Provocation, that was the pixies answer to his concern. “Get in control or get out” she said. Was it stupidity or unwavering trust in her companion’s ability that made her so brave? There wasn’t enough time to ponder this as the pixie saw fit to keep him on his toes by tossing an I Beam at him. It would have hit him had he not been prepared, but it was at an early age that he’d long been schooled in such a lesson. Ducking quickly he felt the rush of air as the beam sailed passed him overhead hitting the wall with a resounding clang. His response to this would have been something along the lines of “fairies should play nice,” but the little bugger had already sent another object at him; this one being a metal disk with possible lethal consequences. Why didn’t anyone ever listen to his warnings?

Without another thought he let loose, causing the air the around him to become electrically charged causing a St. Elmo’s Fire effect around his person. The eyes were the next to change. Their spectrum colors seemed to spin for a second before changing to a solid electric blue with arcs of electrical pulses gliding across his the surface. At once he was connected to every electrical system around him including those flowing through his allies upstairs and the pixie that hovered across from him. The disk that Bit had thrown was no match for the electrically charge air around him but he dodged it anyway. “The little pixie has a death wish,” he said as he pressed his hand against the wall. “Lucky for you, you’re one of the good guys…Scribe, protect everyone from the glass.”
In the blink of an eye the brightness of the lights intensified followed by a series of small explosions. The surge not only killed all the lights but also the main fuse box and anything connected to the grid. The people up stairs might have been able to feel a slight tingle but should be unharmed. His focus was the main power cable, something that would no doubt have him dealing with Shockwave when this was done. “It’s over…I’m leaving.”

When he reached the living area he didn’t say a word, just walked passed everyone then headed to his room. It hadn’t donned him yet that he was able to navigate the darkness with ease, it appeared that the exercise had some benefit after all; his powers were returning. Still, it could have gone better. Sitting in on his bed in the dark he thought to himself…’I probably should have gone last.’

-Thomas Herner aka Shockwave-

What the fuck I'm gonna kill som- Oh I know who did this. I know. He's gonna die. The dumb fuck is going oh oh wait. Nooo. Yes. They had something to do with this. This is "power control lesson time" of course they had something to do with it.

Where is it? Where is it. These them? No, my welding mask. Aha! Night visions bitches, no escape now. Gauntlet gauntlet, where is it... aha! no, this is the broken one. No, no, aha! Yes. Stupid strap. Alright, level twos will do. Don't want to do anything PERMANENT to them after all.

Yes I do.

Damn lock... crap. OPEN!

Augh. People are everywhere. Yeah, fix this before I'm done kicking ass or I'm going to be REALLY pis-"MY TV!!"

My plasma TV is broken. No. NO no on NO! Damnit!

"DAMNIT!"

My TV. My Money. FUCK!

"Where is he!?"
-end-

Scribe's command of power over the television had been carefully constructed to be mostly within the realm of a television's ability. Limiters cut down on the number of problems related to interpretation of her commands. For example, while allowing the group to witness the fight below, the image on the screen never moved beyond two-dimensional. Nor was it a window that allowed physical things to pass through –in either direction. Nor did it edit the image and add dinosaurs, to make it more interesting. Nor any other of virtually unlimited licenses her uncontrolled power might have taken.

That being true, the image on screen vanished abruptly, when the surge of electricity crippled the circuits. Scribe blinked away the vision spots blooming in the sudden darkness, content to wait for her sight to adjust before taking any action. Barely any time had passed before the backup generators, kept separate from the base's main power grid, and dormant until Derek's power pulse, kicked on the emergency systems. Low-opacity runner lights lit along the walls of the living room, around the kitchen, and down the hall out of view.

The television was not a part of the emergency systems and Scribe ignored the rest of the room as she fussed with it. The power surge had fried some of the internal mechanics, and killed more than a few pixels on the massive screen. Later she might have fun persuading all the little parts to fix and work like a normal television. For now she slapped a quick-fix on the machine, as easily as touching her palm to the plastic frame. It would do this task for her, physical limitations be damned. The image of the training room blinked onto the screen, lighting the living room at least as effectively as the emergency lights.

Scribe's mouth tugged up at one corner as she glanced at her students' pale faces, and her colleague's consternation.

xxxxx

In the training room, Scribe echoed that wry smile before giving voice to her thought, "I was so focused on explosions and anything that might upset the bedrock, I forgot to guard the room against power pulses."

"What?" Bit dropped and spun in the air, looking frazzled but ready to fight. It took her several moments to realize that Derek wasn't planning to follow up on that attack –or distraction, or warning, or whatever it had been. Having missed his parting words in her crackling ears, Bit was somewhat surprised to realize Derek was no longer on the floor.

The pixie's aura blinked as electric sparks darted off her body like a mini lightning storm. Tiny lightning bolts jumped between the friction of Bit's wings, and between her body and any other object she flew too near. The air was still charged with electricity, though the shocks were only a couple notches above normal static. Each time she was shocked and changed direction, Bit bit off a hyper-human curse. The exact nature of her curses, and her specific target, didn't quite reach Scribe's ears, but the young woman could guess.

"Did that pulse get upstairs?" Bit asked, regaining her composure somewhat.

"Yep," came the cheery answer. Scribe had her nose in a power box at the base of the ladder under the manhole. It wasn't the main controller, but it managed the connectors to the lower floor. Scribe flicked a few of the switches. She wasn't an electrician, but she'd seen people try to put the power back on after accidents like this. Oh, yes; blowing out the fuses of a shiny new base was the privilege of many a young superhero.

"Wasn't it your job to stop their powers getting out of here?" Bit called pointedly. She was more than a little put out by Derek's retreat. Or escape, as she was want to think of it.

"Yes, yes. I forgot. No problem."

"You know, I can deal with most forms of kinetic energy," Bit grumbled. "Leave it to you to forget to guard the room against whatever you're actually good for."

"What did you want me to do? Blanket the walls with a No-Power-Pass command?" Scribe retorted, sticking her tongue out happily. "Then you'd be yelling at me for locking you in with a bunch of powers that have no way of dissist- dissip- going away."

"Dissipating," Bit absently filled in the word Scribe didn't know. "And you know very well, that is not an excuse."

Since the pixie was right, Scribe had only one response. She poked her tongue at her partner and summarily ignored her.

Xxxxx

Like Emily before him, Derek would not be allowed to miss his lesson. Scribe clapped her hands and patted a free space on the floor. While "Pulse" reoriented himself after teleporting out of his room, Scribe smiled brightly.

"Next!" she directed cheerfully, facing those yet to make an attempt.

She was actually a little surprised that none of them had used the interim minutes of darkness to make good on their offense. She wondered if it was a sense of honor or dubiety that kept them in their seats until Bit was prepared.

"You others might have it a little easier, thanks to your teammate," she commented, jerking her thumb at Derek. "He didn't manage to get the pudding cup, but he did manage to put Bit in a little disadvantage."

She sat and put her back up against the sofa again. Turning towards the screen, she did her best to hide a yawn. "Those of you who've already gone think about how the game has changed, and what you would try now."

Xxxxx

At the back of the room, a duplicate avatar appeared between Uncle Sam and Shockwave. This third Scribe smiled cheekily at Shockwave, putting a slim finger to her lips to indicate he shouldn't interrupt the lesson just yet. "Sorry about that power surge there. I can fix the barriers around the training room later, but we should probably shut down the emergency systems sooner. Get the normal grid back online."

As long as class was held, and nobody wandered off, they were unlikely to be bothered by the backup security measures, but Scribe suspected everyone would like proper lights and heat by dinner time.

The Scribe avatar cocked her head to the side for a moment, bearing more than a passing resemblance to a puppy. She shook her head, "The fuses are blown, but I think most of the cables are intact. I think I should stop flicking the switches in the box downstairs though. They're starting to catch fire."

-Jostica Rose-

Jostica watched as Derek made his attempt for the pudding. Eager to see both what he could do and how it would affect Bit. Twice she had almost stood to go after her own, and twice she hesitated a moment to long, unsure of what approach to take or even how effective anything she might do would be.

It was a minor thing, but when the St. Elmos Fire erupted around Derek she couldn't help a silent gasp of awe. She watched as the electricity arced away from him and moments later the lights and other electronics began to blow out. She jumped when the screen popped, but she knew what was happening after only a seconds thought and sat with only a minor concern for what damage might be done.

Soon nearly everything that was hooked into the power system had popped and or caught on fire.

The rooms were dark and there was a few moments of chaos as all the workmen began running around trying to put out fires and unplug anything that had managed to survive unscathed or might catch fire as well as put out the few fires that had erupted.

She could also just make out the sound of Shockwave swearing and tossing things around in his workshop before finally bursting through the door and after crying out about the damage demanding to know who was responsible.

She cast a quick spell that created a softly glowing ball of light. It wasn't much, the light barely reaching the walls, but if necessary should could increase the glow or direct it.

She could see Shockwave standing just outside the door wearing night vision goggles and looking around for one who'd caused this. He started off towards their rooms, but was stopped by Uncle Sam. It was then that she saw he had one of his gauntlets on his arm.

She couldn't hear what they discussed in harsh but hushed tones, but she got the impression that he was intending to knock Derek around.

It was about then that a secondary power system came on. The emergency lights weren't that much better than her glow ball so she kept it up and moved closer to the TV to give scribe more light as she worked on repairing the damage.
-End-

-Uncle Sam-
"Calm Down."

"The punk fried the entire electrical system!"

"It needed to be replaced anyway."

"That's not the point! Look at this? Do you not see how much damage was done? I could have lost all the programs that run my suit! The test data for my upgrades! What systems did you install that are fried? Huh?"

"This entire exercise has been about power control. You know that."

"We both know that he's been active. He was licensed, wasn't he? Wasn't that what this was about? He had to come or be listed as an illegal?"

"Something like that."

"So he should have had more control than that. I read his file. A fucking electrical storm could not have been his only option."

Sam was silent.

"No if you'll excuse me, I need to go teach him a lesson."

Sam grabbed him, "You need to set a good example. And roughing up your students won't look good in my report."

"... the gauntlets are non-fatal. You know that."

"You can't go blasting the students."

"I can."

"Not like this. Let it go."

Toms jaw and fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

"Scribe is already fixing your Tv," he said, noting the burnt out looking screen seemed brand new.

"Fine. But you better have a talk with him."

Suddenly an image of scribe appeared between them, apologizing for the problems and recommending that they keep the lesson going. Then mentioning that she should probably stop flipping switches in the breaker box downstairs as it was now on fire.

Toms eyes and nose flared.

Sam put a hand on his chest, "Just go back and work on repairing whatever damage was done in your workshop." he turned to scribe, "The workmen are already working on repairing the damage and getting the main power back online. Please continue with the lessons, I don't want the students wandering around with all this going on."
-End-

-Kat-

As she leapt across the rooftops back to her home, Kat's mind drifted to which artifact to go after next, and how to go about it. She drifted so much from the here and now that she forgot Jason, no Mind Hack, was on her back until he almost fell off and didn't realize that she was putting a fair amount of distance between her and Rabat and War.

She reached the building and set Mind Hack down in the patio like area and waited for War and Rabat to catch up.

It only took a moment or two for them to catch up and Kat said, "It wasn't perfect, but it was successful. Let's try and make sure the next mission goes more smoothly. You'll have at least the next day and night free to do as you wish, provided you don't damage the apartment or draw unnecessary attention to yourself."

She left Mind Hack to use the stairs down into the hallway between the gym and the living area and leapt over to the edge of the roof and dropped down to the balcony. It was faster for her, and she preferred it for some reason.

Zen had made it clear that wanted his prize that night, so she went straight into her her room where she stripped off the leather jacket and and pants and exchanged them for a dress she hadn't worn in...

It was a dress that should be acceptable where ever Zen wished to have his dinner and showed off her figure without being considered provocative. It had gotten her many compliments back when it used to be common for her to wear it.

She stepped out into the living room where Zen was standing.
-end-

Zen returned to the base using the shadows. He liked this time. He was finally alone again and he was enveloped in a peaceful serenity. He thought about what he should wear to dinner. A suit? No that was too formal. The cloak he usually wore wouldn't do either though. In the end he just chose a pair of black slacks, a nicer black shirt, and a pair of a deep purple colored (to the point where they were almost black) gloves. He got dressed quickly using the shadows. A quick change artist wouldn't be that far of a stretch for a career choice, if he wasn't a killer, and needed a job that is.

After getting dressed he went to the kitchen and got a drink of water. After all they did just do some, mild work. After that he placed the empty glass in the dishwasher and walked out into the living room area where he waited for Kat. After they all began returning Zen figured Kat would be ready soon as well. After just a little bit Kat entered the room in a very tasteful dress that still left the imagination wanting more. "Enchanting as usual. You look very nice Kat. So are you all ready to go?"

-Kat-
Kat reached for a small black clutch purse on a table by the door, "Quiet ready. Where did

you want to go.

As soon as he spoke the name of the resturaunt, she froze, memories rushing back, "No." she

spoke in a deadly whisper, "Pick somewhere else."

* * *

Zen's second pick wasn't as nice as his first, but it was still quiet a nice place.

Kat sipped her wine as she looked over the menu. She hadn't eaten like this in awhile.

The waiter came to their table, asking, "Have you come to a decision?"

"I'll need a few more moments."

"Very well."

A few seconds later she set her menu down, "So, you must have some questions for me."
-End-

"Good job keeping your head. After getting tossed around like that, it's easy for some people to lose control of the situation. They forget they can leave. Too bad too; you quit too soon." Scribe said to Aemyle, her hand on Aemyle’s upper arm where the cut was. "Once I get a little training into you, you might end up being the strongest hitter on this team."

Aemyle smiled back in way of thanks for the praise. It was nice of her to go out of her way to say that. Aemyle hadn’t thought about going any further, but she guessed she could have…

“Aems, take a look at this,” Kuroseta nudged her and pointed at the screen. Aemyle’s eyes widened. Derek had begun to glow.

“The little pixie has a death wish,” he said, obviously ticked off. This wasn’t gonna be good. “Lucky for you, you’re one of the good guys…Scribe, protect everyone from the glass.”

Next thing everyone knew, the lights got really bright and then blinked out with a nice flashy explosion. Moments later, Aemyle’s eyes readjusted to the lack of light. All of the lights were shot, and so was the TV. She just managed to see the shape of a young man walk down the hallway.

“Can you see at all, Kuro?”

“Hmhmm,” She said, “Not terribly well, but this is one situation where being able to read thoughts is to my advantage. I can tell where the walls are, and I can sense where the people are.”

Not far off she heard Mr. Herner complaining about the damage done to the TV. It was then that she noted that Scribe must have done some fixing, because the screen was no longer shattered. That was when the emergency lights came on. It was an improvement, but not by much.

"Next!" Scribe spoke up, "You others might have it a little easier, thanks to your teammate. He didn't manage to get the pudding cup, but he did manage to put Bit in a little disadvantage. Those of you who've already gone think about how the game has changed, and what you would try now."

Aemyle nudged Kuroseta. The Asian just gave her a look that said ‘what?’.

“Bit broadcasts her emotions loud and clear. You should be able to read her like a book,” She thought loudly to her friend, knowing Kuro would hear her.

“Fine,” She whispered before standing up and facing Scribe. “I guess I’ll go next,”