Claire
Stacy was the first to arrive at Melbrook. One look at her and I knew she was one of the rare few who knew what they were getting into. She had the same look as Claudia, back home. She wasn't going into this blind, and that meant that she was going to be competition. Anyone with information on their side could be a threat, regardless of their power. That was what made Penny's mom such a nightmare to fight. Information.
I had to be sure that the three of us graduated. Nick had filled me in on the numbers that went into, and came out of, the HCP and I knew that we had to be three of those special ten. If Stacy was another of that ten, then so be it. I had never been adverse to some healthy competition.
I put on my best "friendly and harmless" face. My plan for the first year or two of this schooling was to fly under the radar, and be constantly underestimated. It's kinda my thing.
"Hi there! I'm Claire, and these two love birds are our new room mates, Penny and Ray! Nice to meet you! What's your name? Oooh! What's your power do? Is it super cool and powerful and awesome!?" I turned on just the slightest hint of my own power, and started jabbering at her. I wanted to keep this girl off guard, and maybe get some helpful information.
She looked a bit shell shocked at the outburst. Good, off guard is a good start.
"Uh. Hi, Claire. Nice to meet you? I'm Stacy. Hi Penny, Ray. "
Penny and Ray waved at her. Penny was obviously holding back laughter, and Ray looked amused, which was about as animated as he got around new people in social situations.
"Hi Stacy. We apologize for the onslaught of Claire, but it's pretty much impossible to hold her back, so we gave up trying. It's nice to meet you, and hopefully Claire will lose steam soon. " Penny spoke in a light tone, friendly and open. She knew her way around a first impression, thankfully.
Ray stepped forward, and bowed. " It is a delight to meet such a lovely lady. Might I welcome you to our new home at Lander? " Ray was in his "British and charming" gear, and I personally think it works well for him.
Stacy was recovering quickly, but that was to be expected. " Thank you both, and it's nice to meet you two as well. Am I the last one here? "
"Nope!" I grinned at her. " We're supposed to have one more roommate, and a chaperone. I can't wait to see who they are! It's so exciting!" I laid it on thick, hoping to keep myself firmly in the " non-threatening " part of her mind.
"Well, I'm glad to not be the latest to arrive, but I'll keep my power to myself. At least for now. I don't know if you've been told yet, but we have to do combat trials on the first day, and I'd like to keep my secrets in the bag until at least that part is handled." Stacy still looked a bit overdone, but she held it together.
Plus, she had foreknowledge that most students don't. Interesting.
"We have to fight?! On the first day?" I said in a shocked, but still adorable voice. I didn't want to give up all my secrets just yet.
"Yeah, all the HCPs rank their students by combat, usually on the first day of class. It's a surefire way to weed out the ones who don't want to work through pain, or have weak wills. " Stacy spoke with a confidence that said this was not news to her, so she likely had known this fact for some while. Maybe even years.
I wondered if we had a legacy on our hands, since she was so in the loop.
"Well, I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll do my best! I want to be a hero! I'm not going to let that stop me!" I kept my cheer up, playing down my own abilities.
Ray and Penny had looked on to this point, letting me do my thing, but at this point Ray stepped in to save our new roomie.
" Do you need any help with your luggage Stacy? We would be happy to help you move in. " Ray stepped forward with his offer, giving a winning smile, Penny following with a smile of her own.
" Blink twice if you just want us to get you away from Claire." Penny said in a joking tone.
"Thanks, but I packed light, so if you can show me where to unload I'll be good to go." Stacy was looking more comfortable, which was a good sign. I didn't want to scare off a potential asset, especially one with good connections in the hero world.
" Your room is right through here." Penny said, heading towards one of the doors that held our bedrooms.
"Thanks, I'd like to get everything set down, and grab a bite soon. But I guess that'll have to wait for after our meeting with the chaperone. "
"Good idea! We should all go and get lunch together !" I said. It was an excellent opportunity to get some more information on Stacy, and whoever our new room mate would be. It would be even better if we could get our chaperone to come along for the ride...
" Well, let me show you to your room!" I said, grabbing a bag, and heading towards the wing that housed Stacy's room.
Stacy looked resigned to her fate, and followed me to the the door with her name on it.
" Just put your thumb on the pad and it'll open up for you! Isn't it cool! " I pulled her towards the door, bag still in hand. It was shockingly heavy, especially for such a small bag. I was tempted to open it up under the guise of helping her unpack, but decided against crossing that particular line. No reason to ruin any good will between us so soon.
The door opened, and Stacy looked into the pre-furnished room with a small smile. " It's not the worst dorm room I could have."
Stacy walked in, turned once, and set down the bag she was lugging. "Do you mind if I get that? I'd like to let the girls out now that we're home."
"The girls? " I asked in legitimate confusion. I usually called my boobs " the girls" but I doubted that was where this was headed. Not that I would complain, Stacy looked good, and obviously kept in great shape.
Stacy took the tote I had been carrying, and set it down on the bed to open it. " I call my pets "the girls", mostly out of habit. " She flipped open the tote, revealing about 20 clear cases, and began pulling them out.
"I raise and breed spiders, have been for years. Once my power emerged it seemed smart to do it in house, rather than farm the work out. " She spoke while continuing to pull put and arrange the cases, which each contained a spider. I honestly didn't know enough to identify more than the single black widow , but I researched for a living. I knew I could get my spider knowledge up to snuff.
I needed to stay in character though, not get distracted by my love for research. " OOHHhhh! Do you control spiders? Or control bugs? Can you make them giant and have them attack people?! " I doubted I would get any useful information, but I needed to give it a try.
" I'll tell you all about my powers once we get past the combat trials, but for now I want to keep any potential aces up my sleeve. Sorry Claire. " Stacy was kind enough, but she was definitely not going to budge on the power question.
" Ok..." I said with a hint of cute-but-dejected. " I guess that makes sense, I just can't wait to see what everyone can do!"
"Claire! Our other roommate is here! Come meet her! " Penny yelled, summoning us into the common room.
"Well, I guess we should go say hi! " I said, adding back some of my cheer to be sure that Stacy didn't start to feel guilty.
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Penny
I watched as Claire began to drag Stacy towards her new room, a small pang of sympathy in my chest. I knew the value to letting Claire do her thing, and I had been shown time and time again that her methods worked. Still, I felt a little guilty subjecting my new roommate to Claire's onslaught so soon.
Pushing past the little guilt I felt I turned to Ray, and said " Come my minion, we shall begin the unpacking of my evil lab! "
Ray replied smoothly " Of course my lady. We shan't have you without the ability to put your dark talents to use! "
We turned towards the door that held both of our rooms( my thanks to whoever gave us the close quarters ), but before I could swipe my thumb over the security pad the front door opened. In walked a tall, and putting it bluntly, gorgeous woman with eyes and hair so green that I knew she had to be one of us. She was striking, and carried herself with a weight I knew from home. She was another who had seen bad things, and had come through it alive, but changed.
Reading people usually fell to Claire, but I knew the look from my time around the hero world. She looked older, or at least older than Ray, Claire, Stacy, and I. I wasn't sure if that was the effect of years past, or things seen, but I could't pry to deep right now. We may only be student heroes here, but we knew how to act professional, and not get personal.
Ray stepped forward, offering a hand, and making up for my lapse in politeness. " Hello Madam, I am Ray, and the beauty you see behind me is Penny. Welcome to Melbrooke. "
I followed suit as soon as my brain got back on track. " Hi! I'm Penny! Are you the chaperone for the dorm? "
The green haired woman gripped Ray's hand, then mine, and responded ." Hi! I'm Jessica, and no, I'm a student too, not the chaperone."
" Well, welcome to the Melbrooke club! We were just talking about getting lunch once the chaperone meeting is over. Would you like to come?" I figured that just because Claire was our sneak that didn't mean I couldn't help her out every now and then. And getting both roomies on board for lunch would undoubtedly give her some good intel for the Inscrutable Machine.
" I'm down for that. It'll be nice to get to know some of the people I'll be living with. " Jessica had the aura of someone with power, but she was still kind, not cocky and brash like so many I knew.
Ray chimed in at that. " I agree. We will likely be together for several years, so it's best to get comfortable around each other. "
"Oh! You still need to meet Claire and Stacy! CLAIRE! Our other roommate is here! Come meet her!" Ray was right. We should get everyone on the right track, since we all planned on being together for the next four years.
I heard Claire give a small " Wee!" from the other room that signaled her imminent arrival, and Ray and I braced for impact.
Right on cue my best friend in the world, AKA a sentient hurricane wearing a blond wig, came rushing into the room, Stacy following behind in a much more sedate walk.
" Oh my god! I love your hair! What's your name!? I'm Claire, and this is Stacy, Ray, and Penny! Welcome to Melbrooke! " Claire had her character on point, giving Jessica a blast of her power, and another blasting of questions.
Jessica reacted like Stacy had, stepping back and trying to catch her breath. " Wow. Hello, I think. I'm Jessica, nice to meet you both. And thanks for the compliment. The hair is pretty divisive, either people love it or hate it. "
Huh. She recovered well. That was interesting. I could feel Claire's power still tickling the back of my head, so I knew it was going, but Jessica seemed to have moved past the shock stage exceptionally quickly.
" So! What's your power? Ray over there is strong and fast, and Stacy won't tell me her power till the day after tomorrow. " She shot a small, but stunningly adorable, glare over at Stacy at the mention of her power, causing the poor girl to melt, just a little.
Claire just kept going, character firmly in place, trying to keep the others off balance. " And Penny makes some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen! It's amazing! She'll have to show you! "
Jessica smiled down at Claire, doing better under the onslaught than she had any right to. " Let's just say that I have a green thumb, on top of the green hair."
Still smiling she reached into her front pocket, pulled out a tiny packet, and reached inside. Grabbing what I soon realized was a tiny seed she licked her thumb, stuck the seed onto the spot she had just licked, and a second later a beautiful plant with bell like pink flowers had grown from the seed, and up and around her arm.
"OH. MY. GOD. " Claire was nearly speechless, and Ray and I were similarly shocked. That was an impressive display, and it was also stunningly beautiful.
Stacy looked on, mouth slightly open. She was also slightly paled, which I made a note of. Claire would have to dig into that a bit deeper.
Jessica smiled down at the dumbstruck Claire, and said with an audible grin" Yeah. I love my babies. Do you think they'll mind if I let her live in the flower bed out front? "
A new voice came from the entrance. "I think that will be no problem at all, Jessica. I look forward to your other additions, but please be subtle about how you add them. We don't want you expelled from the HCP for a secret identity violation." We all turned at once to the new speaker, her sudden appearance snapping us out of the shock caused by Jessica's display of power.
She continued to speak, not at all disturbed by the surprise written on our faces. " I am your dorm chaperone, Mary, and I will be supervising you all for the duration of your time in the HCP, no matter how long that is. I am also the HCP psychologist's graduate student, and I will be seeing to your mental health, along side her. As you all know your residence here is due to your risk factors being identified in the admissions process. It is my job to be sure that the mental strain of the HCP does not break you, or cause you to be a risk to others. This should have all been explained to you before your arrival, but I find it best to throw in a quick refresher just in case. "
The Inscrutable Machine had been briefed on Mary's presence, and that we were not to show foreknowledge of her, even though we had all met before, through Sally Daniels. Claire, true to form, jumped right into the gap left in conversation by Mary's arrival and announcement.
" Hi Mary! I'm so excited to meet you! I just can't wait to get to know you, you'll be like our den mother! I guess you know who we are right? " Claire was back on track, the little minx.
" I do. " Mary said in a kind, calm voice that held just a touch of a smile. " I'm glad to see you've made your selves at home, and started getting to know each other. Now, I heard something about us all getting lunch? "
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Michael continued the journey up the stairs, lugging the small amount of luggage he had been allowed behind him. His parents had been riding his ass about getting into shape before the HCP, but he'd mostly blown them off. Michael was what most would call chunky. Not huge, but certainly not in the athletic shape his parents and sisters were.
He knew he'd gotten into the HCP on power, not his physical prowess, but right about then he was wishing he'd taken his parents more seriously when they tried getting him into what they referred to as "fighting shape". At least he didn't have to worry about getting lost. He'd given the place a good viewing once he'd decided on Lander, and had been admitted.
His power was not one that inspired awe, or made people cower in fear, but it was damn useful. Michael could see anyplace he'd ever been, or anywhere he could get a photo of. With parents in the DVA sneak division they had seen the potential immediately, and started increasing his training. He had done memory exercises, tracking and tailing, both with and without his power, and a good deal more. He liked the work, and had some talent, but he had always hated the exercise part.
Both his sisters had taken to the the training like a gay twink to jockstraps, but it had always done nothing more than frustrate Michael. He finally arrived to his room, slowed down not by the need for directions, but his lack of physical ability. Opening the door he was greeted by his worst nightmare.
A straight jock. In his room. Likely his room mate. He only had one word.
"Shit. "
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Andy was lounging on his "bed" ( more like prison bunk, but it would have to do for the first year ). His move had been laughably easy, thanks to his portals. All he had to do was shove one under the boxes and another a few feet above the floor, and voila, instant cross-country move. It would have been less tiring to just carry his crap upstairs, but that defeated the purpose of being a super with the power to rip holes in the fabric of space. It was the principle of the thing.
Still, opening portals took it out of him, hence the lounging around until lunch.
His door swung open, and some fat ass fuck was standing there, out of breath, looking like hell, and carrying a single bag.
Andy was many things. The son of two very effective heroes, a world class teleporter, and a good athlete. He was not, however, subtle.
The over weight ass hole looked at him once, and muttered something under his breath, sour look on his face. Now that just wouldn't do. He was Andy fucking Meadows, and he was not going to be bad mouthed by someone who struggled to make it up god damn some stairs.
" What the fuck did you just say tubby? " Andy growled out.
"Nothing." The lard spat back at him, causing the anger to rise even faster.
"We'll see who's talking shit tomorrow after orientation. I bet you won't make it past day one, carrying all that extra weight around. " Andy was pissed, and he made it known. No one fucked with a Meadows and got away unscathed.
He stood off his bed, and stormed out, angry at more than his new room mate, not that he would ever admit that to himself.
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Michael watched the taller, better looking man walk out the door, having shoved pass him in a huff. No way in hell was he giving some jerk like that the pleasure of beating him. In that one moment Michael felt the drive that had evaded him before. He had always wanted to be a hero, but now he wanted to beat that man's arrogant ass.
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It could have been worse. The dorm rooms were certainly not glamorous, but she could make it through a year with one. At least after that she would be allowed to go and get her own place. She would need to split the rent, she hadn't saved that much, but it would be a stark improvement over this broom closet with some beds.
Emily was honestly thrilled to have made it into the Lander HCP. She had worked hard to be able to afford it, but with the help of her dolls she was able to make some decent money, and her parents had been thrilled to have a child going to college, especially after her brother. Marcus had become an artist, which wasn't surprising given his "talent" for creating inks so gorgeous that they could have sold for thousands an ounce. Her parents were... less than thrilled with his career choice, mostly because he hadn't moved out yet. But that meant they had Emily set for tuition. She just had to cover the expenses outside of school.
A quick glance around the small room confirmed that she had everything in place. She had packed more than she probably should've, given the size of the rooms, but she would make it work. She just had to hope her room mate hadn't done the same thing. The other two girls who shared the living area seemed nice enough, and she was relieved to fond that all the people in her suite were HCP students.
"Hey. You Emily ?" A gruff voice echoed form the door way, and Emily turned to see a new girl. Shorter, but fit and sleek.
"Hi!" she said, walking to greet the newcomer. " Yeah, I'm Emily, are you Kaisha? "
"Yep. I guess this is it then? " Kaisha looked the room over with the same level stare she'd used on Emily. "Not much, but whatever. I didn't enroll in the HCP for the perks. "
" I guess that makes sense." Emily tried to keep the cheer up, but the roughness of the other girl made it more difficult. " We're all here to be heroes, not just enjoy the college experience. "
" I'm here to kick some ass, myself. I can't wait to put some supers in their place. " Kaisha started heading for the open door heading to the only empty bedroom.
" Wait! Aren't you a super? " Emily was shocked to hear Kaisha refer to supers like another species, something she had only heard humans do before.
" I'm a null. Nobody ever thinks of me as a fucking super. I'm just a normal, puny human to them. But the HCP apparently thinks differently, so here I am. And I just can't wait to show those cocky assholes what I can do. " With that the darker girl turned away from Emily, and slammed the door to the formerly empty bedroom
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The lander professors were again gathered around the conference room table, files and index cards spread out like a wind elemental had just suffered a panic attack.
"Jessica's going to be the toughest first round fight. Do we have anyone that is even a slightly good match-up?" The new dean of the HCP was still managing to keep her professional mask on, but it was weighing on her.
" No. We will likely have to wait to see her actual combat prowess, since at this point her raw power will be more than enough to overwhelm the other students. " Ramon was stoic, which usually held true through anything, barring Sean's involvement.
" I agree." The control professor chimed in, since she would likely be training the girl throughout her time in the HCP. " At this point we have to look at two factors, previous training, and power level. In time those will even out a bit, but right now we don't have anyone with enough of either to truly challenge her. "
" We do have a good legacy option in Stacy Kole. " Esme spoke up, to the almost invisible annoyance of Sonya. " She is strong, and has some training under her belt. She will not be a true challenge, but it's the best we have on hand. "
Sonya was less than pleased, which passed the notice of everyone, aside from Esme of course. The telepath was always listening, even more so after the attack.
Ariel nodded in agreement. " You're right, that should work for the first round. At least after that the bracket takes over. "
" Who do you propose we match against a massive stone shifter?" Sonya asked, picking up the next card in front of her.
" What about your blaster boy Ramon? Do think he's got what it takes to make it through brick head? " Sean looked over to the ranged combat professor, obviously fishing for a reaction.
Ariel cut in before Ramon could respond, if for no other reason than to stop the meeting from devolving into another sarcasm-off between the two men she expected to train the next generation of heroes. "Sean, keep the nicknames to a minimum. But it is likely the best match-up, since we get to see the power of the blaster, and the durability of the stone shifter. Plus we have a lower likelihood of injuries if we match an inexperienced blaster against someone with enhanced durability."
Ramon bit back his response, seeing the attempt the Dean was making, and instead reached for his own card. "Ah. I have our newest mad genius, the Ack girl. Do we have anyone that can match her level of versatility? "
" I had one set aside for her, just a moment. " Ariel started sorting through the stack in her area, until she came up with the card she needed. " Here we go. I wanted to have her go against the girl with the weird word ability. I think she has potential, and she certainly has versatility. It will be up to her to figure out how to use that against someone who has almost as much range as she does. "
" Do you think it's a good idea to put someone so green up with the girl that has been fighting other supers for years? " Sonya interjected. " It seems like the Ack girl will have all the advantages in that sort of fight. "
" I disagree. The word girl has the potential to come out on top, if she can think of a creative solution. It won't be easy, but it's not impossible. " The control professor never looked up from her own stack of papers, simply making her statement and going about her work.
" Fine. We'll see how it goes. And they can always move up the ranks later in the year. " Sonya conceded the point, and continued working.
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Brain Ack watched his dome go over the high school, a knot of worry in his stomach. " Don't be stupid Brian, they're smart, strong, and experienced. They'll be fine..." His internal dialog was at war with his gut, which was currently yelling for him to put down the damn dome, and go after his child. But he knew he was needed above ground. If something did go terribly wrong the entire block could collapse. The problem with LA having such a huge under-city portion was that if something went wrong down below the entire city was just a sink hole waiting to happen.
The statue was immensely powerful. He knew that. He'd known that ever since Penny and the kids had freed the guardian in the middle of a middle school courtyard. But until today it had been stable. Brian Ack didn't believe in magic. He never had, and never would. But when he and BB had finally gotten the kids out of their villain phase the first thing he'd done was to have every " magical " superhero (and several villains) look the statue over. Each one had declared it to be safe to store, albeit in a secure environment.
The statue had an odd effect on those who touched it, and the objects that had a long period of contact with it. Marvelous had called it a curse, but Brian thought that it must have some affect that interfered with brain chemistry or bio-electrical functions. It somehow made those who came in contact with it stupid, clumsy, or just had them take dumb risks.
Of course that didn't explain how Penny had become immune to it, but until he found a way to bypass the effect himself... "FOCUS BRIAN! Those are your kids down there, you need to be doing your job, and they'll do theirs!"
Coming to his senses quickly he grabbed his phone and dialed BB. " BB, I need you to sound the alarm. Reach out to your contacts in the villain community, tell them we have a possible 1962 on our hands. The statue has undergone a change, and the kids are doing their best to dispose of it now. They're going to the deep under-city to have the machine ingest it, hopefully it will be able to hold or dissipate the energy coming off it with minimal damage."
BB was instantly in the Audit mode. " What was the location relative to the surface that they were going to attempt the destruction of the statue? "
" Evolution's lair. Beneath Santa Monica. If they can make it that far, that is. " Brian's gut twisted again at that. He had no way of knowing when the statue would complete its reaction, much less what the result would be.
" I'll have my contacts start evacuating the area, under any means necessary. You'll be coordinating the hero side? " BB was in her element, professional, and ready to do her duty.
" Yes. I'll contact you to confer once my arrangements are complete. " Brian was about to hang up the phone and continue preparing for the potential disaster when he heard his wife's voice on the line, in stark contrast to the emotionless vice of the Audit.
" Brian. The kids will be fine. They're pro's, and can handle this. Focus on our work, and let them be the heroes that they are. " Brian stopped. He took a moment to take it all in and responded. " I know honey. But they're still our kids. I can't help but worry. "
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Beatrice Benevolence Ack was gone. The Audit was all that remained, at least for now. She had purposely avoided making the mental switch over to BB, because once she did she would have to confront the fact that her three children, though two were adopted, were gone. Missing. Not dead. But missing.
Brian had gone over the sight of the incident with a team of mad scientists, from both sides, and they all confirmed that there had not been an explosion, but an implosion. Redeye had said that she could see traces of a temporal anomaly, but she had no way of tracing the path the tunnel had taken.
Thanks to the work of a team of villains and heroes the Santa Monica strip head been cleared out in record time, saving thousands of lives. 6,789, to be exact. And the Audit was nothing if not exact.
The evacuation was... unorthodox, to say the least. That happened when you used villains to do rescue work. But it had been necessary. According to the Audit's calculations there had been far to few super heroes with appropriate power sets to complete the evacuation, so the villains had been vital. Plus, it had been amusing to see Lucifar flying around on her newly returned wings, hauling a metro bus over the skyline.
Plus, it wasn't like the super-villains had been a hard sell. No one wanted a repeat of 1962. When Richter had made his first appearance no one had payed much attention. An earth elemental robbing banks had been nothing new. When Richter had gone insane after attempting to steal an alien artifact and sank four city blocks into the under-city, resulting in thousands of deaths, and untold amounts of property damage, that had certainly made an impression.
" BB. snap out of it. We need you right now, not the Audit. " The Minx's voice came pounding into the Audit's ears, shaking her from her stupor.
"There we go. The Audit did her job, but right now you need to come out and do yours. Brian is a mess honey, and he needs his wife. The Inscrutable Machine has allies in high and low places, and we'll not stop until we get our kids back. Go see your husband, and let us work. " The Minx was nothing like her usual bubbly self, understandably. Those were her kids too, and she was in just as much pain as BB.
" You're right. Thank you for getting me to see it. I just... I can't loose them, not this soon. Our work is dangerous, but they're my kids Misty. Our kids. I can't stand the thought of not getting them back from wherever that damn bridge took them. " BB was back, and holding it together. She had lost people before, everyone in the hero or villain world had. But nothing prepares you to loose your children.
"We will get them back. I just know we will. But right now you need to go help you husband stabilize. He's taking this even harder than we are. He feels guilty, which is utter bullshit. He did the right thing, and you need to go and convince him of that, before it breaks him. " Misty looked worse than BB had ever seen. She was the Minx for gods sake, she never looked less than stunning. But today she was wearing her years like a burden, not an accessory.
" Come with me, Misty. You're right, we need to support each other right now. Then we'll go get our damn kids back." BB stood, grabbing the Minx, and heading to her car. She would be damned to eternity in Hell before she would let her children go.
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The Sorceress, otherwise known as Barbara Tinsley sat across from Lucifar and her sister, She Who Wants. They needed all the magical energy they could muster if they wanted to complete this spell, and Barbara was going to complete this spell.
Oddly enough Lucifar was acting as the voice of reason in the circle. "You know this is dangerous. Are you sure you can risk it? You meds may be working, but overuse of your power could cause the voices to break back through. "
She Who Wants nodded, slowly. " The Inscrutable Machine was a friend to me, and I will take the risk gladly if it means we can return them to us. "
She really had been doing better the last few years. She had gotten her GED, started working a legit job( for Spyder, but it still counted ), and had gotten a sort of normal life back. But the IM was important to her, and even more important to Barbara. She was willing, especially if it got her sisters first, and best friends back into this dimension.
Lucifar nodded. " OK then. I want those brats back as much as anyone, so I'm willing to lend my energy to the spell, but it falls to you two to shape it. I'm not attuned to any of the multidimensional powers, and I'm not willing to risk using an artifact to get on the right wavelength. "
Barbara nodded back to the woman, cloaked in black energy of her own creation. " We're more than enough to get past the barrier, we just don't have the energy to do the tracking on the other side. "
She Who Wants spoke then, in the same multi-toned voice that she always had when accessing her power. " Let us begin. "
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Will was helping with the cleanup, or what was left of it. After Groundswell had come through and raised and re-enforced the street (and the under city below) to the best of her ability there was still ruble to clear, and personal belongings to try and save before the bidding war started for contracts to rebuild the destroyed city blocks.
Currently on rubble duty, Will had a pedestrians eye view of the damage, and it was striking. He could only imagine what the toll would have been if the statue had been above ground when the implosion occurred. As it was most buildings were beyond repair, and the street would need to be completely rebuilt. That was nothing compared to the underground damage to water, power, sewage, and gas.
Will stopped his work for a moment, catching a glimpse of Cassie, Rage, and Ruin, all working on the larger and more dangerous pieces of rubble. Will still had a bit of a crush on Cassie, but he knew that it was a one way street, so he had stopped pursing it. Still, it was awe-striking to see her electric monsters moving and stacking rubble like it was nothing. Cassie had only become more powerful over the years, and the Upgrade given to her by the fourth horseman had certainly helped along the way.
Cassie was still in love with Penny, though she had learned to hide it better over the years. They were both in the same boat, but Cassie had not learned to push her feelings aside as well as Will had. Will knew that Cassie would stop at nothing to get Penny back, and that she had already called in a favor with her "grandpa " to start the long, arduous process of tracking and retrieving the Inscrutable Machine from where ever the bridge had sent them.
The Inscrutable Machine would be saved, Will had no doubt. They just had to get to them.
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Penny
Penny and Ray sat in Penny's room, letting the stress of the day fade, while catching up on the other-world reality television that they had soon become addicted to.
"Are we really going to do this? " Penny said, still staring at the TV, which was displaying a show about Super Athletics Association players trying to find the perfect wallpaper for their fourth vacation home.
"Do what? " Ray asked, turning to look at the girl he had loved for years.
"Commit to this program. If we do this we're promising to work four hard years to become heroes for a world we don't belong to. Shouldn't we be trying to get home? With my job I can fund my own research, and we can try and go back. Are you really ready to give up on the possibility that we'll never see home again, or our parents, or anyone ever again? " Penny was becoming more desperate as she spoke, but she stayed glued to the TV, afraid that she would see disappointment in her boyfriends eyes.
" Penny, this is what we do. This is what we trained for, this is our duty. I know that I don't have the same ties to our home, but I do love Brian and BB, and Misty, and all our friends. I would love to go back, but the statue that dragged us here is gone. I know that Claire has been trying to track it for months, and she's had no luck. This is where we are, and I think we need to do what it takes to get back on the job. " Ray was quiet, but he spoke with force and conviction. Ray had become a staunch protector of innocents over the years, and that trait had only made Penny proud, until now.
" But we can't give up! That's our home, our whole lives work is back there, all the people we love, everything! " Penny had a slightly manic tone to her voice, but Ray interrupted before she could go on.
" The person I love the most in the world is right here, and our best friend is mere feet away. We may never get back to the place we called home, so I say that we do our best here. We can't sit back and let people die in the streets because we want to go home. This is our duty, and I believe you know that. You're the one who kept Claire and I centered and on the right path back in the old days, and you were the one who wanted nothing more than to be a hero, helping those who were caught in something they could never understand, much less defend them selves against. You are a hero Penny Ack. And this program is how we can get back to work, saving those who need us. " Ray spoke with such conviction that Penny broke. She had been holding in so much fear and sadness, and it came flooding out at those words.
This was not only her duty, it was the work she loved. And Ray was right, she needed to get back to it. She would never give up on home, but she would focus on the program for now. She was a hero, and she was going to prove it tomorrow.
Penny grabbed Ray, and held on for dear life. He held her like that for a long, long time, letting her cry. He was confident in her, and he knew that tomorrow she would show the HCP why the Inscrutable Machine had been both loved and feared.
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Mary sat, listening to the thoughts of her charges. She was glad that Penny had finally had a breakthrough on her own. The poor girl was now facing that she may never get back to the world she loved, and instead of becoming angry or biter, she resolved herself to becoming a better hero for this world.
It struck Mary that she had slipped into place so easily here that she had almost missed it happening. She now lived in the suite of rooms that the two Company agents had occupied for years, and she felt more at home than she had since she had moved out of Melbrooke at the end of her senior year.
She changed her focus to the other charges under her protection. Claire Lutra was in her room, doing research so fast that Mary was challenged keeping up with it. That girl had a mind on par with Nick's, and she was proving now that she knew how to use it. Funnily enough Claire was on the wrong track, but that was for her to find out. Mary knew the breakdowns on all her charges powers, so the fact that Claire was researching heroes with animal control or biological abilities was a give away that she had yet to uncover the true ability of Stacy Kole.
Stacy was one of the fights that Mary most looked forward to seeing tomorrow, and she would be watching it in person. It helped that two of her charges were in the same first round battle, but she would have been there regardless. Stacy was one she worried about. Mary knew pressure to succeed. Alice had so many expectations on her in the first year of school that Mary had been tempted to stop listening to the girls thoughts. Her father had put to much on her, but she had come through it. Stacy felt almost as much pressure, but in a different way. Sonya had wanted her daughter to follow in her footsteps, and had trained the girl for years. Thankfully she had never been insistent on a hero career for her daughter, but Stacy had internalized her mothers absence as a remark on her worth. Sonya loved the girl dearly, and had seen her career as protecting her daughter, but Stacy had only seen it as an attempt to get away from a disappointing progeny.
The move to California, and the acceptance of the teaching job had not helped the situation. It had allowed Sonya more time with her daughter, and was far safer, both things that the rational ( and slightly detached ) hero saw as benefits. Stacy just saw it as another way for her mother to avoid retirement and still be away from home. Mary would be keeping a close eye on Stacy. She hoped that a closer relationship with her mother would assist in the healing process, but she also knew that getting Sonya to have an emotional conversation would be challenging.
The student psychologists mind turned to her last charge, Jessica. Undoubtedly the most powerful, Jessica also had the most trauma, with the possible exception of Ray. She had worked for years in a field that was almost as mentally damaging as hero work. Jessica had seen things that left deep scars, but she remained a person that wanted to do good in a world that she knew for a fact was often cruel and deadly. That spoke volumes about her character, and her determination.