Bellecour IC [MnM]

[OrangeToViolet]

Interlude 1: You Don't Have to Read This

In Percy Acker's opinion, there was no painting in the world that compared to the view from his corner office on the top floor of Zenith Towers. The industrial sprawl of his factories formed a fractal of orderly triangles extending to the waterfront, and beyond that the pattern was picked up by floating greenhouses - most still under construction. Reactors spat clouds of water vapor into the sky, where they were picked up and ferried off by weather-control drones.

This was the purpose of Mankind. Expansion, optimization, perfection; a network of electricity and machinery that spanned the globe. And yet he could only crawl forward when he should have been running, fighting for every inch against fool politicians and petty criminals.

Heaving a deep breath, Percy walked out of his office and into pandemonium.

The whole building was buzzing like a kicked beehive. Functionaries and assistants ran this way and that, tripping over engineers carrying whizzing gizmos. Memos flew in every direction, carried by interns and executives alike - the computer systems having been commandeered for simulations. All eight Directors were present, and not one of them seemed to be in charge.

"What is going on here?" Percy asked, addressing no one in particular. No one answered him, which was just as well because he knew exactly what was going on. Some supervillain or another was wreaking havoc, and that meant a month of work for him building a jail cell capable of holding a creature made of smoke, or defusing a nuclear weapon, or some other fanciful nonsense.

He worked his way through the throng towards the elevator, grabbing the first person he saw and dragging him along. It was a twentysomething in shirt and tie with slicked back hair. "You, tell me what's going on here."

"Ah, Mr. Acker! Oh, there's-" he glanced down at his clipboard "-a large, fast-moving feline obstructing traffic, was on 5th and Plymouth a few minutes ago but there's no telling where it is now. There's a smoking reptile somewhere in the Financial District, but police are having trouble tracking it. Ah, and there's a giant bird, or possibly dinosaur, roosting in the church on Brookside Crescent."

"I don't mean to trivialize, but that's not what I'm asking. How does this involve the Zenith Group? Is Miss Invictus having trouble putting Mittens down?"

"That's just it, Mr. Acker, we haven't been able to contact Miss Invictus."

Percy stopped walking, an icy chill working its way up his spine. "Has anyone tried contacting her through her civilian identity?"

"The Mayor, sir, and your daughter as well."

"Which one?"

"Which one what?"

"Which daught- never mind. What about Tesseract and Rain Dancer, where are they?"

"Tesseract is in Chicago busting a smuggling ring, Rain Dancer is stopping a flood in Alberta." Without waiting to be asked, he went on, "Magic Box and Lodestone are in Toronto, Heartstrings is in Detroit, Brainstorm, Live Wire, and Hive are dealing with the psychic in-"

"I get the picture. Or, rather, I don't. There are supposed to be four supers in Bellecour at all times. I seem to recall paying several million dollars per year to equip a private superhero team for that exact reason."

"There are four superheroes in Bellecour right now, Mr. Acker."

"So call them."

A look of extreme discomfort came over the aide, and Percy found he had a very bad feeling about what was about to happen. "Which four superheroes are in Bellecour right now?"

"Well, Miss Invictus, obviously, and, uhm." He coughed. "Well, there's, uhm, you, and, well..."

"Go on. Who are the other two superheroes? After all, we're counting on them to put themselves in harm's way for the safety of the city. Do I, by any chance, know them?"

The aide took a few steps back and whispered something, too low to hear. He cleared his throat and tried again. Finally, on the third attempt, he managed to croak out something that sounded suspiciously like "your daughters."

Percy turned and forced his way back through the crowd into his office. In the top drawer of his desk was a handgun, which he brought with him back out into the chaotic mob and fired three times into a filing cabinet.

It said a lot about the senior staff that almost no one panicked. A few interns ran for the stairs, most of them new, but by and large people just covered their ears and turned to look. Most of them seemed relieved. The silence was deafening.

"It has come to my attention," Percy said evenly, "that we have a bit of a problem. Now, here's what I want: I want all the blaster rifles ready for use, and I want the military standing by to use them; Director Rosenberg, you're in charge of that. I want every AEGIS unit we built deployed, and I want it fifteen minutes ago; Director Alliston, you're in charge of that. Director Farson, I want you to go through the phonebook and start calling every mercenary and supervillain who might be persuaded to change sides for the afternoon if the money's good enough. Is that clear?"

Percy turned around, hoping against hope he'd make it to the safety of his office without hearing anything but "Yes, Mr. Acker." He didn't.

"Mr. Acker, we never solved the overheating problem on the blaster rifles. They can't be safely used at more than half power."

Percy turned to look at the speaker. It was a hook-nosed young woman he didn't recognize, probably an engineer. "Then set them to full power and make sure the operators are wearing safety equipment. Is there anything else?"

"Sir, you can't - I mean, you shouldn't - the guns were already suggested, but they can only be used in short bursts at half power without overheating." It was the same woman, still. "At that power they're no more effective than the anti-material rifles."

Percy turned to face her, and she stopped to meet his eyes. She was, he noticed, a full three inches taller than him. "You're right, of course. Tell them, and make sure they get this instruction exactly, that if the blaster rifles melt they're not to panic, and to keep firing at full power. Is that understood?"

The woman's smile vanished, but she nodded and walked away.

Percy spied Director Alliston, flanked by some assistant or another, making a beeline for him. His hand was on the doorknob when they reached him.

"Mr. Alliston, the AEGIS project was scrapped months ago. You said yourself we wouldn't have the technology for cost-effective large-scale production for decades."

He cursed internally. He'd hoped he'd be out of the building before anyone remembered that. "Do you mean to tell me that we don't still have the prototype, Ms. Alliston?"

Alliston ran her fingers through curly brown hair, making it even more disorderly than it had been before. "Well, we do, but the AEGIS was never meant to be deployed individually." Seeing Percy's glance, she quickly added, "but I'm sure the prototype is up to the task."

Percy turned back to the door, only to find his path was blocked. It was the man with the slicked back hair, with a look that could only be described as righteous indignation.

"You can't deploy that unit. Besides the fact that you don't have the authority - need I remind you that you are a consultant, not a dictator - the danger to the pilot is unconscionable."

Percy rubbed his temples. "You, whoever you are. You ... are fired."

"Mr. Acker, with all due respect, I don't work for you, my name is Daniel Carter and I work for the Mayor's Office."

"Look, Skippy, when Mr. Hanmer enlisted, he swore to protect this country and its interests, even at the risk to his own safety-"

"Who?" Alliston cut in.

"The pilot. The test pilot for the AEGIS."

"His name is James Hunter and he's a police officer," said Carter indignantly.

"Then I'm sure he'll be happy to help, Serve and Protect and all that, so get him out there" - he glanced at his watch- "twenty four minutes ago. Now if you'll excuse me."

A man in a suit came sprinting out of the elevator, shouting, "Mr. Acker, I've just got off the phone with legal. In hiring paramilitary and criminal elements, regardless of the benefits, you're exposing the company to-"

Percy forced his way past Carter and into his office, locking the door behind him.

He pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket. The screen read: "CHIMERA". He pressed the ignore button, then took out the battery for good measure.

Always fires to put out, never enough time to get anything productive done. Soon, though, there would be a reckoning. Soon, he would put an end to the elaborate game, the 'heroes' and 'villains' prancing about in tights. There would be a reckoning, and then, there would be peace.

[Quellian-dyrae]

It had already been a long day.

This was a rather rare claim for the triplets. Social work was a demanding job...buuuut when you could fly across the city at comfortably over Mach 2, process about a week's worth of paperwork in an hour, and had good odds at winning the trust of the people you met by virtue of being angels, it tended to be easier on the watch, if not necessarily on the heart. They considered themselves busy when they still had things to do when they went on their lunch break.

Today, however, work was not the primary matter at hand. While the triplets weren't exactly uncommon visitors to the city courthouse, today they weren't there to give testimony on behalf of an abused child, or troubled parent, or grieving family. Today, it was personal. Caleb had just finished giving a statement against his parents the people who raised him as part of the lawsuit he was bringing against them for the years of abuse that had constituted his excuse for a childhood. His sisters were there as moral support (primarily because decade-plus old angelic dream visions were not admissible as eyewitness testimony).

The three were walking out of the courthouse. Caleb looked grimly determined. Nadia looked uncomfortable. Amy looked like she had been crying.

"You okay?" she asked her brother quietly. Amy's family life had been...dramatically different from Caleb's. While she knew as well as he did why he was doing what he was doing, she couldn't even imagine ever having to take legal action against the people who raised her her parents.

"Yeah. Fine. Glad it's finally happening, honestly," Caleb answered, before giving her a tilted-headed look and asking in a sympathetic voice with just a hint of amusement. "Are you?"

Amy gave a sad smile and a vague nod. "Just...bad memories."

"You didn't have to come, you know."

Yeah. Nadia was done here. "Course we did," she answered. "Anyway, it's done for today. Yay go team. I vote: ice cream! Who's down?"

Caleb snorted, and Amy gave a light breath of laughter. "Yeah, that sounds-"

One after another and in rapid succession, all three of their phones chimed with texts.

"Mm mm," Caleb said as they checked the messages. "Police got some giant feline thing blocking traffic somewhere in the vicinity of 5th and Plymouth."

"One of my fire department buddies says there's some sort of smoking lizard thing in the Financial District."

"Um. I've got EMTs responding to a giant bird thing nesting in the church on Brookside Cresc-" Amy's phone chimed again. "-ent. Um...or it might be a dinosaur."

"One of those two for sure!" Nadia said automatically, her voice bright, any vague discomfort on her face replaced with a big, excited grin. "Nice!"

Caleb and Amy cast her sidelong looks.

"I mean, not, you know, good nice. I just mean...it's not as...it gives us a, um..."

"..."

"Hey! Guys! We should go, like, fight one of them! Shouldn't we? Doesn't that sound like a thing we should do? Instead of giving me those looks?"

Caleb just gave her an affectionately exasperated shake of his head. "What's our target?"

"Um. Okay, probably not the church. That'd just...people would...yeah. Not the church."

"Okay, so giant super-fast cat or giant smoking lizard?"

"Dude, not even a choice. Lizard."

"Really?"

"Heck yeah! Are you kidding? You think I'm gonna pass up the opportunity to fight what might very well be a freaking dragon? Bring. It. On!"

"There is...honestly a part of me that feels like we should be making this decision based more on which poses the greater potential threat. But considering that spending the time to figure that out would probably result in more damage being done than just making the wrong choice immediately...maybe-dragon sounds fine by me."

Amy just gave a little nod. "Mhm."

"WOO-HOO!" Nadia cheered, leaping into the air and flying at speed for the financial district, her brother and sister flying close behind her.

[Gemshadow]

Milo was sitting at the counter in a side street dinner blowing on his just served coffee. He was looking at the spread his sister had just laid out before him a few minutes before while he absentmindedly rubbed the pendant around his neck. She was discussing a blue and white patterned card with intricate lettering and scrollwork announcing the wedding of Andrew Hopkins and Annabelle Strange.

Milo shook his head gently as he replied, No, I like the parchment one with the gold lettering. Much more classic.

Annabelle smiled, You always were a stickler for tradition, but I'm not vowing to obey so tradition is already out the window as mom says.

Milo smirked knowing the response but setting it up all the same, And Andrew's okay with you two not doing traditional vows?

Oh his vows include all of the traditional stuff, especially the obey part if he knows what's good for him, Annabelle laughed out loud at her own joke.

Just then Milo glanced across the room at breaking news coverage that just appeared on the screen. Reports of a lizard that the police were looking for in the city. His brow furrowed as he listened to the report. Then to sister he said, Sorry Belly, the wedding review will have to wait for a later time. It looks like I need to investigate something across the city. He nudged her to focus on the television news. I will contact you tonight okay.

Be careful, Milo his sister thought.

Always, Milo broke the telepathic link, his sister's office dissolved to be replaced by the grimy dinner. He was slightly surprised to see the waitress standing beside him.

I asked if you wanted more coffee? She said in an irritated voice, indicating that it wasn't the first time she offered.

Uh . . no, no thank you. I have to be off Milo responded as he pulled out a few bills to pay his check. Leaving them on the counter he turned to leave the dinner.

With practiced precision, Milo walked out of the dinner and down the short way to the nearby alleyway as his mind began swimming through the mental sea of the city. As he turned the corner and was briefly out of sight of those on the street but not yet in view of those that would be in the alleyway his image vanished.

Milo walked into the alleyway until he came to stand besides a homeless man. Milo mentally searched for the area of the city the news report gave for the last sightings of the "smoking lizard". Fllipping through the eyes of hundreds of people like couch potatoes surf through their endless TV channels. Then, after dropping a twenty at the man's side, Milo jumped through a series of minds to arrive near where the "smoking lizard" was spotted.

Milo immediately begins "looking" for any residual psychic impressions left by the mysterious creature.


Milo uses his invisibility to remain unseen. Then teleports to the nearest mind to the last sighting of the "smoking lizard". Once there he begins searching for any objects that may have been touched by the creature that would hold some psychic impressions - comprehend objects - to find out all he can about the lizard. If comprehend onjects doesn't lead to information he will turn to using his telepathy to scan the thoughts of those in the area that may have witnessed something.

[LoP]

"Like the legend of the Phoenix
All ends with beginnings
What keeps the planets spinning
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NV6Rdv1a3I)The force from the beginning" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NV6Rdv1a3I)
...

Riya was in a gooood mood. She danced and whirled her way down the street, keeping her hips and head moving to the beat coursing through her headphones, not giving a toss at all the odd looks she engendered, or even who was in her way. As usual, the sheer unbridled confidence she projected kept people at bay, like a forcefield, and pedestrians gave her a wide birth.

It was her superpower to be so cocksure of herself, in any situation. Well, her "superpower" before she got actual superpowers.

It had been almost a year since the fight with that lunatic Dr. Lovejoy. Her life, other than the occasional check-ins with Zenith Group to make sure she hadn't permanently warped reality or something, hadn't drastically changed. Despite what that uptight lady, Ivy Merke, at Zenith had said.

Riya remembered how, after she had passed the initial month of diagnostics and screenings and examinations and been given a clean bill of health, Director Merke had sat her down, all stern-faced, and said, "Well, you aren't dying. And you aren't a threat, to yourself or others. Yet. But don't think for a second your life is going to ever get back to its prior state of boring normalcy. We'll be watching you."

Well, she had been right, sort of... normal had been the freedom to fail at life however she wanted, working at fun, crappy jobs, and screwing anyone and everyone she liked. Now, Zenith kept their eye on her. They kept their distance, apparently to observe the fish in its natural habitat, but with the stipend they gave her (significantly better than she could ever manage with her many jobs, honestly), her natural laziness just meant she just stopped showing up to all her various jobs. So, she found herself quickly unemployed but with more money than she ever had before.

And that naturally, quickly, led to boredom.

Boredom and cash normally lead to quick and fun times, particularly with "friends," but ZG forbade her from that too (though she kinda understood the reasoning there... what if her Black Goop harbored, like, alien STD's or something?). She had gotten so bored, she finally applied for a simple job teaching yoga at the local YMCA, right near the church on Brookside Crescent.

And that was precisely where she was dancing her way to, right now. It had been awhile since she'd taught yoga... she LOVED teaching yoga. It'd be a nice change of pace from the months of blah and Zenith labcoats poking and prodding her.

So she kept dancing, lost as usual in her own little world, and didn't quite notice all the wide-eyed, panic-stricken people rushing past her, heading the opposite direction.


Just put Riya close to that bird/dinosaur, cuz that sounds fun. :-)

Let's assume she hasn't gotten the call from Ivy Merke yet, mostly cuz I wasn't sure what she'd have said exactly.