Saint Joseph School

"Well," said the news anchor, segueing into the last piece of news for the night, "It seems like Paragon City's about to see a drastic rise in its heroic population this week--comic book heroes and their fans will descend onto Paragon City tomorrow, to enjoy the sights and sounds of Paragoncom VII, the largest such fan convention on the East Coast. Linda Lanyer's at the Paragon Civic Center with more information. Linda?"

The camera cut away to a smart-looking brunette in a mauve suit, holding a mic.

"Thanks, Dave. Yes, I'm standing here in the grand hall of the Civic Center. You can see the activity behind me as convention vendors and organizers get ready to open their doors Thursday to the citizens of Paragon City and convention attendees from all fifty states and across the globe, who will come to participate in Paragoncom VII. Attendees will be able to buy and trade fan merchandise, attend panel discussions with artists and actors from popular sci-fi and fantasy shows, and perhaps even garner an autograph or two from their favorite author or celebrity."

"Any chance of Statesman stopping by?"

Linda gave a professional laugh. "Anything's possible, Dave. No real-life heroes are scheduled to attend in their professional capacity. Conventions like this, the largest on the East Coast, allow fans of the sci-fi and fantasy genres to meet and mingle, and celebrate their interests. Advanced tickets for the event are expected to generate over a half-million dollars of revenue for Paragon City, and the bloc of tickets reserved for residents are selling out quickly."

The camera cut back to the anchor. "Paragoncom VII will run through Monday, tickets available through Ticketmaster or at the door." He turned to his co-anchor, oozing false candor. "Well, that looks like fun, doesnt' it, Marlene? Y'know, I was always a fan of the X-Men when I was a kid. Loved that cartoon."

Marlene smiled. "I'm sure most men are fans of the X-Men after seeing Famke Janssen in a bustier in that last movie."

They shared a conspiratorial chuckle.

"That's it for us at Channel Five Action News. Have a Super evening, Paragon City."

Someone clicked off the television in the student lounge. A few blinked, staring at each other. And then there was a sudden scramble, and howls of excitement, as the bastions of teenage geekdom began making plans for a most excellent weekend.

"Oh my gosh," said Bryan. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"I agree," said Nennya calmly, from across the room. It emptied quickly, students patting their uniforms, making sure they had their wallets and IDs before they made a mad dash for the train.

"You want to go? I got my tickets a week ago, but we were still..."

"Broken up. I know." She turned and gave him a sudden grin. "I like comic books. And science fiction. There are a few authors that I wanted to meet." She walked over and plopped down on the couch beside him. "I got myself a ticket yesterday." She raised her index finger and pressed his nose. "Beep beep." He took her hand and squeezed it.

Toby stepped outside and hit the speed dial for home on his cell phone. After a few rings, he heard his mom's voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mom!" He smiled brightly. "Paragoncom is this weekend! I was hoping I could go this year. It's sounds so awesome and everybody at school is going! Please?"

"Well..." She paused. "Yes, you can go."

Toby's jaw dropped a bit. Last year when he asked, she flat out said no because he was "too young".

"Thank you Mom! That's awesome! I--"

"Hold up a second, I wasn't quite finished." There was an undertone of amusement in her voice. "You have to take your brother with you."

"... Oh." Toby cleared his throat. "Okay, then. So he wants to go, too?"

"Yes, and he wants to go with his big brother. He misses you and Hannah a lot, now that neither of you are around. He's been asking me about going to it, too, and I hadn't planned on letting him because he's much too young to go by himself... but, well. If you can arrest Circle and Freaks and who knows what else, you can probably keep track of your little brother."

"Yeah..." Toby laughed a bit. "Probably. Okay. I'll go buy two tickets, then. Thanks Mom. I'll talk to you later."

"You're welcome. I love you."

"Love you, too. Bye."

He hung up the phone, sighing. But hey, he was going to Paragoncom again finally, first time he'd been able to go since... well, never mind that. He crossed his fingers and hoped that Simon wouldn't be too hyper.

It was nearing evening in Faultline, and the sun, beginning to sink low, cast myriad reflections from the buildings jutting upwards into the sky at their various angles. Sam and Nick were discussing some sort of upcoming science-fiction convention. While Vesper was participating in the conversation, much of it was just passing through her, until Sam caught her completely off guard.

“You two should go.”

“Huh?” Vesper snapped out of her brief fugue and looked directly at Sam, who had a completely innocent look on her face. “I dunno, that’s not really my sorta thing.”

“So?” Sam challenged. “Make it your thing. You'll have a great time. They got a ton of things to do. It'll be good for you.”

Nick jumped in, excited about the idea. “Yeah, come on! You're the one that keeps telling me you want to expand your horizons. It'll be fun and you'll get to see your future adoring fans.”

She thought about it for a second. Throngs of people shoving and pushing, lots of fans in goofy or weird costumes, excitement, some famous authors… It was probably the sort of thing best avoided. On the other hand, it could be an interesting experience, something new, different, and she had to admit, Nick was right about those horizons. Ves nodded to both of them. “Alright, I guess I’ll give it a shot.”

Nick wasn’t about to make it that easy, though. “Cool! Want to go in costume? I'm making one.”

Raising her eyebrows, Ves cocked her head, “Costume? I dunno. Seems like a lot of effort. Why bother?”

“Well, you're pretty distinctive.” Nick pointed out. “Even if only locals would recognize you, you're hard to forget. Besides, it's a chance to dress up for fun!”

Sam laughed. “And because that's what you do at Nerdcon, Ves. Go be someone else for a day, like... some... spaceship guy. Or, hey, you could go as a norm!”

“Distinctive? Yeah, maybe, but a costume… And a norm, at that? Might be kinda hard to pull off.” Ves paused then asked seriously, “You think that many people would recognize me?”

“Well, maybe. Like I said, you're kind of hard to mistake.” Nick took a moment as he ran a few possibilities through his head. “I don't know. Maybe a Vulcan?”

“Vulcan?” Ves considered it, but laughed it off. “Might explain the ears, but what about the rest? A short, gray Vulcan with a tail? What do I say? My butt got caught in a mechanical rice picker?”

“Wear some sort of trench coat, maybe?” Sam threw in. “Or was that Flash Gordon? I don't know. I don't speak geek.”

“Vulcan in a trench coat?” Ves asked.

“Ok, maybe an elf?” Nick suggested.

Ves scowled, "I'm not dressin' up like some stuck-up elf!"

“Stuck-up?” Nick looked confused.

“Yeah. Aren’t most elves kinda arrogant? I mean that’s how they’re portrayed. You know, superior? Stuck-up?”

“Ok, I see your point. Give me a moment.” Nick pulled out his laptop, and typed in a quick query. “Hey, how about this kind of elf?” He turned the laptop around to display an image of a grizzled looking elf armed with a sword and what looked to be a machine gun. Above the photo the title “Shadowrun” was emblazoned in stylized letters

Ves looked at the photo and nodded. "Yeah, that might work... But still, gray skin and tail. What do I do about those? I guess maybe some makeup..." She trailed off, pondering the idea.

A memory popped into Sam’s head. “Go see Serge. He had that skin dye Joni used.”

Nick added, “Can you hide your tail in a set of baggy pants?”

“Um…” Ves paused, scowling back. “Last time I tried that, it didn’t so work so well. Messes up my balance. Just too used to the thing. But… Maybe that and the trench coat? I can keep it tucked in, out of sight maybe.” Waving a finger in Nick’s direction she continued, “You promise to help me stay upright, and I can swing it, I think.”

“Oh, sure! I'll help. Wait until you see my costume!”

"So that's settled. How 'bout you, Sam? You comin', too?" Ves asked.

"Hah! Uh, no. You guys have fun."

Ves looked slightly startled. "What? You got me into this, but you're not goin'? That's so not fair!"

Sam waved a hand at her. "Science-fiction isn't exactly my thing. And my horizons are broad enough."

The three of them were still conversing when the sun dipped below the line of sight afforded by the war walls in the distance.



Nick and Vesper in costume (sans props):

Abe looked over the top of the sheet his latest contact had given him. It was surprising really. He had done security jobs before, but normally it was for portal corp, and he was protecting some serious equipment and codes.

Keeping the peace at a sci-fi con was a step down to say the least.

"Ok....run this by me again. WHY is this nessecary?" Abe sighed as he glanced down at the flyer promoting Paragoncom VII. His contact was thinking that he was willing to go up on stage and talk about how being a hero was something that he not only felt was needed, by something he enjoyed.

"Fans baby! Fans! You've gotta increase your fan base! The more popular you are, the more your on the news! I mean, come on! Look at States! He's ALWAYS on the news!" Christopher Leery chortled, running a greasy hand over an equally greasy scalp. " You do this, I can promise you that everyone will know your name!"

Of course everyone knows Statesman's name. He helped save the world for godsake. Abe bitterly thought, bitting his lip, as he continued to read the invitation. They were asking him to speak, to address the crowd, and to tell them what being a hero is really about. The hell I know about being a hero? I'm flying by the seat of my pants half the time anyways.

Seeing the still skeptical look on his cilent's face, Christopher took a new angle. "Think of all the advice you'll be giving to the kids that are there that might just be developing they're powers! You could be a rolemodel for a whole new generation of supers!"

Abe shook his head and handed the flyer back to Christopher. "Forget it." Abe turned and started to walk away into the bustling throng of people when Christopher dropped a bomb.

"There's a chance Novitex might show up."

Abe stopped straight in his tracks. Turning slowly, he stared at Christopher.

"Only as undercover security."

"Fine!"

"Then I seem to have just found an opening..."

Gabe walked through the massive crowd in front of the exibition hall, idly sipping at a lime slurpee he'd bought from the concession stand ($4.50! Good lord! He only hoped that Arachnos never realized that there was more easy money in concessions than bank robbery). Things seemed slow at the moment, of course when the panel guests and guests of honor started to filter in, they'd be jammed shoulder-to-shoulder.

Gabe slid his way around the large man in full stormtrooper regalia and into the main hall.