Raveled

Tona Baudin hadn't known how to feel when Headmaster Summers had approached her about a field trip to Africa. Normally she was the first one to jump at the chance to get out of the city and into any kind of natural setting, but she had never conceived of going all the way to Africa. The whole situation felt exotic and otherworldly. Now she felt tired. Ten hours of traveling via various machines that all went far too fast for reason left her feeling unusually fatigued -- jet lag, one of the other students had called it -- and the heat and vibration of the aircraft didn't help. Nor did the fact that she had her eyes squeezed shut to avoid one of her vehicular panic attacks. But the petrochemical stink, the bright sunlight on her face (the portions not covered by her mask, anyway) and her own stubborn will kept her awake. She just wished the trip was over, already.

"Yar how do you expect pirates to act, missy?" the cephalpoid humanoid asked. "We came, we saw, we wanted -- and so we took! Yar har har!" The captain shook with laughter, as Jay scanned the upper walkways. This was simply too obvious of a setup. "They'll take us from above," she whispered, pitching her voice low so hopefully only Fleur would hear her. "I'll take the ones up-top, so you can focus on the three in front of us." Meanwhile, the captain had reigned in his humor. "So how d'ye reckon we square this, lass? We cannae give ye back the beasties, but we can tell ye how good they tasted if that's what's worrying ye!"

Not!Golden Glove's Toughness save, vs DC 22. (1d20+6=22) Whelp.

The Glove paused, freezing just for a moment before laughing hard. "Oh, c'mon girl. Who else would I be?" He gave her a bright smile -- and suddenly rushed forward, almost too fast for the eye to follow. Blue Jay had been watching the entire exchange, however, and was waiting for such a move. She loosed, aiming for the not-Glove's feet; it didn't hit, but the shaft got between his legs and caused him to slow down for a moment. However his fist was already in motion and he couldn't stop it, cutting through the air between him and Warp.

Initiative 32 Blue Jay -- Uninjured -- HPx3 22 Golden Glove -- Uninjured -- GM 18 Warp -- Uninjured -- HPx2 11 Merneptah -- Staggered + Disabled -- GM Time to be back to fighting! Golden Glove He'll open up with a Startle. -5 to make it a move action. Golden Glove's Startle check. (1d20+10=14) Nope. Golden Glove's melee attack check, vs Warp's Def. DC 21 Tou (1d20+14=19) Double nope!

Jay was not used to moving in such a close formation and it made her vaguely claustrophobic, but she knew that Fleur was trying to make her feel more comfortable so she didn't speak up. As the pair existed the engineering section green lights appeared on the floor and sped off into the distance, winking and waiting for the group at a turning. They followed the lights and took a twisting path through the ship, down two levels and all the way to the other side of the ship before the lights left them in front of another large, sealed door. Jay looked at Fleur, shrugged, and opened it. The galley was a long, open space, a second-level balcony blocked off by waist-high partitions, and benches stacked to wither side of the room to make a wide-open space. In the middle was the snake pirate from the forest, a figure in a blackened NASA spacesuit, and a humanoid squid dressed in a long, dark coat and a wide hat. The squid-man hooked his hands in his wide belt and sauntered forward like he owned the entire room. "Avast, landlubbers," he called out. "Allow this humble captain to welcome ye to the good ship Scarlet Fever! And then may I be askin', why do you feel possessed to be making such a bother o' yerselves aboard me ship?"

Tona looked between Sam and Cerys, grinning at them both before taking Sam's hand and letting herself be pulled into the room. "Cheaters," she said, still grinning fit to burst. She pulled the bag of candies free and set them on the dresser she shared with the Welsh ninja, then went digging through her bags. As Mali entered the room she came up with a pair of squares wrapped in wool. "I have something I want to show you all." She unwrapped the objects, revealing them to be glass plates with grainy black-and-white photographs embedded in them. "This is me pere," she said, handing the first photograph to Sam. The man in it was tall, with a long, roguish face and big ears that stuck out of his head. His long hair was held back by a man with a star on his chest, and another held a plaque with the name ROBERT BAUDUIN in front of him. Apparently this was some kind of old-tyme mugshot, but if it was then ROBERT seemed pleased as punch to be going to prison, judging by his wide grin. "And this is ma mere." Tona handed this photo to Mali; it showed a woman in Native American dress, with a rounded face and a harsh expression staring out at the audience. She held a pair of long-handled axes, heads resting on the ground and hafts crossed. Tona sat on the couch and let the girls hand the photos around for a minute. When she spoke again it was slowly, picking her words with great care. "I lied to you earlier tonight," she admitted. "When you asked where I was from. I'm not from Maine. I'm from the Terminus."

Tona had no intention of racing Mali up the stairs. She had her own, special entrance to the room. She rolled the jelly bean bag into a tight curl and stuck it in her belt, then grabbed the stone of the dorm building and began climbing. The rain had made the walls slicks, and in fact it was still spitting down intermittently, but Tona just took that as one more challenge this night. Well, one more physical challenge, anyway. The archer ascended smoothly and confidently, finding the room with no trouble -- and finding the window closed. A few exploratory tugs confirmed that it was locked, as well. She looked inside and saw Sam, somehow already inside, and tapped on the glass.

Golden Glove is lying: he's not the Golden Glove.

Tona had endured the car ride by nibbling on a jelly bean and focusing her thoughts inward. The Freedom League had recommended that she lie about where she was from, but she didn't feel good about it. Mali and Cerys and Sam had all gone out of their way to make sure Tona had a good time, and they had risked their lives alongside her. She couldn't just leave them to think she was just another rural girl. No, that wouldn't do at all. Tona jumped out of the car and looked around the campus. It was dark and almost looked deserted, though there were still some lights on in the dorm. "Alright," she said suddenly, holding the bag of sweets up high. "I've got something to show you, but first! Last one to my and Cerys's room doesn't get any jelly beans!"

I had the early watch, so I woke up BK. Actually I kind of had both watches. I don't think BK is very used to sleeping in enemy territory. Once we were up and moving, the other group tried to contact us again but I told BK to ignore them. We decided to head south, to where Claremont was. Is. Whatever. Before we could get there, Curator robots swooped in from overhead and started to to dig the city up. We finally agreed to meet up with the other group, and Quickstep for me and BK out of the city. After we talked, we realized that we were on an alien world instead of a destroyed Freedom City, and from what Quickstep said we realized that the Curator had left replacements of us behind on Earth. That was hard too hear. I've always been trained to be able to... take on anyone in a right if they don't see me coming, and I didn't want to think about something that looked like me fighting my friends. ... That's all for tonight. I'll finish it tomorrow.

Kit and Blue Jay are at least first base. Should we include relations with Curator proxies here? :P

Between Crimson Tiger and Blue Jay, they managed to haul Smythe and Kit onto the rapidly-sinking boat. Smythe reeled and tried to attack again, but Jay dropped her with a punch and signaled Blodeuwodd to start reeling them in. Once Kit had recovered she brought them all back up to street level, and the four heroines had a chance to relax under the rain. Blue Jay looked around, grinning broadly. "You know," she said, "if this is what a club is like, I could do this every night!"

The Golden Glove gulped and retreated a few steps, looking distinctly more worried about the mummy now. "I... The Golden Glove is eternal! I don't have to worry about things like that. Obviously. But I suppose I could let you put this one on your record, hm?" Sweater-vest stepped between the mummy and the heroes. "Merneptah's not a danger to anyone! He's a prince from the 19th Dynasty, an absolute treasure trove of information on ancient Egypt. And aside from the incident with Dr. Ford last year, there's never been any trouble. Until the Auric Ass here burst through the wall and started punching Merneptah! It's all his fault!" The Glove scoffed at the accusation. "Come on, who are you going to believe here? The handsome man with the powers? Or the wrapped up dead guy?"

"It's always a trap," Blue Jay agreed as she finished threading the bowstring and hooked it up to the opposite arm. She took up her bow and tested the pull, nodding curtly to herself as it met her standards. "But I don't know where else we should go," she admitted. "If we want to stop the ship..." She looked at the towering, crackling power plants. "I don't know if your trees can even do anything to the engines. I've never even seen engines that big before." She closed her eyes for a moment as she thought. "In movies, these places usually have big air ducts with fans in them to crawl around in."

Golden Glove's Sense Motive check, vs DC 26. (1d20+15=22) Nope.

Blue Jay nodded at Warp as the pair of Claremont heroes rounded the corner, as she considered the wisdom of an archer getting up close and personal with a couple of brawlers. Instead she opted to step up a stair until she was overlooking the entire scene. Golden Glove, for his part, gave Warp a bright, toothy smile. "Indeed! No dusty bag of bones can stand against the flashing flurry of the Golden Glove!" He sauntered over and placed a foot on the mummy's chest. "Watch closely, girl, and I might just teach a few, heh, techniques afterwards." As the Glove started stomping on the mummy's chest, an older, harried man wearing a cardigan vest stumbled out of the hole. "No! You can't let him kill the prince! He's a priceless historical artifact!"

Blue Jay took a knee behind the leafy barricade and dug into a pocket. She came up with a length of wire around a spool, quickly unhooked the snapped bowstring, and stripped out the damaged one. Then it was a job to hook the new bowstring on and begin threading it through the gears and pulleys of her bow. She kept up a constant commentary, and while Fleur couldn't understand the language she was sure that it wasn't words she would want her daughter to hear. Gazer dove and rolled, evading Fleur's bouquet of knock-out pollen. He stood and aimed his eye at the group again, but the spaceship suddenly lurched mightily and he was thrown over the bannister and into the engineering pit itself. His head hit a console, and his eye closed and he went still. Before the heroes could savor their success, a booming voice came over the loudspeakers and filled the room. "Arrr! This be yer captain here. I'll be taking the parlay of our landlubberin' boarders in the rearward galley. At once, ye scurvy dogs!"

GM As the girls scampered off to change, the fight between Golden Golves and the mummy kept on shambling forwards. "I think someone wrapped your head too tight," the Glove taunted as he danced forward. "Or maybe your brain is just rotted away after all that time!" The mummy groaned and swung awkwardly, then responded in a surprisingly cultured tone. "The first step in mummification is removal of internal organs, you imbecile!" "Oh, name-calling, are we?" The Glove paused to give the mummy a raspberry. "Well how about I just call you round-heeled?" He popped the mummy in the nose, and while it was rebounding from that gave it a haymaker with his left, his namesake impacting the undead's head with enough force to floor it and send it skidding several feet.

Tona moved back with Kat, but where the other girl when right the archer went left. She wasn't able to change as easily as a teleporter, but she noticed a janitor's closet with the door open. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her, then dropped her backpack on the ground. Inside was her Claremont jacket (which she slipped on and zipped up to the neck) a domino mask (which she stuck on her face) her bow (which she unfolded) and a couple dozen arrows. A quick shake got them into place and she reslung the quiver, opening the door and double-checking that no one had noticed her darting inside.

Merneptah's Ini (1d20+7=11) Golden Glove's Ini (1d20+7=22) Blue Jay's Ini (1d20+15=32) Warp and Jay get a HP for the Secret Identity Complication. Initiative 32 Blue Jay -- Uninjured -- HPx3 22 Golden Glove -- Uninjured -- GM 18 Warp -- Uninjured -- HPx2 11 Merneptah -- Uninjured -- GM Jay's running off to change for her first action. Golden Glove He'll start with a Startle on Merneptah. Skill Mastery means an automatic 25. Merneptah's Sense Motive, vs DC 25. (1d20+10=15) Merny's flat-footed. Follow it up as a full Power Attack. Golden Glove's melee attack check, vs. Merneptah's flat-footed Def. DC 26 Tou. (1d20+9=14) That actually just barely hits. Wow. Merneptah's Toughness save, vs DC 26. (1d20+8=16) Wow, maybe GG doesn't need help after all! Staggered + Disabled + Dazed.

Just had another session with Dr. Marquez. Still having bad dreams about being on the Curator's world, and he suggested that writing about it might help. I don't know how I was taken, or when. Freedom League can only give an estimate, and none of my friends noticed anything different until it all... exploded. I remember waking up on a sidewalk in the city. Everything was quiet, and there were signs of battle. Then there was an explosion from the direction of Freedom Hall, so I went that way. Then I saw the Bee-Keeper facing off against a heavy-attack Omegadrone. I stuck the Omegadrone down with glue, and me and BK escaped. Later I learned that the 'drone was Harrier. BK and me kept making our way to Freedom Hall. Wander and Jill O'Cure got on the airwaves and tried to convince us to meet with them, but I thought they were Annhilists because they were working with an Omegadrone. We eventually met up with Stratos, who helped us get into Freedom Hall. The computers there showed a Terminus attack on Freedom City, but I thought there wasn't enough damage for that. BK and I ended up camping in a grocery store for the night. More later.

Went through an interesting test today. Changeling -- the one from Next-Gen, not the senior who wears those frilly dresses -- tried to teach me and Sam about how to follow a target. Ended up following Changeling to Hanover, through some shops, into a cafe. Had time to talk with Sam. Was... interesting. Sam knows about me and Terminus, and I have vague notion that Sam's gone through some pretty nasty stuff herself. So we got to talking and I found out that I was thinking more and more about Sam. While we finished up and were watching out for Changeling again, we ended up kissing. And it was a really, really good kiss. I've never dated a girl before, exactly, but I think this will be exciting.

Introduction 1. Who are you? Sum yourself up in one sentence. I’m the best hunter in the world. 2. Do you have any nicknames, street names, titles, or nom de plume? People call me Tona. On the streets I’m called Blue Jay. 3. What is your full birth name? Antoinette Baudin 4. Where do you live? Right now at Claremont Academy. 5. How old are you? What year were you born (if applicable)? I was born just at the end of winter, about seventeen years ago. My birth certificate for this world says March. Physical Traits 6. What is your gender? If not applicable, please explain. I’m a woman. 7. How would you describe your heritage? Me pere was from France, and ma mere was Algonquin. 8. How tall are you? About average-sized, I suppose. 9. What is your body type? I have muscles, but I don’t have a ton. I guess I would say that I’m lean. 10. Do you have any particular weaknesses, such as allergies or physical disabilities? No, nothing like that. I’ve never had any allergies. 11. How do you carry yourself? Are you graceful, or heavy on your feet? Can you be stealthy, do you walk with confidence? I try to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know if I’m graceful, but I am coordinated. 12. Describe your skin, eye, and hair color. I’m tanned, with blue eyes and dark brown hair. 13. How do you wear your hair, if applicable? Short, and up. 14. Do you consider yourself attractive? Do others? I’m… athletic. I don’t know if I’m pretty, but someone else seems to. 15. Do you have any scars, tattoos, piercings, or birthmarks? Lots of piercings. My ears, my nose, my belly button, and a few, uh, other places. 16. Do you resemble anyone famous? I don't know what famous people look like. 17. Do you have a dominant hand? I’m right-handed, but I use my left to shoot. 18. What kind of clothing do you wear? Something that’s rugged, with a lot of pockets. 19. Do you wear makeup? I know how to put on camo paint, but not any kind of makeup. 20. Is your voice distinctive in some way? It’s quiet. I don’t make noise if I don’t need to. 21. Do you have any distinctive habits, nervous tics, or mannerisms? Where did they come from, and what causes them? Do other people notice and remark on these habits? Do they annoy you or other people? I sometimes stare at people longer than I should. I’m used to observing, to looking and getting every detail of a person or situation without speaking. When it’s a social situation, though, it can make people uncomfortable. History 22. Where do you come from? I come from another version of Earth, in the Terminus. The Freedom League calls it Earth-Pastoral. 23. Have you made any major moves, or do you live in your hometown? I came to live at Claremont to learn how to save my world. 24. Do you feel loyal to your country of citizenship? Do you consider yourself patriotic? How do you feel about the government of your country? I don’t have any particular feelings about America, good or bad. I love this world I’m in now, but I don’t feel anything to just one country. 25. How do you feel about the place you come from? I hate it. Everyone’s on edge and watching, you could die or worse at any moment, and there’s never enough food or warm beds or clean water. 26. Where is your home town? What was/is it like? I never had a home town, really. I grew up in one particular group. Everyone slept in tents or lean-tos or tree blinds. 27. Growing up, were most of the people you knew similar to you, or were you somehow a minority? How did that affect you? Everyone I knew was a refugee. 28. Is there something you've always been really good at or really bad at? How has that affected your life? I’m very good at imitating sounds, especially animal sounds. It made me a really good scout, since I could make any sort of bird call and use that to communicate. 29. Were there any traumatic experiences in your early years (death of a family member, abandonment, orphaned at an early age)? More traumatic than growing up in the Terminus? Well, ma mere died when I was very young, but I don’t really remember it. 30. Briefly describe a defining moment in your childhood and how it influenced your life. When I killed my first drone. It was with an arrow, from a long, long way away. Up until that moment, I wasn’t sure I could handle the job, but once I had done it once I knew I could do it more. 31. What stupid things did you do when you were younger? I fought against the planet-crushing regime of Omega and his Annhilists. Can you think of something stupider than that? 32. Where did you go to school? How much school did you have, and did you enjoy it? There weren’t any real schools on my home planet. I to read and write from whoever was willing to do it at the time. When I came here I started at Claremont Academy. I… took a lot of remedial classes to catch up. 33. Do you have any mementos of your childhood? What are they, and why did you keep them? If you have none, why not? I have a picture of ma mere, me pere, et moi from when I was still a baby. It’s just about the only way I know what my mother looks like. I also have all my piercings. Everyone is for an important thing I did. At first they were just jewelry, then I met a woman who used to live in the Ozarks and she taught me how to pierce safely. 34. When did you decide to become a hero? Why? Did anyone influence you one way or another in the decision? I was always a fighter – everyone back home was, or you didn’t survive. It just didn’t feel right to come to this amazing world and stop fighting, so I became a hero. And there’s a little bit of competitiveness. I’ve never backed down from a challenge, and this is the biggest one there is. 35. Is the reason you give people for becoming a hero different than your real reason? If so, why? I usually tell folks ma mere was isn’t untrue. People usually don’t treat me normal when I tell them I was a rebel guerrilla fighter in Hell. 36. Do you have any deep, dark secrets in the past that may come back to haunt you? Pretty much just the Terminus thing. I can’t imagine how they would come back to haunt me. 37. Do you represent yourself as being different from whom you really are? Why? I’m a terrible liar. I wouldn’t know how to be anything but what I am. 38. If you do have these secrets, what do you fear would happen if the truth became known? How far would you go to protect those secrets? I worry that people would think I’m some sort of spy, or else they would treat me the same way they treat T-Babies. I don’t think I would do much if someone threatened to reveal my secrets, though, besides maybe asking them not to. 39. Do you have any sort of criminal record? If so, is it public knowledge? A robot duplicate of myself attacked a Congressman during the Day of Wrath, but the Freedom League has cleared me of that. I don’t have any other sort of criminal record. Family 40. What are your biological parents' names? Robert Baudin and Jean Blackfoot 41. Were you raised by them? If not, please explain and describe who raised you. Kind of? I was raised by everyone in the camp. Whoever had a job and something to teach me. 42. What was their standing in the community? What did/do they do for a living? Me pere used to be a circus acrobat, then he became a thief and an escape artist. Ma mere used to be a lawyer for the natives, but she was also Lady Liberty. 43. Where are your parents now? Me pere still leads the Resistance on my home planet. Ma mere used to be the last superhuman left to us, but she was killed by one the Steam General’s war machines. 44. Did your family stay in one area or move around a lot? Everyone moved around, unless you were one of the General’s slaves. 45. How did you get along with their parents? How do you get along with them now (if applicable). Ma mere was never a person I was close to. I don’t think anyone was, I just remember her as being so angry about everything. Me pere always tried to make time for me, but he was always so busy, too. 46. How do your parents view you now, or how would they? I hope they are proud of me. I am fighting to save my world. 47. Do you have any siblings? If so how many and what are their names? Describe your relationship with them. I am an only child. 48. Do you love or hate one member of the family in particular? When I was younger, I used to think that I hated my mother. Now that she’s gone, I think it was just because I didn’t know her at all. 49. Is any member of the family special to you in any way (perhaps, as a confidant, mentor, or arch-rival)? Uncle Rory was the camp’s fletcher, and the one who made my first bow. It was undersized because I was very young, but it meant a lot to me. 50. Are there any black (or white) sheep in the family (including you)? If so, please explain. Everyone in my family is remarkable. Ma mere helped her native tribesmen against the governments trying to expand westward and she fought supervillains. Me pere was a world-class thief and escape artist before he went on to lead a resistance against Omega and the Steam General, and I went to a different world, to the place where Omega was wounded and driven back, to learn how to be a hero. 51. Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? If so, please explain, including how it has affected your life. With my parents, everyone expected more of me. That is part of why I push myself so hard, so that I can be worthy of being my parents’ child. 52. Do you have a partner and children currently? If so, please describe them. Right now I have a sort of a thing with Sam Vance. She is… nothing like me, except we’re both sneaky. She’s not muscular and I don’t think she knows the first thing about camping, but she always finds ways to surprise me. 53. If you do not have a partner or children, do you want them someday? How firm are you in your opinion on this, and what might change your mind? Well I’m not going to have kids with Sam, that’s for sure. I don’t know if I do want kids. I’m not used to thinking that far ahead. 54. What type of person would be your ideal mate? Someone who can challenge me. Someone who can take care of themselves. Someone who doesn’t need me around all the time, but someone that I can do things with. Relationships 55. Do you have any close friends? If so, please describe them, and how you came to be close to them. Mali Benjawan, Cerys Pefr, and Sam Vance. They were some of the first people I met when I came to Claremont. 56. Do you have a best friend? If so, how did they become your best friend? How close are you to your best friend? I’m close all three women. They all knew I wasn’t like other girls, so they took me out… they called it ‘clubbing,’ but the fight we got in was all punches. 57. If you were to go missing, who would worry about you? The three above, for certain, and probably Headmaster Summers. 58. Have you lost any loves? If so, how did it happen, and what did you do? Not like you mean. I’ve lost lots of people that I love, but no one that I loved like that. 59. Do you have any bitter enemies? If so, please describe them and their history with you. I hate the Steam General and I want to see him dead before my feet. He’s the Annihilist who betrayed and took over my world, and is now trying to turn everyone on the planet into machines. 60. If you have enemies, how do you think they might attempt to work against you in the future? I don’t think he can get to me on this Earth, but he could easily kill everyone I know on my home planet. 61. What is the worst thing someone has done to you? He killed my mother. 62. Where do your loyalties lie? In what order? In order? With my planet, with my friends and family, and with this world’s innocents. 63. Who or what do you trust the most? Why? Mali. More than anyone else, I trust Mali. She knows what it’s like to fight every day with not superpowers, and I think she knows what it’s like to be an outsider. 64. Who or what do you despise? Why? Besides the Steam General, I hate the Curator. He created a robot version of me and attacked my friends with it. That thing could have killed my family and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. 65. What qualities do you admire most in other people? Are these qualities you possess? I like people who can take care of themselves, no matter the situation. I think I can do it. I also like people who… well, I call it cheating. Other people call it lateral thinking or thinking outside the box. 66. What qualities do you hate most in other people? Do you have any of those qualities? People who only use their power to help themselves and hurt others. I can’t stand people who only live for themselves. I am sure that I don’t do that, since I spend all night helping others. 67. Do you have a secret identity? If so, who knows it? Do you hide it from people who are close to you? Why? Most people do not know I am Blue Jay. People at Claremont Academy and the Freedom League know, but beyond that no one else does. 68. Do you work well on teams and in groups? Are you a leader or a follower? I work well enough when I’m given a task that I can do on my own. I don’t work well when I’m supposed to work closely with other people. 69. Are you on a super team? If so, how do you get along with your comrades? Do you trust them, or do you have secrets from them? I’m not on any sort of super team. 70. Are you a member of any church, fraternal organization, club, committee, political party, or other group? How much time do you spend on that? I exercise with a lot of other people at the Claremont gym, but I’m not part of any sort of club. Personality & Beliefs 71. Who are your heroes? Me pere. He’s fought so hard against the Steam General, and with no end in sight. 72. Did you ever become disillusioned with former heroes or idols? If so, why and what were the circumstances? I haven’t seen my father for two years. When I left he was still fighting the good fight and I expect he still will be. 73. Do you like being a hero? If so, what is the most rewarding part? If not, what makes you keep doing it? I love it. Every day it’s a new challenge. 74. Is there anything that would make you give up hero work, or even switch sides? Switch sides? No. Stop? Maybe if I was hurt enough that I couldn’t fight anymore. 75. What are your short term goals (what would you like to be doing within a year)? Graduate Claremont Academy. Free my planet. 76. What are your long term goals (what would you like to be doing twenty years from now)? I don’t think that far ahead, really. Live on my own, find multiple, redundant sources for gear. Maybe go on the road; I’d like to see a desert or rainforest before I die. 77. What is your greatest fear? Why? What do you do when something triggers this fear? I’m not scared of anything special. Living in the Terminus kills your fear. 78. Is there anything you would give your life for? My family. My friends. My planet. 79. How do you feel about money and material wealth? Do you desire it or disdain it? Are you miserly with what you have, or do you like to share? Is it a mark of success, or a means to an end? Money is boring. Claremont Academy gives me whatever I need to live on. If I needed more, I could ask Kit for money, but I don’t really need a lot of stuff. Folks who focus only on money need to get a life. 80. How do you generally treat others? If people want to be treated specially, they need to prove that they are special. 81. Are you a trusting person? Has your trust ever been abused? In the Terminus, if you weren’t part of my group, you were suspicious. It was a survival tactic. I still keep to it. 82. Are you introverted (shy and withdrawn) or extroverted (outgoing)? Do you have a lot of self-confidence? I am quiet. I’m not shy, I just don’t like talking if I don’t need to. I have plenty of confidence in what I do, though. 83. How do you act around attractive, available members of your preferred sex? Around men, I can be pretty forward. Apparently around girls, I just stare at their butt until someone pushes up together. 84. What are your most annoying habits? Besides the staring thing? I don’t like to do things the easy way. Sometimes I’ll make things more complicated then they have to be, just so they’re more interesting to me. 85. Do you feel contempt for any general category of people? Who are they, and why? People who give up. Fighting can be hard, but you have to do it. If you just give up and accept what happens, I have no pity for you. 86. What is your favorite food? Do you prefer any particular type of food? Do you take the time to enjoy your food, or do you eat as fast as you can? I like fresh, natural food. Fruit right off the vines, vegetables straight out of the ground. The fresher, the better. 87. What is your favorite drink (alcoholic or otherwise)? People think I’m crazy, but water. If you do it right, fresh, cold water can be the best-tasting thing in the world. 88. What is your favorite treat (dessert)? I… really like fruit pies. Not with ice cream or anything, just warm pie. 89. Are there any specific foodstuffs that you find disgusting or refuse to eat? Stuff out of vending machines, and a lot of processed foods. It’s just weird that you pump so many chemicals into something you’re going to eat. 90. What is your favorite color? Are there any colors you dislike? I really like green. Dark, forest-y greens especially. 91. What sort of music do you like? Any music that’s loud enough that you can’t hear me when I’m singing it. 92. If you have a favorite scent, what is it? Green, living, growing things. Anything like that scent brings back good memories. 93. Do you have a favorite animal? Any kind of bird. On my home planet they were all dead by the time I was born, but I heard stories about them and they seemed magical. 94. What is your most treasured possession? Why? An arrow with a computronium head. I made it myself when I was abducted by the Curator, and I put one in his metal skull. 95. Do you enjoy "roughing it", or do you prefer your creature comforts? Love camping, being outdoors, sleeping under the stars. 96. Is there a job or a task you would absolutely refuse to do? No, but I might complain while I do it. 97. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? If so, how do your beliefs affect your life? How important is it to you? I’m a practical person. If gods and spirits are a practical concern, I’ll deal with them then. Otherwise, no. 98. Was your faith influenced or molded by anyone special? When I was young, all the stories about gods and spirits ended up with them dying to the Terminus. I guess everyone influenced me there. 99. Could you kill? Have you killed? I could. I have. 100. What circumstances led to you forming that conviction, or taking that action? When someone is being dragged away to be turned into an Omegadrone, it’s kinder to kill them to have to face them again. 101. Are there circumstances under which you believe it is permissible to kill? What are they? When it’s crueler to keep someone alive, I would agree with killing them. Of course here, it’s harder to find a situation where things definitely will not get better. 102. How would you react to watching someone kill another person? Would your reaction be different if the killer was a friend or an enemy of yours? I might respect someone more if they were able to kill someone who was more powerful than them. But if they killed someone close to me, I’d want revenge. 103. How would you react if something important was stolen from you? I try not to place a lot of importance on things, but there are a few things I wouldn’t want to lose. I would try to talk to the thief, and if that didn’t work I would have to steal it back. 104. How would you react to public humiliation? I’ve been publically humiliated before, by the Curator. Ask people about the Day of Wrath. The only thing I could do was work against it. Show people that I’m not really like that. 105. How would you react if a good friend or relative were purposely or accidentally killed? Has it happened to you? It has happened to me, yes. I mourn them, and I get revenge. 106. What do you consider to be the worst crime someone could commit and why? Misleading someone. Not just lying to them, but letting them think you are entirely different from what you really are. 107. If your life were to end in 24 hours, what five things would you do in those remaining hours? Go on a final camping trip with the people I love. Say goodbye to me pere or write a letter to him. Give the important things away. Flip off the Terminus one last time. And find my own way to end it, before the deadline was up. Career & Training 108. Do you have any special training in your hero skills? If so, where and how did you get it? Special? Everything I can do, someone else can learn to do, but most people don’t put as much time into it as I do. 109. Who taught you the most about your heroing abilities? What was your relationship with that person? Lots of people taught me different skills that I use. They were all like family to me. 110. Do you have any particularly unusual skills? How did you acquire them? I can track and live in the wilderness better than I can in the city. I lived in forests, and on the run, for most of my life. 111. Do you do something besides hero work for a living? Have you ever done anything else, or do you plan to? No, I pretty much am just a hero. I don’t know if I could do something else. I don’t want to sit in an office all day, I want to be outside and working with my hands. 112. What is your preferred combat style? Anything that works. I know a little krav maga, a little muay thai, and a little basic self-defense, but mostly I just try to get away and get back to arrow-launching range. 113. Have you ever received any awards or honors? I survived the Terminus, I think that’s enough of an award. 114. What skill areas would you like most to improve in? Is there anything you can't do that you wish desperately you could? I should probably learn more about computers and stuff like that. Sometimes, I wish I could fly or teleport around or jump like [Leaping hero]. Just so I can get around this huge city more easily. 115. How do you act around people who are more skilled than you in areas you'd like to improve? Are you jealous, or do you try and learn? Of course I get jealous, but that doesn’t help me get better. I’m always willing to learn if they have something to teach me. Lifestyle & Hobbies 116. What is a normal day for you? How do you feel when something interrupts this routine? I get up early, with the sun or just before it. I do a few laps around the campus to wake up, then get to the gym and lift weights or do some tension exercises. Then I get a shower and get to class. After class either I’ll do homework and patrol in the evening, or if someone’s going out right away I’ll patrol with them in the afternoon and do homework after dinner. I like to get in the Doom Room at least once over the weekend. When something interrupts me, I try to deal with it and get back to my schedule, but it’s not really important that every day is that planned. As long as I get my work done and don’t fall behind, I can deal with interruptions. 117. Do you have any hobbies, or interests outside hero work? What are they? I would say that I like hunting and camping, but that’s what I do as a hero, anyway. 118. What do you do for fun? I train. I run scenarios in the Doom Room. Sometimes I hang out or watch movies. 119. Do you have a costume? What does it look like? I usually just wear the Claremont Academy outfit, with a special mask that gives me a bunch of extra senses. 120. How do you normally dress when not in costume? Khakis with a lot of pockets, tee-shirt, a loose jacket or hoodie. 121. What do you wear to bed most nights? Whatever I was wearing when I got tired. If I take a shower beforehand, sometimes I’ll put on sweats first, though. 122. Do you wear any special jewelry? What is it, and what does it look like? Lots and lots of piercings. They’re all from my home planet, from special trees that grow there. They are old hardwoods, but there’s also metal worked in there, into the grain of the wood. There’s also a pendent Sam bought me. It’s supposed to be a blue bird in flight, with stained glass for the wings and feathers, but it got melted on the Day of Wrath. I still have it, because I don’t know if it’s better to get rid of it and forget about that day or keep it and torture myself. 123. Do you have a special place where you keep your valuables? In my room at Claremont. Really valuable stuff I carry around. 124. What's your preferred means of local travel? How about long distance? My preference is always walking. Walking can get you anywhere, if you have enough time. I don’t really like cars or trains, they go too fast. I really, really hate airplanes or anything else that gets me off the ground. Miscellaneous 125. Have you ever made a will, or tried to make arrangements for your death? What provisions did you make? Nothing like that, no. 126. If your features were to be destroyed beyond recognition, is there any other way of identifying your body? I have a few piercings that aren’t on my face, yes. 127. What would you like to be remembered for after your death? For saving my people, and for being a great warrior. 128. Do you believe you pose a threat to the public? Why or why not? I never thought I did, but the Day of Wrath proved that I could do a lot of damage if I had the chance to. 129. What do you perceive as your greatest strength? I have skills and experience that no one else does. People talk about training from Hell, but I literally lived there. 130. What do you perceive as your greatest weakness? I know basically nothing about computers and other toys like that. I usually get along, but sometimes it can trip me up. 131. As a player, if you could, what advice would you give your character? Speak as if he/she were sitting right here in front of you. Use proper tone so they might heed your advice... Don’t get so hung up on your past. Learn to live here, in this world, and let the past stay in the past.

Smythe's mind fell down in the pool, but insanity provided her with an infinitely long safety cord. She lashed out and hit Kit just above her eye, grabbing the teen's throat with her other hand. "You fools cannot understand the magnificence of my vision," she screamed. "You don't deserve to live in the world SHADOW shall create!" With Smythe more concerned with choking the life out of her than saying afloat, there was no way Kit could keep the pair of them above the water and they began to sink. Jay redoubled her efforts and reached the two just as they were going under. She grabbed Kit by the waist and tried to haul her up, towards the surface of the water, but there wasn't much she could do; Smythe was simply a deadweight at this point, putting all her effort into murdering the young heroine without a single thought for her own survival.