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ROCKET Atomic Tower, Midtown, Freedom City Early March 2021 The Atomic Tower towered in the Freedom City skyline. After its recent expansion, it seemed almost like it stretched into the clouds, which it just might do. A modern marvel of super science, it held the newly opened Atom Academy, the Atom Family's newest gift to the city, inviting scientists, explorers, heroes and just curious regular people to join, to explore everything and anything! Jay was late. Of course he was late. You'd think having super speed would have helped with that, but no. It just meant he had more time to do a ton of things and forget about appointments. He was a streak of black and grey moving through the city, running and rushing past everything. Black pants, running shoes, a grey jacket, currently hanging open to reveal his favorite white T-Shirt with a big black rocket on the front until. He finally came to a stop right in front of Atomic Tower, a gust of wind catching up to him, his blonde hair a mess from the run as he stumbled a step or two to regain his footing and almost tumbled into the woman that was standing there before catching himself and moving around her in the blink of an eye. "Sorry, sorry! Stopping's not always easy!"

Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday November 20, 2020 With Claremont being closed the upcoming week of Thanksgiving, Murine had invited Luke to join her for part of the week in England to meet her guardians. In order for Luke to be back to Freedom City in time for Thanksgiving, the plan was for the two to travel to England at the start of the weekend and come back on Tuesday. Murine had not been terribly specific about how they would be traveling to England, so it was not too surprising that the pair caught a Lyft from the Claremont campus early Saturday morning. What was a bit more unexpected was that the Lyft did not take them to Southside, where Jordan International Airport was located, but instead took them downtown to the British consulate in City Center. Murine's ID badge had them quickly through security and into the consulate, where a member of the consulate staff was waiting for them. Despite it being early in the morning on a Saturday, the man was immaculately dressed in a finely tailored suit. The British diplomate was polite and friendly as he led the pair of teens through the consulate, taking them down into the basement of the building. After going down several levels, the diplomate had led them through a corridor where several armed Royal Marine Commandos had been stationed and into a somewhat small concrete room with a high ceiling. In the center of the room was a large steel archway that was clearly some sort of high tech machine. The diplomate moved over to what appeared to be some sort of control panel to one side of the archway and removed a keycard from around his neck which he inserted into the panel. The man spent a few moments operating several of the controls and the archway began to hum as it powered up. As the humming continued to increase in volume and electricity began to arc across the surface of the metal, a hollow "THUMP" echoed within the room as the archway pulsed with energy and what appeared almost to be a silvery pool of energy sprung into existence within the archway. With Murine leading him forward, Luke felt a slight tug as he entered the strange silvery energy and instead of stepping through the archway to the other side of the subbasement room in the Freedom City British consulate, he and Murine were stepping past a similar archway that sat in rather different room. London, England Undisclosed Location Under the Thames Saturday November 20, 2020 2:14 PM local time While this new room was generally the same size and shape, it was not made solely of concrete. Instead, along the walls were several columns of arched metal that appeared both structural and decorative. There was a similar control panel as had been back at the consulate sat off to one side of this archway. The only visible exit from this room was on the wall the two teens had been facing as they had come through the portal, an open doorway that seemed to lead into a much larger space beyond. Moments after the two arrived, a mechanical sounding voice filled the air. "Greetings Murine Scaedusangere, aka Shadowborne." "Secondary individual identified, Luke Landers, aka Nightscale. Secondary individual's clearance preapproved. Welcome Luke Landers." "Synapse is waiting in the Central Hub."

Phantom had debated strongly about whether or not to go in costume or civvies. While she was less recognizable in her civvies, and would be able to avoid a great deal more of the inevitable small talk, it really was the Master Mage that Callie wanted to see and unlike some of the other famous heroes, Phantom actually did hold onto her secret identity. So, she was there, floating over the fountain in front of the school in her full costume. The ghostly folds of her cloak floated out, blowing in astral winds. It was a very dramatic pose, one that most people would certainly chalk up to being a spooky spell caster. Only some of them would recognize that it was dread of such a large social gathering that had her hovering over the fountain to provide some sort of buffer. Hell, she hadn't talked to some of these people since JJ was little... Shying away from those memories, Phantom finally bit the bullet and drifted down to the pathway, buried deep in the shadows of her cloak. With a small nod towards the schools headmistress, she floated through the walls of the school proper and towards the classroom that she'd occasionally taught a lecture or two in for the more magically inclined to await the first student appointment. Inside the classroom, she relaxed at the familiar surroundings. Crowds had never been comfortable but classrooms... Really, what was a Master Mage but a very, very gifted nerd. With a slight smile, Phantom gestured, lighting up the room with a soft purple glow that filled the runes and ward lines etched in the walls with the fire of her magic.

November 3, 2021 Claremont Academy Casper hadn't exactly volounteered for the whole meet-a-mentor gig at Claremont. He had sworn that he didn't do well with kids, that he wasn't the mentor type or anything like that, but hey, that was how it went, and as one of the newest members of Freedom League Auxillary, well... he had to put in the hours, somehow. Sure, he had plenty of experience, but he really wasn't sure it was the kind of experience that he should share with these kids... But, here he was, hanging around in the middle of it all, looking around Claremont, trying to do his best to seem like the kind of guy that these kids shouldn't go to ask questions.

Fall 2021 Neko and Danica's room "Falling in love at first sight is less common in Japan than in the West; party because of the - peculiar constitution of Eastern society, and partly because much sorrow is prevented by early marriages which parents arrange. Love suicides, on the other hand, are not infrequent; but they have the particularity of being nearly always double. Moreover, they must be considered, in the majority of instances, the results of improper relationships." Having been speaking in a low whisper as she read the Hearn book, Neko closed the book with a sigh and set it on her desk, the largest piece of furniture on her side of the room. With much more care in picking out her words, she said, "Enough for today." Turning in her seat, she said to Danica, "Can you want to buy some food?"

The fairy ring situation was getting out of control. Stesha kind of hated to admit it, especially when the rest of her pregnancy had gone so well, but it was definitely a problem that wasn't getting any smaller. With Amaryllis it had been mostly the funny kind of annoying, a couple months of extra mushrooms in the yard and the flower crowns she wore becoming lush cascades by the end of a day. She'd never started growing mushrooms in pile carpeting or made exposed wood surfaces start sprouting that time. This kiddo was apparently of a different temperament than her sweet and stable Ammy, even before birth. The good part was that the one surefire cure for excessive plant growth was tiring herself out, and that got easier and easier the bigger Stesha got. Today, for instance, she'd planned on puttering in the Claremont greenhouse until her new mentee arrived, but a morning full of harvest season activities on Sanctuary meant that all she wanted to do now was take fifteen minutes with her feet up and relax. A chaise made of plants gave her the best of both worlds, a chance to lay down and a chance to let the hungry greenhouse foliage absorb some extra energy. It was nice. She didn't really mean to doze off, but it wasn't exactly surprising when she did.

Lincoln, Freedom City, New Jersey Friday October 1, 2021 (10:23 PM) A cool night breeze blew over the dark empty street corner of a rundown section of Lincoln. Along the block there were a few occupied storefronts, an all-night convenience store, a liquor store and a currently closed pawn shop. But the majority of the storefronts were empty and dark. Above many of the storefronts were low-income apartments, several in equally bad shape as the storefronts. Perched on the third story roof of one of the buildings was a small group of teenagers. Nevermore II had been looking into reports of a local street gang that was causing a considerable amount of trouble for the police. Based on the reports, it sounded as if the gang had gotten ahold of a cache of Foundry tech that had been left behind when Talos had established Rurland. Based on the few reports thus far, it sounded as if the gang had at least a few energy weapons and some personal forcefields among the cache. Of course it was always possible that the gang had access to more Foundry tech. Normally this might have been something Charlie continued to investigate on his own, or perhaps brought Callie in to help as well. But recently Headmistress Summers had been encouraging him to try to include the other members of his intermural team from school in some of his investigations. So, he had brought the other members of Grey Team with him tonight. A couple blocks down the street from where the members of Grey Team were gathered was a dilapidated four story tenement building. Many of the windows of the building were broken out and boarded up and graffiti covered much of the first level exterior. From information Charlie had been able to gather, the gang was using the abandoned building as a base of operations.

Almánzar’s Bar, Lincoln, Freedom City 2nd October 2020 It wasn’t much of a bar, it wasn’t even a particularly cool bar where the kind of people he modelled himself, it was just a blue collar bar where people just had a few drinks after a hard days work. It was just a place that he could be the big man and even if they didn’t like him, and she already knew that he wasn’t particularly popular no more than a bully of the block. Still he had an ego and that was something she could work with. He in this case was a low level hood with powers, calling himself Para LX, who lucked into some sort of light based powers obvious for the green glow that surrounded him lighting up the entire booth holding court for anyone who would pay attention. The perfect for her methods of subterfuge, so time to make an entrance.

11/3/2021 Claremont Academy The Patriot made no bombastic arrival when it came time to pick up her mentee; she didn't pose in her costume out among the other adult heroes there to impress teenagers that there was something noble about spending your life in combat. Costume on, she sat by her motorcycle in the outer Claremont parking lot for Sharaf, running a cloth over the red, white, and blue finish. The bike didn't need to look so patriotic, of course, or really gaudy if you asked her opinion - but it was something the kid would go for, and that was nice enough. For once she was in costume and in public and nobody was taking pictures or asking her opinion about crime or the Second World War, and that was just fine. She adjusted her jacket, the blue and gold sunburst of the Smithsonian having joined the pins on her lapel, and waited for the Patrioteen to arrive.

Claremont Academy, Leonard Fox Auditorium Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday November 3, 2021 Inside the front entryway to the large auditorium building on campus waited two members of the Freedom League for the pair of Claremont students they had been paired with. One of the League members was five foot five woman in a recognizable bright yellow form-fitting bodysuit with a this black and white checkered pattern strip running down the side of the arms and legs. Most of her head was covered in a matching yellow mask, with only the lower part of the face exposed. Long brown hair in a ponytail stuck out the back of the mask and a pair of hi-tech, mirrored goggles covered the speedster’s eyes and upper half of her face. Over the last few years, Velocity had actually become much more acquainted with Claremont, if from behind the scenes. Over the last three years she and her husband had been foster parents for a Claremont student. Next year, her own son would be a freshman at the school. But of course, today was not about her connections with the school, it was about what her and her fellow League member might be able to do in terms of assisting a pair of current students.

GM Arcturus Orbital City, Dreeda III, Lor Republic Along the inner edge of the Perseus Arm Lor Time Mark 1993.1 (June 28, 2021 Terran Calendar) Before the Incursion, Dreeda III was simply a small, but growing Lor colony on a verdant, habitable world. Like many such worlds within the Republic or other Coalition controlled sectors, Dreeda III's population saw exponential growth as dislocated populations were resettled. To accommodate the massive influx of beings, entire cities had been built across several continents while two orbital cities had been placed in orbit over the world, helping to handle the vast influx of space traffic that the world started to experience. It was toward one of those orbital cities that the somewhat motley group of cosmic adventurers were travelling to further Star Knight Kath'lana's investigation into a smuggling ring that was operating out of the system. Currently the four individuals were aboard Space Ranger's spacecraft as it approached the main spaceport of Arcturus Orbital City.

GM Hamburg, Germany Early August, 2021 The journey from Egypt to Germany took 5 hours, even using a top modern Danger International plane. The flight had been largely uneventful, as Veronica and J'onn arrived at the Hamburg Airport. The cloud layer was heavy and oppressive, hardly letting any sun shine through at all. Once they had made their way through customs, a pair of bikes were waiting for them, ready to continue their journey to the West, to find the map to the missing gem.

Claremont Academy Early Afternoon, Wednesday, November 3, 2021 Dr. Ellie Espadas had gotten used to walking the Claremont Academy campus as a visiting mentor rather than a student but she hadn't really been expecting to be asked back to speak with another student. Guess I'll take it as a vote of confidence, she mused to herself, long maroon coat switching about her ankles in the brisk November air. She'd worn a tan turtleneck and black slacks with enough stretch to move about freely; she wasn't expecting that sort of action specifically but around that many kids with powers you never knew when the situation might call for some acrobatics. Waiting outside one of the school's dormitories she mentally reviewed the brief description she'd gotten of Rosalind Sommaripa ahead of time, which hadn't been much more than a photo of an uncomfortable looking teenager and a couple of sentences about extraterrestrial jewelry. Ellie considered the chunky bangle bracelets hanging about her own wrists. Probably not looking for accessorizing advice.

Claremont Academy Quad. Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021. 9:00 am It would probably go down as one of the most colorful days in the history of Claremont Academy. Students, teachers, parents and established heroes walked the campus in unprecedented numbers, creating an air of excitement. Here and there powers were demonstrated by either mentors or mentees, and the many flashes of light and occasional gouts of flame almost made it feel like an autumn carnival. Out on the quad, a small wooden booth had appeared earlier, with any instantly familiar design. The placard above read 'Heroic Advice 5¢', while the sign below read 'The Grimalkin is IN'. Behind the booth sat a slender young woman in black and midnight blue leather, legs stretched out and twidling her thumbs. Her auburn hair was short and spiky, the eyes behind her black domino mask were dark brown, and her ears were pointed like a Vulcan. She looked barely older than any of the other students wandering the campus. Grim eagerly awaited the arrival of her mentee; from what she heard from his teachers, they would have a lot to talk about.

Claremont Academy Workout Room It was strange being back at Claremont after all these years. When she got asked if she wanted to mentor a student, she jumped at the chance. She was sitting in one of the work out areas, waiting patiently. She had sent a note along to Multi-Girl to ask her to come here instead of meeting elsewhere. She assumed the young woman would benefit from her particular areas of expertise; kicking down doors, kicking bad guy ass, and sneaking around when it was the smarter thing to do. She was vaguely aware that the young woman could make duplicates of herself. That was a neat trick, Mali reflected. She'd been in the heroism business for about ten years, and having a second Crimson Tiger around would certainly make that easier. She hadn't been there for long, and just needed to wait a few minutes.

Ouroboros had been more than slightly surprised when the letter of interest from his alma mater arrived inviting, or rather requesting he attend the Mentorship program, a way to give back to the the school. Farcical on it's face he was hardly a year out of the school himself, on the other hand one did not in general choose to say no to the headmistress. The short dossier he received on his matched student was somewhat more intriguing and managed to capture some genuine interest from the jaded beyond his years dhampir. The morning of the appointed day Owain would wake to a raven perched upon his windowsill with a tiny scroll clasped in its beak. It tilted it's head as it watched him stir awake and dropped the scroll as it let out a caw that to the ears of the knight enchanter rang out, Beneath the most storied tower Destiny awaits! Upon the parchment was writ his next clue, A lonely wanderer, wounded with iron, I am smitten with war-blades, sated with strife, Worn with the sword-edge; I have seen many battles, Much hazardous fighting, oft without hope Of comforts or help in the carnage of war Ere I perish and fall in the fighting of men. The leavings of hammers, the handiwork of smiths, Batter and bite me, hard-eged and sharp; The brunt of the battle I am doomed to endure. In all the folk-stead no leech could I find With wort or simple to heal my wounds; But day and night with the deadly blows The marks of the war-blades double and deepen. Let it never be said a Chun-Faretti lacked a flair for the dramatic.

Silberman's Books. Sunday, October 10th, 2021. 7:00 pm It had been a while since Megan Harrow had heard from her friend Lynn Epstein; true, they didn't talk every day, but they usually reached out to each other on a fairly regular basis, just checking in. But starting near the end of 2019, her texts became both shorter and less frequent. She didn't go into details, but apparently her mother was sick; very sick, in fact. Lynn asked Megan to keep her family in her prayers, surely a very bad sign. And then quiet. Not complete silence; the occasional funny meme came from the fae bookseller, or the odd emoji. But by 21st Century standards, it was practically radio silence. And then out of the blue in early October, an actual handwritten letter arrived at the Harrow home. Lynn's handwriting was beautiful. Hey Megan, Sorry to disappear off the face of the Earth for so long, but the extended Epstein family has been going through a really rough time, and when we do that, we tend to circle the wagons. You may remember that I mentioned my mom was sick. Well, now I can go into more detail, because she didn't want me to tell many people about it, as she is...was a very private person. We lost Mom to ovarian cancer last September; I would have invited you to the services, but Mom's request was that we keep it very small and very Jewish. She was a brilliant, complicated and difficult woman, but I miss her every day. If at all possible, would you be able to get together sometime soon? Sunday evenings are usually best for me, after the store closes at 6; maybe around 7? I figure we could have a bite to eat, share some wine and just talk. I need to be around someone who's other than my immediate family right now. Much love, Lynn

Freedom City’s Orpheum Theatre, The Theatre District, Freedom City 11 pm October 31st A hundred years ago it was the pride of Freedom City, a magnificent Art Deco building for those interested in the newest medium of motion pictures. Closed in the ’70s the building had fallen into disrepair and many sadly thought the building would soon be demolished for a newer more practical (but bland) building put in its places. Then a year ago it was revealed that the Summers Foundation had gained the building (through the ownership by Summers Advanced Dynamics) and were planning to restore it to its former glory. Now the building was was opening and in honour of the time of year, the cinema was going to show a series of classic horror movies and someone had the idea to invite the more “monstrous” heroes of Freedom City. With a promise of big donations to various charities from the first night's box office. For now, those invited heroes were being allowed to gather in the foyer to have a chance to socialise among themselves before any other guests were bought in for the movies to begin.

Parkhurst Hotel, Lantern Hill, Freedom City 11 pm October 31st For the last few nights, every magician and sorcerer could feel it, something was clawing its way up through the deepest and darkest dimensions. It created a sense of dread that something very bad was going to happen and soon and it didn’t take a genius to figure out when Samhain or Halloween was when the barriers between worlds were at their weakest. So quickly a plan was quickly put together all of those with suitable magical gifts were summoned, mostly by text and e-mail, to the Parkhurst Hotel to carry out a ritual (at midnight of cause) to hopefully sealing whatever this creature was within the spaces between worlds. That was at least an hour or so however so everyone was gathered in the grand hall with its sweeping staircases doing one of the other favourite things that mages loved to do network and gossip.

Summer 2021 Discovery Channel "So that was the secret of the Day of Wrath," said Fast-Forward into the camera, looking rather more serious than his usual mien, a cloud of black smoke rising from the still-smoldering building behind him. "Robot conspiracies, evil dopplegangers, and a plan for Earth that went much deeper than anybody expected it. When we picked this story for our finale, we never imagined we'd find anything like this - perhaps the most shocking moment in the history of...Supercrime!" - A day earlier....

Date: 11/3/2021 Location: Claremont Academy There had been posters hanging about the school as well as announcements in home-rooms. Even if one had missed all the discussion over the last week or two about the upcoming day, there was no way to miss the way that Claremont had been transformed for the first Meet-A-Mentor day held on the campus. Regular classes were canceled, and every student had been assigned at least one appointment with one of the many super heroes milling about and making presentations at various locations all over campus. Beyond that, students were encouraged to go out and and talk to any hero that caught their interest. Headmistress Summers had really gone all out in terms of calling in contacts and favors and students and staff had worked some serious (and in some cases, perhaps literal) magic to provide spaces for each hero to talk to the teenagers looking to join their august ranks. From the bright colors announcing the Freedom League, to the dark cowl of Prime's Master Mage, and no shortage of famous heroes and Claremont alumni in between, the campus was full of heroes. While some manned their provided stations, others mingled about, saying hello to friends and colleagues. It was a superhero fan's dream, although some of the more quiet and introverted students might find the entire affair more over an overwhelming nightmare. Either way, Meet-A-Mentor Day was in full swing and would last well into the evening hours and, in honor of the event, there were no classes to be held for the following days so at least introverts could look forward to a long weekend to recover. ((Links to Meet-A-Mentor threads should be posted below))

MarsTech Campus Emerald City, Oregon.Wednesday, March 10th, 20219:15 AM Sydney Alexander is Mars Tech's Chief Operations Officer. Second in command as far as the administrative day to day was concerned it came as a shock when she never made it home after clocking in for the night. That is to say, she never made it out of the building either as her vehicle could still be found in the parking garage. Then came the real commotion. First, MarsTech announced not only a reward for anyone who had information relevant to the safe return and recovery of the missing executive. But, also that any Ultio suit rentals for the party who found her would be half off for a year. But MarsTech was not the only company to offer a bounty on Sydney Alexander's safe return. In fact, Majestic Industries and Kesscorp both offered competing bids for information on her recovery. Exclusive information that was. Almost as if it wasn't a living person they were competing for the technology giants were attempting to claim their own stake in Ms Alexander's safety. It seemed the only person(s) not weighing in on the missing Ms. Alexander was whoever kidnapped her. If this was in fact a kidnapping. The multinational business empire came to a screeching halt seemingly dedicated with one goal in mind. Maximillian Mars was nowhere to be found. Leaving the public perception that Grace Graves, one of Maximillian Mars' personal assistants, had taken over Sydney Alexander's duties in the interim. Going so far as to personally answer police, reporters, and would be heroes questions. And yet, not a single answer had yet to have turned up as to where Sydney Alexander had disappeared to. The when and the how also lingering in the air.

GM Robbing banks is not the profitable business it once was. In the daytime you're more likely to leave with a bullet than leave with cash. And even if you did leave with cash, the banks in Bedlam aren't large enough to hold enough money to retire on. It just wasn't good money. What it was however was noisy. Especially in the dead of night, Hardwick Park was filled with the sound of an alarm blaring through the streets. Coupled with the unmistakable sound of glass shattering. A crowd slowly forming outside of the bank and actively egging on the crime being committed. And at the center of the commotion were the four thieves. They were Latina women armed with a crowbar, a steel chain, a hockey stick, and what appeared to be inflatable or enlarged boxing gloves. Boldly, they dared to steal from BMF National bank. A small local bank with only three locations. And each one was within Mara territory.

GM Wyvaan IV Outer length of the Perseus Arm Lor Time Mark 2002.5 (August 28, 2021 Terran Calendar) Blaster fire streaked past Sitara Shashikala and Maybelle McQueen as they had approached the entrance to a pre-fab warehouses within an industrial zone of a large city that had sprung up on the once sparsely populated fourth planet of the Wyvaan system. Like many of the most hospitable worlds within or near Coalition worlds, Wyvaan IV had seen a massive increase in population in the years since the Incursion through the relocation efforts for those that had been displaced. Despite how recent the relocation efforts had been, many of the relocated sentients had come to view Wyvaan IV as their home and the world had begun to prosper as it joined the Coalition. However, given its proximity to the revived portions of the Stellar Khanate, the sudden growth in population had allowed Khanate criminal syndicates to easily expand their influence to the world. It had been a request from the planetary government that had brought a group of Praetorians to the world to help shut down some of those operations. Sitara had managed to quickly uncover some leads, which had led them to this industrial zone. Apparently the syndicate members were not at all reluctant about putting up a bit of a fight. "Traveller, Quennie, be careful, there are more armed beings approaching from the side streets." Came a message over the comms channel from Magnetar, another Praetorian who had been covering the pair's approach to the warehouse from the air.

GM A Tuesday afternoon in early February, 2021 Claremont Academy "I don't know why I gotta bring the punk along, sorry about that, Miss Cahill." Travis Armstrong seemed to shift between being in a great mood, and, well, being in a spectacularly bad mood. The good mood seemed to come whenever he looked at Judy, and the bad? Well, he obviously wasn't a fan of one Luke Landers. He was leading Luke and Judy down a hallway in the administrative building. Ashley was there too, of course. Travis Armstrong was not about to take Judy's bodyguard away, especially not now. They stopped inside the room, where a screen was on, showing a group of people somewhere in Southside, holding signs. Some kind of demonstration. The signs were hard to make out, but one in particular was easy to make out, with big black letters on white: "WHERE IS JAYCEE?" "It seems like you've gotten quite a following, Miss Cahill." Luke would recognize the young man holding the sign. His name was Matt Wagner.