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GM 3:30 PM, Friday April 12th, 2024 City Center, Freedom City Powers Holdings Office Building It started innocently enough. Parker had been to a family dinner, his family had asked him about his friends and students, and he had mentioned a few of them. When he mentioned Iris and Daniel and their telepathic powers, Tracy, his older sister, had perked up and asked more about them, how powerful they were and so on. Apparently, one of the R&D teams under her is working on a device that should, hopefully, be able to expand the scope of telepathic powers, potentially allowing a telepath to aid rescue efforts in a much wider area in terms of catastrophes. So... Parker had asked Iris and Daniel to come with him, explaining things as well as he could, and when Michael had overheard, Parker invited him along as well. The weather is nice for mid-April, as the group exits the car that had been sent to get them once classes were over for the day, once it has stopped in front of the Powers Holdings office building in Midtown. The building doesn't particularly stand out. Sure, it is tall, but so are most of the buildings in midtown, and the area is dominated by Freedom Hall, City Hall and the DuTemps Building, so, it doesn't particularly stand out. Still, there is a big POWERS HOLDINGS INC. name plate over the revolving glass doors, and on the window next to them, the large P with an explosion inside the upper part of the letter that makes up the Powers Holdings logo, which makes it easy to identify the building, at least.

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.

Monday March 5th In the worst slums of Freedom City Night time, decorated by a sprinkling of atmospheric rain. A fuzzy moon shone in the night sky. Here and there, betwixt the cloud cover, stars twinkled. It was a cold night, but the air was still. The drizzling rain fell down straight, rather than driving into your face. Still, one would have to wrap up warm or seek cover to see the morning. Even the homeless of Freedom of City knew that. The newest version of the Archer had got wind of a new drug that was been tested on the vagrants of Freedom City. Something that burned you up - sometimes literally. Increased strength and raised body temperature. Might keep you warm on dark nights, they said. And free. If you came to the right places, like here. A gaggle of homeless had gathered around a drum-fire and were asking a heavy set thug in a leather jacket about the drug. The thug was pointing at his companion, a tall, spindly woman, bald headed, bad skin, who was looking very much like she was on some kind of horse tranquiliser - barely standing up.

GM Evening, March 22nd, 2024 A local, somewhat small, but still with plenty of room, show stage Tokyo The music is loud, and so are the fans, as Multiplicity has taken the stage. Normally, they would be playing back home in Freedom City, but ever since Neko had started helping build their social media presence, the band had started to gain a massive following in Japan. More than enough to get an invitation to go there to play, taking the stage together with Neko. Both Neko and Bernadette and Neko has both brought their boyfriends along, and despite their somewhat strained relationship, both Charlie and Leon had come along. Despite Charlie's offer of taking the Young Guardians' jet, they had traveled commercial, which had been quite an experience, but now they were here. The lightshow that illuminated the hall turns off, and the crowd goes quiet, waiting for Multiplicity and Neko to start the show.

GM Atomic Tower, Midtown, Freedom City Early April 2024 Atomic Tower has housed the Atom Academy for four years now. A lot has gone on during that time, experiments and discoveries, but they have mostly been focused on moving forward, on the future. Rex Atom wants to change that. There's a lot hiding in the world, discoveries from the past, strange things that should and shouldn't be, and, he thinks that the Atom Academy needs to be a bit more proactive, so he has set out a reminder to the members of the academy and any of their associates, asking for anyone that would like to join him on his proposed journeys into the unknown. Everyone interested has been asked to meet in laboratory 55. It is a large open room, with a holographic projector, often used to model molecules or the like. Rex Atom himself seems to be running late, while everyone else are beginning to arrive in the room. So, the question is... who is everyone? Why are they here? What are their relation to the Atom Academy, if any? Why do they want to join the journeys into the mystery?

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….

GM 1 PM, Saturday April 6th, 2024 West End, Freedom City Silberman's Books It is a lovely day. The sun is shining over Freedom City, the birds are flying about and singing. A nice Spring day, the kind of day where it seems like nothing can go wrong and everything will be fine. Silberman's Books is an institution by this point, slowly inching closer to having been part of the city for 80 years. The current owner is of course one Lynn Epstein, otherwise known as Grimalkin. Her relationship with Casper Church, the friendly neighborhood Ghost, has progressed quite a bit lately, and it is time for Lynn to meet Casper's daughter, Carrie. Everything will of course go perfectly well and there will be no issues or troubles ahead. Right?

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 Friday March 15, 2024. 9:20 PM Located in Riverside, Midnight Hour was Freedom City's only underage nightclub. As such, it was often a popular spot for high school students and younger college students unable to get into twenty-one and over establishments. Tonight, the club was particularly crowded for the live performance of the band Multiplicity, which had an ever growing social media presence in the last two months. Tickets for the venue had been sold out for weeks, and the club was packed to capacity with people. In the crowd were several students from Claremont Academy, as the lead singer, Bernadette O'Connell, was a senior at the school (and the other members of the band were alumni of the school as well). The Irish teen had provided free tickets for any of her fellow students that had wanted to attend. Backstage, Bernadette was waiting with the other members of her band for the start of their set. The Irish teen was wearing a red and black plaid skirt, a white dress shirt with a red tie, over which she wore a black leather jacket. Two of the redhead’s duplicates stood a short distance away, both wearing jeans and long sleeve T-shirts, one had on a brunette wig, the other a blonde wig, which, together with the shadows toward the back of the stage would help conceal that the backup singers looked very similar to the lead singer. Standing nearby was the lead guitarist, Summer Sands, who was dressed in black jeans and long sleeve T-shirt. As was often the case, Summer was focused on last minute adjustments to her guitar and was blocking out most everything else in preparation for the show. The other two members of the band, Mark (the drummer) and John (the base player), were standing where they had a partial view of the stage and the some of the crowd gathered in the club. "Wow, looks like a full house." Mark commented. Bernadette walked over and glanced out a grin coming to her face. "I told ya that Neko could help increase boost engagement an' get us noticed." She glanced over at the clock on the wall. "Almost time fer us ta get out there."

March 28th, 2024 The area around the Liberty Dome was packed with people for the first baseball game of the season. Especially when it's a grudge match. The block around the Liberty Dome was, in some ways, it's own minuscule city; high cost hotels, nice restaurants that weren't too expensive, and street entertainment; dancers, balloon artists, radio DJs, the like. People were cooking at tailgates, or buying food off street vendors. On main street, a massive stage had been erected for Comets Corona, the local affiliate's baseball stats team; a set of a man and two women who listed statistics and did between-inning commentary, along with pre and post game analysis. The actual announcer team- featuring former GM Russell Mills who now did color commentary, alongside 'The Voice of the Comets' Chuck Champ- would already be in their booths inside. There were carnival games and street dancers entertaining people, and the Comet's mascot had been seen a few times wandering the grounds with a video crew in tow, playing pranks. The Opening Day match for the Comets was a known grudge match; the former Freedom City Flags- now named the New Orleans Patriots- were coming for an away game, and setting that grudge match on opening day was a clear attempt to get ratings up for at least the opening of the season. It was almost impossible to get tickets, every seat in the stadium was going to be filled on opening day. And it just so happened that the first pitch was going to be thrown by The Patriot- Member of the Freedom League-, and she had gotten two additional passes for the upper deck behind home plate. Which she had given to Carmen, who had then given one to Michael. This was a fortuitous stroke of fortune for Michael, who had wanted to go to opening day but had been unable to obtain tickets, so he was even more high on Carmen than he usually was, even if it meant they needed to go as Golden Star and La Puma Negra instead of as Michael and Carmen. When he found out that it was The Patriot who had gotten the passes, he was likely going to be a little embarrassed. So Golden Star and La Puma Negra were taking in the sights and sounds in the block around the Liberty Dome in the crisp March air, and Michael had gotten them both hotdogs- if nothing else, he was going to be paying for all of Carmen's meals-, while they waited for the Patriot to come pick them up or for the game to begin, because they weren't sure exactly how busy or swamped she was going to be up until she threw the first pitch. He was being very careful not to spill mustard on his formal Super suit- because of course he had a formal Super suit-, while also making sure no one got too close to Carmen or made her uncomfortable. He wasn't the hovering type, but he also wasn't going to hang Carmen out to dry. He was also desperately keeping his mouth shut to not just spew baseball facts all over Carmen. "Do you want a jersey? They changed the material in them so they're not as good as they used to be, but still, having matching team jerseys could be fun..."

April 2024, Freedom City University On a bright, sunny day in Freedom City, in the North End, three Claremont students were currently in the vicinity of FCU, or on the campus proper, on two distinct errands Bernadette O’Connell, alias Multi-Girl, aka the frontwoman for the band Multiplicity, was here to participate in an interview with FCU's school newspaper and morning show DJ. Thomas Windstrum worked in both groups and thus had brought Bernadette in to discuss her plans for Multiplicity, upcoming tour dates, and general other information; Thomas was a genuine fan of music and that included Multiplicity, so the interview was going to be a great spot to get traction amongst the college age students that Bernadette was only a little younger than, which meant they were perfect targets for her music. Meanwhile, Michael Adon had brought Ryan Jacobs to Liberty Park to meet someone who had a better job opportunity for Ryan; specifically, Michael's dad, Terrance Thomas Adon. Bernadette Bernadette was currently in the on campus radio station that bordered the quad at FCU. From the station she could look out onto a quad filled with trees and students milling about. Even the radio equipment at FCU for it's college station was state of the art and kept in outstanding repair. Thomas was a dusty haired college junior with a bit of a paunch and a classic Green Day T-shirt, but his passion for music was very clear from just a little bit of conversation with Bernadette. As the station returned from music, he activated their mics and began talking. "So again, this is Thomas, and I'm here with Bernadette O'Connell, front-woman of Multiplicity, who just had an electrifying set at Midnight Hour last month. She has a full set of performances coming up, but I want to talk history first; start at the beginning and all that. Bernadette, how'd you get into music in the first place?" he asked, grinning all the way. Michael and Ryan Meanwhile, Michael had lead Ryan to Liberty Park, close to FCU itself, but still in the park. Sitting at a bench that was close to the shadow of FCU's giant stadium, Terrance Thomas Adon was eating a hamburger and filling out payroll. He did look a lot like Michael, if Michael gave up his rigorous studies and exercises and went a bit soft; Terrance was fairly tall, his brown hair thinning at the top and salt and peppered. He was a bit slack around the waist, representing a physical worker who had moved into an office job, and dressed in a Decosta Construction button-up shirt. When Michael brought Ryan over, Ryan could see Michael's strong jaw and sharp eyes in Terrance's face, even if the rest of Michael's face wasn't much like his dad's. He spoke with a heavy Boston accent. He greeted his own son with a smile before turning his attention on Ryan. Now it was like there were two Michaels staring intently at Ryan at once. "Ah, your Ryan, eh? Mike said you're pretty strong and open to getting a new job?"

2024 March 15, 9:00am Halfway to Medford, New Jersey (about 20 miles NNW of Freedom City) ~60o, gentle breezes (~10 mph), cloudy Field trips! Hands-on learning, a vital part to any well-rounded education! And this was the most classic form of that time-honored tradition: a trip to a working farm! With beef and dairy cows, hogs and chickens, and numerous orchards covering its 250+ acres, Medford Farms had been serving the lower half of the state for over two centuries, and was always eager to welcome curious students. And these students were curious indeed, coming from a most curious school. As the Claremont Academy van pulled off Highway 40 and started down a side road (to avoid a construction crew), the four students within -- Owain "Copper Knight" Celliwig, Jonah "Jotunn" Janse, Ryan "Sever" Jacobs, and Michael "Golden Star" Adon -- were busy with their own thoughts.

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.

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…

Claremont Academy Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday March 27, 2024. 7:08 AM The buzz about Bernadette O'Connell's band, Multiplicity, had been growing over the course of the school year at Claremont. Back in the Fall, it had mainly been students that had listened to her band’s recordings online, or rumors about the redheaded Senior going out at least one night a week to perform at various venues around the city. Then the band had performed at the Freedom League's holiday party, and things only increased from there when Bernadette's roommate, Neko, began helping the band with marketing and their internet presence. Almost two weeks ago the band had performed at Freedom City's underage night club, the Midnight Hour, which had allowed many Claremont students to attend (with Bernadette providing free tickets to those interested). But the big topic making its way through the school right now was how late last week and over the weekend, Bernadette and her band (along with Neko) had traveled to Tokyo to perform! It was little surprise that the attractive redhead was very rarely alone on campus, and with her busy schedule of school, practicing and performing with her band, and, according to another rumor, being involved in a supergroup with some recent Claremont graduates, it was even harder. But, one other fairly well-known thing about Bernadette, was that she was often up very early most mornings to go to either the gym or the athletic fields to workout/train, a habit from her time as a lacrosse player before her powers emerged and prevented her from taking part in competitive sports. While she was often joined by some of the school's other "jock" types, there were days where it would just be her (if one did not count her duplicates). Today was one such day. Bernadette and about half a dozen of her duplicates were up on the school’s athletic fields at the north end of campus, running around with lacrosse sticks, passing a ball and shooting on a goal set up in the center of the field. They were all dressed identically, black sweatpants and a light grey hoodie.

Claremont Academy Freedom City, New Jersey December 1, 2023, 3:05 PM The last class of the day came to an end for this Friday, welcoming in the weekend. Of course, the students at Claremont Academy had finals looming in the coming weeks, so for many the weekend would hardly be a break. As if that were not enough, the headmistress of the school had suddenly sent word the night before for students to wear the school uniforms for the day, a directive that most of the students had followed at least. Rosalind Sommaripa, Jonah Janse, Bernadette O'Connell, Neko Musume and Owain Jones, where among a throng of other students making their way through the halls of one of the main buildings off the quad. Around them was the typical excited chatter of students, happy to be done with classes for the day. As the group of students exited the building, there was a flash of white light, and the five teens found themselves standing in a wooded area with a light dusting of snow on the ground. They were still dressed in the clothes they had been wearing that day (which in Bernadette's case was a grey and black plaid skirt, and a white dress shirt over which she had a navy blue sweater with the Claremont crest on the left breast), but their bookbags were gone. Up ahead was a stone wall, which at first glance appeared to part of the walls that surrounded the Claremont campus, only, it was much taller. In addition, at a corner of the wall was a tall thin wooden tower that rose up above a stone base. The design of the tower was a clearly Japanese style, with multiple peaks and roofs, likely of the Edo period. As the five teens were taking in their surroundings, a male figure appeared off to one side. "Greetings great warriors, you have a most important mission before you!" The man appeared to be in his early thirties, and was dressed in a traditional men’s kimono of black and white materials, again looking as if it was from centuries ago. However, the man was Caucasian, with blond hair and an impish, childlike grin on his face. "Before you is the fortress of the evil Lord Yamamori, who has kidnaped the Shogun's daughter." The man continued, and as he did, the five teens seemed to leave their bodies as they experienced a bird's-eye-view of what was beyond the wall in front of them. At first glance, it resembled the Claremont grounds, only things were vastly changed. Just on the other side of the wall in front of them, was the area that would have been the athletic fields, only, it had been replaced by what appeared to be a military parade field, with several outlying buildings that appeared to be barracks. Beyond that was another wall, with a gatehouse, which lead to what should have been the faculty residence and the two dorm buildings, but had been replaced by more Japanses fortifications and buildings. The low wall that sounded the gardens at Claremont was still there, only the gardens were vastly expanded, and exclusively of a Japanses style. And beyond that, where the main quad should have been, sat a massive Japanese style castle, rising several stories into the air. Along the various walled fortifications, the teens could see several armored figures slowly walking about. And then suddenly they were back in the forest before the strange man. "Stealth and cunning will be your greatest weapon as you make your way into Yamamori's fortress, confronting his forces only when necessary." The man said, giving a bow before vanishing from sight with a faint *POP*. Bernadette looked at the others, a confused look on her face. "What is going on?"

GM Near Midnight... ...On the streets of Bedlam The night of Bedlam was alive with its normal nocturnal residents. Tramps, drunks, burgulars, pimps, slingers, and buyers. But that was not the main event of the night. The main event was announced by the beeping of horns, the crash of cars, the screams of pedestrians. And round the corner came a lorry - large, steaming, travelling far faster than it should, threatening to jack knife as it turned. One light was out, and it was hard to see who, if anybody, was behind the wheel. It crashed through parking meters, it collided with parked vehicles. Steam poured from its damaged grill. What was certain was that it was only a matter of time before the runaway lorry would crash into some building or worse. And the people of Bedlam seemed only interested in one thing; getting out of the way. And who could blame them? For at the end of the road it hurtled down was a fireworks factory. The night looked like it would soon be illuminated with a bang. Unless some hero was on the prowl...

Saturday, September 11, 2023 Southside, Freedom City The first week of classes, somehow, was over. The feline vigilante known as La Puma Negra reclined languidly on the big couch in the common area on the first floor of Kord Dormitory, non-commitally flipping through a magazine. Suddenly, her hair stood on end. Ugh. She knew this feeling. It had to be that weird girl on her floor . . . Rot floated into the common area. She saw a wild tangle of black hair sticking up above the back of the big couch. "Oh hey, Carmen! I was just looking for you." As the matter-disrupting teen with the green dreadlocks flew closer, the feeling of unease just got worse. "Uh, I know I'm kinda skeezy, and I know my bad vibe might be worse for, uh, cat people than for, like, non-cat people, but, uh, I've got this favor I was going to ask you. . . ." Although she's floating in the air, the grungy teen still manages to look like she's walking on egg shells. "So, uh, the first time I tried crime fighting, I kinda ended up getting a little bit, uh, arrested, and I like, broke a bunch of stuff. . . . And that incident at the Albright Institute has got me more worried about my powers than ever. . . Anyway, now that I'm at Claremont, I was kind of trying to be a little less, uh, spastic with the hero stuff. So, um, people say that you do, like, crime patrols. . . Uh, it's there any chance maybe I could like, you know, tag along one time maybe? Like maybe you could, like, give me some pointers on like how to do it without screwing everything up?" Consuelo finally takes a breath. She seems to remember something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the best part. I've got these bracelets now, of you wear it, that creepy aura that comes off me won't effect you. . . Um, if you want. . . " And Consuelo holds out a friendship bracelet made of black fabric.

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.

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.

Spring, 1987 "Alright. We'll each go our separate ways until the heat goes off." Melter said, as the vault closed. Each member of the cadre of criminals put in one fifth of the code on the keypad. Then the door closed, and a hissing of steam locked the vault entirely. "When everything's cooled down, we'll get back together and split the profits." The team split, leaving the vault in the Arizona desert, hidden in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Spring, 2024 It's been a quiet life ever since Supercrimes! ended. There's been a few magazine or talking head spots in various documentaries or special editions, but nothing permanent. Which isn't that bad of a thing, given that Richard and Paige are now approaching- or are in- their 60s. They're almost ready to take Social Security, even if they don't look quite as old. It was probably a nice life; if rather boring. That is, until one day. When Richard and Paige receive a phone call from Meadowbrook Nursing Home, located in Freedom City. "...Hello." The voice is old and worn by the years, but distinct. It conjures up memories from almost 40 years ago. Mark Mettle, alias The Melter; a Costumed Criminal from the 1980s. He had never been in Freedom City proper; he was a bit too out there for the Freedom City of the Moore Act, with his blow-torch like flamethrower gauntlets and propensity for bombastic speeches, but he'd had a brain on him. He'd been the one who put the plan together. "Fast Forward, Hologram. I need to see you. It's about the Sierra Madre job. Can you come by Meadowbrook? I'm here under my own name. I think we should talk about it in person."

Claremont Academy, Morning If you weren't paying attention it might seem that the two had arrived the normal way, rather than via teleporter, a guardian and their ward arriving on their first day at a new school. It looks familiar, but I don't remember anything about this place Daphne looked around with something approaching wide-eyed wonder Did I really go to school here? "You previously went to a place called Wells High School, though you did assist them when you were older. And remember to speak not use telepathy, humans are unnerved by such things!" Uncle Rick spoke with a deep melodic voice, that well-suited his current human identity "You are probably experiencing Jamais Vous, the experience of feeling you know a place without remembering anything about the location." the third voice came from a cube attached to Daphne's patch-festooned backpack, who (the cube, not the bag) was Mother Unit Daphne's carer for want of a better word. "Though it is probably best you keep quiet, humans are still nervous around Artificial General Intelligences." As they chatted away the group drew nearer to the building where some of its many students were already milling around for many and various reasons related to the still early day.

(GM Post) December 21st, 2023, Early Morning, ASTRO Labs Campus MYSTERIOUS STRING OF THEFTS ACROSS THE COAST! TARGETING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OUTLETS GUARDS COMPLAIN OF CONFUSION, LOSS OF MEMORY, FATIGUE BUILDINGS AND GATES DESTROYED, LOCKS PICKED, ELECTRONIC DEFENSES DEFEATED PERPETRATORS UNKNOWN, STILL AT LARGE The Sun was still down, this early in the morning, and the temperature was barely above freezing. Scientists and security guards were wrapped in warm coats, scarves, and hats as they loaded several crates into a series of unmarked vans. They were filled with a variety of different projects that ASTRO Labs top scientists had been working on; a Liquid metal suit of armor, a self-modifying laser that could produce a beam anywhere along the electromagnetic spectrum, a set of magnetic rocket boots. Each was going in it's own truck, loaded into metal crates with anti-shock padding. Currently overseeing the project was one of the Managers of Research and Development, Clark Fields, wielding a clipboard as he observed the loads being placed into the trucks. He looked haggard, worn, and very cold, pulling his jacket tightly around him and taking sips from a thermos. Due to concerns about the string of thefts at high-tech laboratory, each of these projects- deemed the most likely to be desired by the thieves- was being sent to a different secondary location by the heads of ASTRO Labs, so that even if something was stolen, only one object would be taken, and the damage to the structure itself would be minimal or non-existent. But the best chance of this going off without a hitch was to get the objects out before day came. This was also where the request had come in to the Superhero community; for any help in overseeing this transport and making sure that the projects got to their destination. The two heroes in question, who had answered the call? The refugee from another world, Predator! and the previously crippled, superpowered Shooting Star! "We'll be assigning you to the armor's guard. That's our big project right now; the X-0095 Ferrofluidic Impervium Armor. If that gets into the wrong person's hands then it would be a significant blow to our research. We'd really like there to not be any thefts at all, but we're being realistic about the capabilities of our presumed opposition." his voice was clipped and tried to betray no emotion, but there was a clear frustration and concern in it despite that. "We're moving them in the first place because we believe the lab will be the next target, and we're hoping these will either get to a better safe house or will divert attention away from the lab itself, at which point we're hoping you two can pick up the slack for us. We're not really rated for Supervillain attacks." He had the manner about him of a scientist who wasn't used to the normal flow of conversation, so he had a habit of rambling about whatever he was working on without care for whoever he was talking to. But he seemed to realize that after that paragraph and stopped, looking at the superheroes apologetically "I'm sorry, I just said a bunch of words at once, and didn't really give you a chance to talk. Is there anything you want to ask me about our plans here?" he blinked. "...Actually have you two even met before? If you haven't maybe I should let you introduce yourselves to each other before I keep bombarding you with information."

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.

( @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.