Electra

"Only in powder form, I'm afraid," Stesha told him apologetically, "I haven't gotten refrigeration set up here yet. I only eat for fun, so it hasn't really been a priority. But it's nice to have someplace to go for coffee or tea. Have a seat, and I'll be just a minute." She waved in the direction of the table, which was a base that appeared to be made of living vines, topped with a square of quarter-inch clear plexiglass. The chairs themselves were wooden and looked like they came from Ikea. The kitchenette counter appeared to be made of the same sort of plexiglass on plant supports, with a pump and basin set into it on one side. Stesha pumped the handle till water flowed, then filled a carafe and started the coffeepot to make hot water. Apparently this place was wired for electricity, since there were also a few lamps dotting the space. Leaning against the counter, she smiled at her guest. "While we're here, you can call me Stesha, by the way," she told him. "I'm terrible about using codenames anyway."

"It doesn't matter," she told him with a chuckle for his antics. "Though from the look of it, you can choose at a moment's notice. And I think I could arrange for a cup of tea, if not the port. Right this way." She reached out and took his hand again, touching the giant tulip with her other hand. It yawned open, revealing a grove of plants that looked to be growing wild next to a river, quite unlike the manicured lawn next to the river here. She guided him through, then touched one of the plants and sucked them both back into the green. This time when they popped out, they were inside some kind of building, though on second glance, it seemed like it might be made entirely out of living plants. The walls were closely woven vines and leaves in all different shades of green, with windows and skylights of translucent leaves that filled the open area with soft greenish light. It was a big room with a high ceiling, and seemed very open even with the dark colors. The furniture was a mixture of normal pieces and items made of more plant matter, but it was familiar enough to let him recognize a sort of living room area, a table, and a small kitchenette. "This is my place," Fleur told Supercape proudly, pushing back her cowl and tugging off her domino mask. "It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's been really good practice. Are you okay with Orange Pekoe?"

Erin scratched her head. "I come from another dimension," she admitted, "so Prime is dimension hopping for me, technically. It's a very familiar sort of place though, so it usually doesn't feel too weird." That much was pretty much common knowledge for anyone connected to the super community, so she figured she might as well share it. "I've been to several other dimensions though, off to Erde and to a world full of little furry Fraggle creatures, and a world that was forever trapped in 1955 or so. It's always kind of weird, and nice to get back here. Haven't met any male versions of myself though."

It took Erin a second to realize that Joan had wound down and was actually looking for input again. She'd gone into civics class mode and glazed over a little, but she figured she'd gotten the gist of what the older hero was so incensed about. "I've seen some of the weird stuff," she agreed. "Some of my classmates look it up, they think it's really funny. I don't know why it bothers people though. It's not like it means anything, or hurts anybody. It's just somebody writing a story." She took a sip of her coffee. "If that's the worst thing that happens to anybody in their career, they're doing pretty well."

That drew a shrug from Erin. "I don't really think about it," she admitted. "Some of my teammates really like the limelight and are good there. I'm happy to leave the press encounters to them whenever I can. And Psyche does a great job of flying the banner for the teen superheroines, along with everything else she wants to stand for. I'm happy to just do my work. And the villains really don't care how you're shaped when you're giving them a beatdown, so I don't really think it's any harder or easier. Is it different for adults?"

"I spent Christmas with friends in the city," Erin said evasively. That was stretching the truth till it yelped for mercy, but it was true that most of her friends lived in Freedom City, so technically she'd been in the city with them over Christmas. And she hadn't wanted anyone with her but Oliver over the holiday itself, and he was a friend too. "It's a long plane trip out to Seattle, and expensive, plus you never know when something's going to crop up. 'Crime never takes a holiday' is a cliche for a reason, right? Do you think you'll ever move back to Portland?" she asked, clumsily attempting to change the subject.

Wander was quite startled when the bee suddenly started breathing fire, but luckily the blast was dispersed enough not to do more than singe some of the blue and gold out of her uniform. She retaliated by leaping onto its massive furry back,right behind its giant antennae. With one quick motion, she reached up and snagged them both like a pair of reins, jerking on one of them to send the bee veering away from the downtown and in the direction of the bay. "They breathe fire!" she shouted to Jack. "Watch yourself!"

The beefire does not exceed Wander's impervious, so she doesn't have to save against it. For her move action, she's going to jump on the bee that was strafing her. For her normal action, she's going to attempt to grapple the bee by grabbing its antennae and force it away from the park and towards the bay. All out attack to grapple: 1d20+19= 38 Grapple check sucks, burning an HP to get a new one: 1d20+35=42(+10)=52.

Erin ran a hand through her hair. "If you're feeling all right, want to go to breakfast with us?" she asked Trevor. "You can come with and help Mark carry his taffy and stuff. Might be fun to see how much he can load on before he falls over," she added, knowing that Mark wouldn't be offended at, and might not notice, having a little fun poked his way. "The nurse will be around later in the day, and you can go talk to her then."

"Of course," Fleur said as she shook his hand, the blue eyes behind her domino mask twinkling with suppressed laughter. "The Freedom League, and all Freedom City, is grateful for your service." Lowering her voice, she told him, "If you like, now that the crisis is over, we could go have a cup of coffee and talk shop. I know a place." It always helped her to unwind a little after a mission when she had a chance, rather than bounce back into civilian life, and she was very curious how her quantum physics professor came to be heroing after hours as well.

By the time Supercape returned to shore, blankets were being provided to the boys and plans were being made for the retrieval of the girl from the barge. Fleur was reporting the successful resolution on a communication beacon with the Freedom League insignia on it, and wrapped up when she saw him coming in for a landing. "Nicely done!' she told him. "My heart was right up in my throat, but you pulled it off just in time. All the kids are safe and accounted for. You all right?"

Fleur kept an eye on the aerial rescue as she did her own work, murmuring encouragement under her breath. "Come on, you can do it, just a little higher..." She had to devote most of her attention to the two boys who were equally endangered though, so she could do nothing to help Supercape directly. As the boy snared in the seaweed squirmed and struggled, a large and incongruous yellow flower grew out of the seaweed and suddenly swallowed him up! Before the other stranded boater could so much as protest, she repeated the procedure on him, nearly scooping him up and letting the plant swallow him, just as the first waves of the barge began soaking the rocks! Back on shore, Fleur tossed a seed onto the ground, which instantly grew into a tulip as tall as she was. Its giant head bent the stem over nearly double, and when it bloomed, it spat out the two wet, terrified, but unhurt boys. She let the police and other bystanders care for them as she watched with bated breath as Supercape strove for altitude. The bathtub had overturned and was bobbing dangerously in the water as the barge drew closer. Just as the hero and his passenger cleared the bow of the first set of cargo carriers, the bathtub was sucked into the undertow of the barge, and was gone, just like that. Stesha let out a breath of relief, waving him in to shore.

"Yeah, pretty much," Erin said, turning her fork over in her hands. She could do this without being a freak about it, she reminded herself sternly. It was just a polite question, and she could answer it without getting all weird. It wasn't like the reporter was asking for an interview. "I live in Freedom City now, but they're still all out on the West Coast. I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to the weather here in summer, though. It's when I really start missing the mountains." There, that was good, she congratulated herself. That sounded normal.

Erin nodded at that, enjoying her food while she listened to Joan talk. She asked a few more questions about the reporter's job, mostly for the sake of polite conversation, and congratulated herself that things were going all right so far. Sure it was too early to call the evening a success, but so far she hadn't said anything stupid or done anything weird, and that was definitely a point in her favor. It probably helped that this was a family a little closer to her own than Mark's bizarre home, so she sort of had the rhythm down. And the food was really good, too.

Erin shrugged. She didn't want to get into an argument with her host over dinner, even if she'd had a lot of strong feelings on the subject. She planned to avoid the press wherever possible, and given her lack of distinguishing characteristics, it probably wouldn't be a problem unless she did anything really stupid. "But what do you do if you're like sitting in a meeting or at your desk and suddenly something comes up that you need to go deal with?"

Stesha pursed her lips. Most of the people she knew who went around flying and wearing capes were very strong as a matter of course, or could fake it when necessary. She hadn't really considered the problem of strength. "Um... not on me," she admitted. "Do you think you could get hold of the bathtub and push or pull it across the water? You'll be working against the current, but it won't be as hard to drag something to shore as to lift it out of the water, right?" Out in the water, the barge was drawing ever closer, its ominous shape looming up less than a quarter mile away now. One of the policemen was on the radio already, but with the current and the massive inertia, it would surely never stop in time. One of the boys was suddenly lifted clear of the rock he'd been clinging to, wrapped in a thick layer of seaweed. He didn't seem to appreciate it much, yelling and flailing, but he was held fast.

Fleur looked at the flapping cape, then at Supercape. "Can you fly?" she asked him helpfully. "If you can, maybe you could go out and grab the girl, bring her back? I might be able to catch those boys on the rocks, but she's going too fast for me to nab her." Concentrating, Fleur stretched out her hands towards the water, closing her eyes to slits. Nothing happened for a few moments, and then a sort of greenish blur became visible under the water near the rocks. Green tendrils began to poke above the water as the seaweed from the bottom grew to gigantic proportions.

"Yeah, I know," Erin said, "I recognized your name. We had to read that article you wrote about the Scarab for Heroes and Civics class." She didn't seem to be too bothered by it, or else she was just absorbed by the sweet potatoes. "About how we can't do anything public without thinking about what people might say, because you never know who might be watching even when you think you're alone. That's the good part about secret identity, I guess. You can't get away with anything if people know who you are."

"You're about the same age as my... my sister," Erin said with a momentary stumble, "but she's in fourth grade. She lives on the other side of the country, though." Rather than get into that any further, Erin turned to Joan. "Well, Claremont's sort of set up to make sure we get plenty of both. I learned really early on to not put off my homework, since there could be an emergency any time, and the teachers aren't very impressed if you didn't finish your book report because you were sucked into an alternate dimension to fight Nazis. But I guess it's easier than regular school, because you don't have to worry about your secret identity if anything comes up that needs to be dealt with. You do the secret identity thing, right?" she asked Joan. "How does it work?"

Fleur's mouth dropped open slightly. "Professor?" she blurted, then caught herself. "You're right, of course. We'd better get to the river right away. Allow me?" She opened her hand to allow the seed she'd been clutching in her fingers to grow. As soon as it was a few inches tall, which took only seconds, she laid a hand on the caped hero's arm and sucked them both into the plant network. There was a moment of overwhelming green and the scent of fresh-cut grass, and suddenly they were at the scene of the accident! They were not the first on scene, a squad car was present and a small gaggle of students, including one boy who was soaking wet and shivering even in the steamy August heat. A large clawfooted bathtub was still bobbing its way down the river with a girl trying desperately to climb inside it, while two other students clung to rocks out of reach of the shore! It was a dangerous situation already, made only worse by the giant barge bearing down slowly on the scene! If the students weren't rescued quickly, the barge itself or its massive wake would surely drown them.

Just at that moment, the door to the women's restroom burst open and someone darted out, making Supercape pull up short to avoid a collision! "Sorry, sorry!" Fleur de Joie turned to see who she'd nearly crashed into, and was startled to see another superhero standing there. What a coincidence! "I didn't realize anyone else had been called up!" She hastily adjusted her cowl to cover a few trailing strands of green hair, then took another look at the new hero. Did he look familiar somehow?

The food was very good, and a nice change from the slightly monotonous cafeteria menu, so Erin had to finish chewing and swallowing before she could speak. "I spend a lot of time in physical training," she agreed, "it's important for the hero work I do. But I also spend a lot of time studying and doing schoolwork. They want to make sure that we have a solid education before we graduate, too. I guess they want us to have balance." She could sense the undercurrents between mother and daughter, but peacemaker wasn't exactly a role that came naturally. "What grade are you in?" she asked Lois.

Erin studied the little girl for a minute, making sure she had some kind of smile on her face while she did so. She was as old as Megan would be, as old as Megan in this world, but looked very different. That made it easier, she guessed. "You're welcome," she told Lois gravely, "but your mom is the one who defeated the sharks. I just helped her out afterwards to make sure she was okay. She really showed them a thing or two." Looking up, she shook hands with Charlie as well. "Thanks for having me over," she said, then followed Joan towards the dining room. The tentacles looked decidedly odd, even odder than when Fusion was in costume, but everyone here seemed quite used to them.

With the fight at hand taken care of, Erin could hear a battle coming from further away. She took a look at the sky to see whether Dark Star was coming back, but it remained stubbornly empty. Leaping from branch to platform, she headed in the direction of the fight, figuring that was where Trevor had headed. She didn't bother to be stealthy. If the invaders heard her coming, so much the better. She was an excellent distraction, and would hopefully buy time for Trevor to find the others.

"When do you want to get started?" Erin asked, running a hand through her hair. "I mean, do you have stuff specifically in mind to do now, or is it going to be when you see something that needs fixing, you'll get in touch with us and we'll go fix it? I know you and I have gone on a couple of chases before, but this sounds like it might be a lot more, you know, involved, if we're trying to save entire realities."