Electra

That drew another chuckle from Stesha, even as she arranged a couple of white rolls on a plate next to the warmed soup and poured some Sprite into a glass for him. Bringing the whole meal over to the coffee table, she said, "Well, that's an excellent endorsement, even if you've only been awake here for half an hour or so. I do bring people here sometimes, though it's usually civilians I'm removing from a danger zone, and they stay in a nice holding area about a quarter-mile from here. Usually that's just long enough for the fight to be over, though, so they don't exactly get a chance for a lot of touring. Now eat up." She poured a glass of Sprite for herself and curled up in one of the armchairs to sip it while Carson ate. Her color was a little off, though it was hard to tell with all the light reflecting off and shining through the colored leaves.

Erin gave Jill a wry half-smile. "Believe me, if I can make friends here, pretty much anybody can. There are a lot of people here who were kind of weird where they come from, so it's kind of easier to make friends now that they're in with all the other weirdos from everywhere else. And we haven't even had first quarter finals yet. You've still got a lot of time before the end of the year and graduation and all that." She dug into her sugary breakfast with relish, working neatly despite the mountain of toppings.

By the time Joan caught up to Miss Americana, the latter was already in the anteroom to the ladies washroom, a sumptuously appointed waiting area well supplied with mirrors as well as complimentary toiletries and perfumes and a few purse-sized sewing kits in case of wardrobe mishaps. Miss A didn't seem to notice Joan when she came in, being quite absorbed with a critical assessment of herself in the wall of full-length mirrors. She examined the fit of her dress, checked the hem, smoothed her hands over her hair. She was turning around to look at her butt when she finally noticed the reporter. "What are you doing in here?" she blurted out, not sounding quite herself.

She laughed. "This is my secret hideout, sort of. It's an alternate Earth I'm renovating, and sort of using as a home away from home. These days it feels cozier to me than my apartment in Freedom City, really. We'll see how I feel when it starts snowing!" Stesha reached into the minifridge and pulled out a large tupperware container full of soup, ladled some into a dish, and popped it into the microwave. "It's an unpopulated planet these days, and most if it's not in good shape at all, but I've been fixing it up. It's a good way to practice using my powers. I brought you here because it's easier to concentrate on my healing powers here, and, well, because it's where the bed is."

"Like I said, it's been a long couple of days," Stesha told him. "You very nearly died. You can't expect to bounce back right away, even if you are a superhero. Here, let me help you to the couch, so you can at least have a change of scene. Just relax." As she spoke, vines descended from the leafy ceiling, gently wrapping around him once more and passing him along through the hallway and into the main room with a sensation not unlike rocking in a hammock. They deposited him gently onto a comfortably worn couch in the middle of what was obviously the living room area. The couch he was laying on and two recliners surrounded a coffee table, all of them set up to face a space heater that was keeping the room cozy warm. The rest of the room was filled with a small kitchenette and dining area, all of it made of living plants or obviously brought in from elsewhere. Stesha followed him in banishing the vines back to the ceiling. "I've got a big pot of chicken noodle soup to start off with. You're not a vegetarian or anything, are you?"

"You're such a freak." Erin told Mark almost affectionately, her cheeks flushing at the saucy question. She glanced over at Trevor and blushed a little harder. "The cutest part of a guy is definitely his car," she said with a nod. Tipsy as she was, she could only hold the deadpan for a moment before she started to snicker. "Well, it's a very important feature, anyway. That classic limo was amazing, especially when I got to drive it. But I also have to admit that a guy with a great back is super hot, especially when he's exercising." She nodded definitively at that, though her face was bright pink by now.

"Jesus Christ!" Gina slammed on the brakes as the ball of quantum material impaired her vision. "You don't even exist, you ill-defined mass of subatomic nonsense, I could explain you away in half a page of theoretical equations! DON'T do that anymore!" she added to Supercape as the ball dissipated. "I have to see to be able to drive! She'll talk to you in a few minutes, just be as quiet as you can until then. She's resting." Gina drove as quickly as she could towards the lab, praying she wasn't going to get herself into a ticket or an accident and just cap off this day. She pulled around to the back of the office building where her lab was, parking across two spots. "Get out, both of you," she ordered. "The food and soda's in here, you better come with me if you want any." The robot followed with perfect obedience, the primitive AI interpreting and following commands flawlessly.

"Augh!" Gina quickly reclaimed her arm and shoved the addled hero into the backseat of the car. "Come on, I'll feed you and figure out how to get your brain working again. Just leave off with the grabby hands, okay? Stay right there." She clicked on the child safety locks for good measure and hastily got into the driver's seat, with Miss A passively turning her head and looking out the windows as they drove off. "Can't go home," Gina muttered, "better hit up the lab."

"You want to go with the pretty lady, don't you?" Gina asked, lifting her face to look the man in the eyes. It wasn't hard when he was so totally out of it, though it was weird looking up at him when she was used to looking through Miss A's eyes. "She will want to see you! I'll give you a piece of candy and some soda if you come along," she added slyly. "It tastes so good, but only if you come now." She walked away towards the car, hoping he would follow. If he didn't, she'd have to leave him to his own devices and trust that someone would call the Freedom League or something.

Gina thought about taking her people-mover, but realized if she did that, she would have to rely on the blitzed out Supercape to follow her home, and he might just forget and carry the robot god-knew where. A car was in order. She hopped into her shiny green Chevy Volt and lit out for the park, the car's fake engine noise revving away as she sped through the streets, avoiding or timing the traffic lights. She'd arranged the grid near her house for maximum convenience, even if she never went out, so within scant minutes, she was driving right up to the pavilion where her defunct robot and its unlucky pal were waiting. She shoved through the crowd, which was growing larger by the minute. Kneeling down by the robot, she asked with great concern, "You okay, boss? Wake up!" even as she slid a hand around to the robot's back. A hidden switch activated Voice Command Mode, locked to Gina's own voice, and had the robot blinking its eyes and looking around as though waking from sleep. "Oh good, you're all right. Sit up now." Without lifting her head or looking directly at anyone, Gina said louder, "She's all right, everything's fine. Go get in the car." Obediently, Miss A rose and headed for the little hybrid, climbing into the passenger seat. "And, um,you should get in the car too," she told Supercape, staring at his shoes.

"He's really good," Erin mentioned, looking at the busily-eating JJ. "I mean, he's happy most of the time and doesn't just cry for the heck of it. I was only seven when my sister was born, but most of what I remember from her being a baby is that she had colic and cried forever. And some of the kids I used to babysit were really whiny, but he's only upset when he's hungry or too tired. Otherwise he'll just play and play. You guys are lucky."

"They were very patriotic back in the day," Erin said philosophically, finishing off her nearly-forgotten drink. It was warm, which didn't improve the taste any, but she was tired of holding the cup. She certainly wasn't about to ask for any of what Mark was having, and she was a little nervous about being dared to try some of the banana rum. "Well, truth worked out for me pretty well last time," she boasted. "Let's go with truth."

Erin applauded the feat of recitation, managing to splash herself in the process. "That is a lot of Freedom Leaguers," she marveled. "I kind of thought there were only a couple dozen of them. Did you like have all the action figures and the secret headquarters and stuff when you were a kid?" she asked. "I guess that's one way to learn all those names, if you were having them save the other toys and stuff. Plus, it's your turn again now."

"I don't think he can re-evaluate his priorities," Stesha said quietly, looking up at Taylor. "He's literally saving the lives of millions of people, and he's been doing stuff like that since almost before I was born. Even if I could compete with that, what kind of hero would that make me if I tried? I just... I just want him to come back and be an Earth hero, with me, and it's ridiculously selfish to want that. So I've been stressing out over that for a little while now. How did you do it?" she asked Taylor suddenly. "You have a job like that, where you have to save all the worlds. How can you make it work?"

Miss Americana flopped to her back when he grabbed her arm, revealing wide-open eyes in a fixed stare. Her whole body was entirely limp, alarmingly so, to anyone in command of their faculties. The civilians had cleared well out of the way during the altercation, but a few of the bravest ones were beginning to creep back onto the scene. "Is she okay?" one of them murmured. "Should we call an ambulance?"

One moment, Miss A seemed in consummate control of the situation, ready to take on the simian mastermind. The next moment, she was falling out of the sky, tumbling to earth like a broken doll. She hit hard and didn't move, only the small motions of breathing showing she was still alive. A mile away in Midtown, Gina jolted in her recliner and opened her eyes with a shouted oath. "Dammit, dammit," she muttered, her head ringing as she sat up. He entire brain felt wrapped in cotton, unable to escape her head to go anywhere. She wasn't going to be able to get back into the robot until the sensation wore off. By then, who knew what could happen? After two seconds of endless indecision and weighing of her options, Gina headed upstairs to grab her jacket. She was going... out.

"Stay there!" Miss A ordered him. Definitely an intelligence draining ray. Diabolical. But hopefully temporary. She pointed the gun at the simian scientist. gazing levelly down the barrel at him. "I'm going to shoot you with this now," she informed him coolly. "If it isn't a temporary brain-drain effect, I suggest you tell me the antidote right now so there is some hope of reviving your intellect eventually."

"Just call out if you need anything, all right? I'll be right out here." Stesha stepped out of the bathroom and adjusted the curtain for maximum modesty. It was still early in the morning, and she was tired and feeling oddly unwell herself, but she'd earned it. Day before yesterday had been just awful, and yesterday had been no picnic either. There had been a lot of injured, scared, displaced people to deal with, a lot of damage to clean up. She needed a day off in the worst way. After putting on some coffee, she dug up Derrick's biggest sweatsuit and passed it through the curtain without looking. "Here," she said, "you can wear these till you can get home and get clothes. There's a towel under the sink if you'd like to wash up, but don't push yourself! Are you hungry?"

Miss A hesitated for a moment as Doctor Archeville hurried away, standing by herself in the middle of the dance floor. A quick glance around told her how silly that looked, and that people were looking at her. It was objectively the case that people always looked at her, but somehow that didn't quite click fully into the thought process at the moment. The proper social move, she knew perfectly well, would be to go greet the new arrivals, or failing that, to go and cozy up to the investors who were the reason she'd come to the party at all. Instead, she opted for a tactical retreat in the direction of the ladies room.

Erin carefully layered fruit and waffles into a structure that looked more like a cake than breakfast, then completed the illusion with whipped cream and chocolate syrup over top. "Your brother can be home sometimes too, right?" she suggested. "And you've all got phones and stuff, and you can't throw a rock here without hitting a teleporter. If anything were to happen, you could be right there in just a few seconds." If nothing else, she could understand the protective instincts that could overwhelm everything else, even good sense. Grabbing a glass of milk from the dispenser, she carried her tray to an empty table and sat down, nodding cordially at a few people who said hello to her.

"Well, it's your choice how you want to do it," Erin said with a shrug, pushing open the cafeteria doors, "nobody's going to make you give up your secret identity if you don't want to. Makes it more important that you hang out at school though. If you're never here and no one can go see you, that doesn't leave a lot of opportunity to meet people." The whole cafeteria smelled like waffles and fruit syrup in a very appetizing way, so Erin didn't waste any time grabbing a tray and heading for the waffle bar.

"I'm afraid it was ruined," Stesha told him, putting her hands on his shoulder blades and gently steering him out of the bedroom and across the hall. "I put it in a bag for you in case you know someone who can fix it, but I just set it aside. It might be... distressing to look at," she equivocated. Ripped to shreds and soaked in blood seemed too evocative. The bathroom consisted of a portable shower system with a water tank that also fed a basin sink, and a chemical toilet that smelled vaguely of ammonia. There was no indoor plumbing here, apparently. "Should I wait outside, or do you need help?" she asked.

"I'm not interested in being anywhere near your side," she told him flatly. "If you really wanted that, you could've asked me on a date instead of being so totally socially maladjusted about it. My concern here is your giant bees. They're starving, you know," she told him, watching his eyes. "I have about half of them in my care now. They're in a safe place where they'll be taken care of for the rest of their lives. But they aren't happy, because they don't have their queen or their hivemates."

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Stesha told him, sounding genuinely sympathetic. "By the time Heyzel brought you in, you were coughing blood and convulsing. The mask would have gotten in the way. I wasn't sure you were going to make it for a little while, but you're strong and you pulled through. You'll probably be very weak for another day or so, I had to extend my talents pretty far with all the casualties from the attacks, so once you were stabilized, I've been working on you a little at a time." She came around the bed and opened the leaf curtain, revealing a pane of clear crystal with nothing but forest beyond. "Do you want to try sitting up?" she asked him. "The toilet is next door, but I can bring the pan in again if you need it."

"I'll think about it," Stesha lied, pursing her lips into a thin smile. "My fiance and I have plans for this holiday season already, of course. You know how it gets. But that's not the real reason I'm here." She leaned forward slightly, indicating it was time for business. "I'm here about your bees. Specifically the giant, intelligent ones. How exactly did you expect them to get by when you went to prison?"