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Kestevan 79 Magnetar 23,000 LY from Terra November 2014 (Terran Calendar) Why are we here? It was a hard question not to ask as the Praetorians' starship approached the world Moon-Moth had designated as the next target of the Communion. Kestevan 79, and its companion magnetar were a long-dead supernova remnant - the nebula, the neutron star inside, and its magentar companion both had been classified as navigational hazards by the Delaztri and generally avoided by their fleets, something that as far as they could tell had remained the same for Lor and Grue both. After all, what could possibly live in the wash of gases and X-Rays produced by nebula and burning magnetar alike? But there was, as far as the Curator had been able to tell, life on the sole world orbiting Beta Kestevan - life that was by all accounts a target for the Communion. For his part, Solar Sentinel found conditions equally grim as he headed out into the remote space near the Kestevan system, a system so remote and so irradiated that it had remained largely unclaimed in all the space wars he had ever heard of. There was no debris in the system, no asteroids or other planets - just the invisible at this distance neutron star that was Beta Kestevan (for all that it howled like a dead god on the radio) and the single white orb beneath the brilliantly burning shape of the Kestevan nova that floated over the system like the ghost of a dead star. Kestevan I - the only life-bearing world for light-years. Kestevan I; the next target of the Communion. A small collection of older, disreputable-looking starships were in orbit as Sentinel and Praetorians took up their positions in the vast depths of space; the wash of radiation in the system making whatever signals they might be sending to each other impossible to read. The planet was cold and desolate even from space, frozen nearly from pole to pole. Down below, on the icy surface of Kestevan I, a small handful of city lights twinkled at the equator, the planet's only source of free water. They had no idea what was coming.

Outside Freedom Hall June 7 2014 Early in the morning. The city is barely waking up. The sun isn't out yet, but hints of it can be seen on the horizon, as it change color. A lone figure, looking sick and weakened, slowly make it's way for Freedom Hall. Weakened by the effects of the serum leaving his body, Anton Bienh nevertheless continue toward his destination, while holding his weapon, in case the vampire hunter was still on his trail. He suspected that was the case, as one could almost follow him by smell alone, a side effect of having spent time inside the sewers. Once at the gate, just outside Freedom Hall, he finally collapsed, shaking. "Come on, answer me!" He shouted, as he started to hallucinate, suddenly thinking he was near the Freedom Hall of his timeline, which was an underground bunker. "?$#(*! Come on guys, open the bunker, open it, they're...they're..." Bloodline blinked and remember he was at a different point in time. "Right. I'm here to seek aid. This isn't the Freedom League I know."

GM 1st December, 2014 Stonehenge...United Kingdom... He was a ghost. Faint to the eye, yet with a chill, hard to see and yet with a howling wind behind him, he walked out of the Circle of Stonehenge with slumped shoulders and heavy foot. He was dressed in furs, with grizzled long hair and a grizzled long beard. Whilst he was hard to see, his eyes were pure black, and saw everything. "So, you felt my echo through the years and centuries? This place is a place of power, where such calls are spoken, and such calls are heard. Where time and space are with little meaning, but spirit and blood have much..." The Ghost stood stood tall, proud and grim in front of the Black Knight, who had heard the call on some deep level. "Something rises and stirs in the cold north. My kin who died there rest uneasy. I would have your help, for honours sake, the bones of might warriors should not be spoiled..."

GM December 13th, Late Morning... Season of the Yule... Cheap and awful Christmas music played on a short loop inside Far Out!!! game store. Browsing the games, videos, and electronics was fun. Listening to Mariah Carey belting out what she only wanted for Christmas for the third time, less so. As Endevour browed, she was watched by a woman at the counter, who was clearly "cool", or trying to be, whilst serving customers. She was sat down, head phones in ears, with short black hair and vaguely blurred ethnicity. She had headphones in her ears, and a leather jacket, in almost complete contempt of staff rules. And she was studying Endevour intently...

The North End Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday October 22, 2014, 10:23 PM Coiled Lightning Charlie Stevens was crouched in the shadows on the roof of one of the low buildings in the North End neighborhood of Freedom City. He was in the costume he wore as Coiled Lightning, the strange electrical whip he had discovered in one hand as he looked out over the streetlight lit street below. Charlie was here because he had received information from a Sergeant Turner of the North End precinct of the FCPD about a string of recent thefts at some high-tech companies in the area that had been committed by the costumed criminal Slice and a group of hired thugs. Tonight was the second night he had been staking out the area north of the Freedom City University campus in the hopes of running into Slice and his goons once again. Last night he had managed to stop a mugging, but otherwise had not caught any sight of his quarry. Liquify Matt Sol was in the shadows of an alleyway in the North End, looking out at one of the high-tech companies situated in the area near the FCU campus. He had read about some of the recent break-ins at some of the high-tech companies near the campus, apparently carried out by a costumed criminal and some henchmen. It seemed like a good opportunity to try to uses his powers to be a superhero, like so many others in Freedom City.

Pier 13, Saturday, October 18th, 2014. 10:00 am GM A lonely construction trailer sat in the middle of a small sea of concrete at the base of the pier; beyond it stood the long enclosed shed which thrust some eight hundred feet out into the river. The shed was three stories tall and stoutly built, with a dark metal roof, and a concrete walkway some thirty feet wide went all the way around it. In front of the trailer stood Grimalkin, looking somewhat out of place in her domino mask and black-and-midnight blue leathers at this hour of the morning. Next to her was parked a man in a wheelchair, wearing a black bandana mask similar to the Dread Pirate Roberts from Princess Bride; he had a long salt-and-pepper ponytail and trim beard, and wore an old denim jacket, flannel shirt, jeans and paint-stained work boots. The wheelchair has covered in various rock band, leftist and union bumper stickers. "This is insane." "Best idea you ever had, if you ask me." They both drank their cups of Starbase coffee at the same time.

GM Cairo Midday September the 5th Egypt. Land of culture, history, and Gods. And right now, political upheaval was rife. But this is where Doctor Zero's experiments had started, back decades ago into the cold war. It seemed that whenever Doctor Zero and the Sleeper where involved, politics was a storm. Between Synapse and Foreshadow, the trail had twisted, turned, and obscured. But it had lead here, Cairo. And in particular, a Professor Zaki. Professor of history and politics, who had looked most carefully at President Nasser's allegiance with the Soviet Union. He had strong suspicions that the Soviets - and Zero in particular - had used Egyptians as guinea pigs in developing Darwin X And in some sweaty coffee shop in a dusty Cairo street, he waited for the pair...

August 30th, 2014 - 10:07am Liberty Park - Freedom City GM Post It was the closest thing to a lazy Saturday one could get in Freedom City. Summer was just starting to wind down, so everyone was soaking up the last of the summer sun while they still had the chance. Whether it was just running errands, people going out for an early morning jog, or spending some quality time with the kids, it seemed like everyone was outside today. In a perfect world, the day would unfold without incident, but fate it seemed had other plans for this day. Shortly after 10 o'clock in the morning, a piece of space debris made contact with the upper atmosphere of the earth and began its plummet to the ground in earnest. The fiery rock streaked across the Freedom City skyline, before striking down in the heart of Liberty Park. The shock wave rumbled through the streets and a huge plume of dust and dirt hung over the impact zone. Car alarms, police sirens and the cries of the terrified populace filled the air as everyone tried to get a handle on what just happened.

Wednesday, April 2nd 8:34 PM The night was peaceful. It had been a hard fight, but Spring was starting to break through in Freedom City. The air was warm enough to be on the faint side of pleasant, cool enough to be tolerable. Conditions like this made the ice sled a little harder to keep together, but Temperance was willing to accept such trade-offs. Liberty Park was usually fairly serene as heroic patrols went. Every so often, there might be an attempted mugging, but the park was usually well-lit and well-trafficked, especially at this hour. If you knew where to go, there wasn't much risk. But those were on normal nights. Lately, there'd been stories of wild animal sightings in the middle of the city - "large dogs" or "coyotes," in the initial reports. But her dad had heard different stirrings in the courts of spirits, upset from some of the primals because "those not of the pack" were in town. And, well, most New Jersey residents wouldn't really know how to tell a wolf from a coyote, would they? She hung over the park, waiting. A jogger had been attacked here a few nights ago. He survived, but was scratched up badly and was in the hospital for observation. She'd swung by, and found a heavier than usual police presence. Now, it was far from the full moon - just as it had been on the night he'd been attacked. But those in authority still felt the need to keep watch, even if they didn't feel the need to say why. After all, if you grew up in Freedom, nobody really had to say the W-word, did they? You saw weirder stuff all the time. So Temperance flew over the park, waiting for the sound of howling, and hoping that the night might stay peaceful.

GM Reginal Warrington IV's mansion, North Bay, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, May 24, 2014 9:15 PM Reginald Warrington IV was the curator of a local dinosaur exhibit, and the very example of old money. His work was merely a hobby funded entirely on the family fortune that he inherited. Hobby or not, the fact remained that in the circles Mr. Warrington ran he could not afford the loss in reputation that would have come about after the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex walked out of the exhibit and disappeared. Luckily, Lord Steam was on the case. The man used his impeccable investigative talents to not only track down the skeleton but bring the perpetrators to justice before any journalists could jump on the story. In gratitude Mr. Warrington has decided to throw a festive celebration in honor of his good fortunes. And partly to show off his exquisite manor with a view overlooking North Bay. Lord Steam gracefully accepted, not one to turn down an opportunity to play as hard as he worked. The guests were amongst the most affluent in Freedom City. Almost anyone wealthy enough to get a wing of a building named after them was likely to make an appearance. The street was filmed to the brim with expensive vehicles as if it were a an automotive show on display. The music from a live band hired to entertain the guests carried through the night air complimenting the ambience of the evening even further. It only took an hour from the evening to slip away from being a celebration of a job well done, and just become a party for the sake of partying.

Silberman's Books. Saturday, October 25th, 2014. 5:01 pm Kiki, assistant manager extraordinaire, escorted the last customers out the front door, and then thankfully locked it; with her best friend and boss Lynn 'Grimalkin' Epstein being so focused on her big charity haunted house on Pier 13, most of the day-to-day operations of the store were resting firmly on her shoulders until after the 31st, and to be honest it was exhausting. When Lynn had mentioned closing early for an office Halloween party, Kiki surprised even herself with her excitement at the idea. "The customers, they are no more." That would be Gretchen on the intercom. Kiki adjusted her artistically-damaged thrift shop jacket and primly marched to the middle of the sales floor; she'd decided to go with a scarecrow for her costume, primarily because it was cheap and would allow her to wear a hat. "Boys and girls, we are closed; let the party begin!" There were whoops of delight, and Gretchen started up her new playlist, which started with a special spooky remix of 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)' she'd put together. Lance the barista, dressed as one of the zombie football players from Beetlejuice, was serving up punch behind the bar. "Hey, where's Boss Lady? I thought this whole thing was her idea?" Kiki rolled her eyes as she scratched at the straw poking out of her sleeves. "I think she's working on a dramatic entrance..." She indicated the door to the owners' office with a nod; there was a strange mist creeping out from under the door...

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2013 Freedom City, New Jersey Lunchtime Rachel Coletta had chosen to take her lunch on the outside deck of Stan's Super Heroes, enjoying the warm weather now that it had come to Freedom City. She wasn’t particularly happy with her next assignment, covering a battle-of-the-bands style concert that was full of glorified cover bands. She knew that as the cub she would get all the stories no one else wanted, but it didn’t mean she was happy about it. To take her mind off things, she was indulging in a couple of her favorite vices; a big meal and people-watching with malicious intent. It was almost comical to see the small woman pick up the Atlas And All and try to fit a single bite into her mouth, but Rachel’s attention was more focused on the people walking around her. A woman in a trendy dress, swinging a bag from a Freedom City fashion house crossed the street; Rachel imagined that she was a secret shopper for a competing Los Angeles brand, scoping out the competition. She let her imagination run wild as she devoured the burger, and all too soon she realized her plate was empty. Rachel was pondering a cup of soup or salad to go when a piercing scream rose above the streets. She covered her ears, along with everyone else, but it didn’t seem to help; the scream deepened to a rumble in her gut, and centered itself high in the sky. She looked up, and saw a blazing something move rapidly towards the western horizon. It seemed to pass directly overhead, with a noise that set off car alarms and rattled windows, before disappearing over the horizon. The reporter left money pinned under her plate and dashed towards an alleyway, taking advantage of the confusion and found a dark corner. Her over-large purse opened and a form-fitting purple-and-orange costume floated out; Rachel’s hair shivered snake-like as it unwound from its long braid, and her clothes and her costume proceeded in opposite directions. In moments, Maelstrom rose from the alleyway, cape and hair floating behind her on the breeze and in the wake of her power. She made sure her purse was well-locked and stashed it on a rooftop, then headed north, towards the river. She meant to investigate whatever that was, but first she had to pick up someone. Nathaniel! Did you just hear that?

Claremont Academy Headmaster's Office Thursday, September 4th, 6:00pm Aleksander Nakani was not a troublemaker, the sort to get called in to the Headmaster's office for a fight or prank or the like. But neither was it an unfamiliar place. When you're training to take up the mantle of the man who sits in that room, it is perhaps inevitable that you meet with that man. Or his daughter. Who is also your boss in the field. Not exactly the easiest position to hold, even for a disciplined teen like Alek. Still, Headmaster Summers had called for a meeting with him, and he was far from refusing. Of course, he had paused for a moment when he walked in, seeing not only Headmaster Duncan Summers, but also his daughter Callie Summers, and a young man he didn't recognize. The former was seated in the big chair behind the big desk; his daughter stood to one side of him, the stranger to the other. Alek closed the door to the office and walked to a spot a few feet in front of the desk, where he had a clear view of all 3 adults in the room. He gave them all assessing looks for a few moments before speaking up. "Per your request, Headmaster, I'm here."

The Lighthouse November 10, 2014 The transportation platform of the Lighthouse flashed, as an incoming transport arrived from Earth. Velocity materialized on the platform, fully dressed in her costume, although she was still feeling the lingering effects of sleep. The alert that had come over her League communicator had awoken her well before her alarm was set for. But she had wasted little time in getting up and responding, getting over to Freedom Hall and then beaming up to the Lighthouse. Standing near the pad, awaiting her arrival was the cloaked form of Dr. Metropolis. "Good morning Velocity." The enigmatic figure stated in his deep, rumbling voice. "The others have already started to gather in the main meeting room." "Morning, Doctor." Velocity stated with a small smile. "Thanks. I'll get right over there, but first will want to make a small stop for some coffee." The speedster was then off in a blur of yellow, heading towards the space station's galley. A few moments later, she had coffee mug filed with the hot liquid and then made her way to the main meeting room. As Dr. Metropolis had indicated, there were already some League members gathered. Captain Thunder was there, looking a bit tired and worn and seated at the center seat of the large table that was at the center of the meeting room. Johnny Rocket was also sitting along one side of the table, doing his best to patiently wait for everyone to arrive. Standing off to one side were Daedalus and Star Knight talking. Maria had her helmet off at the moment, and looked rather upset. "Good morning Velocity." Captain Thunder said in greeting. "Please have a seat, hopefully the others will not be too long."

GM Private Plane en route to New Freedom (Half an hour away) Saturday, June 07, 2014 6:18 PM Even before the school year ended, rumors had been flowing around the Claremont campus that Headmaster Summers had been growing increasingly sour. A few students had even mentioned seeing him speaking less than cordially with a woman inside of his office. But as all the rumors related to Headmaster Summers the truth was shrouded in mystery. Then the volunteer forms appeared inside of the dorm rooms, of a select number of the student body. Giving students the opportunity to represent their school in an interschool competition. With the reward for participation being quote as field experience, extra credit [pre-emptively guaranteed for any who would be graduating before the summer came], and a free vacation. The catch? The opposing school was New Freedom's Academy for Exemplary Individuals. Getting students excited to visit New Freedom was no easy endeavor. It was made clear to those whom had been sent the invites that ultimately no one was forced to volunteer. Five students were ultimately picked from those that expressed their interest. Devin Yeager, or Coach as he expressedly wished to be called, was the only member of the faculty whom had chosen to accompany the student competitors. Not counting Headmaster Summers of course. Once the agreed upon came to pass the Claremont students were taken to a private jet in the middle of the evening so as to arrive at their destination in style.

0.5 LY from Stellar Khanate Borders November 2014 (Terran Calendar) Even under the best of circumstances, this was probably the last place most people in galaxy wanted to be. And then, somehow, it had gotten worse. With the knowledge that the Star-Khan had been made the new mouthpiece of the Communion, that raised an obvious question - what had happened to the worlds of the Khanate, that great cluster of wild, despotic states held so tight by Kinan Khan? Nobody knew. All state-run media, which at times could have made the North Korean press corps look like The Daily Show, was down. Traffic in and out of the sector, already sporadic, seemed to be shut down entirely. With half the galaxy on defensive footing, nobody really wanted to spare the resources or manpower to figure out what had happened within the Khanate. But just because nobody wanted to didn't mean that nobody should. Cavalier was blazing through the empty sector, keeping his eye out for surveillance satellites and Khanate drones. Intelligence said that they would be lightly cloaked but still discernible, providing minimal challenge but serving to signal the guys with bigger guns. But as far as he could tell, there was nothing watching this part of space. Which just meant he'd have to deal with the inevitable when it came. After the push at Lor-Van, he'd had... well, he could be charitable and call it "a rough time." Once Seven had managed to drop him off somewhere near Citadel, he'd made it back to the planet for debriefing. The next twelve hours after that were... mixed. There had been screaming. There had been desperate attempts to sleep, the images of broken armor and blinding light seared behind his eyelids. There had been drinking to forget, and then glasses thrown against the wall because the drinking had done nothing. Somewhere after those twelve hours, he'd actually managed to pull himself out of the void and focus. He couldn't just curl into a ball while the galaxy bled. And that was when Mentor had come to him with orders - preceded by more bad news. "What do you mean the intelligence is gone?" "The attack that compromised my systems during the assault of Lor-Van left several prevalent agents within my system. They have been quarantined in order to prevent further damage. Until these agents can be purged, the affected data cannot be accessed - and, in what was likely planned, one of these subsets is all files pertaining to the Communion entity." Cavalier bit his tongue. The very fact that Mentor had been compromised was not a happy thought. He did not want to yell at the intelligence for trying to work around the cybernetic equivalent of an embolism. "So we need intelligence. Where do we gather it?" "What little we have unflagged makes tertiary references to machine gods and cybernetic archaeology - potential resources of note for down the line. As of right now, however, the best possible resource would be beyond Khanate borders. If the Star-Khan has been claimed, odds are several of his worlds have followed." Cavalier shook his head. "This really is the best idea, isn't it?" "I am examined several permutations, and this one yields the best results. Sri Steward. Your background has been extensively catalogued in my banks. I know you have some experience on border runs. With the Knights regrouping, we must make use of unorthodox talents, wherever they may lay." And the worst part was, he knew it was true. All of it. "I'm likely going to need backup. And not the kind trained to knock nicely before entering contested air space..." "We have already isolated potential assets. A meeting has been arranged..." And so, some time later, Cavalier was flying outside of the Horizon, maintaining vigil while the ship soared across the stars. He patched into the ship's comms. "All clear out here so far. How's it looking on your end?"

GM November 10th. It wasn't terribly that problematic for Glamazon to arrive her, it was her balliwick. It was trafficking in some things of various value, arcane and money. But nothing big, but enough for Glamazon to run across it when the deal went south, and a gun fight started up in the back alley of a neighborhood populated by peoples from the various Balkan states. Much like the people involved. Easy peasy. A bunch of low level goons, thugs, and a couple middle men, with no real power to muster between them to slow her down and make this far, far worse than it could be. Especially since none of them had weapons that could even scuff her skin. Morale broke quickly, with cries of 'I am not paid enough for this!' or 'I am not going back!' Still, Glamazon was in the choke point for this particular alleyway, and the first one that got close enough ate a swing of her arm, knocking him down to the ground, his breath exploding out. One, wisely, got the idea of climbing up a fire escape, rather than attempt to face the Atlantean princess, as others scrambled for cover. However there wasn't that many, and she was an imposing physical specimen enough that it was hardly a problem, even when one managed to levied a shotgun to her face, and pulled the trigger. And her to not even blink, before solidly landing a front kick that sent him careening into a wall. Eventually there was only the one that had made it to the rooftop. Despite his lack of athletcism, he did a fistpump of victory, and ran from the edge of the roof. The sweaty man in a tracksuit didn't make it far before being flung back off the roof, and then dropping onto the top of the stereotypical panel van (seriously, why do criminals use those?) with a "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh-!" KA-THUMP! It was a dramatic introduction for the dark figure crouched over him. One who all but slithered off of the man, and the van, likely with a plan, as the figure carried herself (that part was clear once she had any bit of light on her) confidently. "Good. We get to meet." The woman said behind a scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face, as she turned to look at Thaelia, with that wary, dissecting gaze that the Atlantean girl was familiar with. Even if her classmate that possessed it had managed to be all but vanish from her presence these days.

GM Parkhurst Hotel Lantern Hill, Freedom City, New Jersey Friday, January 4th, 2013 12:01 AM A thundering series of knocks echoed from the door to the elderly Rene de Saëns' room in Parkhurst. It was far later into the night in which any sane person had any business knocking on any doors. In fact the only reason the artist was even at the residence was due to the fact he had deemed it too late to waste time that could be better spent sleeping with a trek to his own home. Stirred awake by the commotion Rene groggily made his way to the door. On the other side of the door he was treated to the visit of a pale thin looking woman dressed in an authentic French soldier's uniform from the Napoleonic Wars. To anyone else her yellow tinted eyes would have a strange glow about them, but under Rene's particular gaze they had a dull if not slightly uneven sheen to them. Long strands of unkempt hair settled onto the shoulders of her uniform. From Rene's perspective the woman had a bold outline and a distinct mixture of coloring that made her surrounding area easily confused for a synthesist painting rather than one born from impressionism. "Please...I need your help. A darkness is coming." The woman's words came out as if she was pleading, but not a trace of emotion showed itself on the canvas Rene was staring at. She came off as cold, detached, almost robotic really. But there was a sort of honesty all the same. Inside the mind of one very special Grue, Freedom City, New Jersey Friday, January 4th, 2013 12:01 AM After the college's entire student body had finished their third surprisingly coordinated and choreographed dance number it had come time for lunch. Daphne Celeste, the spunky heroine who seemed to spend every waking hour with her two closest friends and practically no one else, had just absent-mindedly crashed tray first into new student Devon Lee. Sending a plate full of pasta and other assorted mess inducing foods all over his letterman jacket and the girl stumbling onto the ground. No one questioned why a new student already had a letterman jacket on his first day. It just simply was. The cafeteria was filled with silence as both Daphne and Devon suddenly got an inordinate amount of attention. "What no breadsticks?" A laugh track played overhead. Not that anyone acknowledged the unmistakable sound. Devon stretched his hand out to help the girl to her feet.

GM Approaching the Gas Giant Kapler-7, Lor Republic, outer rim... Kapler 7 was a mighty planet around a bright red giant star. Layers and layers of beautiful azure gas, thousands of miles down, from the thinnest of vapours slowly blown of by solar winds, to the lowest and crushing densities of high gravity down below. And orbiting the gas giant was the giant cruise ship, Varis, too big to be called a yacht, it was a sleek unarmed vessel carrying a couple of dozen tourists and a crew of six. Varis took citizens of the Lor on a tour of the finest sights in the galaxy. On board was the wanted criminal, Photonic. "Take no chances" was the warning delivered by Captain Grenn. A purple skinned human, Grenn was piloting three of the finest bounty hunters in the galaxy to the Varis, in a small Lor vessel. "We are the only ones this far out. The Lor would handle this themselves, but right now, you were the closest. And Photonic is dangerous. Very dangerous. We believe he has developed a lethal bioweapon..." That didn't sound good. On board the Lor Superslicer (the fastest ship available), was a squat dog like man in heavy space armour, all brute force and determination, calling himself Grunt, and a thin, red haired, red eyed woman who had an elven face, calling herself Bleed, carrying a blaster pistol strapped to a leg and giving Roulette a smile and a wink. The view was spectacular, as Grenn swung the ship through the outer layers of the gas giant, and towards the cruiser Varis, as a storm of azure blew around them. With a slow clunk, the ship docked...

GM Greenbank, Freedom City, New Jersey Sunday, August 31st, 2014 12:14 PM To the few who knew her Noemi Newman was a taxi driver in the very busy streets of Freedom City. Another head in the crowd, working day to day to get by. To those fewer still, she was the experimental Red Rat. A former spy on the run from those who wish to control her. Using an old Soviet depot to better the world while avoiding drawing attention upon herself. Therein lies the root of the problem. Having done some springing cleaning of the hidden depot, Noemi had found a weapons cache from all the previous residents. It was the mother of all Cold War payloads. Soviet munitions that were out of date even when they were in use. Coupled with some questionable black ops tech that was still considered advanced by modern standards. Some of the cache was even nuclear or radioactive in nature, assembled in case the call for mutually assured destruction came through and left quite unstable. Leaving the Red Rat with quite the problem on her hands. Meanwhile, Amir ibn Jafar ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Misri, commonly referred to by the public by the moniker of Asad, was currently hosting a weapons disposal event in Greenbank with the reliable Agnus Stone in tow. In a city where superheroes contended with villains and their hired guns it was to be expected that there were still a lot of leftover and highly dangerous tech lying around. Most of which wasn't stored in an evidence room and instead picked up by whoever found it lying around. Rather than wait for the likes of AEGIS to claim proprietary ownership of said devices Asad had taken it upon himself to aid in cleaning the city sooner rather than later. While it was to be expected that the normally busy entrepreneur could not attend every philanthropy event he funded, he made sure to make the time for this one. The evident risk of a large collection of weapons being collected in a single location was not lost on him.

November 25, 2014 5:32 PM There was something horrible up in space. That's mainly what Eliza knew right now. The thought had been turning over in her head for the past few weeks. Something had utterly destroyed a planet. And Sharl had been there to witness it. For the past few weeks, she and him had been talking. It had helped to deal with the crushing existential dread that came with everything, on both their parts. It didn't necessarily help with classes, but somehow, she was having a little trouble focusing on Intro to Lit when dealing with the possibility that whatever had destroyed Lor-Van might be coming their way. They'd kissed that night. And while it had been pretty good, she was still wondering. What next? Sharl had been talking about getting back together, and she wasn't adverse to it. And she'd seen weirder splits in relationships in her time, ones that had managed to weave back together. But... was this what they needed? Or what they wanted, in the face of a greater threat? This was why she'd picked out the Bean Bar near Freedom College. They needed to talk. And hopefully, they'd get all the answers by the time it was done.

GM Friday night, 8th August... The Beaudrie Opera House The famous Beaudrie Opera House did not often play Rock Concerts. But it did tonight. For one night only, Freedom City Beaudrie Opera House presents: Valerie Cain! Support Act: Aw3s0m3 Aw3s0m3 were not doing well. This was primarily because they were not very good, and their lead singer, Joe "Superstar" Billings had his charisma surgically removed at birth. The band was trying to wrap up its set whilst dodging things the audience were throwing at them. The crowd was wild for Valerie Cane, and getting impatient. Valerie Cane's Dressing Room.... "Oh my GOD!!!!" Amanda Adams burst into Valeries dressing room and shrieked, half collapsing from excitement. Somehow, Valerie Cane's number one fan had bought her way into the backstage, and into Valeries dressing room. She dropped a whole folders worth of photographs, articles, and scholarly works, all pertaining to Valerie, and they scattered like leaves over the floor. Amanda was a borderline obsessive fan. She had every single thing every produced or made by Valerie or featuring her. Valerie was her heroine. When Amanda was growing up, struggling with her homosexual identity, Valerie's positive role model was her everything. Every night she went to sleep dreaming of a romance with her star. And, to be fair, she was a good catch. Amanda had very close cut blonde hair, a few piercings, a few tattoos, enough to send out a strong hint about her orientation. She was also rather beautiful and, to be blunt, sexy. "I am your number one fan! I know everything about you!" she gushed, dropping to her knees and cryinging at Valeries feet...

August 30th, 2014 The Fens, Freedom City Morning The morning was crisp and cool, just enough of a tang in the air to drive one to wear a coat. The battered coup idled outside the building for the Bloodhound Investigative Agency. It was a humble building, for a humble organization, and at the moment that humility wasn’t earning it any brownie points with the car’s driver. Necessity won out over disdain, though, and the car was parked properly. The driver popped out and strode up to the door of the building, stepping neatly aside when a mob of school-age children rushed down the street. They turned and shouted insults at him; he made a rude gesture back and they walked off, hooting and hollering. He walked up the door and reached over his head for the button marked “BLOODHOUND INVESTIG,†and the rest of the label had flaked off. There was a loud buzzing from the intercom system, and when the door didn’t unlock immediately he stabbed the button several more times. “Hey, wake up,†he shouted into the speaker grill. “Is anyone working in there today?â€

November 26, 2014 Southside "Ugh." As the thunder rolled overhead, Fast-Forward stopped under a bus stop to change. "I hate running in the rain," he muttered to himself, "my whole front is soaked!" But it was less than a second, literally, for him to be in a fresh outfit. Sitting on the shelter's bench, he took out his hand-written directions, having as usual spurned advice to put directions on his phone. Don't need to carry that thing anyway. "OK, the guy is right here, and man, this neighborhood went to the dogs!" Southside had been a favorite hangout of his back in the day when he'd been young and stupid (and also awesome!) and this particular street had had the best spots. Vinny's is now a gay bar with no pub food and the old newstand is gone...oh man, this was the place where we got that costume of Paige's that - well, he certainly didn't mind his wife overhearing those thoughts (if she happened to be listening), but they certainly weren't productive for what was supposed to be a business conversation. "All right," he said aloud, "this place looks a little hinky, but magic people are always a little hinky." Not gonna burgle some guy's house unless he's a bad guy, so I'll wait till I know who's in there before I search the place. Phantasmo sounds like a legit name for a wizard, probably. Rechecking his black and white jumpsuit, cool shades, and high-topped sneakers to make sure he looked not just like a superhero but like a totally radical superhero, he headed over and zipped into the abandoned store at super-speed.

October 8, 2014. 10:30 AM. Bayview Mall. It was one of the pettiest crime sprees Freedom City had ever seen. Men in armor that looked like it was made from turnips and weapons that looked like they were made from various other vegetables had been raiding candy shops, ice cream parlors, convenience stores, and even small restaurants. At every stop, sugar and fatty food were ruined and destroyed, and fruits and vegetables left in their place. Those who objected were clubbed with mysteriously hard cucumbers and white radishes, left to suffer in the wake of an onion fume bomb, or hit with potatoes that somehow could generate enough electricity to shock people unconscious. The police just didn’t know what to do about them. They appeared quickly and disappeared just as fast. Somebody really, really hated junk food. It was when they started hitting supermarkets and the big restaurants that a hero decided to step in. Queenie didn’t want them harming her precious Southern Queen, so she went out looking for trouble. Fortunately, she didn’t have to for too long. This time they wanted to “cleanse†Bayview Mall’s food court. Queenie smiled. Crazy and stupid. There was no way the Claremont student body would let this go unavenged. Yet, here they were, throwing bombs and ruining food. People running, people screaming, the whole bit. Riiight. Like Maybelle was just gonna stand there and let them do it.