Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Legacy - Issue #3 Swords & Sorcery

[z-Watchwoman]

Steam collected above Djane's head while slate tile cooled under her feet. Djane realized that she was in a bathroom - a richly furnished one - that held the steamy aftereffects of a shower. The source of all that heat stepped out of the shower at that moment, reaching for a towel. Djane caught sight of something never before seen: Serene Dorian, wet and steaming and naked. The glowing marks on her body did go further down than her neckline, going some very interesting places.

The half-human glanced down and saw her genie. "Djane!" she yelped, pulling the towel around her. "Just a moment to let me dr- Wait, why are you still small?" Serene, wrapped in her towel, stared down at her with concern.

[Djane]

"I - didn't - I wasn't - uh - " Djane closed her eyes. After a moment, giving Serene time to get decent, she opened them. "Sorry, Serene. I didn't see anythi - ow ow, okay, I guess I can't lie to my master, ow." Djane rubbed the back of her head. Oh, I saw it all. Oh good God. If I got a wish? I know exactly what it'd be - no, none of that...

"I don't know. I thought resting would work, but if it hasn't... I, uh, I'm gonna pop back inside the lighter. There's an infinite library in there. Uh, I can look it up there. I'll try to knock or something next time. I don't know how I'd knock. I'll come out with my eyes closed. Uh, back in a few!" Djane's voice got higher pitched from embarrassment and from her dwindling back into mist, and re-entering the lighter.

Djane re-emerged from the pool, breathing heavily. "Oooooy, yoy yoy..." She zipped off towards the palace's library. "Got to get back to normal size, got to get back to - oh God I just referred to being a magic slave as normal... eek."

She was silent for a moment as she flew.

"Still, if I have to serve anyone it might as well be her. Hoo."

[Joani]

Djane reached the Library and was about to figure out where to start when she heard a voice behind her. Another „Eek“ escaped her mouth and she quickly turned around to face the unexpected guest.

What she surprised her. An exotic beauty directly from an Arabian Nights show, dressed in a similar garb like hers floated in front of her. She was obviously a Genie like her.

„Greetings Djane, we have been watching you with worry. You have gone beyond your abilities and gave up something of yourself which will be difficult to regain. There is no mundane way to restore you to full power, you have to seek supernatural help. A powerful wizard or Sorceress should be able to help you... or one of the creators of this lamp.“, the spirit spoke.

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene earned a new world record for dressing. Despite daring to walk around yesterday without her mask, she wasn't comfortable showing too much skin. And she was too much her mother's daughter to think of the same gender as 'safe' to be immodest around.

Once dressed, Serene headed back for HQ. She had a ton of work to do, she was sure: data from the asteroid strike, aiding in the clean up. Something. Watchman had always been busiest after a crisis, she remembered.

But HQ was relatively quiet. She found a crewperson and got a report, which consisted roughly of: "All's quiet. People are starting to recover. Aina and the senior Legacy members have not changed their conditions."

Watchwoman murmured a thanks and started to turn away, but the crewman stopped her. "Oh, and you have an invitation to meet with the President of the United Nations."

"I have what?" Serene asked, feeling her eyes widen behind the goggles.

"An invi-"

"I heard you," she said peevishly. With an internal sigh, she schooled her face to impassivity. "I mean, I was expressing surprise, not incomprehension. Where is MegaGirl?"

[MegaGirl]

The crewman rolled his eyes, but schooled his face to studious nonchalance when Serene focused her ruby eyes on him. "MegaGirl is apparently attempting to overheat the Fabricator by requesting and trying on dresses for the meeting with the President. I would suggest being careful if you head down Wing C, Hall 1 and 2. She keeps running from the Fabricator Bay to her room and back for some reason. Good day Watchwoman, and congratulations."

Taking the crewman's advice, Serene took a slightly circuitous route to the Fabricator Bay, where she found MegaGirl, wearing a violently bright orange and rose dress that bore an abundance of frills and pleats and a big bow pinned just below her breasts. There was a plethora of other dresses scattered about the Bay and Karra was dancing anxiously from one foot to the other, waiting for the Fabricator to finish reconstituting yet another.

"Karra..." Serena ventured.

"Oohp!" Karra started with a jump and spun around, her agitated expression blooming into a wide grin when she saw her best friend forever Serene. Karra's colour might have been a bit wan, but her habitual cheer was evidently back.

"Serene!" Karra bent down and pulled Serene up into a hug, spinning her around once, then setting back on her feet, her attention split between her fried and the Fabricator Did you come here to get a new dress? We going to meet the President Serene - did you hear? We are!- and I need a nice, new, fancy, grown-up type dress. That's what you're supposed to wear to a meeting with the President."

Karra's spirits dropped for a moment, broad shoulders slumping with melancholy. "I wish Mom could come, to see me in a new dress and meeting the President. I... I went to see her. She's small now and she looks sad. I wish she wasn't sad. We saved the world..." Karra shook her head, metallic red-yellow tresses swinging wildly. Then her melancholy faded as swiftly as it came.

"Ohhh! You need a dress too, Serene. We can try dresses together. That's what best friends do, right? They do. I've tried all these, but none of 'em seem... I dunno, right." There was a flash from the Fabricator and a muted ding. Karra gave an excited clap that made Serene's ears pop. "How 'bout this one? Do you this one is good to meet the President?"

Karra held up a long, tube-style dress made of thick, swirling bands of white and red that would probably make MegaGirl look nothing so much as a rather tautly curved candy cane. Her eyes were as bright as her smile, waiting for Serene's opinion.

[z-Watchwoman]

"Uhh..." Serene managed. She was almost as lost as MegaGirl when it came to dresses but she was pretty sure that when they assaulted your eyes like a knife into your eye socket, they were a bad choice. She veered onto safer ground. "Dad always wore his uniform. That's what I was going to wear." She smiled sadly. "Besides, I can't let people see what I look like."

MegaGirl blinked at her. "But you're so pretty! Why not?"

"I look too much like my mother," Serene said uncomfortably. "People would know who I was... and they'd never trust me to defend them." She saw the look on Karra's face and said, "I knew that you guys are alright with me, you know me. But all the people of Earth are going to see is someone who can mess with their heads. And I don't want people knowing that she seduced my father. Which... there's something we need to talk about."

"Can we pick a dress first?" Karra asked.

"Uhh," Serene said again, then said to Hudsy, "Please send the best dress of the Milan runway for this season to the Fabricator and create it in a green that matches Karra's eyes."

"Yes, ma'am," Hudsy replied and the Fabricator began to hum.

Serene smiled at Karra. "That's what Dad always did. Can we talk while the dress is being made?"

[Djane]

Originally Posted By: Joani

„Greetings Djane, we have been watching you with worry. You have gone beyond your abilities and gave up something of yourself which will be difficult to regain. There is no mundane way to restore you to full power, you have to seek supernatural help. A powerful wizard or Sorceress should be able to help you... or one of the creators of this lamp.“, the spirit spoke.

Djane stared at the woman for a long moment. Then an avalanche of words tumbled past her lips.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here? There's others like you? Who all are you? Do you all have lamps? Who makes the lamps? How do they make the lamps? Why? Is there any way to get unbonded from a lamp? Am I supposed to feel funny around the woman who has my lamp? What about my power? How does it get restored? You know any wizards or sorceresses? Who built my lamp in the first place?"

[SalmonMax]

Echo was sitting on her bed. It didn't matter where she was though, the world's wireless network was pervasive. She could have been on a towel at the beach, or in a fortified bunker. When Matrix called, it was not to be ignored.

The real Echo was therefore suspended within the seething landscape of data that was Matrix's mind. A single featureless silver globe about the size of a man's torso hung before her...one of Matrix's virtual interfaces, his version of an avatar.

Memories stored by her neural network streamed out of her avatar's head and curled off into the datastream where they were analyzed in detail by a meticulous, sentient AI. After a moment, Matrix spoke.

Anomaly recorded, time index [string of alphanumerics], when organic brain functions lost synchronization with neural network. Data corrupted. Explain.

"An external force of unknown parameters caused our consciousnesses to...move to each other's bodies," Echo said with calm she didn't feel. Debriefings with Matrix always left her feeling vulnerable and exposed. Especially when things had happened that she didn't want looked at. "MegaGirl's mind was temporarily in control of my body. She wasn't able to think in concert with the network, though over time she got better at it."

There was a pause. Consciousness is an artifact of brain activity, unique to each individual. It cannot move. Explain.

"It was magic...I don't know how it works," Echo replied. "Maybe it caused each of our brains to...imitate other people's brain activity, causing us to appear to take on each other's personality traits."

Another pause. Acceptable. Data during this period is corrupt. Please repair using organic recall.

This was the part she'd been dreading. Normally resisting the debriefing was simply impossible. Matrix could access her neural net at any time, and nothing she could do would stop it. But the memories of that time were hidden in her organic memories only, and couldn't be digitally accessed. For the first time she could say 'no,' and she intended to do so.

"I...respectfully decline," she said, somehow feeling her mouth was dry even though in this digital construct that was impossible.

Authorization to decline has not been granted. Proceed with data repair.

"No."

The silver sphere expanded, and small sharp spiky things began to emerge from its surface. Echo swallowed. She wasn't sure if Matrix could hack her brain, but it looked like the AI was considering it. Then the interface orb settled back down into a placid mirrored ball again.

Explain.

"Those memories are...private," she said. "Personal. There's nothing that happened during that time that would affect a mission briefing, or planetary security."

She wished she were sure of that.

The pause this time was longer. Of course, in reality they were milliseconds long at best. The digital construct took full advantage of Echo's vastly accelerated brain functions...and Matrix was faster still by far.

Finally Matrix reached a conclusion. Incident will be noted in record. Log updated. There was another pause, then it added, Ship log recorded actions. You did well. Session terminated.

And Echo was back on her bed, struggling to adapt to the real world for a moment before the vertigo passed. That had gone better than she'd been afraid...but she also suspected that Matrix's interest was piqued. He wouldn't stop here.

She touched her Legacy Ring and sent a call out to Watchwoman.

"Serene, it's Echo. We need to talk."

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene had no sooner gotten her question out when Echo called her. "Damnit," she muttered, while Karra giggled about her curse. "Yes, Echo, I'm in the Fabrication Room with Karra. You can find me there."

The young superhero gazed up at Karra. "We do need to talk, alone. Can we do that?"

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Djane

Djane stared at the woman for a long moment. Then an avalanche of words tumbled past her lips.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here? There's others like you? Who all are you? Do you all have lamps? Who makes the lamps? How do they make the lamps? Why? Is there any way to get unbonded from a lamp? Am I supposed to feel funny around the woman who has my lamp? What about my power? How does it get restored? You know any wizards or sorceresses? Who built my lamp in the first place?"

The Spirit patiently waited for Djane to stop her unrestraint assault of questions. When it was sure Djane was done it slowly spoke with the voice of many females overlapping eachother.

„We are the Spirits of the Genie’s of this lamp. We are bound to this lamp and serve as Mentor to any new Genie. Every Genie is bound to one lamp but we do not know who the Creators are. They are referred to as the Makers of the Golden Light.“, there was a short pause as if the Spirits were conferring with each other how to answer the next question.

„You cannot get unbound from the lamp except for Death, Sacrifice or Succession. It is natural to feel drawn to your Master regardless of Gender. You may choose to assume a male form if it makes you or your Master more comfortable. You have come very close to sacrificing yourself for the sake of a greater good. That is why your power is inaccessible to you unless you wish to die. The last Wizard to help us left for Arcadia after the great War. We cannot tell you who built this lamp but the oldest Genie of our Communion is over 6000 Years old.“

The Spirit looked at Djane with a warm smile and open arms and she felt a familiar connection to it, as if it was part of her, like the lamp, like her Master...

[Celestial Centurion]

Within the sun's corona the Centurion awoke. His cosmic sense told him that a day had passed. Still formed of solar material the Centurion forged his armor anew from fresh materials born of the star. As the neutronium armor coalesced around him Herak reached out to Hælious. Master, the planet Earth is safe. Where now do I go?

You are where you are needed to be, came the reply, resonant in his mind, body, and soul.

Herak knew there was little chance of an explanation, and less of argument; one did not try to change the mind of an omnipotent, and nearly omnipresent celestial being. Shaking his head Herak instead finished the creation of his new armor and then, like a shooting star, blazed forth from the Sun trailing an evanescent line of glowing plasma.

In orbit around the Earth the Centurion finally retook flesh. Floating in space he studied the twisted and warped scar that marked where the asteroid had been banished from this space. Like an half healed wound the distortion seemed ready to rupture and spill forth the dark void once more. The stain of darkness and evil roiled beyond the scar ready to boil forth if given the chance.

Herak shook his head, now he understood, there was evil still brewing in this sector. The Centurion's Legion would have to suffice to maintain the rest of the universe, he was needed here, as Hælious had said. He flew on to Earth, the League would need to be alerted to the danger on their doorstep.

[MegaGirl]

Anxiously awaiting the newest dress the Fabricator was... fabricating, Karra was only able to spare Serene a distracted nod. "Of course Serene, we can talk. That's only some of what best friends do. We're alone now, so if want to talk while trying on dresses-"

"No, no! Later is fine, Karra. I just need some time alone to tell you something, just for you. It's... it's like a secret," Serene assured her towering, half-sister. Who knew how Karra would handle the information.

"Ooooh! Secrets, best friends tell each other those too. Okay, just remind me okay? Sometimes I forget things."

"Of course." Serene told HUDsey to add an alarm/update to Karra's wrist communicator, that would hopefully help her.

Then the Fabricator chimed, signaling completion of the dress. Karra's eyes widened at the shimmering, deep emerald cloth, the subtle golden threads giving it a rich, sunlight sheen. What made Karra giggle with girlish glee was the accompanying pair of six-inch heels, which on someone of her height, while high, wouldn't be ankle breaking.

So excited at wearing a grown-up dress with grown-up shoes, Karra didn't even bother with going into a change room, instead, changing right in front of Serene. They were best friends, so that was okay. Besides, she did it so fast, a tiny fraction of a second, it would take far more than just human eyes to have noticed the flicker of mostly bare MegaGirl.

Chewing on an underlip with nervous eagerness, Karra stood before Serene in the fashionable dress, its simple, elegant line and asymmetrical hem draping her toned figure and emphasizing her long legs. The dress tied around her neck, covering her front save for a long, narrow cut-out and bared her back quite low. The dress and heels made the huge superheroine, who always seemed much younger than her years, look truly like the powerful woman she was.

Well, except for her bouncing pony-tail, but HUDsey kindly displayed several matching hair-styles to go with the Milan-inspired dress.

"Is this one okay?"

[Djane]

"Whuh. Okay." Male form? Eurgh. No wonder I feel funny around her. I'll need to keep it in mind if I get carried away... "So... I guess 'death' is what happened to the Jade Djinni..."

She looked downcast for a long moment. "And if I get freed from this lamp, what happened to me will happen to someone else, won't it." She exhaled. "Okay... you know any wizards or sorcerers that know how to fix a genie lamp?"

[Joani]

„The Jade Djinni sacrificed herself to save her Master, her Spirit has been snatched by the evil force that is Nexus.“, there was a short silence and Djane could tell the Spirit host was actually sad.

„She is not part of the Communion... and will never be now.“, the beautiful arabian woman looked at Djane and slowly nodded at her second question.

„There must be always a Genie bound to this lamp. The only other way would be destroying the lamp, but that would be your death, too. The last wizard to restore the lamp left this realm after the great war. They all left or died. A MageLord should have the power and knowledge to restore us...“, the last remark lingered in the air and echoed through the halls of the library. Djane knew of the MageLords – they were not kind.

[Djane]

"Should be a way to get her back..." She at least was willing to go through all this. If I can bring her back then I can get out of here and get back to my normal life.

"Magelords are bad guys, though. Could one of the Dragon Witches help us? I know of one of them..."

[SalmonMax]

Echo headed to the Fabricator room, preparing as she went. Whatever she had been expecting though, MegaGirl trying out designer clothes was NOT it. For a second she stood still in the open doorway, completely flummoxed. Then she realized that it must have something to do with the upcoming event with the President...though she'd simply assumed they'd all be wearing their normal costumes for that.

It was all irrelevant anyway. Her purpose here far exceeded fashion design in importance.

She walked to within handshake distance of Watchwoman, her expression grim and purposeful. A set of small flanged metal cylinders rose out of her forearms and made rapidly ascending whining noise, like a capacitor bank charging. Error messages suddenly appeared on the Fabricator's interface as it lost contact with the wireless network that it used to access its design catalog. HUDsey detected it as well...a powerful 'white noise' carrier wave emanating from Echo that was blocking all radio and microwave communications within the room.

"This room is secure now, as much as I can make it," Echo said tersely. "We need to discuss certain events that took place in the prison, or the place we found within the prison. I will wait while you dismiss MegaGirl."

[z-Watchwoman]

"Karra can stay if she wants, as far as I'm concerned," Watchwoman said. "Sooner or later, the entire team is going to know, anyway. I was... wrong to try and hide it from you guys." Her mother's voice whispered in her memory, It's a part of you, sweetheart. You can't take them out. They're you. She was calm as she spoke, but inside, she felt a little sick to her stomach. Turning to Karra, she said, "The dress is very pretty on you. You should wear that one, if you don't want to wear your costume.

"Echo needs to talk to me," Watchwoman continued, picking her words with care. "It's probably going to be an unpleasant conversation, but not a bad one. You don't have to stay, if you'd rather not. I just don't think that you have to leave." She looked at Echo as she said the last.

[SalmonMax]

Echo shot a quick glance at MegaGirl, then back at Watchwoman. Serene wasn't understanding, and Echo wasn't sure how to tell her without either saying too much or hurting MegaGirl's feelings. Then she focused on the HUD headset Serene wore. She couldn't use wireless connection with the jamming in place, but...

Her fingers shimmered silver as she stepped forward and touched HUDsey directly. Their tips seemed to sink slightly into the metal and plastic.

Watchwoman heard Echo's voice through HUDsey's speakers saying, "The situation is more complicated than that. Matrix is curious. I was able to keep the truth from him, but -anything- spoken where he is monitoring will lead him closer to what really happened. MegaGirl is not known for her capacity to keep secrets. Are you sure you wish to include her?"

[z-Watchwoman]

MegaGirl knew an out when she saw it. The two were about to have a dumb conversation instead of trying on dresses, and here Serene had given her a chance to leave instead! "Thank you, Serene! I like it too! I'm going to do my hair and show Mom!" There was a rush for the door; Karra stopped and turned long enough to say, "You can tell me later, Serene, since we're best friends!" Then she was gone.

Serene turned to Echo. "Matrix should know already," she said. She tried to keep her voice dispassionate, but it wasn't working very well. "I'm not sure why confirmation of what he's already sure of would be a problem. All of the elders should know what I'm capable of... based on my genetic potential."

"Genetic potential?" Echo asked.

Serene reached up and for the second time in two days, dared to tug her hood down. While they had meant nothing to the Centurion, her red eyes and glowing spots showed Echo the familial resemblance to the super-villain Amore. "My mother's. The genetic abilities we share."

[SalmonMax]

Sharp eyes would be able to pick out the rapid passage of surprise and sudden comprehension over Echo's face as Serene revealed the truth. She immediately apprehended why Matrix had been so curious as well.

"It's complicated," she confessed to Serene. "When the...incident occurred, our minds were all switched in each other's bodies. Matrix knows who your mother is, I'm sure, but he doesn't know what happened to us down there. He doesn't know that I was in your body, and was unable to control your abilities. At the time MegaGirl was in my body, and her mind wasn't interfacing properly with my neural enhancements...so the data was corrupted when Matrix tried to download it."

She took a breath, finally coming to the reason she'd come.

"What I want to ask is...how do you want to handle this? There's no reason Matrix...or anyone else...has to find out. I don't think what happened down there speaks ill of you, since you weren't in your body when it happened and can't be held responsible...but this isn't something you've spoken of, so I assume it's not something you're comfortable with. I won't reveal anything without your permission."

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene paused. “Echo, when you were in my body, yes, you were not in control of my abilities. But there was a time when I was, and I used them. Willfully. We were falling apart – Centurion was the demon and Karra was insane with concern over her mother. The team was not functioning, and I made them do it.” The red eyes were pained but Serene kept her gaze on Echo’s. “I manipulated all of you using my pheromone glands.”

Serene was quiet for a moment to let Echo absorb this data. “It’s what my mother’s people do. I don’t like doing it. That was the first time I’d used it on anyone… well, not the first but the first without it being a reaction of fear.”

Suddenly Serene sagged a little, her shoulders dropping as she felt the weight of command. “I don’t like this, but… I had to do it. We were going to be overwhelmed. It makes me feel like I’m making you all into Djanes.”

[Celestial Centurion]

The Celestial Centurion's return provided a light show to those who happened to be looking up as he passed over head. Plunging through the Earth's atmosphere he resumed his plasma form as protection from in intense heat of reentry, his body, and soon his armor glowing like a meteor, blazing a trail across the skies. It took him some time to locate the League's headquarters, unfamiliar with Earth or its protectors as he was. The glowing streak halted suddenly above the building before descending into a hangar bay shedding plasma once more as Herak returned to physical form.

The workers doing maintenance on the Invincible stood in awe as the armor clad hero touched down, the last wisps of glowing energy flying free of his body forming a corona almost like a halo. "I need to speak to Watchwoman and the other League members," he announced.

Little known though he was just days before, the technicians knew him now as did most of the people of Earth. One of the mechanics moved to a comms panels and pressed a call button, "Ah, umm, the umm, Celestial Centurion is here. He's looking for the League."

[SalmonMax]

Echo considered that, gauging her own reactions with the objectivity that someone who has a foot in two worlds can summon.

"I think I understand," she said. "You feel your action was necessary, and instrumental in succeeding in the mission and getting us all out of there, thus saving our lives. You also feel that this power is dangerous, inherently unethical, and that revealing it and what you did with it could damage morale. You believe these things because both are true. Your power is all of those things, and could disrupt unit cohesion and morale. What you did with it was also the right thing to do."

"At the center of the conflict is trust. If I trust you, and I know about your powers, then I trust you to use your powers when and how you see fit. Just as if I were to hand you a gun, I would do so trusting that you would not fire it at me."

Echo paused again, and nodded. "Since I trust you, I feel no conflict about your power. Is the conflict you feel because you don't trust yourself?"

[MegaGirl]

Karra skipped away down the hall, the skirt of her new dress swishing against her long legs, a wide smile on her face. Serene was being a good friend, letting her get away without having to listen to her and Echo talk a lot, probably with all sort of big words that didn't mean anything.

Back in her in her room, Karra preened and posed in front of the mirror, one actually big enough to show all of her. It was a really pretty dress. She'd have to remember that magical word Serene had used. Milan...

Finally, Karra got around to doing her hair, or at least attempting to do so. She didn't usually do much more than tie it back in a pony-tail and the styles Serene's little-talkie-machine had told her communicator to show looked hard to do. And they were hard to do, too. Fortunately, though she had to try and try again, each attempt took no more than a fraction of a second. After ten minutes, her metallic hair hung in smooth, shimmering waves of fiery red and orange and gold down one side of her head, partially obscuring one golden-green eye.

I look so... so hot! She slipped on the six-inch heels, then preened again. I look so grown-up and beautiful and stuff. I wonder if... Samson will think so.... Her heart gave a little flutter at the thought, which jiggled awkwardly when she took a step and stumbled over the unaccustomed heels. How come these shoes aren't working right?

Another ten minutes, and Karra grinned, pleased with herself for figuring out how to make the shoes work right, and all by herself too. It was like she was wearing a new uniform, a uniform to meet the President. I have to go show mom. I hope she'll be proud of me. I want to see her smile again...

Karra hadn't even finished the thought when she started on her way to the medical bay where the Senior Legacy Members were being taken care of. With the new heels, she had to keep her pace to a normal speed instead of her habitual blurring rush, but it was alright. She could show off her dress then. The Support Personnel she passed smiled fondly up at the towering, girlish-woman.

"Hi, Mom," Karra said with shy softness, holding her hands behind her back as she stepped into Dawnstar's room. She felt a bit awkward standing there, looking at her mother beneath lowered lashes. Her mother was so small now, the top of her head not even reaching her hips; she seemed fragile, and her smile was sad.

"I have a new dress for meeting the President, see?" Karra asked, giving a little spin. "Serene helped me pick it out, but I did my hair all by myself," she added proudly. "We saved the World, just like you did Mom, and after we meet the President, I'mma going to find a way to make you, you again."

Karra knelt in front of her mother, engulfing her hands in her own, her honest expression fierce. "I promise. Don't be sad, momma, please?"

[z-Watchwoman]

"Yes, I do not trust my power," Serene answered her directly. "I wasn't born with the glands realized; they are part of a second puberty I'm still undergoing. I want to use them sometimes. The power they grant is seductive and frightening. I'm afraid that the day I do trust myself to use them is the day they have seduced me. There is no good reason to take away someone's free will. Only desperation."

"Ma'am," Hudsy interrupted, "the Celestial Centurion is looking for the members of the league. He has requested you specifically."

"Thank you," Serene said, swallowing her sigh. When it rains... She triggered the Legacy communication. "Centurion, I'll come find you in a moment. I'm just finishing up with someone else in the Fabrication Room."

Looking to the woman with her, she said, "Echo, thank you for your trust. Was there anything else?"

[Tesstarossa]

TK made her rounds, seeing to the injured, and when at last it was done, she ended up in her room, after a rigorous training session. She felt so useless. For all she could do, she'd done so little. She certainly didn't feel much like a hero.

A nearly scalding shower awaited her, and she stripped out of her sweatsoaked clothing. Others could don clothing and be someone else. She and a few other couldn't. They were always expected to be heroes.

The water cascaded over her, and she scrubbed, wishing the sense of failure could be removed as easily as dirt grime and gore. She finished and washed her long hair, getting out and drying off.

after a nap she rose and dressed, once again diving into the aftermath of the Incident, and helping wherever she could.

[Aeonian]

The doors leading to Dawnstar's ICU ward room open up with a quiet hiss, barely audible over the machinery around her. A fully suited up Aeonian walks over to the suppport personnel and shows them a couple schematics on her datapad discussing power flow regulations. She had just got done setting an important software update to allow the reactor to accept the power drain being asked of it to support Dawnstar.

"Remember, keep the input around that benchmark for now, any more might cause the power regulators in engineering to start pulling from non-essential functions and might knock out the power flow here as a foreign-source drain. I still need to patch the coding on that..."

She starts tapping her stylus on the datapad's screen, moving data trails around, before bumping into MegaGirl...

"Oh! I'm sorry nurse, was just getting some important coding done... wait..." She looks up. "Oh it's you, MegaGirl! Good good... finally get to see one of you guys up close!"

She rythmically taps her stylus on her pad's screen a few more times. "Done and done... There." She give a thumbs up to the technicians. "Just keep it at that benchmark for now just to make sure I didn't cause any new bugs... Ah how rude of me! I'm Anne Arneson. I was just brought in by the League to assist here since all heck broke loose... looks like the situation's stabilizing now though."

Aeonian pushes a button on her helmet and it opens up revealing her face after a hiss and some moving plates retract into a stowed position. She then extends out her hand to MegaGirl. "Pleased to meet you."

[MegaGirl]

When Aeonian bumped into Karra, the Mega Girl gave a start, spinning around and standing up to her full height, over nine feet tall with her heels. Karra looked down at the woman, gold-green eyes wide and lambent, her gaze shifting from her face to her hand and back. Suddenly, her expressive melancholy faded under a bright grin.

Since this was Legacy HQ and she was friends with everybody in the League, than this person must be a friend too.

"Hi, AnnArneson!" Karra said, extending her own big hand and engulfing Aeonian's comparatively tiny one to give her a carefully gentle, yet exuberant shake. "I'm Karra - not a nurse - you talk funny, sorta like Echo - but not like Echo. Mom is very sick, are you going to make her well? I'mma gonna find a way to make her well. After we meet the President - see? I have a new dress just for that - but I could still use help, to find a way to help my Mom. Thank-you for helping my Mom, AnnArneson."

Before she could blink, Anne found herself pulled up three feet above the ground as Karra spun her around in a hug that could crush asteroids, yet was honestly thrilled.

[Aeonian]

"urf... yeah... It's what I was sent here to assist with. hu... I got to... ask you something... once you put me down."

Anne's suit is taking most of the herculean strength Karra exerts but she still feels like she's in a vice. Karra notices Anne's face turn red and politely puts her back down on her feet. Anne takes a couple breaths before speaking again.

"Haa... thanks... Yes..." She says, adjusting her antiquated yet modern-looking data glasses. "Now, the best question to ask is how did this happen in the first place." Anne's voice takes on a mature tone, but with an mild, old terran accent not heard in a thousand years. Historians of the era call it the "Londonian Accent". "Without any analysis of the cause I cannot help cure the effect. I'm sure the ship's reactors can help your mother for now... but this can't be healthy if it's prolonged I wager... So the quicker I can cut to the chase, the better."

"Bloody hell... I should put impact gel bladders in this suit... ugh..." she mutters to herself.

[MegaGirl]

Karra mused, pondered, thought real hard, and even cogitated - though she wasn't really sure what 'cogitate' meant or how to do it right. Finally, her eyes brightened, literally, as the answer to how what happened to her mother... happened.

"It happened in the Bad-Word-Place on the other side of the Bad-Word-Gate," Karra declared proudly. She hunched her strong, shapely shoulders and duck down a bit, her voice a clearly audible whisper. "Y'know, Hell? I'm not supposed to say that word."

Karra stood up again, looking back at her mother, her voice a girlish, unceasing rumble. "Mom and the others went to Pluto because that's where the Villain-Prison is and then they got into trouble and we had to go and there was blood and orange-calcium everywhere, but we're Heroes, and couldn't stop and then we found the other Legacy Members - who were all in a bad way - but not my Mom, but we had to go before the BlackCloudThing ate Pluto and the Prison and when we came back, Armageddon was here and he was all scary and stuff and said we have to go back there and go through the Bad-Word-Gate or more bad stuff would happen. But then we did go through the Bad-Word-Gate, and bad stuff did happen. But we found my Mom too, so the Bad-Word-Place wasn't all bad. She was in a Pillar and a demon was draining her blood for some magic-thingy-stuff."

Karra frowned - it might have even been called a pout if Karra didn't look capable of tearing a Destoyer-Class Starship apart with her bare hands, despite her fancy dress. "Magic is weird and scary and weird. I don't like it, except for Djane, cuz she's nice and awesome."

Karra glanced back at the Aeonian, staring at her funny glasses - Why does she wear those things? Are they like jewelry for your eyes? - before giving her head a shake and focusing on her again. "So that's how what happened to Mom happened. It was the Bad-Word-Place. Is that enough? Can you help her now? You should talk to Se-Watchwoman and Echo - I forget things, but they're smart and remember all sorts of things I forget."

[Aeonian]

Aeonian adjusts her glasses, after hearing Karra's almost child-like response. Not anywhere near what she expected for someone capable of crushing orbital titanium.

"Watchwoman and Echo, huh? Is Watchwoman the leader of the team? I should talk to her anyways about any further information we can work with."

She quirks an eyebrow when realizing MegaGirl was staring at her data glasses. "As for these..." she says, moving the glasses on her nose slightly "...are a data display. A full heads-up system... You've... never seen a pair of eyeglasses before haven't you?"

"Ever hear of Rastellion? It's a colony on the fringe of populated space in our galaxy. I've spent time there and technology has taken a antique sort of look there. Lack of trade I assume. I lived there for about 50 years. Picked up the glasses there and made some modifications."

[MegaGirl]

"Nope and nope!" Karra chirper cheerfully. "At least, I don't think so. I should ask my communicator, it'll know where've I been. I've Zoomed all over space - it's pretty." Karra brought up her wrist level with her eyes, staring at the thick, metallic band. "Communicator, I have been to Rastafar-"

"Rastellion," Aeonian kindly interjected, correcting the simple minded giant.

"Oops! Sorry! Comunicator, have I ever been to Rastellion?" A small holo-display projected from her wrist-com, showing a rather twisted tangle delineating MegaGirl's erratic path. Then it chimed, a synthetic, emotionless voice saying, "No. Nearest point congruent to Rastellion you have come is-"

"Nope, I've never been to Rastellion. And I've never noticed anyone wearing clear glass in front of their eyes like that - but if it's clear, maybe I didn't see them?" Karra shrugged, losing interest in the eyewear, and deciding to focus on something else that was nearer to her heart.

"Yup, Serene - I mean, Watchwoman - is the leader. And she's my best friend too, she said so. You wanna meet her? Let's go meet her. She's with Echo and the Fabricator, talking and trying on dresses or something. C'mon!"

Karra was gone in a green-dressed blur, the wind of her passage tugging at Aeonian's jumpsuit. Two seconds later, Karra was back. "C'mon! Aren't you coming?" She placed a large hand on Aeonian's back and gave her an inexorable shove forward. "It's this way!"

And whether she wanted to or not, Karra traipsed away to the Fabricator room with Aeonian in tow, to meet two other members of the New Legacy League.

[Aeonian]

Aeonian stumbles foreward from the push. "Gaaah! Alright alright! I'm goin!"

She mutters under her breath "Yeah... impact gel... she's liable to really do some damage..."

Aeonian follows her enthusiastic partner down the halls to where the fabricators are stored, wondering just what Watchwoman and Echo have in store for her.

[SalmonMax]

Echo reviewed the conversation and decided it had adequately covered the points she'd wanted it to.

"No," she replied. "I apologize for interrupting you and Karra. At the time, I thought Matrix prying into this topic would be...more important."

She gave a nod. "I'll leave you to your fabricating."

[z-Watchwoman]

Serene nodded, pulling her hood up. As she tucked her hair into it, she said, "Echo, thank you for coming to me. I do appreciate that, more than you'll ever know. Do you mind if I walk with you? I have no plans to fabricate a dress; I'll be wearing my costume to meet the President."

Echo agreed to Watchwoman's company and the two left the Fabrication room. They were heading for the cargo bay when they met Karra and one of the crew coming back the other way. "Karra! I thought you'd decided on that dress," Serene said, smiling at her fri- half-sister. I wonder how long it will take to get used to that...

[MegaGirl]

"I did! The dress is perfect, Serene," Karra said enthusiastically. "And I made another friend, see?" Karra stood behind the Aeonian, placing a large hand on either shoulder and beamed broadly. "This is Annarneson - she talks funny, but she's helping Mom, so it's okay. But she wanted to talk to you and Echo, to get more of the info...stuff to help Mom, so I brought her here, and here she is."

Her bright grin wilted slightly, a puzzled furrow growing between her fiery brows. "You know, we're all girls and we're all going to see the President." She nodded sharply, her voice growing firm. "We should all wear dresses." Her ebullient grin returned instantly. "It'll be fun!"

[Aeonian]

Aeonian turns to MegaGirl, and smiles. "I'm already wearing mine." She says before hitting a button on her wrist and her suit slackens up to 5 times it's size. She then unlatches and removes her helmet and slips out from the widened neck, revealing a formal, business-like ensemble. The skirt portion was folded under the suit and modestly folds out to cover her thighs as to not cause an awkward moment... as she intended in the first place.

"The advantages of memory material far outweigh the cost, my dear."

She folds up her suit and stuffs it in the helmet of her suit, then approaches Watchwoman.

"I'm Anne Arneson. I was called in to assist with the medical situation here to apply my technical expertise. And perhaps to add to the effort to find a cure.

A extra mind on the effort may be what the doctor ordered, as it were."

She extends out her hand for a handshake. "Hopefully this may be the start of a long-duration partnership. I'm sick of drifting about."

[z-Watchwoman]

"I'm not wearing a dress," Serene said, her voice only a little tight. "First, I am not to be seen in public. Not my face, and masks and dresses don't work together." She was willing to come out to her teammates, but not to the public. She doubted that they'd take kindly to Amore's daughter being their hero. She also doubted she'd be allowed near the President if they knew.

She took Aeon's offered handshake, giving her a smile. "It is nice to meet you," she said, smiling at her. Though most of Watchwoman's face was hidden behind her mask, her generous lips still curled in a warm smile. "This is Echo," she said, turning and introducing the other woman with them.

[SalmonMax]

Echo, dressed as always in her tight black, uniform jumpsuit nodded cordially at Anne. She was half a head shorter than Watchwoman, and wore no mask to hide her asian features.

She also shook Anne's hand and echoed, "Nice to meet you," at the socially appropriate moment. She seemed more interested however when she asked, "What sort of information were you looking for?"

[Aeonian]

Aeonian nods to Echo and Watchwoman. "Well, I need to know the circumstances of how those individuals in ICU ended up in their comas. Particularly Dawnstar. The more I know about the whys and hows regarding this the better chance we got to help them."

She straightens the collar on her jacket-like blazer.

"I'm not one to suddenly interrupt a occasion like what you guys are going to, but at some point perhaps getting together with the rest of the team and figuring this puzzle out would be to our favor."

She adjusts her glasses, checking the power levels on the ship, making sure everything is steady.

"To be honest, I'm no doctor...

As for my role here outside of watching the life support equipment... well... I'm not sure just yet."