Search the Community

GM August 20, 2019 A barrier island off the coast of Freedom City 6:00 AM This was it, the fateful hour. The morning fog rolled over the barrier island, the waves calm. Rising up from the island’s rocky surface was the vessel that would take the fateful group up to the Moon: The Peregrine. Standing tall as a building, it looked like a rocket ship out of Buck Rogers, tall and thin and cast in chrome. An extendable stairway lead into its interior, inviting the people on the surface to step inside. In front, a crowd of heroes had gathered, dressed in space-suits. Rachel stood out front of the Peregrine, dressed in a labcoat and holding a datapad that she was going over intently. She paced, occasionally looking at the heroes, then at the rocketship. She sighed sharply through her nose, then nodded to herself. Stowing the datapad, she clapped her hands together. “Alright! So, I’ve quintuple checked everything, and it looks like we’re cleared to go. Just some things to cover. Flight up to orbit is going to take 3 hours, then making it to the Moon will take another hour You won’t have to do anything for the first bit, I’ve installed a guidance system. One reinforced against psychic interference, this time. However, our pilot,” she said, looking over to Black Mamba, “will have to guide it down to the surface. I’ve deliberately made the controls easy and familiar, so you shouldn’t have any problems. If you’re attacked, I’ve installed Photon Cannons. However, I would be careful, if you fire them in our atmosphere you could cause a fireball. The firing mechanism is very clearly labeled.” She gestured at their space-suits, red ones that were similarly retro. “Your space-suits are state-of-the-art and tailored to what I know about your powers so you can use them. For example, Fast-Forward’s suit has been implanted with a reactive graviton array that will allow him to use his speed powers as though he was in normal gravity. Similarly, I’ve developed a field generator that should allow Archer to use his bow and arrows effectively. The same goes for the rest of you. I’ve tried to account for everything. More than that, your suits have a nano-array that should allow them to quickly seal if you’re hit, so no worries about suffocation. There are limits, though. Take too much damage and the nano-array won’t have enough material to repair. Life support is good for 72 hours, so if for some reason you get blown away into space, we have time to retrieve you,” she said. “I will not be joining you up there, sadly. But I have an FTL-communication device set up that should mean I will be able to communicate with you instantaneously with you wherever you are, as long as you don’t all decide to like… visit Mars or something. Please don’t do that.” She paused, and then tilted her head. “Alright. Any questions?”

Serena’s Apartment, the Fens, Freedom City Saturday, August 17, 2019 (Serena’s birthday) Evening “Jenna, honey, I’m back with dinner,” Serena said as she muscled into her apartment, carrying a big bucket of fried chicken. She hadn’t been feeling like cooking, lately, not that she ever really did, and it was hard to figure out what the latest arrival to her home was into. Ever since she had taken Jenna in, it had all been touch and go. She flipped on the light to her apartment to see that no one was there. Then, she remembered. Jenna was over with Lester for the weekend to spend time with her little brother. Looking down at the bucket of chicken in her arms, she groaned. Well, I guess I’m having chicken for breakfast tomorrow, she thought to herself. Sighing, she tossed her keys onto the tiny kitchen counter, and wandered towards the fridge. Seeing the six-pack of Coors she had stored in there, she picked it up by the ring and flopped onto her couch, turning on the TV. Time passed pretty quickly. Serena’s pants were gone, she was on her tenth piece of chicken and her fourth can of beer. The lights were back off, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force was flickering on the screen. She giggled dumbly to herself at the stupid gags, eyes fixed to the screen. The fact that she was going to the Moon in 3 days was now far from her mind as she focused on the show instead. Raising the can of beer to her lips, she saw a small reflection in the glossy cover of the can. She blinked, and then turned around to see the person who had entered her house. Lynn? She looked down, seeing that she was in a grease-stained t-shirt, crummy zip-up hoodie and her underpants and flopped down off the couch. “AAAAaaaaaa how did you get into my apartment?”

Claremont Academy, Freedom City Early November 6:00PM Once again, Claremont had invited a guest to the lecture hall, and again it was going to be someone a bit controversial. Serena Mustafic, known to the hero community both as Corona and formerly as Revolt, had been asked to come to give a lecture on being an ex-supervillain and how crime didn’t pay. After a few questions, she had found out she hadn’t been their first pick, but the first had referred them to her. Which made her suspect who it was, but she couldn’t be sure because they weren’t telling. Attendance wasn’t mandatory, which meant that Corona’s daughter Mia was off hiding in her room, away from the potential embarrassment. Not that Serena knew that. Instead, she was more focused on the sudden crowd in front of her. She wondered, briefly, if she had gone insane agreeing to do this. She forced the thought back down and approached the podium. She was dressed in full costume, complete with grey tights, black trunks and leather jacket. She figured if she was talking as a superhero, she should look the part. Rubbing the back of her neck, she waited for the introduction to happen. “Alright, everyone, this is Corona. She is here to talk to you all today about what makes a supervillain, how bad it was to be one, and how you shouldn’t become one. If you want to ask a question, please wait in turn and try not to interrupt,” said the host. Corona sighed, and leaned up to the microphone. “Hi, everyone. I’m Corona. Some of you might know me as Mia’s mom, others might not know me at all. I’m a superhero now, but back in the early 90s I was a supervillain called Revolt,” she said. “I was a member of a team called the Delinquents. We were formed basically right after the Terminus Invasion in ‘93.” “Uhm, some background. Before I got my powers, I was in and out of the foster system and I was pretty poor as a kid. I drifted from home to home, and started committing crimes when I was… Jeez. I don’t know. 10? I was angry at the world. Everyone, really, and I ran away a lot. It made me pretty ideal fodder for being turned into a villain. I was kidnapped by a man named Will Wu when I was 15 years old, and I was given superpowers. In exchange, I was expected to commit crimes for him along with four other teenagers.” “Before you get the idea I was entirely the victim in this, I was pretty into it. For most of my life, I had felt powerless, and suddenly having powers and the ability to act on a lot of anger I was harbouring… It felt good. It let me be blind to the fact that I was causing a lot of people a lot of pain. I think there’s a very large subset of super-villains who are people who felt powerless and then when they did gain extraordinary abilities they just… Got drunk on it. That’s not… I don’t want it to sound like I am making excuses for myself. But I think it’s important to remember that a lot of these people out there are people who are hurting in some way, and there might be a chance for you to make a breakthrough to them.” “Uh, but getting back to my story here. I was a supervillain for around three years. I fought with groups like the Freedom League, there’s a very embarrassing photo of me fighting Lady Li…” she paused, and looked up at the projector screen behind her, and sighed as she saw a teenage version of her attacking the Lady Liberty of the 90s. It was a newspaper clipping, underneath a headline of ‘DELINQUENTS AND FREEDOM LEAGUE CLASH’. “Yeah. Not proud of that one. Anyway,” she said as the image switched off. “I was caught at the end of those three years and sentenced to several years in jail, which was kind of a wakeup call for me. Once I got out, I made the decision that I was going to go straight. Most of my compatriots went straight along with me… Some didn’t. I am still dealing with the fallout of that today. I never finished high school, so I was really limited in my job choices, which meant after I had my daughter, money was tight as ever, and a few members of the super community paid me a few unwanted visits to let me know that I was being watched, which was a little spooky, not going to lie. Recently, I made the decision to return to the super world, but as a superhero. It’s been difficult at times, but it’s a lot more rewarding.” She paused. “Well, that’s the short version of my life story. One thing I really feel the need to say is that I know a lot of you are probably in a similarly crummy point in your life, and you might want to lash out. Your powers might make it easy to lash out. And for a time, it might even feel good. But consequences always catch up to you, and more than that, you’re not just hurting the people you think you’re lashing out at. Your actions tend to ring outwards. Which is why I think if you are angry at injustice, or the way you’ve been treated, what you should be doing is using your abilities to make the world better. Yes, I understand a lot of you are angry at the world and you probably have a lot of right to be. But the world does not need another super-powered jerk bullying people because they’ve been abused, or hurt… or whatever has happened to you. What it does need is more people doing good. That doesn’t necessarily mean going out and punching bad guys, either. There are a lot of really good organizations out there that can benefit from people who are super strong or can fly. Disaster relief really benefits from metahuman help. Like, unimaginably so. So… Just try to use that outrage for good, I guess.” She looked over at the host. “How was that? Was that good? Should I start taking questions?” She nodded at the answer. “Alright, if anyone has any questions, I can answer a few.”

GM FCU June 10, 2019, 2am Maggie Rayburn was pulling a late night again. Internally, she chastised herself for leaving her paper to the last minute, but for some reason someone always seemed to be throwing a party on the nights she planned to work. Now, she had burned through her last extension and found herself staring at her laptop screen, trying to summon up the will to finish on time. She sighed, watching the cursor blink, and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache brewing. Her eyes drifted down to the clock on her taskbar. 2am. Maybe a mocha would give her the energy she needed. She rolled her chair back from her desk and stood up. She looked down at her stained sweatpants, and wondered if she should change. Nah. She moved over to her desk and grabbed her wallet and keys, before cramming her feet in her high-tops and headed out the door. There had been talks of attacks at night around campus, but the parking lot wasn’t far and besides, Maggie had a can of mace so severe you could use it to blind a bear. Still, as she stepped out into the night air, she couldn’t help but feel a thrill of fear run up her spine. She steeled herself, reminding herself that if she was scared now, Professor Xiu was infinitely scarier. She needed this coffee. She resolved to simply walk briskly, just in case. By the time she made it to the warm halogen glow of the parking lot, Maggie was sighing relief. She made her way to her car, laughing at herself for worrying at all. Yet as she went to slide her key into the car door, she felt a sudden pulse like frozen electricity through her body. She froze, her body unable to move except for the most minimal twitches and jerks as something gripped her from within her mind. She tried to scream, but her lungs and throat refused to cooperate. She could not so much as move her eyes, leaving her view locked onto her car door windshield, and the reflection of the figure that approved behind her. The distorted image was humanoid, a black shape with great white spheres for eyes. She could see it extending its hand out to her, and once more she tried to struggle, to move, to do anything. But she could not. She felt tears come unbidden to her eyes as the figure extended its hand, and laid its icy cold fingertips on her forehead. Somewhere in the bowels of her mind, Maggie could swore she heard something speak. “What a waste of a mind, Ms. Rayburn…” Then, there was another jolt through her, and Maggie felt everything go blurry. -- Zeb Simms sipped his coffee, feet up on the front security desk. Overnights paid well, but they were almost unbearably boring. If he wasn’t saving up for that new boat, he'd probably take a new shift entirely. Still, at the very least, it was usually pretty peaceful aside from the occasional too-young-to-drink-but-drunk-anyway college kid. His peace was disturbed, however, by a banging on the door. Zeb looked up from his coffee to see a pretty little blonde girl just going at it on the glass door. Her face was red, and it looked like she was crying. Immediately, Zeb mind raced to the worst and he immediately got up off his butt and rushed to the door, unlocking it and swinging it open. He didn’t even have time to ask what was wrong before the girl threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face deep into his shirt and sobbing. Rather than try and stop her, Zeb simply let her hold him and cry it out. Finally, after an uncomfortable few minutes, the girl looked up at him, sniffling and snorting. “I-I can’ read what's on the door… I… I used bu' I can anymo'…” she moaned. Zeb blinked, then looked over at the door. In bright, friendly letters were the words “FCU Building C”. He looked down at the girl, confused for a moment. Then a horrible realization rolled over him like a wave. “Oh, no, honey,” he said softly. “Oh I am so sorry…” He pulled his radio free from his hip, and called in. “Yeah, uhm... I got a report… Uh… damn. We got another one.”

Riverside Farmer's Market, Freedom City Saturday, June 29, 2019 12 p.m. "I can't believe you invited your boss." Mia Mustafic Markov leaned against the car in the farmer's market parking lot, a sour expression on her face. She looked a lot like her mother, Serena Mustafic, but stretched out and paler. She stood 6'00" tall, making her a bit gangly, which dwarfed her mother's 5'04". A smattering of freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and checks, breaking up the milky colour of the rest of her face while being partially obscured by a pair of big round sunglasses. Her jet black hair was done up in a high pony tail held up by a baby blue scrunchie. She was dressed for the weather, wearing a black tank-top with Mr. Yuk on the front, though she had no idea who Mr. Yuk was, along with a pair of jean shorts. She had opted to only wear flip-flops on her feet, partially due to the promise of time at the beach later. "Lynn's a nice lady, give her a chance. Oh, and call her Ms. Epstein until she gives you the go-ahead." Serena didn't really look much older than her daughter at the best of times, and her choice of attire today didn't help. She wore a promotional t-shirt for Bad Religion's Empire Strikes First album, the art of a man praying in front of a black and blood coloured American flag now faded some, along with a pair of high-waisted pastel blue shorts. As always, she wore her worn Doc Martens, but for today accessorized with a wide brimmed straw sun-hat and teashades. A red pleather purse hung from her shoulders, clearly having seen better days. Serena pulled out her phone, and quickly shot Lynn a text message. 'hey, we r here in the parking lot. C u soon :)' Then, she stowed her phone back in her purse, and shot her daughter a glance. "You're not going to be a sour puss all day, are you?" she said to her daughter, peering over her sunglasses. Mia rolled her eyes. "M'not bein' a sourpuss." Serena smirked. "The sourest puss." Mia frowned. "Could be in Philly right now. Could literally teleport there," she said sulkily. "You do and the next place you better teleport is the moon, because I will kick your butt so hard it'll fly off," Serena said. She used a jokey tone, but Mia knew she would be in big trouble if she crossed her mom. "I wooooon't," Mia whined. Serena smiled. "Good. Now keep your eyes peeled for Lynn." Mia folded her arms and sighed. "What am I looking for?" "Tiny Jewish lady with more energy than a four year old on Halloween."

GM The Heart's Zephyr, in the Centery Narrows July 6th, 2019, 9:27 PM The Heart's Zephyr, sailing out of Lisbon, and ports beyond, drifted slowly beneath the Centery Bridge. Normally, this would be no cause for concern, as a great many ships passed beneath the bridge, even at so late an hour as this. However, unlike the usual ships to pass through the Narrows, the Heart's Zephyr's lights were out. Even worse, as the vast transport slowly trundled along, over a dozen shadowy figures dropped down from the Centry Bridge onto its deck, each one armed in some way. One of the sailors onboard the Zephyr made the unfortunate error of approaching one of the figures. "Stop! Who are y-" BLAM! The crack of a gunshot cut through even the sounds of traffic on the bridge. Even as one of the figures began berating the shooter, the rest began fanning out swiftly through the ship, as though seeking something.

GM Brussels, Belgium July 27th, 4:00 PM The trip over water had been mostly fine. When going at the speeds that Fast-Forward was capable of, there was little in the way of hazards that could slow you down. Going overland was more of an issue, being more bumpy, breaking off from the Scheldt river near Antwerp to hit the capital of Belgium. Brussels was, in many ways, one of the most powerful cities in the world. De facto capital city of the European Union, it was a meeting place of every sort of power you could imagine. Which made it the perfect sort of place for a super-hunter-for-hire to set up. Much as they wanted to keep it quiet, the governments of the world knew that there were plenty of powerful individuals who could take on entire nations, and sometimes things had to be done a little more black hat than the average superhero could manage. Amongst the mixture of modern and antique buildings rose a white complex, cast in the art moderne style, looking more than a little out of place next to its neighbours. It rose for 6 storeys, lacking much in the way of detail beyond glass, white plaster and steel. This was the home and office of Adrian Pike, once known as Kombat, former ally of Corona and now a potential threat. @Avenger Assembled @RocketLord @Tarrakhash

Freedom City Friday, July 26 5:58 PM Donahue’s Dockside Bar was not exactly the most glamorous of establishments. The outer walls were coated in flaking black paint, the sign that announced the bar’s name was a harsh neon red, and the windows were tinted in such a way that peering inside was at the very least difficult. On the steel front door was a sign which declared in hastily scrawled letters “closed for a private party”. The interior was not much better.The tables were made of old, battered wood, and the chairs had clearly seen better days. The lights were dim, as if to enhance the melancholic mood of anyone who happened to drink there regularly. The only thing really livening things up was a cloth-covered pair of tables, with a bright sign saying “free food - take what you like”. A few pieces sat under cloches, and the smell of hot sauce was strong in the air. Serena paced back and forth in front of the bar, rubbing at her temples. She was dressed in her Corona costume, a grey set of tights with black trunks and a leather jacket over top, along with a pair of welding goggles resting on her forehead. She sighed to herself. “Do you think anyone’s gonna show up?” she asked. Lester Donahue looked up from the glass he was polishing behind the bar. The muscle he had possessed in his teenage years had long ago turned to fat, and now an enormous belly hung in front of him, but he still possessed the orange fur and wet black nose that had come with the transformation that had given him inhuman levels of strength. He frowned at her, his yellow eyes following the superheroine as she moved back and forth. “It’s still two minutes to six, give’em time,” he said. “Besides, at least some of them are gonna show up for the free food alone, always do.” Serena looked over at him. “Well, that’s great but I kinda need superheroes.” Lester shrugged. “Superheroes like free food too. I mean, you’re mooching off of me right now,” he said with a slight smirk as he looked back down at his glass. Serena huffed. “Not mooching, I will pay you back.” Lester waved his hand at her dismissively. “Myaaaah, it’s fine. This is sticking it to Wu, it’s on me since I can’t uh… Well with my back injury and the heart condition…” Serena smiled sympathetically at him. “Thanks, Les.” Lester shrugged again. “Eh, it’s fine. EY! I think that’s the first person now!” he said, gaze drifting towards the window.

Summer 2019 Kingston Aquaria sat in the shadow of the grim and terrible doomforge, squatting on her haunches as she meditated on the gods and their will for humanity. She didn't like it much here in the shadow of Destruction, where the world still moaned softly in the aftermath of the invasion, but she appreciated the chance for some quiet. Hopping past the memorials left behind for the murdered people of this neighborhood, she stopped at the foot of a dried-out fountain and began to sing. It was a song of mourning and loss, for all that would have been but now would never be, and the booming bass echoed from inside her opaque armor through the streets of the mostly-deserted neighborhood. Would there be justice for these people when the stars were right? Perhaps not. It was a terrible thought.

Give me some Notice checks

This is the OOC topic for Import/Export. And stuff.

Hanover, Freedom City June 22, 1:26 AM It was the dead of night, which only increased Serena’s dread as she approached the abandoned building just off the corner of Raleigh. Despite being far from Kingston, the damage was apparent in the stones. They’d paved over most of it, repaired as much as they could, but you couldn’t hide wounds as deep as these. She looked up at the building, watching it rise many stories in the air, the boarded up windows kindling old memories in her. But it wasn’t what was above that she cared about. It was what was below. She walked up to the glass doors, now covered in graffiti, and placed her palm on the surface. I shouldn’t be here, she thought to herself. Could just turn back now. But she couldn’t, not really. Something told her that she had to be here, had to make sure everything was still the way she left it in 1995, when the police raids came down and broke up Dr. Wu’s little experiments. Why now was she so concerned about it? She had gone 23 years without coming here, and yet now she was unable to get it out of her head that she had to come here. Back to the Lab, back to the Delinquent HQ. Looking down at the door handles, she saw that they had been locked tight with some chains and a padlock. She considered just melting them, but that’d leave too much evidence. She freed the lock release gun from the inside of her leather jacket, and inserted it into the keyhole. Within a moment, it popped up and dropped to the concrete. With that settled, she removed the chains and made her way inside. For a moment, Serena felt her breath catch in her throat. This was, technically, trespassing. She steeled herself. She would just be in and out. Make sure nothing was out of place. Then, the alarm started screeching into the night. Serena cursed loudly, looking around for the source of it as fast as she could. Her eyes settled on a red bell contraption, looking conspicuously new. She gritted her teeth, and charged up a blast with her free hand before firing a beam into the bell and melting it into slag. She took a second to hiss more curses to herself, before moving inside. She had to be even quicker now, before anyone noticed. She stowed her lock gun, and pulled out the flashlight she kept with her. Flicking it on, she drew the beam of light across the room in front of her. It revealed the lobby that helped keep the masquerade that the building was for nothing nefarious, but now it was a shell of its former self. The ground was littered with trash and rubbed, and the walls were covered in graffiti. The front desk was barren, missing the secretary - Ms. Chatham, right? - she remembered so well. An ancient, dust-covered PC lay on the floor, its monitor shattered and its tower pried open and stripped for parts. There was no sign of the mouse or the keyboard. The swivel chair Chatham had sat in was long gone. She paused for a moment. Wouldn’t they have seized the PC for evidence? Her eyes narrowed. Something to check in on later, she thought. She made her way through the lobby, the rubble crunching beneath her boots. She stopped in front of the elevator, fingers running over the up and down buttons and moving to the secret third button that blended in seamlessly with the rest of the panel. She pressed down, but nothing came. Somehow, that relieved her. The power was still off. Still, that meant she had to find another way down. @Exaccus

The West End Silberman's Books June 14, 6:00 PM …For a minute there I lost myself, I lost myself Phew, for a minute there I lost myself, I lost myself The smooth sound of Thom Yorke’s voice filtered through Serena’s car speakers as she pulled up onto Pratt, looking for Silberman’s Books. As she spotted the store-front, she sighed to herself in relief. This was her last delivery of the day, and she was looking forward to the chance to finally relax after this. Normally, she engaged in superheroics after work, but today had been a bit of a mess and thus all she wanted to do was get in the shower and sleep like the dead. They sell coffee here, she thought to herself. Maybe I should pick one up. Pulling to a stop next to the store, Serena compulsively double-checked to make sure there wasn’t “no parking” sign to saddle her with a ticket she couldn’t afford. That’d really mess up her week. Safe. She disconnected her phone from the blue-tooth, and stuffed it into her front-right pocket before twisting the keys and yanking them out of the ignition, then headed to the back. The first thing she grabbed was her collapsible dolley, kicking it down to its full size before she loaded the three boxes down onto it. The delivery was a bunch of copies of some weirdo French, In My Name or And Numina or something. Not really her wheelhouse. Her ex, Pete, was into that stuff but he was never really able to get her into it like he was. The moment the math started, she was off into her own little world. Slamming her trunk shut, she locked the car - three times just to be safe - and began wheeling the dolley up the very convenient wheel-chair ramp and into the store. She looked around, seeing the magic posters, and whistled to herself. She used to spend more time in bookstores, back when Mia was younger, but these days she never had time to read. She kind of missed it. Used to be she’d never miss a Stephen King, but these days she wasn’t even caught up on the movies. She headed toward the front, wanting to get things done quickly. She was dressed in a baby blue blouse with the sleeves rolled up, showing off her colourful Bosnian flag wrapped around her right forearm and the cut-off depiction of a fanciful battle on her left. Her jeans had a tear in the right knee, but this wasn’t a fashion statement so much as a reflection of the fact that she needed to make every pair of pants last as long as possible, while her worn Docs had seen better days. She had made the decision to mostly eschew make-up today, wearing only some winged eyeliner, while her hair was tied up in a messy bun. “Hey, I got a delivery for a… Lynn Epstein?” She said, her voice a rough contralto.

Corona Power Level: 10 [11] (150/172PP) Unspent Power Points: 22 Trade-Offs: -2 Attack / +2 Damage In Brief: Ex-teen supervillain trying hard to set a good example for her teenage daughter. Theme: Black Sheep - Metric Alternate Identity: Serena Mustafic (Secret) Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey Residence: Freedom City Occupation: Retail Worker Family: Mia Markov (daughter), Pete Markov (ex-husband), Ahmed Mustafic (Father) Description: Age: 40 (DoB: August 17, 1978) Apparent Age: Mid-20s Gender: Female Ethnicity: Bosnian-American Height: 5’04” Weight: 155 lbs Eyes: Grey Hair: Black Serena is not a large woman, standing only 5’04”, but she manages to stand out anyway. Her heart-shaped face is surrounded by lengths of wavy black hair that falls down just below her shoulders, and is marked by almond-shaped grey eyes and a slightly crooked nose. Her eyebrows are thin and arched, with the left having a noticeable split from a scar, while her ears are dappled with earring holes running up and down the lobes. Her skin is olive-coloured, occasionally broken up by colourful tattoos, like the full sleeves on her muscular arms. She looks younger than she is, appearing to be a woman in her mid-20s rather than someone in her 40s, though most just assume she has aged very well. In her day to day, Serena tends to go for jeans and button-up shirts, favouring flannel. She sometimes gives in and wears band-shirts, but is worried they make her look young and not likely to be taken seriously. Her choice of footwear are a well-worn pair of Doc Martens with smiley-face laces. As Corona, she wears a grey set of tights with black trunks, fingerless gloves and combat boots. On her chest is the symbol of a three-pointed star, also in black. She accessorizes this relatively drab costume with a beat-up leather motorcycle jacket that is covered in old pins on the lapels and the faded remnants of a “KORN” patch that can still barely be made out on the shoulderblades area of the back despite the clear attempts to remove it, with the same three-pointed star in white stitched in on back. She also has a pair of acetylene welding goggles to help with the brightness of her powers. History: Serena’s life got off to a rough start. When she was only 5 years old, her mother passed away from meningitis, and her dad did not feel remotely equipped to raise a child on his own, and so gave her up to the foster system. She bounced from home to home, never quite fitting in or finding her own place. She fell into illegal activity at a young age, starting with shoplifting and petty vandalism. By the time she reached her teens in the early 1990s, no one really expected much of her. She was disinterested in school, increasingly anti-social and a habitual runaway. Combined with her criminal activities, this made her the ideal target for an organization that was looking for pliable candidates they could mould to their whims. One day, while tagging a random alley in Jersey and having run away from her foster home for about 3 days, Serena was surrounded by men who wrestled her into a van and blindfolded her. When the blindfold was removed, she found herself in the laboratory of Dr. Will Wu, who made her an offer - he would give her superpowers, as long as she did a few minor errands to pay him back. He told her he knew she had a hard life, and that he wanted to help her. Being a dumb teenager offered superpowers, and getting the distinct sense refusal would be bad for her health, Serena agreed. The young woman found herself strapped down to a table, injected with all sorts of serums, bombarded with rays and run through a battery of tests. She didn’t understand most of it, but what she gathered was that her skin had been made tougher and fire-resistant, and more amazingly, crystals in her blood allowed her to create blasts of superheated plasma. After confirming her powers weren’t going to kill her - something Serena only found was a possibility after the procedure - Dr. Wu and his men introduced her to the rest of her team. It turned out Serena was not the only teenager that Wu’s men had swept up off the street. There were four in total: l Lucas Morgan, codename Heathen. Granted super-intelligence through neural implants and given an array of cyborg bits. l Heather Romano, codename Tantrum. Natural psychic and empath, given cybernetics to help control her powers. l Lester Donahue, codename Beastfreak. Infused with animal DNA to make him fuzzy and give him claws, along with super strength. l Adrian Pike, codename Kombat. Exposed to an alien combat-training AI and given super-soldier serum. Serena, taking the name Revolt, completed the team. Together, Wu informed them, they would perform missions for him to help recoup his losses on empowering them. For a brief moment, they all thought they were going to be superheroes. Then, he told them that their first mission was to rob the lair of a tech-based superhero, which was now ‘abandoned’ after the Terminus Invasion. A few tried to back out, but Dr. Wu made it clear that he had employed fail-safes in case they didn’t comply. So they complied. Serena wasn’t particularly bothered by the illegality of what they were doing. In fact, she found her first outing exciting. She blasted open doors, melted steel and caused havoc. Her confidence emboldened her team-mates, and they were laughing by the time they were out the door, riding away in an armoured van from the police. When they got back to Wu’s compound, they were treated to pizza and shown to their special living space, which was stocked with all the latest consoles, a big tv and all sorts of goodies. It was clear that Wu was buttering them up, but none of them, least of all Serena, minded. Over the coming months, the team performed more and more missions for Dr. Wu, and became more infamous. One media outlet started calling them “delinquents” to disparage them, and the team ended up liking it enough to take it as their own. They also became closer, becoming a sort of family that looked out for one another. When they weren’t on missions, they’d gorge on junk food and play video-games, like normal teens would. Serena finally felt like she had a home. The Delinquents had more than a few run-ins with superheroes once they got some notoriety, though with the aftermath of the Terminus Invasion, there weren’t many. The most common were naturally the Freedom League, to whom the Delinquents maintained a policy of avoiding pitched battle with, but occasionally they ended up in small skirmishes. Infamously, there is a photo of an incident in which Serena punched Lady Liberty in the face. 2 years into her career as a supercriminal, things were looking good for Serena. There had been close calls, especially when they started getting the notice of superheroes, but the Delinquents were doing well. Sure, it seemed like they had to have paid Dr. Wu back for their powers by then and he still kept them working, but at this point they all enjoyed it. Serena’s luck finally ran out one late November in 1995, when she and her team were sent to acquire an alien power crystal from some labs in Freedom City. There was no crystal. It had been a set-up planted in the media explicitly to catch Serena and the rest of the Delinquents. The moment the team entered the laboratory, the building went into lockdown and the superheroes inside went to work to capture them. Desperately, Serena managed to blast a hole in one of the shutters, but only after a lot of effort. The others were able to get out in time, but the heroes caught up with them before Serena could escape. She attempted to hold them off, but even Revolt could not stand against multiple adult superheroes. Unfortunately for her, her efforts were spoiled somewhat when Beastfreak and Heathen stayed behind to ensure she was safe. Still, Kombat and Tantrum managed to get away. Serena was taken in, charged and sentenced to 5 years in prison, the first of which was to be spent in juvie. Thanks to being a minor, her real name wasn’t released to the public. The experience in prison was humiliating, terrifying and sobering for Serena, who decided to make a clean break after her sentence was up. Released to the public, she entered into the public sphere, got married to a man named Pete Markov, and had a daughter named Mia. Four years later, she divorced her husband. From there, she lived a relatively normal life. Being a high-school dropout limited her options, but she got by doing odd jobs. Waitressing, delivering pizzas, the like. She wasn’t rich, and sometimes she missed the old days, but she figured she was doing pretty well. She managed to reconnect with her father after the birth of her daughter, and got back into contact with Beastfreak and Heathen, who similarly pledged to leave the criminal life. She never did find out what happened with Kombat, Tantrum or Will Wu, but she did her best to set those questions aside. Life threw another wrench when her Mia starting developing powers at the age of 10. At first, Serena thought she could handle it by encouraging her daughter to keep her powers quiet, but that didn’t work out too well for either of them. Being strained in that way made Mia start to act out in subtle ways. Serena didn’t really notice that until she got a call from the local mall letting her know that Mia had been shoplifting from the stores there. Realizing her grave mistake and terrified that she was sending her daughter down the same path she went through, Serena sent Mia to Claremont so she could explore her powers in a safe environment. That wasn’t enough, though. She decided that Mia needed a good example of how someone uses their powers, and thus decided to take up the superhero mantle of “Corona”, taking to the streets to help keep the city safe. Personality & Motivation: It’s safe to say that Serena has made some fairly severe mistakes in her life, something that she is all too aware of. But ever since she got out of prison, she has been doing what she can to grow past those mistakes. She is also determined to see that her own daughter doesn’t mess up her own life in the same way her mother did, which is why the girl’s shoplifting has rattled her so much. Serena was a punk teenager and she’s now a punk adult. She still pretty heavily identifies with the subculture, and carries a lot of its values and attitudes. Even as a superhero, she is pretty contemptuous of authority and still doesn’t fully trust the police to do the right thing. She’s also not fond of rich people and has trouble getting along even with the well-intentioned ones. She’s also a bit of a bleeding heart and works with charity when she can find free time from her job, parenting and superheroics. Being a mother has rubbed off on some of Serena’s behaviour and when around young people, the mom in her sometimes comes out. She tries to look out for people finding their way, even to the point of fussing over them. A massive audiophile, Serena loves listening to and making music. She can bond easily with anyone similarly inclined, though her tastes skew to music from the time she was a teenager. As far as her superheroics go, she is motivated to be a good example to her community, especially her daughter. While still a bit crass and aggressive, she takes steps to not emulate the worst excesses of the era she grew up in. She’s painfully aware many criminals come from similar backgrounds to hers, and does what she can to try and steer the milder ones onto the path of good. On the other hand, her dislike of the rich also means that when they turn to supercrime, she really, really hates them. Powers & Tactics: Corona is generally a distance fighter, preferring to use her leaps to keep herself mobile and away from her enemies as she lets loose a barrage of superheated plasma. Yet she’s more than capable of holding her own should someone close the distance, enveloping her fists in plasma and wailing on anyone dumb enough to get up in her face, usually knocking them back with a detonation and allowing her to resume blasting people from afar. Should her enemies have weapons or other gadgets, she is likely to try and disintegrate them from afar to deny them an advantage. For more conventional fire-arms, she can usually tank the bullets, but she is not willing to risk her enemies shooting anyone else. She'll also make use of terror tactics when she can, trying to frighten her enemies into surrender with displays of her power. Power Descriptions: Corona's powers originate from the alterations done to her biology by Dr. Wu. Her plasma control descends from specialized alien crystals that had been bonded to her red blood cells that allow her to exude a gas that she bombards with an ionizing field, converting it to super-hot plasma. Her body's cells have been modified to compensate for this, bombarded with rays and injected with chemicals to drastically reinforce her cell walls, protecting her against direct heat , plasma and even many forms of conventional damage while also slowing her aging exponentially. When Corona uses her powers, the veins and arteries beneath wherever her plasma is being summoned glow for a split second before a blazing white gas flares to life, rippling and coiling around her. While usually localized to her lower arms, when she is especially mad the plasma can envelop her hole body for a brief moment. Even her leaping ability is an extension of her control of plasma, performed by generating a small explosion of plasma beneath her feet to send herself rocketing through the air. A second, smaller explosion helps reduce the impact of the landing, though her unnaturally durable body also helps reduce much of the damage. Complications: Mommy Duty: Serena is the mother of a teenage daughter, and is prone to worry. Occasionally, her daughter Mia will call or text, and Serena feels compelled to answer. The GM can have her daughter call, and Serena has to answer or check her phone or she will be distracted until she can. Bad Reputation: While people may not know her secret identity of Serena Mustafic, most have figured out that Corona is formerly Revolt. Many in the law enforcement and hero community still distrust her for her crimes, giving her difficulties in social interactions with them. Enemies: The Delinquents managed to anger a lot of people, including other supervillains. There are those more than willing to come after Serena to exact their revenge. Semi-Secret Identity: While the general public does not know Corona is Serena Mustafic, the information is out there in government databases and can theoretically be accessed by those with the resources to do so. What they do with the information probably isn’t good. Abilities: 4 + 4 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 22PP Strength: 14 (+2) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+4) Combat: 16 (Attack) + 12 (Defence) = 28PP Initiative: +2 Attack: +8 Melee, +8 Ranged Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Grapple: +10 (+8 attack bonus, +2 Str bonus) Knockback: -10 Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 4 = 14PP Toughness: +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) Fortitude: +8 (+3 Con, +5) Reflex: +7 (+2 Dex, +5) Will: +5 (+1 Wis, +4) Skills: 88R = 22PP Bluff 10 (+12/16) Concentration 4 (+7) Diplomacy 8 (+10/14) Drive 4 (+6) Gather Information 4 (+6) Intimidate 10 (+12) Knowledge (Arts) 8 (+9) Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+5) Knowledge (Streetwise) 8 (+9) Notice 4 (+5) Perform (Singing) 10 (+12) Perform (Strings) 6 (+8) Sense Motive 8 (+9) Feats: 11PP Attractive Dodge Focus 4 Equipment 3 Power Attack Improved Sunder Skill Mastery (Knowledge [Arts], Knowledge [Streetwise], Perform [Singing], Perform [Strings]) Equipment: 3PP = 15EP · Cellphone [1 EP] · Compact Car [9 EP] · Flash Goggles [1 EP] · Flashlight [1 EP] · Handcuffs [1 EP] · Laptop [1 EP] · Lock Release Gun [1 EP] Powers: 3 + 3 + 5 + 28 + 14 = 53PP Immunity 3 (Ultra-Reinforced Cell Walls; Ageing, Plasma) [3PP] (mutation) Impervious Toughness 3 (Ultra-Reinforced Cell Walls) [3PP] (mutation) Leaping 5 (Plasmatic Rocket Jump; 600 ft running long jump, 300 feet long jump, 150 feet high jump) [5PP] (plasma, mutation) Plasma Control 12 (24PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power 3, Precise) [28PP] (plasma, heat, mutation) Base Power: Blast 12 (Coronal Mass Ejection) {24/24} Alternate Power: Disintegrate 6 (Melting Beam) {24/24} Alternate Power: Strike 12 (Supernova Goes Bop; Extras: Penetrating 6, Feats: Improved Critical, Knockback 4 ) {24/24} Alternate Power: Dazzle 12 {Solar Flare; Visual) {24/24} Protection 7 (Roughneck; Extra: Impervious) [14PP] (mutation) DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 17 Toughness Damage Coronal Mass Ejection Ranged DC 27 Toughness Damage Melting Beam Ranged DC 16 Fortitude Damage, Drain, Affects Objects Supernova Goes Bop Touch DC 27 Toughness Damage, Knockback, Penetrate 6, Improved Crit Solar Flare Ranged DC 22 Reflex/Fort Sensory Totals: Abilities (22) + Combat (30) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (22) + Feats (10) + Powers (52) = 150/172 Power Points

GM Kestevan 79 Coalition Victory Station Lor time mark 1482.4 [April 2, 2016 (Terran Calender)] The slightly over a year that had passed since the Battle of Kestevan 79 and the defeat of the Communion had seen the former Communion mothership converted into a thriving center of galactic trade and politics. Multiple city sized sections of the former Communion mothership had been converted into living areas, markets and commercial districts, ship yards, industrial facilities, and all the other amenities one would expect of advance spacefaring societies. The station had become a truly cosmopolitan collection of the various galactic civilizations that had made up the Coalition that had defeated the Communion. Within the station there could be found representatives from all the races that made of the former Coalition members, and beyond. While it was not uncommon for tensions to exist between those that had long been enemies, those feeling were somewhat offset by the promise that the station represented, when those former enemies had come together to face a common foe and ensure the survival of all. But today, the normal routine of the vast space station had been disrupted, at least for the organizations aboard with sensor equipment that scanned the area around the station and monitored the traffic at the nearby wormhole which connected the remote system to other parts of the known galaxy. Just a short while ago, a Stellar Khanate cruiser had emerged from the wormhole, quickly causing the many smaller transports that were flying to or from the wormhole to scatter from its path. The Khanate cruiser approached CoVic Station at a steady pace, not making any overtly hostile movements. As best as the many sensors scanning it could tell, the cruiser had not charged any of its many weapons. Then, a transmission was sent from the Khanate cruiser to CoVic Station, focused on the channels used by the various governmental embassies, the station peacekeepers and administrators, and the Praetorians. "Greetings, I am Ambassador Draan Raal of the Stellar Khanate." Stated a stern and confident Zultasian noble in GalStandard. "I am here on behalf of the great Kinan Khan and request an audience with the ambassadors of the Lor Republic, Grue Unity and other governments that made up the Coalition Council which have official embassies aboard Coalition Victory Station."

Kestevan 79 GM A pair of Lor officers made their way into the new headquarters of the ancient alien group known as the Praetorians. The space was still very much under construction and being refurbished, with a number of Lor technicians assisting in the process. But these two Lor officers were not there to oversee assisting the Praetorians in establishing their new facility. Instead they were there on behalf of the Republic to request the assistance of the Praetorians. With the Communion stopped, some semblance of normalcy had returned to this sector of the universe, and that had allowed the Republic to return its attentions to several matters that had been unattended when stopping the Communion had been of utmost importance. But even now the Republic did not have sufficient resources to deal with all the problems at hand. As the pair moved down the corridor, a larger hulking reptilian humanoid moved over toward them. The figure towered just over eight feet tall, covered in green and brown scales, with a long tail that ended in a spiked ball. "Greetings officers," the reptilian humanoid stated in accented GalStandard, "I am Seresk, may I be of assistance?" "Greetings Praetorian Seresk, I am Commander E'tten of the Lor Star Navy, and this is Aya K'zan from the Allied Liaison/Intelligence Extra-National Service." The male Lor stated in response. "We are here to speak with Praetorian Val-Ren about a matter in which the Republic wishes to request the assistance of the Praetorians." The large reptilian alien gave a small nod. "Please, follow me." It replied before turning and leading the pair off down the corridor. A short while later, the trio arrived at the central command center of the headquarters, a larger circular dome shaped room with a number of other exits. Like most of the rest of the facility, it was still undergoing significant renovations and work, a number of Praetorians and technicians working on installing various systems along the room's walls. In the center of the room was a larger holographic system capable of displaying and tracking information for multiple units and locations. Gathered around the holo display were four individuals, currently in conversation about the progress of renovations for the facility. One was a humanoid female, slightly over average height for a Lor or Terran, with long black and purple hair and dark orange skin. She was dressed in a full length white bodysuit, with black diamond shapes surrounded by golden yellow trim on the shoulders, upper chest and back. Her black boots and gloves also has the golden yellow trim, and a long black cape trailed behind her. It was not hard to match her appearance to the reports about Paradigm that had circulated among the Coalition forces during the Communion incursion. Two of the other three were also female, one, dressed in a red jumpsuit, appeared to be Terran, with long black hair and a deep tan complexion. The other woman, who also resembled a Terran, had long dark blonde hair and was dressed in a blue and white military style uniform. The crisp and perfect uniform, as well as the woman's stern, commanding presence, left little doubt that she had at least once been in the military. She had a jagged scar along one eye, and her left arm was a sleek, mechanical replacement. The fourth figure was dressed in familiar armor of a Star Knight, his armor bright green in its coloring. The Star Knight's helmet was currently not deployed, reveling a Terran who was easily recognizable as Star Knight Kyle Steward, also known as Cavalier. "Excuse me Imperatrix," Seresk stated as he lead the two Lor forward into the room and towards the four gathered in the center, "may I introduce Commander E'tten of the Lor Star Navy, and Aya K'zan from the Allied Liaison/Intelligence Extra-National Service, here on behalf of the Lor Republic."

"I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal." -Curtis LeMay Altinak C The Grand Shipyards are among the most impressive works of Lor civilization - a Dyson shell of solar panels and high-end lasers, surrounding the blue-white star and providing the fantastic energies that drive some of the largest energy-matter converters in Lor space, using material from the star's corona and what remains of its systems to build starships. The converters, massive skeletal spheres that dot the space around the star, each as large as a planet's moon, can't run independently; the Shipyards still need to import certain exotic minerals to build certain instruments of high technology like artificial gravity units and jump drives. But for the most part, the vast shape of the Shipyards, enclosing an entire star in a spidersweb of humanoid-built technology, can build a fleet all on its own. As Corona's vessel came out of warp in the Altinak system, it was clear a fleet was indeed being built here. Row after row of brand-new starships were in orbit of the system's few small rocky planets, a fleet-in-being as large as anything she'd seen during the war, not to mention the new ships still under construction near the converter complex closer to the vast blue bulk of the star. An entire prewar sector fleet looked to be waiting here - with more under construction visible near the glowing, fusion-hot matter converters. But Corona wasn't there for the view - she was there to meet the commander of the Star Navy; and perhaps the most powerful individual in the Lor Republic. "Greetings, Corona," came the military-sounding voice on the comm channel. Grand Nauarchus Frankan is waiting for you in Central Command."

Vanor System Outer edge of the Perseus Arm Lor time mark 1471.5 [March 8, 2016 (Terran Calendar)] The Praetorian spacecraft Kavaca hung at the outer edge of the Vanor system, a small silver drop in a vast field of black dotted with the lights of millions of stars. The Praetorians aboard had been following a faint energy signature, the only possible clue they had to locating a group of Spectrum Knights that had been terrorizing the local sector. In the months since the Praetorians and Star Knights had driven the Spectrum Knights from their base of operations and captured some of the group's key leaders, the remaining Spectrum Knights had been scattered across the galaxy. Although they were individually dangerous, being scattered did mean their rampages were generally brought to a quick end. Of course, this did little to slow the appearance of new Spectrum Knights, as new ones continued to pop up seemingly at random. Then, a little over one Terran week ago, a small group of Spectrum Knights had begun striking at targets within the sector. In response to request for Praetorian assistance, Paradigm had sent Elite, along with Magnetar, Mater Vyrdna, Corona, and a new member to the team, the Terran Queenie, to the sector. "The energy signature associated with Spectrum Knight armor leads into the system Elite." Magnetar commented from his seat on the bridge of the Kavaca where he was manning the ship's sensors. The only other "original" Praetorian aboard besides Elite (Mater Vyrdna did not count, as two thousand years ago, she had been a member of the Delaztri Navy, and not a Praetorian), Magnetar spoke in GalStandard, the only one aboard who could not understand being Queenie. The Vanor star was a red supergiant, so massive that if it sat at the center of the Sol system, it would swallow everything out to about Mars' orbit. A thick asteroid belt was visible clustered around the Vanor star, extending out millions of miles within the system.

Space rippled uncannily, and suddenly the Praetorian shuttle was hanging there. Aya K’zan smiled to herself as the ship reverted to realspace, her hands hovering over the Deltrazi controls. She had studied hard to learn how to pilot the Praetorian vessels, and while they didn’t trust her with the homeship she was able to fly the shuttles around. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to her. Her hands dropped and the sublight engines warmed up, moving the shuttle. She hadn’t quite mastered the technique of coming out of warp at speed, and given the circumstances she felt the need to keep the vessel moving. “We’re at the location of the distress signal,” she said, speaking to the other two women in the shuttle. “Are you picking it up?”

Rollz and suchlike for here.

Kestevan 79 Coalition Victory Station October 1, 2015 (Terran Calendar) Less than a year ago, most major space faring races gave little thought to Kestevan 79, a system generally avoided due to its nebula, neutron star and magentar companion causing problems with navigation systems. But that had all changed with the conclusion of the Communion Incursion and the defeat of the Communion mothership in the system by Coalition forces. Now, Kestevan 79 was an important location within the neutral zone between the major space powers, with the derelict Communion mothership being renamed Coalition Victory Station and millions of sentients from hundreds of species from across the galaxy living aboard the repurposed vessel. As a true neutral ground, the station provided an opportunity for the various space powers that had formed the Coalition against the Communion to try to form a lasting peace between them as they sought to rebuild in the aftermath of the Incursion. Large sections of the station had been rebuilt by the various Coalition members to provide housing, business, spaceports and other facilities for those relocated there. But even with these city sized settlements in place, vast sections of the former Communion vessel stood empty and unexplored, often without life support systems in place. It was in one of the larger inhabited sectors of the station that the Praetorians had chosen to establish their new headquarters as they began to carry out their new role as galactic protectors. The outsider status of the ancient protectors of a long gone empire provided the Praetorians something of a unique position between the governments that had formed the Coalition, even as the group formed close bonds with the Lor Republic and Star Knights. Over the past few months, Aya K'zan had become familiar with parts of the station, having joined the Praetorians as the official Lor representative and liaison for the organization. Of course, given the current state of the galaxy, she and the other Praetorians were often away on some mission or another. Her current assignment had her down in a lower level of the section that held the Praetorian's headquarters, to a sector inhabited primarily by independent Grue. During the chaos of the Incursion, large numbers of Grue drones had been separate from the Unity hivemind of the Metamind, gaining independent sentience and leaving the Unity join Coalition forces fighting the Communion. Given the callous disregard the Metamind had shown for drones and even Unity worlds during the Incursion, the vast majority of the independent Grue had chosen not to be reincorporated into the hivemind. But the shift from being independent of the Unity was not easy for many, and given the distrust many races felt for Grue, the majority of independent Grue had become roaming vagabonds, unable to find any place to make a new home and life. One contingent of the independent Grue, referring to themselves as the Grue Individuality, had established a delegation on CoVic Station, and a number of other independent Grue eventually followed. While the communities of independent Grue were normally left to themselves, a recent string of murders in this sector had prompted the Grue Individuality to request the assistance of the Praetorians in investigating the matter. Stretched out before Aya was a larger cavernous space that descended downward hundreds of feet deeper into the station. A maze of structures and passages snaked along the sides of the space down as far as the Lor officer could see through the misty haze filled the humid air. Hundreds of red skinned humanoid figures could be seen moving about, mixed with the forms of other species, though whether the later were truly members of those species or independent Grue that had taken that form was impossible to tell for certain. "How do you suggest we proceed Officer K'zan?" Asked the hulking figure that stood beside the Lor in accented GalStandard. Seresk, an enormous reptilian humanoid over eight feet tall, was one of the original Praetorians that had been sent to assist Aya in the investigation.

Lor Timemark 1329.8 - March 1, 2015 Garron-9, Garron System Trooper Ekna Veiu sat strapped into the back of the transport ship between a Lor mentat clone with a lantern jaw and a member of a scale covered species he couldn't name and tried to steady his breathing. He'd never planned to be a soldier but then the Communion had ripped through the Khanate, leaving the precious few survivors to flee or be turned into monsters. The Lor loved to talk about never forgetting Lor-Van but they hadn't been the only people to lose a homeworld and they weren't the only ones who'd wanted to fight back. Ekna was seventeen stellar cycles old; that had seemed like so long sitting around on his family farm waiting for his life to start, old enough to enlist with the Coalition forces, certainly. As the ship shook from atmospheric turbulence and he clenched his grey-green hands all he think about was whether or not he'd see his eighteenth cycle celebration. There weren't any enemy ships in the skies above Garron-9, at least. There didn't need to be. What had once been a densely populated border world with almost a billion inhabitants was now a solid sphere of computronium, a planet-sized server to add to the Communion's processing power. A billion people converted into raw materials and 'antibodies', the mindless, shrieking foot soldiers of the enemy. This was only Ekna's second deployment but he'd already gotten to see those up close and personal. They'd lost that moon but he'd acquitted himself well, getting his wounded sergeant to safety. They'd given him a commendation for that. They didn't mention the rest of his squad when they shook his hand. He didn't mention the night terrors he'd had ever since. That was how he'd ended up as part of one of four squads deploying to Garron-9 with a simple mission: fight their way through and take down a communication relay, in theory briefly blinding the Communion in the adjacent sector long enough for something apparently above his pay grade. Troopers didn't need to know the big picture, he guessed. He looked up from his knees and immediately regretted it as he saw the Grue strapped in across from him scowling right at him. At least Ekna thought the Grue was scowling. It was hard to tell with no mouth. He immediately looked back down regardless. Most of the other troopers were more experienced soldiers and most of them had experience fighting against those who were suddenly their allies. Tensions were always high but the calm before the storm was always the worst. Then again, at least he knew what a Grue was. Each squad had been assigned a commander for the mission, though Ekna got the impression the rank wasn't exactly official. One of them was a stern Lor officer with no patience for excuses; he'd met a lot of those in the past months. The Zultasian told a lot of jokes and laughed loudly, all swagger and confidence. Ekna had never seen anything like the grey skinned woman with the cybernetic tail, though, and even though the forth commander didn't look all that much older than him he'd heard some of the other soldiers say she wasn't really Lor but Terran and everybody had a friend of a friend with a horror story about a Terran. Ekna risked glancing up again to the back of the transport where all four of them were standing, holding onto handing straps and conversing.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 Freedom City, New Jersey, Earth Morning Archetech's North American headquarters saw more than the average amount of parahuman weirdness in a work week, even more than most places in Freedom City. Being the home of highly advanced sciences, the regular working space of superheroes, and the epicenter of a world-wide attack meant that a place started to attract a certain type of attention, and the security team had developed procedures for all sorts of situations. Like when a falling star landed at the top of the building. Corona glowed gold and red and perpetually angry, floating half a foot above the helipad. She glared as the security guards spilled out of the rooftop access and surrounded her. No one was pointing weapons at each other yet, but if looks could kill there would murder. Corona crossed her armored arms and rotated slowly in place, finding the one guard who looked the most in charge of his emotions. He was an older gentlemen, with a bushy mustache and an Archetech cap on his head; Corona inclined her head infinitesimally towards him. "I need to speak with your genius," she said, her voice amplified through the suit's speakers. "I have a trade for her."

Go ahead and describe how your character got to this point and what they think about the others!