It was nearly a week since Riley and Mina arrived in Lost Haven, and while the ongoing Metahuman Crisis still loomed over the city and by extent most of the United States like a great storm cloud, things at least began to settle down a bit for the ex-scientist and her half-alien friend. Arbalest was a busy place with people coming and going all the time, but since there was always someone higher up the chain like Hoxton or Smokey around, the girls both felt at least a little safer then she had since they fled from the UK, although that didn't stop the neurotic scientist from scouring the internet for any shred of evidence that Darrow was on the prowl before she fell asleep. Sure it may have been awkward essentially camping out in a private security company's base with people marching in and out every hour of the day, but for once the world seemed to be giving Mina and Riley a little bit of peace and they were both intent on using that peace to their advantage.

Holed up in her room, Mina hummed contently to herself as she thumbed through one of the messy binders she had packed with her on the trip. In between hanging out with Riley and some of the other Arbalest leaders, she had been spending the majority of her time catching up on old projects that she had neglected since working for Darrow. She had already completed a mathematical proof, a couple schematics for cleaner vehicle engines, and the new game plus mode in Shovel Knight, and she was eagerly looking for something else to work on when her hand slipped and an all too familiar sheaf of papers slipped out from the binder. Feeling as though a cold hand had gripped the back of her neck, Mina's eyes crossed from the crossed hammers in crimson ink over a black anvil stamped in the upper corner to the words on the cover of the report.

[i]Darrow Engineering Division BPE[/i]
[i]Project: Forethought[/i]
[i]Project Head: Dr. Alaric Gaster[/i]
[s][i]assisted by Dr. Mina Seidel[/i][/s]

A odd pang of amusement mixed with her revulsion at finding the report again, as she remembered how she scratched her own name off the cover after finding out what Gaster was planning for his 'subject'. Tentatively, Mina flipped the cover page over and looked over the first few pages of Gaster's notes covering the alien that was recovered from Corsica. Her stomach gave an unpleasant lurch every time her trembling fingers crossed over another gruesome detail of the firefight with the alien, until she came across a photo of a mangled corpse so revolting that she collapsed on all fours and started dry heaving, the sheaf dropping to the floor in a crumpled heap. Mina internally scolded herself for her curiosity as she desperately tried not to lose her lunch all over the floor. After what felt like years, Mina regained control of herself and sat up against the well, breathing heavily. Rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses violently to try and stop the tears welling in them, she glanced back at the crumpled report on the floor. She could still remember how Gaster had pushed the pictures on her when she first started having second thoughts on the whole experiment.

[color=ed1c24]"Don't you see what this power is capable of?"[/color] he had told her. [color=ed1c24]"There can be no barriers to our study of this power, otherwise all of this can happen again. Wouldn't you agree?"[/color]

The fact that she did made her even more disgusted then the report on Corsica did. She had followed Gaster around like a puppy, too blinded by his manipulations and her own pride to see what was going on, and what that man was capable of. What was her own conscience compared to all the lives she would save, she had decided. What was morality and self-respect when the fate of the world was hanging in the balance? Surely the enslavement of a creature created in a lab was a small price to pay for the greater good!

Now she just wanted to strangle the old Mina for even contemplating thoughts like that. Shaking with cold fury, Mina's hand shot out and roughly tore the Corsican report from the top of the stack, half of the papers ripping apart as she pulled. Violently crumpling the Corsican report and throwing it into a pile of refuse in the corner, Mina moved to tear the rest of the report to shreds before something stayed her hand. 

Blinking angry tears from her eyes, she took a second look at the medical report now sitting on the top of the papers, filled out in her own handwriting. The date was familiar to her, she realized. Wasn't it when...?

With one hand, she turned over the sheet to look at the back. Scrawled on the back were two stick figures drawn in purple crayon, one with round shapes resembling glasses over their eyes, the other with squiggly lines coming from the figure's head. Beneath the figure in glasses, written in crude, childlike handwriting, was [i]MINA[/i]. Under the second figure, a name was written in pen, matching Mina's handwriting from that day.

[color=MediumOrchid][i]'Riley'[/i][/color]

Her fear and anger melted away in an instant as Mina held the report close to her, as if to share some of the warmth she was now feeling with it. Maybe this report, in spite of all of its bad memories, would be useful to keep around after all.

[color=MediumOrchid]"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!"[/color]

Mina gave a startled yelp at the sound of Riley shrieking and stumbled her way towards the door and out into the rec room, her eyes darting back and forth for any signs of trouble. She quickly found Riley standing on the sofa with her arms outstretched in triumph, looking perplexed at her sudden appearance but nevertheless overjoyed.

"What on earth are you yelling about?!?" Mina demanded, still utterly confused.

[color=MediumOrchid]"A most joyous occasion!"[/color] Riley cried out triumphantly, leaping gracefully down from her perch to pull her friend into a tight hug. [color=MediumOrchid]"The Serpent Wyrick is performing with such excellence that I could not help but become excited over this splendid showing of talent!"[/color]

"...what?"

"Wyrick just scored another goal," Sokol, the only other person in the room, explained from his reclining position on the opposite sofa. "He's forward for the San Maria Serpents."

"Oh, the hockey team!" Mina confirmed, relieved that it wasn't an actual emergency. "I didn't know you liked it, Mina. Or even knew about it, come to think of it..."

[color=MediumOrchid]"These...'hockey' occurrences are simply amazing, Miss Mina!"[/color] Riley declared, jumping back on top of the sofa to keep watching the show throwing a few excited punches as a fight broke out on the ice. [color=MediumOrchid]"Such fast paced activity and brief bursts of close quarters combat...it is just such a delight to partake in!"[/color]

Mina was never much into hockey, or any sport for that matter, but there was something about Riley's overabundance of enthusiasm about it that made her smile and want to enjoy the experience too. Needless to say, if Riley was this crazy about hockey, Mina was sure that she and Jordan would get along like a house on fire. If she ever got here, of course.

Mina almost sat down to watch the game herself when Smokey floated into the room, followed by his accompanying cloud of tobacco smoke. Tactfully passing by the hyperactive half-alien and taking a seat in a cushy recliner, the enigmatic Dutchman quietly turned his attention to the sketchpad in his hand.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Mr. Smokey!"[/color] Riley shouted again, bouncing off and landing next to him. [color=MediumOrchid]"Is that my new thing?"[/color]

"What new thing?" Mina asked, though by the time Riley puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips Mina was afraid she knew that answer already.

[color=MediumOrchid]"My superhero outfit of course!"[/color]

Being the neurotic overprotective one of the pair, Mina still wasn't 100% behind Riley's attempts to be one of the superheroes. Part of that was because of the threat of Darrow looming behind them, but a great deal of Mina's concerns were centered around Riley's powers. Despite the best efforts of Darrow's cronies, humanity's knowledge of the power and capability of psionic energy was flimsy at best, and nonexistent at worst. The last thing Mina wanted to do was put her foot down and keep the half-alien girl's ambitions bottled up, but the pictures from Corsica were hard to forget, and she already knew what happened the first time Riley lost control. Mina was sure Riley could protect herself from Darrow or whoever tried to hurt her...it was the lingering fear of Riley accidentally hurting someone with her powers cared about that bothered her.

Still, like with everything Riley did, her infectious optimism won out and Mina gave her blessing to let her at least plan something out before she went off to rescue cats from trees or whatever superheroes did. Luckily, the multitalented Smokey had a bit of an artistic design flair and was willing to help out in his usual, laid-back way.

"I've sketched this out with armor and fabric made from a new type of infused Kevlar, should be light enough for you to move around without sacrificing too much protection," Smokey droned on as he made a few remaining scratch marks with a colored pen before handing it off to Riley. "The boss'll need to give the nod since it's kind of pricey, but it's a pretty solid build for what you're looking for. Of course I don't regularly design these things, so...grain of salt, I guess."

The half-alien squealed in delight at the sketching, bouncing up and down on the toes of her sneakers as she took it in. Too excited to speak coherently, she held out the sketchpad to show Mina the colored illustration, which she had to steady with one hand and physically remove from Riley's grip so she could get a good look.

[hider=The Sketch]
[img]http://pre14.deviantart.net/0a27/th/pre/i/2015/269/c/7/colette_fighting_demonstration_by_viroal-d9azhly.jpg[/img]
[/hider]

Mina looked between the illustration and Riley, who was letting out a highly pitched squee and rocking back and forth so excitedly that she was starting to float a little above the ground. Sokol, with an exasperated movement that suggested he had been doing this a lot lately, reached over and gave the back of her hoodie a slight tug with one hand to bring her down to Earth again.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Ohmygoshitssoamazingitseverythingiwantedimgoingtosaveallsortsofpeopleandmeetall-"[/color]

"Deep breath, slow down," Smokey interrupted her, raising a hand and lowering it down gently to make his point. "And tell me what you think."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Alright, alright,"[/color] she replied, taking a few short breaths before she began again. [color=MediumOrchid]"It's a super nice design and ooh I'm just so in love with it, but I don't really know about the thing on my head here."[/color]

"Yeah," Mina interjected. "The headgear does look a bit, uh..."

"Gimpy?"

[i]"Constricting,"[/i] Mina continued sharply, shooting a dirty look at the interrupting Sokol. 

[color=MediumOrchid]"Indeed, it does not look comfortable...maybe something a little less...er, what is the word for something that hides something? Concealing?"[/color]

"Well you do need some sort of method to hide your identity," Mina argued, not noticing Smokey casually wandering off mid-conversation. "Though come to think of it you kind of have been already..."

[color=MediumOrchid]"But superheroes usually have some sort of concealment, so that they are recognizable by people. If I am to be a superhero, I would very much like to b-WAAGH!!"[/color]

Riley yelped and flailed her arms around in a panic as Smokey came up behind her and threw an old purple scarf he procured from places unknown around her neck, wrapping it around her neck and the lower half of her mouth. Effortlessly dodging her wild movements, he took a pair of dark tinted motorcycle glasses and put them around her head with a slight snap.

"How about this then?" he asked, holding out a compact mirror for Riley to see how she looked.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Hmm...yes, I do like this! Although it is quite...dark..."[/color]

"Where did you get this stuff from?" Mina asked Smokey with some suspicion as Riley fiddled with the tinted goggles a bit and wandered around to find where the lights went.

"My ex was a biker, left a few of this things lying around when he left. Figured it would come in handy one day."

[color=MediumOrchid]"And this is the same color as my psionic ability too!"[/color] Riley squeaked excitedly, tugging on the scarf happily while feeling the walls for a switch. [color=MediumOrchid]"Could you make the rest of the outfit this color too?"[/color]

"Sure, I think I can get some eye wear that'll fit better on you too, those look a bit snug."

Riley was beside herself with glee. [color=MediumOrchid]"This is so wonderful, I'm going to be a superhero and save people, but first I'm going to find out where the lights went!"[/color] The others watched with some amusement as Riley stumbled into the next room, running her hand across the door frame briefly before stepping through.

"I won't tell her if you won't," Sokol said mischievously, earning another dirty look from Mina, who ran off after her to go help, leaving Smokey to work on the drawing and Sokol to enjoy the game in peace.

"That Riley is something, isn't she?" Sokol remarked lightly. "You think she can make it as a cape?"

"I like to think so," Smokey said, leaning back and taking a drag on a fresh cigarette. "Messed up world we live in, and more people like her might make it worth living in."

"Heh, didn't know you were the sentimental type, Smokes."

"I'm full of surprises."