Electra

Miss Americana You Can't Stop the Beat Hanover "All right, good luck," Gina told Sharl, breaking the connection with mixed feelings. She knew Sharl was doing what he knew was right, and that she probably couldn't have stopped him if she wanted to, not short of forcibly recalling his program and containing it on its home drive. Which had been tempting for a moment. It was dangerous out there, and he was young and more naive than he liked to think. But he was also a superhero, wanted to be a superhero, and this was what superheroes did. She'd thought about going in after him, just in case, but there honestly wasn't time. She had other work to do, dangerous enough in its way, and vital to the security of the world. Reclining her seat, she sighed and closed her eyes as blue electricity played over her body. In moments, she was inside the network. This was hardly Gina's first trip inside the ArcheTech mainframe. As an employee, Miss A had legitimate access, and she often popped in to correlate data faster or to look for some obscure bit of computer minutae. She'd spent a few hours in her first week just tweaking her own equipment to run at optimum speed. But it was all very different now. The mainframe was locked and barred, protected from even the slightest intrusion by someone whose intellect and programming abilities exceeded that of normal humans. This was obviously the handiwork of Doktor Archeville himself, or a handpicked metahuman security consultant. She was willing to bet it was his own. The freakish monster he'd become seemed like the sort to trust himself first. The program was doing its job well. She could "see" a dozen programs already slamming themselves against the security firewall, some destroying themselves in the attempt. She caught computer signature from the US government, the military, UNISON, and several others not so easily recognizable. She left them to their work and slid away from the mainframe's public access point, around to the much smaller network that controlled the HVAC and quarantine systems in the ArcheTech physical plant. Here was the weak point, if the system could be said to have one at all. The subsystems here integrated with the city utilities and with the larger networks of ArcheTech Worldwide, and the security was only as good as its weakest link. Scanning the area, she chuckled silently as she noticed the faintest trickle of data leaking from the connection between ArcheTech and Freedom City University. Low bid state university networks, and look what happened. She homed in on the tiny defect and sliced it open just wide enough to slip through and into the system itself, closing the breach behind her. The last thing she needed was a bunch of amateurs crowding in behind her and stomping around when there was work to do. Or getting into the personnel files. She spared a passing thought to her defenseless body, in a location known to the monster, but there was nothing to be done about that now. She had been a fool, and that sort of error always carried a price. If she and Dragonfly had taken Archeville's psychosis more seriously, had looked harder at the errors in their scans, would they have seen this coming and been able to avert it? Had the work she'd done for ArcheTech this year been perverted toward the creation of the monsters rampaging around the world? However this turned out, whatever the body count, Gina knew she bore a share of the culpability. But she would also help to stop it. Inside the mainframe, she was a little startled at how normal everything seemed. Other than a huge energy draw in the largest lab, everything was in its normal rest state, as though just waiting for the staff and researchers to come in and start working for the day. She headed straight for the energy spike and saw creatures pouring through what looked to be a dimensional portal. So that was where they were coming from! Well, that would stop now. She cut the electricity and smiled invisibly as the portal popped out of existence, a smile that slipped when the damn thing started right back up again. Obviously there were backups installed, and these were better protected. It took nearly twenty endless seconds of grappling before she managed to find and kill all the failsafes and backup systems powering the portal. For good measure, she released a clever little virus she'd been keeping in her pocket, giving it a few commands before letting it out into the system to tie things up. As soon as she let it go it began multiplying, little byte-sized rodents scurrying through the mainframe and chewing as they went. Whoever was tasked with eventually getting ArcheTech open again or shutting it down permanently would have their work cut out for them. Gina remained where she was for a few moments to watch them work, then shot through the network to the next-largest ArcheTech facility, long seconds of travel time away in Germany. Now that she was in the network, nothing was going to stand in her way. She just hope she lived long enough to be able to brag about her accomplishments later!

That drew a soft chuckle from Fleur. "Not exactly," she admitted. "It's a service job, one that doesn't require a lot of experience or education. But the way things work here, if you do one job well, you are better positioned to get a better job the next time, and can move up the ladder that way. Many heroes find jobs they like, even if they are not influential or highly-positioned, that are just enough to pay the bills. Much of a hero's time and energy is devoted to hero work instead of their everyday jobs."

"Don't worry, we'll get you something to eat when we arrive," Fleur assured him. "Not much longer now, two more stops, I believe." She showed him how to watch the digital display at the front of the bus and how to pull the stop cord, then steered him off the bus and back into the heat of the July day. As soon as the sun hit her hair, it turned a darker green, but it didn't seem to bother her. "This way," she directed, "Your new place is in that second tower over there." She led the way down the street to a series of apartment buildings. "Are you excited to start your new job?" she asked as they walked.

"I'm not sure yet," Erin admitted, looking at the screens that showed disaster after disaster cropping up. "It looks bad all over the city. I don't even know where Archeville is now, or how we could reach him, but there's going to be plenty to do. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get caught unaware. I know the Manor's a safe place and all, but still. Just a second." She took the phone away from her ear and took a few steps towards the Scarab. It was hard to tell whether that notable was currently engaged in psychic activities a million miles away or not. Clearing her throat politely, Wander asked "I have Midnight on the line, is there anything we should be getting to first?"

"I'm at the Scarab's Lair," Erin told him, still watching the screens playing around the room. "I went to Dr. Archeville's house with the chestpiece like we talked about, but things got really weird there and he turned into a monster somehow and tricked me into letting him get away when Scarab and Arrowhawk came to stop him..." She trailed off, sighed. "I really screwed it up," she admitted. "Now we have to stop him before he can destroy the world we just finished saving. Do you have anything built by ArcheTech in the house? If you do, you'd better shut it down, maybe break it."

"Thanks, Mark." Erin went over to the picture wall and found one of Rick that was a couple years old, at most. It was one of the few that didn't have Mark or Martha in it, which seemed like it would definitely be better. She took it down from the wall, checked the frame, then carried it over to the corner where Mary and Ed were sitting at a card table and eating some of the small sandwiches that had been provided for a meal. She sat down opposite them and slid the picture across the table. "I know you have to leave soon," she said, the inflection in her voice indicating she was certain of this fact, "but I thought you might like to have a memento to take with you."

Wander propped the chestplate against the wall and sheathed her bat as the Scarab took her seat, then stood with her feet apart and one hand clasping the opposite wrist behind her back as she watched the broadcast unfold. "Those are the Interceptors," she realized aloud as she watched, but remained silent through the rest of it, her heart full of dread. Had they really saved the world only to risk losing it again so soon? The Scarab wasn't a rookie or an alarmist. If she was willing to destroy her own base so Dr. Archeville wouldn't get it, things were very bad already. She replayed the scene at the house again in her head. How had she not seen what was happening? If it weren't for her gullible foolishness, maybe he wouldn't have gotten away, and none of this would be happening! When the broadcast was over, she raised a hand to rub the bridge of her nose, then pulled out her phone. She was a little surprised to see that she had bars down here, but it was a high-tech superlair. She punched in the button to dial Trevor. "Are you seeing what's on TV?" she asked tersely. "Everything's all screwed up again."

Having a job made the strangeness of sitting through a memorial service easier for Erin, so she kept on with it into the wake as well. Their two interlopers were behaving themselves, and after awhile she just started to feel sorry for them. She suspected they wouldn't stay very long at the wake, but no matter how she might feel personally, she wasn't going to let them get close to Mark or Martha. Instead, she made her way through the crowd to Mark herself, waiting for a moment when he was between conversations. "Most of these pictures are copies, right?" she asked, gesturing to the photos on the walls. "There's some guests that have to leave soon, would it be okay to give them one of the pictures to take with?" She didn't want to get any more specific, and hoped Mark wouldn't think to ask.

"I... I'll come with you," Wander said uncertainly, hefting the chestplate. She didn't know where else to go or what else to do. Young Freedom wasn't exactly together anymore, at least not in the same way. Edge wasn't even in the country, and she couldn't just go to the school or Alex's place like she used to. "Maybe there'll be something I can do there?" She had to do something, the guilt for letting Dok get away was practically radiating off her, now that she'd figured out what was going on. She should've known better, but he'd really seemed upset, and like he needed help. Looking around once more, she followed Scarab through the portal.

1. Wander's already involved in the Revelations thread, she'll keep hanging out with Scarab and Arrowhawk until given new instructions, at which point she'll likely go fight the bleeping zombie tentacle monster, if time permits. 2. Miss Americana is going to send her able assistant Citizen to liberate the computers at Freedom Hall from their malign influence, then turn her own attentions to recapturing the Archetech facilities worldwide by gaining control of their integral computer systems. 3. Fleur de Joie is probably going to be in the "they also serve who stand and wait" position this vignette, guarding the children and monitoring communications on Sanctuary, freeing up Phantom, Avenger and Dark Star to fight on Earth.

It took Fleur a moment to puzzle through what John was actually asking. "It's not an army," she assured him with a laugh. "More a coalition of people with normal lives who come together when we're needed." She chose her words carefully, conscious of the fact that they had an audience. "I can explain more fully once we get to your new place, but suffice it to say we find each other when there's a need. I myself like to get acquainted with as many new arrivals to the city as I can, just so everyone has at least one point of contact if they ever need a hand. We all have to help each other here."

After working with Alex and Eve, Erin was no stranger to getting information poured into her head from time to time, and the Scarab was definitely an expert. She cocked her head to one side and tried to process the information as it came in. Apparently the thing Doktor Archeville had transformed into was not some random mutant creature, but a specific very bad, very old thing. Of course it was. Erin resisted the urge to sigh as the possibility of a quiet evening spiraled away, and wondered if this was the way life always was for grown-up heroes. As the Scarab headed for the secret lair, Wander picked up the chestplate (it wasn't something to leave lying around) and followed. On the way, she filled the old man in. "I mostly just hit things really hard," she told him. "I'm pretty fast, and I can jump a long way but not fly. If things get really complicated I can call my friends, but a lot of them aren't in town right now."

Erin blinked in surprise, but automatically shifted her stance to shake Elena's hand. "You're the Scarab?" It didn't take a psychic to see that Elena didn't look quite like Erin's mental image of the famous psychic hero, but the young powerhouse was obviously impressed. "Alex talks about you a lot." She looked over toward the kitchen wall, gestured in that direction. "There's a secret door in that wall. When I showed him the armor, he acted like he was passing out, his eyes rolled back and he started to fall. He recovered then, but he was all... lizardy," she said awkwardly. "Scales, kind of gill-things, giant black eyes. Maybe more fishy, but anyway, he was really upset. He said it was from an experiment that went wrong, that when he got upset, he shapeshifted. He said he didn't want you to see him like that, so would I distract you while he was trying to get himself back together. He went behind that wall and I went to get the door. But I didn't expect him to leave. Why would he leave?"

Fleur blinked, and a few of the other riders looked around as well, but the baby didn't seem to see anything wrong with the sweetly feminine voice coming from the large man. Amaryllis squalled once more,then settled down with a mutinous look on her tiny face. "She's hungry," Fleur murmured. "I'll feed her once we get to your new place. Murdock should be home today, so you'll be able to meet him right away. I'm sure he has all kinds of tips by now on finding your feet in Freedom City. He's not from the past like you, but he does come from unusual circumstances."

"Young Freedom took out Omega two weeks ago," Erin told him, still preoccupied by the note, "and the chestplate got sent home with us. I guess as proof that he's dead or something. But we don't know what to do with it till we know how dangerous it is. I brought it to Doktor Archeville to look at, but when he did... something weird happened to him," she admitted, somewhat reluctantly. "Then you guys showed up, and he asked me to delay you and give him a few minutes to pull himself together. But now he's gone? And I don't even know what scan's he's talking about." She looked up at Fraser, noting the changed demeanor. "If you're a superhero, I'd say you're right," she agreed. "Something very weird is going on."

"I don't know," Erin admitted softly. "Going by looks, he's at least thirty. I don't think Queen of Cool was active after like 1980 or so, so that would fit. That was something like ten years before he and Mark's mom got married, so maybe it just didn't work out, or something. I'll bet anything you want that he didn't spoil his happy family vibe by telling Martha or Mark about it, though. We can't make Mark deal with this today. But if we're right, then they have a right to be here. Maybe they won't cause any trouble." She didn't sound tremendously hopeful. "You better fill Corbin in."

Erin was already on her way into the sanctuary, having taken a moment to place the face on the oddly dressed woman. She was a small-time villain from long before Erin's time, so it had taken awhile, but there'd been a couple pictures of her in among all the relics at Mark's house. Mark always liked talking about the pictures in his dad's collection, and they'd been a good way to distract him from his troubles. Right now, though, she wasn't sure they didn't have a whole new set of troubles. The Queen of Cool might look out of place, but the young man with her seemed to fit in entirely too well at this gathering of Lucases. Eve undoubtedly had the mind link open by now, but Erin wasn't sure whether or not it would include Mark. So instead of relying on that, she skirted wide around Corbin and the strange pair and hurried to where Trevor and Eve were standing. In a voice too low to carry, she murmured, "I think the problem is more complicated. That woman there is the Queen of Cool, an old minor villain, but look at the guy with her. Now think about how Mark's going to look in another ten years or so."

"I do have a right," Erin said with annoyance. "It's his house and I work for him, and he asked me to distract... to have you wait at the door for him." She began to look less sure as the old man continued speaking. She could understand that the doctor didn't want to be seen in his altered form, but if what the old guy was saying were true, that was definitely more important than keeping up appearances. Besides, maybe it had been long enough now anyway. "All right, fine," she said with a frown. "But if he doesn't want to see you, you really have to leave. There are lots of science people in the city, not just him." Turning on her heel, bat still in hand, she led the way down the improbably long hallway to the kitchen. There she stopped short. The breastplate of Omega was still there, big as life on the table, but now there was a note attached to it. She picked it up and read it, looking baffled. "I don't understand..."

Skill mastery lets Wander make that Notice Check. Knowledge history, eww... But she got an 18! I'll take that as a sign and use extra effort to try and dredge up all that nattering Mark constantly does about the old days.

Erin took a step back from the man, drawing her palm-sized bat from her pocket and spinning it out to its full five-foot length with a practiced twist of her wrist. Like most of the things Trevor made, her new bat was entirely black from end to end, but the balance was perfect and he'd replicated all the little quirks and tricks of her old one. Setting one end on the ground, she mimicked his stance. "That would be a really bad idea," she told him sincerely. "I know he knows who you are, but he doesn't want to talk to you right now," she admitted. "You kind of showed up at a bad time."

Erin didn't budge, not seeming at all intimidated by his threats or his anger. After the July she'd had already, it was hard to get too worked up about one angry old guy. "He can see you on the screens," she pointed out, "if he wants to talk to you, he'll be out in a few minutes. But he's really busy right now." She paused for a second, parsing through what he'd said. "Malice... are you guys supervillains?" she asked suspiciously. If they were, they were using a decidedly weird technique, but who could figure with those types? She rose to the balls of her feet, ready for anything.

Erin stepped into his path to block him, not touching him but ensuring he'd have to go through her to come inside. "The doctor is busy," she said with polite firmness. "Maybe I could help you, if you tell me who you are and what you need?" For all the old man had a gimpy leg, he looked strong, and like he might cause a problem. The woman was fairly nondescript and hadn't said anything, so maybe she was just an assistant or something. "But I'm afraid you can't come in just yet."

Erin gave Corbin a quick smile for his thought, rising to her tiptoes so she could murmur back. "That's a good idea, but I think it'll be more effective if you stay in the sanctuary. I want someone keeping an eye on Mark and his mom so nobody messes with them. You've got good people skills, you can handle that." It was true, but putting Corbin in the sanctuary was also better PR. For all he was harmless as a puppy most of the time, his huge size and imposing uniform might have intimidated some of the more mundane visitors to the service. Even in her uniform, Wander tended to blend with the crowd.

Erin was more than happy to keep an eye on things for Mark, it was a lot better having something to do than to just be sitting in a church pew and alternately thinking about death and how long it had been since she'd gone to church. As soon as they arrived she did a quick tour through the building, checking for any signs of trouble and to get an idea of the layout and exits. By the time she finished with that, people were starting to arrive for the memorial service itself. She stationed herself in the lobby and kept a special eye out for any supervillains, but also for the League contingent. She'd seen how Captain Thunder had upset Mark the week before, and there wasn't going to be any of that today. She had no doubt that she and her friends could handle anyone who thought about forgetting their manners today. She folded her arms across her chest in an unconscious gesture that made her look a bit like the funeral bouncer.

Erin put a hand on Mark's arm and looked him over carefully, deciding that he was probably doing about as well as could be expected at the moment. She wished she had something to say, some advice or wisdom she could share, but there was nothing that could make a day like this easier. Erin knew too well what it was like to lose a father with no body to mourn and little closure afterwards, and there was just nothing that helped. Hopefully time would. "Is there anything we can do?" she asked him quietly. "We'll help with whatever you need."