[color=7bcdc8]"I’ll trust in your judgement, as you’ve shown yourself capable! I’ll have some… Discussions… About the details you’ve shared.”[/color]

[b][color=#d9145f]"Of course, Mama.  I have a shelter arrangement at ShieldTown, I'll set out first thing after the activity in the Outskirts has settled down,"[/color][/b] She informed, drumming her fingers on her knees.

[color=7bcdc8]“You’ve done supremely well, dear. I’ll have Copper Drake take you wherever you wish to go upon your return to Ichabod. I have to go now! I love you.”[/color]  ID gasped with audible excitement.  An outing with Copper Drake potentially meant a trip to the surface.  She could finally see the Sun again, and hopefully not through some crack in the plates either.  She still vividly recalled the last time they went, so many years ago...

[b][color=#d9145f]"I LOVE YOU TOO MAMA!"[/color][/b]

She drummed on her thighs and stamped the ground, basking in the glow of praise for a long few minutes before she could regain her composure.  She exhaled slowly, still smiling cheerily beneath her mask as she swiped through her contacts, noting the cluster of Zolya's birds crossing the Outskirts in haste.  She took a moment to damp her signature and make herself as small as possible.  After she was confident she wouldn't be noticed she rapidly tapped out a message.

[center]To: Mithril Giant
[i][color=#d9145f]On special assignment:  Spooky Esper shit over @ Muriel
Could use backup if you're free.
Shieldtown region, probs set out first light.[/color][/i][/center]

ID carefully emerged from her hide, keeping her signature suppressed and taking care to give the birds a wide berth, though it did slow her travel.  She could run across the outskirts at a fair clip, but it would attract less attention to walk... assuming none of the stray beasts attacked her at least.  She thought back to her last trip to the surface.  ID had awakened very young: she'd been steeped in the magic world for as long as she could remember, and Mother had kept and educated her at the Menagerie underground facilities to protect her from extremists that might try and take advantage of her.  Her sister hadn't shown any signs of awakening, so they'd thought it was safe to let her attend school topside.  ID had written so many letters.

The memory was so vivid.  She was holding Copper Drake's hand: they'd gone to pick up her sister from graduation.  They couldn't make it to the ceremony.  She couldn't remember the reason why, probably due to trauma.  Everything happened so fast:  her sister's limo approaching, ID recalled the nervous excitement in her chest.  An armored truck ran the light, smashing into the limo's side.  It flipped so many times... people in uniforms poured out of the truck like an organized column of ants.  She screamed something, and just as Copper Drake was pulling her away, ID saw her... wreathed in brilliant silver, arm crushed under the weight of her own explosive power.

ID shuddered, recalling the anguished shriek of her sister's Astralform tearing its own eyes open before landing back in Ichabod, recoiling from the shock of having her breath forced out of her lungs.  The memory only dampened her mood a little, but galvanized her resolve... those Templar extremists would eventually face a reckoning.  She'd deliver their justice personally.

She settled back into her collected stoicism as she approached Shieldtown's walls from the broken Sun Lamp.  Crossing underneath The Den wasn't optimal, but the drones that normally policed this area appeared busy farther up the wall.  ID leapt silently to the top and slid down the interior side into a shadow, where she vanished in a small ripple of heat distorted air.