GM
Synapse, a term she heard bounced around a certain game that she adapted as appropriate. In her case, it refers to the sort of... limit in the amount of processing she can spread around her creations. She can weave the most complex of codes in a singular automaton and give it complex orders, or spread herself thin and have an army of automated little wheelie rollers that can only accept a single, explicit command. Go beyond that, and all of them crash, as if they were connected to one singular computer - one she happens to be.

Synapse kind of sucks, as a result, because it also has an operational range before a program degrades, centered around some dubious, blurry radius around her. Something she only found out when she had set an automated arm to clean a series of copper plates for later use before heading home for dinner - and came back with them embedded in various places in the wall and the arm flipped around awkwardly, stuck.

And yet, Samantha can make such wondrous things, things that shouldn't honestly work. Things that hold themselves together with only the flimsiest excuse and function with great strength - at least the more priority she's got. She's been working on this batch for a while now, in her little underground 'mine' in the east suburbs of Haven, her fine programming inlaid and flowing across the surface of her squad of golems. It's a balancing act, turning on and off units and features to try and maximize her available processing.

To think she used to type on a computer.

GM
Art evolves in mysterious ways.

GM
She flicks the switch on the wall that was hung up when she had one of her earlier experimentative 'laborers' dig this place for her in the dead of night, on the edge of the park where the lampposts don't illuminate to try and keep this place secret. It's worked so far.

It's not the height of luxury. In fact, it's mostly stone, dirt and gravel. But it's her workshop where she dragged a variety of useful bits, from computers (one advantage of having a father, however scumbaggy, who works for some low grade post in the government or other, she can sometimes squeeze used, no longer used hardware from him for cheap) to tools and shelves.

And, naturally, her creations. Wouldn't do to put even the small ones in either of her rooms, with her mother (or worse, father) who could stumble on them. So here they come.

Seshat
Or any other nosy person who decides to try and break into the shack in the middle of the hills.

As the elevator she installed - itself based on plans she found on the internet, and therefore not subject to her limit - comes to a stop at the bottom floor, Sam breathes in the recycled air and smiles. Slender and boyish, she cuts an unassuming figure, always has, though she knows how to dress well, and even her casual clothes show an exquisite attention to detail. She's been misgendered a few times - which is remarkable considering she's cis, but she wouldn't be the first - even with her girlishly cut hair and clothing. She removes and hangs up her jacket and goes to put on her outfit, which serves the dual purpose of keeping her clothes clean and protecting her from sudden accidents. Fitting the fine gloves on, the pale scale armor, and finally the beautiful golden mask. She works her jaw to test the motion of it, smiling at herself with a cat's face in her mirror. It's one of her proudest accomplishments, even if it's breathtakingly simple.

Turning and heading to start her computer, she begins to think on the question of Synapse - the curious limitations on the spread of her creations is one that she's been vexxed by since the start, and it's the primary reason she hasn't yet chosen to go public. She's tried all sorts of solutions - more efficient code, better execution - and hopes it isn't an inherent limitation. That's part of what's so fascinating about this power of hers: she has yet to scratch the surface of the possibilities!

Seshat
Loading up her programs, she listens with a practiced ear to the hum of the converter plugged into the USB drive as she loads up her work files, getting an assessment on the day's performance.

GM
There's a measurable difference by making her code more efficient, by squeezing complex computations into threads. There's also a particular difference in coding on crystaline slates instead of base metal, but that's been difficult to measure. Gemstones and similar materials aren't exactly easy to come by, let alone with enough surface area to write her code on.

It's not huge, but it does let her squeeze a little bit more. Though she's very far off from an entire city-factory of them; you can only optimize so much.

As she browses the report, her computer also helpfully reminds her that Aline Lafaille - Lame Argentee - is visiting the city for a talk in a few days, and shows a report of the Night Host having gotten into a skirmish with Liberation on the coast of Florida in southern US. The government isn't happy.

Seshat
Beautiful! It seems like she is making progress after all. Next, she might want to try different geometries of substrate - oh, maybe different geometries of grammar! She scribbes some notes down rapidly, flipping her pen from one to another. She'll crack this code yet. Turning in her chair, she can look out and see them moving along - little clay figures, and larger stone arms that work in beautiful synchonicity, the glowing blue of their signs casting a subtle illumination throughout the mineshafts as they work to remove, refine, and process ore. If she put them to economic usage, she could be rich, and that's not counting the sort of deals she might get as a working superhero!

She's aware of how lucky she is, to be one in a million, and she intends to wow the entire world.

She stretches out a hand to stroke the ears of a cat, one of her early creations, made of filligree and little plates. It never ceases to awe her how she managed to create the mind of one.
"What do you think, Mystery? Am I going to be famous or what?"

GM
It meows, its vocal box sounded small and echo-y. Not the most natural of noises, but it's cute in its own way. She, luckily, doesn't take up much synaptic space, since Sam made her for the express purpose of just hanging around and being cat-like. She'd probably freeze if danger happened, but as far as being a cat, she wanders over to where Sam is, sits on her haunches, and purrs into her hand as she should.

Though it'd be nice to make her complex enough to just... be just about alive.

Seshat
"Soon," she murmurs. "I'll be a regular Victor Frankenstein - can you imagine it? AI, even if it needs my expertise." She hugs the not-cat and sets Mystery down, getting up. Now, to check on some of her more exciting projects.

The armed ones.

GM
They have their own dedicated chamber, given they had a ... growing stage, and prone to accidents until she figured it out. Turns out "Dig this wall" is a lot easier to code than "Punch/dodge", and she lost quite a few golems to splatters on the walls or accidental over-reaching.

But they remain some of her best creations, at least visually. They stand like soldiers, clay and stone figures as well, but clad in a small amount of metal that acts as both protection and decoration. Naturally, though, it's where her more esoteric of experiments have gone.

Seshat
She runs her fingers along one silent sentinel. She's not sure she wants to keep with the humanoid form, but she confesses it does get around nicely. Their faces indicate their function, with some variation - jackals and leopards, lionesses and hawks. She goes to the back, where the first of her walkers stands, powered down. Six legs and an experimental force projection weapon, meant to take down and restrain - a scaled-up version of the ones many of her soldiers wield. Then there's the rows of flyers in the wall. She's particularly excited about those. They don't fly with wings or rotors or even jets - instead, rows of crystals along the bottom do all the work. She gets out her slate tablet, turning the quartz screen on.

"Scarabs! Assemble!"

GM
It's just unfortunate she can't deploy the entire lot of them all at the same time. They'd make a fierce army, but combat - and particularly, combat awareness - takes the most processing power once they get going.

But it sure looks awesome.

Her more heavily armored of soldiers gather in, of stone and iron, with oversized bracers they use as shields. They're hunched forwards, looking almost like gorillas, though their heavy back shells is where their namesake comes from. They gather in automatically before her and stand stiff and ready.

Seshat
Honestly, just parading around it looks intimidating, but she can see the flaws. The scarab flyers are jittery on their repulsors, and the Hawk, Leopard, and Lioness warriors are not responding in time. It's infuriating - if only she could separate them from the whole somehow, sprout them off on their own, but that... well, she won't get her hopes up. She knows a little about shards, and needs to find out more. It certainly complicates her plans to sell her creations, and she might have to forego that if there's no solution around it.

Watching the outputs on her tablet, she selectively disables the groups, turning many of them back into statues until she has a small core of warriors, scarabs, and her personal walker.

Seshat
"Maybe I should forego violent applications?" she muses aloud. "If I'm not going into government work, making weapons will only get me in trouble."

Silence, and the familiar problem she's faced since starting this, since she was young, honestly - being alone kind of sucks. Amazing as her base is, there's really no one to talk to but her creations, and they can't answer back yet.

GM
Mystery meows at her, but it's a rote stimulus response, not born of curiosity or anything of the sort. That she's gone this far on her own inspiration is wonderful, but no one to bounce ideas off of... Certainly no other seeded programmer to compare notes with.

...the place shakes, subtly, from a rumble in the distance, and a short shower of dirt falls from above.

Seshat
A spark of panic shoots through Samantha like a bolt of lightning, and she worries for a moment if there's an earthquake - in the Northeast!? - and just how sound her structure is. It should be fine, she planned it all out extensively, but the fear of being buried under tons of rock is there.

Once she breathes, she frowns, and runs back to her control room, racing back to her computer to look at local news.

GM
It's, naturally, social media that reports on it first, people posting up cellphone pictures of what's happening up above. From a safe distance, at least, which makes it a bit harder, but it looks like... dinosaurs, or some other sort of scaly creatures, quadrupeds. They seem to have blown up a street corner into a crater, near the central Haven bank.

Seshat
(May I check Current Affairs (Supers)? Speaking of, might need to round her out with a few more Current Affairs)

Seshat
/r 15-3d6

Dice
<@228400631839195136>: `15-3d6` = 15-(1+5+5) = 4

GM
It's hard to tell from the quality of the pictures, but at a guess, either she's looking at impacted or seeded creatures, or some being organized by something else. There was The Whip incident, several months ago, an impacted who had tried to take over the zoo by leading the animals into a rebellion. Six Ankh and the rest of the GPF put an end to it, but that still shook up people and they had to pull serious PR.

Seshat
Well, surely the local heroes will be able to deal with the situation.

Nervously, she settles in her chair and spins a bit, watching the tweets go by in her chair, a facebook feed open.

There's nothing she can do, nothing she should do. The professionals have this one.

Except...

She checks her friends' feeds. She pulls her smartphone out, hesitating - and then dialers her mother's contact, removing her mask so it won't distort hr voice.

GM
They should. There's the YPA branch, and the place serves as a GPF drop zone, so it shouldn't take too long.

Ring... ring... ring... ri- "Hello?" comes Layla Wright's voice. There's a nervous tremolo to it.

Seshat
"Umi?" she asks, one of the only Arabic words she knows, 'Mom.' Tension rises in her voice. "Are you all right?"

GM
"Yeah, yeah. We're kind of close to where that was, but, we're down in the basement."

Something on the computer catches her attention, too... There's two simultaneous Liberation attacks being reported, one in central US and one on the Antartic coast, in Canada.

Seshat
Samantha's mind works in overdrive. She's always been noted as smart, but her instructors have only the faintest idea of how smart.

She calculates the probability and strength of a response against the severity of the relative attacks.

Likely response?

Minimal.

Her eyes turn towards the chamber with her warriors, her silent sentinels.

Seshat
"Umi? Stay safe. I'm... I'm going to go h-hide. It'll be okay. Everything'll be okay.

"The heroes are coming."

GM
"Please do, dear, even if you're not close. Who knows what they brought."

Seshat
"Love you."
She hangs up, putting her mask on even as she runs into the chamber, her tablet banging against her hips.

Seshat
Her hands shake as she climbs onto the back of the walker, feeling exposed. Maybe she could just send them, use a scarab to relay her commands, and...

And watch them blunder around, confused and impotent?

No, this needs a personal touch.

Seshat
It's not the debut she planned on. It outs her capability of creating weapons.

Seshat
But it's what she needs.

Taking her tablet, she sends the "Shutdown All" command, and then sets up her saved combat group.

Seshat
Beneath her, the walker rumbles to life, blue lines burning in bands across its surface.

GM
Everything comes offline, her work area going into nothing. Mystery, pretend snoozing on her workbench. The clay figures... Saving up power.

Then six legs settle themselves down firmly to the ground, and then the entire thing smoothly rises up into a prepared walking stance. Amidst her soldiers, a couple scarabs come awake, some defenders, a couple fast attacks, couple troops, and one Heavy, in case of armor.

They'll be relatively stretched in Synapse as it is, but combat tests showed them able to function with this many. She can always temporarily shut down the unneeded, or simplify their commands.

GM
Of course, combat tests and real combat... Two things.

Seshat
Taking a deep breath, she slots her tablet into the holder built for it, and prays her RTS experience has prepared her for this.

"March."

And with that, they do, feet stomping, hover crystals humming.

The scarab flyers maintain a diamond formation overhead, the warriors ahead and behind and a few to the flanks. Their formation narrows as they go to the long cargo tunnel that exits out the concealed side of the hill, the doors opening at her command, and she glances down at their status indicators on the screen while she watches their movement. She can already see problems - the pathing algorthyms aren't perfect, which means their aim won't be, either.

Seshat
A thrill of terror and excitement fills her as sunlight falls on her forces.

GM
Out at the edge of the park, turn left, and now she's officially on the streets of Haven with her squadron of automatons. There's little traffic - people are taking shelter where they can. But there are some people who are slipping out despite the excitment - or maybe because of the excitment - and they watch her and her robots stomp on by, wide eyed.

This isn't a hero they heard of before!

Seshat
Nervicited, terrorthrilled, Seshat is glad her costume does a lot to hide her trembling as they grow closer and closer to something she dearly wants to run away from. She's exposed now, there are cameras on her. Why the fuck didn't she install AR gear in her mask so she doesn't have to keep glancing at her tablet?!

She sweats as she gives commands to tighten up, avoid cars, trying to micromanage her drones. They'll avoid the big stuff, but smaller stuff they might go around - hopefully, not interpret any of the humans as a threat. She whitelists large swaths as "protected" and wishes she had more categories, that she could assign this faster, her dextrous fingers working hard even as she gives voice commands.

Seshat
She sends a scarab up higher to visually identify her targets.

GM
This is harder than she anticipated, though she thankfully made her software as intuitive as she could to simplify things. So far, none of them are giving any false positives, and they're sharing data so ignoring one in the walker's view is enough to ignore in the entire squadrons.

There's a clang above as a flyer bumps against a street lamp, but it rights its trajectory to keep following and remake the diamond pattern. That's the one she sends above.

And there it is... The battlezone, so to speak. There's a hole in the side of the bank, and she can see the creatures going inside and carrying deposit cases out towards the crater. With some zooming, she can see that they look rather like wolves... Scaly ones, with long sinuous reptilian tails, but more wolf than dinosaur.

Seshat
Someone's controlling them. Creatures wouldn't go for a bank on their own, they'd go for food or something. She grits her teeth - could someone have made them? Found them and implanted control?

She works on that problem while she hastily arrays her forces. Scarabs into two groups to harass in stages. Lioness warriors up front with large tower shields at the ready. They carry spears, but instead of blades they're equipped with blunted hooks - enough to badly hurt a person if used wrong, but essentially meant to pin down and apply electric shocks. Then there's the hawk warriors on the flanks, armed with smaller restraining weapons, and the cat and leopards. She doesn't have many, but hopefully she has enough. Finally, the big gun, the walker - she'll have to control its beam herself for real accuracy, probably.

She marks targets, sets basic patterns, and takes a deep breath.

"Attack!"

GM
At first, it seems to work out okay. Flyers come in from above to ready swooping attacks while the lionesses prepare a phalanx rfom which the hawks and felines can come in from behind, all while screening the walker.

The wolves drop their charge, turning to snarl and snap at the encoraching creatures, territorially. They, too, take surprisingly effective tactical positions, clearly not running on simple instinct. They're at a disadvantage in simple reach, however, especially with her flyers starting to come in to disrupt them and try to grab them out of position.

...but it's not a smooth operation. As she predicted, her flyers in particular have pretty shoddy aim, acting more as a distraction and nuisance than effective line disruptors. The lionesses, however, with their simple instruction, do quite well at keeping the wolves from closing in.

Though the felines and hawks seem to be having some trouble calculating an optimal flanking path, their predictions on her tablet indicating they'll either undershoot or go too far.

Seshat
Not enough volume with the stun blasters. Stun blasters? She'll run with it.

She shouts orders to tithen up the flankers, even as she unlocks the safeties on the larger beam on the walkers. She picks out the center line to break them at the middle, grits her teeth, and makes contact with the firing mechanism.

She needs to find out who's controlling them, but first, she needs to break this group.

Seshat
Please don't overestimate the power, please don't, pleasepleasedon't...

GM
The heavy legs set themselves down, bracing behind while the walker opens up in front to reveal its crystaline array. They begin to glow and collect energy - further stressing synapse as many, many calculations are required to not overshoot and blow it up, or undershoot and just fart out a camera flash.

(Gunner (Beams), or DX-4 as default!)

Seshat
She's only practiced with small ones ahhhh!

Seshat
/r 6-3d6

Dice
<@228400631839195136>: `6-3d6` = 6-(4+6+5) = -9

Seshat
Oh dear

Seshat
(I dunno what its Acc rating would be)

Seshat
(So it wouldn't be QUITE that bad)

Seshat
(But still)

Seshat
(Bad )

Seshat
(Range penalties too)

GM
On the bright side? It doesn't explode. A bright flare of power flowers out beautifully and smoothly, arcing in power. With its release, synapse returns and the flankers finally get to close in.

They get to close in, because she didn't hit the enemy. She didn't hit the street the wolves are in. She didn't hit anywhere near.

She gets to watch her energy beam slice through a storefront like a knife through a cake, a big chunk of its front corner just... falling off into a firey pile of bricks. The beam finishes arcing and lands in the street behind it, and there's an explosion. On the "bright side," she hit a water main which shoots off into the sky, so it'll put out the fire.

Seshat
"Shiiiiit," she mumbles, knowing that was just caught on so many cameras she has no idea.
Also, definitely put the power too high. The thought of that hitting a person sickens her - or the explosion injuring someone.

Gods, this was the worst idea ever.

She dials the main gun's power way down and sets it to automatically fire distraction shots while she has a panic attack. It takes a while to get over it. One, two, three, four seconds, more - once she recovers, she looks around, trying to spot the real opponent.

GM
Low power flashes are definitely a lot easier to aim and just lob like tennis balls at the wolves. The lionesses are the real MVP, keeping the phalanx nice and tight. With the zapping mini-blasts, they start to get into dissaray and needing to fall back.

It's not completely clean, though. One scarab is on the ground, several of its crystal propulsors ripped out. Thankfully a leopard smacked the wolves aside before they could destroy it, but he'll be largely useless, and he's glitching out.

"What is happening?!" booms as a voice from the bank. A large, heavy set, bearded man, wearing goggles and worn miner's-style clothing of jeans and vest+shirt comes out... riding on what looks like a bear. An absolutely enormous bear, bigger than the walker. Though much of its fur is hidden as its bones seem to have grown out of its skin to form a natural bit of chitinous plating.

GM
It's definitely The Whip.

Seshat
Oh this is great. A bear big enough to ride down some of her creations, and her unable to aim her big gun.

Somehow, she manages to avoid squeaking.

"I'm Seshat," she declares, her voice amplified from her mask - a setting she manipulates with motions of her tongue. "And I'm here to put you down, old man."

Wow, that sounded way more confident than she was expecting. She's giddy as she works out a plan - she needs the lionesses to fall back, and lure them into encirclement.

Then the scarabs can set up crossfire.

GM
"No, no, you're supposed to be in Canada or Nevada!" he points at her. "What are you even doing here?!" He growls, leaning forwards. The bear lets out a roar, loud enough to feel like it's vibrating her walker.

Seshat
Notation: coordinated attack. That means there's a goal here.

Idiot gave it away, or distraction?

Fuck she can't let herself get sidetracked.

She has the lionesses give way, making it look like they're being pushed back by the renewed assault. He's never played a real time strategy game, judging by his age and demeanor. She backs the walker off, turning up the power a bit.

GM
Another roar, and then the bear is making a charge, the wolves moving aside. The lionesses, recognizing the threat, get themselves into position, raising shields and bracing hooked spears.

Seshat
She shouts, her voice echoing off the buildings. "Engage!"

Yes, yes, hawks charging to the back, leopards moving in their wake, cats hemming, Lionesses forming a U-Shaped cup to contain the blunt.

Scarabs up top, firing in from all sides.

And the big gun?

Big gun aimed squarely at bear.

Don'tkillitdon'tkillit...

Praying she can actually hit it this time, she fires.

GM
It's a much bigger target, and she's a bit more aware of its tolerence, so she can aim down a little. It begins to charge up power - less, naturally, but she can feel the thrum of power. She finds her hawks aren't responding - between the scarabs using up stunner power and her gun charging, they don't have the processing to respond.

(And fire! We'll say acc 6.)

GM
(What with being something she's riding on top of with experimental tech)

Seshat
/r 12-3d6

Dice
<@228400631839195136>: `12-3d6` = 12-(6+4+3) = -1

GM
She, unfortunately misses, and this time the bank's already holed up wall takes another chunk out in a conflagration of flying bricks and concrete. But it was a close shave - close enough that the bear is startled and changes its direction of attack. The Whip's fallen off.

Then titanic creature rams into her line of defense, and everything becomes chaos. The data output from the lionsses, hawks, leopards, cats and scarabs flow like water all over her tablet, reporting damage, synaptic performance, targeting information... everything far too quickly to keep track of.

It's pissed off, even as the stun guns scorch its hide and bony plates, and is slowly making headway towards her.

Seshat
Craaaap.

Charge you stupid thing, charge!
She watches the gauge fill as the bear approaches, imagining those jaws crunching down. Just a little more, just a little more! This is probably her last shot-!

She squeezes the trigger, light collimating as the air around it freezes, water condensing as more heat is sucked from the air to join the charge from the capacitors.

And fires point blank.

GM
A lioness goes flying by Seshat's head and it plops in smashed clay behind the walker. And then it's rearing up, those huge jaws showing, raising claws as big as her head. One swipe would take her head off. Even though it's not looking in a good state - hurt, scorched, burnt - there's something about facing down an angry giant bear that tends to hide the damage.

Then the beam goes off, and there's a bright light at the impact and subsequent blast. She feels herself get shoved back, the entire walker losing its bracing until she's on the ground next to its fallen form.

The dust slowly settles. No sign of the bear in the immediate area. At least, until she spots its prone shape laying on the edge of the bank's roof. She can't tell if she killed it or if it's knocked out from here. She has a few soldiers still standing, but they're in bad shape, and she's not sure they're handling themselves too well anymore.

"No no no no no! That was my one chance!" The bearded man stands up.

Seshat
Seshat isn't sure she's in good shape. She isn't hurt, she thinks, but she's on the verge of a panic attack. It takes everything in her to stand, and she draws her commercial little taser with a trembling hand. Her heart aches to see her creations brutalized and scuffed up, - each one is a personal work of art - and tries to assess the situation despite her growing fear.

GM
"Rend her! Eat her!" he shouts, pointing at her. The wolves aren't great, but her phalanx has a lot of holes. They won't be able to react in time if, say, the wolves go through the now broken flank to come directly after her.

As they are now doing, making a beeline, three voracious dinosaur-wolves leaping into the air. Golems quickly step towards her to defend her, recognizing the threat, but they're too far. They were positioned to surround the walker, not just her.

Seshat
Her armor will save her from the jaws, but not once they get into the gaps, or tear it off, or any number of things.

Did she come all this way to die? Are the police helpless? Gods.

Surrounded, she makes her last stand as tight as it can be.

No powers that can be used now, just what she brought with her. Thankfully, fewer means they'll fight better, but can she count on that?

She grits her teeth, her mask's fangs matching it in a bared snarl.

Seshat
It's weird, but right now?

She feels more alive than ever.

GM
She takes a wolf to the body in a body blow. They're heavy, and she nearly topples. However, a tazer jab takes care of getting him off. But then there's one biting at her armored leg, to trip her and yank at her. A leopard backhands the creature away from her, but another is about to leap.

Until, at least, a shower of bright blue beams sends blasts and gouts of earth going off all around. A bright white shape crashes to the ground below, scooping a wolf in arm and throwing it at the others before the man with the long dark hair dashes forwards into the fray to capture and pummel the rest, especially Whip.

Six Ankh, american sweetheart.

Seshat
As she was put on the ground, she felt her vision start to tunnel. She wasn't breathing, she could only imagine the crunch of her bones - and then the flash, the beams, the light, dazzling her eyes.

It's a long, long time before she gets back to her feet. Really, she works up to her knees first, shakily. Carefully, she sets the taser down, and looks around. A burst water main. Holes in the walls and the street. A knocked over street lamp. Busted cars. Her beautiful machines...

Slowly, she slumps, and puts her hands behind her head.

Yeeuuup - she's fucked.

Seshat
Not going to see Lame Argente after all.

GM
As GRF military presence rolls in and comes in surrounding the entire area, she finds guns pointing at her and shouts of "Don't move" and "Disarm!" The remaining golems form a protective circle around her, though since they're facing humans right now, they don't seem inclined to go charging in (thankfully. That'd just make it worse.)

Seshat
"Stand down!" she calls, wincing at the volume of her mask. Hastily, she tongues it down. "Stand down," she repeats, in almost a squeak.

Seshat
"Power off."

GM
They splay themselves to a comfortable resting stand. Blue glowing symbols and flowing script dim down to gray, and then they are out, slumping in place. The soldiers move in cautiously to check before lowering containment units by chopper to quickly round them - and the wolves and bear - up.

It's very efficient. So efficient that Seshat might have to wonder how they couldn't have shown up earlier. An officer steps up to her while she's pulled up to her feet by a couple of privates. He regards her with narrowed eyes. They barely support the Night Host, and here she is being vigilant.

"What do you go by?"

Seshat
"My name is Seshat. I am an independent hero with no prior affiliation," she says, doing her best to remain calm and not sound like a scared kid. Though, privately, a small part of her is amazed she did this well in beating the Whip, and the way they look at her things, impressed. Her identity will be public if some asshole unmasks her, but would they, with Six Ankh watching? Hopefully not. She's seen the videos of people turning themselves in, just stay calm, staaay calm.

She's kind of dangling between the privates, she's not very tall.

GM
Not much she could do if he just reached over and yanked her mask off. But the instances of that happening are remarkably rare - at least so long as they follow the rulebook. Six Ankh is standing at the top of the crater, arms crossed as he watches from behind his domino mask.

The officer doesn't do anything untoward, though. "Seshat, vigilantism is illegal, and you've caused increased property damage. Disarm and disable any further defenses you have. You will be taken in for processing and questioning at a GRF facility. If you resist, you will be considered villainous. Are we clear?"

Seshat
"I have disabled all defensive devices," she says, finding calm in the midst of panic. "I will comply."

Seshat
Don't make things worse for yourself, there's gotta be a way out of this, right?

Seshat
Gods she wishes she could look at social media, but her tablet is in the machine.

GM
There isn't much information on what happens to vigilantes. And indeed - how many cameras caught sight of her and her battle. Will they hype up when she blasted the bear, or report on her falling down to the wolves and getting saved by Six Ankh? Will they call it collaboration, or interruption?

Hopefully good things. For now, though, she's just taken up and locked up in a small military grade cube. Another girl - a GRF private - sits down across from her and leans back. She seems fairly relaxed, all things considered. "So... hero business, huh."

Seshat
At least she isn't alone. That would have made this whole situation unbearable.
She opens her mouth to say that she shouldn't self-incriminate, but she did say she was a hero.
"The GRF was busy."

Seshat
She says, trying to be noncomittal about it.

Seshat
The awareness that anything she says or does can be used against her in court is tying her tongue, skittering along the inside of her brain. This isn't what she wanted.

GM
"Convenient that you'd show up then, isn't it?" she narrows her eyes, leaning forwards.

But then she laughs and she reaches up to nudge her shoulder. "I'm joshing you. You kept him from going with the goods, so, good enough, I guess." She leans back, crossing her arms behind her. "Still illegal, though."

Seshat
"I know," she mumbles, the situation entirely too real. Her natural instinct is to be talkative, but it could get her in deep trouble.

"I didn't mean for it to be such a mess. I didn't want to get involved at all. This isn't how i planned my debut."

Seshat
That should help, express her reluctance. It isn't hard, her pulled-in body language says a lot.

Seshat
Not that it'll save her, but maybe a judge will be lenient.

GM
"It'll be up to upper management to decide." The truck is moving, finally, and the private takes out a tablet. "So, Seshat... Shard status, capabilities. The more detailed, the more we can help you."

Seshat
"Help me?"

GM
"Answer the questions, please."

Seshat
She purses her lips, the mask mimicking the function.
"I'm sorry, I am not trying to be uncooperative, but I don't think I should say anything else until I've seen a lawyer. I plan to cooperate fully within my rights."

There - the safe option.

GM
She raises a brow, then shrugs and puts the tablet away. "I'll let the desks handle that."

Seshat
She slumps and sighs, settling in for silence again.
I hope you're okay, Umi. I hope I didn't ruin what was supposed to be the best day of my life for nothing.

GM
Out of the truck, then forwards into a single story affair. Six Ankh follows along, though he heads down one way while she's lead through another. It's an office, about as governmental as she can imagine. Clean white floor, decorated with american flags and dark blue colors.

Then she's lead into a waiting room with a few chairs and... not... much else, honestly. There's a little side table. "Wait here," her 'tour guide' states before closing the door behind her.

Seshat
And now the waiting begins. She taps her feet, sitting in the chair, hands cuffed. They didn't strip her of her armor, but there's nothing hidden there worth noting. She looks at the other chairs. And waits.

GM
Waiting. And waiting.

Her mother probably called her phone by now. Nothing to do, or occupy her time with, or know what's been going on, what effect she had, or speculate.

Wwhen the door finally opens, it's startling. An older woman with her hair in a tight bun and with round glasses at the tip of her nose comes inside. Though past her, she can see an officer and Six Ankh outside, waiting their turn presumably.

"Good afternoon, miss Seshat," the woman begins, folding her hands behind her back. "I am Eve Eight, your assigned attoney."

Seshat
She lets out a tense, grateful breath.
"Eve Eight?" she forces a smile. "That sounds like a superhero name."

GM
She quirks a smile herself. "It is a moniker, since my specialty is in cases like yours." She draws one of the chairs. "I'm here to negotiate a deal with the GRF on your behalf."

Seshat
"A deal? Already?" she looks - not sure if she's surprised or relieved. "I haven't even given my side or an official statement - I mean, not that I object. This whole mess was not what I wanted."

Seshat
She draws a breath and settles her nerves.

GM
"Are you aware of the YPA?"

Seshat
"...lay it out for me. What am I facing? I know they can prove a lot of it just from the video evidence alone. Anything I say can only make it worse. Yes! I am."

Seshat
She switches conversation topics on a dime.

GM
"Given your age, I am banking on forcing a YPA hiring. This would pre-empt prosecution entirely, and more notably, protect your identity."

GM
"Though there's the caveat that you would be enrolled in the YPA and be subject to training and rules."

GM
"Otherwise, I can try to get you a lessened sentence of vigilantism with best of intentions, but that will have a cost."

Seshat
It clicks.

"Six Ankh pushed for this, didn't he?"

GM
"He did."

Seshat
Culturally appropriating he may be, but interesting. He definitely wants someone with unusual powers in the government's pocket at once.

Seshat
He saved her life, maybe - just doing his job, sure, but he did.

Seshat
She taps her fingers together, thoughtful.

Seshat
"Are there any catches? I'm going to look over it myself, but I want to see."

GM
"You'll have YPA administration oversight - you'll do missions they send you to do and no more or less. It is a military organization.

"You'll be subject to training, along with etiquette and ethics classes. You'll be expected to wear a tracer when you leave the premises. It will be kept offline unless you miss role call in your schedule, though you can give prior notice if you know you'll miss it. Though you'll still be monitored, if indirectly."

Seshat
She lets out a low sigh.

Jailtime, or working jailtime.
At least with one, she can build a reputation, work on her projects - she couldn't bear not to be active. She couldn't bear to face her mother with that.

"All right. I want to see the agreement in full, but... I'm probably gonna sign it."

GM
"To be fair, it is your best case. After you pass all your tests, you can choose to leave herohood entirely, or move on to recognized staff in the GRF or YPA." She stands up and heads to the door, pulling it open.

Six Ankh and the officer from earlier walk inside, the egyptian themed hero leaning against the wall while the officer sits down. "Please outline things for my client."

And from there, she gets to hear just what it takes to end up, involunarily, in the YPA. It's about what Eve Eight told her, though in more details. There's also a hint of the schedule - she's expected to be there at least 4 times a week at part-time working hours, and is expected to be on-call for missions (though they usually give notice, but emergencies do happen.)

Something she didn't mention is that she'll get a stipend in compensation.

GM
Nothing big, but still a bit of help.

Seshat
Stipend is nice. She's convinced she can earn more on her own, but it's something to help while they own her labor. She's a little more relaxed as the deal goes through, especially once she's read through her obligations. Clarity of language.

GM
"After classification, you'd then be assigned to one of the teams, A through D, depending on need and skills," the officer finishes. "Your lawyer can vouch that there is no omission or addition from our usual YPA vigilantism-conversion contracts."

Seshat
"So. I suppose now's a good time to discuss my capabilities, or should I wait...? I don't know procedure here."

Seshat
She needs to read the restrictions on social media presence and so on.

GM
Looks like she'll be assigned a Secret Services level, restricting her from talking about assignments or operational details.

Doesn't seem to bar her from just talking about herself, though.

GM
"Yes, now would be the ideal time. You'll need to be registered here, and you'll repeat it to your YPA mentor for positioning. Along with your shard status."

Seshat
"I'm actually not one hundred percent on my shard status," she admits. "Because there's kind of a lot going on, and it's hard to say what's normal and what's altered."

She takes on an analytical tone, and it's - well, it's not talking to a different person, but she definitely has complexity.

"I'm able to pick up skills much faster than what should be possible, especially any skill that involves a high level of detail and cognitive demand. Technical, artistic, you name it." She leans back, freed of her handcuffs, hands behind her head. Her mask does a lot of the advertising for her.

"That's lifelong, but the real genius of it all came in a flash - I am actually not thinking that was an impact moment, I didn't really encounter anything, and it kind of built up over time."

Seshat
"Anyone got a pen?"

GM
Six Ankh raises a brow in the back, listening intently. Eve Eight hands her one.

"Impaction is a very physically trying moment," the officer explains. "And difficult to miss. Until evidence otherwise, I will put you down as seeded."

Seshat
"I'm inclined to agree, now - "

She scribbles a few seemingly-nonsense letters onto a sheet of paper she also takes from her advocate. Her handwriting is intricate and precise, almost artwork. She adds a couple signs to absorb ambient heat - barely a trickle charge, but it doesn't need much.

Then she clicks the pen and sits back.

Before their eyes, the symbols begin to glow a very, very faint azure, and the paper folds itself up into an origami flower that drifts on the air, faintly bouyant.

Seshat
"That's a simple one-off set of instructions. No real complexity, just does what it does and then it maintains."

GM
That gets their attention.

GM
"So you created and lead your ... automatons with this?"

Seshat
"Yup. That is my one verifiable power. I can program things."
She leaves it unsaid that it's one power with nearly infinite variation.

Seshat
And a fair amount of pride.

GM
"..I believe that is all, then." The officer and Eve Eight stand. "The front desk will give you an address and negotiate an expected date. Do not miss it. Ma'am." He tips his hat, then turns to step outside. Eve Eight pauses by Six Ankh, glancing at him, but then she walks past.

"I gotta ask: Why herohood?" he asks, his voice unmasked - unlike hers. And so very, very familiar.

Seshat
She very nearly topples back in the chair, and still has to make a very embarrassing scramble to plant the legs back on the floor from her near-fall.

Did he speak before? She doesn't remember, she was completely in panic mode at the end of the fight. The scratches in her armor attest to it.

No, impossible. It has to be a coincidence.

She looks up at him. Her own eyes are hidden behind her glowing lenses, her face impossible to see, her voice distorted. her outfit concealing her dusky skin, but she tenses anyway.

It can't be.

"I had to. No one else was there."

It must be a mistake. She needs to hear his voice again.

"If someone's shooting up a building, it isn't vigilantism to step up and take him down while he's reloading. I had to, because there weren't any professionals. Just me."

GM
"There's a vast difference between acting on impulse for good intentions, and building deliberate weapons of war in anticipation of an attack. So, again, I ask... why herohood?"

It... could still be a coincidence. But it's so very hard to dismiss the idea. The manner of speaking is, maybe, more professional than Gary Wright, but that could just be job speak.

Seshat
It's the most surreal moment she's ever had, and that counts the time she saw the letters that let her control matter itself in a vision.

The man who sired her, who has joint custody of her on alternating weekends, the man who cheated on her mother, her father, is one of the nation's top superheroes.

"It was an experiment. I wanted to see how far I could push my ability to give my creations skills, especially ones I didn't have, and honestly, it was kind of playing around because I thought 'oh hey, I'm superpowered, I should at least imagine what it's like to fight supervillains!' This armor? It's for surviving industrial accidents. The army? I was planning on disbanding them and reincorporating them into work units in preparation for my planned debut. Then the attack comes, and no one's stepping in, and I had the opportunity."

Once she's gotten steam, she's much more willing to defend herself, much more confident - and this man already brings out some pretty complicated emotions.

Seshat
Left unsaid - the fact that she could have left well enough alone and debuted without facing charges. Something she's obviously completely aware of.

Seshat
"Oh, uh. I have a base."

Seshat
"...should probably let you guys secure that."

Seshat
Would this constitute illegal mining? Construction without a permit? Shit.

Seshat
Wait, no, complete indemnification. HAH.

Seshat
Already in the documents.

Seshat
Barring capital offenses, which she didn't commit.

Seshat
And they make exceptions to those, if the rumors are right.

GM
"Seshat. We do not leave people stranded and crimes unpunished by choice. We have much and more to deal with on American soil alone, and we have to prioritize with our resources.

"But you are highly capable, and would be a great asset." Then he smiles. "That said, that was the correct answer." He puts two fingers to his temple and makes a little salute, then steps out of the office. "And I'll pretend I didn't hear that thing about the base."

...if only he was like that in person, then maybe domestic life wouldn't have fallen apart as it did.

GM
Playing cool when he couldn't even maintain his mistress, let alone his wife.

GM
As for her, all that is left is to set up her date with a new potential career to... rectify her unfortunately hastened plans.

Who knows what'll happen after that.

Seshat
She settles back, lips tight.

"Wait," she says, as he's just about to close the door.

GM
He pauses, glancing back.

Seshat
"Could you step back inside, sir?"

GM
"Alright." He turns to head back inside, setting his hands on his hips. "What is it?"

Seshat
She gives the floating paper-flower a push, setting it floating off to the side.

Well - he was bound to find out anyway, once she went home. Her disappearance would trigger her mother's worry. She'd call him. He'd put two and two together, because, for all of his many faults, he isn't an idiot.

Sam's smarter than most people. Smarter than everyone she knows, if she's to be immodest - she knows how it'll play out.

So when the script is set, sometimes, you need to make a change.

Lifting her hands up, she presses her fingers in the pattern needed to disengage her mask, and pops it off, revealing a pinkened, dusky face.

Seshat
"Hi, Dad."

GM
Revealing herself doesn't feel great - it doesn't feel safe. That's part of the issue. What if the wrong person finds out and all that.

But the wide eyed look of utter shock on the guy's face as he stares at his daughter's reveal, who he just arrested and convinced into the YPA, is oddly satisfying. "S-Sam..!" he hisses. "How??"

Seshat
A gamble, but his reaction - and, more importantly, his earlier statement about "ignoring" her secret base - confirms that there's no hidden recording. A man with a professional record as squeaky clean as his knows how things work.

She slides it back on, waiting for the satisfying click, the boot-up. It doesn't need power - she bizarrely generates a trickle herself - and works the jaw to test it, the metal bending effortlessly.

"I know, what are the odds of two people in the same family encountering shard events? I'm guessing you're impacted, and I'm guessing I'm seeded."

Also, really, Dad? Did marrying an Egyptian woman entitle you to ankhs? Let's not say that out loud yet.

"I'm just as shocked as you."

Seshat
That his daughter is now talking to him with a metal cat face is probably just the slighest bit weird, but it's gotta be like - okay, it probably rates as pretty weird.

Seshat
"Does Mom know?"

GM
"It's... It's still unprecedented. I took the full impaction, Layla didn't. It shouldn't..." He frowns. Obviously, with four dimensional crystals that grant superpowers, who knows when you have all the rules, if you ever do, so he cuts himself off there.

He takes a deep breath, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "No, no she doesn't."

Seshat
"Wait - you impacted while Mom was pregnant with me - no, that isn't how we think it should work, but the probability quickly rises to astronomical levels if we try to calculate when I could have been seeded aside from your impact date - "

Seshat
"Huh. Look at that, an exception to the known rules. Science marches on."

GM
"You should be at SRI, instead of in danger at the YPA."

GM
"That's where a brilliant mind belongs."

Seshat
"Oh, sure, now you pay attention to stuff like that." She puts a foot to a table leg, pushing back until the chair's balanced once more.

"SRI isn't US government. They're an international group. The government would never let me go if they could avoid it. Not to say I'm not patriotic, but cutting a deal to get me into SRI is going to be impossible for the time being."

Still, it's something she'd thought about. SRI would have been the perfect place to perfect her code, design new materials, etc.

"Though I'm sure something could be worked out. I don't know, I'm getting into tangents." She rocks the chair back to a seated position again, looking up at him. He's been completely thrown, and she doesn't blame him.

"Mom was in the bank, Dad."

Seshat
"That's why I did it."

Seshat
"Response time of sufficient strength was estimated in hours. It took you an hour and a half."

Seshat
"I had to."

GM
That shuts him up. There's silence for a few moments, then he nods. "...I don't approve of you being in danger, but.. I am glad you acted. I would have prioritized it, had I known.

"But this was some sort of two pronged attack to occupy the GRF and the Night Host. We don't know if the Whip was taking advantage of the attacks, or if he was in cahoots with them - in which case, why would Cedilla stoop to a bank robbery." He shakes his head. "But that's why I wasn't there first thing."

".. It's out of my hands now, but, do be careful, Sam."

GM
--

GM
------------------------

GM
By the time she walks out of the office building, she was given a little plastic card - a temp ID until she has her own - a piece of paper with her initial schedule for her YPA first meeting (with an address) set for next week, and a receipt for her ID.

```
Name: Seshat
Type: Seeded
Abilities: Enchantment-style programming. Inventor. See [Case 0-8-E]
Affilitation: Probationary YPA (Seto Dragonflies)
Payee: GRF
```

And just like that, she's released, with the ominous warning that they will keep an eye on her and to not miss her appointed schedule - and to absolutely not engage in vigilante justice unless absolutely necessary without approval from her YPA representative, when she meets them. Up in the air, Six Ankh, the superhero golden boy of the GRF, her father Six Ankh, pauses near the roof to look down at her. Then, he turns and blasts off with a distant 'pop' of a sonic boom.

They offered her a car ride to wherever she likes, at least, even though she had anticipated walking to and fro the battlezone on her walker - which is still confiscated.

Seshat
That was, admittedly, a bit overly hopeful on her part. She feels strange, stepping out of a police station with her mask and outfit on. People are looking at her, and she's itching to open her tablet and start looking at social media. First thing's first - accept that car ride. She can have them take her to a different part of town and vanish into her base, change, and ... tell mom.

She settles back into the car, finally getting a chance to plow through the social media apps on her stone and quartz tablet, seeing what's being said about her.

GM
The driver is professional, just following her instructions to make for the park where she's got her hideout in general silence. How many of people like her does he drive around.

The government got its thumb down pretty quickly, stamping down any major media campaign. However, there's plenty of tweets still popping up. She even got tweeted by the Shard Historian, who keeps a database of impacted and seeded, though right now it's just a potato quality picture of her on her walker facing down The Whip's bear and a whole lot of ''s and speculations.

There's detractors with really mean spirited words - though they hate all sharded, or all women, or all sharded women, who the hell knows - and supporters with very kind words, who seem particularly pleased to see a new lady stepping up. A whole lot of anger is targeted at the GRF for sending in only one person, while some people are question if she's even GRF - some people managed to report on her being detained, though there's no photos or videos of that, thankfully.

Plenty of conspiracies about what the Whip was doing there, especially since it coindied with several attacks by Liberation, that he's joined the terrorist Cedilla.

Seshat
It wasn't what she was hoping for, and indeed the strength of the government censorship is alarming. She hasn't read through her contract to see what kind of media presence she can have - another infuriating thing, if it weren't for this stupid arrest she could have been right there on the stage - but it'll do for now.

The speculation on her powers amuses her, but she can look at that later. She smiles cheekily. "Thanks for the ride~" and steps out, walking out. She takes the long way - disappearing into the park is tricky - and is silently thankful to her father for overlooking her private base. Curious that he did that before she even came out to him as his daughter. Wonder what the hell is going through his mind.

GM
'What the hell' is probably at least up there. Everything shut itself properly, so no one seems to have invaded, and there's indeed no government goons down here to make a mess. She just gets to call up her elevator and make her way back down into the underground.

All of her clay workers are sitting idle, waiting for re-activation. Mystery is curled up on her desk, also 'asleep', right next to where she left her phone - which has the little indicator light blinking to indicate she has at least one notification worth looking at.

She has a few soldiers in the other room still, but this confiscation has really cut down on her firepower.

Seshat
All of her best ones. She'll need to quietly move them out in preparation for the transition to the YPA. She runs her fingers along her soldiers, and goes to nudge Mystery awake, her signs coming online. She hugs the cat to her chest as she sits in her dark makeshift mine, peeling her mask off and checking her phone.

GM
Mystery streches out and does her canned 'mrowl' as she leans into her embrace. One message from Jacob - apparently he's disappointed that the Lame Argentee talk got pushed back because of the attack.

5 messages from Layla, all in the last hour or so. 'We're okay, we got let out' 'New cute hero recruit from YPA stopped him I hear' 'I'm heading home' 'Where are you?' 'Honey???' with an associated voice mail.

Seshat
She dials her directly, listening to the quiet ring.

GM
Ring, ri- "Hello?"

Seshat
"Umi? It's Sam."

GM
"Easal, thank heavens, Samantha! I thought something had happened!"

Seshat
"I'm okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."
She exhales.
"I'll be home soon. Are you okay? I know what your texts said, but..."

GM
"I'm fine. Security was well organized and got us in and out safely without a panic," she assures. "Though I'm out of work for a short while, until they fix the place up."

Seshat
"They're paying you for the absence at least, right?" she asks, worried.

GM
"The union's got my back."

Seshat
"Thank heavens," she smiles. "I'll be home soon, okay? I love you - I'm glad you're okay."

Before she hangs up, she adds, "Oh, did - Dad call at all?"

GM
"Not yet. He's probably swamped in paperwork after this whole debacle."

Seshat
"Yeah, probably. Okay see you soon!"
With that she hangs up, deactivates Mystery, and tells her fabs to get to work - she's going to need more chasses before long.

Changing back to her stylish civilian clothes and fixing her hair, she exhales, and heads on out - she'll take an Uber home.

GM
In a city like Haven, there's plenty of those to go around, so it doesn't take long for her ride to show off and take her out into the suburbs where her mother's got her house. A two story house, if a little on the narrow side, with a modest front and back yard. It was set up during one of the more rapid expansionist periods of the city, where they wanted to cram people inside. That was before the advent of modern apartment buildings, so narrow houses it was.

Her mother's car is in the driveway - enough to fit one person really.

Seshat
She hops out, thanks the man, and hitches her messenger bag up. Well.. no time like the present, right?

Underneath the cloudy sky, she heads up and lets herself in, shutting the door and removing her shoes and jacket. "Umi?"

GM
Layla emerges from the kitchen in the back. "Sam! Oh, good, welcome home! I'm glad you're not hurt. After you didn't answer I was getting kind of worried."

Seshat
She heads over and hugs her mother at once.

Seshat
"I was scared for you, too."

Seshat
"I'm glad you're okay."

GM
Layla Wright is a pretty, if somewhat plush woman, a fair bit taller than her daughter. On that front, Sam takes more from her father, who's more average in height. "Me too. But it's over now."

Seshat
"Yeah." She smiles up at her nervously. "Hey, Mom?"

Seshat
"I uh... look, I got something important to tell you. Can we sit in the living room?"

Seshat
"We should be sitting for this."

GM
She blinks at her. "Something important? Well, okay..." She heads out into the living room with her, looking a little apprehensive at the sudden serious topic right after a local calamity.

...of course, it's not too late to make something up, in theory...

Seshat
Sam may be the worst liar in the world, but anything is more likely than this, right?" She tightens her grip on her bag and follows her mother in, sitting on the couch next to her. She feels a bit like hyperventiliating, but she gets that under control.

"I, uhm... I know this seems like a bad time, but it's really..."

She looks up at a picture of the two of them together on the book shelf. Sighing, she reaches into her bag and pulls out the golden mask, laying it between them.

GM
Silence as she looks down at the mask. For a bit, she's got an almost amused expression on her face, like 'what even is this.' Then she picks up the mask and carefully turns it around curiously. Hard not to recognize it - they were staring at it on the camera feeds all this time.

Slowly she frowns, a hand coming down to lay on her belly in concern. "That... since when?" Though the look on her face indicates she probably knows the answer, and the precise moment.

Seshat
She folds her legs.
"All my life, technically. I only really picked up on it... about a year ago?"

GM
Layla sets the mask back down on the coffee table and leans back in her seat, looking just... at a loss. Then after a bit of awkward silence, she asks in a soft voice, "You could just... not... fight?"

Seshat
"Heh." She takes the mask and runs her fingers along the nose.

"I didn't want to. I... you were in trouble."

GM
"Someone would have come eventually."

Seshat
"Not soon enough. I did the math. I'm good at that."

Seshat
"Now I'm in trouble. I have... a plea deal. I plead guilty to the charges, and in exchange I get to go into the YPA."

GM
She opens her mouth, then it shuts again. Then slowly she frowns again as some realization dawns on her. "Then your father is one too?"

GM
"He has to be. Otherwise.."

Seshat
"Yeah. Six Ankh. You'll kick yourself - same hair and everything."

Seshat
She puts the mask aside and folds her legs up.

Seshat
"This isn't what I wanted, Umi..."

Seshat
"I wanted to come out on my own terms."

Seshat
"Wow the world."

GM
Seeing her own daughter's distress, she softens. "Abnataya.." She reaches out and pulls at her, tugging her into an embrace.

GM
"But you would have fought, if you had your own terms?"

Seshat
Seshat shakes her head.
"No. I dunno, maybe? If it was for the right cause."

Seshat
"I didn't intend to. I make some dangerous stuff!"

Seshat
"And that was all just experiments."

Seshat
"I make machines, and they can do anything, Mom! Almost anything."

Seshat
"I've been experimenting and I've never seen anyone able to do as many things as I can, all through one power."

Seshat
"Why waste all of that on fighting crime?"

GM
"I prefer the way you think. You've always been a smart and creative girl. I knew you'd make something great. I didn't think... Well, if he's Six Ankh then I'll pressure your father to pressure them. Maybe... maybe they can get you into SRI instead? That's much safer!"

Seshat
"I hope so." She scrubs her eyes and leans into her mother.

Seshat
"...I took the shard meant for you," she mumbles. "It hit him, then the other piece sank into me."

GM
"It was on a rooftop, during one of my visits to one of the airbases he was at. There was an explosion, they told us there was a drone attack." She hisses through her teeth.

Seshat
"You remember?" She looks up.

GM
"Barely. Things were so chaotic, and so bright. I still think it looked like an explosion."

GM
"It never occurred to me that it could have been a shard event."

Seshat
She sighs, forcing a smile.

Seshat
"It's two years, right?"

Seshat
"Two years to build up a reputation."

Seshat
"I'll be famous."

GM
"I'm not familiar with how they operate." She frowns, looking resolute for a bit, but eventually she softens and grabs her again with a sigh. "So long as you're careful."

Seshat
"Their casualty rates are pretty low."
For heroes.

"I'll be okay - my skills don't really incline me to be front line."

GM
Layla brushes through her daughter's hair, protectively, fussing. "Well, don't be a hero, even if they call you that. You let your, your wondrous creations protect you."

Seshat
She nestles in, and whistles softly to her bag. Emerging from it comes Mystery - programmatically, she cautiously sniffs about before emerging fully, each line of her legs graceful, her tail flicking.

GM
Her mother freezes and watches the cat hopping up to the coffee table in its almost-life, curious ways. Layla blinks and hesitantly reaches out to the metal and stone cat's sniffing hand. Mystery bumps her hand into it and a mechanical purr picks up.

"That's.. you made that?"

Seshat
"I did." She beams. "She's programmatic, but isn't she beautiful?"

Seshat
"Took me forever to figure out good media for holding data."

GM
Layla reaches out and picks the cat up, giving her a look over. Mystery is a good kitty and lets out a canny 'meow' of pretend-protest. "How does she work? She moves so realistically." She lifts a paw up, looking at the joints. No one could fit servos or motors in there.

Seshat
"It's an interesting consequence of my power. See those funny glowing symbols? That's the core and soul of everything I make - a little piece of something greater."
She's excited now, energetic, happy to share. She even pulls her mask on, listening to the little hiss as it attachs to her face, and yawns, working her jaw.

Seshat
"See~?"

GM
"That's.. that's incredible, Samantha. You are making the metal stretch, that shouldn't be possible." She certainly looks awed, leaning forwards to investigate the mask in motion.

Seshat
She smiles, even sticks her tongue out - her tongue is actually hers.

Seshat
"I'd like you to keep Mystery. I know it's a risk - I can ask her to stay in specific rooms - but I think it'd be nice."

Seshat
"When I'm out, you can see her and think of me."

GM
"Well... I wouldn't mind. It can get a little lonely when you're out. At least now I know why you're out so much.." She sets the construct on her lap, who gets settled more comfortably. "Mystery, huh... She's very pretty."

Seshat
"I'll upgrade her now and then, too, improve her code." She pulls her mask off and settles in next to her mother again.
"I'm sorry I never told you. I didn't want anyone to find out until I understood it, and one thing led to another and I'd dug out a mineshaft in the middle of the hills."

GM
"From what I understand, it's a complicated world once you have this in you. I suppose I can't blame you... I'd have panicked too."

Seshat
She nods and hugs her.
"I'll be all right, I promise. Gods."
She nestles in, pulling her phone out. She texts Jacob.


GM
Things fall pretty quietly from there. Eventually her mother stands up to make her a big dinner on some premise that she has to get her strength back from her ordeal. Jacob does respond with a simple [Sure]. Man, what would Vicky think of Gary now?

Seshat
Probably that he's double the asshole.
She chews her lip - help her or no, he still strung her mother along. Maybe it's something all secret heroes do, getting wrapped up in secret identities and all.

She puts her phone away and goes to help her mother prepare dinner, thinking about... well, the future.

GM
The bright side of having your city attacked is that, due to the suddenly higher defensive state and increased presence of superpowered individuals, there's a dry spell of crime. No regular Joe Crime wants to step up to a GRF superhero, and it makes even the low powered ones keep their heads down to wait it out. Does give Seshat some time to herself.

That she attends Haven's Grace school like... nothing happened, like she's not going to go to the Youth Protectors' Agency after school, feels surreal. "Sam, come in," comes from her side, a couple of fingers snapping in front of her face to snap her out of her thoughts. Jacob, her younger half-brother, has stepped up to where she was loitering in front of her locker near the start of lunch break.

Seshat
Seshat jerks back, blinking. She brushes her hair back behind an ear, looking at him. "Did I doze off again?"

GM
"Or you got a prophetic vision, who knows." They share their father's soft hair and his eyes, though few would say they look alike. Their respective mothers have made quite a rift in appearances - her in her darker arabic looks, and him in the brighter, great white north caucasian looks.

Seshat
Deftly, she enters her combination and looks at her books. Letters work around the edge of her vision as always - that hardest part of school is putting up with the inability to actually work on her projects, but she likes the social outlet. It gets so lonely on her own - being able to talk to her mom is a huge deal.
"I was just thinking about the supergames last night."
She's so obvious when she lies, it's a wonder she keeps anything secret.

GM
"Riiight. Who won it?"

Seshat
"Uh. Hennnndrix?" Her smile turns strained.

GM
"Hendrix is in League B, dude."

GM
"But nice try." He snickers. "What's eating you, Sam?"

Seshat
"A lot of things, actually." She puts her books away, shutting her locker up. She leans against it and watches people go by. She is, in a literal sense, one in several million - blessed by the slimmest of chances.

That fact doesn't bother her too much - after all, some people are gifted and always have been - but it's still an interesting observation. Sometimes, she wishes she had a body like the superhero girls in comics, all curves and perfect hair - but she can't work miracles like that.

"It's kind of a big deal, actually."

Seshat
"You talk to Dad at all lately?"

GM
Not yet, anyway. Maybe an automaton armor.

"Can't say I have. Mom and him got into a fight over the phone last week and she just about exiled him from showing up till she's calmed down."

Seshat
"Ick. Yeah, that sounds about right. How's your mom doing, by the way?" She starts off along the hallways, with him at her side. "I haven't seen her around a lot lately."

GM
"She's pretty busy, but doing alright, besides. She said she's got eyes on someone, but haven't heard a peep about who it might be yet. I wouldn't mind someone to keep her from absorbing herself into work. I know soldiers don't write their own timetables, but, y'know, woman needs a break." He walks alongside her, his arms crossing casually behind his head.

Seshat
"Shipping your mom? A respectable pastime! I sure know I could use a break sometime."

(Is this end of school or during?)

GM
(During!)

GM
"Find you a sweetheart who'll give it to you straight and tell you when you're too focused."

Seshat
"I'm holding my hopes out for a handsome fella who looks good in glasses."

Seshat
"And is respectful and smart and oh so many things."

GM
"Rich, too, maybe with a politician father." He grins.

Seshat
She giggles, tossing her hair.
"While that would be nice, I'll be rich~ You wait and see."

Seshat
She's glad she gets along with him. She needed a sibling in her life.

GM
That they got together in mutual dislike of their father at first evolved into a nice friendship. Vicky had threathened to move at first - thank goodness she didn't. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Seshat
She bumps his hip. "Then you'd better be prepared to have your socks blown off~ So, any plans this week?"

GM
"Got a soccer game thursday. Besides that, just the dark, unfortunate tedium of homework!"

Seshat
"I know the feeling. Hey, we should get together again. Maybe invite your mom over."

Seshat
"If you're not busy after school, there's something I want to show you."

Seshat
"It's kinnnnd of a big deal~"

GM
"Sure, I'll pass the word up to mom. Would be nice to have a sit down for a bit. I know mom likes hanging out with Layla. And, okay. ...Is it about how you're going to get your wealth?" He raises a brow.

Seshat
"...actually yes! I've been working on a coding project, and it's going awesome, and I swear you're gonna be impressed."

GM
"Then cool. I'll check it out. Where you wanna meet? Computer lab?"

Seshat
"Oh no no no. This is a special occasion! You'll have to come to my house~"

GM
"Okay, now I'm a bit weirded out." He puffs his cheeks in a smirk. "Fine, fine, then I'll meet you at the busses."

Seshat
"Awesome. See you then~"

GM
"See ya, Sam." He chuckles and wanders off to his next classes.

Seshat
Sam, for her part, does the same, and is so jittery she has trouble concentrating. She does well in all of her classes, of course, even PE, but she's extra distracted lately. That she has an appointment with the YPA...
Oh shit, she has to cancel her meeting with Jacob. She texts him to let him know to meet her at the computer labs instead.

GM
Funny how becoming a registered superhero throws a wrench in one's plans. Luckily enough, he responds with an affirmative, though he does rib her for changing her mind to what he had already suggested.

Sam does get a few stern awakenings through the rest of her classes to snap her back to attention (except PE. That's a lot of rote.) This starts out feeling like some of the longest hours of her life, except when it's near the end of the last class where it seems like the clock's hands are spinning out of control and the class ends too soon.

The computer lab - adjacent the library - is pretty empty this time of day. Very few kids like sticking around after school, though there's some people playing games in the back. Jacob is already within, idly spinning a computer chair about.

Seshat
Dressing back in her fashionable little dress, she makes her way over, checking to be sure they're relatively alone as she heads on back.
"Silly boy, that's not how you chair."

Seshat
She grins.

GM
"Why would they make it spin if I shouldn't spin it?"

GM
Most are in the back. Few people this side of the lab.

Seshat
She pulls a chair over, digging in her bag. She turns a computer on with a sandaled toe and pulls out a curious little USB stick.

Seshat
"Keep your voice down, savvy?"

GM
He looks suspiciously down at the USB stick, narrowing his eyes. He's probably wondering if it's illegal or something. "..okay."

Seshat
She grins, inserting it into the computer. The symbol on top lights up a faint blue, as if backlit by an LED, and she slides a stone slate from her bag.
"Reminder - mouth shut, got it?"

GM
He glances from stick to tablet, his head tilting. "Cross my heart."

Seshat
She taps the screen and the quartz lights up, running through strange little symbols before a loading screen. It steals the desktop in one half

Seshat
The other half a menu.

GM
The boy is craning up to look at the tablet as well, his interest and curiosity quite piqued.

Seshat
"Of course, this is only the beginning."
She piggybacks off the wireless and displays a tree of computers in the network. She taps one that's in use, seeing what they're up to.

GM
"Are you making a hacking tool?" he hisses quietly, glancing at the network tree. "Is that how you'll get rich? Just ATM cash out?" he raises a brow at her.

Seshat
"No way, I'm going legit. I'm not a villain~"
She grins and taps a few options - opening a loud youtube video on their screen.

GM
That certainly gets the attention of the computer go-ers. The victim quickly scrambles for the speakers, then the mouse to close the video down to then mumble a "sorry, slipped."

GM
That, at least, makes Jacob laugh quietly. "Jesus.."

Seshat
She shuts it down and pulls the USB stick free, containing her giggles as she packs up. She pulls his head down and whispers.
"I'm a superhero."

GM
"...what?" he blinks at her.

Seshat
"You remember the news a couple days ago?"

GM
"Yyyeah, yeah. At the Haven Bank HQ."

Seshat
"Surprise~"

GM
He blinks, and she can imagine the gears turning in his head before they click. "...what! You're serious??"

GM
He'd figure she was tugging his leg, if she hadn't just hacked the computer lab with what looked like a bluetooth USB key.

Seshat
"I'm so cereal."

Seshat
"I could prove it more, but tonight i gotta go to a YPA meeting."

GM
He slumps back into his seat, blinking slowly. "Whoa. What the hell."

GM
"How'd that happen?"

Seshat
"I kiiinda got arrested over that stunt."

Seshat
"...it was for a good reason, though."

GM
"No kidding.. They really hate vigilantes."

GM
"I'm surprised they didn't put you in jail."

Seshat
"Hah well, bit of a story there. Part of it is - I mean, obviously it wasn't malicious, so that helped? Part of it is, I think, they really don't want to let me go like that."

Seshat
"Annnd part of it is... our dad."

GM
"Wut? What's Gary have to do with this?"

Seshat
"Him too."

GM
He gawks at her.

Seshat
"I know right? Wtf."

Seshat
She actually spells that out.

GM
"Who??"

Seshat
"Six Ankh himself."

GM
It's about the reaction she'd expect. The dichotomy of hearing america's sweetheart cheated on both his mom and Sam's mom is... jarring, at best. His head plops back and he looks up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do with that information."

GM
"Like, what the hell."

Seshat
She pats his back, rubbing it.
"It's kinda awful, yeah."

Seshat
"I figured you deserved to know.'

Seshat
"Enough lies in the family already, right?"

GM
"I'll have to swallow that and figure things out.." He puffs some of his hair out of his eyes. "Still, though. YPA member. That's wacked. You going to be okay?"

Seshat
"I think so. I mean - I'm not a powerhouse. My performance there notwithstanding."

Seshat
"That was a lot of luck and panic."

Seshat
"And a looot of preparation."

Seshat
"I basically lost weeks, maybe months of work on that attack."

Seshat
"...though, it did give me a lot of ideas for new stuff."

Seshat
"I can make almost anything if I put my mind to it.'

Seshat
She glances around.

Seshat
"You know, if you ever want something subtle? I could do something for you. You'd have to keep it hidden, of course."

GM
He snickers. "'Hey, Jacob, when I say 'I can make anything' what's the first thing that comes to your mind.' Man, I don't know, that's like, too many choices. I mean, if I think of something I'll let you know."

GM
"But.. that's seriously amazing."

Seshat
She giggles and grins. "I'm glad you think so. I'm freaking out a little."

Seshat
"I was supposed to debut to Argentee..."

GM
"So, what, you'd drop in to a WW2 hero with a parade?" He snickers. "That'd be cool, if unannounced. You still could, her talk's been pushed to this friday."

Seshat
"Maybe I can get to meet her officially now."

GM
"I couldn't tell you how. This is way past what I know!"

Seshat
She turns her head as the bell rings and gives him a quick hug.

Seshat
"I need to head out after school - but we'll catch up this weekend, right?"

GM
He pats her back. "Okay. Good luck with that - hope they won't work you ragged."

Seshat
"Me too."

Seshat
And with that, she grabs her bag and goes, running to her next class.

GM
Just one more class; a scant couple of hours before she gets to meet her probation officer... and teammates to be. This, is going to be a strange, strange thing to get used to.
------------

GM
The Youth Protectors' Agency. Where the volunteers, the volunteered, or those in her situation come to be given training and - more importantly - supervision. Of course, attending here isn't exactly going to broaden Sam's career choices, since it's done in anonymity. But it does build a reputable pedigree. The GRF, the IPF, and the Night Host frequently look in and make visits (but so has Liberation.) As far as Seshat is concerned, this will raise her up, prepared or not.

The fenced off area has a small, central, front facing office building, and some walkways across small grassy expenses that lead to 2 other buildings whose purpose, for the moment, aren't clear to her from outside. One looks like a narrow two story affairs with windows, and another is a larger, blockier type. It's like a very small college campus, really. In the office is an mature lady typing away at a computer from behind her narrow reading glasses. There's some cushioned seats like a waiting area, but it's otherwise rather sparse - clearly not meant for much activity besides reception.

Seshat
It's not every day that a YPA kid comes to work in a device they designed and built themselves. Seshat's arrival at the YPA facility is onboard a bike that hovers gracefully through the streets, attracting attention wherever it goes, and she glides into a parking spot just outside the office building.

Hilariously, she wasn't even trying to be flashy - it's just the only conveyance she had on hand, recently finished. She sweeps into the office, flashing a cat-like smile at the lady at the reception.

"Good afternoon~"

GM
It takes a few moments of silence for her to size the young, cat-adorned lady over with a slight raised brow. "Good afternoon," she finally says before typing a few things into the computer. "What can I do for you today?" The brunette laces her slim fingers together.

Seshat
She laces her gloved fingers on the counter, beaming.
"My name is Seshat. I'm here to report for duty with the YPA."

GM
"Can I see your assigned ID?" She types on the computer.

Seshat
"Oh, right."
Seshat shuffles through her bag.
Man, receptionists for superheroes are hard to impress.

GM
It's likely she's seen some stuff far weirder than biking in on a sweet custom rig wearing a golden, interactive face mask. Especially with teens prone to showing off.

Once she's got the piece of plastic, she compares it with what's on her computer screen, then hands it back. "Alright, then, Ms. Seshat. Make your way to pavillion A's foyer. Someone will be along shortly."

Seshat
"Just Seshat, thanks!"
She accepts the plastic back, tucking it into her satchel (she bought the leather, cut it, and hand-stitched it, with hieroglyphics in gold thread) and heading off, her heart fluttering a little. She's about to emet the people she'll be spending the next two years with, minimum, plus the community of heroes she'll be dealing with after that.

Seshat
Including some of the YPAs

GM
It may look like a campus from outside, but inside, it's certainly anything but. This is more like a small living room - the floor is inviding hardwood, and it's decorated in a rather posh-house sort of way. There's a grandfather clock and the corners all have a raised up, intricate design. Plenty of seating in the form of comfortable looking couches.

There is some tech, though - she can see some of the cameras trying to be concealed, and there's a less subtle intercom on one of the darkly painted walls.

Seshat
A meeting room! How charming. Like a living room or - a youth club room or something? She notes the cameras with a glance and goes to sit in one of the chairs.

Seshat
She still needs to get around to installing that AR functionality in her mask, so for now she just pulls her tablet.

Seshat
For the most part she's working on designs, patterns.

GM
It takes a little while before she gets seen, about 10 minutes. Finally, however, a girl comes into the room. She's dressed in a full body suit that is predominately white, but there is an asymetrical green wing on the right side that wraps about her. She's going without anything covering her face, interestingly, and that's despite having shockingly vivid green shared of hair on her.

"Hello." She folds her hands behind her back. "I'm Stream. I'm captaining up the Seto Dragonflies, and I'll be your tour guide. It'll be pretty quiet - only a few of us here right now."

GM
She smiles, looking pretty chipper.

Seshat
Seshat rises with her, smoothly returning her tablet to its sheath and smiles. "Hi. Seshat - sure, I'd love to have a look around."

GM
"So, Seshat, this is officially called Pavillon A, but you'll often hear it referred to as the dorm. It serves as something of a living area. We have a few suites for people who live here, either cause they're too far from home, or home isn't a possibility anymore." She gestures down the hall and leads the way there.

"Rooms are upstairs. There's some that are occupied, but we have some guest rooms if you want to take a nap or get away for a bit." She steps into another chamber, with a big, modern looking kitchen. At the counter is another girl - a petite, blonde thing in a leotard. More interesting are the long, crystaline dragonflies vibrating behind her as she floats near the counter, opting for a domino mask, though it spills ontop of her nose.

"That's Iry. She's with the Flying Adders. She lives here too, and you'll find her cooking a whole lot. The kitchen's available for us anytime, though we only have one oven and she might be making cookies in it."

"Hullo." The girl nods her head with a polite smile.

Seshat
"Hi Iry," she wiggles her fingers.
Seshat also loves cooking. Seshat is also gifted at chemistry, and doesn't want to make the old girl jealous of the new, so she'd better be careful not to show off in every field. "I love cookies~"

Seshat
"How many teams live here?"

GM
"The Haven YPA is made up of the Camo Ferrets, the Falcon Scouts, the Flying Adders, the Seto Dragonflies, and Steel Nova."

"Respectively, they're infiltrators, scouts, fast attacks, basic threat response, and heavy duty. You won't see much of Steel Nova - they tend to report to the GRF more. There's usually 3 to 4 in each group, though you're rounding off the dragonflies at 5. Only 4 people live here, though. Me, Iry, R&D, and C-Shell. From Dragonflies, Adders, Camo, and Steel Nova."

Seshat
Seshat nods. Well, she won't be alone anymore. She walks along, mentally taking notes - something that's blindingly easy for her. Another impact of her seeding. Irony intended. Some of this is stuff she already knew from Public Relations, but now she's getting the inside look.

GM
There's a much larger room that looks far more like a meeting room. There's a long table in the middle, with a projector hanging from the top pointing at a screen, though currently not turned on ("Meeting room," Stream confirms. "We get missions here."), and several washrooms, handily.

The upstairs is pretty simple - a long hallway that heads around the room, with a number of doors to, presumably, rooms, or suites. All in all, it's pretty cozy. "There's a basement for storage, too, but that's mostly custodian," she explains. She pauses by one of the doors and pops it open, revealing a pretty looking space, plenty of posters of rockstar women adorning the walls. There's a nice guitar on a stand. Seems she has her own washroom and kitchenette. Suite indeed.

"That's my room, so if you ever need anything, feel free to come knock."

Seshat
"Oh hey, you play?"

Seshat
"Music is an area I haven't branched out much into."

GM
"I totally do." She grins at her. "I put on the odd show in the dining - I mean, meeting - room now and then."

Seshat
"I'd love to see that~" She taps her chin. "So - something I will need is a workshop. Preferably a large one."

GM
"That won't be here. Which does bring us to Pavillion B, which is where the fun is. Right this way." She leads back down the hall to the stairwell with the exit sign.

Seshat
"Oh! Goodie." She heads after her. Like stream, her suit is full-body, though her full mask also hides her hair, her white leather soles soft on the floor

GM
The second, larger building opens in a more civic style lobby, with a few benches arrayed on either side. "You'll need your ID here." She swipes hers and leads the way inside.

On the right, she can see where most of the building's space is going - a gymnasium, bigger than the one at school. It has a second balcony-style story which seems to have gym equipment, like treadmills and weights.

"This is where you'll want to train yourself in body - no powers allowed. Ground rule."

Seshat
"Cool. Between you and me - don't really have any in that field."

Seshat
"I could stand to get in shape."

GM
"Then all the better. Get your arms going - you never know when you'll walk into a null zone and need to punch your way out of a problem."

"Then, we come here." She hits a switch, which pops open the nearby door to a stairwell. "If you ever break your legs, there's an elevator on the other side of the gym for accessibility." She begins downstairs, pausing by the first landing. "Just kidding." she grins back at her, then resumes down.

GM
Downstairs feels a little more cramp. There's a door - looks reinforced - on the left which Stream pats. "This is where you'll train with powers. It's reinforced and bulked up to keep things nice and contained, and it's got safety features, like fire extinguishers, sprinklers, and stuff like that. So you can go mostly nuts. Don't try to break our stuff, though."

A little further out, she pats another, more simple door. "Storage. We have plenty of knicknacks, electronics, spare computer parts, ropes, some weapons and armor, and some confiscated stuff, though the GRF keeps the good stuff."

And finally she steps into a large room. It looks like a lab of sorts, and is pretty large. Plenty of tables along the edges and a few inwards, but there's otherwise quite a bit of space where she'll be able to hang stuff up or build in. "And that's going to be workshop zone. Where we figure out whatever device some threat pulled out of their ass, study bomb defusal, and where you can do your robot goodness thing."

Seshat
"Hah, hah hah," she grins, and ooos at the mysterious power training room.
"Okay, cool," she says, stepping into the workshop, hands on her (narrow) hips. "So - R&D, that name caught my eye. I didn't see a profile of what he or she does."

Seshat
"Also, how do I make requests for materials?"

Seshat
She takes her slate out and faces it at the room, then makes a circuit. It constructs a wire-frame version of the room, and she edits out some of the impermanent things, marking out red boundaries for the already-devoted equipment that she can't or shouldn't move.

GM
"Anything you can't find here, you either bring in yourself - with permission - or you get through front desk channels. Reception will send it up and hopefully you'll get it soon ish. They're usually pretty prompt if it's for hero biz.

"And yeah, you'll be sharing this place with R&D. He's got this super analytical mind, just stare out at a space and figure out every intricate detail in a snap. He sinks a lot of his build up into electronics. He's also our bomb diffusal guy, if you need one disarmed and don't know how."

Most of the stuff here isn't really permanent - the tables aren't fixed. Though there's a few things, like a CNC laser and cutter that probably would be harder to move. She might have to check in with her partner from another group before tackling it, though.

Seshat
"That sounds fun."
That's all right, she can make use of a CNC laser.

"So! I actualllly have a gift for you."

GM
"What? How?"

Seshat
She puts her slate away and pulls a second from her satchel. It is, in appearance, a thin slab of nearly indestructible ceramic. Predominantly white with a symmetrical green wing, it matches Stream's color scheme, with a black quartz scheme.

"I checked up on the public website for my teammates. I haven't had time to make more than one, but I figured since you're my captain it would be a good start, show I plan to hit the ground running as part of the team and all."
She's a chatty kitty, she is.

"Just put your palm to the quartz surface to authenticate it~"

GM
She takes the slate out curiously, giving the thing a look over. She doesn't seem to quite get what it's supposed to be, but she likes the look of it. After a moment, she reaches down to tug her glove off with her teeth, then puts her bare palm ontop of the thing as requested.

Seshat
It shines around the palm in an outline, letters flickering off into the air around it. Then it chimes and reveals a white and green swooshy OS.

"Hello Stream," it chirps. "I'm Nepit, your personal assistant."

Seshat
Seshat stands with her palms together. If she had a tail it would be lashing in anticipation.

GM
She stares down at the tablet with her brows raised up. Then, finally, after some silence, she goes "Whaaaaat! You made this?"

Seshat
"I did~!"

Seshat
"Last night."

GM
"Oh, yeah, just an evening's bit of work, right?" She pokes her tongue out. "That's amazing! What does it do?" she starts to poke at it.

Seshat
"Well, most things a regular computer does, with some light AI assistance - I mean, not a true AI, just a learning algorhithm and virutal assistant. It'll learn your preferences over time. It's got a pretty good system for recording and sorting media."
It flicks through different sections - pictures, videos, emulation for common apps.
"If I'd known you were into music I would have included an audio editor, but you can install stuff for that."

Seshat
"Or I could work one up. I'd have to learn how to program one. Project for another time."

Seshat
She coughs, blushing under her mask.

Seshat
"Sorry, I don't get to talk about my work often."

Seshat
She's terribly expressive in her body language, virtually every emotion coming across in some way.

GM
Stream laughs as she pokes around it. "Hey, no sweat. This is really cool. I mean, if you get me going on rocker girls and women I'd probably blabber on too, so we're even. Can talk about that audio app thing at some point, could be neat to have on the go, if it's nice to use. Think I'd prefer my full size computer, though."

"So, all in all, that was th--" She's interrupted by a sudden, deep rumbling, as if something had exploded in a nearby room.

Seshat
Seshat blinks.
"What was that?"

GM
"I think that was the training room." She suddenly glows a bright green and zaps out into the hall, moving less like a person and more like a beam of energy that's shaped like a person.

Seshat
"...oh that was cool. I heard she was a speedster but - annnd I'm talking to myself."

She takes off after her at a jog.

GM
It's not far, thankfully, and she's slowed down by the door, so they end up stepping inside together.

This is much like the gymnasium upstairs, though it's looking al lot more heavy duty. Concrete flooring and thick walls with bolted on protective sheeting, no windows, and everything is grilled for safety.

And in the left corner, there's a fresh, still smoking crater. Kneeling inside of it, his back tot he door, is a young man with long, unkept dark hair, well muscled and shirtless, smoke raising off of his skin. There's an interesting tattoo - or mark, anyway, it doesn't look like ink per say - on his back, some sort of chaotic looking, spiky swirl.

"C-Shell, what the hell is wrong with you??"

Seshat
Seshat puts a hand to her mouth. She's not been witness to this level of destruction since - uh, right, since she blew up a store with her main cannon. Even then.

The tattoo attracts her attention more than the blast, after the initial glimpse. She frowns, taking out her slate and snapping a quick picture.

GM
He slowly stands up, turning. He's a handsome sort, sure, but the thing that really stands out is how... tired he looks, like he hasn't had a good night's sleep in so long. "Sorry, Stream. It was an accident," he says, with a deep voice, though it's soft spoken.

"Jesus, look at this mess." Stream wanders over, rubbing through her hair.

Seshat
She puts the slate away, going to crouch at a slight distance and look him over. She snaps her fingers and holds her index up.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asks, watching his pupils.

Seshat
(General First Aid check)

Seshat
(After a brief examination)

Seshat
(oh)

Seshat
(I didn't take that)

Seshat
(One sec)

Seshat
(I know what she's working on next!)

Seshat
/r 11-3d6 #First Aid Default IQ-4

Dice
<@228400631839195136>: `11-3d6` First Aid Default IQ-4 = 11-(6+6+4) = -5

Seshat
(Ouch)

GM
"Just the one," he answers. Doing it like they do it in the movies proves to be ...severely uninformative, and she quickly realizes that she doesn't really know what might be wrong. He looks okay, if tired. At least unhurt.

Seshat
"Hi, Seshat. The new girl." She smiles slightly. "Need any help getting to a bed? You look tired."

GM
"C-Shell, with Steel Nova," he answers. "Pleasure is all mine." Then he smiles weakly. "And no, I'm fine. I can't really sleep."

Seshat
"Oh. I'm sorry, that sounds rough."

GM
"I've lived so far." He heads over to where he put his shirt, tugging it back on. "I'll talk with Reception about the repairs. Sorry again, Stream."

Stream frowns at him. Seshat might not be the most used to talking with people, but she knows a look of concern when she sees one. "Yeah, do that."

Seshat
She watches him go, pursing her lips.
"Is he going to be okay?"

Seshat
She rubs the leather sheathe for her slate, thinking about the tattoo.

GM
"He's..." Stream crosses her arms. "...I don't know. He's one of our heaviest hitters, but the thing is, he's becoming an even heavier hitter as time goes on. And I don't think it's agreeing with his body."

Seshat
"Huh. I know powers can increase, I didn't know they could have additional effects like that."

Seshat
"The standard textbook is that powers adapt to the person and the environment, like how your superspeed doesn't ignite your cells via friction."

Seshat
She frowns over that.

Seshat
"I guess there's just a huge variety there."

GM
"Hope they find something. He's always been pretty tight lipped about his experiences, so anything I say is just a huge guess."

Seshat
Hmm.

"Well, I should get settled in. I know I have to meet my mentor - is there a time I should look for?"

GM
"Your alumni is expected for 6 PM, I think."

Seshat
"Okay. I'll head over to the lounge and get to work on some of my designs so I have a full work proposal. And Stream? Thank you - I was half-worried I'd be treated like a convict here."

GM
"Even if you got roped in, you're part of a team. That's worth remembering."

Seshat
"I will."

GM
"Then I'll let you to it. Gonna take a shower and a nap myself." She pats Seshat's shoulder and heads on out of the gymnasium.

Seshat
She heads back to the lounge as promised, going to settle in a couch. If Iry talks, she'll chat, but she gets the feeling she isn't super talkative.

For the most part, she does as she says, plotting out some of her basic needs - a kiln, supplies for different materials. Some of this she can just port over - a lot of her production tools, her army of little bots, minus a few for insurance back in the base - but she'll want a much bigger wireless power transmitter. She gets partway through sketching out the temple-like walls when she turns to the image she took of C-Shell's back.

Frowning, she selects it with her fingers, pulling it aside so she can examine it in greater detail.

GM
In high resolution, she gets to inspect it a little more. It looks like a cross between a tattoo, a scar and a burn mark. It looks rather too chaotic to be a graphic design, the skin detail and pores show through. Interestingly, there's a faint bit of yellow-white data in the center of the spiral, a few pixels of something either glowing or discolored inside.

Seshat
She blinks. Something beneath the resolution of her picture, interesting.
She needs to have a chat with C-Shell sometime. Or a chance to examine his back in greater detail.

It's not possible, is it? Most people believe powers are fundamentally random, based partially on the mind of the affected - what are the chances?

Or is there something deeper to it? She's wondered that herself.

Idle thoughts, pure speculation.

Seshat
She checks the time and slots it away, too scattered and energetic.

GM
Ultimately, it's something she has little experience with herself, and anything she comes up with now without data is simple speculation. Much like when she's testing her programming and performances, she can't just blindly guess.

Looks like it's almost time. In fact, a car is pulling up into the lot outside.

Seshat
Seshat adjusts her outfit, feeling a little overdressed. Well, she'll have to work on that. C-Shell and Iry are both pretty casual, while Stream was in full outfit. She'll remain formal for now, at least until she's been introduced to everyone.

That done, she heads down to the visitor's room.

GM
When she steps in, she finds an older girl there - a young adult, really. She's wearing a pretty standard-issue looking body suit of deep green and crimson, looking almost like a uniform from somewhere, with hair tied back in a pony tail. She glances up from the fireplace and nods her head.

"Hey. Seshat, right?"

Seshat
"That's right." She comes to greet her, sitting across from her. "You have me at a disadvantage~"

GM
"I'm Hound-8. I'm a YPA graduate, and became a laison to the GRF. I'll be your trainer, and I'll work with you and Stream to come up with tactics where you'll be best placed. I'm also going to be assigning you to guest councilors and teachers, who'll handle the ethics side in one-on-one classes. I won't be in your hair for your full stay here, but we'll have plenty of time to get to know one another."

Seshat
"Great. So - how do we start?"

GM
"You'll give me a verbal rundown of what you can do, then we'll head down and you'll show me what you've got. After that, I'll make a bit of a ...class plan, I guess, and we'll follow it from then on pretty regularly. After a little while you'll be released to be allowed out for missions, and eventually I'll let go of your hand entirely."

Seshat
"Okay. It's actually pretty simple, it just has a lot of application."

Seshat
She leans back, crossing a leg over the other, and pulls out her stylus, holding it between thumb and forefinger.

Seshat
With a flick, she extends a white tip, and picks a coaster off the table next to her.

Seshat
Deftly, she scratches a few signs into it, and it begins to shine like an LED flashlight on one side.

Seshat
"I write."

Seshat
"It's a bit like a code, and even after about a year of study andpractice I haven't gotten anywhere near the limit of what I can do."

The light begins to peter off, fading out once it leaves her hand.

Seshat
"These creations need power."

Seshat
"Some things I can just feed them off ambient energy, but otherwise I need to generate power."

Seshat
"As for limits - I have a bit of a limit on how much I can let run active at once, but I'm working on improving that. It's influenced partially on what I use as material and partially by how efficient the code is."

Seshat
Synapse comes to mind. It's her most concerning limit.

Seshat
"I've been steadily expanding in that field over the process of my experimentation."

Seshat
"If I could let pieces run independently without impacting my limit, boy - that would be huge."

Seshat
"So far I've been able to replicate various processes - sorry, powers - through clever methods, but I'm pretty limited with anything involving, like, affecting stuff directly. I can't make a device that transforms other devices, for instance."

Seshat
"I have to do it the old fashioned way, with lathes and 3D printing."

Seshat
"Can't seem to affect biological flesh with the words."

GM
She can make 'stuff' and not have it count on her limit, but it just cannot be autonomous and act on its own without taking up processing 'space'......wherever or whatever this processing is. A bizarre, mysterious conundrum.

Hound-8 listens to the explanation - and watches the demo - with quiet and obvious interest. Once she's done, she leans back in her seat and mulls over it. "So you use these autonomous creations made with this power, directing them in squad tactics after building them."

Seshat
"Correct. It can take a while to build them up."

Seshat
"I could make weapons for myself? But I haven't really had the inclination."

GM
"So, I'll solidify it before our first real session, but I am thinking your training will take a few forms. "One, make you a better general with your squad and how to shore up your weaknesses. Two, synchronize with your teammates - and learning how to brief Stream so she can lead you in leading your tools where she wants them."

"And finally, three: improvisation. If you're caught without your squad or without your teammates, we need you to be prepared to be effective, or at least survive, without anything but yourself."

Seshat
"Okay." She kneads her hands, looking down at them. She sheds her gloves, dark tan fingers flexing.

"I'm a little nervous about getting into fights, I admit."

GM
"That's normal, but will be inevitable. Ideally, you'll stop most of your fights before they even happen. The Camo Ferrets has gathered intelligence ahead of time, the Falcon Scouts observes the situation in progress, the Flying Adders harry, and if there are problems, then the Seto Dragonflies step in and finish it, or make a show of force sufficiently strong to make them give up.

"But a plan is a checklist of things that don't happen, so my job is to make sure that you'll be able to react correctly to any situation and come out on top. Even caught in a dangerous situation without tools or backup."

Seshat
"That's good. I like plans."

Seshat
"So - I have an additional thought that I'd like to share."

Seshat
"I noticed that the others kind of have very little in the way of equipment."

Seshat
"Since my talents naturally lend myself that way - I'd like to see if I could outfit the others of the local teams."

GM
"I'll pass the word along and we'll see from there. YPA outfitting and budgeting isn't my boat, but I can let them know to talk to you if they are interested in your help."

Seshat
"On the plus, my needs are mostly fairly reasonable."

Seshat
"Lots of stone and clay, a bit of crystal and assorted conductors."

GM
"Pass your requests over to Reception. There will be questions, though, and no guarantee."

Seshat
"Of course. I guess we should get started, then."

GM
"Sounds good." She smiles and stands up. "We'll give a preliminary and see from there."