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Monday, April 13, 2015 10:30 AM Earth It was a Monday morning when Erin made it back to Earth, nearly six full weeks after she'd taken off for her first space adventure since her Curator-enforced vacation. She blasted in out of a clear blue sky, her life-support suit holding in both her oxygen supply and her wildly triumphant shout as she and Redbird made their re-entry at white-hot speeds. As soon as they dropped enough altitude for there to be atmosphere, she pulled off her helmet and drew in a deep lungful of air. "God, it's so good to be home!" she crowed. "Space is nuts. Let's leave it to the aliens for awhile," she suggested to her AI companion as they arced towards the familiar skyline of Freedom City. She was half-tempted to dive off the motorcycle at twenty-thousand feet and splash down in the Great Bay, wash away the grime of a month and a half without a proper water bath. Sonic cleaners did an adequate job of keeping dirt and smell at bay, but she never truly felt clean after using one. That would wait, though. Instead, she steered the motorcycle northward, towards home. "I guess maybe we should've called ahead," she decided. "He'll probably be in school at this hour. But that just means we can surprise him when he gets back." In just a few minutes they were touching down on the smooth paved roundabout in front of Hunter Manor, which was currently picturesque with a full spread of carefully tended flowerbeds and green lawn. Erin took another moment to enjoy solid Earth beneath her feet, then vaulted the front steps to go in the front door. "Hello, I'm home!"

Trevor Hunter stood outside the towering Parisian office building looking upward with a faint frown. The reserved young man's face was too schooled to give away whether it was apprehension, frustration or general glum despondency tugging at the corners of his mouth, but at least to the young woman accompanying him, it was clear that he was not looking forward to visitation to come. Dressed immaculately in a deceptively simple but obviously well tailored suit, the dark haired engineer certainly blended in with the bustling stock brokers and deal makers hurrying in and out of the glass doors before them, chattering loudly away on cell phones in a dozen languages, primarily French, naturally. "So," he began, turning toward Erin with a fairly transparent stalling tactic.