Electra

Erin nodded slowly. "I already owe the League a lot. Maybe it's better if I get a job on my own anyway. Then I'll really know I've done something on my own, for myself." She shifted in her chair a little bit, thinking about the interview she had coming up. She knew Fulcrum had helped her get the interview, but that didn't exactly count. Everybody did that, networking was just being smart. Returning her attention to the task at hand, she asked "So should I be expecting something really big and nasty on the final exam?" She was only half-joking.

Erin kissed him back, the pleasure and relief of a challenge overcome lending extra enthusiasm to her response. Maybe it was still a little weird to think of his grandpa knowing about what they were doing in the house, but she thought she could live with that. At least they weren't tiptoeing around even running into him anymore, and that was kinda cool. And she hadn't screwed things up, which was really good, and now Trevor was right here to kiss, and that was really especially good. "I think I'm all right," she told him, keeping one arm cinched around his waist as she nudged their steps in the direction of his room. "We can always sneak out later and finish off the cake."

"Thank you," Erin said politely, looping the lanyard around her neck and walking towards the elevators. As she went, she automatically scanned the layout of the building, checking on exits, windows, potential ambush spots, anything that might be of interest in a fight situation. She wasn't as paranoid about that sort of thing as she'd once been, but some habits never died. Some habits were good to keep up, especially if she wanted a security job. She got into the elevator and rode it up to the twelfth floor, fingers fidgeting with the plastic access card. She stepped out when the doors opened, then followed the indicator lights on the walls to the room where she hoped she was supposed to be. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed down her hair once more, adjusted her folder, then knocked lightly on the door.

"That all sounds good," Miss A agreed, "just so long as you go slowly. It's going to take time, and she's probably going to be scared sometimes. I'll be porting in as well for part of the time, just to make sure she's settling in, and Dragonfly may pay visits as well. We'll all work together." She took a deep breath. "We also have to be prepared for the very real possibility that this may not work the way we hoped. The simulations are all good, we're as prepared as we're going to get, but it's still very much a gamble. We just need to remember that we're all doing the very best we can for her, all right?"

Erin needed no further urging to make herself scarce, holding onto Trevor's hand as they escaped down the hallway and back towards the wing of the mansion she was more familiar with. Though she still had dregs of adrenaline in her system, the knots of tension in her stomach had come undone enough for her to smile at Trevor as she retrieved the Night Bear from its hiding place. "Well... I guess it went okay?" she hazarded. "I mean, it wasn't awful and I didn't make much of a fool of myself. I can see where your grandpa got the reputation for making criminals confess without even saying anything."

Date: May 19th, 2011 Erin was early for her interview at ArcheTech, really early in fact. She hadn't wanted to be late, and was nervous about traffic, and since she hadn't been sleeping well anyway she'd woken up early and gotten ready. Then she'd felt stupid sitting around her room, so she'd decided to leave early... and wound up sitting on the parking deck outside the giant gleaming ArcheTech obelisk with nearly an hour to kill before her scheduled interview. She sat in the truck for a few minutes, but didn't want to spend the gas to run the air conditioner or risk sweating and wilting her clothes. So she got out and began walking towards the building, taking her time and taking everything in. This was one high-tech building that she hadn't been in during her previous life in Freedom City; it hadn't existed at all in her world. That was probably for the best, she wouldn't have to deal with those weird little deja vu feelings. She killed a little more time by walking around the grounds and checking out what she could see of the building's security. It seemed very solid, though she wasn't an expert on that sort of thing, and she could tell that she was being monitored. With that in mind, she turned her steps back towards the front and stepped into the lobby, immediately feeling out of place. She looked fine, she reminded herself, her interviewing blouse and slacks weren't expensive, but at least they were new, and no one was really going to look at her worn shoes. By the time she'd gone to the restroom and checked her hair and teeth, then double-checked the manila folder that contained her thin resume, she was only half an hour early, and had run out of delaying tactics. Walking up to the counter, she gave the receptionist a smile that tried not to be nervous. "Hi, I'm Er-, um, Keeley White, I have an appointment with Doktor Archeville. I know I'm probably way too early, I just, um, thought I would check in."

Erin nodded at that. "Yeah, they said they'd keep me on the list. It's just... I worked really hard," she began, not at all sure why she was saying this to Mr. Archer, of all people. "For two years, to try and be ready and have myself pulled together and trained. They knew I didn't have anyplace else to go. And it makes me angry," she admitted. "Part of me just wants to give it up and do something else, just solo work or something. But I know I can't, because the city needs all of us to work together."

"I'll be fine," Miss A reassured him. "I'll take breaks when I need them, and be prepared for times when I'll have to make long pushes. Really the only time I ever have trouble is if I'm caught unprepared." She walked around the lab too, collecting a few last odds and ends she might need for the journey. "And there will be absolutely no superheroics with the nine-year-old civilian child along," she chided Sharl, her teasing tone letting him know she didn't think he was serious. "But she wants to fly, and in the computer, she'll be able to do that. It'll be much better for her to be able to concentrate on all the good things now and in the future than on what is happening to her organic body. I have every confidence in your ability to be a distraction," she told him dryly.

Miss A smiled as she watched him, pleased that her present had been well-received. "It looks good on you," she assured him, vanishing the mirror lest teenage vanity keep them there all morning. "The jet is leaving in a couple of hours. Dragonfly and some of the support staff will be coming along with us. You can board along with us, or pop into your habitat and catch up on your websurfing if you'd rather. It's going to be a long and boring flight, but given the sensitivity of the equipment, it's preferable to teleporting this once."

Erin thought about that for a minute, after the immediate instinctive recoil at the idea of growing up to be like him. He was totally right, in a way. She wasn't particularly special in her powers the way that Alex and Mark were, she wasn't a clever or innovative thinker like Trevor, she couldn't lift continents on a whim the way Mike could. She wasn't anywhere near as good-looking as any of them, and she had a record that would continue to shadow her. Trying to join the Freedom League had been almost as far-fetched as thinking about college had been. But people could go without either of those things and still be okay. Mr. Archer wasn't living in his car and scraping by, he was doing all right for himself in a job with insurance and a pension and all that stuff. She scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably, shifting in her seat. "Where would you suggest I go to look for a job, then?" she asked him. "Where do they need people who aren't good at any one thing?"

"That would be nice," Miss A agreed. "She'll be able to use all the simulated habitats I built for you, though I've set up her own file to be her "home," just like you have yours. Oh, and that reminds me," she added with a smile. "I made you something to commemorate you officially becoming a hero. Every hero needs a uniform. You can change this up or ditch it if you don't like it, but it might get you started." She touched a key on the console next to her, and suddenly Sharl's clothing shimmered. His coat stayed on, and the glasses as well, but his pants became more closely fitted, his boots taller. And in place of his nondescript sweater, he now wore a black long-sleeved shirt with a glowing blue wi-fi symbol on it. A mirror appeared in the air next to him so he could get a better look.

Erin just sat for a moment, startled at the sudden frankness from the man who'd been a worse nemesis than most of the villains she'd fought. It was hard to wrap her brain around it, honestly, and even harder to try and come up with some response. "I know I was dangerous," she finally said, "when I first came here, I mean. Is that why you've always been so hard on me? I worked so hard with that da- with the bat, and with unarmed training, with tactics." Two years of angry frustration couldn't help eking through a little. "If you were proud of me, why didn't you ever ease up?"

"It sounds like her English is decent," Miss A assured Sharl, "but I can give you a translation program if needs be. She won't be projecting like you, her program is not going to be physically sophisticated in that way. You have an absolutely comprehensive muscular-skeletal system, all the necessary life processes, full parameters for projecting every motion from every angle. Eira isn't going to have that because she is not intended to live in a computer for more than a few weeks. Her computer body will be quite simplistic compared to yours, but she'll be able to interact in the same sort of habitat that you stay in when you're here. Perhaps you can help her learn to manipulate the environment and decorate her space. That would probably be a nice distraction for her."

Erin sat, thrown off-balance by his words. She wasn't sure what they had to talk about outside of combat training. He certainly wasn't going to talk to her about her wind sprints or acrobatics training. She also wasn't sure whether having all the polish she was going to get in high school was a good thing or a bad thing. It was probably a true thing, she had to admit, with as little time as was left in her school career. If she hadn't learned a technique by now, she wasn't going to pick it up in two more weeks. Folding her hands, she deliberately relaxed her shoulders, trying to look more casual as she waited for him to get to the point.

"Do you remember a few months ago when I told you about Eira Katastroff, the little girl suffering multiple organ failure that I'm building the robot body for? The one we plan to digitize and upload in much the same way your ancestors were?" At Sharl's nod, she continued, "Her condition has worsened significantly in the past ten days. The body isn't ready, but the digitizing process is. If we're going to succeed, we have to act now. If you're willing, I'd like you to come with me to Sweden and speak with her, and be there for her after the procedure. She's likely to be frightened and disoriented both before and after. She could use someone who knows what it's like and who can hold her hand."

"I found it when I was learning to use my dimensional transit powers," Stesha explained pleasantly, sprinkling sunflower seeds over her salad. "I was with Phantom, who was helping me learn, and we got into a bit of trouble, traveling to a universe where it would've been wiser not to go. We left in a hurry, and instead of going to any familiar coordinates, I simply jumped. Perhaps it was my state of mind, but we ended up on a world that was ruined, almost completely barren. It was surprising that I'd found any plants to transit through at all." She took a sip of her water, then continued. "Phantom explained that some worlds were like that, misfortune, disease or war wiped them out so that just shells were left behind. I was curious, so we looked around, and I thought there was something that was salvageable. It was awful, yes, but with a lot of plants, a lot of help, there was still hope. The bay was polluted, for instance, but the South River had been naturally dammed up by part of Bayview falling into it, and the water was much cleaner. There were still some plants trying to grow. I figured that if nothing else, it would be a wonderful place to practice and hone my powers without risk of hurting anyone. It wasn't until later, when I was well into the project, that I realized there were still some human survivors, eking out a living underground. I've settled some of them in my reclaimed zone, as well as the giant bee colony I appropriated from the Beekeeper. It's all sort of unfolded very organically, which I suppose is appropriate," she finished with a chuckle.

Erin shrugged. "There's not much time left for senioritis," she said guardedly. "Finals are in two more weeks. I don't pass, I don't graduate." Part of her wondered if that would really be such a bad thing, but she didn't think she could handle another year at school with a reputation of being both scary and stupid. She shifted from foot to foot and stayed within range of the door, not out of any real nerves, but just from the desire to keep this audience as brief as possible.

Erin turned at the door, hesitating for a minute and scratching her neck as she absorbed what Travis was saying. Finally she smiled, and if it was still a little embarrassed, it was more genuine than the other smiles she'd mustered up during the conversation. "Thanks," she said softly, recognizing the compliment for what it was. "You do have a very remarkable grandson," she agreed. "He tells me he learned everything from you." That seemed a safe enough compliment to pay, and it was true. She glanced over to Trevor.

He was in Miss Americana's main lab, a large room he was quite familiar with by now. Gina was in her Miss Americana guise and looking lovely as ever, wearing a maroon and navy pantsuit under a snowy-white labcoat, her golden hair back in a businesslike bun. She gave Sharl a warm smile. "Hey, far-traveler," she greeted him. "Long time no see. We haven't heard much from you on this side, I trust things have been going well for you? The hardware seems to be doing its job so far."

"Yes, we'll definitely have monitors on in real time, but it will take a few days to establish enough of a pattern to understand what your normal mental states are like," Miss A told him. "There will be certain things we look for, spikes in brain chemicals, adrenaline surges, limbic spikes, but in general Dragonfly is perfectly correct in that your atypical neural function would render our typical baselines meaningless. Doing some tests right now is an excellent idea. It will allow us both to get initial readings and to calibrate the equipment more precisely." She moved over to a bank of monitors and brought up displays of Doktor Archeville's brain in real time. "Go ahead whenever you're ready."

Erin's mood was dark as she headed for the showers, slapping on the lights in the locker room and stalking to her bag. She hadn't done anything, she groused mentally. Knowing that Archer was watching always made her uneasy, but she knew she'd turned in a good performance today. Being careful was second nature now, and she hadn't even come close to really hurting anybody, not even when he'd ratcheted up the difficulty to the point where she was taking blows and feeling them. Her scores had been good, just as they'd been consistently top-notch for months now. She wasn't much of a student, but goddamnit, she could at least fight. Maybe he just wanted to gloat, she thought darkly as she stripped off yet another tattered and ruined uniform and stepped into the shower. He had friends in the hero community, he'd probably heard by now that she hadn't made the cut for the League in Freedom City. And it wasn't her fighting ability that was the problem, so it wasn't even on his head. He'd been expecting her to fail for two years now, and he had his wish. Well, gloating was better than detention, she guessed. She just hoped he wouldn't take long. If she played her cards right, she could finish with him and dash into the cafeteria before heading back to class. These long sessions always left her starving. It only took about five minutes for Erin to be clean and back in her civilian clothes, her wet hair twisted up and clipped snugly behind her head. The clothes she'd come to school with were fading and looking worn after a couple years of heavy rotation, but they were still perfectly serviceable. And there was still time, if not much time, before she had to worry about buying new clothes and more importantly, her own uniforms. Like that was going to happen. Mentally, she wadded up all those worries into a ball and shoved them aside for later. She had a meeting to go to. Knapsack in hand, she headed for Archer's office.

Erin lost no time in seizing the opportunity, rising and giving Travis a polite smile. "It was nice to get a chance to talk to you," she said. "I hope you ah, enjoy the rest of your evening." Travis' words were a reminder that she really needed to think of some nice belated present or something, but she'd think about that later. Tomorrow, maybe. "Um, there's some fruit and sandwiches and cake and stuff left in the picnic hamper if you want anything," she added, thinking about the manor's generally bare cupboards, then immediately felt stupid. Travis Hunter was totally rich, he surely had whatever food he wanted around somewhere, probably in a kitchen she hadn't even seen yet. He didn't want their leftovers. Saying anything more would probably just make things worse, so she headed for the door as quickly as pride would allow, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Directly upon the appointed hour, Sharl's phone rang. When he answered, he heard the dulcet voice of Miss Americana, similar to but noticeably different from Gina's lighter, flatter voice. "Hello, Sharl," she said pleasantly, "I need you for a consultation, if you aren't busy. As long as you're somewhere private, I can triangulate on your phone and transport your signal into my lab computer. The holoprojectors are all set up for you. It may require a few days of your time. Are you available?"

Stesha laughed at Jeanne's stories and blushed slightly at the approval from Heyzel's rather intimidating father. "Thank you," she told him, "the work has been more fulfilling than I could possibly have imagined. It's the work of a lifetime, but more than worth it to be able to see it grow again, and to help the people who live there, and the bees who have moved there. It's been a wonderful experience so far." She chuckled a little at Heyzel's question. "Having a baby is a little bit like being a superhero," she told him. "You can make all the plans you want, but sometimes things just happen. Right now, my plan is to be on Sanctuary with De- Dark Star and my mother. She's a midwife, and she's been taking care of me this whole time, with some high-tech help from Miss Americana. But if anything goes wrong, it's a quick teleport to FMC and the metahuman doctors there. I know Dark Star worries, but everything's been textbook perfect all these months, and I'm feeling... well, about as great as possible in this shape." She laughed. "Just a couple more weeks now."

"The school counselor wouldn't even let me take Dark Star's class," Erin admitted, sounding almost cheerful about the fact. "She said that I probably wouldn't be able to get along very well in there, because of different philosophies. So I missed out on a trip to space, but otherwise it was pretty okay. I think he just is lucky that he's never been in a situation where he had to make hard choices." She shrugged. "If it came right down to it, he'd probably do the same as any of us. But as for the Freedom League, I'm pretty sure they usually wait for people to apply, so there's, you know, no pressure or whatever."