Electra

Erin frowned at that, but Mara was the boss, so she didn't argue the point. An armored room was all well and good, but how did you know how someone really fought till you were in a fight alongside them? Maybe she could arrange for Trevor to fix something up for her offsite... but that was a consideration for later. "Hmm," she said instead. "If I could get the personnel files as you hire security people, that will probably help me to personalize training routines. Gotta know things like who's already good at what techniques, who needs more practice or to get into shape, stuff like that."

"Oh, no," Erin said hastily to that offer, the color spreading to cover most of her face. "That's not really necessary. For, uh, anything." She leapt on the new topic like a starving lion with a steak. "That's okay, I've had a lot of training, and have done training for younger students before, so I already have kind of an idea of how to do it. And having a few more weeks before opening will give me time to look stuff up, ask people at other places what they do, stuff like that. I can run everything I'm going to do past you first, but you shouldn't have to worry about it too much. Do you have a training simulator set up?"

"Yeah, I've had to wear one of those, they aren't much fun. Be useful to have them as cuffs, at least," Erin mused. "A lot of times they'll take the fight right out of someone just because it's so disorienting for the first few minutes. Miss Americana has a nullifer up at The Lab, I used it the other week to, um, when I needed some medical stuff done." Color washed her pale cheeks for just a moment. "Anyway, good equipment can go a long way toward making up for a small staff. Training, too. We'll do a lot of training, especially at first, till everyone's up to speed and working together."

Papercut raised his arms, making the flock of glowing cranes rise into the air and regroup into a single mass. "That's Gosei, you stupid f---," he snapped, "and I'm proud of it! Better than some punk murderer cheapening the deaths of thousands of innocent people! I'll wipe you off the face of the earth and it'll be a better place." He brought his arms down like a conductor striking the beat, and in an instant the cranes were arrowing down like a cloud of tiny knives, digging their paper beaks into the insubstantial flesh of the villain.

Okay, repeating the stunt from last time, doesn't take another HP because it's still active. The Peace Cranes of War make another attack! (Blast 8: Affects Insubstantial 2, Indirect 3, Precise) 31! And I'm spending an HP for improved crit on that, so yeeeees, that's a crit.

"Yes, we definitely need to stop him," Miss A murmured back, "but he's just a child. Let me try and talk to him, but you and Caradoc be ready to back me up. See if you can find anything about his parents or his background that might help us." Putting her most persuasive smile on her face, Miss Americana stepped forward a few steps towards the boy. "Hello, Melvin," she said, her voice friendly and musical. "My name is Miss Americana. I see you're eating your lunch right now. Is it all right if I sit with you while you're eating?"

"Willow is a lovely name," Stesha assured her. "As for what we're doing... well, it's easier to show you." She touched Willow's shoulder, and in a moment they were elsewhere. For one stunning second the world was full of rich green and the smell of freshly cut grass, and then they popped out on the edge of a large forest. Spread in front of them was a wall of twenty and thirty foot trees, some even larger, with a carpet of grass unfolded beneath. It looked like a beautiful and unspoiled part of Earth, but for someone as tuned-in as Willow, it was immediately obvious that this was not the Earth they'd been on moments ago. Amaryllis blew a raspberry at the sensation of transit. "This is Sanctuary," she told Willow. "It's an alternate Earth, a different timeline where the world's past happened differently. It's an evacuation site in case things with the Gorgon don't go as planned, or for future disasters."

Fleur laughed, though she caught and filed away the small motion. "I think I'm going to wait till this one a little bit older before we try for any more," she joked. "I want a big family, but I'd prefer handling nighttime feedings and diapers one child at a time. And since you're helping me out of a bind today, you should call me Stesha." She tucked the baby into the crook of her arm and extended a hand towards Willow's shoulder. "Are you ready to go?" she asked. "I just need to touch you for the teleport."

"I don't even know if it's possible, but a psychic dampening field would be a nice feature," Erin said thoughtfully. "I mean, the psychics I know personally are really trustworthy types, even more so than most average people, but not every psychic out there is a hero. You don't want anybody doing corporate espionage stuff without ever having to come into the building. But I don't know much of anything about that," she admitted. "My friend Psyche definitely would, I could ask her if she knows about anything like that coming down the pike. I guess you probably have all the electronic security and data security sewn up already, so no one can get in through the network." She chewed absently on a knuckle. "It's just a fact that we aren't going to be able to keep out every threat. Supervillains can just do too many different things. But if we can close off the biggest holes, it'll be easier to deal with the ones that do slip through, even with a small staff."

Stesha smiled back, reaching down to lift the baby from the sling. "This is Amaryllis," she said proudly, even as the baby blinked wide blue eyes and stretched her little arms and legs. "She's three months old today." Removed from the shade of the sling and her mother's shadow, the baby's light green hair began to shift to a deeper shade, more like summertime grass. "We tend to call her Ammy, because Amaryllis is a big name for a little bit. I generally take her around with me if I don't expect trouble. It's so much nicer than finding a babysitter."

"Yeah, he's got a power pike, but that's disguised too," Erin confirmed. "I guess the hope is that we don't need to worry too much about what kind and how many weapons we'll need right away, but it's good to be prepared. Getting back to the problem of the guy who might be trying to disappear you, is the building going to have a teleportation shield on it? I mean, so that your own teleporter can get in and out, but anyone else has to use the doors? In a building this size, with four or five guards on at any given time, teleporters popping in are going to be one of the big weak points. Well, popping in, or popping people out."

"Don't really need a taser," Erin pointed out. "A hit to the right spot will drop an opponent just as fast." She grinned, an expression that came and went so quickly it hardly seemed to happen. "Mr. Archer at Claremont commissioned the prototype for me, and I don't think he wanted me to be any more dangerous at that point. "If you want the blueprints, I might be able to get them for you. I have a spare at home, but it never hurts to have access to one in a pinch." She took the bat and collapsed it with a single expert flick before tucking it away again. "It's not a practical weapon for most of the security force. Tasers and guns should do them okay."

"I don't know exactly how it's made," Erin admitted, "but it's very, very durable. I've only broken one in two years, and that was against an army of Omegadrones." She flipped the bat horizontal, extended it to Mara for the taking. "It was originally a training aid. I didn't have a lot of control at first, hit too hard for safety when I was supposed to be fighting regular people. I don't really need that part anymore, but I learned a lot of techniques with it, and I like the pinpoint control it gives me. And the extra reach. Trevor made this one for me after the first one broke."

Willow didn't have long to wait. Her sensitivity to nature gave her a moment's warning before one of the tree trunks nearby yawned open like a door, allowing a woman to step out. Fleur de Joie was back in uniform these days, her green tunic and trousers covered by a brown half-cowl and ringed by a belt full of pouches. She'd added a new accessory, though, in the green-haired infant snug in a sling against her chest. Fleur put back her hood to reveal her own green hair, put up in braids and pins to keep it out of the way, and looked around the lawn. She smiled as she spotted Willow. "Hello!" she called, walking over. "You must be Willow! I've heard about you, but I've been so busy this summer, I never had a chance to look you up. I really appreciate you coming over to meet me today."

Miss Americana pursed her lips as she listened to the principal's recitation. "It sounds as though this isn't simply a matter of speaking to the student body," she guessed, smooth brow furrowing. Things were not ringing quite true here, and it made her... alert. Even the students outside had seemed oddly subdued. "What exactly is it you called us here for today, Principal? And who is Mr. Thackery?" She exchanged a glance with Caradoc, not easy given the Omegadrone's disguise. She didn't appreciate being blindsided, but now that they were here, there wasn't much to do but roll with the punches.

Erin reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a little black tube, about the length of her hand from fingertip to wrist and entirely unassuming. Holding it in her right hand, she gave it a practiced spin. Instantly the tube extended into a baton five feet long, very businesslike despite its rounded edges. "Bat," she explained with a half-shrug. "I've trained with it for two years. I can fight without it, or with pretty much any other weapon, but it's the one that makes me feel most comfortable. It's designed to channel energy in such a way that it only strikes non-lethally. Also good for public relations," she hazarded with the ghost of a smile.

"He has some kind of holographic thing these days," Erin replied, "it disguises him up as like a knight in shining armor instead of an Omegadrone. It's kind of cool-looking actually, and just to look at him you'd never realize what was under it. I don't think it covers the actual Terminus energy, but average people on the street probably aren't going to be noticing that like they would an armored Omegadrone at the front door." She thought for a moment about the moratorium on weapons contracts. "I can do that," she decided. "Some people just aren't very good at taking no for an answer. But that just applies to like building new weapons, right? The security staff is going to be able to carry something in the way of weapons, even if it's just like a taser, right? Or my bat?" She hadn't really considered the implications of a pacifist company, but that would make her job a bit harder.

"Given the location, shielding against Terminus energy is probably a pretty good idea anyway," Erin pointed out. "Even with Omega gone for now, the Terminus is still a threat. With Harrier on staff, you've got someone used to dealing with that kind of threat, plus a controlled source for Terminus energy if you need to test shields. Seems like it could work out pretty well. And I think when you talk to him, you'll see that the last thing he'd ever do is turn on an ally. He's pretty fanatical about it."

"You might know him already, I think he spent some time at the Lab awhile ago," Erin told Mara. "He goes by Harrier to most people. He used to be an Omegadrone, but he broke his conditioning and got free, took up hero work. Before I faced off with the Terminus, he helped me get prepped, told me about stuff we might face, things I ought to know. It really helped. He's got some minimum-wage job somewhere in the city, but he's wasted on it. He's got good instincts and he can fight and take orders. And if you or I or both of us have to go out and face something, somebody would still be here minding the shop."

Erin nodded, filing the information away. "Bullets aren't actually that bad," she admitted offhandedly. "Hurts for a minute, but they're a lot better than fireballs or acid or really strong electrical shocks. Still better to avoid them, though. If this guy is willing to hire his dirty work done, that's something you'll need to be careful of when you're hiring, too. You don't want to bring in a plant to be part of the team from the get-go. At the very least, you need a core of people you can trust." She thought for a minute, pursing her lips. "I do know a guy who might be a good fit for security. He's got kind of a rough background, but he's trustworthy, and he definitely wouldn't sell you out. You mind if I feel him out and see if he's looking for a new job?"

Erin was quiet for a moment, letting a silence stretch that was punctuated only by the insulated tread of robot feet. "If you have somebody after you, that's your business," she began, going to put her hands in her pockets before she remembered that her suit didn't have them. "But if I'm going to work for you, be your head of security, I take that job very seriously. I will gladly step in front of a bullet for you, or whatever needs to happen to keep you safe, but I can't do that as effectively if you don't tell me ahead of time if someone is gunning for you. I can keep a secret with the best of them."

The last reason was enough to have Erin raising both eyebrows. She understood the need for security around superscience projects, but superscientists themselves tended to be in much lower demand. "Do you think that's going to be a particular problem?" she asked. "People trying to disappear you, I mean. If someone is after you, that's probably something I should know about right away, so I can work out ways to protect you and everybody else." Something about the way Mara said it made Erin think it wasn't just a random fear or free-floating paranoia.

As they spoke, a murmur in the crowd around them alerted the men to a new arrival. Moments later, Miss Americana touched down near Harrier, her golden curls fluttering in the breeze from her landing. She was turned out perfectly as always for public-relations occasions, her red, white and blue uniform seeming to nearly glow in the afternoon sunlight. After a quick wave of greeting to the kids, she turned to the principal and the other heroes with a smile. "Hello, Principal Werthers," she began, offering the man a handshake." I'm sorry Doktor Archeville wasn't able to speak with the children today, but recent events being what they are..." She tactfully let that hang for a moment before continuing. "In any case, ArcheTech is very interested in maintaining the partnership with your school, and I'm very happy to be here today." She turned her attention to Bishop. "And I don't believe we've met before," she said warmly, giving him a megawatt smile and a handshake as well. "I'm Miss Americana." Caradoc got a smile as well, but no introductions were needed there.

"Why did you decide you wanted your own company, if you don't mind me asking?" Erin looked around at the large but spartan area, still dotted with half-finished construction projects. "I thought that Jill mentioned something about you being associated with that big glass egg out in Hanover?" Erin had only been to The Lab twice, once for a science project and once for a very uncomfortable checkup and shot from Miss Americana, but she remembered the distinctive look of the place very well. It was huge and well-equipped, and seemed to have room for just about any science that needed done.

"That sounds like a really good plan," Erin said, with just a trace of surprise in her voice. Salary negotiations never seemed to go quite the way she thought they would. "You should get lots of applications then, and like you said, make the people you hire more loyal. And since it's Freedom City, they're probably at least sort of used to dealing with super-science and giant robots and all that," she added with a trace of humor. "It seems like there's a lot still left to do in three weeks before you open up."