Electra

Erin gaped a little as the teleporter dropped them off in the middle of a whole world she'd never been exposed to before. Even after everything she'd seen in the past six months, it was hard to believe that in one breath they were in Freedom City, and the next in the middle of Africa. She took a moment to stare around and absorb the place before hustling to catch up with the group. For today's excursion, she wore her typical gold and blue practice uniform, which was far sturdier than anything else she might have worn for a trip like this, and more importantly, would be replaced by the school if it was destroyed. She didn't deploy her bat yet as she walked, but she checked it every so often, just to make sure it hadn't brushed up against a tree and been lost. She wasn't much of a diplomat and she sure wasn't much of an investigator, but if there was a fight, she wanted to make sure she was ready. A few of the approximately ten billion bugs tried to bite her as they went, but even jungle-superbugs had little luck with that, as Erin's winter-white skin was as immune to insects as it was to the sun.

Low initiative, my ass, he's at the top of the round. Since her boyfriend has left her out to dry, Stesha is going to use her only attack versus robots and go for the snare. It's a 16, which I am told actually succeeds, so that's a DC 20 baddie check.

Stesha smiled at Derrick as he arrived, then ducked half-behind him and Ace as the reporters arrived. Maybe it was silly, but part of her still felt like her costume was no more convincing than a Halloween getup, deep down. If her parents got a glimpse of her on the news, they would somehow know right away, and the game would be up. Since she'd chickened out at Christmas, she had to keep the lid on that little secret for a few more months. Luckily, Ace was easy to hide behind, and Dark Star was far more famous than she was, so it wasn't too hard to blend. While Ace talked to the reporters, she peered in through the windows. Where was everybody, anyway?

Stesha blinked. "Wow... I hadn't even thought of that part. What a mess. But I guess you'll get it straightened out somehow," she said rather dubiously. "Or you could always have a commitment ceremony in the meantime, those can be very meaningful and beautiful." She scratched her head and wondered how one did go about marrying a corpse, even an unusually active one. The thought gave the her the heebie-jeebies, for a lot of reasons, so she steered away from it again. "How do you feel about white roses and red ribbons? Festive, but doesn't scream Christmas."

Boosting Wander to new caps this month: Add 1 to Dodge Focus (1pp) Add 1 to Protection (1pp) Add 2 to Strength (2pp) Remove Lethal Strike and Attack Specialization Strike (-3pp) Add 1 to Attack (2pp) Add 1 to Will Save (1pp) Done by Angrydurf And redoing Fleur de Joie's array again, to add three points. It will look like this: Snare 15 (entangling vines; PFs: Indirect 3, Obscure sense: Sight, Improved Range, Alternate Power 10) [45pp] AP: Disintegrate 6 [dissolving plants] (Extra: Duration/Sustained; Flaw: Limited/Plant Material; PF: Incurable, Precise, Reversible, Split Attack) AP: Dimensional Pocket 3 [inside magic flower] (Extras: Duration 3/Continuous, Range/Ranged; PFs: Indirect 3, Progression 12 [1,000,000 lbs], Sneak Attack) AP: ESP 6 [looking through plants] (twenty miles, sight and hearing; Extras: Action/free action, No Conduit, Simultaneous; Flaw: Medium/Plants PFs: Dimensional 2 [any plant], Subtle ) AP: Growth 15 [making plants bigger] (Extra: Affects Others, Duration [Continuous]; Flaw: Limited/Plants (-2) PFs: Growth Strike, Sneak Attack, Subtle) AP: Healing 15 [fixing up plants] (Extras: Area/Burst, Total; Flaw: Plants only (-2); PFs: Progression 2, Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Healing 15 (Extras: Total; Flaws: Distracting, PFs: Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Move Object 13 [moving w/vines] (effective Str 65; PFs: Accurate, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Pin, Precise, Indirect 3) AP: Nullify 10 [making plants produce lots of oxygen] (Any air-based effect, Extras: Nullifying Field, Effortless PFs: Progression (100 foot area), Selective, Subtle) AP: Stun 15 (pollen burst; Extras: Range/Ranged, Sleep; Flaw: Action/Full PFs: Reversible, Precise, Sedation) AP: Teleport 9 [stepping through plants] (900 feet/20,000 miles; Extra: Accurate; Flaw: Medium/Plants; PFs: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Turnabout, Progression 11 [500,000 lbs]) Add to DC Block for Dimensional Pocket: 15 Reflex w/Sneak Attack Add to DC Block DC 21/DC 23 TOU Save on Growth Strike Add 1 to Fort Save (1pp) Add 1 to Will Save (1pp) Done by Angrydurf

Holy crap, Invisible Castle is softening me up for something. I'm a little afraid. But I'll take the nat 20. Fear Stesha's invincible flower skin! :D

Just as Taylor spoke, Stesha walked around the side of the restaurant from the alley. She'd had to stop a half-block away at the nearest isolated tree and walk the rest of the way, as most of the dandelions and flowerboxes she counted on were not available this time of year. And it was freezing! Huddled into a puffy blue jacket with a matching knit hat. scarf, and mittens, she hurried up to the others. "Hey guys," she said, her voice a little muffled, "hope I'm not late. I had a terrible argument with a gang of very aggressive hyacinth, but I won. Can we go in yet?"

"You're probably better having the ceremony privately," Stesha admitted. "Less chance for anything to go wrong. And the reception afterwards... well, it'll be a celebration. I'm sure people will be on their best behavior, and they'll police each other. Just make it clear that it's a mixed crowd and you don't want to give up your secret identity. People will respect that. With food and drinks and dancing to keep everyone busy, it'll be a nice time," she said encouragingly. "And if anyone does cause a little trouble, well, maybe you can just say they're from Jack's side."

Stesha staggered for a second as the bolt of energy hit her, but it was more from surprise than pain. The energy dissipated harmlessly over her skin, making her hair crackle under her cowl. The villain was still in the crowd, surrounded by people who were rapidly trying to get away from him, but luckily he hadn't thought to take a hostage yet. Taylor and Derrick were nowhere to be seen. Stesha hoped very much that they were finding some place to change. "Fine, in here then," she retorted bravely, turning and facing him, then throwing a handful of seeds from her pouch. They weren't aimed at the ninja though, rather, they landed on the carpeted floor around him and began growing very rapidly, joining stems and branches and weaving themselves together. In moments, they'd created a U-shaped wall about seven feet tall around the ninja, separating him from the crowd while leaving a clear corridor between him and Stesha. "But you've bitten off way more than you can chew."

"You should have a party," Stesha agreed. "It's a big day, a once in a lifetime day. You should celebrate it." Her voice was a little strained, but she was as sincere as she could be about something that she was dubious about celebrating. She took a breath. "Listen, why don't I get in touch with your mom and we'll work something out for the reception. There's not a lot of time, but I'm sure we can put something together and you'll hardly have to worry about it. My present to you."

"All right, if you're sure," Stesha replied, still sounding concerned. "But if you need anything, or just want to talk, let me know. We want to be, you know, here for you, whatever you need." The thing with Derrick was a funny story that Taylor would probably enjoy hearing about later, but now didn't seem the best time to share it. Some things were more funny with a little retrospective distance. "Is Jack there with you?"

As Ace was leaning down to push the call button, a nearby heretofore-dormant tree suddenly sprouted a large knot in its trunk, which then yawned open to expel Fleur de Joie. She looked around, obviously awed even behind her mask and cowl, then brightened to see a familiar face and hurried over. "Ace, hello!" she called, joining the other two at the door. "Did you get a letter, too?" She gave the winged stranger a friendly smile as well. "Hi, I'm Fleur de Joie. Are we stuck outside?" She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Even through the layers of her costume, it was cold out!

Guess that's the problem with total defense, if they blow right through it, you're double-boned, can't even take an action. Alas! First toughness save blew, spending an HP to not look like a sucker. Second roll succeeds, she shrugs it off.

"Dinner?" Stesha asked, taking a second to wade through all the information. "Um, sure, as long as it's a little later. I'm probably going to be tied up with work until seven or so tonight. If you guys want to go out earlier, I can always catch up with you afterwards." She laughed. "Everybody and their sister wants a just-before-Christmas wedding, seems like. Where are you going?"

"We need the potted poinsettias every three rows along the aisle, and give that altarpiece some attention too, it started listing sideways in the car. Get some evergreen sprigs from the back if you have to cover something up." Stesha stood in the nave of the church she was decorating, consulting her list and trying to delegate enough chores to get her assistant out of her hair. Lately, her floral arrangements looked best if she could deal with them alone, thanks to her powers. "Downstairs in the fellowship hall..." She cut herself off as her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling it out to look at it. "We'll do it later," she told Paul, waving him off into the sanctuary while she opened her phone. "Hey Moira, what's up?"

Stesha stood up, looking automatically over to Taylor and Derrick before realizing they weren't in the best position to help her right now. "That's very impressive," she told the newcomer, reaching into her pouch for a handful of seeds and trying to conceal her own nerves. "But I'm not going to fight you in here. If you want to throw down, let's take it outside." She nodded towards the emergency exit doors set in the side of the room and began moving in that direction herself. She had no idea if that would work, but having a superfight in a hall full of civilians was a terrible idea on every level, and she wasn't sure what else to do!

"Do you need any help?" Stesha asked, repressing the question of what a dhampir was for the moment. It didn't seem like anything good, if it could horrify even Jack. "I've got Derrick over right now, we could come and lend you a hand, or I could at least if he's got to go back to work." It would be interesting trying to finesse an afternoon off so shortly after the craziness of planning the wedding reception, but florists were suckers for drama. She was sure she could come up with a severely edited version of the story that would satisfy her coworkers. "Or if you need some lunch or anything. I know you didn't get very much for breakfast." Under the circumstances, it seemed impolitic to remind her that she was eating for two.

Erin kept her eyes closed for a couple minutes while she sorted through the primer's worth of information Alex had just poured into her head. She blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. "Okay, I think I get it now, or at least the basics. It seems risky, but I guess that's why we have Mark around. Seems like we could just take him to Vegas and do as well for ourselves, but we'd probably get thrown out of all the casinos." She rubbed her temples. "All right, let's get started."

Stesha laughed, disengaging to go sit down on the couch and start squeezing her hair dry with a towel. It was a long process. "Still just in the planning stages, I'm afraid. You'll have to wait awhile longer for me to be able to keep you in the style to which you're accustomed. But if I keep making contacts and getting satisfied customers, it might be just a couple-" She paused as her phone rang, picking it up off the table. "It's Taylor," she told Derrick, "I need to take this." Flipping open the phone she said, "Hey, how's it going?"

Erin listened to Geckoman's list with her brow furrowed. Chris generally had good ideas, even if they tended to be buried in nonsense a lot of the time. "I think we're all willing to help," she told Edet, looking around at her teammates, "but we're not exactly trained in working on the ground outside of Freedom City. You'll have to show us how to get around down there, and who to talk to. Do you expect there's going to be a fight, or do we have to try and find him, then sneak him away from wherever he is?"

"Well, you could be a househusband," she said teasingly, "cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids... could be a problem when you suddenly had to fly off to the other end of the universe with a baby carrier in tow, though. And when I get out on my own for work, I can do some of it from home anyway. I think it's probably another bridge to cross as we come to it." Stesha laid her head on his shoulder and smiled, enjoying the game of hypotheticals. Sure, none of it might ever happen, but it sounded awfully good. And after nearly losing him hardly more than a month ago, it was reassuring to have a chance to think about a happy future. "But I'm not worried. I'll kick your butt back into shape if you ever become a lazy, shiftless energy being, just floating around the house with a beer," she laughed.

That drew a laugh from Stesha. "No, my mom just really likes babies, a lot. Luckily my brothers and sisters and I still turned out pretty much okay." She tousled his hair fondly with her fingers as he started worrying again. "Hey, it's not like we're in a big hurry here. I'm not pregnant, remember? We're not even engaged yet, come to that. I'm twenty-four, you're immortal, more or less, we've got plenty of time. And I make decent money, too. A little saving, a little planning, and we'll just never let our kids watch commercials on television."

Stesha grinned, the corners of her eyes crinkling up. "Not six," she said with utmost assurance. "I decided that about ten Christmases with my family ago." She returned the kiss, just brushing his lips with her own. "I don't think I could handle that, even with superpowers. How would you feel about two with an option for three? That seems just about right."

Wander Money for Nothing Beyond the Veil Giving Thanks Rapprochement Invasion: Riverside Gate Fleur de Joie Pressing Concerns White Wedding Con Games The Coo-Coo's Nest And Blackjack Pruning and Tending A Fine, Fine Line Invasion: Danger Mansion Abra Kadabra

She tucked his hair behind his ear for him, still studying his face. "Derrick, I fell in love with you knowing who you are and what you do. And I'm really happy that you spend more time on Earth now, and with me, because being with you makes me happy. But I know you have to do what you do, and that sometimes that's going to mean we're apart and you're far away. "And who knows what's going to happen in ten or twenty years?" she added with a shrug. "If the past few months have taught me anything, it's that we don't even really know what's coming tomorrow, no matter how we try to plan. You may have to watch me grow old someday, or one of us could be gone in the next big fight." She smiled. "We wouldn't have become heroes if we minded a little risk, right?"