[color=MediumOrchid][h1][center]Voyager[/center][/h1][/color]

[center][u]in[/u][/center]

[center][i]These Are the Voyages...[/i][/center]

Voyager was beat. Still aching from the brutal beat-down she had with the metal monster and emotionally drained from the whole experience, heading home to rest and spending the remainder of the night watching her favorite TV show sounded pretty good to her right now. Yet at the same time, she was more excited then she'd ever been in her life. Granted she hadn't been around for a long time to begin with, at least as far as she could remember, but just thinking about all the friends she made and the villains she fought...it just felt wonderful knowing she had been a part of that. That she had been a hero.

Slowing down slightly, Voyager took a look around the street for the first time since she was dragged into it by that giant anchor. Things were in pretty bad shape; great chunks of the street and nearby buildings were battered and broken by the day's events, cars were smashed along the side of the road, and grime and rubble seemed to litter the ground everywhere. Voyager flinched as something splashed on her, reminding her of that great metal monster again, only to realize it was just a spurt of water spraying from under a crack in the road, probably from a broken pipe. The only cars on the road had flashing lights and sirens now, as people in different colored uniforms ran back and forth trying to control the damage that the Game Genie had inflicted on the city. Voyager had already done a lot to save the city from the strange pixelated attack, but if she was going to be a hero, Voyager figured she had to do more then just punch out a bad guy and go home. It didn't feel right leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces.

Ignoring her weariness, Voyager did just that, wandering around and helping wherever she could. Most people seemed surprised to see her helping, but were nonetheless pleased when she started helping them to heave debris into large trucks, using a little bit of Psiforce to push around the heavier objects. When she couldn't find rubble to clean up she gravitated towards the men and women in blue who were tending to the wounded, mostly moving them around and assisting with some first aid.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Is she going to be okay?"[/color] Voyager asked one of the older uniformed men, concerned over the amount of blood on the shirt of the woman she was helping into a vehicle.

"She'll be fine, it looks worse than it is," he responded, having gotten use to the absurdity of an alien for a good Samaritan. "Just glad you and the other heroes got here in time to stop this whole mess, Miss...?"

[color=MediumOrchid]"Voyager,"[/color] the half-alien recited again, nowhere near tired of reminding people.

"Well Voyager, I think with kids like you around Pacific Point's gonna be in good shape," the man said with a smile, tipping his hat as he climbed into the back of the vehicle as it sped off. Feeling herself glowing again, she turned around to try and find something else to do when something flew up and slammed into her legs, followed by a flash of light from a nearby camera.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Wh-wha?"[/color] Voyager said stupidly as she tried to reorient herself.

"Sweety, ask before you do that," a woman's voice doted as she stepped forward to pry what Voyager realized was a small child off of her legs. "Sorry, she can be a little excitable."

[color=MediumOrchid]"That's okay, she wasn't hurting anything. Just glad to help!"[/color] Voyager said a little sheepishly, waving at the small child who waved back with a big smile on her face. Finding her way over to some more rubble to pick up, she couldn't help but grin a little when she heard a young voice yell out how she wanted to be like her when she grew up.

"Funny, I'm pretty sure she's older then you," came a familiar voice opposite her.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Mister Martel!" [/color]Voyager said in surprise. In his bomber jacket and missing his glasses, she almost didn't recognize Dr. Alexander Martel standing across from her, already helping to move some rubble from a particularly nasty street brawl.

"No need to let the world know," he remarked sharply, leading her to a large and heavy bit of concrete that would take them off to the side for a while. "You have an interesting idea of what it means to stay in the lab. Can I see those inhibitors?"

[color=MediumOrchid]"It was not my fault!" [/color]she said indignantly, holding out her arms to give the doctor a cursory glance at the devices. [color=MediumOrchid]"Those strange robot men broke into the room and-"[/color]

"Don't worry Riley, I'm just glad you're okay, as I'm sure Fletcher would be too," he said with a light chuckle, turning over her hands to get a better look at the cracks in the glass devices. "I see you've been quite active today, 'Voyager'..."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Do you think Miss Jordan will be upset?"[/color] Riley asked innocently.

"About you getting loose or the fact that you've named yourself after a television program?" Martel remarked with a wry smile. "Let's finish up here and meet back at the Poseidon building. Should be a spare lab room that hasn't been ransacked at this point."

[center]----------[/center]

[b][center]Sometime Around Midnight[/center][/b]

With the help of a discarded hooded jacket, Riley managed to sneak back inside the Poseidon complex at the point she left, where Dr. Martel quickly ferried her into another door down the hallway where he had already moved some of the furniture and devices from the old room, whereupon Riley quickly ferried herself to the old sofa and collapsed onto it, breathing a content sigh of relief.

[color=MediumOrchid]"I am surprised no one was around the giant hole in the wall,"[/color] she commented tiredly.

"There were other rooms broken into that demanded more attention then an 'unused' lab. Inhibitors?" Martel peered curiously at the damage as she detached and handed them over to him. "Just had to volunteer to watch this area and it was a safe spot to get in."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Is that where Jordan is, watching the other labs?"[/color] Riley asked tentatively.

"No, she got called down to the company warehouse, apparently some street gangs broke into Darrow's storage and the company wants some extra muscle just in case. She just called," Martel explained, moving the inhibitors to his workbench to start repairs. The conversation faltered, leaving only the buzzing of his tools to fill the silence. With the days excitement over and done with, the guilt over going off to cause trouble came crashing down on Riley like that anchor did. Jordan and Mr. Martel had done so much to help protect her, and she responded by wandering off and causing chaos in public, almost getting killed in the process. Was what she did wrong? Maybe...but a little part of her felt like if the day repeated itself, she still would have put on Voyager's helmet when the time came.

"She's not mad, you know," Martel said abruptly, setting aside his tools to admire his handiwork. "A little annoyed maybe, but not mad."

[color=MediumOrchid]"How did you...?"[/color]

"You haven't been this quiet since she got upset over the DVD you accidentally scratched," Martel commented, walking back to her with the repaired devices. "I put two and two together."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Two and two of what?"[/color]

"I...well, it's a saying, means I guessed what was going on," Martel said, faltering slightly as he set the inhibitors in front of her. "Point is, you seemed upset, just trying to help."

[color=MediumOrchid]"I am okay, really,"[/color] Riley said, slipping down the cushions to lie on her back. [color=MediumOrchid]"Just...thinking about Voyager. Not the Trek show, the other one,"[/color] she amended quickly.

"Ah," Martel said coolly, crossing his arms behind his back. "I was expecting this."

[color=MediumOrchid]"You were?"[/color]

"Of course. Fletcher wanted to set this up for your protection of course, but even she knew you couldn't stay in a lab room forever," Martel explained, taking a seat on the end of the couch Riley wasn't occupying. "I certainly didn't plan for an Atari invasion to be your first big experience on the outside, but it served that purpose, it seems." 

[color=MediumOrchid]"A very strange purpose," [/color]Riley commented, thinking back to when she, Shovel Knight, and Penny teamed up to take down that big angry guy. [color=MediumOrchid]"I even met another alien, a really big one! And a weird guy who threw axes and an even bigger guy who I shot with my eyes!"[/color]

"...shot with your eyes?"

[color=MediumOrchid]"Yeah, it was like, bwooooom!" [/color]Riley said, accenting the sound effect by flailing her arms in a crude imitation of lasers coming from her eyes. [color=MediumOrchid]"Then he fell down and I passed out or something, it was fun."[/color]

"Fascinating," Martel said, making a mental note of this new ability. "And you even stayed to help with the cleanup?"

[color=MediumOrchid]"It felt like the right thing to do,"[/color] Riley explained simply. [color=MediumOrchid]"Do you think I should go back tomorrow and help more?"[/color]

"You might want to clean up first," Martel said, giving the grime-covered half-alien in the battered suit an uncomfortable look before checking his watch. "Damn it's late, better inform the night guard of where I am. Excuse me a moment..."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Mister Martel," [/color]Voyager asked as the doctor got up to leave. [color=MediumOrchid]"Do...do you think Voyager can come back tomorrow? To help out and stuff?"[/color] Martel paused at the door to mull over his words, thinking of the best thing to say.

"Do you want her to come back?" The answer came almost naturally to Riley.

[color=MediumOrchid]"I...I want to help people."[/color]

Martel smiled slightly. "Then I think I should find a new uniform for you. Should be a couple spares in the back room."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Ooh, can you make it purple?"[/color]