ic Can I Borrow A Cup of Adventure? (IC)

[Electra]

"Sports medicine," Erin-Prime told Mark, her eyes warm as she leaned in slightly towards him. Their knees nearly touched as they sat amidst the many items Mark had conjured around them. "I want to be a physical therapist and work in rehabilitation someday. I like helping people." She looked around at her suddenly-full room. "It's really amazing that you can do all of this," she told him. "I always thought superheroes spent most of their time beating people up. Do you get to visit many exotic places?" she asked curiously.

Downstairs, the talk had turned slightly away from Trevor and into a discussion of the latest troubles in Freedom City. Trevor and Erin could both talk about that, since they'd participated in stopping most of it, but Erin Keeley was having a hard time concentrating on the conversation. Her distraction was such that she poured maple syrup on her eggs without noticing until she took the first bite, but although Clarissa gave her an odd look, no one said anything. They were used to Erin being a little off most of the time.

[Gizmo]

Giving his Erin a faint, sympathetic look as she chewed her unintentionally syrupy eggs, Trevor turned to cast another look toward the stairs, wondering why sitting calmly in the kitchen was bothering him quite so much. It certainly wasn't just concerns over what Mark might be getting up to; though potentially embarrassing, he knew the probability controller would never stoop to anything truly untoward. The corners of his mouth tilted ever so slightly down as his onyx and ruby eyes narrowed, still hidden behind his sunglasses. His restrained body language became absolutely still as he realized he was staring absently at the came cupboard from under which he'd fished a handgun with one bullet missing on Earth-EZO1. The young man found he could not look away for a long moment, long enough that he realized he'd missed the White's latest inquiry. "Ah, sorry...?" he apologized, pulling his attention back to the present while remaining noticeably stiff.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Most of the places I work aren't very exotic," admitted Mark, "and it doesn't seem fair for me to sight-see when I'm there helping people." He grinned, the serious moment gone quickly. "But I have an apartment in Switzerland near the lakes, and I can go almost anywhere in the world I want with my powers. I've been to Paris, Socotra, Munich, Tokyo, Atlantis..." He ticked the exotic destinations off on his fingers. "My powers work by warping reality, so I can just go places without any muss for fuss." He hmmed. "Hey, do you think your folks would mind if I took you somewhere? We can be there and back in five minutes."

[Electra]

"It's my birthday," Erin-Prime reminded Mark with a grin. "I should get to do something fun, and they won't mind if I'm gone for a few minutes." She frowned for just a moment. "They're pretty busy with the other Erin right now anyway, so they probably won't even notice I'm not here. Can you really just take us to Paris right this second?" she asked, smile returning as quickly as it had disappeared.

"Do you see a lot of people moving out of Freedom City due to the supervillains and disasters?" Roger asked Trevor again, not seeming to notice the lapse. With Trevor's eyes shaded by sunglasses, it was hard to tell when he wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Roger was such an inoffensive, harmless-looking man, a nearly stereotypical example of the middle-aged tech worker with a nice home and a nice family. He liked tinkering as a hobby, and had spent several minutes talking about the remodeling they were doing on the upstairs bathroom. It was hard to imagine a man like him standing at the sink a few feet away and putting a gun to his temple.

"Not too much," Erin said, eating her yucky eggs without complaint. "Insurance premiums are pretty high, but some people really like all the action."

[Gizmo]

"There are... checks and balances in place," Trevor elaborated, absently touching a pair of fingers from one hand lightly to the side of his sunglasses to ensure that they were properly in place as he felt the need to shield his expression despite the carefully controlled arrangement of his features. It was less the eerie effect of seeing a man sitting across from him whom his nagging instincts insisted was dead than it was the brief insight into what Erin's day to day life was like simply seeing a living world around her. Returning to this facsimile of her home must have been soul rending for all the pain had been numbed by exposure. "Freedomites learn to protect the things that are important to them," he continued, low voice tightening slightly. "Fiercely, when necessary."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I could have you strolling down the Champs-Élysées in seconds," said Mark with a grin. "Here, get your shoes on." He'd learned, especially after that morning, that people preferred teleporting while fully-dressed. When she agreed, Mark took the time to write a short note for the others: "TOOK ERIN TO PARIS. BE BACK SOON." What the heck, what better way was there to make sure neither of them were in the way that morning. "All right, let's go!" he added, setting the note down and taking her hand.

When she did, they both disappeared! Seconds later, in a little swirl of black dots, they formed again on a footpath of the Champs-Élysées outside a lovely, picturesque French cafe Mark had discovered on a previous visit to the City of Light. "Welcome to Paris!"

[Electra]

After taking a moment to brush her hair and don her shoes and a stylish black peacoat, Erin Prime was more than willing to take Mark's hand for the whirlwind ride. Despite knowing what he'd planned, her mouth still fell open as they arrived in the crowded streets of Paris as sunset painted the sky overhead. People nearby gave them odd looks, but it was impossible to be sure that the young couple had just appeared out of nowhere. "It's just like I imagined," Erin breathed, taking Mark's arm. "It's hard to believe it's even real!" She craned her head around, trying to take in everything at once.

Far away, back at breakfast, Clarissa nodded at Trevor's insistence. "Yes, I can see how loyalty would be very important there," she agreed. "It's almost like you see with New Yorkers, that strong identification with one city. Roger and I have wanted to come out and visit for years," she admitted, "but things never seem to work out, right down to Erin and Erin Keeley graduating the very same weekend." Her smile was rueful and a bit regretful. "That's the nice thing about being young, you can just travel at the drop of a hat."

[Avenger Assembled]

He wrapped his arm around hers, enjoying the chance to show Paris off to a pretty girl. "Hey, it's sunset," he said with a little smile. "I didn't think about that. Lucky timing." He walked with her down the street towards the cafe, window-shopping at the glamorous French stores they passed. It was just the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in Paris, there were some decorations out but not many, and the crowd was big enough to be warming without actually overwhelming.

It really was a lovely evening, and they stopped to watch a mime perform and listen to a flutist before they found their seats. "I know you just had breakfast, but you've got to try the coffee and croissants here, just so you can say you've had Parisian cafe food." He guided her to a table and ordered for two, then hmmed, "Hey, I should call Erin and Trevor, see if they want to come over here after they're done. I took them some place without warning earlier," he said apologetically as he took out his phone. "But they don't have theirs...hey, what's your home number?" he asked Erin.

[Electra]

"You shouldn't bother them," Erin Prime pointed out, "they're probably still talking with my parents." The emphasis on "my" was subtle, perhaps too subtle for Mark to notice at all. "Why would they want to go all the way to Seattle just to leave after half an hour? Besides, it's more fun with just the two of us." She wrapped her hands around her cup of coffee and smiled at him over the rim. "Tell me more about what it was like being on Young Freedom."

[Avenger Assembled]

Those words were music to Mark's ears and he put the phone down, giving Erin-Prime an animated (if somewhat edited) account of Young Freedom's adventures. He certainly couldn't tell her anything that would disclose anyone's secret identity, or talk about some of the protected stuff like that fight with Omega over Graduation Day. But he could discuss fights in baseball stadiums and battles against Nazi overlords, as well as trips to jungle utopias and voyages to other dimensions. Mark was a really good storyteller, especially about something he cared about so passionately, and there were few things he cared about more than the memories he had of Young Freedom. "Young Freedom was the finest team of our generation in the world," said Mark, and only politeness kept him from saying he thought they were better than the Freedom League. "It's up to Sage, Cobalt Templar, and the kids to carry on our legacy now."

[Gizmo]

Biting back of a reflexively petty comment about New York City, Trevor instead made a soft murmur of muted agreement as he took another sip of coffee. "Have managed to visit numerous locales," he confirmed, letting the implication that their youth divested them of responsibility. Such were the burdens of a secret identity. "France, recently. Dakana, as part of a study-abroad trip. Excellent coffee." He noted with some relief that there hadn't been any sounds of explosions, spontaneously occurring horses or alien incursions from upstairs, which suggested Mark was exercising restraint but that reassurance quickly turned to worry as he considered what might be keeping the reality warper's attention otherwise occupied. "Ah, washroom?" he asked their hosts.

[Electra]

"Right out in the hallway, opposite the stairs," Clarissa told Trevor, gesturing to the door where they'd come in. "How do you like your new apartment?" she asked Erin Keeley. "Have you had any trouble with it yet?" Erin and her facsimile parents began discussing the ins and outs of her new apartment, leaving Trevor free to slip out of the room and let the door fall closed behind him. There was no noise from upstairs, but out the front window he could see Megan, well-padded and helmeted, carefully riding the skateboard around on the driveway.

[Gizmo]

Trevor stepped out of the kitchen with a casual gait that suggested a lack of immediate urgency, making sure the door closed securely behind him. Foregoing the bathroom, he instead ascended the stairs with the silent subtlety that was very much his birthright. A small part of him felt apprehensive about checking in on his friend, even unseen, but experience had taught him that it was far better to know what Mark was up to and apologize later if necessary than the alternative. The layout of the upper floor he recognized from its ruined counterpart and he soon stood outside the resident Erin's room. It took less time than it did to pinch the bridge of his nose and count backward from ten than it did to confirm that neither she nor Mark were anywhere to be found. Paris. Of course he did, the dark haired young man inwardly sighed as he picked up and read the hastily scrawled note.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Really, I'm lucky to have the friends I do," said Mark, finishing the story of Young Freedom and their many adventures. "I know I can always count on my teammates to be there for me, whatever situation we're in and however bad things are. If it wasn't for them," he said honestly, sitting over his second cup of coffee as he gazed over the table-top candle into Erin-Prime's eyes, "I wouldn't be the man, much less the hero, I am today." Glad that he'd gotten them both out of the way of the people in Seattle, he asked, "So, uh, have you made a lot of friends in college? It seems like a lot of the people I went to school with are still hanging around with people they knew in high school."

[Electra]

"The girls on my floor are really great," Erin Prime told him, sampling one of the pastries from the tray between them. "We've had so much fun and it's only been one semester. I still stay in touch with my high school friends, but we only see each other on holidays anymore. This summer I'm sure we'll all get together. As for other kinds of friends," she continued, giving him a little grin, "I believe in keeping my options open. We're young, it's time to have fun, right? What about you?" she asked. "You work halfway around the world from where you went to school. How do you manage it without getting lonely?"

[Gizmo]

Trevor reentered the kitchen with his customary silence of movement, to the point that it wasn't until he was actually sitting back down that his presence was obvious. With equal nonchalance he passed the noted Mark had left to Erin under the table while giving the Whites a wan smile. "Miss anything?" he asked politely, folding his emptied hands casually on the edge of the table in front of him. There was little point in alarming Erin-Prime's parents about her absence. If anything, Trevor was glad to know that Mark had decided on travel as the best way to entertain her... though the 'City of Love' might not have been his first choice.

[Electra]

"We were just talking about my new place," Erin told him, accepting the note with a curious glance. She unfolded the message to read it, and despite her best efforts was unable to keep a faint look of dismay off her face. Folding the note again, she tucked it in her pocket, then looked at Trevor, trying to hide her consternation. If he faux-parents hadn't been sitting right there, she'd have had a few choice words about Mark's impulsiveness, but as it was, she simply asked, "Call him?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, I'm pretty good at making friends wherever I go," said Mark with a little wink. Sometimes strange things happened to those friendships, but it was best not to dwell on that. "I believe in reaching out and embracing all the opportunities of life, even the ones you didn't expect to find when you got up that morning." He put his head on his hands, studying her. "You know, I've got some euros even after paying for this, and my friends will call us if your parents need you. What do you say we go shopping in one of these little stores? You can take a present home from Paris."

[Electra]

Erin Prime considered that, and for a moment Mark saw a shadow of the stubborn independence that kept the other Erin from accepting even the best-intentioned gifts from her friends. Her expression cleared, though, and she smiled again. "I'll take you up on that," she decided, "but only because you swept me away without my wallet. Next time I'll treat you." She finished her coffee and stood up with him, taking his arm once more as they headed back into the beautifully lit streets of Paris in the early evening. "What do you think, would a miniature Eiffel tower be too obvious?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark breathed a sigh of relief at Erin's suggestion, he'd been worried she would take the opportunity of shopping in Paris to go buy an expensive dress. He wasn't supposed to go around making Euros, there were laws against that, and he doubted the money he had in his wallet would have covered anything fancy. But tourist shopping was well within his budget, and so they walked by several kiosks to look things over. "Ooh, or how about this?" Mark suggested. Producing a black beret from a nearby rack, he put it on Erin's head; luckily it turned out to fit absolutely perfectly. "You look great!" he said, pointing it out in a mirror. "And so French!"

Just behind her, though, Mark spotted something bizarre happening: the street behind her bowing up and out in a growing bubble of asphalt, the people on the sidewalk pointing and exclaiming in alarm at the sight of the Champs Elysees breaking! Suddenly, from beneath the street, there erupted a bizarre sight: some thirty or forty hideous humanoids, their faces white and their clothes an eerie mix of black and white, their movements silent and their evident purpose sinister as they scuttled towards the shoppers on the street. Without hesitation, Mark put himself between Erin and the oncoming horde and yelled "Oh crap, I forgot to give Erin and Trevor their communicators! What's your parents number!?!"

Seconds later, the phone in the White house rang.

[Electra]

Back in Seattle, Roger rose to refill the coffee carafe as Erin and Trevor puzzled over what to do about their wayward friend. "You should make sure to get copies of your lease and your renter's insurance and put them somewhere safe besides your apartment," he advised Erin Keeley. "You never know when something might happen, especially in Freedom City."

"That's a good idea," Erin Keeley replied, trying to not look distracted. The idea of Mark in Paris with her counterpart was so unnerving on so many levels. Erin couldn't help but get a quick mental flash of Clara, the woman they'd met on their tour of universes whose existence testified to some latent attraction. "Maybe I can keep a copy at Trevor's house."

"A safety deposit box mighht... one second." Since Roger was already up, he walked over and picked up the phone. "That's odd, that looks international." Thumbing it on, he set it on the speaker so everyone could hear. "Morning, this is the White house."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You guys!" called Mark, his voice urgent through the line, the sound of screaming and commotion on the other end. "There are mimes attacking Paris, about forty of them! They're, oh, crap, scuttling up the walls! I think they're from underground somewhere! There's something going on here that's messing with my powers, I can keep Erin and I out of danger, and I can blast them with gas lines, but I can't get out of the city! All of the French supers are down dealing with that levithan thing in Marseilles! You've got to get out here and help!" There was an explosion on the other end, and he yelled, "Yeah, you don't like beignets on fire, do you?"

[Gizmo]

Well, of course the mimes are attacking, Trevor thought inwardly without a trace of irony. At some point in the past year his sense of incredulity had been well and truly broken. "Mark, you'll have to teleport us. Plane won't get us there fast enough." His voice remained calm, but there was an immediate and noticeable change in his manner as he stood from the kitchen table, his shoulders squared to make his lean build abruptly more imposing, his jaw set in the manner of someone accustomed to giving orders and having them followed. "Hn. You'll have to... dress us en route, too. You left my belt at Erin's apartment." It occurred to him that that might have been more information that the Whites would really be comfortable with, but he wasn't going to take time away from evacuating their daughter for a comedy of errors. "Hold these, please," he said instead, removing his sunglasses and passing them to Clarissa, revealing the onyx orbs ringed in ruby irises they had been concealing in the process. This was going to be tricky enough without Mark having to remember to remove the eyewear before adding the mask of Midnight.

[Electra]

Clarissa already looked startled by the news from the telephone, but that changed to a look of pure shock as she took the glasses. "Your eyes!" she exclaimed. "Are they-"

"Clarissa," Roger broke in, looking uncomfortable himself but determined to handle it. He put a hand on her shoulder, then looked at Trevor and Erin Keeley. "I don't know what my daughter is doing in Paris with your friend, but I expect you to bring her back safely and quickly," he told them, his voice firm.

"We will," Erin Keeley promised quietly. She rose from the table and stood next to Trevor, nearly at attention. "We're ready, Mark," she called in the direction of the phone.

[Avenger Assembled]

"All right, I don't know if I can, but I'll try! Here goooooes!" There came a great twisting noise from the phone, and suddenly a series of black dots erupted out and swarmed over Midnight and Wander, transporting them through the phone line to the heart of Paris! They arrived amid sounds of screaming and gunfire, and Edge's in-costume grip on their arm. Erin Prime was just by him, her face pale as she stared down over a railing at what lay below. Both heroes had arrived in full costume and with full gear, thanks to Edge's good auspices, and amid a crowd of frightened people. "You guys!" exclaimed Edge, "I got us here fast, but things aren't good." They were up somewhere high, they realized at once, and just a little windy. Within seconds, they realized they were on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower!

Peering down below, they could see some forty creatures in eerie white and black climbing up the iron sides of the Parisian marvel, their faces sinister and their movements too precise to be human as they made their way up higher and higher. They had a few armed French cops for company, bullets occasionally knocking one of the mimes back, but for the most part it was just the heroes and a crowd of frightened tourists. "I got Erin here, and the people from the street, but the mimes ran after us super-fast! They're a lot slower while they climb. I didn't want to risk bringing down the monument on all these people!"