Electra

Miss A leapt for the radio, tuning it to reply to Sharl's unexpected call. "Sharl, goddammit, what are you doing out there? I told you not to do anything but report back on what you see out there!" Her voice had a sharp edge, anger or even hysteria, it wasn't quite possible to tell. "Protectron, get out there and back him up before he gets himself killed. Dragonfly, you and I are going to get a nullifier together, faster than humanly possible and get it the hell onto that thing." She raced for the stairs that led up to her own electronics lab, her feet barely touching the ground.

"That's it," Erin whispered to the others, levering herself effortlessly out through the hatch. "Stick together." She waited as the others climbed out of the hatch, sticking close to make sure everyone had a hand on Eve while they made their way to the house. When they reached the back door and reunited with Trevor, she looked to Caryatid expectantly, waiting for her to make the move that would take them into the house itself. Trevor had probably disabled the locks, but it was, after all, the girl's house. At least for the next twenty minutes or so.

"No, he's going to college," Erin replied, tugging the ends of her own hair as she looked around at all Mark's boxes. "He's been accepted into the accelerated engineering program at FCU. I think like on the first day they got the application, they were tripping over themselves to say yes." She had to smile at that, proud despite any misgivings of her own. "So he'll be like living on campus during the week, doing the secret identity and college student thing. I'm not totally sure how we're going to work around that, but I'm sure he's got some kind of plan. That's sort of his thing, you know? He might join a team when he graduates, I guess."

"All right," Erin said, looking up at the hatchway that led to the surface. "Midnight will go first and ensure that the physical security is disabled. I'll stay in the hatch and keep watch. When he gives the signal, we all go together, me, then Sage, then Caryatid, then Edge. Stay close together and head directly for the house. Once we're in, Midnight and I will keep watch, it's up to the rest of you to convince the family and get them moving." She was quiet for a moment, pressing her lips tightly together, before she continued. "No more than one bag of belongings apiece, we can't move quickly with anything more than that. One of you go with each of them to make sure they don't sound an alarm or something. Good?" she asked, looking around at her teammates for assent.

"Sounds like a pretty weird class," Erin said, sounding a trace skeptical. "Or maybe one or two students who are weird in a lot of ways, I guess. Be interesting to see how it plays out, at least if we're not too busy with other stuff. Maybe we can stop by sometimes in the fall and check in on how things are going, how the team is shaping up and stuff." Her voice was a little uncertain; Erin knew that once you graduated, it was kind of weird to spend much time hanging around high school, but the idea of losing the focal point her life had revolved around for two years was more unnerving the more she thought about it.

Fleur gets a Nat 20 where it counts, after wasting one on initiative. Thank you, IC. 1d20+10=30 And she makes the Reflex save as well, with a 23. Not bad, given her delicate condition!

Towards the back of the group, still winded, Stesha looked to the trees that surrounded the car park. As though responding to her glance alone, the trees began uprooting themselves, first one, then a whole handful, shuffling forward on animated roots that dragged dirt across the concrete. "Attack any villain who gets too close," she murmured to her floral guardians, keeping a wary eye on the fight that was shaping up. These guys might not look like much, but even cornered rats could be dangerous.

Fleur is using her turn to activate her Summon Plants power and animate five of these guys. That's her standard action, for her move action she will command them to Combine Attack whatever villain is nearest Fleur when their shared initiative comes up again.

"That's weird," Erin allowed, "I always thought the Norse gods or whatever were all bad guys. Didn't they fight for the Nazis or something?" Erin shrugged, aside from what she'd learned in her one Claremont class on hero history, she didn't really follow that kind of thing. Mark was the go-to guy for any question about that stuff. "I haven't heard anything about the incoming class," she admitted, not above a little bit of gossip. "What else have you heard?"

Miss A's fingers flew over the keys with great speed, but anyone who'd watched her work before could tell she wasn't quite at her best. Biting her perfect lower lip between straight white teeth, she grimly corrected errors as quickly as they were made, but the fact that she was making them was aggravating. The stakes were much too high. "I want you to be very careful," she told him again. "I promised I'd get you back home in one piece, remember. Stay low, stay quiet, and don't try anything brave. You're there to gather information, not to take any actions, got it?" When she was sure he understood, she shot the data package off to Lonely Point, then sat for a moment, just staring at the blank screen, before she seemed to gather herself for the next task. "Neurology isn't my field of specialty," she admitted. "And my study of psychic powers has been very limited. But the nullifier might be a clue anyway. If Sharl can pinpoint where the Mind is, we might be able to toss a nullifier around it, and thus cut off its contact with the minds it's captured. That would be a good precaution whether or not we have to destroy it, we don't want to risk feedback into the infected population if it becomes necessary to kill it."

Erin shrugged one shoulder, not losing that small smile. "He just doesn't like to be identified as part of a team, but he really is and we all know it," she pointed out. "He might not come to like, an official induction ceremony if we do decide to have one, but he'll probably give us a hand in picking out people who might be good for the team. I'm the first one to admit that I don't always see less obvious skills, or keep in mind what people can do the way he does. He might see somebody that we'd miss."

Erin smiled a little, not sure she and Mark were exactly on the same page, but glad to see the shadows seeming to lift from him. Distractions, especially neat heroic distractions, were usually pretty good for that. "Well, maybe only sort of secret," she offered, "and sort of just informal. Things could get weird if we were making a big show of sneaking around being all secretive. That can draw more attention than you would if you just went and did something without making a big deal of it. But I mean, if we're going to pass off control of the headquarters and all that, we should at least make sure that there are some trustworthy new people to hand it off to. Gonna miss the teleport beacon," she admitted wryly.

"Heh, I don't think buying a mansion is going to exactly be in my budget anytime soon," Erin admitted. "But since they're both stepping back from actual hero work, hopefully neither of them would mind us still using the HQ. It should be used for something, not just sitting there gathering dust again." She dug into her knapsack and pulled out an apple, wiping it carefully with the edge of her shirt. "And I don't think we want to do anything really obvious, like open tryouts or anything like that. That sort of things invites showoffs and competition, and that's not really what Young Freedom's about. I'd rather see people who are interested in heroing because it's the right thing to do, not to show off how badass they are."

Erin shrugged. "Well yeah, once we graduate it's not really ours anymore, but we did start it." She bounced her knee a couple of times, looking around at the blank walls. "I've been talking to some of the newer kids, ones who are coming up, going to be upperclassmen next year. I was thinking maybe some of them would want to go on patrols with some of us, learn more about the city, see what it's like with someone there who can step in if things go wrong. And at the same time, we can see if there's anybody who's got potential to maybe be part of the team."

Erin's smile in return was rueful. "Be nice if we could go back to worrying about problems like that, wouldn't it? Better than all this world-saving mortal danger interdimensional evil crap. We keep going the way we are, I'm going to even stop worrying about Mr. Archer and my homework. We'll, besides the part where we're graduating anyway." She crossed one leg over the other, ankle to knee, feeling a little more comfortable. "I've been thinking, do we want the team to still keep going when we're gone? A lot of us are gonna be leaving."

"Everybody's entitled," Erin told him with a half smile. "To being depressed sometimes, and to being happy. It's not healthy to expect to just get over it when something bad happens." She shrugged. "Your parents took off, they're maybe having mental problems as well. If that didn't make you mad and sad and scared, I'd think there was something wrong with you. But at the same time, I guess everything has a course to run, and maybe it's just easier for me to feel happy than it used to be. Hope so, anyway."

Erin pursed her lips, trying to remember her own therapy sessions and parse through the words to try and figure out the meaning behind it. That was even harder, she decided, to do for other people than for herself. Even for someone like Mark, who tended to wear his heart on his sleeve. "I think most people know he isn't an evil guy, or one with bad intentions," she said carefully, trying to haul the conversation back on track. "I mean, it's not like the League hasn't come clean about people who were heroes and became villains in the past. Protecting your dad can't be all about protecting their reputation. But being crazy with power is no less dangerous. Sometimes crazy is more dangerous than evil. I mean, look at Singularity. She's not really evil, and bad things happened that made her what she is, but that doesn't mean anyone can ignore the fact that she's incredibly dangerous and volatile." Erin shifted uncomfortably again, not sure she wanted to be getting so close to her own issues.

Erin stared at him. "Mark, you lived in a bedroom that didn't have any door. We literally had to break down the wall to get you out of there, and the only other thing in your house was your crying alcoholic mother. The only person that world was ideal for was your dad. I know what I said about not letting the way people change poison your memories, but that doesn't mean you can get foggy about the fact that he was using you and your mom as props in his world-building exercise. That wasn't a good world. Not even a little."

"Yeah, just a few months," Erin murmured, trying to conceal her own unease at the fact. She knew the Freedom League wasn't known for its rapidity in processing applications, and it wasn't though they had a lot of turnover. But graduation was coming up a lot faster than she was really comfortable with, faster than even the most lucrative of babysitting jobs could line her savings account. She wondered for a moment if Mark would need a housesitter while he was in Africa, then dismissed the thought and changed the subject. "The thing is, you can't really wipe out bad stuff, it's always there once it happens. You can try and fix it, or put it behind you, or live with it," she told Mark. "But it's not like things can go back to the way they used to be, even if you really want them to. Life isn't like that. Doesn't mean what happens from here can't be good, though."

Erin shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was definitely not the person to be in this conversation with Mark right now. She knew all of this was really important to him, that the reputation of his family was a vital thing, but how to address that wasn't really even on her radar. "Well, sometimes people change," she offered lamely. "Just because someone isn't the same person now, and you can never have the relationship with them that you used to have, that doesn't have to change your memories of them. They did something really bad when they left you behind. But I know you love stories where people who used to be villains turn around and become heroes, right? If a few really good acts can turn around a whole bunch of bad, a whole lifetime of good acts has to mean something against one bad thing."

"What do you want them to say?" Erin asked, genuine, if careful, curiosity in her voice. "About your mom, I mean. It's sort of... I mean, I know it's weird, the way it all went down with your dad, but in a way it's sort of like more mundane family stuff that just happens sometimes. And that sucks, but I think most people just let things like that stay within peoples' families and their secret identities. I mean, you don't hear a lot about who gets divorced and who has trouble at home when you're talking about superheroes." At least, she didn't, Erin amended silently. She wasn't honestly sure what Mark was privy to.

Erin scouted ahead as they moved, turning restless energy into purpose as they made their way through the side tunnels and obscured access points beneath the city. They were wasting time, she knew, time that could be vital later on in their mission, but what else were they supposed to do? Maybe Caryatid's family weren't innocents in the classic sense, but they were about as good as it got around this universe, and not even trying would be an extension of the sin she'd come here trying to redeem. They could deal with the wasted time, but what if the family didn't want to be rescued? Caryatid didn't seem to think it would be that much of a problem, but Erin had her doubts. Of course, they did have a most pragmatic Mind-Master on their side, but that wasn't an optimal solution. "So when we get there," she muttered to the others, "Midnight will kill the security sensors and Sage can make us invisible, but what do we do if they don't come along? I don't think we have a lot of time to persuade them, and if we leave them be, they'll sound the alarm."

"It wouldn't be giving it up if it's just a loan," Erin pointed out. "And it would be kind of cool for people to get to see all of it, people who remember the old Freedom League or who want to know more. There's probably a lot of stuff that's never been like cataloged, or whatever they do with historical stuff. And it might be, you know, sort of good PR," she added diffidently. "You and your family have done lots of good things for Freedom City. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to remind people of some of it."

Erin took the offered chair, setting her bag on the floor and looking around. "It's a lot of stuff for one room," she mentioned neutrally, trying to get a count of how many boxes there actually were. She wasn't really the best judge of these things, since all her worldly possessions could fit comfortably into her suitcase, but it did seem pretty crowded. "Maybe you could put some of it into storage downstairs, or, hmm, maybe like a temporary loan to the hero museum? They'd probably be pretty jazzed to have so much League memorabilia, even just for a little while."

"Going all right," Erin told him, effortlessly eliding past the difficulties of the last few days, and the logistical problems they'd brought back with them from Anti-Earth. That wasn't what she was worried about right now. "I, um, I noticed you weren't at lunch today," she told him, looking around the room as unobtrusively as possible. Truthfully, Mark hadn't been the same person she knew for weeks now, and missing meals was just the tip of the iceberg. But she was no Alex, and she didn't have much to offer in the way of wisdom. "I figured maybe you got busy, so I brought you a couple things." She reached into her bag and got out an apple and a couple of cereal bars she'd scavenged from the cafeteria, plus a bottle of orange juice she'd actually splurged to buy from the vending machines. "How's the unpacking and stuff going?"