Blackwell didn't say a word, just stared at Lefty for a moment

She looks away, shrugs, her smile a little more forced now. "This your first day too?" Her hand twitched, the motion making the roses seem to ripple.

Lefty visibly flinched when she heard Blackwell's voice in her head. The first person she meets here and she's a mind-tweaker, what were the odds? "Please don't do that," she said bluntly. She stared at Blackwell in return for a second, then relaxed back into her earlier, blandly casual manner. If the girl was willing to stop, then Lefty could afford to drop the subject. "Yeah, I have no idea what I'm in for with this. We'll see I guess. Any classes you're hoping to see offered?"

"I believe nobody has any idea what we signed up for. Since Freedom Plaza is a new initiative." said a boy nonchalantly, shifting his gaze from his phone to the newly arrived people. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and khaki pants and had a rather bored facial expression. Well, it was getting pretty boring since he was sitting on this bank for 45 minutes.
"Oh, my aunt was right. I should've wore that fancy spandex suit. I hope I am not the only one in the civilian clothes. Wouldn't want to stand out." The boy shot a sheepish smile, then continued.
"Sorry, where are my manners? I am Alexander, you can call me Alexander, Alex, Lex, or any other variant you fancy."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:00, Sat 06 Feb 2021.

Hester arrived in the chauffeured Escalade.  She'd had the conversation twice now with her security.  She was not going to be shadowed, surveilled, or tracked.  She handed over the LoJack beacon that had been placed in her purse.  "Nice try."  The security guy shrugged--he was only doing his job.  But he'd put the call in and had been authorized.  Yay, her parents were going to untie some strings. Weee.

As she exited, she looked the Plaza over and breathed deeply.  Ah, Freedom Plaza.  Aptly named.  She loved her family desperately, but really, they held on too tightly.

Hester was dressed in an outfit that she hadn't bought, but had been assembled for her by her lady's maid.  Just as if she'd been some debutante from a hundred years ago.  Thank god they'd gotten rid of corsets.  She smoothed her dress lines and walked toward the plaza and a group that she assumed were her classmates.

She overheard some names being offered.  "Hester," she added with a winning smile.

Andrew sat quietly in the plain black 4x4 as it drove to the school.
This was the eighth different school he had attended in his short life.  That did not include the year he spent with his father being tutored by him.  He was here because his father had decided to play dead again.  To lay low.  His father had been dragged into the war and played a major part in it.  One of the reasons Andrew was offered his place at this school with no questions asked.
However when you are a man that is meant to be dead becoming a war hero is not the wisest thing to do.

Andrew understood the problem his father had.  He had spend half a day with his mother trying to convince her he did not know where his father was.  Trying to tell her the man in a number of picture she had found was not Andrews father but a look alike or a distant relative.

The driver of the 4x4 was an employee of British Security Protection Limited.  One of a number of companies world wide that his father owned.   The driver stopped the car and got out so he could let Andrew out.

Andrew stood and looked the man in the eyes.
Thank you Paul.  I will keep up my studies and the things you taught me.  Andrews said.
This will be my new home for a while.  I am sure I will be fine.
Andrew extended a hand to the man.  They shook hands.
Yes I am sure you will young Sir.  It has been a pleasure working with you.  I am sure your father would be proud of you if he was still alive.
Andrew nodded sadly.  I am sure he would.  You take care as well. Andrew answered
Then the man was back in the car and was gone.

Andrew walked slowly but purposefully up to the small group that was talking.
He is dress in a set of modern expensive casual clothes.  Some how they seem to be the modern equivalence to the gentleman that would have asked Arcana to dance at the ball she was dress for.
His eyes for a second catching hers.  A look exchanged between the two of them.  One that told them they where people from the same type of background.
The words "My lady, may I have this dance." coming to her mind very quickly as she could see in her minds eye Andrew making a little bow to her.

But in the here and now Andrew stops about 3 feet away from the group.  He turns his head and looks at the first person that is about to speak to him.  Waiting for them to speak.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:28, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

Blackwell flinches at Lefty's response, but straightens quickly. "Sorry. I'll try to remember. It just, it's hard not to slip." She smiles shyly. "My name is Cho, by the way. Blackwell is kind of a nickname I guess."

She glances at Andrew before saying, "I hope they have art classes. And information science."

Lefty turned to look as several new people arrived in rapid succession. She didn't show much of a reaction to Alex beyond an acknowledging nod, but her gaze lingered a little longer on Hester and Andrew as she nodded to them in turn as well. Clothes told a story, and theirs said "money." Old money in Hester's case, from the looks of things.

"Lefty," she offered in turn. "Not sure if I'm supposed to use my real name. Guess the teachers will tell us. Nice to meet you all, anyways." She nodded to Cho/Blackwell after that, briefly unsure of which one to think of her in her head before figuring she might as well go with Cho. "At least art class sounds easy. I think I'd suck at information science. That's computers and things, right?"

It was mildly surprising that nobody had raised the obvious question - what were each of them doing here? - but Lefty didn't plan to be the one to breach that topic. It wasn't one she especially cared to answer once it inevitably looped back to her.

Andrew smiles at Blackwell.  His body relaxed as she speaks to him.
I am pleased to meet you Cho.  I am called Andrew Brandon.  Yes I do.  Most forms but I have a soft spot for 1960's to 1990's pop.  They have both art and science classes.  It is my understanding you can study almost anything here as long as it does not brake the rules and you can find someone to teach you.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

"They can probably teach everything. I am sure there is at least one of those super smart heroes in teaching position here. Question is would they bother?" said Alex while reaching his pocket to get a package of lemon drops. He casually opened the package and offered it to the group before taking one for himself.

Andrew takes the sweet.
Thank you.  He tells Legion.
As for why.  My father said what ever you can think of someone will get pleasure or satisfaction from doing it.  If that is so; the question would then be why not?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

"You are welcome. Answer to your question is simple. They are heroes. Some dangerous stuff will happen, they will be needed and they will need to go. Although I believe they took precautions to not leave us without a teacher, I don't think it is possible for them offer wide variety of classes unless they heavily encourage self study. I wouldn't mind that though."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

Oh.  I never thought of that.  Andrew answered.
His right hand went up to the chain on his pocket watch.
But when dangerous stuff happens would it not be wise to have some people stay behind.  To protect and help develop the next generation if the current one get decimated.  Would it be even wiser if these great hero where hidden in plain sight.  The ones everybody thinks are useless or have limited power.  Not every hero wishes to be a hero.  Or acts like one.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:19, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

"Information science underlies comp sci, yes. I like it. And I listen to a lot of things, but I mostly play violin." Cho/Blackwell smiles and shrugs. "I suppose we'll see what they prioritize. Teaching is important, but you have to weight the algorithm to also factor in urgency of the threat, importance, applicability of skillsets..." She trails off, perhaps realizing that she's about to go off on a lengthy tangent that the others may not find interesting as she does.

Lefty had no idea what Andrew was suddenly talking about - maybe Cho had said something about music in his head. This was off to a weird start. She held up a gloved hand when Alex offered her the candy package. "I'm good, thank you though." He seemed okay so far, but considering where she was, she'd wait to make sure he wasn't known elsewhere as "The Poisoner" or something.

She followed the discussion between Andrew and Alex without interrupting, then turned back toward Cho. "Violin huh? That's cool. I like music too, but I don't play anything. I like to dance though." She considered. "I wonder who'll be teaching us anyways. Sidekicks, maybe, or retired heroes? Seems like the full-power guys would be too busy to babysit." She suddenly pointed a finger at Cho, a slight smile visible behind her mask. "Who're you hoping for, Cho? Or put another way, who's your favorite hero?"

Edi could fly. There was no freedom like flying, she felt the wind in her face as she realized, and not for the first time mind you, she could do what few people could, and what people have wanted to since they could look up into the sky at the birds with jealousy. She did not fly with wings or a rocket strapped to her back. No, she flew on a disk she created herself under her feet, a disk of pure light. As she flew she left a long glowing trail behind, like a comet, hence her name sake, Comet Girl.

Even though she had freedom it was not absolute. She wore what the studio demanded, for insurance purposes of course, a parachute and an oxygen mask and bottle like a fighter pilot. She had balked at first, hard, and it had almost cost the whole deal. The studio had called in an expert a costume designer from Hollywood. After a few days brain storming they had come up with a really cool retro look, part WWII pilot and a lot sparkly showgirl it was perfect! Sequins covering a leather bomber's jacket, flight goggles, a turtleneck shirt and khaki cargo pants made up her enesmble.

She had wrapped up filming the season and again the studio snobs had insisted she go to (barf gag barf) school! She hated school, it was a waist of time. She had more than ten million dollars in the bank. She wasn't impressed with anything school had to offer, but she had to be here so make the best of it. She flew above the school and then let the disk vanish, so that she fell. She let herself fall to about a hundred feet above the ground and then recreated the disk. She floated down to the ground and stepped off the disk, causing it to disappear. She saw a bunch of other kids close to her age so she headed for them, with her hand out to shake. "Hello there, I'm Edith Gallo, but people call me Comet Girl and my friends call me Edi. So you are my fellow inmates, huh? I think if we work together we can make a jail break." She laughed, but was at least half serious, "So who are you guys?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

Just before Comet Girl arrives Hindsight closes his eyes.
Incoming.  What do the waves in time bring us now. 
Andrew seems frozen for most of Comet girls arrival.  He opens his eyes when Comet Girl begins to speak.
He bows slightly to Comet Girl after she finishes speaking.
Welcome to our group Edi.  I am Andrew Turner.  I am from Great Britain.  And I was born with my gifts.  I am a Psychic.
He smiles.  I am less of an inmate more a signed up patron.  This place is less of a prison to me and more of a great library for me to explore and learn from.
Now we are all here let us redo the basic introductions just in case anybody missed anything.  Also to help us understand each other better.  If that is alright with everybody?
Andrew is clearly encouraging everybody to follow his form of introduction.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

Lefty gave Hindsight a curious look at his words, then Comet Girl made her dramatic appearance. Lefty watched curiously until she landed and made her own introduction. "I'm an inmate," she followed up Andrew's introduction, so deadpan that she might have been making a dry joke of her own. She shook Edith's hand, then said "So you're Comet Girl, I've heard of you. Cool costume. I'm Lefty, waiting for the go-ahead from the higher-ups to give my real name." She gave Edith a more appraising look from behind her goggles, though the slight movement of her head still made clear what she was doing. "How did you end up here?"

"It would depend" interjected Alex. "Assault, battery and trespassing are common charges to be accused for in this business. Though I assume they tweaked those laws years ago to accommodate superheroes. At least I hope that, else everything would go sour after one of the super people annoying the wrong politician." He rambled while doing some signs with his free hand. A second later he was shrouded with a faint glow (similar look to aurora borealis) and was floating towards the Comet Girl. "Hey, It was Edith right? Want some lemon drops?" He shook the candy package in his hand. "Oh, I am probably the inmatest inmate here".

"I like Haraamakhor. She's an Indian hero. Very intelligent, and good with numbers." Cho smiles a little. "I'm an inmate too. We all are, really. My eyelids are the door, my mind is the coffin. It's very nice getting to meet you all. I'm Blackwell. I'm...an unusual case. I interact with conceptual models of Platonic idealized thoughtforms. Mostly tulpas and stochastic probability distributions." She smiles wider. "Also, I play the violin."

Edi nodded at Andrew, "Okay, well I guess that makes you the hostage." She winked so he knew she wasn't serious, at least not completely.

Edi grinned at Lefty, "Thanks, I helped design it. Lefty okay, well you are on team jailbreak." At the question she looked more than a bit cross. "The freakin studio execs figured if I don't go to school till I'm 18 they might be held liable somehow. Stupid but I'm sure other people are here because of lame adults too."

She turned to Legion, "My mom always said never take candy from strange boys." She reached into his bag and took one out and popped it in her mouth. She wiggled her eyebrows as if to say, "I never listened to her anyway."

Finally she looked at Cho, "Blackwell huh? Like the index? Sorry I don't understand 3/4ths of the words you used. I do like the violin though. I'd love to hear you play."

Then she turned and took a napkin out of her pocket, politely putting the candy away. "WOW! That was really sour. How can you eat those? Yuck!"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:36, Thu 11 Feb 2021.

Moments later Heritage flies out of the school, and lands in front of the collected students, "Hello, as many of you no doubt know, I'm Heritage.  I'm your official greeter for this, your first day of school.  I'll lead you on a tour of the facilities, but first, are there any questions?"

Lefty watched as Alex took off, but since Cho was talking to her directly she waited before saying anything. "Hmm, haven't heard of her," she said thoughtfully to Cho. She resisted the urge to follow up with we all prisoners, chicky baby. It was such a perfect opportunity, but if Cho didn't like old-ish movies it would probably just sound like mockery. Instead she said "Can't say I understand much of that."

"Yeah, that's about the size of it," she said to Edith when the topic turned to stupid adults. She looked faintly amused at the idea of Andrew being a hostage, but had to set the conversation aside when an actual hero showed up. "Hi," she said matter-of-factly. "Should we be giving out our real names along with our codenames?"

Hindsight smiles at Comet Girl.
Well if I am going to be captured and become a hostage.  Which I suspect will happen a few times in my life, I would prefer my capture's to be two or maybe three pretty girls.  It is the sort of thing that makes the experience more pleasurable.

He looks across at Blackwell as she was the only one that had not decided which side of the line she was on.

Turning to Heritage.
Good morning Sir.  Thank you for coming to meet us.  I have no questions to ask yet.

Cho smiles. "I'll play for you later," she promises Edi, before nodding to Heritage.

"I have no questions at this time, Maestro." She pulls a string out of her pocket and begins toying with it, weaving it through patterns between her fingers.

Alex was about to defend honour of all things sour when Heritage landed before and greeted the group. "Only one. Do you want some candy?", Alex said and offered the small package in his hand when Heritage asked them if there were any questions.