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Freedom City Medical CenterFreedom City, New Jersey.Wednesday, April, 10th, 20217:22 PM Eight thousand employees. Fifteen hundreds of which are physicians. Eight hundred beds. Ten doctors at the top of their fields with a superhuman specialization. And absolutely not one person with an answer to the question permeating throughout the sprawling Freedom Medical Center. Just where was baby Koa? It had been a good hour since everyone in the Labor and Delivery floor had fallen asleep. Including a woman who ended up sleeping through her own delivery. It had only been five minutes. But for Ata Kahale it was the longest five minutes of her life. When she awoke her baby was nowhere to be found. Hospital security was quick to pull the camera footage. Footage that has now dominated the the Freedom City news cycle for the past hour. Six robed figures exited the supply closet on the floor after everyone had fallen asleep. They entered Ata Kahale's room and left with her child back towards the supply closet. Disappearing without a trace.

Monday, January 11, 2021 3:26 PM "C'mon, this'll be great!" An offhand comment about being a bit underwhelmed by the variety of vegetarian options in the Claremont Academy cafeteria on Utsuwa's part had been all the excuse his roommate needed to drag them into the downtown of the Freedom City. Ryder promised he knew a little place in Riverside that did every imaginable variation on a lentil bowl under the sun and was evidently worthy of quite a bit more effusive praise even after Utsuwa has assured him he was convinced. The street they were walking down had done its best to fit as many businesses as possible into its limited space, street-front real estate divided and subdivided, skinny little stairways leading up to second floors and hand lettered chalkboard signs competing for space with pedestrians and bicycles. The soundscape was no less overbearing, from the halves of cellphone conversations to the wailing toddler in the stroller across the street, from the young woman busking with an electric guitar on the corner to the mishmash of chimes, bells and electric chirps that sounded as every door opened. From the way he was grinning Ryder might as well have been strolling through a meditation garden. "Look at that blue sky! Hope you're hungry bud, I know how you feel about American portion sizes. Here we go!" He stopped in front of a vertical sign with red block letters on a black background reading 'LentALL'.

cw: difficult stuff January 2021 Angelic sat in the conference room in a student intern's chair and watched as the super-geniuses talked. With a clear disciplinary record at Claremont going back past the Thanksgiving holiday, she had finally won a full-on evening internship for her senior year at Claremont that she had long coveted. That she was in a conference room shadowing Miss Americana rather than her laboratory working on her internal upgrades had not produced any complaints - "I understand," she had told Miss Americana before everyone had arrived, "that human interaction is as important for the scientist as is research." So she sat, dressed in a pencil skirt and bulky sweater that were a far cry from her lab gear, gleaming silver earrings and green-black hair the only concessions to her usual fashion sense, looking as human as anyone else in the room as some of the greatest minds in the world talked business. She was currently engaged in recording the conversation, constructing a three-dimensional model of an internal framework that would sustain internally concealed titanium networking, and in tasting the coffee she had poured for herself to blend in.

April 2021 Lantern Hill Cemetery Late evening Raina had saved Comrade Frost's number on her phone at Talya's suggestion but that didn't mean she got a lot of calls from him. "Hello!" came the cheerful, oddly-accented voice when she picked up. "Is this fire witch? This is Dimitri Peshkov! Tell me are you free this evening?" Dimitri peered around the side of the crypt as he looked around for the groundskeeper, nodding in satisfaction when he saw the man had gotten off-shift. Things were so much easier now that the graveyard had decided to hire a company rather than actually pay a man to live on-site.

The Undercity, Emerald City, Washington Sunday, May 17, 2020 07:38:21PM @Kaede Kimura The Red Summer's resident magic specialist smokes a cigarette as he watches Mixnus and Nixnus lug the bars of gold from the deck of the PT boat down to its cabin. Blonde, sporting an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt, and eyes half-hidden by the rim of his glasses and the darkness there is no mistaking the naked greed and slightly slack-jawed awe as he intently follows the gargoyle twins carry their newly gained wealth. It had been nearly half an hour of continuous back and forth trips from the gargoyles, and only a small pile of gold bars lies in neat stacks on the sewer floor, when Alaynah goes up to you. She smacks her pack of cigarettes and offers one up to you. "Gotta tell you, should have asked for more." She chuckles slightly then shakes her head, obviously in a good mood. "Tell me, you can create all this wealth so why're you here chasing after a murderer knee-high in sewer water?" *** A few more minutes pass before Zach, holding a hand-held radio, waves at Alaynah. "Boss, the package's coming." Alaynah nods at the comment and turns to you, her one good eye hard, all business now. "We'll keep this simple. We all get on my ship and when we're in the middle of the river, nowhere for him to run to, and then you take him and leave. Then me and my crew gets out of dodge, never to show our faces in this city again." She motions for the gargoyles to finish their work with a "Hurry up." "Oh, and I almost forgot," she turns back to you. She raises two fingers. "There's another one coming with Advay, some P.I. in-the-know and packing magic. Goes by the name of Christopher Daye of Blackstaff Investigations. He's yours to handle and, uh, your pet if it comes to that." *** @Spacefurry At long last your trip is nearing an end. You can see the metaphorical and literal light at the end of the tunnel as you guide Advay down the sewers, the professor's boxes of personal belongings and research bobbing up and down as they trail the both of you in the air. "I-is that it?" Advay asks as your flashlight gleams against a PT boat's hull. "I must say, I can't wait to finally sleep somewhere that isn't a cramped, dusty cave always with one eye open. It takes a lot out of a person, you know." Your flashlight quickly beams over the whole of the PT boat and its light is joined by several other flashlights from the crew of the boat. A dark-haired woman with an eyepatch, who looks to be the leader, walks forward to meet you. A bespectacled man in an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt watches from the deck, smoking a cigarette. Then two gargoyles emerge from the boat's cabin, matching and glowing runes on their foreheads. They move to a a couple of gold bricks lying on the sewer floor and haul it back into the PT cabin. Lastly, a woman in armor atop a clockwork pony made of bronze and brass. "Cristopher Dayes?" The woman with the eyepatch greets you with a smile and an offered cigarette. "Advay Upal? Welcome to The Red Summer . We're your ticket out of here." She gestures at her PT Boat. "None of us want to be inside a sewer for longer than we have to. So get on board."

GM Claremont Academy February 5th, 2021 Afternoon Coach Armstrong was pacing around in front of a tree at Claremont, looking at his watch. Elena was already there. She had been at Claremont for a few days now, getting papers and everything in order for staying ever since her rather explosive arrival. "Damn kid was supposed to be here by now..." Elena could stay at Claremont for now. If they hadn't been able to figure out a way to get her home by the next semester, she could join the school by then. Even if she was certainly experienced, she didn't know much about this world. She was hardly the first interdimensionally or chronologically challenged student at Claremont, and she would probably not be the last. So the school had chosen a student to show her around Claremont, give her the big tour of everything. And he was late. "Listen, I need to go, got an appointment I can't miss, just... wait right here, and he'll show up. Or go find some other teacher if he's not here in 15 minutes, alright?" Shaking his head and muttering something about a dumb kid, Armstrong marched off, leaving Elena alone by the tree.

It was another morning in Freedom City, and the SuperCrime! crew were back at the TV studio. Yesterday's cold, clear weather had turned into miserable, sleety drizzle today, enough that Paige had needed to change her clothes and redo her hair and makeup as soon as she arrived. Since the studio space they'd borrowed didn't include a dressing room, she wound up hiding behind the blue scrim pretending to be the set's side wall while wriggling into a dry SuperCrime jumpsuit. "Okay, I know we've got a bunch of these to run through, remind me who's up first today," she called. "First up this morning is Jill o' Cure," Fred reminded her from the other side of the curtain. "Healer type, local to Freedom City, was on the Interceptors during the infiltration." "Ah, right." Paige paused in her dressing a moment. This interview would be a little bit tricky, just by the nature of secret identities and the super community. Paige Cline knew Ellie Espadas through a score of Nicholson family nights and Saturday field trips over the years, but that was an entirely different thing from Paige Cline the television personality or Hologram knowing Jill o' Cure. That family guarded their identities well enough that Paige only knew because Richard and Will had gone to a party at Fleur de Joie's place once and met Ellie's brother Erik, who was Jack of all Blades. Secret identities could get very confusing but Paige did her best to respect them absolutely, even to the point of concealing them from her crew. Paige stepped out from behind the scrim and finished toweling her hair before going for a quick makeup retouch. "I'm going to keep this interview loose and see what she wants to say, then maybe prompt her a little," she explained to Fred. "Be ready if I call for a break, I don't know if we'll need one, but this stuff can be difficult. We all ready to go?" "Sure, just don't make us go outside again," Dave called from his camera. "We're ready to go whenever."

Late December 2020 A beach south of Freedom City It was a time, Sea Devil had assured everyone, of great importance. Hydra in her wisdom had provided a great blessing here in the coldest, darkest time of the year, a gift of food, and light, and shelter. Aquaria had guided her people to the site and with a little help from the Freedom League, the nearest tribe of Deep Ones had eaten well - and without conflict with surface-dwellers or Atlanteans. But most of that tribe was gone now, migrating out to the deep waters off the coast that stayed the same temperature in any season. So it was just Aquaria, her friends, and a few straggling Deep Ones to commemorate this rare blessing for her people. She had begged, pleaded with those she loved to help make this occasion a truly special one, and with a few promises of cleaning here and quiet there, she had won the help of important allies for a rare, glorious holiday amid a site made holy by the occasion. The best part was - it counted as community service hours, just the thing after the last time she'd gotten in a little trouble with the law of the Surfacers earlier in the year. Come to think of it, Indira had been there for that one too - maybe why she'd come along this time? It was hard to say. And so it was in late December that Sea Devil and Singularity crouched inside the almost completely skeletonized remains of a beached whale that Aquaria had assured all her Surfacer friends had been dead before her arrival there a couple of weeks before, Sea Devil wearing a crown of teeth and other bones and not much else to mark the role she played in the ceremony as Dagon, Jessie wearing - well, Jessie had preferred her own garb for the celebration and Aquaria could hardly blame her, the traditional Hydra garb not really being suitable for a great many reasons. Still she was here, making a sacrifice out of love, and as usual Aquaria was touched by emotions too profound for words. Crouched inside the skeleton, Aquaria laid a wet hand on Jessie's and hissed "You are the best friend anyone could want." Then she began to sing; a short, ponderous song about the blessing of the cold dark sea, and how in certain very special times of the year, Dagon and Hydra awarded their children special tokens of their esteem before she popped her head out of the rib cage and bellowed at the top of her lungs before adding a translation for the benefit of the humans in the audience - mostly a few volunteers from local communities and a couple of students from Claremont: AUSPICIOUS SEASON! Back inside, she turned a joyful smile on Jessie, an impressive sight indeed, and raised her two thumbs high to encourage Jessie to take her part. - Outside, Nightscale's extra credit project was certainly giving him something interesting to talk about. He was the oldest student there for once, a few first-years there in the company of Mr. Sadler, a parent volunteer who'd been a hero back in the far-off days of the early 1990s, being his Claremont escorts. There'd been music, and food already - hot apple cider brought over from the nearby small town, all of it locally caught fish fried over hot coals, though the 'locals' on the scene here were scaly fish-frogs that looked like they could bite his head off. The Deep Ones he'd seen in Claremont lectures had been fearsome beasts laying waste to Freedom City and fighting superheroes; the half-dozen here (besides Aquaria, the Deep One hero) didn't seem interested in much other than eating fish and watching the ceremony - though he was conscious occasionally of big black-and-gold eyes cast his way.

Saturday, February 27, 2021 10:21 AM "Well, the schedule says it was supposed to be here at quarter after," Ryder confirmed, scrolling down the page on his phone and confirming he was looking at the right day. He and Danica had left the Claremont Academy dorms with plenty of extra time to get to efficiently titled Lab for their 10:30 rendezvous with Eira and whomever was working that morning but after disembarking to switch crosstown buses they'd been waiting a good ten minutes. "Maybe it was a little early and we missed that one?" It seemed unlikely since the other commuters standing at the bus stop had already been there when they had arrived. A stout man with a bald head turning pinkish in the cold winter air was tapping his foot impatiently while a young mother with a stroller covered by a weather shield did her best not to make eye contact with the leather jacket and studded choker-wearing teenager sitting beside her on the only bench, idly tuning a black cherry electric guitar. Even with his bright red scarf sticking out of layers of canary yellow hoodie and jewel tone windbreaker Ryder could feel the cold seeping in and he got the impression Danica was feeling it more acutely. He tossed his phone back into his satchel, catching muted annoyed clicking from within. Craning his neck to look for signs of the bus coming down the street he did some quick math in his head. They weren't far from the Lab now but even hurrying he wouldn't make it there on foot for 10:30 and it would be a pretty miserable walk for his classmate. "Well, guess we get there when we get there, huh?"

Salsa! Debarge Bath, Somerset, England Friday, March 27, 2020 21:15 PM local time Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. The steam rising in the air paired well with the steamy entanglements of many a couple seeking a romantic destination. Erick Sloane and Dawn Farrington had in fact sought such a weekend getaway. The expectant parents, and currently longest serving active members of the current iteration UK's national superhero team the Vanguard, had left their English estate for a weekend in Bath. Salsa! Debarge was a lively bar and dance club. The posters plastered along the inside of the walls advertised daily dance classes. But, the nights were dedicated to live music, drinks, and Latin food. The second floor balcony overlooked the dance floor, with patrons of the restaurant treated to the show of the customers dancing below. The dance floor itself was circular and spacious enough for a crowd to engage in. With a stage set where a colorfully dressed band was currently playing their music loud enough for all to hear. Erick was drinking a glass of water, his plate of food half eaten. He was wearing a long sleeve button down cotton shirt with an alternating brown and orange stitch pattern. Tight jeans covered his black Savate shoes that looked similar enough to loafers to pass as such. "So, you call the dance Salsa still. But, you guys call the sauce red sauce. Were people worried that the public would think Salsa clubs would be places people bring chips and compare dips?"

Danica Holmes loved Valentine's Day. It was one of her favorite holidays, behind Christmas, Easter, Arbor Day, and Labor Day, so when it came up, she got very excited. A holiday all about love and friends and candy and giving gifts, what could be better? And with several decades worth of saved up extra cartoon Valentines cards, she had lots to give away! When she found out that the school was sponsoring a party this year after several years without one, well, that was just the icing on the cake. A week before the big day, she could be found riding up and down the halls of the dormitories on her Segway, red and pink paper hearts dotting her black and gold shell. On every single doorway, she hung a bright pink flyer and two mini-bags of Skittles. Valentines Party! Saturday Night, Feb 13, 7pm, Gym Food, Games, Music, Prizes! And a big (good!) surprise! School Rules are in effect The night of the party, the gym was festively decorated with pink and white helium balloons, streamers, even an ice sculpture of a heart thanks to a particularly industrious ice-controlling student. A DJ setup was currently unoccupied but playing peppy music, and three whole tables of snacks and punch had been set up along the wall. Danica arrived early, along with several other students who had helped set things up, and was busy assembling a little plate of snacks. Her shell had even more hearts plastered on it now, and was edged with a fanciful lace ruffle, making her look rather like a Valentine herself.

Fall 2020 Lucy the Elephant Margate City, NJ In retrospect, Ashley's mistake was in letting herself think that today was going to be a good day. The trip out to Margate City was the sort of thing that many Claremont students might have balked at as being just kids stuff, but it had been just the right thing for her charge and the teens she worked with. Lucy the Elephant had stood proud and tall in Margate City since 1882, at least until a recent act of super-vandalism had left it tagged with various sorts of obscene graffiti, the Tag Gang having made their escape before the local police could arrive. The chance to send out some super-teens in costume to show the nice people of Margate City that teenagers weren't so bad, and could actually help clean up what their peers had wrought, was just about perfect - especially once a little check from the Secret Service revealed that the Tag Gang really had moved on to much more interesting pictures than a seaside New Jersey town. Blue Squad had spent the day doing various things; cleaning the inside and outside of the elephant, cleaning up the broken glass from the tavern window nearby, straightening up the museum inside the elephant that told the long and rich story of a 138 year old wood and tin elephant. Watchdog and Daystar had spent the day mostly working inside the elephant, letting the more photogenic members of the team talk to the local press that had stopped by to take advantage of the rarity of super-teens stopping by. You could see the skyscrapers of Freedom City if you looked out Lucy's eye across the water; but this place still seemed miles away. The local Jaycees had brought snacks and somebody had put on some music that had been old when Ashley was younger - and honestly - things had been pretty good. "I've been washed," sang Judy softly, almost under her breath, as she helped Ashley mount the new bulletproof windows in Lucy's butt, "I've been washed in the blood of the Lamb..." Daystar had been powered up most of the day, a pleasant rainbow glow, and Watchdog's armor was actually just about right for the Jersey Shore in September.

A few weeks after the events of Everything They're Asking For And More It had been an eventful few weeks of show prep, interrupted by chaperoning Holly's very first trip to Sanctuary with the rest of her Claremont class and Bryant waking up with one of those high fevers that goes and comes quickly in small children. But Richard and Paige had gotten a lot done despite all of that. They'd talked a little bit about their respective interviews, but they had been too busy to do their usual repeated comparing of notes. Some of what Richard had heard and seen had stuck with him, hanging like a dark cloud around his head as he sat at the dining room table, coffee in one hand and yellow legal pad with giveaway ballpoint pens in the other, writing names and question marks, a frown on his face.

The Boardwalk Freedom City, New Jersey.Thursday, April, 2nd 202010:00 PM "I'm telling you. Frank has the best hot dog cart on the Boardwalk. Back when I had a penthouse here, It was my stakeout food of choice" Foreshadow told Raven before taking a bite. The prescient acrobat's cape fluttered in the wind as he stood on the sign of a run down hotel. The sign flickering in the night. The heirs to two heroic legacies in Freedom City had met up to discuss an auction that supposedly included powered individuals as items of sale going on in the Atlantis casino. "Oh! The kid's good. Solid nine out of ten for style." Down below the latest hero to don the mantle of Archer had been following an armored car that was transporting bags of cash from a casino. It had been stolen in the morning by a group of five ex special forces soldiers. The driver employed by the armored car company. They had almost gotten away with it until Archer tracked them down leading to a pursuit through the streets of the Boardwalk. Just now two thermite arrows that had been placed before the chase had started were set off from tire welds. Sending the vehicle careening in such a way so that the armored car was actually stuck in the one way entrance of an alleyway the opposite end blocked off by the back entrance to a meat market. The crash location gave both heroes perched above a clear view of the processions below. Two of the thieves came out into the alleyway with riot shields. Which provided them a degree of protection, but not to the degree that staying inside the armored car.

GM A Friday evening in late February, 2021 The Boardwalk, outside the Diamond Clover Casino It had not been a evening for Raina so far. Eddie had seemed like a nice enough guy at first. He had taken her to a magic show at the Boardwalk. The magician wasn't exactly good, but he was trying at least, not helped at all by Eddie's heckling and talking over each and every thing that he did, loudly explaining to Raina how he would have done the trick so much better. No, Eddie had turned out to be quite insufferable, and Raina had left, leaving the Diamond Clover Casino soon after. It had been a good day for Casper. No trouble at all so far, he had been hangng out with Carrie and had taken her to a kids' show at the Boardwalk, and she had absolutely loved it. He could have sworn that Jessie had looked a bit differently at him when she picked up Carrie, too. All in all, a good day, and he had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out at the Boardwalk, just feeling good about himself for once. Of course, either of those feelings wouldn't last. In the cold clear night, the roar of bikes echoed through the Boardwalk. A biker gang tore through the Boardwalk, all wearing jackets with an a horned skull with burning eyes and a pentragram on the forehead that identified them as "THE DEVIL's ADVOCATES FREEDOM CITY". Few wore helmets or any kind of protection, laughing and shouting as they drove amongst the people that had to leap for their lives to get out of the way. Of the two riders in the lead, one looked almost unnaturally pale, a red bandana tied around his forehead, his rapidly thinning black hair pulled back by it, and the other, with a full light brown beard and long hair, wore a helmet in the style of an Imperial German Pickelhaube officer's helmet.

Even though she knew full well what time it was, the dark and the cold were still a bit of a shock to Stesha as she stepped out of the largest knot in an ancient oak tree. She'd spent the past fifteen hours of a very long day much closer to the equator, helping out with a World Food Program/UNISON/Freedom League joint humanitarian project in Haiti. Evacuations ahead of the unseasonable tropical storm had kept casualties low, but the damage had still been extensive and a huge amount of arable land wiped out. She'd done good work helping put things back together, but it had been exhausting, miserable work in soupy humidity broken only by periods of pouring rain. By the time she'd finished doing what she could, her uniform was so soaked she could barely pull it off so she could change into somebody's spare UNISON jumpsuit. Even with as long as the day had been, even as tired as she was, Stesha wasn't quite ready to go home just yet. Ammy was out with her class on an overnight camping trip, and the house was so big and echoey with nobody else in it. She thought often about removing the extra bedrooms and going back to a cottage, but every time she considered it, some disaster or other filled all the rooms again. Tonight, though, it was empty rooms and tomorrow another tremendously long day of trying to organize the tax information for the 501(c)(3) that funded Sanctuary's needs from Earth Prime. Unless of course some disaster came up, she thought wryly, and wasn't it terrible and wrong to wish for a disaster just to avoid paperwork? Liberty Park, like most of downtown Freedom City, was never truly dark. Here on the footpath near the Children's Zoo, blue twinkle lights were strung along the path and through the trees, making soft shadows over the bench she sat down on. Just a few minutes to unwind, she figured, and she'd be ready to go home. Or at least cold enough to want coffee. With a rueful grin, she pulled a handful of seeds from her pocket and began flicking them across the path one at a time, letting them take root and grow into flowers as they fell.

Port of San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico, US Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 3PM local time "He has not called me once." Princess Thaelia of Atlantis explained to her former roommate Giang Trang. The conversation had gone as such for the former roommates. Catching up on their lives, the latest subject was her awkward not quite courtship of Elias Silvestri. "I own a cellular device, and yet no distance calling." Thaelia was dressed in ceremonial Atlantean armor, an object wrapped in a large cloth the size of her body tucked underneath her arm. Thaelia, Giang, and Heroditus were in the port of San Juan. One of the busiest ports in the Caribbean. Which on this day had an entire passenger ship dedicated to them. But, the trio would not be actually utilizing the ship. Though the pier was crowded with many dockworkers and potential passengers traversing, no one paid mind to the otherwise empty dock as they approached. Unlike when General Dalekos had dragged Heroditus out of Claremont some months ago, Thaelia didn't set up a meeting with Headmaster Summers. Simply arriving at Claremont and essentially kidnapping the Atlantean scholar. Leaving Giang with the job of apologizing to the Headmaster, who was both already aware of the kidnapping, and subsequently tracking them down. Where Thaelia explained that she needed inquisitive eyes for a task. The Atlantean Senate had unilaterally requested that three abandoned Atlantean outposts be investigated. After reports of salvagers in the area they dare not have Atlantean technology taken by those who may wish to do Atlantis harm. Though at least that was the public stance, never one to mince words Thaelia openly theorized to the others that certain members of the military may also be looking to reoccupy some of those outposts. Their first stop was to be her grandfather's base of operations during surfacers' second World War.

GM The Fens, Freedom City August 24th, 2020 9:30 AM The day had started normal enough for Alice. Go to school, don't quite save the world just yet, but maybe learn a bit about how to do it eventually. Like much of the Fens, Alice's school was not a particularly nice place to spend your time. Apathetic teachers that had given up on trying to make a difference, students fighting. It was not the safe place that most of Freedom City had become. Few seemed to care about the Fens, after all. So few heroes stuck around. Alice was not one of those heroes. Since returning to the school after the summer, she had noticed something new. Drugs had always been a problem at the school, but these new drugs were different, and since those new dealers had appeared at the school, rumors of students getting into trouble had only grown, and they were suddenly showing signs of different super powers. Someone had to find out what was going on. By this point, Alice had found two dealers: Teddy Kaplan, a normally quiet and slightly twitchy type that tended to stay in the school yard, and Billy Altman, a nerd that was usually hanging out near what passed for a computer lab. She honestly didn't know either of them well, but she would have to make a choice on who to pursue.

GM Claremont Academy October 15th, 2020 5:00 PM Sebastian Shields had not been happy about the events of the day that he had returned to Claremont after the summer. No, the way everyone had acted, like he was not better than him? It was simply not acceptable. He had been busy, since then. If the newly enrolled students wouldn't give him the respect that he deserved, then he would teach them why they should respect him. He would be better than all of them. All he needed was a team. Eddie Fell was the logical choice. Of course Sebastian needed Chump. Any good team needed some muscles, and Eddie was loyal. He wouldn't even need a nudge to help. Charlene Hart had been by Sebastian's side for a while. The two had often been seen together, at least ever since he had convinced her to go to prom with him. He had helped her, he had calmed her down. She was loyal, would never disobey him. Toxin got to be the second member of the team, her mere touch would be enough to stop anyone from messing with him. Sebastian quickly decided that he didn't need more boys for his team. No, Chump was quite enough. Melanie Cutter was a good choice. No powers, but she had extensive training and she was a killer with that bladed whip. He even liked her codename, Stinger, even if the redhead would probably challenge him a bit more than he would like, but that was fine. Sebastian would enjoy convincing her otherwise. Finally, the team needed some legitimacy, so of course he made friends with Cassie Dugan. Having the vice-principal's daughter on the team would open doors, and she filled in the much needed spot of a flier. She didn't really want to do it, but she did like the attention it would get her. Bluebird probably wouldn't cause too much trouble for Sebastian. So, his team had been set, and on October 1st, Sebastian made a big show out of presenting his group to everyone. Of course, no one else needed to do anything anymore. After all, they were the new big team at Claremont: The New Young Freedom. They had been busy in the few weeks after that, breaking curfew, fighting bad guys and punks. Not really any super villains or anything like that, and of course they did it in secret. Not like anyone would tell on them, that would just get others in trouble too. But... there were rumors. Maybe they had beaten up some kids for just causing a bit of trouble. Maybe the kids had not really done anything really bad, at least not something that deserved that? Maybe it was just a rumor. After all, they were heroes, right? Maybe not everyone trusted Casanova.

GM Corner of Kissinger and Michigan, Southside, Freedom City May 15th, 2019 9 AM The morning had been slightly chilly when the homeless shelter near on Kissinger had opened its doors, the attendants gently prodding the homeless back out into the streets, at least until the night. The small shelter had barely any funding, only enough to offer beds to sleep in during the night, with nothing but a padlock keeping the doors closed during the day. Still, even if the morning had been chilly, the day promised to be warmer, and the sun was bright in the sky. One might even suspect that it could be a good day, living in the street or not. And yet, the men and women that left the Kissinger shelter seemed downcast and paranoid. Most stayed together, huddled in groups, looking down every alley they came past. It was not without cause. The homeless population of Southside has slowly, but surely, been thinning during the last few months. Screams in the night, disappearances during daylight. And yet, none had seen the kidnappers. It was just homeless people disappearing, and the police cared little. But maybe the homeless of Southside did not need the help of the law. Maybe they needed a different kind of justice.

Danica was not a fast walker under the best of circumstances, but she did have a way of getting a crowd to part effortlessly for her, even without anyone noticing it happening. She walked with Elena out of the crowded Valentine's Day party and into the deserted hallway outside the gym. From here the music of the party was still faintly audible but the noise level was much reduced and the air was cooler and fresher. Most students entering and leaving the party were using the outside doors, so they weren't likely to be disturbed here. "How are you doing?" Danica asked, all friendly concern.

GM An abandoned warehouse in Kingston 11:30PM, August 18th, 2020 The Raven and Bowman families had been in Freedom City for generations. Beyond working together in the Freedom League or chance meetings, there had been little coordinated effort between what might perhaps be the city's two most well known sources of unpowered heroes. Both families had recently expanded. New, young heroes in training. Both the newest Arrow and Nevermore would attend Claremont Academy soon. At headmistress' Summers suggestion, the fourth Bowman and the third Raven had arranged a playdate for the fourth Arrow and the second Nevermore. It was a simple job. One where the experienced heroes would be able to keep their sidekicks safe with little issue. It would serve as a simple training exercise. Nothing serious, a weapons deal going down in an abandoned warehouse in Kingston, far away from the Doomforge. It would all be very simple and easy. Maybe a few stray bullets at worst. No civilians to keep safe, just the other heroes. What could go wrong? The group of heroes were positioned on the roof of a nearby building with a clear vantage point of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. It was all concrete and glass, several ways inside. It was supposed to be empty, but of course it wasn't. The four heroes could see lights moving around inside. The Bowman kneeled by the edge of the roof, holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. "I count at least 12 people in there. There's probably more, staying away from the windows." He lowered the binoculars, then looked back over his shoulders at the rest of the heroes. "How do you want to do this?"

GM Tea Time, Around 4PM, May 15th, 2020 All Across Emerald City Hello, hello, all my new friends! I am the White Rabbit. The man on the screen looked smart, in his long tailed jacket. The jacket was black, with a red and white pattern on the lapel, with the red on each side looking suspiciously like half of a heart. He wore an off-white vest under it, with a white dress shirt and a neatly tied dark red tie. On his head, a black bowler hat, with a pair of white rabbit ears under it, pointing down. His hair was short and blonde, but he sported some impressive sideburns. The man looked so happy, a wide smile on his lips, as he looked down at a golden pocket watch in his hand. To most, he probably looked like a slightly deranged kids' show host. Some saw him on their television, where he had suddenly appeared. Some heard him on the radio. For others still, his image had suddenly appeared on the screen of their smart phones. Anything connected to the public air waves, he was there. Oh my, would you look at the time? It is tea time! The very best time of the day! And oh, what a party we will have! So come, my friends! Come, and let us have tea! Join us, my friends and I, and come for tea! We even have cake! He threw his head back, laughing quickly at himself, before turning back to the screen. My old friends are out there already, y'know. Go and find them, they will tell you what to do. They'll show you how to really get the party started! Now, hurry up! After all, you're late, you're late, for a very important date. All across Emerald City, the effect was instant: Anarchy. As they were drawn into the White Rabbit's power, the citizens of Emerald City took to the streets. Even to those that escaped the madness of the mind, the city seemed to take on a brand new life. Everything was changing, twisting and turning. A cartoony world of wonder, with giant flowers, playing cards and more, spreading all across Emerald. It was almost enough to make one go mad. A fairy tale wonderland, spreading out across the city streets, as the White Rabbit's new friends began to spread into shops, stores, homes, banks, government offices and more. A group of heroes were among the unaffected. Whether by chance or design, they had escaped the White Rabbit's friendship. It wouldn't take long for them to notice that the greatest concentration of White Rabbit's friends seemed to be centered near the Yellow Brick Row shopping district...

January 2021 Claremont Academy Shortly after Pan dragged Leon away from Judy... "Why exactly are you here?" Pan had finally stopped under a tree, turning to face Leon, his arms crossed over his chest. "What are you trying to do? Be the one that everyone will hate or watch? Do you steal and cheat because you can? Take from whoever you want, just because it is fun?"

GM Somewhere beyond the second star to the right, heading in the direction of morning The flying pirate ship tossed wildly through the everchanging rainbow lights of the path ahead. It tossed and turned, the pirates screaming and holding on for their dear lives as its bow crashed into the rainbow. The figurehead, a lovely mermaid holding a sword, was torn straight off, as the ship went into another wild spin. A couple of pirates fell screaming into the rainbow void around them, rocked by the hit. On the deck, holding on to the wheel, the Forever Boy was laughing.