Electra
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"She'll be fine," Raina told her, popping up next to Hannah apparently from nowhere. Maybe she'd used magic, or maybe Hannah was just distracted, it was hard to say. "She's got like incredible mutant rage powers to defend herself, and she shrugged off fireballs like it was nothing. She's gonna be okay. Come on, let's go find Robin on the bus and see if we can be there when she wakes up. I wanna know what the hell she was doing in that statue, and why it exploded everywhere. Maybe I've got a new superpower!" Raina shoved her rumpled worksheet back into her back and headed off, obviously expecting Hannah and perhaps Cathy as well to follow.
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Just a few hundred yards up the trail, the woods resumed, and not too far beyond that, they opened into a fairytale clearing. Stesha's home was in the center, small and neat and made entirely of leaves and branches, as though it had decided to grow exactly where it was. The windows were made of crystal just faceted enough to sparkle in the sunshine, and the wooden door was propped open to invite visitors inside. The space around the house was a riot of late-season wildflowers, with heavy-headed sunflowers and tall dahlia spires dominating over roses and hydrangea bushes, while dozens of smaller flowers blanketed the ground. Beyond that, though, (and Taylor was not sure that the clearing had been this big before) there was a broad, grassy area with picnic tables set up, a fire pit ringed carefully with rocks, and a very large propane grill. The moment the visitors set foot in the clearing, the door opened wider and Stesha came out, all smiles. "Taylor, Jack! It's so nice to see you! And JJ, you're getting so big!" She distributed hugs freely, even to Jack, then turned to Elis and his family. "Hello, I'm Stesha, sometimes called Fleur de Joie. It's so nice to meet you, I'm so glad you could come!"
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"Let's hold off till we know what's going on. It's not like they can't get here in a hurry if needs be." Wander lengthened her leaps to cover more ground faster, and as a result nearly fell into the large new hole in the roof of the Ashton Mall upon landing. A last-minute correction brought her down just next to what had recently been a skylight, affording her a good view into the crater. "There's somebody in there," she reported, "one humanoid... and I think he's naked. Lots of broken glass, lots of debris. I don't see any security yet, but Ashton Mall's got a half-assed security detail anyway." Ever since becoming a security guard herself, Erin had become far more critical of the security efforts of other businesses. "We'd better take a look." Leaving her bat in its holster, Wander dropped through the missing skylight to land a few yards from the crater. "Are you all right?" she called to the man in the crater. "Can you tell us your name?"
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"And I called them on the phone and asked how much it would probably be for just a bunch of flowers that we could put around ourselves, tie to the chairs and hang on the garden trellises and stuff, but she wouldn't even tell me. She said they only sold them in arrangements and they'd need to see the space first." Erin hopped over a row of houses on the edge of one of Ashton's residential neighborhoods, making no noise except for the conversation she was keeping up. "So then I said why shouldn't I go to the grocery store and just buy all their flowers, and she hung up on me. It was really bad." She gave Alex a look that demanded empathy. "It was just an idea! Do you know what they want to charge for one bunch of flowers in a vase? It's crazy!" Before Alex could respond, Erin's ears caught a strange noise from nearby, breaking glass and an unearthly scream. "What the hell was that?"
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Erin's smile was just a little grim. "If we cared that much about what people think about us, we'd all have quit doing hero work when we finished Claremont," she pointed out. "Having all the adult heroes think you're crazy or lying isn't that much fun. Besides, half the lunatic fringe already thinks Mark and I are probably T-Babies just because of when we were born, and would think the same of Trevor if they knew his identity. You're not going to make things any worse, or lower the opinion of anybody whose opinions we care about. On the other hand, you might be with us next time we have to save the world, and that's worth a lot more than any publicity anybody can give us." She raised her water bottle in toast. "And if you need a job, Mike, I might be able to pull some strings for you at HAX. Security work, not the most exciting stuff in the world, but It's solid."
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Sanctuary was beautiful at any time of year, but early autumn was making a particularly nice showing of itself, with the dense deciduous forest around them just beginning to be tipped with color and a crisp breeze blowing the scent of woodsmoke on the air. This particular path was made of crushed white stones, well-maintained and wide enough for a car to be driven along it, with some care. A dozen yards beyond Taylor's portal, the trees began to taper off, opening onto a gentle rise that gave the visitors a good look at the world around them. A few miles away, a village was plainly visible, composed mostly of sod houses in concentric rings around a town square of prefabricated buildings. It was swarming with busy people, mostly on foot, a few with bicycles or carts, though one outlier near the large barns on the edge of town was riding a flying platform being towed from above by a yellow-and-black striped honeybee the size of a semi-truck. Off in the distance, there were many more bees as well, flying through a meadow that, given its size even at this distance, must've covered a hundred acres, with flowers the size of swimming pools. At the top of the hill, the road forked in several directions, with a helpful sign in the middle to point the way. The top sign pointed nearly back into the forest again, away from the village, and read "Stesha's House." The road toward the village was marked with signs for "Homewood, 2mi, Mayberry, 7mi, Monastery," and the third fork was tagged "Springfield, 5mi, Flying Castle, Beedom City."
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Raina slid her lighter back into her pocket and took a look around at the disaster that the exhibit room had become. It looked... a little bit bad, she had to admit. But there was no way out but straight through. "One of the statues was actually a person, trapped inside a statue," she told the headmistress. "We were able to free her from inside the stone," and here she pointed at the fragments of jade that had flown everywhere, "but then something else weird happened. She was like super-disoriented and started yelling for us to run, then she turned into some kind of monster and punched the hell out of Robin." Raina nodded to that notable, clearly expecting corroboration. "This place is full of civilians, so Hannah and Cathy managed to get the monster to stay in one place, and then we all worked together to stop it from escaping and doing god knows what. But I think this girl probably needs some help." Thus saying, Raina turned and went over to the fallen girl, making a bit of a show of checking her pulse. "She's also gonna need some clothes."
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"No!" Erin yelped, nearly overbalancing from her perch in her sudden zeal. "No dancing, no choreographed dancing anyway! And especially not that one. I hate that one." There would've been a time when even suggesting the idea of zombies near Erin would've been met with icy silence at best, but she liked to think she'd improved some on that along with everything else. People here were lucky that they could be so cavalier about a threat they'd never truly had to face, and she shouldn't blame them for that good fortune. But even so, she hated Thriller just because of all the times Dr. Marquez had made her watch it in therapy, along with every other piece of zombie-related media he could get his dirty little mitts on. "Maybe we could do a choreographed dance, but just Trevor and me, like a swing thing. Is that too weird or showoffy? I've seen videos of stuff like that online."
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Jessie goes on 11
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Raina appeared abruptly out of nowhere in front of the monster, dancing backwards and out of the way even as Robin moved in the other direction. "Clear!" she called, then flicked her lighter once more. "All in together now, whatever you've got!" She hummed and waved a hand, and the lighter was suddenly a flamethrower, with a blast of bright orange flame spraying in a bright and concentrated line straight at the growling, staggering creature who still looked more than ready to kill them all if it could just get a hand on one of them. "Now!"
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Raina is in on the attack as well, she rolls a 19, which should add to the difficulty of that toughness save.
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Jessie refused to go anywhere until the Atlanteans were out of sight in the crowd, her posture still rigid and dangerous. When they were gone, though, she allowed her shoulders to slump and her posture to relax as she followed Aquaria out of the food court. She looked more disoriented than upset in the wake of the confrontation, adrenaline draining away to leave her confused and uncertain. "Why did those Atlanteans try to hurt you?" she asked Aquaria as they walked onto the pier. "We weren't even doing anything. And how did they know Erin?" Jessie hadn't really processed it at the time, but it was obvious that at least one of them had thought she was her doppelganger. Why would Erin consort with Atlanteans?
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At first it didn't even seem as though Singularity heard Aquaria's pleas, focused only on her enemy. But then her eyes slid sideways for a moment, her face softened just a little, even as the bruise on her cheekbone purpled, yellowed, and disappeared. She gave Aquaria's hand a little pat, then stepped forward, bringing herself nose-to-chin with the Atlantean interloper. Somehow, the difference in height did not make Singularity any less formidable. She stared into Thaelia's eyes for a moment, then spoke in a voice that was too low to carry to the onlookers. "I am a very bad person," she told Thaelia, her voice very flat, very even. "If you hurt my friend, I will kill you. Get away from us."
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Jessie shoved Aquaria abruptly backwards as Thaelia began to swing, moving to take the hit with her own body in a motion that seemed more instinctive than planned. The punch was a solid one, it took her square in the cheekbone, knocking her head to one side and starting her nose to bleeding. She seemed to shake herself for a moment before gathering her wits again and opening her eyes, eyes that looked quite different from the frightened girl of a few moments ago. Singularity watched Glamazon with flat, assessing eyes that were empty of everything save the desire to make Thaelia no longer be a threat, or an obstacle, or anything at all.
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Jessie is going to steal that HP to stunt Interpose and take the hit instead. She takes a bruise and is Dazed.
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DIVINED BY HGM I need an update on Sparkler, please! Spending this month's 4pp to buy the following power: Enhanced Feat 1 (Second Chance [Disable Device]) [1] + Enhanced Skills 12 (Disable Device 12 (+15) [3] "The Fool" [4PP] Also add the complication: Wish I Could Be As Carefree and Wild: Raina's main offensive power is throwing fireballs, which looks awesome and can be very effective, but it's also a little unpredictable. When she's doing something big with fire, especially if she's stunting with it, the chances of her burning herself (or singeing off her hair and eyebrows) goes way up. This has not yet stopped her from playing with matches.
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"Maybe if we can hit it all at once!" came the suggestion from a patch of empty air on the other side of the room. It was followed by a single soft footfall, then a moment of silence and stillness, where nothing seemed to move. Even in the stillness, Alkahest seemed to notice something, its attention focusing despite its blindness. Suddenly, the air just in front of the monster was illuminated with a hellish red light, a fireball that bloomed out of nowhere. "Pop goes the weasel!" sang a soft female voice from within the conflagration, and then the fire slammed into Alkahest's gut, blackening clothes and skin, bending the creature double from the force of the impact.
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All right, Raina is going to make a suggestion for future combined attack, but in the moment she's just gonna walk up to Alkahest and, since Robin is hanging off her back, fireball her right in the gut. Normally Raina would be deeply hesitant to do this to a person, but having seen how Alkahest heals, this is really mostly a distraction action anyway. Power attacking +2. She rolls an 18. If this is not enough to hit without hitting Robin (considering that this is point blank and Alkahest is pretty conditioned up) I will spend HP to reroll. DC 27 toughness save. EDIT: After I posted this, Durf floated the possibility of Raina attempting a coup de grace since Alkahest is pinned, with Hannah and Cathy pitching in. Could I do that instead, even though I already made the roll? EDIT II: Okay, Raina goes for the coup de grace with her blast attack. As I understand it ,there is no roll, just a DC 30 toughness save (as though with a critical hit).
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"I'm not going to let them take you away!" Jessie insisted, her eyes wide enough to show white all around the irises. "You told me about Atlanteans, how they're bad and they hurt you and your family. We don't know what they might do!" Jessie could've easily broken Aquaria's hold on her arms, but for the moment she was holding perfectly still, her attention mostly focused on the aggressive strangers. Well, the one aggressive stranger and the one who had called her by the wrong name. It was easy for people who knew Wander to get the two of them confused. Fighting here could make trouble for Wander too. Jessie knew that, but it was not as important right now as making sure she and Aquaria were safe. "Can we call the police?"
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"Sharl has weird views on patriotism," Gina muttered, her fingers like steel bands around his arm as she let him guide her. "But that guy across the street is a jackass. He almost makes me want a homeowners association except that would be insane." She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, took a couple of deep breaths, and forced her eyes open, then spent another minute blinking away the dazzle from the sunlight. "It's the Liberty Bell," she told Steve, after risking a quick glance across the street. "Cut the crack in there and everything. What a terrible thing to do to a nice bush." Her words were too low, too fast, but at least she was talking and not running. "Wow, that was a lot of innuendo for a couple of sentences. Don't suppose I could keep going and talk you into going back inside for a nice make-out session?"
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Jessie had been sitting on her hands on the picnic bench, staring at the untouched turkey leg in front of her and trying not to pay attention to all the danger signals her brain was sending her about the press of humanity all around them. Despite all her centering attempts, her head snapped up with nearly painful speed when the yelling started. Abandoning her plate, she jumped to her feet behind Aquaria, then, realizing how upset her friend was getting, interposed herself between Aquaria and the bad people. "Go away!" she yelled, curling her hands into fists. "We belong here and you don't! You're making everything worse! You're scaring people! Leave us alone!" Jessie was obviously one of the people being scared, to judge by her flushed face and hammering heart, but she seemed very willing to exorcise that feeling with violence if necessary.
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"Man, I don't even understand how the two of you haven't just exploded by now," Erin said bluntly. Probably a little too bluntly, but this was Alex and prevaricating for the sake of politeness was next to pointless anyway. "I'd probably have dragged Trevor off to Vegas a couple years ago if we were in that same situation. But I get where he's coming from, I had to deal with my issues about that too. It's hard when you want to have a life but you don't want to disappoint your parents. Even still, once you're in your twenties, I'm not sure how much say your parents should have in your sex life. Gets weird."
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Erin gave Trevor a look of amused exasperation. "He's had a hard day, let him have his glass of milk," she chided. "Come on guys, no reason to stand around in the doorway, come on in." She led the way to the largest of the manor's kitchens, a very large room right off the formal dining room that would've been large enough to serve a restaurant if the major appliances had been less than forty years old. But it had windows that caught the last of the sunset over the trees, and a comfortably homey eating area that was much less intimidating than the dining room itself. The table and chairs were practically new in here, thanks to some incautious fooling-around on their antique predecessors shortly after Erin had moved in, but otherwise the kitchen, like much of the house, remained a shrine to a bygone era. Rather than cause Trevor the mental anguish, Erin went to the fridge herself and poured Mike his glass of milk, then a glass of cold water for herself. "It does seem a little like old times," she commented. "Like we could all just head down to the Doom Room for some training or something. You going to get back into hero work, you think?" she asked Mike.
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Putting away the groceries seemed to calm Jessie down even further, appealing as it did to her love of both a surplus of food and having things where they belonged. By the time Indira was ready to take them to the castle, Jessie was about as close to cheerful as she ever got. "Is Eve your friend?" she asked Indira. "She's very rich, and she's a telepath, but not a bad telepath. She helps people." After some consideration, she'd decided that a visit to new neighbors probably required a gift, especially when said neighbors had done you a favor. Her choices at the moment were somewhat limited, so Jessie had settled on a three pound bag of red apples, which she held cradled in one arm as the elevator began to rise.
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"Sorry," Raina told Sakurako, "I'm not really an engineering type. I could put your thing up in the sky with magic, but that would probably defeat the purpose. And I gotta go get my room assignment-" She was interrupted by a poke in the side of the head from her fuzzy companion, who chattered something urgently into her ear. "What? Yeah, like you know jack about physical engineering? You can't just reprogram an airship... okay, fine. But I'm not fetching and carrying for you." She extended her arm towards Sakurako, letting Merlin climb down to her forearm. "Here, he wants to help. He may get it working better than it ever has, or it might blow up. But since it's already broken all to hell, what have you got to lose?"