Darren had to swallow a hard lump in his throat as he remember the spectral purple woman that had come to his rescue that had been very insistent about him and Charlotte being together.
"Baby, did you tell Jinglefairy about me and Charlotte being on a date tonight?"

Valerie hugged Charlotte tighter. "Go ahead hun, I'm sitting down. Tell me what's happened, I'm ready  for it." Was this what she'd meant earlier about world and alignment changing things?
Oh dear.
"..." she glanced at Charlotte a moment. "...those marks on your skin arn't from your powers...are then?"

"Well, yeah. Not just that but that you were on a date with a SUPERHERO, so if there was anything bad going on, she needed to keep you two together. Iss very important, daddy. Did Charlotte keep you safe?"

Charlotte shook her head, "No, I'm afraid not." And then she began to tell the whole tale from the beginning, starting with the hitchhiking, the food eating contests and the first super-powered incident after Tom Stone the Flying Man. The short version.

That is to say, at Hyperspeed. Just to get some girl-time and allow Darren some Privacy on the phone.

"....She did her best sweetheart." He had to lean on the counter to keep himself up, one hand sunk deep into his hair. His daughter was meta, and not just any meta, but the final color of the stone set. "...daddy is a little cut up but I'll be ok. I got all cleaned up and bandaged, I'll just be itchy while it heals."

His voice warbled as he tried to focus on what to say next. "Honey...was anything different about Jinglefairy tonight when you sent her to help?" Maybe this was the first manifestation, how else would he not know about it?!

The story wasn't easy to listen to as Lottie detailed her near rape and self defense of the trucker, but she listened calmly and with as much support as she could, one arm always wrapped around Charlotte as she spoke. She had a horrible sinking feeling things were only going to get worse.

"Oh no! You got cut up! I was just super duper worried about you, and now I'm still worried. You saw jinglefairy? Normally my imaginary friends hide from you, they say that you will make them go away, and sometimes you do. Once Lord Ponyheart exploded into purple mist when you said he wasn't real. He's still mad about that."

The things in Char's story did get worse. Much worse.

 Government capture and kill missions, illegal vivisection, organ harvesting and replanting, locked in a cell with nothing but the power of time, wishing for anything but an end to the cutting and only the ability to make the waiting longer.

The starving when the waiting was longest; when she passed out from hunger after being in hypertime without food for days.

The knowledge that there are things she doesn't remember. Times when they cut on her brain.

The day that anesthesia didn't work anymore.

The days of cutting after that.

The screaming for help that never came.

Until one day; her cries finally wore on Prodigal to the point where he couldn't ignore her anymore and he broke in and freed her.

The papers they showed him to keep her leashed.

The agents that leashed her.

The bargain for freedom that was her Hero career.

Everything.

"..." Slowly Darren slid tot he floor to sit down, Sarge gnawing on his shoe as he did so. "...baby girl, has anyone else seen your imaginary friends before this?" He had to do damage control, he had to protect her...

Valerie cried, how couldn't she after all? Charlotte was her sister. And these were not just tears of sorrow, but rage beyond anything the blond had ever felt before. So raw and angry her heart did beat that her short blond hair began to glow and stand on end in a spectral wind.

Tom had known and said nothing to her. Sure, he left before he could have known just how close Valerie and Charlotte were, but the experimentation, the torture...everything.
He had known.
She was never going to forgive him.

Piper didn't seem to catch the ton of her father's voice over the phone, "Oh, yeah. That's what makes them imaginary and not invisible. People can see them. You've seen them, right? Daddy?"

"Hey, no, hey, don't cry. I'm not mad at you. You don't have super hearing like Tom does. I just... I'm free now, so it doesn't matter what happened before. They won't hurt me anymore." Not can't, wont.

She could still be hurt, but not for long, ad she'd see to it that they weren't going to hurt her for long once they tried to again.

"I'll play nice, but they don't get to be mean to me anymore. I may be on a leash but that just keeps me close enough to bite."

"No baby, I hadn't...they must be real good hiders. Do..they hide from other adults? Like your teachers at school? What about uncle Keith?"
Please let it just have been children that saw them...

If her teacher had seen anything either she chalked it up to magic or simply wasn't reporting any of her students to BRATS.
But why wouldn't she alter Darren what was going on at the school?

"Oh Lottie." Valerie managed between sobs as she continued her death grip on the woman. "I won't let them hurt you ever again, I promise. I always knew something was wrong when you stopped answering my letters but I didn't know what to do!" Scrubbing at the tear trails on her cheeks she sniffed loudly.

"I'm guessing Darren must know." What he had said before about agency suddenly made a lot more sense. "But...how did you two hook up? If he is in hiding for what he is and he is trying to protect his kid...I mean, no offense Lottie I want nothing but for you to be happy but...dating you seems like kicking the beehive."

CCharlotte couldn't cry. She'd done too much crying over her past already, Most often when it was happening or shortly afterward. She hugged Val and tried to shush away the tears. Rocking with her on the sofa.  She wasn't just being hugged now, now she was hugging back.

She wouldn't cry but she could enjoy being back with her best friend.

"Okay, Val, come on. Cry it out. Get it all done, Cause there will be no crying about my biz later. You're gonna make me cry," he voice broke a minute, but was back on track after that, "Let's take a deep breath. Well... not too deep if you like that shirt, but breathe a minute and get it all out."

"now, kicking the beehive as it may, we gotta stick together. All of us. Dar and I feel a deep connection that goes beyond the explodey. We... resonate in some deep way, and we want to fight against all odds to stay together."

Piper sounded as though she had explained this before, "Naw, adults don't like imagination. Seeing it makes them mad, so you gotta hide it. They're jealous, I bet, daddy. Uncle Keef plays imagination with me, but I don't think he notices when I use imagination to do stuff."

There was a deep and relieved sigh that came through the phone. "Oh thank god...Piper, baby, when I get home I wanna talk to you about your imaginary friends, ok? You are not in trouble, but I think there are people out there in the world that might want to use your friends for bad things. Does your mother know?"

"Ok, quit rubbing it in that you got a mega hottie boyfriend that is willing to fight the world for you." She gave Charlotte a light punch on the shoulder. "I'm guessing you two got waaaaaay closer after I got adopted out huh?" She rested her cheek on the top of Charlotte's head, breath still hitching and sputtery as she dried her face again.
"If it makes you feel any better you didn't wanna get adopted by my family anyway. My folks split when I was sixteen. Dad left and then it was just mom and me...and Sarge."

There came a tiny "Oh no" from the other side of the phone, "I'm in trouble! When daddy says I'm not in trouble , that means I ought to be. I didn't even know! Daddy I'm sorr~y. Mommy doesn't know, but sometimes I use imagination instead of magic to do stuff when she makes me do the secret magic practice that daddy's not supposed to know about." She was clearly using mommy as a distraction to get herself out of trouble.

"Don't be mad, daddy. I didn't know imagination was bad. Everybody always said it was good."

Charlotte patted Valerie's back, "And you didn't want to run away with me. It turns out that the government will kidnap scared girls with superpowers."

She dropped her speed field, now that most of the long stuff was over.

"And I don't think they would have let us see each other, anyway."

"No no honey, it's not bad. You are really not in trouble." He promised with a small smile as Piper threw Cynthia under the bus. "It isn't anything like that it's...well...daddy is going to need to talk to you about some things about himself and what that means for you and your imagination."

He braced himself for the impending squeal as his daughter worked out the meaning of that line. "I was never sure if we were going to have to have this conversation...least of all so soon.." He sighed again.

Val snorted in a very unladylike manner. "They haven't found anything yet that I can't blast through, they'd never hold me." She gave Charlotte another hug with a sympathetic look. "And now that we are together again they won't be able to separate us. Promise. Those BRAT assholes are in for double trouble now."

Charlotte shook her head no, "just don't go around killing Brats for me just yet. I've got a god thing going right now. I get to see sunlight, I get to date, and I have my very own pair of Secret agents who watch me all the time... Well, maybe that last one isn't so fun, but it's what I have to do to see sky."

There was a pause before piper gasped and squealed, "Ohmygoodness, am I actually a princess from another dimension, sent to earth to learn to control my magic princess powers? IS that why button can talk and uses big words? Is he my secret guardian protector?"

"Lottie...well at the very least Majora has a new super bff to be compared to now. Look at your cute little face, Cape Tugger is going to say all kind of mean things about me now." Pinching Charlotte's face she gave a sad smile. "But for reals, I can throw around my super weight for you Lottie. If me and Tom are putting pressure on them that can only mean good things for you."

"No sweetie, Button is just a corgi I got from the pet store. He is a regular old earth dog, though he is still your guardian protector with stubby little legs." He smiled despite himself, she was taking this exactly as he had expected.

"As for what we are, we will talk about that when I get home, ok? For now keep it on the hush hush, not that I'm sure Keith is right there beside you ease dropping on every word."

Darren could hear barking from the other end of the phone, "Button says his legs are exactly long enough to reach the ground, and uncle Keef, I am being instructed to say, is not listening to the call, merely making a sandwich. For the duration of the call."

A pause, "Can I tell mommy that I'm a space princess?"

Charlotte patted her distended stomach, "Well between the two of us, I'm actually fat right now, so.... maybe the comparisons will be favorable. And I appreciate the backup; There aren't many people in my corner right now, so four is more than zero, and I appreciate everybody who's there."

"Um..." What was he going to tell Cynthia? "Let me talk to her first ok? I don't want her thinking I wasn't going to tell her at all and then getting mad at me. Last thing Daddy needs right now is a hex put on his head. She will probably wanna cal you and talk to you after I talk with her."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered what he was going to say. Should he come fully clean? Ugh, he didn't want to...

"But everything else there is ok? Powers still going strong and stable? I know the attack was a decent ways from home, but I worry."

"Oh please, like a speedster ever takes a bad photo." She scowled unhappily. "And the Cape Tugger has it in for me, lousy bastards..." She muttered something to herself that sounded like laxative brownies but Charlotte wasn't sure about that.

"I don't think anyone's ever taken a photo of me since I've been let out. I guess we'll see if I take good photos or not." Sticking out her tongue, she crossed her eyes at Valerie.

"Val..."

 She wasn't sure what to say, what could she say? There had been so much time lost.

"So... What's going on with you, lately?m I mean, you're Majora, so things can't be too bad."

"Yeah, daddy. The power went out a minute but then there was a 'bwomp' and the a-auxiliary generator came on. We're good now. We can't get any local stations on the TV though, so we were concerned for what was happening. How did your date go? Was it fun?"

Oh man, hay the knocked out the TV station with all that? Work wouldn't be happy with that, they hated having to get that place back up and running.
"My date? Oh it was going pretty good until her jealous previous incarnation boyfriend showed up and tried to kidnap her away from me after trapping me in a bubble prison and dropping me in broken glass twice." He laughed at the idea. "Though we went out and got Burger Hut after that since our meal at the restaurant was ruined. Though then my frinds evil pug-"
"Gruff."
"Yes you, you little monster. He got into Charlotte's food and ruined it. So, ups and down."

"Ehhhh. I'm single and the butt of just about every heroin joke in the city. Turns out the guy I've been trying to court is gay and never decided to just tell me. So that's like...five years down the toilet." She sighed dramatically. "Oh and my day job is that I work at the Cape Tugger."

Charlotte, sat fully up, surprised, "Why do you work at that litter factory? There's tons of better paid and more suitable jobs out there. Like, actual journalism, for instance. You gotta respect yourself, and a place like that isn't going to be good for your self esteem!"

"Who is your friend? It it somebody from the temp agency like uncle Keef or is it somebody new? Do I get to meet Charlotte today? You two should come home, so I can meet Charlotte!"

"Because it is part of my whole civilian cover." She sighed darkly and flopped back on the sofa, arms spilling over the edge. "It was given to me by the government because who'd believe Majora would work at a trash heap like that? I'm pulling a total Peter Parker. You know all those great photos? Those are me. I've even gotten some nice candid ones of Tom- oh hey!" She sat upright. "I could totally do some racy shots of you and your date if you wanna piss your bosses off! I can even blur out Dare's face!"

"Um well...actually it is another friend I grew up with at the house. We ran into her after the attack and she suggested we crash here for a little bit." It wasn't really a lie at all.

"Her name is Valerie. She and Charlotte used to be the best of friends growing up but she got adopted out. As for bringing Lottie home, doesn't that seem like I'd be rushing things pipsqueak? You don't want me scaring her off do you?"

Charlotte shook her head slowly, "No... No, I don't think so. I think that might fetch me some serious trouble that wouldn't be worth the effort. I don't really want to make waves unless they start being mean to me. We'll put that idea on the table. For now."

A moment of thought, "So you really can't quit the cape tugger? For real? Can you be fired?"

Piper reluctantly accepted the  reasoning, "I guess. If you think she'd get scared by ..." the pun was too easy, "Moving too fast."

"But did you kiss yet?"

"Oh I see, you've waited that long to spring that question on me huh? I thought you had Jinglefairy spying on us for you for that kind or reconnaissance." There was a slight pause as Darren pried Sarge off his good dress pants, worried he really was chewing a hole into them.

"Yes we kissed before the attack happen. And it was a very nice kiss before you ask. It was such a nice kiss it caused fire works and lights and an explosion so now everyone else doesn't want us kissing anymore."

"Pretty sure the editor is in the BBRT's pocket. That's why we never print any really good articles on stuff going on. Just the trashy headline things. I mean, we've got some really good writers, but they are all mega leashed on content that will be printed." She shrugged. "If I did managed to get fired somehow I bemoan what my handler give me instead..."

"Oh nooo," Piper lamented, "They don't want you kissing! But kissing is very important to grownup relationships. Hurry, go and kiss her right now, before it's too late! I'll wait." a suspicious quiet came over the other end of the phone.

"You think they're giving you poopoo jobs because they don't want you having a Civilian life? It just seems a little too comic book, working for the same magazine that constantly bashes you. That's serious biz. You should talk to somebody about how it makes you feel."

Darren looked at the cordless phone before walking into the living room with it pressed to his ear and his shoulder. "I agree, it is very important to grownup relationships. Lottie-" He called as he leaned over the sofa arm to reach her. "My daughter is demanding I give you this." He moved the phone into his hand and pressed a kiss to her lips despite the stink face Valerie was giving them.
He made sure it was a loud one too so his kid could hear it on the phone.

"There, crisis adverted, kisses have happened despite what the bombshell overlord wan-OW!" He glared at Valerie who'd pinched his side.

"No one calls me that blonde bombshell anymore, get with the times Darren." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Daddy! Don't talk about people who aren't your date like that. You can't call people 'bombshells' to their face either," she chastized." But I'm glad that your frind valerie let you two kiss. I am satisfied."

Charlotte was still a little startstuck from the kiss, though.

Slipping onto the sofa to the other side of Charlotte he wrapped an arm around her as he returned the phone to shoulder. The couch was a little crowded with three people plus a pug that was climbing into Val's lap.
"I'm glad baby girl. I'm not sure what time I'll be home tonight, getting a bus might be a little difficult so I might be a bit-"

"ARF ARF ARF!" Came Button's barking in the background.

"...did Button just tell me not to both coming home tonight?"

"No, button said that we should buy a car," Piper corrected, "I told him that we don't have that much money and he said that you make way more than enough at your temp job. We've been having that argument sometimes."

"Well you tell Button that the money in the bank account is emergency savings and your collage fund. Not to mention Vet bills for the next time he eats the sofa and I have to take him to get his stomach pumped at the vets."

He paused.

"And how does Button know how much money I make anyway?!"

There was a  long cavalcade of barking and piper talking muffled over the other end of the phone, as Darren waited Charlotte snaked her arms around both Darren and Valerie.

"Button says that he watched ver your shoulder, and that college isn't that expensive. He also said that he'd eat the sofa less if we had a car to go for rides in."

"Tell button I do not negotiate with terrorists and if that is how he is going to be we will never get a car." Darren leaned into Charlotte as he felt her arm wrap around him and smiled a little, growing more comfortable on the sofa despite his poor sore glass cuts.

Valerie raised an eyebrow at the conversation but didn't interrupt as she too leaned on Charlotte to give the woman more of the seemingly requested physical contact.

A small amount of Barking later piper replied, "Button say's he's not a terrorist, he's a freedom fighter, and that you should respect his rights as a member of the household to have opinions regarding transportation spending."

Chalotte sighed contentedly, happy that she was loved. She missed this. Human contact.

"..." Darren looked at the ceiling as he rubbed some fingers into his temple. "Tell Button I understand his rights and wants but buying a car is not a casual process. Right now we have far cheaper means of transport at our disposal and we do not have to worry about the care and storage of a care. Fair?"

"Is..he really arguing with his dog about not owning a car?" Valerie whispered to Charlotte.

"I think he is," Charlotte agreed.

More barking, "Button says That he's not suggesting it;s a casual process, but if you had a car, late night dates wouldn't rely as much on the bus system's ... Whimsy? Daddy, is Button using whimsy right? I thought it meant things like fantasy and knights."

"You have a dog," Charlotte whispered, "Are conversations like that common?"

Valerie shook her head no. "Sarge does not talk to me like that."
"Gruff." Muttered the pug as he stretched out across both Valerie's and Charlotte's laps.

"Yeah, it can also mean at a whim or sudden unexpected change. Normally it has a playful meaning and often used to describe something fantastical or odd like you are used to." Darren explained dutifully. "And tell Button this dating thing is a very new need. But...he might not be wrong." He admitted after a begrudging moment.

There was a victorious series of barks from the other side of the phone, it sounded almost musical. "Button humbly accepts your compromise and is not doing an 'I win' dance, because that would be rude, Button." Her voice was more of a stern reproach at the end, and it was not directed at Darren.

"Hey, nothing has been decided yet dog!" He scoffed and shook his head. "Ok baby girl, I was just calling in to check in on everything and to let you know I'm ok. I'm going to get back to my date, be good for Uncle Keith and tell him I'm sorry about my phone frying."

"Okay, have fun. I'll tell uncle Keef that you ruined a phone and are sorry about it. Bye Daddy! I love you!"

Charlotte nodded as she eavesdropped, nuzzling Darren's shoulder, "Your dog is silly, but he does have a point about your having a car. I mean, I was kinda surprised that you don't have one."

"My car is a story of lost love." He bemoaned softly. "I had a car, I had a car I loved and spent all of high school working and saving for. My poor Cadillac...same day I got fired from the paper was the day Dr TK used it as a bludgeon weapon on some giant robot monster thing." He sighed heavily at the memory. "I have some hang ups about a new car. That was during the whole time period I was getting divorced from my wife..."

Charlotte nodded, "So your car was the final straw in a string of unfortunate circumstances I'm sorry. I promise that I won't use any cars as Bludgeoning weapons when I fight"

She held up her hand in a peace sign, "Scout's honor. Valerie, You, too."

She snorted. "Please, I'd use Tom as a beating stick before I used some giant ball of shrapnel waiting to happen. Also, laser fists, remember?" She held up her two fists at Charlotte. "Chichi and Bulma don't need any outsider help."

Charlotte looked at her own hands, "My fists don't have names. Should I name my fists? That seems like something that I would do. I mean, I named my boobs, so I might as well name my fists, right?"

"Suggestions, you guys?" She looked to her two friends with interest, seeking their input.

"..." Darren's mouth open and then closed and then open to speak again. "Well fort eh sake of name themeing, what did you name your breasts?"

Valerie punched him in the shoulder. "Fresh! But no really, what are they named Lottie?"

"Owww.."

She hefted herself, jiggling about in her black dress, looking proud as ever about them, "They are the Ma'ams, if you must know, as in 'Yes Ma'ams'. They are named together because they always work best together. I don't think there is a very similar name we could give me fist-ohs, or I probably would have already thought of it."

Darren looked at Valerie uncertainly as though he feared getting hit again if he said anything. His shoulder was already going to bruise from the first hit, he didn't need it to be any worse.
"Well...if you are using Yes Ma'ams you could continue an almost military sounding set with something like Sargent in Arms and Captain Carpal."

She thought a minute, dropping the girls, "That's a little too military. I was held captive by the gub'mint, yanno, maybe something a little less official. Maybe an awful pun like 'paws for effect' or 'fists of blurry'"

"What about bitch and lady? I'm always getting wise guys telling me to act more like a lady. And then you can even ask the crims which one they want, the Lady or the Bitch." Valerie suggested with a grin. "Ehh ehh? Good idea right?"

She stroked her chin thoughtfully, "Yessss. That's sounding good. Not quite kid friendly, but I'm no Majora." She balled her hands up into fists and looked at them, "Maybe? That one goes on the short list. Darren you have a counter-proposal? Something along those lines?"

"Hm, if you want something more kid friendly there is Punch and Judy." He shrugged a little. "I'm actually pretty partial to Bitch and Lady though if you don't mind the stigma attached to them. Personally, I haven't named my fists though."

Her eyes widened, "Punch and Judy! Oh man! That goes on the short list now, too. Okay, got two. Punch and Judy and Lady and Bitch. I like both too much... This is gonna be a hard choice." She looked at both of her fists, going back and forth in her mind.

"Hmmm..."

"Well no rush to pick between them." Darren offered. "It's not like you are choosing between Val and me-"

Valerie scooted Charlotte closer to her. "Well Lottie you know that saying. Sisters before Misters."

"Hey, I was being sincere. I really didn't think either of us be offended by whatever she picked. I retract that feeling. You are as possessive as ever Val."  Darren rolled his eyes at the blonde.

"Damn skippy." She wrapped her other arm around Charlotte. "I'm not going to make things easy on you nerd, if you want Lottie you gotta earn her."

"Oh joy, it's middle school all over."

Charlotte squeaked a little as she was squeezed, "Meep. Hey, Darren already earned me. You missed the time he put on power armor and stopped a team of Brats from firing sleep mortars at me. No fooling. Then he asked me out on a date where he hired a superhero to distract the Brats." She reached over to drag Darren into what was now a Group Hug.

"...I thought you said you were doing the whole unregistered thing. Why would you have access to power armor and a superhero for hire sir?" Valerie squinted at him as he was yanked down into the hug by Charlotte face first into her chest.

"Uh..." Was his muffled response.

"So you're a real vigilantly? Dude that isn't smart. No wonder your double knew how to grapple." She raised on leg to push Darren out of the hug.

"I'm not a vigilantly! I just wanted a normal life but what kind of asshole just watches a kid get crushed by rubble?! Yeah sure, I step in during the T1 events to help keep people safe, but I'm not a cape."

"I bet if we searched him we'd find a mask." Val raised an eyebrow at Charlotte.

Charlotte crinkled her nose, pulling Darren tighter into the hug, "Hey! I'm the only one who gets to search Darren! You trying to steal my boyfriend, Val? Not cool."

"Oh I see, you've already searched him and found something incriminating." She nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose when you can practically stop time for yourself that would be pretty easy. I'm guessing you are the one that bandaged him up, that doesn't look like a Triage job."  She gave a small shake of her head before frowning. "Hey...how come you two never had the whole power explosion thing before? I don't believe today was the first time you'd of done it at super speed.."

"Not that it is your business, but today was the first time we kissed. This was only our second date." Daren said, face back down in Lottie's chest. She was doing this on purpose...

"WHAT?! You didn't even kiss till the second date? Ew, you can keep him Lottie. I like my men a little more action orientated then that."

"You say that, but you should see him shirtless. It's like a cold ones brewery there so many six packs. Also, I didn't want to scare him off by progressing to far too quickly in our relationship. Especially since it's been... what, eleven years since I've been allowed to date? Gimme some run-up time, Val."

"mm I suppose that is fair." Val sighed and nuzzled her cheek into the top of Lottie's head. Some Gal's go about dry spells differently. But you-" She stuck her foot into Darren's side. "You treat her good or else."

"Yes Val." Darren said, still muffled and face down in his girlfriends rack. "You literally can both kill me so that seems like a wise idea."

Rolling her eyes Valerie glanced out the window at the moon with a mournful sigh. Her own dating pool sucked.
"Ok kids, now what? Do we raid my fridge for some booze and watch to see how long until local news kicks in and names fake Darren as Prodigals new greatest menace?"

Lottie shrugged, letting Darren up for some air. "I'm not allowed to have booze. It conflicts with my image and I can cause damage faster than damage control can clean it up."

"If you want we could save Mopey Val and help her get a boyfriend? I'm sure one of us must know somebody."

"Uhhh." Darren looked less sure about that idea as Valerie scoffed.

"Oh yeah it's not like I'm gunna narc on you to your handlers." She waved a hand and scooped them both up like potato sacks, one under each arm as Sarge hopped off her lap.
"Who is gonna know when we are in my own apartment. I mean really. A few drinks won't hurt we are all adults. I never got to spend out teen years drinking with you Lottie like you did Darren. That is hardly fair."

"Val this is really uncomfortable." Darren said from under her arm. "I think I'm gunna puke if this keeps up."

"Ugh, invulnerables are such sissies when you take their powers away." She put him down on all fours on the ground as she continued to carry Charlotte.

Meanwhile Lottie was having a great time. "Wheee! I worked too hard for this food to throw it up." Her stomach didn't seem to get the memo, though and, sloshing and galunk-ing as she was swung about.

"Maybe."

She bit back a burp, before continuing, "But seriously, I'm like, the least inhibited person here. I don't think alcohol would be too good an idea.TV sounds fun, though. Maybe you two can fight over my affections by suggesting movies that came out in the last ten years that I oughta see."

Valerie just sighed in disappointment as she placed Charlotte on her counter top. "Fine, you get icecream then. But you-" She shot Darren a look. "You are drinking with me."

"What? Why?!"

"Because I just found out some deep shit and need to drink some of my emotions into oblivion." She snapped as she opened her freezer and pulled out a carton of death by chocolate ice cream and put it in Charlotte's lap while she pulled out a bottle of whipped cream vodka for herself. "The only man my physical equal is gay and has been hiding it seems just about every secret under the sun he could from me. One of my childhood best friends has been tortured for years, oh, and she's dating a nerd." she said the last bit more lightheartedly. "It is enough to drive me to drink Darren Gray."

"But why do I have to drink?"

"Because drinking alone will just make me more sad!"

Charlotte poked her belly, talking to it as she sat on the counter,  "Tummy, you got room for ice cream in there?" Then in a high-falsetto replied, "no. Kill me. Please."

"You got it tummy, Death by ice cream!"

"Whyyyyy? Why do you torment me so," Her tummy voice cried out of the side of her mouth.

"Because I'm a former professional eater and a speedster-slash-regenerator, I can eat everything forever!" Her stomach let out an unhealthy gurgle as she gestured wildly with a spoon.

With two shot glasses in hand Valerie ushered everyone back into teh living, Sarge going and laying down in his doggy bed by his food and water bowl contently. He apparently didn't act up when Val was around.

"Ok let's see. News." She clicked the Tv on as poured two shots. "Let's play a drinking slash eating game. One scoop of ice cream or one shot whenever they try and name the new bad guy. I'd say whenever they mention Prodigal but I think that much might honestly kill me and Darren."

Charlotte readied the spoon in anticipation over the open carton of ice cream she had apparently procured from somewhere. "You're on."

She torqued the spoon like a motorcycle handle saying mimicking revving engine noises as she did so.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:45, Wed 08 July 2015.

Valerie clicked the Tv on and leaned back, shot in hand as she rested her arm over Charlotte's shoulders. The first channel already had local news playing on and they had their field reporter on location of the destroyed restaurant.

"That's right Margret, just moments ago an as of yet unknown assailant attacked a group of diners here at Savoureux. Included in those diners was the man who flies himself Prodigal. Power is still down in a three block radius though I am told the city has teams working on repairs as we speak. I have also been told by witnesses that anyone caught in the initial power blast by the assailant had any powered devices destroyed. This has caused a mass loss of information on the event as no one at the scene was able to capture any footage. As you can see, damage here is minimal particularly when one considers this was a Tier one event according to the BBTR. It almost seems like the assailants intent was not physical damage to the area and there are reports he seemed highly focused on Prodigal and an unknown bio-dynamic female diner."

"UN-Known?" Charlotte let out a "Boooo" at the television,"You meant to say the Quixotic Quickstep! The Demon of Speed, the Lady of Light, She's the terror who Laps in the Night!" She readied a rude gesture at the reporter but kept listening, ready to take an Ice Cream shot. Or two.

"Give the guy a break, you were out of mask." Darren reminded her as he also wondered if she knew what Quixotic really meant was delusional. "Your bosses probably didn't want your first big press to be all that nonsense." He reminded as he leaned down and ate the spoon full of ice cream she had at the ready.

"Other first hand accounts are saying the strange electrical storm that effected the majority of the city with power fluctuations and brown outs was also caused by this mysterious man."
"Well Felix, it sounds like this new stranger is a Blackout waiting to happen."

"Drink." Announced Valerie as she took her shot.

Charlotte shook her head, taking a bite of ice cream, "Booo. Try again, newsies. If this is what constitutes reporting on this channel, I'm going for the remote before they try to pitch us 'Outage' and 'Temporary Service Interruption' as names."

The next channel was mid interview with a young woman in a waitress outfit from the restaurant. The flashing lights and yellow tents of the Triage in the background showed that they were not at the site of the disturbance, but seeking witnesses who had evacuated.

The male reporter was listening politely as she explained the 'Catasplosion of lightwaves' from when the unknown visitor appeared.

"It was a zillion motes of blue an orange light all commin' atcha like a space screensaver. An then, Huttah! Was a dude being all malicious and armored talkin' shade at P-Man, like, "I can do your job better than you."

"I forget that you are new to this business in New Haven. They will pitch as many dumb names as possible and see which one Prodigal picks for when he gives his statement on the event tomorrow." She was already pouring new shots for herself and Darren as they listened to the young woman's interview. "Tom always takes his sweet time going over everything and looking at the suggestions. And since it was a fake fight he'll be even more picky with the name choice of his new arch-nemesis."

Darren groaned unhappily. "I don't want to be a arch-nemesis."

"Don't worry squishy, you won't be. Your duplicate is."

"No, it doesn't work like that, it's still me. I'll remember everything when we merge again." He sighed and took the second shot in hand as he watched the screen. "Blackout isn't so bad, he seems to control lightning and was in all black. I've heard worse. But I doubt Tom pick it, he'd want something to counter Prodigal."

"It is interesting to hear about the bit's I missed. I showed up about halfway through it seems after I got...well..I guess called? It was weird. I heard like...a voice calling for me." Lightly Valerie touch a hand to her chest. "Like on the inside. I thought it was Tom but...I guess not?"

Charlotte nodded, "Yup, I felt it too, but I think it was coming from Catasplosion of Lightwaves Man. Maybe getting more than one set of power made him, like, some kinna focus for the Gray kids with powers? Iunno." She shruged as the interviewer selected another bystander to talk to. Hopefully their nice clothes denoting a somewhat more refined vocabulary.

"Sir, What do you know about the so-called supervillain who showed up today?"

"I don't know anything," the Patron replied turning away and walking off a bit.

"Ma'am, what about you," he aske another well dressed customer, who also shied away.

Another customer, meanwhile, approached the reporter on her own, patiently waiting for her fifteen minutes of fame. Upon the microphone and camera being waved in her general direction, though, she began, "I saws it, I did. I'm in town on buisness, and I goes to this nice restaraunt with my business partner, I does, and I sees a couple go out to neck on the balcony, but they was interrupted by this here explosion that left twinkly-stars in the air. They gawk at them like they's high and Prodigal goes over to get them out of there."

"All of a suddenly another explosion comes again and there's this Man there, Strange as you please. Dressed in all this oily black plastic ensemble, he's just glowing there before he starts putting people in globes, he does Saying that he's from another dimension and that Prodigal's been doing his job, like he's some kinda Ursurper-er to his very own throne or something."

"Prodigal tries to talk him down, he does, but he's all crazy and tries to take one of the necking couple for his very own. He takes the Girl, he does, and she musta been a real-life superhero or something because she blasted him right in the face with a laser or something right from her hands."

Darren grimaced at the explanation, not liking that someone noticed enough that there was two blasts of power before his duplicate really showed up. He also didn't like being called high.
"...that is unfortunate that someone was watching us, even if we did zip out tot he balcony I don't know how long we were out of super speed while kissing.." He rubbed the back of his neck as Valerie shrugged.

"I'm calling Usurper another name, drink." She took her shot.
"What? No, usurper is a title not a na-"
"Drink." She pushed the shot to his lips pointedly.

Charlotte mused through a mouthful of iceream and then let out a laugh, "Oh man. I need to run over there and just start dropping names in an interview." She half stood and then looked at the ice cream, "But then I wouldn't be here to eat it."

Meanwhile the woman had gotten to the entrance of Majora, "By that time, my business partner had run off, he did. And I sees a lady all in white appear all of the suddenly, punching that there Interloper guy, I think he was called Interloper by that woman. And he gets flung to the far reaches, you betcha."

This time Valerie just took her shot straight from the bottle before refilling Darren's shot glass. "That's more like it." She chimed happily.

Darren looked begrudgingly at the third shot and took it before eh could he yelled at by Valerie again. "Well you could literally run back and forth and we'd never be able to tell, though that seems like a lot of work for one spoonful of ice cream. Also your bosses might try and snag you for a proper debriefing on what happened. We sorta just slipped away from the kill the team."

Val's nose wrinkled. "Eh, I didn't even talk to the Boyz this time. I just came and found you. They can get whatever Tom wants to tell them." She waved a hand and began refilling the shots again.

"Val maybe we should slow down.." Darren looked at the fourth shot which they'd be taking in under ten minuets. Even if he was invulnerable that was going to hit him still.

Charlotte poked Valerie in the side near the place she last remembered seeing her ticklish spot, "So, Val, how do you get Drunk? I thought you were all tough and stuff, Aren't your guts tough, too?" Pokepoke.

"So then this guy's getting helped out by some kinda purple fire girl, don'cha know. We all start poking our head outta the car as it's leaving and he just flies off, and Prodigal and the blonde lady take off after him. That's the last I saw of the guy."

Valerie twitched but did her best to hide her weakness. "I g-eh-et drunk like anyone else. Sure might take a little more but I'm a seasoned drinker. I have to turn on my super powers unlike Tom. If I really wanted I might be able to get my liver to super do it if I like, needed to win a drinking contest to save the universe." She shrugged. "Also I wanna know how the hell that lady doesn't know how Majora is. I was the second god damn superhero! I was the first female!" She shook her bottle at the TV and drank her shot.

"But there was no na-" Darren started to say and was cut off. "Oh, ok drinking, right." He took his own shot as he looked away muttering that this was a bad idea.

Charlotte crouched low, "Oh? Can you turn on immunity to tickles?" She flexed her pokin' fingers at Valerie's side once or twice watching her try to avoid flinching.

"Youuuuuuu got some vodka on my Ice Cream... I might have to pay you back...."

Suddenly Charlotte unleached a blurred barrage of grabby, pinchy tickles up and down Valerie's side." She figured that she'd be fast enough to catch the bottle if it dropped. Heck, if the bottle broke she'd be fast enough to strain out the glass and catch the liquid before it hit the ground.

 Darren winced in sympathy for Valerie as the woman shrieked and nearly threw the bottle of Voldka in response to the inhuman tickling she was now subject to. Being tickled at super speed was not even a threat Darren had considered before all this. Now he knew something to fear from his girlfriend besides deadly lasers.

Valerie's eyes watered up as she laughed her way to the floor, trying to escape Charlotte by slowly slinking away from the sofa. The bottle was put away to the side of the sofa in a great show of restraint from the blonde, even her flailing kicking was what she would consider a minimum.
She didn't even kick Darren despite being able to reach him.

As quickly as it started, it was over. Charlotte didn't Persue her quarry to the floor, she allowed escape, instead merly watching her from her perch and questioning, "You okay, Val? Why'd you fall off the sofa," as though nothing had just happened.

Valerie glared at Charlotte's false innocents. "Oh, oh is that how it is gunna be?" She wiped her eyes with one hand as she sat up on her knees. "Ok, we can play like this again Lottie." She raised her own tickling hands and surged forward.

Now she knew that Charlotte would move, but that wasn't her real target. OH no, Valerie knew she couldn't catch Lottie, but Darren was a easy vulnerable target.

She was so prepared for charlotte to zip out of the way that she collided face first into Lottie's chest as she curled up in place, letting out a tiny 'noooo- What? Well, Hi Val. Comfortable in there? They are pretty great aren't they? Not as nice as yourself, but I work with what I have."

Valerie remained there a moment as she muddled out what happened before reaching out and tickling Charlotte's sides anyway. It wasn't like the speedster could really escape like this after all. And Valerie didn't need to see what she was doing, she could feel just fine. The tickling was just as merciless as what Charlotte had given out, one hand always pinching onto the Lottie to keep her from being able to escape too easily.

Darren scooted back from the impending flailing and simply drank his shot quietly. He was not getting in the middle of that. He didn't feel like getting his nose or glasses broken.

Charlotte became a blurry smear in everyone's vision ash she was manhandled and tickled. It can be assumed that she laughed, but it came out at high speed and in a long uninterrupted chirrup-squeal. There really wasn't much she could do, admittedly, against a super-strong invulnerable best friend. When she was finally released, she was drenched with sweat and collapsed from exertion, her once bloated stomach now svelte again, but rising and falling hard with her breathing... The Television played on, ignored.

"God Damn. I just burned like Nine Billion calories, Val! That might have been a bit disproportionate."

"...if you were in hyper speed, how was Val's movements effecting you like a tickle?" Darren asked as he placed his empty glass down. "The movement should have been too slow to notice..."

"I..don't think I was speedy.." Val poked at Charlotte with her foot as the woman laid half off the sofa in her exhaustion.

Charlotte shrugged, or almost did, "Do I look like I am in any shape... to discuss temporal physics right now?" She raised an eyebrow at Darren and stared at him, or at least the space he occupied, partly wiped out, partly enjoying the post-exercise high."

"Hmm." Darren still puzzled it over, wondering just how Charlotte's powers worked. IT was interesting on several levels really and could some day save their lives if they knew just how it worked.

Valerie had other ideas however.
"Well, two of us have suffered a tickle attack." She said as she started to scoot over top Charlotte's legs, effectively pinning them to the sofa and holding the speedster at an awkward angle.

"Mm hm." Darren agreed not really listening.

"..." Valerie lunged, hands going for Darren's ribs. Thankfully his chest hadn't really had any glass damage, so the prodding pokes and scratches didn't really hurt. But that isn't to say he was enjoying the uncontrollable laughter he was forced into either.

Charlotte couldn't move, and she couldn't tickle Valerie for fear of causing her to crush Darren so instead she did the only thing she could.

Charlotte lifted up Valerie's shirt and planted a big, wet raspberry on the middle of her back. Jeez, she had a lot of muscles... Jealous.

"Zibbert!" And again, another raspberry.

"EW! EW EW EW!" Valerie responded. "That feels gross! Quit it! Not on my back you weirdo!" She squirmed as a third wet raspberry was blown. "Fine! Two can play this game!" She in response yanked up Darren's shirt and paused. "Oh, huh, you weren't kidding about the cold one's thing. I thought you were just being nice because he was your boyfriend. When the hell did this happen?"

"Look I work out, ok?! I didn't do anything to deserve this! Let me go!" Darren was trying to scrabble away, but again like Charlotte, was helpless against a super strong opponent.

"Nope! Guilt by association! And probably Karma for doing this to your kid!"

"I respect my daughter's bodily autonomy!! No!" He pleaded before Valerie zibberted him as pay back to Lottie.

Charlotte tapped Val's Bottom a few times before losing the flex and falling about the floor and sofa again panting hard, "Okay, time out. We're all a bit worn and high-strung. No more. Time out. Game over."

Val eased up and let herself flop to the floor as Lottie had, laying beside her as she laughed. "That was gross Lottie, now my back is all wet." She elbowed the other woman. "Grooossss."

Darren meanwhile yanked down his shirt, face red from both embarrassment and laughing as hard as he had. God his sides hurt now.
Both he and Valerie were flush and breathing hard as Darren tried to stretch out on the sofa without kicking either of the girls on the floor. "What...what did I do to earn any of that?!" He scrubbed at his face with one hand to try and remove the blush.

"Well I rightly couldn't go after Charlotte so you were second best. What can I say, I've picked up a lot of pointers from villains." She laughed again and took Charlotte's hand into her, lacing their fingers together. "I missed this. I missed you, both of you."

Charlotte squeezed Val's hand anc couldn't keep the smile from her voice, "Aww, that's sweet. I missed you, too. What brought on the sentimentality, the booze or the ticklefight?"

She got up on an elbow to check on Darren, not being able to see him that well from the floor, "What about you, Dee? You alright?"

"I don't get to just...play with folks." Valerie sighed and rolled on to her side while still holding Charlotte's hands. "Even Tom keeps me at arms length. I could never do something like this with him. It's always appearances with him, and the other heroes I have to keep my work face on. But with you two it's just...it's just like it was."

"Meh." Darren responded from the sofa as he straightened his glasses and clothing, one leg crossing up and over the other. "I'll live."

"Awwww." Val pouted a lip out at him. "Did mean old Valerie hurt you? Does someone need to keep the boo-boo better? I didn't even poke you hard enough to bruise Dare, suck it up. I know you are probably all extra sensitive without your powers but c'mon man. You're a grown ass adult. Take your tickles like the super villain you are."

Lottie Laughed, Patting their entwined hands with her free hand.

"I liked this, too. I missed... people. Being social, having a family , yanno? Thank you for coming back into my life, even if you did Kidnap me and my boyfriend, Force us to do shot and prevent us from making out. I man, that doesn't sound any worse than anything else that happened tonight, right?"

"Don't give me that, I fed you ice cream." She pointed a finger at Charlotte. "And you two kissing apparently causes explosions and for you two to act high. Though, getting high off kissing does sound pretty amazing...BUT it is also dangerous. You two were almost caught. If Darren couldn't duplicate think where you'd be."

Daren sighed on the sofa. "....I really should call my wife and talk about tonight." He ran a hand over his face as he thought about it. "...my daughter said that the purple woman that came to help the armored me was her imaginary friend.."

Charlotte didn't know what to say to that. Darren had been so afraid of his daughter being like him. Being discovered. Being taken away.

This GOD-DAMNED SYSTEM!

She was suddenly angry, but there was nothing that she needed to outrun, nothing that she could fix by being fast.

"I'm Sorry, Darren. I know that you don't want her to be taken away or discovered, but this should be a happy time. You just found out that your daughter is not just special to you, but special in a completely new way. I know that your first response is going to be shame and the impulse to hide, but don't forget how much fun it is to be special as a child. How much we wanted to be special."

Darren's mouth tightened in a grimace as he kept his hand over his eyes, he didn't want Charlotte or Valerie see his real distress. He'd never wanted to be special as a kid, he had wanted to be normal. With a normal family, and a normal life...
He'd been so scared of his powers when he'd gotten them.

"I'm not ashamed of her abilities, I am terrified what will be done to her if we are caught. Look what they did to you, look what they did to that whole team of children they 'raised' to be heroes. Spectral sentient manifestation, healing...these are not common powers Lottie. Not to mention however she fits into the puzzle that the rest of us are...my baby girl isn't just special she's powerful and rare."

Charlotte zipped over to Darren, holding him in a warm and sudden embrace, still sweaty, but there for him, "Well, yeah, she's powerful and rare, but that just makes her that much harder to capture. If I'd been as fast as I am now when they'd come for me then, They wouldn't have gotten me. But she's got something that I didn't have when I was caught that will make a huge difference."

She held Darren at Arm's length to look into his eyes, "A whole family of Superheroes to protect her."

There was still fear and worry in his eyes as she looked into them, but there was a spreading of relief as well. For someone who's only major power had been invulnerability the idea of protecting his child was a lot more difficult then if he had the power set of either Charlotte or Valerie. His built up worries and fears were perfectly reasonable.

"Thank you." He pulled her back against him to rest his forehead into her shoulder. "Piper is everything to me, I'd give up everything of my own to keep her safe and happy. Knowing she has someone else looking out for her as well..that...that is a huge relief."

Valerie didn't say anything as she sat up on the floor, listening rather then speaking. Darren was probably the only one in their group that had had a child of his own. She could imagine the way he felt though.
Family was a beautiful thing to all of them, even to those who had been adopted by broken homes.

When it had seemed that everyone might be fine, that everything might turn out all right, The phone rang, it's insistence nearly drowning out the television. Charlotte waved a hand at the kitchen phone, dismissing it, "Oh, not right now, we're having a family moment."

Valerie rolled her eyes she got up to answer her phone. "It is probably work calling telling me to go get photos. They are the only ones that ever call me."

Picking up the phone she moved into the kitchen to talk uninterrupted by Darren and Charlotte's inevitable make-outs.
"Hello, Valerie Majors speaking."

The voice on the other end was just as urgent as the ring, male, unknown age, "Valerie, You don't know me, but my name is Phil, and I work for the Bureau, The Microphones in your apartment detected the voice print of a suspect wanted for questioning. They've dispatched agents to your apartment. Tow nasty ones, Book and Verdant. I though you should be warned."

Valerie blinked. "...what microphones?" She asked in a overly calm voice that barily hid her internal rage. She had been promised the apartment wasn't bugged. That she wasn't being constantly watched.
They had promised her.

The voice got overly hurried, you could practically hear 'Phil' looking over his shoulder. "I'm sorry. There's red blinkos all over the area. My supervisor is coming. I gotta be quick. Thermostat by computer, Bedroom wall lamp, Switch that doesn't do anything by bathroom. They haven't yet pinned the Voice on Your friend, Computer thinks the MIB is there. What lie do I say? Need to get story straight."

"Lottie!" Valorie said quickly. "Do your thing!" She needed more time to think, she needed time to smooth this out.

"Val is everything ok?" Darren asked from the living room as they heard her call out.

The sound of the world slowed to a crawl; it was very much like going deaf as the television slowed down and went quiet and gray, the picture refreshing slowly line-by-line in bright colored spots. Phil went quiet. Charlotte was standing by Val suddenly, She and Darren having walked over to bring ehr 'up to speed.'

She was worried, "What's wrong, who's on the phone?"

"Some guy who says my apartment is bugged by BRATs and they picked up on Darren's voice with some program and they think he duplicate is here and they dispatched Book and Verdant which means they can just teleport here any moment!" She ran a hand through her short hair. "I can't believe my apartment is bugged, they promised me they wouldn't!"

"And you believed them?!" Darren had gone pale. Had they heard everything?

"I DIDN'T KNOW HOW EVIL THEY WERE AN HOUR AGO DARREN!" Valerie snapped at him.

Charlotte shook her head, "I don't know, can this guy be trusted? What if it's a test or something? Maybe a prank? Why would they bug you, you're the favorite."

It was more wishful thinking than factual analysis. If the apartment wasn't bugged, how would they know that people were over? No, this was serious.

"Should we Run? Is it Moon time?"

"I can't get you to the moon and just running away they'd know we are guilty of something. Wait!" She grabbed Charlotte's hand and dragged her back to her bedroom where she got a old VHS case off her shelf and rushed back. Popping it open was a handful of differently colored stones.
"What are you?! Green?! Red!? Blue!?" She just grabbed a handful and mushed them against Darren's chest before he could react.

Charlotte rushed to stop it, grabbing at the stones to prevent them from coming into contact with Darren, "Waitwait! Nononono, there goes our alibi. Darren WAS completely human. Passed on scans and stuff... We could have said he..."

And then as her hand made contact with an orange stone she remembered that it was Skin-to-rock contact that activated them. His shirt saved him, but she wasn't wearing gloves.

Orange light ran up her arm coalescing into the geometric lines that her raised scars made, those oddly perfect scars, lighting them up like fiber optics and spreading a comfortable warmth through her being.

"Shit. Kinda."

"Well...that is going to cause another power surge." Darren noted as he watched the orange light race across his girlfriends body. He watched her with a worried look as he gently took her jaw into one hand to look into her eyes. "How you feel Lottie?"

She blinked a few times, her eyes alight with an orange corona and her skin alive with that same light alone the lei lines of her scars. "I feel okay. How are you?"


She flicked her fingers a few times, trying to shake the glow off. "So.. uhh, when's this supposed to go away?"

"I don't know, it doesn't when I have the powered up double..." Although her having the glow wasn't as bad since she was a known super. Turning her face side to side he lightly traced one glowing line. "Can you...turn it off? Like if you focus on it? Maybe it's like a built up power that would discharge with an energy attack."

Valerie just stood by in sheepish horror, clutching the handful of stones to her chest. "Loooottiiiieee."

Charlotte closed her eyes and concentrated, as she did so, the glow receded... and so did her scars. She was left with a flawless tan complexion.

she opened her eyes, now a pale hazel instead of the orange they had been, "Okay, howzat?"

"You...you look like the old you!" Darren marveled at her as he traced where the lines should have been. "Hazel eyes, no scars...you..shape shifted? Can you do anything else? Try changing your hair color."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, a pink sheen running up her hair from the roots that slowly spread to color the whole of her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes included. She looked up and around, trying to see the top of her own head, "Did I do it? Is my hair pink?"

"Oh my god Lottie! You did!" Valerie began sticking her stones back into their case as she marveled at the change in her friends hair. "Can you do anything else?! oh um um...be taller!"

She gritted her teeth and a sound like stretching rubber gloves emanated from her form as she grew almost a foot, her dress now fitting more like a short club skirt. IT was amazing that a change in height alone could do, as now her smooth toned muscle and feminine curves were lost on a gangly frame. Combined with the pink hair and lack of scars she looked like a whole new parson.

Charlotte held up a hand and looked at her long fingers, "This is so weird. I feel like you both shrunk..."

Darren was just gawking as Valerie clapped. "Oh this is so cool Lottie, you can do human transformation! Hm, how can we use this to our benefit." She scrutinized Charlotte a moment. "Can...you be Darren?" She pointed to Charlotte's date.

Charlotte shook her head, "nono, I got it! Gimmie a sec..."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, he skin turning black and her hair receding into her scalp. Her shoulders got wider and she popped a few stitches on her dress as her frame bulked up and spread out. Armored plates grew on her shoulders and glass shards jutted out of her dress along her ribcage. No longer was she thin Lottie, but a reasonable approximation of the Man in black... wearing a dress.

"Snk." Laughing into her hand she tugged on the very stuck on dress. "I think we might need to cut this off now sweetie, sorry. So you can make some big show or speech and then free time and run off like you poofed away like he did earlier!"

"Does...she sound like me?" Darren questions hesitantly.

Not-Darren cleared her throat and... Charlotte's voice came out, "Mwahaha... aww nuts. How do I.." She coughed, trying again, "I am.." Still Charlotte. "I guess I better not talk."

"Mm hm." Valerie nodded. "I have an idea for that. You might just need a...mmm sample to help with the change." She scooted Darren right up to his not-self. "Go on, kiss."
"What?! I thought we weren't allowed to kiss!"
"Well now it may save our lives! Kiss."

Not-Darren waved them both away, Charlotte's voice still coming out, "Gimmie a sec. I can do it."

Closing her eyes she concentrated and the whole form shifted, imperfections leaching out and melting away, the dress sliding off in slivers as the creature flexed Darren's voice coming out.

"Mollǝʎ, Ǝnlq, I return. Why do you have need of me?" No trace of Charlotte was in those words.

"..." Replied the pair at first.
"...that..is very unsettling." Said Darren finally.
"Wow, that is really convincing." Valerie said as she scooted Darren back and away from the creature. "That is still you, right Lottie?"

Darren wasn't so sure, he'd never referred to himself as anything while in that form. What was Ǝnlq?

Charlotte's voice came out briefly, "Oh, yeah, I didn't switch out for Darren or anything, it's just like... Like there's a right way to pretend, yanno?"

Again, the other voice came out of the featureless face, "Now, Shall we prepare? Time, however abundant, is still limited."

"Mmmm ok, so what are we going to do about there not being you around." He motioned to the empty space in the room around them. "I mean if I am here with Val we need an excuse for where you have gone."

"Yeah, I don't think they'd buy into me and Darren begin old friends who decided to hang out after his date went in the shitter." Valerie nodded in agreement with herself. "And they heard your voice on the system too."

The not-Darren spoke in a calm tone, as if lecturing a child, "Clearly I came to retrieve what was mine, and she resisted. Running away to save her..." The thing looked at Darren cooly, "Toy."

"Well gee Lottie, thanks for leaving me here." He rolled his eyes a little. "What about Val though, is she not interesting to you?"

"Hey, I'm just as hot as Charlotte! We both got face melting lasers!" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Maybe that is why you didn't just go after Charlotte, you hoped to nab Val since she is a bit...slower."

The thing Charlotte was pretending to be looked at the two of them carefully, "Perhaps. Previously I believed her to be too difficult to take by force. What would have to change after my defeat at her hands?"

Another look at Valerie, "Perhaps without Tom's corrupting influence, she can be brought to see the light on her own?"

"She had calmed down after she was bubbled last time. Maybe you think she really was just reacting in fear in an attempt to protect Tom? Maybe you just needed the chance to really talk to her." Darren shrugged a little. "Tom's always been the sort of defacto Alpha male in the world of Heroes. Without him here it seems likely that Val be less confident in everything."

"Hey." She elbowed Darren. "When we fought out on the sea platform you weren't as aggressive. You were mostly trying to subdue me, you know rolling around and grappling. OH! Maybe you sent the purple girl after Charlotte? They seemed to get along so maybe she is trying to talk Lottie into coming along while you deal with me?"

The figure nodded, "Yes, that will Do. Now, what are we going to do after they arrive? Shall I disappear or fight them?"

Quickly Valerie shook her head no. "Fighting them is a bad idea. You were so weak before and you didn't want to fight. I think trying to poof away via super speed really is best. And then Lottie can come back at some point to describe her encounter with the purple girl."

"Mm, I agree." Darren nodded.

"Then is is a plan. You should tell your friend on the Phone such, that is , if you want to keep him concurrent with our plans." The figure crossed it's arms and waited, merely saying, "Let me know when you are ready to return to normal time."

Valerie looked at the phone. "Um..does...that work? He isn't here...and..phone...sendy stuff..."

The figure couldn't blink, so there was not telling if it's eyes were closed when it took a deep breath before saying, "No. You will need to return to normal time to use the telephone."

"We should probably get in position then." Darren offered as he looked around the room. "What's the scene Mr Villain?"

It pointed as it walked to each place as each person was mentioned, "I am here, by the balcony entrance. I came to convince Ǝƃuɐɹo and Mollǝʎ of my good intentions. They and you were on the sofa doing shots. When I arrived, Charlotte attempted to draw me away by running. I sent Ǝldɹnd after her and stayed to continue talking uninterrupted by your phone call."

Nodding Darren followed the scene. "Ok, so Charlotte bolted out the door..." Darren opened the slider and left it part way open to show it had been used. "Val went for the phone to signal for help..." He motioned her back towards the kitchen a ways. "That leaves me...hereish..." He moved towards the sofa. "And you...well..where everish you teleported in." Sitting back on the sofa Darren looked to the creature.
"So mid monologue about how you are not the bad guy and you just want to protect them and take them home?"

The Not-Darren moved to the center, arm extended and waited for everyone else to appear ready. Once they were the color returned and became more deep and real,  the television blipping off from the power surge.

"I merely try to assemble the whole, and look what I get in return. Why hold on to your imperfect loneliness when, together, we could achieve everything we were made to be. Not this hollow puppetshow."

There was a low pitched rumble that sharply turned into a snapping rubber sound as suddenly three men were in the room. Book, Verdant, and a broad shouldered man made of what looked like diamond.

"Eyyy, I'll be a road kill pole cat, sonn'a'bitch really is here." The sparkling man laughed and slapped his own thigh. He was wearing another of those grey jump suits that designated him as one of the kill team. "Alright let's see.." He took a quick tally of shocked heads in the room. "Where's the orange lass?"

The figure shook its head slowly and sighed, "Sadly she ran off in an attempt to distract me. Why does no one listen? I do not wish to fight, only to re-unite our family."

Another sigh, "We shall continue in a place that has fewer distractions. You should see to your house, Mollǝʎ, you have unwanted listen-"

With that half Proclamation, the figure disappeared, with Charlotte re-appearing with a woosh, her fist centered roughly where the figure's face was in a high-speed haymaker.

"Damn." She was dressed in casual clohing, sneakers, a vest and a white short sleeve tee-skirt. with bike shorts on underneath.

 Chuck put his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. "Well..that was anti-climatic." His skin shimmered and returned to a human hue. His hair was a dirty blond and eyes a mismatched brown and green. Folding his arms over his massive chest he frowned.
"Y'lass alright?" He asked to Charlotte and Valerie. "Seems y'picked up a bit of a stalker, eh? That ain't no good."

Charlotte seemed a bit unsure of the man, but nodded and smiled anyway. When shed seen him as the man in black, she'd been frightened of him, but her and now she had to remind herself that he was here to save her, not injure her.

"I'm alright, and yes, it does seem that we've got a bit of a Tom on our hands."

"Y'got a Prodigal?" Chunk asked in confusion.

"...I think she means a peeping Tom." Valerie said as she hung up her phone with the push of a button. "..that was a very fast response, I had barely gotten the panic call in.." She squinted her eyes at Book and verdant. "How did you get here so fast, teleportation or not."

Verdant swallowed nothing nervously as Book launched into an outright lie, "Since the incident we've been authorized to utilize previously dormant measures that were installed in your apartment for just such an occasion."

He smiled widely, an unsettling gesture that didn't reach his eyes, hidden as they were behind his sunglasses, "we hope you will forgive the computerized surveillance, we're scanning for the voice from our tapes. We got lucky this time."

"I was promised my apartment was not bugged!" She snapped at them. "Emergency measures or not! This is a complete violation of my privacy and I never consented to it!" She jabbed on finger at Book angerly. "I want them uninstalled NOW."

"Aw. C'mon now, we came to the rescue didn't we?" Started Chunk only to have that finger pointed at him.

"That does NOT excuse not telling me about these measures! You know why they didn't tell me? Because they knew I wouldn't want it done and would have refused. Begging for forgiveness is NOT better then asking permission."

Verdant didn't agree with the use of outright lies, partly because it forbade him from adding anything to the story. That had always been one thing he'd promised his father, that he would never lie while in the course of an investigation. It made him better than ... other investigators. He held himself to a higher moral code.

Book had no such qualms, "These means will be removed as soon as the emergency is over, and I can assure you that when you were told that your apartment wasn't bugged, that was the truth. These measures were only installed very recently, and magically so, as to not disrupt your schedule. Please consider how useful they were today before asking to have them removed."

Book was picked up one handed by Valerie. "I said, I want them uninstalled now." She lowered her voice as she spoke, drawing Book closer to her until their noses were barely touching. "Is that clear Agent?"

Agent book's smile faded, but not by much, he whispered in a harsh breathy immediacy to Valerie, "Do it. Use your advantage over me. Prove everything I say and feel about your kind right. Throw a tantrum that leaves people homeless and good men dead, just because we want to catch a terrorist and you want to be immune to procedure. Throw me across the room, just to prove you can. Break my arm because it's so much easier to be strong than it is to be wise."

"Procedure? You mean the illegal mean you use to coerce and force my kind into subservience?! I have given you people YEARS of my life with blind faith and trust and look where it has gotten me. You wanna talk to me about being wise? How about the fact I'm wise enough to know you are lying to me, wise enough to know that if you could you'd have me in chains and pulling out my guts on a daily bases. You use your advantages over us every day, throwing our differences in our face and pushing us further and further back into a corner. Either way you win, we lash out or are crushed. Don't you dare lecture me on use of power you fucking hypocrite. You haven't used your power honestly a day in your life." Valerie was starting to glow as she spoke, her short hair lifting and swaying in a golden breeze.
"You call him a terrorist, you keep up this bullshit and it won't be long before my 'kind' start calling him a liberator."

In a battle of wills, it was always difficult to beat the delusional. Book kept talking, still in that whisper, as though he was sharing a particularly juicy secret with Valerie, "Here it comes; the part where you lose your temper and you show all your little friends how thin that facade actually is. You don't care about helping people, you didn't give us that time on blind faith, you saw a cute boy and you chased him and took up his hobby in the hopes that he'd notice you."

He started speaking in a regular tone, "And talk like you are speaking, if it goes much further, might get you on an aiding and abetting charge for a known criminal. 'Liberator?' this man tried to kidnap your friend earlier tonight, or did you forget in your haste to use your unfair advantage to try and assuage your freak version of white guilt?"

He was completely prepared to martyr himself to prove that supers were all monsters. The only question was if Val could see that.

"That's enough." Darren said allowed as he put a hand on Valerie's shoulder. "All you are doing is poorly baiting her and I'm not just going to stand here and listen to it. You want to talk about her not caring about people? You left me trapped and at that things mercy and only saved your own skin. At least your partner tried to evacuate other people. Hell, one of your lab rats did more to see that those people were safe and out of harms way then you did."

Valerie's hand tightened for a moment around Book's shirt before she let him go. "You're the reason people lost faith in the system Agent Book. You and all the Agents like you. When this all started the Bureau was a place my kind to turn to for help and understanding. None of us knew what was going on or what to expect. Now look at it." She motioned to Chunk with a hand. "You are making more 'freaks' to kill the rest of us. You must feel like a really big man having chained dogs you beat just to make sure they are too scared to bark."

"Now now folks." Chunk raised his hands and rested one on Book and one on Valerie. "It's been a long night for both y'all and I'm smelling some alcohol in the room. I'm thinkin' it be best for everyone if we all just took a big old step back and stopped throwing slurrs around Agent Book. Someone might think you're trying to incite something. That ain't no way to treat a lady."

Book bristled at the touch before he realized that he shouldn't have. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his shirt back out from where it had been supporting his entire body weight. Letting the breath out, he shook his head and sighed, "Well, miss Majors, when you think of this exchange later, do remember who hoisted whom by the neck and into the air. That is not something ordinary people do to each other."

 He turned to leave, placing his hat more squarely on his head, "but then again, as Shatner said, we aren't in the company of 'common people', are we? Verdant, come on,  I ca't teleport you from over there."

Verdant spoke for the first time since he arrived, "That's alright, I'll find my own way back. I have business in town."

"Since when is the ability to teleport anything 'common'." Darren asked dryly as he patted Valerie's shoulder before letting her go.

Chunk chuckled as he continued to look at Darren a long moment. "Sir, you are an orphan correct? You never knew your family at all."

Darren frowned. "No, I never knew them. I was a baby when I was taken in by the House. Why?"

"Well. From what lil I heard of that guys speech and from what I've heard of your voice now, they are very similar. On top of that-" He raised one hand to block the upper portion of Darren's face. "You have very similar jaws and mouths. Now given that all of this seems tied to the Gray house, I'm thinking you had a brother. Or I'm guessin' I should say, you have one in the current tense."

"What? But you have no evidence of that, and I'm static-"

"True, but not all siblings share bio-dynamism. But consider this, you are static, but a whole lotta folks at that restaurant weren't after that blast. Now I'm thinkin' that maybe miss Gray over there shielded you somehow. But I'm also thinkin' it might be possible you can't be bio-dynamic because whatever weird stuff going on with this armored guy has also made you immune."

Charlotte lowered an eyebrow, "So what exactly are you saying? Darren has a secret brother and because they're related he'd... not react to his C-K, because... brothers?"

"Something like that!" Chunk laughed and clapped a hand onto Darren's shoulder and then did not let go of the man. "I'm not one of the lab boys, but I'm seeing certain parallels too after all. Old Chunk ain't blind. I'm thinking you are just as connected to all this business as Miss Gray or Majora here. Which is unfortunate as you are at a much higher risk then they are given your bio-static status."

"I appreciate your concern but I do not think I am as nearly endangered-"

"This is the second appearance of that guy tonight and you've been at the center of it both times." Chunk still didn't let go.

Charlotte wasn't happy, but this situation wasn't un-salvageable yet.

Yet.

"So he's getting taken into protective custody, then? I'm ... not quite trusting of the custody of the B.B.R.T. just yet. Is it all right if I tag along to make sure that he isn't put in a ox with no air holes?"

Well, to be fair, he'd get treated better than she would. Darren was special. Darren was human.

Chunk grimaced at Charlotte. "No offense Miss Gray, but if my theory is wrong then that will be putting a civilian in direct harms way. That weirdo has come after you and Majora twice tonight as well. If Mr Gray here has no connection then he will be safest with us. If you are around there may be a third encounter. If you are not around and their is a third encounter then that will be very telling."

"Look, I'd really like to go home-" Darren tried to weasel his way out of this but Chunk shook his head.

"I'm sorry sir, this is not up for debate, I need you to come with us for your own saftey. Bio-static individuals getting mixed up in all this hero nonsense is very dangerous. Even more so if you bring some kind of dangerous CK radiation home to your family."

"...." Darren pursed his lips. "Well...I can't say no can I?"

"Nope."

Charlotte crossed her arms, "So you're just going to disappear him to some secret government lab for observation and I'm just supposed to be okay with that? And who's the civilian here? I went through all the training they could throw at me. I'm not just some Mary-jo fresh off the hamburger beat. I might be new at this hero thing, but I'm still in the club, I earned my stripes for eleven years, sir, and I earned them doing exactly what you do."

She squinted at Chunk, looking him up and down,"And I'm pretty sure we both know where your super-juice came from, mister. So before you start trying to pull rank with me you need to remember that I was a member of the kill team back before they were calling us Brats, so just remember what surgical horrors might be in YOUR future before you throw dirt at me for thinking I might be owed something like some goddamn courtesy."

She was not okay with where a lot of this was going, no sir.

Chunks smile faded. "What are you talking about? I was empowered via an experimental serum that killed nearly everyone involved with it." He ignored the rest of her argument about how much of a civilian she was, he knew she was kill team back in the day before she got boxed for whatever crime she committed. IT just proved his point you couldn't take any old person and expect them to succeed at what they did. She hadn't had the condition or training going in at all. What kind of soldier did that make?

Charlotte's mouth gaped. She couldn't believe it, well.. she could believe it, but it was just as awful as she expected them to be now, "Oh my god they never told you? They cut that crap out of me to put into you. I'm, like, a ninety times organ donor. When they decided that I was more useful as an organ far than as a field asset, assholes like him", she pointed very clearly at a flinching Book,"... decided to double-jeopardy me into medical torture prison for the crime I had already worked off."

She shook her head, ready to spit at Book for everything he represented, "And of course they don't tell you where you got your new kidneys or whatever from. Since then you might get the idea about what's going to happen to you once you develop an interesting enough ability. Snip Snip."

Chunk's lips tightened. "I assigned onto a empowering program, the means used to do so are not of my control." He'd thought it had been some serum they'd given him that caused is kidney's to fail. The process had had such a high lethality after all.
"As for the civilian, he is." He squeezed Darren's shoulder. "And his saftey is paramount in this situation until it is determined if the target is in fact interested in him. Keeping him at the compound not only keeps him safe, but it keeps those around him, family,friends, neighbors, safer as well. It has been determined that both you and Majora should remain in the field  but limit yourself to designated combat areas as well as your home."

Charlotte took about an hour to have a fit and think of a plan. In the end she didn't have enough information, so she had half a plan and a couple questions.

She sighed, "Fiiiinnnnne. How long is he in protective custody? His kid is still at the Babysitters. I'll play nice and stay in my designated areas, but I'd still like to be able to communicate with Darren, just to make sure that he's not under any duress."

"A few days at most." Chunk shrugged. "But that is not really my jurisdiction. The sooner we catch the Target the sooner you can go back to your daily lives. He will be kept in a fully furnished safe zone so you will be able to communicate via phone at his leisure. As for the child-"

Darren tensed noticeably.

"I will have protective services pick her up and she can-"
"Stay the fuck away from my kid." Darren spat sharply. "She can stay with her babysitter."

Chunk raised an eyebrow.

Charlotte turned her eyes to Darren, "Do.. you want me around her? I can keep an eye on her for you while you ... oh my goodness."

An Idea had occurred that might save Darren, "Is your work going to be okay with you going missing?"

"Probably not, but they-" he motioned his head towards the BRATS, "Already know that."

"This is for your own saftey Sir." Chunk insisted. "If you have a caretaker in line for your child, that is fine. You will also be able to communicate with her and anyone else you'd like to call freely." Chunk had yet to let go of Darren's shoulder all the meanwhile. He clearly had his orders.

"It's ok." Darren looked to Charlotte. "They won't hurt me. They wouldn't gain anything from that. I'm sorry this is how tonight is ending, I'll call you as soon as they settle me somewhere."

She zipped over to give Darren a hug, "I'm not quite okay with this, but I'll abide by it. Gimmie a call when they let you. If I haven't heard from you in a few days, I'll start grilling folks."

She planted a kiss on his cheek, "Okay, but serious, gimmie a call."

He took the peck on the cheek and in return gave her one on the lips just to see the disgusted look on Book's face. "I'll be ok."

Chunk just frowned to himself, half listening to Skipper in his ear and half thinking about the kidney's he'd had replaced after the serum caused them to both acutely fail. He would ask Langley the truth of it, and if it was his place to know he'd be told.
"...Verdant, I'll have someone drop your car off out front for when you finish." He said at last. "Book, Let's go. We need to get Mr Gray to saftey. Majora." He nodded his head to her in farewell. "Miss Gray."

Charlotte idly wondered why she was Majora while he kept calling her Miss Gray. Probably something to do with seniority. And respect.

She waved one last goodbye as they all assembled for transport.

And like that her boyfriend was gone, held in the clutches of a evil governmental kill team. At least they thought he was human.

Majora looked at Verdant who was dutifully removing the bug from the living room. "Your partner is an asshole." She growled as Sarge came charging into the area where the agents had been barking gruffly. "He's lucky to be alive with an attitude like that." She handed her phone over to Charlotte. "I'm going to down the rest of that Vodka, excuse me."

Verdant continued to remove the bug, twirling the wires between his fingers into a small braid after he was done, pausing in his work to think before finally saying, "His bad habits were not so... apparent in our previous assignment."

He placed the microphone into his pocket, nodding, "Perhaps someone else would be better as miss Gray's supervisors. Though sadly, his attitude is popular within our organization, perhaps this is best for now."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:45, Wed 22 July 2015.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Valerie asked as she sank into the sofa and picked up booze bottle. "I mean, your dad is meta right? He is a leashed bio-dynamic just like me or Charlotte. Does he get the same crap treatment even in the lab?"

"If you must know, it only bothers me when his ire meets the noncriminal elements such as yourself or miss Gray. Unfortunately my silence seems to have meant assent to him, given his recent treatment of the. My father is... productive enough that he hasn't run into the worst of my organization, though he is not without his detractors."

A few snips and a fingertip-deployed screwdriver removed the hall bug. One more to go.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:46, Wed 22 July 2015.

Valerie took a swig of her sweet vodka as she looked Agent Verdant. "That is how it is with them isn't it? If you are a dutiful little pet and make them enough presents you don't get hit with the stick so much. But where is the carrot? Where is the benefit to any of this shit? Fame? Please. Tom is a nervous wreck because all of the attention he gets and people rather tell me I'm fat or mannish then actually respect me. We are a joke. All of this is a joke. For the good of mankind my ass, we stopped getting to be a part of mankind years ago."

"Who is 'Them' in this situation? Where does 'Them' end? The Bureau? The government? Humanity? Biostatic and Dynamic alike? Would that the situation be so easy as to find the responsible parties and stop them. However, your and my kind have spent the past so many years training everyone to see us in the way that the popular media would present us."

He pointed around the room to Charlotte (who had dove back into the ice cream) and Valerie, "You are the celebrity protector, she is the repentant sinner, Chunk is the loyal soldier, and I am the dutiful follower. Many of us will simply accept these roles without examining them. Others might reject those roles outright and, because they are in the minority, will be viewed as an aberration which must be stopped."

He sighed a hollow exhalation, "I empathize. I really do. But my job is to police the aberrations and exert the will of the popular party. So there is not much that I am capable of doing outside the system."

Despite thinking it, he stopped himself short of saying 'if only there was someone who could' without taking apart the final bug.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:20, Wed 22 July 2015.

"A system like this isn't sustainable." She sighed as Sarge finished his barking spree and climbed up into the sofa to sit in her lap to calm himself down. "If nothing else is place when this all comes tumbling down things will be all the worse for it." She took another long drink from the bottle. "...that's why you guys never arrest Dr Crab isn't it? It's not that his legal team, or his money, someone is banking on him solving this whole mess..."

Verdant smiled, but continued working, "I wouldn't know. Arresting the good Doctor isn't my department..."

Snip, All the listening devices removed.

"...But I'd believe it, were I to hear it."

He turned toward the two of them, placing the final bug in his pocket, "So, is there anything you ladies need before I find my way back to the headquarters?"

"Am I being monitored by any other means I haven't agree to?" Majora asked and took another long drain off her bottle of Vodka as she stroked her grumpy dog. She wasn't expecting an honest answer, but it was worth asking anyway.