logos.jpg

Journal

Home
Profile
History
Character Sheet
Family
Journal
Bluebooks
Blueprints
Contracts
Stories

Kat's journal, placed on-line for your reading pleasure ...

Friday, December 22, 2006

It started out a really good day. Eliott came home last night for Christmas, so we made plans to hang out today.
Eliott and I were having breakfast, he was telling me about the show he's going to audition for as soon as he gets back to the city, and there was a knock on the door.
I went to answer it, and a tall black man in a business suit stood there. He said, "I'm looking for Kat Powell."

He tells me he will pay me $10,000 just to listen to him for ten minutes. I'm floored. Completely flabbergasted. Okay, where's the camera? What is this, some kind of audition for a reality TV show?
I tell him he's crazy, and he says, "I might be, but I'm also serious." So I sit down and listen to him.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

I'm on a little jet, headed for Geneva as we speak. I'll be back in New York tonight. Caestus Pax, the crazy man, is giving me even more money just for this trip. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen there, exactly.
But it's all because I erupted last week, because I'm a nova.
Jess and Dad didn't like it much, right before Christmas and all, but it'll only be for a day. And Dad (and Jess) approves of who Caestus works for - the Aeon Society. I've heard of them a little, of course, but Dad's heard more, and he really approves of them.
When I get back from Geneva, Caestus will give me a contract, and I can decide then what I want to do.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Here I am again, on the plane to Geneva. I signed the contract. Dad helped me out with it, helped me figure out all the lawyer-jargon and all the "hereinafter known as"'s. It's a pretty good deal. Four years is the only thing I'm not sure about. Four years. That's a long time.
And, can I tell you? I'm not sure I made the right decision. I've only been a nova for a week. I never paid much attention to the whole nova-business before now. I knew they were out there, blah, blah, blah ...
But now that it's crucial that I know ... The Aeon Society seems to be the good guys in all this - helping out "normal" humans, advancing science (always good), fighting insane novas, and all that ...
But I really don't know.

Friday, February 2, 2007

Sorry it's been so long since I've written ... Geneva was tough. Testing, training, testing, training. I about fell into bed every night.
But here I am, back in lovely New York City, and after a too-brief visit with my family, I'm here in the StormWatch tower. Eighty floors. And that's above the ground. There are ten basement floors. I get an entire floor to myself, it's my whole apartment. It's sweet, too. But I'm about to buy myself some of those Chinese bamboo screens, cuz it's all one open space, basically. I want a space apart for my lab, and for my "bedroom".
But it's one big empty building. There are normal people who work here (like Bob, kind of my "manager" ... he's a nutcase, btw), but so far the only other nova I've met in good old NYC is this chick Slider.
She's way cute, and a year or so older than me, but she's also really nice, so I think we'll be good friends.

A little later ...

There are some other novas coming back from Mars (?) today. I'll get to meet them tonight. I can't wait. It's been a lonely day in this big lonely building.
I'm gonna go train some.

Ass-early on Saturday, February 3, 2007

I'm never gonna get a handle on this place. I have to watch the news all the time, it seems. They don't explain much, either.
There's some situation in Egypt, possibly involving mind-control ... ?
I met the other novas, too. Talk about intimidating! Good thing I'm not much of a sports buff, so I can treat Gwen sort of normal ... yeah, Gwen Nielsson, who erupted during the Olympics, or just before or just after, or something ... and she's here, of all places. Yikes!
And then there's Damage. He changes forms ... As Damage, he's huge and orange. As Brody (Brody ... great name!), he's ... nerdy. It's weird.
Then there's Cero. She's awesome. Quiet, but she's the techie type, too. I'm glad she's here.
Anyway ... Egypt's going back to the old ways. The really old ways. Worshipping the old Egyptian gods and stuff. And for some reason that others (like the Egyptians) think is connected, but I don't see it, they're getting rid of technology.
If those gods were ever alive, and if they are now, I'm sure that they would change with the times, and be okay with technology. Or maybe I'm just a technocrat.
We met with this council of novas, a council involving a rep for each of the Aeon Society, the Teragen and the independents ... and there's also one person who represents the council.
The Teragen rep was this slick guy called Count Ortiz. He seemed okay. It was my first run-in with the Teragen. I've heard of them, of course, and kinda spaced out while reading Divis Mal's Manifesto, but nothing terribly in-depth. Let's face it, if it doesn't have moving metal bits, I'm not really interested.
Anyway, Ortiz was smooth. I'm going to have to get him to explain things to me more sometime. I don't get the Teragen view yet.
Anyway ... We sent some guy called the Saxon, after Damage was saying (and I was agreeing, when no one was really looking) that we need to send someone stealthy.
The Saxon was not stealthy.
Our war room is awesome. Amazingly high tech and all; and we watched the Saxon's questioning.
Anyway, it definitely looked like mind control to me, and we sent someone sneaky. Andre Corbin. Never heard of him. But he was fast and sneaky.
Until too much time passed without contact from him and we zoomed into his GPS signal and found his earpiece on the ground. So much for that.
Now we're waiting. I'm gonna fall asleep in a sec, I think it's about 3am.

After a little sleep ...

I woke up around 7:30 ... insane, but I've never needed much sleep. I am starving, though ... getting powers makes you hungry, I guess. So I go to the cafeteria and eat - tons.
We get a call from Bob on our little earpiece / eyecams. We're to meet him in the warroom. I get into the elevator, and it stops really early. I don't expect the others to be up yet, and this is way too soon to be their floor.
The door opens and this gorgeous guy walks in. He's smooth and graceful when he walks, he's got dark skin and his hair's done in dreads ... he's wearing loose clothes that I guess would be useful for close combat fighting.
I press myself into the corner. What is he doing here? People this hot shouldn't exist.
And then I see his tail. Yes, he has a tail. Oh. My. God.
And I'm sitting there like a human scab, and I'm totally wishing I didn't exist. Or that I could turn invisible or into water or ... why, oh God, if I had to have powers, why couldn't they be useful?
He smiles, and says Hey, totally cool. And in a beautiful accent. His name's Elías. He tells me he's new, as if I couldn't tell. Oh, God.
I stammer out my name, and say, "I'm new, too, but not quite as new as you are." Oh, God. There should be federal laws prohibiting me from leaving my bedroom.
When I escape the elevator, we chat with Bob some. Andre Corbin has been returned, on the condition that novas leave Egypt alone. But Supreme's already there, zooming around in the sky, getting info. (Supreme and Gwen are getting married, btw)
So, we're to await news from Supreme.
So I came back to my room to write about Elías. I'm gonna go train now. I'm getting a bit of a schedule here ... training in the mornings, working in a lab in the evenings ... I need my own lab.

Waiting, still ...

So much to say, I don't know where to start ... my training session with Elías? My lab session with Brody?
Okay, the lab session.
Me and Brody worked out a little gadget to read nova's power levels. Oh, it's so awesome! (The notes, as always, are in my experiment notebook) We modeled her after / got inspiration from a 'bot called Neener, that Cero made (Cero, btw, has transferred, at least for a time, to work on her cure for cancer) ... we've been calling her Neener 2, but I'm thinking Spy-der might be better.
Anyway, Neener's a grasshopper that can tell if you're nova or not, but Spy-der (a spider) can tell how powerful you are. I'm still working on ways to tell what kind of powers you have ...
So far, I think it's pretty accurate. It hasn't told me anyone that I know is a nova isn't. Or that anyone I know isn't is.
Oh, it's so awesome! This is the kinda shit I wanted to do when I was younger, of course, I didn't have something like nova-powers to measure.

But ... I'm in an extra good mood because of the training session with Elías. I went down to train, like I said, only Elías had gotten there first. If there had been anyway for me to sneak off without Elías or the training person noticing, I would have. Only they noticed me, and the two of us were put in a close combat training holo together. (an alleyway)
He's fast, I'll give him that. But I was fast enough to dodge him, at least. I can do melee fighting, thanks to Geneva, mostly knives and stuff, while he's coming at me with nothing but his fists, smiling serenely the whole time; but I'm more comfortable with guns.
So I dodge behind a dumpster to fire at him, and he dodges and dodges, and finally I'm getting fed up with it, so I decide to see how fast he can dodge a lightning bolt. But before I can send it out, he's behind me! (Teleportation powers, I guess ... that's nifty) And before I can quite decide whether it would be horrible to send a lightning bolt into his gonads, he's got me. Arms, legs, tail, wrapped around me so I can't move.
I don't think I'll make any comments. I don't think I need to.
I have one last trick, because I have no idea how to wriggle my way out of this, and it would be more effective than a straight bolt. I give myself a shield of electricity, so that Elías gets ... jolted.
Only I get a little carried away, because I'm thinking too much about him, his body, his smell (and telling myself the whole time, moving metal bits, moving metal bits ... ), and I do more than jolt him.
And our holo is shut down. The moderator tells us we're reasonably well-matched, but that I need to learn martial arts, blah, blah, blah ... I'm irritated that I did such an obviously good job, and the dude doesn't even comment on it, just tells me what I did wrong. "What if your powers hadn't worked?" Yeah, yeah ... (Really, it couldn't touch my mood too much ... I should beat up hot guys more often ... it puts me in an awesome mood!)
I'm not sure if I should be happy or terrified, but Elías offered to teach me martial arts. I mean, sure, spending so much time with him could be cool ... or terrifying ...
Anyway, Elías was sent to the infirmary ... and as he was being wheeled away, I hear a voice in my head. His voice. It says, "Still, you are kinda cute."
Okay, creepy, yes. But still ... he thinks I'm cute? I'm okay with that!

Anyway ... what else, what else ... After the sparring match and before the Neener / Spy-der experiment, Bob called us all to his office. Since it was right after the sparring, I was still feeling pretty smug about it, so I suggested we meet in the infirmary. Bob asks if I'm hurt, so I reply, "I'm not."
We get to the infirmary, and they all ask what happened, and Elías just tells them, smiling and smiling, "Just a sparring match, just training." (Gwen asks again, afterwards, and I just tell her, "He snuck up behind me, so I toasted him.")
Bob rides right over this, and starts telling us the situation, Andre seems to be okay, but we're still waiting for word from Caestus. If he's okay, then we'll have to continue being sneaky. If he's not, we have an excuse to go to Egypt. However ... basic updates.
But we talk about mechanical assistance, and they bring up Neener, and I ask to give her a look over (this is when I learned Cero was gone), and see if I can improve upon it. Brody volunteers to go with me.
And, hours and hours later, we have Neener 2 (Spy-der).

Andre's okay. Bob called us into the war-room, and Andre's just fine. So we have to be sneaky. We decide to send someone who's not known as a nova, and is known as a businessman, and would have business in Egypt, to go down and just pretend to have business.
Gwen's calling up some people now ... some guy called Dylan McShane (?) never heard of him. I'm writing as fast as I can (have been writing on and off whenever I can), because the waiting's going to be done sooner or later, and I don't think I'll have much chance to write then.

Midafternoon, Sunday, February 4, 2006

Damn, I don’t even want to think about how much shit I have to write ... we just got back from Geneva, we have a new team member, this cute little Asian girl who, when she speaks, sounds like she’s from good ol’ NYC, too. (she’s about two years older than me, btw)
I guess I’ll just start from the beginning.
Count Ortiz went to Egypt, pretending to have business. He got in trouble with this huge scary dude called Apophis, and Ortiz called for Supreme’s help. Supreme came, and Ortiz scrammed, cuz he’s not a fighter. Apophis captured Supreme, and then Divis Mal came to visit.
Basically, a very frightened-looking "baseline" (something I’ve heard some novas call normal humans) comes and tells Bob that Someone's here. That's how he said it, too.
Somehow, someone figured it out, or someone got up the courage to say it, or something, I was trying to figure out the currents in the air: there was fear, definitely, and something else, something I couldn't quite put my finger on ...
But, it was Divis Mal. Bob refused to go down, told us to deal with him. I was kind of excited.
My first impression of Divis Mal: he's very ... there. He walks into a room, and you know he's there, even if you're blind and deaf. You can feel his presence.
He calls everyone "brother" or "sister". He calls Supreme his "Brother". There is a definite difference.
He looked right at me and greeted me, welcomed me. It's hard not to feel insignificant around Divis Mal, but I managed to return his greeting.

He wanted all of us to go to Egypt to aid his Brother. We agreed (of course ... ), and we got into the Storm Watch jet. I piloted, and Brody (now Damaged out ... I think Gwen calls him Pumpkin ... he does get orange ... ) sat next to me. It's pretty small, though, and we could have been part of the conversation if we'd wanted to be. Damage seemed to be holding his tongue so he wouldn't say something rude, and I ... well, I was piloting. I needed to concentrate. That's it. Really.
We flew to South America first to pick up some backup. An independent named Totentanz (kind scary-looking dude, with a gold skull mask and wearing all black otherwise) and a dickhead Teragen called Geryon. He and Damage really didn't seem to like each other much.
There was one cute thing. Geryon was calling me a piece of ass, telling me what a huge dick he had (he'd been doing the same to the other girls on board, Gwen and Slider), and Damage told him to fuck off ... kinda like something Eliot would have done. It was cute.
Divis told Geryon more than once to keep a civil tongue in his mouth. Either that Geryon dude is very brave, or very stupid (I'll give you two guesses as to which I think it is ... ); when Divis says, "Jump," most people say, "How high?" Baselines don't even ask, they just jump and hope it's high enough.
In other words, a very ... fascinating man, in many ways ...
Anyway, we get to Turkey, and Divis takes off ... apparently, he and Ortiz have conjured up a plan with telepathy, and they’re not concerned about sharing the details.
We get to Egypt, and eventually to Cairo, I throw up a sandstorm (not really my specialty, you understand, but really it was mostly wind, and that’s something I’m familiar with ... ), and we’re all sneaky-sneaky to the temple.
And then a bunch of shit happened. I think because Divis was “in charge,” and he’s not a team player.
Anyway, enough about that. We did get out without major damage, although Aura got hurt. But then we realized that it was a trap and that the other novas that we knew about were in Geneva, attacking the Aeon Society HQ.
So we book it, and get to Geneva.

Before I get to Geneva ... I’m so confused. I think if Divis and the Teragen were better team players, were better at working together, etc, I’d join them in a heartbeat. Team Tomorrow Europe (minus Andre Corbin) came with us to Egypt (only in a separate jet), and as soon as we all got out of our jets, Caestus was all cold shoulder to Divis if not flat out insulting him, which ...
I mean, Geryon’s one thing. You don’t have to have special powers to be a dickhead. There are plenty of jerkoff asswipes out there among the baselines. But Divis, the whole time, even though he didn’t agree with what Aeon Society’s up to, he was still very polite, very dignified, and very worried about Supreme.
I’m sure Caestus was worried about Supreme, as well, but he didn’t let that stop him from talking about how much he disapproved of us getting together like this.
One other thing ... Divis was talking to Gwen about her wedding. I was listening, but I didn’t join in ... it sounded kinda private ... and if Divis and Supreme are brothers (brother-brothers, blood-brothers, not just brothers in Divis’ “One Race”), well, then I guess it was also family matters.
But ... Gwen seemed surprised that Divis would feel left out by not being invited to their wedding, and I was surprised to hear that Supreme wouldn’t want him there at all ... I don’t get it ...

Anyway ... Geneva ...
There was a shapeshifter there, and we got her, Elías thinks she was mind-controlled, but other than that, the other three Egyptian novas (that we know about, remember) have vanished. (Spy-der helped me find her ... that was cool)
We picked up Facade there, the Asian chick I mentioned, and then we got home. I wanted a little bit of time to wash up, change clothes (!), and write. Now ... Now I’m about to do something ten times scarier than facing Apophis, than talking to Divis, scarier even than Geryon’s breath ...
I’m gonna go and talk to Elías. I want to see if he’d be interested in teaching me a bit of his martial arts.

After my Training Session

So he said he'd train me. But he acted like it wasn't a big deal, said he was going to be giving classes ... which is cool, I was just ...
Oh, fuck it.
I still spent a couple hours with him, mostly alone in the training area, in close quarters, most of the time.
(And can I just say, those pants that he fights in ... very nice looking, let's just leave it at that)
But anyway, about halfway through, Slider comes down "to watch".
Oh, whatever ... she asked if she was interrupting anything, asked if it was "private". Elías said, no, we're just training.
Her response: "So says the man." Then she turned to me, and asked me if it was private! I mean, okay, yeah, I'd have liked to have been there without Slider, but if he said it wasn't private, was I going to tell her in front of him to fuck off? Yeah, right!
So she watched for a while, and then invited us to hang out with her at St. Jude's tomorrow afternoon. She's visiting the cancer ward.
My first thought was ... yeah, right ... but then I thought about it ... the cancer ward. My mom died of cancer when I was a kid, and Slider said it made the kids feel way better having us come visit. It'd be like we were their personal super-heroes ... I think it'll be cute.
And there's the cancer thing.
So we both agreed to go.

Anyway ... I've got some other ideas I want to work out for Spy-der ver. 2.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Just wanted to mention my lab session last night ... I worked out some details for an upgrade of Spy-der v2 ... I think I can figure out a way to trace people's quantum signatures in a way that I can tell what powers they have. Very useful.
Next I'm working on a lightning gun.
But first I'm getting some breakfast.

Oh. My. God.
Aura went nuts. She fuckin' punched some guy for no reason. I don't have the whole story, but Bob called us into his office, and explained that Aura tried arresting some guy "without probable cause" and then punched him, and his lawyer was suing her. He then told Damage to take responsibility, as team leader.
He suspended her, and told her she had to make a public apology and go to anger management classes. She did not look pleased.
Anyway, then I had breakfast, and then I went to see Aura.
She had said something about someone shooting at Supreme / Ethan Crane. I figure, with her being suspended and all, and my ... skills ... I might be able to help her out a bit.

Aura's "public apology"? One word: So not. It was great. It was very Aura, very well-crafted (surprisingly? Please note that I have not said "dumb jock" once ... ), and very much not an apology.
Anyway, there was this shit-head from "The Tattler" at her press conference ... Robert Reed ... I'm keeping an eye on him. It seems he's put two and two together, and he hasn't gotten five! Talking about Supreme and Ethan.
Someone needs to ... take care of him ... ("a lia-fuckin'-bility," to quote Boondock Saints ... )
Anyway ...

Michael Wycroft.
He's been in the news a lot. And I must admit, I'm curious. Not that I'm terribly big into organized religion or anything. Dad's Unitarian, and I've gone a bunch of times. Jess grew up Evangelist, but she's been to hundreds of different churches. It's all cool, I guess.
But I mean, really ... a nova who thinks he's the archangel Michael? And coming to NY? How could I stay away?

Only, there are a few hitches. The Watcher (who got transferred outta here before I came) has it in for him, in the worst way, apparently.
Plus he went a little crazy and there's something between him and Cero?
Anyway, no one really likes Wycroft, but he hasn't broken any laws yet, and we, apparently, don't want a fight.
So we've been ordered to hang about and make sure Watcher doesn't try anything.
Anyway ... I'm about to head down to my lab and work out a Spy-der2 ... I want to get something that will get powers.
I'm so glad Cero's back! She and I were chatting about different possibilities for gadgets. And she's been doing this longer than I have, so she knows the ropes. Helps me not waste time, anyway.
Off to work!

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Oh. My. God.
So, last night after I finished working on Spy-der2, me and Cero wandered off, incognito, to check out the church Michael Wycroft was gonna buy.
Cero had tried buying it, but to no avail. So my plan was, whip up a storm and then ... oops! the building got struck by lightning and burned down. Damn!
I mean, not a permanent solution, but Wycroft would have to wait a while before setting things up here, which would give us more time. That's all I want.
Anyway, we got there and there was a big black car. From what I could hear (and I can hear really well), it was Wycroft and a representative of Edgar Wright, who owns the church. The sale was going through at 8am.
We were quietly discussing our options (Wycroft had gone in!) when a big man came up behind us. He asked what we thought we were doing, and Cero blurted out something about a high school prank, and we bolted.

We ran to a cafe, and discussed our options some more. I decided to call Chiriko, I remembered her saying something about having connections.
She was able to find some people to toss some Molotov cocktails into the church, and we hung out at the cafe, being noisy and noticeable, just in case that big guy could ID us.
About half an hour after the sirens went by, we decided it would be safe to leave and go home. It was very late.

Wycroft's thing is today, and it'll be held at a lodge, since the church burned down. (Bob was all like, I hope none of you had anything to do with that ... Cero had a guilty look on her face, but I think Chiriko and I managed looks of convincing innocence. Low profile from now on.)
Anyway, Spy-der2's able to store quantum signatures now, so when I have a bunch stored, I can study them and maybe find a way to figure out what powers a nova has that way. We're taking her, and we'll be disguised.

Okay, so a nova who thinks he's the archangel Michael isn't so cool, after all, especially when he has Mega-Persuasion. I don't think it was a nova-power, like mind control or anything, but he was super-humanly charismatic or manipulative or persuasive. People flocked to sign up for his stupid religion, and his speech wasn't even that good.

Anyway, turns out he killed Watcher. That made Damage fuckin' pissed. So Damage Damaged-out and caught him, which made Bob upset, and then he brought Wycroft back here, back to the StormWatch Tower.

I'm fuckin' tired, but I have to get this off my chest ...
I hate fucking baselines and their stupid fucking baseline laws.
We get Wycroft. Supreme and Cero both have the ability to tell if someone's lying to them or not, and they both confirmed that Wycroft was lying through his teeth about not having killed Watcher.
But, of course, for some stupid fucking reason, we have to follow fucking baseline laws in order to arrest him - we'll be taking him to the prison in Bahrain, a nova prison, because he'd be able to get out of a baseline prison no problem, but we we have to follow baseline laws.
I can understand Divis getting fuckin' pissed at shit like this.
Only, I decided to keep a low-fuckin'-profile. I don't know why, anymore. I'm not really worried about what Bob could do to me.
I dunno. I'm too tired to think.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Nothing much to report today. We took Wycroft to Bahrain (used a lie detector - the electronic kind - to get him ... my idea, unfortunately), and the Teragen showed up. Not fuckin' surprised. Like I said last night, I can totally understand.
But they didn't want him locked up, and after seeing Damage last night, there was no way in hell I was gonna let that slide. Whether or not we used baseline laws, he still killed Damage's friend, and Damage ...

However ... Geryon said, "Fair fight, hand him over." And I'm torn. Wycroft is fucked up, his "religion" is a cult, whatever the fucking US government says, and he killed a good friend of my new friends.
But the fair fight logic ... makes sense to me. If someone was to write nova laws, I think fair fight should be okay. But ... I'm glad we're not using nova laws for this ...

Oh, who the hell knows. I'm gonna go train some. Something physically demanding, like boxing or some kind of close combat.

Oh, one last thing before I go train ... I almost forgot the new people ... there's the Iron Mounty, we picked him up at Bahrain, he was doing guard-duty ... yeah, he's Canadian, and I haven't really gotten to know him too well, yet. And then there's Reginald, who apparently isn't new, but has been hiding for a while ... yeah, I know, great name, but he's British (sexy accent, once again ... have I mentioned my thing for accents?), and he's a Duke, and he's hot besides ... long blonde hair, mmm ....
Yeah, yeah, I know, there's Elías ... but, well, nothing much has happened there ... he's still really nice and everything, but, I don't know ...
And besides, I'm not planning on getting married anytime soon. I should date around, you know?

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Damn. I don't even know where to start. Aura almost got herself kicked off StormWatch.
God. She somehow found out that Herman Lafontaine (supposedly the son of Herman Walker?!?) is a nova, and is in denial, and favors nova registration.
So she wanted to scare him into using his powers (and get it on camera), so she brought some back-up (a Teragen member, which she claims she didn't know until afterward ... but ... I'm not so sure I believe that), and they attacked him, sorta.
Anyway, she brought him back.
Long story short, Bob fired her, she talked to Caestus, I talked to her, I think Brody talked to Bob, and then caestus talked to Bob, and I was in her room when Bob came back and said, fine, but one more wrong move, and you're out, and we're working on your impulsiveness. Which I think is amusing.
He also told her to quit XWF. I didn't know she was in XWF! Fuckin' A. Only, apparently, as Rage. (How crazy must that be, to have three identities?) Bob told her to get rid of Rage, too.
And I was there when she had to call XWF and quit.
Bob let her have one last match, which I'm going to. It's in a week. I'm excited.

For missing journal entries, see Bluebook link to your left ...

Thursday, February 15, 2007

"Rage" kicked fuckin' ass in the XWF match. But Divis was there.
And, oh. My. God.
Okay, I revoke ... well, not everything I've ever said about Divis and the Teragen, but ...
Divis set the stadium on fire, and then started killing people (novas, and for no reason) with his laser-beam eyes. We talked to Ortiz a little bit after, and he said that Divis was pissed off. Right.
Anyway, now we're in Denver, cuz the match was in Vegas, and it was close, and Damage is resting (he fought Divis, and got hurt), and Bob, too. He didn't fight Divis, but he also got hurt.
I helped arrest the Confederate, who turned on Team Tomorrow Americas. Team Tomorrow Europe is here.

And yet ... I didn't fight Divis. Partly because I know he's vastly more powerful than me, and he could crush me. But he could have crushed Damage, anytime.
I helped people get out of the stadium and away from Divis.
But ... the whole time ... I still couldn't get it out of my head that ... I don't want to fight Divis, partly because he's so powerful, and partly because I'm still not convinced he's wrong.
I mean, killing people cuz he's pissed, yeah, that's wrong. But we are novas, and we're different from baselines, and baseline society isn't made to handle novas ... and if someone, baseline or nova, killed one of my friends ... I think I would seek personal justice.
I don't know anymore. I don't think I'm making sense ... I'll have to write again once I'm thinking more clearly.

For missing journal entries, see Bluebook link to your left ...

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Bob is alive, and he will probably walk again, but with a cane, definitely. Sad!
Julie Chen, StormWatch #2 (Bob #2) was put in charge, but she was a fucking bitch, and thought StormWatch should be the Nova PR Agent instead of the Nova Police Force ... she actually said (to Damage, mind!) something like, Oh, well, saving the world is good, definitely, but we need to do more things like ... what Mounty and the Duke did. Raising Nova awareness or something like that.
Like people aren't aware of us.
Right.

Anyway ... she got fired and Sero's taking over until Bob gets better.
We're going to eat dinner with Caestus and then have a party tonight. Damage is bringing Songbird.
I'm gonna go eat ... I'm insanely hungry ... then I'm going to train a bit. I've been working on my reflexes lately. I think the best way to not get hurt is to not get hit. Personally.

Oh, God. I just escaped. I had four people wanting to talk to me about contracts! One was okay, cuz it was the Utopia toy people, for an action figure. (As soon as I get stuff like that, Livvy's getting some ... she'd love them!)
But one was for a power company ... that's what I get for having lightning powers. I stalld on that one, because I want to look into their company. They said something about power conservation, so I'm gonna have to check them out. Dad the uber-conservationist and environmental champion is egging me on in the back of my mind. I'll have to see what Dad says about them.
I signed on with Diet Pepsi, even though I don't drink Diet Pepsi (or really any kind of mass-produced carbonated beverage ... thanks again, Dad) ... but it was one commercial, and I didn't have to say anything, which I thought would be good for my first commercial (the power company wanted me to say the dumbest line ever ... "When you're out, it's off!").
Penthouse asked me to sign on, though ... ack! Even if it wasn't against my contract ...
Anyway, Ortiz is gonna be on Larry King Live in about five minutes, and we're congregating, so ...

Friday, March 15, 2007

Oh. My. God.
Oh God oh God oh God.
So ... we drank Nova Beer, which will actually get novas drunk, but we lose our powers in the process. And we played Truth or Dare. I had to make out with Elías in front of everybody, but I made Gwen jog through three floors of law offices naked. So that was all good.
Elías was dared to put on this crazy costume Aura had (from their last Truth or Dare game?) and dance in front of the papparazzi ... tutu, pigtails, make-up. It definitely detracted from the sexiness. And he didn't take it off after he did it, either.
So, anyway ... I got a little drunk, Elías got a little drunk ... he was giving me "right here, right now" eyes, and, well ...
I'm freakin' out. I just got back to my room. I really think the whole thing was a mistake. Oh God oh God oh God ...
I don't even want to think about what Eliot would think, or Dad. Or Jess. Eliot and Dad might (might!) be okay, but Jess ... she's really unconventional in some ways, but in others ... she wouldn't approve. Sex outside of marriage might be okay if I were 23, but not 17.

Anyway ... I have to shower and eat, because we're going to spend the next day and some at the White House. I was more excited last night. I don't want to leave my room now!
Everyone else is gonna tease me, and things will be weird with Elías! None of this is good.
Anyway ...

At the White House

Oh God oh God oh God ...
Yes, I'm at the White House, but this might be cooler if so much other shit wasn't happening.
Okay, so I'm supposed to be dressing for dinner, so I'll give you the really important part, and we'll discuss the rest later:
I might be pregnant. Apparently novas get pregnant really easy, like the men have super-sperm or something. Luckily, the birth control issue is really easy, too ... you have to be thinking about not wanting kids.
Yeah, I'm sure Elías and I were thinking about that real hard last night.
I DON'T WANT TO BE PREGNANT!!!!
Okay. Now I've got that off my chest ...
More after dinner.

After Dinner

Okay ...
Let's start with the beginning of the day ...
We jump in the jet and fly to D.C., and that's when we talk about whether or not I'm pregnant. Sero's great, and she says I'll get tested when we get back to NYC, and see for sure.
We got to D.C., and the President greeted us for a few minutes, and then invited us to hang out in the city and enjoy ourselves till dinner tonight and the next morning, when we'd have our press conference.
My emotions and mood were already pretty jumbled, and all I really wanted to do was go off by myself and do something physical. My mind was too jumbled to even think of working on one of my projects.
Anyway, we walked out of the White House, and were greeted by David Drake. He's part of the Directive, but what was more important was, he was the man who bumped into me and Sero when we were contemplating sending a storm to decimate the church. Huge guy, eye patch, all that. Him and three other pretty generic Directive guys. They were kinda generic. I mean, their faces were different, but they all three wore the same kind of suit, and they didn't say much. They let David Drake do the talking.
He basically told us we were trouble-makers, and they were to make sure we didn't get into any trouble.
We went back into the White House to formulate a new plan while Sero called Caestus. We basically decided to make this the most boring day they ever had - go to the zoo, sign autographs, hang out with the kids, then maybe hit a museum (the Duke suggested the Smithsonian), and top it off with Chuck E. Cheese's.
We got to the zoo, and then all hell broke loose. Elías wanted to chat, so he teleported me off, and of course, Drake got pissy, thought we were trying to escape. Sero called us back. I very much agreed with her. I don't think we should cooperate with the Directive any more than necessary, but I also think that was just plain foolish.
Of course, my thoughts on the matter might have been influenced by the memory of other foolish things we've done.

Anyway, I got in his face. Drake's, not Elías'. I was pissed.
I've been getting a little more outgoing around my teammates, because I'm starting to get to know them, and all that, but I'm still usually pretty uncomfortable around people I don't know. But I was pissed, and I didn't care anymore. Possibly a dangerous position, but I didn't care.
I told him, "Look, if you're gonna follow us around and get panicky enough to potentially shoot us, I want to know the rules. No running away from you, or doing anything that might be considered running away, I got that. What else? Cuz I am not in the mood to deal with your bullshit."
But that ended up being about it, so we split up in ones and twos. We stayed in contact through the eye cams and earpieces, but we split up in more groups than they had people. No one followed me and Elías. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, for some reason.
Whatever. Elías and I tried to talk about it. He wanted to know if I'd keep my baby, if I did indeed end up pregnant. He didn't seem to be too worried about it, but before I could really ask him about his expectations for the whole thing (I'd rather not be pregnant, of course, and I don't believe a fetus is a child this early in the pregnancy, so I'd have no trouble getting rid of it now, but I'd also like to know if he'd be a dead-beat dad or not, and that sort of stuff ... ), we were interrupted yet again.
It was a nova, he told me his name is Sifiris, and he was the typical "We are Gods, mankind should bow down and grovel" Teragen bullshit.
Fuck him. We chatted for a second, and then when he pulled that, I turned around and walked away.
Elías continued to chat with him for a minute, which further pissed me off, because I think he was trying to reason with him?
(Oh, I forgot, they lost Pumpkin somehow! He was Damaged-out and everything. (My guess is he hid for a sec and changed back to Brody ... ) I'll have to congratulate him on outwitting them later ... )
Anyway, I think Aura showed Drake the eye cam when we were looking at him, and so he got here as fast as he could, but by the time he got here, Elías had turned away, and I couldn't see Sifiris anymore after Drake got here. He was uber-pissed.
He asked which way Sifiris had gone, and Elías told him Sifiris had just disappeared. Which pissed me off still more, the fact that he was trying to cooperate with that bastard!

Anyway, the rest of my "friends" (minus the Duke, who was apparently shopping) got there, and I wandered off. I kept in sight (stupid me! I truly don't know why I did that), but I wandered away from them. I don't know what they were discussing, but Sero broke away and came to talk to me. Asked what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. Told me killing the Teragen and the Directive wasn't really possible, given our schedule ... we had dinner with the President in four hours.
So we went dress-shopping, instead. Just the girls. Slider had missed our party at the zoo because she'd gone to lunch with Bono. I guess.
Anyway, we played Truth or Truth in the car on the way to the dress shop. I started it. Asked Chiriko about what she did last night. She was as vague as she could be within the confines of the rules of Truth or Truth, but she was definitely with a guy.
Slider asked me about Elías. I was as vague as possible within the confines of the rules of Truth or Truth, but truth to tell, I wasn't that impressed with what I remember of our night together. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was pretty good, I just wish we'd been sober.
Anyway ... we went to the shop where the Duke was, and he helped us pick out some dresses, and then we went back to the White House, changed, I wrote for a second, and we went to dinner.

Dinner was okay, there was a lot of talking about political stuff ... to be expected, at the freakin' White House. Elías mostly ignored me, and I mostly ignored him.
There was dancing after, and I thought I would probably stand around like an idiot, because Elías was off chatting up senators, and Damage and the Duke certainly weren't going to ask me to dance or anything, but then the President asked me to dance! Maybe I should call him Harry when I talk about us dancing? It's kind of more awkward to think of dancing with The President of the United States of America than to think of dancing with Harry Thomlin. He's more than twice my age, but he's not bad-looking, either. And he was nice. He likes NYC, which means he has my vote. (Well ... you know what I mean.)
Anyway, I watched Facade walk out of the party with the Russian amadassador (he called her "Japanese Princess"). The presi--Harry rescued me from the British ambassador by asking to cut in, so I ended up spending a significant amount of the party dancing with -- Harry.
Slider danced with the Duke, but didn't spend the night with him! (During Truth or Dare, he said he thought Slider was the most attractive chick in StormWatch) She keeps complaining about not getting any, then turns the Duke down?!? I don't get it. I wonder if there's a specific someone she'd rather get some from ...

Anyway ... I think that's about it. And we have to get up early for a press conference, so ...
Good night!

Saturday, March 17, 2007
Back in good old NY, NY

Oh, my God. I can hardly write for laughing. Of course, our little "chat" with Caestus kind of dampens my sense of humor, but ...
Harry (most emphatically Harry right now) chatted with us after our respective press conferences, and said something about how we were always welcome at the White House. Aura made a joke under her breath about "Dinner tomorrow night?" I don't think anyone else heard, but I have super-ears.
Then he pulled out his card and told us it was his private number, and he started to hold it out so anyone could take it, but, in the smoothest gesture I have ever seen, he thrust it into my face, so I had to take it.
Hint, hint.
Like I said, he's pretty good-looking, even for being old enough to be my dad with an older sibling or two. Oh, but I don't do well with dating. Look at me and Elías. I'm afraid we're not really on good footing right now.

Anyway ... the rest of it: Apparently Sero left halfway through the dinner party last night, went back to NYC, we did the press conference (I was still pissed off enough that I answered a question or two, even though none were actually directed at me! I should be pissed off more often!), and then chatted with Harry (!), and then Caestus came to pick us up in the jet.
He told us Sero felt we weren't respecting her, blah, blah, blah. I really am too flustered about certain other things to remember everything he said. Two things, though, stand out in my mind, concerning that conversation:
There was the stare-down in the dress-shop, when Sero told Aura off for using her powers, because of the Directive! What bullshit! The Directive only had a problem with us "escaping", which, like I said earlier, whatever. They were clearly looking for trouble, let's not trouble them. But once they decided that Sifiris was more important, their rules didn't matter anymore. They weren't around us, trying to make trouble, so we didn't have to give a shit about their rules.
Even if she thought their rules mattered, their only rule was to not run away from them, which, Aura clearly hadn't been doing. Anyway, I wondered if that had been part of why she ran off to Caestus.
The other thing was, Aura said something about the nova prison, and how some novas could potentially live centuries, and she wanted some way to ensure that, just in case she ended up in the Bahrain prison, she wouldn't sit there for centuries.
Centuries!
Caestus didn't want the rules to be any different for novas than they were for humans. I tried to argue this (centuries!), and Caestus brought up his tired little argument about basketball players. For some reason, he thinks that's a fair comparison. Basketball players have certain abilities, novas have certain abilities. But they're all still human. Bullshit.
I stare him down, too, look him in the face and say something like, Do basketball players live potentially centuries? And I start choking on other things I want to say, because I've never been eloquent, and right then I was pissed.
And someone (Aura, I think, or maybe Damage), takes the attention away from me, for which I am mostly grateful, and Caestus finally agrees that we are "more than human".

Does anyone else see that Caestus' world view is completely inconsistent? Either we're just like humans, only with special abilities, or we have a duty to humans. He can't have both. If we're just like humans, then our responsibilities are the same as any other human. If we have a duty to them, a responsibility, then we can't be just like them. We must be different.
I hate color-blindness! This isn't about color, obviously, but the principle is the same. Some people think that in order to not be racist, they must forget that there are differences between a black man and a white man. Or that in order to not be sexist (better example, I think, since what I'm arguing here in undeniable), one must not see the differences between a man and a woman. Guess what? Brody has a penis. I have a vagina. That's a pretty damn big fucking difference!
But guess what else? Acknowledging that Brody is different from me simply because he has a penis, that's not sexist! Telling me that Brody is better than me, simply because he has a penis, that's sexist.
Telling me that novas are no different from humans, that's just plain stupid.

Back to sitting around the Tower ... Two exciting things ... One, I have an interview with Maxim on Monday, and two ... this Nova-only club, the Blackburn, is opening tonight in NYC, and Count Ortiz will be there. I'm goin'!
Way excited, too. I'll have to buy a dress.

Sunday, March 18, 2007
Geneva

Aura's getting married in a couple hours. It's pretty good.
Anyway ... I'm not really sure what to write about ...
Well, I went to the Blackburn last night. Drank some wine, chatted with Ortiz ... only, here was my big chance to talk to him, and I completely blew it. I'm such a mess in social situations! So, really I drank some wine and listened to Ortiz and Elías chat, and the Duke and I mostly sat there.
But anyway, I did dance with him, and he told me to give him a call if I'm ever in need of a dancing partner, so I can't have messed up too badly.
But I left early even so. I'll have to go back, but ... ack! Anyway ...

Now we come to the part that I'm not sure what to write about ... something happened at the club last night after I left, and no one's really talking to me, but Geryon's dead. I don't know what happened, but Divis found out and was pissed.
I really don't know what happened, though, so that's all I'm gonna be able to say.

For missing journal entries, see Bluebook link to your left ...

Monday, March 25, 2007

Yay, performance reports! I got a C, I think. Only because I've only been here for not very long ...
Anyway, we were also offered a choice of missions: find Bounty, who's apparently missing ... skipped out of the last coupld hours of her contract, and hasn't been seen since.
Two, go guard the Isreali / Palestinian peace talks.
Three, guard the President on his first tour, trying to gain support.

We argue about it for a while, and eventually go with guarding the President.
We have some birds Sero made (Scout) flying over Africa, looking for Novas (Team Tomorrow Africa consists of two members ... part of why Bounty missing is kind of a big deal), and Team Tomorrow Europe is taking over the peace talks.
They're closer, for one, and we need some serious PR work here is the good old U. S. of A. Cuz Americans are stubborn bastards. And if Project Utopia doesn't send anyone to guard the Pres., the Directive will.
Oh, yeah, they're setting up shop here in NYC. I gave Sero a look, because our good friend David Drake is heading the branch in NY. We'll need to steer clear of him ...
Anyway, we're flying to D.C. tomorrow night around 8-ish. The President is going to be spending a day or two at the peace talks, and then who knows where ...
So, I'm going to spend some time "fine-tuning" my powers, cuz Dave says I need it. Wheee!

Ah-ha!
At lunch, I turned to the Duke and asked if he wanted to hang out at a club tonight ...
He said yes!
That's awesome.
I could have gone by myself, no problem, but it's more fun this way. Plus, I don't think he's really interested in me. I don't really think I'm his type. So it's cool.

Way late ...

Hmm ... scratch my earlier entry ... Duke and I danced pretty much all night, then we took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, and had a picnic ... and we kissed. It was good. That was really all, but it was a good date.
Oh yeah ... and Narcosis was there, the owner of the Blackburn. I complained to her about the fact that I had gotten kicked out even though I wasn't even there when it all went down, and she told me there was a way to "apologize". Oh, my God.
So I'm meeting her for an early dinner tomorrow, since we leave to meet the President at 8. I'm a little nervous.
So I'm going to sleep, even though I really don't need much.

Tuesday, March 26, 2007

So, I'm about to leave for my Narcosis-date ... I went to brunch / sushi with Duke and his "bodyguard" ... Ortiz was there, of course.
I love the way that random Novas just happen to be wherever we are ... like Narcosis the other night.
Anyway, Ortiz mentions the Narcosis-date (apparently, they're good buddies). But he leaves pretty quickly, apparently, he's going back to Spain for a while.

I'm excited. And kind of nervous. I mean, I was a virgin only a couple weeks ago, and things didn't turn out so well for me the first time.
But she's ... intriguing. Oh, she's sexy, definitely. I think it's safe to say I'm very interested in how this will turn out.
I think I'm becoming a bit of a slut. I don't know if I care or not.
It's nice to know that people are interested in you.

En Route to the White House

Well. My date with Narcosis was ... interesting. So ... why did I do it?
For the club? I mean, that is what led to her asking me out (if you can call it that). But really, I think I'm fooling myself about that club.
I like being treated like a superstar, like a hero. I like the fact that the Duke and I went to this extremely exclusive club and got in just because of who we are (or who we work for). I like living in this huge tower right near the UN building and having an awesome jet and going out to save the world.
But the thing is, when I do all that, I'm Thundergirl. Thundergirl really is this persona, this mask that I put on whenever Stormwatch goes out to do something public.
I don't really know that I'm Kat Powell, 17-year-old genuis and smartass, anymore, either, though. What I am now ... it's something in between, I guess. I like talking to Count Ortiz, because he seems to get it. He treats me as an equal, but he knows that that means I'm just as powerful as him.
I guess the rest of Stormwatch treats me that way, too, but I don't really feel comfortable going out with Aura, say. Aura's not really the buddy-buddy type, Sero's not really the social type, and ... well, not that I'm really complaining, but male-female "hanging-out" doesn't really seem to happen much.
I mean, like I said, I'm not complaining, but I wasn't expecting anything but a good time when Duke and I went to the club.
Ack. I don't know what I'm doing going to clubs anyway. I should be working on my stuff. I dunno. I haven't been focused lately.
I dunno.
Gotta go, the jet's getting close.

Wednesday, March 27, 2007

Back in the White House, cooling my heels. Today's been an ...eventful day.
We flew to Israel with the President, and hung around until Caestus told us to go after the leader of the Hand of Allah - people who don't want the peace talks to go well, and who also want all novas dead, and just happen to be led by ... you guessed it, a nova! By the name of Mohammed Marqwi (sp?).
Anyway, we went and captured him, and somebody tried killing the President, and nearly killed Slider instead.
She's in the Geneva Center, with Damage and Aura, and--

Oh, that smug fucker!
Only I have to admit, I'm more worried than angry.
Ack. Herman Walker just came out of a meeting with the President, and told me to watch the news tonight, and said something about me "fraternizing with a known Teragen member".
Fucker!

Last Entry for the Day

Okay, so writing in your journal while you're supposed to be "guarding" the President is a bit of a no-no, I guess.
It doesn't really matter.
Okay ...
Slider's stable, but she hasn't regained consciousness yet.
Elías and I are in L.A. with the President, Damage and Aura are with Slider, and Duke and Sero are back in Israel for the peace talks some more.
I'm about to go to the local police station. When I was in D.C., there was something on the news about missing girls, girls who had been found raped and mutilated. I want to help, if I can. I'm a nova. We're supposed to be doing good.

Thursday, March 28, 2006

Ugh. I can't write. I don't want to. But I have to. It's a good thing I don't really need sleep, because after all this, I'm not going to be able to.

Well, the police didn't let me help with the girls, and I called Aura to get ideas, and so I got a wig and pretended to be one of those girls, but ... well, nothing happened.
Anyway ...
Turns out, it was el Presidente. I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it.
I mean, yeah, I knew I was dealing with someone who raped, killed and mutilated 14-year-old girls. But ... now I have a face, and not only a face, a guy that I liked, that I thought cool, and would make a good President.
Ugh.
Anyway, I followed all the clues, I found the guy, and then Elías mind-scanned the Secret Service guys, and found an assassination plot ... basically on the idea that having a child-molester President would be terrible for this country, and damn the fact that Stormwatch had messed up the earlier attempt out in Israel.
Fuck.
Anyway, I talked to Bob (well, I talked to Dave first, and he couldn't deal (I had repeat the whole thing three or four times!! My mouth feels dirty, now), so he got Bob to me. (Thank God! I mean, Dave's cool, and sometimes I think Bob's kinda psycho, but ... Dave's kinda wishy-washy, not really the commanding type. I hadn't really thought of Bob that way, either, until Bob came on the line after Dave. Then it was obvious.)), and Bob gave me and Elías "the call" to come back to Stormwatch Tower for our "testimonies" on the Edgar Wright trial, even though neither of us were there, and I wasn't even a nova then. Neither of us had a testimony. It didn't matter. El Presidente didn't know.
So, we told him we had to go, but we'd be back in a couple days. I wanted to talk to the guy Elías said was thinking about the plot, but ... well, he was the guy I'd originally thought was the rapist (he had a spot of blood on his cuff). It was so complicated and hard. I never thought doing good was hard, before.
Basically, I thought it would be a Good Thing for America if we could pin the President's assassination on the Directive ... you know, the President's gonna get rid of the Directive, so the Directive gets panicky and slits his throat (figuratively speaking), and well, then ... maybe the Directive isn't such a good idea, after all ...
I dunno.
But this guy was probably the one picking up the girls, and at least depositing their bodies, if not killing them ... oh ... I didn't want to talk to him and mess things up too bad. Plus I didn't know if he'd be okay with me walking away knowing.
So ... I don't know.

Anyway, the President conveniently died of a "stroke" this afternoon. He was stressed, blah, bah, blah. And what's terrible is, I can't help but think, he would have been the best President ever. It's so terrible.
(Btw, Spy-der watched the stroke-inducement ... so I have that on my computer. We decided to keep this between those who know, and not tell anyone else, but to also keep it as a card up our sleeves, just in case)

Anyway, I was just at the Blackb--

Crazy ... Aura and Elías just came to visit me. There are so many things weird with that. They said they wanted to make sure I was okay ... we just found out that Narcosis is a pretty powerful telepath ... I wonder if Elías wanted to check my head out, and see if it was okay.
They should have just said. Instead they were skirting around everything, like, Oh, we just wanted to make sure you're okay ... I dunno. Everything's really weird--
There's the door again! What's up tonight?