Bright Days Gone By(IC)

[Ari]

January 17th, Thursday, 2013, 12.40 PM

East Bayview, Freedom City

With a faint groan of its brakes and the vehicle's body coming to a halt, the bus ground to a halt by the clear metal and plastic shelter of its stop. Jumping out of the bus and landing with a thud on the sidewalk, paragon-in-training Subito Sondo threw his battered red backpack over one shoulder, turning to the mass transit and calling into it with his loud, cheerful voice "C'mon, Darren! Mrs. Sobczak is just a couple streets down!" the stocky and muscular teen settled into a brisk walk, smiling at the clear, cold sky above them, and the faint cover of snow on a few lawns.

The two students had been assigned an interview project for their history class. It was meant to cover the vivid, wild days of the late 1960's and 1970's, the days when purple alien gorillas battling the Centurion for the fate of a living atom were all but commonplace. Their interview subject was a Mrs. Grace Sobczak, otherwise known as the sceptre-wielding Sekhem. She had settled down after helping fight against the Terminus Invasion of 1993, and worked on occasion with the Academy.

Her house was a clean white, two-story suburban affair with a gold-plated door inscribed with benedictions for all visitors. A small garden ran around one side, and the roof was bedecked with birdhouses. The knocker was shaped like the ritual staff she had named herself after once. Looking nervously at his classmate, Subito tugged at one sleeve of his flannel shirt for a moment before tentatively raising the knocker, and beating a short tattoo on the door.

As the echoes inside died away, he glanced back at Darren, doing his best not to let his eyes linger. "So...what do you think she's like?" he asked, grasping for conversation.

[Russoboo]

Darren stepped down out of the bus and brushed himself off. He wasn't a fan of mass transit in general, but having flown to school earlier, driving himself and Subito out to East Bayview hadn't been an option. Thankfully, dry cleaning was well within his budget, so he had faith that, one day, his jeans and pea coat wouldn't smell like bus. Darren adjusted his messenger bag, imported leather, and hurried his steps to catch up with Subito. He drew his jacket a little closer and tightened up his scarf. "A couple streets is too far. Snow is just, like, the worst."

He stood on the front step with Subito and crossed his arms, tucking his hands away to keep them warm. "I don't know, I'm not really up to snuff on superpeople. Particularly not on ones from the seventies, not a disco fan." Darren's eyes slid over to Subito and he gave the other boy a thin smile. He was a little pink from the cold, but not nearly as nervous. "She's probably just a sweet old lady who used to beat up bank robbers with magic." Darren wriggled his eyebrows and rocked on his heels until he heard a chain slide behind the door. He sat still and unfolded his arms, putting on his best presentable, respectful youth face.

[Ari]

"Teach said she's 'gentle but stern. A velvet glove in which lies a brass knuckle if you don't listen'" Subito quoted, shrugging his broad shoulders "But that could mean just about anythin'-" he started as he heard the footsteps in the hallway, and quickly took up a similarly cheerful and polite stance next to Darren. He folded his arms behind his back and stood almost at attention with an excited smile. At the emergence of their hostess, he said eagerly "Hi, Mrs. Sobczak! This guy is Darren, I'm Subito. We're the Claremont students who asked you for an interview. May we come inside, please?"

With a rattle and clink the chain was slid out from its copper groove, and the door opened to reveal a tall elderly white woman in a blue blouse under a dull green woolen sweater and faded jeans(stained by grass on the right knee) with short gray hair whitening at the roots. Her face was perfectly composed and neat, a few livid scars on her broad chin, high cheeks and large nose standing out among the soft wrinkles. She had a gold wedding band on her left hand. Bright green eyes gave the pair a practiced once-over and crinkled at the corners as she smiled fondly. In a low and melodious voice with a faint Polish accent she said "Well hello there. I wasn't aware Summers was sending me such handsome gentlemen callers. If I had known I wouldn't have been so terribly unprepared for you. Most cruel of that young man, most cruel!" she said with a faint laugh, welcoming the Claremonters inside the warm and drowsy house "Grace Sobczak, at your service. But you already knew that, evidently". It was mostly decorated with strange oaken carvings depicting ships or reproductions of Egyptian tomb paintings. A grandfather clock ticked out the seconds in a corner crowded with newspaper clippings chronicling the career of one Sekhem, lady adventurer. A strange rod with a fanned head, studded with cloudy gems and streaked with dents and divots, hung on the wall opposite. Showing the two boys to a small table set for three, she demonstrated she was in reality quite prepared for them, with a selection of exotic teas ready nearby an almost shrieking tea pot. "Take whatever you like to drink, I made sure to stock some sodas in the fridge if that's more to your tastes. And if you want it, milk never goes poorly with talking." Settling into her chair she sipped a deep and aromatic black tea with relish, closing her eyes and saying "My husband is asleep upstairs, the cats lulling him with their purrs. Now, I think you wanted to ask me something?"

[Russoboo]

"Did he really say that? Poetry and everything?" Darren snorted, but regained his composure as the door opened. Subito handled introductions, but Darren added his own "Hello, nice to meet you, ma'am."

He followed Subito and their host into the house while he tried to take everything in. The Egyptian paintings made sense; Grace Sobczak had been Sekhem, after all, though Darren noticed the rod hanging on the wall and thought she probably still could be Sekhem if she wanted or needed to. He sat in one of the chairs left for the boys and unstrapped his bag so it sat comfortable next to him. When he spotted the tea set, Darren let out a low "Oooh, yes, perfect." He pawed through the various teas before dropping a bag of Darjeeling into a cup and pouring himself some hot water. "Thank you, Mrs. Sobczak, getting a good cup of tea can be, like, a complete chore at Claremont."

With his tea cooling to a manageable temperature, Darren retrieved a small notebook and a ballpoint pen from his bag. He opened the pad up to a blank page, jotted down the time and ate, then held his pen at the ready. "I guess, like, our first question should be who are you and how did you get into the super heroics thing? Like, where did the sceptre come from and how did it come to you?"

[Ari]

"Oh yeah, we're the most deprived. Come on man, Gwen's garden has made it a lot easier than it used t'be." Subito pointed out with a slightly hurt look, thinking of the still-recent Greenhouse the heroine Flora had masterminded, among its fruits being a plethora of tea leaves. He chose some bush tea practically at random, and almost immediately forgot about it, leaving the gently steaming cup on the table near his arm.

Darren's choice for the first question was a relief to the muscular boy, who had been scribbling possible openers all the way to the bus stop. Many of them were basically "So what was it like to live in the old days? Also what was [hero/villain] like?" He relaxed into his chair, glad that they would start from a good point. '...This is almost as bad as I thought it would be Hey! It's n- You never even considered "where did you get the rod"? Well...I... Faugh. Enough, now pay attention. You should find it easy to watch Darren, at least You trying to say somethin', Dama Azul? Certainly not. Me? Imply something? The very idea is absurd in such an open partnership as ours'

Frowning at apparently nothing, Subito said aloud "Also, if it's okay for you to tell us Mrs. Sobczac, were there others like it? Or..was it one of a kind?"

[Ari]

GM

Grace looked pleased at Darren's question. After gently swishing the tea in her cup she began "It was April, 1963, the civil rights protests of Birmingham were just around the corner, and I was flying a group of Egyptologists to look at a new-discovered tomb hidden inside of a much larger structure. It had been barred, barricaded, strewn with false passages to deceive any intruders." she took a sip and grinned "Took us a heck of a lot of dynamite just to reach the burial chamber. But we reached it all right, and went inside with torches and a few lanterns, the Egyptologists hoping that this would be where some great and forgotten king or queen was laid to rest who could answer some dynastic questions. The hired hands like me hoping that whoever they were, they'd be loaded." she gave the two a grave smile "Not a lot of money in doing the work Egyptologists needed doing."

Putting down the cup she took a slow breath, watched the table for a second and resumed. "We were both disappointed. The tomb wasn't holding a secret ruler or missing link in the familial chain of the Nile, it held the remains and possessions belonging to the kid of a governor. We only found out later what her story was. Apparently her dad was so stricken when she died that he payed for an incredibly lavish tomb for the girl. Wasn't much left to put in it when it was done. Just some toys, her favorite dog, her clothes and..." she glanced at the rod hanging on the wall "...that scepter. It was the only one there. For the life of us we couldn't figure out why something like that was in here. Nobody else payed it much mind, so I took it on the way out, realizing when I touched it that the thing was a lot tougher than a rod thousands of years old should be." The old woman took another sip, a quirk at each end of her mouth which quickly settled in grimness "We came out of the tomb and there found we had been trapped. Someone in a green and black robe calling themselves the 'Hand of Apep' and a bunch of snake-men had snuck up and were capturing us as we left the tomb, we were all talking so loud we didn't hear them at first, but just before I went up those steps, I heard the man before me give a croak. So unlike anything I had heard from a human throat that instantly stopped and crept into an arch. I could hear them hissing above me, asking each one about the rod."

She raised a pale, worn hand and smiled openly "Then I glanced at the rod I was holding, and saw the words on it. I had learned a little Egyptian from the scientists, and so understood what it said: 'speak my name and hold me. I will grant power'. I said sekhem! and in a moment I was flying through the air, rocketing out of the tomb faster than the wind!" she gulped back a hearty sip of tea, eyes alight at the memory "I turned back, of course, wanting to fight those things holding the expedition captive. From it raced beams of energy that blasted the snake-men to pieces, and sent that 'Hand of Apep' running for their life!" she laughed, leaning back in her chair with one arm over the back. "After that there was nothing for it! I wasn't about to go back to being a pilot and mechanic when I could be a superhero. The others agreed to keep my secret, and after I learned to create that very fetching robe and mask with the rod, my identity was quite secure. I moved back to Freedom, and got into the life."

Another, longer sip. "Does that answer your questions, darlings?"

[Russoboo]

Darren sat, quiet, while he transcribed Grace's answers into his notebook. His handwriting was fine and fluid, his letters tall and narrow; his time in private schools had certainly left a mark. He dotted one more eye and placed a period, then set his pen down diagonally across the page and moved to lift his cup to his lips. After a drink, he replied "The preliminaries, yes, thank you. The Hand of Apep, snake-men, it all sounds, well, pretty incredible. I guess that kind of thing is a little more common when you're dealing with magic, though."

He tapped his fingers against the notepad. "This isn't, like, strictly on our recommended questions list, but it's something I'm curious about, so please excuse me. Why come back to Freedom? I mean...Egyptian cult of Egyptian monsters after an Egyptian artifact? Did you just defeat the Hand there or force them to disband?"

[Ari]

"Whoa..." Subito said, eyes wide with amazement. The story was weird, random and had Grace blasting snake people, everything that he loved at once. To his dashing '...I mean...' schoolmate he said "Yeah, magic stuff is pretty much like that all the time! It's pretty great!" he said with a grin.

Sitting closer he added to Darren's questions with a curious "Yeah, did the rod turn out to be part of some kinda larger plot? Was it the central tool needed to try and take over the world?" he asked with gleaming eyes. Then he looked embarrassed and said quickly "Er, sorry. What Darren said." he waved to other boy and took a hasty sip to hide his burning cheeks.

[Ari]

GM

Grave shrugged "Going by the Hand's constant babbling about "destined wielder" and "tool to unlock true power"it might well be. I was never one for detective work about those things, and Freedom City was the place to be if you wanted to become a great protector. Besides, I figured that if they did show up again, better I was in a place where you couldn't go three blocks and not see one of those boys in spandex jumping around instead of alone." she smiled fondly "I remember, for a few years it was like every hero in the city was wearing at least a little blue; made me feel very proud of myself that I wore white and gold, even if the sekhem did make the clothes for me." taking a slurp of tea, she smacked her lips with savor and attended to Darren's second question.

"As for the Hand, it was only ever that one in the cloak..no, that didn't do much to stop them, they appeared again in 1968, backed by a small army of those snake-men. Didn't help them much. And they showed up again in 1973, this time with a suit of armor filled with mystic power. And then some more times throughout every month '76, it was like they were getting desperate. I could never discover who they were, or where they were getting their various artifacts and allies from, but I did manage to shoot them through a door of space/time that collapsed as they went through. That seemed to do it, I haven't heard from that man, woman, monster or spirit since. Although..." she looked suddenly doubtful, and put her cup down gently, staring into the wavering liquid for a while before speaking again.

"I once fought the ghosts of every enemy who died because of me, and the Hand wasn't among them...ha!" Mrs. Sobczak laughed, tossing back her tea and taking another cupful as she went on jauntily "Maybe they made one too many pacts, and got their soul dragged down into the darkness of Apep. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Don't go making bargains with such things, young men" she added with a warning look and wave of her finger "Nobody but the dark gods get a thing out of such deals! Believe me, a fine young gentleman of my acquaintance who went by Man-Scorpion(ridiculous name, though a wonderful and gallant lad) once tried to get the better of Hades himself, and lost everything! Even his very soul! Quite tragic."

In much better humor, she reclined against the chair and smiled warmly at the pair. "So, what else would you like to ask?"

[Russoboo]

Darren gave Subito a sidelong glance, but said nothing to him. He focused on Grace's story instead, tracing out letters like a machine and flipping pages without a sound. When she paused, he looked at her until she continued. At the end, Darren touched his lips and stifled a giggle. "Man-Scorpion? That's getting a Google." He double-tapped his pen for punctuation and gave Subito another brief look. "Let's see...how about, what do you consider your greatest accomplishment in costume? And why did you decide to retire?"

[Ari]

By now Subito was wishing he had spent less time getting his cursive to look good and more time making the letters quickly. Putting down his pencil for a moment to massage a hand getting the first twinges of writer's cramp, he looked deeply chastened by the sad tale of Man-Scorpion, though the name did raise a grin that was difficult for the stocky boy to hide.

Nodding his agreement at Darren's next choice of questions, the swarthy teen asked "An' if it's not prying into anything, did you ever work with the Freedom League?" Subito was puzzled by Darren's gesture, but put it down to irritation 'Not like I don't often deserve it' he thought ruefully.

[Ari]

GM

The retired heroine smiled, evidently she had expected the question, and this time there was no hesitation in her response. "My greatest accomplishment? Heh, that undoubtedly was the time I defeated Set. It was 1965, a fine warm morning in July, and I was just crossing the south river to get back to my and David's apartment in the 'Center when a pyramid rose out of the water, its walls opening out to reveal Set and a small army of his serpentine soldiers!" Pouring another cup of tea for herself with a careful hand, she went on "He naturally began to sound out a challenge that rang through the whole city, declaring that he would level Freedom City if Horus didn't come and fight him. Of course I was suspicious at once! Set never played this boldly, he had to have had an edge. After landing on his pyramid and sneaking inside, I found it: a great crystal with an inscription that proclaimed it could place an inviolable wall between the gods and whoever spilt their blood upon it. It was in the center of a vast chamber obviously intended as an arena, and I knew then exactly what to do."

Smiling to herself, Grace took a careful sip of her drink, wrinkling her lips as she accidentally burned the tip of her tongue "Gh! Sorry dears. Anyway, I appeared before Set, and offered to accept his challenge as Horus was slow to arrive. He assumed I was someone else bound to one of the Pesedjet, and I didn't care to disillusion him. We fought, and I'll tell you kids, he didn't go down easily. He called up darkness to swallow me, I blasted holes in it, he tried to rend me with his claws, I blocked it force-fields, I tried to catch him again and again with old bounce the beam off the wall and floor trick, he got wise to it fast. At last, both of us were nearing exhaustion, and Set was mad. Mad and out of all patience. He teleported behind me, threw me onto the crystal, and taking a lance from one of his soldiers slashed me on the arm, laughing in triumph as my blood spilled onto the crystal." The former Sekhem took a more gentle sip "Then a looked into his snake eyes, smiled, and punched him so hard he fell unconscious. I was about to be swarmed by his furious army when the Freedom League just blasted clean through one of the doors and annihilated the force. Set vanished in the confusion, but the crystal was blown up and the day was saved!"

Turning to Subito she added "When they heard my story, I was promptly inducted into the Freedom League. I didn't go on many missions though, mostly helped take care of rebuilding after disasters, or serving as a substitute Horus. Never the glamorous work, but it helped folks and I'm glad I did it." she said with a smile. Looking back at Darren, she looked wistful for a second. "I was mostly...encouraged to give up crimefighting by the Scions of Sobek incident. I suppose for my generation it was sort of like the Terminus Invasion of '93 for the next. A sudden, shocking attack that subverts everything you expected and leaves far, far too many dead and too much destroyed to ever go back to the way things were." Grace looked at the table for a little while before admitting softly "I finally retired after Tectonic and Halogen were killed in the Katanarchist rampage. Something had changed about the world, and I knew I couldn't do the same good as I had any longer. I was too old anyway. After attending their funeral and the Centurion's last meeting where he disbanded the League, I went home and hung up the Sekhem. I picked it up again to fight the Terminus Invasion, but that was the last time."

Taking a deep breath she smiled at the two young Claremonters across from her. "Thank you both for listening. Now, humor an old and feeble woman: what do you want to be before you retire?"

[Russoboo]

Darren paused at Grace's question, pen perched in the middle of a word. He rolled his shoulders back and finished his notations before letting himself worry about how to answer. She was a former member of the League, someone who answered the calling with notions of responsibility and righteousness. Subito was just his peer, but one Darren didn't know particularly well. Between the two, very little encouraged him to be honest. Personal opinions aside, he could nearly taste the threat of a lecture. He drew in a deep breath.

"Something other than a super hero. If I could trade in the cape for something else with, like, any kind of elegance, I'd want to at least try it." Darren spun the pen in his fingers, tapped one end against the notebook. "There were other things I wanted to be before...everything. The caped crusading, sometimes it feels more like an obligation." He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm more worried about graduating than retiring."

[Ari]

"You beat up Set? By yourself?" Subito could not have looked more amazed and in awe if he had tried. Writing the story down almost as quickly as it was told, only a stabbing pain in his hand at last forced him to slow down, and eventually stop, writing. He thought over Mrs. Sobczak's question a great deal of seriousness, not least because he wasn't very familiar with either Grace or Darren, and being quite honest struck him as the best thing to do right then. 'That, and I wouldn't know what to say if I tried lying Yes, we need to do some work on that What, lying? Actually I was thinking of knowing what to say, but a little deception never hurt anybody. You should ask Blodeuwedd about that, she has pulled the wool over many eyes a number of times, and that is just counting when I have been near to see it Well, yeah, but she's had years of training in how to do that! Which would make her an excellent teacher ...Alright, I'll ask her about it, but if she says no I'm not asking again Ha! As you wish, my Herald'

Throughout the short conversation Subito had been looking with greater and greater intensity at his lukewarm tea, and when he suddenly came back to his senses he jerked with a motion that sent a great splash of tea into the air! "Ohcrap!" he gasped, his hazel eyes wide with horror. Acting with frantic energy the Puerto Rican boy swept the rest of his cup up after it, managing to catch all but a few drops of the precious liquid before it fell onto the spotless blue tablecloth. Breathing heavily for a few seconds, he looked sheepishly at their gracious hostess, managing a panted "Sorry Ma'am. Got distracted, won't do that again!"

Gulping back his drink before it could do any more damage and grinning as best he could at Darren, the muscular boy turned fully to Grace and said enthusiastically "I want to be a superhero more than anything. Before I retire, I wanna be the best hero Puerto Rico's ever had! We don't get many supers down our way, and I aim to change that! I want to gather heroes from all over to 'Rico so we can protect the Caribbean, and-and the whole world!" He was grinning much more confidently now, his warm face glowing with excitement at his dream. "I'm gonna be a diplomat too, making peace between people, stuff like that!"

[Ari]

GM

"Something other than a super hero. If I could trade in the cape for something else with, like, any kind of elegance, I'd want to at least try it." Darren spun the pen in his fingers, tapped one end against the notebook. "There were other things I wanted to be before...everything. The caped crusading, sometimes it feels more like an obligation." He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm more worried about graduating than retiring."

"An excellent plan" Grace said approvingly, smiling at Darren with a look that suggested she had herself once considered similar ideas. Beginning to say "In fact, I believe-Ooh!" she gasped sharply when Subito accidentally sent his tea rocketing into the air, and stared at him for several seconds. At last she said carefully "Yeees, please don't take any more tea, Subito. You are quite forgiven, but I won't risk it twice." She took another sip, frowning at the stocky teen as he outlined his own plan. Giving it some thought, she ventured "Well, that certainly is not under-ambitious. But I think it could use some consideration. You can't really plan to become someone admirable, and trying to do that as an end to itself can lead to some...very foolish decisions." she grimaced.

"So! Anything else you need to know? I have a couple decades of stories I can tell you about-" a sudden *WHAM* resounded through the air and floor as something crashed outside the house "-after we find out what that is." Putting her cup on the table and taking the sekhem off the wall, Grace walked casually outside.

On the front lawn was a strange egg-like black shell, dripping a viscous black liquid from its broken interior. Out of it was crawling a pale figure in a brown and gold cloak, a black veil obscuring their face. Grace stared at the figure for a few moments before pointing the rod at it and saying crisply "That is the Hand of Apep. Let's banish him together, kids!" the rod glowed and she whispered sharply "Sekhem" with a flash of light she stood before them in crisp white robes, with a golden headdress. She began walking grimly up to the Hand.

Seeing her approach, the cloaked figure weakly raised an emaciated arm, gasping out "Ssssekhem, no! You ssshould be helping me! I have ssseen the light at last! have mer-!" "No." Grace said, pointing the Sekhem at its head "I will not allow you to haunt my life." she glanced back at the two boys "Please don't interfere. I have to do this. I can't take this risk."

[Russoboo]

Darren jumped at the impact outside, then looked over his shoulder as if there was something to see. He laid his notebook back in his bag, left the whole thing in his chair, and then got up to follow Grace towards the door. Darren grimaced at the goo dripping on the lawn. "Kinda gross. Is he always, like...so gross?" His skin paled and started to shine like glass as crystal crept over him. Darren rolled his shoulders and stepped out onto the lawn after Grace. "I know I'm, like, a student and everything, but aren't you supposed to try to believe someone who asks for mercy? This guy looks like he might already be dying."

[Ari]

"Gr-I mean, Sekhem, don't do this." Subito told the scepter-wielding woman anxiously, quickly stepping between her and the pathetic figure on the grass. Raising his arms up slowly he went on, with a relieved look at Darren "Yeah, what he said. This guy's no threat to anybody! C'mon, leave him alone, how about we hear why he came back?" he suggested eagerly "If he's escaped from Apep or whoever, maybe he can help out!"

It was unlikely, but at least it might direct the vengeful Grave from thoughts of taking such quick action. "Let me and Darren carry him inside, he might need a hosptial." the stocky boy offered, bending down to loop one slimy arm around his neck and shoulder.

[Ari]

GM

Sekhem remained perfectly still for a moment, then muttered under breath and discarded the power. The clothes quickly changed back to her old outfit, and she led the way inside. Seating their guest at the table, Grace poured the Hand a cup of tea. Taking it with shaking hands, the Hand raised it the hood, and seemed to drink. "Thank you." it said. "Why are you here?" Grace asked impatiently, at which the Hand flinched and said quickly "I...esssscaped my imprisssonment. That thing outssside wasss my prissson, I usssed magic to tressspasss to thisss world." it gulped "I wasss...followed. Pleassse!" it held out its hideously thin arms desperately "Protect me! I can tell you about the Ssshadow-world! Who livesss there, what their power isss!"

Grace snorted derisively, then turned to the two Claremonters "Well kids, you're heroes, I'm not getting involved, and besides this thing needs medical help. I'll stay and make sure it doesn't get it's stupid ass killed. You want to face whatever thing followed the Hand back?" she asked with a grim smile.

[Russoboo]

Darren carefully looked away from Subito at the suggestion that he help carry anything, least of all a person, but he still followed after and did his best to at least seem like he was helping. Once the Hand had taken a seat, Darren stood back with his arms folded over his chest, listening. Though Grace had changed back to normal, Darren remained completely crystalline. He had no intention of being caught by surprise just for showing a little mercy. "Doesn't really matter who lives in the Shadow-world, we just need to know who followed you."

He shook his head and shrugged. "As a rule, I try not to get involved with magic, but, like, I don't think there's really a choice here. If we don't do something, then whatever it is will." Darren turned his head to give Subito a pointed look. "See, if we didn't take the bus like a couple of peasants, we would have been here and back already. This is, like, totally your fault."

[Ari]

Subito colored and glared at Darren "How is this my fault? I'm not the crazy guy from the Shadow realm who thought gettin' involved with Apep was a good idea!" he pointed accusingly at the man in question, adding furiously "Besides, you seriously think we'd be here less than a frickin' hour? Teach doesn't exactly want a few pages, bro." Waving aside the discussion, Subito turned to Grace "We'll do it. You can count on us. Make sure that guy gets treated for..whatever the heck is wrong with him."

Slamming hand onto his chest he said "Blue Dame, grant me your power!" and was answered in his heart 'Granted! Go forth, my Herald!'

With an explosion of golden light, Subito was transformed in the resplendent El Heraldo! Adjusting his sky-blue white-feathered hat, he walked briskly out onto the front lawn, calling back "C'mon, Darren! We ain't got all day!" over his blue and gold jacket's shoulder.

[Russoboo]

Darren smirked at Subito's glare, rolling his eyes without a hint of subtlety. "Just a joke, Subito, calm down. Or don't, whatever. You get all cute when you're mad." He chuckled and crossed over to where he'd left his bag. As he picked it up, he looked to Grace. "May I use your bathroom to change? I should only be, like, a minute." Grace pointed down a hall and Darren hurried off to change into costume and keep his civilians clothes hopefully out of danger.

He returned dressed in his usual white costume, holding his cape close. Darren set his bag back down, walked out to Subito to say something again, then thought better of it and drew his lips together again. A half dozen different digs popped into his head at Subito's gaudy costume, but Darren knew his own get up wasn't exactly tasteful. Instead, he smiled. "Alright, I'm ready." He almost bit his lip in time. "At least that blue looks good on you."

[Ari]

Adamas 'Not calling him "Darren" until he changes again' was greeted as he left the house with a brief and hot-eyed glare. Rising slightly into the air on a current of golden smoke, Heraldo replied "What is it with people saying my various moods and looks are 'cute'? Even Blodeuwedd does it!" shaking his head, the patriotic paragon turned to examine the sky for a few seconds. Then he looked back at Adamas with a frustrated look on his masked face.

"And comrade? I agree. My costume is awesome and I'm proud to wear it. So I won't say anything about yours, though I really want to." he said with a raised eyebrow at its brevity. A look that he cursed as he realized how long it had lingeredd.

Then it was back to watching the skies.

[Ari]

GM

Right as Heraldo raised his eyes to the sky he saw it. A narrow rent appeared in the sky, out of which flowed what looked at first like some kind of strange tentacle, but suddenly opened its mouth and flicked out a tongue to reveal that whatever it was, it was at least shaped like a snake made from tar and an utter void that devoured light.

Without much time spent wincing at the barrage of light hammering down from the Sun, it began to slither down through the air, heading straight for the house of Grace Sobczak, trailing faint streams of smoke from its burning body.

[Russoboo]

"Blodeuwedd says that? Sounds like she has a crush on you." Darren snickered and floated around the lawn. He hovered over to the black eggshell of ship that the Hand had arrived in. Darren didn't dare touch it, but he pulled a face at it and moved a little further up, away from the goo seeping into the ground below him. With a flick of his cape, he turned back to Subito. "You can say whatever you like, Herald, I promise you won't hurt my feelings too badly. And what exactly are we looking for here, magic man?"

[Ari]

Heraldo all but glared out the back of his head as his eyes wandered through the cold sky "She probably does, seeing as I'm her boyfriend and all. We-hey!" he had very suddenly realized what the thin black spiral in the sky was. Pointing his Banner of Victory at the shadow serpent, he cried "It's some kind of monster from the darkness! Up there, near the Moon." he shot off through the air in a streak of gold, racing towards the distant otherworldly beast! 'Herald, keep from its tail Will do! And give Darren a kiss Oka-oh shut it! You cannot see it, Subito, but I am smiling'

Calling back to the dazzling boy he shouted "It must be what Apep sent to kill the Hand! C'mon, Adamas, we have to get to it before it reaches any of the houses! There isn't a moment to lose!" he bellowed, rocketing at full speed in a blaze of patriotic power through the cold winter sky for his oily, writhing foe.