Electra
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"That's right," she told him, waving a hand at the poor pink bush, which rustled its leaves like a dog shaking off water and resumed its normal color. "Dark Star thought I might be able to give you some tips on having powers over life and death." Fleur smiled behind her domino mask. "I realize it's not quite the same as how he described your powers as acting, but it's a start. Everything we do has consequences that we have to be willing to bear the responsibility for. How long have you been practicing?"
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Stesha looked slightly pained. "That was a little different, Mom," she pointed out. "I don't want to keep secrets from you and Dad, but I need a secret identity if I want to have a normal life. Plus, it keeps all of you safer as well. I try to stay out of trouble, but there are some really bad people out there. Maybe we could tell the adults, quietly, but not the kids. And not Chloe, not yet." Chloe was technically an adult, as of last year, but she was still the baby of the family and often acted the part. "But the more people who know, the less secret it is."
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The bush was bigger than the guppies, but not much more difficult to manipulate. The dots started in its center and radiated out, leaving streaks and spots of pink color in their wake that spread to cover the entire plant. It looked like it had been dipped in Pepto-Bismol by the time Mark was finished. "Nice trick," came a woman's amused voice from behind him, "but your color choice could perhaps use a little finesse." He turned to see a woman in her mid-twenties or so approaching him, pretty behind what her green costume and brown cowl concealed of her face and figure. Stesha had arrived a few minutes early for the rendezvous, but had chosen to remain concealed and observe for a few moments. Derrick's description had been accurate enough that she was sure that the angry and uneasy-looking young man was the one she was looking for, even before he started painting the scenery. "You must be Edge," she said, offering her gloved hand. "I'm Fleur de Joie."
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"The zombie has made worse," Wander told the newcomer dryly. She didn't comment on what the zombie had said about the dead, she knew the screams and wails of the dead well enough. In her world, the zombies screamed with the horror and pain of the damned, even as they killed. And sometimes, when she wasn't fighting and the world was a vacuum of silence, the wailing continued. The dead were far from quiet. A little reluctantly, she holstered her bat and stood down from attack readiness. "Do you have a place to stay besides the cemetery?" she asked Lady Winter.
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"Call us if you need anything," Erin told Mark, the words sounding inadequate in her own ears as she tucked the chunk of drone under her arm and reached for her beacon. "You should probably go in the house," she advised, "people are going to start wondering what's going on. And... and don't forget to eat, or you'll just feel even worse." With that bit of hard-won advice, she activated her beacon and teleported away, part of her very glad for the excuse to desert the field before anyone started asking her any questions.
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"We don't need a lot of sleep," Stesha explained, "and we don't really need the car for traveling," she admitted, a little abashed. "It only takes a few moments to get here from Freedom City. Now that you know what's going on, I can visit more often!" Stesha was honestly very pleased with that idea. "We might go back to Freedom City tonight, let Chloe and David have their rooms to themselves, and come back first thing in the morning. I don't have to be back at work until Tuesday, so I was thinking we'd spend the long weekend. Unless something happens so that we have to go back early."
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Platinum Oliver Oliver is getting six of my platinum reward points, bringing his MP total to 150. Please replace his current sheet with the following: Abilities: (0 + 2 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40 pp) STR: 10 (+0) (18 (+4 w/Growth) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 20 (+5) (24 (+7 w/Growth) INT: 20 (+5) WIS: 20 (+5) CHA: 20 (+5) Combat: (10 + 10 = 20 pp) Attack: +5 (+7 w/Shrinking, +4 w/Growth) Defense: +5 (+7 from Shrinking, +4 w/Growth) DMG: +7 Strike w/Shrinking (+11 w/Growth) Saves: (1 + 4 + 1 = 6 pp) Tou: +7 w/Shrinking (+9 w/Growth) Fort: +6 (+8 w/Growth) Ref: +5 Will: +6 Skills: (52 r = 14 pp) Acrobatics 8 (+9) Bluff 4 (+4) Climb 8 (+10) Knowledge (arcane lore) 4 (+9) Notice 8 (+13) Sense Motive 8 (+13) Stealth 15 (+16) (+24 w/Shrinking, +12 w/Growth) Feats: (4 pp) Agile Climber Attractive [Cute] Elusive Target Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: 1 + 4+ 7+ 22 + 2 +2 + 20 + 8 +2 + 6 = 74 pp Immunity 1 (aging) Comprehend 2 (read/understand all languages simultaneously) (4 pp) Impervious Toughness 7 (7 pp) Insubstantial 4 (vulnerable to water; PF: Alternate Power, Subtle) (22 pp) AP: Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Area [General, Burst], Insidious; Flaws: Range 2 [touch]; PF: Subtle) (21 pp) Leaping 2 (x5) (2 pp) Protection 2 (2 pp) Shrinking 8 (Extra: Continous Duration) (PFs: Normal Movement, Strength, Toughness) (20 pp) AP: Growth 4 (Extra: Continous Duration) Strike 7 (PF: Mighty) (8 pp) Super-Movement 1 (Slow Fall) (2 pp) Super-Senses 6 (Aura Reading, Low-Light Vision) (6 pp) Drawbacks: (-8 pp) Mute (common, major) (-4 pp) No Hands (common, major) (-4 pp) Abilities 40PP + Combat 20PP + Saving Throws 6PP + Skills 14PP + Feats 4PP + Powers 74PP - Drawbacks 8PP = 150/150 Power Points DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN
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"Derrick and I met through our hero work," Stesha said, growing a little more comfortable now that things seemed to be going well. She smiled at Derrick and squeezed his hand lightly. "We work together often, it's safer and easier to work in pairs and groups, rather than alone. I try my best to keep safe," she assured her mom with a grin. "But I don't think it's a genetic thing," she told her dad, turning to him. "You remember when I was working in Chicago, and we got that weird plant in at the shop, the hundred year bloomer? When it opened, it sort of exploded all over me, knocked me unconscious for a minute, remember? You had me go to the doctor afterwards? It was after that when I started getting powers." She rounded her shoulders, looking like a guilty little girl for a minute. "I know that was a long time ago. I wanted to try and understand it myself first, and then I didn't want you to worry..."
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Erin watched quietly as the scene unfolded, pursing her lips till the edges turned white as Rick said goodbye to his family one last time. She took a step towards Mark and then stopped, not sure if she should intrude on their grief right now. Instead, she turned and looked around at the neighborhood. Everything and everyone seemed normal again. Chris's face was back on, everyone was back in their normal uniforms. She picked up the closest piece of broken Omegadrone. "We should collect these, I guess," she said to no one in particular. "They'll want to analyze them at Freedom Hall."
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"Um, yeah, a couple," Stesha said incredulously. "Like why didn't you mention it beforehand, or afterwards, or like, ever? Not that I don't appreciate not dying when my ticket got punched, but if I'd known beforehand, it could've spared Derrick and Taylor quite a bit of mental pain. Does it do anything else you haven't told me about?" She held up her new, slightly greener hands and looked at them as though seeing them for their first time. They didn't look even slightly quasi-divine to her, but the evidence was at least suggestive.
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There was silence for a moment as Stesha stared and tried to take that in. The seeds that were in her hand slipped from her fingers and rooted in the ground at her feet, sending runners trailing over her ankles. "The wine did that?" she asked incredulously, sounding more staggered than angry. It was a lot to take in all at once. "But it was just wine! Really good wine, granted, but we had it with cheesecake! I think I broke a couple of laws carrying it in the car! It... does it always do that?"
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Wander looked back to Dead Head, her sympathies clearly with the chilly blue woman. "If you attack everyone who walks into a cemetery after dark, it's a wonder someone hasn't put you down before now." The way she handled the bat clearly said that this was an oversight that could be quickly rectified." She looked over to Lady Winter. "Are you okay?"
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"Because it's important, Mom," Stesha replied, hugging her mom and patting her back, sort of awkwardly. "I got these powers, and it didn't seem right not to do something good with them. Other people with powers go out and become heroes, it seemed like it would be selfish not to. But I was afraid you'd worry, and I never really meant to start fighting villains and things, that just sort of happened..." She seized on her father's question with some relief. "Yes, Dad, pretty much, I can grow them or kill them, travel through them, make them move, stuff like that. I can't do everything he can, but a lot. I had to fight him once, luckily I had friends with me. But it's not all dangerous," she reiterated, mostly for her mom's benefit. "A lot of what I do is stuff like park beautification, helping community gardens, putting flowers in cemeteries. I try and make the city beautiful."
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Stesha looked once to Derrick for support, squeezing his fingers before launching into a better explanation. "I got powers last year when I was working in Chicago," she began. "But it took awhile to learn how to use them. I moved to Freedom City because there are all sorts of heroes there, and I could learn things. Now, um, well... I got pretty good at it. I can control plants." She extended a hand towards her mom's bank of African violets, and they all began to bloom at once. "You probably haven't heard of my other, ah, identity. I go by Fleur de Joie when I'm doing that sort of work." She fell silent, resisting the urge to hide behind her boyfriend like a teenager caught out after curfew.
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Stesha was a little distracted for a moment by Moira touching her face, a phenomenon she had gotten used to but wasn't even close to overcoming yet. "What?" she asked when the words finally sunk in. "I don't think I understand. What do you mean by part divine? Did I come back because of something I drank that night at your house? I don't think I even remember everything I drank that night."
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Erin chuckled at that. "Occupational hazard," she told the tailor, stepping down off his fitting stool. Before she stepped away from the mirror, she ran her fingers through her hair and resettled her headband, one concession to vanity. "Thank you for your help," she told Frank politely. "I can't wait to see what the dress looks like when it's finished." Walking back to Trevor, she gave him an inquiring glance, wondering if he had anything else he wanted to do here.
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"And why should I want what you gave everyone else?" Erin asked. She didn't reach for her bat, but that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Instead she took a few steps forward, putting her hand on Edge's shoulder, then nudging him behind her to stand with the rest of the teens. "All you gave them was a lie. If you gave me a lie, it wouldn't bring my world back." She took another step forward, less than arm's reach from Rick, but purposely angled not to be in the way of Chris' shot if necessary. "You think I don't understand what it's like to be desperate to change things?" she demanded. "You think you have a monopoly on pain because your son died? My whole family died senselessly. All my friends died, every goddamned person died. I know why you did it, because it hurts so bad you can't think or reason and all you want is to make it stop. But now you have to stop it, Rick. Stop yourself before we have to stop you."
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"Just because the world is better for you doesn't mean it's really better," Erin added. "What about all the people who are gone, or the people who never existed? You have no right to decide who lives and who dies, or who's good enough to be in the world. Generations of superheroes have fought against villains who thought they could do that, haven't they? I know you just wanted Mark to be better, but this world you've made isn't one any of us want to live in, not even Mark. You have to make it right."
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It wasn't too hard to see where her parents' minds were, which just made things doubly uncomfortable. Stesha took a seat, then stood up just as quickly, clasping and unclasping her hands the way she had when she was a kid and had been called on the carpet for some infraction. "Mom, Dad... I... well, there were a lot of reasons I decided to move last summer," she began awkwardly. "I wanted to go places and see new things, but that wasn't all. You see..." Stesha hesitated for a long moment, then blurted it out. "I have superpowers, and I went to Freedom City to be a superhero. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I didn't want you to worry, and then I realized it wasn't fair to keep a secret like this from my own parents and that I had to tell you, so here I am!" she blurted, all in one breath.
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As the sun began to set, some fireworks were set off from a nearby backyard, the noise and color putting the punctuation on the end of the day. Gradually the yard began to empty out, people packing up leftovers and kids and heading home, leaving behind flattened grass and the smell of cooked meat in the air. Stesha and Derrick pitched in with the rest of the family to help out with the cleanup, which took until the sun was entirely down. Derrick was bunking with Stesha's brother David in one of the third floor bedrooms, while Stesha was crammed into Chloe's bedroom for the evening. She was strongly tempted to pop home for the night once everyone had gone to bed, but there was something important to do first. With Derrick there to back her up, she loitered in the kitchen doorway until her sisters and brothers had cleared out. "Mom? I need to talk to you and Dad about something. In private."
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Erin eased back a bit at the zombie's unexpected behavior, uncertain what to do when it neither fought nor cowered, but laughed like a lunatic. Still holding her bat up, but no longer poised to strike, she looked from the zombie to the costumed stranger. "I know what this is," she said, nodding in Dead Head's direction, "but I don't know you. Who are you?"
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Wander is readying an action. If Dead Head makes a move to do anything, including raise more critters, she's going to do a teeball special on his head.
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Wander finished dismantling the last of the skeletons and landed with a thud in front of Dead Head, her bat raised and poised. The concentration in her eyes had been supplanted by something that looked an awful lot like hate. "I know what you are," she grated. "I saw what you did. Give me one reason to believe you before I knock your head where you won't find it again."
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Stesha introduced Derrick to more people than he could possibly remember, not just her immediate family and their families, but assorted aunts, uncles, extended relatives, and neighbors who'd come for the barbecue. Derrick was the subject of a lot of friendly curiosity, but Stesha was there to step in whenever anyone asked too closely about what brought them back to Chicago for a weekend barbecue. He received several invitations as well, to swim in the backyard pool with the kids, to join in the next touch football game forming up in the side yard, to have a seat with the scientific crowd from Northwestern hanging out with beers in lawn chairs. There was plenty to do.
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Erin still wasn't sure that patrolling by herself was a good idea, but with Edge recovering from his recent ordeal, Hellion working extra hours, and Psyche and Phalanx getting extra training, Young Freedom wasn't doing much as a team lately. She needed to keep her skills sharp. She was sitting on the edge of a roof near the beach and wondering if she should indulge herself and go swimming when she heard a cry of distress that instantly raised her hackles. Zombies... In the blink of an eye, Erin was up and moving, racing across the rooftops in the direction the cry had come from. In seconds, she'd arrived on the edge of a cemetery where the evil undead were indeed stirring. They seemed to be skeletons rather than zombies, but Erin wasn't about to split hairs. Leaping directly into the middle of the fight, where a lone costumed figure was attempting to fend off the entire horde. Drawing her bat, she proceeded to even the odds with silent and singleminded intensity.