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May 2016 "Hello, children!" The famous, or more likely infamous, Dr. Dimitri Peshkov was waiting at the curb when the Claremont shuttle bus arrived - all smiles beneath his parka's raised hood. "Welcome to headquarters of the Freedom League!" He sketched a courtly bow to Fred as she stepped out, then gave Ardent a warm, almost predatory smile as she joined the Chinese alchemist before doing the same thing. "I am Comrade Frost, and I will be your lecturer for special study session on heeero history today. It will be exciting times, sure," he said, pulling his heavy gloves back on. "Did you have pleasant ride?"

High Earth Orbit The Lighthouse March 8, 2016 Amara Val-Ren slowed her velocity considerably as she drew close to the blue and green planet that was the third from this system's star. The young Naram, known to many throughout the galaxy as Paradigm of the Praetorians, had been to this system before, but this was the closest she had been to Terra, the world so famous (or infamous depending on who you asked) among a number of the major spacefaring civilizations of this era. Soon she was going to have an even closer look at the planet, but first certain protocols had to be followed. Amara's right arm was wrapped around her teammate, Moon-Moth, as she flew them both through the void of space. The pair had arrived in the system a short time ago, by way of the wormhole that now connected it to other parts of the galaxy. They had made a brief stop at the small space station the Freedom League maintained to monitor the wormhole, to arrange for their arrival at the group's main headquarters in orbit around Terra. It was this large station that the two Praetorians were now drawing near. The reason for their visit to Terra was to interview two natives of the world regarding the time they had spent among the Spectrum Knights in that group's original headquarters. The interview had been arranged with the assistance of the Star Knights, which had a representative both in the Praetorians and the Freedom League. The Freedom League would be overseeing the interview at a facility they maintained on the surface of Terra. Amara fully understood the need for having the Freedom League as an intermediary in this, given the misunderstandings that had taken place when the two Terrans had been discovered among the Spectrum Knights when a joint Praetorian/Star Knight task force had managed to assault the Spectrum Knight headquarters, a task force Amara had led. Slowing even further as they neared the Lighthouse, Amara guided herself and Moon-Moth over toward the airlock they had been instructed to use.

Freedom Hall Tuesday, December 17, 2013 5:56 PM The early evening found a light snow falling on Freedom City, adding to the thin layer that had already accumulated. Heavy clouds that had filled the skies all day, now glowed a soft orange from the city's lights. Beyond the normal bright lights of the city's evening skyline, holiday lights and other decorations now seemed to be everywhere. The combination of the festive decorations and the light snow seemed to generate a vibrant energy within the city. As the heart of Freedom City, City Center was awash with dazzling lights and holiday decorations. A massive Christmas tree stood in the green space at the heart of Centennial Circle, out in front of City Hall. Sitting just to the west of Centennial Circle, Freedom Hall, the original headquarters of the Freedom League, was no exception to the festive atmosphere. Sections of the stone wall surrounding the Hall had various decorations, and the trees inside the grounds were adorned with lights. Freedom Hall itself had lights strung along the edges of stepped ledges created by the roofs of each floor. Velocity, one of the members of the Freedom League, was standing in the large lobby and reception area, taking one last look at the decorations that had been put up for the holiday party the League was hosting this evening for the city's various heroes. A ten foot tall Christmas tree had been set up along the right hand side of the lobby, covered in shining silver ornaments and multicolored lights. A number of tables were set up over on that side of the lobby, some lower tables with chairs, others were tall tables around which people could stand. Located just off that side of the lobby was a conference room where the food and refreshments had been set up. On the other side of the lobby had been reconfigured some by Dr. Metropolis to include a working fireplace in which there was currently a roaring fire. A number of leather sofas and chairs were arranged around the fireplace, offering a comfortable setting area for guests to relax. "Okay, everything looks great. The guests should start arriving soon." The speedster started out loud to some of her teammates as they were putting on the final touches. She was wearing her normal yellow costume, with the addition of a red Santa hat. As someone who could multitask with easy, the Velocity took a brief moment to check her phone, which was set up to control the sound system that had been connected to the first floor's PA system. Flipping through some of the songs she had put on the playlist, the young woman came to a stop at one song on the list. Listed on the screen was a song by Death Cab for Cutie, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Hmm, good song, but not one I think that hits a bit too close for Stesha. She thought, as she removed the song from the playlist. With that done, she selected another song on the list to begin with. Over the speakers throughout the first floor of the building, the mellow sound of saxophones and other jazz instruments could be heard as

September 26, 2011 9 AM The first mission of the new Young Freedom, at least upon their return from their world tour, was to guard Freedom Hall during what just might be the end of the world. Headmaster Summers, and the older students, had reassured the new kids that this was in the finest tradition of Claremont's premiere teen hero team. Sharl had been away for the last couple of days, and so he'd missed all those reassurances about what kinds of threats Young Freedom had faced before. Of course, for those students not used to world-threatening disasters, those words were not reassuring. What had been reassuring, in a martial sort of way, was the stern speech they'd all gotten from Lady Liberty before she and the rest of the Freedom League had departed. "Listen, all of you. I know you're teenagers, and I know you didn't sign up for this." She'd paced back and forth in front of all of them, meeting each gaze, even the ones who looked away. "But the world's in peril right now, and that means it's time for all of us who can help to do our part. The world's going to be saved, I can promise you that, but it's going to take each and every one of you to do that. The Freedom League needs to go into space to help organize our defenses on the Moon against the Gorgon. That means someone needs to watch Freedom Hall and make sure none of the artifacts here fall into the hands of supervillains. The last thing we need is a world where we've beaten the Gorgon but lost our homes to supervillains who've seized control of some of the most powerful items in the world. Are there any questions?" she asked them. "If any of you do want to back out now, now's the time." They'd have an adult chaperone for this one; Mr. Archer having left the gym behind to act as their guardian while they guarded the centerpiece of hero history in Freedom City. Things weren't pleasant outside, not with the demonstrators protesting the League's 'inaction', nor the continuing violence in the streets that Freedom City's adult heroes were doing their best to handle. Hell, there'd been an outright battle near the Claremont campus between the Irregulars and a Claremont graduate who'd gone berserk from the stress! Inside the League's briefing room, though, all was quiet as Lady Liberty's question echoed in the room.

Continued from >There Won't Be A Next Time June 1st, 2011. 8:05 AM Young Freedom missed graduation, but then again, so did everyone else. The ceremony had been postponed the minute the five young heroes had disappeared from view, for all that they'd reappeared only five minutes later on the other side of town with the broken chestplate of Omega's armor and a wild story to tell. There were debriefings to come, no doubt extensive ones that would exhaustively pour over every detail of the fight at the end of reality and all that had come before it: the death of the multiverse, the trip to four worlds, the appearance and disappearance of Rick Lucas, and finally the seeming destruction of the Lord of Entropy himself. But first, Bolt's speedy trip back to Freedom Hall after the reappearance of Travis, Martha, and Erin's cat on the Claremont lawn had meant the League teleporters were already working. By the time the Young Freedom kids had given their hasty explanations to the startled Captain Thunder and headed inside for their debriefing, their missing loved ones, even Quo-Dis who was holding a very familiar orange cat, were waiting for them inside. For their part, Mark and Martha took a look at each other, Mark's look confirming what Martha had already known, and they simply embraced, the moment too sharp, too painful, coming after too much overwhelming emotion even for weeping. "I'm proud of you, Mark," Martha whispered fiercely. "So very proud."

It was a quiet Memorial Day weekend around Freedom City, one quiet enough that many of Freedom City's superheroes (including its teenage contingent) went out of town to visit their families over the weekend, or go elsewhere with their families to enjoy the long weekend. Claremont Academy was hosting a barbecue for the kids who had no place to go, but there were plenty of other things to do in and around campus. Until, that is, the emergency alert went off: it rang first for the members of Young Freedom, jangling through the communicators they all carried, but then it began beeping frantically all across campus. This was a school emergency, requiring the attention of many of the teenage heroes at Claremont who weren't affiliated with Young Freedom. The Freedom Leaguer Siren had been visiting campus for the holiday, perhaps to visit her old friend Duncan Summers, and she quickly took charge of the emergency. "Everyone who can help, follow me! If you can't get yourself quickly, find a teleporter, flier, or speedster, and follow the distress call." She took out her League transponder and fiddled with it quickly, her scientist's fingers moving fast over the hand-sized piece of high technology. "If you have to get there on your own, use League coordinates 08401-08406. That'll put you in Ashton, right at...oh, by the loa, it's Rick Lucas' house." Siren had been on the old Freedom League; the ageless beauty had been there since the 1960s. She knew Rick Lucas, the former mascot-cum-junior member of the Silver Age League, and of course his son, Claremont student Mark Lucas, very well indeed. "Quickly now!"