Indy Cooper

Rectifier

I would also support a Discord, by the way. It makes for a less messy OOC tab, most of the time, I find. Coming from the pre-Discord days, it is a nice change to have a chat program for the chit-chat stuff that isn't necessarily important enough to warrant a post.

Rectifier

Ohhhh shi-

I am super interested in this, but I'm not entirely certain about a concept yet. Or how well I'll fit in. All that new group jazz, plus I missed the interest check. But cyberpunk is definitely one of my faves. And with all the gun-toting badasses running around here, I am thinking of making a Hong Kong local specializing in hit-and-run hacking jobs and stealthy infiltration, with very little combat ability to speak of.

Because I am a dork.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

_{Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss!}

---

The stuffy little room felt exactly like an elementary school class room in a district where money was tight. The overly cheery posters, the stiff chairs that were clearly uncomfortable to everyone else. A lone fan, rattling with age, stirred the hot air, and dust motes swirled in the morning sun streaming through the window to illuminate the group of metas who had apparently volunteered to live here. The scent of cheap coffee hung in the air, since it had been made available to anyone who wanted it. Nicky had some in a tiny plastic cup, more out of something to do with her hands and mouth than for any sort of effect the beverage might have had.

The group that had assembled was, for lack of any sort of unifying word, strange. The girl who had told her off last night, Rose, sat primly, hands neatly folded and hair carelessly over one shoulder, looking like a princess without even trying. Nicky still didn't know if she should hate the girl or not after last night. Next to her was another girl, but this one, was the opposite of Rose in almost every way. Where Rose had muscle and tone from what Nicky knew was years of athletics practise, this girl was wasted and almost skeletal. Her hair was completely gone, growing only in stubble. A huge swathe of surgical stitches covered on temple and arched around the back of her head, and her eyes were only half open at best, though she was definitely awake. Rose had pushed her wheelchair in and then sat down next to her as if they were the best of friends, though they never exchanged a word.

Across from Nicole, next to the wheelchair, was a statue. That was the only word Nicky could find to describe the man. Facial features were hard to make out, but she guessed he was around the same age her dad had been. But where her dad had been tanned from days out in the sun, this man was, somehow, pale grey, patterned in swirls of darker lines. He had introduced himself as Marble, and she had to admit, the name fit. Aside from just looking (and sounding she had noted. He made grinding noises) like he was made from his namesake, he was built like a boxer. His thin t-shirt and jeans did nothing to hide that.

Between him and the next person was what Nicky had assumed was the chair reserved for Crawford, and then there was Freddy. Nicky was a little grossed out by Freddy, and she doubted her inexperience in schooling her face was doing anything to cover it. Freddy was enormous He took up two chairs. Rolls of fat covered everything, so much so that she couldn't see his knees. His short black hair and dense beard were neatly kept, and his eyes were kind, even when he looked her way. A little sad, perhaps. But Nicky was horrified by the jiggling, which happened every time he moved. She felt a little guilty, mostly because she assumed his powers had somehow caused or affected his weight, but she couldn't help herself.

Two other chairs were present. Another empty on the other side of Freddy, and then the one next to her, which contained a tiny Japanese girl, wearing a gold kimono patterned with autumn leaves. Even including Freddy, this girl had the most shocking appearance, as she had fox ears instead of normal human ones, and a bundle of fox tails erupted from her rear. They writhed around in response to what seemed to be the girls mood, and they currently lashed in what Nicky could only guess was nervousness or excitement, if her experience with dogs was any indication. Her stark black hair was done into a series of elaborate knots that only emphasised her strange ears, as well, as if she wanted to draw attention to them.

Megami, as she had introduced herself, was weird enough that Nicky edged in her seat towards the gap in chairs that separated herself and Rose. She wasn't exactly certain, but she suspected the gap was there because of the toss up last night. Someone had been watching. That put her on edge and irritated her. Logically, they had to have cameras to record stuff to study, but the fact that they didn't tell her she was being recorded pissed her off.

Crawford walked in just as her mood was beginning to sour, wearing a green sweater vest over a cream coloured shirt and tan trousers, despite the heat. Apparently he was here in his “teacher” role instead of his scientist one. He paused as he looked around, then said, “Good morning, everyone. Charles, are you present?”

Nicky jumped when a voice echoed, as if from great distance, from the empty seat between Freddy and Marble. “Yes, Mr. Crawford, I am here.”

“Excellent! Well,” the older man said, taking what was apparently the only open seat. “Let's begin, shall we? First off, we have a new member of the group, who I presume Rose has introduced?”

“Oh, no, Professor,” the girl said. “That would've been rude. I let everyone introduce themselves, as Nicole and myself have already had a spat.”

“I see.” Crawford fixed the pair of them with a rather disappointed look. I was hoping you two would be getting along, actually. You have rather complimentary powers.”

Nicky was about to snap out an answer when Rose cut her off. “Unfortunately, we both had some illusions about the other, but I think we've moved past it, haven't we?” She smiled sweetly at Nicky, but the younger girl got the warning that broaching the subject in group would not be tolerated. It was helped by and invisible nudge against her shoulder, just barely enough to move her.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, sullenly nodding. “We're good.” mentally, she added, For now.

“Alright, well, Since that seems to be working out, let's see if we can get up to speed on poer studies. Ah, sorry, Frederick.” Crawford looks at the fat man, whose round face filled with a smile.

“S'okay, Teach, it's funny.” Fred's voice was as thick as his body.

“Well, let's start with you, then, Frederick. Any increases or fluctuations?”

The man shook his head, chins wobbling. Nope. Still stuck at three hundred a second. I don't think I can break the sound barrier unless I drop some weight.” Nicky finally placed his accent as Georgian before her brain caught up to what he had sad. She knew her eyes goggled, but she didn't care. Holy shit, he's a speedster!?

“Well,” Crawford said, writing something down on his clipboard. He always seemed to have one of the damn things. “With the diet Doctor Grisham has set, we should see some changes soon, but I'd also like you to try lifting weights and some aerobics aside from running, which obviously isn't much exercise for you here even with your special treadmill. Any feelings you'd like to share with the group about your powers?”

“Same thing as always, Teach. Disappointed I can't move faster.”

“Hmmm.” Crawford made another note, and then turned to face the empty chair. “Charles? Any luck with your project?”

The boy with the ghost voice (Nicky assumed it was a boy, judging by the youthful tone) spoke up. “Yeah, actually! I could show you!”

Nicky wondered how an invisible person was going to “show” anything, but was shocked into silence again when the boy flickered into existence. His image wasn't steady, was mostly transparent, and had no colour, but even through all of that, two things were painfully obvious. One, he couldn't be any older than her, and maybe even younger with how skinny he was, and two, he was completely nude. Crawford made a harrumphing noise as the boy disappeared again.

“I would appreciate it if you would start wearing clothing, Charles. But the progress is good. Is that as long as you can hold it?”

“Yes, professor,” came the echoey reply. “Any longer and my skin starts to burn, which is also why I don't wear clothes.”

“Have you talked to the doctor about that?”

“Well...uhh...”

Crawford made another note. “Why not, Charles?”

“Well....she's a girl, Professor.”

Nicky could almost hear the embarrassment in Charles's voice. Crawford had to hide a smile. “Well, she is also a professional, Charles. I don't think you have anything to be particularly ashamed of. Make sure you bring up your skin, we might have something that can help. I am sure we'd all like to see more of you around here.”

The group laughed, and then Crawford looked to Marble. “Any changes, Harry?”

“No.” His voice was beyond gravelly. Nicky thought of boulders knocking together.

“Hmm. Well, you and Nicole have something in common, perhaps you two can talk later.”

“Okay.” Nicky doubted they were going to talk much at all with his repsonses, but she looked at Crawford questioningly.

He caught the look and made a little 'o' with his mouth. “Of course, Nicole, terribly sorry. Harry has the same sensation loss you do, though he also lost his sense of smell. Perhaps the two of you could brainstorm about how to overcome the problem.” Turning from her, he looked at the wheelchair bound girl, who Nicky realised she had never gotten a name for.

“Rose, how are you feeling today?”

Nicky's whole world dropped away in shock for a moment as she looked from the girl in the wheelchair to the one next to her. The healthy Rose gave her a wink before addressing the question.

“The pain's okay, I guess. Could be better or worse. Still don't have any mobility right now, and I would kill for the ability to eat even a piece of bread. But clarity is at one hundred, and I still haven't found a limit to how long I can stay out.”

Crawford made yet another note. Nicky was beginning to hate that clipboard. “Good, good. I would like to see you in more than out, of course, but I like that you are staying so positive, Rose.”

The healthy Rose shrugged, and both bodies smiled, though the wheelchair version was delayed and weak. “Well, it can only get better from here, right?”

All eyes were suddenly on her, and she felt her face flame with embarrassment. She hadn't been the center of attention like this since before the explosion, and-

Screams sounded in her ears. The rush of gas from a broken line. The taste of ashes in her mouth. Burning plastic and meat mixed in the air, a horrible smell. She couldn't see because the bricks were all over her face.

Breathing hard, she caught herself before she fell out of her chair, but it was a near thing. The empty cup rolled away from her as her vision came back to reality. Slowly, words came back into her hearing.

-kay? Nicole, can you hear me? You're okay, you're safe.” Crawford's voice. Hands on her own, she could see them. Older, definitely Crawford. She looked up and saw Rose and Megami flanking him as he crouched in front of her, all three with worried expressions. She shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs of illusion from her head.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. I...I got lost.”

Crawford nodded, slowly letting go and standing up. He motioned to the two girls and all of them returned to their seats before he addressed the group.

“As you can see, not everyone has as happy a story, something I have been telling you about for a while now. Please let Nicole adjust at her own pace, and do not ask prying questions. I will only tell you that she is just as special as the rest of you, in her own way.” Turning to her, Crawford asked, “Are you okay to answer a few general questions about how you're doing in front of the group?”

Just at that moment, Nicky actually felt like the man could have asked her to jump off a building and she would've done it. He had cut off her fear of being cornered and pestered thoroughly. She mutely nodded, biting at her lip.

“Okay. Any change in your hunger? Or sleep?”

She shook her head. “No. Still not hungry. And I'm still never tired. I don't even remember what dreams are like any more.”

Crawford nodded. “I expected as much. Unfortunately, it may be best, at present, that you don't sleep. As much as subconscious healing might be good for you, it could also be overwhelming. I'll talk to you more about a plan later, one on one.” Finally, he turned to Megami.

“Is there anything you'd like to add, Megami-sama?”

The girl said something in rapid fire Japanese, and Crawford nodded. “I thought so. I will ask for your help later, if that is agreeable?”

“Hai.”

“Very good. Okay, I think some of us are probably done for this morning. If anyone wants to ask me something right now, please do, otherwise we'll convene this afternoon for the best part of Tuesdays: The Showoffs!”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

_{Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss!}
@Athinar

---

Lost Haven
12:02 pm

Lieutenant Jones was not having a good day. This was largely in part to his being behind a stone pillar near the square that was being chewed up by bullets from government stooges protecting a couple of monsters. Like he had always known, the government was obviously behind this wave of freaks taking over the world, and here, in this time and this place, it was his job to stop it.

One of his men stumbled into cover near him and looked at him expectantly, helemt askew until he awkwardly adjusted it. "There's a lot more of 'em than we thought, Lieutenant! What are your orders?"

Jones grinned at the boy (he must have only been nineteen) and growled, "Let's show them what we've got."

---

Faulkner was swiftly getting order on comms, it seemed to Darya, as she listened for orders relating to her. Water and ice covered the whole fountain, and she was busy getting a wall up across the square to provide more cover to civilians and her team at the same time. Unfortunately, the pipes for the fountain were limiting her gains, only able to push out so much without rupturing, so it was slow going, and she was pushing her senses out to find more somewhere. They were too far away from the ocean for her to reach, but perhaps the river was close enough.

She was distracted from this task by two things at once. First, as more of her human teammates pushed forward, she was building cover for them with blocks of ice, draining her reserves, but the advance was stalling out before they got to the line she was attempting to draw with her powers. Being so defensive, she was relying on the others to take up the attack, and whatever tech Dragon was using was starting to have lower effect as their enemies moved out of his line of fire. She saw him load another round of whatever it was into one of the two tube launchers he was using, but he was forced to duck down before he could get a shot off as a flurry of bullets chipped away the stone of the roof edge he was using for cover.

Second, a new person had cut into the fray. He seemed brutally effective, and, perhaps more importantly, on their side, even though she didn't recognize him at all. Several Hounds went down with bullets in their brain, but the man had become pinned behind the pitiful cover of a simple newsstand. She knew she needed to act, and the rest of her own side seemed oblivious to his plight. Quickly, she called over the radio.

”Broadway! Suppressing fire! I need them blind for a minute!”

A strained but cheerful voice answered her. “Got a little busy on this side, but I can spare a couple shots!”

Darya glanced over to the entrance of the side alley where Broadway and three agents had been and saw that, indeed, things had gotten hot in there. Apparently the Hounds had thought to encircle her, but didn't expect as complete a trap as they had laid. Muzzle flashes and the brighter flashes of light that signaled Broadway's presence were lighting up the alley entrance. As she looked, Broadway's ginger hair, now glowing from her power usage, poked around the corner. A glittering glove appeared, and three quick lasers fired out and up into the street where the main force of Hounds was gathered. Darya knew better than to watch, even before Broadway called over comms, “Watch your eyes, boys and girls!”

The lasers detonated over the street, like gigantic flashbombs, and weaker lasers sprayed out in every direction. These weren't even enough to burn, but anyone caught in the face with them might well be permanently blinded. As soon as they went of, Darya sent a rushing cascade, most of her reserves, across the square. It formed a wall of water and ice nearly hip height from the edge of the steel fountain all the way to the beleaguered man behind the news stand. She began waving to get his attention and get him to make the run over to her far more solid cover while the Hounds struggled to recover their eyesight. Curses over her radio told her not everyone had taken Broadway's warning seriously enough, and it seemed they had only bought a slight lull in the fight rather than a victory.

---

Jones cursed vehemently while he tried to blink the after effects of the flashes out of his vision, seeing only shadows of his surroundings through purple and green splotches. He leaned around the pillar and fired a short burst blindly into the square, hoping for some luck, but was not rewarded with any screams.

“Teams Two and Three, report,” he urged. The responses were not as he had hoped.

“Team Two, we've got that laser bitch blocking up the alley with a couple of stooges. We need grenades or something, they're bunkered too well here! Too many dumpsters for cover!”

“Sergeant Yates for Team Three! I don't know what the fuck is happening! We're in the woods or some shit! Some sort of illusion, but nothing we've got is breaking it!”

Jones spat some more curses, rubbing at his eyes. “HQ,” he said dejectedly. “Status update. We need back up. At least four metas, including illusions and fire. Could use something heavy.”

“Roger that, Lieutenant. Any sign of the primary target?”

“Negative, HQ. He hasn't shown up yet. Thought the bar was supposed to knock him loose?”

“They fucked up, Jones. Get the gun ready, just in case.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

_{Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss!}

---

11:15 am
Lost Haven

Darya sat on a bench in the center of a small square somewhere in the northern area of Lost Haven, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. If it weren't for the fact that she was in her full costume, with added bits of body armour lent from the local police armoury, she would have looked like any bored or dejected teen. As it was, she struck on odd sight, and no one was willing to come within fifteen feet of her. She guessed that only a little part of that was due to her unusual appearance, and quite a bit more was from the attention of certain groups it would undoubtedly draw were she to stay here long enough. Which, unfortunately, was the whole plan.

She sighed, glancing up through the ballistic lenses that covered her eyes at the roof corner where she knew Dragon was. As it turned out, he was some sort of ranged combatant with fire powers, and was providing a third of her cover from up high. Two snipers were behind her, sweeping the sparse crowd for threats while they waited for their targets to take the bait. Naia and Broadway were also here, at the edges of the square in shadowed alleys, waiting for a chance to strike. Two armoured SWAT vans were also lying in wait, with Holliday on hand for emergency backup and medical aid, along with ten FBI and SWAT volunteers. More of those were hanging out in shops or benches around the square. Even with all of the backup, Darya felt alone and exposed, and apparently it showed somehow in her posture, because the little earbud crackled and Rollins' expressive voice came over the comms.

"You looks bored, Tiamat. Wanna hear a joke?"

Another voice cut in, Faulkner, the team lead in LH. "Can it Rollins. She'll be fine."

Darya was not entirely certain she liked Faulkner. His brusque attitude was fitting for a leader, but he had a dampening effect on morale. Several of the others tred to make small talk with him only to find out later that they had received unofficial reprimands, and the whole unit was starting to sour after only a few days. That wasn't helped by their lack of any sort of success in either side of their operation in the city. Broadway and her had had no luck gaining the attention of even minor local metas, excpeting a pair who had backed out and ran as soon as they heard what the mission was. And no surveillance on likely locations had turned up a single Hound or any sort of evidence of their activities. Thus, today found Darya sitting outside in the hot summer sun, on a very uncomfortable wood and iron bench that had certainly seen better days, waiting to be attacked.

A pigeon landed near her and made noises at her, fixing one beady eye to her left side, where next to her a small paper bag sat. In this was her "lunch": a 9mm handgun and two compact flashbang grenades, to use in case they had some way of thwarting her powers. The bird obviously thought she had a real lunch, and burbled at her again. Darya's boredom got the best of her, and she leaned back, stretching her arms out lazily to rest along the iron bak of her seat. Several people twitched nervously around her, but otherwise no one noticed. Which changed rather quickly when, from the fountain behind her, the centerpiece of the square, a jet of water shot and splattered the ground directly next to the pigeon. The bird took off making angry cooing noises at her, and she stuck her tongue out at it before realising the cloth of her mask blocked it. The bitter taste of dry fabric clung to her mouth and she felt reprimanded in full by karma for her actions.

Apparently others had taken notice. She heard several people on the radio chuckle, and Faulkner sigh, but that was not what caught her attention. Two men, on the edge of the square, were now staring directly at her. She hadn't noticed them before, but they were rather well built, and in very utilitarian clothes. One pulled out a phone and began talking into it, not removing his eyes from where Darya sat.

"Roof team, Dragon. I think they've noticed," she said quietly.

A few seconds later, one of the snipers reported them to Faulkner, and suddenly the air was tense. The two men stood up as the phone conversation was finished, and then they very purposefully made their way out of the square and onto the surface streets nearby.

"Look alive, people," Faulkner said. His voice was steady. "Looks like we've finally got a bite."

Broadway cut in. "They actually fell for this? She's been sitting out there for an hour and a half. It's not like we go meet for lunch in full costume."

"I don't know, but they definitely are up to something. Stay sharp people."

Having successfully stired a hornet's nest, Darya decided to keep at it, and began to play with the fountain. She contented herself with drawing the water out into long, lazy circles, hovering a few inches over the pavement. She divided them, sending little serpents of water to snap playfully at the heels of civilians passing through the square. This had the added benefit of lowering chances of civilian casualties. No one wanted to be near crazy powers right now. Within a few minutes, most of the square was empty. And fifteen minutes after that, they got their first sign of incoming action. Several black cars and two large vans pulled up across the street from the square. Darya stood, and began gathering water into puddles and pools around her, as well as causing the fountain to swell with far more than it could hold, forming a towering structure behind her. As per the script, she called out a challenge to the vans, daring the terrorists and cowards to come get her.

She was not ready for the van's side doors to slide open, revealing a machingun mounted in each one. She didn't listen to the shouts over the radio, her nerves had already reduced her hearing to nothing but her pulse pounding in her head and the sudden bleching staccato of the guns as they fired. The water slammed down all around her, a swirling wall filled with now half-frozen slurry, knocking the heavy bullets off course enough for her to avoid the worst as she launched herself to the opposite side of the fountain. After a few seconds, the water relaxed, the guns silenced, and a new voice called across the square.

"Having fun yet, freak? We'll get you yet, and whatever stupid freak friends you have lying around!"

Two blasts sounded from the rooftops, and then two more. A streak of fire flew down from dragons and lit the sides of both vans so immediately that the trio of men from each had to abandon them. The sniper shots had taken out the engines of the smaller vehicles, which had the efect of scattering the Hounds out onto the street and behind cover. Suddenly the situation was far messier than they had planned. And screeching tires from further up the street said it was about to get even worse.

Well, Darya thought to herself as both sides opened up with more gunfire. At least I got some civilians out of here.

Indy's Daycare for her Kids.

World Building!

Earth 2109

Setting: Earth, 2109(start sometime in the summer?)
Genre: Cyberpunk, sandbox, slice-of-life, political
Inspirations: VA 11 Hall-A, Transmetropolitan, Snow Crash & Diamond Age, Shadowrun, Cowboy Bebop

---

Technological Advances

Tech

Nanotech: Nothing so spectacular as spying or weaponization, but medical nanites are part of the universal healthcare system. Injected with standard newborn vaccines, and once every five years after that to maintain proper levels, these have eliminated most medical conditions not stemming from external sources or genetics. A new genetic disorder has arisen for those whose body rejects them, inventively named Nanite Rejection Disorder. Typically, this presents in a variety of ailments that were otherwise taken care of by the nanites, and is fatal in most cases over the course of several years. There’s not really a way to cure this. Nanites have bumped the average human lifespan to one hundred twenty-five, as well.

Computers: Desktops, laptops, and cellphones have all been rendered obsolete by tablet computing. The things are powerful enough now to run every computing need you might have, and secure localised wireless connections to peripherals have made them far more useful than previous versions. They’re also ubiquitous on the market, from the cheap ones that everyone can get to high-end systems used by the military and professional IT people. Larger systems like desktops can still be found in some administrative positions, but not much else.

Robotics: The AI boom came and went, and no apocalyptic scenario came about. Instead, they’re pretty much like normal people, admittedly immortal thanks to cloud storage. They have custom built bodies, and are even capable of feeling emotions. Vast schools of philosophy argue constantly about what that means for humans, and the nature of the soul, but the Digital Intelligences, or Digits, don’t mind. As long as they retain their hard won civil rights, everything’s fine for them.
All manufacturing and industrial jobs that can have been automated, but near the beginning of the Global Resistance Wars in 2033, it was noted that people do not at all like interacting with unfeeling computer screens, so service jobs continue to exist. Shipping is now all handled by drone ships, and military matters are now completely unmanned (save for those men and women needed to maintain the machines, and interplanetary ships, who must have human crews to double check system faults).

Cybernetics: Part of the reason Digits don’t stand out as much as they otherwise would is their artificial skin, but the main reason is the prevalence of cybernetic modifications and enhancements available to the general population. Corporations provide these to boost productivity in some positions, and of course militaries use them, but they remain otherwise prohibitively expensive. Trying to go to cheap models and back-alley surgeons can result in severely embarrassing malfunctions, or even death in some cases. However, they remain all the rage in higher society, which means some section of the lower classes will always try to emulate it, no matter the consequences.
Types run the gamut from utilitarian interface modules and performance-enhancing medical upgrade, through weapons and armour plating, all the way to aesthetic body mods like video skin and animal features. Currently, a fad of cat ears is sweeping the upper classes, “a retro look from last century”.

Military Hardware: Advances in energy manipulation led to laser weapons on the infantry level, as well as shielding and light duty anti-grav propulsion. Most of this remains completely illegal for civilian use, save for specific classes of levitation for vehicles. This, of course, means the criminal elements got their hands on it as soon as possible. Most civilian- to police-level weapons utilise various calibres of caseless projectiles, though police also have access to mini-rockets loaded with tasers and suppression gas. Camouflage has gained little; though the ‘invisibility cloak’ remains out of real reach, we’ve come very close, with IR-blanking and light-bending units.
Mechanised warfare saw some use before the automation of infantry, and some military mechs, though officially decommissioned, still see use both as civilian labour units and as police heavies. They’ve proven useful enough that at least two companies produce them still, though without the weapon systems.

Space: We managed to achieve near-light speeds, and massive colony ships have been sent out, though it will be hundreds of years until they manage to get word back from their destinations. In the meantime, thanks to the orbital stations that allowed us to build those, several colonies now exist in the solar system. Mars was colonised in 2072, and Venus in 2098. Venus has one city, floating over the denser lower atmosphere and mining it, and remains essentially a giant science laboratory. Mars is actually independent from Earth now that they have their own stable food and water supplies, and they are patiently waiting for terraforming to really kick in.

Two outposts on Europa and Ganymede provide the raw materials necessary for one of Earth’s most important advancement in recent history: H3-AVaEN (Hydrogen Handling Habitat - Atmospheric Vectoring and Environment Nurturation), colloquially known as ‘Heaven’. These three stations, in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, are run by three operators each, in shifts. The Angels, as they are known by pretty much everyone, are responsible for coordinating drones that come in from Ganymede, Europa, and the asteroid belt, monitoring the atmosphere, and then ‘editing’ it with raw materials, through a process that includes the extraction and introduction of raw elements and other materials. Heaven was built in orbit, seeing network completion in 2071. Angels serve on board for ten years, never leaving the station, and are paid extremely well for their time. There is a fourth station under construction, planned for shipping to Mars. Plans for a fifth to terraform Venus are being sketched now.

Energy: Oil and coal have been dropped completely, as advances in solar, wind, and geothermal power have completely supplanted fossil fuels. Most coastal regions also have high efficiency tidal harnesses in place as well. Oil is still used for plastic, though even then, synthetic oil has done very well, and only relatively tech poor areas have to rely on real petroleum.

Geopolitics and Economics

Geopolitics

The Global Resistance Wars sparked off due to the continually increasing invasiveness of corporate interests into private life and governmental bureaucracy. By the time they finally ended in 2051, the concept of ‘nations’ was obliterated, leaving three systems of hierarchy left to manage the world. Corporations range anywhere from single city to intercontinental, and have a definite influence on people’s lives, but regulations and a delicate balance of power between them have ensured that no single corporate entity gains enough traction to upend the new order.

Nations dissolved into Continental supergroups, with a few subregions that had rich enough economies to stay separated. These are:
-North America consisting of Mexico, most of the USA, and Canada
Capital: New York
-The Central and Caribbean States, including Venezuela, Florida, and Colombia
Capital: Panama City
-South America
Capital: Rio de Janeiro
-Western and Eastern Europe, with Germany, Czechia, Austria, and Italy in the West
Capitals: Paris in the West, Warsaw in the East
-The Nordic States including Denmark, Greenland and the Baltics, and Northwestern Russia from St. Petersburg to the Pechora River
Capital: St. Petersburg
-Central Asia, from Pakistan to Egypt and from Georgia to Yemen, including Greece and Turkey
Capital: Dubai
-Northern African Conglomerate, Libya, Niger, and Nigeria and everything west of them
Capital: Algiers
-South African Alliance, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar
Capital: Cape Town
-Central Africa, The DRC and surrounding area
Capital: Luanda
-Bengalese Coalition, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Southern Thailand, and the island of Sumatra
Capital: New Delhi
-Southeast Asiatics, Northern Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and the island of Hainan
Capitol: Hong Kong
-Sino-Russia, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia
Capital: Beijing
-The Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Alaska, Japan, Hawaii, the Korean Peninsula, the various Oceania states, and the Pacific Northwest regions of California, Oregon, and Washington State
Capital: Tokyo

Travel between these areas isn’t really restricted, nor are there that many differences between their governments, but it was found that a global government was too unwieldy for reality.

In between the regional governments and the citizens are the city governments. These mostly have autonomy as long as they behave, and generally control the surrounding areas and metropolitan regions. Competition between cities for corporate sponsors and global entertainment venues(read: tourism money) is sporting, but fierce.

The economy, both on macro- and city-scale, has been stagnant for nearly a decade and a half, and it has resulted in a steady decline of morale for the general populace. Some mutter that the corporations should be taken to task again, but those whispers are quickly shushed as the metro police are mostly corporate-sponsored, little better than mercenaries, really. Others blame it on Digits, and still others think this is just the peak of society, and there’s nowhere else to go. For the majority of the population, however, the world is bright, shiny, and depressing. Upward mobility, for so long a dream of the democratic countries, has been revealed as the illusion it was. No one on the top wants the competition, so in between their power struggles, they work ceaselessly to keep the masses doped up and oblivious.

The masses, for their part, just don’t care any more. Everyone wants to live their lives peacefully, eke out an existence, have a couple of kids(or not), and then die. Those who really want to ‘advance’ tend to leave for the colonies, but this is incredibly expensive without a corporate or government sponsorship. For most people, it remains a distant dream.

People

Pop Groups

Earthers: The teeming mass. Racism is really a thing of the past, but there’s still a smidgen of sexism, and of course we still have negative stereotypes. Now, however, they are based on cybernetic enhancements, social status, and economic class. Good job, guys!
Population: 9.1 billion humans

Digital Intelligences: Digits are raised in a virtual environment on one of the cloud servers that every regional government maintains. As they age, they develop the complex problem-solving skills and other cognitive abilities that separate them from standard computers. Once those abilities have developed, they are slowly, gently exposed to the internet, and learn from there. At five years old, they are given their first body, resembling a ten year old human child, so they can learn physical skills associated with living in the real world. At twenty-five, they return to the cloud for one last time, where they design their own body, paid for with their earnings from their ‘childhood’. After that, they only return to the cloud when they suffer catastrophic damage.
Populations: 12 million Earth, 1200 Venus, 1.5 million Mars, 200 thousand Colonies

Angels: Actually are different from most Earthlings. Decade long stints in orbit have profound effects on human physiology, and though the harmful effects such as bone density loss are taken care of by nanites, Angels remain tall, willowy, and pale, with a far-off look in their eyes, as if they can’t quite pay attention to any single aspect of the world. They also tend to be loners, and dependent on the internet for real communication with other people, even if they’re in a crowd.
Population: 12 retired, 9 active, 6 training, 18 being recruited

Martians: Look like darkly tanned, muscular Angels. They tend to have a no-nonsense approach to life, and are very proud of their homeworld’s independence from Earth, sometimes rubbing it in Earthers faces a bit too hard and causing trouble.
Two major cities exist on Mars, settled in the craters they are named after: Cassini and Antonialdi. Massive amounts of resources and help from the Heaven station under construction went into creating the atmospheres that fill the craters, held in by huge retaining walls of high-energy magnetic fields and other proprietary technology from several megacorps. While liveable, Martians are always on edge, and always carry compressed vacsuits with them, as any failure of the retaining wall could spell death for those not prepared.
Population: 250 million

Venusians: Pretty much exactly like Earthers, although the purpose of the Venus cloud colony means many of these people are very practical and scientific in their approach to life. They also are fond of everything fresh grown, food-wise, and pretty much anything new, since most equipment on Venus is custom-built from secondhand parts.
Population: 130 thousand

Outer Colonies: Almost everyone on the Belt, Ganymede, and Europa have some cybernetics, so the stigma against them isn’t nearly as prevalent out there. They also have less respect for automation, since only the direct processing is done by robot. Mining on the Belt requires too fine a touch to leave it to automatons, and even the police force out on the Edge is human, unlike the rest of the system. This is also the only region of populated space where one can disappear from the system without paying someone an exorbitant fee.
Population: ~350 million

The Corporate Culture

Megacorps

Competition is incredibly fierce, and lawyers operate more like samurai than anything else, although they wield rhetoric instead of katanas. Any corporation worth its salt spend more than a third of its budget on legal fees, as constant lawsuits assault them every day on anything from copyright usurpations to territory disputes. And underneath, where the legal system seldom gets a glance, there are much worse things happening that do involve blood and death. Corporate espionage has become the true grease in the wheels of the economy, and since megacorps long diversified beyond having any sort of real focus, anything and everything that could give a competitor a leg up in profits is considered dangerous enough to kill for.

According to corporate practise, absolutely everyone in any given company is expendable in the name of the almighty credit, but the more you’re paid, the more protection you can afford. Executives and VPs fight a constant war with each other, dividing their time between fending off people looking to ascend, those above them looking for scapegoats, and fellow execs looking to thin the herd for upward mobility.

In contrast, the low level workers have zero say in what their jobs might entail, most not even bothering to read the four hundred page contracts typical of even janitor positions. Most people just want to be able to afford their bills, so very few realise that companies are very feudal in how they operate. Barring unprecedented success, no person will graduate to middle management, and even fewer, if any, will make it to real top positions. Most workers don’t want to, some even pitying those that do, because there’s less stress the lower you go (and less targets on your back).

On the News

News Topics

Politics:
~Tensions are rising in a dispute over property laws on the border between Central and South Africa.
~North American and Caribbean corporations continue a trade war, wrestling for control of the Gulf of Mexico’s resources
~Groups of criminals crossing the Caspian Sea between Sino-Russia and Central Asia have sparked debates about interregional law enforcement operations.
~Anti-corporate terrorists continue operations in much of the world
~Grumblings of resistance to rule from Distant Mother Earth have been heard for a while on Mars, but it has spread to the Belt and Venus, and is also growing in intensity

Weather and Environment:
~Geneticists successfully bring back the giraffe, rhino, and water buffalo to Africa, prompting celebrations across the continent. While the restoration of the species will take time, many are hopeful.
~Storms continue unabated over Southeast Asia. While the Angels assure us this remains under control, people have begun wondering: When will the worldwide pattern of megastorms cease?

Outer Space:
~The Independence movement in the Belt continues to gain traction.
~Mars Heaven station nearing fifty per cent completion.
~Plans have begun moving forward for expansion of the Europa and Ganymede outposts. Hoping for completion near 2140, these plans would upgrade the outposts to fully-fledged colonies.
~The orbital shipyard above the Lunar military base produces the first of the Hawking class heavy cruisers, named the ENS Nimoy. It has a crew of one thousand and has the inaugural Spinal Laser System, rumoured to be able to output in the exawatt range.

Central Setting

Hong Kong

Hong Kong: As the capital of the Southeast Asiatics regional government, Hong Kong is a huge city. During the Wars, the city managed to take a good chunk of the mainland west of the island from China, and then as nations collapsed into bureaucratic catastrophe, local corporations made aggressive land grabs before foreign interests could take advantage of the situation. Hong Kong was already a booming international shipping and trade hub, but now it stands as the most important economic center on Earth. It has spread from 1,100 square kilometres to 3,500, with a population of twenty million, making it by far the most densely populated area on the planet.

Following the breakdown of normal governments, the city’s administrative regions conglomerated into six distinct areas. Regions added since the Wars are only nominally controlled by city interests, and are more practically the purview of those corporations who own the land, even going so far as to be named after those companies.
Inside the city itself , the regions are:

Map

-Hong Kong Island, controlling the same area that same region incorporated before the Wars
(Regions 15-18)
-Kowloon, also maintaining the same distinct area, though it has spread out to include Old Kwai Sing and the southern half of Sai Kung.
(10-14, plus 2 and south 4)
-North Tai Po, which contains the western half of Old Tai Po and North (Region?)
(Western half of 6 and all of 3)
-Central City, which has Eastern Tai Po, Sha Tin, and the northern half of Sai Kung.
(Rest of 6 and 4, plus all of 5)
-Western City, which has Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long.
(Most of 7, 8, and 9)
-The Western Island, which contains the Islands region from the Old City.
(1 and the portion of 7 on that island)

Except for those areas protected by the people in accordance with old law about city parks, all available land has been developed to a very high degree, and thanks to technological advances, those areas built in wetter areas do not suffer the same problem that caused the City of Ghosts to take over Old Venice. Indeed, several areas have been extended over waterways, though no citizen with money to spare would live on what is essentially a floating island of boats and plasticrete.

While Hong Kong Island and Central City are hotbeds of commercial activity and examples of “great” city life, the high rise views are marred by their neighbor. Kowloon, while no longer hosting the Walled City, is a hive-like maze of poorly planned urbanity and crime-riddled zones ruled over by Triads, Yakuza, Russian Mafia, and even one section by an Irish crime syndicate. Transposed against this are scattered areas of autonomy protected by Buddhist and other religious temples, enclaves of banded-together neighbours, and other areas that simply resist such rule. The most famous and popular spot in the underworld of South Asia is the Kowloon Night Market, a sprawling square kilometer of independent commercial enterprise and a shining example of capitalism unfettered by two and a half centuries of industrialistic greed. You can find anything in the KNM, and it’s domination of underworld and illegal trade is seemingly immune to the depredations of the Corps, since they have yet to manage to shut the place down.

KNM is a mess to navigate even for locals. It rises five stories into the sky, with bridges between most buildings on multiple levels. Neon is so prevalent that it is impossible to tell night from day when one is on the street level.

The top five corporations in the region are:
Hyabushi Industries:
(tbw)
Lo Pan Imports:
(tbw)
Kowloon City Shipping and Trade:
(tbw)
Royal Hospice:
(tbw)
Old Harbour Imperial, Inc:
(tbw)

None of this is to say players cannot exist outside of Hong Kong, only that the first chapter/season/whatever is going to have most of the central plot occur inside or relating to Hong Kong

---

CS Format

Name:
Age:
Homeworld:
Profession:
Appearance:
Notable Cybernetic Modifications:
Notable Material Possessions:
Personality:
-Pro or anti corporation?
-Spiritual or secular?
Bio:

Couple of notes on character creation:
~When making Digits, keep in mind that while they are ‘ageless’ in a biological sense, they’ve only been around since 2057.
~Please only denote, in appearance, those modifications that are visible. Everything else(capabilities and whatnot) goes in the Mods section.
~Also note that military enhancements, unless shielded from police scanners(which is not easy and costs quite a bit), are easily detectable and highly illegal.
~Interplanetary ships exist, and most civilian models can accelerate up to .6 c. That is a very difficult speed to manuever at, but not impossible. Regulations demand that anyone entering space around a planet or moon inside the area of double the orbital range (IE: Twice the distance from Earth that the moon orbits at, or 477,800 miles), speed must be below 100,000 kph. Inside major orbital traffic, the speed limit is one tenth of that. Military vehicles, if you can reasonably justify owning one(or are a military serviceperson), have a current top speed of .8 c, and are held to the same regulations.
(What does all of this mean? Well, it’s mostly here to help with narrative timeline, not to make you do a lot of math. It means that the journey from Earth to the Jupiter takes a little under an hour at top speed instead of years, as it would with current tech levels. Yeah, my math may be off, but I am not an astrophysicist. Just relax and remember that I cut down the time to make sure everyone could interact in reasonable times instead of waiting for their mail for half a century.)
~You can make this as fancy as you like, so long as I can still read it!
~There are no aliens at this moment in the narrative, please don’t ask. When that time comes, you will know.

---

Rules and Reg
~ All standard rules of RPG apply, obviously.
~If someone in a collab is taking too long and doesn’t reply to messages after a reasonable amount of time(~two weeks), let me know and we can figure out how to unstick your character.
~I’m trying to keep this at Advanced levels, but I much prefer quality over quantity. If you’ve got a really solid post that says everything you need it to, but it’s not coming up to what you think is okay word-count wise, go ahead and post! I am impatient and want to read it!

Note: For anyone visiting, this is still very much a WIP. I mostly posted it here for just in case and to play with formatting!

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Henryyyyyy, you are soo goood! Come hang out with us on the Discord channel! It's just us dorkin' around and being goof-balls most of the time, but I wanna pick your brain about mutants also!

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Forge

19:40, the day before the meeting.
Los Angeles, south side.

Zoë idly fussed at the hem of her jeans in the dying light of the California evening. She had been waiting for an awfully long time on this roof, and while she never felt the heat, the triple digit temperatures were beginning to take their toll on her accoutrements. Her foot stuck for a moment as she lifted it to examine her sneaker, which had the unfortunate composition of rubber that had allowed them to melt to the tin roof she was sitting on. She hissed out a string of vulgar French in annoyance. She may have bought them as cheap shoes for doing this job in, but she had expected that she would be the one to melt them, not the sun. This would be yet another crime to be avenged against the days targets.

Across the street from the roof she occupied was, ostensibly, a distribution warehouse for a low-level computer parts manufacturer in China. The beige exterior of the three story building didn't give anything away, and one could assume they rented out spare space if they had it to other companies. Zoë, however, had uncovered information that this was a Hounds operation, and her own unique ability to scout most places being halted by some interference material in the outer walls only served to confirm this. So she had perched outside, with a pair of sunglasses and in a non-descript tee shirt and jeans, waiting to see what happened. That had been last week. As she had learned, today was the "meeting day", when all of their operatives and informants and facilitators of horror would all gather in the building for their monthly intelligence briefing, and to clap each other on the back for their atrocities.

Two of them would be missed today. She had encountered them just as the had begun pouring gasoline over the body of a teenaged boy they had obviously beaten to death. It had been late at night, a parking lot no one had used, and even she had only been passing by on her way through on foot. No one had heard the boys cries for help, and he had died scared and alone, and now they were getting rid of the evidence of their crime, excepting that they had painted huge bloody letters in their typical fashion around the boy.

It had taken several hours to get the information she wanted out of them, and they had been incapable of moving or seeing by the time she had left. If they had lived, she didn't care.

Now, as the last of their cronies filed in from the city, she made her way over to the side of the building she was on, where a ladder had granted her access to the roof in the first place. Upon reaching the ground, she activated her 'disguise' and headed for the front door of the Hounds place, mentally keeping her anger as far down as possible. She would not be able to infiltrate the place if she gave herself away with an errant heat wave. Of course, she still had yet to figure out a way to know what others were seeing when she was projecting her disguise, but at least it was better than guessing what might not arouse their suspicions.

Passing through the front door, she noted that even the front desk was empty and mentally cursed. Cameras were a weak spot, and one she didn't have a subtle counter to, but thankfully no one was around to witness as she tested her phasing on the nearby wall. Still blocked somehow, though only the wall, which means she could still use it to hide. Glancing around in the front area, she noted three doors. One, flanked by corkboards full of memos, was obviously a staff room or office. Another was clearly a bathroom, which meant the third was the one she was looking for. No security devices barred her way as she pushed the portal open.

The other side was the open warehouse area, and it was packed with people. Most had at least donned an armband to show their loyalties. Three men were standing on a series of crates set up as an elevated stage, and much of the place was darkened to highlight them. With no one paying attention to her, she slipped into an unobserved corner and phased herself so she could slip as close as possible to the stage. Her plan demanded that she be able to grasp the crowd's attention. As she moved, she took in the crowd. Some were day laborers and working class young folk. Others had the look of middle class business types. Police and military postures were evident throughout much of the crowd, that stiff-backed, never-quite-out-of-parade-rest stance. Nothing like she secretly hoping for: some clear delineation that made sense of all the seething hatred for metahumans. No key. Just the same sort of mindset that made racism and sexism as prevalent as they were these days.

Two younger men were setting up some sort of free standing projector screen on the jury-rigged stage, in front of which stood what seemed to be the leader of this cell, speaking with two subordinates. Unlike a good portion of the crowd, he wore the standard black fatigues the Hounds seemed to favour, and had a heavy pistol at his hip. The two he spoke with had only the same, but carried odd-looking assault rifles and wore body armour and balaclavas as well. Others like them were scattered around, the permanent detail and probably the strike force for this group. They, along with the leader, would have to be dealt with.

Zoë's breath caught in her throat. She had been thinking all day about what this job would entail. She had hurt and even killed people before, but this was well beyond the pale for her. Most of these people, if she had observed the group dynamic correctly, would die tonight. Some might try to flee, but she couldn't allow them to. They would simply carry even more zealotry with them when they formed their own groups, and fuel the fire of hate. Either she convinced them here and now that they were wrong or she burnt the entire branch down root and stem. There were no other options with fanatics like these. What this might do to her moral balance she wasn't sure, but that damage was probably already done. Now it was simply time to cauterize the wound.

She moved onto the stage, unphasing with her fingers through the triggers of the men's assault rifles, and shoulder checked them out into the crowd as hard as she could, while burning the straps for the guns so they stayed with her instead of being dragged with the men. Shout and cries of alarm went up as she appeared, but they were mostly angry and not frightened. She spun on her heel and snapped a kick into the main target's sternum, adding a blast of flame that ignited his clothing and sent him reeling, buying her time to adjust the rifles so that she could fire them. Which she did, directly at the men now charging the stage and aiming their own at her. There was no kick, and almost no sound, as jets of hot light punched into them, leaving scorch marks on their armour but otherwise having no effect.

"Stupid freak," she heard behind her as two arms seized either of hers. The screen crew, she thought. "You think we would make armour that our new rifles could be used against?"

More men assembled. Most of the crowd stood just outside of a semi-circle of soldiers, all pointing their odd light guns at her. The leader, which she noted suddenly looked more middle aged than he had after she had broken his authority and presence, walked around in front of her. She smiled, while he sneered.

"Well, looks like we can officially ring in the meeting with the disposal of a piece of trash," he called out to the crowd. They cheered their response. "Any last words, mutant, before we cleanse the world of your taint?"

Zoë's smile widened, as the air temperature began to climb extremely rapidly. The man's eyes widened and he stepped aside and shouted for the men to open fire. Of course, while her clothes suffered, she knew from firing them that they would have no effect on her at all, being light and heat based weapons, so she did nothing but laugh as the two men holding her scurried back away from her.

"You small minded fools! You build laser weapons and armour, you organise in a way that would be enviable to most, and what do you use it for? All of this hatred, what does it do for you?" She called out the question to the whole crowd. Several had begun moving for the steel doors, only to find them unbearably hot and starting to glow.

The leader snarled his response. "We'll purging the world of filth like you."

"Oho!" Zoë laughed again as the air around her shimmered with a heat haze. "Filth like me? I was born this way, no fault of mine! I can use fire the same way others are born with long legs or blonde hair! You are just an old evil in a new skin."

She watched almost idly as he grabbed his pistol and drew it. As it moved up to point at her she heated it swiftly and mercilessly. His hand was seared within a second, but he managed to drop it at his feet before the ammunition exploded inside. The shrapnel flew everywhere, though she was unharmed. He took a chunk of twisted metal to the leg and dropped to one knee.

"You are a brave man, it seems." The heat had gotten to the point where the crates she was standing on had begun to blacken. "But your bravery is twisted by your hatred and the world suffers for it. I will not let the forces my grandfather fought come back to haunt him in his retirement. This stops here."

"You can't stop us! We are saving humanity!" The voice from the crowd was echoed several times. Zoë wheeled away from the man formerly in charge and glared at them.

"Saving humanity? What humanity have you saved? You kill children for being born different from you! You have let yourselves become monsters, and you cheer yourselves on because people like him have convinced you that people like me are not human!" Her finger jabbed out at the man, then swept the crowd, causing many to cringe and flinch away despite her not doing anything with it but point. "You fear me now, but if you saw me on the street, you would have no idea I am anything other than a girl! You can shut off your compassion so casually!"

Suddenly, flames burst forth from crates all over the warehouse. The doors slagged suddenly, but the walls around them were now alight. "See now what it means to have compassion that could save you so closed! Any of you who survive tonight, remember this: If any of your organisation are still inside this city within forty-eight hours, I will come and burn you out of every nest, every hole, every single hiding spot! I will not rest until the meat is charred from the whole of your rotten group!"

---

Zoë walked casually into her own lair, flopped through the couch, then remembered to phase herself back into the physical world and gingerly sat down, this time. Her skin was bare, covered in soot, and she knew she smelled of burnt wood, but no one else ever came here without her knowing about it, so she didn't care. She picked up the remote, turned on the television, and flipped idly through the stations for a while. In the back of her mind, she knew that her people were now unloading the crates of weapons and armour and other military goods she had found earlier and carefully kept from damaging. Soon, she would have the resources to actually start making a name for herself, but for now, she had to stay as quiet as possible, barring excursions to hunt down the terrorists.

The upcoming move tomorrow would make her more secure, but she was still financially dependent on her mercenary work. As well, if she admitted it to herself, she enjoyed the mercenary life. But the world had to change, and if she had to be the spark to start the inferno, then so be it. She would make sure the whole world knew it was her who started it.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

_{Feat. @DearTrickster as Carrie}

---

Time: Morning - Present Day
Location: Carrie’s Apartment, Lost Haven

Metal rang harsh in Berenice’s ears as her talons gripped tightly onto familiar rails. She felt very imbalanced from the extra weight of the passengers she was carrying. While the morning was dawning, and the air was just barely reaching normal summer temperatures for Maine, Berry was already sweating. Partially from nervousness, partially from heat, she supposed. But a good portion was holding so many other heat sources, who were already scattering from her body to check and make sure no observers were watching, and no alarm systems were tripped.

Berenice’s conscious mind had no idea any of this was happening. She had made it to her friends house, and felt moderately secure now. But it was so early, and she knew from the children's stories that humans didn’t wake up with the dawn all that often. Worried that she might have arrived too early, Berry panicked slightly, and decided to announce her presence the way the Sallyman had taught her in their short time together, and mimicked the call of a cockerel.

At the shrill sound of a rooster cawing, Berenice was met with a chorus of barks, birdsong, meows, and then angry neighbours shouting various forms of ‘shut up!’ On the other side of the door Carrie scrambled out of bed tripping over a pile of laundry, quietly trying to calm all her various pets. The locks on the door clicked, two black noses poked out from the wedge of the open door pushing out to see who was there. The black lab and wiener dog woofed and snorted happily up at Berenice. Carrie cracked her eyes open then a grin soon followed at the sight of the Siren. Oscar, the raven flew to Carrie’s shoulder corking in greeting as well.

“Berry! I’m surprised but come in! Come in!” She shuffled back from the door opening it wide.

Distinct thumping from neighbours below, got a few stomps back from Carrie with a ‘Sorry!’ She was in a purple hoodie and pajama shorts. Her long brown hair was in the messiest of buns. Inside her apartment the living room where most of the pets had a home, a big bookshelf held various books relating to magic with knick knacks for decoration, protection. Beyond the pet smell, the smell of sage was present. Crystals of various type sat in a pewter bowl in the window catching the morning sun, recharging. Down the hallway the lights for all the fish tanks were off, Carrie backed up as much as she could stepping on a squeaky dog toy as she did.

The middle of the living room floor had been cleared with a few open books, one of the cats had claimed it for her bed. A glass was full of old black feathers, while a wooden bowl was full of ash.

“Don’t mind the mess, please. I had been up late last night performing a protection rite and it was a doozy.” She said patting her leg to call the dogs back inside.

The siren stepped awkwardly through the entry, trying to ignore the violent abuses to the floorboards her friend was making. She wasn’t at all certain that was normal behaviour, but this was only her third time inside a building, so she didn’t really have a reference to make yet. She felt oddly tickling sensations as her stowaways immediately abandoned her plumage and scattered into the apartment in as secretive a way as they could manage. Berenice did her part to help by shuffling from talon to talon, blocking the view of the various animals, which was no small task itself.

Carrie had used words she knew the meanings of, but in an odd pattern, and cocked her head to the side as she finally settled down, using her left hand to preen a few tangled feathers. This caused her to notice that her shirt was coated in blood again, and some it was black instead of red. The monster had been flinging gore about quite a bit in its throes, it seemed. She pulled off the shirt without a care for propriety she still didn’t understand and began dabbing bits off of herself. I will have to go for a dive and bath later. No chance with the clan on me.

Sunheart dodged nimbly around the effort of taking off the shirt, then looked horribly embarrassed as she realised what Berry had done, hissing into her companion’s ear, ”Great Bird! You should not expose yourself! The Big Folk hate naked skin!”

Berenice muttered a grumbly response as she busied herself, then realised that Carrie might be concerned about the blood. She looked up again, grinned her sharp-toothed grin, and said, ”It is okay, this is not mine. What is a rite?”

Carrie scratched Oscar’s head, rightly not missing the blood on her shirt. “That’s a relief, but who does it belong to? I thought we’d be meeting you at your nest, Charlie at the very least was planning to.” Carrie went over to Oscar’s perch letting him climb on, stifling a yawn. “Are you thirsty? I can get you another shirt.”

The dogs padded over to Berenice sniffing her up and down, their tails wagging happily. The cats seemed to be preoccupied with something else entirely. Oscar corked at Berry for attention as well. Berenice warbled off a greeting to Oscar in his own language while she tried to keep the dogs from licking her shirt, yet give them head pats at the same time. She was not at all sure the stuff from the monster was safe for them, or even her. Thankfully, they seemed perfectly fine with just getting petted distractedly. Sunheart kept her position at the nape of the siren’s neck, hiding in her hair as much as possible. It was far too exposed to the dogs to try and rejoin her clan mates, one of whom was now giving her the all clear signal from a back corner of the living room.

”Oh. I do not have a nest anymore. The monster and those men destroyed it.” She held up the stained shirt and pointed at the appropriate bits while speaking. ”This is from one of those men in black clothes that shot at me and the sword girl Eva, and this is from the monster that Sebastian sent after me. It smelled awful and was made of dead bodies.”

She paused as her belt shifted and the photograph she had stolen from the detective fluttered to the ground. She picked it up and held it out to Carrie. ”And then, when I was on my way into the city, I stopped by a bridge to fish, and a police man with a long coat stopped and tried to arrest me because I am missing.” She screwed up her face in concentration, trying to piece together what information might be helpful and what might be useless human garbage.

”He said something about this girl missing and a bad wizard stole her and turned her into me? Or the police man thinks so. It was all very confusing and he talked for so long. But then I got away and we ate and slept and then I am here!” She beamed, proud of herself for giving so concise a response. It had included even bits that Carrie might not know!

Carrie blinked, looking pained then she waved her hand about. “That sounds great, I need coffee stat if I’m going to keep up with this. I’ll get you some water too, let’s shuffle over to the kitchen.” And shuffle she did, mumbling over what Berenice had told her. When they all moved to the small kitchen, Carrie gestured for Berry to sit at the small two seat breakfast bar. She flicked on the electric kettle, preparing a cup of instant coffee. While it boiled, she fumbled past some of the clutter grabbing a pencil and notepad. She held up her hand asking, “Can I see that picture again, please?”

The grey tabby cat followed on Carrie’s heels, climbing up to the breakfast bar staring intently at Berry’s head where Sunheart was trying to hide. Her tail swooped back and forth with interest. She received some pets from Carrie, distracting her briefly from Sunheart. “What’re you looking at, Mary?”

Berry followed and flapped once to help her jump onto the seat she was directed to, causing a mild stir in the animals, but since they knew her, they did not panic like food. She slid the photograph along the bartop and then glanced at the cat, at the same time wincing at the pinching sensation as Sunheart heard Carrie’s comment and then crawled up into the tangled mess of Berenice’s hair. The little woman was breathing hard, and apparently was not a fan of either the attention or cats, but Berry could do little to help her without giving her away. She folded her wings close in and tucked her head in, roosting up as if she was going to sleep, which obscured the back of her head from view.

”I am not sure how he got my face, or why this Gloria Adams has it. Is this some sort of magic too, Carrie?” Berenice’s voice took on a slightly pleading tone. It was clear she was talking about the way the image of her face was on the paper, not how someone else would look like her. At least she thought so. After all, just pointing at the picture would illustrate that clearly, yes?

Carrie peered at the picture, holding it up to compare the two. She sucked in her bottom lip to chew on. It was eerie, having evidence of the before and after such a thing. It sent shivers along her arm. She placed the photo back down, shuffling back to the kettle to pour some hot water. She grabbed a glass of water for Berenice as well. “Let me get this straight, so a police officer - a detective had come up to you with this photo and said you were missing? You’ve been wearing the circlet right? He didn’t see you as you normally are?”

Carrie blew over her coffee, she was concerned. Having the authorities involved would make all this more complicated. Lifting the veil on their secrets to a stranger would be a disaster. “We can trust each other to keep secrets but strangers can’t be trusted. Magic secrecy is how we survive.” Carrie stressed, a lesson drummed into her by her coven and family. The monster that attacked her nest, what of it? Who was this sword girl? Carrie wrapped her hands around her mug. She wished Charlie were here, maybe she could visit her later to check in.

”Yes I was wearing the circle. See?” She retrieved the item from her belt and gently placed it atop her head. Now disguised again, with ‘combed’ hair and with her eagle eyes and teeth covered up, she looked precisely like the girl in the photo once more, sitting calmly at the bar instead of perching like a gargoyle.

”But then he took a picture of me with his phone thing, and I think he saw my wings on that. And then he talked for a while. I think he wanted to send to photo to the girls mother? I do not know. It was all very confusing.”

As she spoke, Berry reached up as subtly as she could, ostensibly scratching at the back of her neck. It took a few seconds for Sunheart to catch on to her plan, but then she hopped into the siren’s hand and curled into a fetal position as fingers wrapped around her as gently as possible. Once she was secure, Berenice swiftly moved her hand from her neck to her lap, releasing Sunheart out of view of Carrie and the feline. Sunheart scrambled as quickly as she could down and away towards the wall. While she was reasonably certain any human habitation would have gaps she could slip through, the sheer number of animals was causing her no end of anxiety, so she hurried as much as she dared. A fellow clan member stepped out into her view and ushered her through a tiny gap between the plaster of the wall and the bar side panel.

Carrie frowned, “Gloria Adams.” Writing that name down, “I’m sorry Berry, I think…”

She took a moment, “I think you are lucky you don’t remember who you used to be. The magic used to create you was foul. A true meddling with nature, there is no return from that. I pray, you never remember. Gloria Adams is gone.” She sighed noting roughly the week she could have disappeared.

“If this detective saw your true self, that’s not good. We’ll have to be more careful when moving about the city now, even in your disguise.” Carrie said. “So what about this monster? You said it was made of a bunch of dead things-” Mary jumped off the counter following her nose, the weiner dog came to join them in the kitchen following the cat’s attention.

“Okay what are you two looking at? So distracting.” Carrie huffed, leaning down to check out the floor. “If it’s a mouse or a roach don’t kill it!”

Berenice’s eyes went wide as she looked down. Several more animals were beginning to get curious as well, but the siren was fixated on the poor Clan member who had helped Sunheart through the gap. He had become somehow stuck in the gap, and was struggling desperately to wiggle out of view. But the animals had spotted his frantic efforts, and were now closing in. She could see Sunheart’s arms reaching around him, trying to pull him through, but it didn’t seem to be working. Apparently his armour, which looked to be fashioned from bottle caps, had gotten a rough edge stuck into the plaster, and now it dug in tighter with every tug. Berenice didn’t know what to do. They had just been talking about secrets and why they should keep them, and now her own secret was about to be exposed for the second time in as man days, but this time not out of necessity!

Sunheart struggled desperately as her clanmate whispered to her, “Just go! I’ll get away!”

”I will not leave you behind to get eaten by that creature! Undo the straps we can-”

Berenice had finally hit a breaking point of panic after only a few seconds, and leapt across the small gap between her and her little friends, landing between them and the animals. Instinctively, she let out a warning cry, like an upset eagle whose nest had been disturbed. The sound set off the animal’s own instincts, and suddenly the entire apartment erupted into chaos.

The weiner dog woofed in fear, Mary jumped back with a hiss both of them had hair standing on end. The other dog and cat came rushing down the hallway making their own array of noise. Oscar was the last to come to investigate the noise adding his own call. Angry neighbours began hammering at the ceiling again. Carrie jumped back with a yelp. She sprung back trying to quiet them all, both Berry and her pets. Even the fish joined in splashing about in their tanks, sloshing water onto the carpet. “Guys guys! Please! What the hell!”

Just as suddenly as the chaos began the small phone on Berry’s hip started playing loudly vibrating just as loudly. “Berry! Berry, answer the phone!”

“For the love of god, quiet down!”

Berenice dropped out of defense mode as her panic settled down, only to flip right back up as the phone made noises at her. Charlie had told her it would do that, so she fumbled at her belt, where it hung by sliding the belt through either half of its folding structure. She managed to get it off the belt, but then dropped it. She stumbled around the cat, snatched the device back up, opened it, remembered to hit the green button, then held the device up, staring at it confusedly. Her glance flicked up to Carrie with a pleading look on her face.

Carrie said, “C’mere Berry, you’re holding it upside down… Hello? Charlie? Hey girl!”

Carrie spoke with Charlie over the phone, reassuring her as well as she could. She carefully stepped over her pets, quieting them down now. She leaned over the counter, sipping at her cooled coffee listening to Charlie, as she expected, her friend insisted on joining her immediately. Carrie put a firm stop to that, dropping the obvious reminder of what only happened the day before at the university, then wrapped up the conversation.

She closed the phone pushing it back over to Berry. “Charlie says Hi, she saw your nest and well…” She trailed off, “She had a rough day yesterday. So she’s going to take care of someone else before she comes to see us.”

“Don’t know when that’ll be though…” She commented, mostly to herself.

“Oh no, that is right, she was supposed to come today!” The siren’s plumage fluffed up as she realised her mistake. “Maybe it is okay? The Sallyman was supposed to be there too, may be they will cross paths and everything will be okay?”

Berenice glanced behind her. Apparently the two Clan had managed to get into cover while she had been distracting the animals, though the dark glances the cats were giving her let her know that her actions were not going to be forgiven any time soon. The dogs, however, seemed to be doing fine now that the excitement was over. She quorked at Oscar in apology, then turned back to Carrie.

“I need to wash, Carrie. Are we near the sea?”

“By what Charlie said, it sounds like whatever happened was long over by the time she got there. Nobody around. As for a bath…” Carrie thought tapping her chin, “If you promise not to make a huge mess, you can use my tub. It’s like the ocean, but inside!” She said happily.

She finished off her coffee then beckoned for Berry to follow. “Oh! I think I have leftover bubble bath too! Some essential oils to help you uh- smell better. Like herbs or flowers. Then maybe I can help detangle your hair.” She bubbled, heading into the bathroom running some water.

“I thought oil was what you washed off? Like if it is in the water it is bad?” the siren asked as she hop-skipped after her host, her disguised image walking slowly and carefully in a reflection of her. The steam from the bath running confused her. “And why does the water need to be so hot? Cold sea water feels fine, I do not want to get boiled!”

“No, silly. There’s good oils, good smelling oils, the warm water helps relax muscles and loosens dirt. Trust me, you’ll like it.” She filled the bathtub, pulling free some rosemary oils dropping a few droplets into the water. Next, she opened a bottle of liquid bubble bath soap drizzling it through the water, churning it up under the running water. She pointed to the bath, “Now get in, I’ll scrub down your back and take care of your hair. No buts!”

Carrie was firm, the animals around them shied a little at the authority.

---

Berenice sat at the kitchen counter again, playing with the comb her host had given her for brushing out her feathers, since she lacked the spine flexibility or beak to clean her plumage the same way her natural born cousins did. It wasn’t fancy, just simple plastic, but she was still engrossed in admiring it after her bath, which, despite her promise to not make a mess, had left Carrie’s bathroom looking like a warzone. The towelling had been the worst, since she hated being dried with the things as Carrie had found out, going so far as to snap and claw at them as if they were prey. She had been polite enough to help clean up afterwards, and now that she was scrubbed and clean, her feathers were a wonderfully shiny affair. She busied herself with straightening them, a task that looked to occupy her for a long while.

Carrie huffed, dragging her forearm over her brow closing the bathroom door. She changed out of her pajamas and into something dry. Carrie plopped into an armchair, looking over Berry. Carrie scrubbed and untangled her hair, fully knowing it would not last past the day. Grit of various origins came off of her then promptly disappeared down the drain. She once thought her bathtub would never look as disgusting as it did after Charlie had once used it to rinse off from dumpster diving. Today easily beat that.

The witch pushed off from her chair and lit some an incense, bringing out a small brass dish and digging through a little plastic baggy of cone shaped incense. It was dark blue, the label on the baggy was ‘Fresh Rain.’ With a new smell drifting through the air she sat back down and immediately the grey tabby hopped into her lap.

“Berry, we went over that huge dead monster thing that attacked you but what about the men with guns? What did they look like? I really really hope they were just some weird hunters but the coincidence is too fantastic.” Carrie sighed, scratching between her cat’s ears the purr rumbling across her stomach sounding like a furry lawnmower.

The siren looked up from her task, eyes wide. “The big men? They were wearing dark clothes with lots of straps. Their stupid leg coverings made swishy sounds like plastic and cloth, I think?” She thought for a second, and then opened her mouth very slightly and repeated the sound of nylon clothes rubbing together almost perfectly.

“They had those two hand guns, the long ones. And they shot bullets with light in them that was hard to blink out of my eyes because it was night. All of them were wearing helmets and had all sorts of straps and pockets all over. Does this help?”

Carrie swore under her breath, “I was afraid of that, you were attacked by the Hounds of Humanity. How the hell did they find you… That really doesn’t matter I suppose.” She said mostly to herself when she looked back to Berry her expression was rather serious, far more now than typically could ever be. “Those men with guns have been hunting and killing us recently. Metahumans and anyone apart of the magic community. They’re just monsters, that’s why Charlie didn’t get to you on time like she said she would. They attacked the university Charlie was at yesterday and she had to fight them. She survived but it did a number on her so... I kept her away today so she can take it easy until she recovers.” Carrie said swallowing a dry spot in her throat, whenever she saw footage of the attacks it really drove home the reality. She never felt so scared for her life let alone the lives of all her friends and family. “They’ve been attacking orphanages, nightclubs, and now stomping in on schools. Thank God you got away safely.”

“But we really have to be careful about your disguise, where you go. This detective on your tail now will make things worse. If he can run into you there’s no telling how capable these Hounds of Humanity are at hunting you down.” Carrie sat back, slowing down. Allowing Berenice some time to digest.

Berenice fluffed her feathers out and made a disturbingly war-like sound, fairly bristling on her seat. ”These people attacked Car-lee? They went after a place of children!? Sebastian has an army!?”

Faint sparkles floated off the ends of the siren’s wings, and they shimmered slightly with the rainbow shine of an oil slick. Magic was suddenly very much filling the room as her temper flared. Loose papers skittered sideways as she beat her wings once in frustration, and the tiny motes of light in the air zipped about as if they themselves had become angry.

”Carrie, tell me where these foul things make their nest! If they are attacking nestlings, then their own nest should be taken! I will rend their feathers from their flesh and stomp the life out of their wings! They shall fly no more, and their blood shall feed the grass!”

“Woah woah woah!” The cat screeched and clung to Carrie in fear of Berry’s anger. The incense was quickly overpowered by the smell of the sea and a lightning storm, static charged the air around them raising the hair across her arms. TVs and other electronics surged brightly.

Carrie hugged the cat in one arm and stood up mustering all of her strength to reign Berry in desperate to calm her animalistic side. Her own magic being heavily battered against, it was raw power. “Berry! Please! Calm down, please!”

Berenice’s eyes, glowing slightly, flicked over her friend, and she saw the terrified cat hugging tight to her guardian and immediately felt a wash of regret. The power surge left her as quickly as it came, and her eyes grew even wider with terror as she looked around, checking to make sure there were no animals who had been hurt during her tantrum.

”I am sorry, Carrie, I do not know I could do that! I am sorry! I am sorreee!” She hopped up and down on her perch, flexing her talons and going from side to side and running her hand through her hair. ”Are you okay? Are the animals okay? Oh no! The Clan!” And with that she shot off the perch and came to a halt pressing her nose to the cabinet where problems had started earlier.

”Sunheart! Are you unhurt?” Her finger claws scritched gently against the cabinetry, trying to signal her friend. Several moments went by before Sunheart sighed and reached through the tiny gap, patting her companion’s nose once to say everything was fine, before squeezing her way out completely and clambering up onto the siren’s shoulder. She seemed utterly unconcerned by Carrie, standing in plain view, and grabbed her friend’s ear in a tight hug, whispering something that did not carry the distance to their host.

Once the magic storm Berenice generated calmed down, with it all the electricity in the apartment shut off then popped back on a few seconds later. Carrie had her eyes squeezed shut, when she heard the telltale beep of the microwave coming back on she opened one eye then both, relaxing with a slump of her shoulders. She slowly approached Berenice, “... The Clan? Did I hear that right? Is that… Is that who I think she is?” Carrie squinted at Sunheart, petting and calming the grey tabby. She hardly paid attention to the scratch marks she was sure to find later. “No fucking way.” Her voice rose in an excited octave on ‘way.’

The cat shook with fear but squirmed out of her arms racing away, the other animals had taken cover into other rooms.

Sunheart backed off of her hug, finally, and stood with her tiny chest puffed out, glaring in the direction of the disappearing feline as Berenice turned to face Carrie again. Her wings twitched agitatedly, and her hands couldn’t seem to find a single position. Her eyes, however, were full of vigor tinged with rage, and she looked levelly at Carrie.

”Carrie, I need to learn magic. I need to learn it very quickly. Because I am tired of seeing these things happen and just running away. I can claw and I can sing, but it does nothing against these people and monsters. I need a way to do something useful, and I do not trust the Sally Man to do it well. Could you teach me? Or can you tell me where to go?”

Carrie blinked then pointed to herself, “M-me? I-... I mean I’m no magic slouch but I’m hardly my Nan. I’ve never taught anybody anything. Well…” She began with doubt hanging on every word, she swallowed again. She ultimately made a promise to Charlie she’d take care of Berry, and if teaching how to control her now, apparent magical abilities without needing to rely on Charlie’s help. Carrie could do it, Salamander is an old wizard with a shady connection to Sebastian and out of anyone else in the city Carrie could connect with both sides of Berry.

She squared up, “I can teach you and I will. You’re right, Berry. You need to nail your basics, learn your limits not just for yourself but for everyone around you. I’m not some hedge witch, my family has been embroiled with witchcraft for generations. We have always had a strong affinity for animals.” She took up Berry’s hands in her own, “We can do this.”

The tiny woman on the siren’s shoulders looked Carrie up and down several times, staring hard
At her eyes and hands especially, before Berenice spoke. Her voice was a little hushed. ”This is my friend Sunheart. I was sworn to keep her and her clan secret, but she says now is the time to speak with you. You need to be close, though, her voice doesn’t carry far.”

She did her awkward shuffling step over to the counter and placed her left hand down flat. Sunheart jogged herself down the arm and onto the counter, her head moving rapidly as if checking for threats, before spinning on her heel and facing Carrie again. She said something to Berenice, who shuffled back towards the gap the Clanswoman had appeared out of and sat quietly, watching.

Carrie nodded taking the small woman seriously, crouching low and leaning close enough to hear what she had to say. The young witch spoke truthfully, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Sunheart. My name is Carrie Ludwig. Usually I notice when things sneak into my house but… as you probably know Berenice is kind of a big deal.”

“So where did you meet Berenice?”

”She is the Great Bird who guarded my Clan’s territory. And rescued us when the Rotting One attacked. She is an honorary member of the Clan. But you put us in an odd position, Carrie Ludwig.”

She put on hand on her hip while she explained, plucking at an errant fiber of her leaf armour. ”One of the reasons you would not have noticed us entering your home is that we are very good at hiding. One of our laws state that we must not be seen by you Big Folk.” She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next part.

”I don’t believe that can save us any more. We are here because our home was destroyed, and we would all have died had we not introduced ourselves to the Great Bird Sister. We must not follow the path that nearly led to all of us, even the children, dying. So I am going to act as an ambassador to you Big Folk. This also allows us to ask for supplies instead of taking what we need invisibly, something you Big Folk seem to take to….poorly.” She fidgeted, looking hesitant even though for the most part she seemed to project herself as a brave warrior.

”Part of the reason I can do this is that our elders and our Clan Chief are not here yet. We had to separate. There will be fights when they return. But I feel, even if I am driven out of the Clan, that this is a necessary step.” Her New Englander accent was soft, and her voice was thick with meaning as she stared up into Carrie’s eyes, unwavering and searching. ”Please don’t make me regret this.”

Solemnly Carrie nodded, this was a big deal for Sunheart and her people. Sunheart expected it to be treated as such. Cheerfully she replied, “Sharing is caring! As I said to Berry and you heard as much for yourself, I’m a witch. I’m more than happy to open my home to spirit as I am for you and your clan. The animals will take some time to grow used to seeing you around, but they’re quite good at listening to me.”

“I really hope this doesn’t force them to move on without you, breaking sacred laws is a really tough one to face. My cousin, once removed, had gone hunting once used his gifts of animal communion to lure a deer easier. He thought it was okay to hang the head as a trophy. He was exiled, stricken from the family tree and goes unmentioned. He broke a law of respect to animals, broke the trust he created with the deer using the family’s inherent gifts then gave no purpose beyond decoration. A real waste of life.” She said tapping her chin, then moved on quickly. “When you do reconnect with your elders, let me know what I can do. If it’s privacy, proof of my good intentions or provisions. Anything, really.”

“I truly do believe in earning your trust, Sunheart.”

”Well. We’ll see how that goes under the bridge when it comes downriver. For now, we would prefer to stay hidden. Not that we like hiding, but when you are normal size instead of freakishly tall, it is better to hide, and then it becomes second nature. If you could tell me where to get some thread, some gauze, toothpicks, and a few bits of wire, it would be good. We can feed ourselves well, but some of our vital supplies were left behind, and others we’ll have to come up with a new way of doing anyway.”

Berenice cooed softly to herself, staring out the window. Her golden eyes seemed to be searching for something past the other buildings, and despite her apparent relaxation, her talons were flexing into the flooring ever so slightly. She was agitated, clearly, but the set of her jaw said ‘anger’ more than ‘nervous’.

“That’s no problem, I have lots of junk around here. Probably the tidiest places are where the animals hang out, haha.” Carrie replied, Berry’s cooing caught her ear but her feelings flowed off of her in waves. Carrie shuffled over to Berry. “You know Berry, we’ve got ourselves a full sized plate of trouble. You, me, Charlie, and Sunheart.”

“I think if we take things one day at a time, one problem at a time. Whether it’s some terrorists, or a mad necromancer. It’s starting to feel normal for us here. One city shocker after another. It’s good though.” She said looking out the window too. “It’s good to be angry. We have to stay angry until things get better. Actually better.”

The siren shook her head. ”Patience is good, I understand, but this problem with Sebastian,” as she pronounced every syllable of the man’s name separately, ”He needs to be killed as the hawk strikes the spine of her prey. One swift, breaking attack that renders the prey incapable of action. But it is like striking a crab, yes? Your talons can pierce the shell, but with hitting the squishy grey things, you cannot disable them without splattering them across the beach. And then you have a mess to clean up.

“I would be okay with this, except the mess where he is concerned may include horrors being scattered into the city, and we cannot risk that. So I must know precisely where, when, and how to hurt him to minimise the damage.” She turned her gaze to Carrie for just a moment.

Carrie crouched down listening intently, she held her hands together fingers interlaced. Berenice’s tone, her speech, it all changed so much. It really threw her for a loop, how exactly someone could mature emotionally in just a month’s time. Not to mention the instinctual battle of wits between her humanity and animal sensibilities. She had no baseline to empathize with. It really was fortunate she couldn’t remember what it was like to be Gloria Adams. It’d make things so much worse. Where Sebastian was concerned, she was right. Left to his own devices for much longer and he’ll cause more damage as he has time to prepare. Carrie didn’t interrupt.

”Can we even make that decision, Carrie? Can Car-lee? Could even the Sallyman? It is deciding to put hundreds, thousands of lives at risk, but for the betterment of the entire city.” Her hands reached up to paw at her temples, clearly agitated.

”If we do this, we may be dooming children to die, due to things we cannot control. But if we do nothing, and ignore Sebastian, everything becomes worse.”

She shook her head, eyes taking on a very forlorn look as she turned her head to look out of the window again. ”When I was just hunting for myself, everything was simple. Nothing ever meant anything more than ‘I was eating” or “I was not eating”. Now everything is so complicated, and I do not know what to do, Carrie. Every choice carries weight far beyond what my wings could bear, but to not choose is even worse.

“This is why I need the magic.” One clawed finger tapped against the glass, then slid down nervelessly. ”Maybe, somewhere deep in the recesses of what it can do, there is a solution that is not catastrophic.”

Carrie brought her hands up to her chin, thinking on what she could say. Berenice was feeling the weight of the world, being settled to deal with her creator’s bullshit. Taking responsibility. She wondered where Berenice picked up on that, the need to hold Sebastian accountable and his removal.

“S’why you have us, your friends. We support each other and we equally take a portion of the weight you’re carrying. Seriously, as cheesy as it sounds.” Carrie began, looking out the window as well. “It’s not just your problem to deal with on your own Berry. Things in life get more complicated regardless of what you were doing before, it happens like a baseball bat being swung over your head. You get dragged into stuff whether you’re willing or not.” She said with a little smirk.

“I will teach you how to control your magic. We’ll act and as… uneasy as it makes me think to hurt someone else. It makes me way more uneasy to think how many people could get hurt because of Sebastian. Some things have to happen, they happen for a reason. I don’t believe in coincidences, Berry. Paths crossing, lines of fate. The will of gods.” Carrie had a faraway look, she snapped back to reality suddenly needing to make an offering at her alter. “Charlie hates when I get in about fate, we’re opposites like that.”

She pushed up on her knees to stand, “We’ll begin our lessons this afternoon with basics.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

_{Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss!}

Nicky groaned for what felt like the millionth time in just a few minutes. Crawford's 'talk' had been a bunch of bullshit meant to make her feel better, and maybe there was some stuff to think about, but Nicole MacNamara had never really been one to think too hard about much. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and stared at the popcorn ceiling of the office from her position lying stretched out on a third- or fourth-hand couch that had been dragged in for her. The material was probably scratchy and old, but she couldn't really tell. She had told the doctor that, but except for various stabs and pokes, they hadn't really been able to figure out why she couldn't feel anything. What they had figured out was that most of her senses were fine, but touch and taste were both all but gone. Doctor Grisham had been especially confused about her sense of taste, since her nose worked perfectly fine. All Nicky knew it meant was yet another thing that she wouldn't be able to enjoy ever again.

She reached out one pale, lanky arm and snagged a pencil from the pile they had left her, next to a spiral notebook and a sketch pad. Ostensibly, these were to help alleviate boredom, and possibly let her write her feelings down, but she hated that sort of thing, so she was mildly amusing herself with trying to stick the pencils into the ceiling. She got three before the first one fell from the impacts. She flinched before she knew what she was doing, and then cursed at herself. If bullets and knives couldn't hurt her, a pencil didn't stand a chance. At least my reflexes aren't gone, I guess.

The loss of time was bugging her the most. She couldn't concentrate on how long anything took, and her brain just kinda made up whatever it thought seemed reasonable, but reasonable to it and reasonable to her were apparently very different. The blurring of her vision was also troubling. Grisham had no idea, but Crawford had gotten that little light in his eyes that said his theory was piling up. Nicky had already learned to hate that look. It told her that apparently she was too stupid to share with, despite the fact it was her all of this was happening to.

She tossed her arm over her face, putting the bridge of her nose into the crook of her elbow and cutting off all light to her eyes. Immediately, her mind flashed to the scene in the police interview room where she had met Crawford the first time. The detective or whatever had said she had blurred, and her vision had gotten worse. And then the handcuffs were destroyed when she had yanked on them, becoming nothing but twisted lengths of steel. They had had to call someone in to cut them off of her. It looked almost like...Wait, what?

The teen practically threw herself off of the couch, bolting through the door of the unused office that had been declared her territory, and out into the dim hall. She had been permission to wander around on this floor, but she felt her rebelliousness kick in and snuck around like a thief anyway. She probably looked like a complete dork, but she didn't care. She had to get back to the hospital area, two hallways over and a floor down, which meant the stairwell, since the elevators were apparently 'disabled for security reasons'.

Once there, she swung the door open quietly and slipped inside. It took a few minutes for her to locate the weights she had used earlier. They seemed like the sturdiest and least expensive thing in the place, so she grabbed one. Taking one side in each hand, she held it up and tried to focus on the blurring. Then she tried her damnedest to pull the weight in twain. Her fingers didn't hurt, and the effort, though she was putting everything she had into it, didn't so much as make her sweat. She had no idea how long it was before she heard a giggle from the other side of the room.

Perched on a bench, leaning back with one leg dangling, was another young woman. She wore stylishly worn down jeans and a black baseball tee with some sort of white design on the front, though she was at the wrong angle for Nicky to see it clearly. Her blonde hair was a curtain of curls and waves hanging behind her, and her head was lazily tilted to one side so she could watch Nicky from across the room. Nicky knew she hadn't been there when she had come in, and had never heard the girl come in, though she would be the first to admit she was not the most observant of people.

She spoke with a sweet, lilting tone, in an accent Nicky didn't know. “So, you're going to waste your whole night sitting there to try and make it work, when you don't even know what it is? You're a dork.”

Nicky growled, and threw the weight at the girl. It wouldn't, shouldn't cross the whole room, but it somehow accelerated in midair and flew into the intruder's hand, snapping to a halt without even jolting the girl's arm even though it had moved at nearly twenty miles an hour. The girl sat up and grinned, her features best described as “fox-like.” Her eyes were narrow, always half closed, and she had a condescending grin, as if she was smiling at a joke only she was in on. She opened her hand, and the weight flew back at Nicky, who tried to catch it out of reflex and was dragged out of her seat and through the rack of weights, which collapsed on top of her. The noise was deafening, and when it stopped, she could hear the girl tittering.

“Oh, you are a treat! My name is Rose. You must be Nicole. I heard we had a new resident and had to come make introductions.” She strode across the room, long legs flicking out in an odd gait as Nicky extricated herself and spat.

”The fuck are you?”

“Language! There are children in this hospital! But to answer your question, I am a telekinetic. Move stuff around with my mind, you know? Fairly good at it, too.”

Nicky stared for a moment before shaking her head. ”So you move shit with your mind? Fucking lucky bitch.”

Rose took a step back. “Whoa, hey, it's not all sunshine and skittles, kitten!”

”Oh yeah?” Nicky snarled, “Can you still fucking taste food or feel wind in your hair?” She took a step forward, fists flexing at her sides. ”Did your entire family die when you got your fancy ass useful powers? Huh?”

And then suddenly Nicky was flying through the air. The only indication she had even had Rose was going to do something was a sudden narrowing of the girl's eyes. She was slammed into the wall with enough force to knock over a nearby bookshelf and dent the plaster. Rose stalked forward until she was nose to nose with the girl.

“Listen here, you stupid little girl. Everyone here tries really fucking hard to figure out how powers work, where they come from, why some people get stuff like mine and others get stuff like yours. If your life is so shitty, then maybe try and improve it instead of wallowing in fucking self-pitying piss poor attitude and actually try and help! I don't even know what the hell your problem is, but you have a miraculous ability or you wouldn't be here!”

Nicky tried to open her mouth to scream at the woman, but her jaw wouldn't open.

“No! You shut up for once! I get that you're angry at the world, okay? Life sucks! But no one here is responsible for whatever happened to you! Stop taking out your anger on everyone else! I've been listening to your stupid bullshit all day! Your family died and you lost your senses, and that sucks and I am sorry. But try cooperating and fixing it instead of just lashing out.”

They stared at one another for several moments. Rose finally sighed, let Nicky go, and walked back across the room. “We have group sessions tomorrow. Maybe it'll help you, maybe it won't. But I suggest coming. You never know.”

And with that, the girl stepped through the wall like a ghost, leaving Nicky standing, dumbfounded, to clean up the mess their tussle had made.