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April, 2024 Nighttime. Claremont Academy usually had relatively peaceful nights. While there were plenty of super-powered kids and some of them were trouble makers, the school as a whole had enough activities that they rarely 'acted out', so to speak; between lessons of schooling and lessons of using powers. There were a few exceptions. One of these was Sam Durado, who had more than a little habit of leaving when she got too frustrated with the school. She was never gone long, but it had been a consistent issue, enough that she was starting to get a bit of a reputation for sneaking out at night and going off on her own- and often missing a few morning classes in the way. What Sam had not been expecting was for Michael to be waiting for her. This had devolved into an angry argument outside the dorm that people were very strenuously trying to avoid, not wanting to get between the two best friends having an argument on the dorm; this wasn't a full on fight, after all, it was just an argument. At least it was, until Sam stomped on Michael's foot and flew off while he was still cursing over the underhanded move. "Sam! Come on!" he yelled at her leaving back. "...You gotta be kidding me." he sighed, looking up into the sky. That is the scene that Mizuki and Vueriz ended up wandering into as Michael ran a hand through his hair and let out another swear. "...Oh...hey you two." he mumbled, offering a small wave.

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers, Mizuki Iwasaki, Baltazar Botez, Consuelo Nunez, Ryan Jacobs, Vueriz, and Michael Adon all found themselves in a dead end alleyway between a pair of three story buildings. Out past the open end, they could see and hear a large crowd of people gathered, though none seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the teens. The weather was cool, but much warmer than the February cold they had expected. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, and Vueriz had her skyboard, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. Wearing a pair of jeans and a red Arsenal hoody, Lawrence looked about the alleyway, a concerned expression on his face before he seemed to focus on something distant and out of view. "This is not right." He simply stated, a hint of concern evident in his refined British accent.

Kingston Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 5:25 PM After the decision had been made to move to the ruins of Kingston to await the arrival of the Boran Dovox, also known as Sovereign, the heroes that had delt with the minor rampage of Explodo the Great moved to a location not far from the Doomforge. Paradigm and Star Khan flew to the new location, to ensure that Dovox's assault transport would detect them and not start searching for the Star Khan. Fleur provided transportation for the other heroes. Paradigm and Star Khan stood out in a ruined parking lot, a few burned out husks of cars scattered about and half destroyed buildings nearby. Neither seemed particularly nervous as Paradigm was scanning the sky. "I see the transport." She stated after a few moments. "It appears to be headed directly for us." Star Khan had been alternating between scanning the sky as well and looking over at Paradigm. When she indicated she had spotted the transport, he looked back to the sky before looking about the barren landscape around them for a moment. It was not long after that the transport came roaring into view, flying down low towards the ruins of Kingston. As it approached the area where Star Khan stood beside Paradigm, it veered to the right and started to circle the area. As it passed to the right, a large, circular object dropped out, rockets slowing its descent as it landed a short distance away. A large, nearly eight foot tall mech dropped down next to the circular object, which opened up to reveal dozens of armed aliens in armor that began to move out away from the drop pod. With them were three large reptilian aliens with red scales and tusks, and two normal sized aliens dressed in black body suits. The transport continued to circle around, another drop pod dropping down to the left of where Star Khan and Paradigm were standing, along with another mech. A group of similar forces deployed from the second pod as well. The transport then flew over to the area out in front of Paradigm and Star Khan, almost landing as five figures jumped out of the back and the transport lifted back up into the sky. Leading the group was another of the red skinned reptilian aliens, standing well over seven feet tall. He was dressed in ornate armor and held a large, glaive like weapon in one hand. Walking just behind him, on either side were two tall figures dressed in black, teal and white armor, which had a small white eight pointed starburst in the center of the chest plate. The armor had a black and teal hood, and a full armored face mask with black visor. Each carried a long pike, the tip of which crackled with energy. Fleur recognized the armor from Freedom League briefs about Khanate Justicars. Just behind them were two more of the large tusked aliens, each carrying large swords. Star Khan looked from side to side a moment before looking back at the group approaching from the front. "Hunters, hounds and traitors." He stated simply as he looked at the two armored figures. "Justicar Wryy, Justicar Har’al, you would do well to set down your weapons and surrender, I may be willing to forgive you." "Kinarr Khan! I am Prince Dovox, the Sovereign!" The large tusked alien in the front of the group called out loudly as he came to halt. "You are not worthy to lead the Stellar Khanate, so I am here to take your head, and your throne!" He added, pointing his glaive at the young Star Khan. He then turned to look at Paradigm. "Praetorian, you have no business here, step aside." He snarled. "Neither do the Terrans." He added, glancing about at the others. "That is where you are wrong Dovox." Paradigm stated simply. "The new Star Khan has extended an offer of peace to the Republic and Coalition, so his safety is of great concern to the Praetorians." "But additionally, I have a personal interest here. Kinarr also made a proposal of marriage to me in the council chambers. So, until such time as I either accept or decline, he is my prospective intended." Dovox simply snarled as he gripped his glaive with both hands. "Then you can die together, makes no difference to me."

March 28th, 2024 The area around the Liberty Dome was packed with people for the first baseball game of the season. Especially when it's a grudge match. The block around the Liberty Dome was, in some ways, it's own minuscule city; high cost hotels, nice restaurants that weren't too expensive, and street entertainment; dancers, balloon artists, radio DJs, the like. People were cooking at tailgates, or buying food off street vendors. On main street, a massive stage had been erected for Comets Corona, the local affiliate's baseball stats team; a set of a man and two women who listed statistics and did between-inning commentary, along with pre and post game analysis. The actual announcer team- featuring former GM Russell Mills who now did color commentary, alongside 'The Voice of the Comets' Chuck Champ- would already be in their booths inside. There were carnival games and street dancers entertaining people, and the Comet's mascot had been seen a few times wandering the grounds with a video crew in tow, playing pranks. The Opening Day match for the Comets was a known grudge match; the former Freedom City Flags- now named the New Orleans Patriots- were coming for an away game, and setting that grudge match on opening day was a clear attempt to get ratings up for at least the opening of the season. It was almost impossible to get tickets, every seat in the stadium was going to be filled on opening day. And it just so happened that the first pitch was going to be thrown by The Patriot- Member of the Freedom League-, and she had gotten two additional passes for the upper deck behind home plate. Which she had given to Carmen, who had then given one to Michael. This was a fortuitous stroke of fortune for Michael, who had wanted to go to opening day but had been unable to obtain tickets, so he was even more high on Carmen than he usually was, even if it meant they needed to go as Golden Star and La Puma Negra instead of as Michael and Carmen. When he found out that it was The Patriot who had gotten the passes, he was likely going to be a little embarrassed. So Golden Star and La Puma Negra were taking in the sights and sounds in the block around the Liberty Dome in the crisp March air, and Michael had gotten them both hotdogs- if nothing else, he was going to be paying for all of Carmen's meals-, while they waited for the Patriot to come pick them up or for the game to begin, because they weren't sure exactly how busy or swamped she was going to be up until she threw the first pitch. He was being very careful not to spill mustard on his formal Super suit- because of course he had a formal Super suit-, while also making sure no one got too close to Carmen or made her uncomfortable. He wasn't the hovering type, but he also wasn't going to hang Carmen out to dry. He was also desperately keeping his mouth shut to not just spew baseball facts all over Carmen. "Do you want a jersey? They changed the material in them so they're not as good as they used to be, but still, having matching team jerseys could be fun..."

April 2024, Freedom City University On a bright, sunny day in Freedom City, in the North End, three Claremont students were currently in the vicinity of FCU, or on the campus proper, on two distinct errands Bernadette O’Connell, alias Multi-Girl, aka the frontwoman for the band Multiplicity, was here to participate in an interview with FCU's school newspaper and morning show DJ. Thomas Windstrum worked in both groups and thus had brought Bernadette in to discuss her plans for Multiplicity, upcoming tour dates, and general other information; Thomas was a genuine fan of music and that included Multiplicity, so the interview was going to be a great spot to get traction amongst the college age students that Bernadette was only a little younger than, which meant they were perfect targets for her music. Meanwhile, Michael Adon had brought Ryan Jacobs to Liberty Park to meet someone who had a better job opportunity for Ryan; specifically, Michael's dad, Terrance Thomas Adon. Bernadette Bernadette was currently in the on campus radio station that bordered the quad at FCU. From the station she could look out onto a quad filled with trees and students milling about. Even the radio equipment at FCU for it's college station was state of the art and kept in outstanding repair. Thomas was a dusty haired college junior with a bit of a paunch and a classic Green Day T-shirt, but his passion for music was very clear from just a little bit of conversation with Bernadette. As the station returned from music, he activated their mics and began talking. "So again, this is Thomas, and I'm here with Bernadette O'Connell, front-woman of Multiplicity, who just had an electrifying set at Midnight Hour last month. She has a full set of performances coming up, but I want to talk history first; start at the beginning and all that. Bernadette, how'd you get into music in the first place?" he asked, grinning all the way. Michael and Ryan Meanwhile, Michael had lead Ryan to Liberty Park, close to FCU itself, but still in the park. Sitting at a bench that was close to the shadow of FCU's giant stadium, Terrance Thomas Adon was eating a hamburger and filling out payroll. He did look a lot like Michael, if Michael gave up his rigorous studies and exercises and went a bit soft; Terrance was fairly tall, his brown hair thinning at the top and salt and peppered. He was a bit slack around the waist, representing a physical worker who had moved into an office job, and dressed in a Decosta Construction button-up shirt. When Michael brought Ryan over, Ryan could see Michael's strong jaw and sharp eyes in Terrance's face, even if the rest of Michael's face wasn't much like his dad's. He spoke with a heavy Boston accent. He greeted his own son with a smile before turning his attention on Ryan. Now it was like there were two Michaels staring intently at Ryan at once. "Ah, your Ryan, eh? Mike said you're pretty strong and open to getting a new job?"

March 13th, 2024 Claremont Academy, students residence Golden Star had booted up his Nintendo 64. It was supposedly cursed. But Blackstaff had sorted that out. Probably. And probably was surely good enough. The psychic twins Cerebral and Cerebrum had stuck their head in through the door to see what was going on. The Nintendo fizzed when plugged in, and flickered half the lights of the students residence. Booting up? What was booting up? It was taking its damn time that was for sure. As it loaded (at a relatively glacial pace), the machine displayed pixellated art: Of machine guns, of evil villains in evil costumes, of lightning bolts, of dark towers with screaming damsels in distress at the top, of a city ruined by warfare, awash with tanks and mines. It all looked very archiac, and very violent. In a quaint way. The images had a certain... hypnotic... quality to them. It was hard to drag your eyes away from the screen, despite (or maybe because) of the antique pixel graphics...

2024 March 15, 9:00am Halfway to Medford, New Jersey (about 20 miles NNW of Freedom City) ~60o, gentle breezes (~10 mph), cloudy Field trips! Hands-on learning, a vital part to any well-rounded education! And this was the most classic form of that time-honored tradition: a trip to a working farm! With beef and dairy cows, hogs and chickens, and numerous orchards covering its 250+ acres, Medford Farms had been serving the lower half of the state for over two centuries, and was always eager to welcome curious students. And these students were curious indeed, coming from a most curious school. As the Claremont Academy van pulled off Highway 40 and started down a side road (to avoid a construction crew), the four students within -- Owain "Copper Knight" Celliwig, Jonah "Jotunn" Janse, Ryan "Sever" Jacobs, and Michael "Golden Star" Adon -- were busy with their own thoughts.

GM 3:30 PM, Friday April 12th, 2024 City Center, Freedom City Powers Holdings Office Building It started innocently enough. Parker had been to a family dinner, his family had asked him about his friends and students, and he had mentioned a few of them. When he mentioned Iris and Daniel and their telepathic powers, Tracy, his older sister, had perked up and asked more about them, how powerful they were and so on. Apparently, one of the R&D teams under her is working on a device that should, hopefully, be able to expand the scope of telepathic powers, potentially allowing a telepath to aid rescue efforts in a much wider area in terms of catastrophes. So... Parker had asked Iris and Daniel to come with him, explaining things as well as he could, and when Michael had overheard, Parker invited him along as well. The weather is nice for mid-April, as the group exits the car that had been sent to get them once classes were over for the day, once it has stopped in front of the Powers Holdings office building in Midtown. The building doesn't particularly stand out. Sure, it is tall, but so are most of the buildings in midtown, and the area is dominated by Freedom Hall, City Hall and the DuTemps Building, so, it doesn't particularly stand out. Still, there is a big POWERS HOLDINGS INC. name plate over the revolving glass doors, and on the window next to them, the large P with an explosion inside the upper part of the letter that makes up the Powers Holdings logo, which makes it easy to identify the building, at least.

OOC for this. @Poncho @Dracostern

OOC for This Thread Featuring: Multi-Girl Sever Golden Star For now, Sever and Multi-Girl are getting interviewed by different people for different reasons! The trouble will start ~later~

Mid-late January, 2024 The End of January brings the beginning of February. As the first month ends, so to do many resolutions fall by the wayside. But change has not stopped occurring just because a new year has begun! In fact, often the last shackles of the prior year's poor decisions can only be thrown off during the first month of the new one! Our new group of heroes, having encountered a group of delinquents, are now in a position to restore some level of normalcy to the lives of 5 troubled young girls. ------------------------------------- Ashley did not like losing. She didn’t lose often, of course, and whenever she did it put her in a foul mood. She had excuses, of course. Ashley didn’t lose, she reasoned to herself. It was the other three; they couldn’t keep up their end of the engagement. She was fighting off two of them at once and winning, the other three had a numbers advantage and they couldn’t keep up with them. They were pathetic. What was even the point of all of them having powers if they were so useless! Power should go to the strongest! That was why she had the powers she did, after all. Those who weren’t deserving, shouldn’t have power. ------------------------------------- Felix didn’t care about losing, but he was annoyed. He wasn’t the strongest, after all, but he liked his niche; he liked the new powers he had. And he had barely gotten to use them at all before that British kid had made him so slow he couldn't even move. Which was whatever. Paradox had acted all high and mighty about it ‘that’s inevitable, you aren’t on his level; your borrowed speed can't compete with his natural abilities'. Paradox didn’t know anything about anything, no matter what he acted like. What really grinded his gears was the Bug Boy. The one who had actually knocked him out. That bug didn't really understand anything about how cool FX was. GBB? GBB was garbage compared to FX! He thought he was cool, but Felix was actually the cool one! He just didn’t get how cool Felix was. He was gonna show him how wrong he was about that. ------------------------------------- Ashley had always been entranced by the Starstone ever since she first saw it. It had as many facets in it as there were stars in the sky- something she realized was meaningful-, and when you looked through one of the facets you could see a constellation. Each facet had a different one stored in it. It was also a clear source of tremendous energy, something the girl given the codename Eclipse was always desperate for. It had given her a tremendous amount with the Draco constellation, but it clearly had more; there were 88 constellations in the sky, but there were only 7 Starlights right now. So there had to be more juice in the gem than it was giving. It sat on the stage of what had once been a bustling theater just off Michigan Street; a prismatic gem that shifted through the hues of every color imaginable- and some beyond that-, about the size of a man's chest. Ashley didn’t know where it came from- the other girls did, but they seemed uninterested in telling her-, but she didn’t care anyway. She floated over to it and placed her hands on it, concentrating and breathing in its energies. “...Now come on, give me what you’re hiding...” “Ashley!? What the heck are you doing!?” someone called behind her, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She had something bigger going on, after all. All this stuff; the color coding, the ‘Starblights’. They were small time. She was Eclipse, and she was big time. ------------------------------------- Lawrence had been right about one thing; Michael had thought Mizuki was insanely cool for getting the abandoned boat house out of the Headmistress and the faculty. He hadn’t gotten all overbearing about it, but he was clearly appreciative of Mizuki being willing to share something she had obtained with her own hard work with her friends. What was maybe less exciting was the realization that both of the groups had been harassed by color-coded schoolgirls- and one guy-, though appropriate congratulations had also been given to Baz, Mizuki, and Lawrence that they had handled their group so easily while the one at the Aquarium had been a bit more troublesome. It had also been noted that Parker, Consuelo, and Carmen had been excellent, though. Parker had even managed to open a line of communication to one of them thanks to his gentle nature. That was what the group was doing now, after school two days later, waiting for Parker to call the girl who had given him her number to continue their communications. When everyone had arrived and was prepared- including whatever preparations they had made for this-, the number was dialed, and after three rings, it was picked up. “Alright, listen. I’m gonna talk for a second and then you can ask questions, but we need to be quick about it.” The voice definitely belonged to the orange wearing Orion from the Aquarium. “About 2 years ago, a weasel named Enoch approached me, Kitty, Ashley One, Zoe, and Jenny. He said he was being hunted by magical things from another dimension and turned us into the Starbrights. We got super powers that he gave us from a gem called the Umbra Star.” she clearly sucks in breath through her teeth. “It sucked. A bunch of terrible stuff happened to us because of it, and Enoch wasn’t exactly great at being a mentor. We were constantly fighting monsters sent by this evil queen named Solus, they were threatening and hurting our friends and family. Then, about a year ago, one of her monsters killed Enoch. And we didn’t even have him anymore. So we gave up. Stopped bothering to fight the monsters, didn’t really go to school. We only had each other. But sometimes the monsters still found us.” She talks fast but it’s not hard to understand her, and her frustration is clear even in just her words; she’s not a delinquent lashing out because it’s fun, she’s a girl their age who is hurt and wounded. “Ashley II and Felix weren’t part of our group. They ended up caught up when one of those monsters attacked us. But the Umbra Star that gives us our powers gave them powers too. They already had powers, so it just made them even stronger. We all could see they were a problem, even beyond us, but we couldn’t really do anything about it; we don’t decide who gets the powers and who doesn’t, only Enoch could figure that out and he never told us. So we had to stick with them. But it’s not gonna fly anymore. They’re way too violent, and they’re clearly working for some other purpose.” she was quiet again, for a second. “...If you take them out, get them arrested, beat them down and take them away to Juvie or some prison or something, maybe the connection will break. And we can be free of them. The others won’t ask this because they’re concerned about each other; no one wants to get blasted by Ashley or watch someone else get blasted. But I’ll do it, because we need the help. We don’t want to fight you. The others don’t know I’m talking to you, but if I show up with you, they won’t side with Ashley and Felix. If you help us, we’ll call it even and split, no hard feelings.” she paused. She was tense, extremely. And it honestly could have been seen as quite suspicious that a girl that had just been trying to punch everyone was now asking for help. "...Okay, sorry. I can answer any questions now." She finally said.

OOC for the other thread. We're going to split up after a bit but we'll keep this as the first thread; there will be a split when the team splits up, then reconverge in here. For now, feel free to give a little blurb about anything you would have done in between, or anything you would have brought to this little meet-up. If it needs a roll, we'll figure it out

For Spacefurry / Blackstaff Poncho / Golden Star will be joining soon!

Riverside Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 4:54 PM Seeing that it was Valentine's Day, Sampson’s Sodas had been pretty busy since the local middle school had gotten out. It would continue into the evening with high school students from the area and beyond. Once classes had finished for the day at Claremont, Michael Adon had hurried to start his shift at the store, now nearing the end of the first hour. Currently, all the seating at the raised tables along the front windows were full, as were most of the booths along the interior walls. But for the moment, there were no pending orders that needed to be filled, so Michael was able to catch his breath. This gave him a chance to go over and talk to one of the few individuals sitting on the barstool seating along the counter that ran towards the back of the store. Seated furthest from the door was one of his fellow Claremont students, Carmen Arrache, who arrived at the store just a short time ago. Carmen had finally decided to take Michael up on his offer of a discount at the soda shop and come out to see him during his shift. Elsewhere in Riverside…. Jean Dweomer was currently sitting on a bench at one of the small park areas that were scattered throughout Riverside. Dressed in civilian clothes, the Anthro-fox certainly attracted a few stares, but this was Freedom City, so they were often brief. The small playground in the park was currently empty, with any of the kids that would be interested likely home and having dinner. At least a few couples had walked through or by the park since Jean had sat down on the bench, seemingly on their way to one or more of the restaurants, art stores or other venues in the area.

December 1, 2023 Claremont Academy As if gym class wasn't bad enough... They'd been divided up as partners for basic unarmed combat when the flash of light came, a snap and boom of white that was all-too-familiar to La Puma Negra. The scene was familiar to none of them, however. They were no longer standing on the washable firm mats of the Claremont gym floor, instead they were standing inside a strange place. It was a room full of trophies; statues of a caped figure holding up a gigantic globe, surrounded by smaller statues of men and women in togas, artifacts from countless worlds and timelines. The walls on either side were of some exotic metal, as was the floor; with doors visible that seemed to lead off to a much larger tunnel complex. This was the lair of the late legendary Centurion, long a museum --- or was it? The whole place had a strange air about it as if long-neglected air had just been recently been disturbed, the air thick with dust and the distinct scent of blood. And then a man appeared; blonde and blue-eyed, he was wearing the Centurion's costume but clearly wasn't him. La Puma Negra recognized the adult form of Quirk (and perhaps a few others did too) - his daughter was no longer with him. "Welcome, combatants!" he called in a booming, artificially amplified voice. "You have reached the Centurion's stronghold! But be warned, if you seek to claim his true power, the guardians may not be what you expect! You must defeat them and reclaim the Centurion's rocket if you wish to be victorious. Let the combat begin!" And then, he vanished.

Contents Earth A-2-Future-17

Early January, 2024, Location: Sampson's Sodas, Riverside district of Freedom City, Early Evening Sampson's Sodas was a store operating out of what had once been some sort of warehouse. The warehouse portion was old, charming red brick, giving it a rustic atmosphere that nicely complemented the remodeled and added on front end, an open frame wood and brick affair with woooden decour. The entire building's front was set with windows for patrons to look out of while sitting at raised tables lining it, with the counter and the series of soda taps nestled in the back of the room. The walls were pictures of current trending bands with tour dates, or signed photos from them. Some popular teen heroes had pictures and autographs on the walls as well; this was a place for teens to immerse themselves in their culture. This late at night, it was getting close to closing, and only a single person was inside; Michael, wearing dark slacks and a lime green polo that announced him as an employee. The polo almost strained against the hero's sportsman frame, but he was leaning on the countertop and flipping through math homework while he waited for the store to close. Or more correctly, he was waiting for his visitor. After the party, or during it, Michael had only had a few moments to catch up with Charlie, as busy as they both were, but they had managed to exchange numbers for a chance to meet up later. Or maybe he'd asked Bernadette for the number and she'd gotten permission to share it, but it wasn't at all surprising, one way or the other, that Michael had sent Charlie a text a few days later and asked him to come to his work so they could talk. Michael had, after all, been very clear he had as much hero worship for the former Nevermore, now Stormcrow, as he did for the members of the Freedom League or Dead Head. That he was doing this at his work- even on a slow day when no one was in the store and he was about to close up-, in his civilian identity, indicated that alongside that Hero worship was a person who had a reasonable understanding of what he could and could not manage; a statement that he knew that it wouldn't be any work at all for Stormcrow to figure out who he was, if he somehow didn't already, and he had no intention to try and hide it from him anyway.

(GM Post) Mid January, 2024 What should be an easy assignment turns violent! A fun visit turned into a semi-nautical nightmare! What's a high school assignment compared to the aggression of Supervillains!? Can our Heroes save the day AND complete their assignment!? The Freedom City Aquarium was always open for students doing projects, especially ones from the well-funded Claremont Academy, whose headmistress was a significant donor for the massive, three story building and it's attached research vessel. A big exhibit now was a live Blue Whale, currently swimming in a fenced in area of the harbor while it recovered from injuries sustained in the wild. But there were plenty of other exhibits throughout the three stories of the building. Parker Powers, Consuelo Nunez, and Michael Adon had, in their Sophomore level Biology Course, been given an assignment along with the rest of the class to go around the city and examine a microbiome in the city; the same assignment that sent Mizuki, Lawrence, and Baz to the local Estuary underneath the amusement park. Carmen had gotten the chance to earn some extra credit by going along with them, partially as a chaperone and partially by writing her own essay about some of the more interesting examples of sea life at the aquarium. While it wasn't a microbiome in reality, since obviously it wasn't natural, it did allow the group to present comparisons between creatures of the same species that were adapted to different locations; a major example of this were Otters, as the Aquarium had both Sea Otters and River Otters among it's other exhibits. With special permission from the handler, the group was currently standing on a platform in the sea otter exhibit, taking notes to compare it to the River Otters they had visited before. With it's thicker fur and heavier body, the creature was quite different from the slick, svelte river otter that was it's biological cousin. It wasn't anything specifically straining or dangerous, it was actually pretty relaxing. Right up until the alarms went off, flashing red lights in the exhibit the group is in as a voice echoed over the loud speaker. "All Visitors and non-security personal please exit the Aquarium. Metahuman Activity is occurring." Which wasn't great to begin with, but it got worse when Carmen, her senses naturally more heightened than the three Sophomores, could hear a wail of pain by the largest beast in the area. It was too high to be heard at first, but on it's second scream, even Parker and Consuelo could hear it. Someone was torturing the Blue Whale, and the poor creature was screaming in fear and pain, loud enough that it could be heard inside the building. The otters fled off the platform into deeper water to escape the sound, and the crying whale was interwoven with the sounds of violence occurring on the lower levels of the Aquarium.

OOC for This Thread Featuring: Spaceman La Puma Negra Rot Golden Star So with her Ultrahearing, Carmen heard the Blue Whale first, but it quickly became audible to everyone, so everyone can react to it without needing to wait for now.

GM 5th December Millenial Mall It was right around rush hour, and the mall was packed with Christmas shoppers. Yuletide songs and jingles floated through the air, and it seemed every dozen yards there was a Santa Claus trying to sell something. ZAP! ZAM! ZAP! ZAM! Golden beams streaked across the hall. One hit an ice-cream stall, which exploded into silver coins. Another hit a christmas tree, which showered golden needles across the floor. One whizzed right past Michael Adon's face, and turned a shoppers bag into purest platinum. The shopper let it go with a dull thud, eyes widened before she realised just how potentially rich she was. "ITS CHRISTMAS!" came the yell. A youngish man, dressed in orange and gold, maybe in his twenties, a little on the short side but trim. Around the crown of his head, a wreath of pure shining gold. Even his eyes shone gold. He blew imaginary smoke out of both fingertips, and then started (with said fingertips) firing more golden beams around the mall, turning objects into silver, gold, and platinum. Precious metals for all!

Claremont Academy, Jasmin Summers Administrative Building Freedom City, New Jersey October 2023, 9:20 AM Bernadette O'Connell made her way along a path toward the administrative building of Claremont Academy. The attractive redhead had been asked by the school's headmistress to provide a tour to a newly enrolled student of the school. The Irish teen had to admit she was likely a good option for this task during a school day, seeing as she could be in multiple places at a time (one of her duplicates was sitting in a math class at that moment). The tall girl was dressed in a pair of jeans and a light grey lacrosse hoodie. Checking her phone, she quickened her pace as she realized she was a bit behind schedule. Thankfully she was quick enough that she arrived at the main entrance of the admin building just as a tall boy built like an American football player exited the main office. "Hello, Michael?" Bernadette asked with a warm smile as she walked up to the teen, her Irish accent evident. "I'm Bernadette, Headmistress Summer asked me ta give ye a tour o' campus."

Claremont Academy Athletic Fields Freedom City, New Jersey October 2023, 3:30 PM During Michael's new student orientation tour, there had a discussion about the school's athletic fields and Bernadette showing him how to play lacrosse. So, the Senior girl had arranged for them to meet at the athletic fields after classes ended for the day. The Irish teen was dressed in a pair of shorts and a Irish national football team jersey as she walked out onto the field. She had a large bag filled with lacrosse sticks over one shoulder, which she dropped onto the ground. Two of her duplicates where busy moving a lacrosse goal out onto the field, while a couple of others already had lacrosse sticks and were running around passing a ball between them. Resting her own lacrosse stick over one shoulder, the redhead was just waiting for Michael to arrive, along with anyone else that might show up.

Just another IC Short Story Early December, 2023, Construction site in Greenbank Michael got out of class on Friday and immediately went back to his room. He dumped his school supplies, changed into a generic polo, and by 3:30 he was on a bus headed into the city proper, reading a book of poetry by William Blake. It was part of an assignment, but he had an interest in the poet’s most popular and well known poem The Tyger; it was perhaps a bit generic to say it was one of his favorites, but he did rank it quite highly as poetry. He annotated some stuff in the book with his own writings, but read accompanying discussions on the poem that were included in the book as well. He flipped the pages and scribbled for several stops, until he saw the skeletal frame of the building above a chain-link fence with a big plastic sign advertising DeCosta Construction on it, and he got out at the next stop, putting the book in his pocket. He crossed the street and wandered up to the gate, then into the site proper. A heavy-set man minding a concrete mixer saw him and intercepted him a few steps in with a frown. “Kid, you can’t be in here.” He said sternly. Michael inclined his head to the side curiously and extended his hand. The man shook his hand reflexively, a natural reaction a lot of people had to someone casually extending their hand to them. “I’m Michael, I’m Terrance’s son.” Michael explained, smiling. The older man seemed doubtful and was about to say something but a whistle from two stories up made them both look up at a muscular, dark skinned man working on setting rivets. “Hey Mike!” “Hello Mister Franklin!” Michael responded with a wave. Franklin Bird was one of his dad’s best workers and had been with him for a decade on every job. “He’s in the trailer. Joe, Mike’s fine.” Franklin called before going back to his work. Joe looked at Michael, who shrugged and offered a genuine smile again. “Just go straight to the trailer and get a hard hat if you’re going to be wandering around.” Joe said in annoyance. “Yes, Sir.” Michael said demurely to avoid bruising an ego as he stepped around and moved with purpose directly to the management trailer, where his father was sitting at what passed for a fancy desk on a construction site; a white plastic folding table and a lawn chair. Terrance Thomas Adon was the reason Michael had a tall frame, but he was not the reason for Michael’s full head of hair. His belly had gone a bit slack recently as he had been doing less work out on the sites and moved to supervisory positions, but he was a large man with arms made strong from work, with calloused hands. His hair was more salt than pepper, and was thinning at the top. He had a carefully trimmed mustache that was exactly within regulations for construction works, and in his slacks and polo he looked the part of an educated foreman. He was currently going over figures in his chair, but he looked up and grinned at Michael as his son entered. “Ah, if it ain’t a stranger!” he said cheerfully. “Where you been? Busy at your school, I ‘spect?” He asked as Michael pulled up his own chair. “Yeah. It’s...well moving to a new school partway through the year is rough. I’m trying to find some clubs and stuff, and all the other students and faculty are really welcoming, but it’s always going to be an adjustment.” Michael said honestly, scratching his chin. “If we hadn’ta thought it was necessary, we wouldn’ta moved ya to the new school to begin with. But it was what was best for you, you know?” Terrance said with a frown, putting his pen down and clasping his large hands together on his desk as he looked at Michael. “I understand. And I’m not upset about it. But It takes time to do any sort of changes. You know that, don’t you?” “Of course I do; And I’ve got plenty of experience with eggheads who have to have things changed at the last minute too. And if I know anything about you, and I feel like I do, you can handle any of that stuff without much issue.” he looked around quickly and his voice dropped to a whisper. “No matter what them powers are doing to you.” he whispered it but his voice was confident, enough to embolden Michael into a smile of confidence of his own, then his voice rose again. “It’s Sam I’m worried about, if anything, she’s not taking it as well as you, I’ve heard from her parents.” “Yeah. I’m trying to help her along but I can only do so much, and sometimes she just doesn’t really want help. And it’s not like I’m gonna force her to do anything.” His father nodded along and maintained the tone of offering advice. “Look, sometimes the best thing you can do is to do your best, and let other people follow along in your example; sometimes people aren’t looking for a hand up, they’re looking for the road, and Michael, you can carve that road for them.” He didn’t say anything else, but Michael studied him carefully. The pinch of those dark brown eyes, the twitch of his lip. The unspoken statement his father left there, that he probably didn’t even want to admit he thought, was that sometimes people wouldn’t follow the path even if you gave them the road, and that you had to cut them loose. Michael knew his dad would have followed that same advice himself; with problematic workers, he could only give them so many chances. “Carve the road, huh?” “Or light the way, or hurl the boulders out of the way, or direct the traffic. However you want to present it as.” he said with a grin. “Just, doing something to make it easier for other people.” “I get it.” Michael responded with a wave of his hand. “Help myself first, and others can come after, because they’ll have an easier time going where I’ve already been.” “And because if you’re stable and got your head put on straight, you aren’t going to be distracted, you can put all your effort into helping other people.” Terrance said as he stood up. “Come on, I had to work through lunch getting payroll ready, so I wanna go get something to eat.” So father and son left the worksite for a bit, heading three blocks down the street to a Mexican place where Michael ordered some tacos and his dad got a steaming plate of fajitas. “So how’s school?” “Not bad...I’m working on a book report, they really threw me right in and I just had to catch up, so it’s been challenging, but I’m managing. The library is full of books so there’s plenty of help with studying and the like.” “Any sports?” “Nothing official, we’re too small for anything like that. But the students play sports together sometimes, you know, just for fun. So it keeps me up to date.” “A shame you can’t compete anymore.” It was an odd thing to say; they both had their frustrations about the situation. Michael liked sports, and he liked playing with others. His father liked watching Michael win, but also liked Michael having fun. There’d be no point to it if Michael wasn’t enjoying sports, or at least that was how his dad always acted, so as long as he was having fun, it should be fine, right? “Isn’t it just enough to be having fun?” Michael asked his dad, wanting to poke at the discussion a bit more with his dad, who frowned at the question. “It is enough to be having fun, Michael. But you enjoyed competition. I can look at you and tell you you’re missing the feeling of competing in some way. Now sure, it’s probably some level of being uncomfortable in new surroundings, but I get the feeling you’re going to be jonesing for a genuine contest before too long; that having fun with friends throwing the ball around isn’t going to fix your desire for a little competition.” “...That makes it sound like I’m gonna cause trouble looking for fights.” He thought about his interaction with the green-haired student he had earlier. “...You know...maybe you’re right. But I don’t intend to.” “Only if you let it happen. It’s just about keeping control of yourself. I only mention it because I know you’re better than your worst traits.” His father said frankly, his voice even. It did actually bring some level of frustration to Michael, to be informed of- and have to recognize- his own failures and shortcomings. He would eventually miss competition, he’d miss challenging himself. But that was only if he didn’t change his perceptions. “...I’m going through a lot of changes aren’t I.” he said after a long time spent thinking about it. “You are. And with those changes come benefits. The Chinese Character for Crisis contains the characters for both ‘Danger’ and ‘Opportunity’. John F. Kennedy said that.” “He was paraphrasing Lewis Mumford from 1944, and it’s not correct, the second character means something different.” Michael noted. “I learned that in a linguistics class I’m taking; it was an example of how things that aren’t exactly correct can be warped to provide a more positive message and how those messages often stick around despite the incorrectness due to people’s desire to have positive messaging.” Terrance laughed gruffly. “Well, then, even if it’s not right, it’s a good thought to have, right? You’re in Crisis, and it’s dangerous, but there’s also opportunity.” Michael laughed at that in response, at his father's skillful handling of new information; his work, his body, that all belied that he had always had a sharp mind that he was willing to exercise with the use of a quick word or jib.. “You’re right. I suppose that’s true. Maybe I should just start saying it too. ‘You know, people like to say that the Chinese character for crisis contains the words “danger” and “opportunity”, but that’s not actually true, but it shows that people want it to be true’, or something like that.” The two shared a familial grin and chuckle together before it was interrupted by Terrance’s phone ringing he picked it up and answered. “Yeah Frank?” His happy face slowly dripped into a serious scowl. “...Crap, you’re serious? Alright, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Get everyone out the back while he’s distracted.” He said, hanging up. He looked at his son with a severe look. “Michael. A guy I fired last week came back to the site. I had been going to send out his last check but it seems like he wants more than that. And he’s juiced himself up.” he said the next part very seriously. “I don’t think you should come back there, just wait here until I get back.” Michael looked at him probingly for a moment, then nodded as he understood what was being said. “You got it. I won’t go anywhere near the site, I’ll wait here until you get back.” he said politely, a son obeying his father. Terrance got up, left the money on the table, and headed out the door at a jog. as he was in the middle of the first crosswalk, the roar of wind overcame the sound of cars for a moment and a corona of red and gold shot over the buildings, heading back towards the construction site.

This is just a little IC solo thread/story, only two posts, I've written about the first time Golden Star does some Superheroics. Nothing major, no mechanics, no other characters or anything, so there's no need for an OOC thread I think. Black Friday, 2023, Midtown, Millennium Mall The Mall was absolutely, ludicrously packed. There would be more space in a sardine can then there would be in the inside of the mall. Accompanying Michael’s mother, him and Kenny had had to amuse themselves while their mother spent most of the year’s surplus- the money saved by Thomas repairing the garage by himself, the money saved by Michael getting a free ride to Claremont, and the money quietly deposited into their account to make up for Michael’s hospital stay- on a variety of bright, shiny presents that Michael and Kenny were mostly here to carry when needed. She had shooed them aware a little after lunch, which likely meant she was shopping for them, and left the two without any real direction on what to do. Michael had already gotten most of his presents, but Stella liked the feeling of buying presents in person instead of over the internet, so it meant trips to the malls, the shops, and the stores. It wasn’t that much of a bother, but it was difficult to get some air when crammed onto the small walkways of the three story building. Currently the two were hanging over the balcony of the food court, legs dangling over a three story drop as they sat on the raised barrier, watching people scurry below them. “You see her?” Michael asked. “Hrmmm...no.” Kenny responded. Michael leaned over conspiratorially and pointed. It was a bit easier for him than his brother; ever since he got his powers, his senses seemed a little sharper. He unerringly identified his mother’s red curls as she walked into a toy store amidst a throng of 20 or 30 other parents. Kenny followed his finger and made a sound. “Oh! I see her. You’ve got good eyes!” “Well that happens when you play a bunch of sports. If you put in the effort to train something you get better at it. I have to be able to pick out receivers in a crowd and track the puck on the ice, you know?” The little brother hmmed again and took a sip of his drink. “How come you aren’t playing sports at your new school? They ain’t even got no sports teams, so why are you there?” He asked with the innocence of a child. Michael sighed and stretched. “Come on, we’ve been over this. I can’t play sports anymore because I got hurt in my accident, remember?” “You don’t look hurt.” “It’s an inside hurt. The kind you can’t see but you always have to walk around with.” “Like mom? She doesn’t act like it hurts but she always gets scared when there’s a supervillain on TV.” Michael frowned at his brother’s casual innocence to ask such biting questions. “Yeah. A hurt like that. It means I can’t play anymore because I might get hurt, or something bad might happen. And the people at my new school are helping me, even if I might not ever get to play sports again. Like how Miss Cooper helped Mom; she still gets scared but she goes out and does despite it, right?” “Yeah.” “So that’s how it is with me. I might not ever play professionally or anything, but I’ll eventually get to the point where I’m okay.” he said easily. “So anyway, what are you getting mom?” He directed the conversation away from his issues smoothly. Kenny wasn’t actually going to get a present, it was just going to be whatever their Dad got and put his name on it. “Me and Dad are getting her a spa treatment. And we’re making little pots for flowers at school and I’m gonna give mine to her.” “I bet she’d like that.” Kenny nodded along and they returned to silence for a while, watching people while the bustle of the mall came over them, until Michael’s phone rang and he pulled it out to check it. The number on it was for his boss, Sandra Sampson. Maybe wanting him to take another shift or something. He answered without much concern. “Yes M’am.” The voice that responded was the same as always with Sandra; gruff, clipped, and expecting obedience. “Michael, you’re at the Millennium Mall.” That was not a question. “That would be correct.” he keep his voice even and what he was responding with vague; Kenny was watching and he didn’t want to give him any kind of idea. Let the little brother think he was just discussing getting put on a new shift or something. “There are a couple of low rent thugs who have stolen a car and some jewelry and are trying to evade police in the local area. I know you aren’t fully trained, but there shouldn’t be any problem with you stopping them. I’ve asked for you to get the first shot, and people are quite busy today for obvious reasons, so the ball is in your court.” “Do you think I’m ready for that?” “...” she was quiet. Which indicated she was doubtful. “I do not think there will be any harm in you trying.” which meant that there was someone who was going to be watching to make sure he didn’t mess up. “I get it. I’ll be there soon.” he said evenly. She hung up before he did and he put his phone back in his pocket. “Kenny, I gotta go take care of something. Can you sit on that bench until I get back?” “Are you buying me a present?” “...Yeah. I’m gonna go get your present. So you need to go sit over there and wait. Here’s twenty bucks to get a snack.” He said as he turned and slid off the railing, then helped Kenny down. He deposited Kenny in a booth and wandered off, heading towards a maintenance corridor and then up towards the roof.