Interlude - Pathfinder

Gemma punches the boxing bag as sweat glistens on her face and rest of her body.

“Ha!” cries Gemma as she finally finishes the last hour of her self-imposed training.

She has been excising for ten hours, most of the day, and is barely feeling tired. Some might call it a waste of a Sunday, but Gemma enjoys the fact she has proof that her body is fit, healthy, physically strong and tough.

She lacks the beauty of all those Aphrodites, but at least she can outdo them in physical prowess.

“Done yet?” asks Ava from a treadmill.

Gemma glances over at her new Aphrodite teammate. Given how Ava reacted to her manifestation and how Gemma was caught up in it, their friendship had a bit of a rocky start. But after just a week, both girls are getting very well with each other.

It is a shame we can’t hang out together publicly, but that is one of the downsides of having a secret identity. Oh well, we can still be friends in private.

Hmm. If we could hang out in public, she could use her power to upgrade my wardrobe free of course, but I can’t just bring her around my house. Too much unwanted attention and questions.

Wait a moment, I could just pack up all the clothing I want to upgrade and bring it here so she can do it in private.

“Yeah,” replies Gemma, “It has been ten hours of non-stop excise with only minute long breaks once an hour for a drinks and one five minute long one for food.”

“Wow,” replies Ava, impressed, “I didn’t know that was part of your powers.”

“It is an aspect of my Bellator body,” explains Gemma as she stretches, “I might lack the beauty of your Aphrodite body, but I have my perks.”

“It’s a shame that my other powers allow me to outdo you in that regard,” says Ava.

“Yeah,” mutters Gemma as she feels a twinge of jealous, “Don’t remind me.”

“Sorry,” says Ava as she notices Gemma’s reaction, “I didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t worry about it,” says Gemma as she cuts Ava off, “I’m a single power C+ while you’re A+ Aphrodite with multiple powers across the board. I’m know that you’re much more powerful than me. It just doesn’t make it any less annoying though.”

“I would still like to meet your family,” says Ava, “Are you sure I can’t just come round your house?”

“Definitely,” replies Gemma, “I have a secret identity and would like to keep it.”

“Are we getting change now?” asks Ava.

“Yeah, I ought to be going home now,” replies Gemma, “Would you mind-”

“Not at all,” replies Ava as she hops off the treadmill.

Gemma braces herself as she knows what is coming next.

Doesn’t make it any easier when Ava’s power cause me to lose control of my body. I can still feel my body and everything it does, but it doesn’t respond to what I tell it to do. At least Ava doesn’t alter my mind when she does it now.

Gemma feels a slight sensation of joy as her body begins dancing of its own accord as Ava also starts dancing.

Her workout clothes morph into a pair of jeans, a yellow long sleeved shirt in addition to her underwear.

The lower half at least.

“Umm,” says Gemma as she does a twirl, “You forgot my bra.”

“Sorry,” replies Ava as her clothes turn into a silky aqua gown, “I don’t need those anymore so I kind of forget.”

“Must be nice to not worry about having to look good,” says Gemma with a sigh as Ava corrects her mistake.

“Oh, you have no idea,” replies Ava as she dances over to Gemma, ignoring her sour look, “Want to dance for a bit before we leave?”

“What is with you and wanting to dance all the time?” asks Gemma, “But sure, why not?”

“Thanks,” replies Ava as she pulls Gemma into a dance.

Wait is she-oh no.

Gemma shivers as she tries to resist the flow of happy and relaxing feelings that overtake her mind and body, but is unable to resist her friend’s power, not even enough to even warn Ava of what she is sub-consciously doing.

It continues for a few minutes until their dance draws to a close. As their movements die down, Gemma, still in a blissful state under Ava’s power, leans in close to her friend and kisses Ava straight on the lips.

A stunned Ava pushes Gemma away forceful before staggering back. Unfortunately for Gemma, Ava has C+ super strength and sends her flying into the wall.

Gemma cries out in pain as she slams into the wall and crashing to the floor.

“What the hell?” demands an angry Ava, “What was that Gemma?”

“You using your power to mess with my mind,” replies Gemma as she sits upright against the wall before groaning, “I’m helpless against you when you use her powers against me you know.”

“I’m-urr, I didn’t mean to use my power on you,” says Ava apologetically, her anger draining away and turning into guilt as she realise her part in what happened, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” replies Gemma, resisting the urge to wince in pain as she gets to her feet, “I’m a Bellator remember.”

Ave doesn’t need to know that she actually hurt me. I don’t want to make my friend feel even worse.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” asks Ava nervously.

“Just forget about it,” replies Gemma as she heads for the door.

“Not even about the kis-” starts Ava.

“I said just forget about it,” says Gemma again, but more forcefully before leaving the gym.

I hate the fact I have a crush on Ava. No, I don’t, I just hate the fact she is straight and doesn’t return my feelings.

1.9 Harbinger Part 6

As cheers go up from her fellow fighters in the city, Guardian activates her KEPs only to realise that the majority of them are broken with the few remaining not enough to grant her flight capabilities.

Can we repair them? Using my power?

Not now. Not enough time. Armageddon would kill us while we’ve halfway through.

Dancore!

The cheers die down all of sudden as Armageddon begins to get up. Guardian darts away.

“Guardian,” says Gears over her comm.

The connection isn’t very good as damage to her armour has left it fuzzy and shaky with Gears’ voice containing some static to it.

“Here,” replies Guardian as she puts ground between her and the Harbinger.

“I’m here with Protector and Defender,” says Gears as another orange ray beam hits Armageddon, “Darkness has also shown up to help. I think seeing his twin sister get taken out motivated him to help.”

“Many have fallen today,” replies Guardian quietly and solemnly.

“Then let us make their sacrifices worth something,” says Gears with a determined voice.

“Try to take out his other eye,” Guardian tells Gears.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Gears assures Guardian.

Guardian glances at Armageddon as he gets to his feet. Whips of black and white energy lash out at the Harbinger, but Guardian doesn’t see the result before a building obscures Armageddon from view.

Guardian comes to a halt as she spots a pair of bodies in the ground.

Too late to save them.

We can’t save everybody...

But that doesn’t mean we should try to. I know. How do I know that anyway?

It is good advice that has been passed on.

Okay.

“Guardian!” yells Defender as she lands a short distance in front of her, “Over here!”

As Defender and Guardian runs towards each other, Protector lands behind the former.

“Nice work so far,” says Protector.

Both are wearing the same type of power armour as Guardian and Gears, but where Guardian is black and Gears’ is grey, Protector’s armour is a dark forest green whilst Defender is a deep shade of blue.

“My armour is no longer capable of flight,” Guardian informs them, “It has also sustained serious damage on the front.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” replies Defender, “So what do we do?”

“You two engage Armageddon while I conduct emergency repairs to my armour so I can get flight capabilities,” says Guardian, “Remember he is fast and intelligent in addition to being one of the toughest creatures out there.”

“We got it,” replies Protector as he shares a look with Defender, “You just keep safe. We can’t afford to lose you.”

Then it is rather ironic that I am the most expendable of the Guardsmen, both the least missed and the most easily replaced.

“We can’t afford to lose anybody,” says Defender.

“I have no intention of dying this day,” Guardian reassures them, “And I am not that easily killed. Not even by a Harbinger of the End Times.”

“See ya back at base later,” replies Defender as she and Protector off, “Take of yourself.”

“I-” Guardian starts to reply when Armageddon comes crashing through the building.

Protector and Defender both dart off as Guardian runs for it. She gets a few metres before the ground erupts and twists around her.

Dodge left!

Doing as Ceta says, Guardian jumps to the side. She is barely in time to dodge one of Armageddon’s energy attacks and still gets hit in the side of the right arm. The majority of her power armour is burned away on the outer side of her right arm and Guardian feels spikes of burning hot pain across the affected flesh.

As Guardian staggers to the side, something grabs a hold of her and her surroundings suddenly blur.

“I got you!” says a blurred voice as Guardian is sped away.

Guardian stumbles on her feet as her rescuer drops her off a couple of blocks away. A military tank retreats as several soldiers run alongside it on foot.

She looks around at the four people around her. Of them, Guardian only recognises Pathfinder. One is a good looking male wearing a red and white racing jumpsuit while the other is an Adonis in orange and black spandex. The last is another Bellator girl wearing armour made of ice. All seem rather young and Guardian would guess they are all in their teens.

Ice? How is that possible? And why isn’t it melting?

She must have created them using her power.

Like with the not-technology?

Yes. A variant of the power that allows for things that are physically impossible to be made.

“Hello Guardian,” says Pathfinder.

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” says the Adonis boy, “Good work against the kaiju.”

“His name is Armageddon,” replies Guardian as she looks at the damage to her right arm.

All of the armour except for a few scraps have been burned away while the flesh is blacken and raw.

“Well Guardian, I am Rush, speedster and leader of the Grand Rapids Junior Heroes,” says the boy in red and white, “That is Sulphur and Iceforge and you’ve already met Pathfinder.”

“So what is the plan?” asks the Adonis boy who Guardian assumes is Sulphur.

“We hit Armageddon while it is distracted and Guardian can hit it with that fancy sword of hers,” replies Pathfinder, “My power says that is the best course of action.”

“You can hurt it right?” Rush asks Guardian.

“Yes,” answers Guardian “I have already taken out one of his eyes and removed a little finger.”

“Glad to know we can hurt that thing,” growls Iceforge.

“Okay, so we-” starts Rush when Pathfinder cries out and spikes erupt from the ground.

Rush, Sulphur and Pathfinder all manage to get away from the spikes while one tears through Iceforge’s lower right leg. She cries out in pain even as Guardian feels a sudden surge of pain in her abdomen.

She looks down to see a large spike made from pavement and earth piercing her abdomen, tearing through both her armour and her flesh.

That hurts.

I’m sorry Legacy. It has been an honour.

Huh?

Hor segg yoinn sor.

As she slumps to the ground, Guardian looks over at the others just in time to see Rush and Sulphur get here by one of Armageddon’s energy blast. Sulphur’s mangled corpse topples over while Rush is reduced to a blacked, burning skeleton by a direct hit.

Guardian hears somebody calling her name before she is consumed by Armageddon’s ugly, hot energy.

***

Purr arnn lin Ordic?

What?

Peace or battle Guardian?

Do I have choice?

Yes.

Then battle. Lin. I won’t abandon my friends or family.

Then I shall inform Jaylyn that you will return.

1.8 Dances Part 4

Guardian curses under her breath as she finally catches up Dancing Queen, following the trail of blissfully dancing people that she is leaving in her wake.

My feet hurt. The strips of clothes aren’t as helpful as I thought they were.

I could have told you that.

So why didn’t-oh no.

Guardian comes to a halt as finds Pathfinder dancing in the street, recognising the superhero via her bio-scan. She is wearing a red ball gown.

I am glad I’m not wearing that. Wait, doesn’t Pathfinder have a secret identity?

Indeed. And that dress doesn’t have a mask.

We should try and do something about that!

“Pathfinder,” says Guardian as she runs towards the superhero, “Can you hear me?”

But the mind controlled Pathfinder just ignores her.

Look out!

What?

Guardian shields her face with her arm as Dancing Queen goes flying backwards down the street as she is blasted by a beam of yellow energy.

“Hey!” yells Guardian as she moves towards Dancing Queen as she changes her clothes into a pale blue gown, “Don’t forget about Pathfinder’s secret identity!”

Dancing Queen looks up at Guardian as she gets to her feet.

“Leave me alone!” yells Dancing Queen as something comes hurtling down in front of Guardian.

Guardian comes to a halt as Glowbug lands in front her. As with the other victims of Dancing Queen, she has a blissfully blank look over her face. Her costume has been replaced by a short black dress with golden sequins and Glowbug is using her powers to give herself a faint golden glow.

“Heya cute stuff,” giggles Glowbug as Guardian feels her body begin moving involuntarily and her height increase as the strips of cloth are turned into the high heeled dancing shoes.

Breaking Dancing-

Wait! Not yet!

Why?

Because Glowbug’s power is healing the injuries my feet have suffered and I, ah, I am enjoying it. I would like to go along with this for a moment or two.

Fine.

Thanks Ceta. I’m enjoying dancing.

So you retained that?

What do you mean?

It’s nothing-No, I won’t keep secrets from you. Before you became the Guardian, dancing was one of the things you enjoyed most in life.

That is nice to know.

You should be aware that Glowbug is also enjoying it and more than just what Dancing Queen’s power is making her feel.

What do you mean?

According to the bio-scanner, which I am using on her, her heartbeat has increased and her adrenaline is increased amongst other things. Glowbug’s gaze is also split between your eyes and your chest with some straying towards your hips.

What does all of that mean?

It means that Glowbug is attracted to you combined with her past actions towards you and that she called you ‘cute stuff’.

Oh. Okay.

It has been two seconds. Do wish for me to break the control now?

Just a little longer.

Dancing Queen is getting away.

Fine. Let’s go.

“I’m going after Dancing Queen now,” Guardian tells Glowbug as she regains control of her limbs.

“Okay,” replies Glowbug absentmindedly before giving Guardian a kiss on the lips.

Guardian blinks and darts around Glowbug, towards Pathfinder as she kicks her high heels off of her feet again. Pathfinder is no longer wearing a ball gown, but a red masquerade dress completely with a white mask to conceal her identity.

At least Dancing Queen listened to me on that account.

“Guardian!” says Pathfinder as she does a twirl, “Dancing Queen went that way!”

Pathfinder ends her twirl with a pointing motion.

“Thanks!” says Guardian as she follows Pathfinder’s direction.

“No problem!” Guardian hears Pathfinder yell, “Try and get Dancing Queen to stop all of this! This is so embarrassing!”

“I’ll do my best!” replies Guardian as she spots Dancing Queen go into a building.

She follows her target into the building, a house to belonging to a family that isn’t currently home.

Do you think this is her house? Dancing Queen had the key and she has just gone straight up stairs and into a room.

I would consider that a likely possibility. We should be careful. We have been pursuing her and have followed her to the place she should feel most secure.

I wouldn’t take kindly to anyone who chased me breaking into the basement.

Guardian comes to a halt outside the room and decides on the best course of action.

“Maybe I come in?” asks Guardian as she knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” comes the tearful reply.

“Guardian,” answers Guardian, “I only wish to speak with you. I just want to help you.”

“Come in,” says Dancing Queen and Guardian opens the door.

She looks around the room as she enters and spots Dancing Queen curled up in a ball on the bed.

“Is this your bedroom?” asks Guardian.

“Yeah,” mutters Dancing Queen.

“What’s your name?” asks Guardian, “I assume it isn’t Dancing Queen?”

“It’s Ava,” answers Dancing Queen, “Why is everybody calling me Dancing Queen?”

“Well Ava,” replies Guardian, “We didn’t know your name and we needed a name by which to refer to you by and Defender decided to call you Dancing Queen due to the nature of your powers.”

“You’re immune to them right?” asks Ava as she looks up at Guardian with tearful eyes.

“Pretty much except for when it comes to clothing,” says Guardian as she indicates her dress with her hands.

“Sorry about that,” says Ava, her voice apologetic.

“Yeah,” mutters Guardian, struggling to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice. 

1.6 Alliance Part 9

“We don’t bring her along with us,” says Alexandria before looking over at Legacy, “I’m sorry, but I hope you understand. It would awkward for us if brought a known vigilante with us and would most likely get us in trouble. So I would really appreciate if you stay here.”

“Sure,” replies Legacy, “I don’t mind staying here until you get back.”

“Good,” says Alexandria with some relief, “Hey Pathfinder, do you mind waiting here with Guardian? You’re the least combat oriented out of us and my mum and brother wouldn’t approve of us leaving Guardian here on her own. Even though she is trustworthy.”

“I don’t really care,” says Pathfinder with a shrug, “I’ve never really that much a fighter anyway.”

“Cool,” grins Alexandria, “We’re already all in costume so all we need is for Guardian to give us the data.”

Legacy closes her eyes and uses her power to copy the first half of the data sent by Gears and Scott to Alexandria’s phone.

“Done,” Legacy tells Alexandria.

“Great,” says Alexandria excitedly as she checks her phone later, “See ya later!”

Alexandria flies out the room and Flamefly walks out after her. Meanwhile Glowbug walks up to Legacy and embraces her.

“You’re a real cutie Guardian,” says Glowbug as lets go of her, “If you are ever interesting in having something, just give me a call.”

Glowbug kisses the bewildered girl on the cheek, more than just a peck, before strolling out of the room whilst laughing silently to herself.

What was that about?

Romance and love is one of the areas that I am severely lacking in. Guardians usually retire when they get into such things.

So I can’t count on your advice in this matter.

I’ll try my best if needed, but I am afraid not. My apologies.

Well, I can expect you to be good at everything.

“Nic is bi,” says Pathfinder as she walks towards Legacy, “She isn’t exactly being serious mind you, but the offer is actually there and Nic is willing to be serious if you are also willing.”

What is she going about? What is bi and what does she mean by ‘serious’?

“I honestly don’t understand,” replies Legacy.

“Then don’t worry about it,” says Pathfinder as she sits down on Alexandria’s bed, “If you dismiss it as joke, so will Nic. I don’t think she actually expected to accept or even take it seriously.”

“Are you sure?” asks Legacy, “Because I don’t wish to offend her.”

“Yeah, I am,” replies Pathfinder before patting the area of the bed next to her, “Do you want to see down next to me? I want to talk to you about stuff I didn’t want to bring up in front of the others. Especially since I can’t use my power to help figure stuff out about you.”

“Sorry about that, but I have no control over it,” says Legacy as she sits down next to Pathfinder.

“Will this Bio-Scanner help you figure out my secret identity?” asks Pathfinder, “I’m the only member of my team with one and the only one with the chance of having one in the first place.”

“Most likely,” admits Legacy.

“Are sure you can’t just delete the data?” asks Pathfinder in an exasperated voice as she lies down on her back.

“No, but I will protect extremely well,” replies Legacy, “Between the actions of myself, Gears and Sentinel, nobody will be able to access it.”

“I suppose that is the best I’m going to get from you,” mutters Pathfinder, “Could you upgrade this Bio-Scanner so I can use for more than just scanning things? Maybe make it so it can be a phone again?”

“Sure,” replies Legacy and focuses her power on the device in question and begins to upgrade to an all-purpose device, capable of more than just scanning and communication.

Why should I hold back? Might as well get the job done to the fullest extent of my abilities.

“Done,” says Legacy after almost ten seconds, “I upgraded the Bio-Scanner as best as I can. I have also added a secret mode to it so my upgrades only appear when an authorised person is trying to view them.”

“Sweet,” says Pathfinder as she sits back up, “So I’ve been wondering, what is like to fight supervillains? You’ve taken down both Metal Man and the Lakeside Devils and the Aquiline and his group.”

“Well, with Aquiline, I was primarily focused on stopping him from harming more people,” answers Legacy, “I fought them and I did my best to take them down.”

“What did it feel like?” inquires Pathfinder.

“Other than angry at them for what they are doing, not really anything,” replies Legacy, “The fight with Metal Man was worse. I walk into the ambush and was horrible outnumbered and outgunned. I barely made out of there and wouldn’t it weren’t for a piece of advice from my companion.”

“Seriously?” says Pathfinder, looking closely at Legacy, “Everybody, including Metal Man and his gang, think that you kicked their asses super easy.”

“I had only a single chance to strike so when I did, I hit as hard as I could,” explains Legacy, “Then I pulled out before they could recover. I had lost my weapons and couldn’t recover them in time before the gangsters started to get back up. And I didn’t have any power armour back then so I wouldn’t have been able to take Metal Man in a straight fight. I was actually planning to take them out over the course of a few weeks.”

“And what about your fighting style, tactics and strategy?” Pathfinder asks after a moment of silence, “It seems to mainly consist of just shock and awe.”

“I strike hard and fast using precision strikes or overwhelming force depending on the situation,” replies Legacy, “For strategy, I use superior intelligence and surveillance to engage the enemy in guerrilla actions to disrupt their criminal actions.”

“Sounds cool,” says Pathfinder, “I might try a taking a page out of your book. It seems like a good way to use my power.”

“I think I’ll go home now,” says Legacy as she gets off of Alexandria’s bed, “Just give a moment to get changed.”

“Okay,” replies Pathfinder, “I hope we’ll meet again at some point. You seem like a cool person to be friends with.” 

1.6 Alliance Part 8

“Let’s go!” exclaims Glowbug as she holds Legacy against her chest as they flight into the air via an energy field surrounding them.

So this is flying without armour? Feels strange. And interesting. I kind of like it. Minus the pressing up against Glowbug’s chest. That is annoying.

They fly through the kitchen and down the corridor before entering a bedroom. Legacy assumes it is Alexandria’s.

This place is about three quarters of the size of my basement and it only includes her bed, a couple of desks and several wardrobes. All this space for her personal use without having to put any of it aside for necessaries such as food and storage. Alexandria is a lucky person.

“So, this is Charlotte’s bedroom,” says Glowbug as she drops Legacy on Alexandria’s massive bed, “I know the bed is a bit big, but she can afford to have a queen sized bed.”

It is about the same size as the table and the chairs. It is very big.

“The boxes of Charlotte’s old clothes are in the corner,” says Glowbug as the others also enter the room, “She was planning on donating them to charity, but I’m sure she won’t mind giving some away to you if they fit you. You can call me Nicola by the way or just Nic for short.”

“Well, if you girls are going to play dress up on Guardian, I’ll leave you to it,” says Shift as he exits the room, “My sympathies by the way Guardian.”

What does he mean?

“I’ll watch,” says Flamefly as she hops down on the bed as well while Pathfinder leans against the wall next to the door.

“Let’s start with underwear,” says Glowbug or Nic as she prefers to call herself, “You seem like a C cup like Charlotte was.”

More of Glowbug’s yellow energy tendrils emit from her and pick a pair of skinny jeans from the top box.

“Actually, would you like to try these on first?” asks Glowbug, “It would probably be awkard than stripping you naked.”

“You think,” mutters Pathfinder under breath.

“I don’t care to be honest,” replies Legacy, bemused by these events.

I don’t even know what all this ‘dress up’ business is. Or why Glowbug would want to see me naked.

They go through most of the Alexandria’s old clothes when Legacy is internally interrupted by her companion.

You got a message in your armour from Scott.

Okay.

“How are things going?” asks Alexandria as she enters her bedroom.

“We gone through most your old clothes,” replies Glowbug, “Guardian is your old size and body shape so they fit really well.”

“I can tell,” agrees Alexandria as she looks Legacy over, “Nice dress Guardian. It looks really good on you.”

Legacy looks down at herself. She is currently wearing an aqua silk dress that is close fitting to the point Legacy feels she might be just a bit big for it. The sleeves are long and narrow while the skirt only goes down to just above her knees. The dress is tight around her waist and hugs her hips and thighs.

I prefer my armour. In a fight, my mobility would be restricted, especially around the upper legs and this dress offers no clothing.

Agreed. Armour is much better and more practical than this dress.

“I have to check my messages,” says Legacy, “It will only take a moment.”

Legacy uses her power on her armour. The companion is correct and Scott has sent a message to her armour.

Gears called. He found the location of supervillain supplying the fake technology in addition to a potential mafia target for you and Protector to take out.

The rest of the message only contains the data about the two places. What do you think I should do?

Tell Alexandria and her team about the first bit of information, but keep the second bit second so you and Cain may act on it later.

Okay.

“Done,” says Legacy, “I have some information on the person supplying the not-technology weaponry.”

“Really?” asks Alexandria, “Wait, how did you just check your message? You just stood still for a second.”

“She is a technopath Charlotte,” points out Pathfinder with a slight shake of her head.

“Oh, right,” says Alexandria, flushing slightly, “So what do you have on them?”

“Gears sent me their current location,” says Legacy, “I can send it to your phone if you want.”

“That would be great!” exclaims Alexandria, “I would get to take down a supervillain. The government has had my brother arrest so many already while I’m stuck here in Chicago. He’s actually how going after another one down in Houston with Lightbringer.”

“Won’t we need to go and get arrest warrants or anything?” asks Flamefly.

“Nope,” says Pathfinder, “The designated supervillain Armsmith has already got an open warrant for his arrest due to him supplying criminal elements with dangerous weaponry. We got after him using the information supplied by Gears and Guardian, we are just acting on a tipoff. While Armsmith might try to get out of it by claiming that we acting on illegally acquired information from another wanted individual whom we are not arresting. But I doubt the government will let Armsmith off so easily. They’ll lock them up one way or another and the public won’t mind as long as a dangerous supervillain is safely locked away from them.”

“How did you all figure all?” asks Glowbug.

“My power,” declares Pathfinder, “It lets me figure stuff like this out as long as I have enough information. Plus I read the reports we get sent. Doing that sort of thing is surprisingly helpful.”

“But the real question here is do we bring Guardian along or not?” asks Glowbug.