Ari

Rainshadow "But I don't get it," repeated one of the firefighters, still looking bewildered, "if it's so dangerous just getting ships past the Fangs, why do they leave 'em around? The Canadians blew up Ripple Rock in the '50s for being a damned, deadly nuisance." It was a question Ming had been asked before, sometimes by very angry, wet people whose lives had suddenly taken a nosedive with no clear end in sight. At least while on the job for the Tugger & Sons Rescue Company he could pretend not to hear them and try to take their minds elsewhere. Here, standing in his best suit, a glass full of some excitingly bubbly pale liquid, and surrounded so many earnest, questioning faces looking to him to make sense of this mystery, there was no escape. Well, there was one, luckily introduced by the unwitting fireman. Taking a thoughtful sip, Ming answered "Inside Passage is pretty calm water. Those shoals and bars out front of the Columbia, they're under some of the roughest sea in the US. Even if you could get a pause or workaround on shipping, the expense and risk'd be too great. So the current system's about the best we can do, and it's way safer than it was even thirty years ago." The other guests nodded at that, murmuring agreement and turning to other Columbia-related topics. As the chatter about fishing rose up around him, Ming seized the chance to turn and look anywhere else in the universe. Ted Tugger had been a working for the Celestial Order of the Golden Dragon practically since his arrival at Emerald City back in the 1910s, expanding their extortion and "salvage" racket across the local coast and briefly making inroads on Portland and Washington upriver. With the influx of Takazumi men and cash, the city's overall boom in the 80s, and the sidelines of smuggling, his sons had ironically been forced to play at greater legitimacy (the Old Hawk had made clear what would happen if they exposed him), but like their father before them they'd been dab hands at foiling efforts to meaningfully alter the deadly Columbia Bar. Despite all that, by working for them Ming and his shipmates did save peoples' lives, even their livelihoods. But it was hard to feel like a hero, knowing what else was going on.

OOC thread for this thread. A big Christmas Eve party hosted by the richest people in the city, where the fun never stops and nothing can go wrong. @RocketLord @Tiffany Korta @Supercape

GM December 24th, 9.30PM, 2024, Christmas Eve Emerald City, OR, Emerald Tower, Christmas Complex As it had for many thousands of years, a gentle, steady rain fell onto the mist-shrouded shore. Where once it had fallen only on rocks and trees, then glorious techno-sorcerous towers, then rocks and trees again with some humble wooden longhouses and skin tents, it now fell on two vast and dazzling cities. In those cities was a celebration that had demanded a new structure, one linking the downtown Emerald Tower of MarsTech with the nearby headquarters of Grant Conglomerates, KessKorp, Atlas Mountain Sports and Nova Communications. The so-called Christmas Complex, a flattened red-glass dome supported by spiderwebs of metal struts and columns at key points, had flown up and been completed at a pace even supporters called "unsettling." Its span was in the thousands of feet and it soared high above the city below. And inside was the biggest party in the world, the All-Heroes Christmas Bash. Music thudded through the floor, though only people actually in the various mini-venues would have heard the various acts performing. Automated food carts prowled the seething crowds, wearing friendly robotic faces and greeting guests in their preferred tongues with unerring accuracy. A tree of lights like a nebula come to Earth floated in the centre of the Complex, brightening up a vast stage dominated by a big red present marked "From: Max To: Everyone." People from across the world milled through the central hub, or gathered in smaller nooks, all invited because of some conspicuous act of heroism. Standing almost a head above everyone there walked the flying phaser Wyt Sky, Singapore's greatest hero since the third Merlion perished fighting the Katanarchists in 2008. Laughing awkwardly in a circle of adoring fans, Marie Dulent of Louisiana explained again how her rescue of an elderly couple in a flood was simply the will of La Sirena. Dr. Phil Pech, who'd been working on flu vaccinations his whole life and didn't entirely understand the point of the event, sat in a corner with some colleagues to quietly drink. Much more conspicuous and surprising were the guests of honour: the Gardner family. Both Raymond Sr., the Freedom League's former Captain Thunder, and Raymond Jr., the energy-being hero Thunderbolt, wore sky-blue suits, though of course the son "wore" his regular containment apparatus underneath. Much-reduced since his days as an active hero, the father still cut a commanding figure, and despite their advancing years he and his wife Nancy scoured the floor, warmly greeting old friends (or even just mildly-familiar faces) and eagerly hatching plans to connect again soon. Ray Jr. was occupied on an upper balcony, talking emphatically with a serious-looking spectacled blonde woman in a Christmas-y coloured dress patterned with interlocking Penrose triangles. The corporations that had funded and organized the event weren't left out in the cold. At each "corner" of the Complex, the company building it was attached to had their own entourage and proffered spectacles. At the southmost point, industrial giant KessKorp's newly-invigorated management had put together an expo on protective equipment for the discerning consumer, MC'd by a polished and professional gentleman whose nametag identified him as "Joe." After their automated car scare earlier in the year, it might have been in poor taste, but seeing what the portable (and affordable!) field-generators and near-super-tech armor weaves could stand up to was unquestionably impressive. Notable by his absence was the man of the hour, Max Mars. In fact, his company had no clearly-signposted presence at all. But the press and guests buzzed on excitedly over one thing Max had pledged shortly before the party began: he would be revealing the future of heroes.

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters "I love Catgirl Reacts!" Her face was invisible, but Merry's voice was beaming, "Remember when you ate a whole-!" She stopped dead at the sequence of taps. For a moment only Merry's eye was visible through her kinky hair, staring out from the mirror at Neko and bringing to mind a Christmas-themed ghost. After a beat, the other girl tossed her hair back in place and turned to face the influencer, her eyes hard and face set. "So you were listening the whole time. Heard every word." "Okay, I admit it...I don't get the appeal of this stuff. I don't like the music, the venue, I don't think Bernadette's hot like Adele does, I'm just here for my friends. And I'm not going to have them for much longer, I've done the math and our social circles don't overlap at all. But right now they're happy, they're meeting other people, and I guess that's what's really important but I'd like us to do something I like to do at least once. We could be finding stars, or birdwatching, or checking out that cool shipwreck up the coast, or, exploring the giant forest right next door! But if I insist on any of that, they'll just say "nah", and then we won't do anything together at all." The Spice Girls cover pounded distantly through the walls, the beat subdued and vocals muffled into a monotonous chant. ---- The Spice Girls cover pulsed in the air, its invisible hand guiding unconscious movements throughout the crowd. Justin had wrangled Owain into a competition of seeing who could do a particularly high-stepping and high-intensity Cossack dance the longest, but sheepishly stopped when he nearly kicked Daniel in the face. Now doing a much more reserved hop-shrug, he suddenly took notice of the other boy's arms. "Hey, you do fencing, man?" he called over the music, "You ever been to that gym in West Side? I've heard the guy who runs it is a badass, some kind of sword-wizard. Been thinking I should step up my own sword-game." Adele hadn't been much for talking, smiling happily to herself as she swayed from foot to foot a little away from the rest.

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters While Adele spun and kicked and Justin glided with abandon through Sam's hard-fought territory, Merry had blinked at Neko for an uncomprehending moment, then groaned and let her head briefly fall on the table. "Oh God, the green...it bled, didn't it? I asked de Pisa a million times-!" Rising quickly to her feet Merry grabbed her bag, put on a smile, and put a companionable arm around Neko's shoulder. Heading to the bathroom, she gave the other girl a more scrutinizing look. "Hey...you're a Claremont-enjoyer, right? How'd a gal like you end up at a place like that? Not that we've exactly got full control of our lives at St. Isidore's." Merry admitted, the pair swinging briefly to the side to let a group of other girls pass in the narrow hall, then passing through the swinging door to their mutual destination. Breaking away, Merry stepped in front of a mirror and threw her hair in front of her face, painstakingly beginning to comb through the braids. "Name's Mary-Angelica," she added, belatedly, "call me Merry. Now what do I call you, and how exactly can you help me?"

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters In contrast to their earlier uproar, the North Bay Prep. table had become much more subdued, largely because Merry was trying to argue something. Starting with the mid-point of the second song, an increasingly-rapid cycle had begun: Merry would rapid-fire clack out something in Morse code on the table and look to Justin. Justin would glance back, tap something much slower, and look to Adele. Adele would look annoyed, clatter something back, and try to focus on the music. And in between there were a lot of meaningful looks. Sam getting to her feet seemed to break the spell of intensity settling over the table. "Yeah! let's dance!" Adele said, eagerly joining her and beaming hopefully at Iris and the rest of the Claremont crew, "I'm not very good, but Justin is *marvelous*, and Merry-!" "Nope." Merry didn't look around as she spoke. "Don't feel like it." Justin laughed good-naturedly. "MJ'll change her mind, let's go!"

List of all super-criminals and associates presently captured and imprisoned at Blackstone Penitentiary or other means of confinement, along with the thread, the date, and who collared the crook(s). Only counting finished threads. Using a modified version of Rocketlord's Canon Character Status listing. Canon Villains The Crime League Black Star: ... Devil Ray: ... Dr. Simian: ... Dr. Stratos: ... Hiroshima Shadow: ... The Maestro: ... Medea: ... Orion the Hunter: ... Wildcard: ... The Factor Four Professor Fathom: ... Granite: ... Pyre: ... Sylph: ... Larceny, Inc. Get-Away: ... Grab: ... Smash: ... Trap Door: ... The Power Corps The Psions Professor Psion: ... Empath: ... Ember: ... Jump: ... Aura: ... Argent: ... SHADOW Overshadow: ... Solo Villains Argo the Ultimate Android: ... Baron Samedi: ... Captain Kraken: Now Admiral Kraken The Collective: ... Conundrum: ... Doc Otaku: ... Dr. Sin: ... Downtime: ... Fear-Master: Captured October 2019 by Veronica Danger, Artificer, Thunderbird, Octoman, Chelone and Ms. Thursday (Reptile Brain) Gamma, the Atom-Smasher: ... The Green Man: ... The Hellqueen: ... Jack-a-Knives: ... Lady Lunar: ... Lady Tarot: ... Magpie: ... Mastermind: ... Megalodon: ... The Meta-Grue: ... Mr. Mist: ... Nacht-Krieger: ... Rant & Rave: ... The Silencer: ... Silver Scream: ... Superior: ... Terra-King: ... Toy Boy: ... Warden: ... White Knight: ... [3E villains to be added from Threat Report, Emerald City Secrets, Freedom City 3E, Atlas of Earth-Prime, and Rogues Gallery as needed] Mindfire: Captured Dec 11, 2012 by Velocity and Voltage (Date with Destruction), broken out of custody, recaptured on February 4, 2013 by Velocity and Young Britannia (Street Fighting (wo)Man) Non-Canon Villains Bonebreaker: Captured Dec 11, 2012 by Velocity and Voltage (Date with Destruction), broken out of custody, recaptured on February 4, 2013 by Velocity and Young Britannia (Street Fighting (wo)Man) Raditron: Captured on February 4, 2013 by Velocity and Young Britannia (Street Fighting (wo)Man) Snowblind: Captured on January 18, 2013 by Velocity and Warp (Life Moves Pretty Fast)

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters The North Bay Prep trio had joined in the obnoxious hooting and hollering as first Neko and then Multiplicity answered their prayers and emerged to start the set, but rapidly fell silent as the song actually began, the teenagers watching and listening intently to Bernadette and her band. From their demeanour it was obvious that this wasn't anything they were used to, with only Merry able to split her attention between the virtuosic performance and scribbling short notes she passed to Justin in a slowly-growing pile. The longest was written just after the fourth verse. Justin, relaxed and smiling moments before, had transformed into a pillar with a pair of wide, staring eyes pointed at the band but seeing none of them, nodding fractionally along to the litany of woes the song recounted. Adele was similarly transfixed, her slender hands twisting slowly together into a tight knot. The very stars on her dress seemed to dim, largely thanks to a subtle readjustment of the house lights to better illuminate the stage. At the close of the song she suddenly let out a breath, coughed a little and smiled awkwardly at Iris. "Wow. It's so much more...powerful in person. Oh! So sorry, I'll give you your seat back." Seeing the other students approaching she'd got smoothly back to her feet and rejoined her schoolmates. The fading chords seemed to startle Justin back to life, and he clapped his powerful hands together with gusto, pausing only to let out a whistle. Applauding with him and stomping one of her heeled boots on the floor for emphasis, Merry regarded the back line with a sudden interest.

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters "Oh it's wonderful, don't mind my complaining," Adele assured Iris, "it's a bold red brick complex on 40 acres of green grass southwest of the nuclear plant. Everything's indoors, except the gardens and the harbour, and they teach us absolutely everything! Mathematics, literature, history, practical science, self-defence, even some criminal l-" "You'd better show us on a map after the show," Merry advised Michael, "we don't have phones, per school rules." Despite her best efforts, she smirked a little "Well, the new rules." "I thought it was funny, M.J.," Justin said kindly. To the Claremont boys he added "I'm up for anything! Especially if we get to explore, I've heard all kinds of crazy ghost stories about Cla-" Sam's outburst drowned out the rest of what Adele and Justin said, and while the starry girl looked annoyed, Justin and Merry were delighted. "MUL-TI-PLICI-TY! MUL-TI-PLICI-TY! MUL-TI-PLICI-TY!" Justin and Merry eagerly joined in Sam's chant, pounding their fists in time with Sam's table-stomping, "MUL-TI-PLICI-TY! MUL-TI-PLICI-TY! MUL-TI-PLICI-TY!" Shooting her schoolmates an irritated look, Adele scooted over to the Claremont table where she went on pleasantly "I love boxing! Kickboxing's best, but the other's good too! What styles do you prefer?"

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters "Michael, Ryan, Sam, Owain, Daniel, Iris, It's wonderful to meet you! After the show, maybe you can introduce me!" Adele politely accepted and distributed the discount cards, looking at them with the fascination of a truly new thing. She grinned happily at the twins, the gems on her dress seeming to shine brighter to match her. Glancing down at herself she laughed self-consciously, "I know I'm maybe overdoing it, but at school we have to wear the uniform all year 'round. I got this last year, and this is the first chance I've had to wear it! Or to meet, well, anyone new." "Sports" said both Merry and Justin at once, sharing a quick fist-bump, Justin shifting around to better give the other boy an admiring look. "That cross ain't just for show, huh? Glad to meet a real Catholic around here, felt like a jerk when I had to tell the faculty the big statue they'd had for over a hundred years was of the wrong Spanish St. Isidore. I mean, patron of the ploughman's not a bad choice. Especially not for Bay Prep, they keep us busy in and out of the classroom." "I"m on the regular and robot soccer teams, di Pisa's first love is martial arts, and this fine specimen's into swimming...and everything else." Merry patted Justin on a powerful shoulder. "The Heroes and Rayguns have been after this guy since before his voice changed." Coughing meaningfully and shooting Merry a polite but firm raised eyebrow, Justin said "By the way, Owain? uh...like we said, we don't get out much, but we're getting a spring break this year. Good performance in the...competitions, y'know? So uh...after the concert, if you have any ideas of what else we can, y'know, do for fun, that'd be sweet."

Knave, Tro-Fi, Seven Sisters Owain felt a sudden bump against the circular sofa, followed by a sheepish "Whoops! Sorry, man, my bad." The cause, a dark-skinned, and powerfully-built boy with a shaved head, what the squire now knew to be a Hawai'ian accent and well-fitted black suit, smiled awkwardly down at the other boy as he turned more fully sideways to maneuver through the dense seating. Close behind were two girls, one tanned, dark-eyed and dark-haired in a way that reminded him of a visitation to Arthur's court from Rome, in a floor-length black dress lined with gems that flashed like stars; the other girl was Black, almost as dark as the boy, but with braided kinky hair dyed red and green to match the diamond patterns on her jacket and skirt. Both smiled politely and murmured apologies as they settled around a neighbouring table, a placard declaring it to be reserved for "St. Isidore's North Bay Preparatory." "Are you fans too?" asked the girl in the starry dress, talking to the Claremont table in general but looking curiously between Iris and Sam, "I just heard about Multiplicity last month, but I love their drummer! I'm Adele, he's Justin and she's Merry," she added, gesturing to her two friends before beaming hopefully at the Claremont students, "what are your names?" "Careful, Butterfly di Pisa," the girl identified as 'Merry' smiled a little more thinly, "we don't wanna advertise how little we get outta school." "To be fair M.J., for all we know they might have it even harder than us," Justin pointed out mildly, easing into the sofa like he was worried about falling in.

Thread begun, with Star-Squire, Sever, Neoo & Owain. IC thread here OOC thread here

OOC thread for this thread. The ultimate thrillride, a mall-centered melee, a clash between rival schools! @EmpressValerian96 @Thunder King @Avenger Assembled Empress, Miriam's armor has been occasionally 'ping'-ing her since she got to the mall, for no immediately-apparent reason and inaudbly to the other heroes.

GM March 16th, 2024, 1.13PM Millennium Mall, Bayview, Freedom City It was winding towards the end of a nice, relaxing, post-school day. The quartet of young incognito heroes sitting in the food court had wandered the echoing halls of the vast shopping mall and gotten more or less what they'd wanted out of the experience. Plus, there was some of Doctor Metropolis' new art on display. The presence of the strange, quiet city-spirit was normally an unseen one. As an expression of Freedom City as a whole he didn't favour any areas or inahbitants over any others, unlike the mysteriously-vanished ghost Lantern Jack whose hauntings had rarely gone beyond Lantern Hill. And, similar to how people rarely notice good roads but can't ignore bad ones, his most visible role had been as a healer of civic wounds and shepherd of missing persons. Brief, purposeful, unsettling, Doctor Metropolis was in some ways less approachable than the space aliens and living dead that had served with the Freedom League. However, while a tireless repair-man, the city-spirit was also a "born" artist. His canvas was the layouts, structure and material of buildings, and places with high concentrations of citizens could look forward to something new and unexpected. Today, the ceiling skylight rippled like a watery surface, while tiles on the floor and walls schooled in dazzling rainbows or loomed in grey enormity. Out the main door, a number of plaques had appeared dedicated to the lives lost in Freedom City's long-gone fishing industry. Most of this was lost on the shoppers, who had their own lives to worry about. Especially the busy lives of teenaged superheroes.

Who: Thread for 3 PCs, one of which is @EmpressValerian96's Star-Squire. Newer ones preferred. What: Combat-focused, with some imperiling of innocents requiring Skill/Power checks. Opponents will be three NPCs of PL10-8 Where: Millennium Mall, Bayview. When: Mid-March, 2024 Why: For some Claremont students to have a smaller scene and face lighter but significant challenges.