The End of The World

[alderwitch]

Alex searched for the other boy as she hurried to catch up with her friends. It was a little disorienting trying to walk while her senses were displaced, but she managed to give the kids wrestling on the courthouse steps a wide berth. She was just about to announce that she didn't see anyone at all when she felt a mental presence decloak behind her. Unfortunately, since their last encounter, Tech Kid had been working on his jedi mind tricks.

She let out a startled squeak as she was pulled back against the taller boy's chest and a lightsaber 'zorched' into existance very close to the unprotected skin of her throat. Tech Kid carefully held her body in front as a sheild as he announced, "Well, we appear to be at an impasse."

It wasn't excatly an accurate statement as he was still outnumbered, and pinning Alex's arms to her sides didn't exactly negate her combat effectiveness in any real way, but it certainly made an interesting tableau on the courthouse steps.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, roughly 30 years in the future.....

"Stay here. You'll be safe in the manor." Zoe could count the times that she'd seen her handsome father actually look tired on one hand, but the lines carved into his features outstripped every one of those memories. He looked tired. Until today, Zoe hadn't even been aware that he could actually feel exhaustion. Meanwhile, her mother's eyes had that unfocused look as she once again searched the earth for yet another bomb, contacted yet another group of super heroes to coordinate their efforts, while her father said what sounded very much like a good bye. Zoe had heard the refrain a thousand times, but today the words held a sort of gravity to them that had never been in his tone before. Zoe didn't know it then, but it was the last time she'd hear the familiar refrain. "Stay here. Stay safe. We love you."

After pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, he stepped aside to let her mother enclose her in a tight hug. Just in this last summer, Zoe had outstripped her mother and she was still adjusting to the sensation of hugging a mother that had suddenly shrunken to mortal proportions, "Don't worry. We're only a thought away."

And then they were gone and the manor seemed far more empty without her larger-than-life parents. The battle was televised, of course, every channel carried the epic war between good and evil that was fought on the very streets of Freedom City, on the courthouse steps. They were beloved heroes to everyone but to Zoe, they were so very much more. Her parents fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the extended family. Zoe saw her god-parents, beloved 'aunts' and 'uncles'. When they were knocked down, this time, they didn't get back up again.

It was when her mother, her sweet and so very gentle mother, was held by the throat and her father, her brave and steadfast father, had to turn away to try and reach the bomb before Hiroshima Shadow could detonate it that Zoe started running.

She run with every ounce of her speed in her compact frame, but it wasn't fast enough. Time seemed to slow, then almost stop as the weapon detonated. Metal fragments flew off of it in stop animation, even as the white hot pulse of power immolated hero and villian alike.

Just as the white hot heat would have enveloped Zoe, for a moment, time seemed to hold its breath before the world went white.

Her sneakered feet hit the concrete of the refurbished steps and the sudden presence of sound and color once more was almost staggering.

[N/A]

The rift Zöe tore through time appeared similar to the air condensing around a jet breaking the sound barrier. A momentary barrage of multicolored light assaulted the eyes of anyone who happened to be looking at the bottom of the library steps for that brief moment. Disoriented, Zöe's foot caught the bottom step, sending her falling flat on her face. She grunted and exhaled sharply upon impact. She threw up her arms reflexively, and they absorbed most of the force, but she still hit her nose and lip against the stone steps hard enough to draw a few drops of blood.

She pushed herself up, shook the cobwebs from inside her head, and looked around to get her bearings. Why am I not dead? What the hell happened? Where am I? She was standing in the very same spot in Freedom City where the nuclear shockwave slammed into her. The shockwave that disintegrated her parents right before her eyes. That obliterated her father, the guy who could take direct hit from a bazooka without even flinching. But aside from her collision with the ground a moment ago, she didn't have a scratch on her. Neither did the rest of the city. As a matter of fact, the City Center looked brand-new. And, at the same time, like ancient history.

She spotted a newspaper dispenser on the sidewalk behind her. Whoa. That vid-booth is set up to look just like one of those old-style newspaper machines. Retro. Wait, that wasn't here a second ago...this skyline is all wrong...and that doesn't look like a newspaper. It is paper. Nobody makes those anymore...the date...the date...

No freaking way.

Then she took a second glance at the other kids on the library steps. They weren't laughing or joking around, like she originally thought. They were fighting. And that red-haired girl being held hostage by the kid with the light saber looked familiar.

Really familiar.

Zöe glanced at the girl, then back at the newspaper, then back at the girl again, and so on and so forth. 2009...2009...they'd have been...16? ...Mom?! Then one of the boys caught her eye. Didn't Dad have long hair in highschool...NO FREAKING WAY!!! She recognized most of these kids from their yearbook pictures: Erin White, her godmother. Mark Lucas, her ex-husband. And Alex Albright & Mike Harris, better known to Zöe as "Mom & Dad."

[N/A]

Zöe's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in pure shock. Nukes...don't work that way. Did I run so fast I broke the time barrier?! I thought that was just theoretical... Then her expression closed and hardened back down, from astonishment to anger, when she realized that not only were her mother and father alive, but they were currently being threatened. I couldn't save you...but I can save you!

Zöe dropped to her knees, slung her backpack down onto the ground, fished her Next-Gen uniform out, and changed into the bright blue-&-orange jumpsuit in less than a hundredth of a second. The metal toolboxes inside clanged and crunched when the pack hit the ground, discarded absent-mindedly in favor of the task at hand.

Now "properly-attired," Zephyr raced toward the boy with the light saber. She leapt and flipped over Erin and the boy she had clinched, and hit the ground running. She threw all the force her body could muster behind a jab with her left hand, punching not just with her fist, but also with her arm, her shoulder, even her legs and feet. Then she punched him again. And again. And again. Ten-thousand times, her blows rained down upon him. Eat my fist, Dork!

All of these events transpired in less than a tenth of a second. As far as any observers were aware, a strange red-haired girl simply appeared out of thin air, fell onto the library steps, then vanished again just as quickly and randomly, leaving a backpack sitting in her place.

[alderwitch]

The punch took Tech Kid entirely by surprise and he was lifted and propelled through the air until he slammed into the doors of the courthouse and sank to the ground in an unconcious heap. His lightsaber went flying through the air, but the red beam of energy winked out the moment it left his hand and it clattered down the steps, coming to a stop near Mike's foot.

Instead of recovering, however, Alex was driven to her knees as white hot pain knifed through her skull. The psychic link that she'd built with Mike had taken hours of delicate work. This time, in one sudden and extrodinarily painful moment, another channel was blown wide open. Mike was similarly afflicted and the feedback of her pain to his and vice versa was almost worse than the initial psychic white noise. It took focused and deliberate effort to dampen the sensation to something more manageable and Alex struggled with it, blind to the world around her, fingertips pressed to her temples.

For Zoe, it was more of an ear-popping sensation as the link that her mother had built into her brain as a child was rerouted to the right people, wrong time.

[angrydurf]

Pain was not a sensation Mike was acustomed to, being nigh invulnerable since birth he hadn't had alot of opportunity to become acustomed. Thus when the Psychic feedback slammed into his head he was ill prepared and driven sharply to his knees clutching at his skull, countenance twisted by the pain he rocked slightly trying to push past the staggering sensation knifeing through his mind.

[Electra]

Erin felt a quick breeze as something unseen seemed to pass by, but the sensation was quickly forgotten as things began happening fast. She was rather gratified to see Tech Guy go flying, then equally alarmed when an invisible force attacked Alex and Mike. She spared a quick glance for Mystic Force, the most likely source of the attack, but he seemed as shocked as she was. Giving him a quick open-handed slap to the side of the head so he'd have something to think about, she dropped his arms and went to the aid of her friends. Mark was already heading towards Alex, so she moved in Mike's direction, dropping to her knees as well. "What's wrong?" she asked anxiously. "Who's hurting you?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Edge tensed at the sight of the man threatening Alex, but then gasped as first Tech Kid went down thanks to an invisible bombardment and then his friends collapsed like puppets with the strings cut. "Psyche!" He ran to her side, his arms going around her as he looked around for their invisible antagonist. Had something showed up that was after Young Freedom and their enemies alike? He wouldn't let that happen; whoever was there was going to reveal their secrets, dang it!"Stop it!" he shouted aloud. "Show yourself!"

[N/A]

Mark's shouting, combined with Alex and Mike's ordeal, distracted Zephyr. She slowed down, slowly fading into view. At first, the assembled teens just saw a blur. That blur gradually coalesced into the crisp, clear lines of the human form. Before them stood a girl, built like Erin but with hair like Alex. She wore a two-toned blue-&-orange jumpsuit with silver-metallic boots and gauntlets, now stained with a few drops of Tech-Kid's blood. She was breathing hard, her fists clenched tightly, standing with her back to Alex, glaring at Tech-Kid's limp body.

She turned around. When her eyes fell on Mystic Force's slumped form, she smiled. "Razor." Then she heard her parents start screaming, both in her ears and in her mind. Well, that pretty much settles that, then. "Oh fark!" Seeing as Alex was already bombarded with helpers, Zöe ran over to Mike. She knelt down and held his shoulder and head, frantically asking "What's wrong?! Are you OK Daddddd...io?" She sighed. Nice save, Dumbass.

[alderwitch]

"Psychic feedback. Gimme... second..." Alex managed and she turned her face into Mark's shoulder. Psychically, she reached out and wrestled control of the active communication links and then shut them both down to kill the static before cautiously re-opening them one at a time. "Never felt anything like that. It's not malicious, I don't think?"

Once she could lift her head again, she looked over at the girl to try and get a read off of her emotional state. She did look very familiar.

[Electra]

Erin shifted to block Zoe from getting a good grip on Mike, her attitude just short of threatening. Her face was a younger version of one Zoe knew very well, but the intensity in this Erin's expression wasn't leavened by the affection and humor Zoe could remember. For Erin's part, there was no recognition at all, not even a moment of foreshadowing. Maybe this stranger had earned points by beating up Nerd Boy, but that didn't mean she wasn't a threat. "Who are you?" she demanded.

[angrydurf]

Mike shook his head to try and clear the continued ringing in his ears but got his feet stable under himself once more. He glanced to Erin saying, "I dunno what it was, but it hurt like nothing I've ever felt before." He said his voice firming as he pushed past the recent debilitating pain.

He glanced curiously to Zoe but without Erins intensity, "Yea I'm fine thanks." He offered a weak smile as he tried to place what was so familiar about her. 'Did she just say daddio?' he thought to himself as he took in the unconcious villians on the steps, that either went very quickly or he was out of it longer than he thought.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark studied the girl uncertainly, his sunglasses hiding his eyes as he looked up at her. Uncle Mark Lucas had never been anything but friendly and cheerful when he thought his goddaughter could see or hear him, an always-happy man who was always ready with stories of his wild adventures or his hands full of souvenirs and gifts for his extended adopted family. It was only as Zoe had gotten older that she'd overheard the murmurs from the adults about Mark's personal life; the legion of failed marriages and children left behind, the personal life that kept him in faded clothes and borrowing money from his old friends as child support payments and massive debts devoured his Freedom League salary like so many sharks nipping at the chum of his personal life.

How many times had he slept in one of the Manor's spare rooms? Or been in argument with an ex-wife when he thought there wasn't anyone else listening? "It was probably something those two were doing," he murmured to Psyche, before standing up and greeting Zoe. "Hi," he finally said, extending his hand to hers. There was no evidence this girl had hurt his friends, which by Mark's standards meant she'd naturally fallen from the label of potential enemy into potential friend. "I'm Edge. That was a nice move you had bringing that Tech punk down." He grinned, and was all youthful charm and happiness to meet a new friend.

[N/A]

Zephyr nodded at Mike's reassurances. "Cool cool."

When Mark extended his hand, Zephyr smiled and slapped her palm against his. "Hey Mark."

Then she turned to Erin, and the smile faded away. "I'm...I'm...Look, Auuu-Um, Erin. This is kinda hard to explain. Like, 'you-guys-should-be-sitting-down-for-this' hard to explain. Actually sitting, like, in a chair, not kneeling on the ground clutching your heads in agonizing pain sitting. Which is kinda my fault, but not. Alex and Mike will be OK I think. When they're back up and running, how about we go grab some grub, and I'll explain everything. Fark I'm starving."

Zephyr faded into a blur as she jogged back over to her pack. In the blink of an eye, she had exchanged the brightly-colored jumpsuit for a loose plaid flannel button-up over a black tank-top with a "Metallica" logo over the chest, a plaid pleated skirt over black fishnet stockings with several holes in the legs, and a pair of lace-up black leather combat boots. She hefted her backpack over her shoulders, the contents clanking against one another in a miniature symphony of metal-on-metal. "Mom and Dad always said never to do hero-stuff in the civvies. Alrighty. CIVILIAN ATTIRE. We match." She raised an eyebrow at Alex's more "conservative" attire. "More or less."

[alderwitch]

Alex pushed herself slowly to her feet, her expression one that Zoe had seen a thousand times before on a more mature version of that face. Brows slightly drawn together, lips faintly pursed as she studied Zoe. An expression that hovered between concern and far too aware of her only child's mental state. The clothing was different, but even her mother who managed to look both elegant and poised had a flair for clashing colors. The teenager that stood in her place took that love of bold colors to an unforseen extreme. Despite the fact that the same red-gold hair was pulled back into a clip that had some sort of sparkly rainbow butterfly instead of a tasteful twist, the face below was just as inquisitive and just as discerning.

Even the delicately quirked eyebrow about Zoe's dress was her mother to a perfect 't'.

"You know our names." She pointed out, the voice slightly higher than the one Zoe was used to. "So I think we should probably move someplace else. Mark, we can place an anonymous tip about these two. I'm sure they're violating parole."

Her advice was pragmatic and automatic, but to Mark not Zoe's father. Alex had always had the wits to lead but never the drive. That matter settled to her mind, she took a step close to Zoe and used the hem of her sleeve to wipe away the small smear of blood from her earlier faceplant on the concrete gently, "Hey... You okay?"

[Electra]

Erin seemed less than mollified by Zoe's explanation, but the attack seemed to be over, and if this stranger who knew their names was going to cause problems, she was outnumbered four to one. Rising, she went over and lifted one of Mystic Force's eyelids, checking to make sure... something. She didn't know why people did that, but the guy was still alive and breathing, so that was a good sign. Leaving him where he lay, she turned back to her friends. "Just so long as she doesn't pick the place. It could be a trap. Mark, what's someplace to eat around here?"

[angrydurf]

As the last of the effects of the feedback faded Mike stood to his full height once more. His physical presence almost unconciously dominated the scene as he nodded agreement with Alex, a glimmer of the man he had yet to grow into showing through the unkempt hair and oversize clothing. He hefted the lightsaber and casually crushed the device between his hands dropping the peices to the ground in disgust.

Taking to heart Erins words he cast a critical eye to Zoe "I doubt she's in league with that sort." he gestures to the unconsious teens though his tone was clear that this was a statement of his expectations rather than any real certainty of her motivations and it was once more as if she had brought home mere B's on a progress report, kindly even supportive but with expectations that she prove herself worthy of the trust in his eyes. Mike Harris was, even through the teenage ennui, the kind of person that one wanted to prove themselves to.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Let's go to Champions," said Mark cheerfully, having shrugged off the stress of the battle now that everyone was okay. He reached down and hugged Alex, smiling at her to show his relief for her quick recovery. "No better place for heroes to eat, even out of costume." He squeezed her hand as he popped out his cellphone, placing a quick call to the city parole office to get some people out there to arrest their old enemies. The quick battle on the courthouse steps had attracted some attention, but with a little luck they slipped away from the worst of the crowd.

[N/A]

"What?" Zöe slid her head backward and raised an eyebrow at the blood on Alex's sleeve, then reached up to check her own face. "Huh. Must have face-planted harder than I thought. Oh well. No worries." She wiped her face on the sleeve of her flannel. "That's what plaid's for."

Zöe held up her hands to Erin and Mike. "Whoa, hold on there, no no nonono." She shook her head rapidly "I've never even met these dorks before. I just saw them trying to rough up my parrrrre-tners, so I proceeded with the righteous beat-down. There's no trap here. You guys have the home-turf advantage. I'm the fish out of water. Or the fish in a different tank. Like I said, it's complicated."

She chuckled when Mark suggested the restaurant. "Champions? Seriously? What are we, eight? Frak, you are still such a fanboy." She rolled her eyes, then shrugged. "Sure, whatever." She looped her thumbs through the shoulder straps of her backpack, then skipped down the steps. "I'm hungry. Let's get this show on the road."

[alderwitch]

It didn't take long for the kids to arrive at Champions, with Zoe still treated with the occasional measuring glance from one or more of the kids. After a short wait, they were all shuffled into a booth. Alex slid in next to Mark and turned her attention to Zoe as she cut right to the heart of the matter, "You said it was complicated?"

Unlike Mike, she could carry on a mental conversation through their link without looking like she was. Usually, they both tried to keep from chattering down the link when in mixed company as much as possible and even when she did use their link, Alex tried to acknowledge the activity with her body language. This time, Alex ignored her manners as she was more interested in accessing Mike's memory of the encounter with the hope he'd been less blinded by the psychic feedback than she'd been. It was a futile hope. As for what Zoe could sense, she felt the vague background presence of communication as Alex wasn't yet tuned in enough to keep the conversation as private as she might like. Alex did manage to keep the words garbled as she reached out to Mike, What did you see?

[N/A]

When the teens were shown to a booth, Zöe vanished for a moment, reappearing with a chair in-hand from one of the empty tables. "I'll be Odd-Girl Out. Seems appropriate." She turned the chair backwards and leaned her arms on top of the back, letting her chin rest on her left forearm as her right hand gently fingered the menu.

"Whoa. You guys have waitresses here. Weird. Alrighty...lessee...I'll have the Scarab Burger. It doesn't actually look like a bug, right? No, just ketchup and mustard? OK. Fries. I'll also get a large Green Man salad, with all the fixings...oh, and the Allies of Freedom Steak & Shrimp platter, with three extra skewers, two baked potatoes, the garlic bread, and the veggies. Free refills on soda, right? Doctor Pepper. You know what? Go ahead and just bring it by the pitcher."

After their orders were taken and the beleaguered waitress left their table, Zöe folded her arms back up onto the chair and addressed the group. "OK. So I owe you guys an explanation. Here's what I've got so far. It's got holes you could fly the Pegasus through, but honestly, I don't know much more than you do. So here goes the info-dump:"

"My name's Zöe. My Next-Gen call-sign was 'Zephyr.'" Zöe traced a "Z" shape across her chest with a finger. "I'm from what I think is an alternate Earth. Our technology is way more advanced, but you guys just jumped head, shoulders, and knees above us in 'quality of life.' Over there," she pointed a finger at Alex, "you're my sister. Twin. You were my first roommate. We both got hit with the same in utero radiation bath as Mike, so all three of us have 'the network' going on, if you read what I'm typing. Sorry about the headache. We were all Claremont kids, 'the best and brightest of the next generation,' all that crap."

"One day, the Crime League decided life was just too good, so they got ahold of a bunch of nukes, hid them all over the place, and basically held the world hostage. '24 hours to give us the money, or you all go boom.' We weren't about to pay the ransom, so pretty much every superhero on the planet worked overtime on finding the bombs and the CL. We even helped out with the search. It looked like the good guys were gonna win once again, until the Freedom League found the last bomb, right in downtown F.C. The Crime League wasn't about to let them disarm it without a fight, so major showdown ensued. That's when things really went tits-up."

"What happened, you ask? Hiroshima Shadow happened. See, the CL was bluffing. They didn't want to destroy the world - they still had to live here, too. But as you all know, Shadow is pants-on-head bonkers. Not only did he detonate the bomb, he poured himself into it to amplify it. And we're not talking some bunker-busting tack-nuke. This was a high-yield H-bomb even before HS gave it a field promotion. He must have irradiated the entire American Northeast. Wiped home-sweet-home right off the map."

Zöe's eyes began to water as she described the devastation. She absent-mindedly brushed her hair behind her ear with her fingers. "On my world, our parents were superheroes, too. Freedom Leaguers. Best of the best. They were in the thick of it. Ground Zero. When the fight started to go against them, I said 'Fark it' and started running. I thought I could help. I got there just in time to get a front-row seat for Armageddon. I pushed myself harder, faster than I'd ever gone before. I actually saw the nuclear shockwave moving in slow-motion. Everything it touched, buildings, people, just...disappeared. Guys who could take a bazooka to the face without messing up their hair got ripped into atoms. I was going too fast to avoid it, or turn around. There was nowhere to run. When it hit me, I was sure I that was 'Game Over.' Then I tripped on the courthouse steps, and saw a couple of jerks hassling my posse. Took me a second to realize it wasn't quite my crew."

Zöe waved her arms across her lap, from the inside out. "And here we are."

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark cocked his head and looked at Zoe a bit uncertainly, evidently finding it difficult to believe her story. The look was a familiar one.

"C'mon, even your old man's not going to fall for that one." Uncle Mark grinned at her across the vid-phone connection. "Now, tell me again how it was just a terrible accident that Ray the Third fell onto your fist...

"Hmm, that sounds pretty bad," said Mark with a sympathetic look on his face. "Some of my friends are from other dimensions too, and they've also had a pretty rough time coming here." He shot a look at the others. "Maybe if we took Zoe back to school with us, they could help her more?"

[angrydurf]

Mike missed a few of the more salient points as he concentrated on sending Alex a reply 'Not much, She had some wierd turns of phrase I think but who knows why.'

When he focused back on Zoe it was with the casual scrutiney of her father, He would accept what she said as truth but when ever one of her statements rang false he looked just a little sad or disapointed. And he was too, he was more baffled than most by all this alternate dimension stuff but he knew she was hiding something. She probably had her reasons but he wished she felt secure enough to just tell them what the truth was. Could it really be that bad?

[Electra]

Erin, who hadn't bothered ordering any food, listened intently to the story Zoe told, her fists clenching on the table until the knuckles were entirely white. Not that she believed a bit of the story, but someone inventing a tragedy in another world to try and score some kind of sympathy points with them was somewhat upsetting. "She needs to be turned over to the Freedom League," she opined aloud, her face blank. "If she's from another world, she might be carrying diseases, or she might be radioactive. They're the ones who handle refugees, anyway."

[alderwitch]

"I think we should take her to the school. It'll be the fastest and Mr. Summers can contact the League if its needed." Alex observed her with a slightly knit brow, her expression very focused and her head cocked slightly to one side, the last of the small group to speak. A moment after Zoe stopped speaking, Alex's expression cleared for a moment.

"It's not all lies, and no, I wasn't probing into your deeper thoughts. If you have secrets you want to keep, I'm not going to interfere with your privacy."

Her mother's ethics hadn't changed in thirty years, "Zoe, I can only help you if you're willing to tell me what's bothering you. I hope you know you can always talk to me." If her father had been the stalwart defender, than her mother had been the quiet nurturer. Always there with a comforting shoulder or a quiet word of encouragement. The same slightly worried expression was in her hazel eyes as she reached out to touch the back of Zoe's hand and offer what comfort she could, "I'm so, so sorry about your family."

[N/A]

Zöe rolled her eyes at Alex and let her face fall onto her arms, still crossed over the chair. "OhMyGOD you are such a drag sometimes." She sighed, then looked up, her fingers wrapping underneath her hair as they clutched her skull. "Faaark. Alright, FINE. I admit, that's kinda the Theme Park version of my life story up to now. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, and all that. But all the important parts are true, I swear. I'm not sick or twisted enough to make sprak up like that." She turned to Alex. "You've been playing therapist with me my entire life. Back off. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Yeah, it would be nice if you'd stay out of my head and respect my privacy FOR ONCE."

She shook her head, and tried to wipe away her tears as discreetly as possible. "Look. Let's just say that some REALLY bad stuff just happened, but now that I'm here, I've got a new lease on life and a chance to turn it all around. And lets leave it at that. Leave the past in the past. Eyes forward."

"Summers? Yeah, good call. Duncan Summers. That's the guy I want to talk to. No, I don't have any diseases. I just had a checkup last week. And if you send me to the League, they're just gonna bounce me back down to Summers anyway. But thanks so much for your concern. Bitch."