Interview

Cathy gets her rest in her new quarters after her shift, wakes up at noon, takes care of the needs of the body, and heads to The Local Cafe, switching to her business attire after the

[flight.

As

](http://flight.As) a waiter seats her on a nice outdoor table with a sunshade, she informs the man, “I'm expecting company; Beatrice Smith, please send her my way when she arrives.”

“Of course, mademoiselle,” the man bows, leaving a menu behind.

Cathy chuckles at the name of the place as she goes through the menu: It's an international franchise, just like The Local Dive. The specific quality and menu can vary wildly between locations, but they're quite successful overall. She settles on an iced tea as the waiter comes back… with the redhead from the nightclub last night in tow, in a green dress with matching heels, coffee from the counter in hand.

As the woman reaches the table, Cathy gets up, “Beatrice?”

The green-eyed, redheaded white woman with a fantastic figure nods and extends a hand with three different rings, plus a bracelet, a mix of real and costume jewelry, “I am, yes; Cathy I presume?”

The tech heroine nods and shakes the offered hand, “I am, yes. Shall we sit down?” Beatrice nods, both sit, Cathy orders her iced tea, and the waiter makes himself scarce.

The woman in green seems to be distracted by something, so Cathy goes first, “Pleasure to meet you. So what are these stipulations you have in mind?”

“Likewise,” the little party girl responds before getting down to business, “A lot of rental and lease agreements forbid long-term guests who are not named on the lease; I plan to have a few live-in employees and long-term guests, which means I need the contract to explicitly specify that's OK while I have my own building constructed… a process that apparently takes three or four years now due to permitting requirements.”

“I have no problem with that,” the tech heroine nods, “how soon do you want to move in?”

“As soon as possible,” Beatrice smiles, “my current host is more than a little annoyed with sharing her apartment.”

The other white, green-eyed redhead nods, “We can do that. We just hop…” she pauses, “Meet me at the rental and I can print up the paperwork.”

The dancing queen pauses, then smiles, “That'll do nicely… I do need to settle up on my coffee, however.”

As the waiter comes back and hands Cathy her iced tea, Cathy nods, “Me too.” She takes a sip, “let's go.”

The two quickly finish their drinks, settle up their bills, and head out. Cathy finds a secluded spot looks around to make sure she wasn't followed and that nobody is watching, then switches shells and takes flight.

About a quarter of the way home, while a couple hundred feet up in mid air, a voice interrupts the relaxing flight: “How do you feel about joining a super team?”

Cathy stops in mid air, her prototype managing the wings switching her to hovering, and looks around… seeing nothing. “I recognize your voice, Ms. Smith,” the flying hero dressed up as a demon looks around, “where….”

“Here…” the ancient mage drops the invisibility spell, simply floating in mid air a few feet away, “most people don't look up much, so it's fine for a short conversation. Truth to tell, Beatrice Smith is simply a name of convenience. I have had many such.”

Cathy frowns, “I'm not a super, though, so why….”

The woman floating in the air seemingly as easily as a duck floats on water interrupts with a laugh, “Says the woman flying through the air on wings she most assuredly didn't have a few minutes ago. What are you, then?”

“A holographic engineer, this all works on sound scientific principles, why do you think I'm a super?” The woman in demonic guise frowns.

“Based on your words,” the ancient entity speaks, thinking ‘and your employment history, it's easy to look people up now… why you got fired makes a lot more sense now,’ before continuing verbally, “you likely found that other people, even with detailed instructions, cannot duplicate what you create?”

“That just means they weren't trained well enough,” the winged woman shrugs, “or misunderstood for other reasons. I just got sacked because someone else was covering up better.”

“It's a common problem,” the magically flying woman agrees carefully, “for a… I believe the current term is ‘supergenius’? A few centuries ago I would have said ‘Artificer’.”

“‘Centuries’?” The demonic-seeming woman repeats, “Just who are you, exactly?”

The mage says something utterly unpronounceable, as though that answers the question.

“...I'll stick with Beatrice, then…” the currently winged woman blinks a few times, “So what's involved in a hero team?”

“Partly what you've been doing, Wrath,” the entity gives the name Cathy used with the police in her current shell, “we stop bad people from doing bad things… but as a team: We support each other as we can, train together to see what tricks we can pull off as a group that we can't do individually, and… the reason I wanted to rent that large house of yours… spend as much time together as possible so we all trust each other and have a good idea how we'll react to different situations. I double as the sponsor, providing some financial backing.”

“And who is on the team right now?” ‘I can't believe I'm actually considering this…’ Cathy thinks.

“Currently it's my host, The Green Whisper; Shaper, a woman who currently needs a new legend; and myself,” the ancient entity answers using supernymns, “but we need at least three for recognition as a team by the International Society of Supers….”

“You can't count to three?” Cathy interrupts, her eyebrows raised.

“They won't count me,” the being clarifies, “I'm a symbiotic entity, and need to borrow a body to do anything. The Green Whisper - the host I've mentioned - is generously allowing me to use hers for this conversation. I'd prefer a fourth, but three will suffice for now.”

“And if I refuse, or find I don't like the situation or the other people later?” Cathy purses her lips.

“Teams don't work when ****,” the other redhead shrugs, “in that case, we can do this simply as the rental as we discussed at the cafe. If at any point - now or in the future - you decide it isn't working out… then just let everyone know plainly, and leave; all I ask in that instance is your honesty with and silence about the rest of us.”

“And financing means…”

“I'll be providing a paycheck with your membership, yes,” the floating woman confirms.

“My current job sucks. I'm in.”