A Whole New World (IC)

[GranspearZX]

Terra. Not Earth.

That was why he couldn't pinpoint where the magic was coming from on the ship; by the time he caught it, it was everywhere. Beyond that... he was in the presence of Neptune. Fascinating as that was, Arc could tell that this was potentially bad. Magic, much like technology, had rules and laws that bound them. Magic, however, tended to bend them frequently. Breaking them was potentially catastrophic. He wasn't sure how to explain that with any amount of brevity to Starlight and Queenie yet.

"I'm Arcturus. This is Starlight, and Queenie," he said, introducing them all to compensate for the language barrier. "We were hoping to figure how how we got here, actually. The person responsible for getting us here seems to be missing. In the mean time there are... several people who aren't exactly accustomed to crossing realms unexpectedly..." 

What did it say about Arcturus, though, the he was used to having that happen? He looked over towards Starlight. "I guess it goes without saying that we're not on Earth anymore... this is going to be a problem."

Looking back at the enormous sea god, Arcturus continued. "Forgive my forwardness, Lord Neptune, but... you wouldn't happen to have seen anything else out of place around here, would you?"

[shojikitsune]

Lexi woke to a strange sound, or more appropriately, a lack thereof. She had intended to take a short nap, and the ship's purser had agreed to send someone to wake her, Now it was well past dinner and her finely cultured stomach had sounded its own alrm. She got up and tapped her tablet, turning it on and selecting the financial news feed, expecting to hear the built-in voice reciting stock market trends as she cleaned up and selected clothing. Instead, she recieved an error mesage indicating that while she was connected to the shjip's wi-fi, there was no signal past that.

"And here I paid for a first classs stateroom to *avoid* queuing." she grumbled, and finished getting dressed. She then picked up the ship's phone, calling the kitchen to see if something could be brought up to her room. She still has no idea of what has happened, unless someone in the kitchen tells her.

Just to be on the safe side, she activates her drone swarm and keeps it close. She can tell from her cabin window that they aren't moving, and the sea is unusually calm. Off to her right, she sees several humanoid figures streaking away. Superheros? Or villians? She can't really tell who they are at this time. But she can tell right away that even at her top speed she won't be able to catch up to them. With a sigh, she changes clothes yet again, this time into her Apex jumpsuit and collects the drones into deployment formation

However, when the porter delivers her food, he is seriously agitated. It is only a matter of moments before she learns of the disasters in engineering and the banquet she had been planning to attend. With her suspicions roused, she tears through the sandwich plate and salad so hunger won't distract her, and flies out her balcony window on a pair of hover drones. She heads for the bridge, wondering who might still be there. If she recognized any heroes (Monsoon and Edge are there, I think) or ship's officers, she'd address them directly, succinctly and to the point. About as seriously as any teenager girl hovering with a swarm of dronesa round her. It helps that Apex is the Face of LorneTek, and someone might recognize her as the company CEO OR as an engineer OR as Apex, its sponsored superhero. If not all three.

"I heard there's a problem with the ship's technology. I may be able to assist you."

[Avenger Assembled]

Neptune fixed his great watery eyes on the heroes thoughtfully, and then suddenly seemed to come to a terrible decision. The seawater that made up his body was indeed real ocean water - as he spoke, suddenly the water seemed to fill with a sudden eruption of predatory fish and sharks that had been summoned from his own watery depths. "So no one else knows you're here?" It was an ominous question - one that grew more ominous as Neptune raised his mighty trident threateningly, lightning beginning to crackle across its tines even as the sky overhead darkened with the ominous rush of a seagoing storm. "Well then. It's been fifty of your years since I killed a superhuman. Let's see if I still remember how." 

[shojikitsune]

Once informed of the issues, and granted access to the ship's interior, Lexi marveled at the Victorian-era steam punk designs hooked to the sealed engines. The engines, of course, fascinated her - it had been ages since she ran into a sealed design like this. Nevertheless, she managed to determine that some key parts needed replacing in order to safely use the engines. She started by having ship's staff gather parts for her as she prepared to make the needed repairs to the engines. Interestingly, she even had them get parts that might not make sense now, but would be commonplace aboard a seagoing ship, as some of the repair parts will actually need fabricating first, and they will provide raw materiel. 

But just as she finished using the intercom to relay her list to the crew, one of her drones reported an anomaly. It had been cut off from the interior light source for just a brief fraction of a second, and she realized that someone or something else may have cast a shadow on the drone, a shadow that was no longer there. She tapped out a set of commands quietly on her wrist mounted control - for show, certainly, but it had also become a bit of a habit. Drones closed in around her in a layered formation. The Inside layer extended their force fields onto and over Lexi, while the outer ring configured themselves as a secondary shield system, projecting their force fields outward in a staggered but imperfect hexagonal pattern. The third group moved around between their outer shield drones and the inner force field drones, their weapons systems reporting as online and ready to fire through those gaps in the secondary shields. If there was a fight here, she'd want to draw any attackers away from the engines, so she activated her hover drones last, and began falling back towards the doorway.

"Quit wasting my time and show yourself - I know you are there," she challenged calmly, wanting to secure the engineering area before making any further adjustments to the ship's systems. 

[GranspearZX]

"...hm. He wants to kill us now. Great." 

Arcturus wasn't going to mince words about this situation, so relaying it to Queenie and Starlight was just that simple. There really wasn't much else to it, even if he took the time to translate exactly what was said into English for the other two. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to defend himself. 

Of course, that required cementing a pact that he hadn't yet used before. They all demanded something different--Bear was childish and liked to break things; Tiger was aggressive and just wanted a fight. Turtle was... complicated. It was probably the furthest from the nature of the Beast Rune, demanding calm when Marcus's mind was always active and a little chaotic, despite the face he showed the world. It also required two runes to properly anchor the spirit--something he'd been highly reluctant to even attempt. This left him with little choice but to defend himself as he was.

"Okay." Arc's wings spread wide as he propelled himself further up into the air. "If you want a fight, I'll give you one!" He charged forward, wings beating as if he'd done this numerous times before. His right hand glowed blue for a brief moment before his fist iced over with Gelus, the Ice Rune shining across the back of his hand. If nothing else, he'd buy the others some time to get that ship moved--without ending up in the ocean himself.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Who am I?" 

The figure that appeared was perhaps not who Apex might have expected to show up inside a cruise ship's engine room - or indeed anywhere at all. Its gender indeterminate, the being appeared in what Apex could identify as a Roman-style toga, cut short and well above the knees. S/he had fine-boned, dark-complected features and wore a silvery cap adorned with wings - wings that matched those fitted to the golden sandals worn by the lovely-voiced creature on strong, muscular legs over shapely feet. "Greetings. My name is Hermes." Almost too fast to see, Hermes whooshed around the room, seeming to study her from every angle. "I may not be able to hide from you, but where have you been able to hide from me, child? Surely you haven't been hiding from my family all this time..." 

-

Neptune and Arcturus exchanged blows, the former knocking the latter aside, before the sea god fixed his gaze on Starlight. "This world has been ours for fifty years, foolish insect!" He raised a trident so vast one tine could have impaled Starlight from the head down, the oceans themselves rising at his fury in awesome waves of tremendous power, the unmatched fury of the sea itself at his command. "WE WILL NOT GIVE IT BACK!" 

[shojikitsune]

Apex raised an eyebrow, her inflection flat and unamused, "Hermes? Interesting." She sighed, "My name is Alexis Lorne. I'd explain what I'm doing here, but it's technical - so I won't bother. Besides, I doubt you could sit still through the required lectures. It would be a disservice to us both to inflict that on you."

She hovered up to an open area, conveniently close to one of the areas needing repairs and studied it, while keeping a wary eye on the speedster. "So, the middle of the ocean, at ground level - might I inquire as to what brings the messenger... 'god' all the way to our little boat? Olympus getting a little boring? Also, giant boat, bright colors, somewhat noisy - does it look as though we are even attempting to hide? And are you any good with a wrench? Calculus? Quantum mechanics? Because I have a lot to do in order to get this ship moving again, and you're being quite distracting just zipping about."

Continuing her checklist, she checks another part, waiting for the list of stuff she called in to arrive. "So, if you've some business, we should conclude it quickly. One would think that you would be fairly busy, considering that you are purported to have an actual job while all those other relatives of yours sit around and make proclamations or whatever. I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties, after all, and i would hope you would extend to me the same courtesy."

[Avenger Assembled]

"No, you aren't attempting to hide at all, are you?" Hermes seemed appalled by the very idea, eyes going wide and hand to the speedster's mouth. "I was hoping you'd been hiding out and the games would start again - but you have no idea where you are? About the war? About what happened-" That head shook back and forth, then the body, as if the divine messenger were trying to shake dirty water off that lovely frame. "I'll give you whatever help I can," Hermes offered, moving with mercuric speed directly to Alexis' side. "I'm no Hephestus or Vulcan, but I can make sure no one else knows you're here. No one but my step-uncle Neptune, anyway." 

[R. Bluefish]

For a brief, surreal moment, Starlight had actually thought their luck had turned. Maybe this would all be resolved peaceful-like. Then, wouldn't you know it, a sea god the size of a third-world nation was trying to impale her. She launched herself backward through the air, trying to get out of reach of his enormous trident. "This," she said through gritted teeth as she clenched her fists, which started to glow brightly, "has got to be the worst luxury cruise ever." Of course, it was also her first luxury cruise ever, so she didn't have much to compare that to. Maybe they were all like this.

She waited for the last moment, for the huge man to be fully committed to his attack, before throwing her hands out in front of her, palms forward, and letting loose with an eye-searingly bright blast of radiance that lit up the whole scene. The energy beam caught Neptune square in the chest, breaking his stance. It was hard to tell if she was actually hurting him or not, so she focused her will and poured it on, keeping the blinding column of light going for as long as she could before breaking it off with a small gasp. Her attack seemed to have actually stunned the massive titan, instilling her with a burst of confidence. "We don't want your world," she shouted. "We just want to fix our ship and go home! But we'll happily kick your ass all the way back to Olympus if you make us!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Starlight's blast did more than just disorient the titan - Neptune seemed to collapse down into the ocean with her shot, his body of water undulating as it seamlessly merged with the blue-green ocean beneath. Or so it seemed, anyway - under the water, she could see the rapidly moving outline of the deity heading in the opposite direction from where she'd come. It didn't look like he was retreating, however - more like he was gathering reinforcements. With her allies heading back towards the ship, it didn't look like they had much of any options. 

Starlight and the others were greeted on deck by Monsoon and Edge - the latter having hastily returned with the sick engineering crew and the captain (who were being tended by the ship's doctor, his costume looking singed and battered. "We have to get out of this dimension, right now!" the usually optimistic hero called urgently, his voice reaching down into the engine room thanks to Apex's comm signal. "I went to Freedom City, but ZEUS is there! The actual Greek god! The whole place was overrun by Olympian monsters! I don't think this is our dimension at all!" 

[shojikitsune]

Apex transmitted back, rather bemusedly, "Considering Hermes is here in the engine room helping me... run down parts, I suspected as much. I'll get to work on the engines now. Barring calamity, we should safely have full power in a few moments.."

She showed Hermes her diagrams and pointed out where certain parts needed to go, and in what order. If anything was still missing from her list, she'd ask him to search the ship for it. While they work, she'll ask casual questions, hoping to draw information out of the messenger god while not giving away too much.

"So, you mentioned a war. We seemed to have missed it. Can you sum things up for us? I suspect that will also explain a great deal about the issues we seem to be facing."

After she had repaired all of the missing and damaged areas, and properly configured the engines, she tried to figure out just how they went through the dimensions to begin with, and how to safely move back. She didn't want to cause any more trauma to anyone. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Well, about fifty of your years ago, my uncles Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto got tired of the Pact and decided to stage an invasion of your realm. After a long, bloody war against your armies and the various costumed, ah, champions of your realm, in which my uncles insist they painted themselves in nothing but glory, they won and 'restored the rule of the true gods to Earth.'. Oh, don't get me wrong," Hermes said with a shrug. "There are holdouts here and there, like the Helipolitan territory in Aegypt and that fellow in Felix Arabia, but the world belongs to Olympus." The divine messenger didn't sound terribly enthused about this, standing by as Apex finished her repairs of the drive. "It was all so grim and bloody, not like the wars of old, and they've all become so crass in their entertainments. Did that really not happen in your world?" Hermes asked, eyes lighting up with interest as quick hands briefly buffed and polished that shining silver helmet. 

[shojikitsune]

Apex nodded, listening as she worked. She rebuilt the wiring harnesses, completely realigned the antiquated steam and water piping to increase efficiency, and then began adjusting the mysterious drives themselves. "I see. No, plenty of wanna-be conquerors have paraded into my world, and received a grand thrashing for it. There's been some close calls, but never a flat-out war with Olympus. In fact, human climbers have reached the pinnacles of Olympus without encountering as much as a demigod. But the names and the purveys of you and your uncles are well-known, implying that there has been contact in the past."

She landed and crawled under the sealed drives, asking for various tools as she worked. "This is cause for concern, though - our inadvertent arrival has alerted your uncles to the presence of our world. OK, now I need the screwdriver - the red handled one to your left.That could be a problem for both sides, since it might lead to another pointless war. Do hand me that wrench there, with the blue handle. Thank you."

After taking the tool from Hermes, she reached up into one of the few accessible places on the engine, "Now, I just need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.... and done." Standing up, quite covered in grease, she returned to the communicator. "I've repaired the engine and optimized its mounting system. Never thought I'd see someone use a pan-dimensional phase array modulator as a glorified steam boiler though.  At least, that's what it looks like based on my analysis. Now we just have to figure out how the crew managed the dimensional jump here in the first place, and we *should* be able to reverse the process. Meanwhile the ship should have full mobility and power available from the bridge. All indicators here are green."

[R. Bluefish]

The mention of Hermes in the engine room caused Starlight's post-victory euphoria to evaporate instantly, and sent her running for the engine room. Whether he said her was friendly or not, she seemed to recall that the Roman gods were not known for their trustworthiness. Or at least, not known for their kindness. If he was on their ship, she was going to keep both eyes on him and every move he made.

She arrived outside the room just in time to hear Hermes's summation of this world's history, and lingered in the corridor to listen, her unease mounting with every word. The whole world? Conquered by a glorified frat-boy toga party? How...how is that possible? She leaned a hand against the wall to steady herself. Suddenly she found herself missing drug dealers and purse snatchers. Hell, she'd even take a nice, normal animated dinosaur skeleton. A planet that had been brought to heel by the gods themselves felt just a little bit out of her league. Although she'd be damned if she was going to show it.

She strode into the room, doing her best to exude confidence. "If the engines are fixed, then we need to figure out how to get the hell out of this screwy dimension before Neptune comes back with his posse." She turned to the strange figure. "You're Hermes, I assume? You have any kind of idea how we got here, or how we get home? And...why would you help us at all?" A random memory tugged at her. "Also...why are you calling yourself Hermes? Wouldn't it be Mercury?"

[GranspearZX]

Nothing about the situation was immediately encouraging, and Arcturus's zeal nearly got him knocked into the waiting and unforgiving ocean below. Thankfully, he managed to right himself beforehand, and by the time he took back to the air, Neptune was gone--temporarily. It would have been an outright lie to say he wasn't relieved when Starlight blasted him. Nodding a silent 'thank you', he followed everyone back to the ship.

"I figured as much," he muttered at Edge's observation. "I felt us cross but I thought it was just some small tear, not... not this." Arcturus motioned aimlessly, indicating everywhere. After hearing what had gone on while dealing with Neptune, he wondered what it meant for his own powers. Given their origin, he could take a few guess at what would have transpired. There was bound to be another wielder of the Beast Rune--at least, there would have been. Neptune had, after all, said that he didn't recognize 'the blessing'... That was probably a good thing.

"I can try to get us back, but... that could take a while." He was out of practice. No one he knew: Renè, Nick, even Robin--would be able to talk him through it. The physical aspects of his magic were easy, and while he was pretty well-versed in the theory, he wondered if he could even open the proper portal to get them all back where they belonged. For the moment, he figured Starlight's watchful eye on their speedy guest would be perfectly fine.

[Avenger Assembled]

Hermes actually blushed at Starlight's question before admitting, "Mercury thought the conquest of the globe would be fitting sport for a god and their brothers and sisters." The speedster twirled the staff zie bore, the familiar snake-wrapped staff of Hermetic legend, and replaced it on the other shoulder. "He was wrong." Hermes wasn't interested in expanding that point, but instead in asking a million questions of the heroes about their homeworld - who were its champions? What were the gods there? Edge took charge of this, giving answers to the divine speedster that managed to straddle the line between detailed and vague perfectly; to show all this world must have lost, and to show Hermes that even the gods were happy in a world where they were still on Mount Olympus. 

After some hours of work, Arcturus succeeded in crafting enough symbols on the ship that he could reasonably hope to shift the entire vessel back home - given a source of raw magical power. Luckily, Edge was standing right there! He joined Arcturus down in the engine room, the center of the dimensional disturbance, while Nina took up a position on the bridge, where a quick radio link revealed that things were getting bad. "Objects incoming on radar! This is going to be close!" 

[R. Bluefish]

Starlight stood on the deck, hands gripping the rail as she stared apprehensively in the direction the radar indicated the objects were approaching from. She had decided to trust Hermes for the time being, partly because he (or was it she?) was the only one who seemed to have a solid idea of what was going on, and partly because she herself was hardly in a position to judge other people for their poor life decisions. While her own mistakes weren't quite on the same scale as those of Hermes - hers never resulted in global warfare and subjugation, as far as she knew - she still wasn't about to climb up on her high horse and start preaching. And besides, until they were safely out of this dimension and back home, they didn't exactly have the luxury of refusing help from deities.

Her eyes were fixed on the horizon as she scanned for any sign of their approaching adversaries. She was confident in their ability to chase off Neptune if he came sniffing around again, but if he brought the rest of pantheon along, things might get a little hairy. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing Edge was up here, rather than down in the engine room juicing up Arcturus's symbols. Or even better, that they get the hell out of here before their company arrived. "Faster," she muttered to herself under her breath. "Faster would be better."

[GranspearZX]

Arcturus was, in fact, rushing as much as he could, but he was also being careful. Despite it being magic, there was a certain level of scientific methodology that he had to consider. He knew time was limited, however; if Hermes was to be believed, then Neptune's attack was only the beginning. There was a twinge of guilt about leaving the situation as it was, but this wasn't at all like when he'd ended up in War World.  There were innocents to consider, and he reminded himself that he, first and foremost, was trying to eliminate the possibility of casualties. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted... not now.

Thankfully, Edge was more composed than he was. He was right where he needed to be the minute Arcturus considered that he needed a magical source to power his endeavor... though initially, he'd considered using himself as the focus. It was dangerous, not only because Edge was probably far more powerful than he was, but also because he'd been through something similar once already. He was sure Edge could tell; Edge knew him from before AND after his graduation, so the subtle difference in his magical ability was probably far more obvious. All things considered, he was glad that he didn't have to talk about it. There was a good chance that, if he tried it, the animal spirits bonded to him would attempt to save him... and that wouldn't go well for anyone on the ship.

"Okay. It'll hold." Probably. "...I'm ready when you are, Edge." 

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's my cue!" called Hermes. "Good luck, heroes!" declared the speedster before zipping away from hir oncoming relatives. "I'llrememberyou!"

 

As sky and sea boiled over with lightning and waves, battering the heroes in the air, Arcturus cast his spell just as Edge hurled a searing white bolt of pure magical energy directly at the ursine caster. The heroes and civilians on the boat had one last glimpse of giant figures rising from the air, the sea, the stuff of reality itself all around them - and then they were gone. 

 

-

 

24 hours later, back in Freedom City, the exhausted heroes were debriefed by no less a figure than Seven, resident magical member of the Freedom League! They'd actually left their vessel back in the Caribbean, Edge having teleported first the sick people, then the passengers, then the crew, then the other heroes (those who couldn't fly, anyway) back to civilization. A rescue crew was on its way to pick up the boat - but everyone's attention was focused elsewhere, having just barely had time to call their families and figure out what was going on. It turned out the sick crewmembers had fallen ill from exposure to the Mictlan's drive, a cumulative effect that had been produced by the boat's interdimensional energies. 

 

"Well, a cruise ship company that has found a way to penetrate between dimensions." Seven smiled thinly as she looked around at the other heroes, all of them gathered in Freedom Hall at the end of a very long day. "What a day this has been. Now, tell me more about this dimension you found," she said, looking from one face to the other. "I've read Edge's exhaustive report - but I want to hear of it from all of you." 

[R. Bluefish]

Starlight kneaded her temples as she spoke, sure she had a new gray hair from the whole experience. "From what Hermes told us, about fifty or so years ago the Roman gods got tired of something called the Pax - or was it Pact - and decided to invade Earth." She shrugged. "They won. Beat our armies and our heroes both. Edge said he came here to Freedom City and saw Zeus himself, along with Christ-knows-how-many mythological monsters."

 

She leaned against the wall, feeling exhausted. "All I know is, we were hardly there for five minutes when Neptune showed up. We saw him on the radar, went to talk to him, he attacked us. We fought him off. Then Hermes shows up in the engine room, says he - or she, not sure - wants to help, tells us all about what happened to the world. Apex fixed the engine, and Arcturus and Edge were able to pull some kind of magic thing that sent us back here. Nick of time, too. A moment later, and we'd probably all be at the bottom of the ocean right now."

[shojikitsune]

Apex nods, tapping at a small audio earpiece as if muting a conversation to answer the questions. "The drive system aboard that ship was the most sophisticated piece of 'magical' technology I have encountered, linked to a steampunk-inspired 19th century boiler system. Since it was mounted imperfectly, it leaked energy like a poorly sealed reactor. Mind you, since it was 'magic' energy, the technological sensors didn't detect the danger.I suspect that the actual dimensional shift caused the injuries to manifest, based on how long they were in proximity to the sealed engine parts. In short, the cruise line had no idea what they were getting into."

 

She walked back and forth for a second, pacing, "I have taken some steps to investigate, although it is indirect. I have purchased enough stock for a controlling interest in the cruise line, and I am having all documentation on the engines sent to my people at LorneTek for further scientific analysis. Furthermore, by acquiring an interest in the company, I have my best accounting and bookkeeping team following the cruise line's cash flow, in an attempt to learn where they purchased the engines, and from whom. Since 'magic' is involved, i would ask that the League assign a magical liaison to the research. I will be heading it, and we can make joint reports on the engine designs, structure, and hazards."

 

For someone who was just in an alternate dimension speaking to a deity, Alexi seems rather contemptuous- but not dismissive - of magic as a whole.

 

"It *is* noteworthy that there is some... dissent in their ranks. Perhaps the Greek and Roman counterparts are separate entities there one faction opposing the other? If so, they could be formidable allies if this more aggressive pantheon tries to follow us. Beyond that, I cannot detail anything about the dimension, as I spent most of the misadventure in the engine room repairing the damage. I *do* have some environmental data, but it matches the ship's log and may be redundant."

[GranspearZX]

"The Pact, yeah. It's... well, pretty much what it sounds like. An agreement, of sorts, for them to not interfere directly with humans. Otherwise, well... you saw what happened in that other dimension. Having them on Earth is pretty disastrous." Arc had, at least, done his homework. It was how the Beast Rune came into being after the Pact--Artemis didn't have to be the one to look after her worshippers if she gifted someone else with power to do so. He still wasn't sure how he felt about higher beings using humankind as pawns, but considering that he'd seen the alternative...

"I don't get how that just got... erased. That shouldn't be possible on just a whim, right?" Gears were turning in Arc's head. It was a habit--he saw a problem that needed to be solved, and there he was, the shape-shifting problem solver. "I don't think they can follow us--I made sure of that--but if the person who got us there is still on the other side..."

 

Arcturus cleared his throat, smiling faintly at the audible nature of the air quotes around Apex speaking the word 'magic'. "Well... we were in the middle of the ocean, and if Hermes is to be believed, then the whole dimension is divergent from a single event. I'd assume that a lot of the environment would be the same. Out there, anyway. I'd like to go back and investigate further, though..."

 

[Avenger Assembled]

"The barriers around our dimension are strong," said Seven, "but not that strong. There are ways around them - and possibly ways to undermine them," she admitted. "Fifty years ago there weren't the kind of magical practitioners on Earth-Prime that we have today; the original Freedom League nearly lost when fighting Hades alone. From what you've told me...that version of the Freedom League must have gotten very unlucky." They all fell silent at that thought, the realization that the god-soaked world they'd seen on their dimensional trip could have been Earth-Prime if history had gone just a little differently. "But the important thing is that you saved our people - and you showed someone on that Earth that heroism doesn't have to be a memory. You did the right thing."