Electra

Raina frowned over Merlin's shoulder. "This doesn't make sense," she muttered. "I mean, he looks like a nerd, but not a neckbeard, you know?" Merlin chittered agreement. "This isn't plain nerd stuff we're dealing with. Auctioning nudes is deep neckbeard territory, and auctioning a supervillain's nerves takes balls. He's either got something going on under the surface, or we're looking the wrong way entirely. Try and get deeper on him; see what he looks like when he's on 4chan." She waved off whatever incredibly pedantic correction Merlin was about to make. "You know what I mean." 

She looked up at Anna, ignoring the ring for a second. It was pretty, but calling it vintage was an understatement. Selling it would probably be a pain in the ass, and she was more interested in the mystery for the moment, anyway. "Hey, I know you don't like giving up your buddies, but how confident are you that this is your guy? Like, how do you know?" 

"We don't have to decide..... who's right and who's wrong," Jessie reminded Aquaria, falling in and out of speaking range with her leaps. "We just have to make sure... civilians aren't getting hurt. That's the good part.... about using ourselves as diversioooons..." She misjudged the length of that one, her voice fading as she sank away. She was back a second later. "They're less likely to be... able to hurt us too bad." She kept an eye on the scenery as they went, looking for signs of their quarry. 

"Okay, stealing and maybe humiliating, but no murder or gross physical violence unless he starts it," Raina nodded. She took another sip of her latte, waiting for Merlin to finish his work. The monkey was very fast, but they were still on shitty public wifi that needed encrypting before they could do anything, and art always took some time. He'd be done soon. "So I'm guessing you don't want anybody you know hearing about this, and that's why you're not calling Talya on this?" 

"Elric Marshall," Raina repeated, and Merlin nodded. Raina pulled the laptop out of her bag and set it up, then sprinkled a few grains of concealer powder over Merlin and hummed a little tune. The monkey disappeared, and suddenly the laptop seemed to be operating itself at very high speeds. "Before we go anywhere else with this," Raina said to Anna, "we need to know what exactly you want from this guy. Like, getting the pictures back, sure, fine, whatever. We can even ruin his life online if that's what you want, if it turns out he's really the kind of guy who deserves it. But if you're planning on trying to kill him or castrate him or sell him to the Crime League or whatever, we need to know that going in." 

Raina furrowed her brow. "That seems weird." She leaned in to converse with Merlin for a moment, a conversation that would be very hard for any outside party to follow. The monkey seemed to be doing a lot of the talking. "Okay," Raina said. "This setup is hinky. Dude's got dirty-ish pics from the thirties, which probably means stuff they put on romance novel covers these days. And I'm sure you had it going on back then," she offered generously, "but you're not exactly Lady Liberty or somebody everybody knows. He's not going to pull down so much from those pics that he wouldn't even ask you to pay up first." 

She took a sip of her drinks. "We think it's a setup. We think he wanted you to know he's got the pictures and he wants you mad. Dude knows who you are and what you specialized in. He's gotta be expecting you to break in, which means there's something in it for him if you do. What do you know about this guy besides the fact that he collects old nudies?" 

Raina and Merlin exchanged a long glance. Merlin didn't have anything to say, just stared at her over the rim of his cup. "So what you're saying," Raina finally summarized, turning back to Anna, "is that you've got either porno or nudes floating around out there and you want to get them back. I'm not gonna say I don't sympathize," she added without waiting for a response, "and they've got to be super old so it's not like you'd be thinking about them getting leaked on the internet in the first place. But you know that if a naked picture's out there, it's out there, right? Especially if it's of somebody people know about." 

Raina didn't bother to dress up for meeting one of Talya's old criminal friends, but she wasn't going to go out without being presentable at least. A change of clothes and twenty minutes on skin and hair was enough to at least leave the house with, and gave Merlin time to finish building some kind of elaborate fish trap thing for his Vikings-meets-the-Sims game. Or something like that, she didn't pay a lot of attention. Slinging the messenger bag with her telescoping broom over her shoulder, she rattled down the back stairs of the dojo. "Bye, heading out to do crimes with Talya's old criminal friends! I'll try not to get arrested!" she yelled on her way out the door. There were, fortunately, no classes currently in session. 

The old lady looked to be set up pretty well at the sidewalk table, so Raina skirted past her to go and buy her own whipped mocha latte and a puppacino for Merlin, who objected strenuously to the name but always ate his cup of whipped cream anyway. Neatly balancing cup, bag, and monkey, she say down opposite Anna. "So, what couldn't you say over the phone?"

"Okay, that answers like, zero of my many questions, but it does tell me that you're probably looking to hire my familiar instead of me." Merlin perked up at that, actually peeling himself away from his laptop to get closer to the phone. Raina obligingly put it on speaker before continuing. "You don't fool modern security with magic tricks, you fool it with computers, unless the guy's a magician or something and you're just not saying that because you like spinning out the drama? Also I'm 100% sure that breaking and entering is legally actionable even if you don't do the stealing yourself." She was ready to let it go at that, but Merlin, damn him, actually seemed kind of interested in the old lady's gig. "But if you want to meet somewhere and talk, I'll listen anyway. Can you get to Taza Temprana in forty-five minutes or so?" 

"Yeah, aren't you like a retired supervillain or something?" Raina asked skeptically. "Is this something that's actually, like, yours-yours, or it's yours because you stole it fair and square before somebody stole it from you?" Merlin pointed out that most of Talya's stories with Clock Queen involved museum robberies, which often meant that the stole-it-fair-and-square chain did not begin with Anna. It was a fair point, but Raina wasn't sure how to square that up morally. She suspected the police wouldn't be impressed.

"And I don't really like dealing with perverts of any kind, that's gross." Merlin also pointed out that Anna was super-old, so 'pervert' could mean a sex offender or could mean she was a terrible bigot. Raina muted the phone. "Talya wouldn't have anything to do with her if she was like that, even if she is super old. It's gotta be some creeper for real." She unmuted the phone. "What exactly do you want me to do?" 

Raina stared at the phone, baffled. A secure line? What the hell was this, a spy movie? "Hey Merlin," she called, "is this a secure line?" Merlin indicated that it was, in fact, not a secure line at all, and if she wanted one of those he was going to need some advanced notice because he had better things to do than encrypt Raina's college gossip. Raina hmphed, then turned back to the phone. "Yes," she said guilelessly, "go ahead. What kind of a job are we talking about?" She sounded too old to need a babysitter. 

"Green, please... no, wait." Danica thought about it, biting her lip a little bit. "I guess it should probably be white, so it doesn't draw quite as much attention. I mean, it always draws some attention just because it's a novelty, but if it's just a Segway-looking thing then people don't think a lot about it. If I have a custom-made green people-mover and Chelone has a custom-made green people mover, that maybe starts getting a little tricky." She grinned. "It's not like I have much of a secret identity, but I'm at least supposed to be trying, right?" 

Even with the distraction of the suddenly empowered baby, Erin was watching closely enough to notice the moment that Copycat started to fade. She stepped in and snagged the woman by the back of the catsuit before she could slide too far, then effortlessly scooped her up and placed her on the infirmary's exam table. "Bottle of water, please, Steve," she asked calmly, then put a couple of pillows under Copycat's legs to elevate them. "How are you doing?" she asked Ellie. "You need to lay down too? Don't make me call your wife to remind you that doctors aren't invincible." She was incredibly relieved to see that the kid seemed to be doing fine, better than fine, even, but she'd deal with the crisis of the moment before paying attention to any of that. 

"Telepaths, maybe," Stesha mused, looking thoughtful. "Some of them have the ability to shield themselves from psychic attacks, so maybe this thing couldn't get to them at all. Maybe heroes who have been invulnerable for their whole careers, or who are just very, very good at dodging." She smiled a little, without much humor. "Maybe if we could find some way to induce temporary amnesia, it would make a person invincible. If you don't have any bad memories at all, maybe the thing's got no ammunition?" 

She uncurled her body, ran both hands over her face. "I think before we know how we're going to stop it, we have to figure out what it wants. It was making a big noisy mess in the park because it obviously wanted our attention, but then it ran away when it started to get outnumbered. I'm betting it's going to show up again soon, and I'm betting it's going to try and tag more heroes. If it had wanted to attack civilians, it easily could have, but that doesn't seem to be its game. It wants us. How do we use that to steer it in a way that helps?" 

Danica's eyes were a little wide by the time the technical discussion turned directly to her. "At the risk of looking like the person in the room who's repeated every single grade, I'm probably not going to do any of the repair work at home," she admitted. "I'm not really into engineering that much, and my fine motor control leaves a little something to be desired. When stuff happened to my Segway, we usually took it in to a repair place, or got a guy to drive out to us. I try to be careful, but there's always going to be accidents that happen if I'm taking it into fights and stuff. I've had bad guys try to target my wheels because it's the only part of me that's likely to get damaged." She raised a hand, experimenting with the way the prototype would turn in the air in response to her fingers. "I'd have to have something I could bring in here, or that somebody like you guys could fix in the field." 

Stesha wasn't quite sure she was ready for food or strong drink yet, whether the special brew was coffee or alcohol. Knowing Carson and Brother Martin, it could be both. Her brand-new stomach didn't really want anything but water for now, but she accepted the bag with a grateful smile anyway. "Just tired," she assured Teagan. "I'll spend a few hours under my sun lamps tonight and be totally good again." She took another sip from her water bottle. "And they aren't my worshipers," she insisted. "They're neighbors. Constituents, maybe. A lot of them are my friends." As her senses sharpened and her connection to the land firmed back up, she could identify more and more of the people outside, most of them by name and face. "I'll go out and talk to them, just give me a couple minutes to get my legs back under me." 

She turned to Carson. "We need to come up with some kind of strategy to deal with that thing. The way it was talking... I don't think it's fear. I wasn't afraid of it when it hit me." Stesha rubbed a hand over her face, trying to think about that brief encounter rationally, remember objectively when her brain was more interested in reliving it in all its vivid details. "I don't... it was just patrol, and the thing was knocking over garbage cans. There's not much that can hurt me anymore, and I wasn't scared. Even when it turned into Derrick, or, or into his double, I guess, I was just mad. But then for a second it was like I was back in the Babies 'R Us with Taylor, and like I could hear the people around us screaming and smell that weird baby-powder smell they pump in there, and it was like I was actually in the past for just long enough for him to kill me again."

She dropped her head to her upraised knees for a second, took a few deep breaths. "I think it's some kind of memory power. Like it made a memory so powerful that I literally went through it again." She looked to Teagan to see if that jibed with what she'd experienced. "The kids... if they didn't have any bad enough memories, maybe it couldn't hurt them very much. But how do we fight something like that?" 

Singularity's Playlist 

1. Eleanor Rigby

    The Beatles 

2. The Mirror Song

Thomas Dolby 

3. Nothing to Remember

    Neko Case 

4. Be Okay

    Ingrid Michaelson 

5. Cowtown

    They Might Be Giants 

6. Painting (Masterpiece)

    Lewis del Mar 

7. Her Morning Elegance

    Oren Lavie 

8. Bodies

    Drowning Pool 

9. Tears in Heaven

    Eric Clapton

10. Secret For The Mad

     Dodie Clark

"Oh, well, nine or ten feet tall isn't too bad," Jessie decided, relieved. "If we just need to divert them and buy time, that shouldn't really be a problem." Fighting large groups of enemies didn't bother her, and if they were tougher than humans, all the better. It was easier to fight when she didn't have to constantly worry about accidentally maiming or killing somebody. "I guess all we really need then, is a map and a way to get there. Sea Devil and I can get ourselves there if we need to, but I don't know about everyone else." She gave their colleagues a half-apologetic glance for not knowing their abilities. 

Stesha made a sympathetic little "ohhh" noise at the sight of Teagan's damaged side. "Ow, that looks painful, even if it's superficial. I can't imagine trying to fly on that." Trying to heal without her seeds would've been very difficult, but some bright friend had included her spare work pouch in the bag of supplies. With just a moment of sorting, she had a handful of already-sprouting seedlings growing into medicinal herbs. "You'll still have to take it easy for a little while, but this will help." Crushing the leaves in her hands, she let her power flow into them, then spread the mushy leaf mess very carefully over the dragon's wounds. It was still sort of a toss-up how much the medicinal quality of the plants helped in the healing and how much was just Stesha channeling energy, but it worked, and that was what mattered. 

She took a seat on the ground pretty quickly after that, pulling a bottle of water from the bag and cracking it open. "Okay, yes. People outside waiting. We should go see them. But first, what do we know about the guy who did this?" She wasn't quite sure her legs would hold her up at the moment, so it seemed like a good time to get caught up. "Has he gone after anybody else yet? He didn't seem like the quitter type." 

"Okay good, that's good." With her worries about her daughter and the students assuaged, Stesha was able to take a deep breath. It still felt strange, just a little alien and like she'd almost forgotten how. Her skin was a little bit greener now too. She remembered that from before. It had faded last time, eventually. Pushing herself carefully to her feet, she swayed for a moment on legs unused to her own weight, then began dressing with clumsy care. Nothing hurt, exactly, but everything felt a little strange and only mostly real. That would fade too, she hoped. The clothes were simple, a set of comfy wash-day underclothes, then her favorite pink and green sweatsuit that had been washed often enough to be basically shapeless, then socks and sneakers. It was nice to have the barrier against the chilly spring air. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." 

Just getting dressed was enough to nearly exhaust her strength, but she figured she could tough things out a little longer. She remembered that last time Derrick had taken her home and put her to bed, and she'd slept for hours. Apparently rebuilding your own body was pretty tiring. The brush suddenly seemed like too much work, so she twisted her hair into a long rope instead and wrapped it into a sloppy coil behind her head, securing it with a flower crown. Her powers, at least, seemed to be working fine. "There are people outside," she realized, her connection to Sanctuary sharpening with her attention. "I guess it would've been hard to keep all this quiet." Walking over to Teagan, she tried to examine the dragon for signs of lasting damage. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Anything still hurting?" 

Erin found a spot against the wall that was close by, but far enough back to be out of the way. She'd been empowered and disempowered and reempowered enough times herself to have a healthy respect for the process when performed on someone else. Mostly she just felt helpless, watching Ellie and Copycat turning their combined skills to this unusual and tricky operation, hoping that it would work, hoping that nobody would get hurt. She herself was nobody's miracle worker; all she could do was hope for the best. At least the baby was being cool about it so far, that was definitely better than if he was crying before anything even started. 

"Oh wow, yes, that looks so much better!" Danica looked considerably closer to her gleeful simulated counterpart now, slowly circling the holographic scooter. "It's like what I already have, except it's not going to get bogged down in sand or mud or stairs. I might actually be able to keep up on missions with something like this instead of being the radio contact or watching our gear!" This idea obviously pleased her immensely. "Man, between this and the Chelonemobile, I'll be able to go just about anywhere I need to!" In Danica's mind, the places she needed to go obviously did not include the sky, but some people were just meant to live on the ground. "How long would it take to build something like this?" 

Stesha relaxed a little when she saw Teagan, despite the blurry confusion of waking. If the dragon was resting, if she was comfortable enough for gentle teasing, things could not be too bad. And Carson was there too, she could hear him even before she saw him around Teagan's bulk. She didn't recognize where she was, except that they were  definitely on Sanctuary somewhere. The walled off garden was unfamiliar, like a garden but with only one giant plant... She stiffened as recent memory met current evidence. That strange creature, the moment she thought she'd seen Dark Star, that moment of pain that was all too familiar. "Oh, damn, did that thing kill me?"

She pushed herself to sit up. "The kids, are they okay? Did somebody stop that thing?" The realization she was naked hit just as Carson arrived with the bag, and she decided not to stand up after all. That was probably just as well, since sitting up had left her feeling shaky all over. "Please tell me you've got clothes, and maybe a brush," she implored Carson. If she'd been dead, she realized, it would've taken her at least a couple days to wake up. "Where's Ammy?" 

It was warm where she was, warm like a sunny afternoon even though there was no light. She could barely move, surrounded on all sides by the darkness, but it didn't bother her. There was no need to move, not when she could just rest, and drift, and let the hurting fade away. Something bad had happened, she remembered vaguely. Something had hurt so much, something had been so scary. It was all gone now, though, and it didn't seem very important. Time passed, minutes or hours or days. She thought she slept, but it was impossible to tell sleep from awake. She could feel her body knitting back together. Sometimes she thought she talked to people or things she could not see, and they told her important things that she couldn't really remember or understand. Maybe that was sleeping too. It was nice. 

Eventually she became aware of a change in her world. Everything was still dark, everything was still close, but the closeness was softer now, more like being wrapped in blankets than tucked into an egg. The sudden deafening noise of her own heartbeat startled her; she hadn't noticed its absence until just then. She sucked in an involuntary breath, something else she hadn't been aware of not doing, her body jerking with the abrupt resumption of essential activities. The movement seemed to trigger something or break something, and suddenly the closeness was gone, replaced by air and cold and LIGHT! She gasped as her eyes opened, memory and energy and sensation all flowing back in one overwhelming rush! 

It had taken hours for anything to happen at all after Tarrant had carefully placed the earthen pod containing his friend's body into the newly-tilled soil of one of Mayberry's most distant fields. As dawn crept over the horizon, a tiny sprout had appeared, growing steadily as the hours passed. Over the course of two days it had grown to the side of a cornstalk, then broadened until it was the size of a small tree, for all it was obviously intent on blooming one single, perfect flower. The flower bud started out the size of a basketball and grew to the size of a truck tire before bending towards the ground under its own weight, still growing. 

Just before dusk on the second day, the furled bud of the flower finally began to move. It gave a single convulsive jerk and then opened wide, spilling out its occupant. Stesha, totally healed, nude as the day she was born, and tangled in her own green hair, rolled the few inches to the ground with a soft thud and lay there on her back, looking around wildly. 

It took a little while and a few calls to track down Amaryllis, given the late hour, but giving the school Stesha's code phrase was enough to get their quick cooperation. The young gravitoflorakinetic had several emergency contact numbers on file, including Carson and Tarrant, but the third was for the creche manager in Sanctuary's largest village, Mayberry. She was shocked by the news of Stesha's untimely (if temporary) demise, but was able to quickly direct them to the family who were looking after Ammy for the evening. That family, also Sanctuary residents, did not have a home telephone that she knew of, but she offered to dispatch a runner right away, or the heroes could come and collect the girl themselves. 

Meanwhile, Tarrant's arrival on Sanctuary found the world wrapped in the gentle shroud of darkness speckled with stars. It was always a little shocking to move from Prime to Sanctuary in the evening and see just how dark a world without streetlights could be. The weather forecast called for sun for the next few days, so really all he needed to do was find a nice spot to put his friend for awhile. In a place like this, there were a lot of options for sunny garden patches without too many people around. 

"Just one," Wander told her, then briefly outlined Lightbringer's history as the Furions had explained it. "They came to us for a miracle, and I'm hoping we can give them one, but it's more important that everybody comes out of this alive. You've got to be the circuit breaker and start pulling energy out if the kid gets overwhelmed. Steve and I will be standing by in case... whatever. We should probably not do this in the conference room, HAX has a pretty good on-site infirmary. Let's head that way." 

Delegating Steve once again to collect the visiting family, Erin led the way to the infirmary, which was small but well-supplied for emergencies. "This is Copycat," Erin told Aarden and Serpa. "She's another champion of this world, and her specialty is energy management. We believe that we can help Lightbringer, but it will be dangerous. You have to decide if it's a risk you're willing to take."