ic World Tour: Way to Go, Wendigo! (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl felt guilty for hitting this monster. Irrelevantly, he thought of all those 'mutants' back home who he and Leroj had been working to save. Was she just like them, an innocent victim corrupted by a flawed source code from an even higher Designer? Or was something else at work? This place was so damn weird, and the only one who seemed to know what was going on had just been abruptly eaten by the universe itself. "Come on, you want a fight? I'll give you a fight! We're going to get that girl out of you and stop you before you can hurt anyone else!" He threw a punch, his magnetically-wrapped fist hitting hard as stone as he landed a solid blow to the wendigo's face.

[Gizmo]

Wraith's bludgeoning blow hit the distracted beast hard, the wendigo grunting in pain as one of her smaller arms clutched its side. A snarl from her lupine jaws was cut short by the blue and orange bands of light cut off her shambling advance toward the alien teenager, and when she turned aside to move in a different direction, she was met by Citizen's all-too solid fist crashing into her face. Stumbling back and pawing at the point of impact, the harried predator let out a confused whimper tinged with anger and the frustration of a withering hunger.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin narrowed his eyes as he evaluated the creature. He moved in, determined by not wrathful; this girl-turned-creature needed to be stopped, but she also needed to be helped. As the staff in his hands whirled about, Corbin called out to the young girl inside the beast. Unfortunately, his first words were, for some reason, in Hebrew.

"הפסק להי×בק!"

Suddenly, he unleashed a series of quick blows against the creature's form, leaving himself somewhat open to attack, but obviously caring little for this fact.

"Come on, Becky! Don't make us keep fighting you!"

[Gizmo]

The wendigo took a beating from Cobalt Templar's assault, but managed to get two of her arms up to mitigate some of the damage, evidently beginning to realize the super powered teenagers were not easy prey.

The varied displays of amazing powers on the part of her new acquaintances seemed to encourage the ethereal young woman floating behind the hairy white beast to get down to brass tacks herself. Rolling of the sleeves of her jacket - presumably an affectation, since the garment couldn't be any more solid than she was - the ghost flew forward and plunged both arms into the creature's back up to the elbow. "You need to stop!"

Standing suddenly still as if shocked, the monster stumbled slightly as the leg she was stepping with almost buckled. Frost formed across the fur where the apparition had attacked and the wendigo's quartet of arms sagged just noticeably.

[Fox]

"We do not wish to hurt you," Wraith insisted, but her actions put her words in a bit of an uncertain light. As the others' assault and Eve's shielding energy gave her some room her arms extended, lengthening and thinning to form two long tendrils, each tipped with a more refined club, a large mass covered in small, force-focusing knobs.

She wasted no time in using them, too, raining both down in graceful arcs onto the wendigo as soon as she had a clear moment. Her large dark eyes...well, they might as well have been almond-shaped black holes so was impossible to tell exactly where she was looking at any given moment, but the distinct impression was that she was tracking the whole fight at once...and rather enjoying herself, if not her opponent or circumstances.

[April]

This isn't working.

This realization poured over Eve like ice water; it wasn't that the Wendigo wasn't being overwhelmed by the assault; on the contrary the creature was showing signs that it wouldn't weather these attacks for much longer. But to Eve's eyes--to her memory--the creature was Becky, even if this transformed state made her more animal than human the young Martel very well could not forget last night's intimacy.

Refusing to attack the Wendigo for fear that it might hurt Becky was pointless, the other teens where hurting it--her--even if they were doing their best to pull their shots. It was dragging things out, it could only enrage the monster, and it was so very selfish.

Eve dropped to the ground, her ethereal wings abruptly fading and she charged at the Wendigo which turned and faced her. The telepath ducked under one of the larger clawed arms, grabbed onto one of the smaller arms and using it like a parallel bar (a muscled, moving, claw tipped parallel bar) launched herself at the monster's face. The telepath was speaking in a low, gentle voice to the Wendigo, and her first touch was a gentle caress of the creature's muzzle, and the Wendigo sank to its knees, suddenly looking very tired. And when Eve kissed its forehead, the Wendigo went to sleep.

[Gizmo]

Eve's first touch drew a quieter, confused huff from the great beast's jowls, and with the second, her eyes flickered closed and the wendigo dropped to its knees. Perched atop, Sage was slowly lowered to the forest floor as the monster shrank back down, the additional pair of arms retreating and the white fur fading away until the French telepath was left cradling the sleeping form of the slender brunette, a sound suspiciously like purring reverberating deep in Becky's chest as she unconsciously pulled closer.

Blinking is surprise for a few beats, the cabin's azure apparition glanced over to the pile of clothes and hiking gear ruined by the local guide's transformation and clapped her hands with inspiration and flew back through the wall of the wooden domicile. Moments later she reappeared, using the door this time, while a sizable quilt floated behind her. Brow furrowed in concentration as she maneuvered the heavy blanket, the ghost let it drape over Becky's shoulders. "Well, that's better! Oh, I never said!" she realized, reflexively doing a small loop, end over end in the air. "I'm Kimber." The phantom waved one hand cheerily, greeting the gathered teenagers.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Thank goodness," said Sharl with some relief. "That was great work, everybody. And it's nice to meet you," he added to Kimber, his earlier suspicions of her displaced by the very real monster they'd just fought and the very real girl they'd saved. "I'm Citizen," he said, giving a little wave to the ghostly girl as he automatically gave his super-name while in costume. Miss Americana had trained him very well. "We're here to take you to school in the United States." As he talked, he took out his 'cell' and began trying to connect to the satellite network again. "I'm going to try and call True North again to get superheroes out here who can help Becky when we're gone. Unless you have a faster way of calling Daniel Storm?" he asked her curiously.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin relaxed a bit as the creature was subdued by Eve's ministrations. Once it had turned back into Becky, who promptly went unconscious, he tossed his weapon to the side, where it promptly disappeared in a flash of flame. He walked over and knelt next to Eve, laying one large hand on her shoulder, even as his cape and headgear faded. He didn't speak, but his thoughts were clear to her.

-I'm sorry. Hopefully True North can help her. I...yeah. Let me know what you need.-

Awkwardly, he stood, walking over to the others. He first turned to Indira, giving her a nod and an encouraging smile.

"Good work, Indira. You did well."

He then gave Kimber his attention, offering her his hand to shake.

"Hello Kimber. I'm Corbin, but I go by Cobalt Templar when I'm working as a hero. It's nice to meet you. Sorry for barging in earlier, I was...agitated. And Sharl's right. Our school's Headmaster asked us to com here and bring you to our school. That is, assuming you're aware of this, and wish to come."

After those pleasantries were exchanged, he turned to Sharl, a frown on his face. His earlier irritation had faded, but it was clear he still wasn't happy with the electronic youth.

"Sharl, you and I are going to have a talk once we're back at the hotel."

It was clear he wasn't making a request.

[Fox]

Wraith gave Becky the same interested, almost rapt attention that she'd given the young woman when she'd first transformed, three large black eyes taking in every detail of a change so very similar and yet so very unlike her own. A small shiver ran down her body, some sort of reflex, the hint of a wendigo's features pulling at her own smooth and polished metal before her gaze went elsewhere to catch up with people talking.

"The blanket was a good idea - I imagine she will be cold without her clothing. I am Wraith," she offered the ghost, arms shortening and forming back into hands, if four-fingered ones. "Or I am Indira - if we are to attend school together, perhaps Indira would be better?"

She paused, three eyes blinking as something occurred to her. "Wraith," she repeated, looking - and sounding - rather amused. "That is - I think the word is irony? No - 'ironic'. That is very ironic; it seems almost as if it might fit you better than it fits me."

[Gizmo]

Kimber shied away from Corbin until his fiery weaponry and armor elements had disappeared, but offered the broad-shouldered youth a cheery smile that wrinkled her freckled nose as he extended his hand. Moving forward through the air, she stretched out her own fingers, only to have them pass harmlessly back and forth through the proffered digits. "Hee, sorry, not much of a handshaker, these days," she admitted, bobbing up and down a bit with amusement before turning her attention to the others.

"Oh, Dan doesn't carry a cellular phone," the apparition explained in response to Sharl's inquiry, floating quickly over to the holographic youth to get a better look at the device in his hand while demonstrating a certain obliviousness to the concept of personal space. "I don't know why, though! Look how tiny that is! So adorable!" The local spirit placed both hands on her cheeks as if overcome before soaring over to Eve and the sleeping Becky so quickly she ended up nearly parallel to the leaf strewn ground. "You guys are so awesome, seriously! Shining knight and saving the day with a kiss - total fairy tale stuff, right?!" She punctuated the observation with a dreamy sigh.

The immaterial girl was chattering too quickly for anyone to actually respond to her question, and didn't show any signs of slowing down as she dipped down through the air until her toes were mere inches above the forest floor and she could greet Indira at triple-eye level. "Are you like a Terminator? I think I saw that movie before I died. Ha, well, I guess I must have, right, or I wouldn't even know about it!" Kimber laughed lightly, giving little thought to the casual mention of her own untimely demise. "However you do that, it's rad, so you can call yourself whatever you want! And the quilt was just-- oh jams, cold, right!"

Floating up a few feet, the phantom balled her hands into fists and visibly concentrated. Within moments, the preternatural chill of the clearing was replaced with the same summer heat as the rest of the woods. "Sorry about that," she mumbled sheepishly, her bubbly cheer finally somewhat subdued.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl nodded along as Kimber explained that Daniel Storm was some sort of madman. No connection to the planet's electronic network? He is a savage.

"Daniel Storm doesn't have a cell phone, no," agreed Citizen in response to Kimber's remark as he continued trying to reach outside the area. He'd noted how his radio link functioned better when the ghostly girl's freezing aura was turned down, and was glad she'd done it herself without him having to tell her. "But Bombardier has a computer built into his suit I can contact. And Verglas is fast enough to find anyone in Canada in a few hours." His new allies hadn't responded the way Tronik teenagers would to one of their number transforming into a slavering monster, which was certainly for the best. "We owe Becky better than the, uh, rural constabulary, and I doubt anyone in a place like this would have the resources to help her. We need to get her into the hands of people who can actually help her, and that means the local superheroic population." He hmmed at Corbin's words, but for the moment was too busy trying to get a satellite linkup that he didn't reply. Geez, what'd _I_ do?

[Gizmo]

Having already had time to poke around the less secure areas of True North's databases, Sharl didn't have much trouble connecting to Bombardier's onboard computer. Convincing the irate Québécois that the report of a young woman transforming into a giant, furry monster wasn't an elaborate prank call took a little more doing, but eventually the green and white clad speedster Verglas arrived in the clearing trailing a long ice slick that faded into the distance of the woods and with the heavily beared, leather jacket wearing Daniel Storm in tow.

The latter conferred intently with Kimber for a few minutes while the former, a friendly woman only in her late twenties herself, fretted over the still sleeping Becky and complimented the other teenagers on their quick thinking. Making his way brusquely over in a manner that suited his name, Storm explained in terse terms that the local girl had been possessed by a wendigo spirit, drawn by the nearby convergence of magnetic ley lines that had been in part responsible for the creation of a specter of Kimber's unusual properties. The bad news was that there wasn't any permanent way to remove the spirit from its host, but the good news was that the unconventional mystic knew of techniques that would allow Becky greater control of the transformation over time.

[Fox]

It was a solution that Wraith clearly approved of; she looked on and nodded with approval at the idea of somebody gaining control over their shapeshifting ability (and, in some small part, at Verglas; she may not have been truly Indian, but she'd been in the country long enough to have some small measure of national pride). There were apparently not many with the ability to change shape on this planet, and she knew first hand from having to hide here how restrictive being stuck in one form could be. The circumstances surely could have been better, and she wasn't entirely sure what having a wendigo spirit in you meant, but being able to change into even just one other body must have been better than nothing.

"It is...perhaps not my place to ask," she quietly asked Kimber when she felt she safely could, "but....what is it like, to be dead? My people have old stories - you would say 'ghost stories'? - but a true, real ghost is not something I have ever heard of happening. Not outside of fiction, at least."

[KnightDisciple]

Once True North was present and dealing with the situation, Corbin walked over to Sharl and gestured to a corner of the clearing.

"Time for our talk."

He then all but marched over to the indicated spot and waited for Sharl. Once the electronic you was there, Corbin sighed and started talking.

"Look. I get that, before you joined our team, you were probably used to operating independently. I mean, I guess you worked with Miss Americana, but I'd wager you were probably pointed in a direction and told to fix a problem.

That's not how Young Freedom works. We're a team. And team members don't go charging off with no warning or discussion. And they especially don't just suddenly reveal that we're something besides a group of normal teenagers! I don't know about the others, but I have a secret identity for a reason, Sharl! What if you'd gotten caught in some sort of trap, and we'd had to spend time bailing you out? You don't go blindly charging in! It doesn't end well! It hasn't yet produced a positive result in my experience!"

He was clearly agitated.

"Seriously, I appreciate the contributions you're making, but you need to step back and consider this isn't a one-man show any more."

[Avenger Assembled]

Frankly, Sharl appreciated the diversion: this was much better than biting his tongue as people explained the logical groundwork behind their primitive superstitions. Kimber and Daniel had been nothing but polite and professional, respectfully, and avoiding the temptation to get into an argument with them was all for the best. "Hey, I didn't reveal anybody's secret identity but my own," he shot back, offended at the implication. "Eventually she was going to notice something. Maybe when Kimber floated through the wall to say hello, or when I glitched out when we got near her?" He folded his arms and added, "We shouldn't have brought Becky in the first place. I could easily have found that house with more time on my GPS, I could have communicated my findings to you before we got there, and we wouldn't have been putting a civilian in danger from...this!" he made a gesture at the alien woods all around them.

[Gizmo]

Kimber blinked a few times as Indira addressed her, blobbing up and down slowly in the air, her feet about six inches off of the ground. "Oh, well, it's mostly like being alive, really," she responded, her mouth twisting slightly as she considered the question seriously. "Only, y'know, with more flying and I can't touch anything or remember much and I spent like fifteen years totally bonkers and trying to scare the marmalade out of anybody who got close and... um." The translucent teen paused as her mind caught back up with her rambling. "I guess it's kind of a big question."

[KnightDisciple]

Frankly, Sharl appreciated the diversion: this was much better than biting his tongue as people explained the logical groundwork behind their primitive superstitions. Kimber and Daniel had been nothing but polite and professional, respectfully, and avoiding the temptation to get into an argument with them was all for the best. "Hey, I didn't reveal anybody's secret identity but my own," he shot back, offended at the implication. "Eventually she was going to notice something. Maybe when Kimber floated through the wall to say hello, or when I glitched out when we got near her?" He folded his arms and added, "We shouldn't have brought Becky in the first place. I could easily have found that house with more time on my GPS, I could have communicated my findings to you before we got there, and we wouldn't have been putting a civilian in danger from...this!" he made a gesture at the alien woods all around them.

Corbin started ticking numbers off with his fingers as he spoke.

"One: You revealed the rest of us as something other than ordinary people, just by association with you.

Two, we did not know the nature of Kimber's powers, so pointing toward her floating through walls, or you being glitched out by being near her. So that's a pointless trail to follow.

Three, she has more knowledge about this locality than any of us. And I don't care about your online research; it doesn't tell us what someone who lives here can. Besides, it would have been just as suspicious if we'd told her no! Plus, I...."

Here, he falters and looks over to Eve, still cradling the unconscious Becky.

"Eve wanted her to come. I couldn't reasonably say "no", since we didn't expect such an unusual situation."

He shook his head and resumed counting.

"Four, you are not the only person on this team. Stop acting like you are. Besides, we all came because this was just as much about introducing Kimber to us as it was anything else.

Five, there is no way we could have known about the Wendigo spirit. Frankly, we're lucky it didn't try to possess one of us. Beyond that, there's no danger out here. It's just a forest! What are you so worried about?"

He sighs and runs his counting hand through his hair.

"Look, the whole point of this is less about the identity reveal, though that's not something you can casually do, as it is about you charging off on your own. You can't do that, not without at least talking to the rest of us. Eve can't use her mental communication to reach you. Which means that if you run off, we may well be cut off from speaking with you. You have to keep this in mind! Clearly Miss Americana didn't teach you stuff like this, which is kind of puzzling."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You don't care about what I found online?" Citizen stared at Cobalt Templar. "Listen, do you-" He shot a look around at the nearby adult heroes, decided not to mention hacking into True North's database (unhelpful though that had been) and whispered, "Don't you think it might have been the least bit relevant to know about Kimber and Daniel Storm's relationship? That maybe we could have taken measures to protect ourselves from 'magic' before we got out here? And as for what I'm 'afraid' of, I don't think it's that strange to be concerned about being in the middle of a forest that's already mutated someone into a monster!" Agitated, Sharl took off his shades and pinched the bridge of his nose, blocking his face with his hand for a moment before he put his glasses back on. "All right. All right, I'll admit I could have been more patient before I showed off our true colors. I don't think it did that much damage, but that wasn't my call to make for everyone else," he conceded. "And I shouldn't have just flown into the house. I had no way of knowing what was in there. Okay?"

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin's outfit had faded completely to his civilian clothes as they spoke; it was seemingly a byproduct of his focus on the conversation. As Sharl reacted to Corbin's remarks, the larger boy closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.

"I misspoke. I would have been more accurate to say that online research cannot be the only thing we rely on. There are times when it just doesn't have the same input that real-world experience can deliver."

He frowned at the mention of Daniel's relationship to Kimber.

"That may or may not have given us enough warning. It's not like we've got any of the school's mages with us. The closest thing we've got is my ring, and it can't throw out blanket protection like that.

As for the mutation, that's not something on record that I'm aware of, and it certainly doesn't happen in every forest every day. Not even close! That's why things like that tend to be "urban legends" rather than regularly reported incidents. But either way, we could just as easily have been in the middle of a desert, or the ocean, or any number of other places. This place being a forest is incidental to what happened, not integral."

He sighed as Sharl admitted his fault in the incidents.

"Look. I'm mad as much because you could have gotten hurt as for any other reason, Sharl. Even and I are responsible for the rest of you. All of you are our team. Summers holds us to a higher standard because of that. It's been a...rough summer. Let's just say I'm a bit on edge when it comes to teammates charging blindly into danger."

He gave a dry chuckle.

"Then again, I dunno. Maybe this team will end up beating something just as nasty as the last incarnation did."

[Avenger Assembled]

This is so much easier when I'm the only hero! thought Sharl a little peevishly. Guiltily, though, he remembered the hard cold fact that if there were no superheroes, he'd have gone mad and died on the Internet. Or, worse, he'd have never been born as his world stayed an immobile collection of data in the Curator's archive. "What Miss Americana taught me was that when you're the leader, you listen to everyone involved in a project." He followed Corbin's glance and admitted, "But you know, it's stupid for me to fight with you about who's responsible for what when Eve needs our help. Listen, uh, you know her better than me...if there's anything else I can do, let me know."

[KnightDisciple]

"So long as you talk to me, I'll listen."

He followed Sharl's glance, a sad expression on his face.

"Eve's a very personal, private person. I'm not really sure what we can do. Best thing right now is to just be available. Beyond that...I don't rightly know. Perhaps it would be good if you secured a couple of different methods to communicate with someone about Becky's status. I'm sure Eve would be worried about that, and having that communication will ease her mind."

With a half-smile, he clapped Sharl once on the shoulder.

"Welcome to Young Freedom, Sharl. Where we take the bad with the good, and come out better for it."

With that, he walked back over to Eve, kneeling next to her and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was silent, both verbally and mentally. At most, Eve would pick up wordless assurance that he was her friend, he cared, and he was here for her.

[Fox]

Wraith made an odd humming noise, her trio of eyes blinking in unison as she thought that one over. "I am not sure if that is comforting or not," she admitted, though her tone was friendly and amused. "It is, however, very...good to know. Ghosts may not be common, here - and I believe you are less common than most? - but they are more common than I have seen elsewhere, and it has made me...curious. As I said earlier, my people have stories, and religions, but...."

She shifted her weight a bit - literally, her body swaying lightly as her mass briefly redistributed. "For what it is worth, I am glad you are no longer...'totally bonkers'." The alien's eyes turned up and narrowed in what was probably an approximation of a smile, given the lack of mouth. She sounded like she was smiling, anyway.... "Fighting you and the wendigo both would have been a great challenge, I think."

[April]

When True North first arrived the telepath had been reluctant to allow them close to Becky but eventually she relented, stopped baring her teeth at them and banished the telekinetic wing construct which were wrapped around both girls in a protective shell. She sat quietly, holding onto the sleeping girl when the adult hero, Daniel Storm, gave an explanation for what happened here.

Eve insisted, lapsing into her native tongue after Daniel finished his explanation.

With that, he walked back over to Eve, kneeling next to her and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was silent, both verbally and mentally. At most, Eve would pick up wordless assurance that he was her friend, he cared, and he was here for her.

"It's my fault," Eve said quietly glancing over at Corbin's hand on her shoulder. "A Martel stand between, Corbin, and I failed to do so."

[Avenger Assembled]

Still in-costume, Citizen flew away from the group to establish a satellite linkup without the interference of the other heroes and their powers. A quick email exchange with Miss Americana got him connected with several magical specialists in Freedom City, though of course they didn't have the time to answer him back. He supposed magic types didn't answer their emails that much. This place, thought Sharl, looking down at the alien woods below that had almost claimed the life of a pretty young woman. Somehow the bland anonymity of Tronik's streets and the comforting embrace of urbanity didn't seem so awful. He still didn't believe in alien magic anymore than he believed in alien gods, but the dimensional weakpoint or whatever lay beneath this place was decidedly disturbing to contemplate. Perhaps it's because there are so few people here, there's more space for things to crawl into from elsewhere. He didn't know what to make of Kimber, but the more he thought about it, the more she made sense. If I was from a place like this, I'd have to be cheerful too just to stay sane looking at these trees day after day. She's a strong girl.