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Dutemps Building, Château de Martel Early Afternoon, Around Lunchtime Eve leaned back in her office chair and sighed, rubbing her eyes and fighting off an encroaching headache. She needed something to eat, and to see the other ladies of the Castle. She gave herself a gentle mental chiding, reflecting that it was so typical of her to jump straight into to tackling the pile of paperwork tied to the company, the tower and the city projects she had instead of taking some time to reconnect with her friends. "Yeah," she said out loud, padding off toward the kitchen, "Food."

Burnham Military Camp Near Christchurch Aotearoa/New Zealand July 3nd, 2021 On the first day of the Matariki celebrations an army of giants appeared from the Southern Alps, marching upon the city of Christchurch. With no time to respond the New Zealand Armed Forces had to turn to other sources of help. And so, the day after Matariki the government of Aotearoa put forth a call for heroes. At Burnham Military camp a liaison waited for the heroes to arrive, smiling when relief when the four heroes were assembled in front of the building. "Thank you all for coming so swiftly."

11/3/2021 Claremont Academy Sea Devil in her armor and Singularity with her shield, the two heroines sat together by Claremont's outdoor pool and waited patiently for their mentees to arrive. Aquaria was doing her best to avoid agitating Jessie, having done some pleading to get them both to volunteer for this very exciting occasion, so she was sitting legs folded up beneath her by her friend, her iridescent armor gleaming like a statue beneath the wan sun of a Freedom City autumn. "So all of the dogs in all of his pictures are playing poker," she croaked thoughtfully, thinking of Baxter nearby. She was not entirely sure she understood the subject of the man Jessie's thesis was about but she understood he was definitely an artist. "But dogs do not want to play poker, so I should not try and train Baxter." She shifted back and forth where she crouched and said, "I understand why you write about him. His work is a great mystery! What does it mean?"

May 2021 After All Bad Bad Nevertheless The good news was that Sea Devil and Singularity had beaten the monster. Whether it was the injury Aquaria had done to it, or the terror Jessie had put in its eyes, Memento Mori had disappeared before it could attack the Project Freedom crews that had arrived on the scene. Singularity had even been talked back to Jessie before she could hurt anyone, thanks to the need to get Aquaria to a hospital and the nearby presence of people she knew well. The Kingston cleanup process was...going to be delayed for some time. Jessie's fast healing meant that she didn't have so much as a bruise by the next morning. There was just one piece of bad news. Aquaria still hadn't woken up. Out of her armor she looked decidedly bedraggled, a downcast look on her broad face, her eyes responding to light and her body to stimuli, but her mind seemingly elsewhere. Eve had found that Aquaria was indeed still in her head, but far away as if in deep sleep, and magical probes by Tarva and others hadn't gotten very much further. They'd taken her home to the castle where she could rest, in the deep wading brackish water pool where she was the most comfortable, but her quietude was alarming. No one else who had been hurt by the creature had stayed down like this. Even going back to the worst injury anyone had heard of Aquaria getting, the in all honesty probably too-violent beating from Nereid that had led to her initial arrest, there was no reason for her to still be unconscious, especially with seemingly no bruises herself, the next day. People had been in and out of the Castle all day, specialists from the League and elsewhere, but nobody had figured anything out yet.

May 2021 Kingston This had once been a fine place, where Surfacers competed to live in the finest homes and own the finest things. Now hardly anyone lived here, beneath the terrible shadow of the doomforge that loomed squatly over the mostly-abandoned remains of the neighborhood. It made Aquaria sad to be here, sad to smell the death that lingered on the air and hear the mournful, echoing cry of the murdered soul of this place. There was not even anything good to eat that Surfacers had not brought here themselves, all but a few scavenging beasts avoiding the surrounding landscape with the sensible judgement of things that crawled and flew. Surfacers rarely did this. "With these brave heroes at our side, volunteers from Project Freedom," Councilman McGrath was declaring, his round face flushed red from the summer's heat, "I believe we can reclaim Kingston for the forces of life. Maybe we can't stop that - that thing - " he added, making a gesture from his podium at the doomforge as the cameras below flashed, "but we can bury our dead and let the land heal. The wounds of the past can be healed if we are strong enough to look them in the eye!" It was only technically true that Singularity and Sea Devil were volunteers. Ms. Wainwright of Project Freedom, sitting here on the platform with Singularity and Sea Devil, was an ally of George McGrath and had asked two of her most successful graduates to come along to show that McGraths' plan to clear away as much of Kingston as possible to let nature take its course had the support of the heroic community, at least as far as making sure his workers wouldn't be operating on their own. At least the waters hereabouts were clean, Aquaria thought, a little regretfully.

The OOC

Freedom City Medical CenterFreedom City, New Jersey.Wednesday, April, 10th, 20217:22 PM Eight thousand employees. Fifteen hundreds of which are physicians. Eight hundred beds. Ten doctors at the top of their fields with a superhuman specialization. And absolutely not one person with an answer to the question permeating throughout the sprawling Freedom Medical Center. Just where was baby Koa? It had been a good hour since everyone in the Labor and Delivery floor had fallen asleep. Including a woman who ended up sleeping through her own delivery. It had only been five minutes. But for Ata Kahale it was the longest five minutes of her life. When she awoke her baby was nowhere to be found. Hospital security was quick to pull the camera footage. Footage that has now dominated the the Freedom City news cycle for the past hour. Six robed figures exited the supply closet on the floor after everyone had fallen asleep. They entered Ata Kahale's room and left with her child back towards the supply closet. Disappearing without a trace.

Late December 2020 A beach south of Freedom City It was a time, Sea Devil had assured everyone, of great importance. Hydra in her wisdom had provided a great blessing here in the coldest, darkest time of the year, a gift of food, and light, and shelter. Aquaria had guided her people to the site and with a little help from the Freedom League, the nearest tribe of Deep Ones had eaten well - and without conflict with surface-dwellers or Atlanteans. But most of that tribe was gone now, migrating out to the deep waters off the coast that stayed the same temperature in any season. So it was just Aquaria, her friends, and a few straggling Deep Ones to commemorate this rare blessing for her people. She had begged, pleaded with those she loved to help make this occasion a truly special one, and with a few promises of cleaning here and quiet there, she had won the help of important allies for a rare, glorious holiday amid a site made holy by the occasion. The best part was - it counted as community service hours, just the thing after the last time she'd gotten in a little trouble with the law of the Surfacers earlier in the year. Come to think of it, Indira had been there for that one too - maybe why she'd come along this time? It was hard to say. And so it was in late December that Sea Devil and Singularity crouched inside the almost completely skeletonized remains of a beached whale that Aquaria had assured all her Surfacer friends had been dead before her arrival there a couple of weeks before, Sea Devil wearing a crown of teeth and other bones and not much else to mark the role she played in the ceremony as Dagon, Jessie wearing - well, Jessie had preferred her own garb for the celebration and Aquaria could hardly blame her, the traditional Hydra garb not really being suitable for a great many reasons. Still she was here, making a sacrifice out of love, and as usual Aquaria was touched by emotions too profound for words. Crouched inside the skeleton, Aquaria laid a wet hand on Jessie's and hissed "You are the best friend anyone could want." Then she began to sing; a short, ponderous song about the blessing of the cold dark sea, and how in certain very special times of the year, Dagon and Hydra awarded their children special tokens of their esteem before she popped her head out of the rib cage and bellowed at the top of her lungs before adding a translation for the benefit of the humans in the audience - mostly a few volunteers from local communities and a couple of students from Claremont: AUSPICIOUS SEASON! Back inside, she turned a joyful smile on Jessie, an impressive sight indeed, and raised her two thumbs high to encourage Jessie to take her part. - Outside, Nightscale's extra credit project was certainly giving him something interesting to talk about. He was the oldest student there for once, a few first-years there in the company of Mr. Sadler, a parent volunteer who'd been a hero back in the far-off days of the early 1990s, being his Claremont escorts. There'd been music, and food already - hot apple cider brought over from the nearby small town, all of it locally caught fish fried over hot coals, though the 'locals' on the scene here were scaly fish-frogs that looked like they could bite his head off. The Deep Ones he'd seen in Claremont lectures had been fearsome beasts laying waste to Freedom City and fighting superheroes; the half-dozen here (besides Aquaria, the Deep One hero) didn't seem interested in much other than eating fish and watching the ceremony - though he was conscious occasionally of big black-and-gold eyes cast his way.

It was a pain in the ass to get Ellis to sign up for dating. After things with Stesha had fizzled, Ray was more than a little concerned that his friend may have given up entirely and that couldn't be healthy. This whole 'Eros Unlimited' nonsense sounded like a pile of hoodoo but he'd watched Ellis bounce from work to superhero to home to be 'Dad' without ever taking a break and that just seemed downright unhealthy. Humans needed other humans. Ray had learned that if he'd learned nothing else from his centuries upon centuries of recording humanity for the celestial heavens. So Ray fretted... and meddled. Once he'd slipped his jeans back on after a shower, Ray towel dried his hair before he glanced down to his phone. A cheery little alert announced 'new profiles' and resolutely, Ray flipped his thumb over to open the screen. He absently swiped across the first few until a very large eye filled his screen. Ray snorted with amusement as he swiped down to check out the rest of the profile. He didn't remember every client but a Deep One was hard to forget. How the 'MatchMaker' was going to help that one, Ray had no clue. He rather doubted that there were any other heroic deep ones looking for love at all, let alone on a website. Still chuckling, he continued flicking through until a painting caught his eye. It was good, surprisingly so. When he flicked down, he recognized Aquaria's companion. Good for her, working on her art. The profile, however, made Ray laugh out loud when he got to the 'about me': I am looking for a man. This man must be like a normal human male, with a regular-sized mouth with normal human teeth, and limbs that all point the right way. Still snickering, Ray went to flip through until he found the 'message' option: Well, I don't like to eat dogs but I'm not sure what you consider 'good smell'. I don't wear Ax body products. Does that count?

April 2018 The Castle Aquaria climbed her way up the side of the skyscraper, sticky pads clinging to opaque panels rather than translucent windows. She didn't normally indulge herself in this way, but it was much too dark for Surfacers to see clearly outside - and the driving rainstorm outside disguised her from any prying eyes below. The warm wet wind, thick with ocean-scented rain, felt wonderful on her skin. Freedom City was never quite as comfortable as her home waters - but at times she could dream, and imagine a better place. Once she reached the floor where she and Jessie lived, she wriggled her way to one of the secret access panels installed for the benefit of flying superheroes or outdoor maintenance and made her way through a supply closet to the secluded floor where she and Jessie lived. Padding her way nearly silently down the corridor, as usual careful not to alert their neighbors, she took only a few seconds to nimbly lope down to the rooms that she and Singularity shared. She had a fish under her arm, thick and juicy, and there would be frying tonight!

Sloane Manor North Bay, Freedom City New Jersey Thursday, July 12th, 2018 4:02 PM Erick Sloane's beachfront villa in North Bay was far from untouched. The prior day's assault on Kingston left much of the surrounding upper-class neighborhoods in a state of disarray. And North Bay was no exception. Especially after an entirely new force from the Terminus emerged to fight against both the Resistance Force and the invading force. Ironically, it seemed as if for the first time in the history of Freedom City someone could make the claim that the Fens was the safest neighborhood to live in. Of course, most residents didn't have a sprawling underground headquarters in their villas. A team of heroes had been risking their lives gathering and spreading information and equipment covertly to the Resistance in the city. The latest transmission pinpointed where one of the power sources for the device generating portals into the city was. Unfortunately, said generator was currently guarded by what had to be one of the largest armies of the Terminus sighted thus far. To make matters worse it was positioned deep inside the Raymond Nuclear Power Plant. Which had seen extensive renovations by Daedalus of the Freedom League to convert the plant into a virtual fortress. In short, any attempts to destroy the generator would be a suicide mission. Foreshadow sent a recruitment transmission through his headquarter's computer with the hope that anyone nearby would answer the call. When Sea Devil, Singularity, and Cobalt Templar arrived they found piles of Omegadrone armors strewn throughout the sprawling manor. The inside of the home appearing as if an explosive had been set off with the stench of entropic energies wafting through the air. Having to step over the burnt and battered Omegadrones they would find an open bookshelf that at one point covered the staircase that led down into Foreshadow's Forebode. The computer's holographic display had a Power Pike sticking through it slightly covering the top leftmost point on the 3d layout of the Raymond Nuclear Plant. A hooded man stood in the center of the room his back turned to the staircase, a dark blue cape flowing in tatters.

Singularity Power Level: 12 (180/194pp) Unspent Power Points: 14 Trade-Offs: +2DMG/-2ATK, +2TOU/-2DEF In Brief: Refugee doppelganger brought to Prime to save her from a lifetime of use as an extremely lethal weapon, now a college student and semi-reluctant sidekick to a frog prone to wacky hijinks. Catchphrase: “You really don't want to do that.” Theme: “Nothing to Remember” by Neko Case Alternate Identity: Jessie White, formerly Erin White Birthplace: Seattle, Earth EZO1(e) Residence: DuTemps Building in Freedom City, roommates with Aquaria Base of Operations: DuTemps Building Occupation: College Student Affiliations: Aquaria, Wander, DuTemps Residents, Project Freedom Family: Erin Hunter-White (Wander): Sister(ish), Trevor Hunter (Midnight): Brother-in-law(ish) Description: Age: 25 (DoB November 11, 1992) Gender: Female Ethnicity: White, very fair Height: 5'8 Weight: 175 Eyes: Brown Hair: Dyed blonde, short Singularity bears a very strong relationship to Wander, though the two are obviously different if seen close together. It's more than the hair color, it's the entire bearing. Jessie holds herself extremely close, often slouching or rounding her shoulders, hugging her arms to her chest or ducking her head, making herself small unless she is deliberately trying to intimidate. Her wardrobe is very typical for a poor college student, for all she's getting to the older end of the demographic, lots of jeans and t-shirts or light blouses throughout the year because she never gets cold. Her uniform is black with a few orange-brown accents, and she wears an ankle monitor at all times. Lately she has taken to carrying a strange shield with an arcane symbol painted on it. History: Once upon a time there was a girl named Erin who lost her home. This is something of an understatement, honestly, but the whole story would take much too long. Suffice it to say that everyone she loved died, and everyone she hated died, and everyone she was mostly indifferent to died, so that eventually she had nobody left in the whole empty world but herself. So she went mad for a little while, and in the process, she lost track of herself as well. This is how it happened once: Erin was running through Oklahoma City and killing zombies like a running-and-killing robot, which was what she spent most of her time doing. Killing zombies was disgusting work but she was very good at it by now, and it was much better than stopping and having to risk thinking about everyone who had died. On this particular evening she spotted an electric light and thought that maybe she wasn't alone anymore, that maybe there were people and electric lights and human voices that did more than howl or scream, but she was wrong. When she found the light, it was a solar-powered sign that nobody had ever turned off, telling her that it was Christmas Eve and that everyone here was dead too. Unable to stand still and deal with that truth, she ran away as far and fast as she could and never looked back. Eventually she made her way to Freedom City and then to another Earth, where she lived happily ever after, or close enough. This is how it also happened: Erin did not run away. She couldn't do anything but stare at the sign she had hoped for so badly, until in her blurred vision it was just one more zombie. She attacked it as though it personally were responsible for all her many losses, screaming her rage as she smashed the light into darkness, the words into glass fragments. When it was done, she was left kneeling in the snow, her breath rasping so loudly in her ears that she didn't hear the footsteps or the voices until it was too late, much too late. She was not alone anymore, she had been found by a group of people who liked destructive things and were drawn to destroyed worlds in the hopes of finding more of them. Erin was captured and taken to another Earth, to another Freedom City, where she was ripped into tiny pieces. On Anti-Earth, the scientists were disappointed that whatever had killed Erin's world could not be replicated out of her cells, so there would be no exciting new plagues for them to play with. They gave her to The Academy to see what they could make of her, since she was the right age and had killed a number of scientists and guards in escape attempts that proved her aptitude. Erin proved stubbornly resistant to the Academy's culture and morals, however, so she was given to another new student as an extra-credit assignment. Pathos was more than happy to take on the work of bringing her around. The easiest and fastest way was simply to batter down all of Erin's mental defenses, then stroll through her mind, throwing away some memories while adding others, distorting others beyond recognition, and turning a few well-chosen ones into irresistible triggers. In well under a year, Erin could barely remember her own name from day to day, much less remember what had been done to her or formulate useful plans for escape. That wasn't to say she didn't try to escape, they just weren't very good attempts, typically full of incredible violence and mayhem that ended almost as soon as they began. The punishments for such attempts were severe, but the good part about not remembering anything was that she didn't remember. She could not be trained and could barely be controlled, but it was all worth it the first time Pathos turned her loose on a bunch of enemies and told Erin they were zombies threatening her little sister. The carnage was intense and very quick. Erin lost her old name but she got a new one: Singularity. The only survivor of a dead world, and an unstoppable force of destruction for anything in her gravitational pull. Pathos was a busy girl who couldn't spend all her time babysitting, so Singularity wound up spending most of her time in a reinforced white box of an underground holding cell, one that became more and more reinforced as she found new ways to almost escape. Pathos took most of her memories away, so she didn't know how long she spent in the box or much of what she did when she left, though she had the occasional scary technicolor dream about it. Eventually she began to associate the box with safety, with the outside world a nebulous place full of fear and fighting. That was where the other Erin found her when she came with her friends, broke the cage open, and dragged Singularity into the blinding light of a new reality. Erin knew that Singularity was dangerous, she knew she couldn't be trusted. Singularity didn't know much, but she knew that about herself. She also knew from what little she remembered of her many escape attempts that Pathos would come looking for her, and that Pathos would find her, and that the consequences would be unimaginably terrible. It was a relief to be arrested and put into the psychiatric ward at Blackstone Prison. The people there were very kind to her even though everyone there knew she was a crazy murderer, and in such a high-security facility, maybe even Pathos would have a hard time getting in. They gave her another new name at Blackstone, because she couldn't be Erin anymore and Singularity was not an appropriate people name. She dipped way back into her scrambled memories and borrowed a name from one of her favorite children's books and that was good enough. Once upon a time there was a girl named Jessie who lost her memory. Well, not lost, not really. She gave it up on purpose and she knew where it went. A girl with the same voice and face as Pathos told her that the fastest way to get better would be to take away all the ruined parts of her memory and replace them with undamaged ones from the Erin who'd lived happily ever after. Jessie was happy at Blackstone, but she did want to be better, and she didn't want to have to think about all the bad things she'd done and had done anymore. And it worked, or at least it worked well enough. Jessie knew the childhood memories she had weren't hers (though they technically were); they had the smooth-edged quality of being watched through a screen, like remembering a movie she'd seen a thousand times. And in all the places where Jessie had been and Erin hadn't, there was nothing, just empty white darkness inside her head. But the nightmares went away, and the fits of uncontrollable rage. She was better. What Jessie had not foreseen was that getting better would lead to the end of safety. When she was better, they would not let her stay in her cozy room in Blackstone with its strict routines and thick steel walls. Instead she went to Project Freedom, where they taught her how to live in the world as a grownup, even though in her mind she'd only lived sixteen and a half years. She met Aquaria there, who was friendly and nice, and who didn't care that Jessie couldn't talk about her past or her family or pop culture or much of anything, or that she'd killed far more people and zombies than anyone could begin to count. Aquaria was her friend, the first one Jessie'd had in two entire worlds. When she went places with Aquaria, Jessie could hide her own painful awkwardness behind Aquaria's cheerfully brash alienness and most people didn't even notice her. Eventually, though, even Project Freedom came to an end, and Jessie had to go out, over her own protests, into the world. Erin stepped back in then, finding Jessie a safe place to live with one of her own friends and even providing the money for college. Jessie knew that the things Erin did for her came mostly from guilt, guilt that somewhere along the line of their shared life, something had gone right for her and terribly wrong for Jessie. It meant they'd probably never be friends, but Jessie was still grateful for the help. She didn't make great progress in college, being constantly called away on Aquaria's crazy adventures, but she worked hard and steadily to pass whatever classes she could. She practiced her hero skills too, and helped out wherever she could to keep people safe and evil things at bay. Mostly, though, she tried to figure out what to do with her life. It seemed inevitable that at some point her time at the DuTemps building would have to come to an end too, and she would need to be ready. Personality & Motivation: Jessie really does want to help, but she spends a lot of her time dealing with significant anxiety that is free-floating because its moorings have all been ripped out. She will always follow Aquaria into danger and will usually follow anybody else with a good reason, but she doesn't enjoy hero work and would be happier if she didn't have to do it. She wants a quiet life with no violence where she can concentrate on school, but she is unwilling to have that life at the expense of other people. Powers & Tactics: Singularity is an enhanced human being shaped by training and experience into a finely honed lethal weapon. Training on Earth Prime has helped to take some of the edge off that weapons, so that Jessie can fight nonlethally against most of the threats she deals with as a hero. Jessie's fighting style is raw and unpolished, mostly hitting and kicking, with her hands or with a bat, and counting on overwhelming ruthless strength to win the day. She would prefer not to fight, however, and will often use her ability to intimidate to try and defuse battles before they start. Fighting is bad, because sometimes Singularity will come out during a fight, and Singularity fights to kill. Power Descriptions: All Jessie's powers are of the “punch it till it falls down” or “run with your legs” descriptor. Lately she has also added “hit it with your scary shield” to her repertoire. Complications: The Frog Princess: Aquaria is Jessie's best friend and Jessie loves her very much. Aquaria gets Jessie into trouble ALL THE TIME. Sometimes Jessie wishes Aquaria had more friends. Cinderella: Jessie is latest and least of all the Erins on Earth Prime, so much so that she couldn't even get a piece of their shared name. She has her own identity now, but being third of three is still fraught with all kinds of problems, especially when it comes to mistaken identity. Rapunzel: Jessie's legal status is fairly opaque due to a lot of negotiations on behalf of non-Prime natives who commit crimes in their own worlds, but suffice it to say she is on supervised release. She has a monitoring bracelet and an allowed travel radius, and breaking that can cause a lot of trouble. Gretel: Jessie has most of a lifetime of borrowed memories in her head, but there is almost nothing left anymore of her time in captivity except bone-deep fear without any object. She knows enough to be afraid of Pathos, but this loss of markers might make her vulnerable to others from her past. Abilities: 8 + 4 + 4 + 0 + 2 + 2 = 20PP Strength: 30/18 (+10/+4) Dexterity: 20/14 (+5/+2) Constitution: 30/14 (+10/+2) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +13 Attack: +6 Base, +10 Melee Grapple: +24 Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -12 Saving Throws: 0 + 3 + 7 = 10PP Toughness: +14/+2 (+8 Enhanced Con, +2, [Impervious 10] +4 Forcefield) Fortitude: +10/+2 (+2 Con, +8 Enhanced Con) Reflex: +8/+5 (+2 Dex, +3 Enhanced Dex, +3) Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7) Skills: 64R = 16PP Acrobatics 10 (+15, SM) Craft (Artistic) 8 (+8) Intimidate 14 (+15, SM) Notice 9 (+10, SM) Sense Motive 9 (+10, SM) Stealth 10 (+15) Survival 4 (+5) Feats: 25PP Acrobatic Bluff All-Out Attack Attack Focus (Melee) 4 Challenge 2 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Startle) Dodge Focus 4 Environmental Adaptation (Underwater) Evasion Improved Initiative 2 Interpose Luck 2 Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 10 + 16 + 6 + 12 + 1 + 2 + 10 + 9 + 9 + 2 + 8 = 85PP *All carry the following descriptors, unless noted otherwise: chemical mutation, enhanced physicality Device 3 (Elder Sign Shield, 15PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PF: Indestructible) [10PP] (abyssal/magic) Damage 4 (shield strike, PF: Mighty) {5} Enhanced Feats 3 (Second Chance 3 [Toughness Saves Against Falling Damage, Will Saves against Confuse and Mind Control) {3} Immunity 3 (drowning, environmental cold, high pressure) {3} Force Field 4 {4} Enhanced Constitution 16 [16PP] Enhanced Dexterity 6 [6PP] Enhanced Strength 12 [12PP] Feature 1 (Temporal Inertia) [1PP] (dimensional) Immunity 2 (disease, poison) [2PP] Impervious Toughness 10 [10PP] Movement Array 8 (8 points; PF: Alternate Power) [9PP] BE: Leaping 4 (x25; running long jump 500 feet, standing long jump 250 feet, vertical jump 125 feet), Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling 1) {4+4=8/8} AP: Speed 4 (100 mph / 1000 feet per move action), Super-Movement 2 (Water-Walking 2) {4+4=8/8) (Super-Movement is abyssal/magic) Regeneration 9 (Bruised 3 [No Action], Injured 6 [No Action]) [9PP] Super-Senses 2 (Accurate Hearing) [2PP] Super-Strength 4 (Effective STR 50, Heavy Load 12.5 tons) [8PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC29 Toughness Damage (Physical) Totals: Abilities (20) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (16) + Feats (25) + Powers (85) = 180/194 Power Points

Character Name: Sea Devil (and Singularity) Power Level: 12/13 (214/220PP) Trade-Offs: Various Unspent Power Points: 6 In Brief: A Deep One outcast living among Surfacers, gifted with space armor and trying to fight for a better world. Homebase: The DuTemps Building, Freedom City Songs: My Beloved Monster, Eels Fight Song, Rachel Platten Alternate Identity: Aquaria Innsmouth (Aquaria's Deep One name is not pronounceable by Surfacers) Identity: NA Birthplace: An unnamed island in the US Virgin Islands Occupation: Adventurer Affiliations: The DuTemps Building, the Liberty League (associate member), the Esoteric Order of Dagon and Hydra Family: Jessie White, the DuTemps Building, the Liberty League - she has living relatives including several young adult spawn, but Deep Ones do not view these relationships the way Surfacers do. Age: Aquaria is a Deep One female in the prime of life. Gender: Female Height: 5'7"/6'1" in armor Weight: 180 lbs/280 lbs in armor Eyes: Black and gold Hair: None Description: Outside of her armor, Aquaria Innsmouth is clearly no Surfacer. Her bulging black and gold eyes are set much too far apart to be a human's and her nose, flattened almost against her face, is more like a snout. She has no visible ears. Her mouth is big and opens far wider than a human's could - the teeth inside are sharp and serrated like the inside of a shark's mouth. Her skin is mottled green and white, white towards the belly and green towards the black, a dark green the color of certain unnameable seas. Her body is not quite shaped 'right' either - her limbs are too long and jointed like a frog's rather than a normal woman's, her torso too sturdy, and her arms and legs both end in three-fingered 'hands'. Her skin is covered in blue and black tattoos depicting strange and fantastic scenery, looking like something out of a hallucination. Her voice is deep and loud and sounds decidedly peculiar to human ears. She is cold and slick to the touch, like touching the skin of a frog or a smooth-scaled fish. When using her disguise spell, she looks like a distinctly odd human - a muscular female with pale skin, long limbs, a loud voice and fluffy black hair, with big, wide eyes that stare fixedly and with a particularly large mouth. She usually wears hoodies, long pants, and rain boots to hide the ways her body still doesn't match the profile of a human's. Her skin is still cold and slick to the touch. Inside her armor, Sea Devil looks rather different from the typical armored hero - the armor's massive limbs and glowing blue 'fingers' are probably its most striking feature, as are a faint opalescent sheen overlain over the black of the armor itself. That sheen, seeming to glow with all the colors of the rainbow depending on one's perspective when looking at the armor, is instantly recognizable - and all too familiar for space-born heroes. Her head is almost completely invisible inside the armor, though she can make her faceplate go translucent, or even transparent, should she wish. When she speaks while wearing the armor, the digitized booming base of her voice sounds like nothing else. History: It's an old story, really - a tribal people, trading with the city folk who lived on the good land, hunting and fishing and singing the songs of their ancestors, at least until the others come - with terrible weapons and sinister intent, they destroyed the tribe's home and chased them away into the darkness. The tribe roamed from spot to spot, settling here and there for a time, until finally finding a home among the people far from the ancient and terrible enemy. Aquaria has lost track of her age. She was an adult, old enough to have mated and spawned, when the tribe found the ancient city, ending their long wandering after the Atlanteans had destroyed their rocky island home during the first flush of her adulthood. She remembers her joy at meeting the Dark Brothers (or so they called the city-dwellers), the glee at learning she would finally gain her true power as a Deep One - before finally she saw the horrific blood sacrifice of the city-dwelling cult of Dagon and Hydra. She fled, in horror - but where could she go, in a sea beset by her enemies, where even her own people were no longer her friends? She picked the Surfacers and began a long, solitary journey up the East Coast of North America - she taught herself to read their language and understand the rudiments of their culture. When she learned of a Deep One attack against a Surfacer city, she headed that way - she'd heard confused stories of a Deep One hybrid leading the invasion forces and wanted to see what had become of it. So she showed her face in Freedom City - and promptly found herself battling superheroes. After all, this was just a few months after Archevil - nobody wanted to take any chances. She nearly died in Blackstone, the air cold and dry, her voice echoing off the walls, alone - until she heard the halting echoes of Lemurian from the Surfacer outside her cell. An early volunteer for Project Freedom, her acclimation to Surface life - to the mistrust, the prejudice, the dry air, the bad food, the aloneness, was hard, but it was better than death. And then things got even better when she met Singularity, aka Jessie White - she'd seen the Surfacer woman in a cell near hers in Blackstone and though they hadn't spoken then, the familiarity was enough to make them roommates at Project Freedom. Aquaria wasn't scared of Jessie's strange moods and desire for solitude - and Jessie didn't mind Aquaria's strange smells and bizarre habits so much. She was the first new member of Aquaria's pod. Now they're free and living in the DuTemps Building, where their pod has grown substantially - even including friends who swim in the Sea of Stars. It's not the same as the world she left behind, but it's a good enough world. She'll be reunited with her Deep One brothers and sisters again - when the stars are right. Personality and Motivation: By Surfacer standards, Aquaria is generally cheerful, talkative, and loud - something that can be intimidating for a frog-mouthed, shark-toothed Deep One! She's aware that friendliness and good cheer are something Surfacers like, so she sometimes plays this up. She's gregarious, being a creature happiest in groups, and always eager to make friends. She nonetheless is _not_ a Surfacer - she is an obligate carnivore who worships strange gods and practices strange rites, and who has a worldview very different than many of her friends. Powers and Tactics: Outside of her armor, Aquaria is not a terribly brave fighter - she'll strike from concealment or from surprise, and otherwise seek every advantage in a fight. She'll probably take advantage of her superior senses and familiarity with the dark and the water to fight an opponent at night underneath a flooding dock, and the like. Despite her sharp teeth and handclaws, she prefers to fight with hard kicks from her massive legs. She's not that different while wearing the armor, hanging back and firing spectrum blasts from her tridents until she's actually forced into melee. Once there she's effective enough - but is particularly effective when fighting alongside the mighty Singularity. Complications: How Far I'll Go: An explorer born, Aquaria Innsmouth can never turn away from a new adventure. An Innocent Warrior: Of all Aquaria's friends, Jessie White is the greatest - and perhaps the most troublesome. We Know The Way: Aquaria is a disciple of what is sometimes called the Aeon Cult among Surfacers but to her is simply the Faith - the worship of the gods of the Deep One, widely considered a dangerous, apocalyptic cult among Surfacers and Atlanteans. Shiny: Aquaria despises Atlanteans, thinking of them as cruel, jealous imperialists - and Atlanteans typically view her as a murderous barbarian cultist. Where You Are: Aquaria dreadfully misses her fellow Deep Ones and the society beneath the waves - and might take chances to return. It doesn't help that the Surface is so cold and dry! I Am Aquaria: Apostate, traitor, and worse - her fellow Deep Ones (those who know the story of the Deep One who consorts with Surfacers) generally don't share her feelings. You're Welcome: Granted space armor by a quirk of galactic politics, Aquaria Innsmouth is an object of interest both to the Star Knights - and to the secret patrons of the terrible Spectrum Knights. Abilities: 12 + 12 + 12 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 44PP Strength: 22 (+6) effective Str 37 Dexterity: 22 (+6) Constitution: 22 (+6) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 14 + 14 = 28PP Initiative: +6 Attack: +7, +11 Melee, +15 w/Spectrum Power Grapple: +18/+21 w Dagon's Might, +11 w/Move Object Defense: +11 (+7 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -11/-6/-3 Saving Throws: 1 + 1 + 5 = 7PP Toughness: +12/+6 (+6 Con, +6 Protection, +10 Impervious) Fortitude: +7 (+6 Con, +1) Reflex: +7 (+6 Dex, +1) Will: +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 40R = 10PP Acrobatics 2 (+8) Diplomacy 4 (+5) Disguise 0 (+16/+1) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+5) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 4 (+5) Languages 2 (Atlantean, English [Base: Lemurian]) Notice 4 (+6) Sense Motive 4 (+6) Stealth 4 (+10) Swim 4 (+10) Survival 8 (+10) Feats: 48PP Attack Focus (melee) 4 Dodge Focus 4 Evasion Fearless Environmental Adaptation (underwater) Luck Ritualist Sidekick 35 [Singularity] Powers: 27 + 6 + 45 = 78 Deep One Physiology 5.1 (26PP, PF: Innate) [27PP] Additional Limb 1 (Tongue) [1PP] Comprehend 2 (animals, Flaw: Limited [Sea Life]) [2PP] Dagon's Might Array 3 (6PP, PFs: Alternate Powers 2) [8PP] BE: Swimming 6 (100 MPH/1000FPM) {6/6} AP: Leaping 2 (x5, Running Long Jump 80 ft, Standing Long Jump 45 ft, Vertical Jump 20 ft) + Speed 2 (25 MPH/250 FPM) + Super-Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling 1 (to 2) {2+2+2=6/6} AP: Super-Strength 3 (Effective STR 37, Heavy Load 2 tons) {6/6} Features 2 (Deep One, Iron Stomach) [2PP] Immunity 3 (Environmental Cold, High Pressure, Suffocation [Underwater]) [3PP] Super-Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling 1) [2PP] Super-Senses 8 (Accurate Ultrasonic Hearing, Acute Scent, Darkvision, Tactile [Ranged]) [8PP] 1 + 2 + 8 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 8 = 26PP Hydra's Power 2.5 (magic tattoos, 5PP, PF: Alternate Power 1) [6PP] BE: Super-Senses 3 (Magic Awareness 3 [Auditory, Enhancements: Analytical, Extended]) [5/5] AP: Morph 3 (Aquaria Innsmouth, +15 Disguise bonus, PFs: Covers Scent, Precise) [5/5] Device 11 (Spectrum Knight Armor, 55PP, Flaw: Hard to Lose, PF: Restricted [Deep One]) [45PP] Communications 4 (radio, 1 mile) [4PP] Flight 3 (50 MPH/500FPM) [6DP] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9DP] Protection 6 [6DP] Space Travel 1 (interplanetary) [2DP] Spectrum Power Array 12 (24PP, PFs: Alternate Powers 2) [26DP] BE: Damage 6 (energy trident, PFs: Improved Crit 2, Mighty, Precise, Takedown Attack 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [any energy]) + Impervious Toughness 10 {10} {14+10=24/24} AP: Blast 8 (spectrum power, PFs: Accurate 4, Precise 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [any energy]) {24/24} AP: Move Object 8 (energy constructs, Effective STR 40, Heavy Load 3 tons, PFs: Accurate 4, Precise) {21/24} Super-Senses 2 (Danger Sense [Radio], Uncanny Dodge [Radio]) [2DP] 4+ 6 + 9 + 6 + 2 + 26 + 2 = 55/55 Drawbacks: -1PP Vulnerable (visual Dazzles, uncommon, minor) [-1PP] Totals: Abilities (44) + Combat (28) + Saving Throws (7) + Skills (10) + Feats (48) + Powers (78) - Drawbacks (1) = 214/220 Power Points DC BlockATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC21 Toughness Damage (Physical) Trident Touch DC27 Toughness Damage (Energy) Blast Ranged DC23 Toughness Damage (Energy) Singularity Power Level: 12 (175/175PP) Trade-Offs: None Age: 24 Gender: Female Height: 5'8" Weight: 175 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Short and blonde Description: A young woman of average height and muscular build, Singularity's blonde hair doesn't quite match her dark eyebrows. She carries herself with a combination of athleticism and hesitancy - as if forever afraid she's going to break some thing, or some one. She generally speaks quietly, even, and perhaps especially, when angry. In combat she wields a short, dark baton like a single escrima stick, one she can snap open to staff length. She wears a blue jumpsuit in combat, if she has time to gear up. History: Victim. Survivor. Monster. Weapon. Prisoner. Artist. Hero? Jessie White, displaced from her own dying world into a hellish alternate reality, now living on a world where she is a shadow of another woman, bearing her own reputation as a mindless killing machine. At least her best friend is a monster from below the waves who worships strange gods and eats live fish for fine? It's good to know she's not alone - even if sometimes she thinks she's better off that way. Personality and Motivation: Jessie keeps her personality restrained as best she can, keeping her voice and passions to herself. She's better off that way - and so is everyone else around her. She does feel things, sometimes intensely, with strange visions of a life that wasn't hers and of the horrific reality beyond it - but she tries to keep them to herself. Pretending to be normal is hard enough without thinking about all the ways she's anything but. Powers and Tactics: Jessie White fights with her bat, striking with the mechanics of someone who has solid, albeit limited, training in melee combat. She'll strike to stun and to daze, staying mobile with leaps and kicks, not too dissimilar from her aquatic friend. Singularity fights to kill. She doesn't come out much - even when Jessie's in costume. But sometimes she does. Jessie doesn't like to think about that. Abilities: 8 + 4 + 4 + 0 + 2 + 2 = 20PP Strength: 30/18 (+10/+4) Dexterity: 20/14 (+5/+2) Constitution: 30/14 (+10/+2) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +5 Attack: +6 Base, +10 Melee Grapple: +24 Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -12 Saving Throws: 0 + 3 + 7 = 10PP Toughness: +14/+2 (+8 Enhanced Con, +2, [Impervious 10] +4 Forcefield) Fortitude: +10/+2 (+2 Con, +8 Enhanced Con) Reflex: +8/+5 (+2 Dex, +3 Enhanced Dex, +3) Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7) Skills: 64R = 16PP Acrobatics 10 (+15, SM) Craft (Artistic) 8 (+8) Intimidate 14 (+15, SM) Notice 9 (+10, SM) Sense Motive 9 (+10, SM) Stealth 10 (+15) Survival 4 (+5) Feats: 20PP Acrobatic Bluff All-Out Attack Attack Focus (Melee) 4 Challenge 2 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Startle) Dodge Focus 4 Evasion Interpose Move-By-Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 4 + 16 + 6 + 12 + 1 + 2 + 10 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 8 +10 = 85PP Device 1 (Bat, 5PP, Easy to Lose, PF: Subtle [Collapsible]) [4PP] Damage 0 (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Mighty, Paralyzing Attack, Stunning Attack) Enhanced Constitution 16 [16PP] Enhanced Dexterity 6 [6PP] Enhanced Strength 12 [12PP] Feature 1 (Temporal Inertia) [1PP] Immunity 2 (disease, poison) [2PP] Impervious Toughness 10 [10PP] Movement Array 2 (4 points; PF: Alternate Power) [5PP] BE: Leaping 4 (x25; running long jump 500 feet, standing long jump 250 feet, vertical jump 125 feet) {4/4} AP: Speed 4 (100 mph / 1000 feet per move action) {2+2=4/4} Regeneration 9 (Bruised 3 [No Action], Injured 6 [No Action]) [9PP] Super-Senses 2 (Accurate Hearing) [2PP] Super-Strength 4 (Effective STR 50, Heavy Load 12.5 tons) [8PP] Device 3 (Elder Sign Shield, 15PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PF: Indestructible) [10PP] Damage 4 (shield strike, PF: Mighty) {5} Enhanced Feats 3 (Second Chance 3 [Toughness Saves Against Falling Damage, Will Saves against Confuse and Mind Control) {3} Immunity 3 (drowning, environmental cold, high pressure) {3} Force Field 4 {4} DC BlockATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC29 Toughness Damage (Physical) Totals: Abilities (20) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (16) + Feats (20) + Powers (85) = 175/175 Power Points

Leviathan's Lair The depths of Great Bay, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday February 10, 2018 Up on the surface of the waves of Great Bay, the winds still whipped the cold that had gripped the East Coast across the water toward Freedom City. But deep beneath the waves’ surface, the waters were not much colder than they normally were. Along the rocky floor of Great Bay, nestled amongst the kelp and seaweed beds that rouse up dozens of feet, lay the undersea lair that Dr. Tristan Delacroix had created to be his lair as Leviathan. It was there that the good doctor was currently located. After encountering the Deep One Aquaria (also known as the superhero Sea Devil) a few months ago, a number of different things had seemed to come up and prevent him from showing the Deep One his headquarters. But finally they had been able to find a day that fit both their schedules, so now Aquaira and her roommate Jessie White would soon be arriving.

Okay - @Thevshi, @Blarghy, @Electra What should we do before the Atlanteans show up - if anything?

GM May 1st, Monday, 2017, 12.45AM Emerald City, Washington, United States, Fort Brewer Naval Base, Sub-level 2, briefing room "This is the only visual we have on your target, uh...Ms. Masterson" Admiral Henry "Hank" Finley was a fit, imposing man at 6'8", with his close-cut greying hair and constant frown softened little by a short spadehead beard. He also clearly had little experience dealing with superhumans. The darkened room he and the other, conspicuously silent, officers were gathered in had enough Cold War atmosphere to choke somebody from the bright and clear Forties. The lights were dimmed to help accentuate the ten-foot-wide picture humming softly in the air. With a slight cough and a swipe of his fingers, the projected image of a distant, misty lump of grey on a time-stamped horizon sharpened and jumped into focus. Hovering above the conference room table, the picture resolved into an island. An island with towering cliffs for shores, great tangles of hanging greenery and a liberal sprinkling of palm trees. "As you can guess, there's nothing like this on any of our charts. Satellite has nothing, even got Argus down here last weekend to scan. Nada." The Old Man of Fort Brewer folded his arms and looked down into the enigma that had brought Mary Masterson, the Torpedo Lass of World War 2, to far-off Emerald City, Washington. "Sent some scouts out, they got to the spot and swear up and down the thing just vanished. But I noticed something." "The sub crew I dispatched along with the other boats, they say it vanished just a little after the others lost track. Could mean nothing, but," Finley turned to Torpedo Lass, a gleam of cunning in his dark eyes "got me thinking somebody who can go faster than anything we've ever built and do it under the surface might stand a chance of clearing this up." "What we're asking is strictly recon, understand. Just get there, take a look around, come back and give us what you get. We give that to Citizen and he takes care of anything dangerous." the admiral shook his head resolutely, and his tone became one Mary was all too familiar with. "I'm not inclined to risk your safety, miss, no matter how bulletproof they tell me you are. I've got kids older than you." May 2nd, Tuesday, 2017, 8.45PM Liverpool, England, A very nice side-street The hero Dr. Deoxy had needs any human had. Being at the center of artistic life and on the crest of the glittering wave of imagination, for one. So strolling from one dazzling get-together had seemed like a good idea at the time. Just a little shortcut and he'd be back in the circle of greats... Dr. Nathaniel Anderson only knew he was being followed when he felt the sudden shock of lightning, fell spasming to the ground and heard somebody whisper "You. Have been. Thunderstruck!" There was a giddy giggle as the darkness closed comfortably around Nathan's head "Nothing? Aw geez, overjuiced..." A squalid room somewhere The darkness slid away to reveal a room that had once been stark and harrowing. A massive, altar-like table occupied the centre, letting the eye of the Sun in to bathe Nathan in cosmic fire. The rest was gloomy and indistinct, though clearly vast and of the Modernist school. Vines and tree roots reached in through the roof, turning the yellow light a gentle emerald. Other vegetation scrawled across the walls and floor. Somewhere birds chattered and sang. Of more immediate importance was the fact that Dr. Anderson was pinned to the stony bed by some invisible force, preventing movement of any kind. And he wasn't alone. Somewhere close, and getting closer, was the clopping sound of clumsy booted feet making their way towards him...

December 9, 2017 Freedom City Maritime Museum The Waterfront Alexa Xieng's homework had taken her to the Freedom City Maritime Museum, a small private museum that discussed the history of Freedom City's shipping industry. There was actually quite a bit of history to see here, much of it going far beyond the age of heroes that had begun in the late 1930s. In her walkthrough so far she'd passed everything from a birchbark canoe like those used by the Lenape Indians who'd once lived all up and down the New Jersey coast to the cunningly hand-crafted model of one of the Nantucket whalers that had docked at Freedom's ports from the late 18th century on. The museum's tour guide, an older man with a white-streaked beard and a merchant marine cap, was obviously much more eager to talk about this part of Freedom's history than the "new wing." "Don't get me wrong," said "Captain Craig" a little awkwardly as he glanced into the newly constructed wing of the museum, its metal-walled rooms a sharp contrast to the rebuilt Victorian brick that made up most of the rest of the museum - which had once been a shipping baron's house, a century or so before Alexa's birth. "We certainly support Freedom City's hero population - but there isn't much to say about their maritime history. We discuss the Deep One invasion and the Atlantean one last year, of course," he went on as the two of them crossed the central foyer of the museum to the "hero wing", "but you can find that on your local websites. But don't let the curator hear me say that," he added with a wink. "We do have some fine artifacts preserved," he added, "all of them donated to us by the Freedom League. Behind Captain Craig, peering through the doors of the new wing, Alexa could make out the newer exhibits the man was speaking about - the Deep One invasion of 2011 being one of the main centers of attraction. In fact, a nearly intact Deep One suit of battle armor was in a glass case at the center of the room - but a half-dozen seeming-'tourists' were in the process of opening the case! The half-dozen men, all of them in Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts that clashed oddly with the chilly weather outside, were intent on their work - and hadn't noticed them yet.

The OOC. What do you want to do?

GM Norris Atoll Lonely Point, Freedom City New Jersey Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 5:17 PM Norris Atoll was a pseudo atoll formed by the three islands South of the Lonely point Naval Base. Far from an island resort like Bermuda, the islands were just as desolate as the mainland. Which made the territory an easy concession when the United States agreed to a formal concession of land for an Atlantean Embassy on the Atlantic. King Theseus reached out to the architect behind the construction of the Freedom Aquarium who oversaw the construction of the structure. Essentially it was designed a self-contained deep sea resort, using the Aquarium's iceberg like design in which a majority of the property was actually beneath the surface. Visitors would be allowed to stay for as long as they so choose as long as a security concern does not arise. Allowing for the education of Atlantean culture in a way far removed from the offensive Atlantis Casino. The Ocean Factory at the bottom was closed off from surface world access. Only subcontractors and official delegates would be allowed access with a residence designed for use for any Atlanteans that would choose to use the facility. The fact that Atlantean hostilities with the surface (and the location being so near a surface world military installation) made it unlikely that anyone other than the Atlantean Ambassador would choose to actually use it. News outlets approached the entrance on a cargo ship. The grand unveiling was to be broadcast throughout the country. Including from within a Waterfront Russian bar where two heroines were currently enjoying a meal. Or the much quieter apartment belonging to Jessie White and Aquaria Innsmouth. William Cline, or Thoughtspeed as he was currently dressed, had a much closer look of the festivities. Having been personally invited by Princess Thaelia, as the only one of her friends not currently out of the city. With the possible exception of Elias, who she could never keep track of. Thoughtspeed found himself sitting in a room, with a view of the approaching vessel, accompanied by the Atlantean royal family minus King Theseus himself. An armed escort posted throughout, perhaps too armed for a guided tour.

82 Eridani System Thursday, September 28, 2016 Cavalier flew along side Sea Devil through the inky void, taking in the unfamiliar sights. There was an index full of the various planets, moons, and asteroids of the system, but he had never actually seen them with his eyes. Still, Mentor had recommended this as a nice peaceful system for a trial run. And surveillance. Mentor hadn't been so direct in calling it surveillance. But when Cavalier had asked why he was being asked to take Sea Devil on a ridealong - especially when she hadn't gotten off on good terms with the young Deep One, and her time in space had been far from a walk in the park - Mentor had relented and given him the full scope. "The individuals who tampered with our armor to make the Spectrum Knight design were powerful, intelligent, and given to deception. Although we have examined the altered armor in detail and found no obvious tampering, we know from our own designs that the armor can adapt under proper circumstances. It may be best to see if Ms. Innsmouth has managed to develop new... hidden talents in use of the armor. Talents that were hidden just so they could be... discovered at the right time." A full analysis would be too invasive; however, if Cavalier rode along, Mentor could analyze the code of the Spectrum Knight armor to see if there were any nasty surprises lying in wait. Of course, convincing Sea Devil to go along all on her lonesome might be tricky. Hence why Cavalier had been given dispensation to hire the Voidrunners, with whom Sea Devil had a somewhat better relationship. And hence why he'd had the request approved to let Sea Devil bring along Jessie, who'd also been dragged about half the galaxy alongside her. And hence why he felt like the fifth wheel on this whole trip. But he was the one in charge, so he had to make sure he was everyone's fun uncle rather than their drill sergeant dad. "How do you like the sights?" he asked Sea Devil. "Anything catching your eye?"

CN: Date: Late July, 2016 Location: The Beach, Port Regal The Atlantic might be colder than the sea that Leilani had grown up loving, but the waves held a familiar rhythm and even if the sand was darker, the beach more rocky, working it with Kimo held a certain strange familiarity. It wasn't home - not quite - but it wasn't utterly foreign either. Which, perhaps, made it an appropriate place for a not-quite impromptu celebration of sorts. At least, with having begun to shift her things out of the League headquarters and into the Dutemps building, Leilani had accepted and acknowledged that while her powers remained concerning, they weren't actually out of her control. Her good-natured nephew (Leilani couldn't call him her great-nephew still with a straight face) had been all for an evening of surfing and beach barbecue, not to mention meeting more of the super-hero community and the off-hand invitation had been extended towards the rest of those calling the castle home. Leilani had traded her life-guard swimsuit for an off duty alternate. With a sarong knotted around her waist, she set about setting up the wood with the intent of setting up a proper bon-fire, pausing to wave over the guests she recognized when they arrived. "Kimo, watch yourself, yeah? Gonna put up some bumpers," she paused in her building of the small wood tower to gesture, mounding up the sand and rock to form larger banks to provide at least a little bit of visual privacy from the rest of the stretch of the beach. "Remind me to put that back afterwards." Leilani added in a mutter as she returned her attention to stacking wood.

Saturday April 23, 2016 9AM "This is Franklin Martinez at Waterplace Park in Providence, Rhode Island..." From behind the newscaster came the deafening chorus of voices raised in song - a bellowing, eerie song that could come from no human throats. He moved aside, letting the camera see the thousands of green and white-bodied creatures occupying the park, squatting in the river and the streets, hopping and singing their songs even as more came out of the water behind him. Deep Ones! Some were naked and weaponless, looking like the giant frog-fish humanoids they were, others wore black armor that looked like wrought iron and carried long, lethal-looking tridents. "Beginning early this morning, the Deep Ones began emerging from the Woonasquatucket River and occupying the heart of the city! So far the police and military have established a perimeter to keep back the invaders, but with their numbers increasing - " Suddenly, the Deep One nearest the newscaster (some thirty feet away, and behind barricades) leaped over and licked him, slapping him across the cheek with an arm-length green, bumpy tongue. The man shouted in surprise and staggered, nearly falling down, but kept his feet. He looked up at the camera, obviously rattled, and began to speak. "I, uh..." He wavered for a moment, then suddenly began stripping off his shirt. "Te veo a Jesús ! ¡Te veo!" he declared, his eyes wide and staring, a moment before the camera cut off entirely, returning to the news broadcast about the Deep One invasion of Providence, Rhode Island. At Aquaria and Jessie's apartment, Aquaria rose from her bacon-wrapped kippers and croaked, her voice warbling with the hiss that spoke of holding back a shout, "Jesssie, we need to go. We need to go there right now."

December 2015 Voidrunner When the big barracuda-like ship didn't follow them, Aquaria croaked in noisy relief before settling down into her seat. As she did so, she realized just how much her relief was mixed by fear. Despite impossible odds and impossible distances, things had come through for Sea Devil and Singularity, for Aquaria and Jessie. It wouldn't be long now before they were back in the Solar System - a concept she only hazily understood but that she knew meant they were close to Earth, and close to a return to the home she and Jessie had been trying to get back to for weeks. Close to trouble. She was acutely aware, twitching in her seat, of all that had happened - of how her pride had sent them to the stars, of how her anger had gotten that Surfacer killed, and of how all the stars of space had seemed to be against them on their journey. She knew, too, that her life in Freedom City was not her own - she was a symbol of the fear and loathing that Surfacers had for her kind, and a criminal to boot. With all that she'd done, what would happen when she returned? Blackstone again? Perhaps Atlantean custody? Or maybe just exile - a banishment to the waters off Freedom's coast where she was an outcast among all who lived beneath the waves. Turning to her still night-catatonic friend, Aquaria took a long breath and released it as a deep, almost subsonic, bellow. Jessie would be home in the world of her birth, surrounded by her people, away from the world that Aquaria had thrust her into. That was what mattered. Through the blood of sacrifice, I gain power, she thought, closing her big goggle eyes. Through the blood of sacrifice, we are free. Up front, the dinky little Terran comet belt station had just hailed the Voidrunner.

Okay, here we are.

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.