In no time at all, Mingmei was home.

Mingmei made sure she had her costume and weapons stored safely in her bag before heading inside.

The smell of food cooking was strong in the air, but no one was immediately in sight.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Mingmei asked.

"In here!" came a voice from the kitchen.

Mingmei headed there.

Her parents were in the kitchen, cooking something complex and a bit unusual.

"What are you making?" Mingmei asked.

"Bhodidharma's Delight," said her father.  "Indian-Cantonese Fusion food."

"That sounds different. Any reason you're making it tonight?" Mingmei asked.

"It came up in conversation at work," he said.  "I thought I'd try the idea out."

"Let me know when it's ready," Mingmei said as she headed to her room.

It looked like the group call was trying to reach her again.

Mingmei answered.

"Hey, sorry."

Mingmei did homework.  And then it was time to test experimental food.

Indian food was often spicy.  So was Cantonese.  The combination, well...

"Wow, that is some spice," Mingmei said.

"Too much?" her father asked.

"It's about the limit of what I can tolerate," Mingmei said. "Tasty though."

"Cantonese isn't even all that spicy, normally," her mother joined in.  "This is more Szechuan, you know."

"Sure, but Indian sure is," Mingmei said.

"Exactly!" said her father.  Her mother was more skeptical, but moved on to another subject.

"And how was your day, Mingmei?" she asked.

"It was okay," Mingmei said. "Nothing exciting happened."

"You were on the phone for a while," said her father.  "How are your friends doing?"

"They're okay. It's a friday with nothing happening," Mingmei said.

"Aw, that's a shame," said her mother.  "You should get out and do something!"

"It's okay, I'm kinda tired," Mingmei said.

"Well, don't let yourself just sleep all the time," said her father.  "You're young!  You should enjoy that while you can."

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Mingmei said, pulling out her phone and texting Leann and Lihua. You guys up for a get together? Maybe stream a movie?

Sure!  When should we come over?

Anytime now. I'll get snacks, what do you guys want?

Do you have any more of those shrimp-flavored crackers?  Those are so good!

I'll pick up some of those then.  Mingmei texted.

"I'm just gonna hit up the convenience store and then Leann and Linhua are coming over."

"Good!" said her mother.  "You have to live life, you know."

"Back in a bit," Mingmei said, heading out.

Soon she had snacks.

Mingmei went back home to wait for her friends.

Soon enough, they arrived.  Leann had brought a large supply of pop; Lihua had brought DVDs, which was odd in this modern era.  They look home-burned.

"Oh no! My friend, the pirate," Mingmei said.

"Oh, I think they're a little bit more interesting than that," said Lihua.  "You can't stream this stuff..."

"Eh? What do you have?" Mingmei asked.

"I found footage of some interesting, um, live sporting events," said Lihua.  "I'll show you in private.  I mean, you know, without parents."

"Let's head to my room then," Mingmei said.

They headed up to Mingmei's room, giggling.

"...so it's not actually porn, right?" said Leann.  "I mean, I'm fine if it is, but..."

"It sounds like it is," Mingmei said.

Lihua rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on!" she said.  "...I, uh, could probably get some if you wanted it to not show up on your search history, though.  But that's not what this is.  Are you ready?"

"Sure," Mingmei said.

It appeared to be low-resolution, shaky footage of a series of fights in a pit between metahumans.

"Now where did you find this?" Mingmei asked.

"Online," said Lihua.  "Complicated chain of recommendations.  Lots of malware warnings, too, but I got through it."

"Do you know where it was filmed?" Mingmei asked.

"They didn't say..." said Lihua.

"Maybe we can take a closer look, see if there are any clues?" Leann suggested.

Mingmei did her best to try and pick out details of the video.

Perception and Investigation plz

(OOC: Perception and Investigation Check -  Red Fox rolled 11,16 using d20+6,d20+1)

There, watching closely from ringside-- was that the pair she'd seen in Fred's videos?  It sure looked like it!

Mingmei pointed to the people.

"They're from that video!"

"So does that mean that these videos are local?" Leann asked.  "Cool!"

"It must be," Mingmei said.

"So the question becomes, how do you find them?" said Lihua.

"I don't know, maybe I should patrol the areas we've seen them in," Mingmei said.

"That might do it," said Leann.  "Unless you wanted to do some crazy thing to get recruited for the fights, I guess."

"I did beat up the spider-guy," Mingmei said.

"That's a start," said Leann.  "I wonder if we can do something to help?  Trayvon might be able to post something..."

"Hmm. Good question. I should get an email address set up so I can let camera guy know about things," Mingmei said.

"That's easy enough to do," said Lihua.

"Good. I'm still learning," Mingmei said.

"Okay, I'll set that up," said Leann.  "Anything else you want to do to get ready?"

"Hmm. I think that's enough. How about we watch an actual movie now?" Mingmei asked.

"Sure thing," said Lihua.  "...so did you bring porn?"

She giggled as she said it; she was being transgressive.

"Maaaaybe not the best with my parents home," Mingmei said.

"I did not," said Leann.  "What kind of movie, Mingmei?"

"How about a horror movie?" Mingmeo suggested.

"Aaaah, I'm going to be up all night!  You know those things get to me!" said Lihua.  "So let's do it!  Which one?"

"How about that new slasher one?" Mingmei suggested with an evil smile.

"You know it!" said Leann.  Lihua whimpered, hid her face in her hands, and nodded.

Mingmei got up and turned the light down low.

Soon Lihua's screams competed with those of actresses as the slaughter unfolded!

Mingmei tried to stifle her laughter, but it didn't seem to work.

The movie wrapped up, but it was possible that Mingmei would have permanent marks in her arm from Lihua's fingers grabbing her abruptly, over and over again.

"Are you okay?" Mingmei asked.

"Yeah," said Lihua.  "...just scary!"

"Hey, don't worry, it's fine," Mingmei said.

"Sorry!" said Lihua, blushing.  "Scary movies just... get to me."

"Don't worry about it, sad movies always get me," Mingmei said.

"Still embarrassing," muttered Lihua, still clinging to Mingmei.

"It's not like we're gonna give you a hard time for it," Mingmei said.

"...yeah, but you might have bruises," sighed Lihua, awkwardly.

"I fought a giant spider-thing, I'll be fine," Mingmei said.

"Hey, that's right," said Leann.  "Don't you ever worry about getting hurt doing that?"

"Not in the moment, I don't think I could have done that if I did," Mingmei said.

"You're very brave," said Lihua.  "I couldn't do that."

"You're good help as backup," Mingmei said. "Don't sell yourself short."

"Thank you," said Lihua.  "I'm glad that I can help."

Mingmei gave her a hug.

"You do help a lot."

"Thank you," said Lihua.  "I'm not quite sure how, though..."

"Having lots of people to talk things through helps," Mingmei siad.

"...oh," said Lihua.  She blushed.

"Well, thank you, but I wish that I could do more."

"Don't worry about it," Mingmei said. "I'm the one with superpowers."

"...still, it would be good if I could do something," Lihua sighed.  "I worry so much about you when you're out there!"

"Don't worry, I am invincible," Mingmei said and laughed.

"But what if someone finds a way to attack you through your bragging?" said Leann, throwing a pillow lazily at Mingmei's head.

Mingmei teleport a couple feet to the side.

"I'd say they'd have to try harder," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"Aw, I figured you'd just catch it out of the air," said Leann.  "Well, whatever.  We do worry."

"I get it, it is dangerous, but I can do this," Mingmei said.

"I know, I know," said Leann.  "You are amazing and kick all the butt.  But we love you and so we worry."

"I'll try to not let it go to my head," Mingmei said.

"So should we take steps to help you with that...?" Leann teased.

"With friends like these...," Mingmei said, sticking out her tongue.

"You know we love you, though," said Lihua, putting her arms around Mingmei.

"I know," Mingmei said.

Lihua stayed attached.

"So, what's the next move?" Leann asked.  "Getting in on this... contest thing?"

"Yeah, I gotta see what they're up to if they're gonna let giant weird-spider things in," Mingmei said.

"To be fair, from what we saw, the weird spider-thing part came later," said Leann.

"Still a racist jerk," Lihua pointed out.

"True."

"But it should be easy to find, I'm sure," Mingmei said.

Mingmei's phone chimed; a message had come through.

Mingmei checked it.

So I think I found out how they get people into this tournament

Aw, you interrupted the lingerie pillow fight. :P
That is what guys think go on at these, right? Anyway, what'd you find?

The place where they hold auditions.  But you need to be careful.  People get killed doing this.

Ah, cool. I'll be careful.

"What's going on?" Lihua asked.  She looked worried, or perhaps concerned.  "You look really serious..."

"Trayvon found out where I can audition for the fights," Mingmei said.

"Woah," said Leann.  "So, you're going for it?"

"Yeah, I will. Probably need to shut the place down," Mingmei said.

"That makes sense," said Lihua.  "But you're going to have to fight a bunch of professional fighters, right?  That sounds really dangerous."

"It probably will be, but I am pretty good myself," Mingmei said.

"Keep us posted on how you're doing, then," said Leann.

"He didn't say when it was...I better find that out," Mingmei said as she texted him.

Trayvon replied with all the information she needed.

"Ah, good," Mingmei said. "This'll be fun."

"So this is really happening?  Wow," said Leann.  "Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm sure you guys can find a stream or video somewhere to see how I do," Mingmei said.

"Sure, but I don't want to watch you get hurt!" Lihua protested.  "...so be careful, all right?"

Mingmei stiffened her back and saluted.

"Roger!"

"You'll need an alias," said Leann.  "You can't go in as you.  They'll know."

"That makes sense," Mingmei said.

"And a costume to go with it," Leann continued.  "So, think about that, too.  Probably something simple, of course."

"Sure. What were you thinking of?" Mingmei asked.

"Eh, something simple that says 'Up-and-coming street tough,'" said Leann.  "Like you pick a name like 'Double Zero' and have a mask that's a green bandana with two zeros on it, and then denim and leather for the rest, or something."

"That sounds good," Mingmei said. "Can you make it?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be hard," said Leann.  "I'll just repurpose some old clothes."

"Cool. Thanks. I can't really do sewing and similar that well," Mingmei said.

"Hero support squad, on the job," Leann said, grinning.

"And that's why you guys are so great," Mingmei said.

"I still wish I could do more," said Lihua.  "...maybe I'll figure something out."

"Hey, don't worry! It's still early in this whole thing," Mingmei said.

"In the meantime, you can help me with the costume," Leann declared.  "Extra hands are good for some things."

"hey, there we go," Mingmei said.

"Well, I guess that's something," said Lihua.

Mingmei gave her a hug.

"Don't worry about it."

Lihua hugged her back fiercely.

"Thanks," she said.  "Um, anything else to do now?"

"We could do some more movies or something," Mingmei said.

"...more horror?" said Lihua, softly, her eyes huge.

"It doesn't have to be," Mingmei said. "We can do something less intense."

"Thank you," said Lihua.  "...I need to think instead of shrieking."

"How about that new romcom?" Mingmei asked.

"Sure!" said Lihua, relieved.

"I'll go get some more popcorn," Mingmei said.

Soon popcorn and shows were all done.

"Better?" Mingmei asked Lihua.

"Yes, thanks," said Lihua.  "I just... can't have a steady diet of that kind of thing."

"It's cool," Mingmei said.

"But thanks," said Lihua.  "Anything else to do tonight?"

"I'm good, unless someone else wants to suggest something," Mingmei said.

No one did.

"Time to turn in then," Mingmei said.

And so the night passed.

What was Mingmei's next move?

"So, how long do you think it'd take throwing to throw together that alt-costume? I want to check out that place as soon as possible," Mingmei said.

"Maybe a day," said Leann.  "Tops.  By definition, this is an easy one."

"Cool, I guess I'll do some patrolling then," Mingmei said.

"Take care," said Leann...


Investigation and Perception

(OOC: Investigation and Perception -  Red Fox rolled 4,22 using d20+1,d20+6)

And Mingmei was home.

Mingmei headed to her room to relax with some youtube videos.

Relaxing... but there were some odd things coming up in her recommendations now.

Might as well check them out.

Videos of her, for one thing.  Well, this was probably Fred's work, so it wasn't terribly suspicious by itself.  But there were others featuring "Fight in San Petro" that were from an unfamiliar source...

Mingmei went to check out the channel in more detail.

...shaky phone vids of fights outside between people who were skilled street-fighters, mostly.  Incredibly brutal.  And, significantly, the word "Audition" was clearly heard several times in a few of them.

"Hmm. Guess and I'm probably going to have to do something like this," Mingmei said.

Perception and Investigation, plz

(OOC: Investigation and Perception - Red Fox rolled 13,14 using d20+1,d20+6. Gonna reroll both. Red Fox rolled 20,25 using d20+1,d20+6 .)

...she recognized some of the recurring locations of the fights.  And in an older video, she thought that one of the participants resembled a certain giant spider...

Well now, she had to check out some of the locations now.

She knew that there might or might not be anything going on there at the moment-- they were ordinary back alleys.  But perhaps, if she was ready to attempt to infiltrate the fights, she could get there at just the right time...

Mingmei decided to see if she could get a call going.

Who was she calling?

She was looking to get her whole support crew in a call.

And Mingmei was home.

Mingmei went for another group call, it wouldn't hurt to update everyone.

Mingmei made it home, and things were quiet.  For the moment, at least.

Mingmei headed for her match.