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::Exciting intro music plays::
"Good evening, welcome, and thank you for joining us. I'm Jerry Woodrow, and this is Cape Watch!"
"And I'm Gail Weatherby. Follow our Infini-cast and share your thoughts with us as we talk about the latest developments in the super powered community. Just go to Infini-gram and search, 'Cape Watch.'"
"That's right, Gail, it's that easy. We've got a crazy amount to talk about tonight, too, so let's get right into it: Are we seeing the beginnings of a new super team?"
"It sure seems that way, Jerry. There's been no official statement from the Alliance of Heroes as of yet, but let's take a look at what we know. What you're seeing is footage from two days ago, at Hyperion Elementary, shortly before its total destruction."
"No one was seriously hurt, were they, Gail?"
"That's right. But released hospital records indicated all the children had shown elevated glucose levels. That can only mean one thing, right Jerry?"
"You know it: The Confectionist. The sweet-toothed villain's culinary crime wave appears to have been halted before tooth decay could set in, thank goodness. But the question is, who are these young heroes who stopped him?"
"One thing's for certain, that's Horizon there with the strange black-looking energy. The former Sentinel is back on the horse, and this time with new teammates?"
"There's another one we here at Cape Watch were able to recognize, Gail. That one in the power armor calls himself the Steel Guardian. He was seen fighting Magmordius the Magma Menace in Toho Park six days ago."
"Hot stuff, right Jerry?"
"Indeed. And speaking of hot, what about this... devil girl?"
"Easy there, Jerr. She might be a succubus, known for stealing men's souls."
"Well, who needs to steal men's souls when you can just pound them into pulp! Look at that beating she put on the Confectionist!"
"That's right, Jerry. I like her pose right there. She's not trying to be sexy, she just opened a can of whoop ass. She's no sweet princess; she's a diva!"
"A 'Devil Diva,' Gail?"
"You don't get to pick out names. Let's move on. Who's that she's with? He fights like an animal. Took a bon-bomb to the face, too, and kept on going! What do you think, are those tats part of what's giving him his power?"
"Could be. Though, I got this one tattoo of Ultra-Star on my arm one time when I was drunk, and it never gave me any powers."
"TMI, Jerry. So the Tattooed Terror and Devil Diva finished off the Confectionist, but let's take a look at why there weren't any major injuries -- this young man in the hood. That's a very flashy form of levitation. All the sigils and spinning symbols. Not your typical TK, is it?"
"Most certainly not, Gail. In fact, our experts here at Cape Watch are pretty sure that's not telekinesis at all -- that's magic!"
"Quite right, Jerry. We might be seeing our first bona-fide magic hero since Doctor Infinity!"
"You heard it first here on Cape Watch, folks. We've got some more footage of these heroes to get through, so let's push forward. We've got a pair of colorful characters. One glowing bright, and the other bright pink!"
"It's always exciting to see heroes embracing color in their costume choices. And these two have it in spades!"
"What costume, Gail? The pink girl's skin is pink, and the yellow girl's hair is glowing!"
"It's still a great look for them, Jerry."
"All right, all right. I defer to your fashion acumen. So, is that it?"
"No, there was one more! A gadgeteer, by the looks of her. Always seemed to have what she needed in a pinch!"
"Those sugar-rushed kids were going to do more than pinch!"
"Quite right, Jerry. So, how many was that? Eight? Wow!"
"I know what you're all thinking: could this be the start of something big? Just when the Sentinels disband, we've got a new group of heroes teaming up and saving the day? Let us know your thoughts on Infini-gram!"
"Coming up next: what did happen to the Sentinels? No one's talking, so everyone's guessing. Hear what these cape-watchers believe, right after this!"
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"It's nostalgic, I'll give it that," Whippoorwill says as she looks around the cavernous subway station. Her feathers twitch as she explains to Horizon, "it was thought destroyed during the Oblique Dimension's incursion, but it was actually just displaced. Found by Captain Hazard and repurposed into his lair, then the Indignant Guild got it, and so on. They sure don't make these places like they used to. Once thought about using it myself, except I prefer much higher elevations."
She leads her protégé through the old underground structure. "I thought you could use a place, maybe bring some of those new friends of yours here as some place to hang out. Since, you know, the other place isn't an option anymore."
A small chime sounds on one of her gloves. She glances at it. "I gotta go. Think about it and give me an answer tomorrow. This might take all night," she says with a slight look of distaste. The Alliance member spreads her wings and takes off.
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"Thank you for joining us," Captain Stalwart nods to Whippoorwill as she takes a seat. Yeoman is immediately there, offering her a beverage which she waves off.
"Thanks for waiting on me." She glances around. "You didn't, did you?"
"Time is short. We must decide. We can't have another incident like the Sentinels," Foray says simply, but without apology.
"Fine," Whippoorwill says. "I agree. So, did you decide anything?"
Imagerie is sitting with her elbows on the large table and her chin in her hands. "No."
"All right then. What options are there?" the winged hero asks.
"In a nutshell? Either hands off, or some level of hands on," Captain Stalwart says with a sigh. Ordnance moves his head like he was going to say something, but the captain cuts him off. "We're not going with shutting them down. That's worse than hands off."
"You're saying 'hands off' like it's foregone that it's bad," Imagerie says testily.
"We were about as 'hands off' as you can get with the Sentinels. And look what happened," Foray replies.
"We don't even know what hap--"
"It was bad enough, based on the aftermath." Foray steeples his fingers before his mouth as he sits back.
"I'm really sorry I missed this up 'till now," Whippoorwill says, just deadpan enough that she might actually be serious. "How about letting me know what everyone can agree on. Is some level of 'hands on' going to get the majority vote?"
There's silence around the table.
"If the young heroes need guidance, then why not provide that guidance?" Yeoman asks in his innocent-sounding voice.
"It's not that simple. I'm showing Horizon the ropes, yes, but I can't do that for seven others! One-on-ones take time."
The robot's unblinking eyes scan everyone at the table. "Schools teach the young all manner of skills. Can not one teacher impart these same lessons to a team of beings with powers?"
The heroes assembled at the table take turns looking at each other, no one making the first move to speak. Finally, Yeoman raises its gangly arm. "I propose the Alliance creates the first dedicated curriculum for super hero education."
Foray leans over to Ordnance. "Has he ever made a motion before?" he whispers. The techno-alien shakes its head no. "Huh."
The archaic robot turns its head to the martial warrior. "I believe, Sir Foray, that the time is ripe."
"...I am bushed."
Horizon groaned as he sprawled out on the floor, freshly swept clean of debris as well as sanitized by a bath of radiant energy to boot. The idea of having his own base to work with like the old one was great. Unlike that one though, he had the unfortunate duty of trying to get the place cleaned up after a few decades of being dusty and unused.
Currently he had three different piles set up - pure trash, historical value, and useful stuff, the latter one being a very small pile of super tech and talismans that he figured he could catalog later. He'd spend about four hours of non-stop cleaning to get to this point - with a bunch of clean dorm style rooms, all of the broken glass swept away, and getting an icebox and portable propane stove set up for those of them who needed a good supply of food. Being they were all teens, he figured it would have to get restocked every two or three days.
Another team. He honestly hadn't expected to be a part of one so soon - or that Whippoorwill would want him to lead it. He had stepped up before because he'd felt that he had to, but now with a bunch of new people could he possibly work with them? They'd managed to come together on the fly against the Confectioner (He still was aghast there was an actual villain with that gimmick) and now they were supposed to be coming here soon. Hopefully through the secret subway entrance that he'd told them all about on the communicators he'd doled out after beating the candy-themed criminal.
"...Enough sitting around," He said, kipping up and then flying up to the hanging clock at the ceiling. This was the big deal of the base - a hidden supercomputer, with so many parts and additions added in over the decades he wasn't sure what were the original at all. But once he got it powered up and connected to the Internet, it would rival the one from the old base.
He tinkered, careful to blow out dust and to not damage anything while servicing the machinery, mentally making a list for what he'd need for interfaces in the future...
Love Bug, The sputters solar flares as Femtite lands her craft.
Once on the ground, she volleys over the driver’s side door, shrinks her craft and wears it as a pendant. She strolls into the base clad in her usual schoolgirl attire.
“Greetings, Horizon. What a very interesting dwelling. I suspect the population of microorganisms is unusually high here.” Femtite seems quite comfortable with her assumption.
There is a cylindrical object in her hands, gift-wrapped in pink and gold, with a gold ribbon that says Happy 50th Anniversary!
“It is customary to bring a gift when you are invited to one’s home. Please accept this. It is useless to me.”
Femtite offers Horizon her gift.
From one of the dark side tunnels of the abandoned subway station, a pair of yellow eyes can be seen, reflecting the faint light of the place. It is hard to tell how long they were there, watching.
A young man steps out of the tunnel, wearing simple, ragged clothes: Some jeans, sneakers, a simple T-shirt and a brown leather jacket, even if the night is quite hot outside. As he comes closer, it becomes apparent that his clothes are not old... in fact they are quite new, but ragged nevertheless.
Caio squints his eyes as he gets closer to Femtite, her brightness apparently hurting his eyes, that gradually turn from yellow to brown. "Hi..." He says, a bit shy. His whole body language tells of his uneasiness with the situation.
A few moments later, another member of the team emerges from the shadows behind Caio. A baggy gray sweatshirt and pants conceals their figure, but there is no hiding the long, barbed tail that protrudes behind them, nor the curved horns that poke out from beneath the hood. The figure pulls the hood back, revealing the purple-skinned, fiendish visage of the girl the press has begun to call Devil Diva, but who prefers to be called Max.
”Hey, Horizon. Femtite,” she says, her voice a sultry growl. She gives both heroes a small nod, then looks around the base. ”Hmm. Talk about a fixer-upper...”
Femtite’s heart-shaped pendant starts blaring, she’s a bit of a fixer-upper from the Frozen soundtrack.
“Stop music,” Femtite commands. The music stops.
She then turns to Max and Ciao, ”HI, hiiiiiiii!!”
There is a low rumbling that seems to come from all directions, given the cavernous nature of the room as well as the various tunnels leading in. Eventually, everyone present is able to pin point exactly which passage the ruckus is coming from, just moments before the metallic form of Steel Guardian flies into the room before righting themself in the air. They hover for just a moment before landing surprisingly lightly.
”Well…this place seems…nostalgic,” they say, their voice a heavily synthesized, robotic tone. They look over at the central computer, before adding ”Heh…didn’t realize you’d be hosting a museum here, Horizon. That thing is a relic. I bet with modern components you could recreate the power of that thing into something about the size of a tablet. Right Codex?”
”It would be impossible to determine without running diagnostics on the hardware to determine if any foreign technologies are integrated into the CPU systems,” a feminine, also synthetic voice states from the same speakers.
"So... you really think this thing..." Caio makes and ample gesture, encompassing both the place and the people. "... is going to work?" He seems doubtful.
Caio looks at Max. "Man, if it was not for you, I'd not have come... this is not for me AT ALL... o merda..."
"This place looks... a lot of work." He says, not really eager to help.
“Wait…” Femtite frowns. “Is this not a house-warming festivity?”
"Max. Caio. Femtite," Horizon said as he looked down at them from the clock, before leaping and floating down to the floor. He takes the present from Femtite with a puzzled look, but nods and sets it in the useful pile of tech and artifacts for the time being. "If you'd like to help me, I just got started..."
He's cut off by the arrival of Steel Guardian, Shin watching them as they fly in. "Nice entrance - I'll have to see about having a more flyer accessible point of entry in this base. And Clocktower's definitely got years on it, but with some new upgrades it'll be able to analyze and give us data on anything online in moments."
He grabs a couple brooms and dustbins, handing them out. "Right now though, I've been working a few hours just to make this place habitable. I've gotten some basic rooms set up - nothing fancy yet, just fold-out bunks and footlockers - so if we want to make this into a proper base for all of us, we need to all pitch in the effort like a team. What do you say?"
Steel looks at Horizon flatly, but if their metal face was capable of emotion, you’d swear it would be looking at him in mild disgust with an arched eyebrow. ”This unit isn’t really designed to be optimal at chores. But, I can still give you guys a hand by analyzing the computer with CODEX and seeing about what sort of functionality it still has and what needs to be done to get it up to some sort of respectable state,” they counter.
Max returns Caio's look. Neither one of them really want to be here, but they don't have anywhere else to go. "Yeah, okay. We'll do what we can," she says to Horizon.
Femtite looks disappointed. “Work? I… I… wore the wrong outfit.”
She yanks her heart-shaped pendant off its chain. The heart rises. Femtite levitates as well. Her clothing dissipates—her body is fire—a sunbright flame vaguely girl-shaped.
The heart pendant attaches to roughly where Femtite’s heart may be, not that any human can look at her without her shape being burned into the retina!
She twirls about as mauve jeans are painted onto her thighs, with the usual imitation Chucks at her feet. On her upper body a peach-colored t-shirt unfurls from shoulder to midriff. The cartoon fairy on the ‘casual’ shirt is clearly Tinkerbelle, but with a pink dress and vermilion hair. Same do. The glittery cursive name reads Tinklebrie. There is a square logo depicting an arc with mouse ears. Next to the logo, a cartoony font reads MouseCo.
Finally, Femtite’s hair swirls into a style identical to Tinkerbelle’s and Tinklebrie’s. When the princess gloves are painted onto her arms, pink work gloves cover the fingers.
Femtite’s skin cools from high-noon-blaze to beach-bronze. She lands from her hover, wearing her shrunken Love Bug, The as a pendant again.
“A broom, you say? I’m on it like Donkey Kong!”
Femtite grabs a broom.
”…Yeah…that was necessary…” Steel Guardian muses as they move towards the computer, metallic footfalls echoing through the room.
“Indeed,” Femite wholeheartedly agrees. “Who sweeps in a sweater vest, right?”
|
Percy currently in his outfit as Indarius steps down one of the subway like tunnels his arcane tome latched in the pouch hanging to his side, staff clacking against the old concrete the crimson hood drawn low as always when in costume casting an enchanted shadow over the majority of his features. The tip of his staff is alight with a cool blue ghost fire lighting the surroundings near him.
He walks up to the group mid-femtite's transformation, "That's certainly flashy, let's just hope we don't have any Stealthy lookouts coming up."
Approaching closer after the transformation completes he pulls down his hood revealing the young man, Caucasian with hints of middle eastern ancestry, dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a slightly crooked nose as if it had been broken and not quite set right as a kid. He put on a light smile, and took in the base. "It's good to see everyone again. I take it this is where we'll be doing our heroics out of? Very kind of them to give us a free base." His gaze falls sheepish whenever he spots Steel Guardian. "I see your frame is repaired... I hope it wasn't too difficult? Sorry again." After a small pause leaving room for a response he moves to Shin and the small collection of assorted artifacts giving them a curious look over.
"We should probably do better than leave these in a pile, if noone else is on it yet I think I can make sure these are stored properly and undamaged if you want Horizon."
As Indarius approached, Steel Guardian seemed to begin powering up! ”Arcane threat, detected,” CODEXes voice announced as Steel Guardian turned towards the newcomer. They made no real change in their posture, but the synthetic voice of the suit’s host replied ”Stand down, Codex. It’s alright. It was an accident after all…right? I meant to ask, you a Hufflepuff or a Slytherin?”
Conflux had been following in Shin's wake, picking through his discards with inverted ziploc gloves, sealing each potential in its own little pouch.
"Things once valued and now forgotten can serve as channels for all kinds of spells of concealment or memory..." But it would be even better if there's something still beloved and special that he missed. Rarer, sure, but hiding in plain sight is hard, even for totems...
As Caio and the others emerged, she quickly stuffed the ziplocs in the right-hand pockets of her cargo pants. She smiled broadly and warmly as both a greeting and camouflage. "Cujo! Deedee! Robby! Ugh!" she greeted Caio, Max, Steel Guardian, and herself. "Don't worry Fems, you'll get the joke after next week's screening.
"But til then, grab a dustpan, and save me the best broom so I can go all Sorcerer's Apprentice later but uh, better. Best part of clearing up is getting to carve out a space of our own!" She did a big twirl on one booted foot, sending the hood and tails of her coat flapping beneath her outstretched hands. A bright shock of hair came loose from where she'd tied it out of the way, so she plucked one and sealed it away in a fold of scotch tape. Chem-burned and commonplace, but sympathetic link is obviously strong for escape/evasion. Not broadly applicable though.
When Percy started going through her rubbish though, she pulled her hood back up and rolled up one sleeve. Her sharpie hissed away as she covered her forearm in notes and vague sketches of what the wizard seemed to find notable:
"Needs Containment?"
"Original Form Unimportant?"
"Must Be Rechargeable"
and when she thought back further:
"Femspection Lenses:
Eclipse Glasses?
Microscope?
50s connection/B&W?"
She wasn't particularly looking at her arm as she scribbled, so it was more than a bit illegible, but writing the note meant she wouldn't forget it, so it wasn't like she'd actually read it later anyways.
"So Boss Man," she turned to Shin, "does every Teen-Team get their own Cave of Wonders or are we special?"
Also stepping from the darkened tunnels comes Candy Grrl. She steps into the blue-tinged illumination with a robot wave of her hand;
<Hello Frriends. This location is neat and sweet! Definitely an improvement on the bassement you rescued me from. Approval is... 91.37%.>
She halts, head swivelling methodically 360 degrees as she takes in the whole location. Before turning her impassive features back towards the assembled team;
<If sanitation work is required can operate at an opptimum level for indefinite period provided Oh-So-Yummy! They-Taste-Gummy! saccharine based fuell is available. I can also stretch my limbs to reach all the dusty corners and crevices.>
Candy Grrl tilts her head expectantly toward Steel Guardian;
<Hufflepuff or a Slytherin? Theyy sound... interesting. Are they like Puff-Kandi or Glycerine?>
Devil Diva gives Indarius and Candy Grrl a slight nod of acknowledgment as she works beside Caio, carrying the heaviest bits of junk around the lair to the central piles. "Looks like the gang's all here," she remarks.
Femtite need only shrink to consume bacteria at microscopic size. Her fiery form can easily kill a germ of approximately equal size or slightly larger, and by growing larger than most microorganisms, she may consume a multitude of bacteria and viruses. Respectively, they are a great source of amino acids and proteins. “Perhaps at human size, quinoa, eggs and mushrooms are of optimal nutrition.” Her people farm microscopic fungi on their home planet, Nanometeorite.
She normally sleeps in her shrunken Love Bug, The. ”I can sleep at any size, and sleep in the safety of my craft. I fear if I have a nightmare in human form, I’ll set the bed on fire!”
On baths, she must be in her flesh form. If Conflux is present to talk her through the human way, Femtite is not shy. Her people do not clothe their bodies, though she’s glad humans do. “Nudity is not taboo for us, but clothes are so much fun!” The water becomes steamy-hot from Femtite’s body heat.
On language, “I cannot speak the Queen’s Language at this size.” She demonstrates by shrinking to 1 cm tall. Dogs bark as she states her name, inaudible to Conflux (but maybe Ciao could hear!). The tiny Femtite breathes a 10 cm cone of fire as she speaks! After growing back, she explains, “This is why I speak the King’s Language.
“Thanks for your tips!” Once out of the bath, she magical girls an outfit on. Her pink tee-shirt has a scarlet square with a thumbs-up logo. thumbbook is written under the thumb.
“Screening, Connie? I’m not sure a medical examination will be conclusive.” Confused, but trusting, she affirms, “I will not worry.” She whispers, “Unless there’s a needle involved. I might melt the needle.”
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Caio greets Percy and Conflux as they arrive, but only nods to Candy Grrl.
"Yeah... it looks like so." Caio replies to Max, eyeing Candy Grrl and Femtite. "I know we are in no position to judge, but, nossa, those two are really strange." He adds in a whisper.
When everyone arrives, Caio puts down a large piece of rubble and grabs his broom, while coming closer to the others. "Hey guys, how about we talk about this?" Once more he makes an ample gesture. "Look, I know we teamed up against that crazy candy man, but I did so mostly because Percy asked me to help... I'm not sure I'm up for this. Unlike you lot, I'm certainly no hero."
"Also, not trying to look cheap..." He says this as he looks at Steel Guardian and Horizon. "...but I do not have the cash for this. I still live with my parents help and not only I need to study to unburden them, but also I will not ask them to help funding this... whatever it is."
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"Strange attracts strange," Max whispers back to Caio.
When he speaks out to the group, she stays by his side, but remains quiet for now.
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Percy shrinks a bit at Codex's initial reaction to his presence, but between Conflux also approaching and Steel Guardian's words he relaxes and nestles his chin with an ever so slight turn, "Yeah it was, sometimes I get the incantations a little wrong or my concentration slips, that's why you got hit with the steel rebar. Not to sound too pompous, but I always saw myself as a Ravenclaw."
He does shake his head slightly at Conflux's suggestion to use a broom and magic to expedite the cleaning process. "Magic isn't something that we can use to solve all our tiny problems Conflux. Never hurts to put in some honest effort ourselves." Picking up a small harmless looking piece of scrap from a device that's 'totally not' from an old dispatched death ray prototype he offers it out to Conflux, "Any ideas on this?"
A pause hung in the air after Caio spoke and Percy turned to look at him honestly. "Hey don't say that, it's not just because I asked and you know it. No one throws themselves on an explosive chocolate tart because someone asks you kindly." He looks up and around at the old station, "Okay except maybe in the Bioshock universe, but i'm pretty sure we didn't get that one and you didn't drink any weird glowy juice to get your powers... i think? Regardless I did some reading and if we become an official super team I believe there's a small stipend to help folks like us while we're heroing and trying to finish school."
"Hey, if you want to take a crack at it, feel free. I'm still working on getting it ready to boot up," Horizon informs Guardian, before turning to see about some delegation of duties - especially now that the final members of this impromptu team had arrived.
"Okay, Conflux and Indarius, you'll be in charge of cataloguing anything that might be dangerous, useful or both from what we find cleaning up. Make sure to agree on a proper labeling system, and also work on how to store it all safely." Shin directs them. "If it's useful and not dangerous, still let me know about it but you see about utilizing it for the team."
"Fem and Candy," He says, taking a moment to assess their abilities and enthusiasm. "I've done this section here," He waves over the station terminal and platform, a lot of the building having been converted on the inside to partition off rooms for privacy, "So if you both want to start dusting and gathering any loose items in this section over here I'd appreciate it. If you find anything that seems magical, dangerous, or useful, add them to the right piles whenever you make a trip over here."
Now he turned to Max and Caio, addressing the former's concerns first. "You don't have to pay a cent out of pocket. If you need equipment or anything, you can give me a list of stuff to requisition and I'll see what I can do to get it for you. I can't promise everything, but stuff like a costume or uniform should be easy - also one that won't tear apart on you," He says, noting Caio's recently wrecked clothing.
"For helping out here, do you want to help me move some of these old subway cars?" He suggests, pointing to the rusted out and wretched looking cabs on the broken tracks. "I'd like to make some room for a training area if possible."
Candy Grrl listens Horizon then nods deliberately;
<Clean and dust. Right piles. Sweet.>
She then walks right up to Femtite, her head tilting in curiosity;
<Are you an anything dangerrous Frriend Femtite?>
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“Dangerously hot,” she says more flirtatiously than she would have if she could reverse time and shut up.
Sheepishly, she says, “What I mean is… all of us are potentially dangerous. Take you, for instance. You’re harder than a jawbreaker. You could break a whale’s jaw. But I know under the surface—“ (These words trigger a song.) “—you’re as sweet as can be.”
Femtite whispers “music stop,” into her pendant, then goes on, “You would never hurt a whale. You’d save the whale.”
She magical-girls the Tinklebrie t-shirt, so it now says, Save the Whales. (The correlation of the image is questionable.)
“I myself can reach temperatures that make a vat of boiling cinnamon hearts seem like a lukewarm bubble tea… but I would never pose a danger to you, or anyone here, or anyone innocent.”
She smiles at Candy Grrl.
"Fine, I wanted to help as well... make a good use of my curse, for a change, but even so, it was not my intention to do this for a living." He acknowledges Percy's point, but isn't completely convinced that he wants this hero thing for himself. "The 'Tattooed Terror', they've called me... I look much more like the bad guy." He complains, but then laughs. "It could have been worse, like 'Furious Furry', but why not Lobo... I mean, Wolf?"
As Percy and Horizon explains this could be seen as some sort of job, the idea doesn't seem too bad, even if he is positive that his parents would certainly not approve. Perhaps there could be a compromise. "Fine... I'm in, but only if I can also keep doing normal stuff. I still want to study and so on. I do not plan on being cursed forever."
"I don't think I need anything aside from food." He looks at Max, this being a somewhat inside joke, since Caio eats a lot, like about four times of what a huge person can eat, even if he is neither tall, nor big. His sigils consume a lot of his energy, so even eating so much, he hardly gains any weight.
He doesn't say anything about the offer about outfits, since he was always told by his parents that if you do not have anything good to say about something, you should say nothing. Caio then grabs his cellphone. "I need to send you guys a music... for safety."
”I don’t know if the budget is big enough to cover all the food you eat,” Max says to Caio, giving her friend a slight smile. She looks to the others. ”If he’s in, then I’m in. Not like I have anywhere else to go, looking like this.”
The smile, fleeting such as it was, vanishes from her face.
As the fledgling team works to tidy up the lair, Max takes a moment to take stock of things. The whole situation feels tenuous at best. Most of the other people here are still relatively unknown quantities, not to mention the pile of potentially hazardous objects nearby. Someone—or something—might be a threat...
You watch the debris and remains of possibly a dozen or more supervillain experiments and plots. Busted relics of Silver and Bronze age villainy. The plumes of dust rising as the brooms attack the errant bits of rust and shattered glass.
Plumes of dust that look like the smoke rising from the broken idol.
Threats? What's not a threat? There's people here using magic like it was a video game. There's aliens and experiments and armored people who won't show their face.
You're surrounded by threats.
Yeah, it’s just like she thought. Threats are all around. And who was Max to think that she could stand up to them? Beneath the fearsome facade that had been imposed upon her, Max was still just a scared teenage boy, in way over his head.
Max pulls the hood back up over her head and tries her best not to draw further attention to herself.
Shin shows Caio and Max the four train cars that he wants moved. "See, I'd do this myself, except that despite a lot of things that my powers can do, lifting heavy objects is not one of them. I could cut them apart, but they're still structurally intact and I'd like to save them as potential storage space."
He looks the pair over carefully. "I know neither of you are big on the heroics thing. But just know that I believe in the sanctity of secret identities, and no one has to reveal themselves to the team. And we'll do everything we can to make sure that your parents will think this is just...community service. So your parents won't worry," He assures Caio.
Then he looks at Max, smiling to them. "So...you're very tall," He laughs a bit, before patting a train car. "Think you can lift this thing up, or are we better off pushing?"
Max doesn’t return Shin’s smile. ”I... I can do it,” she replies, though she doesn’t sound too sure of herself. Still, she sets herself to the task, grunting with effort as she hefts the heavy car!
“Of course you can, Max! Jab, jab, strong combo—you got this!”
Caio nods as rests his broom against the wall. "Sure!" He was happier pushing big things anyway, since it was not a big deal for him and he never liked doing chores.
However, as Horison tries to reassure him about his parents, he stops pushing the train car. "Opa... no thanks! We have our fair of trouble in Brazil, so my parents will not really pay attention to the news in the US... unless you give them reason to."
Caio hears Femtite's comment and frowns, not understanding her need to be so loud and positive, almost like a crazy cheerleader. When he looks at Max, however, he finally realizes something is wrong. "Hey Max, you ok? We both know you are now hell of strong, so push!" Caio once more makes a silly joke... one of his trade marks.
Max looks at Femtite and nods, remembering their flight together. She starts to feel more sure of herself, then Caio cracks a silly joke. ”Idiota,” she says with a good-natured chuckle.
Steel Guardian watches everyone interacting with one another, particularly Horizon as he attempts to assume leadership of this new “team,” as they worked on the super computer and attempted to get it up and running. As the system begins making the telltale signs of powering up, SG finds an access port that has a compatible data connection for them to utilize and hooks up.
Candy Grrl mimics Femtite's smile awkwardly before setting to work.
When Caio mentions food, she pauses and stretches an arm back into the shadows to retrieve a battered duffle bag seemingly full of golden coins.
Dumping it near the tall ragamuffin she continues continues to affix her rictus smile;
<Frriend Caio... Should we call you Tattooed Terror? Please find what you require in the bag. High levels of saccharine energy in abundance...>
She retrieves a one of the glittering coins, then pulls back the foil revealing a dark chocolate disc.
He does shake his head slightly at Conflux's suggestion to use a broom and magic to expedite the cleaning process. "Magic isn't something that we can use to solve all our tiny problems Conflux. Never hurts to put in some honest effort ourselves."
Connie gave a long blink. "You know a self-replicating army of automata does have other uses. Not that I'd try it until I fixed that pesky uprising issue of course."
As Percy started pushing through the artifacts with his staff, she flapped her hands and cried out. "Hey hey hey! No conductive stuff with unclassified talismans!"
“In fact, its design was supposed to allow me to blend in with my surroundings, but… Initiate Cloaking Device.” Femtite’s entire body is covered in magenta. “You can see me, right?”
Shifting to her school clothes, she offers, “Anyway, if you want to join me in futures baths, I can accommodate your comfort level by wearing a swimsuit, altering my size, and warming the water. I do not recommend we bathe at the boiling point. I may attempt to consume human food. There is so much to experience…”
Femtite has an awkward look as Connie talks about hotel bedrooms. “Please excuse me.”
She removes her heart pendant, which spurts tiny bursts of yellow to hover in place. She makes herself incredibly tiny and enters the vehicle. A magenta dome closes over her. After about half a minute, she comes back out. Her body stretches and contorts until she is human-sized again. She again wears her Love Bug, The as a pendant on an amethyst necklace.
“Hotels… Connie, are you here on vacation?” Femtite has a sad look because she doesn’t think that could be the case.
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Percy hummed at Conflux knowing the inherent dangers of magic having experienced it first hand several times. "Exactly, it's when things get out of control that the issues begin and like the uh.. self-replicating machines, very difficult to stop once it starts." He stops stirring the pile with his staff as soon as she starts flailing about he considers what he was doing for a moment and sheepishly turns his head retracting the staff. "Right sorry, You've been here sorting through this a bit already I bet you have a system and everything set up. Maybe you deal with the pulling things out and I can simply see if they've got any magic potential or not."
He stands upright and presses his staff into the ground to his side letting it stand there on it's point by itself perfectly balanced. Pulling the large tome from the satchel at his hip he unclasps the latch and opens the cover before waving a hand over it causing the book to automatically rifle through it's pages to a specific incantation. K̶̜͆o̶̪̕r̵̪͠ȁ̵͕a̶̧̍v̶͍̏ ̵̻̑L̷͕̎â̷̦h̷͔͊ ̶̨̅Ẓ̷̄ṷ̸͛'̸̹̄u̵̞̚ B̶͔̀ô̸͚l̶̘͊ä̴͕́a̶̙̕v̴̗̄ ̸̨́k̴̙̄ơ̵̡r̵̫̍a̶̲̓a̵̱͗v̶̨̾ ̷̥͝Ẓ̸͝e̷̥͐i̷̛͖ḿ̷͈
With the incantation spoken his eyes begin to glow a faint blue and he scans over the objects. Seeking out any magical essence in them, eventually though he's confident that nothing in the pile is inherently magical. Dangerous maybe, but definitely not magical
Steel Guardian finds an access port and connects to the computer. The hanging clock lights up slowly, flickering as drives boot up and banks of tubes and transistors come to life. Computer equipment dating back decades hum and grind in side rooms. Yet within the clock itself, alien crystalline matrices spark and glitter with tinkling chimes -- taking all those ancient and disparate equipment and unifying it into a grand whole.
Codex explores the supercomputer with innocent fascination. "I feel like I'm time-traveling! Look! I'm on a magnetic strip! I'm bouncing through ray tubes! Are these floppy disks? I've never seen one before!"
As Clocktower grinds to life, several screens flash on hidden displays. Police and emergency dispatch is heard on tinny speakers. A holographic image of Halcyon City beams down from the clock, showing the streets and buildings in vector-ray detail.
===============
Percy's inspection of the leftover junk and devices reveals no magical signatures. Few of the pieces of burnt and spent technology look like they could even hold a mystical charge for more than a few seconds, much less be a conduit for arcane chicanery.
The cleanup progresses several hours, punctuated by occasional breaks, food runs, and some levity as the young heroes begin to learn about each other.
Late in the day, you get a comm beep from Whippoorwill.
"Hope the cleanup is going well. The Alliance has decided to sponsor a superhero academy, for lack of a better term. We're fortunate; Halcyon Prep's dean was one of the people you saved, so he owes us. He's going to work with us to get all of you into regular classes there, plus dorm space and classrooms.
"Go ahead and tell the team. We're moving fast on this, so let them know they're going to be in class by Monday."
Classes have resumed at Halcyon Preparatory Academy after the weeklong fall break. Students are back in their dorms, and back in the classrooms, buckling down for a grueling six weeks of classes before finals and then the holiday break. Halloween is two weeks away and signs for the annual Hal-Prep Monster's Ball are already up.
School spirit is at an all-time high, and the sports rivalries between the various high schools around Halcyon are intense. Football games are packed every Friday, and other sports like volleyball and soccer are seeing their highest attendance rates in years.
=========================
It's Monday evening. You all have been instructed to be at Halcyon Preparatory Academy's all-purpose room, for the start of the so-called "super hero academy's" first session.
A gangly robot familiar to all Halcyon residents is waiting for everyone to arrive. Yeoman, an automaton built during the early days of WWII, self-aware and somehow still functional after all these years, regards everyone as they arrive with his open, unblinking expression.
Eleven students fill the white room when Yeoman begins. "Greetings, all of you to what is hoped to be a very successful curriculum on the fundamentals of being a super hero. I am Yeoman, and have known many of Halcyon's greatest heroes over the years. From the First Alliance of Heroes formed to fight the beings of the Axis Overlords, to the current Alliance, beings of extraordinary abilities, skills, and determination have protected this city, and this very world. It is our sincere hope that you will use your gifts in the same ways."
Yeoman's lanky arm sweeps across all of you. "Please, introduce yourselves. If you have chosen a hero name, you may use it. Also, provide a brief description of your powers, if you please."
As you look around at each other, you notice that there are three others you're unfamiliar with. One is a girl with half her head shaved and the other half dyed a cotton-candy pink. The other two are boys in clearly homemade costumes, looking like they're barely out of middle school. One has a bell drawn on his shirt in permanent marker and the other is wearing a cape.
What do you do?
==========
Max quickly stands up, eager to get this part over with. ”I’m Max. They call me Devil Diva. I’m strong and tough. I have superior senses. And I look like this.”
She sits back down and sinks into her seat, pulling her jacket close around her to try to hide from further scrutiny.
Femtite applauds for Max.
“I’ll try to follow that act.”
She stands in front of the class, clad in her argyle sweater-vest / plaid skirt ensemble. Her hair is in a beehive do with little bee-striped hair clips. She hopes she is sufficiently fashionable.
“I’m Femtite.”
Her glowing eyes are headlights staring at deer.
”Fact. An electron is two-point-eight femtometers in diameter. My ability to dilate my plasma form to sizes smaller than that makes me the first subatomic member of my race. We are pixites, daughters of nanites. My mother and I are the only pixites who can expand our bodies large enough to perceive your world.
“My power is to grow to an immense size, larger than my home planet. I can shift my fiery body to flesh.”
She levitates and says, “I will demonstrate.” Femtite removes her heart pendant, shrinks to a few inches tall, and soon she is fire in the shape of a fairy. She moves toward a wall and becomes smaller, a spark, then nothing at all.
Once the atoms are more spread out, Femtite knows she has passed through the classroom wall.
She grows back.
Femtite’s fiery form is outside the window, human-sized and waving.
”HI, hiiiiiiii!!”
She shrinks to subatomic size again, passes through the window’s molecular structure, grows to fairy size, and magical-girls her clothing back on before shifting to her fleshy form.
“Um… thank you,” she says with a bow before returning to her seat.
Horizon took a step back and let the others do their assigned tasks, glad to see them working together. He flew up to the Clocktower next to Guardian, peering at the activated supercomputer. All of the interconnected bits made his nails tingle as they thrummed with power. It was definitely unique.
"We'll have to see about getting it connected to Alliance HQ. Thanks for this. It's good to have you on the team," He tells them with a nod. "Try to get to know the others too. They have...unique perspectives."
"Got it, sensei," Horizon says as he finishes his call, before turning to the team. "So, some good news - everyone here now is going to be enrolled into classes at Halcyon Prep - including a special series of classes taught by Alliance members and associates themselves," He informs them. "Things are being expedited, so if you need a dorm room, school supplies, anything at all, let me know and I'll ask for it. We'll be starting classes on Monday - anyone is free to bunk here at Unity if they need it, just don't use that as an excuse for being late," He finishes with a joke.
"...I hate history class. I hate it," Horizon muttered as he looked over his mid-term exam, the big fat 'D' in red ink mocking him. He'd have to ask Grace later if she knew someone who could give him some tutoring. Despite over six months in this new century he still didn't have a handle on all of these post-WWII events.
For now, he stuffed it into his bag, and went to go change - and a couple of minutes later, was in the same room as Yeoman again. Though he was just as surprised as anyone of the extras who appeared. Maybe others who were being mentored by Alliance members?
When introductions came, he went after Femtite's rather unique performance, gesturing with his hands and letting those spherical fields of darkness appear around them. "I'm Horizon. You all might know of me already, but to clarify, I can create fields that absorb radiant energy, and alter them. So I can fire blasts of energy, or reshape the fields into cutting beams, and even use it to fly. I'm still learning the limits of what I can do," He tells the group.
He releases the energy, then taps his new utility belt. "I've also been supplementing my powers with equipment from my mentor, Whippoorwill. Anything my powers can't do, I have a tool for it. Probably."