Electra

"Really?" Erin looked totally surprised for a moment, then she grinned. "Yeah, I mean, I would love to. It would be an honor. You and Mike are so perfect together, it's going to be an awesome wedding. And it should be big, super big," she added enthusiastically. "The biggest party of the year, with music, and dancing, and tons of food. I'm not sure Zoe would feel good about being in it, but you could always ask." Erin scratched her head thoughtfully. "Even if she says no, it would probably mean something that you asked her. I think she's really lonely." Crunching a pillow up and putting it under her head, Erin looked thoughtfully at the ornate ceiling. "You think Mike really needs to come out before the wedding?" she asked. "I mean, you already took the heat by coming out in public, and that's what you wanted to do, so it's good. But anyone who really cares about Terminus Babies probably already suspects all of us on Young Freedom just because of our ages, and a lot of other people it probably won't even make a difference to. I mean, I don't think it's bad or anything that he got his powers the way he did," she added quickly. "I don't think there's any shame in it or anything like that. But I know he would hate having to be in the public eye like that. It might be nice if you could avoid that."

Miss A set her half-finished bottle down and followed him. "Wonder who'll go for more, you or me," she whispered with a conspiratorial grin, even as she waved to the applauding crowd. Contrary to the name, they weren't the only ones on the block today, various other local luminaries had put themselves up for charity, but the two superheroes were definitely going to be the biggest draw. "If we weren't heroes, we could put a little wager on it."

Erin's entire face turned pink at that, revealing without words that her thoughts had been traveling along the same lines. "Maybe the king will let you come back here," she suggested. "This seems like it would be a pretty ideal place to honeymoon. But it's not like you don't have the whole world at your disposal, and unlimited money." She rolled onto her back, long limbs flopping like a rag doll as she looked over at her roommate. "It could be cool, you could visit like every five star hotel in the world for one night each, and see which one is the best." She smiled, a little ruefully. "I still can hardly believe you're getting married this summer."

Miss A took a bottle of water, opting for a more nuanced sip as she glanced out at the crowd watching the video. "It was a solid performance," she agreed. "There were parts I'd have tightened up if I'd had more time to work on it, but they seemed to like it out there. Being so high up does have its advantages," she observed philosophically. "So what exactly is going to go on in this hero auction? Are we being auctioned off for, hmm, dates, or for yard work, or eye candy at a party, or what?"

"Nicely done," Miss A murmured under the swells of applause, even as she beamed out at the adoring audience. They really had done an amazing job, and the crowd loved it. It was lovely, nearly intoxicating, to stand there and drink in the praise, but too much of that would be unseemly, and she knew it. Instead, when the applause began to die down, she stepped forward. "Thank you all so much. It's a pleasure to be able to perform for you on behalf of such a good cause. We're going to take a break for just a moment so you can watch a video made by the staff and patients of the oncology department, and remember where your donations today are going." Stepping back, she gestured to the screen, which filled with a video title screen, then moved quietly to the edge of the stage.

"Yes, you'd have to know, wouldn't you," Stesha said meditatively. "I mean, it can't just be a mystery forever. That's a good way to go crazy. Even if it's something you don't want to know, it's better than never getting any answers at all." She took a deep breath. "Who do we know who can travel to the edge of the galaxy and back in a reasonable amount of time?" she asked Taylor. "I know I can't get there on my own. I only go between Earths."

Miss A returned his grin, focusing intently on Gabriel's face as they spun faster and faster. "Ready?" she mouthed at the apex to the spin, then released, pushing off against his straight arms so that they went rocketing in opposite directions like ping-pong balls flung from a centrifuge. Miss a tumbled effortlessly through the air and brought herself under control in time to gracefully dive back down towards the stage in time for the falling action of the music. She was extremely glad that it was impossible for her to get dizzy.

Each time her hand touched Gabriel's, Miss A would go rocketing off in a new direction, flying so close to the camera that people on the ground drew back reflexively from the giant screens, or buzzing down so close to the ground that paper programs went flying in the wind from her passing. She was careful to keep the sonic booms to a minimum, not wanting to hurt anyone's ears, but there was plenty that could be done below that threshold. Flying up to Gabriel in midair, she took both of his hands and began to swing them in a circle, using that momentum to swing herself as well, until they were both flat-out in the sky over the crowd and spinning like the blades of a fan!

Erin was already in her pajamas, having bid Trevor good night in the hallway, and she was more than willing to echo the sentiment. She dropped down face-first onto her own giant bed, sighing with pleasure as it settled under her with cloudlike softness. "I think my career may be over," she told Alex, her voice muffled. "I don't think I'm ever going to leave this bed again, except maybe to try out the giant bathtub someday. Why don't we have beds like this at school?" One of these beds would've taken up the entire square footage of their dorm room, but that seemed immaterial.

"I was born ready," Miss A assured him with a saucy grin as she rose as well, bobbing up as easily as a balloon off its string. "Hope you are, too!" With a laugh, she reached out and pushed off against his shoulders, tucking herself into an end-over-end tumble that sent her shooting into the sky and directly towards the first camera. Their schedules hadn't allowed for a lot of time to rehearse this routine, but improvisation was the spice of life, right?

Miss A maneuvered expertly though the air, shooting beams just to swoop around them, then finally diving down out of the sky and turning several dizzyingly tight loops around her fellow hero before drawing up to a stop next to and just slightly above him. She waited, grinning, until the applause died down enough for her to be heard before speaking again. "And that was Gabriel with the stunning sound effects! Give it up for him!" It was an easy crowd to work, and the two charismatic heroes likely could've gotten the whole place doing the Hokey Pokey if they'd liked. For now, the applause was enough. "Remember, everyone, you can text in with your donations at any time during the show! We're showing off for a very good cause today!"

"I'm afraid most of my heroic life involves laboratories and test tubes," Miss A said with a laugh that had the audience eating out of her hand. "But I do have a little fun now and again. Like this!" With that, she took off into the sky, red, white and blue lasers flying harmlessly from her hands in a wild kaleidoscope of color as she began doing aerial stunts that a Blue Angels pilot would envy, and at a height low enough that the crowd could still see her brilliant smile.

This time, the smile Miss A gave him was sharp-edged. "If you're asking for artificial help, I'm afraid I'm not authorized to write prescriptions. That sort of thing can play havoc with your blood pressure, too, so you'll want to have a care." She tapped her pad smartly with the stylus. "I think that about wraps things up for today, unless you had any specific questions relating to your analysis."

Miss A nodded, picking up her pad and writing a few more notes on it. "Very interesting. Now I just have a few more medical history questions I got sidetracked off earlier. Have you ever sired or borne a child?" she asked. "I know your physiology could be potentially capable of supporting either activity, though many things are still a mystery until I analyze the samples you provided a few moments ago." She leaned casually against a lab table, pad in hand.

"No, I mean... what if he was gone?" Stesha asked softly. "What if it came time to marry him, and he wasn't there, and you didn't know if he was even alive or not? Not even something you could fight or argue out. You had a baby coming, and all those responsibilities, and your entire family waiting for it all to unfold. What do you think you would've done?" She tugged on the end of her long green braid, twisting it a few times around her hand while she looked out over the landscape and little flowers grew at her feet.

Miss A's smile dimmed slightly, but remained in place in a very professional manner. "Yes, of course. Now do your altered genetics grant you any other superpowers, besides the limited shapeshifting and regeneration?" she asked, plugging the handheld scanner into a larger computer to upload and analyze the data she'd collected already. "Have you ever attempted to mimic, say, the wings or glider of another hero and use them to fly?"

"It actually took me quite some time to master my powers," Miss A told him, adjusting a lens on a minicam. "I only began doing hero work this past summer, when I was sure I wasn't going to get myself killed in some embarrassingly ignominious way. It's harder than it looks to get used to flying, maneuvering, and shooting at the same time! Even an innate understanding of physics will only take you so far in a real world situation." She laughed. "And I'm afraid my physiology wouldn't be quite as forgiving of mistakes as yours seems to be. I'd hate to get a hand chopped off."

That description got a chuckle out of Miss A as she envisioned the looks on the faces of the luckless villains. "That must've been quite an experience. How long have you been doing hero work?" she asked. While she listened, she left the sensor to recalibrate itself and concentrated on her cameras for a moment, making sure she was capturing the movements of the disembodied extremity. It was obviously not transparent to light, so there was something there to scan. She just wasn't quite capturing it yet.

"Okay, looks like it's time to get out of here," Stesha told Gabriel. "I'd say he's pretty distracted." Letting the vines and robots fall to the ground in a lifeless heap, she grabbed hold of Gabriel's hand and centered in on the flower she'd given Fusion. With her other hand touching the flowers braided into her green hair, she teleported them both into the building, giving Fusion only the advanced warning of the flower growing very large seconds before they arrived. "What's going on?" Stesha asked as they stepped out.

"I never really thought about it," Miss A admitted, fiddling with her scanners, trying to get the readings she was looking for. It wasn't looking promising just yet, but she was patient. "I suppose it makes sense that they didn't want to use a whole actor just for the sake of one disembodied hand. Can you make it hold still for a few moments, or just hold the movements to a smaller circle? I need to get a closer reading." Nibbling on one perfect red lip, she took a tool and began making finicky adjustments to a large and complex-looking device. "When did you realize you could detach and reattach your body parts?" she asked.

Miss A laughed, but reclaimed her hand quickly nonetheless. No matter what the circumstances, feeling up the patients was not looked upon favorably at ArcheTech. Plus, it was more than a little bit creepy, when she thought about it. "I can do that on my own time, but thanks anyway," she told Slick dryly, running the scanner over the Miss A clone. "Do you mimic my powers when you're in that form?" she asked, curiosity winning out over discomfort. "The strength, flying, things like that? Or is it simply a mimic of my appearance?"

"At least one person on the stakeout will have to be wrangling that guy," Miss A said, nodding in the direction of Number 1. "The people they're supposed to rendezvous with apparently know him out of costume, and can tell its him before they show up. We'll need to have him along to be convincing. I think I can handle him, so I'll be down on stakeout duty. Victory, I believe you're the fastest flyer we have, you could fly out and back us up if needs be."

"All right, good girl," Miss A said with a nod, looking around at the others. "Lay down face-down now, and don't move. You'll probably feel better like that anyway." While the villain complied, she spoke to Victory. "They've got a meet arranged down at the docks. We could stake it out and set a trap, we've got a little bit of time here to plan." She shrugged one shoulder elegantly. "That is, if you don't already know who they are. It looks like you were expecting this attack."

"That's true," Stesha allowed. "Both of you work well in crisis situations. And you're good together in crisis situations." That acknowledgement was harder to spit out, but she did it anyway. "I don't think I could stand to live under the kind of pressure that gets you thriving. That's what I love about this place, it's so peaceful. I love Freedom City and the work I do there, but being in the city and on call all the time would wear me right down to a nubbin." She was quiet for a minute, looking over the peaceful and blasted dual landscape. "What would you have done," she asked, "if you hadn't been able to marry Jack when you did?"

"Get in line," Stesha muttered to the voice over the loudspeaker, too quietly to be picked up on. "Been there, done that. It's creepier with bees." She waved a hand, tossing one of the robots high in the air before catching it mere inches from the ground. As soon as the tentacle robots arrived, she figured, she'd grab Gabriel and make for the building. That had to be long enough for any distraction Fusion or Midnight could need. She just wished she'd thought to set up a signal ahead of time.