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parents and children

Masks: Heartland Justice, 2024-10-17

legacy

Storm Lightning lectured Blink Lightning: their family legacy and his advancement was more important than the Heartland Justice team. Don't leave the team, but use this opportunity, above all, to distinguish himself individually.
But Blink resisted her influence and pierced her mask by asking if her father blames her for his career-ending injury: blinked by Hourglass. She cracked and softened saying:
1. She wants to secure her place in the Exemplars, but fears that because she failed to defeat Hourglass, she never will advance within AEGIS.
2. She was too cocky and underprepared when she faced Hourglass. He ruined her attack with his clever time traps. She blames herself for what happened to her father even though he "tells me every day that he's proud of me."
3. Maybe Blink shouldn't do what she said about focusing solely on his advancement, but should find his own way.

breaking into SkumTech HQ

In the lobby of SkumTech HQ in downtown Chicago, Hastag scored visitor badges for the heroes and an impromptu tour from Brad. But when Brad recognize Clarke the Bear and then the rest of the team as supers, he balked. He said, "Supers aren't allowed here."
Then el Luchador, intending to intimidate Brad, overdid a vitality sucking power and threw Brad into a seizure. The team then called for help and focused attention on Brad and slipped away as a crowd formed around him.
Clarke the Bear stole Brad's security badge, which got them to the 6th floor, one floor above their target: the 5th floor center of the smart home project. Then the Glint turned a locked security door into a hologram to get them where they wanted to go.

computer thieves

The heroes stole a heavy desktop computer from the Architecture & Design department.
Then in the Plans & Planning department, they recorded a looping 3D hologram of the stages of development. They identified Abed's mosque in stage one demolition and construction. The park to be built nearby the mosque is where they suspect the native burial site is.
While hiding in another P&P office, Clarke the Bear found a memo from SkumTech AI about AI in the smart homes.
In the C suite, they found a few execs with their haggard lackeys meeting in a well-appointed conference room. When the Glint tried to send the sound from the remote meeting mics to his cell phone, he accidentally reversed it, sending his phone's mic sound into the meeting room's speakers at full blast. The heroes were spotted. An exec called security. The heroes fled, but not before Blink Lightning stole an exec's laptop.
They found the lobby locked down, but escaped through air vents.

Rajesh returns

Abed spotted breaking news on a downtown building's screen: Rajesh emerging from the interdimensional rift above Willis Tower and descending on Millennium Park and the Bean. Blink Lightning ran the computers back to a Lightning safehouse and met the rest of the crew at the Bean.
A special AEGIS unit was erecting a high-tech containment barrier while other non-supers suited up in space-slash-hazmat suits. Tourists were being attended to by first responders and interviewed by media and AEGIS.
Blink Lightning scouted out the area being fenced in and found Rajesh staring at his reflection in the Bean. The heroes came in, before the fence was completed and the Glint talked with Rajesh.

"Creator, I'm glad you're here," Rajesh said.

"Why are you here?"

"I was lonely on the other side."

"Is it empty?"

"It is now."

"What are you doing here?"

"Creating." Rajesh reached into the Bean and pulled his reflection out. "Aren't you proud of me?"

The misshapen copy of Rajesh then turned to the Bean and pulled another reflection out of the Bean, as Original Rajesh did the same. The Glint said, "Why are you doing this?"

"It is pleasurable to create." Then four Rajeshes became eight.

"Stop," the Glint demanded. Eight became 16. The Glint put an arm around Original Rajesh's shoulder and tried to guide him gently away from the Bean, but Rajesh stood firm. Then the Glint forced him.

Rajesh looked at the Glint, confused. "You created me and I am creating. Why aren't you proud of me?"

The Glint turned the Bean matte black. A deep, light absorbing black. He said, "Stop this or I will uncreate you."

back from whence they came

Something in Rajesh broke, his face twisting. He struck the Glint with a swift open-palmed blow to the chest. The Glint took the full force of it and lost control of himself, exploding like a bomb. The rest of the team took powerful blows. Blink shielded Clarke. The fight was on.
El Luchador threw a copy into the Bean, and the Glint channeled power to trap the copy within. Another copy with enlongated arms wrapped el Luchador up. Clark cowed roughly half of them with ferocious bear stuff and the team started dispatching them back into the Bean.
Teammates lashed out at teammates, provoking rash action. Clarke cracked the Bean. Rajesh erupted, destroying the remaining copies and sending a shockwave into the heroes. Blink lost control of himself and sent a tornado careening into downtown. El Luchador lost control and destroyed a node of the containment fence. The Glint lost consciousness, and Blink pulled him to safety.
As Rajesh prepared to flee, el Luchador rashly threw himself between him and freedom. Blink and Clarke helped. Working together as a team, they barely held Rajesh. Until the space-slash-hazmat suited team came from one side and Planetar descended from the other.

fin

Clarke sacrificed himself to protect the Bean when el Luchador lashed out at it in anger.
Miles comforted a guilty Abed: "You did your best. You tried to fix your mistake. That's all you can do."
Abed melted into the softest, fuzziest Care Bear hug from Clarke.