[h2]Streetside[/h2]
[@RoflsMazoy][@sedjwick][@floodtalon]
[hr]
Mimic grinned widely as the claw came down. Her arms spread wide, she took the blow. All of it. Her skin flushed back to its usual colour, and her eyes and smile grew wide. "OH!" she shouted. "Oh, oh, yes!" Still close to the boy with the fire arm, she met his gaze and gave him her best, rosy-cheeked smile. Of course, behind the mask, it couldn't be seen, so she instead showed her affection another way; embracing him and kissing his forehead. "That was fantastic," she praised him, then pushed him away. Rolling up her sleeve, she waved her left arm as it caught fire. "Now show me how to use it before I kill you."

Dian wasn't caught by surprise. Even if she'd almost taken a chunk of tarmac to the face, an attack as loud and obnoxious as this new boy's would have been impossible to miss even if she was in a coma. Bone surfaced across her skin, deflecting whatever energy the boy had been hurling. "Get off, Texas," she hissed, ignoring him to turn back to the elemental guy. Clearly blindness hadn't stopped him, so she circled around, trying to get contact with him again to steal another of his senses. Or melt his limbs. Or something that'd get rid of him. Mimic would play with the other one. They still had a job to do, and Dian, at least, remembered what it was.
[hr]
[h2]Flatside[/h2]
[@Banana][@TheHangedMan][@Old Amsterdam]
[hr]
Dragon put the kettle aside. "So nobody wants coffee, then?" It wasn't really a question, and he stood with his hands on the counter, looking at the troupe gathered in his living room. His girlfriend, glowing a pale white he couldn't guess at; fear, anxiety? Nevertheless, she smiled, and it brought a little joy to his heart. He couldn't believe she'd stuck around after the whole thing with his brother. Maybe this wasn't just sex, maybe she was the mythical One he'd always been told about. Spectrum stood with her arm around Traveler's shoulders. Her face was easier to read; determination. Whatever she'd been through today, she wanted to finish it, and she was asking for help.

The pair by the window, distracted by the fire outside. Charlotte first. Looking-Glass, she'd chosen to call herself. Officially, since it was now down on City records. Maybe it was appropriate that she had that odd cat for a pet. What he was less sure about was the look of enthusiasm on her face. She'd been withdrawn for the past few days, and the thought of a deadly fight left her looking like she'd been promised a pony. He'd have to watch her. Finally, it was the girl he'd never heard of. Xoxi, she'd been called. Her power seemed to be little more than hands. Psychic hands to replace those she'd lost. She was the one he felt most uneasy about. Charlotte at least had held her own in a fight. Xoxi looked little more than a teenager playing at Epic than an actual one.

"High know I want to help," He said, looking at the television, still frozen on the one frame of a dirty soldier. "I suspect that's precisely why the Electric warned us three. But, if there's trouble going on, I'm not one to ignore it. And since you got in, Traveler, that means we can get out without hitting whatever safeguards the High Electric put in." He paused for a moment, then added, "No offence intended, High, but we're Epics. I know I've never called myself that. I"m just a guy. A guy with powers, with a beautiful girlfriend," Spectrum giggled a little at that, "an apartment I shouldn't be able to afford, and more money than I know what to do with. I'm fortunate. I want to help.

"Every one of us in this room, even you, Charlotte, are more fortunate than a lot of the other people in these buildings, hiding from that outside." He walked around the counter, putting an arm around Spectrum's waist. She pressed herself against him, like she always did, and his skin warmed just from the contact. It gave him a little more courage for what's next. "We're not heroes because we want to be. We're heroes because we have to be. We've been given more than others so we can do more than others. Let's go do it." The room fell silent after he'd said it. 

Had he said the wrong thing?

Spectrum kissed him. It was an embarrassingly long kiss, yet it still felt far too short. She broke away from him, her skin flushed red. No, that was the glow. [i]That[/i] glow. She had her hands on his cheeks, and she smiled with tears in her eyes. Her next words made everything OK. "My Dragon." He couldn't help it. He smiled and grinned and cried a little and kissed her again. He lifted her off the ground with his hug, then put her back down. He hadn't realised how much of a weight staying in here was. Now he was going to help. He'd stop this and then they'd go back to normal. A wicked grin appeared on Spectrum's face, and she pulled his collar. "Want to help me suit up?"