To be Free, by Sea (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

December 29th

"Quiet Paulo! Be Quiet!"

Maria clutched the crucifix around her neck as she comforted her younger brother. There were eight of them, crammed below deck, huddled together. Maria and Paulo were orphans, their parents virtual slaves to El Diablo, the local businessman, politic, and crime lord all rolled into one. They had decided to escape their small town in Mexico for the freedom of America. They were on their way to Freedom City in a large cargo vessel, as illegal immigrants.

A flashlight and some boots creaked down the stairs to the hold.

"Halfway there" said the grizzly sailor, tough, unshaven, and broad. He fingered a submachine gun strapped around his chest and chewed a dead ciggarette in his mouth.

"It's time for your...innoculations...har har..." he laughed.

Another man came creeping down, a bald headed man, dressed in a scientists white overalls and fingering a syringe.

The hold yawed slightly with the waves. As the sailor laughed.

"I'm scared, Maria...." whimpered Paulo....

Meanwhile...at the docks of Freedom City...

Boats, yachts, and cargo vessels of all sizes were tied up, arriving and departing the city. It was always alive with activity - from A - list film stars strolling around their billionaire yachts and lapping up the papparazi, to rather more shady deals and shady merchandise slipping around customs.

And right now, the whisper was of a whole heap of customised new drugs, some kind of speed, or booster plus. Nobody was quite sure. But a few unnamed individuals had even been found and hospilised. The mood was not so good.

[Scuffles]

Kristin put her hands on her hips as she regarded the clothes laid out on her bed. The jumpsuit was dark grey, almost charcoal in colour and had light green highlights down the legs and arms. It was perfectly matched to her school suit in size, so she already knew it would fit like a glove. The sleeveless leather vest sitting next to it was black, and the hood attached to the top of it would serve nicely to conceal her face. Along with the little mask of course.

A smile played on her face as she pulled the suit on under her street clothes and then stuffed the vest, hood and mask into her backpack. It never hurt to be prepared right?

****

"Come on, this way!" Kristin called at Subito as she dashed off in yet another direction and made her way down towards a section of the docks which seemed to be home to several large private yachts. One in particular seemed to have caught her attention, a massive Catamaran which looked to be at least 20 meters long. "Check that thing out!" She grinned as she put her hands on her hips. "It must cost about a zillion dollars or something!"

A moment later her stomach growled and she laughed. "It's food time now right?" she asked her companion, despite the fact that they'd already stopped for food less than two hours ago.

[Ari]

Subito had heard about this outbreak almost the day after it had started. His family frequently had large, loud and highly informative(if you knew who to listen to)meetings with friends and friends of friend's families, and his ears had pricked up when he had overheard some of the newer arrivals whispering rumors to each other about this new drug. Neither had mustered the nerve to try it, but both knew that they could get it somewhere by the docks. Thus, the fact that he and Kristin were currently rushing about these same docks took the edge off what otherwise was one of his favorite things to do.

This made him a bit grumpier than he otherwise would have been. Keeping that in mind he had taken along a long-sleeved blue t-shirt marked with the insignia of the Klingon empire on the right breast, the better to conceal the flag he hid in it. He wore his habitual blue jeans and thick-soled running shoes, mostly because he didn't really have much else that would fit for exploring. A small backpack was his only concession to adventurism.

Glancing with a touch of irritation at Kristin when she asked about going to get something to eat, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a small handful of snack bars, mostly something with granola. "Here" he almost snapped "I got these at the last place, there's some water too if you're thirsty" handing them to her he added "Yeah, that yacht's pretty new, lot's of people with expensively casual stuff get on it" he leaned against a pillar, munching one of the bars sourly.

[Supercape]

(GM)

The massive Catamaran was, indeed, massive. A couple of floozies, dressed up to the nines, laughed and blew kisses and the photographers that lapped it up.

"Look, its Steve Diamond!" yelled one of the photographers, closely followed by the screams of some women - some young, some not so young.

Steve Diamond was a film star and crooner, in his early fourties, but still blessed with film star good looks and a deep magnetic voice. He was, as they say, young at heart. His three ex wifes, conviction for drug possession, and multiple affairs were testament to that. But somehow, nothing damaged his charisma. Or, by the looks of it, his wealth. The man dripped gold, and flaunted in it in a way that was on the edge of ostentatious.

He gave the crowd a cheesy grin and wave, before holding on to a young beauty by the waist with each arm.

"Idiot" came a mutter beside the two young heroes.

It was none other than "Voyeur" Royer, mutant reporter! RIch Royer had the power to communicate his vision and hearing directly as radiowaves, becoming a living camera!

He turned to the two youngsters. "What a poseur!" he commented. "Flashing around like that when a few hapless souls got fished out of the water only this morning. And the morning before..."

[Scuffles]

Kristin smiled her thanks at Subito as she munched contentedly on one of the snack bars. His slightly grumpy mood wasn't entirely lost on her, but all of the distractions had kept her from asking what his trouble was. She stopped to watch the girls on the yacht as they made a spectacle of themselves.

"What a bunch of..." she muttered, but the appearance of Steve Diamond stopped that train of thought cold. The man might be a complete tosser, she thought with a bit of a grin, but he sure is pretty nice to look at. And that voice. Wow.

That thought was interrupted as well, and she turned to look at Royer, starting to ask "What happened this morn..." then snapped her mouth shut when she realized who she was talking to. Quickly she turned back towards the yacht and nodded, hoping the reporter might not have gotten a good look at her face. "Yep, he's a total jerk!" she agreed.

Please don't let him recognize me...

[Supercape]

GM

Voyeur Royer didn't recognise Kristen.

"Hey, its that girl! you know, the Disaster from Down Under!" blurted a cameraman next to Royer. He was a small man, with a big nose, and a bowler hat with a "PRESS" card tucked into it. For all his unassuming, weasel features, he had eyes like a hawk, and an intelligence burning behind his eyes.

"Jack Jackson" read his press badge.

He took up his enormously long camera and took a shot of Kristen.

"Bound to be some disaster when you go walking, honey!" he laughed at the young heroine.

Royer rolled his eyes at Jack but didn't say a word to him.

"Yeah, they fished two bodies out of the docks. Alive, but only just. More of them, perhaps, I don't follow this stuff. But the word's bad. And its no time for that Idiot Diamond to go flashing and cavorting. The man should show some class, if you ask me. "

He leant in a little closer.

"Word is - Mexican Illegal Immigrants. What happened to those poor souls, I don't know. Guessing many would rather not know. But somebody round here does. Somebody round here is doing a deal shipping some desperate fools in to Freedom City by the Ocean..."

[Ari]

The appearance of Steve Diamond didn't do much for him. He continued to chew irritably and scan the docks for where they could go next. The realization that Rich "Voyeur" Royer was standing next to them(he was quite familiar with Royer's voice from the caused him to nearly choke on snack bar, and he coughed as quietly as he could to dislodge it from his windpipe.

That done, he politely introduced himself "Mr. Royer, I'm Subito Sondo and this is my friend Kristin Jones. Rest assured, I don't think she'll hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it anytime soon" he looked curiously at Royer's mention of bodies found.."Really? Who found them? Had they been drinking something?" he glanced with real anger at 'Jack Jackson' for an instant, but quickly directed himself back towards the man who actually had something to say, muttering to Kristin "You get that kind of thing a lot?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin's hands clenched into fists at her sides, but she kept her temper and smiled sweetly at Jackson. "Being a jerk isn't going to get you a story mister!" She waved at the boat where Diamond was still laughing as he posed it up for the photographers. "Go back to taking photos of the movie star, I'm sure that's much more in line with the quality of your journalism."

She shrugged at Subito's question as she pointedly turned her back on the man. "Usually they want to ask questions, not insult me." She said. "It's nice to meet you Mister Royer. People smuggling happens here too? It's a bit of a big deal in Australia at the moment and nobody seems to know what to do about it!"

[Supercape]

(GM)

"Being a jerk isn't going to get you a story mister!"

Jack Jackson just laughed "had much experience in the business honey?" he replied. "This little baby here" he said, pointing at his enormous camera "this gets me the story. Being a jerk, that just goes with territory. Call it an optional extra" he smiled, and took a few quick shots of Kristen, Royer, and Subito.

"It's nice to meet you Mister Royer. People smuggling happens here too? It's a bit of a big deal in Australia at the moment and nobody seems to know what to do about it!"

"Yeah, it's happening here too, mainly Mexicans, but Cubans too, and a few others from south America, where the corruption and crime gets to hot, and the money to little" sighed Rich.

"We got our problems, and we got a little caring sister here, folks!" he said to nobody in particular. Of course, in practice, he was saying it to audience of possibly millions, who followed his live broadcast direct from his brain.

He gave Kristen a wink.

"And sounds like you got the power to do something about it, if what this jackass..." he hefted a thumb at Jackson "says is true? you that kid from youtube? well, you could take a good look at what's happening out there..." he hefted a finger out to sea "...if you were concerned. Cause it sure makes this..." he hefted the finger back to himself "guy sick as a dog!"

[Ari]

"Don't mean to bother you Mr. Royer, but what can you tell us about those people who got fished out? Not really likely they just jumped into the bay for no reason, right?" he was more than a little on edge(seeing as Royer was most likely broadcasting everything he saw and heard to millions of people), which gave him a nearly overpower urge to fidget. He suppressed it as best he could, though he stood a little straighter than was normal even for him. His mind unbidden raced back to only two nights ago, when his mother and some 'family friends'(smuggled immigrants hiding in the neighborhood until work could be found for them)talking about a large number of deadly problems with a mysterious source in Mexico, which was sending people north looking for shelter. According to them, there was a rash of drug overdose-related deaths and sicknesses among the immigrants, which were hardly helping their image in the eyes of the American already living in the area.

Adjusting his stance slightly he added "There's been talk of sick people from Mexico being smuggled into the 'States, were these people anything like those others?"

[Supercape]

GM

Adjusting his stance slightly he added "There's been talk of sick people from Mexico being smuggled into the 'States, were these people anything like those others?"

Voyeur Royer shrugged slightly. He didn't seem that interested in Kristen's friend, and kept his eyes (and the eyes of his paying viewers) on Kristen herself, the youtube girl.

"I guess so" he said without a great deal of enthusiasm "heard some stuff about drugs and stuff, smuggling, maybe..." he trailed off.

"Maybe our little star lady here can give us a demonstration of all that trouble she caused? careful, now!" he laughed "not on me, of course" he smiled, actually quite a genuine smile, at Kristen "you could sort out this mess, be the next superhero of Freedom City!" he said.

Jack Jackson gave a snorting laugh, but took another picture anyhow. Two passers buy who had stopped to take a look (and a snap) of Royer gave a hoot and a clap at his suggestion to Kristen.

[Scuffles]

.. the next superhero of Freedom City ..

Kristin shuffled her feet and looked uncomfortable under Royer's gaze. "That's laying it on a little thick I think.. I'm in town to learn to control myself so that I'm not a 'disaster' like that guy would love me to be." she said as she gestured at Jackson again. "One day I might be up to the task of earning the title 'hero', but I'm sure not there yet! And I don't swim quite that well to be getting out there to look Mister Royer!" she said with a little grin. "I'm sure that the proper authorities have everything under control. Or they'll get things under control. Or something..."

She flashed a look at Subito that was equal parts pleading and demanding and conveyed her meaning perfectly. Get me out of here!

"And sounds like you got the power to do something about it".. Well I guess it can't hurt if we at least look around right? Everybody always wants to blame the immigrants. They just wouldn't be paying criminals to give them passage on a leaky boat if they weren't flat out desperate. I wonder if I can get Subito away from these reporters and see what he thinks?

[Ari]

"Well, thanks Mr. Royer, hope we hear from you when this thing is solved" Subito said brightly an as 'curious youth who respects authority' a way as he could be. "If you'll excuse me and Mz. Jones we'll be on our way" he added casually, giving a clandestine gesture to Kristin to follow him. Giving a polite wave as he led the way deeper into the maze of moored boats, he waited until they were out of sight to slump against a mostly clean support pillar and wipe away the beads of sweat that hadn't come from the sun...seeing as it was December and all.

Looking at Kristin he said flatly "Kris, I hope you don't mind, but I wouldn't want to be famous if that's what it's really like"

[Scuffles]

Kristin lingered long enough to say "It was nice meeting you mister Royer!" and shot a less friendly look at Jackson as she followed Subito's hasty exit, amused by how uncomfortable her friend was but more than a little relieved herself to be out of the very public gaze of the reporters.

"That Jackson guy is a bit of a tosser. Royer seemed nice enough. I guess he's had it pretty tough himself.." she smiled at Subito. "At least he didn't automatically think I'm a menace! And besides, that was nothing. You should try having thirty of them camped outside your house!"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe we should have a little poke around though. Illegal immigrants are usually desperate, they don't shoot themselves up on drugs right? They usually can't afford to! But if there's anything going on around here it's not going to be near the gazillionaire boats, it'll be over near the cheap moorings, or those warehouses over there. Want to check it out?"

Hardly waiting for a reply, Kristin started towards the warehouse section of the docks.

Is this really a good idea Kris?

[Ari]

"I don't know much about what newly-arrived people won't do if they're desperate enough, but I'm sure they wouldn't fill themselves with toxin and jump in the bay" agreed Subito, keeping pace with Kristin on quiet lopes, "Wouldn't hurt to at least try and find out what's going on" he added casually "The odds of some low-life trying to get in control of the immigrant population this way are higher than I'd like to think"

Turning to Kristin he asked "Thirty? Really? What did they think they'd see? Were they hoping you'd lose control of your powers or something?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin continued to walk through the docks as she talked, but seemed a little distracted as she thought back to the rather traumatic first week after her powers had awakened.

"I guess my breakout was pretty spectacular," she said with a shrug. "So I guess they were hanging around to see if it would happen again. And there's nowhere near as many meta-humans in Australia as there are around here, so I guess our media is a little more excitable about that kind of thing."

She stopped cold and looked around. "Geez. Smack me over the head if I start to ramble will you?" She laughed. "We're supposed to be looking for anything unusual and I'm hardly even looking where I'm going!"

[Ari]

Subito gave a low whistle, recalling his own comparatively tame first use of his-the powers granted me he sternly reminded himself. No reason to get confused on that score, the Blue Dame certainly wouldn't.

At her reminder of their task he nodded emphatically "I know some places around here we can find some of new immigrant folks. Don't think they'll be too keen on telling us anything, but we can at least try and find something out. Try to be engaged, if you can, if the people you're talkin' to get the idea that you want help, they'll be a lot more eager to try and get you what you need to do it. If they think you're just being nosy they'll send you packing" accelerating his steps he led the way towards a group of warehouses "Last I checked this is about where some of them are staying until they find work..."

Once they had spoken with seemingly half the Spanish-speaking population of Freedom City, and had found a good place to talk over their findings, Subito had a much more thoughtful look on his face "Okayyy," he began, "This is what I managed to find out:..."

[Supercape]

GM

The less salubrious parts of the docks were an eye opener of the two young heroes, possibly even dangerous at night. But with a bit of sensible caution on their part, and friendly questioning to the workers, they could get a sense of recent events.

"Si, Senor, I have heard of this..."

"Bad Biiizneez...Bad Biiizneez...."

"Attendez! Attendez! Listen to me!"

The upshot of the various rumour mills was that there was a pipeline from mexico. A lot of Mexican Immigrants spoke of El Sierpe, a crime lord in a small northern region of Mexico, who was so unpalatable, that many had taken to running from the ravaged region and had used some route that was run by sea. Nobody quite new how.

What was clear that many arrived in bad shape. Real bad. And, more recently, not breathing. This hadn't stopped the pipeline...yet. Perhaps news hadn't filtered through to Mexico, yet. Or perhaps people were just that desperate.

Only one person seemed to have survived the rough travails of the pipeline - a man called Diego Cruz. He worked around the docks now, under a different name, they said, and was out for revenge. Apparently he was loitering amongst the rich and famous yachts, maybe the pay was good there... but nobody new much else. Diego would know the most.

[Ari]

"...So, as best as I could find out," concluded Subito after rambling off what he had learned about the matter "this El Sierpe must be involved with the drugging of those immigrant Mexicans. I dunno how he's managing it, but I think he might be doing this to discourage people from trying to escape him" he frowned as he looked up at the sky "This Diego Cruz guy might be able to tells us more, I say we look for him right away, but maybe we ought to at least tell someone at Claremont what's up?"

His eyes had slowly worked their way down from the zenith of the sky to Kristin's left pupil "Whaddaya think?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin grinned as Subito looked at the sky while recounting what he had learned, then shrugged as he suggested that they "phone home" to let someone know what was happening. "What are we going to say?" she asked. "Tell them that there's something weird happening at the docks but that we really have no idea what it is? That we know the old name of someone who might be working at the docks?"

She put her hands on her hips as she met her friends intense gaze. "I'm not saying that we shouldn't be letting someone know what we're up to, but we should at least try to find the guy first right?"

[Ari]

The stocky youth nodded thoughtfully as Kristin spoke, he had been feeling uncertain as to how much good sending word would do anyway. Not calling was much more to Subito's liking, especially considering what Kristin had mentioned about how vague they would have to be if they had tried to tell someone at the school what was happening and avoided speculation. Turning neatly on his heel he walked in the direction of where he had heard this 'Diego Cruz' character spent his of time, chatting unconcernedly with his schoolmate "What d'you think of Freedom City so far Kris? I've noticed quite a few new students aren't from around here, and I gotta admit: I'm curious what this" he gestured to both the dingy warehouses and docks nearby and the gleaming, almost impossibly grand towers in the downtown of the city "My parents moved here when I was eight, so I don't really remember Puerto Rico all that well, this place has just about always felt like home" he looked placidly before them, eyes alert for any danger,

[Scuffles]

Kristin followed Subito as he set out, matching his pace as she fell in beside him. She looked around warily as they moved past some warehouses and several rather shady looking dockworkers. She couldn't help but relax a little however when Subito started making idle conversation.

"I still can't get used to the cold!" she complained as she shoved her hands into her pockets, "But it's an amazing city. I'm glad I'm mostly on top of the school stuff now so I can get out and explore a little!".

A faraway look crossed her face for a moment. "I miss my family really bad," she said. "It's the first time I've actually been away from them at all!". She pushed the homesickness down and flashed a broad grin at Subito as she said "But at least my classmates are pretty cool!"

[Ari]

Subito felt a sinking feeling in his stomach when Kristin mentioned being away from her family. It had slipped his mind almost completely that she was practically half-way around the world from her home, and he wondered what it would be like to not have people you knew so well close by. He guessed it would be pretty lonely. He was glad she had brought up other things, as lighter topics did much to lift the risk of falling into winter gloom.

"It's an incredible place" he agreed solemnly "Best in summer I think, or late spring, when you can sit on the rooftops and hear the rush and roar of traffic, and watch the birds and superheroes fly above"

He grinned a little sheepishly at Kristin's '"But at least my classmates are pretty cool!"', responding "I'm most likely not gonna be one of the cool ones, not when Serge or Mr. Smith-" he said the name of the quiet, efficient psionic soldier with utter admiration "and the rest of those Irregular guys are there too. You should hear the rumors about what they've done already, some of the other students think that they'll end up even better than the old Next Gen!" if nothing else, talking about(and with)the other students seemed a beloved pasttime for him.

Through it all, he kept his ears and eyes alert for potential danger.

[Scuffles]

Kristin gave Subito a solid thump on the shoulder. "I'm trying to give you a compliment dork! Stop getting all 'I'm not cool'! with me!" She stopped, and jammed her fists on her hips. "And with the bringing up the flying! You know how hard I've been trying and I still can't do it! Rub it in why don't you?"

The angry glare stayed on her face for all of about 4 seconds before she burst out laughing. "Damn, why can't I do that with a straight face?" she complained. "You said we needed to look around the fancier areas of the docks right? I think this looks like we're getting close to the right place!" She said as she gestured at a very nice looking yacht bobbing at its moorings.

[Ari]

The powerfully-built youth feigned inury at the light punch on the shoulder, clutching it dramatically and crying out in mock pain "Ah! Such a bitter blow befits such a bitter heart!" laughing uproariouslty before he had gotten to the end of the sentence. After slowly recovering, he sobered enough to say "More seriously Kris, sorry for bringing up the flying thing, and thanks for the vote of confidence," he added more lightly "haven't had the chance to make many friends so far, and I'm glad you're one of them" he glanced over at Kristin and asked curiously "I really don't get it: why can't you fly? You seem to do a lot of other stuff way more complicated"

"You said we needed to look around the fancier areas of the docks right? I think this looks like we're getting close to the right place!"

His eyes leaped to were she was indicating, and nodded rapidly, increasing his slackened pace "Yeah, he might be around here, they did say he tended to be around richer kinds of boats" coming onto the dock the yacht was moored to, he called out <"Hello! Is there a Mr. Diego Cruz here? If so I and my friend would like to ask you some questions, we're are here to help">