In the works

Valerie has looked forward to this day with equal parts excitement and dread but now that it has come she is having some trouble recalling the excitement. As the automatic doors of Foundation High School: Atlanta close behind her she can aready here the faceless anonymous voices whispering:

 [male voice]"Daaamn just how tall is she?"

[male voice, stoner accent]"I'd like ta climb that mountain..."

[female voice]"Wow..."

[female voice]"Great hair..."

[female voice]"Bitch..."

Just short of driving Val bonkers, or worse requiring a reaction, a voice is heard shouting over the chaos.

"Valerie? Valerie Anne Dobson?"

Val had to admit it was a bit overwhelming. She'd actually never done the school thing like this, all she had was tutors and home schooling before now. She'd been too fragile for the hustle and bustle around her. The sum total of her public school experiences was sound bites on the news and what she'd seen in shows and movies.

Of course in all these silly dramas the main character didn't tower six or more inches over everyone. She was, with her new heels, tipping around seven and change. She was tall, 'leggy' (her dad's definition before he headed back out on a six week consultation), and the newest addition to Foundation High School.

She tried to let the whispers roll over her, like her friend Phil told her, but the last one made her look out of the corner of her eye. It was one nest of girls, all in top label clothing. She couldn't figure which one of the 'cheer squad' it was that had said the last but she figured it might be smart to avoid all of them. At least that was what her mom had said.

She smiled and turned to the voice that had called her by name. Stay on the ball, stay out of trouble, try to blend in. She told herself as she looked at the principal. She was in bell bottoms, a jacket and a nice polo style shirt from Phil with a 'companion cube' logo, standing at 7 feet in her boots, she figured she could do the first two.. but the last was dead on arrival. Sorry Tower.. you'll have to be content with 'staying out of trouble'. She thought silently to her 'sponsor' as she thought of him.

"Yeah, that's me." She said with a grin, as she offered her hand. A month ago, she wouldn't have for fear of crushing his but she was learning control and confidence with her new powers. "You must be.. Principal MacDana right? I was suppost to check in with you first and go over my class schedule right?" She asked politely, feeling the eyes of the entire hallway on her as she spoke.

The Principal doesn't quite smile but somehow manages to seem friendly and very little like the school administrators Val has seen on television. Somehow it's almost disappointing for her.

"Yes Miss Dobson. Your schedule and other matters of a private nature."

He turns and passes a hand over a flat metal panel on his office door which subsequently slides silently open.

"Right this way."

"Sure, I can do that.." She said carefully as she  followed him. Apparently her school wasn't any more normal than she was.

The Principal gestures to a chair in front of his desk and seats himself in a high backed chair behind it.

"First let me welcome you to Foundation High School's Atlanta Campus."

"Your parents arranged for you to be enrolled here how much did they tell you about the school?"


OOC: They told you little to nothing beyond the name of the school and the principal.

"Well I as told the name of it, they arranged for me to attend and that is about it. It's not the closest school but it is fairly close." Val admitted as she took a seat. She drummed her fingers on her leg for a moment before continuing with a question.

"I'm here because of my 'enhanced' abilities right?"

"In short yes. But perhaps not in the way you are thinking."

"I'll give you the short version."

The Principal raises his hands at about twice shoulder width and then brings them down to about waist height. As they pass a virtual screen appears showing the front of the Myth Foundation Headquarters in Saint Louis MO.

"Doctor Aleksandyr Myth founded the Myth Foundation to study the Parahuman phenomenon in 2004. In 2007 he founded the Foundation High School Network with the first school opening in St. Louis in the fall of that year. Within four years there were seven schools under the FHS banner with the other six being located in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, and Phoenix."

"The schools function legally as private schools but are operated on a scholarship only basis and before you ask, no, not everyone in a Foundation school is a parahuman. The schools are fully funded by the Myth Foundation and receive no government monies at any level."

He extends a hand toward Val showing that he has a black and gold credit card and obviously intending for her to take it.

"This is your stipend card Ms Dobson. You will use it to pay for your books, your food while at school functions, and your school uniforms which will be required beginning with the second week of school. You will also find there is a small discretionary account to which you will have access."

He gives he a meaningful look. "If you waste it HE will notice."

"In your case, and that of a small number of other student, the card also serves as a commlink connecting you to the Myth Foundation. Unique to yours is the ability to reach Mr. Hightower as well."

Once she has taken the card he asks, "Any questions before I continue?"

"I have a few questions." Val admitted as she took the the card and tucked in her wallet. "The first and most important is do you know anyone who can do custom uniforms to code? I'm a bit outside 'petite' sizes and I have 'special tailoring' needs. I tend to pop stitches just by stretching. I figure ask now, I avoid embarrassing myself late. The dress code I can look up in the school guide."

She shrugged as she stopped to think. Snide, smart mouthed and occasionally flippant she might be, but clearly she wasn't getting the 'normal' high school treatment and that meant she needed to stop and think before engaging her mouth.

"I'm good at the moment, I think but I imagine there are a bunch of rules in the rule book that I need to read and watch out for. The big question, is there anyone you suggest I stay away from or avoid?" Find out who the principal thinks are the trouble makers and steer clear of them.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:03, Mon 01 Sept 2014.

"All school uniforms are tailor made on campus of a proprietary MythTech(tm) material. I assure you that you will have no issues with normal activities while wearing them."

(OOC: Essentially the school uniforms count as an armored bodysuit. This will not cost Val any PPs because it also wont give her any benefit.)

"After your assessment at headquarters in St. Louis you will receive a...utility outfit...for your more vigorous activities."


"As for your social life; I will not presume to give you instructions. Who you associate with is your decision and I am confident you will make good decisions in that area."

"Adequate answers?"

"fair enough sir, I will try to stay out of trouble. My 'incident at the mall aside I don't go looking for trouble. The most violent, aside from my weekend job tearing apart cars for my Uncle Louie, itching I like doing is watching movies at the mall  I just want to get through school and learn to be a normal, well mostly, kid and survive high school and maybe do something studied like go into acting."  She tried to NOT show her disc like of being put in a costume, which is how she saw the 'utility outfit', though she found the idea of the assessment reassuring.  She really wanted to know her limits. She would rather not feel another broken bone again, but somehow she figured that wasn't in her future.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Mon 01 Sept 2014.

The Principal is about to continue when he turns his head slightly and placed his index finger next to his right ear.

"Understood"

When he looks back to Val his smile has returned.

"It turns out that your briefing will be complete tomorrow during your assessment."

"You will be excused from school tomorrow. A Myth Foundation representative will pick you up at your home at 6:00am in the morning."

"I hope you enjoy your first day of school Ms Dobson. I look forward to having you contributing as a student here. Good day."

Polite but clearly a dismissal. To emphasize the point the door opens of its own accord.

"okay, then I best get to my classes then thank you for taking the time to fill me in sir."  Val said as she got up and  walked through the door. She would definitely talk about this with Tower the next time they met. This was NOT 'regular' high school and she had a bad feeling coming here would put her far into the 'heroic hijinks' category that she had wanted to avoid  in the future. And the ASSESSMENT sounded just as bad. Simply because she was really tired of testing from the months of it since her change.

Giving another sigh, she pulled out her schedule and map to head to home room, time to get a taste of 'real' school in where you don't get a doctoral candidate teaching you math or self paced English Lit. She hoped that whoever she got accepted Heinland and Pohl as literature though, she was rereading Friday and Starship Troopers

The rest of Val's day is fairly uneventful with the most significant events being the meeting of her teachers. Two of them really stand out in her mind; Mr. Smith, who teaches all of the math and science classes for her grade level, and Coach Basher, the PE teacher for the entire school.

Mr. Smith is very very competent and very very serious to the degree that he makes the most fierce of her tutors seem like a hippy kindergarten teacher.

Coach Basher is friendly, really really loud, and runs a gym class that would make a navy rescue swimmer think about calling in sick. What's more he is very knowledgeable about how to make someone with Val's abilities work just as hard as everyone else.

Lastly, try as she might, she cannot identify any of the other parahuman students.

6:00am comes early and a man in a perfectly tailored suit a Myth Foundation insignia on the lapel is waiting at the door exactly on time.

Not that she was looking too hard, Val thought as she went through the school, if a fellow student was a meta they were entitled to their privacy. Not that she could do the same. There weren't many 7 foot tall normal girls, she thought wryly. She enjoyed the challenges her teachers gave her. Mr. Smith was a lot like the teachers she had in the hospitals and the Coach challenged her like no one else had. When her 'escort' arrived she smiled at him.

"You're a little old for a prom date..but about right for getting me to the mad scientists." Val joked as she offered her hand. "I'm Val, and you are?" She said putting her joking aside.

The man is fit, tall (in company other than Val that is), and attractive enough that no teenage girl could avoid noticing.

"Call me Wilson Ms Dobson. Are you ready to go?"

Val nodded.

"Sure thing, sooner done the better." She said as she check iPad and backup battery. She could read and listen to the music while they go to wherever it was that they were going. "Any idea how long it will be getting there and back? I got to update my parents if it's going to take a lot of time past six or seven in the evening."

When Val looks up from her iPod she is standing in a well appointed lobby in front of a desk manned by a statuesque woman with long golden hair and beautiful fully feathered angel wings. There are several men and women within sight who are wearing various versions of the Myth Foundation uniform. Several of them, including one woman with deep blue skin and pitch black eyes, have the posture and demeanor of highly competent armed security though they possess no obvious armor of weapons.

Inward the building has the look of a cutting edge and very expensively appointed medical facility while in the outward direction there is a glass wall with several sets of double doors. Outside the decor includes the white marble columns of an ancient Greek temple leading out to the streets of the river city of Saint Louis Missouri.

Wilson stands nearby trying and failing to stoneface his way through something halfway between an embarrassed grin and a self satisfied smirk. Somehow on him the whole thing seems charming.

"If you need to you can always contact your parents, or your Grandfather, on your comm-link."

He taps his right ear.

"I'll see you again when your done. Good luck."

As soon as he is finished speaking he looks at his wristwatch and simply disappears leaving behind only a quiet "pop" and a slight chill in the air.

"Ms Dobson, if your ready I'll give you your visitor tag and you can head on back to the testing area."

The receptionist's smile is incredibly comforting and can be seen clearly through her holographic computer screen.

"My grandfather? What do you mean? Grandfather Dobson has been dead for five years." Val said she sorted through what he had just said. Did they know who her mother's father was? Nana said he and she had 'met at woodstock' and that was it. Of course by then Wilson had vanished.

"What? Oh sure." Val said to the 'receptionist' and filled in the visitor's log as she was asked. Normally she'd have been awed by the presence of so many fantastical folks around but her mind was reeling that someone might know what Nana could't find out in decades of research.

"There you go.." She says as she finishes signing in and waits for whatever will happen next.

"Thank you."

The receptionist flicks a glowing wisp of golden light from her holographic keybord and it zips directly to Val's right lapel where it seems to adhere to her clothing. forming a hologram of an ID badge.

"Please do not remove this badge until you depart the facility. It is part of the sensing equipment that will help with your assessment. You will not need to remove it to change clothes. Follow the Gold Line to the changing rooms. Testing begins as soon as you are changed."

She gestures to a door nearby and a glowing golden line can be clearly seen on the floor leading directly to it. The line was definitely not there a few seconds ago.

Val was impressed but then she had continued to be impressed by the Myth foundation and its mysterious founder. This was likely some sort of holographic 'tag' that could be projected onto her badge anywhere in the complex. Odds were Phil could explain it, to the effect of delivering a summary usable in a Master's Thesis about it. She grinned at the idea of netting one of her friend's idols but doubted the big man himself would show up for testing her abilities. Her abilities were a dime a dozen to the folks at the Myth Foundation, and truth to be told she and her parents had only a few questions.

Was she going to stay healthy and had her awful genetic damage been fixed by a miracle? She recalled someone in her hospital room the night it had happened but not clearly, she had gotten by a closing elevator door and in addition to popping her brittle hip, had gotten another concussion.

She followed the line while thinking about what was going to go down. So change into your 'utility outfit' and play lab rat Val, she told herself as she let her iPhone play 'Crossroad Blue' as she came up on the changing area. Time to get to it then, she thought as looked around for her suit.

The small locker room is ironically low tech. A bench along one wall and lockers along the other with enough room for 2-3 people to change in between.

One of the lockers has the name "V. Dobson" on it in block letters. Inside are a set of yoga pants and an underarmor style shirt in the black and gold colors of the Myth Foundation but with no visible logos or markings. Once on the clothes fit better and are more comfortable than anything Val has owned since her transformation and in fact only her favorite snuggly pajamas from before even come close.

The shoes are in the style of vibrams with no socks and separated toes.

As soon as she is dressed the gold line appears on the floor leading back out into the hallway and deeper into the Foundation's interior.

A young female with the "lab tech" look with which Val is far too familiar is waiting in the hallway tapping away on an array of holographic equipment.

Her voice and bouncing pony tail are about 700% above the legal limit of bubbly happiness at 6:04 in the morning.

"Absolutely fantastic readings we're getting Miss Dobson. Your parahuman energy signature is stable and your rockin' those yoga pants like Gillian Michaels!"

"We just have a few tests to complete before you get to take a break for breakfast. Are you ready?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Mon 29 Sept 2014.

Val had encountered this beast before, the 'morning person' was a commonly encountered fixture at the University Hospital. She smiled, while not cranky, it was hard to be grumpy in the face of such rampant enthusiasm. Even at 6 am.  And she definitely rocked any outfit she tried on and was vain enough to know it.

"Just call me Val please, and what do you want me to do? I figure the more I help, the quicker we are done." Part of her had hoped to meet the famous Dr. Myth but the big guy had more important thing to do she reminded herself. She had seen more than one documentary about the man, and he was very busy in all of them.

"Ok Val." [Megawatt Grin(tm)]

"I'm going to walk you to the scanning room where we'll get some wide spectrum readings with equipment more focused that what I have here. This was more to make sure your parahuman energy signature isn't going to react to the particles used in the scans. That happens sometimes."

"Then we'll move on to the Gym to get some physical data. That section will be handled by someone else. I'm more of a Zumba girl."

She headed down the hall occasionally looking over her shoulder and making entries on her holographic keyboard.

As she enters the Scanning Room Val can see a reinforced window and behind it a man in what appears to be a well constructed radiation suit messing with the various controls.

"Don't worry about Donovan. The suit isn't for the scanner."

"Nice meeting you Val. I can't wait to see your readings!" [Megawatt Grin(tm) Redux]

She shuts a door roughly the thickness of a bank vault door and Val is left alone in the room.

It had to be a superpower, Val decided, no one was that cheerful and perky without either medication or it being a power. She nodded as she looked around the 'vault' she was being locked in. Her imagination had the tech running into a rooom where there was a big spinning wheel of dire threats to unleash on her, screaming 'horde of rats' or such as her choice. She smiled at the moment of whimsy, picturing another scene of a bunch of men and women in lab coats muching on pop corn as she is microwaved into a small pile of ash.

A life time of going into and out of esoteric scanning devices kept her from feeling entombed, though she did wonder if there was sufficent ventilation for her to keep breathing.

"Okay.. back in the vault of mad science. Should have known that wouldn't change." Val said as she looked around, taking off a foot or two to check out the ceiling. "Still less needles and spinal taps this time, so I'm okay with it."

"The Doc's been past needles for a while now." Donovan's voice has a strong northern Michigan accent.

It has only been seconds but he goes on to say, "Only one more scan to do. This one is based on Oberon tech so you will feel some pressure. It won't last long."

Pressure is exactly what Val feels. Literally tons of it as she is slowly forced back to the floor under the weight of she has no idea what. But Donovan's word is good and it ends a mere 2-3 seconds after it begins. Still it leaves her teeth vibrating and for a few seconds there is an image of a man, taller even than Val, with long flaming red hair and a macelike weapon of some kind glowing painfully bright burned on the back of her eyelids.

"Wow. Good read. Sorry for the discomfort but at least we dont have to do it again."

"You can head on to the Gym now."

The door opens silently and the gold line leads back into the hall.

"Wow.. that was.. weird." Val says as she shakes her head. Luckily her pain tolerance was pretty high after a lifetime of tests, grafts, gene-therapy, upwards of sixty broken bones of one type or another. "Does this usually cause visual hallucinations?" She asked curiously as she walked out and looked around the gym
curiously.

"Not complaining mind.. just asking. I am used to weird things during testing and treatment." She grinned as she looked around. "So, you're the 'coach' who will be running me ragged?"

"Nah that's not me. I only do face to face with the Doc. Ain't safe otherwise."

He fiddles with some controls.

"I've only run that scan a couple of times but visual hallucinations are definitely a non-standard reaction. Remember what you saw. You'll get a chance to talk about it later."

"Best get moving, Molly can be impatient."


OOC GM's Note: I have mistaken referred several times to Myth Foundation colors as being Black and Gold. That is not correct. Myth Foundation colors, and uniforms including the workout gear Val is wearing, are Blue and Grey(Silver). All references to Black and Gold should(and will be) be edited to read Blue and Grey.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Wed 01 Oct 2014.

"Gotcha  so Molly is the 'physical terrorist' today" Val said with a grin as she followed the imaginary line to her next test victim station.  She like the colors of the outfit, looking them over  the outfit was clearly sturdy but not a costume  she'd have to get something sim alar for gym and her 'job' at the wreckers  of corse the work gear would require gloves and face shield as well to keep her boss out of trouble with osha

The gold line leads Val to an honest to God Gymnasium with everything from old fashioned free weights to machines that she isn't at all certain what they do.

Standing near the center of the room are a young girl, maybe 12-13 years old, and a man of proportions so massive it almost causes a double take. He is at least a foot taller than Val and an estimate of his weight would put him in the 800-900 pound range but something tells her that he is actually much heavier than he looks.

The girl is dressed in clothing similar to Val except for a worn baseball cap which does not match the outfit.

"Good morning Miss Dobson." The voice is cheerful but her phrase has the timber of a rehearsed line.

The huge man touches the girl gently on the shoulder and looks hopeful.

"We can play weights now Molly?"

"Hey,,  I think that we will be doing some lifting." Val said with a smile as she walked up. She figured they were here for testing as well. The big guy was clearly a brick and looked like he could lift ALL the weight in the room. The girl, Val figured, was like her. Deceptively strong.

"Names Val by the way, you're Molly and what's your name big guy?" She asked the gentle giant with a smile.

The big man blushes a little and lowers his eyes and it is Molly who answers.

"Nice to meet you Val."

"His name is Thomas but he very much prefers to be called Thump"

The girl gestures and summons one of the holographic consoles that Val has seen over and over since arriving at the Foundation.

"I'm going to run your tests and record the data. Thump is here to spot you on the heavy lifts."

"We'll start with measuring your strength. Do you need to warm up and do you have any idea what your upper limit is?"

Thump straightens his own giant ball cap and sets his face in a very serious and focused expression. When he raises his hand to to eye level Val notices a leather wrist band, fastened with a padlock, that has the words "Stark Independent" embroidered on it.

"Let's see, I can lift a hemi engine block one handed. I've torn one free of a truck with some effort. I've flipped a quarter ton truck with effort. Truthfully though, I don't know my physical limits, the university didn't have enough weights to push my limits. I moved a 2 ton weight rack fairly easily but that was mostly shifting it. It was.. spindly and a bit fragile." Val said with a shrug.

"I was being tested more for resilience, health and such. That and not breaking things." Val added with a wry grin. "I didn't have good control at first.. doubling your mass was bad enough."

Molly smiles at the graphic examples.

"Don't I know it. When I first met Thump he didn't turn doorknobs he turned doors."

She led the way to a machine which was sitting on an obviously reinforced section of floor.

"You will find that the equipment here goes significantly higher than 2 tons. I expect we are going to find out that you do too."

Molly proceeds to put Val through a workout that is beyond anything she has ever experienced. Without warning Molly's "sweet little girl" demeanor turns into "evil personal trainer" mode and then back so fast that it's hard to follow. She pushes Val without quite pissing her off and Thump is always right there if the weights get too heavy. When it's all over both of them are pleasantly surprised with the results.

Val is able to press nearly 8 tons over her head and her deadlift is closer to 15 tons. Some of the workout is intended to test her endurance and durability and she scores very high in those areas as well.

All of the results are beyond anything Val would have expected. It is clear to her that her physical abilities have increased dramatically since the fight in the mall.

"You play weights good Val."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Thu 02 Oct 2014.

"Yes you do. I put you in the top ten people we have tested with this equipment."

"More significantly your rated almost 2% higher at the end of the workout than when we started."

"Your powers are responding to exertion and increasing."

She closes here holo-notebook.

"Ready for some breakfast?"

"That isn't normal is it? Responding that fast I mean, I know that weight training increases strength but not that fast right?" Val asked as she took it in  15 tons was a lot, not like a freight train heavy but pretty much anything she'd run into on the highway.  A lot of weight for sure

"Breakfast sounds great." She said as her stomach growled  she wasn't used to a healthy appetite still

"Meh..I'm a twelve year old personal trainer with an eight foot sidekick and we both  work for a guy who became the worlds foremost neurosurgeon one Wednesday afternoon because our staff neurosurgeon had a stroke and he had to operate on the surgeon and his patient simultaneously so...What's normal? I got no idea from normal."

"What I do know is your chart says your energy signature is stable, your mentally stable, physically and mentally tough, and the worst side effect of your powers is you can shop from the top shelf without calling a salesperson. So I wouldn't worry too much.

"You like bacon?"

Molly leads the way to the cafeteria but it is clear that Thump knows the way.

"Oh yeah.. I love bacon now that I can have it." Val said with a hearty laugh. "It's a split between no dietary restrictions, no more drug therapy or being able to show outside the 3 year old section of the clothing store for what is best about life now. I admit I'm curious how I got .. all big and healthy but I don't want to push my luck you know. I figure that making sixteen with my conditions, plural, was a miracle to begin with. I just want to live life and all the rest."

The cafeteria is a wonder to behold. It is set up like a buffet restaurant with breakfast food from at least a dozen cultures represented. The quality of the food is closer to someones grandmother's house or maybe a really top notch locally owned place. Clearly the Doctor buys fully into the "Happy workers are more productive" management style.

There are about three dozen people eating here, employees and visitors/patients, and they do not appear to have made an appreciable dent in the food on the buffet.

Thump, smiling like the cheshire cat, thuds off to happy greetings from the kitchen staff and proceeds to eat enough for a few large men.

Molly fills a tray and leads Val to a table with a couple of other young Foundation employees (early to mid twenties molly is the only 12 yr old) who greet them both in a friendly manner.

"You gotta try the crepes. Ettienne is in from the Fondation de Mythe today and your really missing something if you don't."

"Sounds like a plan." Val said as she got two, along with a healthy mix of yogurt, granola, fruit and the biggest container of OJ and water she could get away with. She still felt a bit hungry from time to time since the change and found eating more helped steady herself out. The theory was her new metabolism was stabilizing down to something more normal in its requirements.

"Hi, I'm Val." She said a bit shyly to the others.

They all seemed to be looking at her plate.

"That's very...healthy Val. You DO know that with your metabolism you can eat whatever you want right?"

"In fact with your bodies energy needs you really need to be taking in about 1000% more protein than that. Maybe more."

"Which is why I had a hearty dinner and early breakfast." Val admitted . Truth be told she usually ate big in private, feeling a bit embarrassed to eat the caloric intake of your typical offensive line. "I ah.. didn't eat a lot as a kid, and it kind of feels.. bingy at times.. eating all that. I'm eating right though, and adjusting to my new lifestyle.

She looked a bit embarrassed at the admission.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:05, Tue 07 Oct 2014.

"Well it's time to get over that. When your body needs fuel it's going to burn something and you better hope it's got some protein at the time or it's going to burn something else. At your output levels that could be very very bad."

"So...Bacon!"

"Okay I know that tone from the doctors.  I'll be good and eat up more." Val said with a laugh as she does just that, getting to large omelets and another hearty serving of crepes  "I'm betting I'll be leaving here with a new diet plan as well?"

"That will be up to you. All of the data we gather here today will be made available to you and your parents. The Doc will make some suggestions but there are no rules that say you have to follow them."

"Not listening to what Dr. Myth says is pretty much a synonym for stupid but everyone has the God given right to their own stupidity. Thump and me would both be dead if it wasn't for him."

"I am curious about what he knows about my grandfather  I'm guessing it's not the that lived in Boca till I was five." Val said quietly  "all we know about my mom's dad is Gran met him at Woodstock and I got my funky DNA from his family  screening shows traces of Irish an Pilynesian ancestors that no one else has  we got gene assays done on everyone in the family." Val explained

"I have stopped trying to guess what the Doc knows."

"Breakfast time is almost over. Your due in the Dojo in ten minutes. Eat up."

Thump responds as if the words were for him shoveling down enough food for two grown people in the last few minutes.

"Hope the rest of your assessment goes good. See ya around."

"Bu-bye".

Hanging around only long enough to give Val a chance to return there good byes Molly and Thump depart in the direction of the gym.

Val's constant companion, the glowing gold line, returns and leads off in the direction of a set of double doors on the far side of the cafeteria.

Val shrugged as she followed the mystery line to the dojo, hoping that she didn't have to fight a lot. She had done okay in her meeting with Tower but she doubted that a better fighter at her strength would whoop her butt easily.

Val entered the Dojo and there was no questioning that was exactly what it was. The hardwood floor was beautiful with tatame mats covering about half of it 7500 sq ft surface. Around the walls were dozens of pictures of martial arts instructors and racks with weapons from virtually every culture on earth including a number of plastic replica fire arms. Punching bags of all sorts, wooden dummies, and an arsenal of other training equipment is all neatly arranged on the far end.

Standing the the center of the room in a posture of practiced relaxation is a man in a dark blue Judogi with a Myth Foundation patch on the lapel. On the hem of the jacket the name A. Myth is embroidered and several Japanese characters can be seen on the lapel.

Doctor Myth did not look much like the smartest man on Earth.

In fact to Val's eyes he looked a whole lot more like a wrestler. He stood several inches shorter than she but had massive shoulders and likely weighed around thirty kilos more. Her initial impression of his age had to be revised downward once she got close to him having been affected by his stark white hair and beard.

Other details humanized the man that most of the world held to be as much myth in fact as name. He was thicker through the waist and hips than Myth Foundation PR copy would lead one to believe. His torso was slightly longer and legs slightly shorter than the perfect proportions that were called for in a heroic physique. Oddly his nose was a bit smaller than she had expected as well. In spite of all of that he was solid as rock all over and had a look in his eye that was intimidating even when he was smiling. His hands were large even for a man his size with scarred knuckles. The face, on second look was scarred as well. The tell tale signs of where stitches had been could be seen in his eyebrows and other scars bore witness that this man had been hit, hard, but whatever it was had not stopped him.

Tower was an intimidating man but something about Dr. Myth was unnerving, far scarier. Like being a child in the small room with a tiger that could destroy you in a single snap of it's jaws and was only hesitating to decide which part to devour first.

Before Val could process all of that info and do or say anything the Tiger lunged forward...and hugged her.

"It's good to see you Valerie. I am so happy that things have turned out as well as they have. I've been looking forward to this assessment for a long time."


Something fell together in her mind when she heard his voice. The shadowy barely remembered figure in her room that night everything had changed...was standing in front of her right now.

"You were there?" Val asked in surprise. She recalled hearing one or two voices but the doctors said she was too messed from her accident to believe that. She was literally on death watch tan night with even odds tha t she'd never make it to sunrise. "You did this to save me? Why?"

"I was there and, yes, I did it to save you. Why? What a question..."

"What kind of parent could watch a child die when he had the power to prevent it?"

He gestured and pulled up a set of the holographic multimedia gear Val had been seeing all over the place.

"I was called in because your condition resisted conventional treatment. Aggressively resisted."

"Did you know that two of your doctors contracted a similar wasting ailment while treating you? I'd guess not."

"They were easily cured with standard treatments while you remained ill. When you had your accident it became clear you were not going to recover. I was prevailed upon by members of your family to try a radical therapy. It worked beyond anything I could've hoped for."

"I'll explain more after the assessment is completed. I promise you that I will answer any questions you have that I know the answers to. I owe you that considering the risk I took without your permission but for now..."

"...please hit me as hard as you can."

"You sure that is safe to do?" Val asked nervously. She could easily kill with a full on blow, she'd bowed in a semi trailer at the junk yard once when her uncle let her 'play around'. Took ten minutes to get out of the wreckage, but it crumpled like a paper airplane. The doctor clearly had a plan though, and he'd been the one to save her life before.

"Okay.." She said as she gave a fairly simple and direct swing at his midtorso, trusting that this was a lesson of some sort and not a suicide attempt.

You'll want to roll to hit.

OOC: alrighty

23:17, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 25 using 1d20+6. Thump the Doctor.

The punch was great and Val had just about enough time to register that before she was upside down in the air and then the floor came out of nowhere and hit her from behind.

"That was excellent."

The Doctor walked around her where she lay.

"Are you aware that you have the skills of a trained warrior?"

"Says the guy who threw me around like a rag doll." Val said as she rose using her flight ability. She considered the doctors statement as she instinctively fell into a ready stance.

"Though you have some logic to that comment. Why do I know how to fight? Or how?"

"Some logic eh? I think I like you. I don't get ,uch cheek around here these days."

Myth flipped a holographic screen around and it showed an image of Val surrounded by a pulsing energy field.

"You know how to fight the same way you know how to fly, or toss a car."

"It is an energy known to it's creators as The Power Imperial. It infuses your body with the power and fighting spirit of the royal line of Oberon."

"It is accessed via the blood of that same royal family which now flows in your veins alongside your own."

Val floated into the air and looked around hologram, looking at the aura curiously as she circled the light sculpture of herself. It was curious, seeing the unseen energy everyone was talking about flaring about her body like that. She considered things that she had heard and seen in the building since she arrived. Weighing them. If she was half as sharp as the Doctor, she'd figure it out. All she got out of it was hints of what was going and more questions than answers.

"That's because most folks here know what you can do, I'm just a kid from Georgia who only has what your PR guys put up for public consumption." Val pointed out as she landed and was clearly considering things. "To me, you're a really smart guy who is not telling me everything yet. So my snarky side takes the lead. All I know is the hints of what you and your folks have said. You mention a royal bloodline, one that I've never heard of, there was mention about my grandfather.. I'm guessing the one that met gran at Woodstock, not the one who lives in Boca and now the show." She pointed to the hologram.

"So, I'm guessing you are spreading it out to avoid shocking me too much at once. The big question, which I'm going to have to answer to my folks first is.. is it permanent, because mom and dad will want to know if this is only a reprieve."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:33, Tue 14 Oct 2014.

Myth's tone changes just enough to indicate that two snarks in a row is approaching the limit.

"One, You have to have some grounding in the subject to know what questions to ask."

"..and for the record noone is withholding anything from you. My staff are trained to avoid making comments based on supposition until they have hard evidence to back up their findings. Until we had scanned you we literally had nothing to go on but Tower's report, our limited experience with the Oberon, and my hypothesis. now we know more."

"Two, Your Grandfather will have to answer any questions you have about your Grandfather. We don't keep secrets from our associates here but we are very serious about keeping secrets FOR them. He should not have been mentioned but some of my operatives who are capable of seeing things they shouldn't see have trouble keeping their mouths completely shut."

"..and Three, I was a parent long before I was the head of the Myth Foundation, your mother and father had my report in front of them before you finished your breakfast. I operate under somewhat different rules than your friend from Overwatch."

"That report indicates that I believe the transformation is permanent. I won't bullshit you it's highly unlikely that you would survive the stress of a return to your previous state but there is nothing to indicate that such a thing will ever happen. In fact your energy signature is becoming more stable and your powers will be increasing rapidly in the near future."

 "Let me start at the third point first. Thank you for telling them that, I appreciate that you lifted the fears they had." Val said with true sincerity, she knew her health had eaten at her folks for years. She hoped they would at least adopt now, they had wanted big families till her defects had come to light.

 "The next points, I'm sorry if im a bit snarky about it. To know that answers are there but not laid out triggers my inner snark. I can appreciate your keeping confidences. I'm curious about all these things, from my 1/4 Polynesian/3/4 Irish grandfather to the how and why I turned into an Amazon. I have to confess, I am not a patient student. Might be why I suck at proofs."

"If you suck at proofs it's because you don't like doing the work. If you recognize a weakness then address it. 'Build from loss' is what one of my martial arts instructors used to say."

"You have other questions?"

"Didn't say I couldn't do them.. I'm a teenager, we're genetically predisposd to impatience." Val said as she chuckled. "The ones you know balance out, working through the intermediate steps to get to the realization can be a bit dull. As for the questions I have.. I got a bunch. What all can I do now? How does this.. energy aura work? Aside from a bigger diet, what else do I need to do to keep healthy? What can you tell me about my grandfather? And last.. what will you suggest I do in school, aside from studying hard.. I got a clear clue that this is a good thing to pursue, but till a few weeks I didn't look past the next few months. I'd already lived through my lifespan nearly twice over." Val pointed out.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:46, Fri 17 Oct 2014.

"It is not an "energy aura". It is the Oberon Power Imperial. The effects of the Power Imperial can be measured. The mechanism used to accomplish them has proven to be more difficult to understand."

"No one can tell you what you can do better than you can. Most Oberon wielders of the Power Imperial seem to have powers similar to yours, albeit greater in most cases than you have thus far shown. Some can do things that you haven't shown an ability to duplicate but we don't know enough about the power to know if that is an effect of the power or of experience and use."

"Your parents have already been sent a plan for your diet and medical care. You will receive a copy before you leave. Needless to say we will be handling any medical needs you may have here at the Foundation from now on."

"As for school you will have a schedule to follow that will include training as well as academics. You will not receive any consideration regarding your grades due to your extra curricular activities."

"I am also attempting to arrange a...tutor regarding the Power Imperial but the Oberon are not exactly thrilled at the news that a teenaged earth girl effectively has access to their crown jewels. I'll follow up with you on that at a later date."

"I figure that I need to say thank you again, for the help to my folks state of mind if nothing else. I won't lie, I have a lot of questions that you aren't clearly ready to answer yet. Like my grandfather and why/how you helped all this happen to me. Thank you for saving my life, but don't think I won't look for a chance to ask those questions at a later time." She smiled as she considered that.

"So what do you plan to do with me next? More tossing the teen around the room?"

"No. We're done with your assessment. The time I set aside for you is just about up in any case."

"You may return home now or you can look around the Foundation for an hour or two. Your decision, just tap your ID tag when your ready to go."

"You did good work in the mall. Jason made it clear he thinks you have potential."

"Goodbye."

He doesn't run out of the room or anything but the glowing holograms that he had set aside for the test swarm back around him and it is clear his mind has left the area and is immersed once more in the paranormal problems that no one else can solve.

His attention flickers back to Val for only a moment and he speaks one last time, "A person of any quality doesn't need a reason to save a young girl's life. Most lack the ability. I had it and so I used it. You have the ability to save people as well. Don't disappoint us.", and then he was gone.

"Fair enough Dcctor.." Val said, knowing from his bearing and demeanor that he was done. She'd get no answers from him today.

And she had permission to wander around a bit. At least implied permission.

So she was going to wander a bit, maybe go back to the Gym and try out the weights to see if she could keep pushing her limits a bit more.

You will need to be more specific about where you are going.

OOC: Oh.. back to the weight machines. She's wanting she can use by herself. :D

Will she be going "all out" or just trying to repeat her earlier performance?

Testing her limits, so trying to bit a more.  Unless something like a flight based obstacle course comes to mind.

Molly will appear to run the machines. Driven by her "encouragement" Val will find that she can almost double her previous lifts.

Val worked through the routine, trying out her 'new limits' as she became aware of them.

"So I met the Doc." She told Molly as she lifted and focused on her workout routine. "Why do I get the feeling he only told me enough to keep me from going to look for answers myself? That he, in his own way, is letting me know I'm not ready to know and that when the time is right he'll clue me in?" She asked as she finished thinking her encounter with the hero through. Clearly he was wanting to help her, but couldn't for reasons that he couldn't say or would clue her into why. Grandma wasn't going to be happy.

"So, got any challenges for flying?" She asked curiously as she pulled off her gloves and looked around curiously as she checked her time. She would have to leave soon.

Molly frowns at the question.

"That would be because you don't know the Doc like we do. The only thing that guy hates worse than alien invaders is secrets. If he didn't tell you something it's because he either doesn't know it or he knows it would put someone in danger if you knew it."

She popped up her holographic interface.

"As for flying I may have been working on a little something just in case you ever got to work outwith me again."

She puts her hands into the glowing screen and comes back with a double handful of light which she throws into the air with a distinctly wizardish gesture.

The gym is suddenly filled with a "track" of glowing hoops describing a path the loops and twists all around the room.

"..and just in case that looks too easy.."

She waves a hand and a dozen glowing pink jet-pack wearing images of Molly appear floating around the gym. Each one is armed with a rocket launcher..

"Yeah, all I know is his wikipedia entry and the television specials." Val said with a laugh as she took to the air and tried to fly through the course with a broad grin. "I like the course, too bad I have to make my own death star trench test course out of a wrecker yard inventory."


She took in the rocket armed Molly's with a blink as they 'popped' into existance.

Roll d20+your dex mod+1/2 of your flight rank.

OCC: A lowly average 15 sirrah!

Val deftly maneuvers through the rings of the course and is feeling pretty good about her flying when four of the Jetpack Mollys swoop into position and, sporting impossibly wide grins all the while, open fire with their rocket launchers.

Swooping desperately Val manages to avoid three rockets but the last one strikes her squarely in the stomach! BOOM!


Make a toughness save and another flying roll to avoid being knocked off course!

"Wooomph." Val grunted as she flopped in the air as the missile impacted just below the diaphragm. So instead of gliding gracefully through the air like she had practiced at the junk yard, she flailed about trying to regain her balance.

"Dang it..Ive got the feedback set too high. Simulation says you should walk through that shot."

She fiddles with her holo-keyboard as the Jet Pack Mollys maneuver for shots.

"Better keep flying Val, this is timed!"

The flying check was actually successful and so was the toughness roll. If you don't mind repost the die rolls so I don't have to go hunt through the die roller log for them.

One more of each.

Val moved through the air, still trying to regain her initial grace and ease at flying. It was so much easier at the junk yard, making like the Rebels in the Death Star trench. Molly's training sim was more.. intense and interactive than she was used to.

She spun over and managed to keep an 'even' keel to take the next missile hit while clumsily aiming the next ring.

"Have you been looking for a flying brick to throw holograms at?" She asked curiously




21:28, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 8 using 1d20+4. flight Check.
21:27, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 22 using 1d20+8. Toughness.

"Well yeah. Ever since lunch when I started building this simulation for you anyway."

Molly fiddled with her holo-keyboard and the rings began to move slowly in a circular pattern while the rocket launchers disappeared to be replaced with giant spiked boxing gloves. It was also noticeable that each of the Jet Pack Mollies seemed to have acquired a Cheshire Cat grin and a jutting jaw reminiscent of Popeye the Sailor Man.

"So we're in the brawling segment of our exercise now?" Val asked as she continued flying through the loops. She hummed to herself as she looped through one loop and moved to see how the new versions of the 'Mollys' would do.


"Last round.. I think they'll be wanting to take me home soon.


OOC: She's waiting for one of the holograms to close in on her before striking.
11:50, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 7 using 1d20+6. Attack.
11:49, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 21 using 1d20+4. Toughness. (if Needed)
11:49, Today: Valerie Dobson rolled 13 using 1d20+4. Flight.

Val enjoys the roughest dust up she has yet had as the Jet Pack Mollys close in and go full gang beat down on her.

In fact she gets off to a slow start and for a moment Molly's hand hovers over the emergency cutoff when it looks like the holo-fighters are going to be too much for her but Val's mental toughness shows up and she starts laying out opponents left and right.

When the last one falls Molly and Thump and literally cheering.

A round of high fives is exchanged and everyone departs happy.

Shortly Val's "Ride" Wilson returns and it is time for her to go home.


OOC: My next update will be starting the next day at school.

Next Morning

Val smiled to her mom as she got out of the car.

"I'll be fine mom, I'm sure that I can stay out of trouble. Really. I mean, everyone here has .. talents and all. I'll do everything you and gran told me to do. Behave, study..blah blah.. yackity yackity." She said with a roll of her eyes as she listened to her mom's concerns, leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Look I got to get to home room, and get started. I'll be very careful about what I grab and hold. I've not crushed an egg, or keyboard, in two weeks.

With that she slung her pack on and headed in to see what a 'real life' school would look like.