<strong>Hero Points:</strong>2<strong>Conditions:</strong>None<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"I mean... mine's cool and all," Leslie forged a sword from nowhere. "But, it's nothing like yours."<br/><br/>She gestured at Zofia and Harmonia, letting the blade swing down to her side haphazardly. The edge sliced clean through the chair she was near. When Leslie spun to pull it, she flung the seat across the room by accident. "Uhh, I mean... oops?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>The seat slammed loudly against the wall, small cracks forming at the impact point, although the chair itself seemed (mostly) fine. Amalia and Zofia let out shrill squeals, while Hua grimaced. Only Harmonia seemed unsurprised.<br/><br/>“Hoo boy, super-strength,” Harmonia whistled. “I’ll need to teach you how to handle that. Don’t worry, it’s like speedrunning. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedrun) Soon you’ll be able to control it without even thinking about it!”<br/><br/>Hua walked on over to the cracks in the wall. Thumbing through a handheld black book with golden runes, she chanted something while gesturing with her free hand.<br/><br/>“Wheel of Weyan, Rewind Time!”<br/><br/>The cracks receded and disappeared as though being filled with caulk.<br/><br/>Zofia tapped her finger on the table. “So Lez can make stuff, I can move stuff, and Hua can repair stuff. Kind of seeing a theme here. Heh, maybe we can be a construction-themed superhero team one day!”<br/><br/>Hua smirked. “And we can whistle at cute guys passing by on the street while we eat lunch on a dangling steel beam.”<br/><br/>Amalia got up out of her seat. “I’m thirsty. Getting some soda.”<br/><br/>Zofia’s eyes brightened up. “Oooh, can you get some for me? The vending machine-”<br/><br/>Amalia left the room before Zofia could finish her sentence.<br/><br/>“Was it something I said?”<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Somehow, it worked. The magical steal covering Leslie's body deflected bullets and brought them within sword distance. Going all out with super strength felt... wrong to do to people, so she held back enough to not hurt real people too much.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Leslie’s powers were fast and effective enough that the virtual bullets harmlessly plinked off of their seemingly impractical armor. Hua and Amalia reflexively hugged themselves at the apparent loss of fabric, although Zofia had little reservations regarding the change. Laughing at the automatic spray, she telekinetically uprooted a nearby chimney to throw at one of the terrorists.<br/><br/>“Alright, who’s next?!”<br/><br/>Her challenge went unanswered, as the other foes focused fire on Leslie. They fell to her sword, being knocked back into nearby walls and billboards while Harmonia tossed one off the roof. Zofia crossed her arms.<br/><br/>“It’s just a lucky shot...”<br/><br/>The spiky metahuman cracked his knuckles, still standing, only to be overpowered by the unlikeliest attack. Amal screamed as she held up both her hands right behind the metahuman. A spray of what could only be described as reality ripping open to reveal a starry void shot out, causing the terrorist, the roof, and the entire simulation to fizzle and pop out of existence. Virtual reality was replaced with television static before reverting to a white room. Everything was as it once was, save for a perfectly circular 10 meter diameter hole in the wall in front of Amalia. The broken section of wall contained loose wires sparking with no outlet to travel along, and the room beyond was full of partially-damaged tools and boxes. A curving path of destruction followed a similar shape, as though some disintegrating circle passed through in a straight line.<br/><br/>“Terrorist Simulation Scenario has come to an abrupt end,” Mr. Hawkins said over the intercom. “But, it seems we made a new breakthrough!”<br/><br/>Amalia stared at her hands, which otherwise seemed perfectly normal.<br/><br/>“Woah, you just...fried the simulation!” Zofia exclaimed. “That’s so cool!”<br/><br/>“Y-yeah,” Amalia stammered. “I guess so...”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Gain one Hero Point for successfully completing the simulation.</div></div><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><strong>The Fifth Wheel</strong></span></span><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/sC7L8zI.jpg)</div><br/>The combat may have been simulated, but the exercise and adrenaline coursing through their veins were not. Like all other simulations they had the opportunity to shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes. But Leslie’s friends were not in a rush; on the contrary, they seemed quite distracted and spent as much time talking as they did bathing, undressing, and eventually redressing. There were enough stalls for twelve, although the girls showered close if not adjacent to talk with each other more easily. Leslie couldn’t help but notice that most of them were quite the lookers. Amalia’s photogenic features contrasted nicely while wet and in the flesh as it did during their Discord video chats, and her Mediterranean tan and tight ass made up for her relatively small bust. Zofia’s breasts were larger, although she was shorter and more petite than the others. Hua had a more lissome build, while Harmonia outranked them all easily in looks. Living up to her self-appointed demigoddess status, Harmonia’s body was athletic yet had curves in all the right places and could easily compete with Leslie’s own chest.<br/><br/>“So...you were doing magic training at the Academy?” Zofia asked Hua.<br/><br/>“More or less,” Hua nodded. “I mean I don’t want to brag, but these courses are super-easy compared to what I go through at the Academy of Set. Less computer simulations and more ingesting spores grown in the Alps to talk with the spirit lords of earth and sky. Or screaming in a sensory deprivation tank until your throat gives out and it feels like you’re choking. That’s when I first heard Ios of the Eight Eyes.”<br/><br/>“Sounds weirder rather than harder,” Harmonia said. “Things used to be simpler; cut the good part of the bull and burn it to the gods, get fair weather and crops in return. This sounds more like ‘try everything and hope something sticks’ kind of stuff.”<br/><br/>Amalia entered Leslie’s stall as Hua and Harmonia began to fiercely debate their mystical merits. “Heya, uh, normally I’d talk later, but can we do it now?”<br/><br/>As a token of good faith she offered to help Leslie scrub her back with a loofah.<br/><br/>“What did you see, in that white room?” she asked. “When I went in, everything went dark. There was a snake-statue thing, bound in chains. A lance with a key on the end, to unlock it. I saw visions.”<br/><br/>Amalia looked over at the other girls. At this point Zofia unstoppered the shampoo bottle and poured the contents onto the slick tiles in a messy vaguely half-moon shape.<br/><br/>“Can this work as a moon ritual? Ah!”<br/><br/>Zofia nearly slipped on it, taking hold of a nearby grab bar in time.<br/><br/>“It sounds like Harmonia had her powers all along,” Amalia continued. “And Hua was already researching this kind of stuff. Zofia...well, she seems to have adapted best. But why didn’t they tell us anything before?”<br/><br/><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">This can be a good opportunity to discover your Weakness, and perhaps a Hero Point for some good role-play.</span></strong><br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><strong>Revelations</strong></span></span><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/FxlqHoP.jpg)</div><br/>The girls and their parents stayed at a nearby classy hotel. Easily within sight of Tomorrow Technologies, it was but a short walk over...or an even shorter flight or leap for the ably-empowered. Harmonia invited her friends to her hotel room to watch Netflix and play Nintendo Switch games. With the rest of their parents burning the midnight oil, they more or less had the place to themselves.<br/><br/>“Wait, my Dark Mage has to be a guy?!” Hua exclaimed as she fiddled with her handheld Switch console. “Why, is this some dumb lore reason?”<br/><br/>“Well, us girls have got cute pegasi,” Harmonia said. “So I’m cool with that.”<br/><br/>Hua rolled her eyes. “So we get one of the series’ crappiest classes. Yay.”<br/><br/>Amalia was in better spirits, watching Hua’s progress every so often while flipping intermittently between Netflix shows. Zofia surreptitiously snuck a look at Hua’s black book by floating it out of her backpack.<br/><br/>“I can sense that, Zoe,” Hua said without lifting her head from the Switch.<br/><br/>“Ooof, sorry, I just...was curious, you know. You used that to see those terrorists in that simulation somehow, right? You curious what ol’ Mom and Dad are discussing at TT?”<br/><br/>“I am, but that wouldn’t be responsible, you know. Imagine how you’d feel if some perv were watching us all right now?”<br/><br/>“Well, we’re not perverts!” Zofia replied. “And it’s probably stuff about us. We have a right to know, right?”<br/><br/>“Yes, we do,” Amalia answered. “But...I dunno.”<br/><br/>Hua sighed. “Is it okay if I share a secret? I did use that spell, earlier today, but it was boring. The only interesting thing I saw was this woman with black wings walking through a mirror...only to talk about tax stuff with a bunch of people in suits.”<br/><br/>Harmonia leaped onto the bed upon which Hua sat. “Black wings, was it? Are you sure?”<br/><br/>“Errr, you’d think I would be unsure about seeing something like that?”<br/><br/>Harmonia looked away, hands tightening into fists. “That’s Eris. My mother. I haven't seen-I didn't know she'd be-”<br/><br/>There was an awkward silence, eventually broken by Zofia.<br/><br/>“Sorry I brought it up. I didn’t mean to turn this night into an awkward one…”<br/><br/>“No,” Harmonia responded. “If she’s here, then I have a right to know. My relationship with her is...complicated, but if the rest of your parents know something about it, they should have told us.”<br/><br/>“I agree,” Amalia said. “We’re all being kept in the dark about something. Although I'd much rather go there and ask them in person. If they're going to lie, let them try and do it to our faces.”<br/><br/>Zofia blinked. “Oh. So is everyone in agreement then? Check out the Super-Secret Mom & Dad Business Meeting?”<br/>