Curious Key

I'm pretty sure that Warp is in that area of effect, so I'll roll tough. Toughness: 11 Well that . . . that would disable Warp. So I'm going to spend a hero point to try to get Warp a little bit less terribly injured in her first turn of combat. Advanced Roll: 23 So now she's only bruised and injured. Success?

Let's get Warp setup in this thing. Initiative: 6 Well . . . I guess that means my other rolls are gonna have to wait a while.

Energy never died, huh? Kat wondered about that. "Hopefully." She danced from foot to foot; if there was a thing that could capital E End something, then it might have been what she'd thrown at it. Her powers took offense to someone standing back up after they'd gotten done with it. Though maybe it still would get up and dust off their pants on the elemental whatsit? Magic was magic, after all. Maybe they had an exception pass to the end of all things? Smiling at the change in subject, Warp shrugged her shoulders. "It's a bit harder," she acknowledged. "But I can get it if I've got a vague idea of where to go. I've never been to Mount Rushmore, but I could probably go there. But I've gotta know where I'm going, and there's not a lot I can do with just 'Parkhurst.'"

"So, 'it's complicated,' then." She stared down into the water and shook her head, expression wry. "Yeah, that might be for the best." So, the pair of them were definitely an item. They considered each other something special, though for some reason they wanted . . . permission? Nonsense, nonsense. "Lunch sounds good. See you later." She waved, smiled and pushed off the edge before they could find some method of prolonging the conversation, struggling to paddle across the pool again, already feeling aches in odd places.

"I think you said something like that before." She made a cutting motion with her hand, more out of habit than necessity, and space split right open before their eyes, pulsing red to the beat of the universe's heart. "Library first. Tell me what dorm you're in and I'll drop you off there before I go home, and . . . Wait, poaching?" Kat looked a little concerned. "Did we just kill a magical lightning dodo or something?" She looked over her shoulder back toward the street and scratched at the back of her neck. "Are we in trouble with the . . . the . . . " She grasped uselessly at the air and made a face. ". . . magic police?"

Elias held his hand that that and threw his fist like that. It wasn't like Elias had no idea what he was doing; his thumb wasn't inside his fist like she'd been afraid it might be, and he seemed to have an idea of how to move on an intellectual level, but Kat had it down to instinct. She stepped into it and caught his punch with her wrist and twisted it aside with her whole body, other hand shooting out and hitting him in the chest, then again and again, with both hands, fast, abusing the opening . . . It didn't hurt. She was playing with kid gloves on, clear as day. "Come on," she eased up and stepped back, clapping her gloves together below the eyes. "You're supposed to be the telepath here, but your eyes are shouting; 'will punch high, please block here.' There was some power there, but if it doesn't hit? Doesn't matter."

She had to hand it to him, the guy had balls to go ahead and ask what a superhero's name was. Kat allowed a surreptitious glance around. There were a lot of people watching, and for now it seemed they were content to be spectators. But Kat remembered all too well their chanting; no more Terminus. They were waiting for the T-babies to screw up, she could feel it. Nah, they wanted it. Look at how dangerous the Terminus was, listen to the reasonable man with the thick-rimmed glasses. Warp wasn't going to be the one to bungle it all up and let that happen. It was like it always was in front of a crowd; the tension melted away. There was what she had to do, and that was the end of it. She slipped off her perch and landed softly, soundlessly on the pavement. Standing next to Walsh Kat looked very small. She felt very small. "You know that's not a fair question, Mr. Walsh." A hint of reproach. "I'm not the only person my secret identity keeps safe." Family, friends and more, it went without saying. Remind them why secret identities were important. Warp took Walsh's outstretched hand; what else was she supposed to do? Give them a show, move their hearts. "If you were just offering a choice I might not mind it. But that's not what you're doing. Someone takes your mystery cure and everything is right as rain, but the ones who don't?" She shook her head sadly. "How can it be a fair choice if the only other option is being treated like a criminal?"

It was weird to see Elias see hyped up and catty. He was supposed to be all quiet and solemn and weird, marinate in his own quiet, suffering loneliness. Kat had realized that he'd had a bee up his butt about something ever since he started glowering, but it wasn't until he opened his mouth and stalked off that she realized it wasn't a bee. It was a whole damn hive. Kat watched Elias march off into the portal and stared. She whistled and turned to Harper, a lopsided smile on her face. "Jezz, did you shot his Mom or something?" One by one the heroes followed Elias into the vortex, taking it head on, on its own terms. Staring for a moment at the swirling pixelated portal, Warp closed her eyes and shrugged, shaking her head. "I can't do any good out here. And I sure as hell can't shoot cross-world." Warp stepped up to the doorway and turned to Kris, "still; this," she said with a smile on her face, "is stupid, reckless and mad." With the tone she used, Kat might have been talking about new rides at Disneyland. She leaned back on one leg and pointed with her thumb. "Wanna see what's on the other side?"

Inclining her head toward Subito, Kat breathed an uneven breath and tried to squirm deeper inside her coat. Stealing glances away from the scene and toward Subito, she inched a little closer and considered speaking to him when Walsh's mic cut out. Kat had already taken a step toward the alley, her eyes frantic and darting, seeking out the cause. She needn't look too hard; they seized the scene. Kat winced back at the sight of them, reached up a hand and touched her neck, making sure it was still smooth. Some T-Babies were like her, unmarred on the outside. But some had been born clearly strange, or transfigured in the middle of their lives by some esoteric trigger that drew out their mutations and couldn't be undone. And there they were already, out there talking with the guy trying to bring the hammer down on their heads. Confronting him. She grimaced at the thought, turned and finished her walk through into the alley, where no one was paying too close attention. It took her all of seconds to put everything Katharine Shade away and slip into Warp. A red slit opened in the air above the street and Warp plunged down, landing catlike on a lamp overlooking Walsh and the rally. "That's not what you'll do. No," she said, in the voice she used to cut through the din of the theater. "If we don't, you'll force us out of school instead. You'll push us out of our jobs instead. You'll have our names all line up in a little folder. You'll take our normal lives hostage." "But you won't force us," Kat said in a voice that asked if it really mattered, eyebrows raised. "That would be barbaric."

Kat was in civilian garb. No need for her to pretend to be anything special; she was a teenager satisfying morbid curiosity was all. And if she'd taken up position near an alley where she could run in and out of sight, well, it was just that she'd happened to be standing there. It was a good lie, with enough of the truth in it to fool most people if they bothered asking, but she didn't think they would. Kat breathed warm air onto her hands and rubbed them together. It would be nice if everyone just left for home in about an hour and had nothing better to talk about tomorrow than how rude the other protestors were. He kept on preaching the same own song and dance. Warp had heard it all before, by conspiracy nut blogs and big-shot news articles; think of the children, don't we have the right to say if T-babies are near our loved ones, make our nation safe again, that sort of thing. Kat heard what he didn't say loud and clear; kick T-babies out of public service jobs. Kick them out of school too, maybe. Kat hunched her shoulders and bit down on the inside of her lip. She could laugh at a dozen thugs in an alley, but watching the crowd stir to Walsh's provocations made the social creature inside her whimper and cringe. Just a curious teenager, Kat reminded herself, stuffing both hands into her pockets and blowing air out her nose.

Once is chance, twice might be coincidence, but thrice was malice. That made one, two, three none-too-subtle hits to move on. Catty girls feeding off other people's embarrassment, Kat knew how to handle. Warp's eyes went narrow, her mouth formed a thin line. The fact that the girl had burned away a ghost was a white mark for her, she supposed, but that was no reason to stick around. Kat was framed by a hungry, pulsing redness as a fissure opened in the air behind her. "Ghost's gone, then? Everybody's safe?" She brushed Kit's hand off—not gently. "I'm done." She turned around and stepped through, calm and casual as could be. It knitted neatly shut behind her and left the theater in darkness and silence.

Are we doing a roll call here, is that what's happening? I'm here. Should we wait till Arich takes the reins to post or just jump in?

Yes, definitely Subito, she thought, her smile long and sly as the boy jolted at her calling. Warp followed along, watching Heraldo out of the corner of an eye, hands clasped behind behind her head. She had never really seen him in full heroic regalia before. It looked . . . well it looked silly, like he belonged on top of a cheesy parade float. "Well, I dunno. Once we find the problem I could definitely help it go away, but . . ." Warp shook her head. "I don't know this." When she heard Kris' voice Kat's face lit up for a moment . . . until she actually saw who she was carrying. Kat wiped a hand across her face and turned around to face the pixelated apartment building, hands on her hips. What went on behind her, Kat pretended to ignore. "If it isn't magic, what did this? I didn't think mutants could make something this . . ." A pause, a frown. ". . . Fancy?"

Kat's blows were probing, careful. Yes, about as quick as Kristin . . . She'd known boys who were slow as a truck who could kick like a mule, but Elias didn't look like one of them. Her strikes stayed soft, just present enough to be noticed; in Kat's mind this was already a light contact match; sometimes, her father had asked her to play mentor to some of the new kids in sparring, so they'd fight against someone their size. Elias was over half a head taller than she was, but she fell into the same rhythm nonetheless. With her blow to Kris' face still fresh in memory, Kat had every intention of doing this by the book. She stepped back into the center of the square and waited. She raised a gloved hand and tapped it to her chest, come on, hit me, if you can. Her mouth was a tight line. Breathe in, breathe out.

It seemed to Kat like Marcus was talking nonsense. She shrugged. "So he's a stupid kid with a lot of magic firepower. Great." If he really wasn't keen on getting interrupted and had half a brain, he would have found somewhere else to call up his damn elemental. Course, that meant he probably was gonna make a mistake that'd make him easy to catch. Or maybe he'd make a mistake and blow up half a neighborhood. Warp turned the cube over in his hands, huffed and tossed it Marcus' direction. "Sure, do whatever."

First, Kat felt triumph as her friend staggered backward; she'd broken through, she'd hit well and won. Then it occured to her that she'd hit her friend in the face with her hands. That sort of thing could actually cause damage, that sort of thing would have gotten her straight up disqualified in an official match. Kat scratched at the back of her neck, looking at the floor. "Maybe, but I'm pretty sure that hit's against the rules of every martial art, ever. I guess I've been doing too much fighting . . ." Kat bit down on her lip for a second and gestured, looking sheepish, oh, you know what. "Sorry." When Elias came up Kat raised an eyebrow. She gave Elias space until he could get into the square with her before she took a stance of her own. Now, Kat decided, she was going to hold the center and never give it up. Like the first, Kat gave it a test, a punch jab to test his reflexes, and a quick, scary round kick without much force to push him a little back. He was about as quick as Kris, she reasoned . . . only without the barrier to keep him safe.

Aaaaaaaaah, no! No! "Seriously though," what needed talking about what needed talking about what needed talking about . . . "Are we sure that ghost's gone? It'd be an embarrassment if she showed up out of nowhere out of nowhere looking for revenge." Kat put a hand on her waist and scowled. "It sounded like it had beef with Jael and . . . Damn psychic ghost knows my name. She could cause all sorts of trouble."

There was a danger to overcommitment; usually in the ring Kat had found people didn't have the time to attack back, but not many of her blows got through far enough to hit Kris anyway. Kris' blow hit clean and hard, and Kat stepped back, not breaking stance, breathing hard. "Good hit." Breath in, breath out. "I don't think we've met. Introduce me later?" When Kris came in, Kat figured she could let the flurry go. Being stomped and overwhelmed, she remembered, wasn't nice. But she had no intention of letting herself be hit. Most of Kris' blows went wide as Kat dodged back, to the side, away. The girl was good at keeping away, but Kris got a few hits in. Bruises never hurt anyone sure, but they did sting. Especially without protection. But it was a good sort of pain. But before she knew it, Kat was in the corner of the square, and could not retreat any further. She caught Kris' last blow with a nice block, pushing her hand to the side, stepped in closer and hit back hard with a nice cross that plowed through Kris' shield and caught her across the cheek. What fun!

Kat tried to open her mouth to respond but she got a mouthful of chlorinated water for her trouble. She spat and flailed until she regained control and continued her lap, clearly shaken. It was difficult to focus on much while she was swimming, but her brain managed some things. The weightlessness of liquid, Subito's outline in the water. Subito and Cerys Had Kat misunderstood? Cerys had made a joke, and Subito had looked guilty. Was that all it had been? Did she read too deep? Once she reached the other side she stopped, taking the moment to regain her focus. And nerve. She looked sideways at her partners and chewed on her bottom lip. "So . . . Are you two an item or what?"

Kat was only really paying attention to bits and pieces of what Sam was saying. Her face was rising to a bright shade of red at the reminders and she knew down to the roots of her soul how imperative it was to get Sam to just stop talking. Throw her off the railing? What? No, no! Who's the hero supposed to be here? No. She reached over and grabbed Sam's shoulders. "Hush." Thank god for acting, thank god. Her voice was steady. "Slow down tiger. Breathe. You look like you've seen a ghost." Stop talking stop talking stop talking about it! A corner of Kat's lips turned upward, amused. She clapped the witch on the back, hard enough to jolt the poor girl. "Pull yourself together, we're not squeamish in theater." So stop, stop, stop reminding me!

The transform into diamonds already has INANIMATE to diamonds on it, Cubist. How will that be nuking anybody? Even robots are still technically animate, so I don't see what the cause for concern is.

Kat smirked, "Well, I . . . Hey!" The mage cut the air open in a way Kat found distressingly familiar, something tumbling from his hands as he stepped through. She made the leap to close the distance, appearing right next to the mage—or where he would have been, she supposed. Kat groped toward him as he vanished into his magic staff portal and hissed, kicking at the ground—and splashing water up over her boots to soak her feet a little more in cold wetness. she was the teleporter here! Vanishing to kingdom come without a trace was her schtick! Memory tickled her thought. Something tumbling. Kat frowned and knelt on the rooftop, starring down at a little yellow cube of something. She balanced it on her palm and waved Marcus over. "Looks like he dropped a trinket." She stood up and held it out toward Arcturus. "It took a return address? 'If lost, please return to Four Privet Drive' or somethin'?"

Kat took a step backward with Kris' first jab, that's her reach, some part of her noted, and she dodged and ducked by inches rather than let Kris drive and seize the flow of the combat. She paid for it when Kris went after her leg, and Kat had to retreat to keep away; a little victory for Kat's senior. Breathing even, Kat slid forward with the soft squeak of feet skidding over floor and hit Kris hard as she'd dare with an outstretched heel; usually, competitors would fold under that kind of pressure under a few blows; she felt bad using it on Kris but the shield should reduce the . . . No. She could feel it creaking under her foot, wanting but refusing to give. No letting up, then. No holding back, then. She let her foot touch ground and got close, up in Kris' face and showered her with hard, sharp strikes with her hands. The barrier creaked and cracked and sometimes it even let Kat's strikes through, but they were feeble things with little force behind them by then.

It took about five minutes for Kat to get there. A little slice of reality in front of the building started to peel away, bleeding red mist as Warp's head peeked out of the red-black void about seven feet above the roofs. Looking up, she saw a building made mostly of pixels framed against an ordinary cityscape. Kat shook her head blearily, Freedom. She jumped out and landing in a crouch on the rooftops, the hole in the world mending behind her. She stood up straight and scratched at the back of her neck. Kat thought she recognized the flag in the the bizzarely dressed hero's hand, and his outline seemed familiar . . . Subito? Kat raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, reality caving to her will. She burst out of the open air behind the police line, tucked one hand behind her back and waved cheerily at both heroes. "Hey Arc! Got your message."

I'd love to throw Warp in. Considering how many times the Terminus keeps getting brought up Kat might very well get dragged into it by nature of what she is.