Story 6: The Air Affair

Page 1 Top Tier: New Legion HQ (everyone) Old Business

The new HQ is starting to shape up: there’s an official monitor board showing a map of Meridian City (labeled with its official and grandiose name of New Metropolis) another of the planet Charekesh showing the other two habitable band cities (New Hgegell and New Clade) and any geographic features within the habitable band, and a map of the solar system with the three gas giants and their moons.

[BR: No. the Legion doesn’t have any way to get to those other places yet, but advance planning doesn’t hurt.]

[JK: Heh. They can always charter a ship, if they have to. But yeah, it's outside their practical remit.]

There’s also an official table for the team to meet at, with each member having an icon on their back of their chair. A pen, a guitar, a pair of overlapping spheres, a silver swirl and a disk are visible for Miss Anima, Mr. Music, Bubble Boy, Metal Lass and Diskette respectively.

Now that the first membership drive is over the team needs, by charter, to have an official leader for their first term. Their first election ended with Mr. Music as the first Legion Chair, and the reader can see from Patin’s expression that she’s not thrilled with it.

Ode says, “In my first official job as chair, I’m opening the table to operational concerns. Then we have someone who’s requested a meeting….”

After a moment of silence Jinnjahl pipes up, “I have some concerns about publicity. Right now we're the media darlings, but the history of the Last Chance Center gives me an idea about how rapidly *that* can change.

“I want to do some work now to set up for recovery when we screw up and get horrible news spread about us, mostly-deservedly or only-a-little-deservedly as the case may be. I’m willing to take on the job of PR manager, or spokesperson, or whatever we want to call it, unless someone else,” she looks around at Dolar and Ode, “wants it.”

Patin, tossing a glance at Ode, says, “If Jinjahl wants the PR management job she can have it.”

"And we could give part of our profits to help people," says Ode, thought balloons of wildly popular concerts floating over his head.

[BR: Can I tell you how much I love the running bit of Odes mental concert tour?]

[LP: Thanks! I suspect it's going to stay mostly in his head.]

"We are going to need to show profits for that," Patin says, "at the moment we're running entirely on not entirely disinterested donations. And we should spend some of our reserves on ventures that may provide independent income in the long run, like funding some of Future Boy's scientific projects, particularly if we can hammer out a revenue sharing scheme for anything that has commercial applications."

"Actually," Tok says, "I do have a big project I need to get supplies to complete. It probably does have applications for the general public eventually, but for now I think it's going to solve a big weakness in our own abilities. Once it's perfect, anyway; before that it will still help a lot. I've got some early prototypes that should be ready soon, but the next generation is going to need a lot more work."

Page 1 Middle Tier: New Business

Once the heroes have finished with any old business, new business comes up in the form of Faraday Pklan, a Wynathian girl who isn’t quite old enough for her ‘walkabout’ years, who sent a message to the team saying she has a mission for them. Since there haven’t been any other major fires, ship crashes, assassination attempts, outbreaks of entropic music, or monstrous animal thefts – or clues as to the same – in the last couple weeks it couldn’t hurt to hear the girl out.

While her original appearance is waifish, there’s obviously something more than being slip of girl: her spine is straight, her bearing confident. Patin is certain Faraday has had decorum classes, and Ode can hear the rounding of formal elocution in her speech. Jinnjahl just gets a sense of strength off the girl, that if she were to be sketched it would be with bold, confident strokes. “Thank you for seeing me,” she says. “I think there’s a crime wave going on and I need the Legion’s help to prove it.”

"Please, go on," Patin says, wondering if this connects back to the thief her brother warned her of, and if so, how. *

"My mother is a vice president at Janus Interstellar, stationed here on Charekesh as a UP government liaison. She's currently being disciplined for a number of security breaches."

Everyone knows who Janus is - they construct spaceship frames, especially for large scale warships - and Patin knows there are people in Faraday's mother's role for Felos group (on paper, she's supposed to be supervising them here, though if she actually attempted to wield that authority she would be slapped down - hers is a courtesy position for the moment).

"Janus Interstellar wants to keep this confidential, and right now they think Mom is the thief because the data breach came from her systems at our apartment. But I know she didn't do it...."

She calls up two hologram images, one of them of a "Missy Pookie" child's toy - a stuffed doll of a cuddly Wynathian critter that comes with video recording technology built in to monitor the child's development - the cameras are very nearsighted to focus on the child at play with the doll. This one has obviously seen lots of wear.

"This was mine," She turns to the group as if daring them to comment. "Mom had left it on one of her office shelves as a keepsake. After the incident I cut into it to see if there was any video recording still occurring. the Missy Pookie models are built for long term use."

The other hologram starts running, "This is the image I pulled off Missy's memory. The card is dying, so it's grainy, but you can see it here..." The area immediately around the camera is distinct if grainy, while the rest is blurry but showing signs of computer enhancement. "Keep your eye here - see, the window opens, but we're on the 23rd floor with no balcony. And then Mom's wind chime moves... as if something hit it. And then there's a flashing light change on the computer port, showing its now in use when there's no one there."

Primed with her direction the legionnaires can see what Faraday is describing, but Ode knows that this video - between the enhancement of the primitive imagery and the extreme nature of the claim - has no chance of withstanding police procedure. Faraday looks at them, clearly at the crescendo of her prepared presentation "Someone invisible broke into my mom's office and stole Janus Interstellar files. And only the Legion of Super Heroes can catch them."

"We're going to need to get proof -- proof the law will accept," says Ode. "Is there any pattern to the timing of these thefts?"

She droops a little "My mom was only the target of one of them. But I have friends at the academy who are also acting nervous and tense... one the one whose dad works at PlasTech confirmed he heard there had been a data theft." Patin knows of PlasTech, they do large customized panel designs grown to order in Zero G environments. Patin also knows the Academy - a learning institution for people just a little younger than her, the children of corporate executives on assignment. It's a place where lifelong connections that can be leveraged later are forged and enmities that shake business empires grow unnoticed by the faculty. (In other words, it's an Anime setting.)

"But it makes sense!" Faraday insists. "There's an invisible thief is hitting lots of different industries because we are all here for parliament!"

"Let's put aside the invisible thief for a moment," Jinnjahl says. "We know of two data thefts, others are plausible but not proven. We don't even know that the PlasTech and Janus data thefts were by the same person -- though I'd certainly guess so, given what sounds like the timing."

She points at the data card. "The window opened. That much was fairly clear. The camera didn't record anyone doing it. Even assuming the camera didn't miss something important, that doesn't prove the person's invisible. *My* first thought from that film is someone with telekinesis that goes through objects, not around them, or technology which does the same. It's a stretch, but so is an invisible flying thief. And I'm sure there are other possibilities."

"There certainly are. My uncle had such fine control of his force bubbles that he could operate machinery and open locks with them," Gorvo offers.

"They could," Patin offers, without saying where she got the idea, "simply have a way to make himself invisible to electronics. So his actions would be recorded, but not his presence, without the complication of full invisibility. But really we won't know until we find out more.”

Ode's thought balloon: "Or, they could just be invisible..."

Jinnjah’s hair-tendrils fluff themselves, then settle down. "I think we should find out everything we can, but if none of the companies has figured out enough to get the Science Police doing a manhunt, I don't think we're going to be able to get much evidence from after-the-fact scenes. I think we're going to need to catch the thief in the act."

Page 1 Bottom Tier: Plans of Attack

After Metal Lass has politely escorted the clearly happy Ms. Pklan out of the room (and ask her to provide the Missy Pookie doll for analysis), she returns to have a discussion about next steps.

"All Right," Patin says, "Cards on the table; I'm pretty sure I've already heard of this thief.

"My source says he's a likely Gander native--the wings are a solid giveaway--who is using gear that makes him invisible to machines. He's targeted a bunch of companies on Meridian, not Felos, which is interesting. So unless there's a copycat, I'd have to assume that's our guy, and unless our -illustrious- leader thinks otherwise , we should focus on that angle and assume we're facing a flying, invisible to machines but not people, thief who usually appears to work alone."

"My first thought about that is that you might want to consider the possibility that Felos will be framed," Jinnjahl says. "My second is that guard animals might prove useful."

She considers. "Presuming Palin's information is true - which I don't think is a sure bet, sorry Palin, but I'm only about seventy percent sure this is for real to begin with - I still don't see where to go without guessing some places the thief might strike, which -" she glances at Tok, then at Palin, then at Dolar and Ode, then at Gorvo - "I can't think of a way to help with."

"The only thought I've had for what we can do *now* is to talk to people. Maybe the press knows more than they're saying, and Mr. Senn ... um. Seems not precisely trustworthy, but to have too much invested in his name to break his word if he promises to sit on something until we know more? Mr. Brande might have heard something. And the Hotel Diplomatique just might have been the site of a theft ... but if so, they'd be trying to keep it quiet, so they might not be willing to tell us anything, even if they *do* know something."

“I think,” Dolar says, pinching her lip in a form of working with incomplete data, “we should first make a list of the major parts of a starship, and correlate them with companies that make them to see which ones are currently in Median City. It’s going to be tedious, but Tok may be able to see patterns once we have the data."

"So, talk to people, make a list of parts, correlate these with companies," says Ode. "Patin, is there some way to neutralize the gear, if you're right?"

"How would I know?" Patin asks. "I mean, I guess as long as you were looking at him through biological eyes you'd be unaffected--it's only robots and security systems--and the media--who would have problems. Tok, you're the tech expert--is there a way to get around that kind of thing?"

"There probably is," Tok says, "but...not until I know how it works. I mean, I can think of three or four ways one could develop technological invisibility, though some of those would also provide limited invisibility to people as well--Patin, does your source involve extrasensory perception of some sort?"

"How did you...something like that, maybe," Patin admits.

"Ok, so maybe they're invisible to everyone except and they've just only seen the thief unseen by machines. Or maybe not. But let's go with tech invisibility--there are several ways to achieve that, and maybe a few I haven't thought of. Once we see what we're up against--or at least I get some readings, I might be able to devise a countermeasure, but before that, we'll have to hope we can see them with our normal eyes."

"Well then," Gorvo pipes up. "Who's making the list of space ship parts and who's going to pump Brand and Senn for more information? And should we buy a few bags of flour or glitter to dust-bomb the invisible thief when we corner him? That might make him visible to electronic eyes."

"Glitter..." says Ode, adding this to his mental image of the touring concert.

The team splits up – Ode and Gorvo to go talk to Olles Senn given their prior relationship, Jinnjahl and Patin to speak to Mr. Brand and Dolar and Tok staying at the clubhouse to go over the other data.

Page 2 Top Tier: Metal Lass and Future Boy

In the clubhouse Metal Lass and Future Boy are able to pull up basic ship components against the targets that Faraday thinks she’s identified. This ends up being a pretty solid match: if the thief did hit these targets they’ve stolen information on spaceframes, decking and hull design, wrap drives, sub-light propulsion, external senor arrays and defensive weapon systems. Pretty much everything one would need for a ship except life support systems.

Dolar’s study of the people that Faraday mentioned and her reading on the culture of the various companies makes it clear why the science police haven’t been pulled in – these businesses run a carefully balanced web of connections and trust, with the economics of just in time delivery of the various components being paramount for profitability. Each was the dominant player in their area: none of them controlled a monopoly level in any area and could therefore be replaced in the commerce chains if they were exposed in any way.

"Fascinating," Tok thinks, studying the list, "The stolen plans can't be being used to build a ship--that would take enormous resources—it would be much cheaper to just buy a ship. But they'd give a very

strong idea of what is being used in UP merchant and transport fleets. Which means that the parts are being stolen for information—probably to help with piracy! "

“I suppose they would be useful to identify the weak points on UP ships.” Dolar squints at the list. “But economic piracy could also be the goal. These are all plans from the companies that make the best version of their product. If the makers of the second- or third-best version got hold of them, they could use them to leapfrog their designs and snatch business from their competitors. Used for that purpose, any one set of those plans could be extremely valuable. Six of them may be worth a veritable fortune."

"Yup," Tok responds, "Still piracy!"

Dolar’s arms curve in a form that expresses the formation of vague suspicions. “So then, why a Gander? Would the fortune be vast enough to affect native relations with the Felos family? Or,” she squints, as if trying to bring a distant point into focus, “would the plans let some Gander faction build a trade ship wholly independent of the Felos company? Completely their own, down to the last bolt? It could upend the Felos monopoly, but it would take an even more vast fortune to make it work."

"It seems unlikely when you say it like that," Tok says, "but there's got to be some data somewhere. We've established that this isn't something useful to everyone; you need to be a shipmaker--have part-makers as buyers, or really be out to embarrass people, not make money. And you can't be too big, either, or it will be suspicious when you start making parts very much like your not-quite-competitor's designs. If we leave out the embarrassment motive for the most part, there's a sweet spot of where the thief could intend to profit, so let’s look there and see if there's any corroborating data, like a Gander being involved."

"I mean, I guess this could be connected somehow to Felos--they're rich enough that they could at least -try- to simplify their own supply chain by starting an all-in-one ship company with themselves as the primary clients. But they have none of the infrastructure, and Patin probably wouldn't have that kind of inside information in that case--plus, if so, that's going to be a lot harder to track down just with research, so let’s hope not."

“Let us assume for the moment that our thief, or his backers, are interested in vertical integration. If that’s their goal, for whatever reason, they’re still missing one key component.” Dolar shifts into a form that denotes the satisfaction of finding a piece that fits into a difficult puzzle, as she plunks her finger down on the part of the list that reads LIFE SUPPORT. “Which company makes the best oxygenators and CO2 scrubbers?"

Tok pulls an image forward “Here…NYK Systemic. Top of the line, and they have a small staff in New Metropolis…” a few seconds of pushing images around reveals the advantage of Tok being an obsessive news hound, “and their chief of design is here for a 5-month visit.”

Page 2 Middle Tier: Mr. Music and Bubble Boy

After using the number in the card Olles Senn gave them, Ode and Gorvo find themselves in "civilian" clothes entering a shadowy bar where waitresses carry smoky drinks as a dusky woman croons torch songs from dimly lit stage. Ode can hear traces of counter-sonics in the air that muffle sound from carrying between tables but not from the stage.

Senn catches Gorvo's from the bar eye and directs him to a corner booth with a nod of the head. Once the three are there Olles takes a sip of his drink (which has smoke visibly infused in it) and asks "what's the story?"

"Story's in progress," says Ode. "We're looking into some thefts." He sips his own (brightly colored, non-alcoholic) drink and explains the details (i.e., which thefts, not the specifics), and says, "Obviously, we can't tell you everything until the story's... um... a story," he says, as brilliance eludes him. "But when it is, we can give you the rest."

His thought balloon: He already knows that -- it's his job. I'm talking too much.

Olles bushy eyebrows go up as Ode speaks, and neither youth is experienced enough to see how the reporter was using his interviewing skills to draw them out with details and specifics with expressions and short questions.

"Well that's interesting," Olles said. "I had heard some rumblings about security at some of the major manufacturing firm offices here in the capital, so that backs up your friend's story."

"My first thought is industrial espionage," he muses, "There's a lot of potential profits in that. and these companies would stay silent as the public finding out there's a breach can be as damaging as the breach itself."

He skims over the list, "Still, you'd have to have a lot of different clients for this. Normally you'd just target one, make the payday and go. This many in tight succession suggest something else." He takes a long sip of his drink. "Unless someone is trying to capture vertical integration..."

"I'm going to track something down with the business desk, but there's a chance someone has been buying up smaller, third and fourth tier firms that do starship construction. You buy them up, infuse them with top of the line designs and cash and you can sever the entire interconnected web of starship design. One stop shop, Omni-Ship-Products or whatever can self-build every part. It'd take a fortune to do, but once you do it there's a possible even bigger fortune.'

"Here's the deal, kids. I'll run down a theory I have and backstop any clues you get, as long as I get deep details on the story when it breaks."

Ode looks to Gorvo to make sure there's no reason not to agree.

Gorvo says, "That makes sense. People have a right to know if this sort of industrial chicanery is going on, and you've been more than fair, Olles. Just give us time to chase down the thief first!"

Olles sips his drink and smiles. "Of course. It's a better story if you've already caught the thief."

"We'll do our best," says Ode.

Page 2 Bottom Tier: Diskette and Miss Anima

The pair of heroines are on their way to RJ Brande’s offices, hoping that the multi-trillionare business magnate might be able to provide some insight on the possible industrial espionage case they have taken on.

"I have some concerns with Ode perhaps being ... " Jinnjahl frowns, thinking, "not grounded enough in reality, perhaps? ... to be the best leader. But I have concerns about *any* of us being the best leader. I was hoping for Dolar, actually; she's getting training for her problems with most planets ... anyway, I think you should give Ode more of a chance. He's got problems. So do we all."

"I..." Patin hesitates, then continues, "I know. I -like- Ode. But he's not a leader; not now, and maybe not ever. You guys chose him as leader, well, maybe not you specifically, but the group, and if it's not going to work out, I'd rather it happened sooner rather than later. Then maybe I can have my chance."

"I totally missed you wanted it, as opposed to thought you'd be best at it," JInnjahl admits. "But -- well, it's not that Ode's qualified, it's that none of us are qualified. Can you honestly say you wouldn't be doing something similar to Dolar? She'd've been my pick because she's already in study to work around her weaknesses, but she suggested Ode."

Later, the two are ushered almost immediately into Brande’s office. His space in Meridian City is surprisingly small considering - just one level of a floor - but the staff are all busily working away. Brandes corner office is packed with memorabilia of his cast travels. His outsized personality hits them as soon as they enter

"My Young Lions! How are you, and what beasts are you stalking this time?"

"Thieves," Patin says. "Rather specialized ones, who seem to steal only plans for top of the line ship parts from the top companies in the field. The problem is, it doesn't seem like most outfits--criminal or not--would be set up to be able to take advantage of this kind of information. And one of the thieves is a Gander, which doesn't link anywhere in specific, since I know they're -not- backed by Felos, and Ganders who don't work for us are pretty rare, particularly off-planet.

"Harrumph" the man grumps through his mustache. "Industrial espionage is for amateurs. Can't stand the stuff. So logically you find the people I can't stand and they will be at the center of it."

Jinnjahl, listening silently, flips open a pad. She sketches a common model of ship, then makes something more like a technical drawing, and starts shading in the systems that we know or guess have had plans stolen.

"I can stand Felos so clearly it's not you," he says, pouring a glass of glass of dark amber liquid into an ice-filled tumbler and then cocking an eyebrow at the girls to see if either wants some. "Ice tea? I let the punters think it's peat whisky, but no secrets from you two."

"Yes, please," Patin says, "very clever."

"I would like some as well, thank you," Jinnjahl says.

"I never could stand the old Cosmos Construction Group, shipbuilding monopoly, but I drove them belly up 20 years back. This could be someone trying to revive."

"Well, that makes sense," Patin responds. "They come on strong and cheap with a vertical nobody else can match, drive out their competitors and lock in contracts with major shipping combines, ideally tied to market rates, then when nobody can afford to start a new manufacturer, jack up their rates and everyone suffers except them, but nobody can afford to start something new...how did you beat them?"

JInnjahl makes a note in the margin of her pad, "Cosmos Construction Group ~20 years ago."

She adds (as a note, not aloud), "Can plans stolen be filed SEALED w/ SP?"

"Grit!" the business magnate responds. "Basically, I did the reverse of what you described. Cosmos had gotten moribund. Too slow, too big. I funded three lean and mean competitors in each part of the supply chain, gave them the financial depth they needed to keep from being crushed early on. Had to. Border skirmishes were up, the Dominators were making plans, and Cosmos was slowing down both our military and trade capacity. Once there were surviving competitors, military contracts shifted." he takes a drink, "Less efficient in terms of multiple companies, but cheaper in the long run because of Cosmos' skimming and delays."

"Most of Cosmos big shareholders jumped ship when they saw it happen, but a few rode that sucker down into insolvency."

Brand taps a couple of keys on his desk, calling up a hologram of a blonde Wynathian male with thin features, pinned back long ginger hair, and a formal coat, “Ande Liel, former VP of Systems Development for Cosmos, I think he lost everything. He’s still on New Meridian. Scrapes out a living running a nightclub.”

Recap!

Faraday Pklan, daughter of a Janus Interstellar executive, came to the Legion with grainy video evidence of an invisible thief stealing data from her mother’s computers, and suspicions of a larger string of similar thefts. This coincided with Diskette’s warnings from her brother of an invisible-to-technology Ganderian thief operating in New Metropolis. Ganderians are the primary race of winged humanoids on the planet run by the Felos Corporation, Diskette’s family business, which makes its money on interstellar trade.

Research confirmed that the thefts had been happening, and that the targets were all companies that made starship components, the largest vendors in their respective ship systems. The only systems that has not had plans stolen yet are Life Support. Interviews have nailed down two distinct possibilities:

1) Someone intends to use these plans to target United Planets vessels weak points. This would be consistent with piracy (to be able to quickly disable ships without damaging their cargo) or warfare (the need for faster and better ship development to face the Dominator threat was why RJ Brande broke up the Cosmos Construction Group 20 years ago, creating the companies that are now being targeted).

2) Someone intends to use these plans to quickly recreate Cosmos, creating a vertically integrated ship construction monopoly by snapping up third tier system construction companies, consolidating them and using the stolen plans to leap into a first-tier market position. It’s audacious but not impossible. Doing so would require both large amounts of cash and an inside track on several client lines (including the government).

Tok and Dolar have identified the next likely target – NYK Systemic, the top manufacturer of life support systems, the only piece missing from a whole ship. Their design chief, Tyne Shelle is residing on New Metropolis for 5 months; as the other thefts happened at private residences, she is the likely target.

Olles Senn, reporter for the Daily Planet, is working the story for Mr. Music and Bubble Boy, trying to see if anyone is quietly making the third-tier company purchases needed for this to work. He will successfully do so, pointing the heroes at the investment firm Red Sun, long considered to be a money laundering operation for criminal enterprises.

RJ Brande, talking to Miss Anima and Diskette, has identified Anders Liel as a former Cosmos executive who lost everything in Brande’s destruction of Cosmos and now runs a nightclub in New Metropolis – the readers, but not yet the PCs, will recognize him as the man who directed the attempt on Brande’s life (Story 1), the crashing of the Tellagi shuttle on Bat Island (Story 3) and the attempt to kill Hardo Senn to stop any investigation in the shuttle crash (Story 5).

Page 3 Top Tier: Planning

The LSH members have converged on the HQ, exchanged notes and are beginning to plan... The strange thing found in the cargo bay scurries by, chasing a ball of yarn.

Jinnjahl is in favor of putting all our eggs in one basket and keeping them there until we have jetpacks. Spreading out will be less risky once we have more mobility, so let's concentrate on the target for now.

Dolar agrees. “It makes more sense to unravel a tangled thread from its end than to grab at its center. And caching the thief will also make it more difficult for his employer to complete his plans, whatever they may be."

Ode nods.

"Well, Ode," Patin says, "It's your decision--personally, I'd rather spread out and have a better chance of catching a lead, but it's not my call."

"I'm going to sit this one out," Tok says, "I need to work on the backpacks if they're to be ready in time."

(Tok was keeping his project close to the vest, so while Dolar has tested his early prototype and presumably the cat's out of the bag to the rest of the team, it's never been stated outright so aside from some prescient letters, the readers don't know yet).

Gorvo says, "Let's stick together. We don't know what the thief is really capable of, and I'd rather avoid another drubbing like Black Mace gave us.”

Dolar shifts into a form that shows agreement with the analysis of a peer, and flashes a quick, shy, smile at Gorvo. “True. Until we know whether he can do more than fly and evade detection, we are safer working as one."

The strange thing from the cargo hold scrambles by again, being chased by the ball of yarn, while Dolar points to two places on the holographic map.

“There are ledges and alcoves above and below his window. If some of us hide above and others hide below, chance should favor us seeing the thief. But afterwards, should we follow him, or try to capture him?"

Jinnjahl adds, “We need someone near the apartment's door, in case someone tries to leave that way. How breakable are the windows? Patin would probably have an easy time shutting them....”

Gorvo points to the inside. “I can get in here. If it turns out the thief tries to get out through the apartment my fields can force the door and contain him.”

Mr. Music nods, “The let’s put Metal Lass and Miss Anima on this rooftop with the garden; Diskette, you and I will keep watch from this roof here. That should give us unobstructed view of the target on all sides. “

Page 3 Middle Tier: Metal Lass and Miss Anima

Glancing around the rooftop garden, Dolar finds a group of decorative plants to screen the pair of teenage sleuths from unfriendly eyes and sinks into a comfortable cross-legged meditative position under one of the trees. Pulling out a small pair of binoculars, she scans the sky and the window they’re watching.

JInnjahl transfers a picture into each of several pockets, pulls out a pad and pencil, and starts to sketch the scene. If she *is* seen, she's busy with an apparently-innocent activity. "Do you think you could shut the window and fuse the frame from here?"

[BR: Outside of a combat situation this is in range for her powers; she could get some of the metal parts to twist around each other, yes.]

Dolar silently calls to the metal in the building across the way until she feels it singing back to her. Satisfied, she looks up at Jinnjahl and smiles. “Yes, I can hear its echo. As long as I don’t have to act too quickly, I should be able to coax it into a new shape. Lifting her binoculars back to her eyes, she shifts into the form that shows confusion caused by a breach of manners. “Jinnjahl, tell me. Have I given Patin offense? She has been very brusque of late."

Page 3 Bottom Tier: Mr. Music, Diskette

Two other members of the team are perched in a different place, waiting for their opportunity. Mr. Music can hear the tonality of repressed anger in every breath Diskette takes....

"I voted for you," he says, softly.

"Yeah, well," Patin sighs, then continues. "So did I."

"And when we voted, it was a promise to abide by the results and not about them."

"It's not...I'm trying. But it's not that I'm used to being in charges. At home, I'm the baby, the useless one who is outranked by everyone. And even when they send me out on my own, there's always an officer or board member who can override me, and does. I thought...I thought this would be different."

"You need to make it different," says Ode. "Be a leader. You know a leader doesn't undercut everything another leader does just because they're not in charge. If I'm doing something wrong, say it's wrong."

"Well, that's the point, isn't it?" Patin asks, "I shouldn't be telling people what to do when you're supposed to be leading. But you don't lead--you're nice, and make suggestions, but someone needs to herd the cats."

Ode's thought balloon has the team all looking like cats, except for Patin, who's trying unsuccessfully to herd them.

"Brother Bokke's not in charge of anything," says Ode. "He's got a better ear than our choirmaster. It hurts him when someone's a note off. Is it like that for you when someone makes a bad decision?"

[I used an alien name generator. I didn't use "Glit Fallapadax", but it's an awesome name that should be used somewhere.]

Patin shakes her head sadly, "Oh, Ode. It's nothing like that at all. You didn't do anything wrong. It's all me."

"I know," says Ode. He's silent a moment, then says, "Brother Bokke offered to practice with me my first year. I don't know how he stood it. It must have been very painful. And after ten days of this, the choirmaster started giving me extra lessons and exercises. Scales, mostly. And every fifth day, Brother Bokke joined us. Said he needed the practice."

There's a flashback picture of the elderly choirmaster conducting. Bokke's balloon has elegant curved notes and is surrounded by harps and singing birds. Ode's balloon has jumbled up notes tangled in their own sharps and flats, surrounded by space cats and lunar lizards duking it out with gusto.

"Choirmaster's tone deaf," says Ode. "Took me years to figure that out."

"I have no idea what's going on in your head," Patin says. "Or what this story has to do with anything. Except, I guess, that you mean that setting a good example can be better leadership than actually being in charge.

"You're not wrong. More importantly, I'm not helping anyone with my extended temper tantrum. Least of all, me. So look; you try to be the best leader you can be, and I'll help by telling you when I'm sure your wrong, not just not doing things the way I would--and being the best teammate I can be. Deal?"

"Deal," says Ode, solomnly.

Close up on handshake.

Ode cocks his head. "What's that noise? Look there!"

Page 4 Top Tier: Bubble Boy

Gorvo waits patiently outside the building, busing himself with his communicator looking at ads from local clubs to look inconspicuous and, when someone exits, slips into the building. A force field bubble prevents the elevator from closing, but inside the small chamber there's a keycard/voice ID lock staring at him... The university dorms don't have these, but high end corporate apartment buildings apparently have tighter security...

"Blasted bosons!" mutters Gorvo, as he slips back out.

He is able to pop open the emergency stair with a force field bubble, and looks up at the 30+ flights to get to his destination....

"Looks like I'm going to get my exercise for today... and the rest of the week! Where's Diskette when you need her?"

He begins the long slog to the top, trying to keep his head down and out of sight of any security cameras he might encounter.

The next panel is a string of 50 tiny Chris Ware like panels of Gorvo climbing steps in a spiral pattern before we get to him on the appropriate floor, the colorist playing with her palette to make the Tellagi youth look a bit flushed in his blue-green skin. He makes it about halfway down the hall to the target apartment (there are three apartments per floor) when he hears barking coming from behind one of the other doors, giving him a split second of time before that door opens.

He reacts as quickly as he can, pinning himself to the ceiling with a tight force bubble and hoping for the best as he lies flat against the tiles.

We have a scene of the apartment dweller exiting with her small yappy dog. The dog is going nuts - barking and leaping as high as it can over and over - to reach the Tellagi youth pinned to the ceiling while the elderly woman with purple skin and fringed ears fiddles with her door lock, checks her watch, straightens her purse a bit and then pulls the dog along, never looking up. As she gets on the elevator Gorvo is able to see that her neck is a single fused bone ridge, so she is incapable of looking up. But it's likely in a second she'll turn around before the elevator doors close.

Gorvo reaches out with his force field to press the 'Close Door' button, in so doing managing to mash several other floors. "Oops, sorry lady," he whispers to himself as the door slide shut.

He drops back to the floor and goes looking for the right apartment.

There's another Chris Ware panel of 50 panels showing that poor woman in the elevator as it dings on every level going down.

Gorvo finds the right apartment easily enough. The corridor has a dizzying effect of 'windows' - several flat panel screens showing the view outside of the apartment building - to make up for how it is completely enclosed. We end this row with an image of Gorvo looking out one of those windows...

Page 4 Middle Tier, Miss Anima, Metal Lass, Bubble Boy

And the next tier opens with the same view Gorvo was looking at, save that there is a flickering outline of a winged figure approaching the building. The figure is mostly camouflaged by some sort of hologram field.

The four Legionnaires outside, while talking to each other, are all alert enough to spot the flickering space of air as it alights on the side of the building. The figure lands feet first at a 90-degree angle to the building, somehow adhering to outside wall, then squatting down manipulate the window. The combination of the camouflage field - which is clearly designed to mask him to the sky and is less useful against the building - and his wings make it hard to see what he's doing.

[BR: So I really wanted a scene of everyone outside continuing to talk, argue, gossip and natter as White Raptor landed and got to work, Everyone got d% rolls vs. Intelligence to see if they spotted the incoming camouflaged figure. the dice came up 06, 01, 13 and 01. Everyone made it. Ah well...]

Panel 1

[angled across Dolar and Jinnjahl, so we can see them a little in the bottom of the panel, with the action taking place in the middle distance of the building below them. Gorvo’s voice is coming from the comms units.]

On the roof, the Metaxian’s body suddenly tenses and shifts to a form showing the need for thought before taking action. Under her breath, she hisses, “Wait! What’s that?”

"I assume it's who we're waiting for," Jinnjahl replies, her hand hovering over several pictures indecisively. "But we need him inside." Her hand rests on a sketch of Darvish. (Force fields sound handy for a fight which might be largely in midair, and might give an opportunity to catch a fleeing foe, and Darvish has reason to be grateful. On the other hand, uncle could go unseen and climb down the building – but what, once he does so?)

Gorvo hisses into his intercom, "Get undercover! Once he's inside we can delay him but out there if we spook him, he's gone." He stares at the locked apartment door, wondering if he’ll be forced to break in.

With a curt nod, Dolar gracefully kneels behind the raised ledge of the roof.

Panel 2

[The camera moved forward, so we are now seeing just over Dolar’s back, point of view is about a yard behind her]

The heroes watch as the camouflage field updates, and their quarry blends in with the side of the building. Knowing where he was they can still make him out, but for the casual viewer he would be nigh-unnoticeable, save for when he moves. He’s clearly doing something, because after a moment he has slid the window open (doubtless overriding the security alarms) and slipped into the building. The windows are large, easily big enough to accommodate his wings, but in all likelihood _shouldn’t_ open as much as they did, given the apartment’s height.

Dolar lifts the intercom to her lips, whispering, “He’s in the apartment! I will try to seal the window now, and if he tries to escape through the door, Bubble Boy is in the hallway. Someone must notify the Science Police and warn them that their target can fly!”

Panel 3

[POV has pulled back to so the now open window in the middle distance but can clearly see both Metal lass and Miss Anima take action.]

Stretching her arms out as she stands, Metal Lass begins the precise movements of the pattern “Small Vines Grow Toward the Stream”, focusing her attention on the metal in the window frame.

With some difficulty, as if there is some sort of interference, Dolar takes hold of the metal of the window frame.

[Power cost is 5, she has 39 power remaining]

[DK: Dolar plans to stretch more-or-less evenly spaced tendrils of metal out of the window frame to create bars across it. Once the open window is done, she’ll repeat the task on the other windows in the apartment.]

[BR: There isn’t enough metal to make those terribly thick, but it should slow him down if he has to break them. Doing the other 3 windows will leave you pretty tired but it’s doable; by the time you’re done you’ll be down 15 power and have 29 power remaining.]

Since Dolar has gone for the windows, Jinnjahl rethinks her plan of calling Darvish Mal (another Tellagi of Gorvo’s acquaintance) and instead touches the picture of her uncle Lardonn. (She can animate Darvish if the metal on the window starts warping.)

[Power cost is 8, she has 38 power remaining]

“And where are we today, Little One?” Lardonn asks.

She explains to her uncle, "A mostly invisible flying person down below -" she indicates the general area where Dolar is working on the windows - "has just gone inside an apartment to steal blueprints. Could you help my friends find him? We saw him go in, but I'm not certain we'll see him again if we don't know where to look."

“He is in there, yes, and unsuspecting.”

Page 4, Bottom Tier, Mr. Music, Diskette, Bubble Boy

[These panels are showing the same things as the ones in the middle tier, just from the angle of Patin and Ode, with more or less the same POV shifts]

Panel 1

"Ok, so what's the plan, boss" Diskette says cheerfully.

"Um. Get him? I can hit him with this." He pulls out a brightly colored ball.

"That's...a good idea, but I'm not carrying you over there. I'll make sure you get your chance."

Panel 2

Diskette taps the ground near them, flashes a smile in the dark, and jumps, redirecting her movement with a typical "instant pole" maneuver to land on a second disc right outside the window.

Meanwhile, back on the ledge, Ode pauses, looking at where Diskette was. "It is?" he asks the air.

Gorvo is waiting in the corridor with a bubble ready over the doorway to impede the burglar's escape, when he hears Diskette's exchange with Mr. Music over the comms. He mutters to himself, "Don't get cocky, Diskette."

Fidgeting outside the apartment door, he asks over the headset comms: "What's our next move, Mr. Music?"

Panel 3

[POV is still from Mr. Music’s position, showing the action in the middle distance, again mirroring the panels above. There are some odd vertical lines at the top of the panel in the window, which seem like stray ink/movement lines, but aren't.]

Diskette crouches and dives through the open window, but as she does so, bars slide down from above, sealing the window and trapping her foot between them.

Panel ends with her foot sticking out of the barred window.

Mr Music, watching this from a distance, calls the Science Police. "This is Mr. Music from the Legion. We're about to engage a flying thief..." he says optimistically.

Page 5 Whole Team

Panel 1 [The view is the room, with a cut out of the wall so we can see Gorvo on the other side of it listening to the heavy thud of Diskette sprawled on the wall. Diskette is sprawled out in center-panel, her hands resting on a portal she used to stop her fall (down 3 power for portals total).

"Hiya," she says, pulling on her foot, which remains trapped. "Oof. Sorry to interrupt," *pull*, "but can't have Ganders committing crimes on other worlds. Makes us Felos look bad."

The armored, winged man - who now that she's close to him Patin would place at late teens - looks down at her with a smirk. "You need help doing that?"

"Usually, yeah."

[BR Patin is sprawled and temporarily stuck. Gorvo is on the far side of the door. Everyone else is outside, and tanks to Jinnjahl's uncle people know what's going on in there. What's the plan? Diane, is Dolar going to block the other windows?]

[DK: She will indeed keep on making metal vines across the windows. The hope is to make the easiest path of escape for him the front door, where he could get stuck in one of Gorvo’s fields. But personally, I’d love if he’s covered in glitter first.]

Ode finally answers Gorvo's question. "Keep him contained. And give Patin a hand."

"Gotcha, boss," Gorvo replies. From his side of the door he shouts. "Open up! Sign of Peace!" and hopes that the muffled sound through the door and forcefield give the intruder pause and perhaps confuse him into assuming the Science Police are outside.

Round 1

28: White Raptor (he wins the tie because he's higher level) Jerking his at the banging and yelling outside (and it does appear he heard "Science Police"), the armor-clad Ganderian extends a hand to the blinking computer interface. A small gyrojet launches itself from the data port into his wrist, where another port had slid open to swallow the missile. He swings around, and sees the other exits from the room are even more closed - both barred and with the plassteel windows in place - as the one that Diskette is, um, occupying. The boy seems Genuinely conflicted as another missile launcher pops out of a shoulder mount and trains on where Patin's ankle is bound up and vulnerable.

"Blast it..." he mutters, and then launches two missiles at the other window. "Felos or no I can't cripple you..."

The first missile shatters the window, the second takes out the bars and the Ganderian leaps for the exit....

[BR: he's about to make it out of the room, but because of the various ways of blocking the exits he won't make it out until his next action. Diane, you have control of a bunch of metal shards from where he shattered the bars, but not enough metal there to re-block the window. And he only has a small number of explosive missiles, so you guys have cost him dearly in resources and proof that he was here already.]

28: Diskette But the delay has provided the half prone Diskette the time she needed to act!

"That's nice of you," Diskette says, "But I'm hardly helpless." Two vertical discs appear simultaneously -- one (linked to the pavement below), not enough to block the window, but enough to slow Raptor down a bit, and the other, directly above his path, linked to the area she tapped near Mr. Music, from which the light in the room glows, and from which Diskette's voice can be heard, as she finishes "Although it would be nice if some of the 'help' I got was actually helpful!"

17: Miss Anima, Mr. Music [BR Miss Anima is on the high rooftop with her uncle, Mr. Music is on the low rooftop] Miss Anima touches the sketch she'd drawn of Darvesh and pushes energy into it. Assuming this has its normal results, she indicates the area below them and explains, "There's a winged thief in the apartment with the foot sticking out of the window. Hopefully he won't be able to be semi-invisible with glitter stuck to him, but he was before. Would you help us catch him?"

Darvish bites her adorable lip. “I can try…”

Ode hastily drops his glitter grenade into the area Diskette showed him. The glitter bomb drops smoothly down the hole, reappearing to smack the thief right on the head. Glitter goes everywhere, except for Patin's face, which she instinctively covers with a shield.

"What the!?!" Raptor sputters.

16: Bubble Boy, Metal Lass [BR: Bubble boy is outside the door, Metal Lass is on the high rooftop] Gorvo hears some of the commotion inside from the mini-missile explosions. He can't hold himself back and forces the door with a good heave of force-field oomph. "Diskette! Diskette! Are you okay?" he calls out for his impetuous friend.

"Yes, I'm fine, just trapped for now," Diskette answers. "Seems our thief is a thief, not a killer--which I appreciate.

Oh, no hurry on freeing me from these bars, by the way, which...oh, that'll work." It's not Diskette's action, so it won't have an effect until she needs to dodge or her next action, but Diskette finally realizes the solution to her dilemma isn't to put herself into a portal this time, but to use a portal or two to widen the hole her foot is stuck in, taking advantage of the small amount of play to put small portal spacers between her foot and the bars, and then just widen them.

Dolar’s eyes widen as the metal bars' song splinters into a chorus. With a grim look she shifts into the form called “The Snake Surrounds Its Prey”, concentrating as the tiny shards of metal fuse and lengthen into a pair of cords that can wrap themselves around the flying thief once he shows his head.

Gorvo presses his force field and pushes hard, trying to knock the door open. Bracing the field on the floor and surrounding walls, Bubble Boy expands it suddenly, popping the lock open and sending the door swinging rapidly in on its hinges. it bounces off the wall, flies back, rebounds from the field again and remains open.

Bubble Boy reaches out to snag the thief in a bubble, but the bouncing door blocking his vision prevents clear aiming. By the time he has a line of sight the thief is already in motion

[BR: Force field base is 16, less 2 for Level vs. Level Attack Base is 14, +1 for Accuracy. Roll is a 16, so a near miss.]

13: White Raptor "Oh, Grife," Raptor mutters, "So much for this score."

[BR: Mechanically speaking, he is setting up an Evasion and using his movement to fly away. He has to make an Acrobatics check to get around Diskette's intervening disk and out the window, which he does, rolling a 51% out of 69%. [The winged guy has heightened agility! shocker!] The Evasion gives him a -5 to be hit. [it would have been -6, but you forced him to make a multiple attack last action, which cost him 2 Power].

Patin feels the air in the room hammer her as the Ganderian drives his powerful wings through it. He dodges nimbly around Diskette's intervening disk and out the shattered window... directly to the waiting ambushes!

[BR: Metal Lass' Held Action. I am making a quick ruling here, in that normally a magnetics powers character would be able to fire 'blasts' as magnetics for a high Power Cost or attack people with metal objects to attack people as HTH for no more cost than punching them. This isn't an option for Metal Lass, who doesn't actually control magnetic energy. As such I'm giving Diane the option at any time to attack as Magnetics with metal objects indicating that Metal lass is focusing lots of her willpower and concentration into the attack, or as HTH for a less intense attack. Given how tricky this attack is, I am also assuming she us using the full Magnetics, PR 5. Metal Lass's power score is down to 24.]

[BR: Magnetic Powers has a base of 13, +1 for her Agility, +2 for attacking from the side = 16. Level vs. Level is -2, Evasion Modifier is -5, target = 9. Roll is a 6, so she hits! 'damage' roll for the entanglement is cut to half base because of the limited amount of metal she has to work with, the roll on d8 is a 2, +2 for her Ht. Attack = 4 pts of impairment at structural rating 3]

[BR: Darvish Mal's Held Action. Darvish is not an experienced combatant, and the Force Field attack already has a great chance to hit because it's meant to encircle or wall people off, so no facing modifiers. Force Field as a base of 16, Level vs. Level is -3, Evasion is -5, target = 8. Roll is a 15.]

As soon as the figure is visible Darvish tries to capture him in a Force Bubble, but the winged boy is simply too quick and agile for the Tellagi scientist, who ends up encasing a piece of empty air.

The combat seasoned Legionnaire fares much better, as Metal Lass her trap in the space that White Raptor would have to dodge in order to escape. Even then it is a close won thing: a less dedicated and mindful Metaxian would never have been able to hold together as many of the metal shards as she did, nor form them into a wire mesh in time, but even her skill has limits as the wire is binding up the youth's left arm and legs. He is hindered, certainly, but his wings are far from clipped.

Her attack has prevented him from really putting distance between himself and the building, but he is already at a difficult distance for the Legionnares to use their powers on him. He is, however, visible in all his glittery glory.

13: Diskette "Well, here goes nothing," Patin says, and drops into a hole that appears beneath her --- into another hole in in mid air outside the building -- and into (or on a failure, possibly past) the Raptor [ from whatever angle is easiest to draw; probably front or side]. "Missed me?"

[BR: base HTH is a 5 (since she's not trying to fence her Ht. Expertise doesn't apply), +4 for her Agility, +4 for facing modifier, -2 for Level vs Level = 11. Roll is a 4. Since she's not doing damage this qualifies as a single attack... also because he worked in Metal Lass' prior action, and that counts for something.]

Patin's slender frame slams into the already bound boy, sending both of them spiraling down between the buildings before Raptor rights himself.

"Are you _trying_ to get killed?" the thief asks with some amazement.

"Not particularly," Patin responds cheerfully and somewhat breathlessly, "I'm just not all that afraid of falling. A lot less than I was a few seconds ago, actually. Why are you stealing starship part plans?"

"No jobs at the soda shop," he says with a grin.

2: Miss Anima, Mr. Music Ode starts playing the 59th Street Bridge Song, also known as "Feeling Groovy".

[Now, whether that'll slow down Raptor or everyone? That's an interesting question. Slow-mo glittery chases, anyone?]

[BR: that's actually your choice to target 1 person (Power cost is 8 per success) or an area (cost is 8 per use); Unfortunately, the attack roll is a 20, so there's no chance of it hitting Raptor. I am willing to entertain side effects...]

The music washes over the field of battle. From her close grappling position Diskette is able to see the youth's deep violet eyes under is goggles light up, and the tense muscles of his strong jaw slacken slightly, giving him a much more pleasing countenance. She feels her own pulse beat in time with the rhythm and the Ganderian's heart for just an instant... and then both throw off the effect in their struggles.

Would such a moment ever be recaptured? Or are they enemies for life?

[JK: I thought about finding a way to add to this; it's too perfect, I can't!]

Jinnjahl reaches hesitantly for a notebook, then pulls back -- no. She already has two people moving, and adding a third when she has a friend clinging to a flier in midair, and someone would get thrown into a chaotic situation -- well, okay, maybe Officer Erin, but we can't really stun Raptor in midair, and what else could a Science Police officer with their standard gear do? She takes her communicator instead and starts streaming video to the Science Police.

"This is Jinnjahl, ah, Miss Anima; Mr. Music contacted you a moment ago. The thief is in the air, we're still trying to apprehend him...."

She looks at her uncle. "If he gets away, can you track him for a couple of minutes?"

He nods, “I shall try, but the boy is strong willed.”

Darvish is clearly hesitating, “I’m ready to catch Patin if she falls off.”

1: Bubble Boy, Metal Lass Metal Lass’s eyes are wide as she watches the airborne struggle. “Bubble Boy!”, she shouts into her communicator, “If I throw something, can you bounce it onto him with your field?”

[DK: The idea here is to throw one of the small metal balls from her pouch at the building while shifting it into a bolo, but have Gorvo bounce it into range and onto White Raptor. Even if it fails this time, it’s still setting up a teamwork exercise that might work in later episodes.]

Gorvo replies, "I can give it my best shot!" He recalls his games of Bubble Tennis on Tallag and prepares to return the ball thrown by Metal Lass towards the flying thief. "Fire away!" he calls to his team mate as he dashes to the open window and manipulates his force field into a shape half-way between a jai alai scoop and a tennis racket.

[BR: super heroes of the future - all entangling attacks, all the time. Being hemmed down with the netting + Diskette is keeping his Evasion from working as it should, but the dice rolls still weren't in your favor - 17 for the attack]

The sphere flies under Metal Lass' power down towards Bubble Boy and away from the thief, shifting in air to take the form of a weighted cord that would hopefully further complicate Raptor's life. Gorvo, after a moment of eye contact with Dolar, cradles and redirects the weapon with a mighty shove of his force fields, sending it hurtling the distance across the New Metropolis skyline to where Diskette and Raptor are wrestling.

The spinning weights get closer, closer, and then alas goes slightly wide, the leftmost one clanging with some force against the plastic/ceramic compound of White Raptor's leg armor and generating a shower of glitter down into the street below that is aesthetically pleasing on Miss Anima's recording of the thief's presence.

Round 2

28: White Raptor (he wins the tie because he's higher level) flinches from the impact, then says "I hope you know what you're doing, Felos,"

There is a distinctive 'snikt' as polycarbonate talons spring from sheathing on his free hand and with a slash he severs all of the wires holding binding him up - the same wires Diskette was using to keep hold of him!

Raptors wings hammer the air and he spins sideways, losing not just the sliced wire but the Legion's resident fencer in sharp bank turn that will quickly take him out of site of the Legion down a side street.

[BR: it's SR3 wire, and 4 pts of impairment, so he has to do at least 3 points to do anything, which takes out the first 3 point block 'cubic foot'. He has a 1d6 basic HTH +1d4 for the claws = 7 points. That's enough to slice through the entangle. He is at expanding distance and still has Evasion running till his next action.]

Patin feels a moment of free fall before she stops suddenly in mid air, held there by a Tellagi force bubble. Standing next to Miss Anima, Darvish Mal, concentrating fiercely and biting her lip so hard that a trickle of blue-tinged blood is seeping from it, is extending her power to its utmost to keep the Legionnaire from falling.

Page 6 Whole team

"Children," Jinnjahl's Uncle Lardonn says through Jinnjahl's communicator, "When Diskette asked him his mission, I saw where he was going to complete his transaction...."

Gorvo, leaning from damaged apartment window, receives Uncle Lardonn's announcement with a grin. "What are we waiting for? Let's get there before him and clip those wings!"

"He's faster than us," Diskette says, jumping through a portal and taking off running on a rooftop, "and while he can't match a fast aircar's velocity, he can take routes an aircar can't and is already in the sky. I'll follow him and see if I can get him to slow down, one way or another, you all get ahead of him. I'm sure he can lose me--eventually. But not with a direct route, and that's what I'm counting on."

Of course, neither Diskette nor Raptor are particularly capable of easy stealth, with both mostly covered in glitter. The artists are going to hate us.

Ode opens his mouth to point out the glitter problem, closes it, and says, "Let's go!"

(JK; Oh, come on, you're not going to give me a straight line? I thought that was part of what Ode was for!)

His eyes follow Diskette, though, and his thought balloon says, "She's going to hate me."

(His head tour: His big finale number is interrupted by a furious Diskette teleporting in, still dripping with glitter.)

Dolar turns to Jinnjahl, elbows crooked in the form used to show amusement at a companion’s enthusiasm. “I’ll call us an aircar. Could you pass the location your uncle has learned on to the Science Police? They may want to meet us there."

“Children,” Uncle lardon says, “I believe you have some time. He has made one sale already, to these women at the spaceport this morning,” an image appears in their minds of two women in customized space suits, “and this evening he is completing the second sale with this man,” another image, this time of a man who Gorvo and Ode recognize as the one who sprung the tellagi animal trap on Hardo Senn a few weeks back, who at the time Ode recognized as the litter mate of the mercenary who they saved on Bat Island, “over dinner at the rooftop terrace restaurant of the Hotel Diplomatique.”

Lardonn smiles, “Glad to see that’s re-opened for business,” he says, recalling the last time this animation appeared at the Hotel.

"They rebuilt quickly," Jinnjahl responds to her uncle, pencils still working.

"Let's update the Science Police and set another trap," says Ode. "Maybe get this new customer out of the picture and meet him ourselves."

“The fact that Uncle Lardonn could pluck his appearance from the thief’s mind means he knows who he is supposed to be meeting,” Dolar replies. “And he can easily flee into the sky if he believes something is amiss.” She shifts into a form representing concentration on alternative possibilities. “If Jinnjahl could draw the man our thief is supposed to meet, perhaps we could delay the real contact and slip our copy into his place?”

"I ... think this is a man we've met before, so maybe I could, but I don't generally ask people I animate to do things the original wouldn't want to," Jinnjahl says, "and he's probably a criminal who wouldn't want to, because the information he's buying belongs to a corporation and wouldn't get sold over dinner. I'm really nervous about trying to draw someone from memory and then trying to force him to do something. And even if I weren't ... the people I animate are only people in short spurts of time, but they *are* people, and ... um. Anyway, I'd rather talk to the hotel and see if we can get the place bugged so we can *prove* if he's a criminal. That also gives us the best chance to find out if the flying man actually managed to get any information. I don't think he had long enough, but we didn't see what he did when we were inside. I'm sure the corporation would like to be able to *know* they didn't have a data theft, and not merely *think* they didn't have a data theft."

She takes an outline of the two women, puts the sketchpad where her communicator (still broadcasting to the SP and still recording) can see it, pulling out a collection of colored pencils from her skirt while it sits there, then picks up the sketchpad and starts adding color, occasionally adding a line of outline when coloring in the sketch seems to call for it.

"I think this is backwards," Diskette says. "The Gander -- well, I want to stop him, of course, he's embarassing. But if we stop him and don't do anything about his clients, they'll just hire someone else, maybe someone with fewer scruples. Our focus has to be on catching his clients. We've speculated about two motivations: Someone trying to recreate that monopoly group, and someone just getting details because the specs will be useful for piracy. So what if it's both?"

The next tier is a shot of the Hotel Diplomatique rooftop restaurant. Ode is 'undercover' as one of the musicians in the rooftop band, while Gorvo and Dolar are sitting at one of the tables wearing clothing that, while in style, shades or obscures their features, looking nothing more like a couple of young students out on an expensive date, with their university carryalls dropped nearby to hold Future Boy's 'secret weapons'. They can glance over to the bar and see Officer Erin there nursing a drink, a quick dye job having hidden her her distinctive ginger hair under a more sedate dark purple.

Across the street are Jinnjahl, Patin, and Tok. The panel is cut to not show the secret weapons, but they are wearing classic 'jetpacks' of Science Fiction stories across the galaxy, save that Future Boy's designs actually...er...hopefully work.

The presumptive buyer of the stolen merchandise - Ode and Gorvo are able to confirm that it is the fellow who sicced a harun on them some weeks back - is sitting at a table for two, casually looking at the menu and awaiting his party.

The Legionnaires almost miss their target when he walks in - the lithe, ebon-skinned man looks nothing like their quarry (not the least because he doesn't have any wings), but Future Boy's keen intellect captures how the figure is moving carefully through the crowd, as if there were something on his back... something hidden from view that he has to keep out of the way.

""The Flying Man is on his way in," Future Boy says, motormouth for a moment discarded for the tone of the procedural, "He's walking, not flying, his skin darkened to look like newsprint. You can tell him by the way he won't let anyone get more than a few feet behind him; bet he's got hs wings covered in nanotubes or the like.

The ebon-skinned man settles himself carefully in the chair as his buyer orders them a pair of drinks. "any problems?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," the disguised Ganderian says. "You should find everything you need on here..."

He slides a conventional data stick across the table (nothing like the complex gyrojet one the heroes saw him employ earlier). The presumptive buyer doesn't move towards it.

"What do you mean 'nothing you couldn't handle'?" He starts scanning the crowd, looking angry and nervous.

[BR: is anyone acting at this point? There's a good chance that he might walk at this point, and while you might be able to make a case for 'conspiracy to commit' charges they are weak sauce if he doesn't accept the data stick; Ode as a fan of mystery fiction would know this.]

[LP: Is Ode in range and able to make music discretely, i.e., without blowing this? If so, he'll play to try to allay worry and suspicion in the client and inflate confidence. While it's possible Ode could make the desire for the stick stronger, that gets into dubious legal ground even faster than the other.]

[BR: One of Ode's baseline emotional states is 'calm', so yes, you can tamp down on his worries and suspicions. and since the roll was a 1, you can do so with subtlety, ease, and, dare I say, aplomb. And 8 points of power for a successful 1 target use]

Ode breaks into a very subtle, calm guitar riff that doesn't run too counter to the flow of the music. The other musicians in the (normally quartet, now quintet) who had agreed to let the young hero jam with them follow the riff with an imperceptible hiccup, supporting Ode's carefully targeted attempt.

The disguised Raptor pauses for just a second, then sees the suspicious look in his clients eyes die down and abandons his complex lie in favor of generalities, "Every job has complications, you should know that. I get paid so you don't have to worry about them.'

The buyer stops scanning the crowd and nods his head, satisfied with the thief's blase explanation. "Paid a damn sight more than others do," he says, and wraps his hand around the data stick, pulling it over to insert it into a handheld reader to check the contents.

[BR: Go/No Go? you can wait until he's checked it, or wait until he's paid, or wait until both men finish their drinks and head out.... There hasn't been a hand off of money, but there may not be - you do have a record of payment being discussed. if you let him insert the stick there's a non zero chance of recording or transmission of the data somewhere else.]

[DK: We have Officer Erin there to signal us when it’s appropriate to Go. But if these data sticks are like our data sticks, they’re mostly metal. If there’s any sign that Erin is starting to move toward their table, Dolar will snatch the stick away before he has a chance to insert it into the computer.]

[JK: It's our collar, so I think it's our call--our rather, that of the members of the Legion inside the cafe!]

[BR: Myles, Diane, feel free to edit this, but it's time for Kevin Maguire to draw a row of panels]

Gorvo, enthusiastic as always, is getting ready to move when, now attuned to the subtleties of Metaxian body language, he sees Dolar stiffen slightly as the girl assumes what he thinks is the form of 'my friend is about to make a premature mistake'. (Oddly, Gorvo has seen that form a lot.) Halting his move, he arches an eyebrow to almost comical heights. Dolar shifts her head infinitesimally and her eyes dart over to Erin before her hands take the form of awaiting the judgement of a professional superior.

[BR: unless Ode or Gorvo moves we're in a holding pattern until Erin goes, for all that I agree with Josh; Myles? Lisa?]

[DK: Remember also that Dolar’s reaction to the situation is deeply colored by her upbringing and culture. *She’s* not about to supersede a responsible adult; that doesn’t mean any of *you* should feel bound by that!]

[LP: Presuming we're all in contact with each other and with Erin (who can, therefore, overrule Ode):]

"Go ahead, Metal Lass," Mr. Music subvocalizes, not wanting to risk the data being copied.

With that, Metal Lass pulls the data stick toward her, rippling her forearm and wrist in the gesture “A lark returns to its nest”.

[BR: OK, everyone is rested and back to full Power score, except for Metal lass and Mr Music, who are both down to 39 due to their power exertions. Metal Lass has a base of 13 to hit, +4 for surprise, +1 for accuracy, no level v. level modifier due to the Emotion Control/Calm effect = 18 or less. roll is a 19. Now, there's no logical way she can _fail_ to grab the stick from so unresisting a target, so we're going with...]

The data stick flicks out of the buyer's hand before it can reach the palm computer, flying across the room towards Metal Lass.

"Grife," Raptor mutters, quickly shifting his position in his chair. A waiter nearby goes stumbling forward as if pushed, while the data stick flies out of Metal Lass's control as it bangs into an invisible, interposing wing. The crystalline stick flies end over end, landing inside the ice bucket of a bottle of mimosa-fueling champagne, which is then knocked over by the aforementioned waiter, sending ice shards, the crystal data stick and, with a loud pop, sparkling wine sprawling across the floor.

The cork bounces off of Bubble Boy's force field, where it hit him right between the eyes.

Page 7: Whole Team

[Between Round actions: The buyer has a d% roll to break out of the Emotion Control, roll is 12 and he just barely succeeds; he might have been better off acting with preternatural calmness....]

Round 1

28: White Raptor There is a mild uproar in the restaurant as Raptor drops the hologram being generated by his suit, revealing him in all his snowy glory, wings shadowing the patrons before sending people and meals and silverware scattering as he takes to the sky. A missile launcher pops from his shoulder, rotates around and fires behind him, striking the center of the table where Metal Lass and Bubble Boy are seated. The concussion blast shatters their table, sends their fruit drinks flying and affects Bubble Boy not one whit.

Metal Lass, on the other hand, is tossed 10 feet by the explosion. She controls her landing with her palms striking the table she would have crashed into and executing a flip to land feet first in a clear space on the floor. Her head scarf flies off in the move, fluttering away on the breeze.

[BR: Vibratory powers to hit, roll was an 18 to hit Bubble Boy, 7 to hit Metal Lass. Damage was 5 points, assuming she rolled with 3, her current power is 36, current HP is 3]

28: Diskette Diskette drops a teleportation disk over herself to put herself between White Raptor and his escape route. She is now standing on a disk in midair, and the thief, who had turned his head to glance back and see the results of his last missile, looks in front of him again to find the saber-wielding super-heroine right in his flight path.

There is a loud clang as the metal hits the ceramic armor, and Raptor is forced off line by the Legionnaire, who twists the disk in mid air to brace herself for the impact.

[BR: Diskette has an attack base of 9 with fencing weapons, +3 for the sword, +4 for her agility = 16. less 2 for level vs. level = 14. Her attack roll is a 10. Maxes out on damage, so 10 points. His 66 adr armor absorbs that, dropping him to ADR 56; he's unarmed, but you checked his forward momentum for the moment.]

17: Miss Anima, Mr. Music, Officer Erin Officer Erin mutters through the comms "Bubble Boy, Mr. Music, Metal Lass, secure the buyer and the data stick; the rest of you, go after Raptor!" she is clearly taking the role of spolier, moving through the crowd with considerable speed and strength to block off the buyer's most likely exit.

[Ode is Saving his action until Lisa has time to respond]

[Beth, how do you want Miss Anima to make a move on the escaping Raptor - keeping in mind she now has a jet pack?]

She's prepped for exactly this, so -- scoot to a little above the club and fill the air with (animated) balloons the same air-density as the surrounding air, as many balloons as she can conjure from one image. Normally that would be a problem because they'd be so persistent, but in three minutes the balloons will vanish anyway.

She doesn't know whether or not Raptor can fly through this, but it ought to be a problem, and his wings occupy so much more space than our jetpacks that it ought to be a much bigger problem for him than for us.

[BR: the reason to run RPGs is the moments where the players action is completely and totally unexpected.]

A shimmer of light fills the air with dozens if not scores of multi-colored balloons. One slams into Raptor's face, producing a spluttering exhalation and flailing to clear his vision. His previously slowed escape is currently stopped dead while he deals with this new issue.

16: Buyer The buyer, his head clearing from the music-induced calm that led him to follow through on the transaction, looks panicked for a moment, and then scrambles towards the scattered mess of ice and bubbly to grab what he thinks is the data stick. Unfortunately, it's not... he tosses it aside, grabs another, realizes that's an ice shard as well, and then gives it up as a mugs game and starts to head for an exit.

[BR: His detection roll at Int*3 needed something in the mid 30's, and he rolled a 97. Hence the completely wasted time.]

16: Metal Lass, Bubble Boy [BR: Myles, Diane, how are you engaging the buyer and/or finding the data stick. Metal Lass still has a tenuous connection to the small amount of metal in its casing, but not enough to just casually snap it up. One note - these high-end sticks use 1978 Superman Crystal Technology, so the amount of metal in them is minimal.]

Metal Lass ducks into the crowd, whispering into her comms as she heads for the mess on the floor, “I can find the data stick – it’s just like a game of Dowsers and Mines. Just don’t let him get away!”

[DK: Instead of pulling the case to her, Metal Lass will use her sense of its metal to move herself to it.]

The Metaxian maiden flows through the crowd, using the natural flexibility and strength of the forms to do so with ease until she can snatch the slightly sticky and cold data crystal from the floor.

The buyer sees this and shouts "Hey, kid!" before changing his facing to keep her in sight.

"I'm on it," Gorvo replies as he extends an entangling force field around the fleeing buyer.

"You're not going anywhere, Mister!"

[BR: Force field base is a 16, level vs level reduces it to 14 roll is a 5. No problem.]

The buyer looks panicked, then hurls himself against the field, "No, kid, you don't get it! That data crystal is going to..."

It's obvious what the next word is going to be, and Gorvo can see Dolars slender fingers wrapped around the Crystal....

[BR: Myles, Gorvo has time to abort his action, drop the current force field and extend one around the data crystal to protect Dolar, if you wish,]

"Crashing comets! Watch out, Dolar!" Gorvo drops the buyer's force field and tries to encapsulate the data crystal in the strongest field he can manage.

Mr. Music, from his position on the bandstand, can see the buyer is looking past Bubble Boy and Metal Lass, towards a woman at the bar. Said woman, while normally dressed, is the correct height and build to have been the one in the jumpsuit at the Hardo Senn ambush. The one whose gun set off an anti-matter explosion inside the Harun's invulnerable skull without breaking the skin.

[BR: Lisa, Ode has a saved action if he wants to try to either attack the woman at the bar or knock the crystal out of Metal Lass' hand.]

[BR: Diane, I swear it isn't my goal to keep beating your character up...]

The Force Field appears in between the Crystal and Dolar's hand with staggering precision.

[BR: Holding off on the outcome of Dentona's attack in case Mr. Music finds a way to stop her from destroying the evidence.]

[LP: If Ode can use his music to cancel out what Dentona is doing so that the thing doesn't explode, that would be cool. If that's not in the cards, then it's using his music to try to make her feel drained and exhausted, the idea being that she doesn't have the energy to make it explode, or to make her panicky, so she doesn't think she has the time to waste on that -- but either of those are a long shot, I suspect.]

[BR: feel free to edit.]

We have a panel with the overlarge black edges indicating another of Mr. Music's training flashbacks. The scene is inside the candle-lit monastery of the space monks of cosmic harmony, where younger Ode is seated before the choir master. "It is known that the Entropy Monks, of whom you have been warned, have the ability to create discontinuities in the music of the spheres, eliminating things from existence entirely."

Ode thinks quietly for a moment, then asks "If they can do that, can harmony not _prevent_ things from being destroyed?"

Ode is rewarded with the small smile of the master seeing the student make a clever bridge. 'it is said, Brother Ode. It is said. But none have tired for a generation."

Back to the present, and Mr. Music strikes a perfect chord in harmony with his voice just as he sees the woman's hand dart into her coat pocket and her eyes narrow. He feels the universe flow through him, resisting the destruction of a part of itself. Metal Lass and Bubble Boy see the crystal emit a black light for just a split second, and then it is perfectly normal, as if nothing had happened.]

[BR: Ode used his Questing tag to push his Music of the Spheres for an anti-entropy effect. This took the saved action, had a Charisma *3 (39%) chance of success and then required a special attack to hit. The dice came up 38%, 4 and 9, all within Mr. Music's extreme training. Power cost for pushing a power is double normal, so 16 points; Mr. Music is now at 23 Power our of 47. Lisa, if you want this to become a standard part of his power set you'll need to spend this level training in it; pushing the power takes your whole action. In Detona's case, she can act and move, and while you messed up her action she can still take steps to get away.]

The woman at the bar looks shocked, then carries that look into what Ode can tell is a feigned panic as she joins the rest of the restaurant patrons in fleeing the scene. Since all other eyes are on either the legionnaires or the Buyer (or the balloon filled sky battle) she is highly likely to slip away unmolested.

13: White Raptor There's a series of "snickt" sounds as Raptor unleashes his claws, talons and pinion blades. With a series of broad strokes, he slashes away at the balloon barricade, a cascade of popping noises as the obstacles detonate under his edged assault. His struggles eventually manage with win him clear skies, only to find the Legionnaires waiting for him on their jetpacks.

[BR: well, that did for his action this round... I expect there will be a moment of people playing pinata... Josh, you're up with with Diskette and Future Boy]

13: Diskette Diskette, now clearly wearing the team's jetpack (careful readers will be able to tell that the straps of the pack were visible in her assault on Raptor earlier, but the "flare" effect accenting her assault d'arms obscured the telltale outlines of the pack itself) continues her assault d'arms against Raptor, not closing, but summoning portals to attack weak points in his armor from a variety of angles while her jetpack keeps her stable and in range.

13: Future Boy Future boy swings and twists his staff, his mind clearly calm and focused, and the end of his staff opens out into a net, anticipating and reacting (as if in advance) to the winged thief's movements.

[BR: As calculated earlier, Diskette's to hit is 14, increased to 16 by her teleportation disks letting her attack from the sides. I'm treating this as a special attack to try to penetrate the armor. The two dice rolls are 16 and 16. That's cutting it close! My off-hand ruling is that the called shot will do damage damage twice - once to the armor regardless, and the second damage is based on whether the Armor Defense Roll fails, either to the armor or to Raptor. The ADR is currently 56, the d% roll is 94. First damage roll is a 5, ADR drops to 51. Second damage roll is a 7. His roll to stay conscious is an 03, so he's already stunned with the shock.]

[BR: I was gonna say 'poor future boy' as his bonsues don't kick in till the second round of combat due to his 'fugue state' weakness, but then the d20 cropped up a 4 on his to hit, which with the weapon bonus from the staff is enough to connect. (5 base, +2 for the staff, -3 for Level vs. Level = 4). I'm not at all sure where the net aspect of the staff came from, so we're going with more conventional damage with a bonus. The damage roll is 2d4+4 or 9 points. His armor soaks it and we're down to 42 ADR. Plus raptor is unconscious.]

Diskette's sword hits several hopeful weak points in the armor, leaving small nicks in the ceramic. As White Raptor tries to dodge out of the way he is hemmed in by the precognitive wonder, who hammers him several times with his staff, then snags one of White Raptor's hands with the net, pulling him off balance.

On her next strike, Diskette's sword comes away surprisingly bloody. She sees Raptors eyes roll up in sudden shock and the winged thief starts to fall. This is pulling Future Boy down with him, as the Legionnaire is pushing the new jertpacks to the limit to support the larger youth with his armor....

8: Detona (putting her in the sequence now that you know that she's here.) The dark-haired woman, in a convincing state of panic, flees out the entrance with other patrons, unnoticed by officer Erin, who is intent on blocking the buyer when he breaks for the door.

2: Miss Anima, [BE: Beth, Raptor is unconscious and falling, while Future Boy is struggling to check their fall via his net wrapped around the Ganderian's hand. you have a jetpack and a sketchbook....]

As with the balloons, it helps to have expected *exactly* this sort of problem. She jets directly down, flipping through the book of sketches on her way, and on the ground she animates a picture of a rescue squad's breakfall (the sort of thing firemen would tell you to jump into.) She tries to aim it for directly under the falling man, but Future Boy may have to steer.

(I'm assuming they do *not* have a crowd of people headed their way, and that they're only a few stories high. If either assumption is incorrect, she'd manifest an aircar instead. But this seems more dramatically appropriate.)

Miss Anima jets past the falling figures, alighting on the ground where they are most likely to land. A rainbow shimmer later and a skeletal emergency gravity framework, humming with power. Future Boy is able to direct their fall to that sight, dropping both of them a little haphazardly into the field, which takes their weight and settles them slowly to the ground.

The pedestrians nearby, having no idea what's happening, break into applause.

2: Mr Music (Separating out the rooftop from the airborne fights. [BR: Lisa, Detona is getting away - she is already out of sight - unless Mr. Music changes after her. Of course, charging after a woman with an anti-matter gun in a crowded stairwell might not be ideal. The Buyer is also likely to try to make a break for it.]

"Metal Lass, Bubble Boy -- get the buyer," says Ode, figuring they can secure the data stick and do that.

He shrugs on his jet pack and asks someone who'd know -- likely the maitre d' -- "That stairwell -- how many different exits does it lead to?"

[That is, he's trying to figure out if Detona could get out on any floor and use a back exit, or if it just leads down to one particular exit.]

"Um, uh, that leads either to the elevators or the main stairs. But everyone will funnel out the front door, I'm sure," the bulbous purple green, trialterally symmetrical fellow with the black pencil mustache (all maitre d's have black pencil mustaches) says, not entirely clear what's being asked or why. His rear eye is increasingly shocked as his afternoon's guitarist rockets off with a jetpack. (and on to page 8, where he will be tracking the escaping Detona back to her lair)

1: Buyer The buyer, seeing that everything has gone completely south, makes a dash for the exit. He's clearly panicked now, and therefore misses how the purple haired woman isn't moving with the rest of the crowd. Officer Erin's turning his attempt to bull past her into a surprisingly strong spinning throw takes him completely off guard, and he lands with a thump in 10 feet away from the door. His hand scrambles for a stunner in his pocket....

1: Metal Lass, Bubble Boy [BR: Myles, Diane, you can close this out...]

“Bubble Boy, grab the buyer!” Metal Lass chirps. “I’m not exactly sure what Mr. Music just did, but I think the crystal is safe now.”

[DK: She’s ready to catch the crystal and stuff it into one of her pockets as soon as Bubble Boy shifts his fields.]

Bubble Boy drops the field around the crystal and re-extends it over the prone criminal.

[BR: he then says something pithy and humorous!]

"You're lucky I don't squeeze you like an orange, but I'd rather a mocktail made from reliable ingredients!"

Page 8, Top Tier: Mr. Music

We have a view from overhead as Mr. Music keeps a discrete distance overhead while watching the hotel exit for the woman who he suspects is in cahoots with the buyer. He nearly misses her, but catches her reflection in the Hotel Diplomatique's highly polished front windows as she strides confidently but anonymously away from the hotel.

He starts his tail, doing his best to stay out of sight, and believes he has done so, using the quiet anti-gravity + compressed air + fan system of the jet pack to his advantage against a target who is thinking two-dimensionally. The woman makes a couple of professional switchbacks that would likely have revealed a conventional pursuer.

She reaches the nightclub district and just before she heads into her final destination Mr. Music has a moment when he thinks she may have spotted him - she pauses for just a second, he has a sudden sense of being observed - and then she moves on into the Cosmos Club. Ode knows that Ande Lael, a former executive of the Cosmos Construction Corp and a likely buyer for White Raptor's stolen goods, owns the club.

Page 8, Middle Tier: Whole Team

By the time Mr. Music gets back to the hotel the situation has been cleaned up - the Diplomatique staff have already straightened up the mess, and the SPs have the buyer in wrist-binders getting ready to bring him to the holding center at the corner of Hoose Avenue and Gow Street.

Erin reaches out to Dolar with one hand while holding a Science Police Evidence Recording Pad, "Can we see what all the fuss is about?"

Dolar bows gracefully in the form that conveys respect to an elder completing an important task, and drops the data stick into Erin’s hand.

"Well well well, these look like starship life support schematics, and other things," She shakes her head at the buyer as he is put into the SP Gravskim, "Trafficking in industrial secrets is not a good career move."

Dolar turns to the buyer and kneels, looking directly into his eyes and passing her arms across her chest in a form that shows gratitude. “You warned us that I was in danger, which kept me from being hurt. I thank you, my family thanks you, my clan thanks you. It is clear that you can act with honor. I wish I understood why you also planned to do wrong. "

He looks her in the eye and mutters, "Family. It's complicated. You be careful, kid."

Down on street level the Legionnaires are handing the now conscious but bound and groggy Ganderian over to the SPs. He makes eye contact with Diskette as he does so, and there's something deep and longing in there for a second before he adopts a cocky grin that is as much armor as his ceramic plates and and says "Next dance, Diskette. Save some space for me."

Diskette meets Raptor's eyes with a mix of irritation, sympathy, wistfulness, and guilt. "I think you're danced out, for now. Sorry about stabbing your metaphorical foot."

Ode looks at Gorvo in confusion and mouths "Metaphorical foot?"

Page 8 Third Tier: the Cosmos Club

Detona enters the Cosmos Club, then steps aside and glances out a window to confirm her suspicions - yes one of the Legion _had_ followed her here!

“That clinches it,” she thinks. “I’m out of here.”

She sees a couple of Laels goons approaching her and knows that her boss... former boss... knows the deal went sour. Does he know that the tied got taken? That the SPs have the data crystal? That his cousin is in Hoose/Gow?

“I’m not gonna be the one to tell him, him and that...THING,” she thinks as she routed her path away from the thugs and into one of the side rooms.

“No exit there,” one guard chuckles to the other. They move confidently to the door, then push it in to grab her. She’s gone, and there’s a small neat hole blow in the 18-inch ferro-concrete wall.

Detona has left the scene.