Electra
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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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"I like your style." Stesha saluted him with her bit of bread. "Everybody's got things they're good at, and a smart person learns how to work around the rest of it. Like me, I'm a lousy driver, but I can teleport. And when I do need to take a car, I get a taxi or a friend. It's better that than doing something I'm not only bad at, but have no real reason to try and get better at. Maybe you'll get lucky and one of your kids will be a genius in the kitchen. Until that time, Freedom City's got a ton of good takeout places. Have you ever ordered from Mercutio's in the Theater District? They have calzones that I can't even describe." A short discussion followed on the merits of various takeout places, while they both ate and relaxed after long days. "Wow, this is really nice," Stesha decided, taking a sip of her tea. "I was really nervous coming in tonight, wondering if this was going to work out. Sometimes I still get really weird about everything that's happened, you know? But I just like spending time with you."
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Raina relayed the information into her phone, even as she dropped to her knees next to the afflicted man. His lips were beginning to turn blue, and from here even she could smell the almost marzipan scent of the poison he'd ingested. She hoped it wasn't a lot, but she was no doctor. She had no idea how to even help the guy! With no idea of anything better to do, she fished the glowing phone out of his pocket and turned it on, looking to see who might be trying to get in touch. Maybe the guy had next of kin or something, somebody who ought to know if something bad was happening? While she dithered with the phone, Merlin raced for the kitchen as well, loping on all fours and dodging feet, the better to find the supplies he needed.
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Rochelle rose to return Talya's handshake, stepping forward just enough that it would be awkward for Talya to keep her hand on Raina's back, without being overly pushy. "A pleasure, I'm sure," Rochelle told her smoothly. Despite the circumstances, for a moment the two women could've been at any of a hundred high-society cocktail parties, sizing each other up for flaws and weaknesses over smiles and compliments. "It's good to know that Raina has people looking out for her while she's on her own and far from home." The guards were obviously getting uncomfortable over Rochelle leaving her seat, so she sat down again quickly, brushing a hand over Raina's cheek as she did so. Raina seemed to appreciate the contact, even as she flinched away from the sickly green light seeping from her mother's bracelet. "My parents contacted me to tell me when they sent Raina to the school, but I'm afraid I know very little about the agency except that it is a sort of holding pen for young supernaturals," Rochelle told Talya. "From the way they described it, I was rather concerned it was juvenile detention, but I've learned a bit more during my time here. There are several alumni within these sturdy walls," she added with a thin smile, then turned back to Raina, her entire mien softening once more. "You don't look like you're eating enough. And you've gotten taller again! You need to eat properly if you want to fill out properly, you know!" "Moooomm..." Raina blushed, but she was grinning. "I eat! I eat all the time. The food's better than at Grandma's house, she gave me peanut butter and jelly everyday unless I was grounded. It was gross. Claremont's got cafeteria food, but it's okay." Rochelle looked unconvinced. "You can't do magic properly if you aren't fueling your body," she reminded her daughter sternly. One of the guards shifted at that, but after a quick glance, Rochelle ignored him. "Once all of this nonsense is cleared up, your father and I will be able to continue your education. Until then, you just hang in there and keep yourself healthy and safe. That's your one job, no matter what anybody tells you about superheroing," she said firmly.
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"We won't let you turn us over," Jessie told Ruby matter-of-factly, even as her hands curled into tight fists. "And if you don't take us home, my sister will come after me anyway, and she'll be very mad about it. She's already looking for us, so it's just a matter of time." Jessie was taking this as an article of faith, it was something she'd clung to all through the interval with the Spectrum Knights. She turned her attention to Roulette, the only one who seemed to know her doppelganger already. "Wander being angry is a really bad thing for whoever she's angry at, but if you do her a favor, she'll pay it back. And she has lots of friends. I don't even know who the Praetorians are, but they can't be more powerful or more dangerous than all the superheroes on Earth. I mean Terra." She bounced once on the balls of her feet, waiting to see whether it would be time to fight.
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"You're going to go and find her?" Wander studied the assembled group, finally focusing in on Eclipse. "You and I have fought together. You know what I'm capable of. Singularity isn't as strong or skilled, but she's got speed and power, and she can fight. She's also suffering from severe post-traumatic stress from a previous kidnapping, and this is the sort of situation that will make her more unstable. If she thinks you're going to hurt her or Aquaria, or lock her up, she may well try and kill you or herself," Wander informed the captain flatly. She scrubbed her face briefly with both hands and took a deep breath. "I don't want to come out there if it means you have to swing by Earth and pick me up, because it'll just slow you down. But if you can't rescue them, I'll get a team together and we will handle it." It wasn't quite a threat, more a dangerous promise. "When you make contact, let her know you're going to bring her to me. Tell her, hmm, tell her I said Charlie misses her and wants her to visit."
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"Oh no, not at all," Paige assured Garid with a blithe smile. "Sometimes things really get exciting. If you need someone to communicate with him, I can go out and speak with him, I should be able to get his language from his mind without much trouble. And well, if there's a giant woman, I certainly want to see that!" She winked at the kids, then held up a hand to beckon her husband. "Shall we?" As they stepped out of the trailer, Paige looked around and opened her mind to Richard. ~If the drivers are spooked, we might need to arrange for alternate transportation. What do you think the odds are on getting ourselves a van out this far?~
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"Well, this is an exciting start to the social season at Claremont," Raina said cheerfully, swinging the wastebasket deftly back under Fred's face. "I'm just gonna go ahead right now and suggest store-bought wine coolers and a swimming pool for the next get-together. I think we may not be up to the homebrew and intimate secrets level of party expertise yet." When Fred finished her latest bit of vomiting, Raina grimaced and shoved the wastebasket into the nearest closet to be dealt with later. "Honestly, I was expecting something more along the lines of tiny candy bars and ghost stories. We're in this creeptastic house that drips with death energy, but I haven't seen a single ghost," she pouted prettily.
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As the kitchen filled with women and girls engaged in conversation and food preparation, it was easy for Miss A to fade into the background, as much as somebody with her looks ever could. Without the time to prebake the sweet potatoes, she began deftly peeling them and chopping them into chunks, filling a pot with hard little orange squares as she listened to the conversations flowing around her. It wasn't so bad like this, really, being in amongst the action without having to contribute was letting her regain a little bit of perspective. She was Miss Americana today, and Miss A didn't have trouble in any social situation. Just because the circumstances were far more familiar to an old left-behind life didn't mean that it was squishy, doughy Gina Evans in the line of fire today. She was fairly certain that by the time the meal was served, she'd have it sorted firmly in her head. The change in tone of the conversation drew her attention to Talya and Gina Espadas, facing off in the ice-edged civility of family members who disliked each other and wouldn't admit it. If she were pushed, she'd have to admit that she thought the thing between Erik, his wife Min, and Talya that Steve had described to her was a little weird. If Steve ever brought another woman home to Gina's house, he'd be out on his ass before there was even time to assess any compatibility. But she herself was also the first exhibit in evidence of the absolute utter weirdness of the love lives of superheroes. Wouldn't it be lonely to live forever, knowing your partner was doomed to the handful of years accorded mortal man? It might make the traditional strictures of "till death do us part" seem obsolete, if not downright laughable. Maybe it made sense that people should take their happiness wherever they found it, with whoever made them happy. From what Steve had said, they were doing okay. Steve's version of okay wasn't always reliable, but she couldn't really judge that, either. In any case, Talya was Steve's friend, and she'd been nice to Miss A in the few interactions they'd had. She seemed like a good person, caught in a very uncomfortable situation. Miss Americana picked up her pot full of diced sweet potatoes and turned toward the big double sink, only to catch her foot on a slightly open cupboard door and lurch forward, dumping potatoes in a noisy orange cascade all over the tile floor. "Oh no, I'm so sorry!" she babbled, looking entirely mortified. "Oh wow, what a mess! They'll rinse off, I guess? Yolanda, Buffy, could you help me pick these up?" she asked, giving the girls a rueful smile.
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Erin didn't do much during the mage's examination but stand in the corner and glare balefully, her arms folded across her chest. Something about this magical investigator really rubbed her the wrong way, had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up and the shivers running down her spine. It was weird though, because she couldn't pin down exactly why this Tarva bothered her so much. Eve had recommended her, so she had to be good enough to do the job, but none of them had to like it. Tarva's final report only intensified Erin's glare. "What exactly can you do to make this better?" she demanded, not caring about the mage's obvious case of nerves. "If it's not magical, is there anything you can do? What about this Trident, do you know anything about them, or why they might have kidnapped a renegade Deep One?"
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"You seemed to have the situation well in hand," Stesha demurred with a smile. "But I've been keeping busy, getting winter supplies laid in for the three villages, integrating the new doctor we just hired, making sure everybody has enough warm clothes, things like that. They're predicting a mild winter here on Prime, but the weather doesn't always translate exactly from here to there. I'm hopeful though," she added, scooping up another bite of stew. "We could really use a warm winter and not too many storms. Pity I've yet to find a weather controller who wants to relocate!" She gestured with her bit of bread instead of eating it. "And the League comes knocking sometimes with work to do or appearances to make, and Ammy's always got something going on. We're making cookies this week for her to take to school, to demonstrate Christmas cookies for all the children who've never seen them before. What's your family got planned for the holidays?"
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Jessie moved instantly, almost too fast to see, stepping in front of Aquaria. "No, you can't!" she reminded her friend. "You don't know how to work those properly yet, somebody else could get hurt." She turned, giving her back to Aquaria and clearly standing between her and the Voidrunner crew. "We don't want any trouble," she told them, her voice shaking only a little, but enough to bely her calm facade. "But we didn't do anything wrong. We were kidnapped, and lied to, and attacked, and we ran away. We just want to get home." She had no weapon, but her hands were in loose fists, her stance ready. If there was going to be a fight, she would fight to win.
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Raina's voice seemed to come from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen, though she herself was still nowhere to be seen. "Do you have any defenses, Vince?" she asked the AI. "Like protective shields, or laser beams, or anything? And have you already put a call in to 911? Even if the cops can't do anything, maybe them being around will crimp the bad guys' style." A cupboard closed, and there was a sudden muted crunch of breaking glass as a couple of water glasses met an untimely end wrapped securely in a kitchen towel. "I haven't got much mojo left if I want to keep protecting the littles, but if you haven't got anything ready to go, Merlin can maybe help you jury rig something. It looks like those guys are trying pretty hard to get up here." Her voice was grim but not panicking, not yet anyway.
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"We should probably go," Jessie agreed, picking up the subdued prisoner, steel beam and all, with no visible effort and slinging him over her shoulder like a sack of grain. "We can interrogate this one on your ship and see if he's going to be dangerous. He's stronger than a normal human." She frowned over this fact, still somewhat nettled by the fact she hadn't been able to take him out with simple punching. All was well that ended well, but it was still a blow to her pride, especially after the way she'd faltered in the battle with the Spectrum Knights. Wander had once told her that fighting was all they were good at. Wander was very good at fighting, but if Singularity had lost all her skills, what did she have left? She pushed aside that unnerving train of thought for now and gave Aquaria a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry you didn't get to go swimming. Maybe we'll find another world like this sometime."
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Wander had gone absolutely still during the replay of the video footage, her eyes flat, her expression closed. "Her name," she told Nae-dae coldly, "is Singularity, and she is not a clone. She's my sister." Wander let that hang in the air for a second. "She was kidnapped from her home along with her best friend some time ago, and we've been searching for her." Her attention focused in suddenly on the Grand Nauarchus, as her voice took on a dangerous edge. "Your footage showed what was obviously the very last moments of a longer fight. Was it one of your people who beat the hell out of her?"
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~It's only been a few hours,~ Paige pointed out soothingly as she finished checking emails on her phone. ~The guys are still quizzing the locals, hoping we can get some color segments from folks who know the mythology. That's better than taking off into the desert to shoot B-roll of sand and find nothing at all.~ She opened the fridge of their little trailer and pulled out some yogurt tubes for the kids, and a bottled water for herself. "You know, that's not actually how it happened. It wasn't a glue bomb so much as it was a super-glue puddle, so that when he landed in it, they had to cut away his pants to free him. It was all very embarrassing. But those days are long gone," she assured the kids, tongue firmly in her cheek. "Hey, have either of you seen the musicians on the other side of the square?" she asked the kids. "It looks like there's going to be a concert somewhere."
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"Oreos are excellent food," Paige agreed, "but being able to cook food is a valuable Terran skill. We use food as much as a social event as for actual nutrition, and the texture and taste of food is very important. What we're going to make today is a traditional Thanksgiving turkey, dressing, scalloped corn, and mashed potatoes. We'll also have pumpkin pie and apple pie for dessert, but I made those yesterday. Go ahead and wash your hands," she instructed, gesturing to the sink, "and I'll start you chopping up some celery while I peel the potatoes. What have you found that you like besides Oreo cookies?" she asked curiously.
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Wander appeared on the viewscreen after a moment of shuffling around, and immediately pinned each of the sentients on the other side of the screen with a piercing scrutiny. Her hair was the same auburn color that her former allies remembered, and she looked as tense and competent as ever, a marked contrast to the distraction and fear of the yellow-haired version. "Daedelus says you have news about Singularity," she began with no preamble. "Were you able to rescue her? Is she safe?" She continued looking into the screen as though she could make someone else appear by sheer force of will. "Is Aquaria with her?"
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Edit: never mind, phone posting is a disaster
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Raina had almost seemed disappointed by how easy it had been for them to get into the club after all her hard work and preparation, but any gloom evaporated nigh-magically upon actually entering. "This is great!" she enthused, looking around. "Just like how I imagined it would be. Except for the smell, I guess." Already the scent of many human bodies was beginning to impinge upon the less-than-thoroughly ventilated space, but nobody around them seemed to care. "Come on, let's go get some drinks, and then we can dance!" She had no intention of getting sloppy tonight, but a little alcohol was good for lowering inhibitions, something that all her ducklings could use a little help with. She shimmied up to the bar and gave the bartender an easy smile as she leaned in. "Four cosmos, please!" She turned to Robin, who was standing closest, and shouted quietly so as not to carry over the music, "You'll like them, they're sweet."
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Gina holds her action to see what Steve and Talya are going to do, then she may try and do an Aid Attack.
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"I know a bit," Miss A replied, setting down her enormous confection and turning her attention to the cooking in progress. "If you've got some butter and brown sugar and a casserole dish, I can take care of those for you." Rather relieved to have a concrete task to focus on, she found a peeler on the counter and began deftly peeling and cubing the sweet potatoes. "It must be nice for you, being able to have all your family over for the holidays," she commented, conveniently forgetting to respond to Gina's earlier comments. "Especially with the little ones around. I'm sure you must be looking forward to Christmas already."
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It took a few minutes before Raina was able to collect herself enough to even speak rationally, and even that was muffled against her mother's shoulder. The guards behind them were looking uncomfortable, but hadn't made a move to pull them apart, and there was no way Raina would step away voluntarily. "Are you okay? You look really tired. They haven't been hurting you have they? The bracelets..." "Shh, I'm all right," Rochelle murmured back, stroking her hands over Raina's hair, down her back. "It's boring here, dull as dirt most days, and not a good conversationalist amongst the entire lot of guards. I miss you, and I miss your father, but this will all be straightened out soon." To someone of Talya's experience and discernment, the whole thing was a pack of reassuring lies, but Raina obviously needed to believe it, She began to relax almost immediately, steadier in her mother's embrace. "But I don't want to talk about me," Rochelle continued, steering Raina towards the table with its bolted-down chairs. "I want to hear everything you've been doing. Tell me about this school you've been going to. Are the other children nice? Have you been working hard on your studies?" Raina squirmed a bit as she sat down, uncomfortable in an entirely different way. "I've been studying," she equivocated, "but a lot of the stuff is just not interesting. They hardly know anything about magic, and what they do teach, a lot of it is wrong, or just dumb. But like, I was reading an article Merlin printed out about learning styles, and report cards don't really tell anything about a student's actual learning..." Rochelle gave her daughter a mock-severe frown. "Merlin," she began, "is a very clever monkey, but he isn't the one who has to worry about getting into a good college! I don't want you getting your head turned by this hero business, your job is your schooling, not some nonsense about letting you put yourself at risk with crazy stunts. Don't you like any of your classes?" "I like P.E.!" Raina replied brightly, giving her mother her very best wholesome good-student smile. "I have an independent study course going, so I don't have to do the stupid exercises or hero simulator stuff. Talya is teaching me self-defense, she knows pretty much everything there is to know about fighting smart instead of just standing and punching. And she offered to come with me today." Talya suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a very intense, calculating sort of study from Rochelle as the other woman sized up this new influence on her daughter.
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"It's a mystery," Raina agreed sympathetically, giving Fred a light pat on the back. "The trick is to give the stuff you make to people like Riley who don't know any better, until you eventually manage to come up with something drinkable. And even with the good stuff, at your size you gotta be careful, cause you can't hold very much. When my mother started teaching me about wines, I was about as big as you, and I'd get about a thimbleful of each one at a time. But I was like eleven then." She straightened up, perched once again on the edge of the desk. "Okay, how about this? If I'm wrong, if we go back to the party and Phaedra looks like anything I said to her bothered her, I'll take her aside and we'll talk about it. I'm like 99% sure she doesn't give a damn and I won't need to, but if she's all upset, then I will. Good?"
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"Then don't be!" Cyberknife snapped back, her voice challenging. "You come and work for me at ArcheTech, put your abilities to good use for once. I've got a dozen projects that could use somebody with your kind of talents, the kind of work you'd never be able to fund and accomplish all by yourself. You'll get a good salary, full benefits package, including health insurance. Including whatever we need to do to keep you alive and mobile, even if that means experimental bionics, yeah?" She took a few steps closer to him, lowered her voice. "I would do it anyway, fix you up, but not out of the kindness of my heart," she told him. "I respect your skill, and you're one of the few people alive who can challenge me on my home turf." She waved an arm at the virtual landscape around them. "If you die, or if you become somebody I have to put into Blackstone to rot away because you're a Crime League goon, my life would be poorer. We can both win this one."
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With a fair amount of help from Steve, Miss A pulled herself to her feet and brushed herself off, looking surprisingly little the worse for wear after being buried under a fast-food restaurant. "She's fine," she repeated to Chris, "she's safe. She's with my people, we evacuated them all when the fighting started. They'll have her back here in just a minute." A quick radio call was enough to have the ArcheTech van headed back in their direction. After looking around and assessing the situation, including a surprised look in Talya's direction, Miss A obviously deemed it safe enough to answer Steve's question, loudly enough to carry to most of the other travelers.. "When I got your call, I headed down here right away, and got in touch with the Interceptors who hadn't gone dumpster diving with you tonight.We all met up down here and started investigating the temporal anomaly. We were just working out a way to open it back up when Mastermind and a few of his people showed up. Darkness, Fire, Withering, and The Beast. Talya took a blast from Darkness that was supposed to hit Spellbound, and seemed to disintegrate, but it looks like she's going to be okay. I evacuated Spellbound, there was a fight, Mastermind dropped that fish and chips restaurant on us when he was starting to lose, and then they fled. Dragonfly managed to get the portal back open to let you all through again. It's good to see you back," she told him, then kissed him thoroughly.