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Mutants & Masterminds: Legacy - Issue #4 Challenges


Joani

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The team rejoined at the HQ after Nixx managed to heal all other members of the Legacy League and while he felt somewhat exhausted he was proud of his achievement. Aina had taken her time to talk to Arcana exchanging news about the Fearie Realm and the current state of her empire – overall Aina seemed less aggressive and arrogant than she did before she fell into her hibernated slumber.

Watchwoman was preparing the briefing and while they made some progress there was still too much to do and to little time to cover all bases. Hudsy proved once again to be of great help as he interfaced with Matrix and provided data on the fly as Watchwoman requested. The room was illuminated with large Holograms, timetables and maps detailing parts of the space rift Aina’s ritual left just out of Earth’s orbit.

„Thanks to our new ally... Nixx almost the entire senior Team has been healed with your help. Unfortunately Dawnstar’s condition is still unchanged which means we have a bit under a year to find a solution.“, Serene took another breath before she read out the next part of the bad news.

„While Colossus, Thoughtwave, Hyperion and Twister have been fully healed they... they lost their powers. We can only assume that this is Nexus‘ doing and we also believe that the reason why Dawnstar is suffering from her condition is directly connected to this. She would die without her powers since the Shytari are mostly energy based – correct me if I’m wrong, MegaGirl.“

„At least our parents are out of immediate danger with the exception of your Mother, MegaGirl but we’ll find a solution, I promise.“, Watchwoman nodded at her half-sister before she proceeded to the next point.

„Our next options are in no particular order – Helping Queen Aina and thus fulfilling our part of the bargain. Find a cure for Dawnstar, and in consequence also find a way to restore our parents powers. Close the rift and create a perimeter defense to maintain surveillance and react as fast as possible should something or someone slip through it. The Fountain of Youth and the Orb of Arcadia – although I believe that is tightly connected to our mission in Fearie Realm. Any questions?“

Click to reveal..
The whole team is assembled at the Legacy HQ – posting is ffa
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"If you wish it, I can still attempt my proposed healing of Dawnstar. I cannot guarantee it will succeed but perhaps the life giving power of the stars can restore her in part or full." The Centurion stood, angled such that he could view the League and their visitors, but also see through a nearby skylight to the sun above. He looked to Megagirl, the decision was hers alone, Dawnstar was her family, her mother, and in this the opinions of the others mattered for naught.

Megagirl nodded eagerly, "Please try and help my mom, I understand if it don't work."

Herak nodded, his armor was once more gone, and they could see his somber features, "I will try my best." He started for the door and stopped just before passing through it, "I will return." The Celestial Centurion was allowed to take Dawnstar from the medical bay, and carry her outside into the light of the sun. Herak set his jaw, and with a thought rose into the air, faster and faster until he passed through the atmosphere and into the cold black of space.

His whole body glowed, the glow surrounding Dawnstar, feeding her. Herak could feel her drawing upon his power and he quickly raced through the millions of miles between the Earth and its star. They bathed in the sun's corona, the Centurion having become plasma was almost an extension of the sun and he poured power into Dawnstar drawing on the sun, acting like a conduit between her and it. The woman consumed as much power as he could direct and more, like an unending, inescapable black hole she devoured the energy and Herak worried that it would overwhelm him. He felt the cold darkness deep within, leeching her power out as fast as she could take it in, a hungry without bounds driven by a malice without thought. The Void.

Despite everything Dawnstar did recover some; her physique returned and after half an hour she regained consciousness. The woman blinked, clearly shocked to find herself bathing casually in the plasma of her local star cradled in the ephemeral arms of a being of light and energy. "Your daughter asked me to help you," Herak said through the Legion rings they wore, "but I am unsure if this will last. Do you feel well enough to return home?" The Centurion was worried that the bottomless connection to the Void would siphon off all this power once more, but for now he could do no more, eventually they could both burn out if he attempted to maintain the connection indefinitely.

She nodded, "Yes, please I would like to see my daughter again." Herak complied and severed the connection to her and then to the Sun. Dawnstar cried out almost immediately and he hesitated, "Go, at least you have given me time to see her once more." With a nod they blasted out from the corona like a meteor streaking flame. In seconds they were penetrating the Earth's atmosphere, and in seconds more they had reached the Legion Headquarters. The two were only minutes from the meeting room and the others and already Dawnstar was feeling weaker, Herak guided her to the medical bay instead.

"Megagirl, your mother is awake, but for how long I cannot know," he broadcast over the internal comms. "Please come to sickbay, she would like a moment with you. Watchwoman, I am afraid I know now why she cannot be healed, even by the nigh infinite power of a star. We should discuss."

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"I can coordinate with the remains of the Fleet to encircle and surveil the anomaly," Echo said. "As I understand it, reinforcements from offworld garrisons should be arriving soon. They should be sufficient to contain the anomaly until we can close it."

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Looking over the various holograms, she made a gesture, and then reached out to point out somethings. "Dimensional interactions and magic are specialties of mine, and so too, unfortunately, are some connections to the infernal planes. Sealed, from this side, the dimensional connection is safe, it is unfortunately, still an access point, think of a door where once there was a wall. They punched though, and broke a hole in the wall, you closed it by adding a door... that presently is closed and somewhat locked.. the problem with doors.. is of course, that they can be opened again."

She paused, then closed her eyes a moment, and sorrow seemed to fill her. "If my father was alive, we could do something about further baring the door. I have another issue, that could be a problem, a number of artifacts were stolen when he was killed, I have, besides fighting the Mage Lords, also be trying to recover them, I can think of a few that could force this door. Fortunately, it is space, not easy to access, and I believe it can be well guarded by the planet's military forces, if they warned to keep watch over it."

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"Then that's not pressing," Watchwoman sighed, feeling both uneasy and relieved. That sort of thing was so far out of her ken that she had no clue how to deal with it. "We have a year to fix DawnStar's continuing issues. And the Faerie Lands are suffering now. So that's our next step.

"MegaGirl, go spend time with your mother; we'll handle things from here. Everyone else, you have half an hour to get ready to go. Aina, I take it that you have a way to get us where we need to be, once we go?" That was another thing that had her nervous - the fact that none of her allies would have control over the travel to Faerie.

"And are there any other questions and concerns before we do Pattern Starburst?"

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MegaGirl waited anxiously as the Celestial Centurion flew to the Sun with her mother, pacing around the conference room like a lumbering blur, oblivious to the other considerations that still needed considering. When Herak's broadcast came, the doors to the conference room didn't survive her excited, head-long rush to the Medical Bay.

Barely an instant later, DawnStar found herself swept up into her over-sized daughter's impossibly strong arms. Tears flowed down Karra's eyes, overjoyed to have her mother back, full-sized and well again. It seemed like she was looking for her mother forever and then trying to make her well even more forever.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! You're well again! I was so worried and we went to the Bad-Word-Place to find-" Karra began, ready to launch into a recitation, jumbled as it was, of her adventures, but her mother managed to free an arm, placing two fingers over Karra's to her words.

"Shhh! Shhh! It's not forever, Karra dear, just for a little while, just enough so we can talk. Herak was able to give me this time, but soon, I'll have to go back to sleep-"

"Noooo - Who's Herak?" Karra whined, trailing into an upward inflection of confusion.

"The Celestial Centurion, who you really should thank-"

"Oh...Thank-youThank-youThank-youCeeCee!" Karra squealed, picking the Celestial Centurion up to give him a heartfelt and rib-aching hug and a kiss on the cheek, before setting him back down, almost forgotten at she turned back to her mother.

Herak could see the family resemblance between DawnStar and MegaGirl easily, close enough that they could be sisters, rather than mother and daughter. Both shared the same remarkable beauty, the curvaceous, athletic build with unusually long legs, though MegaGirl stood head and shoulders taller than her mother and might have been slightly more muscular and well-endowed. The biggest different was in the face - DawnStar's was ageless, with intelligent and experienced eyes, whereas MegaGirl possessed a blatant youth and... simplicity.

DawnStar sat down in a large, plush chair, Karra plopping down at her feet on the floor, resting her head in her lap. As she stroked her daughter's metallic, fiery hair, Karra began telling her everything that happened... as she remembered it. At first, Herak was able to follow, but MegaGirl began speaking faster and faster, until her voice was nothing more than a wildly fluctuating buzz. DawnStar smiled sadly, feeling the drain on the dwindling reserves as she exerted a portion of her powers to keep up.

"... and then I - and CeeCee, he helped too - pushed the Planet-Chunk-Thing into the Not-Black-Hole-Black-Hole and saved the world, just like a Hero, just like you Mom. I even got a new dress and got to meet the President. Do you want to see my dress... Mom? Mom!" Karra jumped to her feet, looking at her mom in horror, holding her hands and feeling them beginning to dwindle. DawnStar's face was pale as she grimaced in pain, feeling the weakness and darkness encroaching upon her once more.

"I'm sorry baby, but I think I'm going back to sleep," DawnStar whispered. She pulled one hand free, cupping her daughter's cheek, even as her daughter seemed to grow bigger and bigger to her eyes. "I'm sooo proud of you, Karra, I really am. You are a Hero. You help as many as you can, okay? And I'll make sure to wait until to you can find a cure for me. Promise me."

"I promise," Karra whispered, tears beginning to well up once more. With infinite tenderness, she picked up her mother, placing her back into the hospital bed surrounded by all sorts of machines she didn't understand. "I'll find a way to make you better." MegaGirl gave her mother one more hug, who now felt tiny compared to her real self, kissed her on the forhead, then dashed off to get ready to go to the Faerie Realms, scrubbing her tears away.

Fading fast, DawnStar managed to press the communicator. "James," she called faintly. "She needs to know, and I don't have the time..."

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Aeonian walks in, as she starts system diagnostics on her suit, the readout filtering over her helmet's HUD system. "Watchwoman, I am ready to go anywhere you need my hand. The systems here onboard are set to the proper parameters and I don't have to babysit them anymore since I've trained some of the crew in how to handle most emergencies with our remaining patient."

She nods as her suit's systems come online to 100 percent. "I'm sorry how sometimes I tend to keep off the radar with you guys, but I've been busy."

She smooths out a couple wrinkles on her suit. "And... quite honestly... this whole Magic deal has me unsure of how much of a utility I'll have on this mission."

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The green man wandered the halls of the Legacy building, trying to be happy with himself. He had successfully healed nearly everyone and he knew he should be overjoyed. But his failure to help Megagirl's mother weighed on him in more ways than one; he was still a little yellow around the edges. Whatever was keeping her asleep could have snuffed him out like a candle if he'd given it the chance, but still he wondered if he could have tried harder. The cold watery light that filled the place was doing little to improve his constitution or his mood.

The meeting in the assembly room was, again, an overwhelming barrage of names and concepts. He couldn't bring himself to interrupt with what he was sure were stupid questions (Such as "Fleet of what?" or, more fundamentally, "Huh?"). He crept out before curiosity overcame his sense of decorum.

He thought he might visit Dawnstar again and offer the sleeping woman a few words or a song, by way of apologizing for his failure to help her. He was more than a little pleased to see her speaking with her daughter when he passed by, but it didn't seem like the right time to interrupt. He moved on.

At last he ended up in a little room containing, primarily, comfortable chairs. He had been drawn by a small potted fern on a table. He complemented it on its fronds but it refused to speak to him. He was just about to leave (resolving never to speak to this particular fern again) when he saw the box.

It was huge and black. The surface facing the room was reflective, like a window into midnight. All of the chairs were facing it. A single red light pulsed ominously in the lower right hand corner. It seemed rather menacing, yet he felt compelled. He reached out toward the glowing red button... and turned on the television.

After a brief, one-sided conversation with a news-caster he began to form a vague idea of what he was dealing with. Five minutes later he discovered the 31st century version of MTV. He had never heard instruments before. It was incredible. He gave a grateful nod toward the fern for sharing its remote-viewing device and, mouth open in awe, continued to watch.

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Djane popped out of her lighter, resolving into a semi-solid form. She nodded to Watchwoman. "No, I'm good. The Faerie Realms. Just one thing after another, huh? I guess no one said being a superhero'd be easy."

She drifted around a bit. "What about you, what're you doing for the next half an hour?"

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TK didn't move. Instead she closed her eyes and let her mind roam. That her mother and Father were alive and healthy again, That made her smile. She could feel their minds, and it was only when her mother's hand came to rest on her shoulder that she opened her eyes to see them standing there.

"I knew it was within you daughter, mastery of my abilities as well. We are so proud of you."

Her Father, restored yet not as he was nodded. "You have done honor to both of us, and to the League Teletha." His Rich baritone was soothing as he reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

"But... I did so little, I couldn't help you, I wasn't strong enough..."

Her parents smiled.

"No one is, by themselves, daughter. We both read the reports, You put your full strength into everything, and worked well in the same way we did." Her mother's word did it, and a dam that had been cracking the entire time broke loose and for the first time those present saw the teenage Psychic powerhouse cry.

"Mama, Papa..." The two former heroes pulled their little girl to them, their embrace melting away her guilt, absolving her of her shame, and For the first time since it all began, making her finally believe things would be alright.

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Serene was quiet a moment, thinking. "I think I need to review what information we have on the Faerie Realms," she admitted. She gave a moment's thought to seeing her father, but he'd taught her that the mission was more important than family. Besides, he knew she loved him.

"Yes, that's what I'll do," she mused as she commanded Hudsy to pull up all of the Legacy's information on the magical realm they'd be visiting, as well as anything he had on Arcana. She settled into a comfortable position, steepling her hands together in an unconscious imitation of her father as she listened to the data being recited to her.

Hands brushed over her shoulders and Watchwoman jumped. Djane pulled back, looking uncomfortable. "I was just going to... rub... your... neck?"

"Oh. Oh. That's fine," Serene said, blushing. They were alone in the debriefing room - it wouldn't hurt to get that little bit of comfort. "I mean, if that's what you want." She hoped that she was clear that Djane should only do it if she wanted to and not from magical complusion.

"It's fine," Djane said softly, putting her hands back on Serene's shoulders. As she started to gently kneed, Serene relaxed even more, her muscles lulled even as her mind began to absorb the information from Hudsy.

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"Geez, you sure are tense. You'd think you had an intense few weeks or something." Djane worked down to the shoulder blades. "I guess we all have, though... I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to describe this to my friends." She sighed. "Everything's changing for everyone, it seems."

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"Pattern Starburt?" Herak asked nobody in particular, the confusion evident on his face. He sighed and looked at the League ring he'd been given; it seemed that nobody communicated face to face when they could just pop into your head.

Megagirl barged into the room and proceeded to test the resiliency of Herak's unarmored body before putting him aside. Almost like a child with a toy, he mused, as he made his exit from the room for his privacy and their own.

Once in the hall he concentrated and sent a message to Watchwoman alone, "Watchwoman, are you there? I have need to talk with you. Preferably not through these blasted rings. I know why Dawnstar isn't recovering. Additionally I think I need one of your group to explain some of your League's terminology to me, I am unfamiliar with Pattern Starburst. What is it you are planning?" Herak wasn't sure where he should be heading, and he was all but lost within the Legion's headquarters having spent only a scant few hours there. He picked a hall and began to walk, hoping it would take him back to the meeting room.

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The green man's bare feet carried him swiftly down the hallway, leaving patches of moss and tufts of grass in their wake. He barely paused to check the occupants of the various rooms on his route. At last he spotted his quarry. He reached to put a hand on Echo's shoulder as he approached, but thought better of it at the last moment, clearing his throat and bowing politely instead once he had her attention.

"Miss Echo, forgive me I know matters are pressing and I have no desire to obstruct your work but I perceive that your knowledge of history and diverse other subjects boundlessly exceeds my own. Please do me the favor of answering a question."

He looked like he would be out of breath, though he didn't seem to actually be breathing.

"The Beatles, Elvis, Beethoven. the greatest musical talents of this world, two millennia past. They're all dead? All of them?!"

He seemed to already know the answer. Still, he looked to Echo with the faintest glimmer of hope. Just because the remote viewing machine said so didn't mean it was true. It seemed like an unimaginable tragedy that the top ten musicians of an entire thousand year period should all be deceased.

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Echo gave Nixx a quizzical look. "You have unusual sources of information," she concluded. "For an entity from a different reality, your knowledge of Earth's musical history is surprising. Yet, you lack a basic understanding of human life span."

She shook her head. "Human beings at the present height of their technology have an average life expectancy of approximately 120 years, unless they undergo one of several available transhuman operations."

"The musicians you're citing all lived at least several hundred years ago. They are all dead. If you wish to speak to one of them you can consult a VRP, of course. Such famous individuals would have high correspondence idexes."

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Arcana didn't go anywhere, she was prepared to depart now, but she understood waiting for everyone to see to some final manners, or speaking with family.. for a moment, she envied them, her parents were no longer in the living.

Once everyone had returned, she looked Watchwoman a moment, then she took a deep breath. "I would like to offer a word of warning, for everyone. In faerie, be polite, but make no promises or commitments and be careful about thanking anyone, some of the fay take being thanked as an insult. Also, don't be quick to trust or make judgments regarding appearances, some of the most beautiful can be the deadliest and some of the terrifying in appearance can actually possess a great deal of compassion." She paused.

"I'm only saying, that in Arcadia, all those things can be incredibly dangerous too do, you'll be there, under the queen's protection as allies, but the fay have never been known for perfect unity in anything. If you like, I can explain further, but if you keep those things in mind, it will keep you from some of the more subtle dangers of fay influence."

She turned to Aina a moment, and her manner shifted, more to a formal one, though, perhaps not as formal as it could be. "It is good to see you doing so well, if it would not be to forward, I can aid you in opening the way between dimensions."

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"I found your box of endless and multifarious knowledge. It showed me the Historic 999 to 1999 Top Ten Countdown. (I assume someone would have mentioned this important cultural event if matters of cosmic urgency were not so pressing.)" He explained hastily. "I'm sorry, life expectancy?"

He took a moment to wrap his mind around the gruesome concept. He looked like he had just been smacked in the head by a large fish. The fates of the musicians were momentarily forgotten. "You mean, people just die? Just because? They all have that grim fate to look forward to?" This raised a number of tricky and unpleasant questions. Rather than voicing them he lamented, "Is there no indignity this cruel reality spares its poor inhabitants?!"

One question did stand out, less awful and perhaps more immediately relevant than the others, "Forgive me. I know you have better things to do than satisfy my limitless ignorance but... about how long is a year?"

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Echo considered this, then held out a hand. In the air above her palm a holographic display showed the current time in hours, minutes and seconds.

"To answer that efficiently, I will need to teach you our units of measuring time. The rapidly changing numbers on the far right of this display displays seconds passing. Every sixty seconds marks the passing of a minute. That is the middle display. You will note that each time the seconds count up to sixty, the minute display increases by one. The last display is for hours. Each hour is sixty minutes."

"A day, defined as one complete cycle of night and day on the planet Earth, is approximately twenty-four hours."

"A year, defined as one complete orbit of the planet Earth around its star, is approximately three-hundred-sixty-five days."

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"Oh, that's extremely helpful!" The hologram he took in stride, but the concept of 'night' seemed to cause him some dismay, though he didn't need to ask for a definition. "One hundred and twenty years. And half of it in the dark." He sighed. "If I may be so bold, how many years, or hours, old are you? I fear my hours so far have left me with little faculty for gaging such things."

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“An intense life, more like it,” Serene sighed. She didn’t even realize how personal of a confession that was; she’d never complained about her life to anyone. Djane had gotten past her usual barriers with ease, due completely to the connection they shared. Plus, the massage was really nice: it was odd, but she felt parts of her relax that she wasn’t aware had been tensed. Now that Djane was kneading the stress out of her muscles, she could feel just how tight they had been. “Mmm… that feels good.”

Serene jumped when Centurion’s request leapt into her mind. Djane stopped at the sudden movement, her eyes widening. “Serene?”

“Just a message from Centurion,” she said softly. “Hang on, Djane, please.”

“I’m still in the briefing room, if you wish to speak to me,” Serene said softly over the rings. She hesitated, remembering how disorienting this place could be to the new. “Do you know how to get there?”

“Not exactly.”

“Alright,” Serene said. “Tell me where you are…” Ten minutes later the unarmored alien was striding into the room. Djane hadn’t started that delicious massage again; by unspoken agreement, they were reluctant to display their comfort openly. “Now, you said something about what is wrong with DawnStar, Herak?”

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,,
Originally Posted By: MegaGirl

Fading fast, DawnStar managed to press the communicator. "James," she called faintly. "She needs to know, and I don't have the time..."

Karra had never seen her mother so sick before. Her powerful shape was already diminishing and Dawnstar didn’t want Karra to see her like this politely asked her to leave. The young heroine tried to suppress her tears wanting to brave this encounter, make her mother feel proud of her but she failed to hold back. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she left her mother behind the image of her shrinking body tormenting her young mind.

Watchman heard Dawnstar and slowly nodded, „I will, I promise.“ was his only reply. He turned off the lights in his quarters steepling his hands together as he contemplated his options...

Originally Posted By: Arcana

She turned to Aina a moment, and her manner shifted, more to a formal one, though, perhaps not as formal as it could be. "It is good to see you doing so well, if it would not be to forward, I can aid you in opening the way between dimensions."

„Your help is much appreciated and I fear I will have to accept your aid. This place is... lacking certain requirements which will make our travel less pleasant.“, Aina smiled at Arcana gently bowing her head in return of a formal gesture.

„Tell me, what have you seen?“, Aina inquired knowing that things were bad for her people but time passed differently in this realm and there was no way for her to know how much damage has been inflicted to her people and her empire during her absence. Arcadia needed her and the longer she stayed away – even without the impeding invasion, the worse it fared. Her destiny was tightly bound to the realms existence, should she stay away for too long then everything would be lost, including herself.

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Herak finally found his way to where Watchwoman and D'jane were apparently relaxing prior to this execution of this so called "Pattern Starburst." He stopped in the doorway and studied the panel outside the room, attempting to discern the means by which locations in the facility were marked and called out. Finally he shook his head in bewilderment at the vague use of floors and wings and colors, wondering why a simple three dimensional Cartesian coordinate system was not employed. These Earthers may have been similar of appearance to the Sartori, but their culture was markedly different. Still shaking his head Herak entered the room and nodded to the two women.

Originally Posted By: Watchwoman
“Now, you said something about what is wrong with DawnStar, Herak?”

"Yes, I believe I now know why she has been unable to recover, why even the power of your local star was only able to rejuvenate her for mere minutes." Herak looked for a seat and eventually sat down facing the pair. "The center of her being, the energy core that powers and fuels her very being, has been linked to the void through that same tear in the fabric of space. I believe it likely that this connection, constantly siphoning off her energy, may be part of the reason why the rift did not fully close. It is certainly the reason for her sickness, and it will be the death of her if it cannot be stopped and severed."

Watchwoman appeared to be waiting for more and after a moment Herak added, "That is all. I think we can slay a two headed gorbritar with one strike if we sever the connection to Dawnstar."

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"That's excellent news!" Watchwoman said, smiling. She looked relieved; even if this wasn't the whole answer, it was still good news. Every piece of information they had would help them sort out what needed to be done. "Thank you for telling me that. I'll be sure to tell the medical staff before we go so that they can continue to work on the problem while we're gone."

She paused and added, "And you asked about Pattern Starburst? I'm sorry, that's just a joke between some of us. It's a reference to a cluster of people all breaking off from a group into their own paths. From above, it looks like a starburst pattern. Do you understand now?"

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Herak stared for a moment before replying, "No, I do not. Your explanation suffices, however this phrase does not appear adequate to explain the current situation or the plan that you have laid out prior." He shook his head, "Perhaps I have misunderstood your plan. In light of this new information, as well, I am certain that further explanation would assuage my mis-comprehension."

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"My plan regarding all our issues?" Watchwoman swallowed and said, "I don't know what my plan is yet. We're going to go to the Faerie Realm and assess the situation and decide the plan from there. I literally don't have enough information to decide what we're going to do once we're there yet. Then we're coming home and fixing DawnStar so that my best friend doesn't lose her mother."

Drawing a deep breath, she continued. "That is the extent of my planning. I know it isn't much, but we're missing a lot of information that I'm pretty sure even Aina isn't privy to, such as the movements of the enemy, our available resources and obstacles, what other allies we may call upon, and so on."

Serene could already feel the tension seeping back into her muscles. "This half-hour, this is pure morale. I don't know if you're familiar with human life-cycles, but we're all just barely legal adults. There are some countries on Earth that cannot serve us intoxicating drinks. Hell was our first mission. We'd been trained for this life, but not to take it over because our parents were injured. We've had a day to recuperate, we were honored by our world, but... we're all still young. This half-hour to run around and say goodbye is something we needed."

She looked at him and sighed, "I hope that was more clear."

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"As clear as a dark planetary nebula, but I comprehend your plight nonetheless. The evil wrought upon your parents is dire, and you are unprepared for the responsibility that now falls to your shoulders." Herak looked down at his hands, "It was not long ago that I was given my own mantel of power. I understand your doubt. The feeling of being overwhelmed, and I can only say that you may not yet believe it, but you have already passed the smith's test. Your young League has been forged in fire, and proven strong. The people of this world believe this, you need only see that and you too will believe it."

The Centurion rose and moved toward the door, "I will leave you both, give you your privacy and the time you desire to prepare."

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Originally Posted By: Nixx
"Oh, that's extremely helpful!" The hologram he took in stride, but the concept of 'night' seemed to cause him some dismay, though he didn't need to ask for a definition. "One hundred and twenty years. And half of it in the dark." He sighed. "If I may be so bold, how many years, or hours, old are you? I fear my hours so far have left me with little faculty for gaging such things."


"I'm still young by human standards," Echo replied with a hint of resignation. "My education was unorthodox though. I hold the equivalent of several degrees in multiple disciplines of physical and computer sciences and engineering. But biologically, I'm eighteen years old."

She regarded Nixx curiously then asked, "You imply that you are only hours old? How did you come to be?"
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Originally Posted By: Celestial Centurion
The Centurion rose and moved toward the door, "I will leave you both, give you your privacy and the time you desire to prepare."

"You don't have to go," Watchwoman said. "I was spending my time learning all the information the League has on the Faerie Realms. If you wish to stay and learn as well, I would not mind." She'd be saying goodbye to her massage, but Djane was so empowered when the Centurion was around that Serene wouldn't mind. Oddly, she could feel the ease that bond brought to her genie.

Wincing internally, she mentally corrected to the genie.
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The green man pondered, trying to pull Echo's meaning from context and his in-built vocabulary. Of her precociousness he was sure, but what a computer might be he could not guess. He chuckled. "Every question I ask reveals new vistas of things I do not know. But Eighteen does not seem so very young. You are saving worlds handily and over a tenth of the way to the end of your life, if you expect it to end after the appointed hundred and twenty years."

"If it cheers you, by my standards you are ancient beyond imagining." He added happily. "I stand somewhere between six and ten hours old, if I gauge your time piece rightly. Though I believe I was dreaming in my pool long before that. But today I arose from the black water and elected to see the Sun! On my journey I happened to discover the dear Princess and help her escape from the Mage Lords' rather bleak stronghold. She educated me on the subject of helping those in need and I accompanied her here to that end."

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Thoughwave looked at her daughter as she finally stopped. "It's good that you can still do that. I always worried that you'd come to feel you couldn't, that because of us, you felt you always had to be strong."

She nodded. "I tried so hard Momma.." "I know, and you did well. From what I've heard you'll be going to the realm of Magic next. Be careful. Your powers, especially those inherited from me, are quite rare there. There's no telling how things might go for you. It's okay to be worried."

"Good because I am. In Hell, I was Karra for a time, and no offense to her, but I'm much more comfortable as me."

Collossus chuckled. "Well that's to be expected. I have faith in you Katrina to handle anything that comes your way."

He smiled. "You are the best in both of us. Your team is going to need you. Isn't there anything else you'd rather do?"

She shook her head. "I didn't know If I'd ever speak to either of you again, At this point, this is where I belong."

Her parents hugged her and smiled. "There's those old Russian sensibilities. Plan for the worst, and enjoy everything up till then."

"I am a product of my parents."

They both smiled. "We'll be here when you get back."

She smiled impishly. "You better."

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Originally Posted By: Watchwoman

"You don't have to go," Watchwoman said. "I was spending my time learning all the information the League has on the Faerie Realms. If you wish to stay and learn as well, I would not mind." She'd be saying goodbye to her massage, but Djane was so empowered when the Centurion was around that Serene wouldn't mind. Oddly, she could feel the ease that bond brought to her genie.

Wincing internally, she mentally corrected to the genie.


"Yeah, uh. Yeah. Last time we went into another dimension fulla magic it didn't work out all that great." Djane tried not to mentally fixate on Serene as a succubus, and failed - feeling a hot stab of guilt over putting her though that, even by accident. "Better prepared than not, right? In fact... I have an infinite library inside the bottle. With your permission I'd like to go see what it has on the Faerie Kingdoms... or you could come with me. We could search in half the time."

Djane was fairly obviously talking to Serene when she said 'you,' but she caught herself. "Either of you, that is. Or both, but I don't think I'm comfy with the lighter being unattended..."
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The Centurion hesitated at the door, "I- no, thank you." He took another step and halted looking once more over his shoulder at them, "Your father was among those healed by this green man?" She nodded. "And you wear a computer intelligence as part of your suit, do you not?" Again she nodded. "Take your time with him. With your sister. With you family. Be at ease and allow them to help restore your confidence, if not in words then by seeing them whole. Do not squander what time you have. Your CI will be able to download and assimilate the knowledge of the Fey while you do so." He looked up, as though he could see the sun through the ceiling and roof. "I shall return at the appointed hour," he said, and walked out of the room.

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MegaGirl ran through the halls like a giant blur, stopping for no one and not listening to anyone calling out to her. She ran to the Shuttle Bay and took to the air as she flew though the force-field covering the entrance and into the deep black of space. In the airless atmosphere, frigid cold, yet laced with searing radiation, her tears boiled away into nothingness. The silence was deafening, and welcome. Heroes shouldn't cry...

But it was hard. Finding mom all small and weak in hell was bad, very bad, but seeing her shrink from her real self into... that was a million times worse. It was all she could see now. Until she turned and saw Earth spinning below her.

Her toned shoulders straightened, chin tilting up, hands on her hips. She was a Hero. She had helped save the world, the President even said so. And more importantly, her mom had said she was proud of her.

We'll go to the Furry Place and help the Mean Dragon Lady and save the Furry Place and then come back home and find a way to fix Mom. Even if I have to go to every planet and moon there is to find it.

Slowly, Karra calmed down, carefully repairing her frayed, exuberant confidence, bit by bit, as she floated serenely in the black of space, at ease in the harsh environment, such as it was.

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Originally Posted By: Joani

Originally Posted By: Arcana

She turned to Aina a moment, and her manner shifted, more to a formal one, though, perhaps not as formal as it could be. "It is good to see you doing so well, if it would not be to forward, I can aid you in opening the way between dimensions."


„Your help is much appreciated and I fear I will have to accept your aid. This place is... lacking certain requirements which will make our travel less pleasant.“, Aina smiled at Arcana gently bowing her head in return of a formal gesture.

„Tell me, what have you seen?“, Aina inquired knowing that things were bad for her people but time passed differently in this realm and there was no way for her to know how much damage has been inflicted to her people and her empire during her absence. Arcadia needed her and the longer she stayed away – even without the impeding invasion, the worse it fared. Her destiny was tightly bound to the realms existence, should she stay away for too long then everything would be lost, including herself.


"The MageLords have taken the Dragon Forge, and gathered a great army, I have seen ogres summoned, and they have gathered terrible magics as well. The Dragons are greatly distressed by your disappearance, and I can't help but think that your vanishing coincided perfectly with my capture. With both of us out of the picture, others, most of them less capable, have been forced to take up the fight.. I fear waiting too long to return to the battle."
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Originally Posted By: Arcana
..."I would like to offer a word of warning, for everyone. In faerie, be polite, but make no promises or commitments and be careful about thanking anyone, some of the fay take being thanked as an insult. Also, don't be quick to trust or make judgments regarding appearances, some of the most beautiful can be the deadliest and some of the terrifying in appearance can actually possess a great deal of compassion." She paused.

"I'm only saying, that in Arcadia, all those things can be incredibly dangerous too do, you'll be there, under the queen's protection as allies, but the fay have never been known for perfect unity in anything. If you like, I can explain further, but if you keep those things in mind, it will keep you from some of the more subtle dangers of fay influence."


Anne lets these things sink in... "So... best for me to keep quiet and let the experts handle the careful diplomacy." She says, stretching out a bit. "And don't judge a book by it's cover... got it."

"Just... Wait, not perfect unity? What sort of factions should we be watching out for?" Aeonian asks, realizing she's still wanting in regards to where they're going.
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Watchwoman blinked at Herak's advice. It was surprising to have anyone suggest that, but then, the Centurion hadn't been part of the League long enough to know that Watchman would chew her a new ass if she didn't spend the time reviewing information for the mission. The mission came first - and she was giving Karra the full half-hour to be with her mother, while she could. After all, DawnStar was much more sentimental and demonstrative than Watchman. "Hudsy, resume the review of information."

She settled back to resume her review, only to have Djane ask, "Are you going to keep going?"

"Yes, I am," the half-human heroine said, nodding at Djane. "You're free to remain or go as you wish."

"I'll stay," Djane said, then shyly asked, "Would you like me to resume, too?"

"Uh..." A blush colored Serene's cheeks but she nodded. "If you wish."

"Ha!" Djane laughed.

"What?"

"If I wish... I'm a genie... Do I get wishes?" she laughed.

"I think you do," Serene replied with a smile, a smile that widened as Djane started to rub her shoulders again. Serene settled into her work again, only to sit up a few minutes later. "Djane, here's something interesting. The Jade Djinn liked to go to the Faerie Realms because she wasn't bound to the lighter there!"

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As the others prepared in their own ways, Echo mined data in the Noosphere. A 3rd Millenium development of global networks, the Noosphere used banks of entangled particles to transmit compressed information across potentially infinite distances instantaneously. The bandwidth was strictly a question of how many particles a given node had available to it.

Earth had a lot.

From Earth, one could monitor distant clusters across the galaxy in real time. Access the sum total of stored information not just of human beings, but of the twenty-three major starfaring species who had formally joined the project.

Within the digital construct her mind created, she deftly pulled data flagged with 'fey,', 'fay', 'faerie', 'fairy', 'Arcadia', and any other keywords she thought of as relevant. The resulting pile of data and references was unspeakably vast, so she skimmed titles and stored those that seemed potentially the most useful.

She suspected, however, that practitioners of magic most likely did not post their work on Noosphere-friendly data houses. This meant that a great deal of the most pertinent information would be lacking. Still...it was worth a try.

In the meantime, enough of her mind was free to carry on speaking with Nixx.

"You awoke today," Echo repeated thoughtfully. "Fully formed? With skills and knowledge intact? How did you learn to speak? Why did you take on a humanoid appearance?"

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"Not much, by way of skills and knowledge." The green man replied modestly. "I can walk and talk and and sing and make things grow, but that's all easy. It just comes naturally. I'm still learning new words all the time. Sometimes I already know what a word means, but I don't know I know it until I hear it."

"Human... you mean arms and legs and a face and such? I'm not sure I had a choice. Did you? It suits you, mind, but I've only met human-ish persons and dragon-ish persons and a few plants so far, so it feels premature to judge."

After a moment's consideration he added with some concern, "Waking up not knowing anything at all would be terribly inconvenient. That doesn't happen to people, does it?"

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"Not bound by the lighter?" Djane paused in mid-kneed. "Really? Wow. That'd be - it'd be a nice break. Not that you're not a great ma - a great person-to-have-the-lighter, but it'd be nice to get a break from it."

Be nice to figure out if this crush I have is natural or if it's just how I'd feel about anyone, too. "Does it say more? Am I still actually a genie there or do I go back to normal?"

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Originally Posted By: Arcana

"The MageLords have taken the Dragon Forge, and gathered a great army, I have seen ogres summoned, and they have gathered terrible magics as well. The Dragons are greatly distressed by your disappearance, and I can't help but think that your vanishing coincided perfectly with my capture. With both of us out of the picture, others, most of them less capable, have been forced to take up the fight.. I fear waiting too long to return to the battle."


„That means they have weapons that can actually kill us. I fear we will really need your help to survive this.“, Aina seemed really troubled by this news.

Originally Posted By: Aeonian
Anne lets these things sink in... "So... best for me to keep quiet and let the experts handle the careful diplomacy." She says, stretching out a bit. "And don't judge a book by it's cover... got it."

"Just... Wait, not perfect unity? What sort of factions should we be watching out for?" Aeonian asks, realizing she's still wanting in regards to where they're going.



„Arcadia has many factions but they’re all loyal to my court. Some... inhabitants have a very twisted understanding of etiquette or what you would call common sense. If you don’t know how to deal with them you’ll quickly get yourself into trouble which can escalate to a full blown feud. With the Orb of Arcadia I can force them to follow my command... but I don’t want to make use of it. It’s too powerful and too valuable to be used. Arcadia’s future depends on the Orbs safety. Anyone in possession of the Orb can undo creation... and thus destroy all life. They mustn’t win.“, Aina’s reptilian gaze settled heavily on Anne and she could sense the importance and finality of the Dragon Queen’s words.
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