Tales of The Legendary/Riot Force 6.1: Purrfect Archer

[Sweno]

You and OM are just cranking these out.

Congrats on making me uncertain if I should feel warm and fuzzy, or worried, about this budding relation ship.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[OpMegs]

...a little of both, really.

But ain't it fun?
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[The Hunterminator]

Mmm... I have a small question about Just Another Archer, or rather Neko since I should be able to come back to CoH in the coming month and it's RP
relevant.

Basically, Yukiyo is one of the magical girls that are the darkness' answer to the light's magical girls. Neko, being an agent for an agency in charge
of said 'light' magical girls, is it likely that she'd spot Yukiyo's nature? And if so, what kind of reaction would she have?

[Bob Schroeck]

Basically, Yukiyo is one of the magical girls that are the darkness' answer to the light's magical girls.

Oh, we really have to get Yukiyo and Sailor Null together, then... they apparently work for the same boss...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Matrix Dragon]

The Hunterminator wrote:

---

Mmm... I have a small question about Just Another Archer, or rather Neko since I should be able to come back to CoH in the coming month and it's RP
relevant.




Basically, Yukiyo is one of the magical girls that are the darkness' answer to the light's magical girls. Neko, being an agent for an agency in
charge of said 'light' magical girls, is it likely that she'd spot Yukiyo's nature? And if so, what kind of reaction would she have?

Neko would likely recognize Yukiyo and Nulls power sources, but she'd be fine with it. Mostly. She's probably seen cases like Null
before, and that never ends well for anyone involved. But, luckily for Alice, Neko's been working in this field for a lot of the age of heroes, and has
encountered more then a few magical girls that were as bad as their enemies (After all, if the 'holy light' grants them their powers, they're
obviously in the right). It's taught her that a lot of things are more grey then most magical girls would expect. So yeah, she'd go the approach of
judging them by their actions more then anything else.

[Matrix Dragon]

(And here's the first story of the newly renamed Purrfect Archer. Thanks again to OM for our favorite alien spies dialogue0

***

Inyme stepped into the Barnes/Baker/Romanova household (Which Nene was currently seeking a better name for), looking around. She'd come in civilian
clothes, casual gear over her jumpsuit, Alice having convinced her to meet Nene and Ifrit in person so to speak. Most of the lights were off, save the one from
the balcony, which was matched by the light of Alices eyes.

Alice knew she was there, but didn't really pay much attention at first, focused on her own thoughts and sort out the darker emotions running through her.
It wasn't until Inyme said her name that she responded, looking over her shoulder. "Hey," she said softly.

"Is something wrong?" the darker woman asked as she looked around, noticing a distinct lack of a tiny brown cat.

"Yeah," Alice admitted. "Not that though," she added. "Neko's off with Nene." Idly, she noted that Neko was rather talented
at working out when she wanted to be alone. Inyme nodded as the Catgirl sighed. "I joined Vanguard the other day."

"Really? They are treating you well?" Inyme wondered.

"Interesting lot. Well, it hires Supervillians as well, so that should be obvious," she added in an amused tone. "Professionals though,
dedicated..." She sighed and shook her head, leaning back. "They're not the problem. I brought in a Rikti defector today."

"I see..." she said softly.

"No, you don't. You see, his name now is, was B'Nadek, but during the war... It was, maybe is, Ben Decker. He was a human." She looked at
Inyme, and she could see the look of understanding on the other womans face.

"....oh."

Anger rippled through her again, not at B'Nadek... Ben, but at what she'd learned from him. It faded as she closed her eyes. "He was a
soldier," she murmured. "Fought against them right through the war until he was taken prisoner, and then, then..." her hands clenched on the
armrest. "They changed him. They altered his body, his mind... they plugged him into the Rikti... well, Hive-mind I suppose is as good a name as any.
Practically erased him and replaced him with a loyal soldier. He looks like one, talks like one... thinks like one," she said, remembering when she'd
stood close to him, heard his words forming in his head, even the silent accusations from the aliens she'd taken down trying to get at him.

There had been flashes of humanity from Ben/B'Nadek, but just as often, there had been something... inhuman. Like a part of a machine, forced into a role,
left jumping and stuttering as it forced itself onto a new path that it didn't entirely seem to understand... She wondered about the others, the original
Rikti. Were they as bland as B'Nadek, or was there something more? And what about the Lost? She'd never really touched their minds during the days she
fought them regularly. What were they? Human, or soulless? Especially given the fact that-

She was pulled back to the moment as Inyme spoke again. "And now you're wondering about others who...vanished."

She nodded slightly "I knew the Rikti used their poisons to change the Lost," she said, "But I never imagined this... or the reason it's so
easy for them to do so," she said, moving to the topic that terrified her so much. "It doesn't really take any dirty tricks or dark magic."
She leaned over to the small table on the balcony and picked up a manila envelope. "This is one of the US Governments biggest secrets," she said.
"Vanguard holds to the opinion the people fighting the Rikti need to know..."

"And you're giving it...to me," Inyme replied, slightly surprised.

She nodded. "I showed it to Ifrit, Nene... There were people in the Legendary that already know. General agreement is that the world's not ready for
this... but we've all faced the Rikti before. We need to know. You need to know."

"I....thank you...I think.." she said, taking the envelope before looking back at her. "Something else is bothering you."

"Read it, you'll see... or do you want the short version?"

She looked at her, cocking her head to the side slightly. "....I'd like to hear it from you."

Alice too a deep breath "The Rikti are humans."

Inymes face may well have shown her shock better then her emotions at that moment. "What?"

"The original Rikti were apparently from some other Earth, like the ones Portal Corps explores... Like you come from," she noted, realizing Inyme
would know the concept well enough. "They're humans, altered to those, those things." Hate seeped back into her voice at that last word.

Inyme sat there for a moment, speechless. To her credit, she recovered faster then Alice had when the Dark Watcher revealed it to her. "And so the people
captured..."

"Are transformed into more soldiers. Their lives, their families... all forgotten, driven down by their new minds," she said, remembering
B'Nadeks mind yet again.

"...and that frightens you because you thought all Rikti were-"

"I know what they are," she snapped. "I know what they're turning people into."

Inyme looked at her for a moment. "You mentioned Rikti defectors. They're all...?" She left the question unfinished.

"Ben Decker overcame the brainwashing, somewhat," she said. "He still thinks like one most of the time. The one I helped the Midnighters
rescue... he's only doing it to help his faction of the Rikti win."

"Faction?"

"Oh yeah, turns out not all the Rikti agree on the best way to wipe us out," Alice said. Her ears, which had been pulled back against her head,
twitched up in bitter amusement. "One of them is making things like the Lost... Guess the others are fine with just gunning us all down in the
streets."

"...if they're all the same objectives, why "rescue" and not "capture"?" she asked. Alice gave her a confused look. "You
said the Rikti you rescued for the Midnighters. That suggests that he came willingly. If they want to wipe us out, why work with....well, a highly
magic-involved group?"

"Because he was turned over to the Vanguard."

The darker woman paused, then nodded, conceding the point. "I guess....still, you're still avoiding my question on what's really bothering you.
You're giving me facts and figures out of that," she noted, nodding at the folder.

"If they really are human, why did they come here?" Alice asked. "Why did they..." She fumbled for a way to explain what she mean, before
giving up and simply repeating "Why?"

Inyme stepped closer, sitting down beside the catgirl. "Why do people start wars with people they've no reason to attack?"

"I don't know," she said quietly.

"Except you're working for the one set of people who might know. They have Rikti prisoners they can ask. Maybe even ones that are cooperating like
K'mira...someone has to know why."

She nodded slightly, before her head slumped. "They don't feel human," she said softly. "They're supposed to be human, but all
that's left is..."

"Maybe not anymore. You mentioned a hivemind. Thousands, perhaps millions of people whose thoughts are connected instantaneously. Understanding,
viewpoints blending... They can't feel exactly like humans...not living like that. If it were you or me or anyone else that had the same experience, maybe
we wouldn't feel human either," Inyme finished.

"Maybe that's the worst part," Alice murmured, miserable. As if sensing her confusion, Inyme pulled her into a gentle embrace and stroked her
hair.

"You just have to learn how to deal with the truth as it's presented to you," she said softly, reaching out telepathically. The touch of her mind
helped to calm the girl, pushing the unease and fears away, at least for the moment. Then Inymes hands brushed along her ears, squeezing the tips slightly, and
Alice completely forgot about Vanguard and the Rikti for a moment, as a wave of sudden pleasure ran through her.

She closed her eyes and leaned against her, wondering if this was why all those geeks had insisted on trying to touch her ears when she'd saved them from
their science project gone mad. Then she stopped wondering as Inymes hands, as if responding to her pleasure, began to focus on her ears, massaging them
gently. Not thinking at all now, she merely relaxed against her friend.

"Do you plan to go back?" Inyme asked.

"Mmm?" she managed, coming back to reality somewhat.

"To Vanguard," the telepath clarified.

"That's the kicker... Can't stop fighting them," she mumbled, leaning against her.

"They'll find out something to do. They've got nothing better to do and a longtime to do it."

"Rikti are still killing people," Alice said, her voice becoming slightly unsteady. "Heroes use medicomm, they've got medicomm, but
there's still people in danger. Gotta..." she stopped talking, feeling an odd rumbling in her chest that made it hard to talk for some reason. She
felt Inymes minor confusion, but that seemed unimportant as her hands continued to stroke her ears.

She pushed up closer to Inyme as a part of her mind worked out she was actually purring. She'd done it once or twice, when she was the cat sitting on
Neko's shoulder, but this was new... and wonderful, she decided as a slight moan slipped out. Even as Inyme's susprise was felt, she shifted, moving
onto the other womans lap. Her eyes never opened as she cuddled against the surprised woman, and despite the action, Inymes hands never stopped stroking the
girls ears. The simple fact she'd forgotten she was doing it most likely, or the fact it was still causing a very positive reaction in a girl whose
emotions she was very interested in.

Alice lay against her for a long time, enjoying the hands stroking her ears, and the feel of her chest rumbling against Inymes. All the problems and troubles
just faded away, replaced by the simple contentment of being in a time and place where everything was perfect. Slowly, she began to doze off, mind slipping
into slumber.

"Alice?" Inyme asked softly. "You need to get up... I'm trapped." She smiled slightly, cracking an eye open and looking up at her.
Still purring, she tilted her head to the side, then leaned up and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Nothing too intense, but it made the other womans eyes
shoot open. She smiled again, then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, mind completely failing to log the incident, ensuring that Alice would never
actually remember her first kiss.

Inyme looked at the slumbering, purring form wrapped around her, nearly speechless. Any attempt to move would wake her, which was something she really
didn't want to do now for some reason... the sound of the door opening pulled her back to the moment. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled weakly at a
surprised looking Ifrit. "Help?"

***

[Matrix Dragon]

***

Borea stepped into the war room of the Vanguard Compound, walking up to the central table. As was usual, it showed a holographic view of the crashed Rikti
flagship and what used to be the White Plains district of Paragon City. Tiny flickers of light played across the map, showing Vanguard forces, known Rikti
squads, even Arachnos, Malta and Crey units. And of course the heroes, most allied with Vanguard and struggling to keep the reconstruction of the flagship
halted.

"What happened?" she asked her aide.

"Recon Squad Sixteen was ambushed in Pavia," he replied, highlighting the area in question. "All except one of them Medicommed. Private Wells.
We've got his location, but they're blocking his Medicomm signal, preventing transport."

"Same old story," she said with a scowl. "What's his condition?"

"Mental trauma, plasma burns...no signs of mutagens," he reported. Borea nodded. It was a familiar story. The Rikti captured a soldier, prevented
medicomm evacuation, then made sure that the advanced medical systems built into all Vanguard suits reported exactly what happened back to command. War of
Nerves for the 21st Century.

"Time?" she asked.

"Ten minutes since capture." Borea nodded, doing the math. They had an hour at most before the Rikti disposed of the armor and they were left with a
corpse... or possibly a new Rikti soldier.

"Give me a list of all heroes in Pavia," she ordered. A moment later, a list of names appeared in front of her. Her eyes ran down the list, looking
at security rating, current Vanguard missions, team status... "Get me Purrfect Archer, open channel," she ordered the comm officer. He looked down at
his console for a moment. There was a pause, then all the other names vanished, a 'calling' message next to Archers name for a moment.

"Borea, what can I do for you today?" Archer asked, a respectful tone in her voice. There was a crash in the background of the call.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Just explaining corporate salvage laws to Crey goons," the hero replied.

"You're slamming my face into a wall," protested a weak voice.

"Which I'm doing because you're in somewhere you're not legally allowed to enter," Archer said. "Do you see the connection between
the two?"

There was a weak "Uh-huh..." and Borea let a faint smile appear on her face as there was another crash.

"He's sleeping now, what'd you need?"

"One of our soldiers has been captured," she replied. "Your orders are to rescue him."

"Give me the location, I'm on my way," Archer replied instantly. The moment the location was sent, Archers icon on the map started moving, racing
across the rooftops.

"Find our man and bring him back to us Archer," Borea said softly.

"I intend to," she said, ending the call.

***

Purrfect Archer opened the warehouse door quietly and stepped inside, pulling the goggles down over her eyes and noting the 'stealth' costume had been
a smart idea. She moved forward quietly, stopping at a corner and peaking around. "Conscripts and a Comm officer," she said to the cat on her
shoulder.

Neko was about to reply when a loud human scream made itself known across the warehouse. "I think we're in the right place," she said. "If
he can still scream that loud, he might be able to walk out of here."

Archer nodded slightly, watching the Rikti. She could sense the slight distaste of one of them, but the others radiating amusement at the noise. An angry scowl
appeared on her face as she watched them.

Whatever the truth of the Rikti was, human, alien, something else, right now, right here, they were the bad guys. Right now, she was right to hate them, like
she had since the day the lights appeared in the sky. She could sort out the rest later, if she needed to.

Stepping out from around the corner, she nocked a burning arrow and released it at a surprised comm officer. The other Rikti jumped in surprise, grabbing at
their weapons as she summoned more arrows.

***

[Wiregeek]

"Just explaining corporate salvage laws to Crey goons," the hero replied.

"You're slamming my face into a wall," protested a weak voice.

"Which I'm doing because you're in somewhere you're not legally allowed to enter," Archer said. "Do you see the connection between the two?"

There was a weak "Uh-huh..." and Borea let a faint smile appear on her face as there was another crash.

I laughed.. well done!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

Sky you continue to mix the happy!fuzzy!moments and dark!creepy!ones with a skill that leaves me not knowing what to think.

congratulations.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Matrix Dragon]

Alice was sitting in the Legendarys cafeteria, feet up on the table as she read a text book one of her tutors had given her. She still wasn't entirely sold
on the home schooling idea Nene and Ifrit had come up with, but she accepted her adoptive parents belief that she wasn't ready for a more formal education,
having gone so long without.

As she tried to work her mind around some math problems, she felt an odd sense in her mind. She looked up, ears twitching as she listened to Inymes emotions
through the growing bond they shared. While the dimensional traveller was talented at hiding her emotions if she wanted too, sometimes things leaked through.
And this time, it felt like... depression.

Closing the book and putting it on the table, she headed for the teleporter bays, already on her way to Galaxy City before Neko even noticed she'd left.
From there, she quickly jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading for Inymes apartment building. When she got there, it became even more clear something was
wrong, with the door hanging open slightly. Inyme never left her door unlocked, even when she was home.

Quietly, she stepped inside and locked the door. "Inyme?" she said. There was a muffled noise from the bedroom, but it wasn't directed at her. It
seemed that whatever had Inyme so distracted, it was keeping her from even noticing her. Concerned, she moved toward the bedroom door.

Inyme was curled up on the bed. From the looks of one of her suits, hanging on its storage and recharge rack, she'd recently been in combat. The normally
shiny black armor was dingy with dirt. "Inyme?" Alice repeated softly

"...Alice?" she said, looking up. The woman's glasses were off, and it was obvious she'd been crying.

She moved inside, sitting on the bed. "You want to talk about it?"

She looked at her, a dozen thoughts flashing behind her dark eyes, before nodding. "... You know about the Faultline incident..."

"Yeah..."

"It's wrong.....it didn't...didn't happen that way....I was investigating things for Doctor Delilah....we found a tape...."

She nodded slightly. "I've heard about that. She's been gathering evidence for a while now."

"Faultline wasn't a villian...he was a hero.....his enemy....PsiCurse....created a device....that could alter time."

"I've heard of it," she said softly. "The PsychoChronoMetron. You ran into its survival instinct?" At her confused look, she shrugged.
"It's been destroyed before, but it creates some sort of small time loop to save itself. Knight of the Peace told me about it once."

"...we stopped Arachnos... they found it... we had to raid Sands' base and get it back... Agent G made certain we knew what it could do...it's
triggered by psychic ability..."

She nodded, remembering what Knight of the Peace had told her about his run in with it... Then her eyes widened slightly as she realised the temptation it
could provide for an actual psychic

Inyme read her thoughts as easily as if she'd said them out loud, nodding. "Amber told me... ordered me, really... not to play with it... but she was
distracted during the final battle, with Sands, Castillo, and Nocturne. I... I took it to Penelope Yin, and she just looked at me...told me it was
okay..." She closed her eye for a moment, embarasment leaking through the bond. "Somehow... she knew. Even with my defenses and shields up... she
knew."

"What... what did you want to wish for?" she asked softly

"...I could have done it....I could have reached back in time....I could have saved them..." Inyme whispered, guilt flickering through the bond.

"Saved who?" Alice whispered, taking Inymes hand.

She closed her eyes again. "Your parents." Alice froze, tail going straight and her ears standing up, shock clear on her face. "I...I'd
pulled enough detail from your thoughts since we met," she admitted. "I practically feel like I knew them myself... I could have, but..." her
eyes lowered, unwilling to look at her. "I know how time travel works. It would've been a domino effect. You wouldn't have wound up on the
streets. Neko might've gone to some other lonely homeless girl. You'd never have become a hero..."

"We'd never have met," Alice said softly, understanding.

She nodded. "I could have saved them. I could've given you a perfect life and erased so much pain, but I couldn't..." a slight sob escaped.
"I couldn't let go," she whispered.

Alice studied her for a moment, then pulled her into a gentle embrace. "The best way to do it would have been to give my parents another job or something.
One that would have taken them out of Paragon entirely. Other cities were attacked, but this was the center of it for some reason... You're not the only
one to think of it," she admitted softly, remembering when she'd first learned of the PsychoChronoMetron.

"You must hate me....I had the chance and I didn't..." Inyme whispered, tears running down her face.

"I've had the same chance," Alice admitted softly. She looked up at her, and it was clear that possibility hadn't even occurred to her.
"Besides the fact that the PsychoChronoMetron's managed to cheat its way back into existence before... you've heard of Ouroboros, the little time
travelling group that isn't nearly as secret as they like to believe they are?" Inyme nodded, pulling out an odd looped insignia that looked like an
angular snake eating its own tail. "They not letting you in yet?" she asked with a weak smile.

"Not yet, apparently," she replied.

"One of the missions I did early on... I found out they're slack with pulling you back to the present... I went for a walk." She smiled at Inymes
confused expression. "Hoped on a train, went on a ride across Paragon City... into a place I only see as a crater with a ship in it now..." she
murmured. That got a flash of understanding through the bond, drawing a chuckle. "I still can't think of it as White Plains," she admitted.

"...did you ever think of just...undoing the War?" Inyme asked with a stunned expression.

"Yeah... But... there's two problems."

"What are those?"

"One, I''m pretty sure I'm not smart enough to pull that off," she admitted.

"And the other?"

"... Something I learned in Vanguard... the reason the Rikti attacked." She looked up at her, and there was a burning curiosity there that Alice
could sense without even looking.

"Apparantly, the Freedom Phalanx attacked their world. They did a lot of damage, killed a lot of people. It wasn't just an invasion... it was a
counter attack." As Inyme blinked, Alice shrugged. "Except that didn't happen," she said softly. "If there was an invasion, it
didn't come from here." She sighed. "A traditionist I met once suggested a theory I happen to agree with."

Inyme raised an eyebrow. "Praetorians," Alice said.

"I see..."

"Although, that doesn't quite fit," Alice said with a scowl. "Tyrant is an ego-maniac. He reduced his home earth to a near dead world to
rule like a god over. He'd want any other world he invaded to know he had come to bring his empire to them, yada yada yada..." Inyme nodded in
understanding. "But Statesman... He's spent the better part of a century fighting against that sort of thing... That doesn't fit either. Unless
the Rikti hit the wrong Earth..."

Inyme sighed, leaning against her. "Still...I'm sorry...maybe it wouldn't have mattered...but I'm sorry."

The catgirl smiled, holding her close. "That was the other reason I couldn't have done it either. To get them back... to live a normal life... I'd
lose Neko, Ifrit, Nene, Sammy... I'd lose you..." she whispered. Inyme leaned in closer to her, resting her head against Alice's chest. The
feeling from her was still conflicted, but more focused on their proximity than anything else. "I couldn't lose you," she whispered

Inyme smiled slightly and nodded, before leaning up to kiss her. Alice returned the kiss, holding her tight. All doubts about the past vanished. What had
happened to bring her here, the war, the streets, a life of misery and fear, none of it mattered now. She was here, with the woman she loved, and that was
enough for her. More then enough.

[Norgarth]

nice story. I did spot a small typo though.

The woman's glasses her off,

I assume you meant 'were' rather than 'her'.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Ankhani]

Alice needs to run through Dark Watcher's goodies. And for that matter, Inyme too. I would very much like to see what happens when 'Omega
Clearance' comes up and a layer of the Nemesis plot is unsheathed.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Terrenceknight]

Yes Lemme in on that too, Terr always

[Sweno]

what a twisted and shadow filled path these two walk.

I like it.

(as an aside 'Protect the Power generators' is like posi, only do-able with 3 or 4. I think this is because the arachnos forces attacking said
generators scale with the number of hero's but the defenders don't. And they don't wait to start attacking.)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Foxboy]

Also folks quit defending too early. What you need to do is hold off the Nemmies until the Fake Nemesis robot shows up.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Matrix Dragon]

Well, Alice already leaked the Omega Clearance details to Inyme, and we're holding off on Dark Watcher until we can do it together. We're REALLY
looking forward to that story arc *evil grin*

[Matrix Dragon]

Ifrit dodged under the massive blade the Lost was swinging at her, then brought a glowing fist up into his jaw, lifting him off his feet and onto the table
behind him with a crunch of broken bone. Fists still glowing with arcane energies, she spun and nailed another one trying to sneak up on her with a baseball
bat. A moment later, a Pariah was launched across the room with a burst of telekinetic energy, pinning him to the wall.

As Ifrit brushed off her costume and Alice powered down her Talosian bow, the staff and patrons of one of Skyways many homeless shelters looked up from where
they'd taken cover when the Lost had kicked down the door. "Are you okay Miss Donnor?" Alice asked.

"Nothing broken my dear," she smiled, rubbing at a bruise on her check. "You had wonderful timing." Alice smiled, looking relieved.
"And I admit that panic button was a good idea of yours."

"Momma Nene came up with it," she admitted, hugging the woman. "So, did they say what they wanted?"

Miss Donnor rolled her eyes. "The usual I'm afraid," she said. "We're not welcome here, they'd take the people that deserved to be
part of a better world, then they'd break everything." Alice nodded, even as Ifrit scowled.

"How quickly they forget what they were once," she growled as she helped an older man to a table.

Her daughter nodded in agreement, then walked over and picked up the Pariah by his tattered robes. "Oi, wake up," she snapped, eyes flashing with
power. "You're taking a message back to your deformed buddies."

"Message?" the mutant hissed.

"This place, and all those like it, are under the protection of the Legendary and Riot," she said, the fires of psychic power burning in her eyes.
"If you threaten them, make trouble for them, or try and stop anyone from taking the help they offer, I'll know. And I'll find you."

The creature growled at her. "You think you scare me?" he snapped. "Just another hero, enjoying the good life, not knowing what it's like
for the rest of us-" his rant was cut off as Purrfect Archer let go of his robe and pinned him to the wall by thought alone. For a moment, the Lost could
sense her power, the power he'd tossed his humanity away to try and gain.

"I know what it's like all too well," she said in a dangerously calm voice. "I lived on the streets too. I wandered Skyway, the Row, even
Bricks on occasion. I've tasted the cold, the hunger, the fear... You're hardly unique in that horror. But unlike you, I didn't break. I didn't
become a drugged up monster, attacking the people that used to try and help you." A sneer formed on her face. "You used to come here, didn't you?
You took the soup she always had on offer at any hour of the day, the warm mattresses and blankets?" The sneer widened as he flinched. "And you thank
her by threatening her, by hitting her? The Rikti must be so proud of you."

"Shut up," he hissed, trying to pull his eyes away from those burning eyes.

"So when you go back and tell them how you went at betraying the people that committed the crime of showing you compassion, ask them about me," she
said. "Ask them about the little girl that was in the same hell as you. Ask them what I did to their horsemen, to Dra'gon and Ho'Drotz." The
flames died, revealing the eyes behind them and the disgust they radiated. "Then ask yourself if you're not scared of me." She stepped back and
turned away, and the power holding him in place vanished. Gasping, he leaned against a table for support, before looking around the room.

There were nearly two dozen people in the room, and all of them had similar expressions on their faces. Disgust for a traitor. And with Lady of the Peace and
Purrfect Archer present, he wouldn't be able to stop them. Stumbling, he ran for the doors, throwing them open and fleeing into the evening.

Ifrit watched him go, then turned back to her daughter, pulling her into a gentle embrace. "You okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah... it's just... if things had been different, that might've been me..."

Ifrit shook her head. "Even when you were first touched by the power, you had more self-respect then that," she said, running a hand through the
girls hair. "You could never have been that thing, and you never will." Alice made a soft noise, letting her mother hold her for a long moment,
before breaking the embrace and turning to Miss Donnor.

"I don't suppose you could use an extra set of hands tonight?" she asked with a weak smile.

Laughing, the woman nodded. "You always did insist on helping out." She looked at Ifrit. "Does she still have that habit?"

"Oh yes," the fey laughed. "Still so nervous about accepting charity, even from people that love her and would like to spoil her rotten."
Alice gained a touch of pink to her cheeks as the older women shared a laugh. "You should have seen her squirm the first time I took her out for new
clothes..."

"Mum!"