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GM Evening, Friday the 1st of March The sun was mostly hidden by the horizon, painting the skyline of Freedom with the fading colours of the last dregs of sunlight, when both Luke and Leon's evenings were interrupted by a message. <NUMBER_BLOCKED> Come to the abandoned warehouse on #### near Kissinger. Wear costumes. Probably not the most ominous or strange message the pair had received, but certainly one which raised questions. Perhaps one of their teammates had found something and was calling them for backup. Or perhaps something more sinister was occurring... The only question is how the two heroes would respond.

Silbermann's Books. Tuesday, January 15th 2024. 1:05 pm The snow just kept coming down! With 12 inches reported at 8 am and no signs of slowing down, Lynn Epstein decided to send her staff home while they could still see; no one was crazy enough to face a winter storm for a muffin and newspaper anyway. So Lynn took the opportunity to do a little bookkeeping in the store for a few hours before deciding to take a break. She left her cozy office to make herself a cinnamon chai latte behind the counter. As the milk steamed, she turned on the store's stereo system to play an old playlist, with a lot of her early 2000s faves. She didn't realize how loudly she was singing Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape." "Woo hoo. Yee hoo!" "Woo hoo. Yee hoo!"

GM March 16th, 2024, 1.13PM Millennium Mall, Bayview, Freedom City It was winding towards the end of a nice, relaxing, post-school day. The quartet of young incognito heroes sitting in the food court had wandered the echoing halls of the vast shopping mall and gotten more or less what they'd wanted out of the experience. Plus, there was some of Doctor Metropolis' new art on display. The presence of the strange, quiet city-spirit was normally an unseen one. As an expression of Freedom City as a whole he didn't favour any areas or inahbitants over any others, unlike the mysteriously-vanished ghost Lantern Jack whose hauntings had rarely gone beyond Lantern Hill. And, similar to how people rarely notice good roads but can't ignore bad ones, his most visible role had been as a healer of civic wounds and shepherd of missing persons. Brief, purposeful, unsettling, Doctor Metropolis was in some ways less approachable than the space aliens and living dead that had served with the Freedom League. However, while a tireless repair-man, the city-spirit was also a "born" artist. His canvas was the layouts, structure and material of buildings, and places with high concentrations of citizens could look forward to something new and unexpected. Today, the ceiling skylight rippled like a watery surface, while tiles on the floor and walls schooled in dazzling rainbows or loomed in grey enormity. Out the main door, a number of plaques had appeared dedicated to the lives lost in Freedom City's long-gone fishing industry. Most of this was lost on the shoppers, who had their own lives to worry about. Especially the busy lives of teenaged superheroes.

Early March, 2024 A Plateau in South America. There are worlds beyond ours; not just in space, but in alternate dimensions. Some are the same as ours, or almost. Some are radically different. Some are well known, others are not. But even the most similar world can become a world of danger and uncertainty with the shifting of tides, with the changing of seasons, with the intervention of others. The plateau was HOT. It was winter in New Jersey, but in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed; which meant it was the middle of summer on the high, raised plateau where the Claremont students assigned as the 'Red Team' were meeting up. They had been flown in to a private, hidden airstrip managed by the school, and were now standing on a high plateau covered in jungle near a large mountain. The only other people on the plataeu were guards working on a pop up metal building; a bit like park rangers or arctic researchers, who spent 8+ months doing light scientific work and keeping people from accidentally wandering into a place they shouldn't be, then went home for 8 months while a different team took over. It was a very minimum style of security, the kind you can do when you're in one of the most remote areas known to man. Miriam Francesca Luisa Juarez, Iris and Daniel Evans, and Lawrence Harrow had been assigned to Neko Musume's Claremont squad; It had been given the name 'Red Squad', and under Neko's watchful guidance, the group of Sophmores was expected to perform exceptionally well. This assignment was supposed to be a team-building camping exercise with a twist; instead of camping out in Wharton State Park, they were- supposedly- going to an entirely different dimension! There they could be free to also work on their powers and practice against unique targets, while also having challenges a bit tougher than what you might find in Wharton. All their camping gear had been prepared for them, with the guards checking packs and weighing them; they were free to bring their own items as well, but tents and canteens and water purification bottles were provided. "Your escort should be here soon...provided she hasn't forgotten." One of the guards said as they finished handing out the camping packs. That left the students enough time to finish their own check, maybe talk a little, and prepare for...wherever they were going. They went back to their nice air-conditioned building with it's power, and left the group in the humid jungle, waiting for whatever escort was supposed to come and take them to...wherever this transition occurred.

Claremont Academy, Jasmin Summer Administrative Building Freedom City, New Jersey March 1, 2024, 9:30 AM Ever since Miriam Juarez had come into possession of her Star Knight armor and been contacted by members of the Order, there had been some question as to what was next for the young Star Knight in training. From what Miriam understood, over the last nine years (which many of the Star Knights seemed to refer to as cycles for some reason), the Order had increased recruiting of younger squires, taking them to a planet called Citadel (which was apparently the Order's headquarters) for training. There were several Star Knights that saw no reason Miriam should not follow this established procedure and leave Earth to undergo her training on Citadel. However, two Star Knights from Earth, Maria Montoya (a former police officer and member of the Freedom League) and Kyle Steward (who also used the title Cavalier) had supported Miriam being allowed to remain on Earth and attend Claremont Academy. This view was supported by A’lan Koor, whom Miriam had learned was an elder Star Knight (part of something called the Inner Circle) who had been a member of the original version of the Freedom League back in the 1970s. Ultimately, this view was accepted by Mentor, and Miriam was enrolled at Claremont Academy, with the understanding that there would be regular visits by members of the Order to check on her progress and that during her summer breaks, she would travel to Citadel for additional Star Squire training by the Order. So, after a few weeks of uncertainty, Miriam found herself with Sri Montoya at what appeared to be some fancy private prep school, but which she had been told was secretly set up to help young metahuman teens learn to control their powers, but also to help train those interested in learning to be a superhero. They had met with the school’s headmistress, Callie Summers, who quickly made it clear that she was fully aware of Miriam's background, but also clear that the teen was hardly the first to come to the school with a troubled past. Headmistress Summers assured Miriam that she was coming in with a clean slate, with only the headmistress herself knew of the teen’s past. After their meeting in the headmistress’ office, the three made their way to the foyer inside the main entrance to the building, with Sri Montoya turning to face the teen. "Remember Miriam, whenever you put on that armor, your actions reflect on the Order. Down here, that may not be all that important, but when you get up into space, the implications can be far reaching for the Order. So do not develop habits here that will not serve you well in space." She put one hand on Miriam's shoulder giving the teen a supportive smile. "Remember, the armor chose you for a reason. I firmly believe you got this." Removing her hand, he continued, "I am not sure it will be me, but someone will stop by in a few weeks to check in on how you are settling in. Mentor is always there if you need him." She then glanced over to Headmistress Summers. "Good to see you again Callie." "Always good to see you as well Maria." The headmistress responded with a small smile. Sri Montoya gave Miriam another smile and a nod and then made her way out the main entrance. "Well Ms. Juarez, it appears your guide for your first day here has arrived." Headmistress Summers indicated, looking to her left down a hallway that led to a side entrance to the building. Emerging from that hallway was a tall attractive redhead girl with green eyes who appeared to be about eighteen. She was dressed in a blue and black plaid skirt, a white collared shirt with a red tie, over which she had a blue sweater. But the older girl topped the school uniform look off with a black leather jacket. "Ms. Juarez, this is one of our Seniors, Bernadette O’Connell, and I will leave you in her capable hands." The headmistress said with a nod to Bernadette and a smile to Miriam before she headed back off towards her office. "Your Miriam right?" The redhead said with a smile and a very evident Irish accent. "Welcome ta Claremont. As the headmistress said, I'm Bernadette an' I'm here ta give you a tour o' the camps an' get you settled in." Suddenly an exact duplicate of the Irish teen popped into existence beside her, holding out a hand towards Miriam. "I can help you with yer bags." The duplicate said with a smile.

( @RocketLord @MoonSimply @Huckleberry @The Sailor ) Starlight Theater on Michigan street had once been a place of culture. 50 years ago, it held many popular plays. Lauren Hammond once performed there, in an adaptation of Carmilla, staring as the titular Vampiress. But not long after Hammond gave her curtain call, the theater followed not long after. Silver Scream had haunted the theater once, but eventually stopped; the despair of her major starring performance in the theater also being a horror-themed play made the spirit unwilling to stay there for long. Despite that, or rather, because she had been there before, no one had wanted to invest in the theater. That made it the perfect place for a group of disaffected, burnt-out teens to set up shop when the pressures of super-heroing and school life became too much. It had been the same reason that Ashley and Felix had gone to take a look around, unaware of the Starblights, that led to them gaining powers. And now, sitting on the stage was a gem that was the source of a beam of violet energy that shattered the roof and reached into the sky. While the gem was prismatic, it was slowly turning dark as pitch; with each star that fell from the sky to become one of those strange star zombies, one of the facets of the Gem turned black. This was what happened when Magic was twisted to dark purposes; the darkness became self-perpetuating, and given enough time, the Umbra Star would turn into the center of a Netherworld. But the star wasn't the biggest attraction, it was the Dragon. The Dragon was less solid than pure energy, made of a deep, rich purple. It had defined scales, each representing one of the constellations in the sky; it was western in appearance; two forelimbs, two back limbs, and two giant wings, a long, twisting neck, and a tapered snout. It's long tail didn't really end; it twisted and turned and disappeared into the Umbra Star like a tether, attaching the giant dragon to the gem in the center of the stage. There was a form in the very center of it; a human shaped bundle of darkness that was the source of it. And when the dragon opened it's mouth and Draco's voice boomed out of it, it was clear who that human was. "IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE. I've never felt better! This gem is the greatest source of power I could have ever hoped for! I'm going to live up to my name now; I'm going to Eclipse the sun itself!" Then the dragon pulled back it's mouth and roared, loud enough to vibrate the entire theater. This was it's roar of challenge to Spaceman, Torpedo Lass II, Rot, and Puma. Amid the destroyed theater; seats of rotted wood, the collapsed second story boxes, the forgotten, faded posters, there was a Dragon, and there were those who wanted to stop it.

GM The Painted Desert, Arizona March 3rd, 2024 10:00 AM The Painted Desert survival class has been going on for years at Claremont at this point. Rumors have started to spread by now. Most of the time, the chosen students get to spend some time in the Painted Desert, learning how to survive in a hostile environment, seeing some pretty sights. Then there are, of course, the survival classes that go awry. The ones that end up going into a strange mesa that takes them on time travel adventures as they go through the paths. Sure, it sounds outlandish, and after the first or even second trip, it could have been anything, but after the third trip? Well, there is obviously something out in the Painted Desert. The last few years have been calm, at least. Just a normal survival class, nothing happening. Nobody ending up in any mesas or other time periods. Whatever weirdness happens in the Painted Desert is obviously over by now, right? It should just be a regular survival class. Right? That's what the young would be heroes Baltazar Botez, Carmen Alvarez Arrache, Bernadette O’Connell and Vueriz would perhaps think, at least, as the van that has taken them from the airport stops in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere and opens. They have been told where they would go and what they would have to go through. The heat during the day, the massive drops in temperature during the night, having to navigate and survive without using their powers, at least to the extent that they can. A woman with black hair tied into a long braid sits by the house, with a massive backpack sitting next to her. She is wearing a wide brimmed dark grey cowboy hat and tan shorts and t-shirt. "Hey guys, I'm Alexandra Macedon. Welcome to the Painted Desert."

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Bernadette O'Connell, Neko Musume, Owain Celliwig, Rosalinda Sommaripa, Jonah Janse, Carmen Alvarez Arrache and Iris and Daniel Evans found themselves along the waterfront of the Boardwalk, just near the Paradise casino. Around them were several people, all of whom acted very surprised at the sudden appearance of the teens, some screaming in panic and running, while others just began moving away quickly. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. The sun was just coming into view off to the east, but the weather was far warmer than it should have been for an early morning in February for Freedom City. "What ta bloody hell." Bernadette stated as she reoriented herself to the unexpected location the group found themselves in. Glancing around, she scowled. "Where are the others?" The Irish redhead was wearing a pair of torn black jeans and a grey hoodie, in anticipation of ending up back up in the winter weather back in Freedom City. But her scowl was quickly replaced by a look of surprise as she looked out at the skyline of downtown Freedom City. It was clearly Freedom City, only the skyline was very different than the teens were used to. Several prominent more modern buildings were not there. And glancing down the east, the massive Sentry Statute was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, bugger us." Bernadette muttered as she looked out at the very different city skyline.

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers, Mizuki Iwasaki, Baltazar Botez, Consuelo Nunez, Ryan Jacobs, Vueriz, and Michael Adon all found themselves in a dead end alleyway between a pair of three story buildings. Out past the open end, they could see and hear a large crowd of people gathered, though none seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the teens. The weather was cool, but much warmer than the February cold they had expected. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, and Vueriz had her skyboard, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. Wearing a pair of jeans and a red Arsenal hoody, Lawrence looked about the alleyway, a concerned expression on his face before he seemed to focus on something distant and out of view. "This is not right." He simply stated, a hint of concern evident in his refined British accent.

Mid-late January, 2024 The End of January brings the beginning of February. As the first month ends, so to do many resolutions fall by the wayside. But change has not stopped occurring just because a new year has begun! In fact, often the last shackles of the prior year's poor decisions can only be thrown off during the first month of the new one! Our new group of heroes, having encountered a group of delinquents, are now in a position to restore some level of normalcy to the lives of 5 troubled young girls. ------------------------------------- Ashley did not like losing. She didn’t lose often, of course, and whenever she did it put her in a foul mood. She had excuses, of course. Ashley didn’t lose, she reasoned to herself. It was the other three; they couldn’t keep up their end of the engagement. She was fighting off two of them at once and winning, the other three had a numbers advantage and they couldn’t keep up with them. They were pathetic. What was even the point of all of them having powers if they were so useless! Power should go to the strongest! That was why she had the powers she did, after all. Those who weren’t deserving, shouldn’t have power. ------------------------------------- Felix didn’t care about losing, but he was annoyed. He wasn’t the strongest, after all, but he liked his niche; he liked the new powers he had. And he had barely gotten to use them at all before that British kid had made him so slow he couldn't even move. Which was whatever. Paradox had acted all high and mighty about it ‘that’s inevitable, you aren’t on his level; your borrowed speed can't compete with his natural abilities'. Paradox didn’t know anything about anything, no matter what he acted like. What really grinded his gears was the Bug Boy. The one who had actually knocked him out. That bug didn't really understand anything about how cool FX was. GBB? GBB was garbage compared to FX! He thought he was cool, but Felix was actually the cool one! He just didn’t get how cool Felix was. He was gonna show him how wrong he was about that. ------------------------------------- Ashley had always been entranced by the Starstone ever since she first saw it. It had as many facets in it as there were stars in the sky- something she realized was meaningful-, and when you looked through one of the facets you could see a constellation. Each facet had a different one stored in it. It was also a clear source of tremendous energy, something the girl given the codename Eclipse was always desperate for. It had given her a tremendous amount with the Draco constellation, but it clearly had more; there were 88 constellations in the sky, but there were only 7 Starlights right now. So there had to be more juice in the gem than it was giving. It sat on the stage of what had once been a bustling theater just off Michigan Street; a prismatic gem that shifted through the hues of every color imaginable- and some beyond that-, about the size of a man's chest. Ashley didn’t know where it came from- the other girls did, but they seemed uninterested in telling her-, but she didn’t care anyway. She floated over to it and placed her hands on it, concentrating and breathing in its energies. “...Now come on, give me what you’re hiding...” “Ashley!? What the heck are you doing!?” someone called behind her, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She had something bigger going on, after all. All this stuff; the color coding, the ‘Starblights’. They were small time. She was Eclipse, and she was big time. ------------------------------------- Lawrence had been right about one thing; Michael had thought Mizuki was insanely cool for getting the abandoned boat house out of the Headmistress and the faculty. He hadn’t gotten all overbearing about it, but he was clearly appreciative of Mizuki being willing to share something she had obtained with her own hard work with her friends. What was maybe less exciting was the realization that both of the groups had been harassed by color-coded schoolgirls- and one guy-, though appropriate congratulations had also been given to Baz, Mizuki, and Lawrence that they had handled their group so easily while the one at the Aquarium had been a bit more troublesome. It had also been noted that Parker, Consuelo, and Carmen had been excellent, though. Parker had even managed to open a line of communication to one of them thanks to his gentle nature. That was what the group was doing now, after school two days later, waiting for Parker to call the girl who had given him her number to continue their communications. When everyone had arrived and was prepared- including whatever preparations they had made for this-, the number was dialed, and after three rings, it was picked up. “Alright, listen. I’m gonna talk for a second and then you can ask questions, but we need to be quick about it.” The voice definitely belonged to the orange wearing Orion from the Aquarium. “About 2 years ago, a weasel named Enoch approached me, Kitty, Ashley One, Zoe, and Jenny. He said he was being hunted by magical things from another dimension and turned us into the Starbrights. We got super powers that he gave us from a gem called the Umbra Star.” she clearly sucks in breath through her teeth. “It sucked. A bunch of terrible stuff happened to us because of it, and Enoch wasn’t exactly great at being a mentor. We were constantly fighting monsters sent by this evil queen named Solus, they were threatening and hurting our friends and family. Then, about a year ago, one of her monsters killed Enoch. And we didn’t even have him anymore. So we gave up. Stopped bothering to fight the monsters, didn’t really go to school. We only had each other. But sometimes the monsters still found us.” She talks fast but it’s not hard to understand her, and her frustration is clear even in just her words; she’s not a delinquent lashing out because it’s fun, she’s a girl their age who is hurt and wounded. “Ashley II and Felix weren’t part of our group. They ended up caught up when one of those monsters attacked us. But the Umbra Star that gives us our powers gave them powers too. They already had powers, so it just made them even stronger. We all could see they were a problem, even beyond us, but we couldn’t really do anything about it; we don’t decide who gets the powers and who doesn’t, only Enoch could figure that out and he never told us. So we had to stick with them. But it’s not gonna fly anymore. They’re way too violent, and they’re clearly working for some other purpose.” she was quiet again, for a second. “...If you take them out, get them arrested, beat them down and take them away to Juvie or some prison or something, maybe the connection will break. And we can be free of them. The others won’t ask this because they’re concerned about each other; no one wants to get blasted by Ashley or watch someone else get blasted. But I’ll do it, because we need the help. We don’t want to fight you. The others don’t know I’m talking to you, but if I show up with you, they won’t side with Ashley and Felix. If you help us, we’ll call it even and split, no hard feelings.” she paused. She was tense, extremely. And it honestly could have been seen as quite suspicious that a girl that had just been trying to punch everyone was now asking for help. "...Okay, sorry. I can answer any questions now." She finally said.

Rai Ki Wai Estate Wakaya Island, Fiji Saturday, February 17, 2024, 8:30 PM local time It had been a rather full day of water and sun for the Claremont teens staying at the Fiji estate owned by Lawrence's parents. After the group had grilled dinner up on the massive deck up by the main house, Lawrence had gathered as many as were interested in heading back down to the beach to sit around a campfire to wait for nightfall and a chance for what he indicated was some amazing stargazing while they relaxed a bit before everyone was ready to go to bed. The teens had begun to gather down on the beach where Lawrence had gotten a fire started just before sunset, just before 7:00 PM. Over the next hour and a half, the sky continued to darken, until the sky was filled with countless stars, with even the Milky Way Galaxy visible in the sky above the beach. The fire was crackling in the center of the circle of teens as Lawrence looked up at the sky with a grin. "Like I said, a view of the night sky that is hard to beat, unless you are out in space."

GM February 1st, 2024 The Digital Den, a hip and happening cyber cafe Emerald City The Digital Den is new, but not exactly well known. The owner doesn't advertise it. They serve a more exclusive clientele than the regular cyber cafes, not just gamers that want the latest fix for the newest online game, but hackers and crackers alike. White, grey or black hat, it doesn't matter. If the mysterious owner M has heard about you, you will receive an encrypted invitation. All activity is rerouted through a multitude of constantly randomized VPN connections to numerous off site networks owned through various shell companies spread across the globe. M claims that it is secure, that no one will be able to track you while you are there. All that he asks in return for patronage is that you share. Information should be free. Haven has found himself part of the Digital Den's clientele. The current location is in a basement in the industrial district. Computers line the tables, with people sitting in front of them, typing away. The lights are somewhat dim, techno jazz is playing. M has spread a rumor that MarsTech is up to something. Maybe that is something worth looking into.

Curses. Magic. Some good old fashioned skills. On a night where the moon is full, a confluence of effects pull together three unrelated heroes. It started with breaking and entering. Trevor 'Knuckles' Granger, a college drop-out that was a minor member of the Black Snake Motorcycle Club, lead his buddies Peter and Vicki to break into the house of an old historian in Bayview and make off with whatever fancy things they could find. Their logic was simple; Historians handle old stuff, old stuff is worth a lot of money, ergo there must be a lot of old stuff (worth a lot of money) at a historian's house. While they were unimpressed with his Precious Moments figurines, his Yorkshire terrier, and his wicker furniture, Knuckles was quite captivated by The Sword. It was Spanish in nature, a saber from the expeditions into native lands, believed to have been used by one of the men following Ponce de León in his expeditions to find the Fountain of Youth. But the weapon was perfectly preserved, in a way utterly unlike most of those weapons, which were inevitably pitted and broken from used and the decay of hundreds of years lost in the woods. This was what led to the decision to examine it more closely for possible meta-human or meta-metal traits, which is why it had been at the historian's house. It was those same Meta-Human traits that led to what was eventually written into papers as 'The Attack of the Zombie Conquistadors'. But that's getting ahead of the story. It really was just a series of eternally unfortunate incidents. The setting of the players was the first unfortunate incident. As part of her education into Criminal Forensics, Jennifer Gale- the heroine known as Chimera, who had recently absorbed a massive quantity of cursed Aztec Gold-, was doing light intern work for the FCPD as a continuing growth of her education. At the same time, Connor King, the Second Archer, was doing his nightly patrols, and had just gotten a juicy tip that a couple of Black Snakes had made off with a historical relic, and had headed over to an underground club named Skulljack to celebrate. And at that exact same time, at the underground music venue Skullcrack, Ryan Jacobs- also known as Sever- had just settled in for a night of listening to the sort of under the radar hard rock and metal that he so enjoyed. It was a chance for him to get away from his new school for just a little bit. -------------------------------- Sever & Archer II Skullcrack was a mess of Mohawks, a pile of piercings, a cacophony of chaos. The music was loud, the lights were dark, and the clientele did not want to be visited by the hard nosed Iron-Age throwback that was Archer II. The bodyguards also did not see much desire in letting him in, a pair of barrel chested gorilla-looking guys in dark suits who held up a hand to stop him from going in. But Archer II was significantly more accomplished than any random goons trying to make a quick payday in an underground club, and they held him up only a few seconds before he was into Skullcrack proper. He was traversing a walkway hanging above the mosh pit and seats as he made his way to the back rooms. How sneaky he was being was up to him. However, for the teen named Ryan Jacobs, he was just enjoying the music when, out of the corner of his eye, despite the dark surroundings and thumping speakers, he saw a handful of guards- the ones who mostly hung out at the periphery of the entertainment and looked intimidating- gather up in a posse while talking to their boss before setting off towards the back rooms at a quick pace. ------------------------------------ Chimera Meanwhile, Jennifer Gale was on the nightshift, interning on minor crimes in the Southside; fingerprinting break-ins mostly. She was getting a coffee with her cop escort when her techno-organize symbiote shuddered inside her. Magic. Magic was close. She felt the pull on it, as if something inside the symbiote was squirming and twitching. But there was also a less mystical, and more annoying, pull. "Hey Chuck." the radio of the officer she was traveling with lit up. "Copy dispatch." "You and Jennifer head down to the corner of Grape and Pine. Just got a note that one of our less agreeable masked heroes has headed into a known underground establishment. We're expecting it's going to be a crime scene fairly soon." The voice clipped out. "...Probably no hurry though, we don't want to get in the middle of whatever he's about to do." "Got it." Chuck responded before switching off the radio. "Well, Jennifer, I guess we got our next stop." None of the individuals involved knew a second, very unfortunate event was going to happen soon.

Claremont Academy, Jasmin Summer Administrative Building Freedom City, New Jersey February 1, 2024, 9:00 AM Callie Summers, the headmistress of Claremont Academy led Iris and Daniel Evans into the main entryway of the administrative building after her meeting with the twins for their first day at the institution. The headmistress had surprised the twins by reveling that she was fully aware of their criminal background, while making it clear that she was more than willing to allow them to make a fresh start at the school. The headmistress promised they would be treated no different than any of the other students, noting nothing they were hardly the first metahuman teens to come to the school with a questionable or even criminal past. The twins found another individual waiting for them when they arrived in the building’s main entrance, a tall, attractive teenage girl who appeared to be about eighteen. She had long red hair, bright green eyes and was dressed in a pair of jeans, a light grey sweater and a winter jacket. "Mr. Evans, Ms. Evans, this is one of our Seniors, Bernadette O'Connell." Headmistress Summers said in greeting as she indicated the tall redhead. "I will leave you in her care to ensure everything is in order for your first day." She gave the twins a small smile, then a nod to Bernadette and made her way back toward her office. "Hi, Iris an' Daniel right?" The redhead said with a smile, an Irish accent very evident as she spoke. "As the headmistress said, I'm here ta give you a tour o’ campus an' help you get settled in."

Rai Ki Wai Estate Wakaya Island, Fiji Saturday, February 17, 2024, approximately 9:42 AM local time After having a bit to eat with Michael, Carmen had decided to explore more of the island while the others began either settling in near the pool or started making their way down to the beach. Moving away from the area near the main house, she found the property had several open grass fields, along with well cared for gardens, but then quickly became jungle. A short distance from the buildings and tennis court there was also a helicopter pad. Moving into the jungle, the teen was met with an array of scents, from the various wildflowers and other plants to numerous birds and other small animals. It was certainly reminiscent of Puerto Rico, if different flora and fauna. A short while after stalking through the jungle, Carmen came to a tall fence that seemed to be set up around the property. Beyond it lay more jungle and the higher elevation that was toward the center of the island. Of course, the fence represented little in the way of an obstacle for the teen.

Rai Ki Wai Estate Wakaya Island, Fiji Saturday, February 17, 2024, 9:00 AM local time Bernadette O'Connell had been one of the last ones to arrive at the Main Quad for Lawrence to provide the means of traveling to Fiji. The Irish teen was wearing a black T-shirt with her band’s logo on it, a pair of cut-off jeans shorts and sandals. Her long red hair was currently pulled back into a ponytail, and she was already wearing a pair of sunglasses. Over one shoulder she had a small bag and was carrying a larger duffle bag in one hand. The redhead was pretty quiet and more subdued than normal. Last night her band had performed at a local club and after which she had gone out for a bit with her bandmates. After that she had gone to see Charlie, given she was going to be spending most of the weekend out of the country, so she was presently operating on only a couple hours of sleep. Added to that was that while she had not drunk much alcohol last night, with only a few hours sleep, she was still feeling it some. As she stepped through the portal created by Lawrence, the eighteen-year-old was somewhat reminded of when she had been briefly transported to another dimension during summer break. As crazy as that had been, it had also directly led to her and Summer Sands deciding to start their band, and how she had inadvertently ended up with Trebel, the singing fish that occupied a small tank in her dorm room. The redhead looked around at the sprawling compound and the ocean beyond as she adjusted to the suddenly sunnier environment, only half listening to Lawrence's quick orientation. Coming from a blue-collar family of Irish immigrants, this was far posher than she was accustomed to, even considering how much time she had been spending over the past few weeks at the mansion that now served as the Young Guardian's base of operations. Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Bernadette held out the duffle bag she was holding as a duplicate appeared beside her. "Ya know, I am just as tired as you are." The duplicate grumbled quietly as she took the bag. "Then bloody drop it off somewhere in tha house an' come back out ta take a nap as well." Bernadette replied with a smirk as she walked over towards one of the lounge chairs scattered around the massive deck. Dropping her small bag down next to the chair, the redhead pulled off her T-shirt, revealing a colorful bikini top underneath. Her jeans shorts followed to reveal the matching bikini bottom. Sitting down on the chair, Bernadette removed a small chain with a cross from around her neck and reached down to drop it into her bag and pull out a large bottle of sunscreen, which she began to apply.

Friday, January 5th, 2024 On a rooftop in the Fens, on a starlit night, almost without a cloud in the sky GHOST Casper looks at the scene before him. Is it going to be good enough? Will it work? Or will he have to change his plans last minute, figure out some better way to do this? No, no. It will have to do. Sometimes, the simple is best, and it's not like he's been given any indicitation that he needs to pretend to be something he's not. So. A rooftop in a building in the Fens, with a nice overview of the city centre, and a nice look at the stars above. A table with a nice red and white checkered tablecloth, plates, utensils and glasses for both of them and a box to keep the food he brought heated, a bottle of champagne (not too expensive, even with the Freedom League stipend, there's limits, after all) and... Then Casper waits. He is wearing his costume, as usual, but with the little red butterfly he wore at the christmas party. He hasn't told Grim why he has asked her here, so hopefully, it will be a surprise.

Rai Ki Wai Estate Wakaya Island, Fiji Saturday, February 17, 2024, 9:00 AM local time With the recent cold weather and just all the various pressures from school and other things, Lawrence Harrow had figured a change of scenery was in order, someplace warm and sunny. Which, of course made him think about a weekend trip to his parent’s estate on a private island in Fiji. Naturally, a weekend in the South Pacific would not be nearly as much fun alone, so he had invited several of his friends and other Claremont students he had gotten to know best during the first half of the year. So, plans had been made for a weekend there during the third weekend in February. And so, the group of teens had gathered in the main quad at the start of the weekend with their bags, still not entirely sure how they were going to make the trip to the South Pacific in just a weekend (never mind getting back). Once everyone had been gathered, Lawrence provided the answer, as he created a temporal portal and led everyone into it. After stepping through, the blond teen found himself in the familiar setting of the large balcony next to the pool at his parents' compound. Stepping away from the portal to make room for everyone else to come through, the teen turned and looked back with a wide smile. Lawrence was dressed in a pair of board shorts and a T-shirt, with aviator sunglasses. "Welcome to Fiji!" He said as everyone stepped through, and he closed the portal behind them and then gestured around them. The air was already at least a warm seventy degrees and getting humid. The groups of teens were standing on a massive wooden deck, with several small tables and chairs scattered around it. Palm trees and other plants were part of the landscaping around the deck, and a long pool stretched along one side of the deck, separating it from a large, two-story building. The upper floor of the building had a covered balcony that stretched around the visible exterior. Off to one side, a smaller building was connected to the first by a covered walkway. All in all, it looked like a high-end resort. The other side of the deck, opposite the pool and large building, ended at a railing, that overlooked a hillside that went down from the deck into jungle below. A little way down the hill was the ocean, clear blue waters that stretched out as far as could be seen, with several other islands visible nearby. "So, this is obviously the deck and pool." Lawrence said before looking toward the house. "Ladies, as arranged, tonight you all have the main house pavilion and the two guest suite pavilions on the opposite side." He said, pointing towards the large two-story building near them. "The boys and I will crash in the three bungalows that are just a little way down that path," he said pointing off to his left while facing the main house. Turning again to point to the right of the main house, toward the smaller building connected by the covered walkway. "As my parents requested, please stay out of the master bedroom pavilion. And, please try not to mess with any of the security systems, if those get set off, my mom will be here in like two seconds." The blond teen then turned and walked over towards the railing of the balcony. "Down below is a tennis court, which is lighted if anyone wants to keep playing tonight. Down the hill is a private beach, and we have windsurfers, boogie boards and surf boards and other water stuff stored down near there." Turning away, he faced the group once more. "The staff should not be bothering us this weekend but have stocked up the kitchen with plenty of premade food and stuff for us to cook on the grill out here. So, we are all set."

Riverside Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 4:54 PM Seeing that it was Valentine's Day, Sampson’s Sodas had been pretty busy since the local middle school had gotten out. It would continue into the evening with high school students from the area and beyond. Once classes had finished for the day at Claremont, Michael Adon had hurried to start his shift at the store, now nearing the end of the first hour. Currently, all the seating at the raised tables along the front windows were full, as were most of the booths along the interior walls. But for the moment, there were no pending orders that needed to be filled, so Michael was able to catch his breath. This gave him a chance to go over and talk to one of the few individuals sitting on the barstool seating along the counter that ran towards the back of the store. Seated furthest from the door was one of his fellow Claremont students, Carmen Arrache, who arrived at the store just a short time ago. Carmen had finally decided to take Michael up on his offer of a discount at the soda shop and come out to see him during his shift. Elsewhere in Riverside…. Jean Dweomer was currently sitting on a bench at one of the small park areas that were scattered throughout Riverside. Dressed in civilian clothes, the Anthro-fox certainly attracted a few stares, but this was Freedom City, so they were often brief. The small playground in the park was currently empty, with any of the kids that would be interested likely home and having dinner. At least a few couples had walked through or by the park since Jean had sat down on the bench, seemingly on their way to one or more of the restaurants, art stores or other venues in the area.

Bayview Freedom City, New Jersey February 14, 2024 4:00 PM A few blocks away from Bayview Mall was an old, converted warehouse that now housed a laser tag arena known as Crossfire. It offered its customers an opportunity to experience laser tag in a more realistic, tactical environment than the run-of-the-mill laser tag experience. The majority of the old warehouse space had been converted into a large area, filled with all sorts of realistic obstacles, from old vehicles to sandbag walls, stacked tires and more. It was here that Charlie had told the rest of the Guardians to meet up this afternoon for a chance to have a bit of fun and practice teamwork at the same time. After finishing classes for the day at Claremont, Bernadette had quickly headed back to her dorm room to drop of her books and change before catching a shuttle from the campus down to Bayview Mall. The redheaded teen was wearing a pair of black jeans and dark grey long-sleeve T-shirt. Over that she had put on the laser tag tactical vest (which included the sensors to record hits) as she and the others finished getting ready for their time slot in the arena. Looking at some of the rather realistic looking laser tag guns, Bernadette finally settled on one, a small gun that was modeled to look like a compact sub-machine gun. Lifting it up in one hand, she glanced over at some of her teammates. "I think this is tha one fer me." She said with a grin.

High Earth orbit The Lighthouse February 14, 2024 8:30 PM UTC (Greenwich Mean Time) / 3:30 PM Freedom City, New Jersey A request had come to the Freedom League from the Atlantean royal family, asking them to allow rather recent Claremont graduate Heroditus Stylianos the opportunity to examine some of the technology used in the Lighthouse. Given the close connections and long history between the League and the royal family, the request had of course been granted and arrangements made for a tour. While coordinating the tour, Velocity had realized that although Ghost, the most recent member of the team, had joined a couple years earlier, he had not really had the full orientation on operations on the Lighthouse. Deciding to take the opportunity to take care of both things at once, the speedster had arranged for the two to meet her at Freedom Hall so they could teleport up to the space station. "And welcome to the Lighthouse." Velocity said with a smile as she appeared on the Lighthouse's teleportation pad along with Heroditus and Ghost. The yellow clad speedster gave a wave to the technician manning the controls for the teleporter as she stepped off the pad. "We are currently located on deck five, which also houses the infirmary." Glancing back to the other two, she continued, "So, up to you if you want to work our way up to the command center before starting in on the lower levels or start up at the top and just work our way down."

A Saturday in the middle of January, 2024 A nice and cold day with a clear sky, in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Bayview Charlie had promised to be in touch after the Young Guardians had dealt with the Conqueror Worm. That had not gone entirely as planned, but then again, he hadn't really planned on revealing he was back until he found out what was happening to Muirne. And hey, they had found Ghule like that, so... win/win, right? So, Charlie had kept in touch. Texting, letting the others know something was coming up, and then, a few days ago, he asked everyone else to come meet up here. Shift of course already knew. She had been helping him set all this up, after all... and it was finally ready. He is standing in front of the door of the stately mansion, wearing a thick winter jacket, though he keeps it open. He honestly can't wait to see what the others have to say about all this. Sure, they might not all have forgiven him for just disappearing like he did, but this will hopefully help. "Soooo... I know the others aren't here yet, but what do you think of the place?" he asks Bernie, turning to look at her with a grin. He hadn't told her exactly what it was for yet. He wants to surprise her too.

Ferrum II Outer length of the Perseus Arm, Lor Republic Space Lor time mark 2104.8 As a binary star system, the Ferrum was generally awash with solar energy. This was particularly true of one of the planetary bodies within the system, Ferrum II. Located in what was typically considered the prime habitable zone for most standard star systems, the intense solar radiation and winds made the planet a barren wasteland of wide-open spaces intermixed with large rocky mountain ranges and no apparent source of water. However, this hostile environment did not prevent the enterprising engineers of the Republic and Coalition worlds from finding a productive use for the world. Scattered across the vast open spaces between the baren mountain ranges, were extensive arrays of solar collectors held aloft by anti-gravity generators. During the intense days of a standard rotation, the arrays exposed to the binary stars would fully charge massive power cells stored within collectors. Meanwhile, on the far side of the planet, shielded from the intense solar radiation and heat in the planet’s night, several atmospheric orbiting cities would slowly circle over the fields of arrays, collecting the charged power cells and replacing them with new cells to be charged when the arrays greeted the next day. It was an extensive and precisely timed operation, with entire cargo vessels filled with freshly charged power cells for use throughout the Republic and Coalition worlds every cycle. Unless something were to disrupt those operations. Recently, a large number of Sarcota, massive space faring creatures that generally resemble Terran eels, some reaching the size of military frigates, had for some reason chosen to nest within the deep crevices of one of the rugged mountain ranges. The behavior was rather unusual, as the gigantic creatures tended to be solitary nature. While generally docile, if provoked, Sarcota could get quite agitated, and given their massive size, could easily cause significant damage to (if not outright destroy) some of the solar collection arrays and could even pose a significant risk to the orbital cities. Given this potential danger, the various corporations overseeing the operations on Ferrum II had enlisted the services of two rather unique individuals to attempt to determine what had attracted the Sarcota to the planet and to find a way to encourage them to move on from their current location and hopefully relocate to one of the more distant worlds in the system, or outside the system all together. Starshot was waiting on a landing platform of one of the orbital cities where his ship, the Xeno, was currently docked, waiting for the arrival of another individual from Earth, Doctor Viktor Archeville, so the pair could begin their investigation into the unusual behavior of the Sarcota….

Inward length of the Perseus Arm Lor time mark 2104.7 J'onn Shepard, also known as Space Ranger III, sat in the cockpit of the Star Lance as he guided the vessel towards the outer boundaries of the Korus system. Recently, some astronomers on Korus happened to spot a large asteroid approaching the system from deep space. After several days observation and various calculations had been made, it had been determined that the asteroid was on course to intersect with Korus' aphelion when the planet reached that part of its orbit, resulting in what was likely to be a very catastrophic impact on the still recovering world. While generally a technologically advanced world, capable of space flight and other technologies not common on Earth, Korus was still very much a world recovering from devastating internal wars, which had left large gaps in its technology. As such, unlike many worlds with similar space faring technology, Korus had a very poor deep space tracking system for identifying such hazards long before they would be realized, providing ample time to address them. Had it not been for the pure happenstance of this danger being spotted, it likely would have gone undetected. As it was, there was barely a standard month before the impact would occur. Recognizing the situation might be one he could not handle on his own, J'onn had reached out to Sri Kath'lana, a Star Knight he had worked with in the past for assistance. The felineoid Star Knight had responded back that she was being dispatched to provide assistance, only when she arrived it was not alone, she had with her a more senior Star Knight, Kyle Steward of Earth. The two Star Knights were with J'onn on the bridge of the Star Lance, as the vessel passed outside of the Korus system and into deep space, rapidly approaching the asteroid on its way toward the system…

Thuarus Spinward edge of the Orion-Cygnus Arm, former Khanate Space Lor time mark 2104.6 Thuarus had been one of the more remote worlds of the Stellar Khanate, among the last added to it by the expansionist policies of Star Khan, and far enough away from the center of the Khanate or the Lor Republic that it was bypassed by the Communion during the Incursion, and thus spared much of the upheaval and damage caused by the conflict. When the Incursion ended and the new status quo began to emerge, Thuarus had been among the Khanate worlds to break away from the weakened government of the Khanate. When Star Khan had begun his efforts to reform his broken empire, Thuarus' remoteness had meant it was low in priority, and the Khan's forces had exhausted themselves before they were able to turn their attention to the world. However, this did not mean that Thuarus lacked any turmoil in the post-Incursion era. Shortly after it had declared independence, Thuarus came to the attention of a would-be Khanate warlord trying to carve out his own small domain from the crumbling Khanate. Although not as talented or crafty as some of the other warlords that tried to arise in place of Star Khan, Justicar Gor'an had enough forces at his disposal to enter into a prolonged conflict with the native Thuaruians that the rest of the galaxy was either unaware of or chose to ignore. Recently, the Lor finally decided to take an interest in what was occurring on Thuarus, although its location made it impossible to send any navy vessels to the system, or other military assets. So, instead, the Lor sent a lone diplomate to attempt to negotiate a peace and bring an end to the conflict on the world. Not wanting the diplomate to enter into such a hostile system unattended, the Lor went with the more unconventional route of hiring freelancers to act as bodyguards. Thus, Eclipse and her crew found themselves accompanying Jor'ran Laar to Thuarus as the Lor set out to broker a deal between the two warring sides. It took several months of work (and more than a few firefights for Eclipse and her crew), but Laar appeared to finally have gotten each side to agree to terms which would end the hostilities. Currently, Eclipse and Rock were standing with Laar, as the Lor waited in a plaza in one of the older cities on Thuarus. Around them were several two or three story brick and stone buildings. While they were integrated with more modern technology, by the standards of most Lor or other Coalition worlds, they were at the very least ‘rustic’ if not bordering on primitive. Standing to one side of the plaza, were several of the leaders of the native Thuaruians, with about a dozen armed guards behind them. For the most part, the streets of the city were empty, with the occasional citizen walking along the streets and glancing at the gathering before continuing on their way. There was certainly a feeling of tension in the air as they waited for the arrival of Justicar Gor'an and his entourage to arrive.