u/Elysium1312

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The Baxter Building's main laboratory had been cleared for the meeting. Valeria stood at the center of the room, a holographic projection of Latveria hovering behind her. Dozens of screens surrounded the room, displaying satellite imagery, energy readings, and fragments of information she'd managed to piece together since her mother's disappearance. She looked over the assembled heroes.

For perhaps the first time since she'd sent out the call, the sheer number of people who had actually answered it seemed to register. They came from all kinds of organisations from her owxn family, to avengers, to even young avengers and the X-men..... It was an impressive collection of super-powered individuals. And she was the one who was commanding them.

The thought itself was terrifying.... It was the first time it hit her.... What the hell was she doing? Never the less she burrowed those thoughts as to not let thel show on her face. "Thank you for coming." Her voice was steady. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Valeria Richards." She gestured toward the holographic image behind her. "My mother, Susan Storm Richards, has been taken by Victor von Doom."

She paused "My uncle." The words came more quietly this time. *"*He promised not to hurt her. "But I am not taking that change, but I am also not naive enough to believe none of you have questions. Such as why would he take her? What does he want." she paused "The truth is, I don't know, not yet anyway." she looked determined.

A new collection of images appeared. "These are the locations I've managed to identify as possible points of interest. Most are almost certainly decoys. Victor knows how I think, and he knows how my father thinks." Her eyes narrowed. "Which means whatever he's doing, he's probably already accounted for us trying to find him."

The hologram shifted again. "And before anyone suggests calling Father down...." She stopped her voice dimming even more "I've already tried, he's working on his own way of finding her...." A moment passed. "But I'm not waiting... I can't take that risk.... I failed her once I will not again." she looked down at the floor.

The projection of Latveria expanded. "I realise what I ask of you." Her gaze moved across the room. "You'd be putting yourselves against Doctor Doom. A head of state. A sorcerer. A scientist. A man who has defeated people considerably more powerful than any one of us." she let a small pause sit there again as if the room wasn't already thick with tension "So I'm not going to pretend this is safe. "It isn't, "But my mother is in there." The words came out unusually emotional for her. "And I'm going after her." Valeria took a breath. " This is your last warning, do not join if your heart isn't in it. I will not faullt you if you leave this room.... Because after this room all plausible deniability goes out the window. Do not join because you're family." she looked at her two uncles. "Or Because you have some sort of connection to our family." she looked at the spiderling. "Only join this plan if you're willing to risk everything for the chance of getting my mother back... Only join if you are ready to risk it all."

OOC: only interactable if you were in the last Valeria post or are related to a character in that post and they reasonably told you about it.

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Valeria appeared on the screens of Avengers, Defenders, and anything in between that she could get access to. "Hello, everyone. My name is Valeria Richards. You might know me as the daughter of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman." Her voice was calm. Collected. Almost clinically so. "For the sake of efficiency, I'm going to keep this brief." *she took a breathe letting a silence fill her message. "*My mother is missing." Another breathe.

"She was taken. Captured by Doctor Doom." Her expression tightened. "My uncle. Victor von Doom." She could already imagine the objections. "I know what some of you are thinking. We can't do this. He's a king, he's protected by international law, we'll get ourselves into trouble, We could start a diplomatic incident." She swallowed, "The simple fact is... I don't care." Her voice faltered for the first time.

Tears began to form in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they kept coming no matter how hard she tried. "He's my uncle, my mentor, I owe him my life.... Sure" she let out a shaky breath "But she's my mother." For a moment, Valeria looked down. "And if my family has taught me anything, it's that you move heaven and earth for family."

She looked back toward the camera. "So I'm asking you-" she cut herself off as a crack appeared in her voice. which she tried to work away but couldn't. "No, I'm begging you, those of you brave enough to stand with me, despite whatever government pressure may come, help me find her."

"I don't know where he went....." She paused, she looked pained at the admission, " But this wasn't random, he has a plan, unfortunately that's the one thing I'm certain of Doom always has a plan." her smile dissappeared as she finished her sentence.

"My mother is a woman who would do the same thing for any of you. So in her name I'm asking you to move heaven and earth with me....." she looked straight at the camera again steadying her voice. "I don't care if you hate the Fantastic Four, I dont care if you hate me, all I care about is whether you're willing to help... If you are find me at the Baxter Building, and thank you for your consideration."

Then she hesitated just for a second..... Before her features hardened and her neves became steel "And to those who would try to stop me..." her voice was icy cold. "I suggest you don't, because I will bring my mother home." she paused for a split second before the final words came out "Whether you approve of my methods or not." and then all the screens went back and returned to their normal broadcast..

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The Batcomputer cast a pale blue glow across the cave, its light washing over the stone walls as dozens of holographic windows floated in the darkness. Surveillance footage, medical reports, news broadcasts, eyewitness accounts, Satellite imagery. Each file offered another piece of the puzzle. None of them completed the puzzle. At the center of every screen stood the same woman, Claire Clover the Gotham Girl.

Batman watched footage of her intercepting a collapsing bridge before another window replaced it with thermal imaging from a battle downtown. Another displayed blood work taken after a hospital visit. Another showed military satellites attempting to track the energy she emitted while in flight. Every report brought him to the same conclusion 'Insufficient data'

It wasn't Claire's identity that concerned him. He knew who she was. Where she lived. Who she associated with. He knew her routines, her public appearances, even the small café she preferred after patrol. None of that mattered her powers did and those were unknowns and if there was one thing Batman disliked, it was the unknown.

The Batcomputer displayed the latest assessment.

Species: Metahuman?
Energy Source: Unknown.
Power Classification: Superman-level?
Threat Assessment: Average.
Contingency Status: Recommended.

A question mark, two of them. Batman dismissed the report with a flick of his fingers. He had memorized every file weeks ago, From her first public appearance to the last interview she'd given. From eyewitness testimony to chemical analyses of the craters left behind after her battles. Even trivial details hadn't escaped his attention.

Favorite café, preferred snack, sleep schedule, training habits, but none of it brought him any closer to answering the only two questions that mattered. Where do her powers come from? And what are their limits?

Every extraordinary ability he had encountered had a cost. Kryptonians required a yellow sun. Speedsters drew from the Speed Force. Martians possessed physiological or psychological weakness to fire and a weird craving for chocolate. Even magic as wishy-washy and impossibly powerful as it was often had rules.... There was always something, there had to be.

Batman had no intention of exploiting such a weakness. Not unless every other option had failed, his contingencies were not born from distrust, they were born from care in a twisted way. Fear of having to one day fight the ones he considered friends it was no different with Gotham Girl.

If Gotham Girl ever lost control... if someone else seized control... if something happened beyond either of their choosing... Someone would have to stop her, and right now? no one on earth knew how.

A calm electronic voice broke the silence, "Visitor detected. Claire Clover has arrived.", Batman closed the final report. Good, Answers are always easier to find if you have the source giving them to you.

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Patrol had ended with what should have been a relatively minor incident. A raid on one of Two-Face's operations. A single order, followed by an act of defiance. Batman had ordered Robin to fall back. Robin hadn't.

Instead, Dick had thrown himself headfirst into danger, trusting his instincts over Batman's command. The criminals had been stopped. No one had been hurt. By any reasonable measure, the mission had been a success. At least... that would have been Bruce Wayne's assessment. But Bruce Wayne hadn't come home tonight, Batman had.

If Bruce had been listening to Alfred ,which, increasingly, he wasn't, he might have recognized what was really happening. Dick wasn't being reckless. He was growing up. Testing boundaries. Finding his own judgment. Trying to reinvent or climb the rigid hierarchy of their dynamic. Trying to evolve from batman with his boy wonder to batman and the boy wonder.

'Remember what you were like at his age, Master Bruce.' Alfred had said those words more than once. They never seemed to reach him, because somewhere along the line, Batman had started drowning out Bruce Wayne.

The Batmobile rolled into the cave, its engine falling silen. Neither of them spoke while they climbed out. Batman simply turned toward him. His expression was hidden beneath the cowl, but his voice did all the emoting for him, it wasn't Bruce the parent, it was batman's. "What was that?"

OOC: Only interactable by u/Number1FlyingGrayson