Ethan smiled at his niece. "Good plan, and yes I've been told. And yes I noticed your magnetics aren't hard at work in the kitchen which means they are working elsewhere. I DO run an intelligence agency my dear, I can figure things out."

He turns to Kevin. "So you must be the one I'm here to meet, Lin didn't mention if you were the alternate reality sort of dimensional traveler, or the different plane of existence kind of traveler, though it doesn't matter as long as you aren't one of the fae." His expression briefly turned sour at the mention of the fae. "So what can I help you with?"

Bill's face looked concern as he saw Mittens' sign. "Oh my, I remember the first time I saw something like that I didn't eat for days." He walked over to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's tough seeing the things we see in this life. Do you want to talk about it? I'm Bill, this is my husband Darren, and the little bundle of joy over there is s our daughter, Bella."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:37, Fri 31 May 2019.

Wraith turns to look at Mittens. Under the hood, Maverick is concerned. But he sees Bill has it handled.

Wraith turns to look at Lin. He thinks about her offer. He isn't afraid of his own inner darkness, whatever that may be. But even if it is horrible, all the more reason to face it and rise above. What about other people's secrets, though? He figures if Lin was kind enough to offer the option, then she is easily the kind of person to keep confidence anyway. "I am willing to go all the way."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Fri 31 May 2019.

Daniel was having the time of his life. The ice cream, yet simplistic was delicious, he had never thought possible for a basic an normal ice cream to taste so good, it was so good it relieved the feeling of annoyance he had previously.

Daniel resisted the urge to eat the whole ice cream in once single spoon, but before he knew it the bowl was empty and all that Daniel could feel right now was satisfaction. Daniel took a deep breath in relief and waited for the waitress to come and pick up his bowl.

In a coincidence of timing, right about when Excelsior puts his hand on Mits' shoulder, all her yuckies leave her thanks to Matt using his influence.  But the text that pops up on her HUD explains the sudden lack of stomach distress.

"Thank you, Matt."

Miss Adventure perks up and smiles up at Excelsior.  "Absolutely!  Especially now that a friend of mine has calmed my tummy with his superpower.  Nice to meet you, Bill!  Big fan.  And you too, Darren.  And you three, Bella, you adorable sweetie-pie!  I'll uh...  Lot going on.  Prioritizing..."

Mits turns to Meg and offers, "I'll volunteer!  I've had extensive space experience.  Matter-of-fact, t'was a contact of mine that gave the first bit of info regarding the space invaders.  And if you'd like to save on travel time, I can teleport vehicles as big as a truck to anyplace in this known universe."

As much as she wants to learn more about the Daystar connection here, that'll have to wait till it wouldn't be rude to butt in on that conversation.  Interjecting to volunteer may have been a tad rude, but fate of the World and all that...

Mits gives an approving nod and thumbs-up to Wraith.  Totally her first choice is to go all-in.

Then looks back up to Excelsior to explain, "Wraith's going through a rather big deal of his own too.  Thank you for caring enough to listen.  The very good news is that the victim will probably make a full recovery thanks to Lifelight and Matt.  What's bothering me..."

Mits bows her head and her voice begins to falter.  As she spills her guts she sounds increasingly distraught, "Well OK so... the sight of all that blood was very disturbing on its own...  But what's really bothering me is that I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place!  I was on the scene!  Well... partly...  But there's like, at least two ways it shouldn't have happened.  I shoulda been able to intercept.  And Matt's power shoulda been enough to keep make the victim invulnerable.  I was pretty sure I had put his influence on the scene.  And I even have the ability to predict the future enough that I shoulda been able to intercept the villain's punch!  What went wrong?

"I...  I must have been too wrapped up in what was going on elsewhere that I messed up somehow.  Had I been more decisive about taking action...  The guy's maimed, and I coulda prevented it!  Easily!  Without the help of the others, he'd be dead!  Or maybe...  Could it be I held back to draw out the scene for my amusement?  Or... I don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done?  I've got the power to just smush all those villains with a thought.  But I didn't.  Some hero I am.  Thought I was made of sterner stuff.  But I'm falling apart over one guy who's not even dead.  And we've got the Yokai-Zord invasion to think about."

Try as she might, Mits just can't steel herself.  Good thing she's got her helmet on or the others would see the stupid tears of self-loathing running down her cheeks.  So totally NOT how she wanted meeting Excelsior to go.

(( The helm she's wearing is the one on the right: http://images.yuku.com/image/p...a09692ffb18b707.pjpg  So because Wraith is so short, he's probably the only one in the room who can see Mits' tears. ))
This message was last edited by the player at 01:59, Sat 01 June 2019.

In reply to Daniel Heind (msg # 450):

  The dishes weren't left to sit for long, the young woman who was waiting on his table was there in short order to whisk the dishes away, and asked him if he needed anything more.  If not, he was still welcome to sit and enjoy the ambiance and the sights of Weston while he enjoyed the aromas of other dishes from the kitchen.

  Lin nodded, then said "Full divination it is.  Do you want that completely private between you and I, or do you want your friend along?  It's up to you, I don't share details with others unless it has pertinence to them, such as needing their assistance to train or something like that."

  Megs smiled at Mittens, and admitted "The runabout's a bit bigger than a truck . . . thing something more like, well, a couple semi trucks and a grayhound bus all mooshed together?  It's complicated, but you are welcome to come along if Kevin doesn't mind.  Matt, Ozzy and I tested out the inertial compensator the other day, so I know you guys won't all turn to gory paste when I accellerate to cee fractional speeds within the solar system."

Wraith looks over to Mittens. Then to Lin. "Sharing with her might help her."

Wraith turns to Mittens. "Mittens, it is right and heroic to feel responsible. But do not allow despair the pleasure of victory. Instead, learn from what you believe are mistakes. You were not the only one there. I too feel I made a mistake that could have cost lives in that same scenario. But people need those of us willing to take a stand. You have power and have used it numerous times to rescue people, including that planetary invasion. I was just a regular kid, but you are one of the heroes who inspired me to become a hero myself."

He then looks back to Lin. "I am ready."

The ring was supposed to be a not at all resort, but a certain person convinced him to use it to some degree.  In the past weeks he made a promise to himself he would look into using it, under a proper contingency plan.  Taking a step from his Mentor he felt the group Darren and Bill had founded would be able to deal with a worse case scenario.  He really never thought he would actually run into any of the members, let alone the two founders.  Given Meg had a way to get him there and the trust from Bella, stuff is just kind of snowballing.

Curse you positivity!

A look over concern is given over towards Mitts as she speaks, this was a difficult life to be sure.  Still, he had to smile just a little.  He wanted to speak up, but he felt that anything he would say would maybe not really help Mitts.  Taking a breath and focusing he looks to Ethan, after an apologetic look towards Bill and Darren with his name being used.

"Director Sharpe, an honor to meet you, sir.  I would shake your hand but I am a little preoccupied with that.  As for my origins, I was born here, my adoptive family in the other reality named me Kevin.  I was looking over a theft that occurred a few days ago at the Weston Museum of Natural History.  The object that was taken, Lin recently identified as The Necklace of Osiris.  There is a lot that goes with that, and if I were back home I would have avenues at my disposal to pursue this on my own.  Here, it is more than I can deal with in a realistic amount of time.  And potentially the avenues needed are outside of the jurisdiction of the Weston Police Department.  While they should know, of course, it felt prudent to look to someone at the Federal level.  Of course, that I took two days to follow up this lead, I could find myself weeks behind your Department already."

A glance is given over towards Meg.

"I do not see any problem with her joining us."

He had to smile a bit at Wraith's words.

  Lin nodded, and waved him over to a table, while she sketched several runes in the air, the tip of her finger glowing midnight blue and leaving the glowing runes in the same color.  Then she sketched several more in glowing gold, and 'puffed' each of those into the walls and ceiling.  She intoned something in ancient Greek as well, and they all could feel a sense of 'heaviness' and solidity settle into the room, like they were now in a heavy duty vault of some sort that could be miles underground.  Out front, Daniel Heind might be able to sense some heavy duty wards had just gone up around one of the back rooms of the cafe.  Then Lin said "Sit over here, place your hands on the table, and just be.  Don't try to think of anything, don't fret about what I am doing, just let your world flow into you and through you while you breathe."

In reply to Mittens (msg # 451):

Bill listened quietly as Mittens spoke. "No matter how powerful you are, people are going to get hurt, sometimes there's something you can do to prevent it, sometimes there's nothing you could have done different. I can fly around the globe in about 4 hours, I can punch through meteors and survive inside a volcano, and there are still people I can't save. And even now it still weighs on me, but I try to focus on what I did do, on those I can and did save.

And this time? You actually managed to save him, you got through it with no one dying. That is the biggest criteria for success in this life. Not defeating the bad guy, not foiling his plans, but making sure NO ONE dies. And tonight you did all three of these things, this is a victory."

Bill paused for a minute as Mittens mentioned "sterner stuff'. "We may have powers, but we're still human, it perfectly ok to have emotional reactions to the sort of things we do. My father was a baptist, and when I told him about my powers he was very accepting, in fact he was ecstatic. He thought I was like Samson, he was as supportive as could be of my abilities and using them. But when I told him I was gay, he wouldn't even look at me. He just told me to take my things and go. I had fought LITERAL Demons at this point in my career, I had seen a mad scientist's torture lab and fought the Mafia. And this 'simple thing' of being rejected by my father, that shook me to my core. I cried for hours that night. Even as a hero your still entitled to your emotions."

Mits gives Meg a thumbs-up in reply to her invitation to join.  Even after all this time, space travel is still extremely fun.  But with the lump in her throat she can't properly express her enthusiasm for joining the team.

Wraith's words stun Mits.  On a number of different levels.  'Do not allow despair the pleasure of victory,' sure sounds a lot like someone I know.  Who didn't appear to age in the years I was gone.  He was 'just a regular kid?'  OMG it's Maverick?!  What deadly mistake did he make?  Was he the one that made the first villain pass out?  Where'd he get this super suit?!  I put a kid into a cage match with deadly supervillains!!!!

Then Lin does her magical Ft. Knox thing and Miss Adventure staggers.  She's forced to take her helmet off to get some air.  Between the exciting team invitation, huge lightbulb moment, the kick in the pants, and now this really awesome magic going on, Mits reaches out to grab hold of Bill's sleeve to steady herself.  She stares at Wraith in disbelief.

When Bill starts to talk, she looks intently into his eyes to try and focus on what her idol has to say.  Which is not entirely what she expected to hear.  That he would be willing to be so open and vulnerable just to encourage her, hits like a comet shot from a volcano and sends her mind into orbit.

"Wow..."

Yeah.  It's going to take a while to reboot from all that.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Sun 02 June 2019.

For all his stealth and level-headedness, Maverick isn't sure how good he is at the zen thing. But he'll try all the same.

Maverick loves Bill. He looks in Bill's direction and gives him a nod before going to the table.

Wraith sits as directed and places his hands on the table. He begins breathing deeply, then just goes for slow breathing. He heard one good technique for clearing one's mind is to find a spot and stare at it. So he stared at the table before him. People are too distracting to stare at.

  Lin waved a hand over herself, switching into a set of Chinese robes that looked of a fashion from several thousand years ago, including jade haircombs and some peacock feather hairpins.  She laid a pure silver mirror on the table, then adjusted it to show Mav's reflection.  Then she sketched characters around the edges of it with some sort of red ink, which glowed soft gold, then stared into the mirror.  She said softly "You are the Spy, your title is Shadow Walker.  Keeper of balance and walker of ways hidden to many, you seek secrets and knowledge that others will need, but cannot prize from their hidden nests.  You will need skills to sneak and listen, speak many tongues and know things that are not always pretty, your path wanders in and out of the light like a serpent's trail through the sands of time.  Your talents and knowledge will give you great power, if you choose to use it, or you may elect to let those who could act remain bound by your words.  Yours is not the way of the gun, or the knife, but whispers and watching, slit throats and sniper's grace.  Choose carefully those whom you entrust your secrets, for those are your greatest power."  Her words were spoken very softly, but he could feel the weight, the power in them, and then the mirror went dark, and she bowed her head.

It was familiar, slightly, and yet that heaviness still hit him.  As Lin speaks, he tries to remember if he ever heard it before, though unlikely.  Listening to Mittens and Bill speak, his mind runs a few options.  'Kevin' hadn't officially been introduced to anyone, and yet.  He knew that feeling, that pit in the base of your stomach.  Where you would be willing to do anything.  It was the edge he thought.  He feared.  The ring would push him over.  It was a fear he had been face to face with for years before he had the ring, and until then he had his training, his Mentor, to keep him right at that edge without a thought of crossing it.

It was needed, Bill hit her with the truth.  The uncensored reality of this life they chose.  In the short time he had talked with her and saw the puppet at this very café for the first time, he had a good read on Miss Adventure, too.  At least, he liked to think that he did.

"Miss Adventure, George Lucas got it right.  Fear is a horribly enticing gateway and it is easy to trick yourself into opening the door thinking you can deal with it.  To do things that need to be done for the good of all.  It is that mistake that... He made.  A lesson my Mentor worked to hone into me during my early months under his tutelage.  Temper yourself against it.  But, find your own way to.  To quote the Dawson Creek's version of one of my favorite Uncles.  Do not be like me.  Be better."

His voice rises as he speaks about whoever this 'He' is and it heralds the first change in his otherwise stoic voice to one that momentarily just shakes and writhes with venom.

A glance is given over towards Wraith and Lin as the ceremony continues, listening to every word.

Daniel looked at the waitress, "Thanks, I intend to stay here for a while longer, today has been quite annoying for me before entering this establishment and right now I just want to release some stress." Daniels stomach rumbled, "talking about releasing stress, do you know where the bathrooms are?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Mon 03 June 2019.

In reply to Kevin Jordan (msg # 456):

Ethan sighed and rubbed a hand through his perfect hair. "The Necklace of Osiris, we missed another big one. Maybe we're slipping. Well, on the bright side while VERY powerful the necklace is not world ending on it's own. A lot of it's danger comes from who's wielding it. It boosts necromantic magic used in its vicinity allowing it's user to, among other things, create larger and more powerful armies of undead. I can talk to my superiors, but it may take time for me to convince them this is a federal case. Many people still have a hard time wrapping their heads around magic, and most simply believe any public magic users were paras with powers that resembled magic. In the meantime I can offer my personal help, as much as my free time allows. Also Captain Hanson and her people are very capable."

Ethan stood back as Kevin talked to Mittens but his ears perked up when he heard what he called her. "Wait, you're Miss Adventure? The one who worked with the crew of the Rogue Star* while they were on earth?"


*OOC: Halkor, Azrith, and Archerae's ship. Mittens can make up the 'team name' as they probably wouldn't have had one before her.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Mon 03 June 2019.

Wraith seems rather still the whole time. After the reading, he is silent for a moment. On the one hand, most of what Lin said was what Wraith was expecting. On the other hand, gaining the impact of the words was entirely different from just hearing them. And besides that, he didn't consider that he would gain much power. He certainly didn't think of trusting allies as binding them to his words. He had to admit that sounded pretty epic.

Wraith listens to Kevin's words as right now, every word he hears is quite important to him. He does make a mental note that Kevin has a heavily emotional past with someone, but Wraith figures he'll need to wait to find out who this person was.

Ethan's words "THE Miss Adventure" caused Wraith to turn his head slightly in Ethan's direction.

"Thank you, Lin. As I trust you and you seem to be an oracle of some kind, do you personally believe I can trust everyone who is in this room with my identity?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:34, Mon 03 June 2019.

  Lin nodded, and said "yes, the people in this room are safe enough.  Megaira, obviously, Ethan, myself, our friend over there who is a friend to my daughter, and clearly you trust young Mittens.  Bill and Darren have been doing heroing work for a while, they've dealt with some of the hairballs that are around.  So has Matt, although he more resembles some of them.  And *I* know the Fae well, even if Ethan isn't so fond of them,  but everyone IN this room right now is safe to keep your secret."  She shot Ethan a wrinkled-nose look that said clearly that SHE found whatever made him unhappy with the Fae amusing.  Then she added "You would also be safe to trust Victoria Castillo and Andy Black, if you run into them.  Andy's a good cookie, regardless of his damned state."

If Mits could read Wraith's mind, she'd pass along the secret to how a scatterbrain like herself managed to get Zen enough to learn Space Samurai Sorcery.  But judging from from Lin's reading, he did just fine without any coaching.  And boy does her reading sound very familiar.  (If admittedly way more poetic than the Mittens version.)



So turns out an 8 year old with that level of skill is a superpower.  Shoulda known.

Daystar's words patch Mittens' rebooting brain.  Pop culture references were just the thing she needed to restore her signature grin.  Of course now she's going to have Yoda singing about seagulls replaying over and over in her mind for the rest of the day.

Ethan's words trigger a light bulb over Mittens' head.  "Just a theory.  Maybe wishful thinking.  But what if the one who stole The Necklace of Osiris has a mind to use it to build Earth an army of undead defenders?  Most likely they'll turn around and try to take over the world with it as soon as the aliens are repelled, but stil..."

Great.  Now Seagull Yoda is singing the Pinky and the Brain theme.

"Yuppers!  Mittens is, in fact, Miss Adventure.  The same who, with the help of the Motley Crew of the Rogue Star, exposed the machinations of Galactic Councilbeing ᔕᒸᕨᕱᓏᖴᗗᓦᓾᓎᘙ before its malicious legislation could cause any harm.  Still surprises me how very human aliens are once you get past the cosmetic differences."

Mits winces at Wraith's suggestion that he unmask.  Even among such fantastic trustworthy heroes as these, he's probably underestimating the ramifications. "Not going to tell you how to live your life, Wraith, but uh...  Considering your particular superpower, I would strongly encourage you to keep your secret identity a mystery.  No going back once the cat's outta the bag.  And think of how much more fun it'll be for these heroes if you retain your mystique."

After having given very careful thought to how to word what she wants to say to Bill, she steps up on a step stool to be able to whisper in his ear, very quietly,

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
"I know two experts who specialize in bringing around folks like your dad.  Been at it for decades.  I'll be happy to introduce you to them if you like."

---

This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Tue 04 June 2019.

Wraith looks ponderous. "Thank you for your wisdom, Miss Adventure. You are right that there are no take-backs in that regard. And that mystery can be quite fun. And thank you, Lin, for letting me know who I can trust."

He reaches his skeletal hand up to tap a finger to his hood. "It's all up here now."

He lowers his hand. "But I do have a question. Ethan mentioned there is a way to kill immortals, but he doesn't know how. He also mentioned you do know. May I learn?"

"I see, that is unfortunate. As far as the necklace being a Federal issue, this may not have been a singular event.  You said yourself, you missed it.  Lin said this was the actual Necklace of Osiris.  A cult formed around Osiris, I am guessing both as typical Egyptian worship and also one in the same or a different group actually seeking his, or at least the power of the necklace itself.  In this pursuit both for religious and an attempt at power, replicas were created.  Replicas that through the ages could now be out on display or in private guarded collections.  The curator at the museum mentioned that the display at the museum was recently acquired and witnesses also reported at least one child commenting that the mummies were beginning to move before they shattered their displays and attacked.  The necklace boosts magic that is already known.  As you say harmless on its own but with someone wanting to use it.  But of course first they would have to find it, and depending on how many replicas exist, it is a veritable needle in a haystack.  So, how do you find that needle?  With a magnet, or in this case go to museums and private collections and attempt to animate the dead with a simple, not very potent, incantation.  The results will let you know if you did indeed find the item you were looking for.  In that case, other situations may have been noted though explained away.  Still a check for Facial Recognition in those situations against the attack on the museum could prove helpful.  If, that is the explanation for this occurrence.

Another, more disturbing option, is that the owner knew what they had and sent it to the museum to execute the attack.  Not to maim and kill, but to measure the response of Weston City's parahuman community.

Either way, taking the necklace due to the distraction the attack itself caused.  And both avenues I would imagine could potentially take the investigation certainly across State lines and very likely across International Borders.

So, Federal.  Still, keeping the local police in the loop would be beneficial as well."

This is all spoken while he continues to rock with the napping Bella in his arms.  Seeing Mittens perk up causes him to smile just a little bit, too.  He was going to suggest against it, but was glad to see Mittens talked Wraith out of divulging his identity.  Theatrics and misdirection were powerful allies to wield, after all.  And it would seem he had a long time to wield those ahead of him.  Which brought him back to Meg.

"Before we head off in the Runabout, I should stop by and speak with Captain Hanson, then.  Though before that, perhaps I should change into something a bit more fitting for this official visit."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:52, Tue 04 June 2019.

  Lin nodded, and told Wraith "Yes, but not while Ethan is available.  I won't give him that secret, and neither should you, ever."

  Which was interrupted by a lovely lady poking her head into the room, and saying "I should have known you'd have waylaid Megs and Lin, Ethan, you old pirate.Take a couple of the men in the room here and go DO something while we females plot."

  Meg nodded to Kevin, and said "You do have some time, although I am not sure how long she'll sleep after we transfer her to someone else's lap."

Ethan smiled at Mittens. "That would be a first, but it's not outside the realm of possibility" He turned to Kevin. "By 'missed it' I meant, 'missed keeping a major artifact out of the reach of the public'. Lin and I have been scurrying away magical artifacts for centuries, keeping them out of museums or away from private collectors that don't know what they are. Every once in a while a minor artifact slips past us, but this is a powerful item. It provides a significant source of power.

Detective Hanson should be have the footage from the museum by now. She's a good woman, if a bit..rough around the edges, you can trust her. I'll see what I can do about getting this case bumped up the totem pole, in the meantime I have my own personal resources, contacts, and databases that can be of help to you.  I have amassed a considerable fortune and considerable arsenal in my time, I doubt what you need will be a drop in the bucket. And as a note, one of my contacts is a para-genius who designs and builds advanced gear, for a price."

Ethan smiled up at Lorelei. "Just a work thing love, need to be back at the office shortly. I'll be working late so don't worry about staying up for me. I'll grab something from that Indian place you like, and if you're already asleep it can wait till morning."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:58, Fri 07 June 2019.