The Great Escape (IC)

[Electra]

By the time Jill arrived in the room, Stesha had changed into a mint-green cotton robe that reached her knees, her exceedingly long hair taken down from its many pins and allowed to hang in two braids down her back. She was sitting on a yoga ball and bouncing lightly while Anne used a handheld dopptone to broadcast the baby's strong and rapid heartbeat into the room. "Jill, this is my mom Anne," Stesha introduced briefly, with the air of someone distracted by other things. "Mom, this is Jill, she's been helping me through the early stages."

"Of course," Anne said warmly, giving the young medic a smile. "I've read a little bit about you. Now that my daughter's one of the heroes of Freedom City, I try to keep up with the doings in that community. You work with your brother, isn't that right?" She tucked the ultrasonic machine away in the bedside drawer and wrote a few numbers in a little notebook. "I'd like to take a few minutes and make sure all my equipment is in order. Would you stay with Stesha and spot her while she's on the ball?"

Stesha only seemed partially aware of her mother's temporary absence, having focused herself inward for another long contraction. She groaned and bounced more vigorously on the ball, her knuckles whitening as she knotted her own hands together. When it eased, she told Jill, "I really appreciate you coming along with me here. I know it's a little bit outside your job description."

[Fox]

"I could use some tea, yeah," Gaian Knight replied, pulling the cloth over his face down around his neck. One could almost have believed he was being unusually calm about things if he wasn't constantly and obviously stopping himself from pacing, or if he wasn't apparently trying to wear a grove straight through the smooth rock he was fiddling with. Even still, manners and habits had him reflexively tidy himself for Stesha's home, the dirt and dust that liked to cling to his clothes sliding across him to collect into a single rock, which he slipped into his pocket with his non-fidgeting hand.

He was a man possessed of earth-like patience (sometimes he suspected more patience ever since the whole getting-powers-things) but after too long even he couldn't stand the waiting and the watching of Dark Star's fatherly concern. "So," he said, to no one in particular. "....babies."

[Cyroa]

Derrick nods. "Tea, yes," he says again, almost half to himself. He goes back inside to grab a massive teapot of boiling water and a box of various teas before returning outside once more. "Here's your tea," he says helpfully, not exactly focusing on the drink too well considering he didn't seem to notice he hadn't brought any mugs out. He was not normally so 'out of it' but today was quite a different story honestly. He was lucky he remember to grab the teapot with a pot holder really. In this human guise, he had no protections to speak of.

He gave a small shrug of his shoulder and a shake of his head to Angel. "Uh...hmm? Oh, no. Stesha asked me to come out here and make sure everyone was settled. I'm sure she'll call me when she needs me. Tea," he asked holding the scalding teapot towards Angel absently. He might be functioning and processing, but he wasn't doing it well. "Yes...a baby," he says a bit oddly, wistfully in response to Gaian. "Amazing."

[Avenger Assembled]

Not all the persuasion in the world can reach a father today, thought Freedom Angel with a little smile. "In that case, I would love tea. Give me whatever Stesha's favorite is," he suggested, figuring Dark Star would know that well enough. It gave the father-to-be something to do, very important for a hero like Dark Star on a day when the biggest task was up to other people. "Babies, yes!" He smiled. "You know, my mother and I once helped with a birth in Antarctica! It was a little boy named Emilio, and his mother had been flown into the Argentine base down there. It was one of my first visits to Earth. What a cold and miserable day that was, even in the depths of summer. Now there are whole schools there,and families too, growing where no human life ever had before. And that was without all these friends alongside."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, you kidding?" Jill scoffed affably as she moved to stand next to vigorously bouncing woman. "Most of my job is looking after a loud juvenile who demands attention and makes messes everywhere that I have to clean up." The young medic was making an obvious effort to give Stesha something else to focus on momentarily, playing up her body language as she delivered the deadpan punchline. "We're just lucky mi hermano isn't here. He'd be all trying to make his swords look like cigars to hand out for a sight gag, then something would get lit on fire..."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel couldn't help but smile at Derrick's nervous energy. He quietly walked over to the counter to "place his order".

"I'll have some Earl Grey. If you've got it. If not, I'll take what Heyzel's having."

He sedately walked around the room a bit. But it wasn't long before he was humming softly to himself. That humming unconsciously built into singing, until finally the others in the living room area could hear his crystal-clear baritone voice.

"Go forth to life, O child of earth!

Still mindful of thy heav’nly birth;

Thou art not here for ease, or sin,

But manhood’s noble crown to win.

Tho’ passion’s fires are in thy soul,

Thy spirit can their flames control;

Tho’ tempters strong beset thy way,

Thy spirit is more strong than they."

[Electra]

"That would be something to see," Stesha agreed, mustering a faint smile for Jill's attempt at levity. "Make sure Derrick comes back in, would you? I want... I want him to be here." She got up from the ball and began pacing again, bare feet soundless on the grass-covered floor. The contractions were very steady now, and quite strong, to the point where she threw up her lunch into the trash can after one especially taxing round. Anne kept track of the contractions, but time otherwise began to lose meaning as they all waited for the big event.

Outside in the living room, there wasn't a lot of distraction as minutes stretched into a half hour, then an hour. There was food and drink available, even DVDs for the little television in the corner, but not a lot of information came from the room where all the action was. There was some moaning from the bedroom, but no screaming, and still no baby cries. The quiet was interrupted suddenly by a loud flurry of buzzing from outside, like a dozen badly tuned televisions turned to full power.

[Avenger Assembled]

Concerned by the noise outside, Freedom Angel opened the door and stepped out to see what was going on. Within seconds, he was glad he did, because it looked like an ugly confrontation was brewing between gigantic bees the size of tractor-trailers and their smaller, sleeker cousins. "WHAT IZ THE MEANING OF THIZ!?" shouted one gigantic organic bee, his tremendous compound eyes glimmering with suppressed rage. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE? THERE ARE NO ROBOTZ ON THIZ PLANET!" There were probably about half-a-dozen of the giant bees, half the number of their smaller, zippier cousins.

"We came here with Fleur de Joie!" said one of the robot bees, puttering around on her humming little engine. "She'z having her babee! Izn't that cool? Too bad zhe didn't tell you old beez firzt!" All the robot bees seemed to be remarkably full of themselves, at least when it came to relating to their big organic cousins. "Yeah we're gonna live here now and fly around and be cool robot beez! Aheheheh!"

[Fox]

"Woah. Hey!" Gaian Knight was out the door awfully fast for a guy associated with rocks, collecting a flying platform to stand on and placing himself between the two insect camps. It was an instinct he regretted almost immediately, but he really didn't want to see what two groups of giant bees would do to the landscape if they started a fight. "You guys," he started, pointing at the robot bees, "need to step down a bit. Have some respect for your older...ah, siblings...especially since they're a lot bigger than you and there are a whole lot more of them; plus, they were here first. And you guys," this time turning to address their more organic brethren, "should probably remember what it was like when you needed a home yourselves. The robot bees helped us out when we needed to get Fleur back here in a hurry - they're right, she is having her baby, and there hasn't really been time to tell anyone about it."

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Look...if you can't get along, I'll build the robot bees a new home away from yours, okay? But for now - until Fleur has her kid and recovers - can we at least try to be civil? Please?"

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel hadn't been singing the entire time they'd waited, but every so often he'd broken out a song to help keep himself occupied, and perhaps calm nerves throughout the house (it was trivial to sing loud enough that all could hear him). Of course, that wasn't to be. He heard the squabble outside and followed Freedom Angel and Gaian Knight at a slightly more sedate pace. When he saw what the commotion was, he stiffened for a moment, working to overcome his natural fear of stinging insects. He saw GK trying to placate them, and rose on a column of sound to hover near his fellow hero, holding his hands up in a peaceful stance as he spoke.

"My friends, please! Why do you fight? Because some of you are metal, and others are chitin? Don't all of you have the capacity to think and feel? Neither of your groups is 'better', you're just different! Should not you who have been here already rejoice that your brothers in steel have been given their freedom! That they too can come to this place where they can fly free with no fear? Is that not already cause for celebration? And even more, our host, Fleur de Joie, is giving birth even now! A new life is coming into the world! That is cause for joy, not posturing! Who cares who told who, why are you not rejoicing on this happy day!"

He flies higher, fighting the grimace that wants to sneak onto his face.

'I am insane, and everyone is going to owe me so much for this.'

He waves at the bees, encouraging them to follow.

"Come, sister bees! Insects of flesh and of steel! Come fly with me in celebration! Let us give this new child such a show when he enters the world! Let all who are near know our joy on this day! Let them rejoice with us! Fly with me!"

And with that, he shot into the sky, using only a fraction of his speed, but nonetheless beginning an exaggerated set of aerial maneuvers.

'If this doesn't work, I'm giving all of these bees the worst headache in existence.'

[Cyroa]

Derrick was not particularly helpful with the tea. Or the hot water. Or, well, anything really. As it was, they were lucky he didn't spill scalding hot water on people in his distraction. He might have said he was confident that everything was alright, but it didn't stop him from obsessing over it. Out here, he just didn't know what to do with himself and it was not something he was familiar or comfortable with.

Finally though, he was called back inside. Inside, there wasn't exactly a lot for him to do. The real 'work' was well out of his hands. But here at least, he could hold his wife, be by her side and hold her. That he could do quite well and happily too.

[Avenger Assembled]

Gaian Knight's intervention broke up the incipient brawl that was about to commence between robot and fleshy bees, leaving them open for persuasion by another source. The bees, flesh and steel alike, watched as Gabriel took to the air, giving each other and him a wary look before as a dual body they began bursting for the skies! For a second, it seemed as though the struggle had ended there as huge bee and steel bee broke into formations on either side of the flying Irishman. Until suddenly, the lead bee in the middle of the metal pack began to sing. "Go to zleep you little baaaabee! Go to zleep you little baaaabeee!" The song, which they must have heard from either the Bee-Keeper or on the radio in the prison, evidently inspired something in the giant flesh-bees flying with them.

"ARE WE GOING TO LET THEM BE THE ONLY ZINGERZ? NOOO!" And so they began to sing as well: "BAAABEEE MINE, DON'T YOU CRY, BAAABEEEE MINE, DRY YOUR EYEZ..." Up in the air, they formed into two great swarms, flying around each other again and again as they sang their human songs of baby welcome. Where had they learned them? It was tough to say; bees did have a lot of spare time when they were hanging around the hive, and who knew what the metal bees had been up to in jail! Recognizing what was going on as the bees formed up opposite each other in the air to belt out their melodies, Freedom Angel gave Gaian Knight an urgent look.

"We must join them, my brother!" With his wings spread, he took to the air, looking much the better despite his recent injury. "Only if we can focus their energy into healthy competition," he called, "can we prevent this new community from breaking into war!" And with that he was off, flying into the center of the bees mass to join both flights of magnificent bee in song!

[Gizmo]

As the the behemoth bees outside broke into unholy - though surprisingly melodic - ruckus, Jill planted both palms over her eyes and dragged them down over her face in silent reproach. Resisting the urge to examine just how her life had reached that point, she paced back and forth distractedly, racking her mind for something useful she could be doing. For the moment, everything seemed to be going well, thankfully, but it didn't leave much for her to do but stand around and wait. More than once she opened her mouth to deliver an offhand remark or attempt at humour and ended up snapping her jaw shut with a soft click and resume walking.

[Electra]

"Stop that pacing!" Stesha snapped at Jill once, busy pacing herself in the limited confines of even the relatively spacious bedroom. "Boil some water, get Derrick a drink. What the hell is that noise?" Though she hadn't started in with the screaming or cursing, the pain was definitely making her increasingly irritable. She walked to the window and looked out, craning her neck to see up, even as she swiveled her hips and took long, rounded breaths. "It's the bees... and the new bees. What are they all doing out there? Is that singing?" Another contraction started, and she dropped her head with a moan. "Moooommm..."

Anne stepped forward quickly. "You're doing very well, sweetheart," she encouraged her daughter. "Why don't you get into bed for just a minute while I check you. I think you may be just about ready for some pushing. Jill, would you mind coming over here and helping to hold her feet?"

"Thank god," Stesha muttered, clenching her hands on the window and panting through the contraction, then heading for the bed. "I hope everything's okay out there." Right now she certainly wasn't going to be doing anything about it!

[Fox]

"We must join them, my brother!" With his wings spread, he took to the air, looking much the better despite his recent injury. "Only if we can focus their energy into healthy competition," he called, "can we prevent this new community from breaking into war!" And with that he was off, flying into the center of the bees mass to join both flights of magnificent bee in song!

Gaian Knight unwittingly imitated Jill O'Cure's expression, running a hand down his face as he watched the other two men take off into the air. You have got to be kidding. They'd better not start a war, if they ever want any work done on their hives.... He sighed, pulling his face cloth back up (but leaving his hood down - they had some nice weather going!) and directing his platform after the swarm. "I'll help," he shouted, crouching down to hold the lip of his stone as he shot upwards, "but I'm not singing!"

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel closed his eyes in frustration. So close, yet so far! But he couldn't give up yet, oh no! He stopped his acrobatics and zoomed to a position roughly in the middle of the cloud of bees. He took a stern stance, arms crossed over his chest, a slight frown on his face. Then he spoke, with power and authority, his voice catching the ear of all the bees, Freedom Angel, and Gaian Knight, but not bothering those in the house at all. No matter the volume of the bee-song, he would be heard.

" Bees of Sanctuary, residents new and old! Please! While your spirited competition, and desire to joyfully usher in this new life is appreciated, what we need right now is some harmony. We shall sing one song, each of us doing our part, and the result shall be more beautiful than what we could accomplish on our own! Now! All of you larger bees, I'm giving you the bass part here; nothing to be ashamed of, just the way your voices are. Here, listen for the pitch."

With that, Gabriel tonelessly sings a few notes in a strong bass voice, the lower-than-normal pitch straining his voicebox a bit, but still not outside his talents.

"Excellent! And you lot, the ones that are a touch smaller, your voices pitch higher and faster. I'll give you the tenor section. Listen closely now!"

He does the same for the robo-bees, his voice rising to meet the challenge, though he seems relieved when he stops.

"I'll be doing baritone; Freedom Angel and Gaian Knight can join in where they'd like. Now, everyone, keep your pitch and warm up with me."

He runs through a quick "do re mi" set, eventually as satisfied as he's going to get. He nods, then gestures for them to fly about once more. His voice is still audible to everyone it was before, even as the storm of wings continues.

"One, one, one, two, three go!"

Suddenly, his rich singing voice can be heard by those in the house with ease. In the worst case, he'll increase the volume a touch so it masks the bee-singing a bit; hopefully his 5-minute vocal lesson helps smooth things over.

"Go forth to life, O child of earth!

Still mindful of thy heav’nly birth;

Thou art not here for ease, or sin,

But manhood’s noble crown to win."

[Avenger Assembled]

With Gabriel's help, Gaian Knight's cheering (if not actual singing), and Freedom Angel's enthusiastic choir directing, soon the bees were singing together in a spectacular chorus: Heyzel and Gabriel couldn't actually get the bees to stop competing, but they could at least get them to compete about the same song! Soon they were singing together in rising harmonies and falling notes, duets of sheer musical power that would have blown the minds of lesser men to look upon. I hope all this is doing something for the people below, thought the angel as he encouraged the bees to sing, encouraging the swarms to go higher and higher as they went so the noise would be less distracting for Stesha and the others who were so busy there. He'd worried that Gabriel would run out of hymns, but luckily he seemed to be able to keep up with both sets of bees. "You are my sunshiiine, my only sunshiiine..."

[Cyroa]

Derrick, as Dark Star, had seen and experienced quite a few things over the last few decades. None of them had prepared himself for today though. He was doing his best to help but... He was honestly happy to not be noticed at the moment. His wife was rather...touchy at the moment and there wasn't much he could do to help really. He tried not to flinch when Stesha snapped at Jill. He was not foolish enough to say anything however. He just accepted the water, took a sip and nodding in thanks. He kept his words to simple encouragements. He was half-temped to go find out what the noise and bees were about but she wanted him here so he wasn't going anywhere unless she told him too. "I am certain that everything is fine dear. Not long now," he said reassuringly, fervently hoping it was true.

[Avenger Assembled]

Up in the air, Freedom Angel was glad to be making himself useful, doing his best to help Gabriel harmonize the bees and make sure everything they were singing was suitable for the consumption of a new mother and her family. Where had these bees learned these terrible ditties with all the swears? Luckily, Gabriel was very persuasive and knew a great many songs, and between the two of them the uneven song battle began evening out as the two great swarms began moving towards harmony (if a competitive harmony) rather than outright competition between the two of them. With faith and hard work, they'd be able to give the Lumins family something to appreciate when they were done with their most difficult task!

[Gizmo]

Jill hesitated for a moment, a little wary of getting into convenient kicking range of the naturally irritable woman, and considered just making a set of stirrups with her force fields. While there probably would have been some legitimate advantages to that, Stesha and her mother seemed to be making a point of doing things the old fashioned way and she didn't want to offend. 'Old fashioned' isn't really the right word, though, what with the bouncy ball and everything... Ack, concentrate, do not spaz out right now. Making her decision quickly, she stepped forward and did as she was instructed. If nothing else, this was certainly the first time she's actively helped with a delivery, and she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to learn.

[Electra]

Stesha was propped up on pillows to a nearly sitting position as Anne showed Jill how to properly hold, brace, and provide counterpressure throughout the contractions. Derrick was nearby, offering a hand to hold and distinctly nervous moral support. Now Stesha wasn't snappish anymore, she wasn't in the mood to communicate at all. Far away, she could hear a strange and melodious chorus, so odd and otherworldly that she wondered if she was imagining it. Gripping Derrick's hand tightly, she bore down and pushed through an endless time that could've been minutes or hours.

"Here she comes," Anne finally said, her voice encouraging even as she shed a few tears of emotion over the advent of another grandchild. "Oh, look at that hair, she takes after you..." All at once, with one great final effort, a tiny, green-haired, squalling infant was delivered into the sure hands of her waiting grandma. "And a baby girl, just like you thought. Good lungs, too." Triumphantly, Anne placed the newborn onto Stesha's chest and covered them both with a clean towel.

"Ohhh..." Stesha breathed, looking into the baby's alien-shaped but still very beautiful face. "Hello, beautiful. Do you hear the music? Everyone is singing to you." She looked over at Derrick, beaming. "Check it out, we did nice work." The baby watched both of them from wide blue eyes, as though trying to figure out who they were and why they seemed so familiar.

[Cyroa]

Time seems to stretch out. Stesha's surprising strong crushing grip holding his hand tightly went almost entirely unnoticed as he marveled at the miracle before him. "Just a bit more love, just a bit more. Push," he repeated over and over gently, supporting her as he could. His eyes were wide, amazed, as their baby came into this world. "She's so beautiful," he says softly to Stesha as they were presented with their daughter. "No love, you do amazing work," he countered happily. "She is amazing," he said, letting his voice, heavy with emotion, trail off.

[Fox]

At some point Gaian Knight was happy to just hang out on his rock, floating up in the air, and watch the world go around. The bees were singing and flying, the wind was blowing, the ground far below was performing its slow but inevitable movement. The earth-mover just sat, cross-legged, and soaked in the peace of it all. Soon enough there would be evil men to catch, misguided people to put right, terrible accidents to solve...but for now everything seemed to just be working together in harmony, celebrating crises averted and lives just starting.

And it was good.

[Gizmo]

Taking a few steps back and letting out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Jill crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the bedroom's wall of a moment, just watching the family. A few emotions flickered across the young woman's masked face before she quietly slipped out the door, shutting it softly behind her before sprinting out the cottage's front door. As she leapt into the air, a pillar of shimmering blue construct bridged the space between the ground and her feet, propelling her upward toward the flying singers. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted through a grin, "Hey you dopes! It's a girl!"

[KnightDisciple]

Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted through a grin, "Hey you dopes! It's a girl!"

Gabriel had been hovering a bit lower than the mighty chorus of bees, giving his voice a bit of a rest after coordinating what started as a nearly infernal racket. He turned to face Jill, confusion showing on his face for a brief moment before comprehension, and then joy dawned on his features.

'Man, I got lost in the song there for a minute.'

He couldn't help himself with what came next; it felt as natural as breathing to him at that moment. He took a deep breath, and when he next spoke, his voice echoed out. Not to the edge of the forest, or the former boundaries of the state, or even the continent; no, Gabriel's words rang out to the uttermost parts of the earth. They sang in everyone's ears like a gentle wind, like bells softly ringing, rather than thunder roaring.

"Lift your voices with joy, all people and creatures! Welcome this new life to the world! Witness the blessings of the Lord! Witness the birth of a child of Star and Forest!"

The echo of his words faded, just in time for him to rocket up into the sky, higher and higher and faster and faster, until he was at the very edge of his flight ability. He hung there, where the air was almost dangerously thin, before suddenly rocketing back down. Within seconds, he flew right over the plant-house, his passage like a distant rumble of gentle thunder. He looped around and landed near the door of the cottage, a huge smile on his face as he caught his breath.