It took some time but, in the afternoon, Anathema, Phoenix Psyche and Fathom were all meeting in a seclude stop on the Promenade. Shadow declined the invitation, saying he would soon depart from the city for work for the foreseeable future.

Anathema wanted to track down the meteor who impacted Earth just before the apparition of Asyncs. The timing of the events had numerous peoples, many with reputation for pseudo-sciences and conspiracy theories, saying that the meteor was somehow responsible (or was not a meteor to begin with). A few peoples with more credible reputation acknowledged the possibility of a link between meteor and Asyncs and were pushing for some research in that direction. In all most of the planet was more preoccupied with Async and gave the meteor only distant thoughts.

A little research let the group localize the impact point on the eastern side of the Emperor Seamounts, an underwater mountains East of Japan.

[OCC: Please, one post by character with propositions for what you think will needed for the adventure.]

Star Phoenix was glad he had not waited for Anethema to come back as over the next two days she never looked back at him from a reflection to continue their search for the Impact Stone.  It was just as well as he was VERY busy.

His fiery Phoenix trail across the skies of the world became a familiar... and in many cases, though not all, a most welcome sight! He had gone to work at his father’s computer firm doing the same ole day in and out monotonous materials testing for IC chips resistant to radiation for NASA.  Yeah it was work for NASA but it was far less interesting then when he left work and donned his costumed id as Star Phoenix and really did something directly helpful for mankind.

True to his word he had gone to Ethiopia on a parabolic orbital flight the whole trip taking 2 hours with his sub-luminal light flight in space it took more time to get to orbit than the actual travel across the globe.  Arriving in Ethiopia he was expected as his flight was far too visible for the media coverage not to track him with Satellites and early warning radar most nations had.  He was met as he landing came down at the airport by reporters and...Military customs agents that apparently wanted to arrest him for entering their nation without a proper passport or permission.  But the crowds nearly tore the men apart for their efforts to prevent him from healing the Ebola outbreak.  It was also really hectic as Justy did not speak the native language ...but weapons were useless against him and he spent the initial half hour creating solid plasma construct to keep the enraged soldiers from hurting the civilians or pressing media.  But eventually he got lucky and Red Cross representative met him and directed him to follow to the outbreak area.  The military soldiers who still tried to ‘apprehend him could not follow him in flight.  Justy guessed leveler heads came to their senses when it was realized he could not be stopped as attack choppers that attacked him in the air had no real effect either and they just followed him wherever he went.  But after 2 hours of blatant political posturing non-sense he came to the Red Cross camp and got to work.  It was far easier than he expected at that point and soon he was following the ‘Doctors without Boarders’ from village to village ending the viral outbreak with a touch of his hand.  The reaction from the crowds of grateful Ethiopians was nothing less than religious reverence.  It frankly embarrassed him terribly, but he was glad his efforts were saving lives and ending a pandemic spread to the deadly Ebola virus.

Everywhere he went was pretty much like this.  There were always some who tried to stop him but many more who welcomed him.  He was glade after Ethiopia he’d downloaded a language voice translator to his Cell phone and paid for a premium Goggle maps app as well!   The media was awash with the talking heads’ of pro and con-Star Phoenix pundits discussing the meaning of such a godlike being and other warning of conspiracy theories claiming him the greatest threat to humanity ever to hit the public eye.

Justy ~ just sighed and continued to do what he felt he needed to do to help those in need.

Weather he was saving people from a mudslides in India, or putting out fires in the US west coast by coating whole trees with solid air-tight plasma sheaths, or sealing a ruptured oil tanker in the Strait of Hourmuz with a solid plasma plug then sweeping up the spilled oil with a large plasma construct to gather the oil and pour it back into the tanker preventing an ecological disaster he was met with adoring crowds... but also protestors.  He even visited Cape Canaveral to discuss with NASA just how many and where they would like him to lift the 20 ton packages into space all over the solar system.  There were skeptics there as well calling him a fraud or accusing him of having some ulterior motive to helping freely.  He agreed for their scientific curiosity to lift an astronaut with him into space with sensory gear to get readings on his super-luminal flight speeds taking him to the moon, mars and back just to prove his faster than light speeds.

Star Phoenix had been VERY busy!

But eventually he got the call from the crew and ship he had hired that all preparations were ready.

So with no other way to contact her that he knew he took to the skies over Penmore City, and with his plasma constructs sky writ in glowing letters ~ ‘ANETH, BOAT READY ~ REFLECT TO ME STAR’

And he found a central building somewhere with nice shiny window panes and waited.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:01, Wed 18 May 2022.

Even with a dozen of her selves committed to monitoring the news Anathema still had a hard time keeping up to date with the exploits of the Star Phoenix. Even with the amazing power of a world-wide instantaneous communication network it still took time for things to filter in from overseas and Anathema's sphere of influence remained fairly firmly locked at about two miles. Traversing the oceans with her power was difficult due to the poor quality of the reflections.

It was just as well. Anathema had her own agenda to carry out and a mission to plan. She did not want to lean entirely on the others.

The first thing she did was acquire a bunch of mirrors of various sizes and shapes; small ones could allow communication with Fathom as she dove for the meteorite, in case Psyche's communication failed. A jar of chrome ball bearings could be thrown scattershot into the ocean to give 360-degree vision. She acquired a couple pairs of night vision and infrared goggles although she remained unsure how useful they would be in the depths of the oceans and definitely untrusting the electronic nonsenses. Although she could duplicate them infinitely within mirrorspace she found that realspace frowned on matter duplication, so three sets of each type -- one apiece for her, Fathom, and Justy -- ought to be sufficient. Most importantly, however, she needed a way to keep the meteorite safe once it was secured. She had ascertained the location of several large mirrors that she could use as gateways into mirrorspace; the largest such mirrors were in use by the world's grandest space telescopes, so gaining access to them might be difficult... without Justy's help.

Acquiring all these good was fairly easy, although she had encountered a small difficulty early on...

---

"Pay?" Anna had asked innocently.

"Yeah. With money," the man had explained, pinching his thumb and forefinger together. "You know, money?"

"Oh yeah! Capitalist value tokens used to exchange for goods and services! I don't have any of that."

"If you can't pay I'll have to ask you to put all this back."

"Awwww, okaaaay..."

She had returned later that night and simply taken the items she wanted. She left a little note in their place that simply read 'sorry!' with a crying emoji face. She would pay them back! Someday!

---

Just a small difficulty!

Anathema also tried to figure out more about their mystery attackers. She hadn't thought about them very much at the time -- after all, money was apparently very important to have in this weird backwards society -- but after speaking with Fathom she had started questioning their motivations. If she didn't know better, it would seem that between the four of them they formed a perfect team for the meteor retrieval. A water specialist, a cosmic specialist, a communications officer, and an ideas person. Could it be that they had been specifically brought together for a purpose? It seemed a little too neat. Anathema likes things orderly, but the universe is chaotic and messy and when things look too orderly on their own she gets suspicious.

---

Two days pass, and the Star Phoenix makes his presence known as only he can. Anathema quickly concludes her current order of business and then mirror-bounces her way to the plasma lights.

"Hello Justy!" Anna's voice booms from the entire side of a skyscraper, her fifty-meter-tall image waving at him. "You have been very busy! Like a hypothetical monster composed of beaver and bee parts! A beever!"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:15, Fri 20 May 2022.

Star Phoenix, was not expecting a 50'ft tall image of a NAKED blue circuitry woman to appear on the side of the entire skyscraper... and he started in surprise his phoenix aura flaring largely.  His reaction treating the entire city to a display of 50 foot tall Anathema image in all her ... bareness ~ with a flared burning phoenix expanded to some 30'ft in wingspan hovering next to the downtown glass and steel tower refracting fiery light city wide!  Quite a display to say the least.

Star Phoenix recovered his composure drawing the power back in to reduce his phoenix aura back down to its 15'ft wingspan and smiled 'brightly' as only he could, for Anathema thinking, {Yep..should have expected THAT, she has no personal propriety or filter 'chuckle'}...

Star Phoenix snapped his fingers dismissing his solid plasma sky writing and spoke his voice crackling with power, "Oh, Hi Anathema!  I hoped you were ok, you never came back or ..er Reflected to me what your search for Fathom, I eventually saw her on the news with the press conference and the 'Mind Powers Girl' ~  Saturn Girl?"

"Anyways is the boat and crew are ready with recovery and scanning equipment, I've made inquiries with the national meteorological society and have fairly narrowed down the area of where off the coast to start our search for the meteor impact.  Have you make any preparations that need to be stowed on the ship, and have Fathom or 'Saturn Girl' agreed to help?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Fri 20 May 2022.

Life for Psyche has been surprisingly peaceful of late. Seeing Justy do his hero thing on the news is... well, it's heartening that he's trying to show that he's helpful and not hostile. Since he can take care of himself and he hasn't really tried to contact her since then, she decides not to worry about him too much (not to mention he was on a pay phone anyway, so it's not like she knows which number to call).

However, she hasn't had much contact with the others either, which is mildly disappointing, since they were some of the people in the same boat as her.

That is, until she is walking through the city one day when she sees 'ANETH, BOAT READY ~ REFLECT TO ME STAR’ in the sky.

"What the-?" she begins, before musing that the "Star" might be "Star Phoenix".

"Wonder what he's up to now?" she mutters while walking in front of a three meter tall facade mirror...

Star Phoenix was waiting for Anathema to come through her reflection portal when it occurred to him he at least had a way to contact the 'Saturn Girl' Telepath... she had mentally gave everyone her number or at least a number to contact her.

He created a small disc of solid plasma for him and eventually Anathema to stand on and talk in midair... but it also gave him the opportunity to land and shut off his burning flight aura.  Doing so allowed him to pull out his plasma encased cell phone and make a call.  Considering all the public charity work he'd been doing over the past few days.. eventually he figured he'd be identified and his life would change..again... it was inevitable.  So making a call to her from his burner phone was of little risk.  It also occurred to him he still didn't know her - 'Saturn Girl-Telepaths' name?

'shrug' Thinking, {She probably wouldn't pick up a unknown number anyways but its worth a shot.}

Justy dialed...

Psyche picks up the phone, though she doesn't recognize the number this time.

"Hello?" she asks, and they moment she says that she regrets it; there's a pervert who somehow managed to get her number and he's been pestering her to go out on a date with him. Hopefully this isn't him...

In reply to Psyche (msg # 7):

"Oh! Hi... er 'Saturn-Girl', its Justy.  Y'know.. it would be nice to have a even 'fake' name to call you by.  This is a burner phone by the way... but you can leave messages with me here.  Its off most of the time but I turn it on every 4 hours for 5 minutes. You might want to invest in one yourself. Sorry, I've aheh.. been busy. Thanks for the advice... I hadn't planned to be as confrontational as you seemed to take it.. but my gifts are kind of flashy.  Don't know if you saw the sky writing before it... vanished but I'd like to meet up with you. Anna wants to investigate the impact and I thought it would be a good idea to gather ... people we trust to help.  Have you had any contact with Fathom?"

It is clearly he is trying to avoid directly mentioning powers or events directly... unsure how secure the call is...  but even still some things can't be avoided mentioning.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:09, Wed 01 June 2022.

Saturn-Girl?

Psyche raises her eyebrow but then thinks Eh, whatever, and replies.

"I introduced myself as Psyche when we first met, didn't we? Anyway, I'm glad you're doing good out there. I saw all that space stuff you were doing on the news; congrats on actually pushing the frontiers of humanity forward. As for the sky writing, I'm actually in town right now and I just saw it. It seemed flashy enough to be you, but I wasn't sure how to contact you. Who's Anna, by the way? And yeah, I spoke a bit to Fathom, but I think she might be busy with stuff on her end."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Thu 02 June 2022.

In reply to Psyche (msg # 9):

He pauses and thinks back, "Oh wow... you're right you did! So Sorry, that totally slipped my mind! Been calling you 'Saturn Girl' after the comic character from 'The Legion of Superheroes'.. she's a telepath.  Ok Psyche.  'Anna' is Anathema... you remember the naked turquoise-skinned circuitry girl?  Well we are down town... check to the west... there's a six story tall ~ again, naked, image of Anathema in the side of a skyscraper; not sure how your missing THAT, or my glowing phoenix aura shining across the cityscape!  We are trying to gather a group to go find possibly the source of our powers a meteor impact off-shore.  I already have a ship and salvage crew assembled.  Do you think You and Fathom might be interested in joining our search?"

{OOC: Gah! My bad..been too long between posts lost track of the fact you gave us a name.}
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Thu 02 June 2022.

Psyche leans out around a corner where people are starting to point and raises an eyebrow - she was five seconds away from noticing the whole time!

"I was probably paying too much attention to my phone or something. Anyway, I see you guys now, give me a while to get there..."

Saying so, Psyche looks around for something she can use as a platform. But it's the middle of town and it's not as though... oh. Ohhhh.

Shortly afterwards, she spots the big image of Anathema and the familair form of Star Phoenix nearby. That said, she has no idea how they'll react when she comes in for a landing while standing on a manhole cover that's flying through the air... Out of courtesy, she lands and immediately levitates it far away from the others.

"Now, where were we... You want to go offshore and look for the meteor? That's not a bad idea . Any idea where you'll be looking?

Star Phoenix turns and waves at Psyche's arrival.

Star Phoenix has formed a floating solid plasma disc some 20'ft wide suspended upon nothing it solidly holds its position relative to the skyscraper next to it.  A 6 story tall image of Anathema peers out of the glass reflective surface of the building... of course as usual not wearing a stitch of clothing!

"Hey glad you could make it Psyche! Yep an off-shore 'expedition'.  Yes, generally, the American Meteorological Society tracks all sorts of phenomenon like meteor showers, storms ~ things such as that.  It took a little computer searching but I found info on the meteor strike off the shore of Pennmore City ~ freedom of information an all that.  Got it narrowed down to a general area.  The ship and crew have all the needed gear for underwater search and salvage...but I'm more counting on our powers to truly locate the meteorite.  The ship and crew are just a good place to rest our feet from our searches..even though they too will be looking.  Can't hurt to have more eyes on the task."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:21, Tue 07 June 2022.

Psyche ought to be rolling her eyes at Anna-thema's nudity but meh, she's met her fair share of weirdoes in her life and Anna doesn't seem like the nasty kind.

Well, so long as she doesn't start grabbing my ass, she shrugs, and then ponders Star Phoenix's words.

"Sounds like you've got everything covered, though if it's water-related... Maybe Fathom would be helpful? She's a champion swimmer, among other things, and I'm not sure if a constant steam explosion going into the water would be a good thing.

She glances at Star Phoenix for that.

Star Phoenix nods in agreement, "Certainly, Fathom would be Very helpful!"

He shrugs, "I have flown into water before... my aura is clearly not not 'just' fire as I can fly through space and still be on fire.  Its fiery solar plasma.. hydrogen and Helium in fusion.. I create that effect.  Usually.. my aura is just a light effect when my powers are active.  It 'seems' when I'm manipulating energy the aura appears but if I'm not I can sometimes not project it.  I can't seem to make it go away all the time.  Specifically when I'm flying OR activate my protective field those powers Always create the 'Phoenix' aura.  I apparently do not fly through some graviton manipulation.. no.. I'm a fusion rocket my flight is because I'm like a rocket engine my aura providing thrust.  So its fiery and burns.  My protective field is the same way.. its a sheath of burning plasma so yeah it burns.  In water I've noticed when flying.. the fusion reaction does turn the water to a seething aura of searing water.  The aura is normally 10 to 15 feet 'wing-tip to wing-tip', but in underwater it's almost double that size 20 to 30'ft.  So if Fathom keeps her distance all she should notice is the water being general much warmer near me.  I think the water actually provides more hydrogen fuel for the plasma effect, but I've conjectured the higher the pressure.. perhaps the smaller the aura of scalding water becomes.  Plus this is only an issue if I have my flight or protective field are active while underwater, I can just turn them off.  Yes, the pressure might cause me issues especially if I raise or submerge too fast... but I regenerate VERY fast!"

He gestures around him as currently he is using no energy powers at all.. just standing upon the solid energy disc construct he created as a platform... apparently these constructs are not sustained by his powers but have an independent existence outside his active maintaining them.

"Long story short... I should be just fine under water regardless of the depth.. I'll heal any pressure damage quickly, and I can easily avoid harming Fathom should she come along by just turning off my flight and protective plasma field.  My contribution being I'm like crazy strong and can dead lift over 12 tons without even trying! When we find the rock.. I'll have no trouble recovering it."

He pauses and blushes slightly, "...eh sorry? I know I perhaps talk too much.. I'm a physicist intern.. the whole science side of my powers is fascinating.  I guess I should have had a more efficient dream of super powers cause sometimes mine as inconvenient how they work and their limitations? A lot of my powers require my being exposed to sunlight... which I can spontaneously emit... but doing so severely limits any other energy power use."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:17, Wed 08 June 2022.

Psyche decides to place a call to Fathom and then sets it to speaker mode and puts it aside so she can continue talking to Phoenix and Anna-thema without having to focus exclusively on the dial tone.

Fortunately, her time with David has prepared her for the technobabble that Phoenix regales her with. In fact she actually finds it quite informative. At least he enjoys them, she muses.

"Well, it's good to know that working underwater shouldn't be a problem. I'd probably want a dive suit and an O2 tank. Better yet, I could stay on the boat and keep a lookout for things. Would certainly involve much less changing of clothes. ANyway, you mentioned being exposed to sunlight... which might be a bit troublesome if it's too deep. Have you considered that other people might be going after the meteorite too?"

In reply to Psyche (msg # 15):

Star Phoenix smiles, "Aha! You were listening Psyche, excellent! Very observant.. yes, sunlight IS a source of power for a number of my abilities.  But I have figured out a trick..."

He snaps his fingers and begins shedding from his very body a warm intense golden glow... briefly before he lets it fade to normal again.

"I can generate environmental effects like a star... I can create sunlight.  The problem is when I'm doing that... its all I can do. All my energy powers have to be dedicated to that environmental change.  No other energy projection powers are available when I'm focused on generating sunlight.  But it is sufficient for powers that require sunlight to work to function while I'm consciously creating sunlight.  Render me unconscious and that benefit fails and the powers that need sunlight stop again."

"As for other's seeking the stone... is a possibility.  But I'll not let fear of possible opposition reduce me to inaction... one way or another we will have to deal with it.  But we did act fairly quickly.. we'll see.."

"Anyway, our boat and crew await.. let's get to it... the sooner we get moving the quicker we can resolve this."

Fathom and her lawyers had been in conference for much of the day working out the details of the government Asynch program involvement.  They'd been particularly caught up on merchandising rights, of all things.  But Sarah's team knew what they were doing and they were convinced that this was going to be the next big trend in popular culture.

When Fathom answered, Psyche gave her the basic run-down, and Fathom made her arrangements.  She'd already been good to go as Anathema had advised that Star Phoenix had arranged some sort of vessel.  At least she wouldn't be in any trouble of drowning, she thought...

A week later.

The four Async found managed to find a ship captain willing to help their little expedition. Max Henderson was fifty-year-old but looked older from a lifetime at sea. He looked like the perfect stereotype of old sailor, something that he took pride in. Which was probably the reason he accepted to help the group: adventures were part of a sailor soul.

His ship, the Medusa, was a bit old (build during the golden age of Penmore City) but was clearly in good shape. It was a medium sized cargo ship, something who was disappearing in favour of the enormous cargo used today.
The trip was relatively uneventful except for the fact that the four async were in the same cabin. But in the end, they were just above the impact site, and everyone was ready to go.

[OOC: @Fathom, I have something in mind for that, Muahahahahaha]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Fri 17 June 2022.

"I can scout the area, lay down some LED beacons with mirrors along the way." Fathom said to Anathema.  "They're going to attract all sorts of aquatic interest, so your vision might not be so hot, but it's got to be better than nothing."

"if this meteorite is associated with our powers and if there's actually anything big enough to have an appreciable impact, I'm betting it should have had an effect on the the local environment, too. I mean, we don't have any solid reason to think that it affected only humans, do we?"