Electra

"Mostly my talent is fighting," Erin told him with a half-shrug. "Extra speed, strength, stamina, things like that. When I take a hit, I heal up really fast, and when I hit something, it pretty much stays down. I wouldn't mind doing a training round with you sometime, but unless you've got powers that are like that, besides the transformation stuff, I don't know if my style would do a lot for you." There was no false modesty or pride in her voice, just simple truth.

Erin's expression closed up a little, becoming more distant. "They've been gone a few years," she told Evander coolly. "Since before I got my powers, so it's not really an issue. I was a ward of the state and of the school till I turned eighteen in November. What about you?" she asked, turning the question around. "It sounds like your folks sent you to Claremont to try and get you out of trouble. They might not want you taking up all the superhero training."

"Sure," Erin said, not seeming bothered by the paradox. "People make a superteam because they want to be part of something bigger than all of them. That's why it doesn't matter that nobody really knows who you are when you save the world or do whatever. The team doesn't depend on who's in it, so long as they believe in the same things and stand up for the same stuff as the people who started the team. And most of the people who make up the team, even if they graduate, will still be part of it, even after they go do other things. If the team you build isn't durable enough to last beyond the founding members, that's kind of too bad."

"Go right ahead," Stesha told him, taking his coat out of a nearby tree and handing it to him. "Just have a care if you swing too close to Beedom Meadow, some of the drones are practicing their courtship moves, and the airspace gets a little dangerous at times." She chuckled tolerantly. "I'll see you at the cottage." Trusting him to remember the way, she vanished back there to start brewing the coffee while he traveled.

"You're right," Erin told Trevor, "but just because we tell ourselves that doesn't mean it's not going to make things weirder. We still have to go in there and know we're going to see these people with our same faces. I agree that she's a person who needs our help, and that we should save others if we can, if the opportunity arises. But we can't hope to have like a mass exodus or something like that. Singularity can't join the resistance because A, she's crazy, and B, she's killed dozens or hundreds of them. But other people there, maybe they could join up. If we can find a way to really help Talos and his people, it could solve a couple of problems at once."

Stesha cocked her head at the sudden change of demeanor. Something was obviously off, but he wasn't quite ready to talk about it. "Would you like to stop by my cottage for a cup of coffee before you go?" she asked. "I think the folks here are doing all right for now, and we're about to interrupt suppertime anyway. I've been drinking mostly decaf lately, but I could probably find a little bit of the good stuff if you'd like a jolt," she told him with an easy smile.

"MY FLYING TRICKZZ MAKE ME LOOK AWEZZOME," Curl-bee pointed out hopefully. "WHEN THE QUEEN ZZEEZZ MY ZZWEET MOVEZZ, ZZHE WILL KNOW I AM THE BEZZT OF ALL THE DRONEZZ IN THE HIVE!" "HE IZZ HOPELEZZ," Beeatriz told Jack, her tone one of longsuffering. "THE DRONEZZ ARE NOT MADE FOR THOUGHTZZ OR REAZZONING, ONLY FOR MAKING BABY BEEZZ. THIZZ IZZ WHY THEY MUZZN'T GO TOO FAR FROM THE HIVEZZ WITHOUT ZZUPERVIZZON."

Erin pursed her lips. She trusted Trevor's tactical judgment, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. "Not exactly, but sort of," she told Mark. "We're talking about going back to Anti-Earth. I made a mistake last time I was there, not doing what I knew was right and trying to get my double out of there." She turned to look at Mark full-on, studying him. "We could definitely use you on the trip, but only if you're not going to get squirrelly again about your own double."

Stesha got up from her seat and gave Quentin a hug, accepting the crystal flower graciously. "I'm so glad you could come," she told him with a smile. "It's so special to have all our friends here with us today! This is just the very best day of my whole life... so far," she added with a laugh. "You'll have to make sure to stay for the dancing, and the cake. My mom knows a baker who makes the most amazing chocolate filled layer cakes, and we have four tiers! It should be amazing." On the other end of the head table, the object of Mark's affections and Carson's attentions was currently chatting with the other bridesmaids. At the moment, they all seemed to be looking at photos of Jack Jr, unaware of any attentions from the main floor.

Stesha laughed, a little ruefully. "Maybe a day off, but I'm doing all right. This whole thing got dumped into my lap a bit suddenly, and it's not as though I could leave them here to fend for themselves when I have the ability to help them. It's the middle of winter, and they have almost nothing! Once they're settled in a bit, and when the bees have all their romantic entanglements straightened out, and I get the nursery started, I'll have some time to catch my breath. Unless a hero work situation comes up," she acknowledged wryly. "But I haven't even asked how you've been!" she continued. "I've been hoping that not hearing from you too much has meant that you haven't been hurt lately and that things are going well. What have you been up to?"

Erin's lips quirked as she looked at the valentine, despite lingering annoyance at the interruption. "Thanks, Mark," she said, opening the candy. "We were just... talking about some stuff," she told him in response to his question, looking over at Trevor. "About maybe taking a trip sometime." She wasn't sure she wanted to bring Mark in on this. Despite the obvious benefits of having his powers along, he was an unpredictable element, as had been shown by his actions last time they'd been to Anti-Earth. And besides that, he wasn't really the sort of pragmatist who would understand what might have to be done.

Erin cracked half a smile at Warren's comment. "Um, yeah. Alex and Mike, Mark and Trevor and I all graduate in the spring. That's what seniors generally do, I think. Mark's going to Africa with UNISON to do volunteer work, Alex and Mike are getting married. I think Trevor's decided he's going to stick around and go to college here, and I'm doing the Freedom League thing, or at least I hope so. We'll stay in touch, I'm sure, and we're never more than a teleport away. But it won't be the same." She decided not to touch the "ship of Theseus" comment, unwilling to expose her ignorance.

"There's no pay," Erin said, shaking her head. "It's more like kind of a really intensive extracurricular activity. The Freedom League gives, like, stipends to its members so they can afford food and shelter, but there's no big money to be had in hero work. And as far as Young Freedom goes, I don't really know. We sort of invite people in when we think they're good and have some ability we need. But since most of the team is graduating this year, I don't know if it's even going to continue to be a team, or if some other team will form up after we all move on." She shrugged. "Maybe a totally different team that's still called Young Freedom, even."

"Yeah," Erin told Evander casually. "I'm on Young Freedom, my codename is Wander." Despite the fact that Young Freedom was well-known in the city, she wasn't exactly surprised that she didn't stand out among her flashier teammates. Young Freedom wasn't even connected with Claremont after all, at least not publicly. "After our first big outing, the school made sure we worked our butts off to get the training we needed to not screw up. We've done pretty well so far."

"QUEEN BEELIZZIMA DOEZZ NOT EVEN FLY, BUT THIZZ DOEZZ NOT ZZTOP ZHE DRONEZZ FROM CRAZY ZZTUNTZZ TO TRY AND IMPREZZ HER," Beeatriz explained dismissively. "ZZHE WILL CHOOZ WHOEVER ZZHE WANTZZ WHEN ZHE TIME COMEZZ, AND ALL ZHE TRICKZZ IN ZHE WORLD WILL NOT HELP. BUT DRONEZZ DO NOT THINK OF ROMANZZ, ONLY OF MAKING THE LITTLE BEEZZ." "ROMANZZ?" Curl-bee asked, sounding bewildered. "DRONEZZ ARE NOT FOR ROMANZZ! ROMANZZ IZZ FOR FEMALEZZ, WE HAVE ZZEEN IT ON ZHE TELEVIZZON! ZHAT MUZZHY ZZTUFF IZZ A WAZZTE OF TIME!" This time Beeatriz and Stesha both visibly sighed. "Maybe Beeatriz is right," Stesha suggested gently. "it couldn't hurt to stand out from the other drones and do something different, right?" "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ZHE ROMANZZ," Curl-bee admitted. "I WOULD LOOK FOOLIZZH!"

"Oh, they love him out there, and they're not about to not give him anything he wants that's within reason. I think it's just a matter of time," Stesha told Carson with a half-smile. "And I've actually got someone who can help me out with a very extended agricultural extension. I sort of come from that kind of family. I know they've had animals, there are a few chickens and some kind of big lizards that they've got penned in the back, and they brought a few cats with them. I just don't think there's been anything much larger than that around for a long time now." She shrugged, looking sorrowful. "It was probably hard enough to save any of the people. I'm still not sure how they managed."

First Reflex save for Miss A is a fail, spending an HP She passes on the reroll. That means she will make the subsequent checks as though she had no vulnerability. Reflex Save 2 is a success, with 25. She should not need to make the damage save because she was not drained and made the initial save, so the Rank 8 effect does not pass her impervious toughness.

Since Stesha had no way to reply to him quietly, she drew Carson back and away from the group a little. "Clothes are the most urgent need," she agreed, rubbing her forehead as though smoothing away a headache. "Their hygiene leaves a little something to be desired, but as long as they're not coming into contact with a lot of vulnerable populations, they're okay for now, I think. We definitely need another generator, but Derrick is leaning on his bosses out at Lonely Point to see what they can do. I need to talk to Gaian Knight about another well and some more shelters, he's a specialist at that sort of thing. I need to bring in some milk and cheese and vitamins, things to cover the vitamins you can't get easily from fruits and vegetables. Do you know anyone who might give me a line on getting some farm animals?" she asked.

The boy's eyes were saucer-round as he regarded Gabriel. "That'd be fun!" he decided, looking around at his companions, who seemed to think so too. "Does angels have candy?" he asked Gabriel coyly. "We like candy." Stesha saved Gabriel from the risk of disappointing the children by choosing that moment to rejoin the group. "I'm sure we'll find some candy for you as we go along," she promised, "but in the meantime, you can try these." She passed around the armload of red fruits she was carrying, to the children first, and then to the adults as well. "They're called pomegranates," she told them, holding the last one in her hands and demonstrating how to open it. "You peel the skin off them, and you can eat the little berries inside. They're very much like candy." Soon everyone was getting into the messy treats with greater or lesser enthusiasm. Stesha broke off a segment of hers and offered it to Gabriel. "Would you like some? Pomegranate is very good for you."

It looked like some of the refugees were having a hard time following what Gabriel was saying, so perhaps there had been some linguistic drift or at least simplification in the past decades of suffering. But they got the gist of it, and he could tell by the hope in their faces when he promised to help them that they understood the most important part. "Are you a angel?" one of the bolder children, who looked to be maybe six or seven, asked him. "Mom says Miss Fleur is a angel helping us, are you one too?"

"I'm applying to the Freedom League this spring when I graduate," Erin said, scratching the cat between the ears. "There's only a certain number of things you can do to really use superpowers, and hero work is the best of them. Plus I've already been training to do it for two years now." She didn't say anything about how she got her start in heroing, it didn't really seem to match the tone of the conversation.

Erin blinked, trying to pull herself out of tactical mode and back to a more sociable mood. Mark had the damndest sense of timing, and she wasn't even going to ask how he'd known Trevor was in her room. It just was easier not to think about. "Come in, Mark," she called, standing up from the bed and going to open the door. She held it open to allow him in, looking at the premade cardstock cartoon Valentines he had. They looked like the ones she'd given out in fourth grade. "Hey, that's your mom's work, isn't it?"

Stesha is in a noticey mood today. 30

Most of the walls of the massive complex were composed of earth and stone, wide tunnels that opened onto massive chambers of rock. As they moved downward, though, it was clear that the bees were starting to utilize their space more fully. Honeycomb began to cover the walls of some of the chambers, some merely wax outlines, others actually full of barrel-sized amounts of the gooey substance. "WE HAVE BEEGUN TO ZZTORE FOOD IN THE NEW HIVEZZ," Beeatriz said proudly. "ZZOON WE WILL NO LONGER BE AT THE MERZZY OF WEATHER AND ZZUNZZHINE FOR WHEN WE MAY EAT!" "AND WITH FOOD ZZTORED, IT WILL BEE TIME TO MAKE THE BABY BEEZZ!" Curl-bee added enthusiastically. "I AM PRACTIZZING MY BEZZT MOVEZZ." Beeatriz seemed to sigh again.

"That's great, Mark," Erin said with sincere enthusiasm. "Glad to hear she's getting better." It was weird to see the happy-go-lucky reality controller ever upset about much of anything, but his mom had really been worrying him since the spring. Maybe she herself thought it was a little strange that Mark and his mom had been so profoundly affected by his dad basically moving out, but she didn't like to try and judge anybody else's pain. The fact that Mrs. Lucas was recovering was a victory. "Are you going to get the same room assignment? I thought I heard they reassigned your slot while you were living off campus."