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Do believe everyone's appropriately tagged. Chime in if you like. Should mention, the gathering under the tree is supposed to be all the ladies. Though, if you've got a better entrance, use it.

There had been a spate of small power outages over the past several days. A slice of Freedom’s grid would blink off for as much as five seconds before blinking back on. A few blocks of one would go out, then come back. Then an entirely different neighborhood. The Fens. Lantern Hill. Southside. Lincoln. Even Bayview and Port Regal managed to get in on the act once or twice. It was weird, but Freedomites didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. It happened mostly in the dead of night. The power company said it’s nothing. More interesting things happened on a literally daily basis. And so on. Until Claremont Academy’s power “blinked†for the third total time, no one had taken much interest in the happenings at all. November 21, 2014. Claremont Academy. 11:45 PM It was a dark and stormy night. No, seriously. There was a pretty good thunderstorm going on in the skies of Freedom. Vonnie would normally be asleep by now. Class in the morning, and all that. But today was sweet, glorious Friday. He and LJ could text each other all night long. Or he could stealth over into the girls’ dorm and spend the night. His roommate slept like the dead, and her roomie slept like a rock. Or was one. LJ couldn’t tell, and Vonnie didn’t care enough to find out for himself. Yep, he was going over there and d#$% the consequences if he got caught. He strapped on his grapples, opened his window, and leapt out into space. A short grapple and climb sequence later, he was at her window. Wet and a bit windblown, but there. A few soft knocks after that, he was in her room and they were both sitting on her bed. Huh. Her roomie both slept like and was kind a rock. That was when the power “blinkedâ€. Somehow just short enough of an outage that the emergency power didn’t trigger and come on. Vonnie sighed. Third time in three days? His “this is a job for Samaritan†sense was tingling. LJ had a similar sense and gave him the “just go already†look. They started having a conversation based entirely on specific looks. <But he didn’t know where to start. Also pressing business here, yes?> <Vonnie, you know better.> Vonnie sighed quietly. “It’s not like New York. I was always first there. But there’s so many heroes in town, now I’m lucky if I’m fifth. I don’t know. I just feel kinda…extra, you know? Like I’m not needed, because someone else will always handle it.†LJ nodded. “So that’s why you’ve been patrolling less lately.†She grew thoughtful. Then she plucked him in the head. “Ow. What was that for?†“You’re overthinking stuff again. You’re not there for the dozen, hundred, thousand or more that don’t need you. You’re there for the one that does. Don’t give up so easy. It’s not like you.†Vonnie stood up. “Alright. But I’m telling you, somebody’s already on this. Probably have it sorted out before I even figure out what’s going on.†On that note, he opened LJ’s window and leaped out. Back in his own room, he grabbed his mask, shirt, and black hooded windbreaker(as his roomie continued sleeping like the dead) and made the most undramatic change from Vonnie Murray into Samaritan. Mask & shirt on. Jacket on, zipped up tight and hood up. This time, though, he’d go out the front door like a normal person. Yes indeed. Being just about the fastest non-speedster on campus did have its perks. He was out of the building before anyone had the chance to realize he was gone. He made it to the Gardens before running into anyone. He thought he recognized some of the group assembled under that big tree, if not all of them. He stripped off the mask, stuffed it into a jacket pocket, and pulled his hood tighter. “Hello?â€