Big Brothers: Heroes ((RP Game Show))

Micaela was practically a blur of whiteas she ran toward the house, significantly mroe than fashionably late. Her appearance was so sudden and her pace so rapid that the announcer didn't even have a chance to call out her name before she had vanished into the house.

"Sorry I'm late, you would not believe the number of waivers I had to sign. They take you very seriosuly if you comment that you can buold a trans-dimensional radio out of chewing gum and duct tape. I didn't forget anything, did I?"

She was clearly flustered, as her rapid speech and disoriented manner evinced. Catching herself, she stopped, took a deep breath, and stood silent and still for a moment. She was short, standing under 5 feet tall, with white skin, white hair, pink eyes, a white hat, a long white coat, a deep green dress, and matching shoes. Placing her knapsack, also white, on a nearby piece of furniture, she took in all of her housemates.

"Sorry about that. I'm Micaela. Nice to meet all of you."

(OOC: Any word on what time frame this is running in? I ask particularly becasue two of these roomates are involved in Paragon University as well. I can always come up with some sort of technobabble explanation, but I think Ash is a bit more limited. )

Samuel Volt sighed as he made his way up the stairs to the main area of his home. He had located his lab in his own basement because he felt he didn't need or want outside help; he had always managed just fine by himself.
Walking into the living room, Samuel came face-to-face with his wife.
Here it comes... Samuel thought to himself.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Varon's mother asked, her arms folded across her chest and her foot tapping softly on the carpet.
"Honey, I'm sorry. I'm on the verge of a break-through, and I need all the time I can get!" Samuel looked into his wife's eyes.
Varon's mother sighed, uncrossing her arms. She shook her head. "Dear, I understand how important this is to you, but you CAN'T do something like this every night. It's not fair to me and it's CERTAINLY not fair to Varon."
"Honey..." Samuel walked over and embraced his wife in hug. "I'm not trying to punish you or Varon. It's just that after ALL this time I'm FINALLY close to achieving what ALL my colleagues called 'impossible'. I'm SO close now, and if you just give me a little longer I can FINALLY start giving you and Varon the life I never had."
Varon's mother returned her husband's embrace. "How much longer?" She asked, her voice a bit distant.
"Just until my Annual Performance Review in two days, I PROMISE." Samuel disengaged from his wife. "This is my LIFE'S WORK. Just give me that and trust me, our lives will be better from now on."
Varon's mother looked into her husband's eyes once more; after some time, she sighed and nodded. "OK."
"Don't worry; we'll be fine." Samuel said as the two started up the stairs of their home.
Varon, who had been listening from the top of the staircase, quickly ran back to his room and jumped back in bed.


[ QUOTE ]
"There is one female missing. She is probably running late like most of us were. I'm Ash, by the way."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Nice to meet you!" Varon said, assuming his big opening had been enough of an introduction to Ash.
"Look at that armor!" Crystal whispered into Varon's left ear.
"Have you ever seen it before, Varon?" Samantha whispered into Varon's other ear.
Before Varon could answer, the door to the house burst open once more and a female Hero entered.

[ QUOTE ]
"Sorry about that. I'm Micaela. Nice to meet all of you."

[/ QUOTE ]

Crystal, Samantha, and Varon turned to last member of the Big Brother house.
"Finally!" Varon declared, shaking his fist in front of him. "The last member has arrived! Now the show can officially begin!"
"How exciting!" Crystal and Samantha giggled in unison.
"Girls, go and pick out your beds in the girl's room!" Varon said, looking around the house.
"Right!" The girls quickly complied, and Varon made his way to the men's bedroom and picked out a bed for himself.
"Alright!" Varon said, emerging from the bedroom, his two teammates doing the same. "Now, it's time to..."
Crystal and Samantha clasped their hands together and waited with bated breath at Varon's next action.
"Wait... what are we supposed to do now?" Varon asked, scratching his head in confusion.
Crystal and Samantha fell down in surprise.
"We could look around the house..." Crystal offered, picking herself up off the floor.
"We could watch T.V.?" Samantha offered.
"Those are both good ideas..." Varon said, sighing slightly. "But I think the best thing to do would be to talk with the other members of this house until we get further instructions."
"That's a great idea, Varon!" Crystal said, clapping her hands together.
"You're always on top of the situation, Varon!" Samantha said, giving Varon a "thumbs up".
Varon decided to introduce himself to the Hero who had just walked into the house, and his two teammates quickly joined him.
"Hello. My name is Varon Volt, and these are my two teammates, Crystal Cold and Samantha Spark. Pleased to meet you." The three Heroes extended their hands to Micaela in friendship.

Jason drops off his bag of personal stuff next to the couch in the living room, takes a moment to stretch and look around, then walks to rejoin the others, all gathered around the entryway...

... just in time to be dazzled by "the Trinity" and their amazing welcome-to-disneyland entrance. Reaching out, he shakes the hands extended in friendship, flashing his best smile at Crystal and Samantha. Mouthing a You lucky [censored] to Varon, he disengages from that group to take a better look around at the others.

Hmm. That redhead with the nice body is really cute. But she's talking to that other dude. I wonder if they know each other. He looks like.. he could be kinda cool. Or boring. Or competition. Wow look at the size of that TV! I wonder if these people are any good at Halo. Dammit, we can't play video games anyway, can we? Nice, is that couch real leather? Oh wait... must focus on other people in the house. That crazy albino girl with the crazytalktoofast-ness. A little weird, but looks like fun. And Varon and that bunch, .... this'll be awesome.

Wasn't there a dwarf somewhere? Jason looks around a little nervously.

Ash restrained himself from poking the twin bubbleheaded girls in curiosity to see if they were automatons. With a shrug, he pulled back his hood and powered down his armor, exposing his deathly pale white skin-head, arms and feet. He continued to make his rounds amongst the remaining heroes with introductions. Afterwards, he walked towards the kitchen and began searching for something to nibble on. There was a small bowl of clementine oranges sitting on the counter, so he picked one up and started examining it like a monkey would before devouring it. He sat back and watched the "the Trinity." With a curious smile, he started munching down on the miniature orange. "This is very tasty, what is it?"

((Senaria, I'm taking this in separate context to the PCU thread, so any references would be just like, "oh yea that happened during issue 5 & 6 of this comic series," or "so that's what happened to him between issues 10 & 11 on that comic series" hope that helps ya))

[ QUOTE ]
"Hello. My name is Varon Volt, and these are my two teammates, Crystal Cold and Samantha Spark. Pleased to meet you." The three Heroes extended their hands to Micaela in friendship.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Uhm . . . hello. . ."

Somewhat unsure, she cautiously extended her hand toward Varon's, followed the lady on the left, then the one on the right.

I'm glad I'm not going to be the weirdo of the household . . .

[ QUOTE ]
With a curious smile, he started munching down on the miniature orange. "This is very tasty, what is it?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Looking over to see what he was referring to, a bemused smile appeared on her face. "That would be a clementine. Of course, as far as you'd probably care, it's just a tiny orange," Then, actually getting a good look at the person attached to the orange, " . . . Have we met before?"

The back door opened (it didn't fly open, but it was opened loud enough to get people's attention.) and Arden came clanking in with a dirty sack slung over his shoulder. He gave the rest of the group a great big toothy grin, "I fergot me essentials." He dropped the sack, which landed next to the couch with a dusty thump.

He approa... er clanked over to Trinity and the newcomer, and cleared his throat, "You'll have ta fergive me fer interupt'n but I'm afraid proper introductuns haven't been done. I be called Arden Deepforge, Adventurer and Forgemaster." he held out his mailed hand (complete with trace bits of earth on it), to Valron, "And who might ye be?"

Samuel Volt opened the doors to the Private Conference Area of his superiors' laboratory. The room was dark, the only illumination coming from a small flood light from the ceiling, centered above a chair and desk in the middle of the room. On the far side of room, at a large, elevated pedastal, the three most high-ranking scientists (all of whom had an interest in Samuel's research) in Samuel's company sat, their eyes glued to Samuel. Their faces and bodies were hidden in shadow, but their voice rang out loud and clear, the resonance of the room making them sound all the more intimidating.
"Have a seat, Samuel Volt." One of the scientists said, gesturing to the chair and desk in the center of the room. Samuel quickly complied.
"As you know, your Annual Performance Review is tomorrow." Another one of the scientists began, reading off a clipboard in his hands. "It was originally scheduled to be last month; however, you convinced us that you 'needed more time', and against our better judgement we complied with your wishes." The scientist put the clipboard down and clasped his hands together, narrowing his eyes at Samuel. "Samuel, are you prepared to finally give us something worthwhile?"
"Sirs..." Samuel began, fidgeting slightly in his seat. "I am very grateful for allowing me more time to complete my research, but..." Samuel looked down, gritting his teeth slightly. "...I cannot guarantee that it will be fully ready by tomorrow."
Samuel watched as the three scientists began to confer with each other, whispering among themselves while a cold sweat broke out on Samuel's forehead.
"Samuel Volt," The third scientist spoke. "We have been very patient and very understanding with you for some time now. You asked to conduct your work in the privacy of your own home, and we allowed it. You asked for an extension of your Annual Performance Review, and we allowed it. We have given you IMMENSE leeway in your area of expertise, DESPITE the fact that in your ENTIRE career, you have YET to provide a CONCRETE MODEL for your work."
"Please..." Samuel Volt clenched his fists to his knees as he sat, his legs shaking uncontrollably. "This is my LIFE'S WORK. If you give me just ONE more week, I SWEAR I can-"
"We have already given you MORE than enough time to prepare for this." The first scientist said, his voice solemn and filled with finality. "Your Review is TOMORROW. If you can't give us a WORKING MODEL by then, your project will be discontinued and you will have to start looking for a NEW CAREER."
"SIRS..." Samuel raised his head up to protest, but when he looked into the eyes of the three scientists, he knew that it was pointless to argue. "Tomorrow..." Samuel said softly, closing his eyes. "You will have something, I PROMISE."


[ QUOTE ]
"You'll have ta fergive me fer interupt'n but I'm afraid proper introductuns haven't been done. I be called Arden Deepforge, Adventurer and Forgemaster." he held out his mailed hand (complete with trace bits of earth on it), to Valron, "And who might ye be?"

[/ QUOTE ]

"Oh wow!" Crystal said, staring at Arden.
"Look, Varon! A real live dwarf!" Samantha said breathlessly, both of the girls pointing at Arden.
"Girls..." Varon said, placing his arms around each of the girl's shoulders. "We agreed to come to this house with an open mind, remember?" He flashed a smile to both of his teammates. "We'll probably see FAR stranger things than this during our stay here."
"You're right, Varon!" Crystal said apologetically.
"Sorry about that, Varon!" Samantha agreed, and the three turned to Deepforge and introduced themselves.

Ash looked up with a slice of clementine half hanging out of his mouth. He had the look of a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar. He focused on Micaela and pondered. He thought back to the few memories he had. She did seem familiar, but he couldn't place where. In a rather unusual manner, he finished scarfing up the slice of orange, chewed a bit, then gulped his food down. He'd talk to her later about things, not wishing to divulge his technical origin to the other strangers yet. "I don't know. You look familiar, but that doesn't say much."

He returned to picking at another slice, finding what tasted good and picking off the other parts. He even had tried eating the peelings before turning his nose up at them and returning to the slices.

As the trio intriduced themselves to Michela, Kegen took it as a prime oppurtunity to go claim a bed. She slipped into the girls dorm and found and open bed, dropping her duffel bag on it. She glanced around the room and sighed. She hadn't shared a room with another person in quite some time.

I hope nobody snores or I'm never going to get some sleep.

She heard the backdoor open and the clanking of the drawf she saw earlier. She strolled back into the main room as Arden introduced himself. She quriked an eyebrow at Ash and Michela as they talked about the tiny orange he was eating.

Trying to avoid the attention of the glee club, she slowly scooted towards the living room and settled herself on the arm of the couch, watching the others. She peeked at Jason and gave him a little smile as she pushed the cascade of her long hair back over her shoulder.

"Jason, right?" she replied, extending her hand to him with a friendly smile.

"Why, yes. And you must be..." Jason pauses for a fraction of a second, and his eyes widen as if he had just learnt something surprising, "... You're Etherburn? It's a pleasure to finally meet you! You have no idea, my brother Adam will be flipping out right now that I'm talking to you in person. He's a big fan of yours. Speaking of which, would you excuse me for a moment?"

Jason leaps off the couch where he'd been sitting, looks around wildly for one of the omnipresent cameras, positions himself in front of one, and clears his throat.

"Hey Adam. Guess who's in the Big Brother house with me. Oh ... I guess you already know, if you've been watching. But yeah, it's Etherburn! That future chick. Tell you what, I'll put in a good word for you, but that means you're never gonna bring up that twenty-six bucks I owe you. Ever again. Right.. uh.. I guess that's it. Uh.. yeah."

He walks back to the couch and slumps bonelessly into it. Gesturing vaguely in the direction of the camera he was just talking to, he explained to a bemused Etherburn,

"Family business."

(OOC: I've been kinda burned out all week sorry about my posting habits)

After having polite conversation with the three ditzes (something Arden's personal code of conduct prevented from saying ot their collective faces), he clanked off to the mens bedroom.

He passed by the bed closest to the door, as it was already claimed, and he leaned his axe up against the bed that was on the farthest wall away from the door. He stretched in his armor, and looked back at the general direction of Trinity, "I hope he be less verbal asleep than he be awake." He finished that off with a snort, and he went back into the common room, mainly to converse with the other, more intelligent folks.

Ash finished the clementine and turned to the rest of the group. His curiosity got the better of him, and he was blind to his own fear of asking the Trinity anything. "What's the deal with you three?"

He had risen from his spot at the table and started to clean up his small but very sticky mess.

Kegen arched an eyebrow at Jason. "I see...didn't know I had fans, though. I flattered, I guess," she replied, slightly confused.

She glanced back at the trio as Ash asked them what their deal was. He was the first to voice what was on her mind.

"You know that might be a good idea. Maybe we should all properly introduce ourselves. Talk a little about who we are," she added, crossing her legs under her.

"We might as well get a feel for each other while we are here."

"I'm home!" Varon smiled as he burst through the door of his house, throwing his schoolbooks on the floor. "Huh?" Varon looked around the house; it was empty.
That's odd... Varon thought as he searched the house. He checked around for any sort of note, but found nothing.
Where could... Varon's thoughts were interrupted as he heard noises coming from his father's laboratory in the basement. Of course! Today's the day of Dad's Performance Review!
Varon opened the door to the basement; he was immediately greeted by an odd, unfamiliar scent. As he made his way down the stairs, Varon could hear his father, who seemed to be talking incoherently.
"This doesn't make sense..." Varon heard his father whisper. "How could... it SHOULD have worked..."
"Dad?" Varon asked as he finished his descent. Varon turned to see his father standing in the middle of his laboratory.
The walls of the laboratory were lined with shelves that housed various mult-colored liquids; in each corner of the basement, four large tesla rods stood, the ball-like tip of the rods conducting enormous amounts of electricity. In the center of the room, Varon's father stood in front of a large metal table, with various equipment situated around it.
Samuel turned to his son, and Varon was immediately taken aback at the sad, desperate look on his father's face; he had never seen such a look from his father before.
"Varon!" Samuel said after some time. "What are you... you shouldn't be here!"
"Huh?" Varon was confused. "Dad, what are you-" At that moment, Varon glanced at the table, realizing there was a person on it. In the next instant, Varon realized WHO was on the table.
"MOM?!" Varon cried out, running towards the table. Varon's father caught him before he could reach the table.
"Dad, what's going-" Varon's cry died out as his father took out a syringe from his lab coat and injected it into his son, knocking Varon unconscious.
"I don't know WHY it didn't work with her..." Varon's father said soothingly as he placed Varon's body on the floor. Turning to the table, he replaced the lifeless body of his wife with that of his son. "But MAYBE..."
Varon awoke to IMMENSE pain. Coming to, Varon looked to find that he was hooked up to various equipment in his father's lab. An immense pain shot through Varon's body, and he looked up to see his father's face looking down at him, Samuel's expression filled less with concern and more with curiousity.
"Dad, what's-" Varon's words became a groan as he underwent another surge of pain, and upon further observation Varon found the source: his father's hand was on a machine next to the bed, a machine that was monitoring Varon's life signs. With a push of a button on the machine, the electric rods at the corners of the lab shot immense amounts of electricity into Varon's chest.
"Varon, I'm so sorry about this..." Samuel said as his son cried out in pain. "I... never meant... for it to come to this..." Samuel looked over at his wife's lifeless body, sitting in a corner of the room; even in death, her eyes seemed to focus on Varon as he cried out in pain over and over again.
"Dad..." Varon said weakly, his vision blurring. He looked at his father's face, not knowing whether to scream or cry or just sit back and give into the pain.
Is he... Varon thought, watching his father's face. Is Dad... crying?
"What's this?" Samuel cried out as the monitors on Varon's body began to spike uncontrollably. "It's happening..." Samuel turned to his son. "It's REALLY happening..." Samuel wiped his tear-soaked face. "After all this time, I finally-"
In that instant, Varon's body emitted an incredible amount of electrical energy, knocking out Samuel's monitors and sending such a huge electrical shock through Samuel's body that he fell over, unconscious.
A couple hours later, when the police finally arrived at Varon's house, the first officers in found Varon cradled in his dead mother's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

[ QUOTE ]
"We might as well get a feel for each other while we are here."

[/ QUOTE ]

"That sounds great!" Samantha said, jumping onto the couch.
"How exciting!" Crystal agreed, joining Samantha.
Varon looked at the others, realizing the implications of such a discussion. He looked at the group with a distant expression for only a moment, then quickly smiled.
"Of course!" Varon said, smiling inwardly as he took his seat on the couch. "It's always a pleasure to tell the many exploits of the TRINITY!"
"You're the best, Varon!" Crystal and Samantha said in unison.

EDIT: ((I only saw the offer to "share ideas" later, so if you saw what I wrote before I edited this Post, ignore it))

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea. It would be pretty akward to live with a bunch of people you know nothing about."

Taking a seat on the floor, cross-legged, Micaela faced the other household members, "Okay, we should set up a couple ground rules first. Plenty of heroes have very painful stories, so if you're not comfortable telling us anything, no pressure. It would be nice for us to know something about you, though. Secondly, we need to remember that this is kind of public, so things like discussing classified information would be taboo, to say the least. Anyone have anything else to add before we get started?"

"Huh...I'm not sure of how much I can tell that isn't classified. I'll indulge what I can, however." Ash moved over to sit with the others, taking a singular chair. His shorts stretched at his bent knees as his feet propped up on the edge of the coffee table. Tiny little sparks of bright gold electricity ran across them occasionally giving away the nanite communications. His pale feet hid the majority of the sparks, but occasionally one would shine at just the right angle to expose itself.

((gotta go afk for about 24 hours. assume that he sits listening intently to everything everyone else is saying. He finds everything fascinating, even from the Trinity.))

"Aie, me past be a long and confus'n one indeed. I'm afraid I can't be revealing everything about me but it be noth'n ta talk about ta happn'ns in ta city."

Arden shifted on the couch, causing his armor to rustle with an audible metalic sound, "Be there any chair here that isn't so soft?"

((So, where is everyone? I thought QueenEtheria's idea about "sharing origins" was interesting, but it seems like this Thread has been forgotten ))

Micaela shifted in her seat, seeming somewhat uncomfortable, "So . . . who wants to go first?"

"You're finished, Statesman!" Requiem laughed, landing a hard right punch to the legendary Hero's face. Statesman fell in heap alongside all the other memebers of the Freedom Phalanx that had fell to the Council's hand.
"At last!" Requiem laughed maniacally, his minions standing victorious over the piles of unconscious Heroes littering City Hall. "Finally, the Council has taken the city!"
"Oh no!" Statesman grunted, barely able to lift his head off the pavement. "What are we going to do now? Who can we turn to!"
"You're finished, Statesman! FINISHED!" Requiem began to laugh, but was interrupted by a large explosion that came from the far side of Atlas Park. Smoke soon poured over the area, and three silhouettes began to form through the smoke.
"What was that?" Statesman looked up in shock.
"Who's there?!" Requiem demanded.
"I knew you were low, Requiem..." Varon said, Crystal and Samantha at his side. "But to attack the Freedom Phalanx on a Sunday morning, knowing FULL WELL they sleep in today?!" Varon shook his head. "You're dispicable!"
"It's the Trinity!" Requiem shouted in shock.
"The Trinity!" Statesman shouted with joy.
"That's right, Requiem!" Crystal yelled in defiance.
"We're here to put a stop to you!" Samantha said, pointing her finger at Requiem.
"For we are..." Varon, Crystal, and Samantha broke out into incredible poses. "The Trinity!"
"Get them!" Requiem commanded, and his minions charged the three Heroes.
"Crystal, Samantha, show them your Double Pretty Pose Attack!" Varon said.
"Right!" Crystal and Samantha said in unison, and the two girls flashed an ubelievably pretty pose. Instantly, the hordes of Council minions fell to their knees.
"It's... too... CUTE!" They yelled, utterly helpless.
"Why, you...!" Requiem yelled, charging towards Varon. "I'll get you!"
"Take THIS!" Varon declared boldly, striking his strongest pose. "The Pose of VICTORY!!!" Varon yelled loudly.
"AAHHHH!!!" Requiem yelled, falling down on the ground and shaking uncontrollably. "Curses! You've defeated me!"
"The city is saved!" Varon declared, and Crystal and Samantha yelled in jubilation.
"Varon, Samantha, Crystal..." Statesman said, slowly getting to his feet. "How can I ever repay you three? You truly are the best Heroes to ever have graced Paragon City!"
"Think nothing of it, Statesman!" Varon said, flashing a "thumbs up" to the legendary Hero.

"...and THAT was how we saved all of Paragon City from the Council's nefarious plot!" Varon concluded, looking around at the other Heroes in the Big Brother house.
"Huh?" Samantha asked in confusion, looking at Varon.
"But Varon, I don't remember-" Crystal began, but was interrupted by Samantha.
"Why don't we tell them about how we met?" Samantha asked, suddenly very excited.
"YEAH!" Crystal said, her expression changing from confusion to joy. "THAT'S a much more interesting story than any boring old Council story!"
"Tell them about how we met?" Varon began to blush slightly, and he once again looked around at the other Heroes. "Well, if they don't mind..."

Kegen galnced around at everybody who had gathered and frowned. Ok, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Everybody seems uncomfortable.Well, if one doesn't have a troubled past life then it's not worth becomeing a superhero then is it?

She shifted, sliding onto the couch fully and curled her kness up to her chin. "I guess I'll go first since it was my idea."

"I understand that all of us have things that we can't share, which is fine but I'm sure we can find stuff to share that isn't too personal," she replied.

She laced her arms around her knees as her eyes darted between the others. " Well..ummm...I'm Etherburn as you all know. Ether works fine too. I'm twenty-three and was, err, am, I guess, a student at Paragon U. I want to become a bio-geneticist. I'm a mutant, sorta. I was born with my powers though my secondary offensive powers didn't appear until I was a teenager. I don't know how exactly but my ability to heal comes from my mom. Oh, yeah, both of my parents were heroes, by the way. I think my other powers come from my dad. I can focus a chemical-base steller radiation into beams and bolts. I have the ability to fly and I can also withstand the vacum of space which makes me question exactly what the base of my DNA is. Thats why I started into bio-genetics. I want to find out what makes me a mutant," she replied, resting her cheek on her knees.

"I would've asked my parents but they both disappeared when I was younger. I have vague memories of them but with each year they begin to fade. At thirteen when I developed my other powers, I took to the streets hoping to find them. Thats when I met another hero,who took me under her wing and had me join her supergroup. Fast foreward a couple of years and too many fights to count and I found myself battling an arch-enemy of my SG in space. Something...something happened between my cosmic radiation and her ability to teleport, I don't know, maybe combined with the ionic wave from the blast but I woke up here in Atlas Park..." she paused and glanced up at the others with a soft sigh," Twenty-six years in the past. I know that sounds too corny but I am from the future and it sucks! I have to be careful what I say and what I do because it could change the events in the future. Theres so much I wish I could change but it would have dire conciquences. I have to tip-toe around everything and it sucks. I want to see the legends before they became famous and I want to see my parents in their prime and warn them about their disappearances, but everybody at FC decided that it would be best if I just stayed out of the way, " she sighs again dejectedly," Thats why they thought it would be good for me to do this show and keep myself occupied."

She snuggles back into the couch and glances around. " Ok, who's next?"

Jason stared at Varon, Samantha and Crystal with an expression of melodramatic awe, "So, you guys saved Statesman using the Double Pretty Pose Attack and the Pose of Victory? Does that mean... does that mean you guys have also mastered ... Blue Steel?"

He turns to Etherburn, "Remind me to put you in touch with my brother Adam. The one who's your biggest fan. I think he might be able to offer some answers about your situation." He turns back to face the group.

"Well, we've had one somewhat sad story and one... impressive story. Mine's not half as exciting really. No big secret about my powers either. I was born a human child (like most of you), but with a Fey spirit. A changeling, we used to be called. I grew up in a pretty whacky family though. My parents are normal enough, but my older brother is some super-genius-scientist type person, and my younger brother's a weather-manipulating mutant. My childhood, as I recall, involves endless episodes of dodging the temporal-warping rays from innocuous Lego constructs and the lightning bolts from rogue storms. Standard Malcolm in the Middle stuff, I suppose. "

"Nothing traumatic happened that made me become a superhero. No death of a parent, murder of a loved one, that kind of thing. But, I mean, given superpowers, which kid wouldn't want to be one, right? So I did. Become a costumed crimefighter, I mean. Did my part in the Rikti wars, but somehow managed to miss every major engagement by being in the wrong place at the wrong times... Now, I'm a squad leader for Paragon Heroes Incorporated, which makes me enough to get by."

"Oh... and if any of you even think the word 'fairy', I'll beat you with a stick. Many sticks, even."

Fairy?

The command to not think about something instantly made Ash think about it. A slight smirk ran across his face as he realized it was probably his turn to speak. "I guess it's my turn now? OK. Lemme think of what I'm allowed to say..."

There was a pause, and then he spoke. "Well, I have no memory of my past, and I was found inside a giant robot in Italy. After filing the proper papers with the American government I was allowed to register as a hero to better understand the experimentation I was put through pre-amnesia. So far, all findings on my past are still classified information."

He looked around to see some weren't really interested in this anymore, so he grabbed another clementine from the basket and proceeded to devour it, cleaning up his mess as he went.

Arden smoothed out his beard.

"Aie, ye people be from aroun' here. But me, I be diffrent. A few seasons ago, I was retir'd from ta whole adventur'n set up, and was teach'n ta youngans about how ta swing an axe. I was ta forgemaster an ta hero of Thalin's Glen. Ye see, at only a few seasons before that. I helped ta hold off a Troll incusion, wit noth'n more than me axe and me brains. One day I be walk'n along ta road when I was a sucked into some mystical portal. When I popped out I'd have ta say I was about... thirty feet in ta air. I had a second ta look down and pick which guy looked softer ta land on. Well there were these two funny look'n humans, Hellions as they call them'selves. So I pick'd ta one holding ta funny pipe. Well... ta make a long story short. I saved some guy, and was told ta sign up as a hero."