Log:Forget Me Not, Scene 1

Forget Me Not 2014/05/30 	 Ghost Harlequin Paragon Physique Anthony Quinn Porter Mortua

1

New Town
A seemingly endless grid of primary roads, with some services, and quiet roads of middle-income houses and lawns: this is Newtown, or the Western Sprawl, as it is often known. Founded in the 2020s, in the backlash to the alien mania following first contact, it is an assertion of all that is human, mundane and boring, juxtaposed with the Alien District and those two periods were in history.

Newtown is not all uniform; styles of house show the expansion of city like the rings of a tree, and the neighboring districts too have their influence: the poverty of Harrisburg has seeped into the north as wealth has crept into the south and the students have invaded the northeast. Only the Alien District has failed to leave its mark.

It normally would be a quiet day in Newtown, with many students starting to pack and leave for the summer. The heat of the day is already picking up. But...as a 'last minute bash', a rather large party has broken out, filling a full block of one of the streets to the north of the district. Alcohol is flowing...and the police have started to respond, only to have gunfire erupt from cover. A call has been put in for backup. Unfortunately, there's a Memorial Day parade on the other side of town, making the response slow.

A general call from the police goes out via the HeroNet to see if any heroes can respond to the situation.

It's a party. Of college students. Porter might've been on his way to check it out even before the gunfire. Knowing Porter, he could've bumped someone with a gun. Which set it off. Which then made someone else pull their gun, which... Anyway, no matter how it started, Porter was mostly just seeing what was up, and easily ignored. But now there's weapons going off, and screaming, and running, and who knows what else...

Summer parties are always fun, or at least almost always. Gunfire does tend to put a damper on things unless it is that celebratory 'yee-haw' kind of gun fire. It takes only a few moments and Quinn is winging his way over to Newtown, thermographics tuned to try and locate the perpetrators of such a heinous faux pas.

Ghost gets interrupted by a fae messenger from the communications tower of the Embassy bringing details of the incident. . o O(This is what the Princess wanted the team to handle.) Ghost thinks. She sends out a general call over the communicator, "Trouble in Newtown. Police requesting assistance. If you've free lets get over there." Setting an example she walks outside, takes to the air and flies to the location at best speed.

A HeroNet alert message pops up on Paragon's HUD as she leaps across rooftops on her daily patrol. She pauses on a rooftop to scan the message, then closes the window with a twitch of a finger. Her helm pans in the direction of the reported disturbance, and she takes a running leap in that direction, gliding over the rooftops until she reaches Newtown. Paragon sails down onto a rooftop of a lower building next to the block party, then takes a knee and starts scanning the crowd for injured parties, thinking worriedly to herself. . o O (Shots fired at a party full of young kids? What sort of person would do such a thing?)

Sasha had been wandering around Newtown before the party started. Always good to check out places when people are moving, no? And, of course, once the party started, well, Sasha /is/ young. He hears the shots from a distance in the end and just sighs.

Janine may not be a student, but she's not one to miss out on a party. In a student guise she's used before - one red-headed 'Tara' - she's heading to join in the fun.

 Sasha says, "I am already here, Captain."

 Sasha says, "Pity, the party was going so well."

 Ghost says, "Fast work, Harlequin. I'm on my way. What's the situation?"

As the heroes arrive, either making their way through the crowds of drunken students or through other means, the source of the gunfire becomes more obvious. There's a group of about...six to eight college aged kids who are taking cover behind hedges and firing plasma weaponry at the police. Every one of those kids is dressed in the colors of the Harrisburg Hellions.

Sasha takes a moment to duck behind a rash dumpster. "Why do people always set those on fire?" he thinks. He changes into Harlequin then steps back out to assess the situation. "Really? The Hellions? And who gave them blasters? They can barely handle fists and knives."

Janine thinks. o O (Guess making myself drunk will have to wait - who are these guys??)

Janine looks about for anywhere she can change guise unnoticed - which may be tricky in this crowd!

Ghost flies down to land behind a police patrol car. She asks the nearest police officer, "Where is the weapon fire coming from?

Paragon's mouth forms a thin, disapproving line behind her faceplate as she leaps towards the Hellions, hoping to drop in behind them on their side of the hedges so they'll turn their attention away from the police.

The officer responds to Ghost, pointing in the direction of a nearby house. "Over there...from the hedge in front of that porch." He pokes his head up, and sure enough, some plasma fire pelts the car, causing him to duck back down.

Harlequin raises his defenses as well as a translucent blue perfectly interlocking octagonal sphere about himself. He walks quite openly towards the Hellions.

"THIS IS ANTHONY QUINN" The voice rumbles like the voice of God, driven by ridiculously powerful speakers contained within his armor. He balances on twin columns of actinic blue light, the sound of the jets completely swallowed up by the booming projection as he talks. "YOU ARE CURRENTLY ARMED WITH WEAPONS BUILT BY THE LOWEST BIDDER. THROW DOWN YOUR GUNS AND YOU WILL BE ONLY LIGHTLY HARMED."

Ghost squats down, back against the car, and goes limp. Her astral form flies out to examine the situation from up close. Seeing Harlequin moving in she manifests an appearance on the material plane beside Harlequin and advances with him.

This is not the kind of hell-raising Porter expected, even from a monster party. When people who don't want to get shot start to scatter, the crowd thins out. Possibly leaving him suddenly standing in a fairly open spot. "What the hell are you guys doing?!" That's at the one's shooting.

With one last leap from a nearby building, Paragon sails down and lands in a crouch behind the Hellions with a thump of armored weight on the ground and the clank of armor plates. As she stands up slowly, she opens her arms in a peaceful gesture, standing casually, but also trying to make herself look as big as she can by standing tall. . o O (Hey, look at me. And maybe stop shooting at the cops or civilians.) "You heard the man. Please put down your weapons now and perhaps the law will be lenient. Kids make mistakes, and it's not too late to put a stop to this," she says in understanding, soothing tones. She blinks and thinks of what Quinn said. "If you surrender, no harm will come to you. I promise."

Ghost says, "Harlequin, when we have some time you must explain this tactic of walking openly towards people shooting weapons. I'm not familiar with it."

 Harlequin chuckles over the comm. "It is called drawing fire. If they can penetrate my defenses...Well, at least no innocents are harmed."

 Q says, "They seem to be armed with guns of ACRO design. The third one of the left is armed with a significantly heavier gun."

Physique decides a good offense is the way to go. Having changed to her heroic guise ducked out of sight, she leaps clear over everyone's heads and reaches out for the nearest Hellion.

Ghost shakes her head, "Harlequin, if you get yourself killed I suspect it will do immense harm to your young ward, Leonid. There's not just you to think of anymore." she tells Harlequin rather firmly.

The Hellion who is struck by Physique's 'Pain Touch' cries out and collapses to the ground. He's not quite unconscious, but he does drop his weapon while he writhes in pain.

 Q says, "Just for future reference, you might want to let me draw fire instead. Also, situations like this would be good for a Thunderclap charge if people weren't already charging forward."

Ghost advances fast right up to the Hellions. She's looking for the gang member with the most powerful weapon. If she finds him she moves next to him. "If you don't put that down I'm going to instruct my team to concentrate on you. Nice gun it may be. But do you really think you can hold off a half dozen metas?"

As everyone charges forward Quinn remains where he is in the air. Part of the reason for the amplified voice was to draw fire in the unlikely event that the gang members don't surrender peacefully. He waits to see how successful that plan is an to take appropriate actions if the gang members should decide to try and grab hostages or shoot into the crowd.

Quinn notices that the gang member with the big gun has a second smaller sidearm that matches that of the other gang members. It's just that the second pistol is holstered. Additionally...from his vantage point in the air, he notices someone lying in the bushes between the house next door and this one. It looks like a woman, wearing a black catsuit and tall black boots. And she has an empty holster that might have been large enough to hold that huge sidearm. She seems to be cowering, though...in stark contrast to how she's dressed.

Porter doesn't want anybody to get shot, or blasted, or harmed. From the drunken, semi-moving crowd, either cast aside in panic or chucked by an angry frat-boy, a plastic cups comes flying at one of the standing armed Hellions. Complimentary drinks! To the face. Too bad's it's a Screwdriver. They sting.

The Hellion is blinded by the drink, causing him to cry out. He starts to try to wipe his eyes so that he can see which way to shoot...or run away.

Harlequin continues to walk forward. As he approaches, he calls out, "I wonder if I should curse you into puppies or kittens? I can you know." Apparently though he instead looks hard at the leader (Big Gun guy) and grey mist shoots from his eyes towards the youth.

The Hellion freezes in place as the grey mist reaches the gang member. He's frozen while he was trying to bring his gun around to bear on Ghost.

Paragon waits to give the Hellions a chance to drop their weapons. Even if other heroes are already taking action, she can't just go back on her word once she's offered honorable surrender. "What's it going to be? Surrender now before more people are hurt," she remains calm and reasoning.

Physique says, "The 'more people' means you, by the way."

One of the gang members bolts up the street, fleeing as fast as he can. The others that aren't frozen all look around at the various heroes and surrender, dropping their guns.

And their leader remains frozen, unable to do anything for the time being.

Paragon smiles and says cheerfully, standing akimbo. "Good choice. Now if you'd be so kind as to put your hands on your heads..."

With just one Hellion in motion that frees up Quinn from guarding the crowd. He points and arm at the fleeing Hellion and the disk on the back of his hand glows bright for a moment before discharging a cyan bolt.

The gang member is struck by the neural blast and falls to the ground in pain. He's not unconscious, but it's enough of a jolt to his system that the police are able to move up and cover him. He promptly surrenders after that.

Physique looms over the one whose nervous system she set on fire. "Now what the hell do you think you were doing?"

Harlequin lets the translucent sphere fade away as he continues forward towards the Hellions. He muses, "I wonder if it would break your fingers for me to take your gun away." This is addressed to Big Guy Guy.

The gang member doesn't say much to Physique. "The cops showed up while we were crashing the party." He shrugs.

Ghost returns to her physical body and strolls over to join the heroes. "An interesting question to ask would be, where did they get energy weapons from?" she remarks to nobody in particular.

On the Guard channel Quinn transmits, "We've got one other person. Female in a black body suit. She's hiding in the bushes and has an empty holster that looks like it could fit the big gun."

The woman who was cowering in the bushes doesn't come out yet, keeping an eye on the assembled heroes while they're dealing with the various gang members.

Ghost summons a Messenger, keeping it on the Astral. "Go find the woman hiding in the bushes," she commands it, "and stay with her telling me where she is whenever I ask."

Physique says. "You remember how much that hurt? That's the least I can do. Want to see what else?" She reaches out for the Hellion. "Or do you want to talk?"

Paragon walks over to the surrendering gang members still nearby. She folds her arms over her chest and says, "Running in gangs and shooting at unarmed innocents is no way to go through life. There are other options available to you." She looks at Harlequin, eyes blinking on and off as he makes a threat to break the person's fingers. For now, she assumes it's just an intimidation tactic and doesn't speak up against Harlequin. As Quinn announces the presence of another woman, she turns about and observes the woman cowering in the bushes. "Are you alright, ma'am? Do you need medical attention?" She walks over and offers an open hand to help the woman up and out of the bushes.

The unknown woman takes the offered hand and stands up. She looks around...looking surprised at everything going on around her. She then looks directly at Paragon, "Please...you have to help me. I don't remember anything."

Paragon tilts her head in concern, knowing the feeling all too well. "Of course we'll help, ma'am. But first thing's first. Were you hurt?" Her eyes scan over the woman, looking for injuries or bumps on the head.

The Hellion that Physique is questioning doesn't say anything further. Apparently he knows enough to keep his mouth shut.

The woman does look like she has a couple of bruises, perhaps having been attacked by the gang members. After all, one of them appeared to have what looked to be her sidearm. Thankfully she doesn't look worse off than that.

Quinn drops down to land next to the paralyzed gang leader so that he can inspect the gun a bit more closely. Considering it's the odd gun out and also could possibly be the unknown woman's sidearm he wants to be sure it is of ACRO manufacture.

Since the situation seems to be well under control and her tactical expertise is not needed in the slightest, Ghost pulls out her PDA and snaps a photo of the unknown woman. Then she starts a comparison scan against images in all accessible media sources.

Physique whispers something to the Hellion.

The larger weapon is indeed of ACRO manufacture. Usually the kind of weapon that's reserved for their own agents, rather than for mass production.

Now that no one's shooting or being shot at? Porter sees to helping people that don't already have any help. Which seems to be anybody that isn't getting arrested or is in a catsuit. And, sure, most of the people he's helping to stand up are probably drunk. Which could be why they needed help standing back up.

Paragon maintains a gentle hold of the woman's hand, slowly putting an arm around her shoulder comfortingly. "Let me help you over to the police officers and we can have a medic look you over, shall we?" she speaks in echoey chivalrous tones, using the charming act she learned from watching Captain Amazing to try and put the woman at ease. On some days, Paragon can play the knight in shining armor pretty well.

Ghost sends over the guard communicator, 'Bingo! Huh? Well the translation program picked the word. Anyway I have a match for her face. Mortua. I'm starting a search for background and history now.'

Some of the drunk students slip off, now that they realize that superheroes and cops are around.

Some of the other go right back to partying, though with a much more subdued tone.

"Check for a connection with ACRO," Quinn transmits. "The gun looks like one of the special ones they keep in reserve for their own agents. I'm wondering if this wasn't an arms deal that went kind of sideways."

Ghost has a name. What can she find out about the person that name belongs to? Well first she'll try the media sources again. No point in hacking into restricted databases... unless she needs to.

The Hellion that Physique whispered to grimaces, and says, "Hey...yous want to know more? Speak to my leader. I told yous all I know."

Ghost's head jerks up and she lifts her right hand to cover Mortua with her spetsdod. Over the guard communicator she warns, 'She's an assassin. Broke out of Tranquility. Yes, she's with this ACRO. She's supposed to have a touch of death. No details but it sounds nasty. Known associates are Enemy Ace and Domina.'

Paragon has no idea she's playing the chivalrous knight for a potential villain. She gently motions with her head and tries to encourage Mortua to walk with her towards the paramedics. "I'm sure the EMTs can bandage you up, and maybe we can take you to the hospital. I'm sure the doctors can take a look to see if you took any hits to the head. Maybe even help you get your memory back. This may only be temporary," she says in dulcet tones.

Mortua nods to Paragon, "I hope so. I..." She looks around, kind of vacantly. She definitely seems like she has no idea where she is. Or who she is. She follows over to the paramedics who have shown up, and they proceed to examine her for injuries. Meanwhile, one of the policemen seems to have recognized Mortua. He starts to place a call in to the station.

Harlequin turns to look at Mortua after ghost speaks over the comm. "Hmm. Interesting. She seems gentle as a concussed puppy right now though."

"And see this is why dating in Colonial Bay is so hard," Quinn says as he raises a gauntlet to cover Mortua as well. "You meet a girl. She's not perfect. A little Gothy, maybe. Possibly some issues with her dad but nothing you probably couldn't deal with and then, Wham, it turns out she's an assassin with a death touch."

Porter's own good deeds don't go unpunished, as he manages to get a bunch of free drinks from the partiers he helps up, over, out, and/or back to partying. At least one drink is all over his shirt, and most of the rest are on his shoes. Some were even partially digested. So that's enough helping with that. He walks back over to the commotion around the lady of currently indeterminate mind.

Paragon remains at Mortua's side as the paramedics check her out. "It'll be alright, ma'am. I know this can be pretty disconcerting, but we'll take care of this. It's going to be alright," she reassures from personal experience. Although in her case, she never did get her memory back. She leaves that little detail out to avoid frightening her. Her head jerks up as Quinn raises his gauntlet at Mortua. "Q-Quinn?? What are you doing?" she moves to put herself between Quinn and Mortua, having no idea what's going on. As she listens, she looks over her shoulder. "She's a...what?" she says in disbelief.

Ghost nods, and comments on the guard team link, "I agree. Someone who broke out of Tranquility shouldn't have lost their weapon to a bunch of gang members. I can hear a police officer calling in her presence here to his superiors at the station. No doubt they will try to deal with it in their own blundering fashion. Should we intervene?"

Mortua's eyes go wide as she realizes she's being covered by multiple weapons at this point. "What? What's wrong? I didn't do anything!"

Harlequin murmurs over the Guard comm, "Well, we could take her to the Embassy. But that may not be the wisest course. The final call is yours, Captain." He calmly walks towards Mortua making certain to stay out of the varius fields of fire.

Paragon turns back to face the woman, saying to the paramedics, "Not to alarm anyone, but you should probably back away." She tries to position her body to act as a shield for Mortua to help her feel a little safer. "No...no *you* didn't," she says softly, sympathizing, although when she says you, she refers to the memoryless version of her. "There's a bit of a complication, but like I said...things will be okay. People are just a little...on edge."

Physique gets the idea what's going on and stops threatening the poor gang member. She goes over to the others. "Can I check on her condition?"

Ghost says, "I'm afraid you probably did, my lady. You just don't remember it." Speaking to Harlequin, "I can't risk causing a international incident like that. And I wouldn't want her inside the Embassy grounds in any case."

Whether she did anything wrong while she was here," Quinn says, "I should probably point out that she is an escaped convict from Tranquility."

Physique avoids touching Mortua - at least visibly. She reaches out with invisible energy tentacles and searches for evidence of any physical trauma, internal or external.

Porter blinks as he tries to catch up with what's going on, both eyes and brain. "Um... she doesn't look like she's trying to get away or anything. And weird stuff can happen to anybody." That is a subject that he knows a little about.

Ghost nods to Physique, "If you can. Just don't change anything, like restoring her memories, okay."

Harlequin murmurs, "It would be the kind thing to do," as he addresses Physique. He then says over the comm link, "Would you like me to take her to somewhere more quiet, Captain. To contain the danger she represents of course."

The paramedics heard Quinn's comment about who the woman was...and they back away from her slowly. Mortua's eyes get teary, "I...don't remember!" She places her head in her hands, starting to cry quietly.

Paragon gently reaches out to put a hand on Mortua's shoulder, pained to see someone else struggling with their identity. "Shhh...it's okay. No one's going to hurt you. It sounds like you may be a criminal. But if your memory really is gone, maybe this is a chance for a fresh start. A new life..."

Ghost shakes her head. "Not yet, Harlequin. This is... complicated. What would the legal position be if her loss of memories were genuine and permanent?"

Paragon watches Physique curiously. "Did you find anything?"

Harlequin shrugs slightly, "I would imagine it would not matter. She did commit the crimes even if she does not remember."

Paragon turns her attentions back to Mortua, concerned. However, she's listening with intense interest on the conversation pertaining to legal ramifications and memory loss, remembering what Allison had told her about the glimpses into her past life.

Harlequin adds, "But then, that is the law. Justice is a separate matter, no?"

Paragon nods softly. "It wouldn't be just as long as she doesn't have a memory of those crimes. She wouldn't be that person anymore," she looks over to the others.

Ghost says, "One of the punishments in the Nebula is mind-wipe. It's considered the equal of death. All crimes are forgotten. The person who has been mind-wiped is considered a new person, free of any stigma from previous actions."

"That's sort of a matter for the courts to decide," Quinn says. "I'm fairly sure such things must have come up in the past. In the meantime, do you really intend to fight the police to keep them from taking her into custody?"

Physique frowns, looks about, recognizes Quinn as a science guy. "Can I have a word?"

Quinn nods to Physique. "Sure," he says, "although biology isn't really my thing."

Paragon's eyes grow a little in size. It was never her intent to fight law enforcement. But she struggles with her own sense of justice, looking protectively at Mortua. Her fists clench a little as she tries to decide what the right thing would be, and finds her judgment to be a little clouded on the subject.

Mortua finally looks up and wipes the tears away from her eyes. She whispers quietly to herself, "Who am I...?"

Ghost says, "No, Anthony. But I would make sure she arrived in custody alive and unharmed. That may not be an issue here. In the Nebula accidents happened quite often to those accused of the death of security operatives."

Physique says, quietly so Mortua won't hear, "Someone's messed with her brain chemistry. I'd guess her memory's been wiped on purpose. Not that I'm an expert!"

Harlequin says over the comm, "No, I would not fight the police. But then, I would not have to, no?" He completes his walk to Mortua. "Ah, my dear, you have a rare opportunity: you get to choose who you are."

Quinn thinks about that for a moment and nods. "Can you tell how recently it happened?" he asks.

Ghost adds a question to Physique, "Wiped or suppressed? Are there any memories waiting to resurface?"

Ghost asks quite bluntly over the communicator, 'Can the police be trusted to treat her fairly?'

Physique says, "I can't say. It's kind of - the chemistry's not right for her DNA, kind of thing. I think. I don't really have the science background - just learned from using my power."

Harlequin shrugs slightly as he murmurs over the comm, "Mortua is convicted murderer. A paid assassin. An escapee from the most secure prison in this system. She will be put back in the system in all likelihood."

"Absolutely," Quinn replies via the communicator. "The bigger issue I would think is if her suppressed memories were to return while she was being transported." He sighs. "She really needs to be taken into custody. For all we know this is a new thing on the part of ACRO. Suppress your memories for a year. Drop you off where you can be picked up. When people decide you're not a threat any more your memories come back and you've got a clean slate."

Physique says, "Maybe we need to get some more out of the guys you *can* remember...."

One of policemen walks over to speak to the group of heroes. "Did I hear correctly that Mortua here seems to have amnesia?"

Harlequin murmurs softly over the comm, "If I had a bit of time, I can read her mind, Captain. With her permission of course. See if there is anything waiting to spring forth."

Paragon sighs softly as she listens to the other heroes, relaxing her hands. "Perhaps at the very least...she should be put under observation for her condition," she concedes with difficulty.

Ghost nods as Anthony speaks. "If her memories have been permanently wiped though, in my culture she would be a new person. It's going to take a good Pyikic to tell one way or another."

Ghost asks, "You can, Harlequin?"

Porter looks to the police officer and shrugs. "Seems that way. She probably needs somebody to look after her, help her out. Even with the whole assassin that escaped from prison thing."

Harlequin says simply. "Yes. I can."

The officer nods to Porter, "We won't take any chances with her, though. But at least we wont' have to fight her this time."

Quinn shrugs his armored shoulders to Ghost. "Even if her memories were completely wiped I can think of three different ways right now that this could be a ploy to clear her record. I'm not saying that's the case but simply that it's possible, and those are only the ideas I can come up with right at this moment."

Ghost goes over to Mortua, "Okay. This is the situation. You appear to have a colorful past as an assassin. Someone who kills for hire. You broke out of a maximum security prison, and were associated with other villains. Enemy Ace and Domina are two names that came up in my data search. What our actions and intentions will be depends on if your past memories have been erased for good or are just suppressed and will return. One of our group can read your mind and find that out. If you give permission."

Mortua's eyes go wide as Ghost lays out what the situation is. She swallows slowly, thinking about it. "I don't...really have much choice, based upon what I've heard you all say about me. I'm going to go to prison anyway, it sounds like." She gazes down at the ground, looking despondent. "Fine...go ahead."

Harlequin takes a step forward to look at Mortua. He murmurs gently to the despondent woman, "This will not hurt at all, my dear." He twists his fingers in a gesture and a large translucent blue eye forms in front of his forehead. "Look into the Akashic Eye, my dear. Let us see what we see."

Ghost nods to Harlequin. Then turns to Anthony, "That may be so. But if her memories are gone she is a new person. She was born today, yesterday, whenever it happened. I cannot think it in any way just to hold her accountable for actions she committed before this 'she' was born."

Physique watches, on guard, in case we find ourselves facing a deathly assassin or such in a moment...

Quinn nods to Ghost. "Sure, if that's what's happened I agree," he says, "but I think we need to be prudent until we are sure that's what happened. What if ACRO made a backup of her memories and once it is decided that she is a new person they get reloaded? Will it be justice to let people escape their past that way?"

Ghost asks Anthony in astonishment, "You can do that on Earth?"

"This time? What happened the last time?" Since there's no danger at the moment, and the police aren't after HIM, Porter might as well sate his curiosity. He might've heard of Mortua somewhere or seen something on the new, but nothing comes to mind right now.

Paragon folds her arms over her chest, observing quietly.

Harlequin lets the Akashic Eye close and fade away. "Her memories have been locked away from her. She cannot access them." He shrugs. "It would take a concerted effort to unlock them. I dare not look into those memories lest I accidentally awaken them."

The officer clears his throat and says quietly to Porter, "She's...real dangerous. I've heard stories of officers falling to her powers. Never seen it myself."

The officer looks to Harlequin, "Can you tell who did this to her? Or why?" He rubs his chin, "If that's the case, the only way to know might be to have to restore her memories."

Ghost switches to fae. Anthony will understand but nobody else will. Which includes the police. "Can you erase them fully and permanently, Harlequin?" she asks the mage.

"Would that not be like executing someone in a coma?" Quinn asks in fae.

Harlequin says in his antiquated Fae, "Not at this moment, but given time to prepare...Yes, I can."

Ghost looks at Anthony, still speaking in fae. "Yes. It would. Do you have a problem with that given her past actions and what will happen to her otherwise? She has a chance of a fresh start as a new person. Should we not offer her that opportunity?"

"I think such matters should be done after careful discussion and deliberation," he says, "Not decided while we stand on the street."

Physique remains happily oblivious to this conversation.

The metavillain police transport rolls up to the scene and a couple of SWAT members hop out of the back, ready to take the prisoner into custody. Several police cars also show, finally arriving from the parade across town, to deal with the many gang members that need to be taken in.

Harlequin nods slightly as he says in Faerie, "Well, I already have a reputation for taking liberties with the law. Shall I take her someplace secure?"

Ghost turns back to Mortua. "Your memories are suppressed. Sealed away but recoverable. There are various options you have now. To remain as you are, with the chance that your memories will return the authorities will keep you in custody. To have your memories restored. You will be in custody but will know why. To have your memories erased fully and permanently. If you take that option I will do everything I can to see you are released and will be able to rebuild your life as a new person. For now, the police will be taking you into custody. Think about what you want to happen. Take your time and be sure. There will be no going back from whichever option you choose."

Ghost shakes her head at Harlequin, in fae she says, "We can always do that later if we have to."

Mortua listens to Ghost...and then nods slowly. She says soberly, and with a hint of dread in her voice, "I think I'll need to speak to a lawyer, and find out what is likely to happen in each case. I don't know if it would matter to the...umm...powers-that-be."

Ghost says, "That is wise."

Paragon hearing the conversation return to English, she nods in agreement. "You have time to think of those options. It's a big decision to make," she says knowingly. "I wish you the best of luck with whatever choice you decide on."

Quinn gives a short nod, apparently happy with the suggestions Ghost has made. "Listen," he says, turning toward Mortua, "I know it might have sounded like I was all for sending you back up the river, lost memories or not, but that isn't the case. If you want I can have a lawyer come visit you to discuss legal ramifications of your choices and a psychologist who might be able to help you make up your mind."

Mortua nods sadly to Paragon and Quinn, "And...thank you." The police come over and take her into custody, along with the gang members. The one that was frozen by Harlequin's spell recovers just as he's being carried toward the police car.