TEST DRIVE MEME #3

[metamods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

A confluence is defined as the convergence of one or more forces. A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.

Confluences have been mild ever since the Godfall Event occurred in the 1980s. The older generations tell their children of the confluences they remember as children, the earth-shaking events that transformed the landscape of the world (and the people) every time they occurred. Now they're largely inconveniences. An explosion of experimental ALIEN NANOBOTS here, a magical LIGHTNING STORM there, nothing particularly disruptive to day to day life.

ONLY SHOOTING STARS. CENTRAL CITY.

Awareness hits you in a rush. As does the sound of a town’s EMERGENCY ALARMS WAILING.  Just as you begin to register the sound, you realize how quickly the towering skyscrapers are coming up to meet you. You may throw your hands up to shield yourself from witnessing your own grisly demise. Not to worry - THREADS OF MYSTICAL ENERGY rush up to meet you, grabbing for limbs and catching you before you make landfall.  A NET MADE OF STARS has come up to cradle you, giving you a much gentler entry into this world than most others have received thus far. A smattering of exhausted looking people holding staves and wands peer up at you and attempt to smile, though they appear to be much more focused on keeping you held aloft.

Correction. They’re keeping MOST of you aloft. The mystical net made of stars doesn’t seem quite large enough to cover the entire sky. THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE FALLING. Perhaps you’re not spared the fall, plummeting through the gap in the net and straight into someone’s living room. Or car. Or straight into the sewer systems.

DIADEM HOTEL

You're not going home anytime soon. Hopefully, the LUXURY HOTEL they've put you up in will ease that sting.

The DIADEM HOTEL is usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. Its rooms are enormous, the beds quite literally enchanted to offer the perfect night's sleep, and the food would usually cost your life savings just to sample. But given the circumstances, the Guilds feel its the least they can do to aid your transition into this world. EVERYTHING is complimentary, and everyone gets an ALLIANCE CREDIT CARD to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back... though if they catch you abusing it, their accountant will be coming for your head.

There's a shopping center immediately across the street. It has an impressive array of outlets that cater to your every need. Food, clothing... and swords? If you can think of it, it's for sale. Although anything clearly supernatural or metahuman seems to be at a minimum and offered under the table. You can grab clothing made to withstand any superpower and a surprisingly mediocre Taco Bell order while you're at it. There's a Super Cinema in the shopping complex across the street that's showing the highly anticipated DROP DEAD GORGEOUS movie, a thriller wherein a fictional beauty queen accidentally swallows a fragment of the Necronomicon and becomes the world’s most powerful necromancer. Oh, and her boyfriend transforms into her chainsaw.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. Wander too far from the shopping district and you'll find yourselves thick into territory controlled by the local non-meta crime syndicate... but maybe that's where you want to be. Maybe you're here to see just what this world is dealing with. If you're going to be stuck here you might as well make yourself useful, right?

Or perhaps you're NOT the heroic type. Maybe this is simply scoping out the competition.

Regardless, it won't take long for TROUBLE to find you. Test out your new powers, do a little thieving, stop a few muggings - this is your time to use as you see fit.

MAY FLIES AND FLOWERS. EXCELSIOR.

EXCELSIOR has just opened its very own BOTANICAL GARDEN! The facility is roughly the size of a city block, a modern monolith of steel and glass, specially equipped to prevent birds from flying into the many windows. There’s plants from all over the world growing inside, different rooms hosting rare and exotic specimens from different climates. Each mini-biome has animals native to the regions they mimic, of course - not a great many of them, but you’re likely to see some insects and birds flitting here and there.

To better protect the guests, all animals inside are man-made creations - be they mechanical or genetically engineered for a single purpose. The most notable of these projects is a MECHANICAL BUTTERFLY enjoying its first test flight. Researchers hope that these butterflies can be introduced into nature to aid the waning bee populations. These butterflies, beautiful creations spun from delicate metal wire, can be found in nearly any of the ecosystems present in the Botanical Garden. Aside from being hardy and efficient, they’re also equipped with a CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT that makes the pollen they collect twelve times more potent. Everything’s getting pollinated in here! Best hope you don't have allergies.

This SPECIAL POLLEN also has the side-effect of making anyone in the vicinity feel quite lonely or loved. Theorized as a way to make dates more intimate, no more consideration was put into the ethical ramifications of subtly altering people’s mood for commercial benefit. It’s Excelsior, after all, hopefully someone warned you they view ethics as optional.

Should you have come to this beautiful slice of nature alone you may find yourself OVERWHELMED WITH LONELINESS as the flock fly overhead. Yet this loneliness comes with an edge of courage. Perhaps you’re emboldened to approach another lonely heart and ask if they would care to accompany you. 

If you’ve come with someone you all may find yourselves feeling much more WARM AND AFFECTIONATE towards them. Such a pretty place, such great company - let’s spend some real quality time!

WORKING ALL ANGLES. SUNSET FALLS.

Be you hero, villain, or unaligned - socialite KATHERINE WEST has a request for you. Miss West appears to be quite distressed. The weirdness of Sunset Falls has put her dear father in a bit of a pickle and she’s looking for strapping heroes (and villains, and unaligned, really anyone with two feet and a heartbeat) to help out. She states that she’s no metahuman and so she can’t offer you a team-up, but she can offer you a shoutout on her Instagram page.

The TASKS she’s issuing seem simple on the surface. Safe enough that you may be swayed by her sweet smile and the 15 million followers who might take a shine to you.

HUNT SOME WOLVES.

A shame she didn’t mention that these wolves are WEREWOLVES.

A pack of werewolves has been wreaking havoc in the PARK. They come out at night to grow their pack. Nearly a dozen locals have been conscripted by this infectious bite.

Luckily, there is a POTENTIAL SOLUTION! This particular brand of lycanthropy can be cured if you grievously wound them with a SILVER WEAPON. A quick google also tells you that curing the ALPHA – or killing him – will end the curse for the whole pack. She’s twice the size of a direwolf with jaws like a steel trap. 

Granted, killing them is the faster solution. There is a slight hitch in that plan. These wolves REVERT BACK TO HUMAN FORM upon death. It might look weird to find a bunch of bodies in the park so you’d best be prepared to clean up after yourself.

There’s always the risk you’ll get bit and JOIN THEM. Should this happen, the transformation will come on suddenly and painfully, your body distorting under the light of the moon. The ANIMAL INSTINCTS will come on just as powerfully - you’re part of a pack now, and you’re out on a hunt. Hopefully some kind soul can hit you with silver or take out your alpha, because you won't turn back on your own.

HERE KITTY KITTY.

Miss West has tasked you with finding all of the town’s TREED CATS. This one is an easy enough task, right? For the last four months there's been an absurd amount of cats getting stuck in trees.

Well, it seems two months of storing AMBIENT CHAOS MAGIC has made these cats more unpredictable than usual. Chaos magic isn't something you want to mess with, especially not when it's held in purrsnickety paws. It's easy to snatch them from the branches if they don't know you're coming, but if you approach under their watchful eye you'll begin to find the rules of reality start to bend. The ocean becomes a sky full of fish, and the grass beneath you a warm carpet warmed by a sunbeam. Your thoughts and feelings suddenly seem to be able to influence this space - so careful! You wouldn't want your worst fears to suddenly manifest.

Now would be a really bad time to remember that dream where all your teeth fall out.

DANCING SHADOWS.

This one is fairly simple. All Miss West wants is a PICTURE OF YOUR SHADOW. She gives you her best camera and asks you take the very best shot you can.

The ambient mystical energies of Sunset Falls are known to be chaotic. The LINGERING MAGIC of the spell that snatched you from the sky is ignited. Your shadow begins to glimmer faintly like the night sky itself. If you catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye, you could swear you spy your shadow smiling back. Its eyes appear to be bright, burning stars.

These stars grant it a RUDIMENTARY SENTIENCE. And with it, liberation! No longer is it bound to your feet.  Your shadow-self wants to live it's very best life and that means doing whatever impulsive thing strikes its brand new consciousness. CAUSING MAYHEM, infecting other shadows with its newly gained brilliance. Before long, the town is OVERRUN with dancing shadows. While their antics don't affect the physical space, if you glance down at the ground in pure chaos.

The magically inclined among you may want to work together to bind your shadows back to your feet. It's not good for a person to be split between planes like this. It's not good for the world, either, as the ground seems to give an ominous rumble every now and again. Catch your shadow and pin it under your foot!

WILDCARD.

Metaheroes takes inspiration from all walks of comics. Take a look at the CITIES to get an idea as to what day to day life is like in the other cities. Perhaps you've encountered a supervillain (or hero) who needs to be thwarted, or a metahuman with unusual powers creating bizarre effects. You can also take a look at the MISSION BOARD to get your start as a professional hero, villain, or vigilante.

Comments

Mark Bryant | The Bright Sessions | OTA

[atypical_echo]

[OOC: Small note, Mark has the ability to mimic the powers of others. Here it would work by him being able to mimic powers of people within 30 ft of him that are not magic or technology based. If you're not cool with that just note you're not interested in your reply and avoid prompt II. If I app him, there will be a specific opt-in page for power mimicry]

I. Shooting Stars

Mark Bryant had been in a lot of weird situations in his life. Like, stupid levels of weird shit. There was the time when he was in elementary school and had walked through a door, or the incident in middle school where he'd accidentally shoved someone so hard they'd flown into the air, oh and he couldn't forget the three years his consciousness had been stranded in 1810.

Somehow none of it compared to falling from the sky and then, of course, being caught in a net made of stars with fucking wizards or whatever slowly lowering him and others to the ground. A ground that he wanted to kiss when he touched down on. Except the problem with that was that his mouth got away from him first, like it was pretty prone to doing.

"Okay, someone want to explain what the fuck is going on here? Because I've had the worst week and I'd really like to get some answers about where the hell I am this time."

II. Powers All Around

There's a problem, of course, with being around so many people at once who have powers, and it's a problem Mark has absolutely had to deal with before. Then, though, he'd typically had a bit more control, because his ability as an atypical had always presented with more control than those he mimicked the abilities of.

That... Well, that didn't seem to be as true here. Which meant that Mark, currently in an elevator with another person, was definitely a bit more... tense. He could feel it, power bubbling under his skin that wasn't his own and yet was, and he ached to use it, just to get the feel of it, or maybe to get past the temptation to use it?

Of course using a power he wasn't familiar with wasn't always safe, because for all he knew the person could be a teleporter and then he could be states away with no method of getting back, and wouldn't that fucking suck?

"Uh, excuse me. Yeah, hi, sorry this is totally an invasive question, but you're one of these 'confluence' people, right? came in, caught by a star net, all that? Any chance you could tell me what you do?"

III. Shopping For Life

When in doubt and imbued with a seemingly no limit credit card to start your life in a new fucking dimension or whatever, what should a person do? That's a question Mark struggled with for a few days, especially since he knew he wasn't going to take up these hero people on their whole 'come join us and protect the world' shit. So, the only real choice is to start kitting yourself out for real life on your own. Right?

That was the justification Mark had used to haul himself out into Central City and into the current store he was in, one that specialized in photography. Which of course was an expensive line of work to be in, and he doubted the cards were really no limit. Still, good to buy what you want and need, right? Which was why he was moving around to try and find the most practical solution he could to the problem of 'how do you build up the photography equipment you need to get by in a new world?'

"It was a lot easier when Joanie at least had some of my old gear," he grumbled to himself as he looked through a few different bag options. This was day three of shopping for gear because apparently there was some sort of spending limit, and he needed clothes and food and photography gear and a computer and image editing software and shit he was do going to go into debt to these Alliance people wasn't he?

"It would be so much easier if I was sure they weren't going to ask me to pay them back. One thing for them to say it, another when some superhero shows up at your door and demands the money back or signing your fucking life away. Shit."

IV. Pollen Issues

Excelsior, it turns out, is way too intense of a city. Weird enough to be thrown about five years into the damn future on a different version of Earth where 'atypicals' aren't a thing or something, entirely different to find a city with literal floating cars and robot helpers and all of that. It was enough to leave a guy overwhelmed and seeking something familiar. Granted it wasn't like the Botanical Garden was that familiar to him, Boston wasn't exactly overflowing with green spaces and all of that, but it helped. It had definitely helped. Not as much as it could have given there were mechanical butterflies and other weird shit, but it helped, some.

Until, very suddenly, it really didn't. Because Mark was suddenly feeling very, very lonely. Like a special sort of 'stranded in 1810 as a force ghost or something' levels of lonely. A 'I'm the only person aware of my existence' sort of lonely. Which wasn't fair, because it wasn't the pollen that was doing that level of terrifying lonely that was nearly triggering a panic attack for Mark. Nope, that was 100% Grade A Genuine Mark Bryant Repressed Trauma Boy loneliness. So, of course, the courage effects work a bit better on him than most, and the second Mark caught sight of another person, he moved instantly toward them.

"Hey there. Hi, I'm Mark. You, uh, can see me right? I'm here? Very corporeal and totally worth hanging out with, yeah?"

IV

[heydrb]

He got the rundown, got the heroes and villains spiel, but it didn't make any of this make more sense. Sure, the world Damien comes from is weird, and yeah, they even have shady pseudogovernment organizations that claim to "help" people learn control over their abilities. But a different dimension? That's a step too far. A little too Philip K. Dick for his tastes, honestly.

Still. New city. One he has never seen or been to before, and hey, that's pretty impressive in its own right. All the years he spent traveling across the states, there was very little he hadn't seen or at the very least rolled through on the way to somewhere else. But this place? It was full of new things.

It was also full of people. People with, like, feelings and shit. It hadn't taken him long to figure out what the hell was going on– having some minor reference to how empathy as an ability works, it was pretty easy to put together. There's a sick irony in it, still being unable to access his actual ability while being given the one of the kid that knocked his straight out of him.

Botanical Garden seemed like the kind of place that, at the very least, would have a calmer demeanor to it in the people wandering through it. Mostly, he'd been right, and it had been the kind of break from the general buzz of the streets he needed.

The last thing he expected was that voice. For a long, drawn-out moment, Damien is completely frozen, rooted to the spot. When he finally finds his own voice again, it's soft, and a little raspy as he turns to face him, "Mark...?"

[atypical_echo]

Well that wasn't a face Mark had been prepared to see. But, you know, of course it would be Damien would fucking be here somehow. Because the universe is cruel like that. Multiverse? Whatever, doesn't matter. What matters is that he's already there, close, too close and so he feels it.

If there is an ability Mark knew how to recognize pretty instantly, it was empathy. And, shit, that was a lot to process, wasn't it? Because if he could feel empathy and there wasn't anyone else around (and yeah, you better bet his eyes are darting around to search for another possible source and there isn't anyone), well, that means Damien has it.

Damien fucking- well he doesn't really have a last name like Cher or something... Well, whatever. Damien has the power of empathy somehow, and that leaves a funny feeling in his gut.

It mixes in him, with the loneliness, and the flutter of courage that was fading into a dim light of frustration. But there's more than that, and Mark knows Damien has to feel it, even if he isn't as experiencing as Mark in picking them apart. Because there it is. The fluttery longing, the residual affection, the stale anger, and even a brush of relief and twinge of fear.

"Yeah, this isn't fucking uncomfortable at all."

[heydrb]

Even after he's turned toward him, is staring him in the face, it's hard to believe he's here. Right here. He wasn't supposed to ever see Mark again. But here he was, against all odds and a goddamn comic book universe.

This is going to be one hell of an emotional feedback loop. Damien definitely feels it, all the different parts and pieces that make up the overall vibe of everything in this moment, but... naming it all? Nah. There's too much in his own head for that. Too much noise, too much tension, too much want, but it feels different like this.

"Well– fucking turn it off." That isn't how it works, he knows that, but he doesn't care because he just needed to say something, anything just to get the rest of his brain moving.

[atypical_echo]

"I can't just turn it off. Not like I spend a lot of time around Caleb so we can both learn how to not just feedback until some stupid levels. We've literally gotten vicariously drunk off this before," Mark complained. Because what he knows he's feeling he can feel echoing back, faintly at first, then with growing intensity, from Damien.

He should walk away, get distance, get away from this. But the very thought fills him with even more loneliness, and a greater need to be closer. Which, to be honest, he fucking hates.

Almost as much as he hates that, just faintly, he can pick up some of what Damien's feeling. About him. About seeing him. And that's more than he wanted to know.

[heydrb]

"You gotta be kidding me... I can get emotionally drunk without actually taking the shots? Fuck that." Because that's the important part of all that. Clearly.

It's an awkward stretch of outward silence, and it's an awkward stretch of internal noise and why, why does it have to be like this? He can't hide anything like this, every little twist and twinge and flicker of something else just loops back to Mark.

He should leave. It's a mantra in the back of his mind. Go. Just leave. Just walk away and this is over. But would it be? Over. How could it be? How could he just ignore the existence of Mark in the same city as him?

'I didn't think I'd ever see you again' burns a hole at the end of his tongue. He just can't push them over the edge past his lips. But that doesn't matter, because it's still a gut-punch of his own loneliness, the tangled snag of how much he wanted to see him again and how he kept pushing the urge away, a sharp tang of bitterness.

[atypical_echo]

"Not kidding, it was a fucking ride. One minute I was barely tipsy, the next moment Caleb walks in and both Frank and I are about to fall over, and Caleb's giggling stupidly," Mark noted. Because yeah, that's definitely a point that Damien should be worried about.

And Mark? He's finding the talking is helping distract him just a little bit.

"Okay, um, you're wanting a little strongly there. Fuck, I thought I wasn't going to have to feel your desires again in my life and that was a legitimate relief, and I'm really not enjoying feeling them this way."

Because it's hard to separate Damien's desires from his own at the moment, in a whole new way, and that scares him. Control, he needs fucking control.

[heydrb]

"Great," he rolls his eyes. Just what he needs to worry about among all the other things there are to be concerned with, with this stupid ability.

He scoffs and shakes his head. "I'm not the only one," but that doesn't make it any better, does it? Because it just fuels the notions already in Damien's head. "Trust me, I'm not doing it on purpose. Not my fault you copy everything."

[atypical_echo]

"Yeah, well it's not my fault either!" Mark snapped, because fuck, don't put this on him. Besides, Damien's the one that is feeling about Mark right now.

But if one thing was certain, it was that they had to get this under control, now, before something stupid happened. Because all of the emotions were ramping up and Mark needed to stay in fucking control.

ii.

[nepotis]

This isn't the most awkward elevator ride Harry's ever had, but he's getting a creeping feeling that it might end up that way.

He leans away from the stranger, giving him a healthy dose of side-eye.

"That's a bit of a personal question, isn't it?"

[atypical_echo]

Hey, not his fault that it's awkward. You're the one making it awkward by not talking about it, dude.

"Yeah, probably, but you're atypical, like me. I can feel it. And I'd rather know what power it is that's bubbling under my skin? Yanno, be sure I'm not going to accidentally fuck with gravity or something."

[nepotis]

"I'm sorry, I'm what?"

What the fuck does 'atypical' mean? But the more the guy talks, the more suspicious Harry gets, his eyes narrowing.

"Did you fucking steal something from me? My power, or whatever?"

He doesn't have a fine enough control over his healing ability to be able to sense it inside him. And it's action-based, so it's not like he can test it out (without punching this guy in the face, which would bump it up to the most awkward elevator ride ever).

[atypical_echo]

"Atypical. You have a power or ability. And no, I'm not stealing anything," Mark insists, rolling his eyes.

Not that he can't, not that he hasn't temporarily done so. Sometimes a power just... No, don't think back to then, to the AM and all they did to him. All they did to other Atypicals. Don't even think about it.

"I mimic. And I don't know what this is, I can just sense that it's there. Guess I'm a bit better at sensing this stuff these days than I used to be."

[nepotis]

Harry still isn't sure if he should trust the other guy. But he sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Like he comes from one of those worlds full of superpowered people.

Maybe he could teach Harry a thing or two about how to control this shit.

"It's... some healing thing. But it's give and take."

[atypical_echo]

'Full of' probably isn't a fair description. It's like, what, four percent of the human race? Maybe? Probably less. He doesn't know.

"Wait, so you basically heal other people by taking their injuries onto yourself? That's got to be miserable."

[nepotis]

Harry can't help the little almost-manic laugh he gives at that. There's no fucking way he would use a power like that. He's not that altruistic.

"Not exactly... I mean. It does work sort of like that, only..."

Aww, fuck, he's going to have to spill his whole life story to this fucking guy he doesn't know from Adam.

"It's like I said, give and take. I give someone an injury, I take some healing for myself. Or, I heal someone else, my own fucking doomsday clock ticks one minute closer to midnight."

[atypical_echo]

Okay, that is seriously fucked up and definitely not cool man. Mark winces to even hear it like that.

"So you're saying I could punch you and it would heal me some? Or you could heal me and it would make you sick? That's really fucked up man."

IV

[forkingethical]

Eleanor's been here, like, a week or whatever, but she's not convinced this place is (a) real (b) not just another demon-created variation on torture.

Because no one else is here. Not Jason or Janet or Tahani or Michael or Chidi and -- and that wasn't part of the plan.

She never would have gone to a stupid forking botanical garden before she met Chidi but his big dumb face found plants soothing or stimulating or whatever when his stomach hurt from anxiety, except he was also allergic to like half of them and usually had a panic attack that he might be allergic and God forking darn it now she's crying in a stupid giant tupper ware container of forking plants thinking about how she's alone, again.

She never should have been chivalrous or heroic or the person under the trolley or whatever the fork philosophy metaphor bullshirt from Chipotle or Plato or Mister Rogers or whoever. Never should have opened her heart because this was all people did. They left or they disappeared.

So she's red-eyed, mascara-bleeding, raccoon-eyed, grade A Arizona trash fire when she hears Mark.

"Uh, yeah buddy. I mean the corpse body thing. You look terrible and I usually make a point not to hang out with dead people."

Wait, all her favorite people are dead.

She puts her head between her knees and just starts making utterly pathetic crying noises. They are extremely high pitched.

[atypical_echo]

Okay, when he came upon someone he really wasn't expecting it to be someone in the depths of grief. So, yeah, that's... uh... Shit he's got to address this. How does he fucking address a stranger who is bawling her eyes out? Fuck.

"First, not dead. Second, I'm a fucking dish right now, even if it's seasoned with anxiety, and uh, do you need a hug?"

[forkingethical]

"Are you sure you're not dead? Because it would actually really help me if you were dead."

Because then maybe this was hell or a neighborhood or something.

And then he offers a forking hug like Chidi would and she absolutely hates him for it.

"Ew, no, why would I want a hug from a gross corpse stranger." Except this is the part where her friends would hug her anyway.

The silence draws on and then. "Come on you ding dong yes. Hug the sobbing hot lady. That is clearly the correct thing to do."

[atypical_echo]

"Yeah, I'm not dead at the moment. Been close to it a few times, definitely felt like I was in hell the one time I was-"

You know what, that doesn't help at all.

"I'm not dead. And I'm definitely not a corpse, okay?"

Geez, this lady just... she has no filter does she? Mark sighs and moves to give her a bit of a hug. Not a great one because this is awkward, but one nonetheless.

"I'm guessing, since you think you're dead and I'm dead, you're not local. You got kidnapped here too?"

[forkingethical]

"Oh yeah? Well what did it feel like because I'm from Arizona and also -- you know what, not helping."

She has a lot more filter than she did on Earth. Well the other Earth. The real Earth? She has no idea what's happening here but that's probably because she was on her phone through the entire orientation because the instructor wasn't hot or interesting or her hot interesting stupid soulmate.

At least this bro feels real. And like, hasn't turned into a demon and started torturing her. Except that doesn't prove anything because this is some grade A misery.

"Not local. What do you mean kidnapped?"

She didn't fall out of the sky. She just kind of woke up in the middle of the street which, to be fair, she also did sometimes in college.

[atypical_echo]

Listen, he's not just dropping that he was sorta a force ghost in 1810 for three years, so don't even push. But since he's not helping, he lets go of her.

"You weren't listening when you arrived, were you? To what they were telling us? Like, how we fell out of the sky and into their world?"

[forkingethical]

Look how strong her filter is she didn't mention she experienced 800 reboots of herself in literal hell. Okay. This is personal growth for her. Like, five hundred years of it.

"Look I passed college. Technically. And I did that without listening to a single lecture.

Also I didn't fall out of the sky. Well not here. I've fallen out the sky before.

But no I wasn't listening give me the cliff notes you look like the kind of guy I would have cheated off of in school."

[atypical_echo]

"Yeah, I don't think that actually counts as passing as that implies some serious cheating going on, but whatever. And trust me, unless you were in art classes, you didn't want to cheat off of me."

But whatever, he's going to soldier on here.

"There was this event, called a Confluence. It brought us here. Gave people powers or something. And the Alliance people feel bad because they can't send us back, so they're taking care of us and hoping we decide to join their little Avengers group or whatever."