Legacy Super-Zero Quest

Having finished her text with Jamie, it was only then Corinne thought to herself Oh right, the drugs and money from last night, new job must've been so much on my mind that I forgot. Heh, good thing I told myself I'd only be doing hero stuff for one night, because sheesh that was forgetful.

Before checking out the Starbite Lounge, Corinne first ran to the nearest teleporter to zoom back to Noxville. Even with this detour, and how quick these warp pods are, I'll still likely get to this Starbite place before Jamie, he's... never been the most punctual, she reckoned.

Corinne hesitated whether to stay in her regular clothes or dress as Libraria, she didn't want to spend any further time getting changed when she had dinner with a friend coming up... but she didn't want that gang possibly tracing her real identity or the police snooping around her flat, and she figured she ought to present as Libraria here, given it was as her that she'd taken these drugs and cash from those gangsters. besides, police in this city should be more than used to costumed vigilantes by now.

After recovering her loot from last night, stuffed into one of her new kitchen cupboards, Corinne headed her to the closest police station. For all Skyline Modern's flashy architecture, this police station was a rather old and crumbling place, a washed-out grey-white building with faint blue glows coming from its windows, and a dark, dingy brown inside, lit up by lamps looking more from Victorian London.

Walking up to the oaken front desk, Libraria's attention was briefly captured by a wanted sign that covered most of its corkboard, showing a gang of three: a squat gadget man wearing a porcelain mask and holding a toy rifle and a hammer, a scarlet-haired woman with eerily pale makeup and seriously developed musculature, and looming above the two, a gaunt, wrinkled old man with long white hair and clad in a purple coat and striped trousers with suspenders. Squinting through the darkness, Corinne could see their aliases were 'Mr. Midway', 'Musclemoiselle' and 'Master of the House of Fun'.

"The Big Top Trio," drawled the scruffy, baggy-eyed officer at the counter "Says they've stolen one of Doc Aether's inventions, a 'Magic Mirror' of his". He then took out his phone and showed Libraria footage of this Big Top Trio entering one of the city's superhero museums, to break any object there they could. And what they couldn't break, Master Funhouse just pointed the mirror at, which made an entire piece of art distort in real life as it would in a mirror maze.

"They're not even robbing anything?" Libraria spoke up "Hmm, must be pretty unimaginative criminals, or they've got a serious chip on their shoulders about heroes. But Dr. Aether's the guy in charge of this city, so these three must be something if they've stolen from him".

"Hah," this officer chuckled "Aether, guy in charge here? You must be new in town, the Doc mostly shuts himself off in his lab these days. As for the Trio, don't overestimate them, pretty much everyone agrees they just got the Mirror off the real thief. Grande Fantasme's the guy we all thought of first, buddy-buddy as he is with Aether and Spirit, it's no secret he's long been after their stuff. Can't discount Renaissance Foul either, villain and all," he went on, but then said "Anyways, me mostly being on paperwork duty, I oughta should shut my gob. So, whatta you here for?"

"Yes officer, I would like to return these stolen goods," Libraria nodded, handing over the briefcase "Some likely stolen money and a stock of Vitamin 4X I was able to recover from some zoot-suited goons".

"Zoot suits ya say? Sounds like the Hepcat Gang to me. Buncha small-timers them... but Vitamin 4X is nothing to be laughing at. Quick'n'easy way to get powers, less flashy heroes like to take it so they can stand toe-to-toe with the big-timers, but it's known for being a pretty unstable concoction. Well then, ya gotta name, schoolgirl?"

Schoolgirl? I'm in my twenties! Libraria thought sharply, but just said "It's Libraria".

"City laws say I can't make any of you capes give over your real name, so guess I'll have to work with that," the cop sighed "Right, just need ya to sign these forms".

That all over with, Corinne left the station to hurry back to a teleporter. Clearly she didn't want to check out Starbite as Libraria, but she had so much time and didn't want to spend more of it getting hanged again, so she just removed her face-mask and her coat, leaving her looking like just some gymnast, which she unprofessionally was she supposed.

On the warp back to Sciencity though, after getting through something of a line in front, she was unsurprisingly greeted with another-
"Super-Spotlight-Special! Today we've got a whole super-team for you, keen viewers! May we introduce H.A.G., and no, weren't not talking 'bout some wicked old witch, but the Hero Actors' Guild! Obviously there's an overlap between a superhero's identity and acting, so it's no shock that, all the back in the 1940s, a Golden Age for Heroes and Hollywood alike, a team of actor-heroes came to be! Founded by Linda 'Black Cat' Turner and Ted 'Thousand Faces' Parrish, before the former's blacklisting for Commie sympathies and the latter's unfortunate descent into schizophrenia, this Guild nevertheless remains strong to this day, having recruited the likes of Broadway's Triple Threat and the Takarazuka Revue's Aoba 'Starring Role' Tsubasa VIII!"



After arriving back in Sciencity, Corinne found her way soon enough to this Starbite Lounge & Grill, the looming Metroplex right by it being easy enough to spot. Inside, Starbite was a fairly open place, with large windows, deep blue carpeting and purple wallpaper, and though it wasn't that late there was already an alien (Venusian she assumed, given his bug-like features) singer at a piano with three robots harmonising behind him. In the centre of the restaurant stood out a holographic projector, displaying an image of Deva Zvezda, a Soviet superheroine from the 50s and 60s who'd been, among other things, the first hero to make contact with aliens.
The restaurant seemed to be a pretty popular place, but not so crowded that... Jamie couldn't have found a seat already.

"Yo Cory, what's been keeping ya?" Jamie shrugged and asked, leaving Corinne's face to nearly drain itself of colour.

"Sorry, it's just, I-" she mumbled "Had some errands that I only then remembered to run!" she quickly finished, her answer technically true.

"Ah okay, that's cool," Jamie said, his tune brightening immediately "Hey, never checked this place out before, but seems groovy so far, and you're already finding things out about this town that I didn't know! You're fittin' right in, my dudette!".

Corinne sat down on a red, curvy chair at the round, see-through table, and flipped a switch to bring up a holographic menu. Sliding her hand to turn its pages, she asked "Er, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long that you've already eaten?".

"Nope man, like I never really got to try alien food before movin' up here, so I'm still deciding" he said "Like, I've eaten at a few Martian street stands, and they're usually pretty good, but this is like, next-level gastronomy right here!".

Items on the menu included the likes of 'Mercurian gravity-grub', 'Space-dust sugar-frosted sourdough', 'Martian water-purified cocktail', 'Deep-fried asteroid-farm wings' and so on, with Corinne ultimately going with the sourdough and wings. Before too long, well 'long' by the standards of eateries like this, a robot waitress, who Corinne was swift to notice had the 'Arachne' logo on her, hovered to them with their order.

Corinne's food was- surprisingly well-presented, Maybe I was a tad hasty to be skeptical of interplanetary cuisine? she thought. Jamie on the other hand had ordered... well, Corinne had no idea what it was, only that it large, multi-coloured, pulsing, and she worried, still living.

"I know I know, I told myself I was gonna go vegetarian any day now, but man, it's so hard to get started on that" Jamie said as he dug in.

Corinne slowly begun trying out the food, and soon found herself devouring it as fast, if not faster, than Jamie was. Wow, this is really good, she thought, foregoing her normally restrained table manners.

"Hey Cory, who recommended this place to ya?" Jamie tried to ask between gulping down mouthfuls.

"Huh? Oh, that'd be Josephine, her being the AI assigned to me at work" Corinne replied...
Only to be then interrupted by a large crashing sound, as all of Starbite's windows were broken by a barrage of rapid-fire... baseballs.

Her and Jamie instinctively ducking under the table, Corinne looked over to see none other than that Big Top Trio was at the doors, doors which this Musclemoiselle's sheer strength had easily wrenched open.
One of the customers here immediately changed out of his civillian clothes into spangled superhero grab to confront the three villains... only to find herself directly in the range of the twisted mirror held by Master Funhouse. This would-be hero found his body instantly distorted till it resembled the warped shape the mirror made of him, shrinking him down like a folded accordion to not even knee-height, him yelling in pain all the way.

"A little demonstration for you all of just what this mirror is capable of," proclaimed the wiry, piercing voice of Master Funhouse, who a glancing Corinne now saw was somehow even thinner and taller and his wanted poster made him out to be. "Consider yourselves lucky, back in the day it would've cost you all to see such a stunt performed at our circus.
Let it not be said we aren't merciful, simply stay out of our way and you, dear civillians, won't have a single hair harmed on your heads. No, we are only after that image of your little Russian girl hero, and any other superhero 'art'. For you see, your supers have long trampled on us, it's only fair we... return the favour".

'Your supers' Even though your Musclemoiselle clearly has super-strength herself? Corinne was quick to think.

"Good, glad to see people here comply when they're told. Now, my dear, will do the honours?" Master Funhouse said, turning to Musclemoiselle.

"Already on it!" Musclemoiselle grinned, rubbing her fists together as she strode over to smash the hologram projector of Deva Zvezda.

Oh G-d, damn! Alright, as they said, just have to keep my head down and I'll be fine, thought a shaking Corinne Come on, this city has heaps of heroes around, I'll sure at least one'll be close enough to do something about these people.

But then, a different thought entirely emerged in Corinne's head. Yeah, there very much is a hero close enough to do something. She's you!

What the-? Corinne's head swerved to the side No, I can't, I saw with my own eyes what the mirror did to that guy. I was almost gunned down by run-of-the-mill gangsters, how in hell am I going to stand any chance against these people? Besides, that 'Libraria' thing was a one-night-only deal!

She gritted her teeth, but her tension then eased as another thought entered her head. I was the smartest girl in school, I was just hired to work at a government lab in one of the world's most advanced cities. Come on, I should be smart enough to think of something to trip this trio up, or at least get the hologram projector away from them. Only one of them, that Musclemoiselle, has innate powers anyway, so without the mirror and sideshow gear, those other two, far as I know, would be nothing. I could even use these tables as cover to not get hit by that mirror. And besides, how do I even know villains like these will keep their word not to harm any civillians?

If I change into Libraria here though, Corinne considered, then Jamie'll instantly know my hero identity. ...No, that's okay, he's my friend so he has some right to know, alter egos being more trouble than they're worth, and he can be blabbermouth but he wouldn't just out my secret identity to anyone.

[ ] I'll dash through and swipe that projector away from that strongwoman.
[ ] If I can flip over and strike that strongwoman quickly enough, I could catch her off-guard.
[ ] I'll sneak around and strike Mr. Midway and that Master of the House from behind.
[ ] We're in a restaurant, so I can start a food fight to trip these people up and get them off-guard.
[ ] Let's see if this strongwoman's tough enough to shrug off a whole table or chair thrown at her.
[ ] Maybe, just try to talk to them? Like, ask them why they're doing this? granted, they don't seem like the most reasonable types.
[ ] ...I'll just stay put for now, it's safest. But, maybe I can try following them from behind once they leave?
[ ] Write-in: Use a shiny metal tray as a mirror to reflect the effects of the Magic Mirror.
[ ] Write-in: Dig into your history knowledge and calmly ask about their influences.
[ ] Write-in.

Sliding on her domino mask, and tying some napkins together to weave a makeshift waistcoat, Corinne turned and whispered to Jamie "Listen, not one word about this, I'm dead serious here".

"Huh, whattya-" Jamie tried to ask, but Libraria had promptly leapt up and thrown Jamie's pulsating alien meal straight towards the face of Musclemoiselle, which the strongwoman was fast to block by holding up her fist.

The eyes of the whole restaurant suddenly on her, Libraria felt the urge to say something, this making her first impression on so many people at once.
[ ] A bold and proclamatory "Stop right there, evildoers! This city doesn't tolerate delinquents!"
[ ] A stern and restrained "Hands off the projector."
[ ] A snide and flippant "Didn't mother tell you not to play with your food, musclebrain? Looks like you've signed up for 'etiquette lessons'."
[ ] Write-in.

That little statement of Libraria's though got Musclemoiselle to toss an entire table right at her. Libraria and a flailing Jamie were able to dodge it by leaping to the side, and just in time, for this table's thrown force was enough to send several other tables it knocked into flying back in turn.
"here's some advice, little girl, don't punch above your weight class!" Musclemoiselle

Trying a different tactic, Libraria instead grabbed several plates off other tables, muttering a quick "'Scuse me" to the customers who were already there, and this time tried throwing food along the ground, as Musclemoiselle attempted to charge at her only to to find her right foot stuck in some sort of alien jelly. The strongwoman was able to quickly pull her foot out, but Libraria had used this time to send several plates spinning right at her, like she was throwing discus in Sports.
Musclemoiselle just smirked, as each of the plates just crashed into her without making a wound or wince. "Hah, I got knives thrown into me as part of my act. If you want to show much as scratch me, next time bring more firepower!" she grinned.

"Speaking of firepower," came the muffled voice of Mr. Midway, who'd pulled out a modified rifle to start shooting rapid-fire baseballs into the crowd. Libraria had to work fast to flip over several tables, trying to shield the customers and waiters there from the assault.

"What the-?" Musclemoiselle suddenly growled, "Hey, I told you got this! I can break this girl to pieces on my own!" she turned back at her fellow comrades.

"This isn't about you," Master Funhouse stated, his face moving into a long and crinkled frown "This is about how we should have long smashed that little commie's projector and made off already. Your super-strength is put sadly to waste when you are incapable of sticking to the mission" he snarled at her.

"I-I think that might've been a little harsh, sir" Midway spoke up , but before he had a chance to continue or Musclemoiselle had a chance to respond, someone had managed to sneak up behind them when they weren't watching.

Jamie! Libraria almost froze when she saw what her friend was attempting.

Unfortunately, Jamie's stealth or reflexes weren't exactly what you'd call 'super', as before he shove that Mirror to the ground, master Funhouse had already spun around and pointed the glass right at him.
"Ohno, not cool!" Jamie screamed as his whole self started to stretch upwards, agony coursing through him all the way. Eventually, he ended up as tall but also as thin as a streetlamp, and one gust of wind was all it took to send his stretched self toppling.

Seeing Jamie contorted into an inhuman shape, Libraria lost control, screaming at lunging at the Big top trio, only to be effortlessly knocked to the ground with a single elbow-jab from Musclemoiselle.

It was then however, that the whole ground rumbled as an entire airship came flying down towards the Starbite Lounge, a zeppelin-like construct with its artillery already pointed at the Big Top Trio.
"Arachne. I knew we were wasting too much time," Funhouse snarled, before barking at Mr. Midway "Projector! Now!".

Midway immediately took out what looked like a remote control, which propelled one of his bumper cars straight at Deva Zvezda's projector, sending it crashing over.
"Remember this, hero hangers-on, the Funhouse Always Wins!" Master Funhouse cackled. He then pointed the mirror at the pavement to twist open a new entrance into Mod City's storm drains, him and his two minions hopping in and having a hole close back up before that zeppelin could land.


Not long after, Corinne had rushed over to the nearest hospital, Twin Snakes Infirmary, where the warped Jamie had been taken. Finally allowed into his room, she saw Jamie laid out on the longest bed this hospital had, him having returned to nowhere near his regular size.
"Hey there... Cory" his strained voice managed to say "They, they say they can give me a hit of that... Snake Doc's guy formula, help me back to normal..." he wheezed out, "but, he's like... already busy with heaps of other victims-".

"Jamie!" Corinne almost cried, staring down at what her friend had been twisted into. "You're, you're talking about Ophiuchus guy, right? That Super Spotlight talked about him the day I arrived, remember?" she blurted out, before breathing deep and then saying "Look, Jamie, it'll be alright, something will be done-" I'll do something about them! "-to get everything back to normal".

"Sounds-" Jamie rasped "Sounds great, Cory".

This hospital was the same blank white of most hospitals, though now bathed in the warm, golden glow of a sunset in the skies. Apart from some new hi-tech machinery there to fix whole new super-ailments, Corinne couldn't see too much of a difference between this 'hospital from the future' and the hospitals she'd known.

Another Super Spotlight Special was playing on an overhead screen, with a fitting enough theme for Corinne's mood right now.
"Today we're bringing you a story that won't make you sad, but of a hero who might! Sabrina Vient is a Canadian-Australian superheroine, most active in Japan though" -The screen shows a young woman with silver hair, a dark blue flowing cape, grey crest and black tights- "While her skill with a warhammer is smashing, and her agility fast enough to border on speedster territory, her primary power is to take the emotion of grief and convert it into physical form. When in Skyline Moderne she tends to hang around Elsewich, and goes by the hero name of-"
(Optional Vote)
[ ] Grief Girl.
[ ] Melpomene.
[ ] Divine Tragedy.
[ ] Weeping Witch.
[ ] System Break.
[ ] Write-in.

Walking back along its corridors, Corinne was soon approached by two people. One she had, though not in person, already been introduced to, that wiry blond, white-tipped hair, blue specs, green lab-coat and robotic limbs instantly marked him out as this Dr. Ophiuchus she'd heard about. The other, a woman with long, curly red hair, freckles, and wearing a grey-outside brown-inside lab-coat with its hood pulled back, white puffy sleeves and black trousers, and long, gear-studded boots and gloves.

"Hi there Cory. Yup, heard about you at work today, think I saw you when we had that drill actually, though sorry I didn't get the chance to introduce myself until now," this woman with a mild Italian accent rambled on, extending a hand "At work I'm Melissa Torino, but on the streets and in the skies, I go by Zeppelina! Millennium might've mentioned me to you, I usually work on the AI of airships, spaceships, teleporters, ooh I've even programmed a few time machines!".

"Aha, I see" Corinne smiled in return. Sheesh, she's almost as talkative as Josephine.

"And I would be Rufus Hislop, though I get called Ophiuchus more often nowadays" Ophiuchus spoke up, adjusting his glasses "It was Melissa here who actually came to Starbite's rescue when that Big Top Trio attacked, I just attended to their victims afterwards. In fact, I was worried you might've gotten badly beaten by that strongwoman, but you seem to show remarkable resilience".

"Er, thank you, Dr. Hislop" Corinne said, taking that as a compliment "Do, do you think you can cure him?".

"Unfortunately, my fields are medicine, biology and toxicology" Ophiuchus sighed, removing his glasses for a moment "That Mirror's power is something else altogether, be it relativistic, quantum or outright magic, as I'd expect of one of Aether's belongings. I'm... not saying things are hopeless, just that a cure won't be so straightforward".

"Found you in hero costume when I landed" Melissa said "I suppose that means you'll be wanting to head after those three, ho ragione?"

"Of course!" Corinne's voice burst out "I won't let them..." but her firmness then wavered, as her shoulders then slumped "What am I doing? I told myself I was only going to play hero for one night, just to try it out, only for this to happen" she muttered, clutching her head.

"Those might've been wise words to listen to," Ophiuchus interjected "Though you're fit enough, after what happened to you only some hours ago, I'd prescribe for you to stay as far away from those three. However," he had to admit "That doesn't rule out them coming for you".

"Yeah, don't just belittle Cory!" Melissa shot up, "You think we at Arachne will hire just any mook off the street? Corinne's a more than capable scientists, and those goons got lucky 'cause they caught her off-guard. Next time, you're going in prepared, right Cory?" Melissa turned to look right at her.

"I was only trying to be realistic..." Ophiuchus tried to speak up, but saw Melissa wasn't listening.

"...You're right" Corinne said, after thinking things over "But yeah, I can't just charge in to their hideout like that, I'll have to make preparations".

(Multiple votes here are allowed as long as they don't contradict each other. However, keep in mind that each voted action will cost you more time, varying but let's say three hours average, that the Big Top Trio will remain on the loose for)
[ ] I can cook up a few chalk-dust smoke bombs, could cover that Mirror and they can't hit me if they're blinded.
[ ] I'll ask Ophiuchus for some of his formula. I know he said it's not the same thing, but it's better than nothing.
[ ] I'll have to do some serious working out if I want the muscular strength to match that strongwoman even slightly.
[ ] I might have to look into that Vitamin 4X, even if I hear the powers it grants can be quite random.
[ ] Maybe finding a mirror of my own, more than the size of a hand anyway, will help counter their Mirror.
[ ] A super-city has to have some decent costume stores, right? Might need something a bit tougher than what I've been wearing lately.
[ ] I'll ask Melissa if she's got anything in the way of gadgets.
[ ] Write-in.

"And... I probably can't do this alone. I don't think it should be hard finding heroes who'd want to take the Big Top Trio down, especially in a city like this".

[ ] This city's main airport is pretty busy, I ought to find some eager new or returning heroes there.
[ ] We're off-work now, but maybe I can ask Melissa to contact people at Arachne, like if she could sway over Millennium or someone.
[ ] Doesn't Nihonmura have a Robot Arena and Raceway? People there ought to have some real firepower.
[ ] Goldenguise's Egypt town would be where that Pharaoh force meets up, I assume?
[ ] I remember Miss Acorn went on holiday to Finland once, said she had some real fans there. Maybe I could get a Finnish hero to help, though I don't really know any besides Skyquake back in the day (and the Kalevala crew or Simo Hayha if they count).
[ ] The Hero Actors' Guild was on TV once, they probably have a HQ down in Herowood.
[ ] I should look out for guys in animal masks, lots of heroes have animal themes, right?
[ ] No, I can do this alone, more stealthy that way, and... I don't want any more people getting hurt because I failed them.
[ ] Write-in.

(QM's Note: That reference to PMAS' Sabrina back there was just a shout-out, nothing serious, thought bringing her up would be a Superhero Universe-y thing to do. Still thought I should give people a chance to vote on her supername, given that she's supposed to stand in for SV in general.)