ic Double Date of Doom (IC)

[Gizmo]

Something about that caused Trevor's eyes to narrow behind his sunglasses and prompted him to do another scan of the crowd. This time one Cal McKenzie stood out to his methodical gaze, a New York record producer that the Trevor likely wouldn't have recognized if not for a familiar connection. "Manages Gibbson's 'musical' career," he noted to the auburn haired young woman on his arm in a hushed tone. During their shared time at Claremont Academy he had interacted only briefly with Daisy Gibbons but the fallout of her final spiteful revenge against Zoe 'MacMillan' Harris had left him with considerable distaste for the emotion controller. The bad feeling he felt growing in the pit of his stomach only worsened as he noted the pair speaking with McKenzie.

Victoria Mercer came from old money, even by the standards of North Bay's well-to-do community, but had made a fortune in her own right first as an author of bombastic and not coincidentally hugely popular self-help books and then later as a publisher. Her current husband, Anthony Taylor-Mercer was nearly two decades her junior and recognizable as a successful male model. Their respective careers were of less interest to Trevor than Victoria's daughter from her previous marriage: Meaghan Mercer, his former swing dance partner and the first person besides his grandfather to whom he'd revealed his metahuman powers.

Now that he was looking for her, Trevor spotted her almost immediately, dressed as ever in curve-hugging green a shade too dark to be called emerald that compliment the one forest green eye visible amongst black cherry tresses and a coyly knowing smile. Erin felt her boyfriend arm stiffen as his body language took on the unnatural stillness it did whenever he was expecting an ambush. Meaghan was talking - flirting - with a handsome young man of presumably Socotran origin, who excused himself to retrieve punch for them both as they watched.

His course brought him right past the observing pair and for a moment his eyes met Trevor's directly. The dark eyes blinked briefly... then again as his inner eyelids closed as well. Nictitating membranes... Meaghan, he knew from painful personal experience, was vehemently anti-metahuman, a fact that she hid well in the social circles of Freedom City unless she was sure she was in the company of like-minded individuals. Her presence at the Socotran Consulate as all raised red flags, but this was something else entirely. 'Bad feeling', he decided, did not even begin to properly convey the sensation.

[Electra]

Erin had been keeping an eye on the security situation more than the people present, for all she absorbed Trevor's murmured explanations of people and things. The idea of anyone managing Daisy Gibbons was almost funny, given how obnoxious the girl had always been at school. Maybe, Erin thought, trying to be charitable, a few years of growing up had made her less of a bitch. Sometimes leaving high school did that for people. As for the security itself, it was first-rate, and subtle enough that nobody who didn't know what to look for would ever notice that they were being watched.

She felt the change in Trevor's body instantly, her own posture shifting to alert as she readied for a fight. Though her eyes swept the room, she could see nothing overtly threatening, nothing even different than it had been a moment ago. "What's wrong?" she asked him in an undertone, even as she slipped a hand into her pretty beaded handbag and closed it around her bat.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark Lucas wasn't a shark in social situations; that suggested a predatory drive that Edge generally didn't have. Rather, he was more like a jellyfish, drifting brightly through the crowd, absorbing everything as he went, and leaving his prey helpless to resist simply by the act of passing by. "Hey, you guys," he said cheerfully as he rejoined them with Nina following close behind. "It turns out that they've got all the security staff out tonight for a reason besides all the royal stuff. One of their psychics back home got an intimation that something was up tonight and so they...hey, is everything okay?" The tension between Erin and Trevor was thick enough to cut with a knife, or rather, the tension between them and the rest of the party. He'd picked up on the familiar faces in the crowd readily enough, putting two and two together: it made sense that someone who liked gambling as much as Morakot al-Darsah would have someone who was probably a major creditor in the crowd, and of course he'd kept a somewhat tentative eye on Daisy Gibbons after their rescue of Daisy's Anti-Earth double from his own evil double.

[Gizmo]

With a subtle shake of his head, Trevor assured Erin that no fighting would be necessary just yet, at least in the physical arena. As Mark and the princess rejoined them, the dark-haired young man suppressed the urge to sigh or rub the bridge of his nose or otherwise display how very much he would have liked to forgo the necessary explanation. "Guest in green dress - don't stare, Mark. Meaghan Mercer." Knowing that the name wouldn't mean anything to anyone other that Erin, he let out a quiet breath and forced himself to continue, his voice without inflection. "Former... acquaintance. Parted on exceptionally poor terms. Extremely adept social manipulator. Anti-metahuman bigot." While Trevor tended to be reserved in his speech and body language, this was a detached coolness forcibly bottling any emotion from showing through. "Out of place at Socotran event. More so talking with definite metahuman." He didn't make any gesture to indicate the young man who had returned to Meaghan with two cups of punch, though he did note that the Socotran was taking care not to reveal his second set of eyelids in front of the predatory socialite. "Trouble," he summed up succinctly.

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's rough, Trevor," said Mark quietly, giving his friend a sympathetic look. He knew that the last thing Trevor would want is him to dwell on past pains, but he couldn't let his friend's problems go unremarked. "I'll keep an eye out. Weird that there's someone with that kind of mutation associated with Socotra; Nina's mentioned her father is very watchful about Deep Ones and the like, and he excludes people who don't meet his standards of beauty." He was about to say more, but someone was taking the stage alongside the musicians! Daisy Gibbons was resplendent in a green and gold Socotran dress-and-pants, her voice musical as she raised it perfectly pitched above the crowd.

"Can I have your attention, please?" she asked pleasantly. "It's time for the guests of honor to arrive, so please take your seats!" She certainly looked much of a muchness from her days as a teen pop star, those fifteen minutes having ended not long ago. At her words, almost everyone in the room got moving; Trevor caught sight of Meaghan glancing his way, but there was no time for banter across the room at this very public moment: Nina and Mark were separated from the others to sit at the elaborate royal table, a massive circular table cut entirely out of a single dragon's blood tree, but Mark promised to keep an eye out as Trevor and Erin were seated at a table reserved for the leading heirs of prominent Freedom City businessmen who just might invest in Socotra if suitably persuaded. They had company there too.

And then the room's overhead lights darkened, and a spot came up aimed at the big double doors on the far wall. Daisy's sultry voice took up the chant: "Presenting! The Prince of Tides! The Lord of Tsumani! The Son of the Storm and Cousin of Neptune: PRINCE MORAKOT AL-DARSAH! And with him for the very first time, making her public debut, Nephthys al-Arima, bearer of the Black Ring of Set!" Prince Morakot looked pressed for the occasion in his Western-style suit and tie, his eyes for once clear and his steps sure, his mustache impeccably groomed as he stepped out of the elevator, holding hands with a regal-looking young woman a solid decade his junior, whose dark skin and short black hair suggested a Middle-Eastern upbringing similar to his own. Sure enough, on one finger the clearly recognizable Black Ring of Set, familiar to Claremont students and Mark's friends from stories of the 1960s, was visible as she and her husband-to-be made their way to the royal table.

[Gizmo]

Meaghan flashed a black widow's alluring smile as Trevor and Erin took their seats across from her and her companion, her fingertips delicately brushing loosely curled hair from cheekbones which adulthood had made subtly more prominent than the last time Trevor had seen her. "My goodness, look who it is!" she purred in a tone that was playful in the same sense a predator was playful with its quarry. "Who let you into the grown-up party, puppy?"

"Standards have fallen across the board, clearly," Trevor responded easily and it wasn't just the quickness of the calm retort that caused the Mercer heiress' one visible eyebrow to rise. She'd always been good at getting a rise out of the dark-haired young man one way or another, as much as anyone could from his innately reserved manner. This time however he had airily brushed her barb aside with a social confidence which was new. The minute lift of her tapered chin indicated he had her full attention.

"Well, what can you expect, really?" she continued in feigned agreement, shaking her head slightly in sad disappointment. Though it would have been impossible to prove, they both knew perfectly well she was taking a shot at the nature of the Socotran leadership. That only raised more questions about why she'd deigned to grace the embassy with her presence and once again, they were both perfectly aware of way she was almost imperceptibly steering the conversation. More confident though Trevor may have been, he was dealing with someone of far greater experience in this particular arena. "More importantly, puppy, when are you finally going to introduce me to your mysterious, musclebound madame?" she asked, turning her attention to Erin as though separating a weaker member of the pack from its peers. "She--"

"Would require little excuse to undo your orthodontist's hard work," Trevor interrupted unexpectedly, his voice cutting through Meaghan's aborted jibe without requiring him to raise his voice. The naked threat brought genuine surprise to the face framed by black cherry tresses, though perhaps not as much as it might have. "So be civil, Meag. More interested in your date, anyway," the composed detective went on, pointedly dismissing his attention from Meaghan as her turned it to the handsome Socotran beside her. "Relative of the bride-to-be? Have her eyes."

[Electra]

Erin resisted the urge to check her arms when Meaghan described her as musclebound; rather to Frank's disappointment, she'd asked for a dress that specifically downplayed the more chiseled edges of her physique. It was just an insult tossed by a stranger, she reminded herself. Worse than a stranger, really, someone who had caused pain to someone she loved. Erin would gladly have taken the girl outside just for that, but she knew it would just cause more problems for Trevor's civilian identity.

Instead, she leaned in towards Meaghan and gave her a smile that showed teeth. "I'll be nice if you will," she told the foxfaced girl in a low voice. "But I don't trade verbal jabs." Straightening, she politely paid attention to the conversation between Trevor and Meaghan's date.

[Avenger Assembled]

The handsome Socotran sneered at Trevor, a look that evidently was cultivated by certain members of the Socotran aristocracy. "She is a beautiful woman, and I am a beautiful man," he hissed with the mix of Indian and Arabian-flavored Received Pronunciation that was the standard Socotran accent. "I can see that you are not familiar with either, Mr. Hunter." That was evidently a little much, or at least enough to get people sitting at the table looking their way. Meaghan laid a firm hand on her partner's and gave him a look that wasn't entirely disapproving, but still communicated a sharp Enough. Only Erin and Trevor, it seemed, had been paying enough attention to see the way the Socotran man had flinched at his words; evidently he'd understood him only too well.

--------

"The Black Ring of Set?" For his part, Mark had recognized the ring on the mysterious Nepthys' hand right away, even if he hadn't noticed anything suspicious about the woman herself. He and Nina spoke in sotto voice in their seat at the end of the royal table, Mark distracting Nina from what was evidently a major source of frustration. So far away from her elder brother, who was speaking in sonorous tones about the beauty of his would-be bride, Nina al-Darsah looked ready to leap from her seat and demand answers from Morakot. "Didn't your father take that from Set when they had that falling-out?"

"My father won that from Set in fair combat," Nina hissed at him, turning her anger on her boyfriend and incidentally thus _not_ causing an incident. "It was a fair struggle between the old god of sorcery and the new god of science, as you should-"

from Horus #134

"Typhoon only has to outrun jackal-headed Set, fool!" declared the armored despot a moment before a mighty wave that had arisen from nothing carried him out of the howling god's reach, just as the Freedom League crashed through the walls of Set's fortress.

"Be that as it may," whispered Mark, giving Nina a reassuring look, "we need to figure out why your brother would just give away an artifact that's so important to your father. He must think his wife-to-be will be worth Typhoon's anger." He reached over and squeezed Nina's hand. "You try and get a dance with your brother so the two of you can talk in private. I'll do the same for the bride."

"...well, all right," said Nina reluctantly, relaxing a little now that Mark had changed the subject. "But she'd better not fall in love with you. I know how it is with you and I would hate to have to drown her." She winked at Mark, and they both returned their attention to the stage as the prince took his seat and Daisy Gibbons took his place.

"Ancient Socotran custom puts eating at the end of a great social occasion rather than the middle, the better that the work of the cooks may be truly enjoyed by all." She winked at the crowd and added, "So, would all you couples out there please take your place on the dance floor so that we may begin? The prince has asked me to begin with his favorite love song..." As it turned out, as Nina and Mark among others went out on the ironwood dance floor, it turned out his favorite was Unchained Melody.

[Gizmo]

"Set whatever rules you like, kitten," Meaghan told Erin almost off-handedly, most of her attention still on shooting her date for the evening a sharp look. "You just let me know when you've figured out which game we're playing, mmh?"

"Wouldn't need to be too familiar," Trevor noted in a level tone that contrasted with the Socotran man's bluster, "with a shapeshifter's ring." It was a little more direct that he'd planned on being a moment ago, but considering how much he wanted to rearrange that sneer into something only vaguely recognizable as a mouth he felt he was still demonstrating commendable subtlety.

Before any more words could be traded, the music began and couples around the room began to take to the dance floor. Simultaneously making small signs of annoyance at the slow tempo of the ballad and pretending not to notice the synchronicity, Trevor and Meaghan pulled their respective partners to opposite corners of the hall.

[Electra]

Erin was a bit surprised by the speed and force of Trevor's egress towards the dance floor, but she followed willingly enough. Putting her hand in his, she set the other on his shoulder, high enough that she could massage the back of his neck lightly. For the moment, anyway, the woman with the shapeshifter ring was the furthest thing from her mind. "You okay?" she murmured, her words pitched for his ears only. "We can still cut out if you want, go get some coffee. Nobody started anything at the big reveal, so maybe we're in the clear for the night anyway."

[Gizmo]

Trevor's neck was a coil of knotted steel cable under Erin's fingers, but he shook his head slightly. "Didn't start anything because they only have to wait until the wedding," he pointed out, his tone a little dark as he pointedly avoided talking about the other conflict of the evening. "Incident could blow their cover or cause delay. Hnh. Need to talk to Mark, see what the princess can learn." There were a few moments of silence as he unconsciously pulled Erin's waist imperceptibly closer. "...sorry about that. Thank you for not hitting her."

[Electra]

Erin leaned in to brush her cheek against his, her soft laugh a warm breath in his ear. "Night's still young," she pointed out, effortlessly turning with him to avoid other couples on the floor. "But I figure now you owe me for my iron self-control. I'll get it out of you later, once I can get out of this stupid dress." She ran her fingers lightly through his hair, disordering it just a little bit. "Or we could find a coat closet," she added, sotto voce, "but with our luck, Mark will already be in it."

She snuck a glance at the other end of the floor, then turned back with a satisfied look. "Anyway," she decided, "no matter what that bitch says, I win. She had you, but she lost you because she's stupid and shallow and mean. Now I've got you, and she's dancing with that creeper. And it looks like he's stomping on her toes."

[Gizmo]

Clearing his throat quietly with the faintest brush of a sooty black colouring his cheeks beneath his sunglasses, Trevor gave Erin a small but genuine smile as he relaxed slightly. "I win, too. Meag never understood it was a team sport." There was a odd sort of settling in the back of his mind, a sort of closure that he hadn't realized he'd still needed clicking into place. "Thank you," he repeated more quietly. Now all they had to do was thwart a mysterious attempt by likely malicious subspecies to build up a power base in the homeland of their friend's princess. A simple task, relatively.

[Avenger Assembled]

Indeed, it looked like Meaghan and her would-be sweetheart had grown tired of dancing with each other. Scowling, Ahmed wandered off to talk to a small group of Socotran couples while Meaghan herself smoothly recovered to take up a place studying the crowd like the social predator she was.

While Mark had danced with Nina before, the sort of wild dancing through the sky that only a hydrokinetic could have pulled off, only a platform of water beneath their feet as the rain fell on them, but this sort of intimate slow dancing was still very pleasant. When her intense dark gaze was locked on his, he could easily forget that he'd ever dated other women. "Do you know anything about that guy?" he asked finally, cocking a head towards Meaghan's would-be sweetheart.

"Ahmed al-Kuri," said Nina, wrinkling her pretty nose. "He's handsome enough, but not fit for my company. He has some dull diplomatic post here, not the sort of thing I pay attention to. Not with you around, anyway."

They kissed as the song ended, and together made their way to the side of Morakot and Nephthys: the lovely princess had an easy job pulling her elder brother aside, and for her part like most people Nephthys proved amenable enough to Mark's plans. With the royals on the dance floor together, and Mark with his arms around the bride, Daisy Gibbons spun the crowd up into a fast dance laden with the oud and nay, the spinning and twirling the Socotrans employed making them look like the dervishes that had once settled their native island as the music went faster and faster.

Nepthys wasn't, in Mark's mind, a terribly good dancer, but she was enthusiastic; even if the fast-paced music meant there was no time for conversation beyond just complimenting each other's technique. As for Nina and Morakot, the royals put on a show for their subjects, spinning high on platforms of wine as only hydrokinetics could, Nina twirling impossibly fast in her brother's hands. Family drama or not, evidently their lives didn't lack for good moments When the music stopped, everyone on the dance floor was sweating a little, and at Daisy's initiative they applauded the slightly-breathless musicians.

Until the screaming started. "Aiee! Aiee!" came terrible cries from the crowd as some among them begean to change: a half-dozen civilians in the crowd ranging from security guards to embassy staff to guests began to warp, skin stretching and freezing into scales, eyes bulging with nicitating membranes, fingers growing into claws and faces lengthening and sharpening into terrible fanged maws: Serpent Men!

Erin and Trevor, from their position, had plenty of time to see a serpentine Meaghan, the most familiar transformed of the crowd, rip her way half out of her dress, venom dripping from razor-like fangs, before she and her five new best friends, scattered all across the dance floor, hissed and leaped at the screaming bystanders!

[Electra]

Erin's eyes widened at the sudden transformation; though she had assumed Meaghan was a cold-blooded snake, she hadn't thought it to be quite so literally true. Reaching for her handbag, she grabbed the bat from it and spun it into shape, even as she started cutting through the crowd. A quick leap and tumble with the aid of a chandelier took her over most of the crowd and got her where she was going, right between Meaghan and the retreating guests. The shoes, though... the damned high-heeled shoes that Frank had insisted on! One wobbly ankle was enough to telegraph the direction of her charge to the beady-eyed snake woman, and when Erin's bat flashed out, Meaghan was no longer there. Erin swore under her breath and looked for another chance.

[Avenger Assembled]

Meaghan hissed wildly and faced Wander down fearlessly; the nasty society girl Erin and Trevor had dealt with earlier gone beneath the hideous snake monster. There was no thought behind those scaly eyes, just snaky hunger! The snake-Meaghan took the opening Wander's attack had offered and struck out with her fangs, only Wander's fantastic reflexes saving her from a bite as sharp fangs skidded against bulletproof skin, foul-smelling venom hissing its way down Wander's arm. A direct hit from one of those fangs could easily have pierced her skin had it gone in at a slightly different angle! At least the monster was now thoroughly focused on her rather than the screaming civilians all around!

[Gizmo]

To his credit, Trevor didn't let his the wildly conflicting feelings over Meaghan's horrific transformation slow him down as he slid silently into the sea of panicked guests, almost instantly disappearing from view. With his new privacy, the young man deftly undid the buttons of his jacket, revealing cleverly conceal compartments incorporated into his outfit. He began to reach for a flash grenade before realizing that the snake-creatures would likely not be overly hindered by a lack of vision. Instead he produced a flat bodied speaker, quickly attaching it to an amplifier that would send its emanations well below the frequency humans could hear. Taking up a position behind a convenient pillar, he placed it against the hall's floor, sending rippling waves of disorienting vibrations bouncing throughout its surface, playing havoc with the beasts' senses.

[Avenger Assembled]

A snake monster that had once been a uniformed waiter vaulted over the crowd, one of three left standing after Midnight's subsonic attack had driven the rest to either their knees or the ground, and went straight for Nina al-Darsah, vomiting up a ball of stinking, hissing venom that would have hit her in her lovely face if Mark Lucas hadn't intervened. His suit flashing over into Edge's costume, Mark grabbed Nina by the skirts and yanked her out of the way as the venom flew past her to bury itself in the wall beyond. Another woman might have screamed, but Nina was cursing in Socotran, tearing her tough, heavy outfit apart in her effort to get out of it.

"Come on, guys!" Edge yelled to the others, arm around Nina as he took in the chaotic scene. "Maybe there are some hideous snake monsters here, but we're not going to let them ruin the party! This is Freedom City, we deal with awful stuff like this all the time!" Growing more confident now, he raised a hand and said, "First, let's clear the room!" He snapped his fingers and the air seemed to snap, and with a ripple all the helpless civilians in the room were safely deposited on the lawn outside, leaving the heroes alone with the the snake monsters and the royal family, Morakot having put himself between his bride and the snake monsters in the room. Nina can take care of herself...right?

"Filthy stinking serpent-spawn," spat the princess, who was in no mood to judge who the creature had once been after its attack on her. "I will rip the scales from your bones and cook you for my soup!" A jet of champagne and coffee hissed up from the table behind her and smashed into the snake monster, blasting it against the far wall with a solid crunch that made the unconscious snakeoid fall to the ground. Snarling in satisfaction, Nina was turning back when another snake monster came dropping down from the ceiling to spit venom at her! She screamed in surprise as the venom splattered against her dress, but fast reflexes sent the poison flying away as she and Mark glared up at the snake-man above her head.

Meanwhile, coming up behind Morakot and Nephthys, Meaghan's putative sweetheart was approaching, a pistol in his hand and sinister intent on his face.

[Electra]

Erin made a noise very much like a growl as she circled with the snake-Meaghan, dodging those terrible teeth and looking for her angle. The previous miss had made her more circumspect, and this time she didn't go charging in blindly to attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another snakeman approaching the royal family, but she couldn't do anything about it now, not with another snake keen to rip her throat out, or however snakes liked to kill human-size victims. Deciding that was a mental road better not taken, Erin braced herself, then dove under the nearest table, rolled twice, and came up swinging, putting all the power of her momentum into a blow to Snake-Meaghan's hideous, hissing head!

[Gizmo]

Even with the civilians removed from the hall, Trevor had little difficulty swiftly moving about unseen. In little time, he'd positioned himself to strike at the smug, would-be assassin menacing the royal couple. He'd intended to simply disarm the attacker, but upon getting closer he spotted that the weapon in the man's hand was in actuality some form of energy construct, a superhuman ability cleverly disguised as something more mundane. But why bother, if he doesn't intend to be caught? The young detective had a feeling he knew how the wheels within wheels were turning, but for the time being he deigned to take a more direct route.

Taking some small inspiration from his foe, he pulled a simple but powerful stun button from his jacket, an improved upon device that outwardly appeared to be of a sort easily acquired by any citizen worried about their safety. Between the element of surprise and carefully jabbing a sensitive nerve cluster with the full brunt of his considerable physique, Trevor rendered the insurgent unconscious in a single, decisive blow. "Watch your back, Highness," he warned Morakot calmly, stepping forward and keeping a close eye on al-Arima from behind his sunglasses.

[Avenger Assembled]

Trevor''s mighty blow took the fight out of the enemy in more ways than one. Ahmed dropped to the ground, knocked cold by the punch and shock, and he and the six mutated victims began to change. From the waiter who dropped from the ceiling to land, half-conscious, in Edge's arms to the others knocked out by the heroes in the fight, all the way to Meaghan who slowly transformed back to her human self, still in the tattered remnants of her dress, all those Ahmed had mutated began turning back into human beings. As for Meaghan's abortive swain himself, the unconscious 'Socotran''s face warped forward into a short serpentine muzzle, teeth sharpening to a predator's canines, while his eyes turned yellow and slitted: the unmistakable mark of the Serpent Man!

"I thank you for your help, my friend," replied Morakot, his arms protectively around Nepthys, who was clinging to him with wide dark eyes, "and you as well, uh, miss, and the famous UNISON hero Edge and little Nina," he added, raising his voice to call to the others. He evidently had no idea who Trevor and Erin were, no surprise given who he'd been focused on. Nina bristled a little at what was evidently a childhood nickname, and not a popular one, but was too busy wiping the venom from her skin to complain. "You have done a great service tonight; for me, for my wife-to-be, and for our nation. I am forever in your debt." Despite the prince's words, it wasn't hard to tell that both he and his bride-to-be, twisting the gem of her ring back and forth, knew more than they were saying.

"I don't understand," said Mark, thinking it out with the usual difficulty that caused him, his brow furrowing in concentration. "Serpent People do a lot of bad stuff, but they put a lot of time and effort into this, and it wasn't even summoning a giant snake monster to devour the Sun." He hmmed. "Why would Serpent People want to kill you?"

[Electra]

With her subdued opponent turned back into a human being along with the other transformed partygoers, Erin took a moment to look around the room. When no new threat presented itself, she smoothed her skirt and tugged her sleeves back into place, then tucked her bat discreetly back into her handbag. With one last secretly satisfied look at Meaghan, she went to join Mark and Trevor near the royal family. Rather belatedly, she realized that she could've done harm to Trevor's secret identity by her overt actions, but there was no help for it now. Maybe she could just put it down to being a professional security guard or something. She shot a quick look Trevor's way, wondering how concerned he was about it.

[Gizmo]

Outwardly at least, Trevor didn't seem to be concerned at all. Which, admittedly, didn't provide much in the way of insight into how he may or may not have actually been feeling. "Good question," he responded tersely to Mark's question, eyes never leaving al-Arima from behind his sunglasses. In rapid succession, the young detective made several deductions. Morakot was not fool enough to be ignorant of his bride's nature; even the illusions provided by the ring were not so complete. He was a willing participant in keeping the secret, then, desperate enough to risk his father's ire at giving up the powerful trinket in the first place. This had been no ploy to put a serpent on the throne of Socotra, else the assassins would have waited until after the wedding. The way Nephthys' hands went to her stomach when under threat of attack, however, was truly all the observation necessary. "Pregnant," he noted for the benefit of the others in the room, evidently well past the point of delicacy. "Your people object. Strongly."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I...hey, wait, there's gonna be a baby!" Edge's eyes widened as he took that in, and reacted automatically. "That's great! I mean...well, that's great, but holy freaking cow, I can see the problem." He knew vaguely that humans and Serpents could crossbreed, he thought that was where Serpent People came from to begin with. "Listen," he said, thinking fast about social problems and the dangers of family secrets coming out. "the rest of the embassy staff is going to be back here any minute. I'll teleport all the people Ahmed zapped outside so the staff doctor can check them out; hopefully that'll slow them up even further." He went about doing so, popping away the half-conscious mutation victims and leaving the 'real' Serpents behind.

For her part, Nina was staring at her elder brother with a mixture of shock and disgust on her lovely face, every inch regal surprise. "You...you did what? You're having what?"

"We met, uh, at the Circus Maximus," replied the prince, his voice deep and scratchy as he embraced his bride. "I was there to see the show and, Nephthys was there to..."

"...to ensnare men," said Nepthys frankly, "powerful men, on behalf of my people, so that we could sink our coils into them. There are humans who prefer alien women to their own," she added, giving Nina the sort of glare that suggested she'd fit right in in Socotran society. "But Morrie was...he was kind to me, even so, and we...we found something more."

"When I learned she was carrying my child, we had to make wedding plans immediately. My honor allowed for nothing less," said the sot prince with unexpected dignity.

"Honor allowed for..." Nina rubbed her eyes, and reached down for Mark's hand for support as he returned. "When this...comes out, what do you think Father will do?" she asked her brother rhetorically, for the first time a shadow of fear of Typhoon in her face and voice. "Will he greet his senior grandchild as another member of the family?"

"We will face that future together, little Nina, we will-"

"What if you just don't go back to Socotra?" asked Mark, getting the attention of would-be bride and groom. "I mean, if Typhoon cuts you off, that's one thing, but he's not going to come after you in Freedom City. That would mean declaring war on Freedom's heroes."

[Electra]

"But Socotra is his home," Erin pointed out, looking carefully at Morokot and his bride. "And his family is there. You can't just give up on your family." She looked around at the slightly worse-for-wear embassy. "And Morokot is still Typhoon's son, and the baby will be his grandchild. We can't know for sure how he's going to feel about that. And if the Serpent People are trying to attack them, they need someplace where they can all be safe. Maybe, your highness, you could stay here in Freedom City long enough to work things out with your father long-distance," she suggested delicately. "It might take a little while, but be less, um, emotional and tense that way."