Jump to content

Electra

Administrators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    11,284

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Forums

Freedom City Guidebook

Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide

Gallery

Events

Everything posted by Electra

  1. Electra
    The Eira project was coming close to culmination after many weeks of intense work. The lifelike little robot held pride of place in Miss A's cybernetics lab, clothed in a pink hospital gown for modesty's sake when it wasn't being worked on. In a matter of days now, Eira's consciousness would be uploaded into it for the first time, and they would have a chance to see what sort of life she would really be able to have outside the computer. It was a goal important to Miss Americana on several levels, and one she'd put many long nights and early mornings in for lately. Today, though, she had another task on her plate. Eira's robot was set off to one side, and the expansive lab was transformed into something half-medical, half-engineering. Miss A was busy, but when Duncan Summers asked a favor, very few heroes in Freedom City would say no. The student he was referring to her sounded quite interesting anyway. She'd probably enjoy getting a look at the unfamiliar technology, and who knew what tidbits of knowledge might be gleaned? "Sharl," she asked her assistant, even as she finished draping a few unfinished projects, "would you go and escort our guest up to the lab for me? You should get to know him, he's going to be your classmate in the fall."
  2. Electra
    "I'm over here," Wander called from over on the edge of the rubble-strewn area. She was dusty but untouched, though her face was even whiter than usual. "Seattle on EZO1," she said, then uttered a few entirely unheroic words. "Is everyone okay?" She began scrambling carefully over the fallen needle, looking for her comrades. It was easier to concentrate on that than on the battle nearby that shouldn't be happening, or on the rotting city beneath it. "Midnight, Sage, CT? Anybody hurt, anybody stuck?" Because Mark was there, she wasn't too worried about catastrophic damage from something as pedestrian as falling scenery, but it could slow them down.
  3. Electra
    Erin makes the reflex save with a 28.
  4. Electra
    It was still awhile before the well-wishers were allowed in to visit the family. There were cleanup chores to be done, which Anne accomplished with cheerful efficiency while Stesha and Derrick bonded with their new daughter, and then weighing and measuring to be done as well. Amaryllis Marie Lumins weighed in at a healthy seven pounds, six ounces, and eighteen inches long, with the requisite complement of fingers and toes and a downy crop of spring green hair. She cried in protest to be cleaned up and diapered, but settled down again once placed in her father's arms while her mother got herself cleaned up. Outside, people and bees were arriving from all over Sanctuary, and the atmosphere was convivial. The heroes were the first group of friends allowed into the bedroom. Stesha looked a bit tired but enormously happy, dressed in clean pajamas and propped up in bed with the baby. Amaryllis was wrapped up like a baby burrito in a pink knitted blanket, her face squashed up and peaceful in sleep. Stesha smiled at all her friends as they came in. "I guess this wasn't how you were all expecting to spend your afternoon."
  5. Electra
    "Yeah, I'd appreciate that," Erin told Mark with a half smile, holding her arms out from her sides to let him de-discofy her comfortably familiar blue and gold uniform. "It was nice of Wonder to lend me the costume, but it's not really my style. Especially not where we're going." She pursed her lips, but it was almost easier to think of the trip ahead than of a version of herself who had done so many things, guarded the president, gotten married and divorced, raised a child. It all seemed so surreal. She waited until Mark had finished adjusting her costume and wandered away, lost in his own thoughts, before she spoke to Clara again. "I know it probably seems weird for me to ask," she began, "but I'd like to know. This version of me here, your mom, is she happy?" Clara thought for a minute, giving the question the weight it deserved. "She's pretty happy," she finally decided. "I mean, not everything worked out how she wanted, obviously. She took the divorce really hard," Clara admitted, "and I think it's why she never really tried again. She blamed herself, even though, you know, it was Mark and he managed to screw up just fine on his own." She sighed and shrugged, a motion that was almost a mirror of her mother. "And she lost a lot of friends on 6/21, really good friends, and that was bad. But she and I have had a lot of good times, and she loves her work and she's really good at it. She's been a hero for three decades and still going strong, so lots of people respect and admire her. I think it's pretty good, all in all." Erin thought about that, then nodded slowly. "It sounds pretty good," she decided. "I'm glad the two of you have each other. And I never really thought about the Secret Service, but it actually sounds like a pretty cool career. Maybe I'll think about it." She smiled at her "daughter," a little more this time than last time.
  6. Electra
    Miss Americana stayed late in her lab that evening, working long after Sharl had popped home to Tronik to speak with his parents, long after her assistants and even the janitorial staff were gone. She heard the occasional footsteps of a very conscientious security guard outside, but other than that, the building was quiet and still. It was past midnight when Miss A checked out and flew to her personal lab, where she could step into an unassuming little booth in the corner for a night of diagnostics, cleaning, charging, and routine backups. Half a mile away, Gina's eyes opened and she stretched in her chair. She was getting flabbier than ever, she noted with disgust, now that she was sitting in a catatonic state for most of her days. Worse than even regular web surfing. She needed to get more exercise. Maybe one of those vibrational exercise machines they used on accident victims and coma patients to keep their muscles working. Sounds kinda fun, she thought with a private smirk as she stood up, cracked her bones, and headed for the stairs. The house was dark and very quiet, just like she was used to, just like how she wanted it, as she tended her body's most urgent needs first, then headed to the kitchen for food. She poked two holes through the cellophane on top of a frozen dinner and tossed it into the microwave, making a note on the list on the fridge of what groceries to order next week. While it cooked, she took a crystal wineglass from the cabinet, where it and three fellows were out of place amongst the functional tableware and tall plastic tumblers chosen for their large volume, and set it on the counter. Another cabinet produced a fancifully fluted bottle of deep amber cognac, which she carefully unstoppered and poured into the glass. Gina didn't even like cognac, but the idea of paying a few thousand dollars for a bottle of something to drink amused her, as did her own ability to do it. Imagine what her mother would think, how green with envy she would be. Gina was one of the world's greatest intellects, it seemed wrong not to try and cultivate some tastes that were more lofty than backwoods Missouri. She picked up the glass and swirled, sniffed, sipped, grimaced. She'd work on it. Carrying the TV dinner and the wineglass, she made her way back downstairs to her sanctuary. It wasn't bad to be alone, really. She had so much to do, and she didn't need any companionship, or an audience. Sharl was right that he shouldn't have to live confined here his whole life. Claremont would be good for him. She of all people knew how painful it could be to live in a box, and she wished him well in his efforts to escape. It just seemed a little strange without him.
  7. Electra
    "If we have time," Wander said, not at all winded from the running, "and don't blow up and all that, I'd like to hear the story. Just to know how it happened and all." Maybe it was just morbid curiosity, but she had a really hard time thinking of any set of circumstances where she and Mark would start dating, much less produce offspring. Maybe it had been an accident, or mind control, or alien doppelgangers, or any number of things. That could explain why things were apparently strange and strained between the two adult versions. "But Mark's right, I don't think it's likely to happen in our world. You seem like a really nice person though," she added hastily to Lucky Strike.
  8. Electra
    While Cobalt Templar distracted the enraged mutant with his brave attack, Wander took the opportunity to draw her bat and run in as well. Leaping straight up, she caught the pipes in the ceiling and somersaulted around them, arrowing down to hit the monster bat first in the side of the temple. She was careful with her blows, not wanting to hurt someone who didn't really know what he was doing, but it still took a quick flurry of surgical strikes to put the monster down. "He's going to need a medic," Wander snapped, "and some restraints that will hold him. We've got to get to the bomb."
  9. Electra
    All righty, Wander is going to get out the ol' bat and try a Stunning Blow on this bad boy. I am quite skeptical of his claims to be PL 12, but we'll roll with that for the nonce. Anyway, starting out with the old Acrobatic Bluff as the move action, DC 28 with skill mastery. Full power attack for the standard action, not going all out this time. 1d20+10=23 That'll be a DC 35 Fortitude Save, plus any applicable autofire bonuses up to +10.
  10. Electra
    Miss A chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Nope, not even for a minute. There is nothing on Earth or off it that would get me to step into high school for even one more day, as student or teacher. In any case, I don't have a college degree, though that's privileged information I'll thank you not to repeat, so I'm not qualified to teach high school. The teachers at Claremont are fine people, I'm sure, and good at their jobs. You'll learn a lot there, both in and out of the classroom. Just make sure not to get too attached to anyone you can't take home with you," she advised dryly.
  11. Electra
    Stesha was propped up on pillows to a nearly sitting position as Anne showed Jill how to properly hold, brace, and provide counterpressure throughout the contractions. Derrick was nearby, offering a hand to hold and distinctly nervous moral support. Now Stesha wasn't snappish anymore, she wasn't in the mood to communicate at all. Far away, she could hear a strange and melodious chorus, so odd and otherworldly that she wondered if she was imagining it. Gripping Derrick's hand tightly, she bore down and pushed through an endless time that could've been minutes or hours. "Here she comes," Anne finally said, her voice encouraging even as she shed a few tears of emotion over the advent of another grandchild. "Oh, look at that hair, she takes after you..." All at once, with one great final effort, a tiny, green-haired, squalling infant was delivered into the sure hands of her waiting grandma. "And a baby girl, just like you thought. Good lungs, too." Triumphantly, Anne placed the newborn onto Stesha's chest and covered them both with a clean towel. "Ohhh..." Stesha breathed, looking into the baby's alien-shaped but still very beautiful face. "Hello, beautiful. Do you hear the music? Everyone is singing to you." She looked over at Derrick, beaming. "Check it out, we did nice work." The baby watched both of them from wide blue eyes, as though trying to figure out who they were and why they seemed so familiar.
  12. Electra
    "I think you'll learn a lot if you stay here and go to the school," Miss A told him, picking up a little laser-guided scalpel and using it to make a tiny adjustment in one artificial tendon. "It's a rare opportunity, one you won't get in Tronik. It will prepare you to train other heroes, if they should start to arise in the population. On the other hand," she continued, "you're sixteen years old, and you have a family that loves you, friends who miss you. That is a more valuable thing that you can possibly understand, just because it's something you've always had. That is not something to take lightly or take for granted. You'll have to choose what sacrifice you're willing to make."
  13. Electra
    "Well, you'll have to clear it with them," Miss A told him, most of her focus seemingly directed at the minute adjustments she was making to the little robot fingers, "but as far as I'm concerned you're old enough to make your own choices. If you want to go to Claremont, I'm sure we can make that happen. I'll sponsor your tuition, so that won't be a worry, and I'll look into their entrance requirements while you're gone. You certainly have superpowers and can use some training, so I'm sure they'll be interested in taking you."
  14. Electra
    "I'm not sure what the rules are about sidekicks at Claremont," Miss A said honestly, "and I imagine they'll be keeping you pretty busy. I know the students live on campus, so I'll help you get set up in a dorm room there, with your projectors and your emulator, everything you'll need. And even if you can't do sidekick work, I'm sure you can come and visit me at the Lab as often as you like. But what about your parents?" she asked him. "Have you talked to them about any of this? I know they only expected you to be gone for a little while."
  15. Electra
    "You're right," Miss A said simply, turning back to her work. "If you're going to stay here, you can't keep going on the way things have been. You deserve more exposure to the outside world, the normal world, and that's not really anything I can give to you. You'll have to apply at Claremont, the superhero school. That way, you won't fall behind on your education, and you'll be living with people your own age, and learning about the world outside the lab and the server room." Her voice was entirely even, though the very corners of her exquisite lips turned down just a tiny bit.
  16. Electra
    Miss A put down the small robotic arm she was adjusting to listen to Sharl talk, her perfect brow creasing in thought. "I know that you and Eira have gotten close these past few weeks," she began, "and it's been very good for her. Her adaptation has gone better than we had any right to expect. But she'll be moving into her robotic body in just a few more weeks, and there are going to be a lot more people available to help her with that transition. You shouldn't worry that she won't have anyone if you go home and are just penpals with her. And I have a few surprises up my sleeve for Rogue next time we meet." She smiled humorlessly. "You shouldn't feel like you can't go home."
  17. Electra
    I know I'm not going first! 1d20+13=20
  18. Electra
    "Bring your team," Wander told Lucky Strike, forgetting the oddness of the relationship in the heat of the moment. "Anyone with tech skills, try and stop the meltdown. If you've got a teleporter, get any civilians left to safety. Sage, can you pinpoint where anyone still onboard might be? Help them out. Everybody else, I guess we've got a fight on our hands." Shaking her head as she watched her boyfriend explode again, only mildly concerned by it this time, she headed for the stairs and jumped over the rail, using the flights to slow her fall until she arrived at the core floor.
  19. Electra
    "Stop that pacing!" Stesha snapped at Jill once, busy pacing herself in the limited confines of even the relatively spacious bedroom. "Boil some water, get Derrick a drink. What the hell is that noise?" Though she hadn't started in with the screaming or cursing, the pain was definitely making her increasingly irritable. She walked to the window and looked out, craning her neck to see up, even as she swiveled her hips and took long, rounded breaths. "It's the bees... and the new bees. What are they all doing out there? Is that singing?" Another contraction started, and she dropped her head with a moan. "Moooommm..." Anne stepped forward quickly. "You're doing very well, sweetheart," she encouraged her daughter. "Why don't you get into bed for just a minute while I check you. I think you may be just about ready for some pushing. Jill, would you mind coming over here and helping to hold her feet?" "Thank god," Stesha muttered, clenching her hands on the window and panting through the contraction, then heading for the bed. "I hope everything's okay out there." Right now she certainly wasn't going to be doing anything about it!
  20. Electra
    "That would be something to see," Stesha agreed, mustering a faint smile for Jill's attempt at levity. "Make sure Derrick comes back in, would you? I want... I want him to be here." She got up from the ball and began pacing again, bare feet soundless on the grass-covered floor. The contractions were very steady now, and quite strong, to the point where she threw up her lunch into the trash can after one especially taxing round. Anne kept track of the contractions, but time otherwise began to lose meaning as they all waited for the big event. Outside in the living room, there wasn't a lot of distraction as minutes stretched into a half hour, then an hour. There was food and drink available, even DVDs for the little television in the corner, but not a lot of information came from the room where all the action was. There was some moaning from the bedroom, but no screaming, and still no baby cries. The quiet was interrupted suddenly by a loud flurry of buzzing from outside, like a dozen badly tuned televisions turned to full power.
  21. Electra
    "Accepted," Wander told the man bluntly, taking his wrist and flipping him facedown to the deck with one arm drawn up behind him. She knelt on his back and leaned in to speak directly to him. "Now tell us exactly where the bomb is, and what the hell you did to cause this place to be going crazy, and we'll see if we can save all our lives and the universe as well." She sent the rest of the Wolfpack a quelling look, in case any of them weren't totally on board with the surrender idea.
  22. Electra
    By the time Jill arrived in the room, Stesha had changed into a mint-green cotton robe that reached her knees, her exceedingly long hair taken down from its many pins and allowed to hang in two braids down her back. She was sitting on a yoga ball and bouncing lightly while Anne used a handheld dopptone to broadcast the baby's strong and rapid heartbeat into the room. "Jill, this is my mom Anne," Stesha introduced briefly, with the air of someone distracted by other things. "Mom, this is Jill, she's been helping me through the early stages." "Of course," Anne said warmly, giving the young medic a smile. "I've read a little bit about you. Now that my daughter's one of the heroes of Freedom City, I try to keep up with the doings in that community. You work with your brother, isn't that right?" She tucked the ultrasonic machine away in the bedside drawer and wrote a few numbers in a little notebook. "I'd like to take a few minutes and make sure all my equipment is in order. Would you stay with Stesha and spot her while she's on the ball?" Stesha only seemed partially aware of her mother's temporary absence, having focused herself inward for another long contraction. She groaned and bounced more vigorously on the ball, her knuckles whitening as she knotted her own hands together. When it eased, she told Jill, "I really appreciate you coming along with me here. I know it's a little bit outside your job description."
  23. Electra
    Stesha stayed in the bed precisely as long as it took for Derrick to put her in there, then she was up again, leaning on the windowsill and looking out at her green paradise as she rocked and breathed her way through another contraction. Anne Madison, Stesha's mom, was right there with her, rubbing her back and murmuring encouragement. "Human form," Stesha reminded Derrick on the end of a long exhale, "I need you really here with me now. Um, if you could make sure that everybody has something to drink or eat, that'd be good. Jill can come in, but I think we'll need some privacy for awhile, right Mom?" Anne nodded, then gave the worried superfather a comforting smile. "It's all right, Derrick. Everything is going to be all right. Take a few deep breaths, make some tea, and do some breathing exercises of your own. I'm going to help Stesha change clothes and see how far along she is." Outside the cozy bedroom, the visitors had been left on Stesha and Derrick's front lawn, which was not a bad place to be dropped off, all things considered. At least it was a nice day! The front door was open after Derrick's quick passage, and the living room looked as it usually did, a cozy plant cottage full of comfortable furniture and a small kitchenette. Those who'd visited before would probably notice that the cottage as a whole had gotten a lot bigger over the past few months, doubling in size towards the rear bedroom areas from its original dimensions.
  24. Electra
    Despite her considerable discomfort, Stesha chuckled at her husband's arrival, a trio of strong vines rising up from the ground to pluck her neatly from the robot and bear her to the ground. "It's all right!" she called reassuringly, "you're not late. Though we shouldn't waste any time." They made an incongruous picture, the matte-black being of pure energy holdng a tolerantly amused middle age woman, facing a crew of heroes riding robot bees in front of the world's most secure super-prison. At least for the moment, the prison staff and guards were staying out of the way of this one. "It's definitely time to go," Stesha said with a firm nod, then turned to her friends. "Ah, any of you who want to come along to Sanctuary are welcome to be our guests. I owe all of you my thanks for your help in there."
  25. Electra
    Fleur was quiet on the trip out of the prison, except for the occasional noise deep in her throat and long, measured breaths. The contractions were coming at about four minutes apart, but since they were each a minute long, it didn't leave a lot of time in between. She looked up and smiled as they broke the surface, the healthy green returning to her hair and skin as she suddenly felt considerably better despite the pain. She immediately reached into her pouch and pulled out her cell phone to cal Derrick. "Derrick, sweetheart, it's time," she said without preamble as soon as he answered. "I'm okay, Gaian Knight and some other friends are helping me, but you have to go get my mom for me."
×
×
  • Create New...