Electra

"It's been a busy year," Stesha agreed with a somewhat rueful laugh. "Every hero in Freedom City has had an eventful year, and from what I've heard, you students have been busier than anyone. It can really make you re-examine your priorities." She didn't seem to be having any trouble keeping up with him, nor talking at the same time. "You're already such a good engineer, I can't imagine you're not already beyond most of the basic courses they offer at university anyway. Still, an advanced education is a valuable thing."

Wander pressed her index finger and thumb against her closed eyes for a moment, trying to absorb enough of the situation to make a decision without being totally overwhelmed. "All right!," she said, looking around at the two groups. "We're losing time just standing here, and I don't know about where you come from, but our world hasn't got any to spare. I say we start heading for that pyramid, since it's the biggest landmark around, and see what we find when we get there. Everybody fall in with your doubles and talk along the way, maybe we'll learn a little more about what exactly is going on around here." Shoving her baton into her belt holster, she set out in the direction of the pyramid, obviously expecting the others to follow. "Who made her the boss?" Wander muttered, watching her counterpart attempting to take charge of the whole operation. She didn't like this other Erin's cocksure, bossy attitude, and liked it less that she thought it was a good idea anyway. With a frown fixed on her face, she caught up to the other Wander, mostly just to keep an eye on her.

"Oh, that." Miss A looked uncomfortable for just the barest instant, then shrugged it away with a laugh. "I believe in being prepared. Because I have some medical skill as well, it's not impossible that someone would come here for me to take care of them and then need to rest up afterwards, or a test might take longer than I expected. Since I value the privacy of my home very greatly, it works better for me to have some way to offer people hospitality here. When the Lab is fully operational, there will be living quarters there as well, so my little mattress won't be necessary anymore."

Wander Worlds Enough and Time (12) Routine Maintenance (59) Kill A Man: Rusty Cage (3) The Dark Mother (2) Kill A Man: Eighteen (5) Fleur de Joie The Sun Shines Night And Day (34) The Rainmaker Job (5) Somewhere That's Green (4) Through the Grapevine (5) Bee it Ever So Humble (2) Miss Americana Welcome to the Lab (2) Downloading Uptown (11) Rise of the Machine (7) Security Precautions (9) Crisis on Infinite Holidays (5) Medical Matters (2) The Animal Fair (15) Bats of Unusual Size? I Don't Think They Exist (1) Cyberknife and Singularity Downloading Uptown (5) The Marli Tharn (6) A Grand Day Out (7) Domicile (17) The Real World (2) Wiki Entries: Giant Bees Sanctuary All Cyberknife and Singularity posts go to Miss A. Wander's posts should be divided as needed to bring Fleur and Miss A to 100 each.

"It was a blind date, actually," Stesha told Trevor, smiling at the memory. "A mutual friend set us up, and even though neither of us were totally comfortable with the idea, she was very persuasive. We went out for dinner and dancing, and discovered we had a great deal in common. It didn't hurt that he was really cute," she added with a laugh. "Everything just went along from there." She paused long enough to disintegrate some dead foliage on the ground, reducing it to powder to reveal the path of the wire under the ground. "You're a senior this year, aren't you?" she asked Trevor. "Any big plans for after graduation?"

Stesha laughed, her entire face crinkling up with amusement. "I guess you haven't spent much time around pregnant women," she observed good-naturedly. "With as much as I've been eating, if I didn't get out and walk around, I wouldn't even fit into Derrick's coat anymore. Just don't make me jog, and I'll be fine. Short legs," she reminded him, sliding on her mittens. He was a sweet young man, Stesha decided, though he didn't have much to say for himself. His grandpa had obviously taught him good manners. "It's right along this way, the cable is just a few feet down." She led the way out of the clearing and into the woods, the trees themselves leaning out of the way to make a path as they walked.

"It's about half a mile away, beyond this stand of trees and over the hill," Stesha told him, pointing into the trees beyond the house. "Gaian Knight helped me lay the underground cable to connect it to the generator, so I wouldn't have to worry about aerials or lightning. "I suppose there could be a short circuit there or something. I don't bother to keep it lit or heated when no one is there. We should take a look. Would you prefer to walk or teleport?" she asked him.

Wander glanced over at Edge when he squeezed her hand, but he didn't seem to have any information to convey. Well, it was better than trying to give her a hug if he needed reassurance, she guessed. Ever since his dad had left, Mark had been a lot more needy, and even though she could certainly understand being nervous and uncertain in a situation like this, they didn't have a lot of time for pats and snuggles. Even so, she brushed a hand over his arm, light and reassuring, before taking a few more steps forward to speak with the clownishly-garbed double of her boyfriend. "We're from the Claremont Academy," she told the other Edge, watching the entire group of strangers for signs of hostility. It was especially weird to look at her own double and see a familiar stranger. Why did she look so feral, so furtive? That Erin was obviously ready to pick a fight, even when the situation seemed calm. Erin didn't like it. "The names... I suppose I don't have to repeat them. But I don't understand what you mean by universes. Are you creatures of the Imageria? Do you live here?" Erin blinked as she watched the subtle byplay between her own double and, of all people, Mark's double. She was no psychologist, but it wasn't exactly hard to read the body language there. What the hell? She automatically looked over to Trevor for a moment before returning her attention to where it was supposed to be. "What's the Imageria?" she murmured to Edge out of the corner of her mouth. If anyone was going to know what the weird word meant, it was probably him.

"But how could it have overloaded without something drawing on it?" Stesha asked, looking at the generator in consternation. "We haven't had many sunny days lately, but I haven't been using that much power. The generator powers the house, the well and the civilian enclosure. The enclosure is power-intensive when I'm trying to heat it, but I haven't even been over there in a couple of weeks. Not many disasters lately," she added, rapping her knuckles lightly against the wood of a young tree.

"It's right out back," Stesha told him, rising from her seat and buttoning the oversized coat once more before leading the way. The little plant cottage had a bathroom and a bedroom set in a tiny hallway off the main room, and at the end of the hallway, a door led outside. About thirty paces from the back door was a little shed in a clearing, again seeming to be made entirely of plants.A windmill on a metal pole protruded from the solar-paneled roof and extended high, high in the air, above the tree line. Guy wires held the metal pole steady, but despite a bracing wind, the rotors of the windmill didn't turn. She led him over to the shed, which was occupied entirely by the body of the generator. There was a faint smell of burnt ozone in the air, and red indicators on the main control panel. "It's been like that since last night," Stesha told him. "It looks almost like it overloaded, but I don't know what could've caused that."

"I don't know," Wander murmured, entirely taken aback but trying not to show it. "It could be some kind of trick. You know how things get in the Imageria, and this is supposed to be kind of like that. Don't take anything you see at face value," she warned the others. Even so, she stepped forward, bat held down nonthreateningly, to try diplomacy first. "Hello," she called, looking for her own double, and finally seeing her in the shadows near the hatch of the drill. "We're the Young Paragons. I'm Wander, the leader. Who are you, and where do you come from?" Though she was obviously wary, her body language spoke of the easy confidence that had earned her the position in the first place. "More doubles of us," Wander muttered in dismay or disgust, allowing Edge to step out first, but staying close in case the situation turned violent. "Looks like they were out on the levee too, or doing something similar. What the hell kind of messed up universe has me leading the team, though?"

"It's natural to worry about family," Stesha agreed, "but I'm glad to hear he's doing well. I've always heard stories about Midnight and the Liberty League, it was quite a kick to meet him in person. And he's so vital and sharp! Some people just seem to have a life force about them, don't they?" She took a drink from her juice and waited patiently while he studied the documents. Even in the cold, little flowers grew around her feet when she sat in one place long enough. The diagrams themselves were clear if complex, and detailed the specifics of the basics Stesha had given him. They would be helpful in determining how to fix the generator, once it was clear how the generator had gotten broken in the first place.

Okay, starting with this post, we need some easy way to differentiate the people from one world from another. I'm suggesting a different background color for the words and actions of the Paragons kids, specifically the lightcyan color, which is not too dark or obnoxious and should hopefully show up well on all the styles. To add a background, just make a bracket, type in bg=lightcyan, then close the bracket. Finish it up with /bg in brackets at the end. Anyone object, or have a better idea?

Wander immediately stepped to the front of the group, putting herself between her teammates and the most immediate potential threat. "Visitors, or the other team," she commented, drawing the slim titanium bat she favored from her belt. "If there's a way to stop the Tiger and his goons, they're going to be just as interested in stopping us as we are in finding it. Everybody stay together." She began to move in the direction of the giant drill, figuring that if there was danger in that direction, it was better to face it than to have it sneak up from behind. Inside the giant dimensional drill, Wander kept her eyes closed until the purple light faded and the engine noise stopped. Wherever they were, or wherever they weren't, they'd definitely arrived. She took a deep breath and looked over at Trevor, then the others. "All ashore that's going ashore?" she quipped wryly, unstrapping herself and heading for the hatch they'd come in by.

Miss Americana worked the party like a professional, moving from group to group and glad-handing the press and dignitaries even as her own throng of admirers tagged along behind her. Of all the scientists, she seemed perhaps the most comfortable dealing with the press of people, and if occasionally she intercepted folks who were bothering her shyer colleagues, it was done so adroitly it was nearly impossible to notice. Indeed, it was no hardship, since she obviously enjoyed the attention and the chance to describe a few new project to reporters who were as besotted as they were out of their depths. Eventually the reception began to clear out, as the food and wine began to run out and the entertainers finished their scheduled sets. Judging that things were in good order and in the capable hands of the support staff, Miss Americana said a round of farewells before heading upstairs herself, waiting to breathe a sigh of relief until she was safely in the elevator.

Stesha chuckled as she passed the mug to the tall young man. "I don't know exactly how much you were hoping to grow, but it seems to me like you did all right for yourself. I didn't start drinking coffee till college, and just look at how much good it did me." Though it didn't seem like Trevor had much need of it, she brought the lantern over to the living room area so he could sit on the sofa and look over the schematics. "As for the parenting thing, well, I hope so. We're going to need to be on top of our game if our girl inherits either or both of our powers. A baby who can grow a tree to boost her out of the crib and alter local gravity to suit herself could be quite a handful." Stesha took a bottle of cranberry juice from the fridge and sat down in the recliner opposite the sofa. "How is your grandfather doing these days?" she asked.

Stesha gave him a brilliant smile. "Perfectly polite," she assured him. "I didn't want to show off at the wedding, mostly because I barely fit into the dress anymore, but it's not exactly something I can hide forever. We're having a little girl in June! We're both so excited. As soon as spring rolls around, I'm going to add another room onto this place for her." She opened the flower again, reaching in to pull out a silver Thermos. "And I was hoping you would say coffee. Derrick mentioned you usually had some in class, so I made some before I came." She gave a rueful look to the coffeemaker on the kitchenette, now about as useful as a brick, then poured from the thermos into a cheerful sunflower mug. "Cream or sugar?"

"I don't think so," Stesha said, "but with the way Young Freedom gets around, I couldn't say for sure. This was a dead world when I got here, just barely habitable, badly polluted, and with almost nothing growing. I've been cleaning it up as I go, using it as a headquarters and as a place to practice." She grinned at him. "Freedom City is a wonderful place, but if you start fooling around with too many plants all at once, people do get a bit nervous. Some of my friends have been helping me fix things up. Supercape put the windows in my house and the roof over the building where I house civilians I pull out of danger, and Gaian Knight was just invaluable for getting the giant beehive built." It was just warm enough in the cottage that Stesha unbuttoned her coat and unwound her scarf, though she didn't remove either. Without the coat on, it was easy to see the round tummy she'd only semi-successfully concealed under her wedding dress a few weeks earlier. It looked like it might be awhile before Fleur de Joie managed to get her costume on properly again. "The generator is out back, but I do have schematics for it, if you want to look at them." She reached into a flower on the wall, up to her elbow, and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "Would you like anything to drink?"

When the parting pleasantries had all been exchanged, Miss A rode back to the roof with Sharl and took his projector again, preparing for takeoff. "Did you enjoy your time at the lab?" she asked him. "It looks like your batteries are running a little bit low, lower than I'd like to see. The zoo and downtown will wait for another day. I, or rather, your other friend, will have to work on extending the battery life in the projector before you go on longer adventures. But this was a good first step."

"Oh, I know," Stesha said ruefully, "and it serves me right for having technology around that I can't even understand, let alone repair, but there are only so many hours in the day, and cells in my brain. It's some half-experimental project that the people out at Lonely Point have been working up for emergencies, and I was able to get a prototype. It uses solar panels and what looks like a really sophisticated farm windmill to harness power without burning fuel. It's worked very well for months, then last night, kaput!" She shook her head. "Anyway, if it turns out you need something, I can pop us right back here for it. Ready?" Resting a light hand on his shoulder, she touched the tree with her fuzzy mitten. The trunk seemed to yawn open, and in moments they were shooting through a world of green light and the smell of pine needles. Within seconds, they'd popped out in a dim room, lit here and there by windows, but obviously without power. Stesha went to the counter and turned on a battery operated lantern. The light revealed a room much like a living room in a small apartment, complete with kitchenette and living room set, except that the walls, ceiling and floor were made of plants.

Stesha appeared directly at the appointed hour, the elm tree sprouting one long, non-native seed pod that stretched to the ground and split open to reveal the plant controller. "Hello, Trevor," she said with an immediate smile upon seeing him. "I can't believe how cold it is today!" It wasn't much colder than average for Freedom City in the winter, but she'd dressed for an arctic expedition, in a bulky black coat that looked likely to belong to her husband, a purple knitted hat, matching scarf and mittens, and green snow boots. "Looks like you're ready for anything the generator has to offer. It all needs to come along?"

"That's not a problem at all," Stesha told him cheerfully. "I can pick you up there in, hmm, would half an hour be long enough for you to get everything together? You've got this beautiful old elm tree out in your circle drive, I could meet you there." She laughed. "If you need more time, just tell me, I know I'm overeager because it's so darn cold out today. I knew I shouldn't have moved so much of my furniture out there until springtime!"

"It's not local, I'm afraid," Stesha told him with a soft laugh. "It's a couple dimensions over, at my, hmm, headquarters, I suppose you could call it. The generator is the only source of power there, so it's awfully cold in my house now that it's off. It's a solar and wind combination generator, so my thought right now is that maybe running the heat with not enough sunny days to power it caused some kind of burnout. I can give you a ride from anywhere you'd like to be picked up, just let me know where and when."

She smiled and took a moment to touch her hand to his cheek. "Love you too," she told him, the words making her feel warm in an entirely different way, and serving to calm her jangling nerves a little at the same time. Yes or no, now or later, none of that was the important part, compared to being able to hear and say those words to someone who was here and real and alive. "Let's go save the city again."

"Oh, hello, Trevor," Stesha said, her voice warming despite her rotten day. "It was so nice to see you at the wedding. And I wanted to thank you and your grandfather for the lovely gift. It was so thoughtful! But that's not the real reason I called," she added. "You see, I have a bit of a mechanical problem that's totally beyond my ken. You see, my generator's broken. It's not the sort of thing I can just call a repairman for, but I know you're an excellent engineer. I was wondering if you might have time to take a look at it?"