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Date: April 1st, 2019. An hour or so after sundown. [GM Post] April Fools' Day. A day to play jokes, spring pranks, and spread hoaxes. A day where everything must be taken with a grain of salt, even in a place like Freedom City, where fantastic things happened with some regularity. But there are some things that even the citizens of Freedom would consider "unusual." Long-time residents of West Freedom know of Lantern Jack, the spectre that haunts Lantern Hill. Or, rather, haunted -- not a spark of his eerie lamplight has been seen for years. Some hope he had finally passed on to Heaven, others fear he had been dragged down to Hell, or banished to some Limbo. But now, an eerie, blue-green light -- similar to the one from his lamp -- shone again on Lantern Hill, slowly wandering about the graveyard. Was it Lantern Jack, back from... wherever he had been? Or was it something else?

Fall 2019 Heroditus knew intellectually what school counselors were - healers who looked after the mind rather than the body. Atlantis certainly had its own share of such people. But being summoned to meet personally with Dr. Marquez, the school's wheelchair-bound counselor, had come as a surprise. So here he was, waiting outside the counselor's office, wondering what had brought him here - but he didn't have long to wait. Pushing himself down the corridor came the doctor, a smile on his face for the student. "Ah, hello, Mr. Stylanios!" He pressed a button on his chair and the office door opened. "Apologies for keeping you waiting. Shall we talk?"

Riverside Farmer's Market, Freedom City Saturday, June 29, 2019 12 p.m. "I can't believe you invited your boss." Mia Mustafic Markov leaned against the car in the farmer's market parking lot, a sour expression on her face. She looked a lot like her mother, Serena Mustafic, but stretched out and paler. She stood 6'00" tall, making her a bit gangly, which dwarfed her mother's 5'04". A smattering of freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and checks, breaking up the milky colour of the rest of her face while being partially obscured by a pair of big round sunglasses. Her jet black hair was done up in a high pony tail held up by a baby blue scrunchie. She was dressed for the weather, wearing a black tank-top with Mr. Yuk on the front, though she had no idea who Mr. Yuk was, along with a pair of jean shorts. She had opted to only wear flip-flops on her feet, partially due to the promise of time at the beach later. "Lynn's a nice lady, give her a chance. Oh, and call her Ms. Epstein until she gives you the go-ahead." Serena didn't really look much older than her daughter at the best of times, and her choice of attire today didn't help. She wore a promotional t-shirt for Bad Religion's Empire Strikes First album, the art of a man praying in front of a black and blood coloured American flag now faded some, along with a pair of high-waisted pastel blue shorts. As always, she wore her worn Doc Martens, but for today accessorized with a wide brimmed straw sun-hat and teashades. A red pleather purse hung from her shoulders, clearly having seen better days. Serena pulled out her phone, and quickly shot Lynn a text message. 'hey, we r here in the parking lot. C u soon :)' Then, she stowed her phone back in her purse, and shot her daughter a glance. "You're not going to be a sour puss all day, are you?" she said to her daughter, peering over her sunglasses. Mia rolled her eyes. "M'not bein' a sourpuss." Serena smirked. "The sourest puss." Mia frowned. "Could be in Philly right now. Could literally teleport there," she said sulkily. "You do and the next place you better teleport is the moon, because I will kick your butt so hard it'll fly off," Serena said. She used a jokey tone, but Mia knew she would be in big trouble if she crossed her mom. "I wooooon't," Mia whined. Serena smiled. "Good. Now keep your eyes peeled for Lynn." Mia folded her arms and sighed. "What am I looking for?" "Tiny Jewish lady with more energy than a four year old on Halloween."

GM September 5th, 2019 7:30 PM Riverside Park Riverside parks was silent in the growing darkness. The weather was nice and warm, the last of the rapidly fading summer quickly casting its light on Riverside Park. Despite the presence of the Sentry statue, the park was quiet and relatively empty for the time of year and day. Even now, with the hour growing late, there would usually be plenty of tourists and Freedom City natives alike in the park. Jessica Witchblood had heard rumors. There were reasons the park was empty. Something feeding on something in the park. It had happened slowly, and it would probably attract greater attention soon, but maybe there was something interesting there for her to do or see first? Of course, there was something else to get her attention first, wasn't there? A red haired young man clad in jeans and a green hoodie hovering before the face of the Sentry statue, arms crossed in front of his chest, one hand cupping his chin. Golden dust seemed to fall from him. He seemed deep in thought, like he was studying the statue intensely.

Octoman Ben Wang intended to take full advantage of the summer months to get the hang of this superhero thing before school started back up. The weekday morning found him on the roof of his West End apartment complex, shifting the colors and textures of his skin, and recreated the costume he'd only drawn on paper. OK, that doesn't look right in 3-D...darken that part, brighten up this one...now we're in business. He took a few deep breaths to fill up his internal bladders. Then he crouched down and flexed muscles no other person had, forcing the air through his internal siphon and expelling it through the now-open valves in his hands and feet. He shot off into the air like a rocket. "AWWW YEAAAHHH!" Tentacles sprouted from his body while he soared over the buildings. Once he started to lose momentum, the tentacles stretched out for dozens, sometimes hundreds of feet, slapping against whatever building was in reach. The suckers lining the tenacles stuck to any surface, and the tentacles could retract as quickly and forcefully as they expanded, pulling the rest of his body through the air to meet them. He held his smartphone with one of the tentacles, using the tip to press the virtual button. As he bounced around between buildings, he took a series of candid action shots, and a few plain old selfies. What has two thumbs and doesn't need a transit card anymore? While being pulled toward the side of a building at 25MPH by what was basically a motorized winch in tentacle form, he actually took the time to raise two fists and point his thumbs at his own chest as he completed the thought. THIS GUY.

Life as a spy meant keeping parts of her life in neat little boxes. It was surprisingly useful in superhero work as well, it turns out. Talya had her life as the costumed crimefighter Bombshell and the domestic side of her existence with Willow and Erik. Unfortunately, though, there was a third box to keep up in the air; Bombshell was known as Talya Browning, after all, which meant she had a public persona to keep up appearances for as well. That's where things got tricky to juggle. While Talya didn't mind making those necessary appearances alone - it certainly was in keeping with the public perception of Natalya Browning, thief - it was a rare treat to have one of her spouses on her arm for an engagement. "Should be a relatively boring evening, really. It's just a fundraiser with some of the more... ah, well let's go with 'shady' upper crust of Freedom City. I know, you'd think with so many heroes, they wouldn't be nearly so blatant but they're not super villains. Probably. Most likely," Talya offered over her shoulder as she finished her makeup in the mirror. "Super villians have their own secret identities so while I wouldn't be terribly surprised if one crops up, I don't know of any who have RSVP'd." A masquerade, however, meant that she had a little leeway in keeping the boxes separate which meant she had a date for the evening. Willow was content to stay home with the children; a boring evening party with potentially rude people she wasn't allowed to smite was not high on the dryad's list. Honestly, she had to remember exactly how she did her makeup to go with this outfit. Talya hadn't worn this costume since the nineteen sixties after all. Hard to believe that she'd made a name for herself scaling buildings in a black minidress and go-go boots. It had really been a different era. At least the hollow heels had space for lockpicks and a few other emergency odds and ends. The black domino mask still sat on her vanity as Talya stood up and slipped the dress over her shoulders before padding out barefoot to find Erik. She turned around, presenting her back to be zipped up. "You truly don't mind coming with me? Your reputation is far more sterling than mine. Being on the same team is one thing but fraternizing is another." It was a testament to how much their relationship had grown that rather than cavalier, Talya's tone was at turns wistful and sardonic. That she made no effort to hide her emotions, at least in their bedroom, was real growth on the part of the former spy. That she both wanted the company and that she worried for any gossip or rumors, entirely on his behalf was quite clear.

Archetech August 2019 The impossible had happened and a shining knight had found love with a perfect goddess of science and patriotism - or so it was known in much of the Freedom City community. The reality of the unholy cyborg killing machine from beyond the stars and the mysterious controller behind Miss Americana was rather more complicated than that, and far less known, even inside the relatively small confines of the hero community. But it had happened and those two lovebirds really were married now, a texted picture of rings on fingers having been sent to Erik and Talya's cellphones about twenty minutes earlier, about the time the Interceptors had arrived. They, their children old enough to stand a party, and a selected few friends of the family had been invited to the reception for the wedding at Steve's invitation. They were about ten stories up in a glass-walled, flower-bedecked atrium in a room staffed entirely by robots too far off the humanoid to be creepy - some were serving drinks, one appeared to have built-in speakers and was parked near a small dance floor, and others had been dusting and cleaning when the Interceptors and party arrived. It was a nice room on a sunny summer day, the sky overhead a lovely shade of blue dappled with white clouds. Steve and his bride were supposed to be there at any moment...

So much time had passed, Jessica hadn't even noticed. She and Jack met last year and, despite that one little 'disappearance', they'd been at each other's side ever since. At first as friends, but they grew closer and closer. A fun romp of two people who generally enjoyed each other's attention and company. After Jack's graduation, Jessica snagged him as a roommate. Not that he had anywhere to go, but not that she would let him go. She just loved having Jack around. And awake. Like he was just doing now. "Afternoon, sleepyhead," she said, kissing him on the cheek as he groaned into the land of the living. They took up most of the couch as she slept on top of him.

GM April 4th Rapa Nui, W.E.S.T Headquarters A light rain had greeted Dr North as the WEST plane landed. He was not in a good mood, and the tepid precipitation suited. Now he was in the reinforced WEST headquarters on Rapa Nui, affectionately known as EAST. There was the usual reports of threats across the globe on his desk. Most of these didn't pan out to anything serious, or needed only further management by the other local or world authorities. An Ebola outbreak in Africa. A mutated Crocodile in New Orleans. Metaphasic radiation in Freedom City. The normal. The major problem was the reappearance of Doctor Archeville. And the threat he may or may not pose. To Doctor Norris North's educated mind, Doctor Archeville was a net neutral. He could solve as many problems as he created. He could save as many lives as he created. He harboured no particular distrust of the man or the personality, or any particular warmth either. It was a situation that should be managed, and by his estimation that meant diplomacy and investigation. That meant W.E.S.T. The world was most keen for W.E.S.T. to keep a heavy eye on Doctor Archeville and his experiments. They wanted, as normal, the impossible. All he could do was meet them halfway. He felt, like normal, that he was playing an impossible game of chess with mysterious new pieces. In any case, he had requested Doctor Archeville meet him at EAST. He would have to size up the risks and benefits of the man. He hoped very very much it would be less of the former, more of the latter... But if there was a hazard, he was prepared. And he had asked Delta to be on site. In case they needed some heavy blasters...

April 2019 Outside the Common Room Leaning against the wall, the corridor mostly empty at this time of day, Watchdog's eyes were firmly hidden behind her sunglasses by the time Monica approached, a few minutes after the 'incident' out in the greenhouse. Normally she'd have let the other girl pass, but she picked up on the indications in Lady Liberty's manner that she actually wanted to talk. "Got a problem, Liberty?" she sneered.

Late August 2019 Washington, DC Alone in the East Bedroom, Judy clutched the new phone tightly in her fingers before she began typing a message. "Hey Lulu, it's Judy. Are you awake?" She looked past the beeping medical monitor along the left side of her bed to the clock on the wall. Well it was 2AM on a Saturday night, so maybe she was! She settled back on the bed, her comfortable satin pajamas rustling slightly, and set the phone down beside her to wait for a reply. At least she still had her leather-bound birthday present beside her, which she cracked open. "“Now when the evening was come, his servants made haste to depart, and Bagoas shut his tent without, and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord; and they went to their beds: for they were all weary, because the feast had been long..."

2019 May 17th (Friday). Evening. Cloudy, temps in high 60s/low 70s. [Continued from Upgrading the Supply Chain.] At the doorway to a small private hangar on Jameson Airport, a hole in space appeared. It was a very brief thing, and tightly controlled -- the creator knew a wormhole's varying gravimetric fluctuations could play havoc with the delicate sensors used by the aircraft in the area, so he kept things tight and focused to minimize that. Out of the portal stepped two figured, with a motorcylce between them. One was a young man, who appeared to be the vehicle's owner as he was dressed not unlike a biker. The other appeared to be an older man, middle aged, with long brown hair, in blue overalls and an orange long-sleeved shirt, with a large leather tool belt. As soon as they were through, the portal snapped shut with a soft 'boof' of displaced air. "Here we are, hangar 4P," the older man said as he walked towards the single side door, "home sweet home. Well, for now, at least." He opened the door and entered the darkened structure, beckoning for the younger man to follow.

Down below The argument from below awoke Heroditus, his parents' voices echoing up from the atrium of their house to his second-floor bedroom window. "No, he's too young! You shouldn't take him to a scene of such...carnage!" "He is my right hand, and he needs to know the nature of our foes! Especially with him about to go Above!" The third voice wasn't immediately familiar, and spoke more quietly than either. "Whether you bring the boy or not, we need to go quickly before the spoor is lost. I trust you, Stylianos, and if you trust your son's discretion, that's all the word I need." Peering out his window, Heroditus could make out quite the crowd down below. His mother, his father, and a figure in a general's armor he thought he recognized were standing in the courtyard around the back of a high-speed watercraft that looked to be of military make. The general was accompanied by several soldiers, all of whom were still inside the craft proper. There was enough room for more inside.

GM The house was both "there", and "not there". The house physically existed, or, at least, it seemed to. There were pipes and cables connecting it to the rest of Bedlam City's infrastructure. But it was a blank spot on every map. There were no utility bills, no tax assessments, nothing on a scrap of paper in any office that Gremlin could break into or a single file in any database that L0vel@ce could hack open which proved that the house existed. No one Hitter asked knew anything about it, no matter how nice or how hard he asked them. And the investigation was complicated by the fact that all three of them kept having difficulty remembering that they were conducting an investigation in the first place. The house just kept slipping their minds. When they finally made the trek across the river to Greely Point to view the house in person, they had trouble looking directly at it. They stood in one spot for several minutes as their attention kept wandering away from it. The few people they saw walking around the neighborhood in the warm summer night seemed to look everywhere but at the house, even as they crossed the street to avoid it. Some were walking their dogs, and the dogs barked and growled and whimpered at the house, but their owners barely reacted. Hitter in particular was distracted with thoughts of how close they were to the Gorganzua syndicate's territory, a group who wouldn't look kindly on an Asian, a Latina, and a one of Scarpia's soldiers, retired or not. The house was surrounded by other mansions just like it, except the others were smaller, and the trees and grass near those houses were still alive.

Claremont Quad-ish, 3:20PM, April 22nd. This was not planned, but with graduation coming for her she felt a need of closure. Some people she wasn't really possessed of an impetus to correct, insert obvious examples here, obviously. So as she left her class of the day, and seeing Monica on the quad she decided it might as well be now. So she pushed open the door, shoulders her backpack, and leaped out. She hated her powers, the implications of them. What she did, could do, if control slipped. But as they were an option, she took them. They were there, so close to the surface, so easy after all. She soared in a grace leap, as if she could do any other at this point due to muscle memory. She landed on the air, and kept up the jogged, going to circumvent the other teen's path, before she descended enough to drop down in a sudden rush of air, in a crouch. Brushing back that asymmetrical swoop of her hair,, she rose to standing in front of her, and offered a slightly uneasy smile, "So... can we talk?"

The Summer had hardly been uneventful but despite a few close calls and a thorough condemnation for reckless risks and an equally thorough commendation for breaking up the ring of Daka Crystal thieves Kam and his friends had returned to Claremont Academy. They arrived in advance of the next year with time to catch up on the news of Freedom and more importantly perhaps share their own exploits. The late summer sun found several of them gathered for lunch in the central quad trading stories. Kam let out a bright laugh, "Then they spun her." he shook his head at the memory nodding at Janus and eyeing his sister with a teasing glint in his eyes, "At least half of that giggle was genuine." he prodded perhaps foolishly given her penchant for getting the upper hand in these wars of words. Looking directly at Elizabeth he smirked, "It was like something out of one of those teen musicals." he joked easily. It would likely be less funny when those pictures circulated to where their father uncovered them. Raising his hands the Dakanan prince deflected gamely, "I will grant it certainly got people's attention."

GM The Heart's Zephyr, in the Centery Narrows July 6th, 2019, 9:27 PM The Heart's Zephyr, sailing out of Lisbon, and ports beyond, drifted slowly beneath the Centery Bridge. Normally, this would be no cause for concern, as a great many ships passed beneath the bridge, even at so late an hour as this. However, unlike the usual ships to pass through the Narrows, the Heart's Zephyr's lights were out. Even worse, as the vast transport slowly trundled along, over a dozen shadowy figures dropped down from the Centry Bridge onto its deck, each one armed in some way. One of the sailors onboard the Zephyr made the unfortunate error of approaching one of the figures. "Stop! Who are y-" BLAM! The crack of a gunshot cut through even the sounds of traffic on the bridge. Even as one of the figures began berating the shooter, the rest began fanning out swiftly through the ship, as though seeking something.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2019, 2:02 PM Fulcrum sometimes wondered what radar operators thought of Freedom City. The newer systems could easily track something of her size or smaller. At least that is what the science magazines were writing. But planes and helicopters were one thing. Flying heroes? That she'd like to chat with someone in the know. Such were her musings as she descended toward home. Her flight path arced lazily westward across the blue waters of the Atlantic. Out there she could cut loose, but closer to land she slowed down to a more reasonable 200 mph or so. No need to shatter windows or capsize boats after all. Soon the familiar face of Centurion's memorial gleamed on the horizon below her. She smiled. Home. To those with keen eyes, a white and gold streak approached from the east and aimed for Sentry Statue.

GM Brussels, Belgium July 27th, 4:00 PM The trip over water had been mostly fine. When going at the speeds that Fast-Forward was capable of, there was little in the way of hazards that could slow you down. Going overland was more of an issue, being more bumpy, breaking off from the Scheldt river near Antwerp to hit the capital of Belgium. Brussels was, in many ways, one of the most powerful cities in the world. De facto capital city of the European Union, it was a meeting place of every sort of power you could imagine. Which made it the perfect sort of place for a super-hunter-for-hire to set up. Much as they wanted to keep it quiet, the governments of the world knew that there were plenty of powerful individuals who could take on entire nations, and sometimes things had to be done a little more black hat than the average superhero could manage. Amongst the mixture of modern and antique buildings rose a white complex, cast in the art moderne style, looking more than a little out of place next to its neighbours. It rose for 6 storeys, lacking much in the way of detail beyond glass, white plaster and steel. This was the home and office of Adrian Pike, once known as Kombat, former ally of Corona and now a potential threat. @Avenger Assembled @RocketLord @Tarrakhash

GM December 12th, 3 PM Bedlam City, all across town It hadn't happened all at once, but slowly, unrest had begun to spread in Bedlam City. It was small things at first. At first, any paper or print with the initials W.E.B. had been changed to the simple I.G. instead. Random menus at restaurants or fast food places would show different prices than usual. The grades on all papers at Walgrove Prep had been replaced by what appeared to be random fractions. The students revolved, the teachers apologized, but they knew little of what was going on. If it had just been just papers graded by one teacher, it would have made sense, but it was all of them. The first big issue happened on December 10th. The lottery numbers were drawn, and exactly 100 self-proclaimed winners showed up. On closer inspection, all of their tickets had the exact same number. They started a small riot. On December 11th, the workers at Snacktastic all went on strike. By what was announced as a printer error, all paychecks had been made out to the CEO of the company. All attempts to rectify the mistake seemed to produce the same results. The already threadbare city government ground to a complete halt on December 12th, in the early hours of the morning. All papers, all their archives, had been rendered entirely blank. And all animals at Stone Ridge Animal Shelter had the name tags on their cages switched around. Not much in the long run, but one inattentive volounteer was bitten as a result. Similar reports flowed through the city. Anything written could suddenly change, seemingly at random. The would-be heroes and super human element of Bedlam City did not go unaffected. Ronin found the labels on his grandmother's medicine changed. They made little sense anymore. Mister Strix had found all books he read in libraries to be altered, to greater or less degrees. Anything from a different text all together, such as a newspaper showing part of Harry Potter, with several expletives insert, to being complete nonsense or being blank. Lady Horus found that everywhere she went to distribute toys to needy children, the address was instead for the rich and powerful. Clearly, it was those not in need. And Doctor Thorne found Thorne Investigations rebranded as I.G. Investigations. Any notes she had in the office, any books, anything with written words, had the text replaced with the repeated phrase: "I AM YOUR GOD." Would the heroes come together to stop the chaos, follow their own paths, or simply let it be?

August 2019 The AEON Building Mark and Nina and Ritchie arrived at Alex and Mike's front door - which is to say, a ripple of magical energy in the air like a crackle of distant thunder turned into shifting, warping shapes that resolved themselves into Mark Lucas in his suit and tie, Monsoon in her glistening silver armor, and a very excited toddler. Ritchie liked his father's powers very much. "Boom!" he declared. "Boom!" He darted up quickly to Alex and Mike's door, laughing. Mark and Nina were just a few steps behind him, the former knocking on the door. (He knew not to just teleport into people's houses, even if they were expecting them.)

-The loud, heart-stopping sounds of an explosion and shattering glass along with the accompanying shock strike around the cities without warning. Within moments, a strange cloud of silvery mist blankets the surrounding area. Just as panic and flight are about to take hold, the cloud begins to swirl without any evident prompting from the wind. It whips itself into a cyclonic mass, discharging what appear to be bolts of bluish lightning both within itself and outward around its immediate vicinity. Both blast and bolts subside and begin to dissipate before anyone can arrive on the scene, leaving the dead and injured as the most immediate concern. The scene is filled with fleeing, panicked crowds and hopelessly jammed roads. The bridges connecting the city have collapsed. Sister cities orphaned from one another- Bethlehem Heights Emerald City, OregonSaturday, August 26, 20196:00 PM South Emerald, the Facet City, a technological hub with a never ending march towards progress. It was easy to forget the city's original growth could be highly attributed to the once large mining community. As the mining industry faded, warehouses grew to support the technology laden industries that had migrated Westward. And of course the working class needed somewhere to hang their hats. Bethlehem Heights wasn't much to look at. It wasn't run down...just not looked after. At least that was how it could be described before the Storm blew through. Cars were on fire, apartments lost power, the streets were flooded with runoff from the Albian River. And looters. Well the looters were feeling particularly bold. As if the police needed any more reason to ignore Bethlehem Heights, the district found itself even more isolated as calls came in from all over Emerald City. Worst of all, there were reports going around that Bethlehem Heights Psychiatric Hospital had an entire wall blown apart. South Emerald was in a state of anarchy.

Hot summers didn't bother Jessica that much. Her demonic blood gave her a nice warm feeling all year long. Still, she did enjoy a nice cool treat sometimes... OK, all of the times. She had needs! Sometimes those needs were just really Envy and Greed spirits working on her. Still, the ubiquitous Starbase was in her sights. And she needed cold coffee treats. One thing about summer that she did enjoy is that people got expressive with dressing down. Especially in Freedom City. People of all sorts flooded the boardwalk. Herself being a red demon woman, she got looks. Good and bad. Luckily no one was silly enough to do anything stupid. Good or bad. Speaking of sights to behold, it was... an angel? Minding his own business, mind you. Though those things were rare she was told. Demons were much more apt to come and stay here. Though what did the black wings mean? Her curiosity trumped her Envy and Greed spirits for the moment. Like a moth to a flame she slowly approached.

Location: Liberty Park Date: July 22, 2019; 10:07 AM Star Child It was a lovely morning in Liberty Park, not yet hot enough to drive people to air conditioned environments and full of summer sunlight. Children were playing, there were teens skateboarding along the path. The athletic fields were full of people playing mid-morning matches of one sport or another. It was a perfect, peaceful Freedom City morning in July though if anyone was was used to how things could change in an instant, it was the citizens of Freedom City. There were a few scattered shouts as people sun bathing or otherwise paying attention to the sky noticed the sudden streak of light. Of course, it could be a super hero with a contrail but it just... didn't look quite right. Freedom City was used to seeing the occasional flying form in the sky. This... well, it didn't look anything like that! For one thing, it was coming straight down towards the park with a glowing red contrail. "Oh my god, its a meteor!" That's about when people started to grab things and run just in case. A few - a very few - eagle eyed individuals, watching the rock drop out of the heavens noticed that it swerved suddenly. Where it should have impacted the athletic field, right in the middle of a soccer match, it veered suddenly and sharply, landing with a splash and a column of hissing steam at the edge of Sunset Lake instead, just across the path from the shocked soccer players.

Talon ErosUnlimited Offices 24 August 2019, 12:57 PM Several weeks had passed since the website ErosUnlimited had first come to Talon's attention. In between his work at his job as Sam Amber and his nocturnal activities as Talon, he hadn't had the chance to do more than a few meagre attempts to penetrate its defenses, but what he had seen had given him some confidence that, even if the owners of the site were somehow malicious, any revelation of identities would happen purely on voluntary basis. Thus, he could only gather so much information on the site and its administrators via his technological skills. Now, dressed in simple clothing that could have been bought anywhere, or even found secondhand, Samuel Amber entered into the offices of Eros Unlimited, donning a cheerful smile and approaching the first person who looked like they belonged here. "Hello there! I believe I'm expected. My boss," he lowered his voice, "Yamanu," before continuing in a regular tone, "said I should come up here to talk with, er, one 'Pamela Unterbotten-Schneider?'" The last two names were pronounced with an effortless German accent.