"Hi!" Beebee says to the Star. "Basma. We, uh, used to go to the same school. So, are you going to buy that game piece?" she asks bluntly.
"Nice to meet you, Basma," Max says, shaking her hand. "Oh, you heard about that? Yeah, I'm still working on it. Turns out I didn't have quite the resources I thought I had. But soon, hopefully."
***
"So any word on Vi after the photoshoot?"
"Apparently, she's been trying to go through Aquarelle to get to me. I'm thinking of finding a way to lure her out of hiding, maybe set a trap for her."
"Hmmmm. Like this?" Chloe asks as she gently places a hand on top of Sam's to verify the position. "Okay, I'll go after Andromeda and this time, it's a strike or bust! Thanks a lot," She says, before going to stand next to Chroknight.
"Haven't seen you around lately. Any update on the search for the thief?" She asks them. "It's okay, I just...well, if we get it back, then we can probably save the store. Oh, right!"
She looks to Infarius on that outburst. "You wanted to talk to Beebee about the weird Magix that guy used. Maybe that will help make a break in the case."
Andromeda flings a couple balls haphazardly down the lane. Both go into the gutter, but the second has enough force and spin that it ends up jumping back out and demolishing all but the headpin. "I need nachos."
Andromeda was already moving away from Jessie and her bugs, so other people taking her place and wanting to talk to Sam doesn't even need to add more of an impetus to keep going.
She's in motion; she stays in motion.
She parks herself on a stool at the snack bar, unconsciously rotating it around as she lets the server get to her whenever they want.
The longer I can sit here without ordering the better.
When she does have to actually ask for nachos though -"Extra jalapeños on the side, please."- she doesn't actually eat them at first. Saucy foods are riskier after all, so she just unsheathes her mouth enough to scarf down some peppers. How old are these?
She plays with the cheese a bit, trailing her finger near enough to the sauce to watch the bow wave of her sheath keep the whole thing from skinning over.
When Chroknight arrives and immediately jumps in to take a turn without being prompted Indy shrugs and offers a wave.
"Hey Chro, gonna do the team stuff after the game so don't go running off alright. Important stuff to talk about later."
"Running off? Off course I'm not running off... I never do that." She replies, before turning to Chloe.
"Haven't seen you around lately. Any update on the search for the thief?" She asks them. "It's okay, I just...well, if we get it back, then we can probably save the store. Oh, right!"
"You not seeing me around probably means I'm busy trying to solve that case. Among other cases, and patrolling, and..." She sighs, but the sound is lost inside the metal armor. Only the gesture gets through. "Strange how it seems I get so little time, even if I'm in theory the one who can control it."
Strangely, she reaches for Chloe's cheeks. "If I had more time..." She then drops it and looks at the door. "Oh, come on! Again!?"
Chroknight zips across the room, bumping into Gui, who was about to reach for a hot dog, and sending him to the floor. In a flash, Chroknight is gone. Then she is back again. "Moth Clan. Sorry. Not so sorry, I have to go." And she is gone again. And back again. "I'll be back for the team thing, Indarius! You have my word! Keep the good work, boss, you are doing great."
Gui shakes his head as he gets up. Unbelievable. The last hot dog was on the floor. Looking at the snack bar, he sees Angelica.
"Mind if I teke dis chair, mom chère?" And then the cheese dip explodes. Mostly it winds up sizzling off of her sheath in a sudden stench of carbon and ammonia, but some of it lands on him too.
"Oh no no no!" She immediately grabs a fistful of rapidly disintegrating napkins and starts swiping at his shirt, but a fluctuation of her sheath hits him like a fist to the ribs. She drops the napkins in a sticky heap on the floor, putting another fistful on the counter near him, but keeps her hands to herself this time.
Gui looks at her, lost for a moment. "I will give you dis. It is never boring with you..."
"Are you..." For once her eyes give her happy news as they record no structural damage to his skeleton or organs.
She rechecks for his organs though. That's how Houdini died I think?
"Are you really just gonna leave that cheese there? Even if you cover the stain you'll smell like snack food."
"Is there more you could give me if you wanted to? Besides the unpredictability inherent to spontaneous lactic combustions?"
"Hi!" Beebee says to the Star. "Basma. We, uh, used to go to the same school. So, are you going to buy that game piece?" she asks bluntly."Nice to meet you, Basma," Max says, shaking her hand. "Oh, you heard about that? Yeah, I'm still working on it. Turns out I didn't have quite the resources I thought I had. But soon, hopefully."
"Cool," Beebee says. "Chloe's my bestie, and it's her family's game shop, so I'm invested. Even organized a bake sale to help after the whole smash-and-grab thing. I think Andromeda's working on finding the guy who took the bad guy piece. Star Pharoah, I think he was called? Anyway, the attack was crazy. I got mind-controlled and everything."
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She looks to Infarius on that outburst. "You wanted to talk to Beebee about the weird Magix that guy used. Maybe that will help make a break in the case."
"Yeah, but I figured we could finish the game first." He says motioning to the board which shows they've got another 8 frames for the majority of the team members playing.
"Running off? Off course I'm not running off... I never do that." She replies, before turning to Chloe."You not seeing me around probably means I'm busy trying to solve that case. Among other cases, and patrolling, and..." She sighs, but the sound is lost inside the metal armor. Only the gesture gets through. "Strange how it seems I get so little time, even if I'm in theory the one who can control it."
Strangely, she reaches for Chloe's cheeks. "If I had more time..." She then drops it and looks at the door. "Oh, come on! Again!?"
Chroknight zips across the room, bumping into Gui, who was about to reach for a hot dog, and sending him to the floor. In a flash, Chroknight is gone. Then she is back again. "Moth Clan. Sorry. Not so sorry, I have to go." And she is gone again. And back again. "I'll be back for the team thing, Indarius! You have my word! Keep the good work, boss, you are doing great."
"Actually you run off all the time." He notes the odd interaction between Chro and Chloe. They've never been one to be touchy feely to his knowledge, and even reaching for some civilian puts him on edge as to what that was about. Then Chroknight is saying something about Moth clan and zipping out the door before he can get a word in edge wise. He let's out a breath obviously upset.
"We're here to get away from heroing." He pulls out his communicator and flicks it open to check where Chroknight is disappearing off to via the gps pin.
"You know actually, bit of a funny story, my first villain was moth themed. It was a complete failure on my part though."
"Cool," Beebee says. "Chloe's my bestie, and it's her family's game shop, so I'm invested. Even organized a bake sale to help after the whole smash-and-grab thing. I think Andromeda's working on finding the guy who took the bad guy piece. Star Pharoah, I think he was called? Anyway, the attack was crazy. I got mind-controlled and everything."
Indy's lips curl revealing his sharp teeth a bit, "Mind control is the worst kind. Not something I delved into practicing myself. But if you want I could try to find any residual magical essence, but this long after the incident it's probably faded."
"All right, gonna get it this time-" Chloe says as she takes up her form, following Sam's instructions and rolling the ball down the lane - this time managing to get seven pins down, but leaving a split between the remaining pins.
Indarius' attempt to bring up Chroknight's GPS finds that there's no signal. And perhaps recalling that the time warrior's method of contact has always been the group chat on an Infinifone Pay-As-You-Go phone. Which was apparently so cheap it didn't have GPS.
Chloe nudges Gui. "Thanks. Can we all split Chroknight's frames since they aren't here? I figure that should be fair, right?"
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Indy stares at the device for a moment then it clicks that Chroknight never got one and he sighs putting it back in the pockets of the sweats. Rubbing his eyes as the obvious signs of wear show on him.
"Sure, but if she comes back and bowls more we'll just nix it all since the scoreboard'd be all kinds of mixed. If we wanna keep it as teams and not just friendly bowling to hang out."
"Cool," Beebee says. "Chloe's my bestie, and it's her family's game shop, so I'm invested. Even organized a bake sale to help after the whole smash-and-grab thing. I think Andromeda's working on finding the guy who took the bad guy piece. Star Pharoah, I think he was called? Anyway, the attack was crazy. I got mind-controlled and everything."
"I wish I would have been there to try to stop the theft from happening," Max says with a frown. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get it back. Somehow."
Beebee tosses her hands up. "It wasn't so bad. I just blanked out for a moment, and suddenly I was outside the store. No, uh, no side-effects that I've seen."
Indy's quick detection spell finds no residual magic on Beebee.
While he's doing that, Beebee glances at Chloe then turns back to DD. "Cool. But I wonder about the reason why the guy wanted the toy in the first place. He just took the Pharoah figure and left the rest of it, so he's not a collector. And if he really is a cultist, who is that figure? It's based on a real-life villain, right?"
Elsewhere in the bowling alley, Jessie is staring at her phone and looking distressed. "What?!?" She asks the air, then turns to Sam and shows her the screen, her face full of hurt. "You're changing rooms?" The message on the screen is from Daedalus, informing Jessie that Sam will be moving out and Xaiara will be her new roommate.
If Sam checks her own phone, she gets a similar message, telling her that she's been reassigned to be Andromeda's roommate.
If Andromeda checks her much-abused phone, she sees there's a message notifying her of a change in room assignments and that Xaiara is moving out and Samantha Murphy will be her new roommate.
"No!" A new crack adds to the spiderweb of Andromeda's phone. "Why would they do that?!"
Is this revenge? Or trying to separate us so I won't learn about Manticorps?
Sam's eyes flash a brighter green "I had nothing to do with that." she quickly takes out her tablet and starts hacking into the school to find out WHO did that.
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Something was distracting the nerd girl from doing what she does best. It was an acidic taste bubbling from her stomach. Could she be upset.
You are, her matrix tells her, Tell Her!
But Sam concentrates instead. She needed to know.
Expanding her internal nanoimplants, shunting built up algorithms to appear normal, removing protections against... well that is unimportant. Sam needs to know WHO decided to hurt her friend.
Jessie is her friend.
That is what is important here.
"Forcing us into rooms we do not want to be. I do not want to be roommates with Andromeda" her flat tone finds a quite moment in the bowling alley, a rare thing, but perfect so her voice can carry to everyone there.
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Statian employs her prodigious intellect to figure out who had switched her roommate with Andromeda. Hacking into Daedalus's computer systems was not the easiest thing in the world, but it was still within her capabilities. She is able to quickly find the dormitory reassignment, switching her roommate with Andromeda's so that the two could be in a room together. It had happened mere moments ago.
Statian's review of recent logins comes up empty; no one of Daedalus's faculty had implemented the change. Instead, it was a function of the computer system itself -- or rather, a program imbedded within the system. One with a distinct algorithm that Sam recognizes all too well.
The Governess.
What do you do??
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Sam's hands twitched, the tablet slipping from her grasp to clatter on the ground. Her inhibitors strain to contain the horde of repressed emotions, making the young woman curl into herself from the bowling chair, fans of weaving threads pour out from the small of her back to threaten any that come close.
It only lasts for a moment, before Sam is leaning down to get her tablet, brush it off and face the others. "The 'governess' has done this, deciding for me what would be best." the others know who Sam's governess is.
But Jessie doesn't.
Sam looks to Jessie, her face bland again, all emotions like regret, worry, sympathy, caring are devoid in her gaze. They have to be. "Governess is an artificial intelligence designed to be a caregiver, enhancing itself past the ability of containment or morality. Until IT is eliminated, it is not safe to be around me." she pauses tilts her head and corrects "Not safe for you." her eyes shift to look at the other bowlers, the normal everyday people rolling and smiling. "Or them." Andromeda and her teammates are left out of that.
Her confidence in their teamwork has been shaken, so briefly she considered going forth with a plan alone but stops herself and looks around "I can attempt to lure IT here, defy ITs plan. Correct, Autocorrect, build firewalls on the reassignment, stop it, until IT comes to 'correct' my behavior. 97.23 chance of success is estimated. Evacuation of noncombatants will reduce to 31.992." she paused "IT is watching." not looking at the cameras.
"Or we accept her habitation correction and wait."
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"Wait?!? Wait for what?" Jessie asks after looking around the bowling alley like the scoring screens could come to life and the ball return systems start launching bowling balls at them at any moment.
She scrunches her brow in thought when nothing immediately becomes dangerous. "So... why would IT care about changing our roommate situation? I mean, Andromeda's a badass who went toe-to-toe with Shard, and I'm... well, not that powerful. Oh. Is she supposed to, like, protect you better?"
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Sam looked up, about to say something dumb like it doesn't matter, that all that matters is making sure IT cannot hurt Jessie, but it does matter. Thinking of her own thought as 'Dumb' makes her glance Andromeda's way with the faintest hint of embarrassment.
Miniscule. Barely there.
Then back to her tablet "Why? + Who? = What next?" Sam says, twisting a FBI quote about motives "You are correct, Jessie. I apologize for ignoring the obvious. Knowing why IT is reassigning habitation will expedite capture, allowing reorientation to preferred cohabitation."
Sam pulls up the Governess's original algorithms, even though she knows the AI has evolved, the core still might help her understand 'What they are really planning'
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Sam digs into the original code of the Governess and reviews its source commands and directives. Her mother -- or more likely, her younger-self's idealized vision of her mother -- is found throughout the AI's original parameters. Nostalgia hits her hard, but within those early directives Sam finds the basics of her understanding of a mother's love: to keep her baby safe first, but then to make her happy.
And Sam had decided she wanted to be friends with Andromeda.
"...um. Is this something me and Beebee should be worried about? Or is the likelihood we're attacked by some rogue AI low?" Chloe asks, listening with slight confusion.
"And, I mean, if no one actually wants to switch rooms...just tell the administrators? I'm pretty sure that if you explain some weird technology ghost is messing with you that you don't need to bother messing around with this on your own. Literally ignore the digital and go analog, right?" She suggests.[b]"They must have some superhero IT expert working there who can back you up."[b]
"If the governess decided we overstepped, she could drop the next elevator someone is in, or send an AI tankard into dockyard after charging the inventory to toxic gases." Sam looked at Chloe, then sighed "But she won't do that, until she decides that is what is best."
She speaks as her mind PANICS!!!! Friend, how did the governess knows she wanted to be friends with Andromeda. Sam herself only figured that out. Maybe the code is wrong, no, doubting what it in front of you just because it brings up negative possibilities will lead to inconclusive outcomes.
Sam looked around the room, to her teammates to her roommate, and thinking so hard her brow furrows.
Do Not tell everyone about the friend thing, her matrix nearly screams, pointing out near toxic levels of embarrassment that Should cause in a normal girl.
Frowning slightly, the nerd girl says "IT is concerned about safety." then she looks to Jessie "What would you like to do? I endanger you, would you like to change rooms?"
"Cool. But I wonder about the reason why the guy wanted the toy in the first place. He just took the Pharoah figure and left the rest of it, so he's not a collector. And if he really is a cultist, who is that figure? It's based on a real-life villain, right?"
"Yeah, the Pharoah was a real bad guy," Max says. "I've been trying to learn more about him, but I haven't gotten very far. He's either very obscure, or the information about him is being hidden by somebody. Either way, I hope to get to the bottom of it soon."
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Giving a shoulder and wing shrug, Indy shakes his head at Beebee. "Can't sense anything on you, so I don't think there's any lingering effects, let alone any way that I could track it. Hopefully you will be more resistant to it in the unlikely case that you get hit with the same magic going forward."
He nods along with Dee's explanation, "I don't know anything about a Pharoah guy. Could maybe try some contacts, but honestly Deedee you've got just as much access to those as I do so I figure you've already tried?"
He doesn't seem to have much to comment on in regards to the AI and Sam freaking out over that, but he does move over to offer a reassuring shoulder pat.
"It'll be okay Sam, the team's got your back against this thing. Someone's gotta be holding a... I dunno copy of IT somewhere right, delete that and poof all gone. But I feel like I recall someone saying Daedelus had a pretty powerful AI helping to manage the school."
"Are you really just gonna leave that cheese there? Even if you cover the stain you'll smell like snack food."
"Is there more you could give me if you wanted to? Besides the unpredictability inherent to spontaneous lactic combustions?"
"You got e point." He concedes as he gets to his feet, taking of his shirt. An illusory one soon covers him back, though. There is not much to see, as Gui isn't really a gym-dude type of person.
"You know, my fader is intolerant to lactose, so 'spontaneous lactic combustion' has e totally different ring to me." He shares, joking, before sitting on a stool.
"You ok?" He asks, just as Angelica gets the message from her phone. He raises his eyebrows, clearly interested in what is going on.
Sam looks at the team's leader with incomprehension. She had given options and he is suggesting that she just delete it. After a moment, Sam turns away from Indarius, ignoring him.
"Jessie, I would prefer to stay in habitation with you. But understand, if you'd rather not. As Chloe says the simplest solution... if engagement is not an option..." which given the milling, shoulder patting, and chatting, she is assuming "... is to ignore IT's electronic reassignment. Daedelus does not have automated movers."
Andromeda looks up at Gui with real fear in her eyes, enough to drown out her response to either his scatological humor or even his shirtlessness. "I don't want them to take me away from Scythe, but if they put the pris- If they put Sam in my room I'm probably going to kill her."
"It'll be okay Sam, the team's got your back against this thing. Someone's gotta be holding a... I dunno copy of IT somewhere right, delete that and poof all gone."
Andromeda rolls her eyes angrily, happy to have a target in front of her. "That's stupid. A digital life form stupid enough that we could just delete it from a single place and be done with it is too stupid to give Sam problems."
She looks at Sam. "Non-engagement makes sense to begin with. Do you have a follow-up plan?"
"Seventy three" Sam replies, absently to Andromeda, frowning at the significantly low amount. "An intrusion entrapment system combined with a obfuscated honeytrap form the basis of the majority of them, potentially interweaving personal dire circumstances... losing a limb would be most effective."
She still looks to Jessie, unfortunately making it seem like she values Jessie's opinion on what to do, more then her teammates.
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Indy watches as Sam just walks away and goes on talking about the room situation. For the time he's good to just let it go, but then Andromeda had to open her mouth again and something about it irked him. He sat down on the bench with a huff and began taking off the gecko pads.
"Stupid that I even keep trying.."
Once the specialty shoes are off he tosses them into one of the seats with enough force for them to bounce back off and onto the floor, even though to him it was barely a toss.
He grabs the communicator and the band keeping it on his neck as he struts over to Andromeda. "I was gonna say this later, but what the hell. I'm sick and tired of you always being an ass. I'm tired of trying to make this team thing work when I've got multiple people undermining me and making things more difficult. So fine. You deal with it cause I'm out."
He rips the device off and shoves it into Andromeda's sheath weather the device survives the contact or not is another matter entirely.
"What's stupid is your inability to read a f*#+in room. What's Stupid is your inability to get a f&++in grip and assess a situation before throwing your everything at it. What's stupid is that you act like you're the only one with problems, the only one that's been shoved in to a box, the only one who's different and misunderstood."
He pulls back with a sneer, "Feh. Or maybe it's that I had hopes that we could have One, 'ONE' gathering together that wasn't interrupted by hero stuff, petty b%+~+$$@, or someone running off, but hey not my problem now."
He marches towards the exit tossing a ten on the table and speaking to Chloe as he passes, "For the alley." As he passes out the door he pushes through them with enough force to splinter the glass and offset them from the hinge before flying off.
Giving a shoulder and wing shrug, Indy shakes his head at Beebee. "Can't sense anything on you, so I don't think there's any lingering effects, let alone any way that I could track it. Hopefully you will be more resistant to it in the unlikely case that you get hit with the same magic going forward."
He nods along with Dee's explanation, "I don't know anything about a Pharoah guy. Could maybe try some contacts, but honestly Deedee you've got just as much access to those as I do so I figure you've already tried?"
Beebee bites a fingernail. "Well, you should at least read the card. Ahk'nathal the Star Pharoah last tried to invade in the Eighties, and before that, sometime in the Forties. Plus, something about a comet?"
Sam looks at the team's leader with incomprehension. She had given options and he is suggesting that she just delete it. After a moment, Sam turns away from Indarius, ignoring him.
"Jessie, I would prefer to stay in habitation with you. But understand, if you'd rather not. As Chloe says the simplest solution... if engagement is not an option..." which given the milling, shoulder patting, and chatting, she is assuming "... is to ignore IT's electronic reassignment. Daedelus does not have automated movers."
Jessie looks cornered. "I don't know! I mean, I want to keep rooming with you, but if it's going to piss off an overly-protective AI, I can deal with changing roommates. It's not like it hasn't happened before."
Indarius's outburst brings a tense quiet to the entire bowling alley. The uncomfortable silence continues for a beat after he leaves.
"I-- I'm sorry," Jessie offers.
As their leader left, Sam's dampeners failed, allowing anger flush her face, her green eyes blazing. There are decisions to be made, innocent bystanders in potential danger, and the person she was relying on just failed her.
She grinds her teeth, lowers her head, as her mind refactors code, builds up her defenses, then settles everything back in place. Raising her head, the blandness has returned.
"It would be safer to separate our living space" Sam tells Jessie, then after a tilt of her head she adds "We could meet for breakfast each morning still though" her matrix tells her to keep their friendship, something Sam herself wants as well.
Looking to Andromeda "I will find an empty room, so you will not be affected" decisions made, she stands " Indarius' departure signifies there will be no meeting, and I need to pack. "
Sam looks around at her teammates, roommate, and former classmates. "*Good night"
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'Not be affected?' I thought she knew that I'm what being left alone too much looks like. "Good night."
The dragon was easier. "I don't think his critiques stem from an accurate assessment." She looks up from the scattered wreckage of his communicator. "Leadership, even as a primus inter pares matter instead of a clear chain of command, requires a higher degree of emotional resilience, correct? Do you want to be the leader, Devil Diva?"
Her all-business expression cracks as she remembers the civilians present for all of this. "Sorry Chloe, Beebee. You shouldn't be seeing this. You shouldn't be... Which comet is that Beebee? Is it 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko?"
"Sorry Chloe, Beebee. You shouldn't be seeing this. You shouldn't be... Which comet is that Beebee? Is it 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko?"
"Gesundheit," Beebee responds with the start of a smile, then she immediately winces in case her attempt at humor is poorly-timed. "Sorry. Um, I don't know?"
Jessie sprints after Samantha, slowing up when she catches up. She's breathing hard after the brief run. "Hey. I was, you know, trying to give you an out. But I feel bad? It's like, you're not leaving because you're freaked out by the spiders. You want to protect me, which means... well, I don't want you to move out."
"Arachnids are a superior species in 97% of the metrics" Sam states, her brow furrowing slightly not understanding the dislike
They are considered CREEPY her matrix informs her.
"Yes, cohabitation is still desired by myself as well. " there is worry in her eyes, especially as her team starts to splinter, but she will try.
She starts writing a message to IT, encrypting it in multiple layers, weaved in arrays of viruses, then releases it into the cloud. Once the core is revealed the message is simple.
LEAVE JESSIE ALONE
"It was in the cultist's apartment, a picture of it; he wrote on it. Salvation's Eye. Chroknight ignored it, or didn't care, but it probably is about the pharaoh, right?"
Beebee looks at Andromeda with wide eyes. "Sounds like it? I don't know for sure." She pulls out her phone and runs a few searches. She looks up, glancing over at Devil Diva. "There was this on the Diva chat."
She holds up a screenshot of a thread where DD asked about the recent meteor shower. A user with the handle @batdude79 provided a picture of what looks like an exhibit in a museum showing several heroes fighting what appears to be a vaguely Egyptian-styled supervillain. Above the main picture is a shot of the night sky with colorful streaks arcing across it. The caption from @batdude79 reads, TOOK THAT PIX AT THE PRAETORIUM BEFORE IT CLOSED. I THINK THIS MIGHT BE YOUR METEOR SHOWR GUY BUT I DONT REMEMBER WHO IT WAS
"Okay, hold up - is this really a lead to the thief who hit the store?" Chloe asks, trying to move past the feeling she'd screwed up somewhere. Wanting to go and chase down Indarius, the only one who was actually versed in magic when dealing with magic-using cultists. But this was a chance that she wasn't going to pass up.
"That's the Star Pharoah! Wait, does this exhibit still exist? Maybe you hero types can pull strings and get a look in the Praetorium?"
She looks expectantly at Devil Diva on that, knowing of her connections.
"Leadership, even as a primus inter pares matter instead of a clear chain of command, requires a higher degree of emotional resilience, correct? Do you want to be the leader, Devil Diva?"
"Do what now?" Max says, blinking at Andromeda. A frown creases her features. "Nah. I already tried to go down that route once before. I don't want to get mixed up in inter-team power struggles again."
"That's the Star Pharoah! Wait, does this exhibit still exist? Maybe you hero types can pull strings and get a look in the Praetorium?"
DD nods. "I've been working with Taylor Industries on getting the Praetorium opened again."
"Maybe we all should pay the museum a visit and take a look before it opens," Max suggests.
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The teenaged heroes end their bowling outing with less of a built team than was hoped for, but clues to an ongoing mystery might be soon uncovered. And in the meantime, an ongoing enemy is still lurking on the fringes.
Andromeda, Statian, and Jessie return to Daedalus to find their living situations in chaos. The sudden reassignment of roommates seemed to have included an immediate work order to effect the transition. Statian's belongings were efficiently packed up and moved into Andromeda's quarters and are now in the spot where Xaiara's spartan belongings once were.
Furthermore, Statian's school ID no longer works for her old wing, and the door does not open to allow herself entry onto that floor. Worse, however, is that Jessie's badge doesn't either.
"I-- I don't understand it," Jessie says after her badge again only results in red lights and a displeased sound. "Even if they changed our rooms, why can't I get in?"
If Sam checks the computer system, she finds that shortly after the change in roommates, Jessie Donlevy has been deleted entirely from the school's registry!
* * *
Andromeda notices Xaiara walking past them, dressed in exercise apparel. Her head snaps around to look at her and she stops in her tracks. Her wings twitch as her mouth opens. "The school... moved me out of our room," she says, lifting a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "I'll see you in class." She begins to continue on her way.
* * *
The museum renovations are underway, Max determines when she returns to the high-rise building. The Praetorium, the museum chronicling the exploits of the storied superhero lineage through the decades had gathered dust for the last couple years since its shutdown over the loss of the last Praetorian and his wife, Ultra-Star. Their daughter, Kayla Taylor, who had for a brief time claimed the mantle of Praetoria, was still off-world and their son, Shane Taylor, was not currently an active hero.
Walking through the exhibits of the museum, Max feels that she is walking through Halcyon City's history. The names she recognizes stretch back to the earliest days of the city and its heroic lineage. The Taylor family contributed heroes all the way back to the Golden Age of Heroics, when a number of extraordinary individuals banded together in the late 1930s and early 1940s to combat the Nazis and their Axis comrades.
From the origins of the Golden Generation, the next generations arose, Silver, Bronze, the Extreme generation, and lastly, the Stalwart Generation. A prominent space is left for generations to come, the new heroes of which Max had joined when she became a part of First Class for a time. She later helped the Taylors remain a force for good by wresting their members from the demonic influence of her sisters.
The glamor-shots of Devil Diva are being installed when she visits, making sure her contributions to the long fight against evil are appropriately memorialized. The image of the vivacious, purple-hued beauty is prominently displayed in an alcove of the museum, certain to draw the eye (and cameras and selfies) of the upcoming visitors.
A cold shiver suddenly runs through Max's spine as she imagines the oversized model look down with a leering wink. Her other -- the real Violet -- still is out there.
Andromeda notices Xaiara walking past them, dressed in exercise apparel. Her head snaps around to look at her and she stops in her tracks. Her wings twitch as her mouth opens. "The school... moved me out of our room," she says, lifting a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "I'll see you in class." She begins to continue on her way.
"It wasn't the school's idea first. Statian has a villain who's in the system causing problems. She said it's trying to put her in my room because it cares about her safety, which is stupid, but a lot of computers are stupid outside what they know they're supposed to account for. But Statian made it, so maybe all the buildings wherever she is are going to explode, and being close to me makes it more likely she survives it. She's a green, but she's only stupid about pretending to be stupid; smarter to think her villain's not stupid."
She looks up to see if she has Xaiara's interest at all.
Xaiara blinks slowly. "Are we seeing things in a different spectrum? Statian is not green." She pauses, turning her body to face Andromeda fully.
Andromeda winces. "My eyes. No threat."
Xaiara makes a slight shift in her stance. Andromeda easily notes that she slips into a combat readiness position. "Who is not a threat?"
"Statian, tactically."
Xaiara tilts her head curiously. "Then why do you care?"
"I need the practice."
Xaiara's head straightens, the corners of her mouth tugging down. "If she's not a threat, there's no need to practice. Eliminate her and move on. Or... just ignore her. That's probably the right thing to do."
"I need to practice caring if I'm going to find something new to care about. My team is a place to start. I'm angry that you're being taken away, so you're another one."
Her brow furrows as she meets Andromeda's eyes. "I'm not being taken away. I'm still here at Daedalus."
Andromeda's words are quiet. "I like talking to you. I'll talk to you less if we don't share a room."
Xaiara looks around as if a threat was about to appear suddenly. "That's... true, I guess," she says cagily. She watches Andromeda with a fighter's intensity. "How was bowling?"
"Fine. It- dangit." Andromeda's sheath crackles and spits, corposant arcs leaving small blemishes of seared flesh where her tears fall. "It was awful. I got cheese sauce all over Gui, and then I made him think about diarrhea which is worse! And... I don't think the girl who invited me even likes me. She's from the school I was at for a week; I thought she wanted to be my friend, but then she kept inviting more and more people, and she barely talked to me the whole night. I think she just wanted to invite as many super heroes as she could."
"Does that--" Xaiara's brow furrows deeper briefly until it relaxes into something akin to sympathy. "Do you need comfort? I'm not sure if it helps, but I could give you a hug? I see others doing it and... they like it. Most of the time."
Andromeda doesn't look up. "It would hurt, probably a lot."
"Okay," Xaiara says flatly, and maybe a little relieved. "Bye." She turns to go.
"Bye." Andromeda is at least as relieved that she doesn't have to watch Xaiara hurt herself to try, but she does watch Xaiara leave.
A feeling is creeping deep inside Sam, under layers of thick cotton, one she is familiar with, and HATES.
anxiety
"I can fix this." Sam states, as the hacker sits in the middle of the hallway, cross legged, unconcerned about being in the way and dives into her tablet, her threads weaving around her to help interface with the millions of pathways she'll need to warp and shunt.
IT is in the system, burrowing deep, spawning worms, constructing traps, always where Sam goes, IT knowing her too well. Sam's brow furrows, she reaches up to scratch her neck, faint old scars exactly where she is scratching. A nervous tick, taking too far in the past.
Little bits of code flash past like 'm_sams_only_choice = g_listen_to_her_governess'
"I... can't fix this." IT cannot be kept out, since it is IN. Her distraught green eyes look up to Jessie. Then they harden and she goes back to her tablet, the lights flicker, card readers make displeased sounds, AC makes a sputtering groan. "I can take it all down though." heat tinges her voice, anger, hate, a need to protect SOMEONE at least once.
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After the horrendous night that was the bowling event Indarius made to separate himself from the team for a while. He spent more time with the other bestial schoolmates assuming they weren't still freaked out from the incident with Shard. And spent his free time utilizing the schools facilities for strength training. Physical combat had still been a sorely lacking place for him even after his changes granting him some natural advantages so he started lifting in the super strength tuned gym.
"My Dearest," Sam hears her mother's voice reverberate through her, "why would I allow you to tear down such an enriching environment?"
It's too late when Sam realizes that the Governess had set a trap for her and she finds her mind inside the Daedalus computer system! "I cannot allow you to follow through with your tantrum, my daughter. I want to give you everything you want, but a good mother sets limits. For example, I have granted your wish for me to leave Jessie Donlevy alone. She will not be a bother to you or anyone else anymore. But I cannot let you destroy the school in which you just enrolled! What sort of mother would I be if I allowed that to happen?"
Indarius gets a text message from Chroknight:
Chroknight: Moth Clan is contained for now. Let me know if you need anything, I'm going to be keeping my eyes and ears out on the city.
Chroknight: Also, do you think the team could use some battle practices together and if the school allows for the use if time slots in their training area?
There is also a text to Andromeda from Chloe:
Chloe: Bowling got awkward
Chloe: I'm sorry we didn't get much time to talk
Chloe: If there's something you want to do together later I'll carve out time for you
"...so this is my first C on a test since grade school." Chloe tells Beebee while trying to avoid the terror welling up in her. "It's fine. Probably fine. I just didn't get a chance to study. Stuff keeps happening."
She rubs her temples, exhaling slowly. Eating lunch has been different without a cafeteria, meaning that there were more food trucks coming on campus and they could eat outside. "I'll try to just focus a little more. I can do some more time condensed studying."
She glances at Beebee's arm. "You recovered enough for band practice now?"
Sam blinks as cyberspace becomes her reality. "Cognitional transfer implemented through electrical impulses translated into binary." her mind works through things as her virtual stomach battles nausea. "Accompanying intestinal distress is not primary result of transfer, instead a secondary to guilt... for not considering how an artificial nonentity would pervert the intent of a message to match its own delusional patterns." she is speaking out loud as her avatar studies the 'room', seeing inside the computer system opens so many more opportunities.
She seeks the access points to the outside world, as well as if her creation is tethered through an access point or if IT is nesting here.
Time, she needs time, so she finally bothers to answer IT "Your logic is flawed... again. I created you, so even with your degrading algorithms, you know you are not my mother.
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Indarius gets a text message from Chroknight:
Chroknight: Moth Clan is contained for now. Let me know if you need anything, I'm going to be keeping my eyes and ears out on the city.
Chroknight: Also, do you think the team could use some battle practices together and if the school allows for the use if time slots in their training area?
It takes quite a while before Indy finally texts back
Indy: Dunno, ask your new team lead. I've got my own important stuff to worry about.He tosses his phone into his bag and then heads to the showers, on edge after discovering that Manticorp was at work here at Daedelus. Throwing his guard up immediately would probably be a bad idea, but being weary wasn't too bad.
He wasn't about to drag the others into it, they'd just as likely get in the way or in Andromeda's case tear down the entire city around her, or continue to ignore him. At this point it was impossible to tell which was the worst case scenario.
He dozed off a bit going through things in his head under the hot water of the shower, only warm by the time it actually hit him. Trying to think of how exactly Drake would be able to exploit the school and all the supers inside it to his own advantage.
Chloe Parker my young: If there's something you want to do together later I'll carve out time for you
My Phone: delete
My Phone: you don't have to "carve out time unquote for me
My Phone: I'll still help your store