You find yourself at a table with a bunch of other "villains". To your left is Ogre, a hulking man with oversized teeth. A former med student who had been in some sort of accident that mutated him into a monster, driving him temporarily insane. Lynx. Former master thief who blew the whistle on a massive villain plan to murder thousands before giving herself up. Finally there was Nightraven. Daughter of the mystic hero Talisman and a demon, she had recently rethought her evil ways.

"Anyone know anything about our mystery host?" Lynx asked.

"Nothing," said Diana.  She shifted awkwardly in her chair.  She'd left her gear behind for this, of course-- she'd probably be arrested if she was spotted with so much as an ordinary broom-- but that left her in a room with Nightraven and Ogre, and her with almost nothing going for her...

Well, not literally nothing, but she'd be hoping to be able to flee out a window if something went wrong, and that would be if she was lucky.

There was a click and a large screen descended from the ceiling at the head of the table.

"Good day, everyone," A shadowy figure on it said.

The anonymous computer screen thing?  Really?  Diana couldn't help herself-- she calculated how she'd go about tracking this guy down, how she'd-- no.  No.  She was here for this meeting.  As of right now, she had no reason to object to their... patron? Wanting the extra security.

"Hi," she said.  "So what's going on here?"

"I have gathered you all here for...," the figure said and stopped. "I'm doing it again, aren't I? I talked with my therapist about this, trying to be more open and honest now that I'm walking the straight and narrow."

The figure pressed a button and the whole place lit up, revealing Javier Bordeaux. Billionaire and noted enemy of the American Paladin who had disappeared a year ago.

"Now the, I brought you all here because I believe that, like me, you have a desire to do some good for the world for once."

Woah.  That was unexpected.  She had to respect that.

"Yeah, basically that's it," said Diana.  She glanced around at the others to see how they were reacting.

Ogre had been nodding along, Lynx seemed to be in agreement and Night Raven hadn't really change expression, she was just watching the monitor, not giving anything away.

Well, that could be worse.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.  "Lynx might be able to get by on some kind of redeemed reputation, but the rest of us are in for a rough road."

"The option I have been considering," Javier said. "Is that they we change up your looks."

Diana blinked.  She'd identified herself as Witch Hazel so long, refined the technology around that theme... but she didn't have to, now, did she?  Slowly, she nodded.

"That makes sense," she said.  "All right.  So we create new identities-- knights in shining armor instead of menacing shadows... Yes.  That could work."

Metaphorical knights, of course, but she needed some theme, some central concept...

...then again, why not a knight?

"What about me?" Ogre asked.

"Well, we could get you a helmet to help cover those teeth. We could do a nice helmet for you to hide them," Javier offered.

Diana nodded.

"There's a lot of options there," she said.  "I've done a lot of work with strong materials-- I had to; you can't get good toys that are sturdy enough to take into a fight if you don't. It wouldn't even take a full-face helmet, necessarily-- goggles for your eyes, some kind of mask for the lower part of your face.  But a helmet would certainly be easy, and we could use the space to put in air filters, or even an air supply, anti-dazzle lenses, nightvision, whatever.  I could do a lot with a helmet..."

"That could work," Ogre said, the teeth clearly affecting how he talked. "These are pretty obvious."

"We're all going to want good masks," said Diana.  "I might use a helmet, too.  I don't want someone figuring out what we look like from studying the shape of our noses... You need a theme, Ogre.  A new identity with something to tie it together.  Something that can work your size in, and a helmet... Do you know what you'd like?"

She glanced at the other two as well.  They'd need something new.  Lynx would be easier; a different costume for a master thief, maybe some weapons, nothing too complicated.  Nightraven... she didn't know enough about that magic.  How distinctive was it?  Hopefully Nightraven herself had some ideas.

"I like the cat theme," Lynx said. "Should I just switch type?"

"I guess that could work," said Diana.  "Let's see... you could push the envelope, go for a full furry look or something.  Or work with a tiger or cheetah look or something like that."

"What about a type of house cat? Ragdoll maybe?" Lynx asked.

"Hey, I like that," said Diana.  "We could even turn it into kind of a cat-doll costume."

"I guess that could work," Lynx said.

"Up to you," said Diana.  "It just seems like a theme with Ragdoll.  And I guess I'm still stuck on toys, in some ways... Raven, what about you?  Do you have any ways to change your visuals?"

Nightraven snapped her fingers and he clothes changed from black to white.

"Useful," said Diana.  "Do you have a plan for a new identity?"

"If I must," Nightraven said.

"Well, for all of this to work, we really don't want to be identified," Diana pointed out.  Friendly Fire and all that."

"I will consider it then." Nightraven said with a sigh.

"We're all making sacrifices," said Diana.  "I'm not even going to use anything like the Halloween Army, to avoid having somebody notice another army of tiny robots."

"Very well," Nightraven said.

"All right, Javier," said Diana.  "What resources do we have for this?  I can do a lot with some things, but I really need to do some large-scale fabrication this time."

"There are several large labs on the bottom levels of the HQ," Javier said.

"Okay, good," said Diana.  "Anyone who wants me to help with a new costume, I'm willing to help.  Otherwise, I have a lot of work to do putting some stuff together... Hey, are we living here, or what?"

"If you want to," Javier said.

"Options are good," said Diana.  "Not sure if I will or not... I still have income from patents and things.  I'm guessing you're hanging out here, big guy?" she added, to Ogre.

"It would make it easy for me," Ogre said.

Diana nodded.

"Well, let me know if you need anything to make this place more comfortable," she said.  "I can fabricate you furniture or whatever."

"It's gonna need to be really reenforced," Ogre said.

"That's fine," said Diana.  "I can do that.  I'm working on large-scale reinforcement anyway; no reason I can't make an armchair or something for you while I'm at it."

"Jeez. You're pretty handy," Lynx said.

Diana shrugged.

"Before I could legally smoke, I built a flying broom, a force-field generating hat, and a small army of killer Halloween-themed toys.  Solo.  Using old toy-making tools.  This is kind of my thing," she said.

"I hear you, were your parents the useless rich types too?" Lynx asked.

"...Not exactly," said Diana.  She was silent for a long time.

"My mom built a business from the ground up, making toys.  Great stuff.  High quality.  She got screwed over by industrial sabotage from a rival company.  I got... really upset by that.  Worse when she got bought out.  That was when I, uh.  Well.  You know."

"Ah. I guess that makes me a spoiled brat then," Lynx said with a nervous laugh.

"Nah," said Diana.  "You did your thing.  This is a no-judgment zone.  We all made mistakes.  I tried to kill people.  You just stole stuff.  Don't sweat it."

"Sure, but I mean, it was just to upset my parents and because I was bored," Lynx said with a sigh. "Seems really silly now."

"So does mine," said Diana.  "Don't worry.  We all chose to try and do better.  Don't dwell.  So do you want the Ragdoll thing, or something more mainstream?"

"I think it could work well," Lynx said.

"It would really set you apart from the old identity," said Diana.  "What about weapons?  What's your style?"

"I wasn't much of a weapon user. It's not really a burglar thing. I do have some small claws on my gloves for glass cutting...or cutting people if I was desperate," Lynx said.

"You ought to have something else," said Diana.  "Maybe something less-lethal... Taser Claws would be a really fast build, and that could work with your fighting style, if you want to try that out."

"I think that'd work, yeah," Lynx said.

"All right, sounds like a plan," said Diana.  This was challenging, and she liked that.  A costume for Ogre, too...

"What about you, Raven?" she asked.  "Are you all set for costumes and gear?"

"Yes," Nightraven said and chuckled. "I doubt you could build the gear I use."

"Yeah, thought so," said Diana.  "I think I'm going to have to set up a room here.  I've got a lot of work to do to get all this put together."

"The labs are on your left. Take the elevators down to the first sub-basement," Javier said.

"I'd better get to work, then," said Diana.  "Ogre, Lynx, I'm going to need measurements from both of you, though.  I don't want to make someone a helmet that's the wrong size."

The two of them followed you to the elevators, Ogre having to crouch down to get inside.

Diana went to the room and took measurements from both of them, also asking Ogre what he was looking for in the way of costume design and features.

The lab was certainly impressive. It did take up the entire floor and was a good three thousand square feet from your estimates.

"They say that primary colours are more 'heroic', right?" Ogre said. "How about something red and blue? I'm not looking for anything too fancy. I'm already strong and durable."

"That should work," said Diana.  "What about a name?  And do you want a helmet or a mask?"

"Should I do another big monster or try something else? I'm not sure," Ogre said.

"You don't have to be one," said Diana.  "Why don't we try something more positive? Titan or Colossus or something like that?"

"Ooo, I wasn't thinking of that. Titan would be awesome," Ogre said.

"There we go," said Diana.  "Okay, I can do a lot with that.  Now, helmet or mask?"

"Helmet would probably be best, right? I mean masks are kinda flimsy," Ogre said.

"Good call," said Diana.  "Want some gear in it?  Protection from gas, say?"

"Nah, I can hold my breath for a long time," Ogre said.

"Fair enough.  I'll concentrate on making it tough, then," said Diana.  "Any other gear for you, Lynx?  And what's your real name, anyway?  I'm Diana Silvermoon."

"Katherine Baker," Lynx said. "There was that costume idea you mention and the taser claws."

"Yep," said Diana.  "Any other requests while I'm at it?  I'm going to give you some protection as part of it.  Random bullets don't get to kill anyone when I'm on the job."

...and she, herself, didn't even have to worry about them outside of her costume now.  Or not very much, at least.  Alien tech was useful, and had been fun to play with, once.

"If you can get it light enough, sure. I did have my costume reinforced a bit, but full on bullet stopping was a bit too much to hope for," Lynx said.

"Oh, I think I can at least give you something," said Diana.  "I'm good at this... anybody want nightvision gear built in?  That's easier than you might think."

"I'll take it," Lynx said.

"Me too," Ogre said.

"Got it," said Em.  "You're all getting comlinks, too.  We need those to communicate, no question there.  I guess I should let Javier know what the frequency is, too..."

"Makes sense," lynx said and Ogre nodded.

"All right," said Diana.  "I'm going to be busy down here for a while.  Can I get one of you two to order me pizza or something?  We should see how Nightraven's doing, too."

"Sure, I'll just have to figure out where to get it sent to," Lynx said.

"Check with Javier, maybe," said Diana.  Now, where to begin?  Titan first, she decided.  Simple.  Straightforward.  And more leeway in the design...

(OOC: Give me a roll! The dice god demands it!)

22.  Which is dumb.  Luck reroll. 31.

After a period of time, you're not sure how long given how absorbed you are in working, the elevator door opened and out stepped Nightraven.

"Hello, I have brought your pizza," she said,

"Oh, thank you," said Diana, stepping away from the work.  She was hungry now... she regretted not having the Halloween Army to help with this project.  That was too risky, though.

She took the pizza from Nightraven.

"So, what are you up to?" she asked.  "We haven't had as much of a chance to talk."

"Not too much, trying to come up with a new name," Nightraven said.

"Dove?" Diana tossed out.  "What does your magic look like?"

"Dark and shadowy," Nightraven said.

"More of a challenge... how distinctive is it?  How obvious is it that it's magic?" Diana asked.

"Very," Nightraven said.

"Hm...."

Diana thought it over carefully.

"Can you do anything with shapes of shadows?" she asked.  "Or... what kinds of spells can you actually cast?"

"I can try playing with it," Nightraven said. "But I'm not sure how well a layperson could tell it is magic."

"Can you show me?" Diana asked.

Nightraven summoned a bunch of shadows around herself. She was not a featureless, three dimensional shadow.

"I don't know that it's obviously magic," said Diana.  "Is this how you looked when you did... things before?  Can you alter it at all?"

"I used it before, yes. I am invisible in shadows like this," Nightraven said.

"...well, invisible is good," said Diana.  "How about a hooded cloak?"

"Like this?" Nightraven asked as she snapped and was in a white cloak that covered her eyes.

"Excellent!" said Diana.  "Honestly, with that change, you'll probably have a lot of leeway.  But if you should try to do something different with your magic if you can."

NIghtraven sighed.

"I'll try."

"I know that it's a pain," said Diana, sympathetically.  "I wish I could go in with my old Witch Hazel gear.  But I'd just be attacked on sight."

"There is more to it than that, but for the good of everyone I will try," Nightraven said.

"Yeah, I realize that the options are more limited against someone who knows magic," said Diana.  "We're just going to have to do what we can."

"There's also some family issues as well," Nightraven said.

"Want to tell me about them?" Diana asked.

"I don't know if I should," Nightraven said.

"I might have to know in a hurry, though," Diana pointed out.  "...or is this something where knowing the names gets me in trouble?"

"It's not exactly well known, but Talisman is my father," Nightraven said.

"...and he'd know it was you, then," said Diana.  "Anything that we can do about that?"

NIghtraven laughed.

"No, not really."

"You might have to just tell him, then," said Diana.  "Sooner or later."

"That's not going to happen," Nightraven said.

"Your call," said Diana.  "...but maybe you should think about what to say if you run into him someday."

"There is a lot there that I'm not comfortable getting into yet," Nightraven said.

"All right," said Diana.  "Well, if you need help dealing with something, let us know, all right?"

They were all that they had, of course.

"I'll think about it," Nighraven said.

"All right," she said.  "...I don't suppose that there's anything like magic symbols or anything that I could work into a costume to help shield you?"

She had no idea how magic worked, after all.

"No, I need to go think about things," Nightraven said as she took on her shadowform and flew into the ceiling,

Well.

That went well.  Except not.

Nothing for it, though.  She went back to work until she realized she'd fallen asleep, or until someone interrupted her.

You made a let of headway on the various project when suddenly you jerk back awake.

"...okay, okay, bed," sighed Diana.  She did a last check of her work to make sure that she hadn't done anything goofy, and then went to look for a bed.  Or a couch.  Whatever.

Your work appeared to be okay, and you did find one of each together in one of the corners of the room. It was next to a full bathroom and fridge.

She went for the bed.  It looked much nicer than the one she'd had in jail.

And eventually you woke up. A nearby clock said it was nine in the morning.

A little bit late, but whatever.  Diana went to take a shower, see if she had anything fresh to change into, and then maybe try to find some food.

T here were no other clothes around other than a variety of bathrobes.

Well, that figured.  She planned an expedition to get her things.  Or maybe fabricate some spare clothes... anyway, she'd just wear her old ones for now.  She went to get some food.

When you got to the kitchen, you saw Ogre in there, cracking a couple dozen eggs one at a time in his giant hands.

"Oh, hey," she said, yawning.  "Do you know if there's coffee?  I'll start a pot."

She didn't ask if he was making food for everyone.  At his size, that was probably a light snack for him.

"Yeah, there's a pot out in the dining room," Ogre said.

Diana went to start coffee and see what other food was around.  Especially something easy to prepare in a hurry; she had a lot of work still to do.

There was a lot of options. Cereal, donuts, breakfast burritos and the like.

Breakfast burritos!  And a donut.  Inventing new identities needed brain activity needed carbs and caffeine.

"They got a bed in your size, big guy?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ogre said. "The frames just a massive block of wood."

"Is that comfortable?" asked Diana.  "I'm positive I could find or rig up something strong enough for you-- you only weigh five hundred, right?  There are springs that can handle that all over the place."

"Well, I do have a box spring and mattress on top of it," Ogre said.

"Oh, good," said Diana.  "One less job to do... I really need to go out and pick up fresh clothes, and maybe a few other things.  Do you need anything?"

"I'm good," Ogre said, whisking the eggs with a very tiny one.

"All right."

Diana finished eating, and headed out to locate her nearest cache of fresh clothes.  (Didn't everyone do that, in case you had to ditch your costume in a hurry after a fight went bad?  That was planning for you!)

And so you arrived back, without incidence.

Diana changed, and then headed back towards the lab.  Lots of work to do still.

Work continues to go well.

Eventually she took a break and went to go find lunch, if Ogre had left them any.

There was several options. Cold cuts in the fridge, frozen pizzas and burritos in the freezer, etc.

She'd had a burrito for breakfast.  Cold cuts would do for now; she put a sandwich together.  And more coffee.

You could hear a snore coming from the lounge. Seems Ogre may have fallen asleep in there.

That was fine.  As far as she was concerned, let sleeping ogres lie.  She was making a robot horse, and that was plenty of work as it was.

And so work continued, but you did managed to finish it after a few hours (?). You were unsure of what time it was, though you were hungry.

Yeah, time to go see who was around for dinner.

As you get upstairs, you see that the sun has set and then a clock that said it was eight thirty. Ogre was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Oh, hey," said Diana.  "Just the two of us here?  Did you eat already?"

"Yeah, sorry. I tried calling you, but you must've been caught up in your work," Ogre said. "There's some left over pizza in the fridge."

"Thanks," said Diana.  "Yeah, getting new costumes for you and Lynx was the easy part.  I'm doing a whole new concept in my tech, new look, new ride, new weapons, everything.  It's coming along really well, though."

"That's cool. You going with that knight idea you had?" Ogre asked.

"Yes," said Diana.  "...the flying robot horse took a lot of work, but I think it's really coming together.  I used a simpler version of the AI that I used for my broom."

"Impressive," Ogre said.

"I'm going to have to get used to not having a drone army-- too obvious-- but I like the sword I've made," she said.  "The helmet and armor came together nicely, too."

"That's cool," Ogre said. "I'm starting to wonder where our benefactor found all of this stuff. Rubber gloves, in my size!"

"Impressive," said Diana.  "He's got a lot of money to throw around, though.  That opens a lot of doors."

"Yeah, it's just nice, you know. Ever since the accident I haven't been able to do normal stuff," Ogre said.

"Well, if he hasn't gotten around to it, I can work up some oversized gamepads for you," said Diana, "once I'm done with the rest of this.  You'll be able to play video games to your heart's content."

"Sweet," Ogre said. "You'd better be up for some gaming though. It's better beating people in the same room as you."

"You probably will, too," Diana admitted.  "I'm used to writing macros to do the fine controlling for me.  I've been writing them for the sword's guidance system..."

"Aw. That's no fun. How about something we're equally bad at?" Ogre asked.

"How about a new game, then?" Diana suggested.  "We'll at least be equally new to it."

"How about the new Mario Kart?" Ogre asked.

"I could go for that," said Diana.  "Sounds like a plan."

"Okay, I'll get to dling it," Ogre said.

"All right," said Diana.  She crept back to the lab.  Just a little bit more to go....

There was some cosmetic bits to finish up,but you were done within an hour and Ogre called down to let you know everything was ready. Including the mountain dew.

"All right!" said Diana.  "I threw a controller together for you.  I hope it's strong enough..."

"I'm sure it's fine. You get a lot of practice with muscle control being this strong," Ogre said,

"All right," she said.  "So let's do this."

You were behind for this final race, but then you got it. The blue shell. With it, you managed to snipe Ogre on the finish line and win.

"Good match!" said Diana.  "So, want to see what I've made for you, Titan?"

"Sure, though I feel I have to shout about the evils of the blue shell," Ogre said. "Seems to be the proper tradition."

"That's quite fair," said Diana.  "It brings a lot of luck into the game."

"Eh, it's part of the game. I've heard you can dodge it if you're good," Ogre said. "But let's go try that equipment."

Diana lead him down to the lab to try on the gear.

Ogre then proceeded to try them on.

"I like it!" he said. "Fits well and looks good."

"Good," said Diana.  "I like the way that my armor came out.  I hope the sword holds up in practice, though..."

"How'd you fancy it up?" Ogre asked.

"Oh, all kinds of things," said Diana.  "Lots of electrical discharges, gyroscopic guidance system so I don't have to master swordplay, special shielding, that kind of thing."

Ogre whistled, or at least he tried to. The teeth made it hard.

"Fancy."

"Well, it's a change of pace for me," Diana said.  "Last time, I was just directing flying drones.  I'm having to improvise more, but I like how it's coming together."

"i'm sure you can make it work," Ogre said.

"Well, I'm hoping," said Diana.  "I went with a robot horse, for flying, too.  Glad that I have my backup plan for that still installed."

"What's the backup?" Ogre asked.

Diana rose three feet into the air, with no technology visible whatsoever.

"...I had some work done," she said.  "Backups for when all my tools are taken from me.  This one won't even let me fall if my ride's shot out from under me."

"Nice!" Ogre said. "Nice ace to have up your sleeve."

"When you rely on gear, you really need one," said Diana.  "...although it's a good thing to have in general.  An edge, I mean.  Something unexpected."

"Yeah," Ogre said. "Maybe I should try holding back a bit if it isn't needed."

"Your call," said Diana.  "Got any unexpected tricks?"

"I can do all of those superstrength tricks," Ogre said.

"Cool," said Diana.  "Working on a few more would always be something to work on."

"There's only so many tricks you can do with it," Ogre said.

Diana considered this.

"...I'll work on some designs for you anyway," she said.  "With all that strength, I wonder what I could do with piezoelectric stuff?  How'd you like to throw lightning?"

"Sure, but what does Piezoelectric mean?" Ogre asked.

"Converting kinetic energy into electricity," said Diana.  "Good for party tricks, like clapping your hands together to throw lightning, for example."

"Sounds cool," Ogre said.

"At this point, I need to take a break from the work," she said.  "But I can probably knock that out in a day or two."

"Hey, it's cool. You've been doing a lot of good work," Ogre said.

"Yeah, well..." Diana shrugged.  "I really want to make this thing work.  I need this.  I hope our cat likes the work I did, too..."

"Hard to say," Ogre said. "She should be around in an hour or two."

"Well, I'll have to show her what I've done, and see what she thinks," said Diana.  "...I really hope she likes it."

"I'm sure she will. I love what you did for me," Ogre said.

"Thanks," said Diana.  "I'm glad to have a new outlet.  Retirement was driving me crazy."

"I wouldn't mind retirement, but it's not like i could have it," Ogre said.

"Well, maybe you could," said Diana.  "Eventually.  Pile up a bunch of money, wait for people to forget about Ogre, then go on the celebrity circuit or just hang out somewhere.  Felons like Martha Stewart pulled it off."

"Yeah, but I don't have a ton of money," Ogre said. "And I don't exactly want to go on a crime spree. Legit work is kinda out."

"Well, at least you can wait out the scandal," said Diana.  "You're out of jail legally, right?  So let the fuss die out... wait ten, fifteen years... and get an agent.  You've got a good personality, so you might just be able to pull it off."

"I'm sure they could drag up more charges from that bit of insanity or whatever it was I had," Ogre said.

"That's why you wait," said Diana.  "Statute of Limitations.  And everybody forgets about it."

"Eh, I'd rather do this so they pardon me or something," Ogre said.

"That's a good idea," said Diana.  "But maybe you can plan on retiring later.  It's good to have something to look forward to."

"Do you need help with anything? i got a game with some online friends planned soon," Ogre said.

"Nah, I'm good," said Diana.  "Just gonna putter around with a few things for now."

"Cool," Ogre said as he wandered off.

Diana puttered, and found herself re-doing and re-re-doing the Ragdoll costume for a bit, trying to get it perfect.  That was probably good enough... well, probably.

After an hour or so, you hear the speakers crackle on.

"Hey, I hear you have something for me," Lynx said over them.

"Yep!" said Diana.  "Come on down and try it on!"

Soon Lynx was in the basement lab.

"I'm excited to see what you've got."

"Here we go!" said Diana.  "Armored.  Taser claws.  Shifts to cammo mode, and of course we've got the nightvision built into the mask."

"This is so amazing! Thank you so much!" Lynx said, giving you a hug in her excitement.

Diana blushed, but enjoyed the hug.

"...so you should try it on," she said.

"Give me a sec," Lynx said, grabbing the gear and heading off to change.

Diana awaited.  Mostly patiently.  More eagerly, to be honest.

Lynx was back quickly.

"I like it," she said, giving a quick spin in it

"It looks good on you!" said Diana.  It did.  She tried not to get too distracted by that.

"I think the big guy's costume came together pretty well, too.  Want to see what I made for me?"

"Yes! You must have made something really amazing!" Lynx said.

"This is possibly going to be a little flashy.  And maybe noisy," said Diana, and she walked into the center of the room and pressed some buttons on her phone.

A horse emerged.  Well.  Not really.  It was robotic.  Also, it wasn't walking-- it was hovering, using four legs with small thrusters to maneuver.  The neck was slightly articulated, but it was all for show-- the horse was just there to provide transportation.  Much simpler than her broom had been, but also more comfortable to ride.

She reached out and touched a saddlebag, and armor flowed out of it, clicking and clanking as it formed around her body.  She pulled a helmet out of the horse's side and put it on her head, finishing by taking a sword and shield that were clipped to the horse as well.  The sword crackled with electricity.

"And here we go," she said.  "Cyber-Knight, complete with Thundersword.  The helmet doesn't auto-fit because I needed all the space in it for sensors, environmental devices, and com gear.  Sword and shield have tiny motors that help guide them to make up for all the fighting experience I don't have."

"Oh, wow! That is amazing!" lynx said, clapping. "You out did yourself."

Diana smiled under the helmet.

"Well, I think it went pretty well," she said.  "I've learned a lot since my first set of gear.  This was some fairly hasty work, though.  Over time, I'll bet that I can refine it a little bit."

"It's amazing work though. You did all this in what? A day...a day and a half?" Lynx said.

"Maybe?" said Diana.  "I lost track of time... I did a lot of work with older designs, though.  And the fabrication isn't that hard when you work with automation."

"Stop trying to downplay it and take the compliment," Lynx said with a laugh.

"All right, all right," laughed Diana.  "I am a genius inventor, after all.  And maybe I'm no longer entirely wasting my talent."

"Hey, at least you have talents that're easy to turn to the side of 'good'," Lynx said.

"Good's pretty flexible," said Diana.  "You're nimble, the big guy is strong, both of those can be for anything."

"Sure, but it's not like the cops will let you steal for good causes," Lynx said.

"Most of the time, anyway," Diana agreed.  "But you still have skills.  And sneaking, for example, has a lot of use."

"You have me there," Lynx said.

"Yep!  We all need to change how we think about things, but I think we can do this," said Diana.  "One way or another."

"You're right," Lynx said. "It's just a bit of a change."

"...kind of a lot of it in some way," Diana laughed.  "But we can handle it.  I know we can."

"I think so, it's nice of our benefactor to be paying us, but just thinking of the future," Lynx said.

Diana gave her a smile.  (She'd made sure that this helmet had a visible mouth.  She wanted to be able to communicate better.)

"We'll work it out," she said.  "Celebrity appearances, patents, whatever."

Lynx nodded.

"It's really impressive how quickly you got this all together."

Diana grinned awkwardly.

"It's my brain chemistry.  I process certain kinds of information and make plans... uh... hundreds of time faster than ordinary people.  I've been doing things like this for a long time now."

"Neat!" Lynx said. "That must be useful."

"It's pretty good if you want to invent a new hero identity in a couple of days," she said.  "...or, uh, want to take revenge using stuff taken from an old toy factory."

"Ah, so that's where you got all that," Lynx said.

"Yeah," said Diana.  "My awkward, embarrassing adolescence."

"Oh please, try being yet another cat themed thief," Lynx said.

"There are a few, aren't there?" said Diana.  "I think you stood out, though."

Lynx laughed.

"Thanks."

"So, I should take a break, I guess," she said.  "Are you hungry?"

"Sure, what are you feeling like?" Lynx asked.

"...something with noodles," said Diana.  "Asian.  Or Italian."

"There's a little Chinese place on the corner," Lynx said. "It looks promising."

"All right," said Diana.  "Let's go!"