Making a Noise in the World Discussion

Phoenix, Arizona
Evening
Monday, November 21st

Oh crud, Mogollon Monster rushing to the battle between Sunhawk and Forte, but won't make it in time.

Lolome, the leader of the Phoenix Warriors came over the radio, “Backup is on the way. ETA three minutes.”

3 minutes, that might as well be forever in a fight like this. Trying to speed up, MM is desperate to reach Sunhawk in time. Chase field is the closest position to backup, as if herding Forte there is going to be easy.

Crap, MM sees Sunhawk in the distance with Forte struggling against her while they are high up in the air, this is when it happens. Rushing faster and faster to reach a falling Sunhawk, she hits the concrete a split second before he could reach her. A truck runs into him as he shields Sunhawk with his body, tells the situation and Lolomi says not to move her, all he can do is shield her and talk to her as he waits for the ambulance to arrive. Forte has a lot to answer for.

Desert View, Phoenix
Evening

The news is covering the event, another fight in February had Laughing Jack slain by The Hungry Ghost, being a superhero in Phoenix is brutal. And Forte escaped with police and heroes trying to find her now. Alistair watches the news and turns it off, knowing the consequences of the big fight and what will happen in the community next.

Laughing, he picked up his phone, there was so much to do and so little time.

Why does this have me very nervous now?

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters

Lolomi is in a hurry to call Insight, a healer who is now working in an emergency position at Whateley. The team's previous healer, Panacea, died in a car accident in May, now we have to hope Insight can get someone up to it to come help or can make it in time to save Sunhawk's life. Brought in Shadow to get information out of Eddie Hernandez aka Tweak about Forte, I hope they get something useful. Having to make all these calls, but wishing to be at the side of his teammate, the burden of leadership sucks.

Mayo Clinic-Phoenix

Zara is off to the side and ready to lead another set of hands to the surgeon and their team working on Sunhawk. A 2nd team just to work on the head injury, good lord. A third team waiting outside to work on her broken neck, this is a nightmare.

The door opened and a man in a old fashioned suit and hat strode inside, carrying a good size dog under his arm.

I'm guessing a magic-type with strong skills in healing magic.

Zara's reaction to him, what is this being? Old Scratch from the Phoenix Warriors...oh, that kind of ancient being. Gah! Why does he need that pentacle? *eyes bug out* No! The poor dog, magic requiring live sacrifice... A misty cloud comes from the dog and then Old Stratch breathes it into Sunhawk.

“I've closed deaths door momentarily, but he still yearns for her soul.” With a wave of his hand the dog turned to ash, falling into a neat little pile. The flaming pentagram vanished, leaving faint scorch marks on the wall.

I'm glad Sunhawk is going to survive, but I really wish Insight could have found someone else in time.

Elementals Headquarters,
Mesa Greater Phoenix Area

Wave called into work after a long day of talking to the press to help keep the city calm. Working with the Phoenix Warriors and necessary city officials to do the most good, I like them, not just rushing in without a plan. Good grief, just because they are a for-profit group they get asked that all the time, even superheroes have to eat and pay bills.

Blossom greeted Wave in a secure part of the building with a cup of coffee, I agree with Wave, dealing with the press would be draining. Aww, Blossom, you sound absolutely cute to me. From 5% to 50%, that is a huge change in the odds of survival. No more than a slap on the wrist if one of her team makes something bad happen to Forte, after this I have to agree, she has become a danger to the public. Blossom has to call Clover to tell her what is going on, how is Weed doing?

South Mountain, Phoenix
Nighttime

Tweak at the bar drinking by himself, the Mountain Boys gang broken up. I hope he doesn't go to stay with his cousin to deal meth. A woman sits down, pissed off that her boyfriend brushed her off for something else yet again, and now is her ex-boyfriend. Cassandra wishes to keep him company, Tweak, you should be more careful of women you meet at a bar.

Back at his place and things are heating up until she straddles him and holds his wrists down. And this is Shadow, who is a shapeshifter and can tell when you hold back or lie to them due to another power, no wonder Lolomi sent them. Tweak is told what will happen if he holds back or lies, yet he still does it and gets a finger broken, sometimes you need someone willing to break the rules to get justice.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters
Late Night

Lolomi is a secure section of the HQ meeting with Delaney,

former villain, turned owner and bartender of Outlaws Tavern

. Does his power allow him to appear out of nowhere? Lolomi asks about Forte and is even told about her plans, how she works to make sure as few people got hurt as possible, told Sunhawk to drop her before she did her risky escape plan. Lolomi is pissed about what happened to Sunhawk and wants Forte, but Delaney's answer is what I expected. No one crossed the line here, Forte wasn't trying to kill Sunhawk or even injure her that badly. Dang, can't break the treaty with him and make the situation in Phoenix even worse. Yup, Delaney vanished from sight, teleporter I bet.

East Tempe, Arizona
Early morning
Tuesday, November 22nd

Dae-Jong aka Mogollon Monster staring out a window, his arm broken and in a sling due to shielding June from the truck earlier. Calling June's parents who will be there as soon as possible, not even knowing if she will survive the night. Ordered to go home and sleep, but that is impossible with his mindstate, up all night. A message from Desert Rat, a friend, and teammate, shows that the Hero-Watch site has revealed his and June's relationship, and June's secret identity, bunch of creeps, they deserve their privacy!

Mutant Commission Office
Morning

Not Agent Dobson, I can't stand this creep. Agent Sanchez, 2nd in command of the MCO, uh oh. Four mutant criminals hit Cutting Edge Cyber Tek, and they ended the company, this is much worse than I expected. They are going after Triple Threat, Zip aka Zack Washington, Ta-Da aka Marcus Katz, and Bubbly aka Teresa Rogers, and they are definitely bad news.

“Ta-Da is a coercive telepath. As you can guess, he used it on several teen girls, until one of the fathers realized what was going on and shot him. Unfortunately it only grazed his temple and he got away.”

What the *****! He needs to die, that is multiple counts of rape under the influence of psychic coercion. *sigh* Zip had such a promising future, why did he decide to turn to crime upon manifesting? Crap, Bubbly is definitely the biggest threat out of them, crushed her own mother to death, and I want to know why. Normally I don't like the MCO, but Triple Threat is too dangerous to leave on the loose.

Mayo Clinic-Phoenix

Ah, I forgot that Insight is Dr. Chance's codename. She only got a hold of the Traveling Minstrel this morning to teleport her there. Darn it! Fey is meditating to communicate with the growing World Tree and is unavailable. And is one of the best healers in the world now, dang. No one better at healing the brain than Dr. Chance is available, student devisor capable, but won't get permission to work on her even with Insight's backing, arrgggh!

Untested medical devises, rats. Psychic healing by Dr. Chance and June still has so many issues, I don't want Forte dead, but she needs to pay for what she did. A talk with Dae-Jong, I hope calms him enough to get some rest finally after the psychic healing is done.

Reading a Spanish novel to June, one she needs to do a book report on for Spanish class, and actually liked the assignment. Oh god, told those things might happen to June, that is a nightmare, to see that happen to a loved one.

“Looking over her aura, finding where it's damaged and planning out how to fix it. She can't just give someone regeneration or take away the injury. She needs to direct the body a little, so it heals properly,” Lolomi explained. “Don't worry, she does this regularly and has a PhD in Medicine. She knows what she's doing.”

Making sure the body heals properly is the most important part of medicine.

*eyes bug out upon hearing what can go wrong with healing the brain* Having to let her BIT and Exemplar nature heal her brain over time back to what it once was, ouch. 3 hours and the psychic surgery will be over and June will be sleeping, she just needs time to recover, at least there is hope.

Tucson, Arizona
Mid-morning

Kasa Walker zipped through traffic on her bicycle, wishing she could show off how fast she could really go. A courier, cool. Albinism along with white feathers in place of her head hair and growing out of her arms and back, good thing she has the holographic devise from her uncle when she needs it.

Great, delivers the package to the right person only to come outside and find a creep stole her bike. She can reach a top speed of 120 mph, impressive. The bike thief never stood a chance even with her holding back. She can teleport too, awesome! Gives him a freebie, just leaving him on the roof to find his own way back down, she finds him stealing again, and oh boy.

Corriente shows up and demands to know what is going on, Kasa goes to tell her, and the bike thief is trying to back away without getting zapped.

“You're arguing over a bike, on a roof, after you teleported up here. Does that sound like a normal, everyday thing to you?” the woman demanded.

Good grief, go to Phoenix, they need your type of superhero a lot more right now. Okay, Corriente threats to drag Kasa into the MCO over this, what a B.

Kasa goes by Roadrunner, reveals her identity and what happened, yet Corriente never trusted her and says she can't be sure she is telling the truth, ugh. At this point I would teleport away too, Corriente is a trust fund baby and arrogant to boot. And now she is in a chase with Corriente, Kasa can reach 200 mph on her bike, using her teleportation to avoid people and cars, dang.

10 minutes too early for the next delivery job, darn. Ah, bakery to get food to recharge, smart. Her uncle calls, her uncle is Lolomi! And ask if she wants a job with the Warriors, now that is a turnaround for her day. Doing all that work to build up her rep and plenty of events with the Hopi Indians, woo, another Native American superhero. And the offer, I wouldn't pass it up. Oof, a choice between safety or working with her uncle and a group of superheroes she admires. Heroes were mostly sane and cooperative, yeah, that is a deciding factor. Off to Phoenix!

Doc Morris Clinic

Natalie struggling to wake up, on that many painkillers, yikes. She still has her limb stumps, and can't feel her left arm and hand so fears she has lost them due to the collar around her neck keeping her from moving and checking herself. Oh crud, she is back in a very dark place, and would rather die than live as an invalid needing someone else to take care of her. Doc Morris and a nurse have to hold her still to sedate her, I wonder if her arm is just so injured it can't move right now, and not lost.

Phoenix, AZ
Noon
Wednesday, November 23rd

Bubbly hates the old, smelly car that Ta-Da when he came to town to help them keep a low cover.

“Got rid of the chip, and we got the full amount. Cutting Edge Cyber-Tech is effectively dead, and will probably shut down next month. The best they can do is sell whatever info they have in their offsite servers to recoup some of their losses,” Ta-Da said.

Oh brother, and they think Forte is dead despite there being no body or news about it. Ah, Ta-Da says they don't know she is dead and promised her $50k, good, keep that promise or you won't live to regret it. Ta-Da is the brains of the outfit, pissing off Forte if she recovers would be deadly.

“HEY!” Bubbly shouted. “You told Forte that we were going to split it up so we each get fifty thousand. And now you're talking about the three of us getting three-hundred forty-eight thousand and Forte getting nothing. What are you guys talking about?”

Bubbly's brain is starting to get used to her new intelligence. And she is pissed off they lied about the real amount they were getting for the chip and why isn't Forte getting her fair share.

Zip sighed. “Bubbly, we're supervillains, we don't have to tell the truth all the time. We need to look out for ourselves first. We told her what we were willing to give her, and she took it.”

A poor choice of words, Zip. Bubbly standing up for Forte, at least she has principles.

Wait a minute, $100k and leave it with Delaney, what is Bubbly lying about here?

“I'm going to give her extra from my take,” she said. “I like Forte, she's really smart, and she was willing to work with us when everyone else told us to go away. I don't need all that money, I already have all the clothes, and makeup, and books I need.”

A girl who knows she doesn't need a lot to be happy, good, need more like that. Leaving a letter with her email for Forte, she got smarter but still seems like a fairly nice girl. Which makes me even more curious why she killed her mother. Was it an accident?

Vail, Arizona
Afternoon

Janet Childs shows up at an adobe home to talk to Mrs. Foster about her child. Ack, the Phoenix Warriors sent their mechanic and researcher to do an interview, they are shorthanded indeed. Oh no, this is Forte's mother and she thinks her daughter was kidnapped. Details of what Natalie went through after losing her arm and legs, on suicide watch for months, then locking herself in her music room for hours at a time after being taken off it.

This is bad, her musical instruments are all there, but signs of her working on devises scar the floor.

“She wouldn't let us. When we came in, she would scream and curse at us, saying we were intruding in the only place she felt normal. So we made an agreement, as long as she had her phone with her, checked in regularly, and came in for meals and bed, we wouldn't intrude. We didn't know what else to do.”

Sign, I understand why they did it, they are worried about their daughter's mental health. Using a devise to track the chemical to one of the bushes outside, Janet goes to dig it up to confirm her theory. Chunks of the same metal that Forte uses in her armor, those poor parents.

“I hate to tell you this, but your daughter is the newest Phoenix supervillain, Forte.”

I hope the press doesn't rake them over the coals for what Forte has done, they had no way of knowing she would turn out like this.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters
Evening

Everyone hears what Janet has learned about Forte and the shock that she is a triple amputee.

“My best guess, she had a late manifestation after a classmate burned out in class. He exploded, killing two students, and badly injured four others. Natalie Foster was one of them.

Oh god, from previous stories, we know that lethal burnouts are horrible, but exploding. I thought the student in the other story did that because of how he turned into an Exemplar 6 by supernatural powers.

A warrant to look at her medical records, I hope something in them gives a clue as to why Natalie went down this path. Yup, if only Jackalope had known her limbs were prosthetics and said they wouldn't take them away it wouldn't have ended so badly. Now they have a plan for dealing with Forte and trying to bring her in alive. A week or two and back on her feet, Doc Morris is that good, why the heck is he working an underground clinic with that kind of skills?

Doc Morris Clinic

Natalie is awake again, with a sense of floating and straps over her chest and waist. She is definitely doped up to make a Bugs Bunny impersonation right now. Doc Morris confirms what I suspected, she still has her left arm, but it was badly broken so he had to immobilize it and take the cast off tomorrow, that is extremely fast healing. Good grief, the amount of damage she had, without his medical skills and technology she could be dead. And able to leave that soon, seriously, why is he running an underground clinic instead of a legitimate one?

Doc Morris Clinic
Afternoon
Thursday, November 24th

Yikes, having those kinds of thoughts, that kind of fear haunting her, Natalie, I wish you hadn't run away from home and gotten more help. $700k in total for everything, at least he takes installments and favors to help pay it off. Portable speaker and tools to make a devise that helps with healing and pain relief, her skills are wasted on crime. At least she gets her arm back now, a good doctor knows to limit their patient's activities when they won't do it themself. Work on her arm to distract herself, good idea.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters
Evening

Kasa was already there, she really didn't have much to pack, plus probably too excited to wait. Lolomi's real name is Pimne, interesting. Good idea to point that out to Sunhawk, Kasa is very fast with her combo of powers. Superheroes who do rivalry and backstabbing to get good press aren't true heroes, they are glory hounds imo. Gillygaloo sounds like a total creep. Meeting the team tomorrow, I hope Mogollon doesn't have any issues with Kasa. All that to get used to superheroing in a new city, huh. Good luck, Kasa.

Mayo Clinic-Phoenix
Evening

June moving, awake for a short time, is what she said just nonsense or does it mean something? At least she is out of the danger zone now and will survive.

Oh crud, June speaking random words, gibberish, when asked questions. Thank you, Dr. Chance, and her psychic surgery for preventing the worst physical scenario. Aphasia, dang, I hope as her brain heals it goes away with time. Dae-Jong, stop beating yourself up about not catching her, you went all out and almost made it, you did the best you could.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters
Friday November 25th

Mogollon, your feelings about Old Scratch are right, he isn't natural, but they shouldn't prevent you from trusting him. The good news about Sunhawk is for everyone. Old Scratch already knows who Kasa is, and Mogollon is upset and thinks there had better be a spot on the team for Sunhawk when she recovers. Roadrunner's powers and skills make her an excellent scout.

“There are some non-essentials we can do without on the administrative side. And some of you will be doing more interviews and public events.”

Ack! They need the money, but still, I'm glad I'm not in their shoes. Ooo, Lolomi pointing out the details of their contracts and some not meeting the minimum number of events each year.

The rest of the team will come around in time, they just have to get used to the new girl and see how she works in the field. Boy, that is some deal to gain an ally like Old Scratch. Binding oaths are serious business in the magical world. Wait, this is Old Scratch not grumpy, I don't want to see him grumpy.

Ex-FrankenCorp Phoenix Headquarters
Late Evening

Ah, good to see that building is a complete loss above ground. Magma Man comes out and yup, everything above ground is a total loss, but the hidden basement goes down 3 levels and sounds like it was designed by a sadistic DM building his ultimate dungeon maze. All those bodies, if the fire reaches them will never know what killed them for real.

And the place is about to collapse, good riddance. Lolomi thinks 'Chandler Werewolf' had something to do with some of the deaths. And now they want to see who and what he or she really is, eep. Lolomi can transform into a flint-like stone, and the feeling he gets when he does it, what is his power that allows him to transform like this? Old Scratch can sense all that from the location and flames, and makes those guesses as to what trouble might come from them in the future, yikes. And he knows who is behind it, and that they aren't from Earth, nor usually bother with Earth, meep. I hope Old Scratch doesn't stir up a hornet's nest.

Phoenix,
Saturday, November 26th

Whoa, what is going on here? A girl finds a box of books her uncle left them after he died and reads a parchment. *eyes bug out as the girl reads the parchment* She was tricked, as she read the tale so the demon spoke to her and got her to agree to the deal, slicing her hand when she turned the page to cut her thumb like in the story. What has she gotten herself into?

Book wakes up and tosses the tome.

“I remember our fucking agreement, if you can really call it that. You don't have to keep reminding me. Stupid demon book, I had a hell of a day yesterday and I wanted to get some real sleep.”

Tricked into a deal and no way out of it, I hate demons who pull dirty tricks like this. Parchment-like skin, so few belongings, and squatting in a tiny apartment, what kind of life does she have now? Strange symbols on the wall to make people forget the room exists, whoa. And lost her phone to the creeps who kidnapped her.

Ignore me spell, now there is a handy spell. Food and paid for, no memories of her past or who she was, that is too high a price for power. Street preachers like that give me the willies. Thrusting a book around like that, preaching about Sodom and Gomorrah while probably misinterpreting the message, and hitting Book without even realizing it. Yes, your life was nice and boring before the demon book came along, a stupid trickster book.

Outlaw's Tavern, I wonder if some in there could see through her ignore me spell. An exorcism might hurt a lot or might kill you, best to not find out. Darn, having to become a supervillain to survive, I wonder if Whateley Academy would take her in if they found her. An interesting crowd there today. The giant four-armed woman is the bouncer, no wonder people behave in this place.

Thoosa, the one-eyed, blue woman, is the manager and bartender of Outlaw's Tavern. Oh boy, think because Book is a newbie wizard she doesn't have a fair number of spells or good control yet. One of the real magic types, and thanks for the warning, Thoosa. And even free advice, Thoosa seems to have a soft spot for kids getting into the business.

Doc Morris Clinic
Afternoon

Yikes, I knew her legs would be in bad shape, but this sounds like she will have to build a new pair from scratch before too long. Ooo, a purring noise like a cat to help with healing and pain, ingenious. A panic attack from the nurse cleaning her up, the trauma and thoughts of being an invalid are that severe.

Oh crud, not Iron Rain, this is the last thing Forte needs right now. Wait, he wants some of her devises, I think if she knew what he did even she wouldn't sell to this creep. And IR gives just enough information without really revealing anything about his kind of work for a particular corporation. Not more tools for IR to use to abduct people for FrakenCorp!

Doc Morris Clinic
Morning,
Sunday, November 27th

Natalie has her legs back, but needs a cane to walk, considering the condition she came into the clinic in she is lucky. 10 of the healing devises, along with repairs and replacements as needed, and she only has to pay $50k a month until the debt is paid off. Take the deal! Multiple ways to work off her debt, and I see her doing a lot of favors for Doc Morris in the future. And now time to head back to her hideout.

Forte's Lab

She is in dire straights and has to hope no one is waiting for her. Who tried to break into her lab and set up surveillance to watch her entering her lab? All her starter sonic metal ruins with one that might be salvageable, that is a huge blow to her fixing her limbs and her income. Oh no, she is going into that dark place once again and wishing she had died in the explosion. I don't like what she has done, but don't let her go out like that.

Okay, her legs are being repaired, good. Trying to distract herself from those dark thoughts, good, don't listen to them. Full news coverage on Natalie and even tried to bug her parents, they have no shame. Showing a picture of her like that in the hospital is wrong in so many ways.

Natalie calls the old landline and her mother, saying she is sorry over and over again. God, if the fight hadn't ended that way, if she wasn't in debt to Doc Morris, she could try to get her life back on track without any worries.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters

All the details about Natalie were leaked and Lolomi is pissed off, he wanted to use them to get close to her, and because of some ass and the press that is ruined. They know Forte is on her feet and heard the news thanks to her mother's call. Oh boy, having Mogollon go with Roadrunner for a run around South Mountain, with the mood he is in might not be the best idea.

Crap, that many serious crimes in that short a time, Lolomi is right, they need to send a message. He wants a round 2 with The Cannibal, good grief, Mogollon, and no going suicidal right now. Roadrunner's costume is both heroic and adorable.

Out in the official Phoenix Warriors patrol van, Roadrunner asks about the gang situation in the neighborhood. Seesh, starting to see why so many heroes who go to Phoenix die, a brutal area. At least the supervillain situation isn't bad. The Cannibal, La Llorona, and the Hungry Ghost, I would avoid Phoenix completely if I heard about them.

A bank robbery on a Sunday, at least no innocents to worry about inside from the sounds of it. A hole in the back wall, disintegrated, eep. Whoa, that heavy metal bracelet is a computer with a VI assistant, cool. A power armor villain heading for the door of the lobby, okay, now worry about innocents. Thunder rang out, and an explosion, it can't be Forte, she doesn't have enough of her sonic metal starters to build a new armor yet.

Sleek, black power armor with a lightning-based weapon, now who is this? Nice weapon for Roadrunner to use, non-lethal when used right, and good at slowing down those trying to escape. A grenade from the villain has no effect on Mogollon, but suddenly he is weightless and slammed into the ground. Does the armor give this villain super-strength or was that gravity manipulation?

Ouch! Lightning cannon to the face and the thunder stunned and limbs won't move, that is a brutal weapon. Roadrunner slapped tiny explosives to the villain's back and sent him to the ground, at least she drew them away from Mogollon until he can recover. Struggling to stand up, he gets hit by lightning again and everything turns red. Hit again and Roadrunner tries to say something to him over the radio, but Mogollon can't hear it. He picks up a car and throws it at the villain taking them down hard, Roadrunner calls for a paramedic and Mogollon still hears the thunder in his head, oh no.

Chandler, Phoenix Metropolitan Area
Near Midnight

Fanak running, loving the high of having helped save people's lives, but the image of the dead guards pops into her head, oof. Memories of returning Azar to her family, She thinks she has to take down Forte to prove to everyone else she is a hero, bad idea. Crud, she feels guilty about not helping Sunhawk in the fight with Forte. Her Baba is the Spanish teacher of June, small world.

And now she has to prove herself she is nothing like Forte because of what happened in the Frakencorp building, poor kid. Port appears ahead of her, and Fanak has all those worries about if her superheroing got back to her parents. Huh, just here to learn more about her since she has been making a name for herself. Cool, a teleporter who travels by opening portals, a rare type there.

“Don't worry it's my treat. And this is an important lesson for you, utility belts or pockets are important when choosing a costume, you never know when you'll need some money, a phone, or a notepad and pen.”

Seriously, this should be part of the costuming classes at Whateley.

Oof, Mogollon Monster gave the power armor villain a few broken bones, considering he was using a deadly weapon I call it self-defense. Fanak, smart enough to not jump into a fight and startle the police and heroes, and mess things up, has a lot more restraint than some older supers. Freezing up because you see a dangerous situation and don't wish to die is normal.

Darn, she can't I.D. Iron Rain by sight. Ah, being honest about why she was at the Frakencorp building and even names El Scorpio as an accomplice in a kidnapping. Oh boy, now he knows about Book and that she drank the blood of that one guard. Good, didn't tell him about Thulia. Wait, she thinks she has to be 18 and that Whateley is a college, if she only knew. Boy, her meeting Port was the best thing to happen to her.

Phoenix Warriors Headquarters
Sunday, November 28th

Lolomi wondering if Fanak is Arabic because she chose the Arabic word for fennec fox as her codename. Oh boy, now he wants to find out exactly what happened with Azar Lopez. Why does Old Scratch have a leer on his face, that is creepy.

"Yes. You'll be happy to know that the fire was a one time occurrence. An agent who was supposed to scout out a nasty situation, got a little overly zealous and decided to deal with it personally,” the man said.

And he mentions Thulia and that she is a teenager, Old Scratch, you are going to get her in trouble.

Talked to Thulia, her grandmother, and another contact, don't tell me Thulia's grandmother, and he...

“She just confirmed the girls story. My contact was more informative, if not as fun to deal with. He gave me the initial report on the situation.” He handed over a sheaf of papers. “Thulia and the girl found something very nasty. And we're lucky they caught it before anything serious happened to Azar.”

“Why?”

“Because there are some... people, who would consider destroying the city to kill the cancer concealed within it an appropriate response. Have you ever heard of FrankenCorp?”

Oh, good. Hopefully, more superheroes will be informed about FrankenCorp and what they do, the more allies to take them down, the better.

Forte's Lab

Forte nurses the only salvageable starter of her sonic metal back to life, there goes the last of her supplies. She has a new phone but isn't in the mood to call anyone just yet. Artificial skins from a company called JustMe, they do good work and sell a lot of stuff. Prosthetic cover-ups, 2 skins, and a rush order, and her prosthetic arm will look like her left arm when she uses it. Going to Outlaw's Tavern, she hasn't been able to get a hold of Triple Threat and has plans if they skipped town and left her broke.

Outlaw's Tavern
Early Evening

Forte shows up in disguise and Delaney gives her a free drink, some tradition at this place. Twenty free drinks coming her way, boy, that fight really impressed some villains. Jackalope is not liked because of his bad luck to opponents, I can see that. Ah, she got the note from Bubbly and Delaney even kept the money safe for her so she could deposit it into her account, Karedonian International Bank, figures.

Those con artists and computer hackers, got themselves and their immediate families killed, or vanished. You don't mess with the Karedonian International Bank. Even the mercy they showed to the kids is horrific. Wait, Fairytale Land Petting Zoo, please tell me that Burgermeister isn't still alive and in Karedonia.

Aww, the letter from Bubbly is so sweet, she is such a nice girl. It even got Forte to almost cry in public. Magnate wishes to purchase a sonic cannon, oh boy. Even if you didn't land a shot on the heroes, that weapon is very impressive and has other uses as you have shown, Forte.

Forte's story was hard to read, a girl broken by an accident and left unable to do that which she has trained for years to do, losing 3 of her limbs and being driven to despair. You just wish you could find her and tell her about Whateley Academy and get her a scholarship there before anything of what happens goes down. But not everyone gets the help they need in this world, sometimes people slip through the cracks, or their despair over their lot in life drives them to take actions they wouldn't otherwise.

Forte at first was just trying to survive life on the streets, to find her place in the underworld since she made up her mind about what to do to make her mark on the world. But with each sale, with each robbery, she sank further and further into the true nature of the criminal underworld and was driven to greater acts of crime until she went too far over the line to come back. She will face years in jail if caught, the loss of her prosthetic limbs most likely, and the possibility of death while in prison due to her lack of 3 limbs and no other powers than being a devisor. I wish it hadn't come to this, every time it looked like there was an out for her it got lost one way or another. I only hope she can live with herself and what she has done.

I understand she was desperate to not lose her prosthetic limbs and to not be locked up for years in prison, but that desperation made her commit an act that nearly killed someone and left that person having to recover for a long time. When you act due to fear, you don't think of the consequences of your actions until it is too late.

The Mountain Boys, quite simply put after they left the story I have a hard time recalling their names. They were used by Forte, they tried to use her and got wrecked because of it. Some of them may have had families, but it didn't excuse the murders and various other crimes.

The Cannibal, I hope somehow, someway, that he is taken down before a year passes. Because he is the kind of supervillain you love to hate, someone who tries to come across as intelligent and sophisticated, but deep down is an animal and a brute, a monster to be taken down by the heroes.

I'm glad Sunhawk is recovering and her brain will eventually be back to how it was, but now I see why you said it was one of her good days in the other story. Mogollon needs grief counseling, to help him cope with what has happened to Sunhawk and to stop blaming himself for not catching her.

Roadrunner is a great addition to the team and a fun character, speedster, and teleporter in one, just love to see what she can pull off. I hope nothing bad happens to her.

Loved seeing what happened with Book after she escaped from FrankenCorp, as well as Fanak and her interactions with Port. Old Scratch, is an old friend of Thulia's grandmother, isn't he? I'm just glad he got information that will spread to the superhero community so more know about FrakenCorp. I can almost see an all-out war with them involving an army of superheroes and a bunch of dragons from Thulia's home plane to take down the last HQ after all the others are destroyed.

Thank you for this wonderful story with such a complex character. I can't wait to read more about Forte and the others in future stories.

Desert View, Phoenix...
Why does this have me very nervous now?

Anything the Cannibal does, should make people nervous.

The door opened and a man in a old fashioned suit and hat strode inside, carrying a good size dog under his arm.

I'm guessing a magic-type with strong skills in healing magic.

Old Scratch actually isn't that good with healing magic. He can do it, but he prefers to have a couple of days to perform one or more rituals, preferably with human sacrifices. But that wasn't possible so he did the quick, dirty and brute force method.

Blossom greeted Wave in a secure part of the building with a cup of coffee, I agree with Wave, dealing with the press would be draining. Aww, Blossom, you sound absolutely cute to me.

Excellent, that's what I was aiming for.

Back at his place and things are heating up until she straddles him and holds his wrists down. And this is Shadow, who is a shapeshifter and can tell when you hold back or lie to them due to another power, no wonder Lolomi sent them. Tweak is told what will happen if he holds back or lies, yet he still does it and gets a finger broken, sometimes you need someone willing to break the rules to get justice.

Huh, I thought the breaking of the finger and threat of torture would get a different reaction.

Yup, Delaney vanished from sight, teleporter I bet.

He is. It's been shown earlier that he teleports glasses and drinks to his hand and the bar to save time and show off.

A message from Desert Rat, a friend, and teammate, shows that the Hero-Watch site has revealed his and June's relationship, and June's secret identity, bunch of creeps, they deserve their privacy!

Yeah.
It was brought up in Fire Over Phoenix Part 1, when Fanak was trying to find Iron Rain, that the website does try to protect peoples identities by deleting posts like that, but it usually takes a few hours.

They are going after Triple Threat, Zip aka Zack Washington, Ta-Da aka Marcus Katz, and Bubbly aka Teresa Rogers, and they are definitely bad news.

“Ta-Da is a coercive telepath. As you can guess, he used it on several teen girls, until one of the fathers realized what was going on and shot him. Unfortunately it only grazed his temple and he got away.”

What the *****! He needs to die, that is multiple counts of rape under the influence of psychic coercion. *sigh* Zip had such a promising future, why did he decide to turn to crime upon manifesting? Crap, Bubbly is definitely the biggest threat out of them, crushed her own mother to death, and I want to know why. Normally I don't like the MCO, but Triple Threat is too dangerous to leave on the loose.

I wanted to show that Triple Threat has potential to become scary and competent. But they've got a ways to go.
As for the various crimes, while the MCO is keeping the info as accurate as possible for their own files, they could very likely be letting bias and less than perfect witnesses, colour things.

Ah, I forgot that Insight is Dr. Chance's codename. She only got a hold of the Traveling Minstrel this morning to teleport her there. Darn it! Fey is meditating to communicate with the growing World Tree and is unavailable. And is one of the best healers in the world now, dang. No one better at healing the brain than Dr. Chance is available, student devisor capable, but won't get permission to work on her even with Insight's backing, arrgggh!
Untested medical devises, rats. Psychic healing by Dr. Chance and June still has so many issues, I don't want Forte dead, but she needs to pay for what she did.
...
*eyes bug out upon hearing what can go wrong with healing the brain* Having to let her BIT and Exemplar nature heal her brain over time back to what it once was, ouch.

There was a bit of a discussion about the whole healing process, regeneration and availability. Since it's been shown in canon that brain injuries can result in lost memories for people with Regen 5, it was decided I was on pretty decent grounds for having them avoid working on the brain with the resources on hand. Level 6 and 7 healers aren't exactly common.
And since they're in a hospital doing everything legally, and Sun Hawk was stable, risking everything on untested devises was a no go.

Kasa Walker zipped through traffic on her bicycle, wishing she could show off how fast she could really go. A courier, cool. Albinism along with white feathers in place of her head hair and growing out of her arms and back, good thing she has the holographic devise from her uncle when she needs it.

I forget how the topic of Roadrunner came up, but Rose played a large part in it. The idea was just too fun to ignore. I am going to have to be careful about abusing a speedster teleporter, though.
Making her a bike courier for her day job seemed like a good idea considering her powers and personality, and it opens up a few ideas I have for the future.

Doing all that work to build up her rep and plenty of events with the Hopi Indians, woo, another Native American superhero. And the offer, I wouldn't pass it up. Oof, a choice between safety or working with her uncle and a group of superheroes she admires. Heroes were mostly sane and cooperative, yeah, that is a deciding factor. Off to Phoenix!

Since I made Phoenix a nasty place for heroes, I tried to think of what it would be like in a city with too many heroes. While many heroes will do the job for good reasons, most will have some amount of showboating and wanting to be seen in their personality, some of them will focus almost solely on the limelight.
So having the heroes be backstabbing, rumour mongering, glory hounds was kind of fun.

Natalie struggling to wake up, on that many painkillers, yikes. She still has her limb stumps, and can't feel her left arm and hand so fears she has lost them due to the collar around her neck keeping her from moving and checking herself. Oh crud, she is back in a very dark place, and would rather die than live as an invalid needing someone else to take care of her. Doc Morris and a nurse have to hold her still to sedate her, I wonder if her arm is just so injured it can't move right now, and not lost.

I don't think I could have shown her feelings towards her disability any more clearly than this. She's got a fair bit of emotional trauma.

Wait a minute, $100k and leave it with Delaney, what is Bubbly lying about here?

“I'm going to give her extra from my take,” she said. “I like Forte, she's really smart, and she was willing to work with us when everyone else told us to go away. I don't need all that money, I already have all the clothes, and makeup, and books I need.”

A girl who knows she doesn't need a lot to be happy, good, need more like that. Leaving a letter with her email for Forte, she got smarter but still seems like a fairly nice girl. Which makes me even more curious why she killed her mother. Was it an accident?

Bubbly mentioned lying, because they needed a good excuse to give Forte extra money without saying, "Oh yeah we lied about how much we were getting. We decided you deserve your fair share." Making it a special bonus, plus extra from Bubbly, keeps Forte happy and not feeling like she was almost cheated out of her share.
It's always a good idea to keep a devisor who has a vengeful streak happy with you. Especially if you may want to work with them in the future.
I'm thinking of doing a short story of Triple Threat, we'll learn a bit more of their past there, if I do it.

Everyone hears what Janet has learned about Forte and the shock that she is a triple amputee.

“My best guess, she had a late manifestation after a classmate burned out in class. He exploded, killing two students, and badly injured four others. Natalie Foster was one of them.

Oh god, from previous stories, we know that lethal burnouts are horrible, but exploding. I thought the student in the other story did that because of how he turned into an Exemplar 6 by supernatural powers.

Burnout is a nasty thing, that kills or badly injures most people who suffer from it. The kid and those around him, were particularly unlucky.
The reason Burnout doesn't seem quite so bad in stories, is because most of the characters who get it, survive. They're the minority.

Good grief, the amount of damage she had, without his medical skills and technology she could be dead. And able to leave that soon, seriously, why is he running an underground clinic instead of a legitimate one?

If Forte had ended up in a regular hospital, she'd probably have survived. The most dangerous damage was the internal injuries, but they weren't anywhere near as bad as Sun Hawk. She'd have spent several weeks healing and been told to take it easy for a couple of months, but other than some rehab to rebuild strength in her left arm, that would be about it.
As for why Doc Morris has an underground clinic. He can use all kinds of untested devisor equipment, set his own hours and priorities, and make a TON of money. And since he works and is known under a pseudonym, he can still publish his research.

Portable speaker and tools to make a devise that helps with healing and pain relief, her skills are wasted on crime.

Every once in a while I've thought about what Forte would be like if she ended up in Whateley. THere are some potential stories there, but I don't they're as interesting as her starting a life of crime.
But she would be very different and overall much happier.

The rest of the team will come around in time, they just have to get used to the new girl and see how she works in the field. Boy, that is some deal to gain an ally like Old Scratch. Binding oaths are serious business in the magical world. Wait, this is Old Scratch not grumpy, I don't want to see him grumpy.

Lolomi skimmed over a lot of the details, but yeah, when a powerful magic user made a deal like that, he couldn't very well refuse.
And Old Scratch has actually mellowed out over the years. He no longer thinks of most people as rats. They're still barely sentient in his eyes, but they're a little better than vermin.

Lolomi can transform into a flint-like stone, and the feeling he gets when he does it, what is his power that allows him to transform like this? Old Scratch can sense all that from the location and flames, and makes those guesses as to what trouble might come from them in the future, yikes. And he knows who is behind it, and that they aren't from Earth, nor usually bother with Earth, meep. I hope Old Scratch doesn't stir up a hornet's nest.

Lolomi is an Origin hero. And if you're interested looked up a myth from Arizona about Lolomi and the Giants.
Thulia's magic is distinctive to people with the ability to sense it. So Old Scratch knew someone from the Plane of Fire had cast a powerful spell. You'll learn more about it, when Astro gets back to Thulia and her fun little vacation in Phoenix.

Whoa, what is going on here? A girl finds a box of books her uncle left them after he died and reads a parchment. *eyes bug out as the girl reads the parchment* She was tricked, as she read the tale so the demon spoke to her and got her to agree to the deal, slicing her hand when she turned the page to cut her thumb like in the story. What has she gotten herself into?

I had an idea back in 2016, of a girl who cast a spell badly and ended up transformed, with ink like hair, parchment skin, and inky black shapes moving across her skin. She wanted to learn exactly what happened to her.
But beyond that I didn't have a story for her.
Then one day Kristen mentioned how a person could be screwed over by reading the wrong type of book. Suddenly I had an interesting plot for Book, and the perfect place for her to go. She got screwed over by a demon and doesn't know how to get out of the agreement, or if she even really wants to.

Street preachers like that give me the willies. Thrusting a book around like that, preaching about Sodom and Gomorrah while probably misinterpreting the message, and hitting Book without even realizing it. Yes, your life was nice and boring before the demon book came along, a stupid trickster book.

The street preacher only put the book close to her, like 1 or 2 feet away. A good chunk of Book is demon now, so just being close to a holy item forcefully repels her.

Thoosa, the one-eyed, blue woman, is the manager and bartender of Outlaw's Tavern. Oh boy, think because Book is a newbie wizard she doesn't have a fair number of spells or good control yet. One of the real magic types, and thanks for the warning, Thoosa. And even free advice, Thoosa seems to have a soft spot for kids getting into the business.

Thoosa is giving the same spiel Delaney gives to all new potential supervillains. They've found it helps keep the smarter ones from overreacting, and the idiots ignore it, often quite vocally.
And the warning about new mages is reasonable. It's not about being insulting or not, it's letting her know what she'll have to deal with. Again it weeds out the reasonable and intelligent supervillains from the ones that need to be slapped down or taken out.

Oh crud, not Iron Rain, this is the last thing Forte needs right now. Wait, he wants some of her devises, I think if she knew what he did even she wouldn't sell to this creep. And IR gives just enough information without really revealing anything about his kind of work for a particular corporation. Not more tools for IR to use to abduct people for FrakenCorp!

This is going to be so much fun in the future.

She is in dire straights and has to hope no one is waiting for her. Who tried to break into her lab and set up surveillance to watch her entering her lab? All her starter sonic metal ruins with one that might be salvageable, that is a huge blow to her fixing her limbs and her income. Oh no, she is going into that dark place once again and wishing she had died in the explosion. I don't like what she has done, but don't let her go out like that.

The attempted break in was from Fanak, in Fire Over Phoenix Part 1. But there was no surveillance equipment, it was just a worry by Forte.
And yeah, Forte is in a VERY dark place at the moment. Losing her sonic metal was going to happen because it needs her power to work. With her gone, real life physics took over.

Okay, her legs are being repaired, good. Trying to distract herself from those dark thoughts, good, don't listen to them. Full news coverage on Natalie and even tried to bug her parents, they have no shame. Showing a picture of her like that in the hospital is wrong in so many ways.
Natalie calls the old landline and her mother, saying she is sorry over and over again. God, if the fight hadn't ended that way, if she wasn't in debt to Doc Morris, she could try to get her life back on track without any worries.

This part was hard to write. Forte hit rock bottom and hit it hard.

Sleek, black power armor with a lightning-based weapon, now who is this? Nice weapon for Roadrunner to use, non-lethal when used right, and good at slowing down those trying to escape. A grenade from the villain has no effect on Mogollon, but suddenly he is weightless and slammed into the ground. Does the armor give this villain super-strength or was that gravity manipulation?

Ouch! Lightning cannon to the face and the thunder stunned and limbs won't move, that is a brutal weapon. Roadrunner slapped tiny explosives to the villain's back and sent him to the ground, at least she drew them away from Mogollon until he can recover. Struggling to stand up, he gets hit by lightning again and everything turns red. Hit again and Roadrunner tries to say something to him over the radio, but Mogollon can't hear it. He picks up a car and throws it at the villain taking them down hard, Roadrunner calls for a paramedic and Mogollon still hears the thunder in his head, oh no.

I didn't actually come up with a name for the criminal. But I really like them, so I think I'm going to need to figure out those little details and have them show up later.
And the armour does have some gravity manipulation and superstrength. Not a huge amount of either, but enough to make for an interesting fight.
I really liked how the thunder affected Mogollon. When I was writing the scene it struck me as a perfect way to show how Forte and Sun Hawk affected him.

Darn, she can't I.D. Iron Rain by sight. Ah, being honest about why she was at the Frakencorp building and even names El Scorpio as an accomplice in a kidnapping. Oh boy, now he knows about Book and that she drank the blood of that one guard. Good, didn't tell him about Thulia. Wait, she thinks she has to be 18 and that Whateley is a college, if she only knew. Boy, her meeting Port was the best thing to happen to her.

Everything about this scene made me happy.
I don't know what it is about Fanak, but she is just a joy to write. She's so earnest and full of a love of life. And she jumps to the wrong conclusion so many times, it's really cute.
It's a shame what I have planned for her.

Those con artists and computer hackers, got themselves and their immediate families killed, or vanished. You don't mess with the Karedonian International Bank. Even the mercy they showed to the kids is horrific. Wait, Fairytale Land Petting Zoo, please tell me that Burgermeister isn't still alive and in Karedonia.

Burgermeister MAY still be alive in Gen2, but he's very much out of the picture and has nothing to do with Karedonia. Although Empress Jobe may have been inspired by seeing Tink and learning what the mad devisor had been planning.
I realized after writing this, that it did sound a lot like Burgermeister, but it was too creepy to take out. And it's just a rumour, so who knows if it's even true.

Aww, the letter from Bubbly is so sweet, she is such a nice girl. It even got Forte to almost cry in public. Magnate wishes to purchase a sonic cannon, oh boy. Even if you didn't land a shot on the heroes, that weapon is very impressive and has other uses as you have shown, Forte.

Bubbly is a sweet girl that got dealt a bad hand.
And after the beating that Forte took, she deserved to end things on a high note. I couldn't have her being cheered on or anything stupid like that. But being seen as a member of the club, who was worth treating as someone decently competent, that felt right.

Forte at first was just trying to survive life on the streets, to find her place in the underworld since she made up her mind about what to do to make her mark on the world. But with each sale, with each robbery, she sank further and further into the true nature of the criminal underworld and was driven to greater acts of crime until she went too far over the line to come back. She will face years in jail if caught, the loss of her prosthetic limbs most likely, and the possibility of death while in prison due to her lack of 3 limbs and no other powers than being a devisor. I wish it hadn't come to this, every time it looked like there was an out for her it got lost one way or another. I only hope she can live with herself and what she has done.
I understand she was desperate to not lose her prosthetic limbs and to not be locked up for years in prison, but that desperation made her commit an act that nearly killed someone and left that person having to recover for a long time. When you act due to fear, you don't think of the consequences of your actions until it is too late.

Forte's story is focused on the road to hell and corruption. When you reach a certain point in crime, it becomes corrupting. The situation, people, and choices all make it easier to go a bit deeper, and then you get into situations where the only choice seems to be to dive headfirst into the mud.
She's in deep now, and the only way she can see to survive and succeed is to keep going, until she's the biggest, baddest person around.

The Cannibal, I hope somehow, someway, that he is taken down before a year passes. Because he is the kind of supervillain you love to hate, someone who tries to come across as intelligent and sophisticated, but deep down is an animal and a brute, a monster to be taken down by the heroes.

That's a pretty accurate description of The Cannibal.
But he's not going to go down easily.

I'm glad Sunhawk is recovering and her brain will eventually be back to how it was, but now I see why you said it was one of her good days in the other story. Mogollon needs grief counseling, to help him cope with what has happened to Sunhawk and to stop blaming himself for not catching her.

We'll see more of these two in the next Forte story, Duet.

Roadrunner is a great addition to the team and a fun character, speedster, and teleporter in one, just love to see what she can pull off. I hope nothing bad happens to her.

Like Roadrunner too.
But she's in one of my stories. How likely do you think it is that she'll come out unscathed?

Loved seeing what happened with Book after she escaped from FrankenCorp, as well as Fanak and her interactions with Port.

We'll see a bit more of both Book and Fanak in Duet. But Book will really come into her own in the story after that, tentatively called The Road To Hell.
Fanak will probably get her own solo story shortly after that, which is going to be really fun for her.

Thank you for this wonderful story with such a complex character. I can't wait to read more about Forte and the others in future stories.

Thank you very much. They've been interesting to write about, so I'm really glad you're enjoying their story.