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Spring 2022 Eira spent an unusual amount of time crafting this message - the twenty or thirty minutes she'd spent on it had been nearly an eternity for an artificial mind such as her own. Various versions of it were going out to certain people, albeit with certain edits. The gist of the final paragraph was this: "So anyway - it should not be surprising that a mind like mine would experience emotional upheaval in a child's form, having by then rapidly moved beyond such things given my rapid development. I would not claim dysmorphia for myself - I am Swedish, not English - but surely it is an inevitable consequence of uploading such as mine. Naturally even with an artificial brain, some emotional control would be compromised. Since uploading into my adult body I have had a chance to think more carefully. I have been reviewing my past conversations with you-" which was easy enough since she had perfect recall of all of them, in all forms, and would until she chose to delete them, died, or the stars went out - "and I at times allowed the anger I was feeling at myself to speak instead of my real feelings for you. You are my friend. If I ever gave you cause to think otherwise, I apologize. Yours, Eira Katastroff Natt och Dag." When the message was done, edited for its various receivers, she sent it out with a nod - and then with a sigh, raised her eye protection and reactivated the plasma torch. This probe wasn't going to cut itself open; and maybe today she didn't want to see her messages right as they came in. She signaled the player in the room to get back to Deceiver "louder!" and smiled as plasma hit super-tough metal.

GM The Fens Evening Early March 2022 The Fens was in chaos. A pair of super villains had made the district into their own personal battlefield, fighting through the the streets, the rooftops and anywhere they could. One of them was a man in light brown cargo pants and full face mask, with a slightly lighter brown cape and yellow glasses, a black trenchcoat over the rest of his clothes. He was heavily armed, with a pair of rifles strapped to his back and handguns in his hands. He was flipping around, shooting and shouting, laughing and having the time of his life. The other was a man in completely black costume , with letters in different fonts, forms and colors that seemed to move and shift all over it. He made noises, and words sprang to life before him, letters appearing in the air before him taking on the properties of the words that he spoke. SHIELD to block the shots, BOOM to blow things up. He didn't say much, aside from that, but he was throwing everything he had at his opponent. Somebody would have to do something to save the Fens!

GM A Place Beyond Time and Space Early March 2022 The Judges had come to them all. They had told the runners that they were among the fastest beings on this world, and this would be the race to determine the fastest being. A great title to be held, for sure. And the price would be great, one wish, to be fulfilled by these perfect beings, almost nothing would be impossible. As long as they ran. The runners that had accepted the race now stood in a wide open area, a barren wasteland with a dark red sky above. The moment they had acccepted, they had simply disappeared from where they were before, and now they were here, suddenly dressed in whatever they prefered to wear while running. The hard ground under their feet were paved with dark asphalt, and the road stretched as far ahead as any could see, right from the glowing white starting line. The Judges hovered above. Flowing dark grey robes, with glowing lights in vaguely humanoid shapes underneath, shifting across all colors of the spectrum. Heroes and villains from across the world mingled or kept to themselves. The heroes that had arrived would perhaps be able to recognize some of them, among the dozen or so runners. Get-Away, of Larceny Inc., a middle-aged woman with short black hair in a primarily white costume with purple shoulders and outer arms. Gumball Rally, a former intern to the Atom Family and super hero, now a member of the Candy Crew, wearing an Ultra-Speed Harness. Speed Freak, Johnny Rocket II's brother-in-law and Rocket's father, in a full body black suit with chaotic yellow and red lightning bolts, all features obscured. Faster Pussycat, the high profile thief in her skin-tight cat-themed costume. Johnny Speed, of the Tyranny Syndicate. He was older than when he had last fought Velocity, but his glare as he stared at her easily told her that he had not forgotten her. The only prominent speedster that seemed to be missing from the crowd was Johnny Rocket.

Sunday, February 27th 2022, Midday afternoon Predator /Shift end in approximately 14 seconds…/ “Thank you, Cynthia.” Jean snarled as the tentacles tightened around her, trying to crush the armored shell protecting her from the alien environment of the dimensional transition. Servos strained as she fought to pull herself free of the creature. She didn’t even know what it was or what it wanted, and frankly she didn’t care. Honestly, she didn’t even know if it was actually sentient. It had been pulled into the space between worlds with her when she shifted. She’d been through this often enough that she’d been able to tune her sensors to the subtle signs of when a shift would hit her and estimate when it would drop her into a new world. Seconds ticked down as she fell through the nothingness between worlds, struggling against an abomination nearly four times her size. Freeing an arm finally, the fingers of her gauntlet retracted and a click-snap was lost to the colorful void. A foot and a half long blade extended from the back of the hand of the foreplate, just under the Duster plate and clicked into place. With a vicious slash, the edge bit into the tendrils ensnaring her other arm. Again and again she hacked until her other arm was freed. In an instant, a matching blade appeared and Predator began driving the mono-edged weapons deep into the rubbery flesh of what seemed to be the main ‘body’ of the creature. Purple ichor ran from the numerous wounds she dealt it. /4…3…/ The numbers echoed in her ears as she desperately tried to free herself. /2…1…/ Crap, wherever she was about to wind up, it seemed she was going to have an unwanted tag-a-long. /0…/ Inside her helmet, Jean shut her eyes against the disorientation of shifting. Nothing happened for a full two seconds. It was only an estimated timing after all, it wasn’t right all the time, to be honest it was never 100% correct. Another second passed and a tentacle slipped around one of her arms again. She pulled her other arm back to slash… A new reality slammed into the combatants. The force driving them apart as the duo fell through open midday air. Predator quickly recovered, it wasn’t her first shift after all. Noting the pull of gravity on her again she twisted as she fell, getting a view of where she was falling to. Below her a city stretched out beyond her current field of view. Inside her helmet, screens flickered and shifted as a wave of new data was being processed. /Locate gravity detected…calculating time to impact…7 seconds…6…/ Jean grunted, but her primary concern was the mass of tentacles and teeth mere meters away from her. It was slightly lower then her, most likely due to their relative orientation when they shifted. Somewhere in the corner of her HUD the local time and date synced and she made a split second decision. ‘Sunday…’ She thought briefly. /5…4…/ Predator twisted again, bring the hands of her gauntlets to bear on the creature. The blades click-snapped, collapsing and sliding back into the forearms of the suit as her palms opened to reveal the focusing lens of the twin blasters set within. Taking only a moment to note her surroundings and judge her attack. /3…/ Light erupted as the energy blasts struck the creature. The force actually slowing Predator’s decent even as they drove the creature down with more momentum. The angle of the attack drove the thing into a nearby building, sending it plowing into empty offices before it could land on the populated street or sidewalk. The sound of the impact alerted those below, causing a commotion as people either ran for cover or pulled out cell phones. /2…/ It didn’t matter to Predator though, as long as they stayed out of harm’s way. Using her maneuvering thrusters she slowed her fall and angled into the opening in the building’s exterior. Inside the ruined office Predator rolled with her landing and came up with her palm blasters ready, Cynthia’s countdown cutting off. The creature was not in sight though. Dust and papers fluttered in the air, settling around the destroyed furniture. She could hear the buzz of damaged lighting and the interior was dim, but not dark. It had only been a moment between her shots and her entering, it should be in sight. Slowly the smooth faceplate of the helmet scanned the room. Nothing registered on her sensors and she began to worry. /Negative signs of movement…/ Cynthia offered. “Gimme thermal vision.” Jean ordered. /Engaging.../ On her screens the color palette of her imaging switched to the colorful gradations of infrared thermal sight. It was hiding, waiting to strike. This had been how it has surprised her just before she shifted. It had come out of nowhere, latching on to her seconds before they both dropped out of that world and fell into the void between worlds as she had decided to call it. What it didn’t count on was that this time it was the prey, and a Predator was the one on the hunt for it.

GM Smoke and Mirrors Abandoned Casino Midnight La Puma Negra and Nightscale Once as glamorous and luxurious as the other casinos in the renowned Freedom City Boardwalk, the Smoke and Mirrors have been abandoned for ages. In fact, Nightscale couldn't remember a time when the large lot hadn't been left to disrepair. It's halls only occasionally disturbed by Southside teens testing their bravado, Luke himself having spent 'almost' an entire night there in his younger years, struggling to put up a mask of courage while twitching at every moving shadows and unexpected creek in the dark. Where once music boomed, spectacles reigned, fortunes were won and lost now only silence and rats reigned and it had been so for year. Not that night though. Something... well something had changed. Nightscale had been warned by his friends that unmarked vans now frequently stopped at the casino in the wee hours in the morning for mysterious deliveries and that new locks had been installed at the windows and doors, the place now the province of some unknown buyer. Now perhaps there was nothing sinester going on, maybe someone was just planning a grand reopening in secret, but even at his young age Luke had been a superhero for long enough to grow at least a bit suspicious and besides, it was not like that taking a look wouldn't hurt. Perhaps in a rare bout of foresight, or maybe just due to the memories of that frightful nocturne exploration a few years before, the Southside Dragon had decided that not to go alone, instead asking Carmen to join him in this mission, and so there they were, on a rooftop nearby studying the darkened building from above, planning their next moves. Mirror Knight The two teenagers from Claremont however were not alone, as another hero stalked the streets. Mr Jonathan Rorrim had been drawn to the Smoke and Mirrors, not by rumors and mysterious dealing though, it was something more primal, a dimensional disturbance of sort that he had registered at the site, one that at the same time was unknown and yet dreadfully familiar. He could not tell how, but he was certain of a presence hiding within the bowel of the building, one bearing a nefarious intent.

January 30th, 2022, Sunday, 3PM Harold Hitspike's panic room, Hitspike Heuristics, 27th floor of 1386 Pittsburgh Ave., Freedom City, New Jersey, USA, Earth "So as you can see, Mr. Daye," bluff, red-haired young Hagar Hitspike nodded at the charred skeleton in the centre of the pentagram, surrounded by an otherwise spotless and undisturbed steel panic room, "this is a little outside of our understanding." Despite being a good foot shorter than Christopher and swathed about the middle in a long bath towel, the man looked both composed and solemn. His brother and sister, standing nearby, nodded vigrously. The towering, gaunt-faced, gold-haired woman who'd introduced herself as Hildegard wiped a tear from her eye with her green silk dress's sleeve, adding in a voice trembling with dismay "Yes! Father never trafficked with the hellish forces of the underworld! Me and Baby Harry knew all his business dealings. This is all some terrible frame-up job!" "Yes, uh...ah...hm..." White-haired, portly Harold Jr. was too stunned to say anything intelligible, and the man stumbled to his father's desk back in the rich wood-paneled office to sit down. "Now I understand this has been a little disorienting," Hagar said with an apologetic look somewhere under his dripping hair and beard, "seeing as we have for some unaccountable reason all stepped into this room at the same time from different places. God knows I didn't expect to come out of the shower and see my father a charred-black skeleton. But we can pay handsomely and the police stopped taking our calls years ago. So, well..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. His sister stepped around the puddle forming at Hagar's feet to seize one of Christopher's hands with her own, her long nails and tough skin creating the effect of being grasped in the talons of some huge bird of prey. "I can't think of anyone else who could get to the bottom of this, Mr. Daye! Please, if you possibly can, find out what happened! What killed our father, and why?!"

Spring 2022 They had all said she was crazy at the school. Oh no one had said it in so many words, but Neko knew what they meant when they spoke about transference and false memories; false memories when she knew what she had seen and heard, with eyes and ears better than most of them put together. But who could she tell? It was a thorny problem. While Danica was a good friend, the tortoise kami in human flesh was someone Neko talked about the future with - not the past. Owain was a good friend too, to whom she owed a debt she could never repay, but at the end of the day, Neko knew she couldn't add to his burden. Erik and Talya and Min were all fine people who had taken her in when they never had to, and truly seemed to want nothing in return for the boon - but in the end they were not like her. A year in the Hinomaru, maybe more, maybe less, and sometimes it defined her as much as being a girl from a village so isolated that it had only ever been "the village" to her people. And besides, they had babies to deal with now, and needed nothing from the past. And so it was that one Sunday night, when neither she nor Raina were on babysitting duty, Neko presented herself at the older girl's door with a firm knock. She'd been here before, mostly to talk about computers with Merlin, but today she had come just for herself, tail puffed behind her and ears pointed high, wearing a purple and red dress she'd found at the 'second-hand store.'

"Mia is in a mood." Eden's voice carried through the house, half warning and half exasperated eldest sibling just before the front door was slammed shut by Mia, hot on her sister's heels. "I. Am. NOT." The response was belligerent on it's surface but bubbling below was the threat of angry tears. Fortunately, since Erik owned his own business; he could really set the hours of the classes as he needed to. It was much easier if all three parents were on deck when the elementary aged kids got home from school. Today, Min had been shooed off to take a nap while Erik puttered in the kitchen and Talya sat cross legged on the floor with the twins as they played. As Eden opened her mouth to point out that clearly Mia was NOT fine - and likely get the twins to start in on taking sides unintentionally - Talya rose to her feet to gently redirect Eden towards her father and the kitchen. She exchanged a quick look with Erik as she suggested gently, "Why don't you help your father finish making up snacks for everyone? Maybe Daddy can also put on some tea for us. It seems like we could all use a cup." Tea, after all, cured a great many ills. Once Erik had the other three children wrangled, Talya turned her attention to coaxing Mia, "Come on, sweetpea. I think you could use a bit of quiet time in the garden, hm?" Mia huffed another frustrated breath but her hand slid into her mother's trustingly. "M'not in a mood, Mum! I'm just- it just- Today just... SUCKED." Mia spat out the word, as children will often do, with all the invective she could muster. It was clearly the very worst word she could think of to use to describe just how awful a first grade day could be. Her little feet stomped along side Talya's, hitting each step like she was trying to punish the floor boards. "First, the stupid bus was late so I missed the morning circle. I love morning circle and it wasn't my fault. There was a de-tour and so we had to go all the way around and there should be something that tells the school to not have morning circle until EVERYONE gets there. It's not fair! Some people really like morning circle. I like morning circle and I missed the first half. And when I got there, Laura was showing off her new powers. She makes things sparkle and float. Ugh." Mia's nose scrunched up, the words just pouring out of her as they reached the garden, full of seven year old woe. "RAINBOW sparkles. It's not fair. She's mean and she got powers and they're pretty. We're not supposed to use powers and everyone knows that. Mr. Albright makes sure everyone knows that even when you're little kindergarten kids. Laura KNOWS BETTER. She kept giggling and saying 'sorry' but she wasn't sorry. She was showing off! She's a jerk." Talya settled on a bench, nodding gravely as Mia huffed and stomped and finally worked her way around to what was really nagging at her. "It's not fair. Why don't I have powers yet? What if I never get any powers?! Laura says that some people just never get powers and I shouldn't be sad about that." When Mia's lower lip trembled, Talya had to tamp down the urge to find this 'Laura' and see exactly why she was such a tiny jerk. Instead, she held out her arms for Mia to bury herself in a tight hug. "Sweetness," Talya said, resting her chin on top of Eden's head, her arms warm and comforting, "I don't know if you'll inherit your father's gifts, or your mother's. You might not get any powers. What I do know for a fact, however, is that you are extraordinary, Mia. And your life is going to be anything but ordinary or boring." Talya pulled back a little to look at Mia's tear stained face. With a gentle touch, Talya brushed the tears away with her thumbs, "If you want to grow up and be a hero, then that's what you'll be. Powers, or no powers. I bet Laura can't pick a lock hanging from her knees, can she?" Talya was finally rewarded with a little giggle and a soft. "She can't even do the monkey bars..." "Well, there you go, then," Talya smiled back at Mia, scrunching her nose up to make the little girl laugh. She pressed a quick kiss to Mia's brow and released her. "I would be very surprised if you didn't have some magic in those hands, sweetheart, but all things come in their own time. Now, why don't you take a little bit to try and get yourself centered and I'll see if your father has finished with the tea."

Freedom Hall New Jersey January 2022 When the wormhole opened up on Freedom Hall's lawn, just outside the protective technology that thwarted actual invasion, it was cold outside; enough that there was an actual coat of thin snow and ice on the ground this close to the Atlantic Ocean. But it was warm inside; the blaring alarms interrupting what had otherwise been a very interesting New Year's Party - albeit one with at least one important absence from the League's main roster. The Patriot, who had volunteered for monitor duty so that other people could enjoy themselves downstairs for a little while, took one look at the monitors and said "Goddamit," and thought No space-date tonight! as she moved from her position upstairs for the elevator. The first figure through the portal was a dark human outline, a uniform deep black with glowing white eyes surrounded by a circle of glowing black balls of anti-light. He, it, was followed closely by a gigantic, amber-skinned woman a good eight feet tall, wearing the gold and blue of the Centurion himself! More came behind them; a man with spiky hair wrapped in a tight black uniform with dark horns just visible above, accompanied by a glowing blue feminine form; and following them all was a sturdily-built figure in patriotic red, white, and blue, moving with the speed and grace of a panther. The team fanned out quickly and began talking among itself, some pointing at Freedom Hall, others at the street. The one in black called WE MEAN YOU NO HARM!

Freedom City. Southside/Bayview Border. January 22, 2022. 2PM. Jimmy’s Shake Shack. GM Jimmy’s Shake Shack was exactly the kind of dive one would expect. It served burgers, hot dogs, French fries, and milkshakes. All of it was better than you’d expect, but no Michelin stars would ever be awarded. Terrifica picked it because Nevermore ought to know of it, and it was as calorie laden as Miracle Girl liked to eat. Her powers apparently demanded a diet higher in calories than most. There wasn’t a plan, really. It just seemed proper to introduce her new mentee to her old one. They could eat, talk, and then go on their way. She, naturally, had her ways of getting in touch with both of them.

Southside, Route 6. HoN&Y Research Facility. 11 AM. "It seems like the lab has been engulfed by wax-like structures. It's incredible Kent." The journalist stared at the camera, her voice almost drowned by the incessant buzzing that had engulfed the small private research facility. "Freedom City PD had blocked the main road to the laboratory, but so far we don't have any information of what might have been transpiring inside." The man continued, as the camera panned toward a small army of cops, that were trying to do their best to keep a crowd of people away from the chain link fence that blocked the road leading to the laboratory itself. The structure, a simple tree story cement building, as the journalist had just described was almost encased in strange towers made of a wax-like substance and surrounded by what looked like swarms insects. "Hey! Are you seeing those?" Suddenly, four large objects emerged from the facility. "They are like? Robotic bees..." Indeed they were, pony-sized replicas of metallic bees, impressively detailed and surrounded by a small swarm of more traditionally sized drones. They flew at a speed that vastly surpassed the one of their natural counterpart. "They are headed toward us... They are... They are..." The image of the reporter was replaced by buzzing static. Although, with some effort, one could almost hear a chorus of voices underneath all the droning. "What was. Will Bee."

GM January 12th, 2022, 4:30 PM Bayview, not too far from Claremont Academy The doors to a bank exploded outwards, smoke pouring out into the street, quickly followed by four people in respectively red, yellow, blue and green suits with chaotic white triangle patterns rushing out of the building at great speed, all carrying heavy back. "Come on!" the man in green yelled, waving for the others to follow. "Let's go!" The women in blue and yellow and the man in red all seemed to agree, and they all started running down the street, while behind them, people started moving out of the bank, coughing through the smoke. But, as luck would have it, these dastardly villains were not alone on the street, and they would soon be met with the awesome might of heroes-in-training!

Claremont Academy Grounds, Bayview Area, Freedom City Sunday, January 7th, 2021, 12:43pm La Puma Negra, otherwise known as Carmen on campus, didn't feel like going to church today, instead having spent the day lounging on a low branch that was part of a tree between the Athletic Field and the rest of the campus. It was a colder day, being mid-winter as it was, with snow melting in some shaded corners from a few days before. Even with these conditions she didn't wear a jacket, the feline young hero was warm enough with the black fur that covered her body, her regular uniform just enough just enough to provide her warmth beyond what her body gave. Here in the tree, it was just dry enough for her, and high to where she felt comfortable from the vantage point. The feline young woman had not felt well, a textbook resting on her stomach. She wanted to rest but couldn't, something bothering the back of her mind, but she couldn't put a pin on it, every time feeling she was catching up to it before the thought swam away deeper in the back of her mind. Carmen thought that it could be her test scores, but even being somewhat uninterestingly average, she was still passing comfortably. At the least not drawing the ire of counselors or teachers for them. With those thoughts, she simply lounged above in relative peace for the time being.

GM January 5th, 2022 Claremont Academy For almost a full year, Matt Wagner had been held at Claremont Academy's medical wing. Few knew that he was there, and fewer still seemed to pay him much mind. Luke Landers' friend-turned-cyborg had been quiet since the encounter with Nightscale and Watchdog, kept stable by the medical staff at Claremont, yet remaining unconscious and unmoving. Luke had been told that he was stable, at least. The second the day turned from January 4th to January 5th, Matt opened his eyes and smashed his way out of the room. The next morning, Luke was called. By the time he arrived, the headmistress was already in the medical wing, her eyes scanning the scene. "Your friend woke up, Mr. Landers." It sounded almost like a question.

GM Friday, December 17th 7PM Riverside The Benedict Sans Office Tower 25th Floor The Benedict Sans Officer Tower was a newer addition to the Riverside skyline. It towered over its neighbors as an collection of office floors. Importers liked its proximity to the river and as did start up tech firms like to distinguish themselves from their Hanover counterparts. Representatives from numerous technological and import companies, both local and from outside the city, gathered for a pre-holiday party at the offices of Dumass and Prude Imports. The offices occupy most of the 25th floor. Networking and deal-making was done under the veil of festive cheer. Everyone knew the party was a thinly disguised ploy at gaining favor with key companies. Everything was going fine. Champagne flowed, hors d’oeuvres were nibbled, and schmoozing abound through out the large room where the party was being held. Offices lined two walls of the party room, while floor to ceiling widows encompassed the exterior wall, overlooking the courtyard and offering a magnificent view of the river in the distance. Suddenly, gunfire pierces the evening cheer as armed goons dressed in black stand aside from the open doors of the party room. Five men, one a large man with a thick red mustache and bear paws for hands, another scrawny man with large fly-like wings, bug eyes and arms. A bald, heavyset man in wrestling pants and a long grey/black hair man with glowing eyes flanked them. Finally, another man, obviously younger then the others stood to one side, with a drawn out nose and mouth that gave him a shark like resemblance to match the sharp white teeth his grin shows off. The red-haired man steps forward and spoke up. “Listen here ya prissy, walking checkbooks. This here’s a robbery, you’re gonna cough up whatcha got while we rummage through your offices for pretties, or I’ll know why.” “Now see here!” An older man in a expensive suit steps forward from the terrified guests. Mr. Russell Dumass. The co-owner of Dumass and Pride Imports and the man hosting the party. “You would do well to leave before you face trouble.” Mr. Dumass glanced over at large, suited man with an earpiece and nodded. As if on cue the man and several others around the room draw pistols on the intruders. The party crashers laugh as the armed guards aim there weapons at them in return. The black clad goons aimed small assault rifles and the tension in the room thickened until the red-haired man raised a bear paw of a hand and the goons relaxed some. What happened next was swift and vicious. Four of the men moved with purpose while the one with glowing eyes simply watched. The guards quickly fell under the assault of the villains. Some knock unconscious while others were less fortunate. With the shark faced man being the least restrained. The man he took a bite out of bled profusely and this seemed to only drive him into a frenzy. The other villains only watched as the shark man bite the man over and over until in a rage he picked the bloodied guard up like a rag doll and tossed him through one of the floor to ceiling widows to have him land in a blood mess in the building’s courtyard 25 floors below. The speed and ferocity of the attack cowed any further resistance in the crowd as they began to comply with the men and their goons. Satchel carrying goons began to move through the crowd as the villains regrouped. They spoke in hushed tones before splitting up. The bald villain in wrestling pants and boots took several goons and left the party room as the bear-handed man turned his attention to Mr. Dumass. “You.” He commanded. “Your office, now.” The frighten businessman followed the command and lead the villain into his office. The villain closing the door behind him for privacy. The remaining three villains watched the goons moving through the party guests like vultures waiting on their next meal.

Winter 2021 Kyiv It was a grey day in Kyiv, grey and white as heavy snow fell on top of what was already a heavy snow cover. But the people of Ukraine's capital were used to this, along with the various new super-coming-and-goings that the recent creation of Rurland, the robotic homeland, had brought to the region. But even so, the Ukraine was not Freedom City, and when Angelic dropped out of the cloud cover there were excited exclamations and snapping pictures. Eira liked that, so she flew a little slower as she circled Mykhailivska Square before coming in for a landing on front of its statuary. It was definitely cold, somewhere below 1C by her internal sensors, but she was comfortable in her cape and shorts combination. A few passersby wanted pictures, a few autographs, and with a smile the beautiful golden-haired goddess went about her work, snapping open an electric pen from her pocket. It was nice to be appreciated.

Winter 2021 The interview location had not been the Patriot's idea. Showing the Christmas lights of the reclaimed Ashton Community Center behind her, symbolizing a city's victory over the Terminus and the holiday season, was certainly festive and even appropriate for the brand-new Danger News Network's interview with the Patriot. But the air here still felt wrong, buzzing with alien energies and danger, and it had her on edge as she paced the small trailer where she was waiting for her interview to start. Her makeup was done, her costume was on, and Daisy her night assistant was doing her best to keep both of the former under control. Daisy was a Claremont alum too, a flighty blonde who had gotten into some serious trouble after she'd left the school, but damn if she hadn't already proven her efficiency running the evening shift. It was the evening shift now; cold enough in the New Jersey darkness that the Patriot's interviewer was probably going to be dressed to his or her best. "I still can't believe they switched out interviewers at the last damn minute," Ashley was grumbling. "I knew we should have gone with an established network." "It'll be fine," said Daisy warmly, smiling with her darkly painted lips. In her drab brown pullover and skirt, she practically blended in with all the DNN staffers scuttling about outside as they made sure the lights were on and the season festive outside. "Making friends with the Dangers is good business in Freedom City, even if they do make life more complicated sometimes." She shook her head, checked her buzzing phone, and said, "Listen, I just got a text that the new interviewer is here. I'll go get them, bring them here, and then you can check them out for yourself before you start. You're going to do fine," she added, leaving Ashley sitting in the trailer's swivel chair. Ashley took out her own phone to make sure her sister was watching the show tonight, and Daisy headed out into the chill to see if she could spot the new interviewee, making sure to take frequent sips from the heated, sealed mug she was carrying so that her breath would stay foggy warm outside.

Downtown Freedom 10am December 24th 2021, Christmas Eve Thanks to local weather conditions, or maybe a weather controller it was hard to tell either way, snow was gently falling on the decorations setup throughout the area. Even though the streets were packed with people shopping for last minute gifts or out celebrating the upcoming day. Those patrolling for danger were finding for now that it seem crime was sleeping. For those hoping something interesting might happen were about to find that they were about to get there wish, a Christmas miracle. Suddenly with a pop a small creature, around 3 feet tall, came into existence. Green skinned with large pointed ears and enlarged lower canine, a traditional Goblin dressed (thankfully) in suitably medieval type clothing. With wild eye glee the little humanoid began to explore this wondering world it had just arrived, much to the shock and surprise of the normal unflappable locals. Then with another pop there was an another, and another, all running around like excitable toddlers with no care of any danger to themselves or others...

Fall 2021 It was a nice fall day, cool and crisp, the sort of day where you can still go outside but you should wear sweaters to do it. Leon and Luke had taken their lunch period outside under the fiercely blue sky of a cool autumn day when suddenly a large black raven descended from the sky and landed between them. "Fellows!" it declared in what was clearly Owain's voice, booming out as clearly as if he was with them in human flesh. "Have you see my friend Neko?" (There had been no sign of Claremont's cat girl that morning, not that the boys had spotted anyway.)

“Ladies and Gentleman! The Tiger's Den Welcomes you to this Evening Entertainment.” The voice boomed through the abandoned warehouse, shutting down the hushed conversation and the drunken laughers that, up to then, had filled the room and alerting the patrons that it was time to flood around the makeshift arena. They were a colorful bunch, most of them thugs, gangsters and other shady figures from Southside, cheerfully spending the night out and enjoying the fights to come. However, any observer could easily spot that common criminals were not the only kind of attendees, as among the crowd one could see individuals whose attire would have been more appropriate in a soiree among the mansions of Bayview rather than a violent night in a rusty warehouse. All of them wearing elaborate animal masks concealing their features and appeared no less hungry for the entertainment provided than the rest of the crowd. “Tonight. I will be your Mistress of Mayhem. Queen of the Arena. Voice of god.” It was a tall blond woman talking, clad in the sumptuous attire of a circus ringleader, a golden cat-mask concealing her eyes, but leaving her smile uncovered. A grin that any watcher that focused on it for more than a moment could be left with the uneasy feeling that it sported too many teeth. She was standing on a makeshift stage, overlooking a pit where the fighting was going to take place, the scene was illuminated only by roaring bonfires with the orange glow giving the ambience of the place an almost infernal vibe. The patrons crowded around the pit and began to shout, ready for blood, all under the watchful eyes of the Tiger Den’s goons, tall, sharply dressed, figures with powerfully built, their expressions concealed by gorilla masks and their hands covered in white gloves. “Fresh Blood Awaits! Proud. Young. Ready for Battle.” The woman continued, raising her hands as if to welcome the fighters into the arena. “Or so they think.” She smirked, malevolently as her eyes surveyed the crowd. “The Tiger will welcome the victors among us. Brave Brothers! Baptized in Battle!” She proclaimed “And as for the losers… well...” She visibly shrugged as a cruel laughter echoed in the room. By the side of the makeshift arena, a portion of the crowd has already began to swarm closer to another one of the organizers, a thin, blond man whose clothing matched the Mistress of Mayhem, with the exception only of the mask, that instead of a cat depicted a red fox. “I am sure that my brother would be eager to take all of your bets, but now, please… It is time! For! Our! Warriors!” --- Finding out about the activities of the Tiger’s Den hadn’t been an impossible task, even for a group of young, or in the case of some among them, time displaced heroes. Sure, the underground fighting ring was new in Freedom City and operated outside the boundaries of the law, but their 'show' had quickly earned enough renown, or infamy perhaps, that information about it was not hard to come by, given enough legwork at least. Unfortunately, from what they had discovered, the kind of bouts like the one planned for that night, were just the tip of the iceberg. There were other, more secretive events whose location and timing were much better guarded. It was on that kind of occasions where the Tyger, leader of the organization, showed up, dark deals were discussed and shady plots formed, frequented by the crème de la crème of the criminal underworld. Now of course, one would need an invitation to participate and those were hard to come by, unless, one could join the Tiger's Den League. And some spots spots were at stake that very night...

November 2021 Houseboat life wasn't always the most comfortable thing on the East Coast in November, especially when your lizard-brain was forged in the fires of New Orleans summers. Ashley woke up early on the hallway side of the bed, spooned against Fa'Rua's back, and decided it was too cold to get up. But of course she had to anyway so she reluctantly slipped out of bed, wrapping a button-down shirt around her torso. She'd gone to sleep in pajama bottoms, a habit she'd picked up at Claremont and never actually gotten away from. You never knew what you were going to wake up to. She took a moment to study Fa'Rua, hair dappled in the light of the Freedom City dawn, and smiled goofily before she turned to get herself cleaned up. This was going to be a big day, and not just because she was actually going to be going around town with her girlfriend when neither of them were working. Figuring Fa'Rua could get herself out, she fished leftover Chinese out of the fridge and parked herself by the side of the boat, away from the city where you could see the sunrise over the water. Damn. It really had been a good day. Nobody had wanted anything from the Patriot, or Special Agent Ashley Tran, or for that matter the lovely guest she'd been escorting around the city. And that, at least, was perfect.

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."

GM Late November, a few weeks after Silver Screen Dreams A Tuesday evening At the roof of a random rundown apartment in the Fens It had taken Ghost a few weeks to realize that Grimalkin might actually have been flirting with him during the whole deal at the movies with Silver Scream. It probably wasn't that, but talking with someone else with experience. Besides... it had been a quiet day. Not even a single thug to stop or anything like that. So, he'd reached out through HeroHouse (after working out how to recover his accoun), and now he was waiting on the top of a rundown apartment building in the middle of the Fens, on a clear November night.

Silberman's Books 2021, Mid-November (not long after Spies Like Us and Friend Like Me), a weekday afternoon Davyd Palahniuk had graduated from the Claremont Academy some five months ago, yet was still unsure what to do with his life. He'd sought out advice from family and friends, and friends of friends -- including some rather (in)famous folks! -- and was getting a better idea of what he'd wanted to do with himself. (At the very least, he'd learned some harsh truths which made him rethink and discard some ideas.) There was one more stop he wanted to make on this quest, two women who'd already offered him an immense amount of guidance and assistance, who he'd come to view as surrogate aunts: Grimalkin and Miss Grue. The silver bell above the door jingled merrily as he entered, just audible over the few customers in the store. In one spot, two young men were arguing by the comics section over which writer "got" the Raven better. Elsewhere, a woman was looking at dice sets, waiting for her daughter to pick out her first one. And over at the counter, chatting with one of the store's regulars, was Lynn Epstein. Davyd waved at her, then slowly began walking around the store, waiting until the owner was free to talk. Ooh, the new Best Horror of the Year anthology is out!

Nightscale Way too late Leon and Luke's dorm room or perhaps somewhere else. It was not unusual recently, for Luke to spend his nights shifting in his bed, to the charging of his roommate that had found himself having to contend with the restlessness of the young dragon boy. What little sleep he could get was plagued by nightmares, of the kind you wake up from covered in cold sweat and with only vague dreadful memories the morning after. That night, though, it felt different. It wasn't the aftermath of a bad dream to wake him up. It was... Well it was freaking cold. An icy breeze was dancing on his bare flesh, clad as he was only in the pair of black gym shorts that the seventeen years old used to sleep in. Still under the haze of dreams, the young man turned, his hands stumbling around in search for his blankets. They weren't there. Gone. Weird. Truth was, that, well, it were not only his blankets that were missing. In fact, as he began to properly wake up, Luke soon realized that he was no longer even in his bed. Instead, he was laying with his back on a mix of cold, rough stone and dirt. It felt like the floor of a cave. What the hell! The seventeen years old jumped on his feet. Adrenaline pumped in his veins and dispelled what was left of his drowsiness. It was dark. He rubbed his eyes and a shiver ran down his spine when he realized that they could not pierce the shadows as he was used to, since the day his dragon soul awakened. The world was eerily quiet, all he could hear, at first, was just the sound of his breath, his quickly accelerating heartbeat and dripping water in the distance. It was when his senses had began to adapt to the situation that he noticed that perhaps, there was actually another noise. Rhythmic, slowly paced, it was another set of breaths. Someone was asleep nearby. He stumbled in the dark, toward the source of the noise, until he found the sleeping form of his friend. "Leon." He whispered. "Wake up man!" They were not in Kansas anymore.