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  1. Dutemps Building, Château de Martel Early Afternoon, Around Lunchtime Eve leaned back in her office chair and sighed, rubbing her eyes and fighting off an encroaching headache. She needed something to eat, and to see the other ladies of the Castle. She gave herself a gentle mental chiding, reflecting that it was so typical of her to jump straight into to tackling the pile of paperwork tied to the company, the tower and the city projects she had instead of taking some time to reconnect with her friends. "Yeah," she said out loud, padding off toward the kitchen, "Food."
  2. Silberman's Books 2021, Mid-November (not long after Spies Like Us and Friend Like Me), a weekday afternoon Davyd Palahniuk had graduated from the Claremont Academy some five months ago, yet was still unsure what to do with his life. He'd sought out advice from family and friends, and friends of friends -- including some rather (in)famous folks! -- and was getting a better idea of what he'd wanted to do with himself. (At the very least, he'd learned some harsh truths which made him rethink and discard some ideas.) There was one more stop he wanted to make on this quest, two women who'd already offered him an immense amount of guidance and assistance, who he'd come to view as surrogate aunts: Grimalkin and Miss Grue. The silver bell above the door jingled merrily as he entered, just audible over the few customers in the store. In one spot, two young men were arguing by the comics section over which writer "got" the Raven better. Elsewhere, a woman was looking at dice sets, waiting for her daughter to pick out her first one. And over at the counter, chatting with one of the store's regulars, was Lynn Epstein. Davyd waved at her, then slowly began walking around the store, waiting until the owner was free to talk. Ooh, the new Best Horror of the Year anthology is out!
  3. Freedom City. Hanover. Terrifi-Labs. Sept 5, 2020. 11 PM. Terrifica Terrifica had an idea. Shockingly enough for the super genius. But it was a good one. The initial trial a while ago hadn’t worked out, for a variety of reasons. But this one would. Casey was quite reliable for this sort of thing. So…she just called her. “Hello, Casey? I’m in the Lab.” The original Crimebusters idea was still valid, but one administrator slash moderator simply wasn’t enough. “Yes, I have something big. I’ll need your help with-“ And as always, she cut Terrifica off, saying she would be there. “I really need to explain what-” No need for that, she was already on her way. And then, of course, the line was dead. Baffling. But Casey was Casey. Terrifica wouldn’t have her any other way.
  4. Somewhere. Sometime. April 9, 2020 Each of them woke up alone in a featureless white room with a single equally featureless automatic sliding door. Woke up in the general sense of coming to awareness, not having actually been unconscious. This was most odd, as they had decidedly not each been alone in a featureless white room the minute before. A few seconds’ worth of remembering would allow them to recall the air wavering in front of them, several seconds of blackness, an instant of nonawareness, and then the current situation. Any superhuman sensory abilities would not penetrate the walls of the room. The door would, of course, open if they approached it, revealing a featureless white corridor with another door not a full minute’s walk away at the end of it. This second door would also open, revealing a central room into which all of their hallways fed into. This room was decorated as if for a party, with a big colorful banner that said "WELCOME FREEDOM LEAGUE!", and a circular table with several chairs around it. All of the decorations were oriented towards the doors. A glance above their heads upon entry would reveal an inactive viewscreen and camera.
  5. The Freedom Ledger Online #ReleaseTheRavenCut by Dancia Devons At the top of the story a video plays of an old ‘80’s film, an older Centurion turns to look as an armoured foot stomps down. A pan up shows a power-suit in with the familiar form of The Raven. If you ask the more discerning comic book fan they will tell you one of the best comics of the 80’s was a The Raven Rises, a comic that imagines a very 1980s future where an old Raven comes out of retirement to save Freedom City opposed by a similarly aged Centurion now working for a government that bans superheroes. What many don’t realise is that there was a film made of the comic, though only a few clips have surface in the last forty odd years. Many consider it a cheaply made film to keep the rights, like Coorman’s Atom Family movie, but many insist that it a fully realized movie on par if not better than ‘78s Centurion: The Movie or ‘89s The Raven. So when rumors began to circulate at the end of last year that a print of the film had been found the internet was quick to call for the movie to be released, creating the now famous #ReleasetheRavenCut hashtag…
  6. December 2019 Dutemps Tower I AM GOING UNDER THE SEA. I WILL BRING YOU A FISH. Aquaria considered what else to say, then added HAVE FUN AT THE ART GALLERY! It was only a day trip out to the art museum with the glass with her other friend, but Jessie had been looking forward to it and that was good. She didn't want to spoil her good time, so she added a note on the refrigerator that said CALL HELP IF I AM NOT BACK SOON. With her job done, Aquaria headed to the closet where she kept her armor. She climbed inside and throbbed with satisfaction as the space-metal closed around her, the warm liquid that emerged from every crevice inside immensely more satisfying than the cold, dry air of their apartment. She and Jessie had special windows that actually opened, something Eve had said was the "superhero" model and because sometimes the claustrophobia in this little dry space was terrifying. With her armor on, she hung her trident over her back and began climbing the sides of the building, up towards the castle. Was anyone home today? She certainly hoped so. December 2019 "Would Heroditus Stylianos please report to the headmaster's office? He is being picked up." The rather odd PA announcement seemed to make Heroditus' art teacher very worried, and right in the middle of watercolors no less. Heroditus had never actually heard that particular phrase said over the intercom before, at least not when it came to him. "Oh dear, oh dear, well, ah, Mr.Stylianos, we'll take care of everything," said Ms. Zinzendorf. She walked him to the door, a sympathetic expression on her face. "Don't worry about a thing."
  7. Mid-July 2019 The summons had gone out to a variety of heroes - come to Freedom Hall at such and such a time on such and such a date for a meeting with Comrade Frost in the League satellite. Some had gotten the message personally in intimate conversation with the ex-Soviet, some had gotten it through professional correspondence. A uniformed League employee had shuttled them all inside the Hall and to its teleporter, where now (if Frost's calculations were correct) they were all about to arrive! When the flash and noise of teleportation were over, Frost spread his arms, producing a slight chill in the air in the metal-walled room that looked a bit like something out of Star Trek - if you ignored the big transparent window to one side that showed the Earth below. "Welcome to space! Feel free to ogle Central America if interested," he declared in his distinct Russian accent.
  8. @alderwitch @angrydurf @Exaccus @Tiffany Korta - feel free to make an IC reaction post, and give me a Notice check afterwards.
  9. Silberman's Books. Wednesday, March 27th, 2019. 12:35 pm It started out as a bit of joke, really, until the idea began to take hold in Lynn Epstein's brain. Then the more she thought about it, the better and better it sounded. Surely there were lots of people in 'the biz' who could this kind of service. And it wasn't like they needed the money; heck, they could do it for free! No need to discriminate against struggling, up-and-coming heroes; it could really give them a leg up! So she sent a message to the one person she knew who currently fit the bill in Freedom. And who knows, maybe they could eventually add more? The changeling waited in her office, sipping mint tea as she waited for guest to arrive.
  10. Miss Grue Daphne Celeste Miss Grue is exactly what she sounds like one of the Grue, aliens shapeshifting set on conquering all non Grue. Separated from the Grue hive mind she grew up to become a hero on Earth. History Our story starts with a minor struggle between a Grue and Lor ship about 16 light years from Earth. The Grue ship was destroyed and only one infiltration pod survived, though it was heavily damaged, the Grue clone onboard was activated and the AI in control of the mission tried to lock onto a Grue system to return it precious cargo, though only at sublight as it’s jump engines were inoperable. In there damaged state the AI locked onto broadcasts from Earth and mistook them as instruction, so as it was designed to do it began to raise the “infant” Grue, who couldn’t be speed matured due to damaged equipment. Monitoring the signals the AI began to absorb the information and began to develop a personality of her own as a mothering figure to the young Grue calling herself Mother Unit. The young Grue was enraptured by the programs she was allowed to watch, especially the young woman on the show and she began to develop her own identity, thinking of herself as female, and wanting to be a heroine herself helping people when she can. Subtly altered by cosmic rays, the shielding still damaged, her identity drifted away from the more amorphous form of the Grue to a more feminine form. It also expanded her abilities to allow her to phase through matter, something that a bit of a shock when it first happened. After sixteen years for the occupants, though a few chronotron leaks from the drive made it shorter for the ship, they arrived at Earth where Daphne Celeste, the name she’d chosen for herself, arrived in Freedom City determined to do her bit as the cities newest hero Miss Grue! Costume and Appearance (What your character looks like, in civilian and heroic identity. Details about face, hair, height, build, types of clothing they are likely to wear. Description of their costume, design, color, mask if applicable, visible weapons or gadgets, special features.) Powers (Information about character powers. Cool origin of powers, descriptors, especially interesting power stunts, potential weaknesses.) Allies (Friends and teammates of your character, special relationships, family members) Timeline 2013 Winter November 17th, Diary of a Teenage Grue: Miss Grue Arrives on Earth. 2013 Winter January 4th, Sweet Dreams (Aren't made of this) Fall November 22nd, Reclaiming the Land 2014 Winter January 2nd, Mall Rat January 25th, Sudden Exposure Summer July 1st, Dream of You July 4th, Next-Gen: Lor and Order Fall December 1st, Take Me To TV Land December 25th, Incursion: Mind Over Matter 2015 Winter January 2nd, Creature Feature Spring May 9th, Queen Grue May 20th, Don't Go Into the Water Summer August 28th, Beautiful People Doing Bad Things Fall October 31st, So You Want To Visit A Haunted Bookstore, Hmm? November 26th, Your Little Light 2016 Spring March 4th, One Month Mission March 15th, The Nightmare Before Recess Summer July 6th, Down the Unfamiliar Road July 12th, Lost in the Supermarket Fall September, A Dark and Spiteful God December, Nine+ Ladies Dancing 2017 Spring The Doctor Is Out April 25th, Crimebusting Monthly: Pillage and Plunder Summer July 10th, Another Castle 2018 Winter Ooooh Fashion (turn to the Left) Spring March 27th, Body Doubles
  11. West Gables Housing Unit, North End After the holiday's thing were settling back to normal at school, thanks to so many heroes around Freedom kept running despite the cold weather. And whilst some liked the dark and gloomy weather many in the House had decided they need do something to brighten up the winter and raise some money for those struggling in this weather. So after a quite enthusiastic night of discussion, it was decided to do a fashion show to show off some of the Colleges best designers. The show had been going stunningly well and many of the tickets had already been sold. Casey was in her room one dark and wintery morning when there was a knock on the door and Lola stuck her head around the door, not even waiting for a response. "There a woman in the Common Room to see you, says you know her." from the sound of this mysterious stranger had caught Lola attention.
  12. The DuTemps Building July 10th, 2018 10:59 AM Before the sky bled, Temperance was taken in by the city below. Things were tranquil, and she wasn't quite sure where they'd go next. She and Sharl were still happy in their relationship. They weren't necessarily making any moves towards any particular destinations, but they were okay with standing in the middle ground. She had just graduated from college, and while she was putting herself out on the job market, she was still experiencing that difficulty of having a good - but not incredible - GPA and some internship experience. Maybe I'll put my "night work" on the resume and see how many heads explode. There was peace. There was quiet. There was a city below, remembering what was lost and celebrating the victory that had been gained through great sacrifice. She stood on the lip of a castle in the sky, wondering how her life had gotten to this point, and where it might go next. Then the screaming began. In a hundred different voices, from boiling asphalt to sparking power lines. Her phone went off in her hand. A message from her father. THE CITY IS GOING MAD. RUN. Before she could even more, a great red rent was torn in the sky, and a swarm of steel locusts descended. She ran to the lip of the building, struck dumb for half a second, before she got a good look... No. Oh, gods, no. She ran back into the building, reaching for her phone to send out a mass blast to the group. UNDER ATTACK. TERMINUS.
  13. GM April 25th, 10:00 a.m. West End, Sid's Cafe After a few more messages sent back and forth, a meeting time and place had been set for Sid's Cafe. It had everything the heroes could want, ranging from coffee and baked goods to cider and salads, but most importantly, it had a small, second floor dining room that they could reserve. With four walls, a closed door, and creaking stairs leading up, it provided ample privacy to discuss their business while also satisfying the desire of some for a public meeting place. Arriving at Sid's gives a warm welcome in the form of tempting aromas. Judging from the crowd of people in the bottom floor happily chatting as they sip their coffee, brunch seems to be a busy time for Sid. Thankfully for those who order food, the staff behind the counter keep the line moving quickly and efficiently. The decor is precisely what one would expect from a highly modern cafe. None of the tables are of the same design, nor are the chairs. The only common thread between them is that they are wooden. The restaurant has a purple wallpaper decorated with fleur-de-lis, although hardly any remain visible under the mass of pictures and various idiosyncratic junk mounted on the walls. Regardless of one's tastes towards the design choices, the second floor proves adequate for the heroes' devices, sequestered away from the customers downstairs. The table in the middle of the roof is large enough to accommodate eight, although on one side it has a long, purple sofa instead of chairs. Along the walls of the room are three more tables, all designed to seat two people. Along one wall and leading out onto a veranda are a pair of french doors letting in the majority of the room's light. Judging from the hum of muffled conversation from below, it is apparent that the walls are thick enough to keep a quiet conversation within the room.
  14. GM When Tristan Delacroix first disappeared, the initial reaction at the party was simply bewilderment. No one panicked, thanks to the lack of apparent trauma. Even after the young doctor failed to pop up from beneath the outdoor table, his family and coworkers weren't sure what to make of it. But soon Alexander called the police, and then a few of his friends in local government to ensure that law enforcement was properly motivated. AEGIS quickly took an interest too; jurisdictional protocols kept them from claiming the case for themselves without more evidence of superhuman involvement, but they nonetheless dispatched Agent Thornton, who only just closed her last case involving a Delacroix abduction. And Thornton, smart enough to use all the assets at her disposal, put out a broadcast on the International Air Distress frequency for Miracle Girl. That hero's contribution, sadly, came down to looking around the estate and confirming that, yep, the little dude was gone. She didn't find any cackling villains lurking in the bushes, or ultraviolet ransom notes waiting for her eyes only; theories abounded among the regular investigators, but evidence did not. Casey might need some help with this one. * * * Calls were made, the media took note, and by the time that dawn lit Delvin's upper roof--a house so frivolously large that it looked like a posh, poorly-located shopping mall, because no private residence had any business being this big--his stone driveway was full of police cruisers and black SUVs with government plates. News vans lined the nearest public road. Tristan wasn't quite so well-known as the older two brothers, but he'd still draw in viewers, and if he didn't, then reporters could still find something worth their time here. They hovered just beyond the police barricades, hungry but patient. This was Freedom City, and sooner or later, heroes were bound to show up.
  15. OOC for >this thread in which Glamazon and Miss Grue beat up monsters
  16. GM Radiodeum The West End, Freedom City, NewJersey Friday, January 2nd, 2015 11:15 PM The Radiodeum is a theater infamous for its former tenants being the Toon Gang. Long evicted from its beautiful decor, the wooden framework is still looked on fondly by its many patrons. A far more impressive feat on any other night. Business had not resumed to its usual splendor after the Communion invaded. The annual monster movie night in preparation for the pending school season hadn't attracted much attention. In fact there were only two patrons in the theater. Daphne Celeste and princess Thaelia or as they are otherwise known Miss Grue and the Glamazon two teens associated with the Claremont superhero group known as Next-Gen. The Atlantean was as pop culture blind as one could be. And you couldn't fill anymore pop culture inside the Grue's mind. Making it easy to figure out who had picked their evening plans Both had decided they needed to kick back and relax after the busy month they had. Defending the city from an escalated amount of criminal activity in response to a majority of the local heroes leaving the city. Now a new year had come to pass, and the two outsiders at heart wanted to do something mundanely normal to relax. At the moment finding themselves halfway through a Wolfman movie. "Why does the small one not simply stab creature?" Thaelia asked Daphne. Leaning over in her seat with a tub full of popcorn bouncing around as they stared at the black and white flick.
  17. Dutemps Building December 2016 It was unusual for a groups of people who lived in the same location to gather together to throw a Holiday party, but Dutemps wasn’t the most normal of places. First it was a castle high above the skyline of Freedom City, looking like it was from a fairytale or a cartoon but then again so did a lot of Freedom City. And this fairytale castle in the sky was home to an amazing bunch of female misfit heroes. And today they were having a party. One of the smaller halls had been prepared for today’s event with a incredibly well stocked buffet table and a fairly impressive sound system for hopefully a fruitfuls night partying.
  18. CN: Date: Late July, 2016 Location: The Beach, Port Regal The Atlantic might be colder than the sea that Leilani had grown up loving, but the waves held a familiar rhythm and even if the sand was darker, the beach more rocky, working it with Kimo held a certain strange familiarity. It wasn't home - not quite - but it wasn't utterly foreign either. Which, perhaps, made it an appropriate place for a not-quite impromptu celebration of sorts. At least, with having begun to shift her things out of the League headquarters and into the Dutemps building, Leilani had accepted and acknowledged that while her powers remained concerning, they weren't actually out of her control. Her good-natured nephew (Leilani couldn't call him her great-nephew still with a straight face) had been all for an evening of surfing and beach barbecue, not to mention meeting more of the super-hero community and the off-hand invitation had been extended towards the rest of those calling the castle home. Leilani had traded her life-guard swimsuit for an off duty alternate. With a sarong knotted around her waist, she set about setting up the wood with the intent of setting up a proper bon-fire, pausing to wave over the guests she recognized when they arrived. "Kimo, watch yourself, yeah? Gonna put up some bumpers," she paused in her building of the small wood tower to gesture, mounding up the sand and rock to form larger banks to provide at least a little bit of visual privacy from the rest of the stretch of the beach. "Remind me to put that back afterwards." Leilani added in a mutter as she returned her attention to stacking wood.
  19. Content Note: Disturbing Content, Gore September 2016 Freedom Hall The world survived the Terminus Invasion. But only a few people on it survived a Terminus invasion - from the other side. Neither Steve Murdock nor Tarva the Black had so much as looked at each other upon their arrival in Freedom Hall. Rather, they had taken seats on the opposite sides of the conference room's big table, each joined by their closest allies, responding to the one summon in the multiverse that could bring the two of them together under one roof. Freedom Hall and its staff seemed on edge tonight- and no wonder, with all the crises great and small that had come that summer, and with this new crisis no doubt whistling through the super community like an incoming shell. "As you know, the Freedom League occasionally dispatches remote multiversal probes to probe areas of Terminus activity, using Zero Zone technology originally gathered from the Centurion." Daedalus, who Steve knew was no mere man but an ageless immortal (at least in the realities he knew), looked fatigued today, and perhaps some shadow of his age. "That's the source of the data we send to Archetech and the DuTemps Building," he added, with a nod to Ghost Girl and Miss Americana. "Typically the data we recover is largely fluctuating levels of entropic radiation. A multiversal weather report," he added for the benefit of the non-cosmic scholars in the room. "Recently, one of our probes was activated by a significant surge of entropic radiation greater than what was observed during the invasion of 1993. This triggered its internal video function and autonomous exploration unit." - It was Liberty Park. Or had been, once. The city was transformed into abomination. A red, pitiless sky lit by a too-bright, too-blue sun lit a park whose trees had burned and stones been shattered by spiked half-spheres that gleamed with an almost organic oily wetness. The doomforges lay empty now - but there were Omegadrones perched on them, the light, quickly-made ones that could nonethless slice a normal man in half or throttle him alive, like flocks of demonic birds waiting for the kill. The forges themselves were decorated with a scattering of corpses like so many mounted butterflies, the impaled, half-decayed corpses of beings who by the bright colors of their tattered costumes had once been superheroes. Tarva had turned paler and paler as the film played, her eyes staring and hands pressed flat against the table in front of her as if she was about to bolt, while Steve was bolt-upright in his chair and watching the film with an intensity that suggested a gathering storm. "...those drones are dead," he said, his voice a low rumble. And sure enough, one of the drones, one perched at the very edge of the doomforge that must have created it, actually tilted and toppled off as the group watched, hitting the ashy ground below with a tremendous crash. "Is this actually from the Terminus," asked Tarva, her voice tight and close to tears. "Can your probe peer so far?" "No," said Daedalus, shaking his head. "The radiation levels suggest there's been cosmic compaction on a tremendous scale - but this universe has not yet, for the moment, been pulled past the entropic threshold."
  20. The OOC for Lost in the Supermarket DC 30 Notice checks to notice the buzzing as more than an ominous disquiet. DC 20 With Tremorsense.
  21. Tuesday July 12th 2016 The Streets at Midtown Mostly sunny, 84F The sun shone down on the crowds taking advantage of the mild summer day to explore the pedestrian byways of the upscale 'Streets of Midtown' and it's fine bistros and boutiques. While 'The Streets' were certainly over budget for Leilani they did offer the benefit of being much more open and less crowded than the more populist Millennium Mall, and Kimber knew just the person to bring along to assuage any budgetary concerns. As the troupe made their way from one shop to the next they could enjoy the dappling of the sun along the tree lined walks, the fragrance of floral vines on the decorative arbors spaced along the brick paths. The noise of the city was dulled by the architecture and landscaping giving the shops a peaceful suburban feel in the middle of hte towering skyscrapers and busy streets outside the plazas and paths. The otherwise Idyllic environs made the faint but persistent buzz almost felt more than heard all the more unsettling as it slowly came to the attention of our heroines.
  22. Fourth of March, 2016, The Gateway, Goodman Building, Freedom City On its dais in the middle of the stark, open room, the circular Gate pulsed and rippled from the distortion of energy from an open channel to another world. For once, the Gateway was crowded, both with people and luggage, crates and moving equipment, Tesla and Maximus at their control stations the only people with much room to maneuver. Chase and Victoria were mingling with the swell of twenty-odd chatting, nervous scientists wearing A.S.T.R.O. Labs insignia on their jackets and hats, while Cosmo was darting about the room in excitement. The Moon Monkey had to get his hands on anything and everything new or strange, which with a crowd of strangers really was anything. His gleeful shrieking and intrusively curious hands sometimes got him a stern psychic warning, and by now he was much less hyperactive than a quarter of an hour ago. After the media circus outside, it was a pleasant and calming change of pace. The news that the famously secretive Atom Family and endlessly innovative Lab were making a joint ventire into a mysterious new universe had hardly been enough for the news agents and shouting reporters, but the fact that three superheroes were joining them, along with Freedom Cross biologist Tristan Delacroix and journalist Daphne Celeste, had packed the street outside the Goodman Building as fans and well-wishers screamed over each other to their idols. More cynical heads had shouted accusingly that the list of supers was blatantly calculated for news-worthiness rather than "true" value to the expedition. Where, for example, was Daedalus? Dragonfly? Miss Americana or any of the other technically-able or routine dimensional travelers? That had been the point. "People are easily frightened by the unknown, by choosing you" Chase had gestured simply to Terrifica, Velocity and Valerie Cain "we disassociate this expedition with the ideas people have that everywhere we go, there are our enemies." The Gateway glared with red light. It would soon be ready for passage into the Infraverse. For the moment, there was little to do.
  23. Out of character thread for this, where some people go to another world to learn more about it
  24. March 15. Freedom City. The West End. Summers Elementary School. 12:15 PM Her name was Ruth. Ruth Yamashiro. Her father’s parents were from Japan. Immigrated in the last Seventies. Her mother’s were card carrying Jewish Freedonians since birth. She was six years old, and soon to graduate from kindergarten to first grade. She was excited about the change, but also scared. She was a good girl, who did what her parents told her to do. Perhaps more perceptive than most children her age, but not oddly so. She had plenty of friends, and seems to be well on her way to a normal childhood and life. As normal as one could get in Freedom City, at any rate. The truth was, Ruth had a secret. She’d only told her best friends Kanako and Esther, and they didn’t even believe her. She could hear people think and move stuff with her mind. Some people thought too quiet and it wasn’t like she could lift more than her plastic chair, but still. She was like a superhero, only she was six. Her mom said a superhero’s first duty is to grow up big and strong. So, Ruth had to wait until she was older. It was okay. She liked being a kid. Grownups had so much on their minds, and she didn’t understand most of it. But it was weird. Ever since she’d started listening, really listening, to the grownups around her…she’d been having nightmares. Her mom and dad were worried, but she couldn’t just tell them about her powers. Then they might not be special anymore. Besides, she never remembered what they were about anyway, and they didn’t wake her up. Everybody had bad dreams sometimes, and they always went away after a while. She just had to wait, and everything would be fine. The kindergarten teacher’s name was Emily Corazon. She was 24, and not a full year out of college. Full of vim and vigor, she wanted to teach little children and give them a lifelong love of learning. Yes, she was a optimist. A regular ball of sunshine. That said, she kept it down to a dull glow as it was naptime. It was a good class, she thought. Good kids, yes indeed. Even though some were a little rough around the edges, with patience, kindness, and good old fashioned elbow grease she’d won them over. Now, as the year marched on (heh, marched) she was beginning to realize how much she’d miss them when June finally rolled around. In September it seemed like she’d have them forever, now there was almost no time left. Wait. What was that? Was Ruth having a nightmare again? Maybe Miss Corazon should wake her? She really seemed to be having a bad time there. The screaming started at 12:15. Monsters out of a small child’s darkest nightmares roamed the halls. Terrified students and staff hid in classrooms and offices. The police had arrived quickly, but found themselves out of the league just as quickly. The few that had escaped told impossible tales about what happened inside. This was a situation that required superheroic intervention.
  25. Saturday, May 20th, 2015 Frankfort, Michigan, United States Late afternoon Frankfort was a small town of barely a thousand souls, full of picturesque buildings, sandy beaches, and a startlingly white lighthouse out on the point. Families walked or ran up and down main street, people on vacation enjoying the warm spring weather and the cool breezes that blew off the lake. It would be a perfect image, if not for an air of tension that hung over the town. You didn’t have to go far to find the source of the tension. The town’s docks had been interdicted, with Atlantean troops standing on the boardwalk and stopping anyone who tried to get to their moored boats. Tourists stared at them; police talked at them; angry citizens and protesters yelled at them; but the soldiers of the underwater kingdom were impassive in their verdigrised armor and lightning-staffs. For three days and three nights they had kept up a silent presence, not intruding further into town or attacking any of the surfacers (well, except for one guy who showed up at the ER with a broken arm and an electrical burn, but he should’ve known better than to throw a brick) but not allowing anyone to reach their vessels, either.
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