We get more descriptions of the heroes and how they feel about being "Gifted" and descriptions of their powers.

Aura... Erin Halfelven.

The very first thing I tried to do with my new powers blew the rest of my poor tattered clothes to rags and scraps and scattered the pieces all over the area under our bridge. Scared the bejesus out of me, too, because it made a noise like a firecracker going off inside a garbage can.

"Oh, boy," I whispered. If anybody in the Jungle heard that, they would be out to investigate. I glanced down at myself and almost started cursing again when I saw the giant tits. I seemed to be naked but surrounded by a thin golden aura. Not quite naked, maybe, I saw lines in the aura, as if I were wearing a bikini top.

And when I started to move I discovered that I had on what looked like Mom's favorite pair of stage shoes, the ones with a five-inch heel and a one-inch platform. Good night! I could barely walk and when I stepped in a soft stpot the stiletto heels sank up to my arch in the dirt. I cussed again.

Smokin' Joe stuck his head out of the jungle about then. He had a cigar in his bearded face, like he always did, and his ancient Raiders cap was pulled low on his forehead. About all I could really see of him was his eyes, big as saucers as he stared at me.

I don't know why but I waved and grinned at him. "It's just me, Joe," I said in my new lower pitched voice. "I brought some bread and juice boxes." I pointed at the bags.

"Who the fuck are you, lady?" Joe demanded around the cigar.

"Uh." It occurred to me that I didn't really want to tell him what had happened. "You can call me -- Aura," I said. "I'm one of the superheroes the damned alien was talking about last week."

He boggled a bit. "You look like Stripperella," he said with a hint of -- what was that? Admiration or just leering? He paused to cough up a nasty wad of something and I looked around, thinking about getting away. But where would I go.

More heads were appearing in the Jungle curtain: Gorch, Needlenose, Aloha Sue and Bowser, the dog. They started asking questions I didn't want to answer. Ten or fifteen people lived in the Jungle at various times and pretty soon, everyone that was at home would be out ogling me. I felt exposed.

"Is that bikini painted on?" I head Needlenose ask.

"Looks like," said Sue. "Ain't you cold, honey?"

I wasn't cold, particularly, now that I noticed. Perhaps the aura around me kept me warm. I wondered about the other powers I'd asked for. Could I fly?

"Tommy ought to see this chick," said Gorch. "He'll be home soon."

The mention of my other self, --my old self?-- got me moving. I turned and stumbled back up the path under the bridge. When I had clear sky above me, I tried to jump into the air, intending to fly away if I could.

I felt the power of my aura fling me into the sky....Aura is about 5'9", 130 lbs. With long golden blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has a deep tan and a slight overbite that makes her look younger than she is which was 26 when Molly Golden died. She has a big chest because one of the clubs Molly danced for paid for her to get implants. Her measurements are 41-23-35

Her powers include a personal forcefield that protects her from danger. It lurks invisibly just under her skin unless the danger is obvious and imminent when it automatically comes to her surface and turns her gold, head to foot. If she is surprised, it will just blow her clothes off and she will be left looking as if she were wearing a golden bikini with high heels. Otherwise, if she does it deliberately, she can make it turn her clothes gold, too. She hates getting surprised. :)

If she's in the bikini and heels get up, she can jump by shooting the forcefield out of her heels. Trying to do that in regular clothes, even turned gold, will blow the clothing off and leave her in the bikini, etc.

She can jump several city blocks, about an eighth of a mile or jump that distance straight up. Once in the air, she can make wings grow on her back, big dragonfly or damselfly like wings (she can hold them in either position). She can glide with these wings or fly and hover. Her flying speed is only abut 180mph tho, less if she's using the force field for anything besides protection and flight. She CAN fly faster in an emergency but only by losing altitude rapidly.

When she lands, the wings disappear unless she concentrates on them for a moment but she normally doesn't keep them since she takes off by jumping anyway.

She can extend the forcefield from either hand as a club, a sword, a shield or claws. She can make spurs on her feet and horns on her head, too. At first, she can't really do these things during a fight, or the wings either, but she learns.

She can extend the forcefield into anything or anyone touching her or within arms reach. She can also make a force bubble about ten feet in diameter. She will be naked inside a force bubble tho. The bubble will hold enough air for her for about 20 to 30 minutes. She can see out of the bubble but no one can see in and she can make it float at about walking speed.

Actually, she can see through her forcefields anytime she wants, she still knows where they are but she can see through them. To anyone else inside one of her forcefields, personal or bubble, everything outside will look blue. Near ultra-violet radiation is the only thing that can go through the force field with enough energy to do damage without being affected by the absorption. So a near ultra-violet laser could reach right inside and hit her.

Her forcefield will stop any blow up to an elephant or rhino-killing rifle bullet and will at least soften the impact of harder stuff. She's pretty much fireproof and acid proof but caustic gases could get her unless she knows to hold her breath or use wings to blow them away. Nuclear energy is cut by about one half by her forcefield but she can harden it so 90% or more of radiation will be stopped.

She can make her forcefield glow with golden light and so see in the dark. She can form mermaid-like fins in the water but then can swim only about twice as fast as a person can run, about 30mph. She has to learn this trick, it doesn't come automatic.

Eventually, she might learn other uses of the forcefield, like making an augur to drill through stuff.

When she punches, her forcefield pulses and adds energy to her blow so she can hit about as hard as a strong man using a sledgehammer. With a forcefield hammer or sword, she can hit even harder because of the leverage.

She doesn't get tired as quick as most people but using too much aura energy will tire her and she does have to sleep and eat and all of that. She can recover some energy for her aura from the sun and heat, but this doesn't help with being tired. If she flew at max speed for two hours, she would need to rest and recharge for at least ten minutes or be at only half effectiveness. If she was carrying someone, she would tired as fast again for every hundred pounds she carried. Her limit for lifting is about 3000 pounds but for flying its about 500.

If she's prepared, it is hard to knock her down or back because she can sink force spikes into the ground or whatever is beneath her. These penetrate without breaking but anyone strong enough to knock her down or back then would tear chunks out of whatever she had spiked.

----------------------------------
Graviton... Catherine Linda Michel

“Oh my God!” was my first thought, followed very quickly by checking my identification to see if that had been covered as well. I looked around and found a purse. A purse! Checking it quickly I found that the entity had thought of everything. I was Karen Mitchell, 25 years old with the same birthday I'd had as Keith. I was 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body! Yes, I checked and I was complete as a female, at least as far as I could determine from an quick examination externally!

Perhaps the oddest thing I found out though, was that I felt completely comfortable with my new form and looks. There was none of the strangeness I'd expected at finding breasts on my chest and no external structures in my groin area. I found that all it took to access my abilities was a thought, and I knew everything about them, and how to use them! It was as if I'd been born just the way I was and had come into my powers by experimentation and use of them!

When I went to bed that night, I thought hard about the one thing the Observer had said. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” and I realized that I had placed myself in between the impending doom of my home planet, and being one if it's only hopes! Scary? Nah... not much. I shivered my way to sleep, knowing that the next few weeks and months were going to be the scariest, most trying times of my life, and you know what? I looked forward to them!

Waking up the next morning was a... different experience. For the first time, I didn't have any aches or pains. My eyes opened and I was instantly awake. I did one of those full body stretches and just lay there for a minute or two, reveling in the feeling of a healthy body.

Then, it came crashing in on me. 'I can't waste any time! I gotta get up, get dressed, and get moving! I don't know how I'm gonna find the rest of the heroes,' but I damn sure have to figure something out.

With that thought firmly in my head, I jumped out of bed... and promptly hit my head on the damn ceiling! Well shit! I mean, it didn't hurt... well, it didn't hurt me. It sure did a job on the ceiling though. Looking around, I located my broom and dustpan, cleaned up the mess, and tried to find some clothes that would fit.

Yeah, right! Everything I had was either too big, too small, or too dirty. Sigh. Okay. Find an old sweatsuit... make it fit the best I can, grab my purse... my purse! Nobody can imagine how much of a thrill it was for me to be able to call a purse, my own!

Anyway, grab purse and head out to get some clothes that fit. Keys in purse, check. Wallet in purse, check. Out the door, lock it. Off to the stores. Crap! Unlock the door, go back in the apartment, find some damn shoes, then repeat former actions. Now out the damn door.

I hit the stores heavy, thanks to the money the Observer had so thoughtfully given me. When I reached the point where I couldn't carry any more bags, I stopped for some lunch. Setting the bags down in a food court in the mall where I was, I got in line at Biggie Burger. I was starving, so I ordered up a double everything with a large Pepsi(TM). The kid at the counter gave me a funny look like, “How is a little thing like her eat all that food?” I just smiled and went back to my seat.

I scarfed down all that food in a matter of minutes, not noticing the looks I was getting from the rest of the people eating there. When I looked up, however, I realized that I should have been a bit more... ladylike in my eating habits. Oh well, nothing for it now but to ignore them and get on with shopping.

By the time I reached the other end of the mall, I had so much stuff I'd had to borrow a cart from one of the custodians to carry it all. One of the rent-a-cops suggested that I have all that stuff delivered. What a great idea! I gave him a big smile and asked him if he would be so kind as to take care of that for me. He called his main office and after I gave him my address, he made arrangements to have the delivery made to my apartment within the hour. This being a gal stuff is neat! All I gotta do is smile and people fall all over themselves to help me.

So I took some of the things I'd bought, grabbed a cab and made it back to my place ahead of the delivery truck. Back inside, I tossed everything on the bed and sat down to think. I knew what abilities the Observer had given me, so I concentrated on them to see if any of them would help me locate the other heroes, and came up empty. Damn! I shoulda asked for telepathy or a magic locater thing, or something!

Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way. Okay. No media. That could be a real goat rope! That means no advertising in newspapers either. Superheros in the Yellow Pages? Not bloody likely! Then it hit me. Atlanta Georgia! Home of HLN and Robin, hotter than a blowtorch, Meade! If I could wangle a way to get into the studios, I might hear or find something that might lea me to the other heroes!

Okay! Great idea! One thing though. Yeah, I can fly, but I can't take all my new pretties with me that way. Hmmm. Too much to go by plane too. Bus? No friggin way! Train? Same thing. Sigh. Okay. I guess I gotta pack up my trusty Ford Crown Vic and head south. A couple of days of easy driving would get me there in good shape. Then get a hotel room, and infiltrate the news station.

Hey! I didn't say it was a great plan! It was all I had, and I've always been more then somewhat impulsive. Besides, being able to have some control over gravity meant that I could decrease the weight of my loaded down Vic, and get better gas mileage. So, with the plan firmly in mind, I set about saying goodbye to this cesspit of a town.

I called my landlord and told him to keep the damn deposit. Then I cancelled the phone, internet and cable. Then I had the electricity and other stuff shut off. I packed up the Crown Vic, and I was outta there. Having no friends and a crappy job helped too. The job could go pound salt. When I didn't show up, they'd just fire me anyway. Screw them. Damn job sucked anyway.

Heading out of town, I thought about what was ahead of me, other than 600 miles of road. This is gonna be one hell of an adventure. I mean, saving the world? Give me a break here! Still, the chance to actually be a woman, not to mention a superheroine, well, that just about trumped anything else that I could think of.

So, look out world! Here comes GRAVITON! She's hot, she's super and she's comin' to save YOU!

I passed around Pittsburgh and stopped for fuel and snacks. The day was just gorgeous for this time of year. Bright sunlight, clear sky, a bit cold, but I have a heater in the car. Stopping every hundred miles of so to stretch my legs and snack a bit... Wow. This is the life. No job worries, no money worries, hardly any worries at all... well, unless you count that “saving the world” thing, that is.

Even with that on my mind, it was still a feeling of anticipation that buoyed my spirits more than anything. After filling the car, and myself, I got back on the road, keeping the cruise control set at whatever the posted limit said the speed limit was. I wasn't in a hurry and, anyone who was... well they could go around me. Besides, I was living my dream of actually being a real, live woman.

Yeah, okay, there was that whole “saving the world” thing in the back of my mind , but on the whole, I was finally what was, to my mind, the right sex! Compared to the immediacy of finally living the way I'd always wanted, needed to be, even the awful thought of the whole world ending unless I and some others did something about it, kinda faded into white noise in my subconscious.

I stopped at a rest area after about another hour, shut off the car and got out to stretch and think, listening to some vintage Jethro Tull coming from my new MP3 player. Mmmmm. Locomotive Breath. The whole parking area was empty except for Martha, my 1994 Crown Victoria.

I lit a smoke, knowing that they could no longer harm my health, thanks to the Observer and his gifts. Blowing out a plume of fragrant smoke, I reached into my cooler for a Pepsi(TM) and popped it open. I was singing along with the song, Locomotive breath, and had just taken a healthy swig of my cold soda when the air began... well, sparkling? around me!

Karen Mitchell, AKA Graviton. 25 years old, 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body. Strawberry Blonde hair, tanned and very fit looking.

Powers: 25 years old, and physically very attractive, fully female. Appearance will never vary from apparent age of 25, and remain fully healthy until death.

Full knowledge of how to be a female, like a fashion sense, makeup and the like.

Powers have to do with gravity and the manipulation of it, with enhanced strength and reflexes. Flight, at mach 2 maximum when needed.

Virtual invulnerability from physical damage, and immunity from all known forms of radiation, gases and chemicals. Full knowledge of what powers can do and how to use them for the best in any situation.

Very secure financial condition and full documentation to support new Identity.
----------------------------------------

-------------------------------------Tessaract RevealedӬ by Sasha Nexus
"Fascinating!"ӬI just had to say it again and then Tanisha was thru the locked door and into my room and was about to start CPR when she saw the reason for the flat line on her remote monitoring.

The sensors were a bit close to my nipples when I was flat chested but now were on the sides of my breasts, yes Breasts! When Tanisha saw I was in no danger and what had incapacitated the sensors she just had the giggles and I joined her in my new higher sexy voice.Ӭ

"Talk about late bloomers girl, this is impossible! I'm so glad for you but is there something you would like to tell me?"Ӭ

"I'm sorry Tanisha for not saying before but I'm one of the gifted that the Observer called. I accepted and look, instant boobs, hair, voice and you tell me."Ӭ

"You've got the whole package girl. Give me a second, got to do something quick and I'll be right back."ӬTanisha tore out of my room headed who knows where.

Then it caught up with me, all of the treatment and records from Grady were under the name Jane Roe so as to not identify me outside of the security of the shelter. She must be canceling the data merge of my records from the hospital into my Medicaid file which would start the request for the treatment that I no longer needed.Ӭ

"Got the data merge purged. I'm afraid that Medicaid doesn't know anything about your condition now and Grady will have lost another Jane Roe thanks to the shelter's hacker."Ӭ

"That’s a relief. Thanks for helping me keep my cover Tanisha. Wow this all seems so upside down from where we started. I'm afraid to ask what comes next."”¨

"Girlfriend you get the complete exam this time including a ride in the stirrups. But it looks like you are whole."ӬTanisha took me to the exam room and she did the full exam on me.

There was no trace of any abnormality left. What I didn't realize until I got to look in the mirror is that instead of a mousey brown haired brown eyed person, I was a blue eyed blonde woman. My face had changed so that I looked completely different now.Ӭ

"Happy Birthday Tina! It's a girl!"Ӭ

"Thanks Tanisha. Why do you suppose that I don't look like a completely female version of what I was with the abnormalities removed?"Ӭ

"Part of what made you intersexed, Tina is that you were a chimera. Parts of you had a different DNA. While the most of you had been xxxy this other DNA was xx. It looks like you are the person that you would have been if you had been made up only with the XX DNA. Of course that is just a guess. It would take a lot more tests that we won’t do to confirm it since we don’t want to red flag you as possibly gifted. "”¨

"Thank you, Tanisha. You are such a good friend. Do you think that you could find some clothes that fit the new me?"Ӭ

"That I can do, Tina. Hey if you are Gifted, what can you do besides mesmerize guys who look into your cleavage?"Ӭ

"I know what I asked for but that doesn't mean that I got it. I'll work on seeing what I can do while you are away."Ӭ

"Okay Tina. Have fun!"Ӭ

I didn't want to tell her what I had asked for until I saw if I could do it. So I tried to open a Tessaract.

A Tessaract is a place outside of Space and Time at the intersection of all the points on Earth. Some one more powerful might be at the intersection of the Solar System or the Galaxy or the Universe but Earth was enough for me. From the Tessaract, I could open a 'window' where I could view one of those points and mentally selecting the point would provide the direction where it opened up.
You could step thru the window or else just close it and open up another window till you saw where you wanted to go. I had stored a key to all those points in my head so if I knew where I was going then I could just jump there but if I was searching for something it was trial and error but since the Tessaract was outside of space time , the time spent in the Tessaract did not happen and it seemed to an outsider that the trip took no time expended at all.Ӭ

"Open Sez Me!"ӬAnd all of a sudden I was no where and everywhere at the same time.

It was an atmosphere of swirling lights inside the Tessaract. I opened a window back to my room and I saw it exactly as I had left it frozen in time except I had vanished. Duh! I had missed it floating among the lights when I first entered the Tessaract but there suspended in mid air floating was a Powerball Lottery Ticket with today's date on it.
I snatched it from the air and placed it in my cleavage for lack of pockets in my nightgown. It occurred to me that in order for Tanisha to be able to come back to the room I would have to exit the Tessaract so that Time would start again when I emerged back in the real world. I stepped thru the window and re entered the room, not at the same point that I had left it so that if there were someone observing they would have seen me popping in to the room at a different place. With persistence of vision, It would have seemed initially that there were 2 of me. Very weird!Ӭ

Tanisha came in after a while with a dress underclothes and shoes for me to wear. I put them on and admired myself in the mirror. I guess I did have the superpower of keeping a Guy's eyes glued to my boobs, too.Ӭ

" Tanisha, do you know tonight's Powerball winning numbers?"Ӭ

"I can pull them up on my phone, why?"Ӭ

"I think I have the winning Ticket."Ӭ

"Cool. Here they are."ӬShe showed me the winning numbers on her phone and I compared them all.Ӭ

"This is the winning ticket. Wow. I can't redeem it. That would blow my cover for real. Tanisha, could you redeem it for me and use it to buy a large home in the suburbs? I don't have a home now so it would be good if you had one big enough so that I and the other gifted would have a place to hang out. You could use the rest for you and to make a better life for the battered women who go thru the shelter."Ӭ

"I'll do that for you Girlfriend and all those others out there who need help. It will take time to get the actual money but I imagine that my credit will be good enough to buy a large home. Hey I remember reading about one in the homes section. It's out in Covington but the seller has gone to St Simons Island to live with her Brother to be close to the rest of her family so it's all ready to move in and it comes furnished. Take a look at this house!"Ӭ

"Wow it looks like a 4 story house with basement that is formed in the shape of a Castle with turrets and stone walls and everything.
Why don't you check into that? Does it say how much land it is on?"Ӭ

"It's on 74 acres and has pastures for horses and a creek running along the boundary on one side. It's wooded so its very isolated from the neighbors. But you have been distracting me from asking about your gift. What did you find out?"Ӭ

"I can do a special kind of Teleport called a Tessaract."Ӭ"Like Meg in "A Wrinkle in Tine"?"Ӭ"Like that only I have more control since instead of being centered on all of space / time, I am centered on Earth. I think that if I touch you like Meg touched Charles Wallace; I can bring you into the Tessaract with me. Instead of like a tunnel that you flow down, mine is like a room where you can look at different places till you find one you want to get out at and it takes no time at all to go from A to B."Ӭ

"Wow, Tina. Let’s go!"”¨Tanisha put her hand in mine and we both went into the Tessaract and disappeared from the room.

Tanisha took a moment to get used to the new environment and then she was eager to explore .Ӭ

"Are you okay, Tanisha?"Ӭ

"I'm more than Okay. My COPD seems to be going away. I can breathe normally again. Wow!"Ӭ

"Look Tanisha. The scars on your arm are fading so that it seems like they were never there."Ӭ

"All of my old injuries are disappearing just like they never happened. The environment inside the Tessaract must be healing me. I bet you didn't notice it because you were brand new anyway."Ӭ

I opened a window onto "The Castle" in Covington.Ӭ

"Look Tanisha. It's ' The Castle’ I can open windows into each of the rooms so we can have a look see without actually going there and setting off the alarms"”¨

"It's even better than the pictures."Ӭ

We took a virtual tour of 'the Castle' by opening windows into each of the rooms. When we had finished we were even more Convinced that 'The Castle' would be perfect for Tanisha to own and for me and my new friends to stay since there was plenty of room.. When we agreed we were finished for now, I opened a window back to the room we had left. When we walked thru out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the two of us leaving.Ӭ

"Tina, I'll go ahead and get this started. If you are going to be a heroine you might think about borrowing one of the sewing machines from the activity room and some spandex and sew yourself a costume. I can help you with a pattern of something cute I thought about making for Halloween one year."Ӭ

"That sounds like a winner. How do I start? "Ӭ

"You'll want to decide what colors you want to make it and perhaps have some design on your front. Draw what you want it to look like and I'll bring you back the pattern and material that I had for the costume and we'll try to make what you want. Of course you know the first rule of costumes, don’t you?"”¨

"What is that Tanisha?"Ӭ

"No Capes!"Ӭ

"Okay Edna!"Ӭ

We both giggled and I got some pencil and paper and drew a design with a Moon over my boobs and a butterfly on my tummy and had the right and left be different colors. The left designs were in the rights color and the right's design was in the left's color. The two colors contrasted so the design was recognizable from a long ways away. Tanisha came back with the costume pattern and some gold and green Spandex.Ӭ

"Here you go, Tina. You can get the Sewing machine and thread from the sewing room. You can draw your design on the pattern and then with tracing paper trace it off into a pattern to cut out and then you can stitch the design to the costume."Ӭ

"I think I can do this. Thanks"Ӭ

Well I made a start on it and after Tanisha had started things on the Lottery ticket and the house, she came back and helped me with the costume. She corrected the things that I had missed and took over. By the time she was finished with the costume, they had arranged for her to start renting the house until all the paperwork went thru for her to buy it outright. I tessered her and her car full of stuff over and she began to move in.Ӭ

As I tessered over with load after load I became aware that there seemed to be others like me. I could sense their existence and a direction and relative distance from me. There was one heading north to Atlanta and another heading south towards Atlanta. I had the last load for Tanisha and we stopped to talk.Ӭ

"Tanisha, I'm sensing the presence of other gifted. I need to find them."Ӭ

"Okay, Tina. I'll get you checked out from the shelter. Of course you are welcome at 'The Castle' Anytime. I'll collect your things and have them for you in your bedroom here. When you find them you can bring them back here if you like. Please let me know before you do so I can be a little bit prepared for it and it’s not a complete surprise."”¨

"Of course, Tanisha. I'll do that."Ӭ

"Tina, aren't you forgetting something? This is your first mission after all."Ӭ

"My costume, Right! I'll go change into it before I go."Ӭ

"You never told me what you decided for your heroine name."Ӭ

"I'm Tessaract but you can call me Tess! All my hopes for you, Tanisha."Ӭ

"God speed, Tess!"ӬAnd Tina vanished from Tanisha's sight. With a quick stop and a costume change,

Tesseract was on her way to find the others.

Powers:

1. Unlike the power that Meg had to traverse galaxies, dimensions and time, Tina's power isӬlimited in scope to point to point transport within the Earth's gravity well.

2.With the limitation in scope, Tina is able to pinpoint with great accuracy the exit point for the Tesseract. This she does with the aid of exact model of Earth now stored in her brain to refer to in guiding the Tesseract

3.Once inside the Tesseract she is able to turn back and observe her departure point from safety inside the restorative and inertia canceling environment inside the Tesseract She is also able to view alternate exit points and chose where exactly to exit the Tesseract.

4.Time in the outside world appears to have stopped while one is inside the Tesseract. Being within the forces inside the Tesseract tends to degrade one's physicality so to preserve it there is a powerful restorative to organic matter only that will heal more and more damage in correspondence to the time spent inside the Tesseract Life Support is maintained for unlimited time inside the Tesseract and within the threshold Force Field.

5.There is a threshold state before actually entering the Tesseract where the person is surrounded by an energy shield but can otherwise interact normally in a protected state with the world. In order to move the energy shield, One Tessers But instead of emerging, remains in the threshold state which appears to achieve instant movement. The person disappears inside the tesseract during transit but since the movement is instant the period where it disappears is not detectable. Persistence of vision will make it appear that there are 2 forcefields momentarily when there is only really one.

6 Defensive use of the forcefield can be to Tesser into the path of something and let it run into the forcefield. With the inertia dampening field no impact is felt inside or to appear to surround something with persistence of vision making it appear that there are multiple forcefields present instead of one.

7 More than one person can enter the Tesseract with Tina but they must establish and maintain physical contact with her.

8. Unrelated to her ability to Tesser, She also has an empathic sense. She is able sense the presence of others that the Observer has touched and this sense of presence increases as the distance between them decreases. This sense of presence can detect anyone on the half of the earth centered on her present position very faintly. Once she comes within 30 miles of them she begins to detect emotional state with the stronger ones being detected sooner than weaker ones. When within sight of a person, she can recognize them as the source of the emotional content they are receiving . Her Empathic ability functions thru the threshold force field.

Power functionality summary:

1 Provides transport to all in physical contact with Tina

2 Time spent inside the Tesseract via touching Tina results in Healing

3 Tina can extend her threshold Forcefield to all who touch her

4 Can be used as a defensive cloak or weapon combining the threshold force field with Tessering.

5.Can detect presence extra long range, emotions medium range, and recognize extra short range with her empathic sense.
--------------------------------------------

Winter... Maggie Finson
Damn.

I sat down, conscious of more padding that was mine, than I'd ever been used to having. I'd always been a short, skinny guy, though I used to prefer calling myself lean.

I spent a long time just looking at my hands, and glorying in my ability to breath without trouble once again along with the aches and pains I'd started to consider old friends. I felt better than I ever recalled feeling even if the circumstances were more than a little strange.

My hands. Yes, back to those. Small, narrow, smooth, long fingered though my nails were still kind of bitten off, just as they had been. I made an idle, and inane mental note to stop biting my fingernails.

My skin was so pale it nearly looked white. Not like a fish belly, there was still enough color in them to avoid that, but barely. A strand, okay make that lock of hair that was a lot longer than I'd worn it since my near hippy days of playing in loud, obnoxious rock bands fell over on shoulder and curled around my — breast on that side.

“Oh, this is going to take some getting used to.” I muttered unsurprisingly, my voice didn't sound like mine any longer either.

Back to the hair. It was a white blonde so light that it actually did look white at first glance, was thick and wavy. Not to mention long enough to hang halfway down my back.

“Great.” I muttered. “Now I'm a platinum blonde. “At least I don't have huge — breasts to make that worse.”
And yes, my first impulse was to call those new additions to my chest boobs, tits, or even gazongas, but these were on me, definitely mine, and calling them that just seemed wrong.

Ahh, how perspectives can change given the right stimulus.

Looking at my pale skin I had another thought. “Am I an albino or something?”

Oddly, that was the first time I felt the urge to see what I looked like. Up until then I'd just been sitting on the couch getting my head around things. Oh, I had done a bit of exploring, touching myself here and there, just feeling the differences compared to now and then. And no, I didn't play with myself, just checked things with fingers and eyes where I was able to see.

The weight of that mass of hair pulled on my neck when I first stood up, but I adjusted within seconds. It was walking that was the bitch. Differently shaped pelvis and arrangement, legs farther apart, smaller feet, different distribution of body weight...
I didn't fall down. But it was a near thing for minute or so.

“Holy...” was about all I got out when I reached the bathroom and looked into the mirror on the medicine cabinet. I wasn't an albino.
Not with those pale blue eyes that seemed just a little large for my now oval, slightly long face. Ice blue, I recalled that color of eyes being called.

I now had a nice, small nose with delicate nostrils, high cheekbones that were nicely highlighted by the new fatty deposits on my face, a full, somewhat overlarge mouth that avoided being pouty, but was still attractive. Toss in a rounded chin, and smooth sweep of jawline, I wasn't what anyone would describe as delicately featured, but was attractive. Long, slim neck, smooth throat, all of the above framed with thick, wavy almost white hair tumbling with a lot more exuberance than I felt at the moment that did hang halfway down my back.

“Oh boy.” I sighed while still looking at that stranger in the mirror.

Now for the next on my list of 'getting to know' me.

I turned to look at the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door left there by the previous tenants.
I got out of my pants and shirt to get a better look, and besides, the jeans I'd been wearing were tight and uncomfortable around my hips and bottom so it was actually a relief to get those off.
And gave myself a critical looking over.

Nicely shaped breasts, not too large, not to small, probably around a B cup, narrow waist that flared outward into slim but very female hips, long smooth legs, narrow shoulders, arms that appeared skinny to me but were right for the body...
I wasn't a stunning beauty, but I was attractive. And my complexion and hair would make me stand out anyway. Hoo boy.

“I can see a lot of sun screen in my future.” I let out a sigh while looking at my uniformly pale skin.

My ice blue eyes, the one truly beautiful thing about me, stared at my new body with a look of mixed shock and wonder.

“What the hell.” I shrugged. “I'm young, healthy. I'll get used to it.”

Something told me I was going to be a head turner even if I didn't think I was beauty.

“Got other things to worry about right now.” I told that stranger — me — in the mirror. “I need clothes that really fit.”

The observer hadn't changed any of my clothes to match my new form.

When I was in the bedroom rummaging through things that might fit with at least marginal comfort, I felt as my head was being filled with something that had no right to be there.

It was December 2012, I knew that much, but nothing was right about what I was seeing. Fire, smoke, cities crumbling or falling into deep fissures in the ground. The heat was almost unimaginable it was so intense in spots as volcanoes formed where none had ever been before.

The screams of the people was the worst of it, though. Despairing, hopeless, and with nowhere to go for safety.
I did fall to the floor after that and my head felt as if a railroad spike had been driven into it from the top.
Worse, I had the certain feeling that that vision, or whatever it was, wasn't a figment of my imagination. I knew it was real, all too real.

As I curled up into a fetal position on the floor I briefly wondered just how I could stop something like that before drifting into a very welcome darkness.
Powers: First, the premise that winter isn't so much death as a promise of renewal. Cold does kill, but gently, making the thing dying sleep and feel warm before the end. One things goes, something else takes it's place, thus insuring the cycle of life.

Not the kindest of beings, but not cruel just to be hurtful. And there is compassion there, as shown by how the ones who died are given warmth and comfort at the end.

Cold. Anything related to cold she can use. Ice, Snow, wind, rain and so on.

Can see when it is time for something to die.
And maybe, what will emerge after that death.

So I guess she's empathic and a precog of some kind.

Though physically tough, is prone to all the ills of other humans and can be hurt almost as easily.

Regeneration: An aspect of winter that not many see. Can heal and repair damage to self in time, with enough rest.

Appearance:

Tall willowy young woman.

Height: 5'9”

Weight: 135 lbs.

Hair: White, but a vibrant white, like new fallen snow instead of showing age.

Eyes: Ice blue, almost clear at times. Almond shaped and not overly large. But compelling.

Slim, graceful, athletic.

Skin so pale it is almost white.

Oval face, high cheekbones, small straight nose, full mouth though it isn't a pouty one.

A beauty, but other than her hair, eyes, and coloring, nothing all that extraordinary.

Pre-change:

Albert Louis Higgins. Called Al by the people who know him. Late fifties, suffering from COPD, and feeling largely useless. Had worked as a nurse for most of his life, but with his illness couldn't keep up with that. Not bitter, just regretful for doing things that caused his illness.

Very caring person.

When the entity comes to him with the offer, he initially wants to jump on it, but has reservations that hold instant acceptance at bay. He wonders just what good someone like him could do in saving the world, and doesn't see anything that would make him think he'd be a difference at first. But he's made a difference for most of his life, and reflects on that before finally accepting the offer at the last minute.

The transformation draws on his caring nature, and his anima to produce Winter.Powers:

---------------------------------
Starshield.....revealed, By Grover.
--------------------------------Interlude in an Air Force Intelligence gathering facility------------------------------

Air Force Tech Sergeant Gene Zigler laid back in his office chair, careful not to hit his cubicle's walls. His neighbor, Petty Officer First Class Zayas hated that shit. However there was something bothering Gene. Some things just needed to talked out.

“Hey, Martin,” He called, pitching voice to carry to the next cube. They might be in the military, but at the level they worked the intelligence analysis biz it was more like an office job.

“Yeah Gene,” the Puerto Rican Intelligence Specialist answered.

“I've looking though these transcripts of what everyone saw and heard when that Observer dude did his song and dance.” He clicked the mouse until he found the screen he was looking for. “You know some things just don't add up?”

“Hows that Gene?” Asked Martin. He stopped and looked over the summaries, searching for a pattern.

“Well for one, does the Observer speak Spanish?” He inquired.

Martin was silent for a moment.

“You know, I think he does.” The Navy IS finally answered. “I didn't think about it at first, but when I first wrote down what Mr. Chrome Dome said, I did it in Spanish.”

“And that's another thing too.” Gene added. “I don't think everyone saw the same thing. By that I mean, sure, we all heard the Dude give his spiel, but I for one didn't see any bald guys. I saw this dude who, now that I that I think about it, reminds of John de Lancie as Q.”

“Really?” Martin questioned. “You're such a Trekkie.”

“That's Trek-KER, my friend,” Gene corrected. “So what did you see?”

“I guess I'm just as bad a nerd as you are.” The PO admitted. “You remember Marlon Brando as Jo-rel in 'Superman the Movie?'”

“Yeah,” Gene acknowledged, thinking about the glowing white robe. “But didn't he have hair?”

“He sure did,” Martin replied, “However, the Observer I saw was a lot like that, but with no hair. Authoritarian like if you know what I mean.”

They were silent while they thought about it.

“So you're thinking he's telepathic?” Martin finally said what they were thinking.

“I believe so,” Gene said. “If so, he not only appeared before everyone on the globe at once, but either he read all of our minds to see what image to use for each of us, or our own minds somehow picked out the image for him.”

“You know that's not a good thing don't you?” Martin asked. “That's a lot of power.”

“You've said a mouthful there, Martin.” Gene said making the understatement of the century. “If he's not being straight with us, there's no way for us to do a thing about it. However, while the conspiracy people are coming out of the woodwork shouting I-told-you-so's, the reputable scientists are still saying they don't see any signs of the Apocalypse on the horizon. Sure, some of them have changed their stories, but most haven't.”

More silence passed.

“So which one of us is going to write this one up?” Martin inquired.

“How about we split it up.” Gene suggested, sighing. “You take the language thing and I'll handle the images everyone saw, fair?”

“Doesn't sound like it's going to get any better.” Martin agreed. “We'll work together on the conclusions, deal?”

“Deal.” Gene said, sitting upright to get to work. There were going to be a lot of people really unhappy with this report. He already knew what the conclusion were. If this Observer was playing them, all planet Earth could do was dance on the strings.

Sparing a moment to think about those who were to be chosen, he whispered, praying.

“Please Lord, no psychopaths, Amen!”

“Amen!” Another echoed up from Martin's cubical.

***

I stared down at myself. Instead of my usual solid color crew tee and flat chested bulging belly torso, I now had on a vee neck, highlighting a respectable amount of cleavage. All that body hair I'd waged an endless battle against was gone. Shocked speechless, my hands told me that my new 'girls' were real and I reveled in the trim waist that had replaced the flabby spare tire I never could get rid of no how hard I tried.

Holy shit! The sonofabitch had really done it!

Holding up a slim feminine hand, I concentrated. I know I was grinning like a fool when my nails lengthened and turned a shade of hot rod red. Looking down, I giggled like a little girl as my clothes flowed into a imitation of Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit. Hugging myself, tears began leaking from my eyes. I'd despaired of being able to fit into this symbol of femininity from my childhood. This version wasn't quite the skin tight, allowing no secrets version, but it still demonstrated that the figure within was all woman.

Part of me wasn't sure how I felt about that, but that was the beautiful thing about my Living Well Plan. I could explore what was right for me. So what if I ended up male, female or somewhere in between. Screw'em if the world if it couldn't take a joke.

I brought up my arm into guard, and a glowing shield appeared. My eyes flashing delight, I extended my other as I did my version of the light saber igniting. Plasma arced and snapped as it was sandwiched and formed into a sword by my force fields.

Oh Yeah! Starshield was ready to rock!

I turned around looking for the Observer, but he'd already lit out.

“Hey Observer,” I said looking up. “Thanks!” I figured he was still watching since that was what he did. “I don't suppose you could give me clue as to where the nearest of my teammates are?”

I waited for a few moments, but nothing was forthcoming.

Still looking I dryly remarked, “Well, I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way.”

I played around with my new powers a bit more so I could get an idea of how much it was all draining my internal battery. Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience, working out how to recharge myself. All I'll say is, 120 volts is a lot like a slipping into really hot tub. You do a lot of dancing at first, hot, hot!, but once you get used to it, oh so satisfying.

Walking back to the nook that served as my dining room, I stopped.

“Well, I be damned.” There sitting on my dining table, among all the 2nd and 3rd hand computer equipment, was a purse.

While I had a collection of feminine clothes that more or less fit me, I did not have a purse. As the guy I used be, I would not be stepping one foot out of the door. The crime statistics for guys that looked liked me, dressed in the way I preferred, weren't good. This white girl was staying safely inside.

However, things had changed. Hell, I looked better than most genetic girls and could appear to be male or female at will. No more fears of ending up in the morgue, so I would be needing that purse now.

One look at the ID inside made me do a duh, face plant.

First of all, the drivers license had the face the Observer had gifted me, with the name Meagan Groves. She was all of 21 years old and, get this, was my male identity’s daughter. Digging some more, I found a student ID for Emory University in Atlanta.

Okay, these were all things as I had asked in my print out. However, I hadn't specified the university, and Emory was at least 7 hours from my humble abode. I think I had my clue as to the nearest gifted.

Trying a quick experiment, the Emory card didn't change when I focused on it, so no psychic paper, and further excavation of that lovely purse of mine failed to turn up a sonic screwdriver. However, I did turn up a checkbook and charge card that, if it was valid, had a couple of years of pay tucked away in the account. Alright, I admit that with my job, it still wasn't that much, but it was a lot to me. I sighed, but smiled anyways. I think I could manage to deal, watching my girls heave under my catsuit.

Shifting to my old voice, it was time to call my boss. No way he would let me take as much time as I thought I needed, and so it was be fired or quit. My resume got a bit worse as I serenaded him with “You can take this job and shovel it!” Sue me. I like the misquote better.

A hour later I was sighing again. Everything I really wanted to keep was in my old junker of a car. That stuff was going to a storage facility that I was going to pay up for six months in advance, in cash, courtesy of an ATM. My apartment, I'd written a check good for the next month.

It was disheartening how little there was, but I was ready.

My old Ford Escort wagon belching smoke, I was off to save the world, yee haw!

***

Eight hours later, I was wondering if I should've risked testing my flying after all. However, having McDill Air Force base, as well as a large Coasty contingent nearby, was just chancing too much. Besides, I figured the Feds would be watching for anything unusual. My old wheels were about as far under the radar as I could go without tunneling.

On the other hand, it was anything, but comfortable. The seats were shot, and the cushion I'd placed there only partially made up the difference. If not for my rapid healing I think I would've crippled myself. Thank Gawd for my idea of living well!

Regardless of that, there was still the question of how to find my mystery teammates. I considered sitting my butt on top of that gold, glowing pyramid of the Bank of America Plaza. With my powers I should be able to avoid any pursuit, but I really didn't want to bring any attention to any of us this early.

There were plenty of scared people out there and, being different, I knew how mobs worked. It would not be pretty, Better to let the mania die away some before public exposure.

Which still didn't answer my dilemma of how to find these needles in a haystack. Help me Obie Ben Doggie, you're my only hope! Me and my misquotes.

Powers: In a very real way, Yarnell Carl Groves was transformed into an energy life-form. Being able to convert and control her own form's energy and matter means she can became practically any life-form of similar mass. She can add and subtract that mass though energy conversion or trade that mass off to fuel her energy field. With a genetic sample she can impersonate a person right down to the DNA level. She asked for the talent of an natural mimic which helps her fake the feminine skills she forgot to ask for. In short she's a very versatile shape changer who can even include clothing as part of her change.

Having control of energy to matter she can also make forcefields and project them out to protect others. She can shape these into any geometric form as well as some relativity complex ones. Starshield using wing-shaped forcefields can also fly and can carry others by making them aircraft shaped. She is limited to under 10 grand feet given they lack oxygen and other aircraft amenities such as instruments.

Being simply a plane of force the edges are very very sharp and can be used as a weapon or tool. Because of that she can control the color of her forcefields

Finally having/ being energy, she can project it out as a weapon or tool. It can be as gentle as a light giving glow to the intensity of a plasma torch. She can also use the energy to form a jet and fly. It's very inefficient in this fashion being a jet's afterburner. She can convert mass to energy to re-energize herself so in a way she uses fuel. Good old fashion H2O is what she prefers to use in that case. Additionally, since her energy blasts are comparably short ranged, she can increase that distance by placing 'charges' of energy inside a small forcefield globe. By throwing the globe she has more range and an explosive effect.

Point of fact she did ask for psychic paper, a sonic screwdriver, and a tricorder, but those requests weren't fulfilled by the Observer.
-------------------------------------

Oh, there is MUCH more to come. The Heroes now have a way to find one another. We have one more, maybe, to learn about and then... The MAIN story can begin to take off! My thanks to all of those who have stayed with us through this "birthing period" and I promise that there will be action very soon. On behalf of Erin, Maggie, Ariel and Grover, I am

Catherine Linda Michel