It Happened at Westbrook

[Inkybus]

Amaya's apartment | Ricci & Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa

Another day, another challenge: Amaya managed to get out of bed early, thanks to a cold, wet nose brushing her cheek as she groggily shook off the last vestige of sleep. Absent-mindedly, she put her hand on Lim's head, to give him a scratch behind the ears. She noticed that his body was fighting the beginning of a small illness and put a stop to it without a second thought, before she headed off to put coffee on and shower in short order.

Once all that is done and dusted, the young woman reads the news and is surprised by the surprising lack of superhuman actions, thus far. Her eyebrows furrowed: could she have been wrong? She was sure there were other metahumans with powers akin to hers out there, without doubts.

Had someone known this would happen? Either way, with a huff she packed her things and took Lim out on a walk, before going back and letting him in to nap: she had another morning meeting with her lawyers.

She was cautiously optimistic, despite everything: the day wasn't raining or gloomy and had started well enough, all things considered!

Hijos de Renzo umpteenth hangout place - Schro

"Hey Ana, remember the puto that gave your sister that black eye and broken arm?"

Came the sing-songy voice of a young man who had decided to call himself Schro. His brothers and sisters in violence and vice took his moniker up and referred to him as such, though a few still slipped in his former name during conversation. He kept those at arm's length, preferring to stay with the brighter individuals.

"Yes. Why?"

Ana was blunt and disliked mindgames: Schro teased her, from time to time, though there was no malice within that particular tendency. But he was malicious towards a foggy target, as he confided: "I learned where he lives: wanna go knock some heads? You can bust his balls a little if you want."

"What do you want?" In return for this information, Ana knew this pillock that lounged in the sofa wanted something for himself. "Well, since you're offering…~"

Marko's apartment (basement) - Marko

With a yawn, the pale young engineer woke up from the table he was napping on. Stretching his upper body, he stood up and tried to work out the crick in his back that sleeping on a chair at the desk will net someone, if they did as he did. The day before had been very productive, but he had lost track of time and there was no one to bring him back out of the tunnelvision-like focus he had while he was finishing the last few touches on the first suit for force field projection.

He had come up with a stealthy few bits of armor that could be hidden under loose clothing, composed of a pair of arm and leg bracers as well as a chest harness and a motorcycle-like helmet, with a face-concealing visor and enough cameras that he could still employ his full field of view, as though his head was not even covered by such an imposing metal mask-helmet.

Each of the pieces had mechatendrils that extended towards each other, connecting and linking their power sources, in order to better concentrate and recharge the fields that get hit more often.

Pulling up a loose shirt and a bomber jacket, it was a simple thing to keep the arm bracers hidden, though he'd still have to hide the helmet itself. He had ideas for more a more lightweight option, like a deployable circlet, but for one it did not match the aesthetic he preferred and secondly, he still needed to finish the upgraded power cell for his new multitool. After he'd gotten through with this project, the tool had powered down, as predicted.

With a grimace, he decided to drop by the pawn shop and get refurbished and barely usable electronics to salvage for materials cheaply.

Briefly, he entertained the idea of sneaking into a junkyard and taking things that he needed from there for free, but then he shelved the idea and finished breakfast: it was time he went to class for his next lecture on fields and energy physics. He had studied for an hour yesterday and gone through the rest of the semester's syllabus, before he got bored and decided to get an early start on his… was it going to be hero-ing? Vigilantism? Something like that: he didn't know exactly what he was going to do, yet, but that would not stop him from making things that would make him impervious to anything the criminals in this city could throw at him!

 

[MsBloom]

Tuesday Morning: The Gretsch family home @Frozen Princess (Windy)

The faint light of the rising sun spread through Loni Gretsch's bedroom revealing her toned, fit body as she stretch out her body wearing nothing but the loose-fitting comfortable boxer briefs she slept in. As she stretched her large round breasts were pushed out from her chest and almost certainly taking center stage for anyone watching her, especially from the bedroom across the fence that separated her bedroom from that of the school's star athlete Windy MacEnroe. Unlike Windy Loni had admitted to herself a along time ago that she was more attracted to girls than to boys, not exclusively perhaps but mostly.

As she turned to face the window, just in time to catch a perfect full frontal view of Windy as she opened the drapes to let daylight into her room. Loni smiled and waved before slipping out of her boxers, giving Windy a little ass-wiggle as she walked of to shower.

As she showered Loni was in a good mood, as she had been all of Monday afternoon as well after Windy had finally agreed to go out with her, even if it had been in a very nervous and awkward way. Still though it was a moment Loni had waited for for quite some time now. She knew without much doubt that Windy felt the same way about her as she did about Windy with the exception that Windy still struggled to admit it to herself and with a smile on her face, letting her mind drift across the fence and into the bathroom where Windy was almost certainly as naked as she was, showering as well, Loni let one hand drop down the front of her body and started to touch herself thinking of that very sight, Windy naked in the shower touching herself as well. Of course Loni had no way of knowing whether or not Windy indulged herself in the shower but it was a nice thought and it wasn't long before Loni came with a deep groan, grabbing hold of the handle to the shower cabinet as she did.

Moments later the two girls would face each other again, naked this time, across the fence as they both returned from showering at almost the same time.

Loni then got dressed in her cheerleader outfit because her school day began, as most of them did, with cheer practise. She packed her school uniform into a duffel bag along with her make up kit and the homework from Monday.

Tuesday Morning: Su-Ji's room @Frozen Princess (Ginger)

"Good morning," Jamila said as Ginger passed her on the way to the bathroom.
She was in the kitchen finishing making breakfast and as the kitchen opened up into the living room with only a counter dividing the two rooms the apartment was filled with the scent of pancakes and coffee.
"Any signs of my daughter being even remotely awake yet?" she asked with a sile that suggested she knew how late the two friends had stayed up talking.

Su-Ji was not easily awakened on a regular morning but she was an adult and Jamila had allowed her to take responsibility for her own bed time years ago, on the condition that she didn't skip school simply because she had stayed up late. There was one thing though that usually found a way to wake up Su-Ji, no matter how late she had stayed up, whether it was studying, playing games or talking to friends, whether online from back west or in Westbrook, not that there were many of either.

"Either way. I have to go to work. Breakfast is on the counter," she added and left.

The scent of breakfast had indeed awakened Su-Ji and just as her mother left she too exited her room to be met by Nefertiti sitting at the center of the living room looking at her.
"Slept well?" she asked and both of them licked their left hand/paw
"Still trying to get used to the tail," Su-Ji explained.
"It's not easy to sleep on my back with it," she elaborated to which Nefertiti seemed to shrug her shoulders and scratched her ear.
"Then don't sleep on you back," was the reply Su-Ji got from her cat.
The problem with that was that Su-Ji was used to sleeping on her back, or at least falling asleep on her back.

"Hey," Su-Ji said as she made her way up to the counter separating the living room from the kitchen.
"You look ... Hmmm ... crumply. I'm sure I have something in my wardrobe that would fit you. I mean seriously, you can't go to school looking like you've slept in your clothes now can you."
She poured herself a large mug of coffee and drank it down almost in one go and then poured herself a glass of milk which she finished just as quickly before digging in on the pancakes, not really bothering with table manners. It was more a matter of getting the food off the plate and into her body.

"Anyhow. I'm going to shower, have a look in my wardrobe and see if there's anything for you to wear, and then you can shower next."
She looked down at Nefertiti who sat on the stool next to her.
"What? No ... I am not going to ask her that ... Not even if it were true, and I am not saying it is ... Don't you have butterflies to chase or something feline like that?"
Nefertiti meowed offended but leapt off the stool sashaying off towards the open sliding door leading to the rooftop garden.
"So yea ... she wanted me to ask you to join me in the shower because she seems to have gotten it into her mind that I have a crush on you," Su-Ji explained to Ginger and shrugged as she got up.

 

[captain_bond]

Sunday afternoon, 39 hours ago, 4:59 PM

James Munroe was, as his custom before dinner, out on his evening run, something he'd done almost ritualistically since before he even started playing soccer. He'd even asked for a treadmill--a treadmill!--for his twelfth Christmas so he could still get his run in when the weather outside was, as the song goes, frightful. But tonight was a good night for a run, and he'd already slowed down to a walk when he'd gotten to his street, glancing up at the McEnroes' house as he passed it, as well as the Gretsches. Two of the hottest girls in school, in his opinion, lived at those houses, but he'd never pursued either of them, for some reason. Maybe he'd rectify that shortcoming, but Loni in particular seemed only barely interested in boys to begin--

Suddenly, his hormonal train of thought was derailed by two objects streaking across the sky. The first was relatively mundane, if not for its speed and trajectory: an Air Force fighter jet, an F-15 perhaps judging by the flybys he'd seen previously, but the distance was too great to make out, even if the second object wasn't emitting a strange glow that almost swallowed the fighter jet in its radiance. Just as James was starting to worry the fighter pilot might be getting too close, the meteor--for that's obviously what it was--exploded in a flash of purplish light, and he was knocked flat on his ass right on the pavement outside the front of his house, having absentmindedly continued his walk past the girls' houses and to his house on the next block where his parents had already finished cooking dinner.

Groaning, he shook the cobwebs from his head as his parents shouted his name from the door, waving him inside, obviously scared to step outside, his father hesitantly holding the 12-gague shotgun that the family owned by his side. But he quickly leaned it against the wall when society didn't collapse upon itself and James flashed a thumbs-up, indicating he was mostly okay. Dinner that night was a quiet affair, the news report on the incident muted and with captioning on, but when it became clear the captioners, as usual, were quite possibly half-deaf themselves when it came to a live feed, they turned the sound up.

Monday lunchtime, 12:30 PM

"Hey, Munroe, catch!" It was just another idiot jock from the football team, who thought their sport was better than soccer, James forgot his name but the wad of spaghetti from lunch flying towards his face was a more immediate priority. As he moved to duck out of the way, instead he held out his hand and the food hit an invisible wall with an audible splat. He'd barely noticed Windy's voice saying "Scuse me!" as a gust of wind blew past him? What the hell was going on and why were her clothes on fire and falling off of her? The duality of the situation--the "WTF" moment of these strange abilities, against the chance to maybe see one of his crushes naked--wasn't exactly lost on him but before anyone could pull out their phones or do anything else the school administrators swooped in and carted Windy off somewhere, presumably to the office. He wanted to help her, but maybe she didn't need it, plus he had his own problems. Turning to one of his buddies who walked up with his mouth open, he said, "Okay, if you're gonna stand there with your jaw on the floor, at least help me with an experiment. But not here." Grabbing his carton of milk from his otherwise empty lunch tray, he led his fellow soccer forward Jeff to the boy's bathroom and handed him the milk carton, which was open and half-full.

"Go ahead and throw that at me. Don't worry, even if it hits me, I've had worse." Jeff shrugged and beaned the milk carton at James, who once again put his hand up and stopped it in midair. This time he held his hand up and beckoned Jeff forward. "Try to get close to me," he instructed. Jeff did so but was unable to approach beyond the point the milk carton was stopped. "Dude, it feels like...some kinda forcefield." Before James could respond someone came in all of a sudden, startling the superpowered soccer player, but neither the newcomer nor Jeff was able to see him. "Whoa, where'd you go James?", Jeff said. "What do you mean, I'm right--" Turning to the mirror, he was flabbergasted. "Dude...what the hell?", said all three boys at the same time, the newcomer being the same football jock that had tried to make a mess of James' face. "Oh, and by the way, try that again and we'll see just how many hits you can take," James threatened the would-be bully, who gulped and nodded, staring wide-eyed at the mirror until the blonde soccer star became visible again. "Are you...a superhero?", Jeff asked, to which James could only shrug.

Monday evening, about 6:45

James was absentmindedly turning invisible and visible again on the living room couch when one of his favorite shows came on. Without realizing it, he'd turned up the volume without touching the remote! "What the..." He spent the next hour trying various things, like changing the channel, adjusting the volume, and so on. Finally, he realized that he might be technokinetic, and proceeded to try his ability on everything in the house he could find...so long as it didn't disturb his parents.

Later, he'd gone out on a run just to clear his head, and spotted a girl from the local college stumbling out of a bar, whining about where her Uber was, when a car came around the corner just as she was stumbling into the street. Without thinking, James grabbed the girl and put his hand out towards the car, whose brakes engaged without the driver's action, with the result that the front bumper barely tapped the forcefield James had erected around them both. The driver got out and asked if they were okay; James nodded; the girl was a little more focused on the teenage boy who was still crouched over her protectively. "My hero...", she murmured, and seemed to attempt to kiss him just before she passed out. Sighing, James just grabbed her phone, unlocked it simply because that's what he willed it to do, and checked the Uber app. "Her place isn't far...I got her," he told the stranger, who, as it turned out, was not her Uber driver. Shrugging and mumbling something like "I need a drink," the man got back in his car and James picked up the girl and carried her to what he presumed to be her dorm, where he asked for help getting her in her room and settled. "Hey, thanks," her roommate said after they'd gotten her safe in bed. "I keep telling her she needs to be careful, but she doesn't wanna listen. You're a good guy. Keep it up, yeah?" James smiled and nodded. "I intend to. Good night." His sleep that night was the best he'd had in years, and he barely got up in time to get to school the next day, where he first learned about the super-powered showdown outside the MacEnroes' diner.

Tuesday Lunchtime

At lunch, he sought out Windy; the two had crossed paths once or twice this year, but they took chemistry together their freshman year, so they weren't total strangers. "Hey, Windy," he said. "Mind if I sit down? Heard about the diner, I'm really glad you're okay." His smile was broad and genuine, and he refrained from sitting unless she said it was okay.

@Frozen Princess

 

[Frozen Princess]

Tuesday morning (Su-Ji) @MsBloom

Ginger chuckled. "We've been up later during finals during May, Ms. Jamila." It didn't matter how many times the strawberry blonde was told otherwise, it had been instilled into her by her parents never to address parents without an honorific. Even if they said it was okay. "I'm sure I woke her up when I fell off the couch though. That was the moving van rumble you heard a few minutes ago."

As she prepared herself a plate and a cup of coffee, she nodded with a smile and wave, "Have a good day at work, then."

She watched as Su-Ji pretty much inhaled her breakfast. With a playful smirk, she raised an eyebrow. "So... I've always noticed you eat pretty fast, but that looked on a whole nother level. Is that why you won't take your room at the fratority house? Most the boys and girls there won't judge, though. You know that right?" There were still a few that would, but they were on thin ice because of their grades.

She watched the somewhat exchange between Nefertiti and Su-Ji and raised an eyebrow at the offer of showering together. Although it would save money on the water bill, Ginger thought Su-Ji was already way too kind offering the change of clothes. She rubbed the back of her head as she blushed, looking at the cat head out to the garden. She took a deep breath. "I dunno, I mean I think you're the best, and we ARE BFFs and will always be.... But I think Puss in Boots there is reading too much into our friend dynamics. We haven't showered together since high school phys ed." She left out the fact that she wanted to. But, once again, she chickened out. "I'll take the extra time to raid your closet." She smirked with a wink.

After looking and only finding the dark wrap around skirt, she tried to iron the wrinkles in her dress best she could.

News 3 Studios (Edith) @MsBloom

Sapphire grabbed the early edition paper to look at while waiting for Edith, or the call from Erin, even if it was for Edith. "Well, that's peculiar. The papers should have scooped us since all our films were confiscated by the detective in charge of the case."

The news manager walked backed over to Scoops as she frantically searched the paper. "How's that?"

Sapphire threw the paper on the desk in disgust. "Even the Westbrook Sun Times has nothing on the superfight in front of the Golden Spoon, boss. And there's nothing else on why the Air Force won't reopen our public international airport. How's that foreign dignitary supposed to get home? How are the other travellers even supposed to head to home or business meetings in country?"

Their boss raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Technically it's not 48 hours until THIS afternoon, Sapphire. You're jumping the gun."

"It's a damned space rock, boss, what? Just because it glowed when it blew up? Just because there MIGHT be some extraordinary things happening to SOME people?!" Sapphire snapped before rubbing her face and apologizing.

"When Edith shows up, which will be any minute, both of you come to my office. If she hasn't thought of it already, I may have an idea." The man sighed with a back pat, "Meanwhile, calm down, I don't want my star reporter going off half cocked."

Ricci and Associates (Amaya Sosa) @Inkybus

As it neared time for the meeting, Beau came in and sat down looking frustrated.

Lucy looked over to him as Reggie raised an eyebrow. "What's your problem, this morning? You were as gung ho as the rest of us to put Amaya's plan into action."

"Have you seen the Herald, the Sun Times or the Weekly Report, and the glaring misrepresentation of the facts, or am I the ONLY one that knows what REALLY happened at the Golden Spoon last night?"

Rebecca came in and sat down, rubbing her temples. "Apparently only the clients there at the time know the whole story, Beau, or people who live near it, like you. I just got off the phone with City Hall. Here we go again, and it's not even an election year."

Reggie bit. "What happened at the phone meeting with City Hall, Rebecca?"

Mayor and Commissioner of Police have put a gag order on even mentioning possible metas, which would include anything about Amaya. It's a good thing we plan on going over their heads to the state, via your suggestion, Beau, otherwise anything we and Amaya would want going farther..."

Reggie grimaced. "Would be dead in the water. They're already trying to stifle first amendment rights of free speech to the press. It's a full blown local cover-up."

Beau folded his arms. "And guess what party the mayor is..."

"Irrelevant, Beau, considering the Commissioner, who is of the OPPOSITE party, is 100 percent behind the mayor, along with half the council who is of the same party as the commissioner. BOTH parties are guilty of the cover-up. Now, drop it." Rebecca said sharply. "Let's focus on getting this contract to the state. Today. It's Amaya's, and possibly our, only chance."

Westbrook High School (Loni) @MsBloom (James) @captain_bond

Windy smiled and nodded to one of the few males in the school who she would not only consider a friend, but would look out for. She patted the seat on the end of the table, while still holding her other hand on the other side of her for Loni. "Cop a squat, James, thanks, unfortunately we're probably shut down until Friday, as there's apparently electrical problems, too. Dad already cancelled today and tomorrow's trucks, so no deliveries either." She looked at her untouched taco salad. "I've been laid off, for hopefully only a week, by my own parents." She cleared her throat and looked at him. "So, what's new with you? Crazy what happened Sunday, huh?"

Before he could answer, the football captain came over squeezing both of their shoulders. "I talked to Ms Hughes, guys, I also spoke to the football team at length, with the coach yesterday, at length about lunch, James. I'm to tell you, that as jocks you now have access to Coach Burke if the football players get out of hand again. There will be consequences, he promises. We jocks are supposed to stick together." After patting both shoulders he took off and pointed at the one who bullied James the day before.

Windy turned wide-eyed to James. "The hell was that about?" She frowned, "We're friends James, if football is making fun of soccer again... I swear..."

 

[captain_bond]

Tuesday Afternoon

"Yeah, its that second-string safety they brought on cause the first-stringer's grades are on their last leg. Anyway, that sucks about the diner. I might have a way to help with these electrical issues..." James pulled out his phone and set it on the table, so Windy could see the lock screen. Showing her he had nothing up his sleeves, he waved his hand over the device, unlocking it and playing one of his MP3 files, then stopping it with a click of his fingers. "That's not all I can do, it seems. You know Sue Storm, from Fantastic Four? Well, when Second Fiddle tried to decorate my face with pasta and tomato sauce yesterday, he failed because it couldn't pass the forcefield I put in its path. Say, why were your clothes burning anyway? Hang on...that gust of wind...what happened to your clothes...that meteor must've changed you too, didn't it? You're like The Flash, except, you know, way hotter." As if realizing what he'd just said, he tried to stammer his way out of it, but then shrugged, deciding that it was pointless to try and walk that back. "Yeah, fuck it, I think you're one of the most attractive girls in the school. Now I know we've both got superpowers--you do have superpowers, right? I'm not talking out my ass here? Anyway, yeah, no secrets among superheroes, especially us. Alright?" He held out his hand to Windy to shake, but he would definitely not mind if she hugged him, kissed him, took him to her secret lair...

A guy can dream, right?

 

[Inkybus]

Ricci & Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa
Arriving a full fifteen minutes before their agreed-upon time, the healer stopped in front of the front desk in the first room visitors entering the building waited.

"Amaya Sosa, here for the follow-up meeting. I should be expected…"

That was her introduction to the person standing behind the desk. Patiently, Amaya waited for the confirmation, before making any other move: if and when she got the go-ahead, she proceeded to walk up to meet with her team. Even if she was the only one with powers, she would not hide.

She would simply do her thing.

Streets of Westrbook | Ballas controlled slums - Schro

Armed with a burner phone, untraceable as far as most people were concerned and with a very good camera to take photos and videos with (at least relative to other burner smartphones of the same price range), Ana followed Schro and a few handpicked goons to a nondescript minivan, metal dark grey in coloration. It seemed to have at least a dozen years behind it, but it still drove well enough.

Another one of them had a bluetooth loudspeaker with them and a curious expression on his face, looking at Schro.

They were, with some luck, not going to kill anyone, though some certainly seemed like they resented the notion. Bloodthirst aside, Ana was quietly contemplating the hows, where, whats and whens of Schro's newfound knowledge of their gang enemies. She'd do a lot of thinking, as they drove their vehicle through the various deserted streets of the industrial sector of the region, where their tags and those of the Ballas kept popping up, trying to cancel each other out.

Graffiti here and there grew sparse, the Hijos the Renzo losing ground the further they drove into the less fortunate part of town. Far away from Westbrook's Highschool and Westbrook's Community College, they entered an area that was far less patrolled by police. It was a visible thing, with various building projects that looked to have been abandoned halfway through, as well as many dilapidated houses, with overgrown lawns, cracked pavestones and potholes everywhere.

Westbrook Community College - Marko

With a yawn, Marko settled into his seat, leaning back while his hands kept going, on autopilot: opening his laptop, he pulled up the many slides the professor had sent them to prepare for the next- or, rather, today's lecture. The young engineer already knew everything there was to know about this field, but at the same time, he was not going to miss socialising with his friend group: his new work had his priority, but it had also been taken care of, for the moment.

So, instead, he pulled up another program and begun to type away at it: he did not label his 3D models anything indicative, electing to write it on his notepad with his pen instead, but he began to come up with various model pieces for the core mechanisms he would need for his new stealth-bike. It would look like a modest lightweight electric motorcycle, but with pigmentation that he could change with a few button presses and a modular framework to make it look remarkably different from one moment to the next.

He wanted something he could ride that would allow him to get from point A to point B quickly, without being found by the police. His armor was already going to hide his identity: he definitely did not want to have a vehicle that could be found by anyone, conventionally.

 

[MsBloom]

Monday Evening - Tuesday Morning: Edith @Frozen Princess (Sapphire)

After the interview with Detective Holmes and her assistant, which she had recorded at least the audio from on her phone, Edith had expected to go back to the studio to edit but the call had come from the studio manager for her and Sapphire both to take the evening off and so Edith had driven around the outskirts of Westbrook for about two hours trying to clear her head. It was obvious to her that someone had already started to cover up what was happening right in front of their eyes. This was the reason she had kept the original files on her phone and had also saved the footage from earlier onto a USB drive, in case, somehow, the original material should mysteriously get destroyed or vanish. She didn't like the side of her that had begun to think and act like a conspiracy theorist but, as someone had once said: Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. This made sense to her in light of what she and Sapphire had discussed earlier, about Roswell, Tunguska and the correlations with superhero comics.

By the time she got home to her one bedroom basement apartment in central Westbrook she made yet another copy of all the video and audio files onto an external hard drive which she put into a padded envelope and intended to send to her brother, for safe keeping and another to her ex girlfriend back in Buffalo whom she asked to encrypt it to the point where she would be the only one that could decrypt it without damaging the files. Again she scoffed sarcastically at herself but at the same time knew that she would never forgive herself if the story got buried by the government. Sapphire certainly would never forgive her if she lost it.

She then ate a bowl of instant noodles with two raw eggs poured into it and topped with pickled Mung bean sprouts, washed it down with lime flavoured green tea and tried to watch a show on Netflix about a dysfunctional family of adopted kids who had all been born with special abilities but couldn't focus so instead she opened her laptop and began searching the internet for strange occurrences relating to meteorstrikes, or other unexplained phenomena. The range of information was as vast and diverse as she had expected it to be and she figured that at least 98% of it was little more than bullshit speculations by people who didn't want to believe the official version but she also suspected that among all of that there would be some thread worth pulling at.

In the end though she realised that it was just too much information to cross-reference and fact-check for one person to get through in one night and at around 2:30 am she closed her lap top and went to bed.

Four hours later she awoke when the alarm on her phone began playing Metallica's Master of Puppets at full volume. She fumbled to turn it off and zombie walked to the kitchen to put the electric kettle on before heading into the shower to try to shock herself to life with cold water. Another hour and a half, four cups of coffee bordering on the need for a spoon to eat rather than to drink, a few cigarettes, (a vice she only indulged in on rare occasions, like mornings when her brain refused to boot up properly), another cup of coffee at her usual breakfast haunt along with a cream cheese bagel and two donuts, she walked into the editorial office at News 3 to find Sapphire waiting impatiently for her.
"Not a word about what happened yesterday anywhere," she stated after having browsed all the traditional news media online during her not very healthy breakfast routine.
"And I assume you've not heard back from the police either," she added and then cracked a smile.
"I might have an idea though if you're prepared to got a slightly unconventional route."

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: Loni @Frozen Princess (Windy) @captain_bond (James)

Loni had spotted Windy heading to the cafeteria for lunch and decided it was as good a time as any to maybe set a time an place for their date. She loaded up her tray with a large salad, a bottle of sparkling water and a spicy tuna sandwich. She rolled her eyes to herself when she noticed James Munroe take a seat next to Windy. It would make it slightly more difficult to set up the date but even so she headed over just in time for the captain of the football team to extend some sort of jock bonding with the two other star athletes.
"So whatchall talking about then. The games this weekend. Yours is an away game I think, right James?"

 

[MsBloom]

Tuesday Morning: Su-Ji's room @Frozen Princess (Ginger)

It was true that Su-Ji had always been a fast eater because, even though she of course had her favourite foods, it was still mainly about nutrition. This however did not mean that she didn't enjoy her food, or that she would eat anything as long as it was high in nutrition. However even though it had only been a day since she got her dna mixed up with her cat's and turned into some sort of hybrid she had noticed that she needed more nutrition and also that she ate even faster than before. The burger at Golden Spoon the day before for instance, it had been the biggest they served and she had devoured it in a mere handful of bites.
"Must be my ... y'know ... this ..."
She pulled on her whiskers and whipped her tail, which she was starting to get a handle on how to use.
"Cat's do have a higher metabolism than humans after all. And don't be surprised if I start napping a lot."
She chuckled and swallowed down some more coffee.

"Yea, I know right?" Su-Ji agreed with Ginger's statement about Nefertiti's perception of romance and the close nature of the friendship between herself and Ginger, not that Su-Ji could entirely deny the veracity of it, at least not to herself.
She had crushed periodically on Ginger from the moment they had first met freshman year in high school but had always hidden it by claiming not to be interested in romance, or dating, at all.

Only last night, as it became obvious that Ginger would stay the night, she had almost suggested that there was room enough in her bed for the both of them, just for the chance of snuggling with her. And if she was perfectly honest with herself the idea of the two of them showering together had passed through her mind even before Nefertiti mentioned it.

Dressing was a bit of a chore as she had to make holes in her jeans for the tail but she had at least decided to not hide her transformation when going to school with Ginger by her side. The two had after all always had each others' back.

 

[Frozen Princess]

News 3 Studios Morning (Edith) @MsBloom

Sapphire gave a half hearted snort. "Detective Holmes doesn't want to talk to me about the films, remember? She said that last night. She'll only talk to you about it or them. No, she said she would be having a meeting with her Captain, but that was supposed to be at six-thirty, seven this morning." She raised an eyebrow. "You've got an idea? Unconventional, is it? I don't know what idea the boss has, but he's got one too. Let's hear his out, he wants us both in his office for HIS bright idea as soon as you arrive."

They would learn his was posting on the News 3 website using a different IP and a VPN so the local authorities couldn't find out WHO did it. Even if they did take it down, once it was on the Internet... At least, that was his thinking.

Westbrook College Late Morning (Su-Ji; Edith, phone call) @MsBloom (Marko) @Inkybus

Erin hadn't had a chance to call Edith at channel 3, yet, but decided to check out the fratority house where Ginger was head sister. After being let in, she looked around, listening to the issues that had been brought up from the thieving and some others in danger of losing their fratority privileges through bad grades, she made a face. Delta Lambda Pi House would make a great headquarters for the local heroes. The rules about good grades to keep their positions seemed like a promising aspect. She asked if Kim Su-Ji was a member, and when she learned she was, but didn't use her room, she thanked the co-ed for the tour and decided to just wait for Ginger and Su-Ji on the living room couch.

While waiting for the collegians to show up, Erin made the phone call to Edith's answering service. "Edith, it's Detective Holmes. I'm not fully off the case, but have been relegated to a more hands off manager. I'm not sure what's going on, but this came from the Commissioner. My captain was fit to be tied, just remember, this is from over even HER head. As soon as you get this, please come to the Delta Lambda Pi Fratority House on the Westbrook College campus. Bring Scoops. I think I might have an interesting twist to the story you'll BOTH be wanting to hear. See you this afternoon, I hope."

Ricci and Associates Late Morning (Amaya) @Inkybus

Ilena would send Amaya up immediately, and she might just walk in on the end of the conversation the lawyers would have of the news about a local cover-up, or at least about the gag order.

Rebecca would stand, shake hands and wave to a seat, where the finished contract would be in front of each member at the table. The attorneys having already signed it. "I hope there isn't anything else you need in right this minute, because we're pressed for time. This meets with your approval as is, you just need to sign and date it, and then it'll be faxed to the State Capitol immediately. We've already been thrown a curve by the City of Westbrook, meaning the mayor, police commissioner, and enough of the council for a gag order. So far, it's only local, but it's enough for us to push quickly for your rights and contract request, to the State."

Westbrook High Lunch (James) @captain_bond (Loni) @MsBloom

As soon as James explained that he, too, had been affected by the meteor's explosion, Windy seemed to heave a sigh of relief. She nodded along with him regarding his powers, as well as offer to help, and just as Loni sat down, admitted that she was indeed affected. She gave him a friendly hug for his offer to her parents. "I can have you get in touch with my dad. We'd be very grateful for any electrical help or work to get us back up and in business. I'm sure he'll pay you, but I'd hold out for a year of free malts, too, if I were you!" She shrugged, "Or at least a few months..."

Zapper took that moment, since Loni already knew about Windy's speed, to say, "Molly and me, we're working on a nonflammable suit for her, and we can even try to make you one if you want, James. A supersuit, I mean. Anyway, you three, here's our idea for Windy. The tiara is fashioned after the Greek god Hermes, for obvious reasons." He then elbowed Molly who showed the three the costume as drawn in her notebook, being modelled by a smiling drawing of Windy, in it.

Windy turned more to Loni than James and asked, "What do you think? I mean, if we're gonna start dating, your opinion on my fashion is going to be important."



Reminder of Windy's supersuit as Velocity

 

[Inkybus]

Ricci and Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa
Amaya headed up and greeted her team with a polite nod. "Good morning, everyone."

Her brows furrowed when she understood that someone was trying to cover the existence of superpowers up. "Before we send the signed form, I want to send a few forms to the closest Canadian, UK, Ireland, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Spanish embassies. I want to extend an offer to come to their countries, requesting the best conditions that they wish to offer me should I be interested to move to their regions."

She groused, mostly to herself: "It would be nice if I could gather some of their diplomats' secretaries or something, so they can witness that I am the real deal and then send me their offers. That way, no one can keep me here or try to put me under the same dumbass gag order of whoever approved this foolish cover-up."

It was obvious that the young woman did not trust the people in power, so she was perfectly willing to head into the middle of the pond and watch the big fish tear each other to pieces to bring her to their side.

Slums under Ballas' control - Schro

"Why are we going to do this?"

Schro arched one eyebrow, quizzically, when Ana asked him that. "Beating the guy up? To avenge your sister."

The flat look Ana shot him spoke volumes of what she thought of that excuse. She obviously did not believe him and only became more suspicious, as the drive slowed down: they were at the right address. "Why do you want to record yourself singing while you beat him up?"

"My dear Ana! And here I was, thinking you'd be happy to see me make a fool of myself. ♪"

His reply was obviously sarcastic and sing-songy as the slightly bigger than half-dozen group piled out of the van, except for the driver. With a couple of head nods, he directed two of the goons to stand outside of their newest victim's windows, to cut him off with bats and pipes should he try to escape that way.

One of the bulkier goons had a small DIY battering ram, which he used to break open the shitty entrance door to the downtrodden building with one, decisive strike.

That woke their sleeping target up: with a start, the Ballas gangbanger jumped up from his filthy bed, a loud gasp the only thing that escaped his lips: Schro's smirk widened, predatory and showing his pearly-white canines. Through his powers, he knew the target was torn between picking up the machete and ambushing them or jumping through the window.

In the end, poor Joe grabbed the handle of his trusty machete and stood beside the door, ready to eviscerate whoever came through.

"Locked door, our target wants to ambush us on the left side. Crush it open."

Schro told the others in a whisper, as he split his attention minimally, seeing what Joe saw, hearing what he heard. The steps of the goon approaching went 'thud, thud' and got louder, while simultaneously getting softer for Schro, who watched from slightly farther. At his nod, another one of his thugs, with a baseball bat, approached from the other side, ready to brain him as soon as the door was open.

The door was bashed open and Joe's heart rate skyrocketed, but he stayed as silent as he could. Schro mentally gave him credit where credit was due, but he was not going to be doing any effective fighting back after this: with a tug of his powers, a huge black silhouette came through the door, which was only dimly illuminated. Joe let out a startled yell, when he saw the huge humanoid-looking shadow step through and into his room, and swung his machete in a panic. A lot earlier than he should have, as the thug with the baseball bat took the yell as his cue and immediately entered the door as soon as the blade of the weapon got stuck in the wooden side jamb.

One strong hit had Joe double over and another, lighter jab to the temple sent him straight back into peaceful unconsciousness. Outside, a concerned neighbour saw what was going on and called 911. But the police's response time, even in peaceful, optimal conditions was… not always enough.

Schro took a black half-mask that depicted a wrinkly forehead and a hooked nose, reminiscent of a fabled hag, perhaps. The mask had a white cowl that covered his hair and his neck, though the mask and the whole ensemble left his lips visible, as well as his jaw and chin.

"You look ridiculous."

Westbrook College Physics Lecture Hall - Marko

The young man drifted further away from the lecture that was being given: thankfully, college was less about the teacher asking students inane questions if they seemed distracted, like in high school, middle or ground school. Instead, Marko could focus on what was important.

To him, anyway: he felt that the addition of maybe a half-dozen tiny concussion missiles fired in pairs from the front of the motorcycle would be cool. And good if he needed to blast through a barricade or a wall. Maybe he could add a gadget to the tail of the motorcycle that he could activate with a button, in order to pour super adhesive on the asphalt, to tear away the tires of pursuing vehicles… or disable vehicles he needed to stop, if and when he got the chance to pass them. So he begun designing the space in the program, to hold the armaments in the motorcycle first.

That had to be safer than making an incredibly slippery liquid substance such as oil, right? Marko found his mind preoccupied, listing the pros and cons to such an approach.

 

[MsBloom]

Tuesday Morning: Edith @Frozen Princess (Sapphire)

"We could do that, absolutely," Edith said as the studio manager and responsible publisher presented his plan.
"That would however still be an official publication of the material for which we, or rather you, can still be held responsible. And from what I sense that is exactly what you have been told not to do, publish officially. Everything that goes up on our website does pass through an approval process as I am sure you are well aware, which makes the channel responsible for everything published there. This would also suggest that you personally was aware of the publication, perhaps even endorsed it. No we need to go a different route."
She shot a sideways glance at Sapphire and nodded subtly.
"If we publish through unofficial channels, like various social media platforms, we, or rather you, would have plausible deniability. I would just need an hour maybe to edit the material with Sapphire. It is important though that we only publish material where no one linked to the channel can be identified, and there is plenty of that."
She turned to Sapphire and added that rather than reporting by voice and image she would have to write down the narrative to go with the videos.
"How we present the story at this point is less important than that we do publish it, that we do get it out to the public. I'll be sure to leave hidden signatures here and there so that we can still claim the publication after the fact should we want or need to."
She then looked from Sapphire to the studion manager and back waiting for either of them to react to the idea.

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: Loni @Frozen Princess (Windy) @captain_bond (James)

Loni did raise an eyebrow in surprise at Windy's statement about them starting to date. Yes that was indeed Loni's intentions but she also knew that Windy had not been very keen to admit to herself that she was attracted to Loni. Of course there was no one around the table, or indeed very few around the school who didn't already know what it now seemed that Windy had finally admitted to herself.
"I ... I mean, yea I think it's kinda hot."
She was of course not the only one around the table who didn't have to imagine what Windy looked like underneath the clothes, not after the incident the day before, but that was where her mind went, to the daily glimpses she caught of Windy in various states of undress, something she was absolutely sure was part of a game between them, Windy's way of letting her know that she wanted to be looked at by Loni.
"Speaking of dating; I was thinking that like after school we could first do coffee and maybe later grab a burger and I dunno ... maybe a movie?"

While she did sound quite casual in asking she was actually quite nervous about it. Sure she had dated a few girls before Windy but none that she had had quite the same level of emotional attraction to. It had been more about physical attraction.

 

[captain_bond]

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: James @Frozen Princess (Windy) @MsBloom (Loni)

James was just about to remind Windy that he'd basically confessed he liked her when his other crush walked up, plonked down on the seat, and started talking about them going on a date. He was not gonna let himself be deterred, however; Windy had not said no, and plus, this was his chance to set the record straight with them both. "Hey, Loni, you're looking great as usual. I gotta admit, I've kinda had a thing for both you and Windy since freshman year. Might not matter, and yeah that's totally fuckin' random, but I guess if I don't take my shot now, I won't be able to. So there you have it, guys. Sorry it took so long, and given Windy's usual MO, it'll probably be like another year before she does anything about it, right Loni?" The teenager was trying to sound like he was simply giving his friend a hard time, but deep down he really was worried about being too late, or worse. He didn't realize that this worry was written all over his face. Damn, no wonder that football jock gave me shit, he thought to himself. Times like this I sound like a pussy to assholes like him, but if having real feelings and expressing them is wrong, fuck the rules.

 

[MsBloom]

Tuesday Morning: Edith @Frozen Princess (Sapphire/Erin)

To be able to maintain some level of plausible deniability Charles West, Responsible Publisher and studio manager at News 3, simply grunted positively in response to Edith's suggestion and pointed at the door to his office to dismiss her and Sapphire. He knew that the young camera person was of course right. None of what they published at that moment could ever be traced back to him, or to News 3 (officially) and yet he also knew that if they didn't publish the story might end up buried.

Edith nodded and headed to the editing room where she sat down with a laptop, somewhat out of sight of anyone else working there, and began to cut the material on her own phone. It was a very light edit and in the end all she really took out was what she called dead rolls, meaning sequences where nothing really happened on screen, in total no more than a minute and a half. She then started making an anonymous MeTube account to which she uploaded the video in its entirety but also shorter clips of specific events, like the androgynous felon's speech to her as they exited the Golden Spoon, as well as their speech directed at Erin. There was a deeper story there. She was sure of it and had pointed this out to Sapphire, in case she wanted to dig into it for a follow up.

When all the material was out there she made a few more anonymous accounts on various social media platforms, such as Chirper, SelfTalk and Picto. to which she then linked the YouTube videos. It didn't take long before the links began to spread all over the internet like a ravenous virus.

When not long after Edith had finished and had gone to the top of the News 3 building for a well earned cigarette she checked her phone and when she found the message from Detective Holmes she choked on the smoke for a moment thinking that it had already reached the detective and this was about having broken their agreement. When it turned out not to be she put her phone away and leaned up against the wall around the roof looking out over Central Westbrook.

Detective Holmes had said to bring Scoops which still might mean that she knew about the published videos and links to them, but why at the college, and why specifically the Delta Lambda Pi Fratority House. No time to waste though and as she put out the cigarette she texted Sapphire to meet her in the parking lot outside the studio adding that she would explain on the way.

This time she let Sapphire take a car to drive them there as this would make it much easier to talk.

 

[Frozen Princess]

En route to Delta Lambda Pi Fratority, Westbrook College a little after 11am @MsBloom (Edith)

Sapphire looked quickly over to Edith. "Did the good detective say what this was all about? I've known her to be very Nancy Drewy, but never leave someone completely in the dark. It's about a fifteen, twenty minute drive with lunch traffic what it is. I wouldn't mind hearing the recording if you don't. See if I can pick up something from it. Biggest question I have, is why me, too?"


News 3 Studios 11 AM (wrap up)

Sapphire blinked askance at Edith's text. "That was quick, you just put everything up on MeTube what? Not even half hour ago? Alright, see you in a few, unfortunately, since I don't have a personal vehicle, we'll have to use the company car. Look for me and the station wagon."

Ricci and Associates 9:30 AM @Inkybus (Amaya)

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that's wise to send it to the other countries before you sign it? I think it's very astute to put them in the running, Amaya, I'm just not sure about it being unsigned by you. They're your rules.

Even Beau nodded, "It would be a wake up call to the other countries and the Democratic Party if it's already signed by you. More legally binding as well."

Reggie rubbed his chin. "Any particular reason why you didn't include the Swiss and Cordonia in there?"

Lucy shook her head. "I was thinking the same thing. I mean, UK still has a monarchy, so why not Cordonia? As far as Switzerland is concerned, they have a strong medical standing in the world as well. Synthee's is from there. Besides, they're neutral."

Rebecca shrugged, "Despite being a monarchy, so is Cordonia. They're on the cutting edge in the medical field as well, and, like the Swiss, neutral on political views. It's been a while since Geography, but I think they're also neighbors with the Swiss and exchange regularly. Adding just one, would allow you to go to the other without anyone even batting an eye."

This would hopefully bring to mind for Amaya, the short talk she had with the Cordonian Duchess of Lythikos, who is currently in town as liaison for the small European country. And with the airport still closed, available.

Westbrook High School 11:45 AM @MsBloom (Loni) @captain_bond (James)

Windy had to blush as James mentioned, well a crush, in lunch? She turned red as a tomato. "Thanks?" She said softly. "I don't think that's something you can broadcast... I mean, I don't care that you said it... But, it's just, you know, soccer and track... We're like just a little above nerds." She bit her lip and looked between James and Loni. After gulping, she asked with a wry smile. "Umm, soooo? Does that make you Archie, and me Betty or a middle class Veronica?" Way to deflect, Windy!

 

[Inkybus]

Ricci and Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa
Amaya's fingers tugged at the rim of her silk gloves, a small tick she unconsciously picked up as he begun wearing these specific articles of clothing. She did that every so often when thoughts flowed in her mind.

"I want the forms to inform the state and the countries I mentioned, so that I can jump ship if someone tries to keep me here. I want a way out, should it come to that: nothing more."

When Reggie asked her why she did not include Switzerland and Cordonia, the young woman raised her shoulders in a brief shrug.

"The same reason I did not immediately contact some influential and desperate CEO to get to the big names in the Billionaire community."

She did not care for them, it seemed. Rather, it was not that she did not care, but she seemed to want to do a little good, by helping the public, in community hospitals without charging the healed people directly.

Amaya did not even want the salary of a Senator or member of the Parliament, despite the fact that she was sure that she could do much more to make the world a better place.

Slum under Ballas' control - Schro

Schro went and sat down on the windowsill while Ana prepped her phone to record. With one thumbs up, she signalled the beginning of the recording and Schro tipped his head towards the grunt that had readied his phone and the song the brains of the operation wanted to perform.

The rest of the crew got to work: they had their bandanas, with the colours of the Hijos the Renzo prominent on their clothing. And as they walked past the recording camera, the music started.

"♪ They laugh at me aloud ~ They say I'm just a clown ~ That I ain't got no pride ♫"​

One of the goons grabbed Joe and dragged him slightly off of the center of the recording.

"I'm on the outside"​

A chair was dragged in from the other room over, positioned to the left of the screen in the video, while Schro was still on the right, one leg resting on the windowsill and the other dangling.

"I'm on the outside"​

His right eye was looking straight at the camera, a tiny smirk appearing for the first time in the recording.

"♫ The girls look really cute ~ They really make it work ~ They think I'm just a jerk ♪"​

The music gave him the timing just right, and his tone fluctuated with the rollercoaster of the pitches.

"I'm on the outside"​

A few of the neighbouring Ballas raised their voices, but with just a tiny application of his power, spectres of horror began to descend and sent them scurrying back into their homes, to wait for reinforcements.

"♪ I never could sit still ~ I never was too hip ~ I never caught the ride ♫"​

Joe was dragged to the chair, zip ties cuffing his hands behind the wooden piece of furniture.

"I'm on the outside"​

The music shortly slowed, as the gangbanger swung his leg lazily, singing the beginning of the chorus.

"I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now"​

Joe was gagged.

"♫ This is where it all begins right here ♪"​

Schro's head turned just a little bit more towards the camera, ominous grin widening.

"♪ On the outside lookin' in, I'm on the outside ♫"​

The song keeps on going, with a quick pull of his power, one of the thugs outside with a rusty steel pipe was directed to give it to him. Schro swept his hand out, palm facing the sky until the pipe came to rest in it.

"Teachers there in school ~ They flunked me by the rule ~ They say I had no motivation, brains or dedication"​

Schro's hand brings the pipe into the room, the improvised weapon pointing to the ground, before the metahuman swings it up and shatters the glass of the window he was sitting in. The shards flew out, as he continued:

"I guess the imbeciles were right I'm on the outside!"​

A thug with a bowl of water hurried into the shot, throwing water into Joe's face, waking him just as his feet were fastened to the chair's legs.

"I'm on the outside, I'm on the outside now ~ This is where it all begins on the outside looking in ~ Looking in"​

The young man that was singing from the windowsill turns, camera zooming in at this point, no more thugs passing by as the metahuman jumps back into the room fully, both eyes now focusing on the camera.

"At you ♫"​

The upbeat song continued, Schro singing the lyrics by memory, as he stepped closer to the bound Ballas man. From time to time, when there was a pause in the sung lyrics, he took a swing with the pipe, though by no means with all his power: every hit he landed on the restrained guy of the rival gang, was meant to hurt, not kill.

The video focused the most on Schro, who began to stand closer to Joe, giving only a partial view of a thug with brass knuckles in the background coming in to punch the Ballas a couple of times in the gut.

"You think you set the trends ~ You wear your hair just right ~ Your clothes are out-a-sight"​

After the beating, one of the thugs is signaled to roughly grab the backrest of the chair and slam it backwards, into the ground: Joe's arm get a jarring crash against the ground, before Schro steps up and slams the sole of his shoe into his abs. Another grunt of pain can be heard in the background, as the recording shows how Joe struggles to get free, furious at Schro grinding his foot into his abdomen.

"Your house is modern really kitch ~ You get so macho when you're with your bitch"​

The singer turns back to the camera, free hand coming up to press his mask to fit better on his face, while left of him the shoulders of burly thugs appear and their legs can be seen kicking Joe's arms. While the Ballas struggles to keep sounds of pain from escaping, Schro sings with reckless abandon, powers working more to unnerve the Ballas coming to reinforce their boy with whispers and sirens in the distance.

"I see them go to work ~ I see them go to sleep ~ I see them on T.V. ~ I see them laugh and cry"​

Ana's hands begin to tremble, sweat on her temple as a silly, ridiculous enterprise like this goes on with almost ideal circumstances. Something is not right. Schro, meanwhile, reaches for the camera.

"I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside. I'm on the outside. ♫"​

His grin grows even more, as he takes the camera and addresses the listeners and watchers, with the ominous promise that he is outside. Watching in. He is on the outside. Now.

And then, as the music fades, his grin begins to fade.

"I will see you soon, everyone. Sit tight!"

And with that, he ends the recording. With a quick handover, he instructs Ana to cut the bit at the start without the music and then leave the phone on the table near the entrance where the police can find it.

With a couple of steps, he is back and looming over Joe. "The Hijos de Renzo are taking over. Tell your vermin friends.~"

And with that, he rounded the gang up and returned to the van. It was time to leave: he did not hear them yet, but he bet the sirens of the boys in blue would screech by this neck of the woods soon.

 

[MsBloom]

Westbrook College Late Morning; Su-Ji @Frozen Princess (Ginger/Erin), @Inkybus (Marko?)

Of course she had gotten looks as she and Ginger took the bus into campus and as they made their way across the quad outside the main building, looks, snickering, even giggles, the occasional whispered: Freak, picked up only because of her enhanced hearing, but Su-Ji wasn't going to run back home and throw herself into her bed and cry about it. Firstly it wouldn't really fit with her general demeanour. People had gotten to know her all through high school in Westbrook as this tough as nails Goth Chick who smoked weed in the bushes behind the soccer pitch, who always had her head moving in time to whatever was in her headphones (usually some obscure dark metal or freak out music), who had almost gotten herself expelled for kicking a star football player in the nuts when he made a rather blunt and obscene pass at her and didn't accept her more polite (if grumpy) no for an answer. Second; she had a plan to actually move into her room at the Fratority as it would allow her to avoid her mom and the millions of questions she was sure to have about the transformation for a while. It would also allow her to stay closer to Ginger in case of whatever emergency might arise. She still didn't know whether the transformation would cause any kind of health issues. She did after all feel like she had evolved certain muscles that perhaps a regular, non-feline hybrid, human might use, perhaps much of her muscular structure all together had somehow changed. At least she didn't have digitigrade legs on top of everything else. Though as some might point out to her at some later point she did have a tendency to walk on her toes, especially before a leap, or some other form of feline acrobatics.

She and Ginger parted ways outside the psychology building and Su-Ji went about the rest of the morning by herself, letting people stare and comment as much as they wanted, knowing that sooner or later they would get used to it. She sat through a lengthy lecture and a workshop before heading towards the campus cafeteria for lunch where she met up with Ginger.
"So you think I can just move in then?" she asked her friend since high school.
"With Nef ... I mean I know you are like Head Girl and all but doesn't the Fratority have a strict rule against pets?"

 

[MsBloom]

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: Loni @Frozen Princess (Windy) @captain_bond (James)

"You mean apart from Archie not being halfway Jock but a music geek and Betty being a writer, though she does dislike being second best almost as much as you do," Loni joked at Windy's question leaving out her own possible similarities or lack thereof with Veronica Lodge. Instead she continued to point out that if Windy was going to compare the three of them to The Archie Comics then, as James main love interest, Windy would be more like Veronica while she herself would be Betty caught between them.

Smiling she then winked at James and moved her shoulders seductively back and forth to show off her breasts to him and anyone else looking. She was not exactly shy about showing off her looks.

En route to Delta Lambda Pi Fratority, Westbrook College a little after 11am; Edith @Frozen Princess (Sapphire)

"Well she said she had an interesting twist to the story that she thought we both might want to hear so it must be something newsworthy but I would probably ask the question in reverse. I mean you're the reporter. I just point the camera at what seems interesting, or where you tell me to point it. I guess we'll just have to wait and find out."
Edith then picked up her phone and texted Erin that they were on their way.

 

[Inkybus]

Westbrook College | Campus Cafeteria - Marko @MsBloom @Frozen Princess

The lecture had been ignored for almost all of the time and Marko exited the hall after closing his laptop: there hadn't been anyone that had sat behind him and no one to spy on his work. Though, even if they had, they would only have seen him fiddle with various 3d designs of individual machinery, which in many cases were going to be microscopic and inset in much bigger hulls that made up the machinery of his new assault bike.

Concussions missiles for the front, as well as a mechanism to spray the road with an extremely adhesive compound that would wreck a target's tyres and make prolonged running of the affected vehicle unlikely. He could easily make the bike as fast as competitive motorcycles, with suspension hydraulics that could work on the best motocross articles.

He finally reached the campus cafeteria, pale blue eyes passing over the rabble congregating in the place to sate their appetite. As he looked over the humanity in this place, his attention stuck to Su-Ji: it was easy to see why, as she was the only one with cat ears.

Marko blinked once, as his hands mechanically took a tray, following the queue in front of the cafeteria counter, where the rest of the college-goers were getting their grub. A younger guy, who Marko did a project with one time and whose name he did not remember demanded the engineer's attention with a rude question: "Freaky, innit?"

The scarred young man shook his head once and directed his attention to the interlocutor and, even though he had caught what had been said… he asked: "Sorry… can you repeat that?"

Eyes as cold as the north pole bored into the suddenly much less cocky junior, who visibly withered under the disapproving gaze of the young immigrant. The Stare remained, and Marko was told that "Nothing! Nothing."

Behind the bigot, a couple of students snickered at his flustered voice crack, while Marko looked once more to Su-Ji, thoughts on how that transformation came about swirling. He shook off the curiosity: the queue had finally reached the lunch counter proper and he got to get some of the beef stroganoff they were serving for a meal.

Finally, some good fucking food!

 

[captain_bond]

Forest Outside Westbrook, Tuesday Afternoon: Lieutenant Scott Swift, USAF

Scott was resting with his back against a tree trunk, the afternoon sun warming his skin. His daydreams were full of that meteor, pulling his F-35 along with it, his Mayday call over the radio apparently going unheard as the aircraft was drawn closer and closer, until the most earth-shattering BOOM. He was sure he was dead, the blinding white light followed by nothingness a damn big indicator in that direction. But apparently he woke up, which meant he was very much alive and...in one piece? How was that possible?

The next few days were spent coming to grips with what had happened, as well as getting his new superpowers under control (he still couldn't quite believe he was fucking Superman) and dodging the occasional Air Force patrol. But he would have to tell them he wasn't dead eventually, so he got up, stretched luxuriously, and took off, his flight suit somehow surviving the ordeal, even though it was a little worse for wear. He flew over to his base, and landed lightly to everyone's astonishment. But he wasn't gonna stay long.

The base commander choked on what Scott assumed was the middle of a lengthy diatribe to Swift's immediate superior, Captain Hennessey, when Scott swept into his office, and they both could only blink in disbelief when the career airman tendered his immediate resignation. "Uh, you sure about this, Scott?", the man finally said, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the idea that anyone could have survived a wholesale shredding of an F-35 and the subsequent detonation of all onboard ordinance, plus the combustion of all onboard fuel. Lifting the Colonel's desk with one finger, then setting it back down, Scott said, "Yeah. I'm sure. Seems I'm bound for greater things," and with that, he took the rank insignia and patches off of his flight suit and tossed them all on the desk, turned around, and floated out of the room, changing into his civvies in the locker room (which hadn't been cleared of his belongings, for some reason; he packed all his things right then and there) and flying off towards Westbrook proper before anyone could flag him down.

He'd yet to fly at any speed faster than a couple hundred miles an hour, but he got the distinct impression he could fly at several times the speed of sound if he wanted to. But his clothes would suffer for it, and he was wearing his father's flight jacket, so going hypersonic wasn't an option.

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: James @Frozen Princess (Windy) @MsBloom (Loni)

"See, Loni? Told ya!" James of course was more than happy to cock a lascivious half-smile when Loni showed off her tits. But returning to the topic at hand, he waved his hand over Windy's phone, on which appeared a text from him, but his phone was still in his pocket.

You're right about one thing. We should be more subtle about certain things.

He waited for her to read the message, before using his powers to send another one.

But if anyone wants to get to you, or Loni, they gotta go through me and my forcefields. And of course, they gotta catch you, first

Smiling at Windy, he sent another text.

Besides, where do supers fit into the hierarchy, hmm? The top? Or are we above such pettiness? Plus, is anyone else gonna appreciate you, be by your side no matter what, and take care of you like me?

James had been doing all those things and more since he and Windy became friends. Besides which, he was of the mind that the best lovers start out as friends. Hopefully, that would be the case here.

Come on, what could it hurt to at least let me join you and Loni tonight? If it doesn't work, we don't have to pursue it any further. Plus, I'd hate to miss out on any super-related shit, if something like what happened at the diner goes down again. You may be fast, but you're not invincible. I'd hate for something to happen to you.

Turning to Zapper, he pointed at his phone, and the text he sent him read: I don't think I need any special materials? Wait, actually, I can turn invisible, but when I did it before, my regular clothes were invisible too. So I guess I don't need a Fantastic Four suit, plus I hate wearing spandex anyways

 

[Frozen Princess]

Ricci and Associates Late Morning @Inkybus (Amaya)

Rebecca shrugged, three of Amaya's attorneys had recommended signing the rules before sending the contract to the other countries. The other two neutral countries were mentioned. She wasn't about to quibble. "Well, if you're sure it's to go unsigned, I'll take the original and fax it. Speak quietly amongst yourselves while I do exactly sending to the countries you mentioned. Meanwhile, sign the others, Beau or Lucy can show you where you'll have to initial." This would be after each bullet point. Signature at the bottom.

Not five minutes later, Gabe came in looking rattled as well as worried, if not a lot more pale than Amaya would have seen him yesterday. "Sorry, wrong board room. Carry on." They would hear the next door open and close. Reggie grimaced. "Did he look like he'd seen a ghost, or was it just me?"

Beau only shook his head.

Ten minutes after that, Rebecca would be back and sit down. "All faxed out for you, Amaya. All we do now is wait, and see who bites first at this point."

Westbrook College Cafeteria nearly noon. @MsBloom (Su-Ji) @Inkybus (Marko)

The strawberry blonde head sister turned at the commotion behind her and Su-Ji. "What are you, 12?" She said incredulously at the same individual Marko had barked at. "You wonder why you can't get a date from," she then used air quotes, "non freaks." She then continued her lecture, "Didn't you get yourself banned from any sorority parties?" Of course both questions were rhetorical. She nodded to Marko. "Why don't you join us for lunch." She smirked at the entree. "Nice. Was wondering when they'd have REAL national dishes." To the server, "Give me some of that beef stroganoff also, thanks."

Ginger took a deep breath. "Technically, Su-Ji, you're allowed pets, but they have to be agreed upon by the majority, or they have to be companion animals. I've heard a few others say about wanting a mouser." She turned to Marko, and without thinking anything about it, covered Su-Ji's and Marko's lunches as she asked, "I don't think I ever heard you say one way or the other about having a cat around the fratority. Would you mind having the tapping of cat claws around? I do know Nefertiti chases birds, only Su-Ji can tell if she's also a good mouser."

She sat her tray down, but remained standing, lost in thought. "Doesn't that one sorority have a goat mascot? And if you take the first letter of the four words of their sorority... First English letter... Gamma Omega Alpha Theta... I wonder if we couldn't make Nefertiti our mascot animal? I have to talk to the dean after lunch, and thankfully my afternoon is free, today, what about you two?" She looked between both, as although she was the head of the fratority, she would rather have back up in getting Nefertiti okayed as the Delta Lambda Pi mascot, and not just okayed as a pet or companion animal. As a mascot, Nefertiti's stay would be partially covered by the college, although as the head sister, Ginger's dues would go up. She'd make THAT sacrifice, for Su-Ji.

Westbrook High School Cafeteria @MsBloom (Loni) @captain_bond (James)

Lunch was almost over, and Windy knew it. She hadn't yet okayed Loni's idea for a date, nor said James could tag along.

While she was undecided, glancing back and forth between the two, and also reading the texts, James sent something to Zapper, apparently, as he looked down at his phone and then over to James. A raised eyebrow, a smirk, and fingers flying across the touchscreen followed in short order, and James' phone alerted him to a text incoming. Right. You really wanna wear civvy clothes when you go hero? It doesn't have to be spandex, y'know. Windy's would be high quality space age material. Yours would have to be similar. You know Molly will practically want to draw you in the idea before we even start. Windy has open figured gloves to protect again the insane speed she creates. You might not even need gloves if you don't want them. Just think about it, huh? Let me know.

Windy watched Loni showing off for James, and actually felt a twinge of, what was this? Was she feeling jealousy? It also seemed like Loni was taking the role of Veronica Lodge in her fantasy; she could never flirt so openly like that. "Um, well, if Loni says it's okay, I guess. Would it be a date, though? We'd have to go to the Lighthouse or something, though, like I said, until you talk to my dad about checking the electrical problems we had during that fight, we're shut down. I know you can get things to eat at The Lighthouse."

Delta Lambda Pi Fratority @MsBloom (Edith)

Erin smiled as the station wagon finally pulled up. After shaking hands with Edith and nodding respectfully to Scoops, she said, "Right now because of the gag order, News 3 can't do anything with this, but you've already circumvented that unconstitutional local mandate, anyway, right?" She grinned, giving a conspiratorial wink to Edith. "Off-record, good for you. Law of the land of which the Constitution is, over knee jerk power trip crap." She took a deep breath. "I've been affected, but in the mental department. Ask me anything on the law, I'll quote you the ordinance and where it's at. You reporters are going to be the PR for a budding hero team. I'm waiting on two of them now, including the head sister of this house."

 

[captain_bond]

Tuesday Lunchtime/Afternoon: Westbrook High School Cafeteria: James @Frozen Princess (Windy) @MsBloom (Loni)

"Dude," James said, lowering his voice to talk to Zapper, "I just meant that Sue Storm's suit has some funky thing that allows her powers to work without making her look like a disembodied set of clothes walking around, and that I don't need mine to have any special shit done to it. Of course I want a costume. Molly, I'm sure you'll do great," he added to their other table companion before returning his attention to Loni and Windy. "Well, it can be a date, although I'll follow your lead," he said to Windy, keeping his voice low so it wasn't "broadcast", as she'd put it earlier. "Besides, I might be able to swing by your dad's place after school, unless we're planning to just go straight from school? If so, might I suggest going to the movie before dinner? That way, you or we, whomever is going, I know I'm not definitely coming with, can have something to talk about over dinner. If you guys really don't want me there, how about I at least play chauffeur and maybe I can also hold onto anything," he lowered his voice even more and leaned in to whisper to Windy, "that you need if something goes down and Westbrook needs Velocity?" There was a new movie he wanted to see anyways, which the girls might not agree with, so even if they didn't agree to a three-way date this time, he'd still be close by if something happened.

While he waited for the girls to process what he'd said, he shot all four of his table companions another hands-free text: Think my hero name should be The Silver Shield. What do you guys think?

 

[Inkybus]

Ricci and Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa @Frozen Princess
Happy that her plan now begun to roll in truth, the former nurse nodded gravely. She turned to the door, when Gabe swung the door open in a tizzy, before he continued and ran down the hall to check the following meeting rooms.

"Very well. I look forward to seeing what kind of exotic animals they'll present to me as guinea pigs to verify my claims. Those that are not too skeptic, though I would not begrudge them that."

Leaning back against the chair, she let her look pass over her team.

"Do you have any other questions or suggestions, as we move forward? Concerns? I want to be thorough, since this is my future and now this concerns your standing with many other people, too."

Slum under Ballas' control - Schro

With one last jaunty slam, the door of the van shut and Schro let himself fall onto the seat: it screeched a tinny creak of protest: his eyes caught Ana staring at him.

"What?"

The masked villain asked, staring back flatly.

"What did that accomplish? Why did we leave evidence behind after leaving?!"

She asked, her anger clearly coming to the fore as her voice raised. And then, it all slipped away and fear gripped her as a skeletal face faded through the metal wall of the van. Expletives and screams of fright sounded, as Ana was convinced the hollow sockets of the moving ghost stared at her. A spider crawled out of the left one and tried to crawl back into the skull through the jaw, but was bitten in half with a crunch.

She did not know that a couple of her companions were seeing other apparitions, but they reacted the same way as her: with fright, recoiling from the horror only their eyes witnessed. The whispers in their ears receded, one of them beseeching St. Mary to preserve him. Schro's grin seemed to split his face in two, pearly whites sharpening to a point, like a shark's.

"Do not be afraid, Ana. You are safe with me: those who stand against us…"

@Frozen Princess Erin Holmes, just like all the people who had heard Schro make noise before, heard a soft cackle, like the hag witches of old. It was barely there, at the edge of their perception.

Westbrook College | Campus Cafeteria - Marko @Frozen Princess @MsBloom

Marko watched the head of the fratrority tear into the dumbass that had decided to show his true colors like that: the immigrant's facial expression was stoic and only a twinkle in his eyes gave away the amusement he felt at seeing such idiocy mocked, rightfully so!

"Thank you: gladly."

He told Ginger, accompanying her and Su-Ji to the table they'd decided to occupy for their midday meal. He appreciated having his lunch paid for: staying at their table to hear them out was a trade he was alright with, as he put his tray down, got seated and waited for them to be ready to eat before tucking in to his own food.

A big chunk of beef was cut a size, before getting some noodle on the fork, stabbing the meat and eating the first bite.

After polite chewing and swallowing, Marko shook his head once and pitched in his opinion: "I don't mind pets, as long as they don't keep me awake at night."

If anyone knew anything about the young man was that he went to bed somewhat early and rose somewhat early. And if there was anything that messed with his sleep, he would be on a hair trigger, extremely nettled. After eating some more of his lunch and drinking a few sips of water, Marko asked Su-Ji:

"I am very curious: can you hear just as well or better than before with your ears?"

Someone who knew Marko would be able to tell that he was merely curious: the only reason he asked was because he genuinely wanted to know what it was like for the catgirl to have a different biology now- even though he did not study biology. Yet…

 

[MsBloom]

Westbrook College | Campus Cafeteria; Su-Ji @Inkybus (Marko) @Frozen Princess (Ginger)

... freaky innit - Sorry ... can you repeat that? - Nothing nothing ...
Su-Ji heard the conversation and having heard remarks similar to the first question all morning she just bit down on her bottom lip and reminded herself that it was of course a natural, and somewhat understandable, reaction to her new look, not unlike how she had been called a freak when she began to dress in her now signature Goth style, but when she heard the response a smile spread on her face, it was the first person apart from Ginger who had actually defended her, or at least disapproved of such comments.
"Twelve would suggest he might actually have entered puberty," she said in response to Ginger also confronting the guy behind them and glanced over at him, flashing him a smile that showed off her fangs.
She only just managed to restrain herself from hissing at him. This was no time to pick a fight. Instead she focused her attention at the selection of food on offer and feeling a bit peckish she first took a plate of Stroganoff with fluffy white rice and then added a stack of pancakes left over from breakfast and a pile of bacon that made the server look twice, and as if that was not enough she also grabbed a plate of the vegetarian alternative, a green lasagna, all of which only just barely fit onto the tray and then with a nod to Marko, confirming Ginger's invitation followed her friend to a table by the window.

It was the whole idea of a pet having to be agreed on by the majority that had sort of been the end of Su-Ji living on campus despite having a room there. Even though Nefertiti was not only very well trained to either use her litter box or to bury her waste out of sight and out of scent from humans it but also relatively polite and friendly to most humans it seemed that her leaving fur on furniture and clothes was an even bigger issue, not to mention allergies of course. Still though, with Ginger as head of the Fratority she had a bit more leverage and it could now be used to allow Nef to live with Su-Ji on campus.
"I'd says she is better at birds than mice and other small rodents but that's just because her main hunting grounds is a rooftop garden where birds are a more common prey than mice but, yea I'd say she is at least a decent mouser."
She then smiled to herself at Ginger's question to Marko about how he would feel about having the tapping of cat claws around. She said nothing but instead precipitated her own claws and tapped them against the table, almost as if to demonstrate the sound.

"I was thinking I'd reacquaint myself with the dorms. If you can convince the dean to allow Nef I'm going to be moving in this afternoon, probably, or tomorrow morning before my first class. Other than that ... not a whole lot actually. I could go with you to the dean if you want some back up."
She then turned to Marko and addressed his sincere question about her heightened senses.
"I hear a lot better and my scent too for sure. Yesterday I woke up hearing people place their breakfast orders and smelling the coffee and fresh bread from the bakery down the street from where I live and I can actually tell you which of the women here that are either ovulating or on their period just by the scent they emit."
She didn't add that she could also determine whether or not they were aroused.
"I also see better in the dark than in daylight."
She dug in on the food in front of her, eating ever so slightly slower than she had her breakfast, trying to pace herself in public. The plate of lasagna and most of the bacon was however gone within minutes.
"I also have this new obsession with washing myself with my tongue I didn't have before," she said during a brief pause in eating and ran her tongue around her mouth a few times.
She then dug in on the Stroganoff with the same bad table manners as before finding it increasingly difficult to not circumvent using at least fork and spoon but rather just stick her face into it.

Delta Lambda Pi Fratority, Westbrook College; Edith @Frozen Princess (Sapphire/Erin)

Edith just smiled cautiously at Erin informing her and Sapphire that she had indeed seen the social media posts about the events at the Golden Spoon but said nothing to confirm or deny that she was responsible for them.
"Would those be the same two we met yesterday perhaps, the cat and her redheaded companion?" she asked instead after Erin had explained both the twist to the story and their role in it.
"And is it only the law you can do that with. I mean could you draw a correct table of elements right now, off the top of your head, including each element's weight and atomic number and what not? Like for instance what's the atomic mass of Lithium?"

 

[Frozen Princess]

Ricci and Associates @Inkybus (Amaya)

Rebecca thought for a moment, as Lucy shook her head. Beau opened and closed his mouth almost like he was actually stifling a yawn. Rebecca raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Long night, Beau?"

She exchanged glances with Reggie, who was older than she, as well as more in tuned with medical law. He nodded, and addressed the elephant in the room. Reggie cleared his throat first, "Except for the inability on certain brain issues, which may include inoperable brain cancer, is there anything else you have found you are unable to grab a hold on with your healing power? Swiss and Cordonian medical have made giant leaps in brain research, but I think even they are having difficulty in that area. That's a very complex organ, and not even psychiatrists have a handle on everything. Considering what you've informed us already, things like ulcers and hernias would be healed? Some of those countries, including us, are pretty prone to both of those."

"I think a lot of ulcers wouldn't happen if people watched their acid intake as well as their stress." Beau commented, "I'm still of a mind that malady is very preventable. What's to stop a person healed of an ulcer by you, messing with their diet and getting extremely stressed again, and causing themselves a new ulcer?"

Again Rebecca raised an eyebrow at Beau, "That's... Actually a pretty good question."

Reggie sighed. "He makes a valid point, that as a nurse as well as healer, you can legally recommend ways of keeping things like that from recurring, but it would still be up to the individual to follow through with your recommendation." He put a hand to his chin. "We can't make them take care of themselves, but it would be well within your rights to refuse second healing if they bring something back when it was within their own power to prevent. How would you handle people like that? We can get back to if there's other things in a bit, recurring issues does feel like something that would be and should be a concern even to you."

The lawyers were keeping in mind everything Amaya had said about her humanity as well as not being Jesus or Superman. Even hernias and ulcers healed by normal means have a bad habit of returning.

Delta Lambda Pi Fratority @MsBloom (Edith)

Erin nodded. "Si. As far as Ginger is concerned. I'm not sure about erm, Cheshire. Just because she attends the college, doesn't mean she resides here. I am going on the assumption she will know how to get a hold of her, however."

She rubbed her chin, "I hadn't really tested that out completely, if you have a piece of typing paper, we can put it to the test." As she was given a paper, she nodded, "The periodic table you said, ¿correcto?" She started, but stopped as Edith asked about Lithium. She looked up for maybe a second, and while drawing the table and filling it in she said, "Lithium. Ah, Mass is 6.941u, I believe. Atomic number 3, why?" She didn't even realize it would prove her eidetic memory. In about 10 minutes, she gave the correct hand drawn periodic table to Edith for scrutiny. "Here you are, Edith."

Sapphire just gave a low whistle. "Science was never my strong suit. I barely passed it, and didn't even try my hand at chemistry or physics. After 9th grade, my science class was geology, and botony, and I barely could handle them."

Erin looked around suddenly, made a scowl more aimed at herself, and seemed to be processing something. "I hate to ask, but did either of you just hear a laugh, almost like the evil queen's hag cackle from Snow White?"

Sapphire frowned, "Not unless one of the students here at the fratority did under their breath. You may have super hearing, too."

"Huh. Que extraño." She vocalized.

Dean's Office, Westbrook College @MsBloom (Su-Ji)

"Good afternoon ladies, what brings two of my brightest to my office..." The older man stopped and peered over his reading glasses at Su-Ji. "If that's real and not a costume, you're the second co-ed today that has come after being affected physically by that meteor Sunday. Please. Have a seat, erm, Kim Su-Ji. Let me guess. Harassment, and not merely called weird or freak? Although , that won't be tolerated either, not in this educational establishment. I'll do what I can to help, if you know the name, or at least a description of the individual."

"Not just that, Dean Wilcox. We'd like to get her pet cat registered as our mascot." Ginger said, before whispering to Su-Ji, I'm betting it's Annie Bennett. She wouldn't go anywhere without her pet terrier. She's about as close to her dog as you are to Nefertiti. back to the Dean. "As the head of the fratority I have paperwork to fill out?"

"It's Su-Ji's cat, she's going to have to help you. You need name, approximate age, breed, things like that." He handed Ginger the form. "I'll need a copy of his or her last two vet visits, if the animal is caught up on necessary shots, proof of that, and you, Ginger, will have to sign the agreement that although Well be paying partial for the upkeep, the college itself is not responsible for any accidents. You're dues, which are coming up, will also increase as the head of the house."

"Su-Ji, I'll let you fill this out then, since she's your cat." Ginger said handing the mascot application form to her. She then signed the dues increase and agreement forms. "I'll gladly take the increase, because, as ill let Su-Ji explain, she may need to be better off at the fratority house now. I'm pretty sure Marko and a few others can overlook the added features on my friend. It's just..." She sighed. "Lunch today here, and I'm not sure about how her own mom.... I digress."

Dean Wilcox nodded in understanding. "Alright, Su-Ji, can you explain things as you fill out the mascot application? Just hand it to Ginger when you're done, as she has to sign under yours. Let's talk about the lunch incident." He folded hands in front of him and looked readily at Su-Ji.

 

[Inkybus]

Ricci and Associates - Amaya "Melia" Sosa @Frozen Princess
"Not yet. I tried to heal an animal that had a tumor affecting his brain, but was unable to. Anything else I touched at the rehab center, I was able to heal, though I only did so for animals where a recovery would not be flashy and noticeable immediately."

Amaya answered the first inquiry.

"I am confident that I can deal with ulcers and hernias, at least when it comes to normal humans. Who knows, maybe the meteoric burst that gave me these powers also made someone with unexplainable abilities, which render my power null."

When she got asked what she would do if people kept going with unhealthy lifestyles and had to re-appear in front of her again, Amaya shrugged. "What's to stop someone from aging? I healed animals that were really old, whose organs were failing. From what I gathered, I could not help there-"

And then she begun lying again, eyes turning to the window, avoiding meeting the lawyers' gazes. "-but I could heal some damage. Eventually, due to age, cells will still die off in a cascade of organ failures that is fatal."

She could de-age someone. It would be fairly easy, even. But she did not want people to know that she could do that: who knows what someone with more money and power than morals might do to get a second lease of life? Amaya did not care to find out.

"I will leave the choice of who I will heal up to the people working in the community hospital. I imagine they will direct me to the emergency room to take care of those patients they diagnosed might die the fastest without my intervention. And afterwards guide me to other wards that need to be seen."

Raising her shoulders again, in a manner that indicated she did not care one way or the other, Amaya concluded: "I will have the clause in the contract that states that I can pick and choose who I heal, though, so if they keep sending me to the same old billionaire coot that tries to buy their way to first place, I'll just refuse them and go somewhere else. The simple reality will be that they don't want to anger me, unless they want me to go somewhere else."

Westbrook College | Campus Cafeteria - Marko

"That is impressive. From that alone, I bet you can hear better than a lioness, even."

Was the serbian's remark, as he took a swig from the water glass he'd brought. And hearing of the new impulse Su-Ji had to wash herself like a feline had Marko raise an eyebrow: he did not comment on her newfound olfactory senses, which allowed her to detect other women in estrus, feeling like that'd be creepy on his part.

"Dark vision sounds really useful- would be so much better not to stumble around the workshop using only starlight after a brief nap or somesuch situation…"

After that, Su-Ji and Ginger took their leave, to go see what the head honcho would tell them regarding their mascot idea. He wished them well and took off to return the cutlery and tableware so it could be cleaned by the staff: after that, he put his bluetooth airpods in his ears, turned on Ljubavi on his phone and hustled to a nearby tool shop to get some new pieces to overhaul his multitool.

On the Road - Schro

After driving for a while, the group got into the disused parking lot of a Fugly Bob's bistro, a fast food place that was rarely visited, and Schro got out, still masked, with that white veil and that black hag mask. A smirk on his face, as he looked around and the adrenaline in his body began to fade.

His underlings were obviously afraid of him, but they did not hate him. Ana did not hate him, yet, though she obviously found him repulsive: he laughed to himself, watching the world with one eye, while the other looked on through one of the Ballas people that had found the courage to go check up on the bruised and battered companion Schro and company had left in the house.

Turning around, the POV-thug saw policemen with tasers coming into the house: fortunately for the Ballas, no one started a shootout and the policemen kept watch until the EMTs got there.

Then, finally, one of the boys-in-blue watched the video. New awareness flooded Schro's senses, as he looked through the cop's eyes at himself in the video. Again, his smirk only grew, as he got back to the van: his companions had quickly taken off the plates of the vehicle and replaced the plates with another set that was originally of this vehicle. The first set of plates was stowed away as Schro climbed back into the vehicle.

"This is fucked…" Schro heard one cop comment. His smirk couldn't get any wider: no, this was not fucked- this was only the beginning! More awareness flooded into his mind, compartmentalised and pushed aside for the time being, until he decided to look and listen to the half of someone else.

His plans proceeded apace. The Hijos de Renzo were never going to be caught by the WPD if he had anything to say about it… and he did, now. Everyone could hear him.

With goosebumps and sweat on their back, his underlings brought their cackling villain back to the lair.