don't think we should go in there if we can help it. Whatever is controlling those workers might grab hold of us as well." She blinked again and seemed to return her attention to the hall where they were, looking at each of the others in turn. "I can send vines in to try and get the men out, but my ability to see and grab at the same time is pretty dodgy. I don't have any idea what to do about the platform."

"Honestly, I'm glad they avoid the grottos," Fleur opined, picking her way very carefully after her fellow heroes. After a moment's thought, she took off her cloak and tucked it into a convenient flower, lest it snag on something or drag in any unpleasant puddles. "At least the sewers are already nasty, so they're unlikely to make things much worse. I like my grottos to stay picturesque." She stepped up to join the others, the faint floral smell that was her trademark all but buried under the much less pleasant floral scents. "I might be able to get a look ahead of us," she offered, opening her hand to cast a few seeds into the muck. Thin green vines sprang up, running along the tunnel wall almost invisibly in the muck and dimness. "It could be a trap." She closed her eyes as the vines reached the corner and turned towards the light, sending her own senses to see what lay ahead of them.

"Don't get one of those little purse dogs," Koshiro spoke up, distracted for a moment from his brooding. "Those things don't do anything but yap and crap. You want a dog, get a German Shepherd or something. They're smart and badass. If you're going to put in all the work to have a dog, you should have a useful one, not a fluffy little turd machine." He finished the last few folds on his latest origami creation and released it, whereupon it scuttled into the aisle on needlepoint legs and exploded into a shower of confetti. This wasn't apparently the effect Koshiro was looking for, as he immediately picked up another piece of paper and started again, a look of subdued frustration on his face.

Normally, Koshiro would've felt excited about going to the Arctic, he was sure. Just leaving the country was a big deal, after all, not to mention one of the few plane rides he'd taken. But after spending Christmas with his family in Detroit, it was hard to get too worked up about anything. The work study job he'd picked up on campus had let him take some presents home, but that wasn't much when he saw how his mom and grandma were struggling just to make ends meet for them and for the girls. He should be there right now, finding out some way to use his powers to make money and contribute something to the family, not flying around with a bunch of superheroes and exploring the secret world of the Centurion. Perversely, Koshiro sometimes wished he was back in juvie so he didn't feel so damned guilty all the time. After a few hours on the plane, with the novelty of the ride completely worn thin and guilt nagging at him, the last thing he wanted to do was chat with his teammates, or get run through by the energetic post-life entity rocketing up and down the aisle. Putting his back to the wall of the cabin, he got out a pack of cheap origami paper he'd lifted from the art classroom and started practicing new folds. If he could fold a space heater, that might come in handy up here.

Wander The Masks We Wear "Don't Judge a Book" Some people said it was weird to have Christmas Eve without snow, especially in Freedom City where at least an iconic dusting of white was expected by mid-December. But for someone who'd spent their formative years in the Pacific Northwest, the chilly fog that portended rain was far more familiar as a holiday harbinger. Even so, Wander was grateful for the coat and mask she wore as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop down Kanigher Street, making her way south through Parkside. It was predictably quiet tonight, with most stores shut down for the evening and the people of Freedom City tucked up with their families in the lights-and-tinsel bedecked houses that surrounded her. She paused for a moment, turning to look at a white two-story house with a basketball hoop in the driveway and strings of lights hanging from the eaves. Roger and Clarissa had already hung their lights when Erin had visited, she remembered. But they wouldn't be home tonight. Everyone would be at Grandma and Grandpa's house, eating dinner and opening presents. Gathering the black leather coat a little closer around her, Erin shoved her hands in the pockets before moving on, her leaping balance no more impeded than if she'd been stepping over cracks in a sidewalk. She may have acquired the coat under dubious circumstances, simply by failing to return it to Trevor enough times that he'd started wearing a different one, but tonight she was glad that she had. He understood that she wasn't really at her sociable best at this time of year, but it was nice to have something of his with her even now. It wasn't really part of her uniform, but she'd found herself slipping it on when she went out more and more often lately. Barely two blocks from the house she'd stopped to look at, a strange movement caught her eye. Without a blink, Wander detoured from her route, landing on a housetop lightly as a magical reindeer. It wasn't very heroic to cause leaks in somebody's roof. She scrambled down the pitch and peered over the gutters, studying the neighbor's backyard. Just as she'd suspected, someone was breaking in! It seemed like madness, with the house lit up and obviously full of people, but he obviously wasn't part of the party inside. The intruder, dressed all in black, tried the back door and found it locked before sneaking over to a nearby window and jimmying it open. He was just about to hoist himself up when, with a surprised yelp, he found himself hoisted by the collar and facing an annoyed young woman in a black domino mask. "Really?" she demanded. "And on Christmas?" "Aw, come on!" the would-be intruder whined. "I live here, honest. I was just trying to, you know, surprise everyone. I wasn't doing anything wrong!" "Yeah, breaking into your own house, wearing all black, you're totally not up to anything," Wander scoffed. "Hey, you're wearing all black," he pointed out, and got a little shake for his troubles. The careless strength with which he was being handled seemed to make silence the better part of valor. "Anyway, if you really live here, we'll just take you around front and let you say hi to all your friends and family," Wander continued sardonically, effortlessly hoisting the crook and bounding to the front porch of the house. She rang the doorbell and stepped to one side, hoping to see the story the guy came up with before she ran him in. The door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman in a Christmas sweater, holding a glass of eggnog and looking a bit surprised to be called upon at this hour. Surprise turned to shock as she saw who was at her door, and she nearly dropped the glass before she thought to set it down. "Eric! Oh my god! You said you weren't going to make it home this year! Bob! Bob!" she called to someone inside the house. "I got a plane ticket at the last minute," Eric said sheepishly, and was nearly bowled over as the door opened and the woman rushed out, crying. "I was going to surprise you, but I got sidetracked..." He looked over just in time to see a dark form disappearing over the rooftops. "Never mind." He chuckled. "Merry Christmas, Mom." Not far away, Wander continued her trip, her red face partially hidden by the mask. "The one time someone's actually telling the truth with that story..." she muttered aloud. That had been embarrassing, but at least she hadn't punched the guy or anything. He and his family would have their happy Christmas together, and she had an appointment to keep herself. Making her way southward, she crossed the Wallace Expressway and made her way down to the rundown neighborhoods shared between Greenbank and the Fens. She'd come this way last year as well, but this time she moved with the speed of purpose, knowing where she was going. Maybe crime was taking a holiday tonight, but hunger didn't, and loneliness didn't, and the need for people to be together and take care of each other. Erin halted on the roof of the building opposite the Rhodes Foundation Center. The holiday lights twinkled brightly there, too, and the door was open, inviting people to come in and have a hot meal. She removed her mask and shoved it into her coat pocket, then unsealed the coat to reveal a bright red and green sweater with reindeer on it. As she dropped to the ground, she affixed a volunteer badge to her coat and walked inside. Maybe a lot had gone wrong this year, but a lot had gone right as well. She had someplace to go on Christmas, and that was a pretty good start.

"Just one second." Erin set Charlie down on the nearest dining room chair, then turned her body towards Trevor's and hugged him hard. The embrace was tight, but not painfully so, and even though part of it was simply Erin's self-control, it felt plain that there was less overall power in her arms anymore. There was still plenty enough to be mindful of, though. She didn't say anything, just held on for a long time, her cheek against his jaw and her hair tickling his nose, before taking a shaky breath and releasing him. It wasn't the same, not quite what she was aching for after watching Roger and Clarissa with Erin Prime, but it was good to remember that she still had someone who would hug her and mean it. "Okay, better now," she decided, picking up the cat once more. "Let's go."

"It's still not down!" Koshiro yelled, his voice cracking from excitement and nerves. "Come on, what the hell, it's just a tree!" That obviously wasn't the case, since it had eyes and moving limbs, but it still seemed to have taken a beating that would've put even really persistent arboreal foes in their place. He waved his arms in the air then circled them sharply, an action echoed in macrocosm by the flock of now sap-sticky origami cranes. Leaving just enough at the trunk to continue pecking at the wooden eyes, the birds circled wide around the tree and then dove in fearlessly with a sound like the rustle of leaves. En masse, they collided with the bark and bounced away, fluttering through the air on battered wings or collapsing to the ground as scraps of crumpled paper.

About the time Trevor finished silencing the offending clock, Erin stepped out of her bedroom with Charlie tucked in the crook of her arm. The little cat looked around suspiciously for Mark before relaxing, far more comfortable with Trevor as a guest than with the unpredictable reality controller. Erin had taken the time to pull herself together, inside and out, and was back in her civilian clothes and looking less shaken. She looked around as well, letting out a breath of relief when she saw that Mark's farewell had been genuine. She liked Mark, really, but sometimes enough was enough. Maybe she owed him for indirectly making her come clean with Trevor, but surely it could've happened without the awkward family reunion. If you could call it that, when your so-called family treated you like a stranger and didn't so much as dare to touch you. Since she didn't want to think about that much more until she had time and privacy to process it, she scratched Charlie behind the ears and walked over to Trevor. "Thank you," she told him with great sincerity, looking down at the clock. "I guess we missed our chance for a ride, but my truck's downstairs. You ready to go?"

Okay, looks like the DC on this thing is down to 6, so let's do a power attack with the birds. 1d20+7=10. Good enough for government work! DC 28 TOU save.

Erin's cupboards were neatly, perhaps even obsessively well-stocked for someone who lived alone with a cat, but there wasn't so much as a drop of alcohol tucked in amongst the carefully stacked canned goods or the rice and lentils sealed into storage baggies. The refrigerator turned up half of a half-gallon of milk and a bottle of chocolate syrup, but nothing stronger. Erin's penchant for fresh food shone through here, and if he'd been in the mood for fresh fruits or veggies instead, he'd have been all set. It looked as though most of her first paycheck had gone to stocking the kitchen. The coffee, though, was from Trevor. Erin couldn't afford his tastes, so it only seemed fair to let him provide it. On the kitchen table, the clock ticked and hummed for a moment, then began cuckooing again. According to the insistent little bird, it was about fifteen o'clock by now.

Charlie scrambled out of his favorite spot on the back of Erin's armchair as the trio reappeared, arching his back and puffing his orange tail in alarm. Erin drew in a deep breath before seeming to deflate, then walked over to pick up her sorely confused kitten. "That could've gone better," she muttered. "I just need a minute. You guys can finish the coffee or whatever." By now the warmer on the coffeepot had turned the morning's brew into something rather less than appetizing, but it was still technically coffee. Rubbing her cheek against Charlie's soft fur, Erin carried him into the bedroom, letting the door stand halfway open behind her. Just as she left, there was a small commotion of gears from the kitchen table, then the clock opened up to make its cheerful cuckoo call.

The noise of the group's return brought the adult Whites into the living room at a run, both of them looking rather less calm than they had before the little sojurn to Paris. "Are you all right?" Clarissa asked Erin Prime immediately, taking her daughter by the shoulders and looking her over for damage. Erin Prime made an annoyed noise and tried to squirm away, but Clarissa had quite a grip. "I'm fine, Mom!" Erin Prime protested. "Mark took care of me, it wasn't even dangerous." "You shouldn't even have been out of the house, Erin," Roger cut in sternly. "Much less leaving the country without our permission." He looked a little flabbergasted by that part, but was setting it aside for the moment. "What were you thinking?" "I'm an adult now!" Erin Prime pointed out, managing to extricate herself from her mother and brush herself off. "It wasn't like I was going there to stay, it was just a quick little trip while you were busy. They do it all the time!" she added, gesturing to Erin and her friends. "That's different," Clarissa said after barely a beat. "Superheroes can do things like that. And you're not so much an adult that we're not going to worry about you! You should have at least talked to us." A look at the trio of Liberty Leaguers made it clear that she wasn't assigning all the fault to Erin Prime. "I'm really sorry," Erin Keeley offered. "Mark travels all the time when he's working with UNISON, sometimes he forgets that not everyone is used to that. I should've reminded him, but we all made sure Erin was safe and got home as quick as possible. We, ah, we better go now, in case we're needed for anything else today. It was nice to get the chance to talk."

Fleur took a seed out of her belt pouch and allowed it to bloom in her hand, forming a green sprout and then a yellow buttercup-shaped flower that grew until she had to lift her other hand to support it. When it was the size of a beach ball, she upended it unceremoniously over the workman's head, sending a shower of pollen down onto his face and hair. He inhaled once and fell back to sleep, his body relaxing. "That first dose should've kept him under longer than it did," she told the others with a frown. "He's fighting it somehow. We'd better take him with us as well."

Wander studied the miserable girl, her face cold. Too many versions of her had been placed in too many unthinkable situations for her to be particularly sympathetic to this dimensional traveler. "You still didn't answer the question," she pointed out. "How many infiltrators from Erde are there, and who are they trying to replace? If you're cooperative, we'll put you in jail here and let you stand trial for murder. It's no more than you deserve, but it's a hell of a lot better than if we send you back where you came from. We're civilized here, and nothing your world does is going to change that. Who else came over?" she demanded again.

"This is very close to getting out of hand," Fleur murmured. "We'll talk about her motivations with her later." She waved her arms, and suddenly the cocoon of plants surrounding the bound villainess swelled for a moment then collapsed, empty. Madame Zero was gone without a trace, safely confined between dimensions in the belly of some giant plant somewhere. "Now would be a perfect time to surrender," she advised the armed men, "before anyone gets hurt." To Rene she murmured, "Can you do anything to melt the ice? We need to get this bubble open before anyone freezes or suffocates, and I doubt Madame Zero is going to do it for us."