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Erin was on patrol when she heard the noise, a shimmering tingle in the air just to her left that made her nerves go on end. She took a few steps back, ready to spring, wondering what was about to jump out at her. This was supposed to be a nice, quiet August patrol to stretch her muscles, here in the relatively good neighborhood abutting Lincoln and Bayview! The noise became a shape, then a glow, a rectangle shaped like a door. And a figure walked out, a very familiar one. Erin White looked at her double, her blue and white uniform oddly familiar and yet oddly alien. It was a morphic molecule costume like Wander's, but the symbol on the chest was a big letter A and an atomic map of uranium: the symbol of the Atom family. "Hello, Erin," said her doppleganger, a look of familiar determination in her eyes. "I know this must be very surprising for you, so I'll try and take it fast. Are you familiar with parallel universes?"

It had been a fairly routine thing, or as routine as these kind of things got. Carter had hit a small drug running operation; just the pusher and a few enforcers, nothing too fancy, but he got caught wind of it the last couple nights, and this was the night they would have most of the product in-house from the routine he had picked up on in his stake-out. They were trying to use secrecy in place of real security, and it didn't work out too well for them in the end. Besides a couple punches and a cut or two, Carter had managed to take them out without a good deal of trouble. One of them had tried to leave his friends and run for it, and had made it out of the trainyards and into the streets of Greenbank proper, Carter hot on his heels. This guy must have ran track or something. Carter began to dig deep, breaking into a sprint after the gangbanger. He dug a hand into his pack as best he could without breaking stride, looking for a bola to throw in a last ditch effort to bring him down. Soon, he was going to have to go back and secure the others for when the cops got there...eventually, and let this one go. Hopefully, he could prevent that. Getting the product off the streets was the main goal, but getting these men off the streets was something as well. Carter began to take aim on the move. This was going to take a miracle...

As he climbs out of the taxi in front of the massive gate tower that mark the front of the prestigious Claremont Academy, a tall, dark-skinned, blonde haired young man glances around, a bit hesitant. The whole place is a little upscale for what he was used to, and it's not like his grades really warranted a place like this, but Mister Albright had insisted. "I don't see why I should go to a boarding school, let alone a boarding school a mile from my house." "Now, John, Claremont Academy isn't an ordinary school. It's run by an old friend of mine, Duncan Summers. He's made the school into a place where young men and women can learn to use their powers responsibly, and to work with others, as well as getting a good education. In the long run, this will be good for you. A chance to make new friends who understand what you're going through, teachers who understand what you're dealing with, and training that ensures you'll be ready for it. Not to mention, it's far more secure in case someone does try to follow you home or attack you when you're resting." "Well..." "And I'm sure there are plenty of girls your own age who'll be happy to meet the new Beacon, dressed in ways that seem absolutely scandalous to someone my age..." "That's exploitative and insulting to my inte- let me go get my bags, old man." Signing in with the security desk inside the tower, John is quickly processed and directed inside. "You just need to find the administration office, they've got your paperwork already, they just need you to pick up your things and get assigned a room for the semester." "Alright, thanks for the help!" Bag tucked under one arm, he practically bounces out of the room, into the main quad, smiling brightly and breathing deep as he takes in the campus itself... "So... This is it, huh? I don't hate it..."

With a little help from Alex, Erin was quickly on her way through the nighttime shadows of Freedom City, leaping from rooftop to rooftop across the downtown, then speeding along surface streets when the neighborhoods got residential. Alex had said he was around here, and there were only so many cemeteries in the neighborhood. It felt so strange to be out here at night in her street clothes, almost as though she were underdressed. She definitely missed the weight of her bat at her side. But there would be no fighting tonight. She'd promised Dr. Marquez and Alex both that she would be able to restrain herself. As soon as she found the zombie, she would talk to it. Him, whatever. Just talk, and then she could go home and be done with this especially obnoxious part of therapy. As she neared the closest cemetery, she slowed, looking around for signs of motion. It would be really bad, after all this, if the zombie took her by surprise and she did something unfortunate.

Given it was a summer class, it was far from required but it certainly helped give those students in attendance a leg up. Not to mention it was certainly not a class you’d find in any educational institution outside of Claremont. Xeno-linguistics, Xeno-diplomacy, astrophysics as well as a little smattering of other sciences were the focus of the class. Despite what some might consider the topic to be, the class was anything but boring. Nor was it exceptionally hard though it often went a little over the scheduled time. Dark Star was, and this was not entirely unusual given his busy schedule, a few minutes late for class. He floated down through the ceiling. “Good afternoon class. My apologies for my tardiness. There was a small earthquake in China.†He looked around, making sure everyone was present and telekinetically marking off his attendance sheet. “Now, today’s lesson will be a mix of topics. Please bring your notebook and something to write with.†He nodded to himself before continuing. “We’re going to a lovely little world just on the other side of the core. In fact we’ll be visiting this particular planet each class over the next week or so. The local geology is quite interesting. Rhysium is an extremely rare mineral that many species use in construction of starship weapons and armor. It doesn’t exist on Earth outside of the odd asteroid. On this world, it exists in abundance. If the planet wasn’t so far out of the way and hard to detect it would certainly have been a mined long before now. We’re going to study it in its natural environment.†“Now, the indigenous people will not be able to understand a word you’re saying. Part of today’s assignment, in addition to the mineral studies will be in Xeno-linguistics and diplomacy. The people are essentially non-violent. You will take some steps in basic communication attempts, learning to convey basic concepts. Learning to communicate without common ground is an enlightening experience.†He gestured, opening a wormhole. “Any questions or is everyone ready?â€

James sighed, steeling himself. He talked to girl, seduced them, charmed their socks off (literally sometime) without batting an eye. He'd seen monsters and horrors without flinching. He visited hell, regularly, cry crying out loud. There was nothing he was afraid of. So why the heck was he so damn nervous? Come on. Time to man up here. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. He settled his face and mind as best he could. He took a step and vanished. He reappeared outside the gates of Claremont. There was still some respect in him for the place, despite not going there anymore. Jumping past the gates seemed a...violation somehow. A little walk wouldn't kill him. He nodded and greeted people as he walked towards the buildings. He'd check Erin's usual haunts first. The gym, the lounge and the like before trying her room.

A couple of weeks after prom, Mark invited his friends over to his house. Well, the people who still were his friends: he wasn't really talking much to Eddie these days, but most of his colleagues from Young Freedom were on the list. He was standing outside the door of the Lucas house to greet them when they arrived, the lawn looking just a little grubbier and the house a little dingier than when the Young Freedom members had been there last. Mark himself was out of costume, but also out of the black, depressing clothes he'd been wearing most everywhere but prom for the last couple of months. In a white shirt and slacks, he looked downright respectable.

Dynamo had been trying to dig up the courage to do this for a few hours now. He had the flowers, he had the apology rehearsed a thousand times. All he had to do was give her the flowers, give his apology, get her response, and walk away. Dynamo knew she wasn't going to like him after this, that'd be far too much of a stretch. Hating him a little less was the goal here. If everything went even better than according to plan, they'd be restored to a blank slate, and then Eli would do the smartest thing in his life, walk away. He wasn't ready to deal with what happened to Erin, irregardless if she was ready to talk. Finally, Eli mustered up the courage to walk into the gym. He felt really out of place without his uniform and carrying a bouquette of flowers, but it was a price he could not complain about. "Uh Erin? Can we talk?"

[floatr][/floatr] "Mayday! Mayday! Coast Guard, this is the Mary Jo Duffy! We need HELP!" "Roger that, Mary Jo Duffy, this is Dispatch, what is the nature of your emergency?" "SHARKS, lady! Friggin' SHARKS! Big sharks, small sharks, red sharks, blue sharks! If they keep head-butting the yacht like this, it's gonna tip over! And then my family's gonna be sharkshi-" "SIR! I need your location so I can send assistance." "We're right off the coast of Freedom City! I think that's Dixon Beach up there! Port Rega-AAHHH!!!" "Sir? Are you still there? Sir?" Summertime in Freedom City meant hot sun and cool surf. School was out, and the public beaches along the Great Bay were packed tightly with kids of all ages, from toddlers to college students. Dixon Beach was no exception, filled with revelers of all ages, looking only to beat the heat, blissfully unaware that their fun-in-the-sun was coming to a swift, finned, toothy end...

Things had finally started settling down after the craziness with Mark's dad, and Erin was glad. It was sad to see her usually irrepressible friend so depressed, but it wasn't like Rick was dead, probably. Things would get better for him eventually, they always seemed to work out that way for Mark. And given what she knew of his lineage, maybe that wasn't so surprising. For her own part, Erin knew things only went well for her when she put a lot of hard work into them, so that's what she was busy doing today. Her acrobatic talents had strengthened significantly through the winter and spring, but she still wasn't quite where she wanted to be. With the Doom Room occupied by a Next Gen training session, it was the perfect time to work in the gym. Claremont's gym was big enough to be housed in a building all its own, a huge open expanse of floor with everything from a basketball court to wrestling mats to a full set of workout and gymnastics equipment, all ringed by an indoor running track. The high vaulted ceiling allowed for high ropes and trapezes to be hung, along with bars that allowed for jumps and flips far above the floor. Erin worked there often, but today she contented herself with the uneven bars, whipping herself around them like a demented pinwheel, then leaping from one to the other and back again, using hands, feet, elbows, anything she might need to be able to catch herself with one day. A few other students were working out as well, but they all stayed out of each others' way.

It took some doing, but if there was a student unaware of the end of the year party at the new AEON building, it wasn't for lack of trying. Now, while some students had... concerns over Alex being the entire decorating committee, when they arrived at the large ballroom near the top of the luxury building, those doubters were pleasantly surprised. The entire room was decked out in creams and dark blues, gold serving as the accent. It was both a nod to the school colors and an elegant color scheme for the high quality linens. There was a dance floor, of course, and a dj set up in the corner along with a small stage. In another corner, a photographer was set up to do professional photos. It was staffed with AEON personnell who had been gently coached to look the other way at any sudden displays of power. Alex had been over seeing the set up for much of the day, but she did vanish to her office to change and reappear shortly before the doors were scheduled to open. As tasteful as the ballroom was, it was no surprise that Alex was a bright spot of color in a dress that started in a butter yellow color at the neckline and slowly deepened to a deep red at the fluttering hem around her ankles. She was standing in the center of the dancefloor, looking up at the net of balloons attached to the vaulted ceiling, making certain that it wouldn't drop away early.

"Good morning. Freedom City. Thank you for tuning in to WXAD Channel 5 News At Noon. I'm Charles Maxfield, filling in for Summer Gleason. Our top story today: Defense Secretary Robert Gates has yet to comment on the mysterious extraterrestrial attack on America's heartland a scant twenty-four hours ago. Sources say that no telescopes or satellites picked up any aircraft, alien or otherwise, in the vicinity, and no parties have yet come forward to claim responsibility for the energy beam which shot down from the sky and carved its way across a hundred miles of Nebraska farmland. Our- Excuse me. We have just received words of an emergency here in Freedom City..." Whatever its origin, 24 hours later, at 12:00pm exactly, the skies darkened around Freedom City as a 600ft-diameter cylinder of white-hot fire poured down from the sky, blasting a crater in the Wharton State Forest. The beam persisted, carving a trench as it raced along the ground toward the ocean. And in its path stands Freedom City. "Mayday, mayday, this is Captain Aaron Crichton, Flight 89 from Los Angeles to Newark! We just saw a bright flash of light, and whatever it was sheared off most of a wing! We are going down! Repeat, we are going down! And unless we get a miracle, we're going down in the middle of Freedom City!"

James needed a break. Seriously. This schedule he’d been keeping lately was getting a bit much. Besides being ‘on-call’ 24/7 for the Guardian bit which was always busy since Phantom was still enjoying motherhood (and he couldn’t blame her for taking the time; she deserved it), he was on call for Young Freedom (which had been pretty quiet lately), the same for the Midnighters (which was never really a quiet thing). On top of that he was spending what little time was left learning about his new ship, what it could do and about 'Seph. He needed a break. Several really. He settled for short intermissions/breaks. As it was, he felt bad enough that he hadn't spent much time with Erin lately. Besides the occasional call for her help beating the tar out of some dimensional issue, he hadn't seen her. The few times he had popped over to school lately, she hadn't been around. Apparently he just kept missing her which sucked in its own way. But after what had happened with Mark's dad and the whole altered reality thing, he wasn't willing to just let it slide due to his insane life. Admittedly, it had taken him a while to get here, but still... She wasn't in the lounge, she wasn't in the simulations, so all that was left was the gym before he had 'Seph try and find her. His demon enchanced smelling would recognize her scent anywhere though and lead him to her. He walked into the gym, leaning against the door jam and just watched for a few moments.

Alex was actually in the room they shared for once. Her hair was damp and loose around her shoulders and she was dressed for bed in a light tanktop and shorts, both in clashy neon bright colors. She smiled at Erin and plopped herself down on the bed. "Things are going real well. I finally locked down a CEO to take over now that operations are getting larger. So hopefully I'll be around a little more. How's things here?" She flopped down on the loose pillows scattered on the rug, and looked up at Erin with wide and bright eyes.

"I just want to be able to go out for a night and not worry that the baby's going to turn the babysitter into a nighttime snack!" These are the sort of topics of discussion in the Faretti household these days. To be fair, little Jack Jr. was still a long way from being able to drain a whole human accidentally but Taylor was starting to grow worried for his little cousins. It was a long term view, really, but it didn't make her less adamant. After exhausting a few avenues of contacts, she'd remembered Claremont and after some spousal debate, a rather odd notice when up on the summer job board at the school: Babysitter wanted for occasional afternoons and weekends. Combat reflexes a plus. Will pay for infant cpr certification. Hazard pay provided. There was a number at the bottom to tear away and when Taylor had received a few phone calls, she arranged for interviews to occur in one of the empty classrooms. When each student arrived they'd see two chairs behind the desk but only one of them filled. Taylor was casually dressed in a tank top and jeans over boots. A battered jacket and fedora discarded in one corner and the only real oddity in her appearance the glittering amulet at her throat.

Erin was usually very good at keeping to a schedule. She had to be, it wasn't as though she'd been given or allowed herself a lot of free time in the past year. When she wasn't in class she was training, when she wasn't training she was in therapy, when she wasn't in therapy she was doing homework, when she wasn't doing homework she was working with her teammates. But sometimes her schedule inevitably slipped off the rails, usually when someone tried to schedule an extra meeting in on her. That was why she was running late today, and still in her slightly-singed uniform as she raced for the headmaster's office. It wasn't as though she wanted to be going to this meeting anyway, she thought rebelliously. She'd tried this mentorship thing once before and it hadn't worked out. She'd done everything Thunderstanding had told her to, and been dropped with little explanation anyway. Why did she have to go through the whole thing again? It wasn't as though she didn't do enough training already. Brushing her hair flat and trying to wipe the scowl off her face, she walked into the headmaster's office.

Mike stepped out into the main control room of Young Freedoms hidden base beneath Caldwell Manor. A smile spread to his face as he saw Erin in a rare break from her usually grueling schedule as he'd been trying to find a moment to ask for some advice or maybe help. As he stepped down the small set of stairs to the control room floor he glanced around the room eyes seemingly unfocused as he looked through the walls to make sure there wasn't anyone else lurking in one of the other rooms. He was dressed in his civvies for the moment taking a break from his own all too consuming patrol schedule. "Heya Erin." he said as he lowered himself into one of the other chairs with a smile that tried to hide whatever was weighing on his mind, "Keeping busy?" he asked somewhat lamely as despite his growing confidence and exposure to normal socialization he was still a bit uncertain how to make small talk he rarely did at all unless what he actually wanted to discuss was even more difficult for him in some fashion.

The Freedom City Medical Center was seen as a safe haven to many before the announcement earlier today. Its staff was measured in the thousands and had state of the art medical equipment; there was no where in the world where you could get better attention. As violence swept the streets, the hospital was soon filled to the point of breaking. Now if Atlas's threat comes to pass, the hospital could very well turn into a feeding ground with a death toll measured in the thousands.

Mark was gone from school for over a week after his father's disappearance, only occasionally emailing Erin or Chris to let them know he was all right. They were the friend who'd been there when his life had gone to Hell, after all, even if the absence of the others hadn't been their fault. So when he finally stepped back on campus in early June, just a week or so before Chris and James were due to graduate, he skipped his own room and headed upstairs to check on Erin and see if she was in. He was surprised to hear Alex's voice as he knocked on the door, but supposed it was good they were all there. He needed friends today, now, more than ever.

Once upon a time, before the end of the world, Erin White had been a much girlier girl. She'd had fun at sleepovers with her friends, giving and receiving makeovers and talking about boys. If everything hadn't gone careening off the rails, she would've gotten professional instructions from the Avon rep that Kathy's mom had booked for her birthday party, but even so, Erin could put on makeup without looking like a fool. But that had been in another lifetime, and she just didn't anymore. For a long time, there was absolutely no point in it, between one thing and another, and then, when she'd been released from quarantine and gotten used to being around girls who cared about their appearances, she had no money for that kind of thing. It was easier to pretend not to care and just make sure to keep her skin clean and avoid zits. Now, though, she had a job, sort of, and a scarily amazing dress, and she was going to a fancier party than anything she'd ever been invited to before. If there was ever a time, it was now. She wished Alex was around to help, but at the same time, doing it on her own protected her ego when she scoured clearance racks and tested what sort of products worked on super-resilient skin and hair. The curling iron and hair doo-dads she could borrow, at least. With Oliver watching encouragingly from the counter, she co-opted one of the girls' bathrooms on the day of the dance and spent literally most of the afternoon getting ready. Training and homework be damned, just this once. Maybe she had no chance of fitting in, but she wanted to at least look the part. All in all, she thought she did a fairly good job. After experimenting and deciding that she couldn't put her super-straight hair up in any sort of complicated arrangement by herself, she let it go and just curled the tendrils near her face, holding the rest back with a couple of sparkly rhinestone combs. The makeup was understated, it had to be with her pale skin, but it set off her lips and made her eyes look bigger and darker. She'd borrowed the shoes, too, strappy red heels that added inches to her height and a sway to her walk that she'd had to practice with a little. The dress, however, was doing most of the heavy lifting in the ensemble. Despite her concerns, Frank had done an amazing job on it, creating a calf-length showpiece in deep red charmeuse that clung as much as her costume did but somehow made her look a whole lot more feminine. He'd gone with a little more cleavage than she'd hoped, but not as much as she'd feared, so she figured they could call it even, since he'd also included the matching shorts and slit the skirt enough to let her work if she had to. Frank obviously knew his customers. The earrings and the necklace she'd found were rhinestones too, and people would probably notice at a shindig like this, but there was no help for that. They looked pretty. Oliver purred his approval as she looked at herself in front of the mirror one more time, getting up and stretching after his long stint playing moral support. "Wish me luck," she told him with a crooked smile. "I think I might be better off going into a war zone than doing this. But it'll be an adventure." Tucking her bat and her wallet into the little matching evening bag, she headed out to the common room to wait for Trevor.

And then the kids were elsewhere. They were gone from the false reflection of Freedom Hall, standing instead on the lawn of the Lucas family house, standing among the rubble of the battlefield that had killed Mark just a few hours earlier. Except he was alive, standing there amid the group of teens, and Rick and a shell-shocked looking Martha were standing there just a few yards away. "Dad!" Mark broke from the crowd and ran to his father, just as Martha called her husband's name and ran to him. But even as they did so, the teens saw the black, inky shapes beginning to break away from Rick, flaring up into invisibility like rising soap bubbles as they left his body to flare upwards and vanish in the sky. "I'm sorry, I can't stay," he was apologizing over his family's pleas, arms around Mark and Martha both as he slowly, inexorably vanished elsewhere, some place beyond even James's dimensional vision. "The universe can't survive two reality warpers, not and let humanity keep its freedoms." He hugged Martha. "I'll see you again soon. I promise. I love you so much, heart of my heart..." He hugged Mark, his body now so thin as to be translucent. "I love you, Mark." He pulled back, on the edge of vanishing. "You've always been my hero, Mark! Always!" And with that, with a single, devastated cry from Mark's mother as she collapsed into her son's arms, Rick Lucas was gone.

Jessica prowled the rooftops. This was her first official patrol. Ever since she saved the lady a few days ago, she planned this whole thing. The Fens seemed like the perfect place to start. You'd always here on the news how some criminal activity was going down. It was like wretched hive of scum and villainy. Jessica hopped from roof top to roof top, making sure not to be seen by any one. It was mostly quiet. Which is really a good thing if you think about it. No crime? Awesome. Wait, what was that noise? Jessica peered down. No, Nock peered down. It would be time to start using that name.

Date: June 5th, 2010 (a Saturday) Sunrise 5:32am, sunset 8:21pm. High 92 oF, low 72 oF; clear, wind ~9mph SW. North Bay is a posh district of expensive waterfront homes and historic mansions owned by some of Freedom City's wealthiest families. It features exclusive yacht clubs and beachfront property, with few stretches of public beach. During the holiday season, North Bay's stately mansions are beautifully decorated and there are tours to see them. There were also a fair number of bodies buried up there. And not all of them rested peacefully. Which is why, slowly making his way up from his usual haunt of Lantern Hill, the Revoltin' Revenant known as Dead Head came to the area. He knew there were those he could help here, in his own unique fashion, and he intended to do so. So focused was he on his task, though, that he did not notice the layer of frost which covered the headstones of the small family plot he was shambling through....

James sat on the bench under the star, looking out across the campus, just thinking. It was all coming to an end. His time here. His childhood really. He wasn't exactly a good student, certainly didn't really care about the school in that way. But this is where his friends were. This is where he started that whole 'growing up' thing and finding his own 'responsibilities' bit had started for him. For that, he'd miss this place. He missed his friends already, though much of that was simply from his being so busy lately. Yeah, he was still part of the team (as far as he knew0 but that didn't mean he'd really seen people a lot lately. Heck, when was the last time he'd even hung out with Erin for more than an hour? Weeks maybe? And while he enjoyed her company quite a bit, an hour a few times a week sucked was all he'd been able to give her lately. There was just so much to do; he was overloaded and knew it. But damn he missed his friends.

It had been a weird couple of weeks. Dynamo was finally getting used to living at the Brownstone. He had learned the Interceptors patterns and habits well enough that he didn't walk in on them as often as previously did. There were a great deal of things thrown at him during those first couple of weeks. But things finally settled down after the first dozen or so pranks. He really liked it there, but there was something missing. See, he was practicing using his powers over and over again at the Brownstone. But it seemed like VINCE was learning just as much about his powers as he was. He wanted someone who knew what they were doing. Someone with experience. And that's where Erin came in. No, not like that! She was at Claremont, that super school. And she happened to be in the gym when Dynamo peeked his head in there.