FourtyTwo

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Outro to Brazil

"Well, what a race that was, and Brazil turned out to be everything we expected and more...and wow, so many big moments. Rory, what about Amy and Beatrix coming close in the early stages?" Rosie started, as she turned to Rory and Aurora, on the presenting panel, the camera capturing the circuit behind.

"Beatrix Ward's spin looked absolutely gutting. So much potential there, she's been so unlucky, but as they say, you make your own luck in Formula AG. There's a pilot in there that looks so capable, but she's learning the hard way that consistency is king, and one incredible win doesn't represent progress for the team from Buenos Aires. I imagine she's feeling down, but, to put the ship in places it would never have belonged at the start of the season, that must be promising." Rory replied, the experienced commentator providing a bit of insight,

"Absolutely, and well, Carrera will have a long fight if they want to compete for 5th, as Zygon seems to just peel away. Cassie Neves may not have been all over the season at the start, but like her replacement at Valkyrie, is that indicative of next year's gauntlet she's put down?"

"Yes, Paul Mulder, well, we weren't sure about him at the start of the season, but look at him now. Not just two wins but more podiums, and he seems so comfortable. I know Alexander Knight will be kicking himself, but, he's been an absolute rock to that team. If they're building future success around him, I imagine the management must be so pleased they took a risk on him, especially after losing Neves." Rory added, Rosie chuckling.

"Yes, and who could forget what Kais Zenix did this race. He's such a dark horse, so brooding, but all the best pilots are like that! There's that ability to just be so calculated and relentless, he doesn't look like he cracks under pressure, I would not want him in my rear camera!" Rosie replied, as the crew laughed, looking back at Amy, on the top step in the footage.

"And then there's Stirling. So many doubts, and there's so many rumours that the neural link has been playing up for her this season too. How she pulls a gap like that is incredible, but she just has this dark art to her, like she knows how to bait other pilots. It's just incredible, and well, she has built one hell of a lead going into the last few races of the season, so who knows what might happen next." Rory added, looing back at the footage. "Apart from you know, Nora Kelly, if she manages to do some kind of miracle, but knowing her, that might just be possible...." The camera turned back to Aurora, as she knew they were close to wrap up here.

"Well, on that note, we thank you so much for watching, and we'll be taking a break before we head to the Great Barrier Reef. We hope you enjoyed our broadcast and we'll see you next time on Delta Hyper!"

---

Closing Montage- Brazil

Soundtrack: Nia Archives & Clipz - Maia Maia

The closing montage plays.

It's a riot.

Fans roaring in the crowd.

Tattoos on backs in the 100% humidity.

The rain pouring down, lightning crackling in the morning, showers pounding in the afternoon.

The start.

The spin out.

The crash.

The highs of punching sky on the podium.

The low of sitting by a ship and thinking your title charge was over.

Brazil gave, and took so, so much, but in the colourful flags, tifos, facepaint and prosthetics that many of the fans wore, this was a place that was wild.

And a place that loved a party. A place that loved noise. Art. Culture. A world of sport. But a world of speed. And kids wearing shirts from Carrera Condor and Silver Apex running through the stairs of the colourful Neo-Favela.

The camera panning out to the sunset and the circuit at Interlagos, and the setting of Brazil, 2094, an instant classic that felt like nothing else anywhere else.

---

Thursday 12th October, 2094
Nordic Call HQ, Luleå, Sweden

Cardio in Lulea

Astrid Thorsdottir

The work between Brazil and Australia began, as no doubt, Trixie had seen and been involved in Nordic Call's prep for next weekend in Australia, back at base in Lulea.

In the green forested room, the walls all projected up and the two bicycles set up there, set up for V02 maxing and calibrating augments and checking cardio, essential to pilots. Astrid was on her bike, Trixie was on hers, and the AR/VR setup with a neural link felt like being in a rural Swedish forest, in summer, rather than the bleak rain that way outside right now. Pedalling hard, Astrid saw the meter go up for wattage, and smiled, backing down, as she looked up and with the target hit, selected an exit and got spat out of the neural link's connection back into reality.

She pulled her leg over the frame, watching as Trixie came back in from virtual reality back into this one.

"Hey." She had been quiet to Trixie, averse to her noisy, loud nature. But didn't care so long as she dragged the ship up the results. The vibe at Nordic Call had been more depressing than the fact they soon had near-permanent darkness to look forwards to.

"Your cardio work looks good. Doctor Kjelle has helped me out a little with supplements. You may benefit a little from it." She was quiet. Matter of fact. Finns were like that. Almost as if, they weren't being rude, just being direct.

With it, Astrid left Trixie to it, knowing that behind the scenes, there was still plenty of work to do, and an upgrade to resolve.

---

Thursday 12th October, 2094
The Ranch, Carrera Condor HQ, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Remembering Reya

Ava Villarosa

Ava sighed, breathing out, leaning against the wall, looking at her phone. The offer letter was interesting, but MMR was not Carrera. Even with everything with Bea lately, she had to admit, being a No1 at another team was nothing on the rise this team had gone through this year.

Even for an older pilot, she'd learned, developed, grown so much. Was this the right move? She had no idea. She wanted to cry a lot about Reya. That memory coming back when he said it.

But she realised Bea was coming from somewhere too. About all of it. She was so fucking stupid. Why did she think she could play anyone? Anything?

Maybe the realisation was coming home. Someone was doing something. But what was Amy's angle? Was she gonna die? Was it someone else, beyond the grid? This wasn't some clear cut detective novel. Everyone had a motive. And everyone had a reason to benefit from nearly two dozen augmented superhumans receiving the best biotech medicine and neural link work anyone could ask for.

But for now, it was back to work. She left the little apartment room, and headed outside into the now warm springtime sun, clicking her hands together, ready for another sim session for Australia.

She'd make her choice soon. Sign that paperwork. But for now, she was a Carrera employee, and even with every doubt in her mind over Kais, over all of it, she knew all that mattered was staying on track.

---

CORAL /// OCEAN //// DEEP

Soundtrack: Tourist - So

The sound of water lapping up against the reef.

It was still abundant. But the clock seems to tick forwards. Time accelerates. Night and day blurring. Faster, and faster.

And the coral bleaching.
"Record temperatures have never been seen like this in Sweden...."

"And we enter the fifth week of record breaking 50C temperatures in Italy....."

"The UK has seen the worst flooding in over half a century..."

"The fire has spread throughout southern Belarus and the marshlands, with fears of fires spreading towards the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone marking fear that..."

Climate catastrophe. Unwinding.

"Floods decimate Los Angeles, with over three months of rain falling in under three days...."

"Permafrost methane bubbles are accelerating temperature change in the Arctic, as the Russian government denies the failure of a containment scheme..."

"AI has driven mass unemployment across New York, but now protesters are angry that reservoirs have begun to run dry, something that...."

"Sea level rise has creates hundreds of thousands of climate refugees from Tuvalu, creating more scenes of residents fleeing on container ships across the Pacific, and demanding reparations from carbon emitting nations..."

"Alaska has had a recent surge in residents, with locals coming into conflict with the United States plan to rehouse residents of flooding in Louisiana last year..."

"Refugees have flooded into Tunisia, as the entire population of Chad is declared stateless from last year's sandstorms and aquifer depletion, with the conflict continuing...."

The sight of refugees, shanty towns as far as the eye could see.

Water becoming a commodity. Food becoming important. Life depleting and passing like the sand on the ocean floor.

If any of this was making you uncomfortable, then the sight of the footage would seem far, far worse. A crisis in 2024 was a tidal wave in 2054.

It met a breakdown in order.

The kettle almost going off.

The sea back in view.

The coral turning white.

Then splintering.

Breaking.

Dying.

Shattering.

The images flicker, with riots, protesting. Disorder.
"Over 40% of all insects species have been thought to been made extinct due to....."

"And in regional news, the EU has capped beef sales, owing to shortages..."

"Microplastics have been found to be in concentrations that the WHO describes as fatal within a decade in Western African aquifers, with bioaccumulation on levels never seen before..."

"And on Wednesday, Czech citizens rioted as bread shortages have left one in four hungry as a total failure of the wheat crop across North America and Russia intensifies, sources reporting that....."

"Britain faces the worst migrant crisis yet, as over two million refugees attempted to cross the Channel last year, with many residents fleeing fires in southern Spain and Portugal..."

"Ghost Dieback has irreversibly affected a vast array of non-deciduous trees, some experts suggesting due to a dormant viruses in the Canadian Tundra have killed the homogenous species..."

"Amsterdam and Utrecht were evacuated today after Storm Cala, and the subsequent surge of 2.5m has overwhelmed much of the northern Netherlands, forcing over two million into Germany, with the European Union declaring a crisis...."

Collapse. Unravelling. The camera under the water now, as the ocean, before it, died, emptying into dust. Interspersed with images. Headlines.

"The Arabic Union today incorporated Egypt within its borders following a short but brutal war, stating that control of the Nile was critical, as thousands flee their homes, villages and settlements..."

"The third month of war on the Korean Peninsula, as South Korean forces repelled a chemical warfare attack in the east of the country, as the death toll continues to climb..."

"Forest fires have ravaged Chile, driving rainforests into ash...."

"In Mexico, the civil war has spilled into Texas and California, as protesters demand water, and the American government, already collapsing under President....."

"Conflicts within China erupted today, as the collapse of the rice crop has left hundreds of thousands hungry, and seemingly no response from the Beijing..."

"The Arctic Route has seen skirmishes between Canadian and Greenlandic vessels, the two allies brought to blows over control of the Northwest Passage, as the Arctic has been wholly ice-free for over five years...."

Takeover. Hostilities. Violence. Time ticks. It's hard to track because the years blurred. But from 2030 to about 2085, any one of the headlines could have been plucked.

"We're seeing.....images of widespread destruction, and reports of multiple tens of millions of casualties following the total burst event of the Three Gorges Dam...."

"Scenes of massive evacuation, as the Chadrahani NPP was damaged in a terrorist attack early this morning, and the residents of Mumbai have been advised to seek shelter, casualties are in the...."

"London today, after a catastrophic failure of the Thames Barrier was flooded, with estimates saying the damage could top...."

"Houses in New South Wales have been converted to closed oxygen systems to avoid smoke inhalation, as the wildfires outside of Canberra continue to rage, residents angry at the lack of government action as the air turns red and unbreathable...."

"Explosions have been seen at the Istanbul Park race and have injured twenty, as increasing insurgent activity in Turkey seeks control of the government following the collapse of water supplies, putting pressure on..."

"The massive forest fire in central Siberia is set to be the largest in human known history, as temperatures in Novosibirsk pierced 45C today..."

"The conflict in Bolivia today intensifies, as Paraguayan forces move towards La Paz, seeking to install...."

"We are in the third year of the conflict between ECOWAS and the Central African Alliance, and with neither side set to back down over water, oil and mining rights, reports of mass murder and starvation are continuing to proliferate, the casualty toll today approaching 40 million in one of the bloodiest fights in...."

"The squalid, tight conditions in the refugee camps have been a perfect breeding ground for the now rapidly virluent sickness, some dubbing it the Uzbek Plague, infecting over 70% of all residents in North Africa and Central Asia, being so virulent that it is even being found on Luna...."

"Fires rage for the eighth summer in a row in Los Angeles, as the northern half of the city evacuates, with local police left behind and struggling to restore order..."

"Some say the environmental damage from the rare earth tailings pond has contaminated the Karakoram Aquifer, leaving over fourty million without drinking water...."

Voices. Screaming into the void.

"Humanity feels like it's at a breaking point, and scientists ask, is there any way back? Widespread collapse is imminent, so where are our politicians? Where are the billionaires mining asteroids?"

"Screw the Moon, we need to save Earth, all of us, billions left behind!"

"What's there left to save? There's a dying planet, and we need to be more resilient, to the stars! We're finally mastering our bodies, changing our genome to survive higher heat, can't we work with that and find out what it would take to spread our wings from this place?"

"Can't take everyone with us, idiot!"

Anger. People always arguing. A message that rings to now that there's no clear way forward.

But a firebreak is.

And then, the coral snaps into frame as the camera passes by a broken chunk in cloudy, acidic waters. And suddenly, reforms and magically reappears.

"The work by the team at the University of Otago suggests that with implementation of the adaptive biopolymer, coral dieback could reverse by the end of the decade, reversing bleaching..."

More chunks of coral magically heal.

"Bioengineering has given wheat a new lease of life, growing in almost 20% of the water required to grow historic strains, and the open source patent has allowed for massive restoration of badlands across the Canadian Shield..."

"Massive investment into geoengineering is unlikely to turn the tide, but created massive rainstorms following a six month drought in Spain, proving the technology's use..."

"The intense heat of the Arabian Desert has been tamed, as new geoengineering methods have created frequent rains and pumped CO2 into former oil wells..."

"Efforts to create a rewilded Iowa have taken credence, as the Federated American States move to cordon off the former New Dustbowl state, with enormous tree planting efforts funded by...."

Hope. As the coral suddenly turns back into colour, from grey, to pinks, oranges, reds, aquamarines.

"In India, the release of the Bengal Tiger, after full extinction marks a turning point, their genetically engineered reintroduction shows that increasingly novel approaches are being taken to keystone species..."

"The project aims to restore Europe's glaciers, using mirrors and new satellite technology, combined with significant cloud seeing efforts....."

"Lab grown meat has been accepted by over 95% of blind taste tested participants, providing a vital source of protein, with the new Open Nutricor model being compared to the Haber Process..."

And then fish return. A flurry. The render looks real, about as close to reality as you could be, and with a neural link, you could reach out and physically feel it.

"Universal Basics has not been without its critics, but as the European Union introduces Day 1 of the trial, one has to ask, will their successes inspire others?"

"The Amazon Haven project, aimed to create a self-regenerating rainforest has been wildly successful, reversing centuries of forest clear cut in Brazil, creating an enormous carbon store within a decade..."

"Mara City has proven a runaway success, with many hailing the new African city as a hub for sustainability and a blueprint for cities to reduce resident impacts..."

"The ending of enormous mining projects in Indonesia as GlenHorzion was met with rapturous joy from the locals, as efforts turn to restoration and restoration in Sumatra..."

"Today marked a momentous occasion for the fossil fuel industry in the Middle East, as oil production stopped in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over a century and a half, as algal biofuel production replaces...."

"Czechia today celebrated the advent of a new border forest with Poland, seeking to create one of the most advanced rewilding schemes in human history...."

"The first summer of sea ice being found at the 74th parallel was celebrated by NGOs, as efforts to reduce global temperatures bear fruit..."

"Los Angeles today was declared a fire-free zone for five years in a row, as residents in the Inland Empire finally return following new rewilding of the plains...".

The music increases.

The lens pulls slowly forwards, a kaleidoscope of colour, and this is all on show.

The world is still hurt. Images show deserts where cities used to be. Fundamental shifts in human patterns. Destroyed American cities left abandoned for new. The grit of Buenos Aires. The shimmering glass of Singapore. The cyberpunk-like blocks of Tokyo. The neo-utopian New Hilo. London. Los Angeles. Tallinn. Paris. Auckland. Istanbul.

A world much the same, but a world that couldn't ever remain.

And here. The Great Barrier Reef.

And in amongst the coral, the presence of one, lone diver, in a green and light blue wetsuit.

"We hurtled towards collapse.." Harrison's voice narrated, the Aussie back in picture for this intro, face to camera, the rebreather see-through, revealing his face and his hair to all.

"But we survived. Finding purpose to protect our home. Overcoming. And looking after each other."

Harrison chuckled.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Bloody ripper! We got our coral back. And we then get to go race in it." The voice carried in echo, as he surfaced up, camera following, revealing the engineered bar of sand barely above the sea, the platform, and beyond it, the tubes that formed a granulation point for the Ballycastle Restoration Project.

"Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef."

---

Diving In

Soundtrack: Radiohead and Hans Zimmer- Ocean Bloom

And with it, the team would have been immersed in what was probably one of the most impressive, seamless introductions. Diving backwards off a small rubber dinghy, they were IN almost seamless into that same intro. From dire reminders, to optimism.

To a brighter world, light beaming in through the turquoise sea above.

Bea, Paul, Trixie, Kais, Nora, all five geared up with wetsuits, shown perhaps the pinnacle of something that wasn't quite Luna. It was one of the greatest achievements, because the coral reefs that had died here were being regrown, for thousands of kilometres and protected within an inch of their lives.

All of them wouldn't have seen it in person, outside of a fish tank, given how soon in the changing climate things it had suffered dieback. Pictures, but it would be the same way that people talked about the Great Auk. Which oddly, had been restored in the spate of recent bioengineering that Greenland got so good at.

This was an environment that to some of them, would be like Luna. An underwater paradise, but almost infinite. A hostile place, with no air bar those in their rebreathers cycling their own feed. Coral took hundreds of years to truly flourish, but the efforts to bioengineer and restore this landscape, supported by an enormous mining operation's dividend into a reverse osmosis and calcifying system had turned carbon dioxide into limestone rock.

It wasn't gonna work miracles, but then again, the challenge humanity faced in reversing significant climate change and environmental damage was enormous. Unequal, yes, but it took a global effort and once the threshold past 3C had been spent, some irreversible changes like sea level rise nearly flooding half the Netherlands and big chunks of eastern England, but worse still, mass extinction of insects, plants.

The pilots may have been shielded, but in a rare moment, they were in close contact to perhaps the healing from the past, rather than accelerationism, a restoration of a world that was nearly lost. A sea turtle and their family gracefully above them, casting a shadow of light down into the coral.

And with it, the team would have been immersed in what was probably one of the most impressive, colourful environments they'd seen. Red, pink, turquoise and amber coral contrasted against the crystal clear waters, shoals of fish sweeping through the tenderils of the coral, and. A sunken and mostly rusted out fishing boat formed the catalyst, the iron source for much of this particular reef in Muller Cay, with the rest creating itself. From here, what was once the destroyed ruins of the Great Barrier Reef began regrowing, and life returned with it.

If seeing the Earth from Luna was one thing that would open up the eyes of someone, this was likely to have a similar effect to those who hadn't ever seen it.

They had comms in their high-tech rebreathing apparatus, all adapted for pilots, complicatedly so for Bea, but they'd all likely be enjoying it without many a word to say.

Taking in that almost seeming feeling of being tiny, in amongst massive shoals of fish and even some jellyfish that had sprung up a little out of shot, a place that felt uniquely like a representation of the planet itself.

Surfacing back up, the small platform sat on top of a pile of coral, with lots of biopolymer creating a "pillow" for the platform to sit on, with a sofa right in the middle, a hologram of Aurora standing by it.

"Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef! How did you find that?" Aurora asked, a broad question to everyone, the sunshine intense against water, and smell of salt water ever-present.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Sixteen: Water Deep

---

Round 16 of Formula AG
Friday 20th October, 2094
Practice
Ballycastle Complex, Muller Cay, nr Australia
Great Barrier Reef AGP
1100 AEST

Leave A Trace

The Reef was an unusual place to be, with half of the spit of sand occupied by the bioengineering plant, itself a coral-like built structure that seemed to almost be like the nail of the reef spitting out of the sea, and the other half, a pit box. Building a race track at a literal coral reef was absurd, almost insane when pitched, but it had brought a lot of eyes here.

A very different approach to conservation- if eyes wanted to stay away from environmental destruction, then the NGO behind this had certainly made a pitch that FIAR loved, and well, one thing led to another, and Australia was now represented by the Great Barrier Reef AGP. There weren't any fans given half of the circuit was underwater inside massive reinforced tubes, but the challenge presented by tight, sinewing corners meant that overtakes and the use of MAG banking baked into the glass walls turned this into a fairly mindbending treat for pilots. It meant overtaking was actually possible in spite of the layout, and literally turned the track width into a 3D format. Which, without a neural implant was nothing short of a mindfuck.

So at the back of the paddock where a group of boats sat, Delta Hyper had its couch moved, pilots now geared up before they went out for practice back in front of Aurora, who was as ever, keen to start interviewing. First on the couch was Beatrix Ward.

"Morning Bea! So, instead of a question, we'd like you to do something a little different." The Carrera pilot would be confused, as it immediately cut to the aurora-liveried new pilot in Nordic Call, in a clean, cinematic cut.

They weren't being filmed at the same time. But from the perspective of the viewer, they sort of were? Bellatrix followed.

"Bellatrix, if you've followed Delta Hyper, you know we like to keep you on your toes!" Aurora announced, sitting across from the Nordic Call pilot, Kais next in frame.

"So we spent the weeks between thinking, the audience have so many questions and you answer them on social media...." It cut from Kais to Paul, who was next in frame, who would see the item on the table in front of him.

"But we never asked, what would you like to leave with them? Have a look on the table for what we'd like you to do." Aurora asked Paul, the camera capturing that item in particular of what Aurora meant.

There was a glass bottle.

And on it, a tiny sticky note.

"Leave a message in this bottle you'd like for future generations."

Perhaps this felt very serious, very out of place, but this was asking the pilots a totally different question to the usual kind. About themselves, what they could cook, what they could make. This was actual advice.

Advice from people who had sacrificed literal limb, all of their family's wealth, time, energy, everything to be here, at the very pinnacle. The very top of racing in the world, who worked harder, thought more, took the risks nobody could ever truly understand.

What did they have to say for the audience of 2094?

"What did you write?" Aurora asked, knowing perhaps of all the questions she'd asked, in this place it felt the hardest to address.

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Return to Base

@Sadu

"Lunara is SDN's problem, not mine. I'm only here as part of the agreement that SDN keeps a leash on her, and I cover the day shift when she's useless."

James heard the comms on return, chuckling. Was she the same person? Probably. Like how him and Lightning Girl were siblings? Technically, no....

"I won't question it. Just, I don't want to come in tomorrow to a broken window. Or a stuck Phoenix that loves the moonlight getting crispy in sunshine when it hits the office. I am sure it'll be fine." James poetically put, physically seeing heroes return, back to office, in time for his little Toolbox Talk.

----------

@Auragreedia

After the meeting ends and every hero leaves for break, James finds Raúl, the resident IT guy, tapping him on the shoulder. "Got your Dispatch account ready, gonna be a bit lacking compared to Riley's, but I'll get it all in order tomorrow. Oh, and, found another dispatch terminal for you to use. Sacred stuff, keep it clean, use it carefully. I'll take you to it right now."

"Thanks. Let's get to it. I apparently might have another guy joining later. Assistant Dispatcher." James replied, following along, and letting Raul do his stuff. It was a few minutes of fucking around, but within time, the Mexican-American started to get his ancient machine up and running (via a ritual and a handy new login), and that was enough.

That and a pork bun from Madcap. Who James hadn't yet gotten around to telling off. The words would leave him when Madcap was already out of view, but right now, he wasn't even quite sure how he led the talk with him to calm the fuck down with old women at retirement homes. How did anyone?

---

Monday
17:20
Break Room
Claremont SDN

Team Social

Lightning Girl

As Lightning Girl carried on chatting to the team, a new figure emerged, a kid that barely looked 18. Fuck. SDN were hiring young. Or this guy was more shapeshifting than Princess was.

“Ah. Hello. I assume you must be the heroes? Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you all.”
@Aku the Samurai

Lightning Girl made sure to be that friendly face, of course, in costume, the spandex and cordura wearing, cliche setting forward for everyone who either was too shy, quiet, disgruntled, or into their pork belly bun to reply.

"Hello Tyler! Welcome to Claremont's A-Team. You're a dispatcher, right? You're.....yeah, blue shirt. Okay. James said he might need some help, he's out there at the end of the office, he might be able to lend you a hand? We'll appreciate the oversight, and he'll appreciate the help. But yeah. We're a friendly bunch....won't cause you too many problems." She replied with a classic, English-accented Transatlantic charm, giving an indication om where to go- but seeing Myla mutter, Lightning Girl's usually polite and nice demeanour crackled as she chuckled in hearing it. Agreeing. But not quite there.

”When did we start having fucking kids working here? The hell’s this?”

"Tends to be when they look baby faced they have something about them. Super smarts? Or would he eat every one of us ass first? I'm not sure which. But, he's here to help. And right now we're gonna need it. If what happened in Pasadena happens to us, we are, screwed!" Lightning Girl almost evangelised with a tail off at the end with a chuckle to keep it light, knowing how much it must have pissed off Payback, as she shrugged. "And I like my ass not eaten." A comment you could take so, so many ways, and if James would have been the room, hand would have hit face as she could not help innuendo, even if she meant it fully well. Oh well. There was time to be awkward later, Sophie reasoned, so she smiled through the pain and no doubt, how absolutely insanely awful that was, and absolutely not what she meant! "Not like literally!" She butted in, hand up, the damage, already, all but done, and the conversation all but moved on.

She had zero idea of his powers, but, it would be rather funny if anyone did, or even had a vague idea about Tyler.

Eclipse's comments from earlier rang in her head as she turned back to him.

@Auragreedia

"Don't think of me as a hero yet. And I--thank you." He clears his throat awkwardly, the hero comment catching him off guard. Frankly, everything about Lightning Girl caught him off guard. When was the last time someone paid to attention to him outside of drug stuff? It's been a while. "About earlier, I mean. You didn't have to say that."

Another page turns, more corporate bullshit. He doesn't want to admit he read from page one to now instead of following the table of contents. His finger twitches as he swipes to another page; he really, really wants to start over. "Do people actually read this? It's like a corporate suicide note."

"Eh. It will help you sleep at night then. Basically just don't do anything highlighted in bold is what James told me. The rest is....filler." She added, patting the paper, leaving a little static on it. She looked at him, and smiled, him being noticed something she absolutely meant.

The others might have been rough around the edges. But she could see past that visor, past that look on his face. There was someone in there with a lot of hurt. Maybe with Payback it would take time. Or with anyone else in the team that was still finding their feet, like Asteroid, or Princess. So why?

"I said it because the corporate stuff sucks sometimes. Worth calling it out when you get a chance. We're not in a work camp, they follow their own rules as much as we do. James knows it too. Just won't say it. And much as I like working alone, sounds like a lot of people could do with help. Being a hero means realising the nerds should do paperwork while you get stuff done." Sophie replied, Eclipse maybe noticing that slight change in tone, as she leaned back against the cabinet and worktop, sighing.

"Nobody's perfect, Eclipse. But helping others helps us find our own way forward. Doing good means you're....doing something that isn't destructive. Usually. I think." Sophie said, a little reluctance in her words right at the end, as if she was on the cusp of saying something more.

That was before the Canadian of the team reacted and broke that conversation perhaps at a good juncture, friendly as they came. Her rubber gloved hand shook his to avoid shocking the hell out of him, a smile returning back.

@BigPapaBelial

"Someone is envious of the Maple himself. Pleasure is mine, Hat Trick. Bring out my best look, and I'm sure we'll make it work, anytime." Lightning Girl replied, her enthusiasm, as ever, constant, returning after a brief blip. It was a postcard grin. The kind you put on buses. She may not have eeked traditional charisma, but the stereotype, at least on the outside, permeated.

Even if inside, holy shit, this was a LOT, a FUCKING LOT, of people. It was a small team before. How the fuck had it grown this big? Was she still okay working with people?

What if she electrocuted another one of them? Sophie's mind rattled.

But Lightning Girl did not let her carbon mask go.

Breaking that thought, Madcap threw a bacon bun. She caught it, giving a thumbs up and a finger gun back, smiling back at him and chomping it.

"Thanks, Madcap! Appreciate the food!" She gave a nod to Madcap, letting him absorb the energy of the room, though man, she hoped he'd be flinging less old ladies over the road. Why hadn't James done anything? He had power to suspend him, or do something, right? There was an unease about it. She respected his courage. But something was up. She wasn't complaining.....as Hat Trick pulled his cameraphone and she moved immediately into frame.

Lightning Girl smiled with a big teethy grin, fingers out, smiling in the selfie. She always came out well in photos, she was that kind of girl-next-door pretty, her rosy, slightly burnt cheeks contrasting against her pale white/grey hair that looked less old lady, more like she'd run fluorescent dye into her curls. She was never one too far from a camera, or at least, a good marketing opportunity. Her own socials had picked up nicely since landing in America, it turns out, people went absolutely wild for a hero with a white costume and an absolutely unattainable fitness regime. With a lot of electricity came a metabolism that cranked itself up and up. Hitting the gym these days meant she could probably embarrass half the people here now, which was handy given she felt made of glass relative to Madcap or Hat Trick. Asteroid broke that chain of thought.

Jet looks over at Lightning Girl and nods. "Ever hear the phrase 'falling with style?' He's filling up his dinner to the line.

"Yeah, tends to be how gravity works. But, that is cool though. Gonna have to figure out how on earth our stuff combines!" She replied with an almost gleeful, British enthusiasm, as if it really was her first time. Cynical as she may have been beneath the surface, she accepted her lot today. She had to just deal with whoever she was working with. And work something out.

With bun in hand, she continued demolishing it in a method not befitting her grace, before ripping a glove back off and shoving it into a plug socket with a reliable bzt of her cape fluttering, and leaning up against the wall with a cup of tea in one hand, and a 110V socket in her hand in the other.

This was jack shit compared to the power line. But, it was like steadily filling up her battery, and if it didn't feel *nice*. And looking on at the diverse team, from the eldrich, regal to the shadowy, dark, to the inbetween. This was Claremont A-Team. And damn, if they weren't hitting the afternoon. She looked to the nearest people to her, and made a quiet note.

"I would not recommend coming close to me when I've got my hand in a socket. It's.....a long process to explain, but the more charge I have, the more potent I am out there. That's why I sometimes hang off pylons or transformers in the morning. It makes me very, very hyper. But if I don't, I'm not as helpful as I could be. Also, SDN allow me to have free electricity! How good is that!" She remarked, forcing a smile, yet almost laughing it off awkwardly, like she was becoming David Brent herself.

---

Monday
17:31
Office
Claremont SDN

New Dispatch Terminal

James Speight

Soundtrack: Andrew Arcadi- Lana Works In The Mailroom

Brushing off the dust on the desk, the machine chirped into life. James was appreciative of the strange Mexican-American's approach, given he seemed to be a techpriest more than an IT guy. But he was a good dude. Didn't have to be a hero on the frontlines to do good. That much James had learned from working behind the scenes.

"Thanks Raul. I'll take it from here, looks like everything is ported, it's talking to everything I need. Have a good evening dude, I'll let you know if any other shit crashes over Slack." The IT guy had got him up and running, and on an official system of his own. No more shared credentials. He didn't have the master view that Riley did, but enough to manage the evening. Calls, pass through, alerts, cameras, all of it working about as good as it could.

To say that it was crap was an understatement, but, like anyone who knew SDN, you just made it work.

Claremont dead centre, mountains to the north, fringes of the other cities and the very edge of the Inland Empire to the east, Pomona to the west, all in fewer pixels than his smart watch. He adjusted his glasses, as he fiddled with the seat, for the fifth time today, getting it just right, before pulling in. Tyler had a seat next to him, and his own interface, a slightly less powerful dispatch screen, and an opportunity to join on CCTV and on minor tasks that James sent to his to resolve.

The display was up and running, as he munched down the pork belly, astonished that Madcap thought this was a good day. He had so many words for Madcap. So many. If he was a depressed bastard, he would be no good to him right now, and given the state of how badly today was going, not even James had the energy to be angry now. He just had to get on with the task. Cynical as he was, he at least understood how the Yanks worked, even if Kat wouldn't agree at all. Too much information would flatten them in a moment where there was a crisis going on, especially, especially, the Phoenix Programme. Bunch of criminals were the best that Claremont had against the terrors out there were all he had. But, dammit if it wasn't actually working a bit.

Another packet in hand, he tapped his fingers along his desk, looking outside as the darkening sky continued to turn more hazy orange and black, the glow of strip lighting in the office giving a low, warm hue to everything. He looked across the desk, the introduction brief between Tyler and James from earlier, given there was plenty to cover and not much time to do it in. His headphones sat around his head, but both earcups were back, the transmit manually turned off. He wasn't making that mistake again.

"Welcome to the sandbox, Tyler, hopefully you're logged in. Okay, so, given Riley was previously Head Dispatcher, it makes sense we work together to keep this afloat, cos fuck, we have a lot of ground to cover. Keep an eye on the CCTV, and keep track of where they end up, condition, that kind of thing. Guide the teams in, and give them a picture. I can't see it all. So you're my eyes on anything else I can't pick up and can deal with the minor dispatches between the serious stuff, that sound good?" James asked Tyler, as he clattered away on his own keyboard, making conversation as they worked, James already fixing some paperwork, writing up some notes, performance, shift runs, timestamps.

"Anyway, if we're here for the long term, I gotta ask. You look like you fell out of the womb. Super smarts? Or you got some Ben Button shit going on?" James asked, sighing mid sentence as he allocated away. Talking away as he worked. That was a Speight thing. "Actually, no, I shouldn't ask, that's rude of me. Before you ask, no, I don't have powers, and technically, no, I'm not an SDN employee. I'm a consultant by trade. Means I don't work here permanent, which is why I don't have your shirt. And it means, I work by the hour." James added, clattering away, looking over.

"Look, not sure why I'm telling you this, but you seem fresh faced. What that means is, it's in my interest this team does well so I stay in work, and while I'm technically meant to make sure SDN works by its own rules, I don't play by theirs. My metrics aren't on your board, but they go up to Kat and a few senior managers in SDN. Means I'm here to make sure they get through however long they need me to, but how you do it, I don't care, so long as you get the work done and don't take the piss. Especially when this is the best we have." James broke, taking a moment, realising Tyler might not have understood this. Either because he was fresh faced, as young as he was, or at least, might not have realised the scale of the problem yet.

"And while some of the team are pretty good, a few of them are ex-Phoenixes. Eclipse is a real scary fucker. Drug dealer. While Payback fucking hates everyone. And seems most likely to jump if she doesn't get something out of this soon. Princess seems to have some forms I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. And then there's Madcap. Oh god. Among others. You'll figure them out, mix of heroes and non-heroes that makes it all work.." James narrated, clattering keys still, sending a few more pins, minor jobs, to the team to kick things off.

"So yeah, fun bunch. But, I'll get you through tonight. Get up to speed." James added, adjusting his comms, talking to the whole team. One last pep talk, comms clicked on.

"Okay, A-Team. Let's get this shift done, and go home safe and dry, we're on till 7pm. We're gonna make sure Claremont's a tough nut to crack given what's happened in LA today, and show face. You've all done good so far. Let's get this over the line and reset tomorrow." James reassured the team, knowing that some of them certainly would hate him, but right now, he was all that stood between them and a sea of shit within SDN itself.

If the Phoenix Programme collapsed, many of them were back in prison, out of their parole, and hunted by the very heroes they'd worked with. So James reasoned as well as anyone could, they'd just want this over and done with. Actual life, with pay, responsibilities, a guaranteed job when you had powers versus a cell where you were contained in a Supermax was as good as any reason would be to get after it. He didn't remind the team of that.

Maybe he was too optimistic. But he had a plate full of bread and shit, and he was being forced to make sandwiches. He wanted to sleep, fucking bad. But the fifth cup of tea today was keeping him going, as was the Red Bull he'd now added to his caffeine mountain. Fuck, he could feel palpitations, but at this point, he was gonna get himself and the team through this. His team had to or else tomorrow would be a bigger mess. Tyler was maybe more awake than he was.

The first couple went easy. Small jobs for the team in the sunset. As darkness descended completely, the team were out and about, sometimes together, sometimes separate. James had grouped up the team, going for a different approach than the early afternoon stint of individuals on response, trying to cover the area he had to now manage given a few other shifts were off in Montclair and Pomona. That meant they could break off when on patrol, getting smaller tasks, like providing some support to police, post-break in check ups, among many many other small tasks not worthy of note.

The team were at least familiar with what was going on, and in the night, there lay many terrors beyond the street lights and signs. Even if it was mostly some drunk hobo that probably needed a hand to a a homeless shelter. Lightning Girl hadn't needed to do that even in spite of him not being a subscriber, but, reasoned that it was as good of a use of her time as any between the jobs that involved keeping the peace on a student night out, among the many, many other jobs that the team were on in the night economy of the college city. But carrying Princess over the low-level night sky of the suburb, they at least had the chance to enjoy the view of it all between a few minor jobs.

He grouped them like this:

Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1)

Madcap and Lunara (Team 2)

Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3)

So far, so good. This might actually be quiet. Okay, apart from the one or two dispatches that always went a bit pear shaped. But nothing too bad. Subscribers were happy. The fort was held. The night was safe.

For at least the first couple of hours. The two orange alerts arose on his screen of Claremont.

James sighed, realising he'd need to make some picks. Compared to the occasional split of the teams to go out and finish some dispatches, as the darkness approached and the clock neared 6:30. But then both switched from amber to red.

"Shit. We got incoming." James said to nobody in particular (though he was vaguely pointed at Tyler). It wasn't good. This wasn't like earlier. The dispatches were significantly more difficult, but then again, the bigger jobs that came up in the night came, with bigger alerts. He'd need to send all he had on these jobs. Especially when he listened in on the dispatch call, looking at Tyler, pointing to his own headset and turning in his chair and broadcasting.

----

"Team 1, Vanderstenk Labs have a possible breach in their Archaeological Labs off campus. Something about some Mayan lump of rock coming back to life, it looks sentient and it's ripping up the floor. Security's got it contained for now, but someone's gonna need to calm it down before it breaks loose. Find a way to lull it back inside, and power it down." He watched the feed, sighing as he saw the gigantic crystal sticking out of it. From possibly the worst area anyone could imagine, because if a lump of basalt rock could twerk while it threw chairs at a wall, it meant James could describe what he was seeing correctly.

"Dickheads. You shoved a massive crystal up it's arse? Really?" James said, uttering words, realising he was still on comms. "Not directed at you, Team. The said crystal up its arse might have something to do with it though." He commentated, switching to another feed as another alert came in. He was cynical, but no less sarcastic.

------

Another alert. Fuck. This was getting hairy. Three of the worst ones hit at the worst time, and he had to keep reserve. Just if something else happened. On jobs like these, James knew sending heroes alone was a stupid call.

"Team 3, I've got a handful of augmented gangsters trying to steal a train full of tanks of concentrated Phenylacetic Acid, by the railyards. Might be ex-Red Ring. This might be tough. Keep your wits about you. Standby, pin sent." James started, watching on at the state of it, the CCTV feed coming in from what Tyler was working on.

"One of them looks like they've got a flamethrower. And a fair amount of body armour. And has bunny ears. Damn, she looks like someone threw Big Chungus in a vat of tar." They were wearing a hell of a lot of armour, and James noted that was Pyress. Flamer who had a napalm tank to help. Not a particularly powerful supe, but, with some Red Ring augments, any fire was now her desire. God, he'd heard that on a record somewhere and it was stuck in his head. Fuckers. Like Flambae but shittier.

"Clear to use lethal force, or smack the hell out of them. But you're gonna need to get creative with that heavy. She goes up next to that acid, I'll smell the acid burn through metal from the office."

--

Then one more alert went up. He'd have nobody left if he went all in on this, but he reasoned at this point, given just how much the situation had escalated, he had to give it everything he had. He turned to the cameras, watching on. This wasn't yet red on his warning system. But it would be if he didn't do something.

Fuck's sake.

"Team 2, I have reports of a student fight club within the evac'd dorms at Claremont College. It's....yeah, bunch of college age kids fighting. Lots, like, 20 of 'em." James sighed, watching the CCTV.

There was a Wilhelm scream as one got yeeted out of a second floor window into a dumpster followed by lots of cheers, as James watched the footage on, with all the ensuing chaos of some kid get thrown out of another glass window that Brick Frog had smashed up earlier. Into concrete.

"And they're shitfaced."

While Brick Frog was not there, it seemed chaos was a ladder, and a bunch of skinheads had decided to occupy that void. It would be a sleepless night until they were sorted out. James wasn't an expert in this situation, that was literally the job of Lunara and Madcap. But he could offer moral support, and he continued.

"Pin sent. Your pick if you make a point with one of them, scare the shit out of them, talk them out of it, or knock them all out. Get this dispersed, and use reasonable force....even if they might deserve it."

---

Monday
18:40
Shipton Railyard, North Pomona

Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3)

Team 3 turning up would find that the train was almost ready to go, in the midst of the large trainyard's darkness between carriages and motors depending on their approach- yet their target was lit up from afar by a pyro's fire and floodlighting.

If they didn't stop it, all hell would let loose, as Pyress unleashed a massive gulp of fire, two of the ex goons leaping on the crew cab, and honking the horn, trying to get it started. She was defending them, but they were armed too with plasma pistols, and wouldn't hesitate to fire. So this was a lethal situation. They might have bene matched in numbers, but Pyress, she had a lot of fire and a lot of taunting to give them.

If that train left, there was no telling where it might end up. The black market was one thing given that Phenylacetic Acid was used for making meth, and probably what they wanted to do. Pyress, in her gas mask, was a chef. But if it left and wasn't stopped, that thing was gonna go straight into the LA Harbour and make one hell of a fireball for Torrance to clean up. If they could stop it now, that would help, but a leak of acid here would be not exactly an ideal situation either.

That would be up to how fast they acted, and if they stopped it at all.

James looked on at the CCTV, sighing.
"Shit. Don't let that train leave, but whatever you do, don't let that acid leak out...."

Pyress didn't hear James, but she did see Eclipse. With his new crew he wasn't supplying. Out to stop her new found drug work. After all, the market abhorred a vacuum. And there were crackheads to be supplying.

"Back away, Shadowbitch! And your two friends trying to cosplay goths! Acid's ours, or else! We're running the drug game now!" She muffled a roar, recognising Payback and Asteroid too, or at least, she thought she did through the oppressive holes of her gas mask.

---

Monday
18:40
Claremont College Dorms, Claremont

Lunara and Madcap (Team 2)

Team 2 turning up to the dorms, would realise that the scene was a lot lighter than they anticipated. But two heroes fighting this fight club? Well, it was like something from a movie.

A TRUE, test. For the students. For the heroes, this was Monday night.

"Hey you, supes, you think you can take on Kevin the Destroyer?" One of them called out. "I bet you can't do shit. Kevin's beaten up six guys in a row!"

Madcap and Lunara would discover that Kevin was some dweeby yet super strong looking 6"5 guy who was shaven bald with square glasses, with a slight shadow beard, being hyped up by some 5"9 student who had the same haircut. Which was weird. Was this some Tate Drew inspired group? Was he on something the Red Ring cooked up? It was hard to say. He was unusually strong. And nerdy.

Watching on over Tyler's shoulder at the camera feed, James wondered how they would sort this.
"I'm taking odds that Madcap's gonna beat the living shit out of him. And they'll all run after. Come on. Put your powers to something useful. Don't get beaten up by Tate Drew's nerdy doppelganger. Or apologising to old ladies is gonna be the last of your issues in the break room." He almost hyped the hypeman behind the screen talking to himself, hoping that at least some redemption would come or else he was gonna be a lot more vincible than invincible.

"Or, Lunara is gonna do some really cool shit. Bets, Tyler? Actually, I'll let you watch this one. I'll handle the train and Xylotam."

---

Monday
18:40
Vanderstenk Labs, Claremont

Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1)

"Crystal up it's arse? Sorry, what?" Lightning Girl reacted, carrying Princess, knowing Hat Trick could maybe skate his way over. The labs were huge, a sprawling complex built next to the College to benefit from all the creative capital and PhDs that were there. Landing gracefully, Lightning Girl ran ahead, cape billowing in the breeze, running immediately to security already on scene. Lightning against rock wasn't great, but fuck it, they had the freakiest eldrich horror to combat the scariest thing the Mayan pantheon could throw when combined with some life-making crystals. And a Canadian who was currently SDN's Goose Expert. That counted for something, the white-haired hero thought to herself.

Righting herself at least when she approached the security guards, rifles in hand. Princess put down. She was light at least!

"Shit, we have a situation! Big Mayan rock thing has gone crazy!" Security Guard A yelled, pointing inwards, not sure if he signed up for the right gig given it was all going on.

"Yeah, we know! How?" Lightning Girl felt she wanted some answer.

"Crystal!" Security Guard B, her voice trembling, yelled.

"Also noted! Not helpful! Hold cordon, we're going in!" Lightning Girl replied, getting nothing more, hearing the massive shatter of glass, and a other-worldly roar. That sounded like a rock with a crystal up it's arse. However the fuck that had happened? The glass test chamber opened to an observation room, and the glass pane was shattered to pieces, and the polymer floor was getting torn up.

She led the way, as glass got thrown by the rocky being's embrace, the team firmly inside the chamber with Xylotam, as the name said on the vault they'd just gone through and inside of. It looked like a laboratory alright, though the glass had been broken and Xylotam wanted to escape and be free.

And return to Cancun. Urgently. It couldn't of course, say this in a language anyone bar maybe Princess understood.

This was some SCP level shit, and yet, Lightning Girl wondered why on earth they had this fucking thing here. And why on earth they'd decided to put a crystal up it's derriere this late at night? Why? It made sense seeing Xylotam's bronze visage what they meant, but again, why? Was that the real test of this chamber?

Until she realised....

Ahhh, beers were left inside. Of course. The cans crushed with four left and a couple of incapacitated scientists. Drunk passed out? No. Xylotam had thrown them across the room with his gigantic rocky maw. It looked vaguely anthropomorphised, chunky legs, skinny arms, wide torso, headless somehow bar a teeny stump.

Dodging the stool thrown by the rock being, she stunned it, projecting electricity with a fierce, ozone like howl, lighting up the relative darkness of the room and holding the Mayan lump of rock in place.

"Argh! Okay, we need to probably find a way to uhh.....remove the crystal? Stop the rock? Calm it down? Princess, Hat Trick, any ideas? I'll hold, but it isn't easy....fuck!" Lightning Girl strained as she beamed nearly an electric car's worth of electricity into the sentient rock, stunning and holding it in stasis, but not permanent.

Tactical Breach Wizards: Fireteam Hex (Military, Modern, Fantasy, Action-Thriller)

Day 2: 05:37:52
Somewhere near Novy Jork
Krumov Province,
Republic of Polavia

Rowan handed the rangefinder back to Oksana. “I don’t think I can use this. It makes me queasy to even hold it. It will break the concentration I need to cast. Best you use it.”

Roxie took the rangefinder back in hand, nodding to Rowan.
"Only if you're sure. Let me know if you need it, it will make entry into buildings a lot easier." She simply replied, sitting adjacent, looking on, peeling a cigarette from her pouch, offering one to Rowan before lighting up herself, taking a strong suck before exhaling smoke.

"You are strong, Rowan. A good person in a field of bad rye. You will need it to stay strong in Polavia." Oksana said with a strongly Slavic accent, holding Rowan's hand tight, watching alongside her as Felix did his thing.

--

Rowan looked over at Felix with an angry glare.

Rowan: “I appreciate you coming back to help me Felix. But what the fuck was that glare for? I had already told you what I knew! It is not my fault everyone seems to think I know about something that they want!”

Felix got angry back at Rowan.
"Because I wanted you to get the fuck out of there!" He exasperated, sighing, sitting down.

"Because, I didn't want you to die. Alright? And I didn't think I'd make it given the size of the bullet in my neck, so I wanted one last look at you. Not when the only person that could have saved me was Silas and I was hurt in both forms. I've lost enough people lately. And whatever they want, it seems serious enough you shouldn't have gone through that. Manticore could be linked. I couldn't say the words I wanted to without dropping dead." He added, shaking his head. "Whatever they want you for, they clearly want to kill a lot of people over. But I have a feeling a lot more people are gonna die if we don't." Felix added, sitting down, the train clattering at a points, while Oksana and Borys chatted, Felix and Rowan were apart.

"I'm sorry, Rowan. That was.....a bit much. But I wish I could help more. Like, I want to escape this too. I want to see my daughter again. Even my ex-wife. I don't want to be here. But I think we're in over our heads. So I apologise, if I can't get you all the answers you want. But you weren't dying on my watch. Not when I thought there were more of them coming." Felix added, shaking his head, checking over his mag on his 417, looking as Oksana stood up.

"Calm it, you two. Both of you got the fuck out of your situations. Nothing makes sense right now, not the least the PSA even exist. Felix, what's our sit rep, when we hit Novy Jork? We look ready for war. We're not going to get a B-Uber (yes, said in the same way as the animal named in the Bober Meme) and roll into the Grand Polavian Hotel looking like we're about to topple a democracy." Oksana asked, "Apart from maybe getting a new team leader. But, Borys is pissed, I've got a ketamine problem, Silas is our medic, Rowan's...." She thought to herself, actually contemplating it.

"She is probably a decent shot at it? Yeah, I think so too. You'd benefit if I was less lion. Luckily, I don't feel like turning back. Not after breakfast." Felix joked back, as Oksana sat down next to him, looking out of the window at the countryside, as Felix looked back up. "Literally, not metaphorically." He added, as Oksana sighed at that awful pun.

"Add it to my list of bad ideas. Anyway, plan?"

"Ideally, we ditch, this train, find some civilian clothes. And find Pavel."

--

He shuffled over to the open side door, the cold wind helping him wake up. “Your dreams are bullshit, you know that?” He uttered in Oksana’s direction between sips of cold cabbage soup from babushka’s care package without any trace of the dream’s fury, “Seriously, who has invasive nightmares?”

Oksana turned to Borys, chuckling, shaking her head, putting a bottle of water into his hand.
"It's called being a seer, darling. In the same way...." She poked hard at his skin with a nail, "You seem to rely on being an alcoholic to be invulnerable, the universe decides if I'm gonna see the future, I'm never gonna stop." Oksana sighed, shaking her head, looking out of the train car, looking back.

"A gift and a curse. You saw one dream. I live with it all the time." She almost said philosophically and in a sorrow, knowing that Borys might be too pissed to understand that she never stopped having these dreams. They tied others in, sure, but they always played back for her irrespective of if it did or didn't. "If I end up in one of yours and found out you were beaten as a child, would that help me understand why you're so fucked up?" Oksana dryly joked with him, sitting alongside as they watched the world go by outside.

---

Day 2: 06:10:21
Somewhere in Novy Jork
Capital Province,
Republic of Polavia

As the train slowed to a crawl, Novy Jork's skyline could be visible beyond the crack in the cattle truck. Clothing had been secured, and carried on packs.

But they weren't in the city centre. They were further, on a hillside overlooking it, the train not even in a big cargo yard.

It was rolling into a railhead. A stop.

And the gigantic red brick and concrete buildings that were outside, alongside the magnificent brickwork and fencing meant they were inside a very prestigious place indeed. This train was delivering something back to a factory, of some kind, rather than just stopping in a major cargo terminal.

It was delivering empty vodka bottles. Well, not all. But mostly.

And it was like the kitten inside Felix's brain had jumped on the wheel and ran fast enough to load a thought.

"Polavian Standard" was the final giveaway, in a brutalist neon sign on the side of the building.

"Oh, fuck no." Felix said, as Oksana broke into laughter, shoving Borys with a gentle nudge.

"Haha, time to find out how much this man's craft can take! You literally took Polavia's number one drunk to the Polavian Standard factory! Let's fucking go!" Oksana actually broke from being usually dour and upset, to not even being able to see this outcome. This was comedy gold. This was fucking brilliant, and if they weren't all geared up to the teeth.

The factory complex was sprawling, a distillery, bottling plant and all of Polavian Standard's marketing teams all under one massive roof. At 6am, there were unlikely to be civies. But still, Felix was careful, knowing they were wanted and geared to the gills.

"Well, we'll have no trouble finding booze for Borys then. We need to get the hell out of here though. I think we're too early for the tour." He added, making as best of a tactical assessment as he could before they would get off here.

And get out they did before it finally rolled into the far end of the massive yard full of containers likely full of vodka ready for export.

Hopping off the train, Felix led the group, as the birdsong chirped, the road noise significantly louder beyond the brick walls of the factory. He was looking for exits, easy ways out. The gates were locked, and covered in barbed wire, making an escape near impossible there. But once the train rolled past, Felix realised they were even more screwed.

A lot of Mercedes, BMWs and Audis were parked up in the main parking area, in a scattered, jumbled up way. This was an intercept. Of the team, or the factory? Moving from point to point, Felix ushered for Oksana to move forwards, and she did so, moving from a shipping container to behind a concrete post, peering around.

"So, they found what train we were on and are meeting us here, or, we stumbled into the PSA seizing the means of vodka. That's terrifying. Rowan, if you said they were interested in Manticore, they have started beating up train people to get to you. That is impressive by Polavian standards. Don't worry. We'll get our answers." Oksana teased Rowan once more before going serious again, drawing her rangefinder and looking on at the group of them, scattering around. They were speaking to a foreman, threatening them, which made Oksana twitch a little.

"What are they saying, Roxie?" Felix asked, as she looked on, watching as the PSA militants moved forwards, most of them basically thugs in Adidas at this point, but a few of them in old tattered uniforms. The car park for factory workers was empty

"They're a protection racket. Gangsters and PSA. They didn't mention us. But they're here for something. Most senior guy is that warlock looking dude in the Adidas." Oksana replied, as she put her rangefinder down, slinging the SVU back into hand.

"We can make a risky play to run out. But between us and those gates, there's a car park with zero cover. Even if I Copy Cat us, at least one of us is getting shot when shit starts. No cars either." Felix started, looking across from where they were, in a loading bay where the trucks full of vodka were loaded, or in some cases, containers at a railhead. The train driver had left and exited through an unknown gate, not that Felix wanted to tell him they'd snuck in on one of his carriages and not paid a fare.

"But we could sneak through the building. That's the bottling plant there, then the distillery on the left of it. Gotta be an exit there if these goons hassle security." Felix added, as Oksana looked to him as if he was insane. Again.

"You want us to go right where a group of PSA are having a factory tour of the nation's best vodka manufacturer?" Oksana couldn't believe this shit sometimes, pulling the vine into hand, showing Felix, as he shook his head.

"Can you forsee any situation working out well where we run that way, towards zero cover? Even if you snipe them, there's at least a dozen more that'll react to the bullets. Without cover, we'll be fucked." Felix retorted, pointing to the field of concrete that she had to admit, by the second, was looking unappealing. Another option of heading to the exit over the wall was tempting. She didn't give Felix an answer. The Team Lead actually had made a point that proved he wasn't completely high.

"What about throwing my vine on the wall? How about the other way, I throw up this vine, we clamber over the barbed wire? It grows lots when I throw it at stuff. Might hold even your fucking weight." She chirped, as even the Team Lead had to admit, that was a point. It would have been useful to know that earlier. The green hoodie wearing, brown-red haired operator adjusted his stubby hat and nodded to her. About to move on that idea instead.

"It's a valid argument." Felix added, turning his head around the container, seeing a few more militants come their way. And then a bigger group. "Wait, shit, they're inspecting the train. No chance. Only way is through there unless you want to frag a lot of them and make noise. We'll need to punch out. With any luck, we can hide it out until they leave." Back to the original plan.

"Shit. Okay. Point taken. Polavian Standard getting extorted by the PSA was not on my list. You don't need to put a psychoactive drug into vodka, blyat. It IS, the psychoactive drug." Oksana commented, getting a chuckle from Felix.

"It must be some serious shit. Maybe they haven't got their hands on it. And they need a distributor when they do. Which means...." Felix's gears turned some more as the kitten ran inside his brain even more. Oksana had made him realise just what the hell was going on.

Manticore, drugs, vodka. In Polavia. Fuck!

Oksana beat him to saying it.

"Well, that's why they're here. Still feels like we're missing something entirely. Why package it up, if they haven't got hold of it? It'll get found out within the first batch. Fuck knows what they want to do with it." Oksana replied, as Felix cut that line of thought out for now. If they didn't leave, they wouldn't get to think about this anymore. The PSA militants were milling about, clearly wondering if this was the train that had the team inside it. So no way back to the train, as they hid, out of view behind containers and industrial equipment, forklifts and such.

Felix on that note, made a command to the team, realising they should probably not sit and wait.

"Team, let's get moving. Move from cover to cover. Rowan, I need you to work on tech, start casting on any CCTV you see and zap it out. Borys, keep point. We'll push through the loading bay and their warehouses, move into the bottling plant. See if you can break inside, and we'll follow on you. Silas, back up Borys, both of you need to break in. Oksana, keep guard on rear." Felix called out through the comms, with it raising his rifle and peeking the corner, giving a move command to Borys, and with it, crossing the concrete pad past

The team would move forwards, but watching them, a certain DSR ex-spook would have them in sights.

The team would head inside, into the loading bay where vodka in massive crates sat ready to be loaded, and into the warehouse, where Borys, no doubt, was about to discover the greatest piss up in a distillery could still be on. The PSA militants hadn't made it in yet, so the team were moving at their own pace.

The factory complex was arguably, the most industrial, grimy part of it. But there was a glass fronted visitor centre, with offices that would be on the far side of where the team were, and the complex, despite most things in Polavia being dirty, seemed to be oddly the one part that felt invested in. Gone was the backward villages and dirt and mud. This, for some strange reason, felt actually like someone had money to spend. But a monopoly on vodka to the west for decades, and their own people had made for one hell of a business....

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

@cosmiccowgirl

Hello!

1) That's okay, if you've watched then you know more than enough!
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Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Monday
13:32
Claremont College

The Massive, Era Defining, Heavyweight Hero Fight

Lightning Girl

Moving in a haze of static, the light grey-suited was on the scene to witness what was a robbery turned into a mental episode. Floating down, she noticed as the police kept a cordon and were moving.

Lightning Girl nodded to the officer as she spoke and joined them in cover, a brick flying overhead that had been aimed at her, from afar.

This was not expected, but hey, it was what she was paid to do, as she turned back to the officer in cover.

"Where is he getting those bricks from? Right. Hold cordon and get ready to treat the civies. I'm going in." She nodded to the officer, with confidence. A couple of officers had been knocked out, and it seemed like Brick Frog was moving around, the entire dorm turning into a warzone. A robbery gone, very, very badly wrong.

It was getting unruly. She charged past into one of the dorms at a side door, running inside, hearing sobbing inside one of them.
"SDN, Lightning Girl here! I'll get you to safety! Follow on me, and I'll keep you safe!" She called out, as the door opened, and four college students who were cowering looked up, Sophie's aura and greyed eyes showing she wasn't someone else.

She was Lightning Girl. Here to save the day. Maybe she hadn't been around the block much, but, SDN's socials, thanks to Hat Trick, had made sure her face was getting about. A part of her wondered if being this was perhaps too cheesy, too old school, too classic. But she loved it really. The suit, the aura, and well, in a moment like this, putting herself to the best use she could. Lightning was such a villain power. But she put it to positives.

She didn't take them by the hand (for obvious reasons), but knocked on each of the doors, and with it, found a small gaggle of people. Lightning Girl led them through a corridor, going in front, as there he suddenly was, outside again, smashing a window in a kitchen.

Brick Frog.

The man in a frog costume with a massive bag full of bricks.

And one in his hand.

"Drop the brick, Brick Frog!" Lightning Girl called, as Brick Frog yelled back.

"No." She sighed a lot. Fucking hell. Why did they not get it when a real hero turned up they'd rethink it? She let the power flow, and her hands seemed to sizzle, all that built up potency now unleashing it, her eyes turning grey. Lightning Girl ushered the civies behind her, yelling a simple "Go!" to them, as she built up power in her hands, looking him dead in the eye, closing the distance. She was taller than him, and the aura was intimidating.

"Last chance. Drop it. Come on, you can go quietly...."

She didn't have superhuman reactions, they were just enhanced when she had about a Tesla's worth of power inside of her, but Brick Frog decided to test them anyway, as those last words left her. Like he wanted her to shut up.

The brick was aimed dead at her face, and at close range, hard to miss. Better her than them. But she could at least shock it before it hit her.

She recoiled as the brick didn't disintegrate fully, but seemed to turn into a cloud of red dust, the scowl on her face growing as the brick turned to red powder and ruined her immaculately white and grey visage, the remainder of the bolt dissipating the brick bouncing off his rubbery-textile Frog-self. With little effect other than knockback.

Her step forward past the cloud of red and ozone, hands visibly still shaking with electricity, her pride turned to a scowl. A hero scorned. And not all for show.

"Or you can go painfully. I did warn you...." Lightning Girl put hand up, and picked her shot.

She didn't aim at his body anymore, the rubbery suit needing far too much power to smack open from her earlier bolt. So instead, she just went for the face that stuck out of the costume. Turned down the power.

But didn't forget she was gonna need to wash her hair out fully after this and she ruined a perfectly cleaned suit.

And boy, did it work.

---

A short while later, Lightning Girl had him in yellow zip ties that she carried in her hip bag, letting the police officer take.

She had to brush the crushed up brick out of her hair and face, but not entirely from her suit, the big bolt of red across the side of Brick Frog's face illustrating where she'd tazed him, and then proceeded to smack him hard in the body with a lot more voltage than she would have liked, to overcome the icky rubber, punching him into the floor and dragging him into zip ties. She had to contain the situation. It was brutal, but there were civilians on the line. And her first properly successful dispatch since....the event, well, was a pleasant one to have.

The officers eyed him up and down, then Lightning Girl.

"He's yours. I think he's learned his lesson. Haven't you?" She turned to his face, as he muttered, sighing, the police taking it from there, as she wasn't sure how the fuck this much property damage would be dealt with. Probably by the university itself, it would be a civil matter, as the civies behind the cordon cheered, Lightning Girl giving a smile. A few of them were headed to hospital for some checks, cuts, bruises, the police that dropped also getting a check up.

This is why she did it. The feeling of doing good was unbeatable as she waved to them, and the dusty, white-haired heroine was done with her work here. As beautifully as she could be. Sophie floated up onto a lamp-post, peeling a bit of power from it, knowing the job was all done and dusted, and her levels were feeling a little drained.

She could hear them talk about giving him a misdemeanour charge. Probably for the best. Kid needed some mental help, not getting fuego'd in prison for being a Frog. Even though for assault, he really should have been, this was barely an adult.

"Brick Frog is in custody. Civies are safe. Ready to go again, James. Where to?" She uttered into her comms, as she then lept off the post, and caught flight, cape fluttering in the wind against cordura, back to the offices.

---

Dispatch Response

James Speight

In the office, the green ticks from successful jobs were coming back positive.

"Good stuff, Lightning Girl. Standby. I'm sure Brick Frog's terrifying supervillain presence will be no longer a threat." James kept the response simple to his sister, his eyes wide open that Eclipse had done exceptionally well at the school. He even had an email hit his phone, redirected from Gayatri's management of the SDN Claremont mailbox.

"Wow, well done, Eclipse. I know that wasn't your strength, but you smashed it anyway. They've already sent me an email about how happy they were with you. Good work." James gave the shadowy Phoenix Programme member a bit of a lift, the optimism.

Even if he'd been called an idiot. But who the fuck else did he have? They were a subscriber, and well, with the others scaled up according to his spreadsheet, he....ah, yeah he fucked that up. Oh well.

That was just a 40yd strike without a goalkeeper in the net then. Or some football analogy that the Americans wouldn't get. Basically, a fluke executed perfectly.

"Nice work, Princess. Though.....you telling me those geeks faked a call? I mean, I'll make a note of it. Oh well. That's a win, hope they feel they got what they paid for." James shrugged, not quite sure why a chess club had asked for SDN to come out, but if they were paying, they got service. And, it sounded like Princess had settled some disputes successfully.

The other call seemed oddly the same.

"Nicely done, Asteroid, though.....Christ, we're having an anti-drugs talk. I get it, it's Cali, you frankly inhale the stuff walking in the street, but I can't have you stoned and picking up boulders. Still, good work. The City Council will take it from here and decide if they should stay. Probably will." James chuckled, knowing he had to put criticism in there but sandwiched it with a laugh, generally happy the job was resolved. And another big green tick. AMOCA's theft had been stopped too.

"Well done, Payback. That was a serious cultural asset you saved there. See, takes an ex-thief to know how to stop thieves. Don't get any ideas about their security system though..." James gave some encouragement, knowing that he wouldn't react to wordy speeches, but a little bit of a pick up. Cynical as he was, he wasn't afraid of praise. Especially for Phoenix Programme, who no doubt, were already close to being cut and needed something to keep them aloft.

Even Hat Trick was on a roll. A PR hero that shouted more about himself than maybe the team, but, he was still out there and kicking ass. Rounding up the geese and returning them safely was certainly akin to foiling a robbery, given the threat a singular Canadian Goose could present. The ice-hockey adjacent hero was near perfect, perhaps more so than say, Eclipse had been earlier. But you took your wins and losses.

"Nice work, Hat Trick. Clean yourself up, and take a few minutes to round up some socials where you can. Those geese are evil, so I'm sure that's not the last we've seen of them." James replied back to the Canadian, glad civilians and people were saved from the scourge of the Canadian Geese.

Then, the comms exploded with noise.

And James for a moment just exhaled, one, continuous breath. He wasn't angry. He wasn't disappointed. He just.....questioned reality now.

His hand shook on the mouse. He wanted to throw his headphones into a wall. But realised that a replacement set would be stupidly hard to find for this antique, fucking bullshit, crappy machine that seemed to manage one insanely dense, donut of a fucking person.....

Was Madcap just high too?

He normally didn't swear on the phone, this was a recorded call, after all. But to kill the comms, he hit the override, as he switched to a subscriber camera, seeing an elderly lady in a glass shaped hole like something from Tom and Jerry, struggling to move, EMT already on the way.

And just inhaled as he replied.

"Madcap, what the fu....."

---

Until Breaktime

Soundtrack: The Who- Eminence Front

The rest of the early afternoon shift went a little more tame than the first job the team had all been sent out. The sun slowly ported its way across the sky, the big orange scattering into a haze on the horizon, the sunset beginning to come in. James looked out through the window, the office getting emptied out, as people left, rather than came in. James kept the music on in his right earbud, his headset draped across his left, with an option to kill his phone's music on moment's notice. Not that he had to often, so, it played out to their second third of their shift.

A small montage then. From social media, cameras, and the team getting into work.

This was SDN Claremont in action, working their day away. Heroes in the mix. Doing what heroes did. The unglamorous bit not really anyone wanted to remember.

More talking to police. Witness statements. Paperwork. Filling in witness forms. Helping police, security, other people to do their jobs. But with a bit of SDN magic on top.

Cleaning, tidying up the mess at crime scenes that were too heavy or too messy to sort.

In the office, James was throwing another two packets of Fisherman's Friend into Riley's bin, and chewing down more. Getting a cup of tea from Lightning Girl, between her deployment as she whizzed out of the balcony again, and sipping it down, a calm ahhh.....

And back to the heroes.

From helping police on patrol and shadowing them, community liaison work where heroes would meet the public and do some marketing for SDN, to stints in the office doing timesheets, requesting holiday, and general admin work. Smaller jobs, here and there, simple, easy and passed back to the police who paid SDN a pretty penny every time a hero had gone out. Lightning Girl had even gone and helped the local distribution grid poke a really high voltage cable back into place, which was a one minute job, in exchange for lots of free electrical juice.

Then, the team had a mandatory session with James at 4pm.

That was mostly forgettable.

For some reason, mostly aimed at "Drugs in the Workplace".

That there was random drugs testing.

It was what James called a "Toolbox Talk", not really a proper training, but a reminder of some policies. Particularly, for two members of the team (and perhaps for a third for fucking it up so hard), but it felt like they were all there despite it not being targeted. They probably hated it. But Riley had done the same, just James had to put it in his report at the end, with his big stack of papers he stamped, signed and filled in for each dispatch. They may have hated it, but then again, James didn't hide that he was just doing his job, something he enforced dispatchers on himself.

"So, in short, while California has a policy that there are multiple strikes, I need to remind you all, don't do drugs at work." James seemed almost exasperated. He wondered if Madcap was high right now. That would explain a lot. How in the actual fuck did you throw an old lady through a window and call that a success? Shit, if they weren't so in demand right now, he would have suspended him there and then, but that wasn't his call. Even Kat had thrown her cup at the wall of her glass office.

"Any questions?" James asked, as Lightning Girl put her hand up, a shit-eating, soul destroying grin on her face.

"If you really, really needed to take drugs to keep your powers, as per your contract with SDN, wouldn't that be a breach of contract because you'd be out of work here? Like you are, addicted to Fisherman's Friends." Sophie didn't glance at Eclipse, not really needing to, as she then giggled with a grin.

James sighed, leaning against the table. Her sister, as usual, was deciding to be a bitch. What had he done to earn this?

"It depends. The policy has more details. And you all need a break." James answered, with a long, beleaguered sigh, looking at everyone.

If he could kick the shit out of Madcap, he would right now. But the others, they were doing well. And he didn't hide his respect they were stepping up, even now.

---

Monday
17:04
Break Room
Claremont SDN

Going Long

The break room was full of heroes of the new afternoon shift, and given the new additions, it made the place feel crowded, but in a way that James, who had popped in and gone back to his desk to keep working to file paperwork, appreciated. Most people were finishing and leaving the office though. From Gayita to Matthieu, they all waved and said goodbye, the eight armed Office Manager bringing in a massive box of jelly donuts that James had requested they get to keep spirits high.

They were all working late, and James and a couple of other dispatchers getting the Night Shift ready, were all that were left.

Lightning Girl, had also brought a packet of Rich Tea biscuits in as well. They were plain, so significantly less attractive than the donut box, as everyone grabbed at least one.

At this point, the team had worked together very little, but the white/grey haired heroine that was Lightning Girl was now so full of juice she seemed to have more than the morning stint. She wasn't even the loudest anymore, no doubt Eclipse and Payback wanted to absolutely put Madcap on mute, but, she still remained ever friendly.

She had brought a bag of Cheetos from her last dispatch while between jobs, taking the notion it was probably best to leave it with Eclipse after their long chat.

Before say, Payback stole it, probably best to give it direct..

"Crisps for you. Don't inhale them all at once....sounds like you did a nice job at that school, inspired a lot of kids. If you ask me, sounds like something a hero would do." Lightning Girl noted and posted him with a smile, the carbon fibre black-masked heroine adjusting her straps a little, the cowl covering her nose to her forehead, as she took the bag of Cheetos from her hip bag and left it on his table.

"And you did okay too! I reckon in your heyday you'd have been so much better at stealing ceramics than those losers were. Right?" She smiled at Payback with a little sarcasm, who was quiet as hell over the comms, Myla's casual look very different to the suited and booted appearance of much of the team. Sophie then realised, she was using understatement in a British tone. "Okay" could mean like six different things in England. It meant very specifically one here. She guessed. She worried.

"Sorry, I forget I'm so English sometimes! Like you did good. Sorry, that's what I meant!" She clarified it. Hopefully that wasn't sarcastic. It came across as a little bit more afraid from the person that was normally, a bastion of glow. Sophie inside was still trying to manage that.

Lightning Girl kept going in the kitchen after wrapping that up, turning on the kettle, water boiling in the tank as she drew out a mug, coming across Princess, Asteroid and Hat Trick. The beautiful, after her origins, Princess that shapeshifted, the gravity-altering, black costume having Asteroid, and the indigenous, hockey armoured up Hat Trick were all rather different, but among them, Sophie seemed still the most traditionally planted of a hero, even if those three were on a broad spectrum from eldritch terror to PR glow.

"Hey, I don't think we've met properly in person. I'm Lightning Girl. Princess, I think someone said to me you're really good at shapeshifting? And you do gravity stuff Asteroid, and Hat Trick you're.....just Captain Canada? Shit, even geese scare me. I think I'd make a much bigger mess than just feathers, so well done." Lightning Girl might not have majored in charisma, she was mostly a face for show, after all, but she was absolutely a a beam of good. It felt genuine with her, even when the sarcasm dripped in, as she smiled. She would offer a hand, but, thought better of it given lots of electricity in her.

"Good to meet you all. You all finding the team okay? Like I said to the others before you arrived, you deal with James's.....way of stuff better with time. He used to dispatch me a long, long time ago. Kinda shocked he's looking after us now." She didn't reveal she was his sister.

They might have put it together, but their hair being so different, and so on, made it feel a little like they weren't the same. He wasn't powered, and was in a different line of work, so with so many British people in LA (including Prince Harry, of whom James had already received about four references to, and immediately decided not to chat to those people again), it felt like a small coincidence.

She poured out the hot water and left some for others to make coffee with, pouring it into her usual mug, which had a massive blue bolt across it, a gift from her mum. Sipping it down, Sophie was not sure what to make of the day so far, especially with the fact she lost out on going to the ball later that she wanted to go to, but, a job was a job. And she had to bite her teeth. Maybe if she asked one of them nicely, they could cover for her and she could go? She wasn't sure. She'd have to earn that, but for now, she played it back in her mind what she could do to get that option at all.

And then there was Madcap. Who, with a bug mask, and his powers of invulnerability, had thrown an old lady across the road. She hoped he would realise maybe that wasn't exactly the best way to introduce himself into the A-Team. Holy shit, it was so bad, it actually took heat off her for shocking two heroes. Like, his fuck up had managed to make even her own look pale.

"Fucking bullshit we have to stay. But crime never sleeps and all that...."

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Round 15 of Formula AG
Sunday 8th October, 2094
Qualifying
Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo AGP
1400 BRT

Soundtrack: Sub Focus- Elevate

The rain hammered.

Despite the ridiculously powerful quantum computers that could calculate every close to every inch on every square kilometre of rainfall patterns, the strength of this was something else. Geoengineering had a habit of sometimes producing something way more potent than expected, and well, in the last hour, this had gone from a drizzle to a full blown thunderstorm that would cut about halfway through the race. So much for a dry Sunday...

Ship's cockpit shut, Amy's breathing chattered.

"Okay. Ward is gonna make moves."

"I'm in her head, Keira. I know her well enough." Those words, normally, were taken not literally. And maybe Bea if she listened back to the race playback, in the insanely unlikely chance she would sift through audio, would hear that.

"Yeah, well, let's not annoy the stewards, let's play fair. We have the pace this weekend. Let's put it to use, let her feed

Four. Three. Two. One.

It was a brave start. Amy closed the door on Bea, immediately. And it fast became a duel.

Amy knew Bea was brave, brave as hell. Through the Senna S, the elevated section, ELS screamed, Amy holding her line ahead of Bea, losing out at Descida do Lago with Bea forcing a clean overtake, but Amy immediately replying into Curva do Laranjinha, the long right hander giving her ample time to take the outside and smack on the airbrakes, beating Bea to the apex, in the hail-storm like rain that suddenly decended. This would be a red flag in any other condition, but this sudden spray of rain even made the human reactions elevate.

Into the next corner at Pinheirinho, and the tight hairpin at the old Turn 10, Bea would have clawed in from Amy's compromised line. Yet Amy didn't let her past.

It was a sucker punch of a move. Amy gave up the corner, abandoning defence completely with ELS. Bea would have wanted to strike, dump her own ELS battery and get away. And she had the inside line.

But Amy came from nowhere and unleashed hell, going more aggressive, really forcing Bea into rethinking even her own risky choices. In a corner that absolutely shouldn't have worked for an overtake, Amy simply brushed Bea aside at Mergulho, and made sure that Cassie was now breathing down the Brit's neck too. Amy sweeping around put the 3-time champion in front at Juncao, where Amy slowed and kept it tight on inside, giving the hint that she was vulnerable in a corner that shouldn't have been.

Amy was toying with Bea. This you didn't learn from karting. Or AG racing.

You learned this from being a fucking champion.

Bea was no doubt rattled after that last race. She had it in qualifying, but in ship to ship, well, Amy didn't need a neural link to break into the mind of other pilots and how they felt. She might have failed herself sometimes, not seen things coming, not had the reactions, but right there, she may as well as have been inside Bea's brain for what it was worth to the Carrera pilot, like she told Keira. Not literally, of course.

Not this time.

Because Amy made Bea have no choice. Risk contact, take the outside overtake, or smell ozone.

The move on the outside, coupled to the dirty air, coupled to Amy activating the ELS shield as if to spite, rather than get away, forced Bea off circuit into the messy magnetic run-off that stalled ships before they clattered the repulsor field but technically, Amy had held position in the corner and held her own. That was a legal move, but Amy had used the entire circuit to decide if Bea was going to push back, or not. They'd come centimetres from contact, but the difference between Ava and Amy was that the latter knew how to get under skin. Fight the fight that absolutely came with being another level of animal.

Amy reasoned, Bea had a family that loved her very much. And after Argentina, the rumours....just fed that. There was fair racing. Then there was understanding ELS was a weapon, a tool if you wanted to put it to work. Especially when the fear spread like ethanol, you just needed a match.

If there was a reprimand, good luck proving it, Amy thought. First in the drivers championship was tight. There was no time to be nice. A bastard move, but Amy wasn't letting Bea even entertain the thought of first. Not when she had her own fight with Nora Kelly. She was friends off track, but every pilot knew you left friendships behind when you were on circuit. Bea would have done the same to her. Frankly, Amy thought that she did back in Belgium with her ELS move.

It had span Bea out though, at least, flicked the ship 180 and other ships, bunched tight, whooshed past, as Bea would have fought out of the magnets and clattered back on track, far, far further down the grid. A recovery drive then.....

"And Beatrix Ward is dropping, oh no, that's a mistake as she gets caught out by Stirling there, she left her nowhere to go! The stewards will look at that, we're seeing Stirling using all the dark arts, that was certainly a deceptive move to lure in Ward and then force her with no options but wide! She seems to be moving again, but she is going to struggle getting back up the leaderboard, as.....wait, that's a huge off for Kelly! Oh wow, that's an entire failure of her anti-gravity unit, that's a nasty hit!" By the time, the footage changed, from a Beatrix Ward trying to clamber up, to a very different ship back in the rankings.

They'd gone to Pinheirinho, and Nora's yellow, black and navy blue machine was in the repulsors.

Amy didn't like to be positive about her chances, but the numbers went up so much higher in percentages of getting a critical hit on Kelly today. Her main rival was out. Points were hers, if she held it down. She felt sorry for Bea. But not really for Nora.

Bea would be no doubt, screaming, because any chance of making it up in racing conditions, with a ship that was still optimal, were now gone to shit. Red flags meant a reset, and with a poorer ELS delta at the time the flags were out, Bea was 14th.

"Wow, rare we see those these days, but Kelly's ship seems to have just totally failed, on the replay.....oooof, that is an awful hit from Neves, the two just fought over a line they couldn't keep! That's like losing the wheels on a car, how did that happen?"

"Yes, it looks like it comes from Cassie Neves, looks like they collided coming out of the Senna S......ooof, yeah you can tell it's really upset the ship. It's all over the place, amazing she didn't retire it there and then....and yeah, then the AG unit shuts down and bogs it into the floor, that was optimistic to try and get it to the pit for retirement, what a shame!" A strange crash. But if anything showed Nora was begging for the ship to make it, let alone keep going, it was that moment that showed it. Cassie had gotten some damage to her nose for her gains, allowing Kais to overtake.

The red flag reset the field, and before Bea had the chance to climb back up from her off, Paul found himself in 2nd, Kais in 3rd. With a hell of an opportunity to clear a podium, or even beat Amy. Even if she was cooking up something.

Remarkably, Ben Hale was in 13th, making a lot of insanely brave overtakes at the back of the field on Ulrich, Max, and Vladmir, and by chance, in front of Bea. And clearly, NOVA had gotten his setup right. He was breathing down the back of his team-mate. Astrid and Hamid were notable too, making a huge leap in points.

The stewards, made a racing incident decision on Amy's defence. Trying to "remove the penalties" in the sport meant racing was more dirty than sometimes pilots liked it to be, especially with an ELS system that felt more like a lasso than it did a fair system to get overtakes done. Bea would be pissed. But same time, there was no time like the present to recover.

The debris clean up gave everyone a bit of respite. And as heavy as the rain came down, now it was barely a trickle, a steady, intermittent shower that came into the circuit as fast as it left, leaving blinding sunlight that vapourised the tarmac into petrichor and ozone from the ships, to sprays of water that coated the track. It felt like a

Four. Three. Two. One.

Soundtrack: Art of Rally OST- Run

Amy barely held it in front of Paul at lights out, but Paul would be mistaken if he was getting Amy here today. Every attempt was riposted, through the spray, showers and blinding sun, Amy was making him fight all of the way for it. He was a good pilot, but unlike their earlier tangle in Belgium, once again, Amy was pulling every trick she could find. His ship being slightly compromised sadly, might have been the difference. But it didn't matter. Paul was just on the wrong side of the equation, against a pilot that was a two-time champion hell-bent on securing her fourth championship.

Kais would be caught in that train, and with Paul giving it everything, couldn't even exploit the gap. The lack of handling, with a glass cannon that worked great in straights sucked in the last, twisty sector, undoing his progress. 3rd was progress, but that lack of fine control cost him the last he had left in his tank.

Ben, meanwhile, had continued his one-man rampage against the entire back half of the grid. In what was looking like his breakout rookie performance, that lack of confidence coming alive in the mixed conditions, finding something about the ship and leaping from ship to ship with excellent ELS management.

"How has he done that! From P17 to P9, Ben Hale, welcome to Formula AG, that is an exceptional performance!" Rosie commented, the two commentators playing back his last overtake on Jenny Lowry with no hint of irony, and a perfect, match cut to Peter Thatcher, TP at Silver Apex, looking absolutely stone-faced.

"Yes Rosie, I mean those moves as well, he seems to have gotten so lucky with that red flag, the right ELS, the right time, and no doubt Sally Morrigan must be screaming with joy. The first points for the team in quite some time, showing they made the right choice to back the rookie, who is finding his feet!"

"Certainly, and it looks like it's not a day to be for Dorian Hornfleur, as he pulls in and retires, looks like a steering failure, what a mixed season he is having. He looks really dejected, he was making such good progress up the grid, he clearly has it but the ship just didn't!"

It would have been a difficult day for Alexander. One ship retired, one ship on the cusp of P2. But as the showers stopped, the sun created more petrichor smell everywhere, and the race continued, it felt like the overtakes had evened out.

Bea had clambered her way to P11, overtaking Han and Florence, but the slow pace of Jenny Lowry, seemingly lacking form from her earlier win, was creating a train down in P10. Was Amy stealing racecraft from her team-mate? Well, the jokes would go around, but Jenny just wasn't on the same level today as Ben, how was even trying to dogfight Harrison. Brave or insane, it was impressive..

As the chequered flag came out, Paul had P2, and Kais P3, after a steady, simple race, Cassie threatening Kais at the end but never quite making the moves stick, holding back the Zygon ship from encroaching on Al-Saqr's points total. But Paul had done all he could. No doubt there was a feeling they could have done more, but today, it was not to be.

"And that's Neves P4, Villarosa holding onto a respectable P5, Astrid Thorsdottir coming into P6 with an excellent result for Nordic Call, P7 for Atlassi, P8 for Makara, P9 for a stellar Ben Hale, and P10 is rounded out by Jen Lowry. Rosie, thoughts on that race?" Rory commentated, following the obligatory radio messages from each of the pilots in the top three.

"Wow, it had it all! Rain, sun, controversy between Ward and Stirling, Kelly's crash, and that fight for the top five, wow, Brazil didn't disappoint, and talk about Ben Hale! What a stunning performance, so many doubted him, wrote him off from his shift but he's clearly made his mark, and look at how happy he is, waving to the crowd!" Rosie's voice joined, the camera focussed on a translucent visor of Ben Hale, crying through his visor, finally, finally getting there with points, and making his mark into Formula AG.

Results for Brazil

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn…

---

Cooldown Room- brazil

Watching back the race, the controversial move from Amy to deny Bea an overtake was played back from many angles, with Amy looking over Paul and Kais, who no doubt had opinions on that.

"Clean defence. Did it to me in Belgium....backing off the outside line was a a choice, Bea." Amy quietly retorted, as the rest of the race played out, including Nora's crashout / retirement, the conditions, and Paul and Kais fighting, beyond Cassie.

"You are fast, Paul. After the start of the season, I wasn't sure where you would go....you got some skills. But I ain't giving over that easy! Gonna be seeing you challenging me for the title next!" Amy chuckled, reaching out and hugging Paul, before shaking hands with Kais, hearing the steward come through and wave a thumbs up at the three. From the high-tech cooldown room, to the glorious, screaming crowds of Sao Paolo, the podium where Senna had his home crowd screaming his name at the top of their lungs, were yelling out for Kais Zenix, and Paul Mulder.

And oh, Amy Stirling was back to P1.

Where she belonged, stepping onto the top step, and with all anthems and trophies, dual-wielding champagne and a massive piece of chrome with a crazy grin, knowing that winning in Brazil was like winning one of the best, old classics.

A race that was at least 125 years old, an icon of the sport, with fans almost as mad as those in Argentina, with ethanol in the blood of everyone here enjoying the high spirits of racing in any condition. An important win, breaking the duck of so many race winners in times gone by, and reminding everyone why she was where she was.

---

Delta Hyper- Interviews

"Paul, a solid finish in P2 again, and despite that damage you looked like you're finally hitting a purple patch of form. It looks like Amy really frustrated you, and you fought for quite some time with Kais too. Do you feel from a race management point of view, you did all you could after Beatrix crashed out?"

"Bea, two from two races to forget, that move looked like such a close call in the stewards. Your recovery from 14th was admirable, it looks like the mid-table of the grid are putting up more and more competitive performances. Do you still think Zygon can be caught in the constructors?"

"Kais, looks like a solid performance all things considered, with a clean pass on Cassie and keeping the pressure up on Valkyrie. Your ship seems to be getting matched by Carrera on the straights more and more, how are you feeling about that

---

"Look, I know I got my elbows out, and of all the people, I know Beatrix will understand, we might be friends, but once we're racing, we're finding any edge we can. It was a move she should have reconsidered, I can't apologise for it."

"About Bjorn leaving? Look, I can't possibly comment, sorry!" Astrid cut off, as she peeled away before the follow up questions could hit.

"Terrible. The ship just gave out, the AG unit was unstable and shut down before it did any more damage to the casing. Gutted, but what can you do?" Nora replied, blunt as ever, the look on her face of realising she might not get Amy at all. Despite it all.

"Yeah, we absolutely smashed that! So, so happy with our setup, we knew we were underdogs, but I just was like, push hard at the start, get to Florence, and then the red came out! After that, I got lucky with ELS, but you know, opportunity meets a bit of wet weather skill, I just felt zoned in, and it all came together today! Really, really happy with points!" Ben replied, grinning ear to ear, the crowd giving a cheer, the Pilot of the Day with helmet raised as he put hands up like he'd gotten a podium or something. First points for Nova, as the green and yellow suited pilot relished in the feeling he wouldn't forget soon.

"Well, Bea has had an awful run of luck. And I did too, with Nora. But, shit happens. You just gotta keep your head up, and honestly, it looks like just a racing incident. We all play on the edge, I mean, I know FIAR won't like me saying it, but that's what racing is about. Close ship to ship racing takes time to learn, Nora pushes hard and we just got it wrong, but the ship's built like a tank so we just plough on. And Bea against Amy Stirling? Yeah, no pilot would find that easy! I'd say I'm happy with 4th. Paul and Kais gave it a really good show, and they were just locked in. So can't say any more!" Cassie exhaled, lots of words leaving her, smiling for the crowd, the feeling that of actually settling back to where she'd been with Valkyrie. Even if in the back of her head, those words she'd softened because she might go and join Bea next year.

"Good result. So happy to bounce back from last weekend, and yeah, get some points, P5 feels good though I know I was helped by Nora crashing out. I know Zygon are pulling away, but we're going into rounds that suit us. We just need to do everything we can, and make it up to the fans there. P5 would be a dream, but we have to be dreamers!" Ava didn't give any smug look to camera, despite the entire internet wanting her to. That would just fan flames.....and make Pablo throw furniture at windows back at HQ.

"Bad day in the office. Not happy with it, but, we move, no?" Kofi added, a big, fat, shrug saying it all.

"Yeah not ideal, cannot believe how fast Ben was! He was a rocket, he found some time we just didn't have and risked it all on a strategy that was perfect. So yeah, gotta take my hat off to the dude." Max's usual American accent carried, not having words to say in P15.

---

Before the episode was out, the news would have likely hit.

"Bellatrix Olympus, welcome to Delta Hyper! Would you like to introduce yourself to the viewers at home, as the newest member of the grid, and a brand new pilot at Nordic Call?" Aurora asked, awaiting her first response, before asking another question. The brown-haired presenter sat across from Trixie, letting her take the central spot on the sofa, in dominant view, the entire world looking upon her.

This was the pressure of it all, and she had all eyes to her, for the last five races of the year. Other rookies had come in and snatched points. Now she had to show if she could.

"We're hearing a lot of good things about you from your Junior career, and in that montage, we saw quite a lot of what you got up to. Tell me, what do you think you can do with Nordic Call, for the rest of this season? How are you looking forward to working with Astrid- a famous party-goer, and infamously, a pilot of few words?" Aurora asked, many questions, but the audience clearly looking for answers.

@PrinceAlexus

The camera cut to Astrid, sitting at the same sofa, in a separate cut.

"Trixie is.....unexpected. I had a feeling there was a change coming. But we will see. AG is hard. And results for us are harder to come by. I hope she understands the challenge." Astrid did not normally come out with more than a few words. So she clearly had put time, thought and weight behind these.

---

Tuesday 10th October, 2094
Nordic Call Racing HQ, Luleå, Sweden

Morning in Swedish Lapland

The far north of Sweden was fairly mild even by early October standards, but the cold had returned, and snow would be inbound sooner rather than later. The two massive concrete, composite and wooden blocks were monoliths in the Swedish forests, and while it felt remote, climate change had turned Lulea and it's rare earth, iron and aluminium refinery into a bona-fide tech and communications hub, featuring the HQ of Nordic Call's actual business, the major employer that did telecoms across the globe in satellite internet and a littany of other VR, TV, neural-link, holo and other services that provided Scandinavian-quality. It was half owned by the Nordic Union and Swedish state too, so some of that co-operative vibe was still in, the other half run by private equity and one particular investor who brought in the Nordic Call Formula AG team into the fold.

The concrete was oppressing to turn up to, but lower down, a glass front revealed a Scandinavian-style lobby. Clean, smooth, natural. Sharp lines, curves, wood panelling everywhere. It was lovely. Cosy even.

"Ah, Miss Olympus? If you'd like to come this way." The assistant motioned, as they headed up a set of stairs, the massive glass panel revealing the massive, engineering room of the factory, a common sight across most factories, showing off the ships, the engineers, the pristine white environment with the team's branding all across the walls, aurora wraps included, and clean-room suits, like they were working on a satelite. Biological reagents used in the construction of ships could be especially sensitive to microbes or dirt, so cleanliness was a priority, though once it was out of the design phase, it was generally considered fine.

"Through here." The assistant added, the Conference Room up ahead. Trophies at the back from races long ago. But one from Tokyo that glowed with an ethereal bronze-like haze.

And in front of it, Erin Becker. Team Principal at Nordic Call. A 45 year old, Danish lady with plenty of years at this level of motorsport, leading this team through thick, and now, thinly-placed points.

"Ah, Bellatrix. Welcome to Sweden! Astrid, I believe you and Trixie have met, yes?"

Astrid nodded.

"We've seen each other. Hello." Astrid stood, shaking hands, the apple blonde, half-Faroese, half Finnish pilot of few words.

"Well, welcome to the team. I believe Anders will sort out your IT and paperwork." Erin broke the silence, as they all sat down, stating the obvious, realising Astrid didn't like fucking around in meetings. Bellatrix would realise Nordics didn't really cut on what they wanted to get out of it.

"Well, let's cut to it. The ship's not the best. But if Astrid can get points out of it, you may be able as well, Bellatrix, with a fresh pair of eyes. We think we have one last upgrade left before the season ends. One last chance to make of it what we can." She started, taking a sip of water. "We want to take points off MMR, and get 7th. It will be hard. But, we think the team can do this. You are the final piece of the puzzle, we hope, Trixie." Erin added, as Astrid nodded.

"Maybe. If not. At least stop Max Wedgewood from single handedly carrying the American States." Astrid joked, barely cracking a grin to show she didn't actually mean go and ram the guy.

Erin stood up, looking at the ship, then back to the two.

"We have plenty of work to do. I believe you have a session with the neuroscientists, augment specialists, then some sim work. Check, and make any modifications to augments you have. We stock highest end, to your request, and manufacture bespoke here, and you will be taking on augments you didn't get in Junior AG. Your input is valued, Trixie, like anyone here, so please tell us if we can improve. Find us a way to get points, and we'll be happy." Erin concluded, the small matter of the rest of the induction, meeting the engineers, sim rig, medical team, as well as her race engineer, and getting ready for the soon approaching Australian AGP, were on the calendar.

The world was Trixie's. She was a pilot in an AG racing workshop. And behind the scenes, from physical work, working with engineers on upgrade patterns, getting operated on, enjoying the Swedish forest, this was her home away from home.

(@PrinceAlexus - you can take control from here on everything behind the scenes. All chars at Nordic Call are NPCs!)

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

@BigPapaBelial

All accepted, once you've put the edits mentioned over PM, then this can be moved into CS!

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

@SonnetNSunbeam

That now works :) Happy to have you post in the CS!

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

@SonnetNSunbeam

That is accepted!

The image doesn't work sadly is one thing but it might just be as I can't see imigur images, feel free to add to the CS roster!

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Previously at SDN Claremont:

roleplayerguild.com/posts/5637543