The Adventure

Sarah is obviously gobsmacked by Small Fry's proposal. But at least it's stopped her crying.

"Wow. That's...a big change. I don't know. It feels...wrong. Or not wrong, just...I mean, shouldn't Eliza be socializing with kids her age? And is it right for me to just...mooch off of her? I don't want to----"

She's interrupted by the departure of Fuchsia and Doppelganger, and the descent of Rocketeer. Already caught in a maelstrom of emotions and ideas, she falls silent to consider everything, only offering Rocketeer a meek wave.

But Eliza is undaunted, as usual. She's still wearing her special goggles, so she gives Rocketeer a thorough scan. After absorbing all the data, she nods approvingly.

"Not too shabby! Did you build all that yourself? What sorta fuel can you handle? You know, if you ever get trapped in, say, a dimension of magic, you won't be able to find jet fuel, now will you? Gotta plan for contingencies like that! Now what you really need is an all-purpose battery and energy absorber, so you can top off your tanks (metaphorically speaking, since you'll be topping of the battery, not fuel tanks...anyway!) with anything. Now, that might sound like an engineering headache, but really, once you crunch the numbers, it...."

She continues in this vein, and will only stop if someone interrupts her.

"Neat!" Victor mumbles, checking out Rocketeer's rig. He is otherwise quiet, waiting for Small Fry to finish resolving the situation.

Rocketeer turns off her jets as her feet touch the ground. "Ahhh. I see. Classic Hallmark scenario. Just with little robot animals, apparently. You can call me Rocketeer!" She gives a jaunty two-fingered salute. "No foreign meaning behind it. I just like to go fast and blow things off the map. Not that I get to do the second part often around here..."

Her attention turns to Eliza as the girl goes off on a tangent. Clearly, this is no ordinary brat. Rocketeer can't help but grin. It's not often that she runs into someone that she can talk shop with. She lets Eliza go on for a little while longer before finally interrupting. "Easy there, kid. First off, yes, this beauty is my own design, and it can handle any sort of liquid fuel you throw at it. Second, I've already thought of that ages ago, but points for coming up with it on your own. I could fit my baby with infinite energy and more... if I had the money and resources. I think you know how it is. Enough ideas to fill a library, but fully realizing them is easier said than done, right?"

She scans the robo animals with her armor's systems, which pass the data directly into her brain through her nanites. "Ooh! You've done good work with your little friends, considering what you had access to. What made you go with animals?" She asks, getting down on one knee and holding out an armored hand to one of the robo-squirrels. She radiates a command signal and focuses it on the robo-squirrel, trying to guide it to her hand.

Sarah doesn't object to Small Fry's touch. Quite the opposite: she holds onto the heroine's hands like she's caught in stormy seas, and Small Fry is a life ring.

"You're right, I need to compromise, like I said I wanted to."

She turns to her daughter, and puts on the kindest, most loving face she can.

"What do you think, Eliza? Can you live with this plan?"

Eliza doesn't attempt to stop Rocketeer from interacting with the robo-squirrel. The squirrel will move to the jetting hero (anti-hero?), even perching on her shoulder and chattering in her ear if allowed. All of Eliza's animals have a custom "language"; should Rocketeer listen, she'll hear the squirrel express confusion and concern, as Eliza's fate is still being decided.

Eliza grins at Rocketeer's comments. "I see...ya know, they say necessity is the mother of invention...but I say, 'Gimme some damn money so I can build awesome stuff'!"

"The animals? Well, they're cute (at least some of 'em), and they keep me company. I could build humanoid robots, but humans are sorta overrated, don'tcha think?"

Reluctantly, she turns away from Rocketeer and addresses Small Fry and Sarah...after letting out a heavy sigh, the sort of sigh teens and pre-teens are known for.

"I think...I think that plan is workable. Some of it! First off, I want to build a bunker in the backyard. That's where I'll live, eat, study, sleep, etc. We can meet sporadically to do the mother/daughter stuff. And I'll start doing stuff to earn money...but mom can still work if she wants to. I can do all the homeschool work in like ten minutes, and my creations can protect me; no reason for her to hover around me."

"And people keep mentioning nagging...nope! Limited nagging! Unless I accidentally open a portal to limbo or something, let me do my thing!"

"So, Mom...can you handle that?"

Sarah blanches as she considers her daughter tearing up the backyard; just how big of a bunker is she considering?! But then she steels herself, and nods.

"I agree." She starts crying again. "It'll be good to have you back, Eliza. We don't have to agree on all the details now...and maybe these heroes will come visit? It'll be good for both of us, I think. And I think I will quit my job; I want this plan to get off to a good start, and I don't want to get distracted by other stuff."

She then leans in and whispers to Small Fry: "Don't worry, I'll still nag. She can't avoid that, no matter how hard she tries!"

---

"Ha! You're alright, kid. Just try not to become a basement dweller that hisses at sunlight." Rocketeer chuckles. She listens to the robo-squirrel's chattering and reaches up to scratch it under the chin. "Aw, I think I like this little guy."

"Anyways, my work here is done!" She says, even though she didn't actually do anything. Her jets start to roar to life as she gets ready for takeoff.

After a moment, Sarah relinquishes her motherly-love-lock, and turns towards the group.

"Thank you! This is...you really don't know how much this means to me...and to Eliza, though she's too stubborn to really show it...."

"Unfortunately, I don't have much to repay you with. Maybe Eliza can give you one of her gadgets, as a reward...?"

Again, Eliza rolls her eyes...but she's still grinning.

"Fine, fine! I guess they deserve something...."

She walks over to the van and roots through the crates of gear that are still piled in the back.

"Hmmm...nope, can't let 'em have this...this is just a prototype...A-HA!"

She returns with a small object, in the shape and size of an orange. A haze or mirage seems to surround it somehow, though if you focus hard you can see a purplish glow coming from several translucent panels.

"This is an antimatter grenade! Just press this button [indicates button on side], wait 1.5 seconds, then toss it at someone, and it'll fuck 'em up! Erm...excuse the language. If you want to disarm it, just press the button again. The blast radius is about 10 feet, so be sure you're outta range, or you're definitely getting discombobulated!"

---

You've got a reward! How it works mechanically:

During combat or a conflict, you can toss the antimatter grenade at an opponent instead of rolling a cliche. The grenade is a guaranteed hit, and counts as winning a dice roll! Your opponent will always lose, no matter what they roll.

You can use the grenade to attack, or to defend yourself.

Not only that, but the grenade stuns the target for their next turn!

There's only one grenade, so one-time use only!

Any of you can use this at any time...or if you want to save it for a certain occasion, coordinate amongst yourselves.

"Wow, you can't carry anything?! That's so lame!"

But she then catches her mother's disapproving glance. Heavy sigh.

"Sorry, but I've already given you a pretty awesome reward. But...[mischievous smirk]...I've gotta build my bunker, and then I'll need a steady stream of supplies to help with my inventions. So if we meet again, maybe we can figure out a quid pro quo arrangement...."

Her attitude is initially one of casual dismissal. "Sorry, but I don't think a team up with you two would be fruitful for me-" She's about to take off, but she does in fact notice the rocket heels. She powers her jets down and leans in uncomfortably close to inspect Small Fry! "Wait, are those little rocket shoes I spy? Maybe we can talk. Did you make them?" She asks excitedly. "Just how small can you get? Are we talking centimeters? Millimeters? Nanometers?"