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  1. Thanksgiving 2015 Riley was waiting for Robin outside Claremont as soon as Wednesday classes were let out, sitting atop his pride and joy. Well, it wasn't really _his_ pride and joy yet - but the loaner motorcycle, black and chrome and shiny thanks to an evening's worth of dedicated polishing, was sturdy, functional, and could be trusted to get him and Robin from Bayview to North Bay in a reasonable amount of time. He'd been a little nervous about making this invitation, especially when it meant at least two days over at the home of his counterpart and his mother's duplicate, but in the heat of the moment he was confident it was an acceptable risk. "Hey, babe!" he said with a wave as he caught sight of her coming through the main entrance. "You ready t'go?" He had a black helmet under his arm and another on the back of the leather seat - safety being something his all-too-human frame meant he was extremely conscious of.
  2. November 2015 The Fens Riley had had to come to the Fens separately from the girls - after weeks of detention and extra 'practice', he'd been authorized to carry his crossbow off school grounds again, and he hadn't wanted to miss the last day of training that earned him those rights. He knew some of his friends didn't like Mr. Archer very much, but as much as he'd screwed him over with that Metropolis thing, Riley had come to respect the drive and determination of the man. Not a lot of the teachers at the school would have been willing to put in these hours with him. A long Saturday morning of shooting at rapidly moving civilian targets had left him drained, but it had gotten him on the street in his costume. He'd made his way to the Fens on his own terms, walking along the South River's bank right under the Boardwalk, marveling as usual at how strange everything in the city had looked. Crossing the South River where he was from meant a difficult hike across a swaying, unstable passenger walkway, here the Mona-Glenn Bridge was alive and well and roaring with traffic. He wound up using his grapple arrow to make his way from stanchion to stanchion, far above the eyes of tourists, and then disappeared into a dark alley near the foot of the bridge, where the Fens themselves met the river. Closing his eyes, he thought of the Fens he knew with its marshy ground and dying buildings, its pine forest and the creatures that dwelt within. Opening them, he was at the gas station/convenience store that was evidently one of the few businesses in this part of town, and the spot he was supposed to meet Robin and Fred. A business with history, he thought as he loitered in the parking lot, remembering how the place looked with trees through the roof and a family of bears living inside.
  3. Location: Claremont currently, later ???? Date: 9/21/15 In addition to the school's regular curriculum of classes taught by the stable of professors, there were the occasional guest lectures that were, perhaps, more akin to a college than a traditional high school. Of course, no one had ever accused Claremont of being a traditional school ever. Typically, from what the upperclassmen said, the guest lectures were for the one-off classes that the headmistress could rope active heroes into 'giving back' to the school. They were typically optional, although the staff wasn't above exerting pressure when they felt the topic was necessary for one of their students in particular. The blurb for this one had read: An afternoon lecture in magic and the greater worlds beyond. Most people will never end up trapped in an entirely different dimension but it happens to super heroes far more often than one might think. For those who signed up, they had a pass on their typical afternoon classes to attend the guest lecture right after lunch. School gossip whispered that the elusive Eldritch might have been tapped to make a rare appearance. As the students headed towards it, post lunch, it was in a small classroom located far from most of the currently active classrooms. Likely, because, magic was more of an art than a science and the headmistress was hoping any incidents would be contained in a more manageable locale. Encouraging! The room itself was small, currently empty, with a loosely arrayed ring of desks in no particular arrangement. The lights were off when the first student arrived.
  4. October 2015 Riley sat alone under the tree, methodically field-stripping his crossbow, his physics textbooks tucked away in the thick grass at his feet. So Headmaster Summers, after a serious conversation with him and promises of a serious conversation with his instructors, had set up a meeting with a famous superheroine. He'd heard of Erin White, of course, and the students of Young Freedom who'd helped save the world so many times. He didn't really care about most of them, half of whose names he didn't even know, but Erin White was someone whose name he knew very well. Alone in isolation in the Goodman Building, Riley ran his hands across the words carved into the bathroom wall. My name is Erin. He'd heard plenty about the dimensional refugee, or at least enough to know he wanted to learn more. But she's prolly gonna talk with me about not shooting anyone in the damn head, he decided gruffly. Like I haven't heard enough of that already. No one looked his way as he held his impervium bolthead up to the sunlight - something which didn't surprise him a bit after that damn accidental video had gotten around. Everybody knew the story. Bolt in hand, he judged the bolt by the way it reflected the light, the glow showing how unmarred the surface of the bolt was. Impervium could be a tricky thing, especially when you were working with scraps.
  5. September 2015 Bereft of his crossbow, Riley sat in the infirmary waiting room, reading a technical manual. He'd already filled out his paperwork, showed his student ID, and made sure Nurse Joy knew that he was there and was patiently waiting for his next turn. At least in theory. When he wasn't in a blind with a bow in his hand, or waiting up a tree, Riley had never been very good at patience. So instead he buried himself in stories about the construction and care of wind power plants, all the while making the usual adjustments for whatever tools and other equipment would be missing back on his own Earth. Raymond couldn't keep running forever, he knew from lessons drilled into his head by his mother, and by the time he was an adult his community would need some other source of power to survive. He was going to make it back there. He was sure of it.
  6. Claremont Academy 9/18/2015 (three days post Lets get it started), 10:30AM Sunny with light clouds If Huang had been raised in circumstances less bizarre the trek down to the boiler room adjacent janitorial office would have been downright creepy with the poor lighting and strange sounds in the distant subterranean halls echoing like something out of a horror movie. As it was however event the more familiar environs could not improve his mood much. Not only detention but detention wasted on menial tasks for the mundane staff of the not so mundane school. He arrived a few minutes later than he had been ordered too outside the door to Basil Faulks 'office' and paused with a smirk listening in for the mans famed odd mutterings, if there was truth to any of them they could after all be useful and if not they certainly sounded hilarious from the poor attempts at being scary the upperclassmen had made regarding the strange groundskeeper.
  7. October 2015 Riley was alone in the gym for now; just the way he liked it. He'd even changed for the occasion, down to the binder and green and brown costume that were the minimum level of clothes he was willing to be seen in while walking around the school. On the obstacle course near one side of the ample gym, he took a moment to wrap his hands before beginning his run. First came the low wall of padded foam, which he vaulted with contemptuous ease, then the elevated, irregularly placed blocks that were equally no obstacle to him as he went. He vaulted to the balancing bridge without so much as touching the matted gym floor and made his way along at a dead run, eyes open and ears wide as he went. This was easy - here he was in minimal clothing, with no gear. Later he'd do it the hard way; gather up his clothes and his bow from where he'd left them neatly folded in one corner of the gym, and do it that way, but for now he was content to warm up. He had a long evening ahead of him in here - if he was lucky.
  8. On her way out of the awful test from hell, Robin hesitated in her blue and yellow uniform, debating for a moment whether she out to give Riley a bit of time or head directly after him. She could pause and change, but the memory of Riley's stricken expression decided her. Pausing only to grab her worn leather jacket, Robin headed up from Claremont's underground tunnels until she could reach a level where there was window access. There were many weirder sights than a student in a training uniform sprinting through the halls and diving out a window so Robin only garnered an occasional look as she ducked outside and scaled up the side of one of the dormitories to reach the roof. She wasn't trying for stealth although her boots weren't all that loud as she landed on the shingles. "Riley?" Robin's voice floated out as she straightened up, her concern apparent in her tone.
  9. Danger Room, Claremont Academy Wednesday 9/15/2015 Early Afternoon When they were pulled from afternoon classes for a special assessment and Team Building Exercise Riley, Raina, Robin and Anibal were not precisely sure what that would entail though doubtless they each had ideas of what to expect. Few of them however were likely to expect what they found when they reported as directed to the athletic fields where in the distance they could make out Coach archer drilling a class of freshmen in a rather expansive obstacle course. Other than the distant coach and students there wasn't much to see other than each other for several minutes before a large man emerged from a nearby stand of trees and strode out toward them. Upon closer inspection the students could see he seemed to be made of or coated in some kind of silvery metal and from the way his footfalls left impressions in the ground it looked like he had the heft to back it up. Some of the more social students might have recognized him as Coach Capote, Archers younger larger assistant, while those with an interest in millennial supers might recognize him as the hulking powerhouse Dauntless who occasionally made the news though less so of late.
  10. Early September Common Room, Boy's Floor Riley sat alone in the common room, shoulders hunched, sharpening his hatchet. The jacket he wore was one size too big, a bulky, heavy outdoors jacket that had been a gift from his other self before leaving 'home' for Claremont. It was a nice enough jacket - it was certainly like nothing he'd ever worn back in his real home. Nothing this nice would have gone unpatched in fifteen years since the end of the world. The other boys were doing boy things; playing video games, watching television, and talking to each other. Riley, with keen ears and keen eyes, was intimately aware of every whisper of his name; every glance his way. Everyone on their floor had heard the yelling when Lubis had caught him in the bathroom - and they'd smelled the stink bomb afterwards, and seen the RAs coming back and forth and separating the two boys. Lucky I didn't make him eat that arrow. Divine avatar or not, he was pretty sure 'Garuda' wasn't tougher than impervium. Crossbow, and the duffel bag containing all his Earthly possessions, were at his feet under the table. He had only one companion there. "You ever thought about going double-headed?" Riley had the idea that John Smith had been one of the more elite students at Claremont in years past. In his early twenties, the crimefighter was still active traveling between dimensions, but in Freedom City mostly occupied himself with his duties as a combat instructor and RA at the Claremont Academy. He was the one who'd gotten Riley and Tyler Lupis separated, and made sure Mr. Hawke and his wife had put Riley up for the night in the faculty apartments across the campus, while Lupis had bunked with Smith himself - after some calisthenics. Garuda wasn't there right now, but Riley could see his buddy Gomera off brooding in a corner about how hard it was to be rich and well-fed every night. "Nah," said Riley shortly as he hefted the hatchet. "Not just for throwing, 'Sfor working, too." He pointed to the flat, weathered rear of the blade. "Use this for hammering and stuff." "Makes sense," agreed Smith before looking up as the common room door opened again. "Hey. There's the guy I was telling you about."
  11. From the album: Alder's Artistry

    For Review! Pencils!

    © K Keppeler

  12. The OOC! Riley, Raina, Robin, and Anibal first day in the Danger room Special Appearance by Coach Capote (AKA Dauntless)
  13. September 2015 "Hey." Riley approached Raina outdoors in the quad, shooting a quick glance around for her monkey before saying, "I guess you got that stupid thing from Perry too, huh?" Raina wasn't in his developmental English class, but he'd heard some of the other kids complaining about the interview assignment while conducting his usual surveys of campus. After a couple of false starts, Robin had said Raina was OK, so..."You find a partner?" He was dressed in his usual fashion; hatchet on his hip, crossbow on his back, but with a brand-new three-ring binder tucked under his bare arm. He was wearing a big, bulky green and brown shirt, somebody's camo design that looked a size too big for him. Not yet," Raina said cautiously, giving Riley an up and down study. "Sounds like a stupid assignment, I was thinking about blowing it off. You actually gonna do it?" Raina was dressed for a day somewhat colder than the actual weather, in a cream-color turtleneck and dark brown slacks that actually matched quite well with the fur colors of her simian companion. Who, Riley noticed abruptly, was also studying Riley from his perch on Raina's shoulder, half-concealed in her honey-colored hair. "You're not going to partner up with Robin for it?" Riley locked eyes warily with the monkey for a moment, cocking his head to match Merlin's posture, before looking back at Raina. That monkey was weird - but he knew what a pet was. Even a creepy one. "Nah. S'posed to be somebody I don't already know. And Robin says you're pretty cool." He looked her over, wondering what secrets she held, and asked seriously "I heard you set that crazy statue girl on fire with magic, yeah? How did you do that? (1)" That earned him a moment’s hard look from Raina, who relaxed somewhat when it seemed clear that Riley’s question wasn’t an attempt to trap her or lead into some exploration of her inner villainy. “I’m a witch,” she told him with some pride. “I can do all kinds of stuff with magic. But I didn’t really set the statue on fire, it turns out there was a girl trapped as a statue and I released her. Then she totally flipped out and went crazy on us and we had to use our powers to knock her out before somebody got hurt. She’s supposed to be getting better now. So are you really from some alternate reality where everyone lives at the nuclear plant?(1)” “Uh…” Riley had evidently not expected that question, but he recovered quickly enough. “Yeah. I mean, on a typical day, people will go as far as the Interstate or the Bay, but almost everyone lives in or around Raymond. Safer.” He sat down next to Raina on the grass, carefully setting down his notebook and adjusting his hatchet, and studied her, hands resting casually in his lap. “What’s with the monkey?(2)” With nothing better to do at the moment, Raina deigned to lower herself to the grass as well, neatly folding her legs under her in a way that would minimize grass stains (as though it mattered, given her cheap blue jeans). “I’m a witch,” she answered again. “Merlin’s my familiar. I empowered him with magic, now he’s intelligent and can do stuff on his own, but he doesn’t have any actual magic. Mostly he just lazes around and surfs the internet all day.” Merlin, who had been studying the nearby elm tree as though he might possibly try to climb it, gave an indignant chitter. “Yeah, yeah, you know it’s true,” Raina told him dismissively. She opened her bag and pulled out the assignment sheet and a spiral-bound notebook. “Okay, let’s see. Already covered where you’re from, sort of. What’s your family like? (2)” “Dad’s dead,” replied Riley shortly, looking down at the grass between his heavy boots. “Had cancer doc couldn’t fix. Mom’s head’gineer at Raymond.” A thin, sharp, humorless smile crossed Riley’s features. “I guess you saw Peyton when she dropped me off. That’s my mom here. ‘Cept not really. She runs the plant here too.” He looked over at Raina and said, “How about you? Where you from? (3)” “Angel Mounds, Indiana,” Raina told him, relaxing from where she’d been braced for a different question. “Little bitty town just on the edge of Evanston, on the Ohio River. Everything that was worth visiting was in Evanston, the malls, the movie theaters, even my schools. But it was like tax advantageous or something to keep being our own town, so my dad was the mayor and they just kept on trucking along.” She consulted her paper again, then looked at Riley. “So I don’t even know if this is rude or not, or how to ask in a way that isn’t rude. Are you transgender? (3)” “Yeah,” said Riley, shooting Raina a hard, level look. “‘S’wat I am.” He’d evidently been expecting something worse, though, so he relaxed fractionally when she was finished speaking. “Question’s all right. Least you didn’t ask if I was a boy all the way down or some crap like that.” He smiled that hard-edged smile again, chewing over her words. He’d been asked the question a lot less than he’d expected at Claremont - so maybe it was just Raina was good at seeing stuff like bio-gender. Prolly a magic thing. “People here are obsessed with each other’s things.” He looked at Raina and said, “Why is that?(4) Damn, growing up, I’d have thought people in a place like this would have had better things to do with their time, like flying in planes or going to malls.” “Well, I’m not 100% trash queen, no matter what they say about me,” Raina replied, her tongue in her cheek. “But it’s not like there were a lot of people doing the not-totally-straight thing where I come from, or at least if there were, they didn’t talk about it. People love to get up in each others’ sexy business, it gives them stuff to talk about. And there’s a lot of religious fundamentalism still putting sticky fingers all over everything, trying to dictate everybody’s morality and who can do what with who because God.” She grimaced. “We’d all be better off if the nosies minded their own business more and everybody else’s less. Does it really not make any difference where you’re from? (4)” “Lotta bad things happened where I’m from. People had to lose a lot of stupid attitudes fast, or they got dead.” He shrugged. “I took _some_ crap about it, but mostly ‘cause I had to start training with the boys halfway through my first year with the Woodsmen. 14 year olds, buncha kids.” He hesitated a moment, then pressed on. “That’s where I got the name. Back home, I’m part of the Woodsmen Corps. We’re the ones that protect the people - and who go out and hunt for what people need.” Deciding to change gears (since there was no point in ruining the conversation), he went on, “Indiana, that’s westahere, right? You ever go hunting, stuff like that? (5)” That drew a laugh from Raina. “No way, hunting’s for people who drive pickup trucks to school and don’t have anything fun to do on weekends. Um, no offense,” she added after an awkward pause. “I mean, that’s how it was where I come from, not where you need to, like, do it to survive. I imagine it becomes a way sexier skillset then. But I went out riding and stuff when I was younger. I had a pony named Starlight because she had this white blaze right in the middle of her forelock. We’d go out riding around the mounds and stuff, and I’d practice my meditation where there weren’t any people. Then I got tall and she got old and I couldn’t ride her anymore, but you don’t just give away your pony, you know?” Raina frowned down at her notebook and blinked hard a couple of times. “Anyway, did you ever have a pet? (5)” “Took care of the cats when I was a kid,” said Riley. “Gotta a whole colony of ‘em around Raymond. They keep the rats off the stuff we grow in the fields, and some of ‘em still like people enough to get petted or even sit on your lap. Sometimes you eat ‘em,” he added baldly, “but only if hunting’s been real bad and if you’re out of food meat. I only had cat when I was real little. Anyway, there was this black cat I named Buddy when I was a kid, he was cool. Used to rub against my legs and purr. He’s got a whole buncha kittens now.” He looked down at his list of questions, shrugged, and said, “Okay, what’s your favorite food? (6)” Raina frowned. “Um, I dunno, ice cream I guess. Or no, no, I’ve got it. We had this housekeeper from Jamaica when I was a kid, her name was Eyana and she was super-old and needed another housekeeper just to do the second floor rooms, but she was an awesome cook. She’d make all the normal food for my mom and dad, but when they were on trips and stuff she’d make Jamaican food for me, and it was so good. There was this one pastry called gizzada that was like a shell full of coconut and spices and honey and it was so good. I went to Jamaica on vacation once and I ordered it at a restaurant, but it wasn’t even as good as how she made it. What’s yours? (6)” Riley had no idea what Jamaica was - maybe an island somewhere? “Yeah, we used to get some Jamaican spices when we were scavenging; sometimes the cook would fry stuff up in ‘em... anyway, my favorite food here is pink cotton candy, definitely.” His eyes lit up like a small child’s as he said, “Oh man, you put it in your mouth, and it just...just melts there, and it’s _all sugar_! It’s great. Peyton got it for me my first week in her house, said she thought I deserved some treats, and I just about cried. She said I was like a little kid.” He grinned, maybe the first time she’d seen him smile when talking about his other mother. “Man, the food here is so great! If I didn’t train so hard, I’d prolly have a candy gut like woah.” He rested his hand on his flat belly for a moment, then asked, “So, uh, this may be a stupid question,” he admitted, “but how does magic work? (7)” “Dunno.” Raina shrugged, turning to watch as Merlin finally made his break for the irresistable charms of the elm tree. “It’s like a channeling of natural free-floating energy through your will and your mind, so that you can take energy from different sources and make it do what you want. But like, where the energy comes from, and why it does what it does, that’s not really what I care about. I figure other people can do the research on that. But if you’ve got the right genes and the talent and the motivation, you don’t need to know how it works. There’s no magic where you come from?” (7) “I dunno,” said Riley with a shrug. “There might be, I guess. There’s nobody left who can do magic in Raymond, anyway. I’ve hearda people who could do magic in the old days, super-people and stuff, but they’re all dead now.” Or worse. “I guess that sounds really cold!” he admitted, scratching the close-shaved hair at the back of his head. “Dr. Marquez wants me to talk about it more. Jerk loves to talk.” He frowned. “But I was just a baby when everything happened. I grew up hearing about super-people, but I’ve never really lived in a world with ‘em till I got here.” He looked back at Raina. “When we’re done with all this stuff, this high school stuff, where do you wanna go? (8)” “Ugh, I don’t even want to think about all this high school stuff,” Raina replied, shaking her head in disgust. “It’s all just so much BS, pretending to give us an education while they train us to be, like, soldiers in their secret hero army. So it’s like if you have any talent, you’re likely to be used up or dead by the time you graduate anyway, right? It’s not like you see a lot of former students coming back to say how great it is that they spent four years getting tortured into being heroes. What I really need is a filthy rich boyfriend who doesn’t hesitate to throw his weight around on my behalf and can keep me in the style to which I’d like to become accustomed again. I can shake the dust of this place off my shoes, give my grandparents the finger, and it will all be amazingly satisfying. Do you plan to ever go back where you come from?” (8) “Can’t,” replied Riley, his voice growing clipped and tight. “Door’s shut. Magic people, science people, can’t find it again. Got here by accident - n’ nobody on the other end’ll knowta look.” He shook his head, not wanting to admit he had no idea where he was going after high school. “Things are nicer here,” he admitted. “Cotton candy, nacho cheese, Innernet. Safer, too.” He scratched the back of his head again. “How about you, you ever gonna go back to Angel Mounds? (9)” “Can’t,” Raina replied in turn. “They took my home, our cars, the bank accounts, all our stuff. Even my college fund and my clothes, all poofed and gone into somebody’s pocket. They even took Starlight,” she added bitterly. “Then they told me I should feel lucky because I wasn’t in jail, and that I got to fill one suitcase before I went, instead of just getting tossed out in my jammies. There’s nothing left for me there, and given the hatchet job that’s been done on my family’s reputation, if I tried I’d probably be burned at the stake.” Abruptly, she gave a sharp whistle. Merlin clattered down from the tree (he was a pretty poor climber for a monkey) and jumped back onto Raina’s lap, snuggling in affectionately. “Anyway, more questions.” Raina cleared her throat and studied the sheet. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” (9) “My mom wants me to be an engineer like her. Prolly gonna hafta,” Riley said with a little shrug. It didn’t look like he’d given the idea a lot of thought. “Somebody’s gotta do it - and even the youngest ’ginner’s almost 40 by now. We’re damn lucky at Raymond - half the reactors are still going, so we’ve got power for the defenses and t’keep the lights on at night. Most places don’t even have that.” As they spoke, he unfastened the hatchet at his hip and pulled a whetstone from his belt, and half-paying attention began the process of sharpening the blade. “Wanna be a Woodsman as long as I can, though. There’s a whole city out there to explore, and, heh.” He looked around the peace and quiet of the quad and added, “Maybe someday I’ll see what my Bayview looks like.” He said the words with the mixed excitement and fear of someone discussing something extremely dangerous. “How ‘bout you? You’d prolly get bored with your rich boyfriend after a coupla years.(10)” he said with a grin. “I dunno, probably going to have to do something,” Raina admitted. “I was going to travel when I grew up. Go to college in Europe, then do a world tour, meet all kinds of different types of magical people, then maybe write a book about it. Can’t do any of that anymore, and not having any money definitely sucks. I might could just be a hedge witch, sell people little potions for their sex life, remove warts, hex enemies, stuff like that. I really don’t want to get into this whole superhero BS. That’s just begging to let somebody else run your life for you, till some big nasty comes along and squashes you flat. The whole costumes and codenames thing is ridiculous, and the Claremont getup is ridiculously unflattering. Not to mention,” she added, her voice dropping to a mutter, “it’s hard to be a hero when everybody thinks you’re a villain.” She frowned and shook herself. “Okay, here we go. “What’s your favorite school subject?” (10) “Shop class. I love building stuff, and Claremont’s got a lot of tools and a lot less people trying to use ‘em.” He grinned. “And since it’s hero high, they don’t put the stupid limits on it they do at normal schools, like sixteen year olds are a bunch of stupid kids. I used to have an all-wood crossbow at home, working on making a new one here. And maybe a rack for Robin’s room.” With the signs of obvious long practice, he put up his hatchet, then took out his bow and began carefully removing parts of it for polishing. “I guess that’s what I like about this place,” he admitted. “If I was still living with Peyton and Riley, I’d be going freakin’ crazy in that house with nothin’ to do all day.” He shot a look over at Raina while he was in the middle of cracking open the magazine of the bow. “Why do people think you’re a villain, anyway? (11) Is it just that crap about your mom and dad?” “You know how it is, sins of the fathers get passed along,” Raina replied caustically. “Assholes like Madison’s parents did a very thorough job painting my family as evil, and think that I must’ve known about all of it somehow. Add onto that the fact that I’m not interested in puckering up and kissing the ass of every half-brained thug in a costume or jackass in a position of authority, and obviously I’m a bad seed. They can have my respect when they’ve earned it, and so far nobody’s gone that far. The headmistress _might_ not be quite as bad as most of the idiots, but I’m still withholding judgment. So how did the government work where you come from anyway?” (11) she asked. “Did you still have elections and mayors and stuff?” “Mayor, four people on the city council, even a police chief,” said Riley with a nod. “We hold elections every three years, have since ‘05. It’s what Lady Liberty woulda wanted. My mom was mayor when I was a kid for three years, but she said she liked tending machines more than tending people.” He shrugged. “Some people talk about maybe making a new state government, since we’re the biggest city in Jersey, but nobody really cares enough to do that. Local government’s only thing that really matters, since most people can’t travel. President Clinton’s supposed to still be alive in a bunker somewhere, but he can’t do anything either.” He made a face. “I watched some movies people made back before everything went to Hell, read some books too, and they’re so stupid. People here think human beings would just turn on each other when things go bad, but that’s not how it is where I’m from. We worked together, and we remembered who we are.” It was obviously a memorized phrase - but one he said with pride despite all that. “What’s your favorite class? (12)” Raina groaned. “Can I answer none of the above? They all basically suck. And if something interesting ever does happen, you can bet that Madison and her cronies are right there to squeeze the joy out of it before anybody can get too happy. Just trying to have a discussion in class with them around is like asking for a hard time. Otherwise Social Studies would be okay, I’ve been to a lot of the places they talk about on the syllabus, but I don’t need to hear what they think about my evil world travels. Just say study hall.” She turned a page in her notebook, absently petting Merlin’s furry head. “So who’s Peyton?” (12) “She’s not my mom,” said Riley quickly, “but she’s...close. Peyton Quinn is my mom on my world. This world has a Peyton Quinn and a Riley Quinn, but they didn’t live through all the bad stuff. When I first got here, since I didn’t have any powers, they sent me to live with her and Riley once I was outta Goodman.” He shrugged, but there was a flash of pain in his eyes. “She’s nice - she tried hard to take careame.” He snapped his magazine back into place with an audible click, the bolt-polishing done. “Didn’t work out. Her Riley’s biggest worry is getting inta good college and workin’ for NASA. And my mom isn’t that lady. She still sends me stuff, though,” he admitted. “And that Madison, that’s the one who’s always talking about her aunt?” He made a face. “First time she sees me, she goes up to me and says ‘I want you to know I totally support your lifestyle!’, then she wants me to be in some kinda picture on her phone…” He threw up his hands. “Anyway, think she was expectin’ me to be grateful or something.” He looked at Raina. “So your grandparents give you crap about the magic stuff too? That sucks. Can they at least do spells and things? (13)” “You’re her charity case,” Raina told him with a knowledgeable nod. “She’s going to use you to show what a good person she is to her asshole Facebook friends. ‘See how nice I am, being friends with this poor person who is totally weird to me?’ So long as you don’t cross her, she might throw you a bone once in awhile, but the second you do something she doesn’t like, you’re basically erased from her life. I knew tons of people like her back at my old school. What you should do is try to alienate her enough that she thinks you’re too weird to hang around with, without antagonizing her enough that she treats you like, say, me. You’ll get along a lot better that way.” Her voice was one of great wisdom and social experience, before she turned her attention back to the list of questions. “My grandparents, doing magic…. not in this lifetime,” she said with a humorless laugh. “My dad grew up using magic, my granddad was the mayor of Angel Mounds for a long time before him. But my mom got into it against her parents’ wishes. They hated everything about magic and about my family. They’d disowned my mom before I was born, so I didn’t even meet them until Social Services was looking for somebody to dump me on. And they didn’t want me, but took me on because it was ‘their duty’ or some BS like that. We really didn’t get along. They were way happy when Claremont offered to take me off their hands, but I think they’d have given me away to pretty much anybody else who’d asked, too.” She jerked her shoulders to show how little that meant to her. “Anyway, let’s see here… what is your favorite book to read? (13)” “Fiction books, not technical manuals or how-to guides?” Riley’s eyes widened as he considered what was obviously an unfamiliar question. “Huckleberry Finn, I guess. Huck lives in a crappy time and place, but he makes the best of it. When he decides to go to Hell instead of betray his friend, that’s good stuff.” He nodded. “Plus, he can go wherever he wants on that river. Must be nice.” He stood up, dusting off his hands, and eyed the tree Raina sat under speculatively. “For regular books, The Way Things Work is cool. ‘Sgot pictures and stuff of how all kinds of things work on the inside. I have that in my bunk at home.” Crouching low for a moment, he suddenly jumped upwards, a good three foot vertical leap, and grabbed ahold of a particularly sturdy branch overhead, where he hung with two hands. “What’s your favorite animal? (14)” Raina opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a chitter from Merlin. It was obvious, even to Riley, that Merlin was suggesting that Raina’s answer be monkeys, definitely monkeys. Raina rolled her eyes. “Monkeys, definitely monkeys,” she parroted dutifully. “Even though they’re really obnoxious and eat granola bars in bed.” Merlin gave her a toothy, ingratiating grin. “What about you? You seem kind of… maybe nervous sometimes around animals. Do you like them? (14)” “Sure, I like cats, and dogs, and this lady at Raymond kept these parakeets for a while.” He began doing chin-ups on the branch, slow, regular ones, without a sign of strain in his steady movements “But other animals…” He was quiet for a moment, moving up and down, then he suddenly pulled himself up, both hands, until he was perched carefully on the thick overhanging branch, his head half-obscured by fall leaves. It looked like he belonged there. “Animals are...different where I’m from. The ones that live with people are the same, but the ones from the Forest are smarter, and meaner. I once saw a wolf pack lay in wait for a hunting party, then jump out and grab the flashlights _first_ before they went for the others. I’ve heard about bears wearing human clothes, and foxes who write messages in the dirt…” He shook his head. “It’s not all animals, but I’ve learned you can’t turn your back on one without studying it first. Yours seems OK, though. How’d you meet Merlin? (15)” he asked. “I rescued him from a research facility,” Raina replied, both she and Merlin tilting their heads back to see Riley in his leafy perch. “He was just a baby and they were going to do experiments on him to see if their stupid chemicals would burn off his fur and blister his skin and god only knows what else. I freed pretty much all the animals they had caged up there, but he’s the one I took home with me. I wanted a familiar who had thumbs and stuff, you know? Didn’t anticipate he’d be so much trouble.” That earned her another very cheeky monkey grin. “Is it weird having to learn about all the technology and stuff here?” (15) “Some of it’s weird,” he admitted. “I still don’t see what’s the point of Facebook and Snapchat and all that stuff, but smartphones seem pretty nice. The Internet is great! We’ve got computers at Raymond, but they’re just for running the reactors and the super-equipment. I just have the phone Peyton bought me, but I like to look at webcams of places all over the world, like Washington, and Socotra, and London…” He had climbed to his feet now, balancing carefully on the branch, and was obviously eying the branches above his head. “You ever been in a fight? (16)” “Like a fistfight?” Raina asked, leaning back on her elbows to watch Riley more comfortably. He certainly had some muscles in those wiry shoulders, which she could appreciate even if she wasn’t attracted to the small and skinny type. “I got into one pretty good slapfight at the school my grandparents sent me to, got a bruised cheekbone and gave a black eye and a bald spot, so it was pretty evenly matched. Shouldn’t talked about my parents if she didn’t want to go a round.” She looked grimly satisfied at the memory. “But before that, my combat was pretty much always social. There are much more effective ways to hit than with your hands. What about you, have you? (16)” Riley laughed from up inside the tree - it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Yeah.” He started climbing, impossibly graceful in those heavy boots, climbing with slow, deliberate speed as he ascended through the branches. “But if you mean like a fistfight, yeah, that too.” He turned down to watch her as he spoke, but still didn’t miss a step as he worked his way around the tree. “Even to go out in the Forest, you have to prove you can handle yourself in a fight - and between one thing and another, I got inna lot of ‘em.” He leaned back and looked down at her. “I guess you heard about the thing with that dumbass Jayawan? Heard that room still stinksapuke.” He shook his head. “Marquez wants me to talk more about the stuff I did. Like that’s same as killin’ people.” He looked down at Raina, and decided not to ask that question. “What’s your coolest power? (17)” “I heard about that, yeah, but it’s better not to believe everything you hear in this place,” Raina told him. “Jayawan is a loser anyway, you’re better off without him as a roommate. He’s like sixteen and already trying to apply to the Freedom League. Brownnoser.” She scoffed, while Merlin scoffed right along with her. “My coolest power is definitely throwing fireballs. Not always useful, but definitely cool. But I can talk to animals and fly and go invisible when I want, so none of it exactly sucks. I was learning more, but then that all got derailed, obviously. Do you have any superpowers? (17)” “Nope. I just shoot really well and I make my own arrows. I could probably cut power armor up and recycle the parts, but I couldn’t make my own, that stuff is crazy.” He leaned out of the tree to look directly at Raina, leaning precipitously out with one hand still clinging to an overhead branch. “Hold up, do you really fly?” he asked, his eyes lighting up. “Do you grow wings or something? (18)” “Course not,” Raina replied with some amusement. “What kind of witch do you think I am? I use a broom, like normal people. But I can do a little bit of it just by myself. Just gotta think of a wonderful thought.” She hummed a few bars of music under her breath, then raised her hand and rubbed her fingers together as though she were sprinkling something onto herself. She rose slowly into the air until she was face to face with Riley. “Ever flown before? Wanna try it now?” (18) “You...hell yes!” declared Riley, a look of uninhibited joy on his face that was as rare as hen’s teeth. He climbed to a particularly high branch (one with relatively few leaves and subbranches) and deftly shimmied his way over to Raina. close enough to reach out and touch her. All that was holding him up was his double-handed grip on the branch overhead, but he looked as comfortable as he had on the ground - he looked at Raina, studied his options for a moment, and reached out his hand to her. Raina reached out and grabbed his hand, and suddenly he was buoyant as well, his feet lifting from the branch as gravity lost its grip on him. She tugged him away from the tree and into the open air and then, rather alarmingly, released his hand. As it turned out, though, the physical contact wasn’t keeping him in the air, it was just the magic. Raina laughed and turned a quick somersault in the air, then pushed off of nothing and shot in a circle around him like a seal. “Kind of a trip, huh?” “I’m flying! I’m just freaking flying!” yelled Riley, and he was excited and terrified all at once, emotions that themselves were not too common in his life. It was like the first time he’d swung from one of the Pyramid Plaza towers to another, but despite the lower heights, the fact that gravity had no hold on him at all made this even more impressive. “Can you teach me how to do this!?” (19) “Well, I can’t personally,” Raina admitted. “I’m just an acolyte, I don’t know enough magic to actually teach it. You’d probably turn yourself into a frog, if you even had any magic potential at all. Lots of people can’t use magic the way I learned it, you gotta have the power inside you before you even start. I can’t really tell if people do or don’t, not unless they’re already really powerful.” She climbed higher into the air, above the level of the buildings, so they could see a good chunk of Bayview around them. “But if you really wanted to and were ready to work at it, you might be able to find somebody to assess you, then teach you if you had the spark. Just don’t mention my name, cause then nobody will give you the time of day!” she added cheerfully. “So what are you gonna do with yourself while you’re stuck here for however long? Just gonna do high school?” (19) “I dunno!” called Riley, who was taking a few tentative ‘swipes’ at the air like he was trying to swim in it. “Gonna get back there one day,” he said, “They need people there.” He gradually found his way in the air, following Raina up into the sky and looking out over Bayiew - his eyes slowly translating it from what he saw there to his own. “Raymond’s almost outta juice. Time’s gonna change.” He looked over at Raina and said, “In the meantime...I dunno.” This close, in the sky, he gradually quieted, as the thoughts of his own world weighed him down. “Prolly be a huntin’ guide, something like that. Just something so Peyton doesn’t worry.” He leaned back, popping his neck in the air. “Where’d you come up with Sparkler? (20)” “It’s a toy we have here, well, kind of a toy, it’s like the tamest kind of firework you use on the Fourth of July. It’s like a stick, but if you light it with a lighter, it starts to throw off harmless colored sparks everywhere. Kids like to take them and just run around like mad with them, they look amazing in the dark.” Raina pulled her legs up under her, sitting crosslegged like a genie in bluejeans. “They told me I needed a codename, I figured I’d better pick something innocuous. Sparkler’s fire that can’t hurt anybody. Someday I’ll have something better.” The words were light, but her face was grim and entirely serious. “So what are you hoping to get out of this whole high school thing?” (20) Riley looked down at Bayview beneath his feet - but saw a forest of oak and pine rising higher than where he hovered now, and heard the sounds of monstrous Ferals crashing or leaping through the trees, smelled the sharp, tangy scent of the Forest Primeval. He had only one good answer for Raina. “Home.”
  14. alderwitch

    Moonshadow

    Date: early September, just after the field trip After restlessly trying to settle yet again in her bed like a perfectly normal person, Robin gave up in short order. Sitting up smoothly and silently, she reached for the tattered black backpack that was never all that far from her fingertips, pulling it close. Her fingers ran over the fabric, checking in the dark to make sure the zippers were all closed and nothing might slip out in her escape. As she stood, all Robin had to do was find her sneakers with her feet in the dark. That was as far as she'd gotten in stripping for bed and even their absence was an uncomfortable one. Intellectually, she knew that the room was closed and safe - that no one would come take her meager possessions in her sleep but instinct was slower to follow. On quiet feet, she crept to the window and let herself out. The short climb from window to rooftop was at least beginning to be familiar passage, where to find her handholds and footholds in the dark and how to slip to the side to not be noticed in the windows along the way to the roof. Yes, perfect. The one thing that feels normal to me now is escaping to the roof of the dorm. Not the hot showers, not the bed, but the clambering up a wall in the dark. Robin's mouth curved in a smile that held little humor as she flipped up onto the dorm's roof, her feet light on the shingles as she dropped into a crouch. One knee pressed down as she reached for her backpack and swung it forward to feel for the hard edges of the book she'd uncertainly borrowed from the library. Rising slowly, she pulled the thick book on astronomy from the tattered black backpack and hugged it to her chest. With her backpack once again slung over both shoulders, she began to move across the rooftop on quiet feet with every intention of finding one of the better nooks to curl up and nap in until daybreak.
  15. Replaced by sheet here Woodsman Power Level: 11/11 (182/184PP) Unspent Power Points: 2 Trade-Offs: +4 ATK/-4 DMG, +4 DEF/-4 TOU In Brief: Dimension-lost archer with a technical bent, trying to prove himself alongside walking gods and find a way to save his people Alternate Identity: Riley Smith Identity: Secret [Registered] Birthplace: Freedom City, Earth-J-Disaster-1 Occupation: Student Affiliations: Claremont Academy Family: Casey Smith (father, dead), Peyton Quinn-Smith (mother, alive) Description: Age: 18 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Black Height: 5'6" Weight: 165 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Short and slim for a man his age, albeit muscular and well-defined, Riley's favorite look is layers and outdoor-friendly wear - on all but the warmest days, he'll wear a flannel shirt, windbreaker, jeans and heavy hiking boots that go above the ankle. He keeps his hair cut very short in an almost military-style cut. Now that he's moved out of North Bay and doesn't have to worry about being confused for his counterpart, he's making plans to grow a mustache and goatee - he's just waiting to find exactly the right style. He's capable of sitting perfectly still for hours at a time, but when he does move it's with explosive bursts of energy that can take people by surprise. His voice is higher than he would like, slowly evolving into the tenor he'll have as an adult. Riley's Woodsman costume adds further layers to his outfit - a greenish-brown hooded poncho, a leather harness to carry his crossbow at his back, and a carrying belt holding various useful items like matches, a compass, and other survival gear - along with various one-use crossbow bolts. He wears his hatchet at his left side, to better facilitate a quick draw and throw. History: Earth-J-Disaster-1 (tentative) The old world died on the night of December 31, 1999. As the sun dipped across the horizon around the world, the darkness brought with it a terrible Event - a sudden super-imposition of an unnatural forest across the landscape of the globe. Trees shattered roads and broke buildings, killing millions in architectural collapses and road accidents across the world as thick forest growth was suddenly everywhere, passing right through man’s technological civilization. The news media, and the Freedom League, had time to track the horrific event as it happened, beginning in eastern China and stretching across the planet with the terrible fall of darkness, time to observe that the new growth matched whatever forests were native to the landscape they were devouring - but not time to stop it. In the frigid days after the catastrophe, those few places that still had power were reassured by the government and by the Freedom League that help was coming. But no help came. It was the heroes who vanished first; the superheroes and brave humans who went into the forest looking for answers. And then the others began to vanish too - humans all over the planet left behind their families, their loved ones, and simply walked into the newborn Forest Primeval. The mystery of their disappearances was solved when they returned, feral and maddened by animal impulses and predatory desires, and began attacking the surviving human communities. The war between the Children of the Forest and the survivors of the old world lasted for several years and resulted in the deaths of most of the world’s surviving superhumans and many of the survivors - there was no treaty, no negotiation, no mercy - the Ferals simply stopped coming. Gradually the survivors learned how to cope with the new world - how to forage in the cities for food and gear without being caught by the Maddening Wild (avoiding the darkness was the key), how to resist the Maddening Wild’s call (sticking together in groups was the ticket), and about the small number of people, all of them without other superpowers, who had the ability to forage in the woods _without_ being maddened by the Wild. 2015 is the fifteenth year since the world ended. Freedom City lies, broken, by an impossibly old oak and pine forest in which trees with hundreds of years worth of rings lie at the heart of the civilization they impaled. The largest population of survivors lies at the edge of the city, a few thousand hearty souls dwelling in the community around the Raymond Nuclear Power Plant at the edge of North Bay. They can go into the city to scavenge and explore, but only during daylight hours. The Maddening Wild still calls - though perhaps less forcefully than it did in the grim days at the start of the new century. The woods themselves are haunted by the past - the murdered city they devoured, and what lies within. The Ferals themselves are dangerous enough, savage, animalistic humanoids, many of them with superpowers, but they are not the worst of it. The Forest Primeval came with animals too; bears and wolves and bobcats, all the creatures once endemic to coastal New Jersey. But they came back unnatural - too clever by half, and with an intelligence that has grown unnaturally in recent years. Bears have been seen in the Deep Woods wearing human clothing, and wolves howling to each other in some grim parliament. They have shown a terrible intelligence when fighting humans - hitting men carrying flashlights to blind them in the dark, making man-like noises to lure unwary travelers, and otherwise making it clear that the forest is theirs. Many kill not to feed - but to terrify the human survivors. The Forest is full of monsters - and the Forest is everywhere. Riley Quinn was only about two months old at the Millennium. His parents, Casey and Peyton Smith-Quinn, lived in North Bay when he was born - their home was a mansion, small by the standards of the neighborhood, but spacious enough after the relative poverty of their youths in Mississippi. Maybe because they came from poverty themselves, with a history of dealing with emergency situations, they took action promptly on that terrible night of the 31st as the news of threatening global destruction came. When the Forest Primeval hit Freedom City, they had taken shelter at the nearby Raymond Nuclear Plant where his mother worked as a plant nuclear engineer, trusting in its solid construction to save them. And it did, to an extent - the Forest devoured the plant, too, but fate, radioactivity, and maybe just good engineering kept Raymond together. An oak tree's sudden growth shattered one reactor and a scrub pine forest sent one cooling tower cascading to the Earth in a deadly shower of debris, but quick hands prevented a meltdown and even kept electricity pumping from the plant's generators. It was a natural place to send refugees in the early days before the true horror of the situation had settled in. Riley doesn't remember much about those days, but he's heard the stories a thousand times. The way the refugees at the power plant first scavenged for food, then began growing crops in their own right in the hastily-converted greenhouses. The way desperate engineers babied a wounded power plant, keeping two of five nuclear reactors alive and producing life-giving electricity even a decade and a half after the end of the world. The way they built a school, and a chapel, and a clinic, and a hospital out of the old plant, building an outpost to human dreams in the middle of an inhuman wilderness. The days when the Ferals hit the fences almost daily. The crack of gunfire, then of melee weapons, again and again. The heroic sacrifice of Lady Liberty, who finally succumbed to infection days after her last battle with the group of Feral metahuman teenagers who had so often led attacks against the reactors, willing to poison the whole city to stop the power plant. The horrific screams from Lonely Point as what had been the populations of Bayview and Port Regal, backed by a rampaging Feral Captain Thunder broke through the defenses. His father, whose cancer could have been easily caught five years earlier, and his grave in the old plant garden. Riley is almost certain he can remember his father's voice. For various reasons, Riley grew up dissatisfied with his lot in life. He had ample reason for this, raised in a community at the edges of a world murdered by the Forest Primeval. He knew how lucky they were, especially compared to other survivor communities that lacked things like power, machine shops, and other tools providing some echo of what had once been modern life, but he also knew from his exploration of the (long-since-picked-over) homes near the Raymond site just how much they'd lost. So he dreamed, in between schoolhouse lessons and chapel prayers, between working in the greenhouse and going fishing, of the world that had been lost - and the wonders that had once been his birthright. But most of all, when he climbed the long-deserted Cooling Tower #4 and looked out at tree-skewered Freedom, he dreamed of the lost city of Freedom, and wondered what secrets lay within. Now these were no small dreams in the Raymond community, not when once a year or so someone would zone out and be sucked into the Maddening Wild, wandering into the Forest Primeval to either be eaten by animals or join the Ferals. So he kept them to himself as he got older, instead learning his mother's engineering skills with the idea of one day taking her place managing the reactors. But boys will be boys - by day he read technical manuals and worked in the machine shop, and by night he studied old city maps and the notes of those few explorers who had survived the journey into Freedom Primeval. On his fifteenth birthday, he presented himself to the Security Force as a volunteer for the Woodsmen, a dangerous, but highly valued part of life in their little community given the number of things the community's technology needed to survive - and how valuable the remaining scraps of super-tech scattered through the city still were. His mother wasn't happy - but after he demonstrated his skills at climbing and hunting, at marksmanship and hiding, even she couldn't say no. Freedom Primeval was everything he'd dreamed - beautiful and terrifying, wonderful and dangerous, marvelous and lethal. He rested in the shade of the oak trees that had split Freedom Hall in half; he battled the wolf colony that had taken over lost Lincoln. He fought a desperate battle against the Feral pack in Bayview; he prayed beneath the pine tree cathedral in St. Sebastian's Church. From his fellow Woodsmen, he learned how to sneak and survive in the city, how to hunt and fish to keep himself alive (skills he'd already begun to learn in Raymond), and how to navigate the ruined metropolis. He also learned how to kill - building his own crossbow, he was able to fend off attacks from bears, wolves, and other of the too-clever, too-wise beasts roaming Freedom City. And the unclever beasts too - the savage, cannibalistic Ferals who might once have been people. It was grim work; but it was war. No - it was survival. At the beginning of summer, 2015, Riley joined his fellow Woodsmen on an especially dangerous mission - a scrounging run into the heart of the Goodman Building, loaded with vital super-technology that, suitably adapted as spare parts, could potentially keep the Raymond reactors running for another decade and a half. But the risk was great. The Atom children had survived the Forest Primeval, though tree damage had eventually destroyed their grandfather's systems - but become a particularly bloodthirsty pack of Ferals. But the risk was greater than the Woodsmen knew - the Atom pack had, by whatever inhuman, unholy means, _bred_ - and a pack of Feral, superpowered younglings waited inside the tree-ruined building to greet them. Separated from the rest and trying to tune out the screams of horror he heard from his fellows, Riley ran. Fleeing down a darkened, overgrown emergency stair, he found his way blocked and so ducked inside what turned out to be a long-abandoned, nearly pristine research laboratory. Fascinated by the discovery, Riley locked the doors behind him and wandered through what had once been Alexander Atom's sanctum sanctorum. He was particularly fascinated by one particular piece of technology; a big, circular, open disc mounted in the middle of the room - one that he realized with some shock still was powered up! Succumbing to temptation, he pressed a few buttons, bringing the big machine to life with a whine of long-dead circuits and the sudden sound of alarms! At the sound of fists pounding on the door he'd locked behind him and against the inhuman shrieks outside, Riley hefted his crossbow and dived through the hole to take up a firing position on the other side. Except he found himself somewhere else entirely. The Goodman Building had seen its share of dimensional refugees before and while Riley (or 'Woodsman' as he called himself initially, with vague memories of watching some old war movies on the projector in his school) was different than others, there was nothing particularly alien about him compared to some of the visitors they'd seen. He was kept in isolation for nearly two weeks, both to make sure he was no longer violent (he had made free use of his crossbow to try and escape the populated, brightly-lit, tree-free laboratory he'd stumbled into) and to make sure that whatever mysterious disaster had beset his homeworld wouldn't be coming with him. But nobody had any answers - consultants like Phantom and Harrier were unfamiliar with either the timeline he described or the kind of apocalypse that had destroyed his world's native civilization, and something seemed to make it impossible to return him to his homeworld. All attempts to trace the dimensional line that he carried with him led to tangled snarls along the generally smooth course of the Cosmic Coil. Being unable to go home was hard. He knew his mother, his fellow Woodsmen, and his people would think he was dead - devoured by the Atom pack. And how strange it was to see them, alive and well, in a healthy, thriving city full of living human beings! As much as he missed home, he loved this place. He avidly read every book he could get his hands on and (once he learned how to use modern computers) and soon found himself taking online high school classes to keep up. He was behind in a lot of areas, but not too far behind - and determined to make up for lost ground as soon as possible. If he couldn't go home yet, and if even this world full of living cities and heroes had no answers for him, he could at least make himself better here. Once he was out of isolation, he could even go to the building's gym, where he kept himself in shape by exercise and drill, determined not to lose a step when he made it back home. Riley was so focused on learning about Earth-Prime that he barely noticed when it was time to move out. He was shocked by the thought; where could he possibly go? But then his counselor told him remarkable news - news that in retrospect he could immediately have expected. On this world, Riley Smith and his mother Peyton lived in their North Bay mansion just as they always had after his father had divorced his mother six years earlier. (And what a strange thought that was!) And that other Peyton, upon learning that a dimension-lost version of her son was in Freedom City, had thrown open her doors to that other Riley. They talked by email, then by phone, Riley a little surprised by his counterpart's voice - had he been born different in this universe? Riley and Riley met in one of the Goodman Building's rec rooms - Riley was reading a book while his counterpart, noticeably taller and heavier, entered the room, his sharp suit a contrast to Riley's flannel shirt, windbreaker, and jeans - all of them clothes he'd taken with him from his own planet. Riley met the eyes of his counterpart, saw his mustache and goatee, heard his deep-voiced, tentative greeting, and despite himself blurted out a question that, months later, still embarrasses him. "Jesus! How did you grow a mustache?!" Riley had read about his condition in pre-Millennium books, of course - in the old days, men born with women's bodies had treated themselves with testosterone, the male hormone. But synthetic testosterone was out of reach of Raymond's medical facilities (an expanded version of the old plant's emergency clinic) and crystallizing it from other men was an idea that made him nervous. So he'd resigned himself to a lifetime of bulky clothing over tight bindings, and probably never getting so much as a girlfriend, much less getting married. But in the Prime reality, the chemicals were readily available - with a doctor's prescription, anyway. His double had come out to his parents at the age of 12 and had been transitioning (a whole new word!) ever since - and had been on hormones for years. This really was, he decided the first time he took a hormone shot, a wonderful dimension. But of course it wasn't as easy as that. The two Rileys sharing a room was not the same as having a sibling; it was like having a shadow, and an alien one, at that. Riley-Prime was a smart kid on the school academic challenge team, a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance on campus and a future nuclear engineer. The other Riley was restless and angular, sleeping on the floor or a rope hammock, roaming the rooftops by night and converting the basement into a lab to rebuild his crossbow. One Riley had lost his beloved father to cancer and an early grave; the other Riley had lost his father to divorce when he was in his early teens. (It had been acrimonious - Casey hardly saw his family anymore) Competing for a mother's love, both of them young men going through changes, they clashed - and finally they fought. Healthy and strong though he was, Riley-Prime was no trained fighter; and the Riley from offworld hadn't learned to pull his punches. The loss of his temper, the feeling of boiling, surging rage, and the look on Peyton's face all came together to make Riley feel for a frightening moment like he'd gone Feral - like he was the barbarian his counterpart had accused him of being. He grabbed his crossbow and jumped out his window, vanishing into the North Bay night over the alien sound of arriving sirens. Running away from the angry, frightened reflection of his mother, Riley roamed the city for four days, scrounging to survive and even stealing a dose of synthetic testosterone, before Bowman tracked him down and gave him two pieces of news. One was that his mother, and even his counterpart, had forgiven him - his counterpart had even reluctantly admitted to provoking him into the fight, even though Riley was pretty sure that had been all him. The other piece of news came from Bowman himself. He'd tracked Riley through the city and been impressed by his stealth and ability to survive - and had helped clean up after Riley had used some well-placed speciality crossbow bolts to take down a gang who'd been harassing homeless kids by the airport. Bowman couldn't help Riley figure out where he fit in on Earth-Prime, but he could make a suggestion - there was this school Bowman himself had graduated from... Personality and Motivation: Riley is at heart a good kid, an upright human being who does his best to do the right thing almost all of the time. He wants desperately to learn all he can about this world and take back what he's learned if he ever manages to find his way back to his native timeline; or even better, to find out exactly what it was that destroyed the Earth of his youth to make sure it doesn't happen here - and can perhaps be undone on his homeworld. He likes a good joke, as long as nobody seriously gets hurt, and doesn't even mind being the subject of them. In some respects, he's the perfect Claremont student. In other respects, though, the young man has demons. There are the nightmares, of course, of hordes of bloody-faced Ferals sweeping through the windows and tearing him, his friends, and everyone else to pieces; the inner voices that drive him out of bed at night to patrol the streets of this strange Freedom. And it's hard for him not to resent the people around him sometimes, especially the pretty kids with pretty superpowers, who have lived all their life in luxury and think that a broken nail means real suffering. He bottles that temper up, disgusted by the rage he feels, but being sixteen and going through some hormonal changes, it's impossible for him to bite that rage back forever. And he's not well-suited to picking fistfights with people who can benchpress cars. Powers and Tactics: Woodsman is primarily a sniper - in a confrontation, his first instinct will be to climb up to a secure spot, conceal himself, and then make free with crossbow bolts at targets below. He'll stay mobile in a long battle, moving from location to location to avoid detection. When facing groups, he'll target obvious leaders or alpha creatures, the better to throw off the others (this works particularly well for Ferals, who will sometimes turn on their wounded in a blood frenzy.) Armored-looking creatures get an impervium arrow aimed right at their vitals. If faced with an enemy he can't reliably hurt, he'll use his magnesium-tipped flare arrow or his smoke/stink-bomb arrow to blind, confuse, or otherwise keep his targets from tracking his escape. His crossbow is a modified hunting crossbow, heavily customized by him in a basement laboratory. It uses a repeating action on the ancient Chinese model (albeit with a metal rather than wooden body) with a built-in arbalest-style crank if he needs real penetrating power (albeit at the cost of mobility). Almost all the bolts he uses are modified in some way, often with some explosive at the tip - repeating crossbows have little power, and so need some help. If forced into melee, he'll make free with his hatchet, hacking and striking his way free before making his escape that way. In combat, or expecting combat, he always has at least two magazines at his hip, and one mounted in the bow itself. He wears his hatchet on his left side for a quick draw. He has trouble in confrontations in the open given the nature of his chosen weapon and his combat experience - and with the non-lethal fighting style he's learning at Claremont. In the world of his birth, fighting and hunting isn't a place where you pull punches - not when your weapons are drawn, anyway. Complications: Breakaway: Other Riley and Other Mom are Riley's only family on Earth-Prime - but his relationship there is complicated. Dark Side: Riley has a temper. Mr. Know-It-All: Riley has lived a much more independent life than most teenagers from Earth-Prime and has some issues with going along with others. My Life Would Suck Without You: Riley misses home - and might make mistakes if confronted with the ability to make it back there. Never Again: Too-smart animals, too-insane people; Beasts and Ferals, and all the things like them - these are the stuff of Riley's nightmares, and he may make mistakes when confronted with their like on Earth-Prime. People Like Us: Riley is a black trans teen - and pretty put off by how these are all social problems in what's supposed to be the happy, shiny world of Earth-Prime. Stronger: Riley doesn't like being shown up by people with powers. Abilities: 6 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 38PP Strength 16 (+3) Dexterity 22 (+6) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 16 (+3) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 14 (+2) Combat: 28 + 20 = 48PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +14, +15 Hatchet, +16 Ranged Grapple: +17 Defense: +16 (+10 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +5 Flat-Footed Knockback: -2/-1 flat-footed, -3/-2 with costume Saving Throws: 4 + 6 + 5 = 15PP Toughness: +6/+4/+2 (+2 Protection, +2 Defensive Roll, +2 Con) Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) Reflex: +12 (+6 Dex, +6) Will: +8 (+3 Wis, +5) Skills: 120R = 30PP Acrobatics 6 (+12) Climb 7 (+10) Skill Mastery Craft (Chemical) 2 (+5) Craft (Electronic) 2 (+5) Craft (Mechanical) 7 (+10) Handle Animal 8 (+10) Intimidate 12 (+14) Knowledge (Tactics) 7 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 7 (+10) Medicine 2 (+5) Notice 14 (+17) Skill Mastery Search 7 (+10) Sense Motive 9 (+12) Stealth 14 (+20) Skill Mastery Swim 2 (+5) Survival 13 (+16) Skill Mastery Feats: 32PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus (Ranged) 2 Challenge (Fast Startle) Defensive Roll 1 Dodge Focus 6 Equipment 3 Evasion 2 Hide in Plain Sight Improved Initiative Improved Ranged Disarm Improvised Tools Inventor Luck Master Plan Power Attack Precise Shot 2 Quick Draw Skill Mastery (Climb, Notice, Stealth, Survival) Startle Takedown Attack Track (Visual) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Equipment: 15EP = 3PP Costume: Protection 2 (Feat: Subtle) [3EP] Hatchet: Damage 3 (Feats: Masterwork [+1 Attack], Mighty, Thrown) [6EP] Masterwork Binoculars [1EP] Masterwork Handcuffs [1EP] Masterwork Nightvision Goggles [1EP] Masterwork Medical Kit [1EP] Weighted Gauntlets: Damage 1 (Feat: Mighty) [2EP] Powers: 12 + 1 + 6 = 19PP Device 4 (Repeating Crossbow, 20PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose) [12PP] Trick Arrow Array 8 (16DP, Feats: Alternate Powers 4) [20DP] Base: Blast 6 (augmented bolts, Feats: Improved Crit 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [Chemical/Ballistic/Bludgeoning/Concussive/Piercing/Slashing]) {16/16} AP: Blast 6 (poison, Extra: Linked [Drain], Flaw: Unreliable [5 Uses/Day], Feats: Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Variable Descriptor 1 [Chemical]) + Drain Dexterity 6 (Extras: Linked [Drain], Secondary Effect, Flaw: Unreliable [5 uses/daily]) {10 + 6 =16/16} AP: Blast 11 (what's a box gonna do?, Extras: Area [General, Burst], Flaw: Unreliable 2 [1 Use/Day], Feats: Variable Descriptor 2 [Chemical/Ballistic/Bludgeoning/Concussive/Piercing/Slashing) {16/16} AP: Dazzle 6 (stinkbomb, visual and olfactory, Flaw: Unreliable 1 [5 Uses/Day], Feats: Improved Crit 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [Chemical/Ballistic/Bludgeoning/Concussive/Piercing/Slashing]) {16/16} AP: Speed 1 (grapple line, 10 MPH/100' per Move Action) + Super-Movement 3 (Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) {7/16} Feature 1 (From Another Dimension) [1PP] Gadgets 1 (Hunter's Arsenal; 5PP Variable Power, Any One Power At A Time; Extra: Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Hard-To-Lose) [6PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 18 Tou Bruised/Injured Augmented Bolts Ranged DC 21 Tou Bruised/Injured Penetrating Fire Ranged DC 21 Tou Bruised/Injured [Penetrating 6, as DMG 12] Flash Bolt Ranged DC 16 Ref/Fort Blinded Weighted Gauntlets Touch DC 19 Tou Bruised/Injured Totals: Abilities (38) + Combat (48) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (30) + Feats (32) + Powers (19) - Drawbacks (0) = 182/183 Power Points
  16. Abilities: 6 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 38PP Strength 16 (+3) Dexterity 22 (+6) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 16 (+3) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 14 (+2) Combat: 20 + 16 = 36PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +10, +11 with Ax, +14 with Bows Grapple: +13 Defense: +14 (+8 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed Knockback: -2/-1 flat-footed, -3/-2 with costume Saving Throws: 4 + 6 + 5 = 15PP Toughness: +6/+4/+2 (+2 Protection, +2 Defensive Roll, +2 Con) Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) Reflex: +12 (+6 Dex, +6) Will: +8 (+3 Wis, +5) Skills: 100R = 25PP Acrobatics 6 (+12) Climb 7 (+10, Skill Mastery) Craft (Electronic) 3 (+5) Craft (Mechanical) 7 (+10) Handle Animal 4 (+6) Intimidate 8 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 7 (+10) Notice 14 (+17, Skill Mastery) Search 7 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+11) Stealth 14 (+20, Skill Mastery) Swim 2 (+5) Survival 13 (+16, Skill Mastery) Feats: 24PP Attack Specialisation (bow) 2 Defensive Roll 1 Dodge Focus 6 Equipment 2 Evasion Hide in Plain Sight Improved Initiative Inventor Luck Power Attack Precise Shot 2 Quick Draw Skill Mastery (Climb, Notice, Stealth, Survival) Takedown Attack Track (Visual) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Quote Ax: Strike 3 (PFs: Improved Crit, Masterwork [+1 to hit], Mighty) [6EP] Costume: Protection 2 (Power Feats: Subtle) [3EP] Masterwork Binoculars [1EP] Powers: 12PP Device 4 (Crossbow, 20PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose) [12DP] Trick Arrow Array 8 (16pp array, Power Feats: 4 Alternate Powers) [20PP] Base Power: Blast 6 (bolts, PFs: Improved Crit, Variable Descriptor 1 [Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing]) {14/16} Alternate Power: Blast 6 (impervium bolt, Extra: Penetrating 4 [as DMG 10]) {16/16} Alternate Power: Obscure 8 (smoke bomb, visual, 1000' radius, Extras: Independent [+0]) {16/16} Alternate Power: Stun 6 (stun grenade, Extra: Ranged, Flaw: Unreliable [5 Uses]) {12/16} Alternate Power: Speed 1 (10 MPH/100 fpm) + Super-Movement 3 (grapple line, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) {7/16} Abilities (38) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (25) + Feats (24) + Powers (12) - Drawbacks (0) = 150 Power Points -
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