Super Hero High: Prometheus Rising (IC, Open)

[Nakarisaune]

"Rachael watched the projection with disinterest. She hadn't really wanted to go, after all, and only signed up to look normal. She hadn't expected to even be accepted, seeing as she was bound to be considered a suspect. It had been both a surprise and an annoyance when she'd found out. The time wasted on trying to catch a mythical being would be better spent improving her powers. The practice had helped, she was sure, because two weeks ago she couldn't have knocked over that glass.

In her opinion, this whole mission was stupid. It was obviously just going to be some psychopath superhuman who didn't have the guts to kill humans instead of animals. The picture was too blurry to make anything out but huge claws, which didn't really affect Rachael. She'd just stay at the back and let the idiots stupid enough to approach get stabbed and slashed to death.

When it was done she searched for her package to put the vest on and find out if it was the same kind of gun. There wasn't a pistol in it, and she scowled as she put on the vest. After checking again, she went up to that weird man who seemed surrounded by students asking questions. "Excuse me, sir? There seems to have been a mistake, I haven't been issued a pistol.

[Corrian]

Cassie gave Bramwell a quick smile, then went back to staring forward. But once Bramwell spoke again, she listened, though what he asked just sorta confused her, because she didn't really know what that meant. Someone probably could say to her that she was 'living under a rock' for not knowing what he was talking about, and it would actually be appropriate....since she pretty much lived her teen years oblivious to most of everything, due to her father. Sure, she went to school, but because of the abuse, she never could focus on school and she failed miserably. It was surprising she never got expelled for doing too bad. 'I'm just tense, and when speaking to you, I may sound tense....' She said, which she did sound tense. 'Which may make it hard for me to properly speak, and I would just be company that is whimpering from being tense......And this thing hasn't even started moving yet' She said with a sigh, hating how tense she could be about something as little as this.

[Mighty Asgard]

"Oh. Right. Well, imagine a plasma torch, in gun form, with lots of flashing lights and a angry dude with some variant of neon blue eyes on the other end. That's a Avaloni gun," Markus said, holding his arms up to show how big the weapon was. He then turned somewhat serious, spinning the chair to face Jenkins. In that moment, gone was the carefree Markus, replaced by the rather cold war veteran that was underneath.
"What happened to your world? I've looked at news reports and the like and... Well, it's a little too familiar to me."

Jenkins looked almost thoughtful for a moment as he thought of a good reply to Markus' question. "Well," he said finally, "we were invaded by vampires, a form of parasitic humanoid, from someplace else. I don't quite understand the science of where they were from honestly. They wanted to enslave humanity, I think to feed on. Obviously they failed at that, and I think they are nearly extinct by now. Official estimates place their number at approximately a few thousand worldwide, though we are working on removing the last of them."

"Did your people experience something similar?"

"Excuse me, sir? There seems to have been a mistake, I haven't been issued a pistol."

Michael looked down at Rachael, recognizing her as one of the students he would be having sessions with. A violent girl with suicidal and sociopathic tendencies, and suspected homicidal tendencies. The prime suspect in the murder of her own father, though there was no conclusive evidence to prove her as the guilty party.

"That isn't a mistake," he said calmly, "you pointed a gun at one of your teachers during your first marksmanship class. That means you don't get the privilege of carrying a gun when I'm in charge. Please take a seat in the shuttle, we will be departing shortly."

A few minutes later everything was ready and he took a seat in the shuttle, near the ramp at the back, and signaled the pilot. The ramp closed and heavy doors slid shut over it to ensure a tight seal. A warning signal and a rush of air was heard outside as the hangar bay was cleared of air to prevent unnecessary leakage when the shuttle left. Then the shuttle lifted into the air accompanied by the roar of the engines, pausing only a moment before throttling forward out of the hangar bay and out of the artificial gravity generated by the station. The sudden shift from normal to zero gravity was a little disconcerting, but he put on a brave face to avoid worrying any of the students. The shuttle flight would only take about forty minutes, thanks to some clever planning, so he hoped that everyone would be able to keep calm for that long.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Wait, am I cause the cause of that stress? I would worry about; hold on a second. You said, 'started moving yet'. You do not like flying? Is that it? If that is so, then I should have brought chocolate. Oh, whom am I kidding? I do not know how to do exposure therapy for people with anxiety of flying, especially with the current time scale," Bramwell said, his rate of talking increasing as he spoke. When the ship went out of the artificially-produced gravity that was on the station, Bramwell eyes widened. "I have low gravity, and I must fly without without wind-resistance. Darn the something or something. I need to focus," Bramwell said, temporarily given a euphoric distraction from what he was talking about before he regained focus. He took a short amount of time to catch his breath. After a sigh, he talked again, this time slower and in a calmer tone. "Just in case this is not motivated by flight itself, may I ask what aspects do you not like about airplanes or shuttles?"

[Nakarisaune]

"Actually, if there's any footage for you to review, you'd find that as I put the gun down I was tackled by Makoto, who believed I had pointed it at the teacher. Some people see ridiculous things. But fine, I'll get savaged." She smiled innocently and took her seat. There was barely any point going now. The only thing she'd be able to do was sit back and watch other people get mauled on their grabs for glory. Hopefully at least one person would die, preferably one of the heroes who were naive enough to think they could kill with the power of friendship, or whatever it was heroes thought.

When the shuttle left Rachael gripped the seat tightly to combat the feeling of falling. It was still an odd feeling, but not enough to scare her. Some of the other people riding on the shuttle appeared to have much more extreme reactions and she smirked at them. How did they expect to kill a chupacabra if they couldn't handle a flight?

[Corrian]

"No, no, no, definitely not you" Cassie replied hurriedly, showing that he would be the least likely thing to make her panic like this. She nodded when he asked if she didn't like flying, then listened to the rest of what he said in silence. Then as she heard various stuff preparing for the flight, she let out a whimper and clung even tighter to her seat. When the shuttle lifted into the air and there was the roar of the engines, that was when she really got worried. Even though there really was no need to be so worried. Especially when they went from gravity to no gravity did she feel rather bizarre. Though, as much as she seemed tense, she was being strong through it all. In a tense voice, she said, "Being trapped in a small metal container in space or in the air, where if anything goes wrong you are literally dead is a good start.....the roaring of the engines and the rattling of the shuttle also scares me....and I've never flown in an airplane before, but I assume those are even worse". Which her not flying in an airplane before isn't too weird, but it sorta showed how little she was able to go anyway.....which literally she couldn't go much of anywhere beyond her home and school for years.

[Orinon]

Jenkins looked almost thoughtful for a moment as he thought of a good reply to Markus' question. "Well," he said finally, "we were invaded by vampires, a form of parasitic humanoid, from someplace else. I don't quite understand the science of where they were from honestly. They wanted to enslave humanity, I think to feed on. Obviously they failed at that, and I think they are nearly extinct by now. Official estimates place their number at approximately a few thousand worldwide, though we are working on removing the last of them."

"Did your people experience something similar?"

Markus sighed as memories came back. Unpleasant memories.
"My people have been embroiled in war for the last 8 years," he began. "It all started with a world. Rainia. Pretty world, prefect for humans. Much like your Earth. Naturally, we set up a colony. Then, the Avaloni came. The first time I saw a Avaloni ship was when a Avaloni attack fleet was ripping the Rainia defence fleet apart like wet paper. Yeah, we won battles here and there, but they just kept coming, kept attacking. Kept killing." Markus at this point shuddered, his tone wavering.

"Then came the turning point. The breaking point. After three years of being on the defensive, we only had our home system left. Tarnia. And they came for the Twin Suns as well. The Siege of Tarnia, we call it now. More like a slaughter. The Avaloni didn't want to conquer us. Didn't want to control us. They wanted to destroy us, to bomb us back into the fucking stone age. And they nearly succeeded. But... Well... We Colonials are stubborn to a fault. We refused to give any more ground. So we didn't. The Avaloni tried smashing our fleets, only to find AIs like Kara aiding us. They tried bombing us into submission, but all that did was make us fight harder. They tried a ground invasion, but they didn't have the man people, whereas we had an entire race of people willing to fight for their homes. For their lives. Slowly, surely, we drove them from our worlds, from our system. But even in retreat, the Avaloni tried to break us. They glassed one of our worlds, Magni. Blasted it from orbit for three days straight, our fleets trying to stop them but unable to." Markus chuckled darkly. "It's funny. It took the most horrific month in Colonial history, a month in which nearly 3 billion people died, for our nation to unite and finally strike back. And that's what we did. We chased the Avaloni back to their home system, our entire fleet smashing their defences, laying waste to their cities, their worlds. And I was there for all of it. And so was Kara." Having finished, Markus leaned back on the chair.

"My people chose to fight and die on our feet, guns blazing, rather then kneel and accept our death. We won. The cost was horrific. But we won. Of course, then we fractured under the post war stress and devolved into civil war, but that's a lot messier and harder to explain."

[Mighty Asgard]

Mission team
The flight to earth was uneventful, boring even. There were no windows on the shuttle, because windows were a structural weakness, and in space there was no noise from the outside other than the dull hum of the engines. Eventually the shuttle entered the outer atmosphere and the faint sound of rushing air could be heard from outside.

"We've entered the atmosphere," Dominic shouted back into the cabin from his place in the co-pilot's seat, "ETA to Puerto Rico ten minutes."

Michael checked his watch, noting that they were right on schedule. As the shuttle continued its relatively calm descent he began to speak. "Alright, listen up. When we've landed you will all wait near the shuttle while Dominic and I speak with the soldiers sent to guide us. Don't try to wander off or antagonize anyone," he eyed Rachael quickly, "or you'll be waiting in the shuttle during the entire mission. That's all." With that said he looked at his watch again and then waited silently for the shuttle to land.

A little over ten minutes later the shuttle landed, the doors opening with a loud hiss and the ramp lowering with a thud. After the sparse light inside the shuttle the afternoon sun seemed blinding and the air outside was much warmer than inside the vehicle, and carried the scent of cooking food. They had landed at a military encampment, one that evidently hadn't been around long. Most of it was tents, sandbags, and razor wire. Soldiers milled about, either on watch or off duty. The shuttle had been landed next to several helicopters, dwarfing the ordinary aircraft with its bulk. Dominic emerged from the cockpit, cheerful as usual, and accompanied Michael outside. They exchanged a few words with some soldiers who approached, with Dominic doing most of the talking.

"Stay near the shuttle," Michael reminded the students before he and Dominic followed one of the soldiers towards the middle of the encampment. Three other soldiers remained near the shuttle, rather obviously watching the students to make sure they didn't try anything.

Jenkins
"The will to live is a strong motivator," Jenkins stated after Markus had finished his story, "a universally human trait, it seems." He looked almost thoughtful again, "unfortunately, so it seems, war is another one."

"It seems illogical for people to fracture into groups and fight each other so when they know there are other things out there, things that aren't human and want to kill everyone."

[Altruistic Paladins]

___"Okay, then, um, I guess I should ... ask whether you have similar ideas about cars? Yes, that is what I need to ask," Bramwell said as he used placeholders while he thought. He tried to remain emotionless, but was failing to do so in the presence of weightlessness that he loved. The forces of gravity and inertia and the manipulation of it were reasons why he loved the lack of gravity in space, providing similar reasons why he loved roller coasters and thrill rides. Bramwell had trouble hiding his joy, or remaining professional. It was something he hated at the moment, for he wanted to help Cassie. It relieved him and confused him when the shuttle landed shortly after. "It is over Cassie. It is safe," Bramwell said, somewhat relieved due to knowing that the shuttle had landed and the presence of American soldiers and confused due to his clock not matching the idea of it being 40 minutes. Bramwell had a subconcious connection between safety and American soldiers due to his mother and numerous family friends having been veterans or employees of the United States Armed Forces. He thought of people in uniforms as a regular occurance instead of an exceptional circumstance brought by disasters. This was true for people with FBI uniforms as well due to similar reasons. He thought that they were from Fort Buchanan due to it being the only active Army installation in Puerto Rico. For reasons of his own, he stood at attention and saluted anytime one of the soldiers looked at him. "If you need help, just ask," Bramwell said.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

During the whole flight down to Earth, Sarah had simply been distracting herself with her thoughts, as well as some shadow constructs she created for the sake of entertainment. However, when they entered the atmosphere, Sarah let all of her shadow constructs fade away and simply waited patiently during the next ten minutes, quietly humming to herself as the shuttle descended, the sound probably mixing with that of rushing air.

When Michael spoke to the students, Sarah listened quietly. What he said suited her just fine. She was not one who went out of her way to antagonize people, and she hadn't planned to move far from the shuttle unless ordered to either way.

When the shuttle finally landed next to the helicopters, Sarah was the last to step outside, looking at the military encampment from inside before stepping out. By then Michael and Dominic had already walked away with one of the soldiers. When the remaining three looked at her, she just smiled at them, and then sat down cross-legged on the ground. Once again she began practicing her healing technique, making a small hole in her own index finger with a shadow construct and then forcing the wound to coagulate, before repeating the whole process, all of this while humming a small tune to herself.

[Kershya]

At the middle of the encampment, one would notice a civilian talking to an archaeology professor.

"You must come with us. You're the one who discovered the site. You're power will surely help us with the research." The professor said.

"I'm sorry but I'm needed here." Isaac said as a soldier tell the professor its time to leave.

"Too bad. If you want to help later on, here's a card." The professor then give him a card and then left. Isaac then notice them.

"You must be from the school. I'm Isaac Fernandez, Antonio's older brother. Tell me, how is he?" Isaac said like a worried father.

[Orinon]

Jenkins
"The will to live is a strong motivator," Jenkins stated after Markus had finished his story, "a universally human trait, it seems." He looked almost thoughtful again, "unfortunately, so it seems, war is another one."

"It seems illogical for people to fracture into groups and fight each other so when they know there are other things out there, things that aren't human and want to kill everyone."

"That's the thing though," Markus said. "The Avaloni were human. Or disturbingly close to human. What our DNA is to yours, theirs is to ours. So close to each other that a common ancestor isn't out of the question. And that freaked a lot of people out after the end of the war. There were a lot of us who wanted to go back and finish the job. You know, stamp out the threat for good. Others wanted to offer them a place in the Colonies, like we had done to Rainia and the Cylons. And yet more simply wanted more. A lot of people didn't like the government, and saw the end of the war as an excuse to strike against it. And that's what happened."

"Three months after the end of the Rainia War, President Serah Jusion was giving a speech at Parliament House. A sniper shot her, right here, "Markus reached over and pointed at Jeckins' eye. "Killed her, instantly. That woman was the only reason the Colonies were holding together, and some asshole put a bullet designed to take out fucking tanks through her eyeball. There wasn't much left, by all accounts. By the end of the day, reports were coming in regarding gun battles in cities across the Colonies. The Fleet fractured soon after, splitting up on differing beliefs and such. Fleet Admiral Jusion got the lion's share following him, naturally. He took those ships and went to Rainia to wait out most of the fighting. Been waiting four years."

Markus then leaned back and rubbed his eyes, as if the story hurt his eyes somehow.
"Sorry... Memories and whatnot. Needless to say, most shrinks bit the bullet during the fighting," he said halfheartedly.

[Mighty Asgard]

"You must be from the school. I'm Isaac Fernandez, Antonio's older brother. Tell me, how is he?" Isaac said like a worried father.

After a few minutes Michael and Dominic had finished speaking to the commander and were returning to the students when they were approached by an unknown man. The man introduced himself as Isaac Fernandez, asking about his brother Antonio. Anderson had said that they would be meeting with Isaac and that they were supposed to bring him back to the station, so they had no reason to distrust him. Michael hadn't been at the station long enough to properly know exactly what was going on with Antonio, so Dominic was the one to speak.

"It is complicated," he said as the three of them walked back towards the shuttle, "he's not hurt or anything, but he's in a bit of trouble. It's complicated, and I don't really understand it all, but we're working on helping him. I'm sure the headmaster will speak with you about it when we get back there." Michael nodded his agreement.

As they returned to the shuttle, with the three soldiers stationed nearby looking suspiciously at Bramwell, Michael signaled to the students to gather around.

"We will head out into the forest on foot," he explained and gestured at the three soldiers nearby, "guided by these men from the local garrison. The last known sighting of the target occurred a few kilometers away from here, and we will begin our search there. Make sure you stay with the group, we aren't sure if the creature we're searching for is hostile or not but we're not going to take any chances." He turned to Isaac, "you are welcome to join us if you wish, or stay here and wait. It is up to you."

Michael and one of the soldiers took the lead and headed for the forest. "Let's go, single file," Michael instructed the students. The other two soldiers joined Dominic near the back. The soldiers evidently weren't just coming along to act as guides but also to keep an eye on the superhuman teenagers, make sure none of them got any ideas about causing trouble.

Jenkins
Jenkins listened in silence to Markus' explanation of the Avaloni people and the events following his people's war with them, nodding occasionally to show that he was listening. When Markus was done speaking he thought for a few moments before answering.

"Our war ended better," he explained, "because our enemy was sufficiently nonhuman to garner no sympathy. No one objected to 'finishing the job', as you put it. A nuclear deployment ensured that not enough of them remained to ever threaten us again. A rather efficient solution." After a further few moments of pondering he continued, "and since we were already divided into separate nations very few people sought any further large-scale conflict after the end of the war. A strange thought, that our divisive society might have actually spared us from further war."

"And," he continued, changing the subject slightly, "if you wish to see a psychologist we recently hired one to work with the students. I am sure he would be able to fit you in his schedule if you ask."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

When Michael and Dominic returned and the former signaled for the students to gather around, Sarah took the time to fix her last injury, then stood up, dusted herself off, and walked over to him with the rest of the students. She then simply listened quietly as Michael explained that the three soldiers that had been watching over them would guide them into the forest to look for the so-called Chupacabra.

When they were instructed to follow the lead soldier in a single file, Sarah complied, getting into the file, which, to her surprise, assembled itself quickly. She had a spot near the middle of the file.

[Kershya]

"I'll join you." Issac said, "Every job I join in usually end up successful. Being a living good luck charm after all." Isaac said as he join the group. "Of course, there's many ways one can see 'being lucky' is."

[Altruistic Paladins]

___Marching in the column, Bramwell felt at ease. As far as Bramwell thought, the mission was more of an opportunity to see endangered species once the mission was over. Currently, Bramwell was more annoyed by the humidity and the lack of specifics about the kilometers than el chupacabra. The fact he was completely oblivious to the grunts giving him odd glances went completely over his head. Near Cassie, he marched with his mind elsewhere.

[Kershya]

Somewhere in the space station

A nerdy looking 50-ish man wearing a green sweater vest and large rim glasses went to a guard, carrying with him a large stack of papers.

"C-c-can y-y-you d-direct me to J-John. I-I n-need to give h-him the p-proper pa-paperwork f-for entering the m-magic s-shield h-he made. T-then I-I n-n-need to s-speak w-w-with your h-headmaster. M-my boss w-w-wants to m-make an appointment w-with him." He said stuttering and shaking, he looks overworked. The guard simply ready his weapon in case the man will try to do something dangerous or crazy or both.

"You're name, and your boss." The guard said bluntly.

"I-I'm t-the Chief o-of Bureaucracy. T-the L-Lord of B-Balance w-wishes to h-have an appointment with t-the headmaster b-but I m-must g-give the p-proper p-paperwork. Please, c-can y-you d-d-direct me t-to John?" He said, one can tell he's under a great deal of stress.

[Nfhd]

Will had suddenly felt like a mental haze that was over his head was lifted after what seemed like a hour. It turned out, he had been sitting there for a hour. He knew that he was late for his classes, but at the moment he didn't even care. He slowly got up and left the cafeteria area. He made slow progress in getting to the infirmary, he had to stop and lean on a wall every couple of minutes. After an agonizingly slow walk he had finally arrived at the infirmary. He walked inside the infirmary and felt the rest of his mental strength leave him as he collapsed to the ground.

[Corrian]

Cassie shook her head. "No, not really. I think it's the whole....being trapped in a giant tin can up in the air where if anything goes wrong you are dead because you won't be able to breath. At least cars you have more of a likelihood to live if you crash" She said, and then she let out a very quiet "Obviously". She then continued. "And I know planes have been proven to be safer then driving your car to the Airport, but planes still make me more paranoid...Though, I don't know what my opinions on cars now is really, since I've only driven a very small distance in the last 2 months....." She said, and then she started to wonder why she wasn't telling him she got in a car accident. That didn't bother her....that much, because it still clearly took her a while. It was how the car accident happened that she refused to tell anyway. "Oh, and if you were wondering......I got in a bad car accident a month before I came here. I was in the hospital for a month and then I came here. So that's why I may be afraid of cars now. So the only driving I've done since the crash was riding in a car to the airport so I could come here..." She explained, but the whole time she explained it she was quiet and distant, like she was going back to some bad memories talking about it. She blinked to keep her eyes from noticeably watering, then shook her head as if that would help.

For pretty much the rest of the ride, she fell silent, except for the occasional whimper when things started to get shakier. Like when they got into Earth's atmosphere, for example. She hated how this thing didn't have windows, because at least she would have a pretty view to look at. Not that looking outside and seeing how high up they were would help her nerves at all. But at least she would feel less like she was in a flying prison cell.

When they landed, she seemed tense for a moment, only because of the process of landing. But when they were finished landing, she was relieved, and let out a sigh, then looked over to Bramwell and smiled when he said it was over. "Good....Though there's still the flight back, obviously" She said, letting out a sigh at that thought. She then nodded to Michael, and got up and headed out of the shuttle, looking around the camp with a mixture of fascination and utter fear.

After stepping out, all Cassie really did was stand there, attempting to track down the Chupacabra again. It didn't work, still, and she was beginning to get a little frustrated that she couldn't track it down. She was beginning to think the image was too blurry, or something, or her mind was forgetting what the creature looked like already. Though, she wondered how much actually tracking it down would be of use, because it would probably just look like a ton of forest, and that's it. It's not like there was any address or street signs to tell her where the hell it was. Unless it was attacking somewhere, obviously. Also, her mind was beginning to wonder if her coming here and terrifying herself wasn't worth it, because the whole reason she felt like coming in the end was to help the team, not because she really wanted to. And if she couldn't help them at all, there was no real point in her coming here and scaring the crap out of herself.

One thing she was partly regretting now was wearing her jean jacket. It was humid, and humidity and jackets didn't mix well. But at the same time, she decided she'd rather be hot and humid then walking around with a big group of people in a t-shirt. Because she was weird like that. At least, it would probably seem weird to others, if they noticed her wearing the jean jacket while trudging through a humid spot, then them asking her why she was doing that and her not really giving a good answer. It made perfect sense why she was doing that in her mind, but to others she'd just seem bizarre.

Cassie looked at Bramwell, then to Michael. "I'll be right back, Bramwell" She told him. She watched the soldiers carefully, to make sure they didn't have any intentions of shooting her for getting out of line. Then, she called up to Michael to get his attention, before going out of the line to catch up with him to ask him something, hoping that the soldiers wouldn't taze her for getting out of the line. It's not like she could be very harmful, anyway, since her abilities couldn't exactly harm anyone. The worst she could do was Taze someone herself, and doing that would just be stupid.

By the time she got to where Michael was, she was panting more because of the heat and humidity. She looked back at the group of people, and closed her eyes to pretend nobody was looking her way, and then looked back to Michael. "Do you have an image of the Chupacabra on you? Because I think I forgot what it looked like....and I was going to try and help by tracking it down, if it will serve any use...." She said to Michael, suddenly sounding quiet and looking rather shy after speaking to him, especially with people in the line likely looking her way now. She just hated having too many eyes looking her way, and it made her uncomfortable.

Caitlin
Caitlin had done everything that was said for her to do, and she had gotten in the line of students and everything, following the leader to their destination. She wasn't hot like Cassie, because she had dressed appropriately, and was generally more fit so she didn't get tired as easily. Though, since she lived in Canada, this heat wasn't exactly a typical occurrence for her, so no matter what, she wasn't used to this kind of humid heat weather.

When Cassie went up to Michael to ask him something, she simply just watched, thinking she was a little weird, but not saying anything about it and just waiting for them to talk about whatever it was Cassie wanted, since she didn't really hear Cassie all that well. She figured if Cassie was brave enough to go and talk to him, it was probably important, since she knew how shy Cassie could be about that sort of thing.

[Mighty Asgard]

Somewhere in the space station

A nerdy looking 50-ish man wearing a green sweater vest and large rim glasses went to a guard, carrying with him a large stack of papers.

"C-c-can y-y-you d-direct me to J-John. I-I n-need to give h-him the p-proper pa-paperwork f-for entering the m-magic s-shield h-he made. T-then I-I n-n-need to s-speak w-w-with your h-headmaster. M-my boss w-w-wants to m-make an appointment w-with him." He said stuttering and shaking, he looks overworked. The guard simply ready his weapon in case the man will try to do something dangerous or crazy or both.

"You're name, and your boss." The guard said bluntly.

"I-I'm t-the Chief o-of Bureaucracy. T-the L-Lord of B-Balance w-wishes to h-have an appointment with t-the headmaster b-but I m-must g-give the p-proper p-paperwork. Please, c-can y-you d-d-direct me t-to John?" He said, one can tell he's under a great deal of stress.

John walked out of the elevator down on the hangar bay level a few moments after the man had asked for him. It wasn't due to any extraordinary circumstances, he had simply already been on his way down to meet the man who had arrived on a shuttle a few minutes earlier.

"I am John," he said, tapping his cane idly against one foot, "and I must say that we were quite surprised when we heard why you were coming here." He regarded the man with an unsettling gaze, the stare of a man who had laughed in the face of creatures that should not be before sending them screaming into the abyss, as if he was trying to stare straight into the man's soul. "So, tell me, why exactly should I trust this boss of yours enough to let him get onto this station? His kind hasn't exactly proved to be very friendly so far."

Michael
Michael noticed that Cassie walked up beside him and turned to her, listening as she asked her question.

"A very good idea Cassie," he answered, "we'll be at the site of the last sighting in a couple of minutes, I'll make sure to have one by then." He pulled out his PDA and started working on it while walking.

About four minutes later they emerged into a small clearing a few dozen feet across. A half-eaten goat carcass was lying near the middle of the clearing, flies buzzing furiously around the decomposing animal. Michael stopped and gathered the students as far away from the carcass as possible, which still wasn't far enough to avoid the smell of it.

"Alright, we're here," he said, "the target was spotted here by a farmer who had entered the forest looking for his lost goat. He found it, you could say." He looked over his shoulder at the carcass. "He described the creature as having large fangs and being dressed in tattered clothes. As soon as it spotted him it ran out into the forest, though he couldn't provide a direction. So, what we need to do first is to figure out which way it went. Examine the area, but don't get out of sight of each other. In the unlikely even that you actually find the target, don't go fighting it on your own, call for backup."

Once he had addressed the crowd and set them to work he turned to Cassie, handing her his PDA. Two pictures were open on it. The first picture was the same blurry image that had been shown during the briefing. The second picture was much clearer and showed a humanoid creature with a black carapace, large fangs, and claws. "If the first picture doesn't work try the second one," he said, "we aren't sure if this thing we're chasing actually is one of those, but it couldn't hurt to try, right?"

It wasn't very hard to find the path that the target had taken. Broken saplings and dried blood on the leaves giving a pretty clear indicator of which way it had gone. Michael was determined to let the students do as much work as they could shoulder without putting them at risk, so he wouldn't help them unless it was absolutely necessary.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Why did I take allergy medication today of all days?" Bramwell said with large unease as he put on the M50 Joint Service General Purpose Mask he brought with him after he took-off his Advanced Combat Helmet. His face remained concealed, as the fact he attended the school was classified within the Department of Defense. Even within the Academy for the Empowered, there protective measures to prevent certain information about him from being known at non-necessary levels as the pseudo last name of "Smith" attested. He was unsure how much it would keep the smell away, but it was worth trying just in case more corpses were found. "The only good thing I can say is that it was not one of the endangered species here or a person," Bramwell thought as he listened to Michael's orders. Once the opportunity to examine the area was given, he was quick to notice the blood and broken saplings. "I know this may just be my time in the JROTC, my tangential learning, my knowledge that trees do not look that way when unaffected, or my lack of red-green colorblindness, but I think the suspect may have gone in that direction," Bramwell said as he kneeled nearby some of the blood-stained plants, his modal voice somewhat muffled. The combination of a muffled voice and a high modal voice made for an odd voice that did not seem to his aesthetics. He refused to call it "chupacabra" for reasons of not thinking that a new species did that.

[Nakarisaune]

The shuttle flight had been unexciting, Rachael hardly noticing the change in gravity after a while, but it had felt good to be so light, almost weightless. Sure, it had been intensely boring and had started out vaguely unsettling, however the lack of the earth pulling her down made her feel as if already dead. It was a shame it hadn't lasted longer; the practice of being dead would likely come in useful when she was savaged to death by some mutated superhuman.

After the teacher had made some pathetic speech and made a threat against antagonism that seemed solely directed at her, the feeling soon dissipated and by the time the shuttle had landed she didn't feel dead, she just felt that the trees really needed to stop swaying and the sun should calm down. She shaded her eyes for a moment until they adjusted to the harsh glare. There were too many soldiers around. It may have been a military camp, but three of them were very obviously watching the students, and it deeply unnerved Rachael. She kept her head down. If they saw her face, perhaps they'd see who'd killed Eamon Redwood.

When they began to walk, she made sure to keep her eyes on the ground. All the way to the site she stared at her shabby trainers. They weren't that interesting, but at least this way no soldier could identify guilt in her eyes. Once or twice she lifted her head and looked around, but the trees appeared to revolve slowly around her. The steady movement of her feet was less dizzying.

By the time they reached the site the heat and fatigue had sweat rolling down Rachael's forehead. It was pathetic, she knew, it had only been a few kilometres and the muscles in her legs ached, but if no-one noticed it wouldn't matter.

The ideas of being practically invisible disappeared when the students were let loose and Bramwell was immediately idiotic. There was blood and broken saplings on the path - what did he expect to be there, a surprise birthday party? "Fucking god, Bramwell, you don't need to be dense all the time," she said with a scowl, starting to follow the trail.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Now is not the time for raffishness. I am sorry, for I do understand that people, such as you and me, lack the empathy to actually notice such things as the understatement or other such subtleties. It is the time to organize and not yell unless we would like a repeat of what happened to you in the last simulation if your absence from the group at the end of the last simulation allows for inference. Now that the tangent has ended, we need to remember to fan-out to decrease vulnerability in an ambush. Beyond that, we need somebody to take point and somebody to guard the rear flank, potentially on rotation if the need arises," Bramwell said in a fast-paced, high-pitched tone before slowing down once he talked about his suggestions and lowered his modal voice.

[Kershya]

Somewhere in the space station

A nerdy looking 50-ish man wearing a green sweater vest and large rim glasses went to a guard, carrying with him a large stack of papers.

"C-c-can y-y-you d-direct me to J-John. I-I n-need to give h-him the p-proper pa-paperwork f-for entering the m-magic s-shield h-he made. T-then I-I n-n-need to s-speak w-w-with your h-headmaster. M-my boss w-w-wants to m-make an appointment w-with him." He said stuttering and shaking, he looks overworked. The guard simply ready his weapon in case the man will try to do something dangerous or crazy or both.

"You're name, and your boss." The guard said bluntly.

"I-I'm t-the Chief o-of Bureaucracy. T-the L-Lord of B-Balance w-wishes to h-have an appointment with t-the headmaster b-but I m-must g-give the p-proper p-paperwork. Please, c-can y-you d-d-direct me t-to John?" He said, one can tell he's under a great deal of stress.

John walked out of the elevator down on the hangar bay level a few moments after the man had asked for him. It wasn't due to any extraordinary circumstances, he had simply already been on his way down to meet the man who had arrived on a shuttle a few minutes earlier.

"I am John," he said, tapping his cane idly against one foot, "and I must say that we were quite surprised when we heard why you were coming here." He regarded the man with an unsettling gaze, the stare of a man who had laughed in the face of creatures that should not be before sending them screaming into the abyss, as if he was trying to stare straight into the man's soul. "So, tell me, why exactly should I trust this boss of yours enough to let him get onto this station? His kind hasn't exactly proved to be very friendly so far."

"He would p-personally ap-pologize for his y-younger sibling's ch-childish behavior. But I need the paperwork s-signed first. Y-your magic spell g-gave me m-more papers t-to sign just t-to enter t-this place. Please sign h-here, here, here, t-title here, i-initial here, n-name of spell h-here, i-in tr-triplicate." He said as he gave a pile of paperwork to John. As John looks at the man, he notice a multitude of arms holing paperwork, signing paperwork, taking paperwork from a floating inbox, putting paperwork to a floating outbox, the way the arms glimmer shows that the Chief of Bureaucracy is hiding them.

"M-my b-boss knows t-the i-importance o-of t-this world. O-other than be-being h-his f-favorite. H-he is a-against t-the way t-they are d-doing t-their j-job. I-instead of u-using their p-power r-responsively, they're j-just p-playing around. N-not to mention t-t-the L-lord of V-void." John would notice the man suddenly stopping, all of his arms stop what their doing, when he mention the name Lord of Void.

[Corrian]

Cassie nodded to Michael, and gave him her best nervous, shy smile she could, before disappearing back to where Bramwell was.

When they arrived to the scene of the last sighting though, seeing the dead goat didn't sit well with Cassie. The mixture of the smell and just seeing it started to make her feel sick to her stomach. Due to this, she looked away from where the crowd was gathering, and started to gag from the sight and smell of the carcass. In the end, she managed to keep everything in. She had felt sick during the flight down too, due to eating and then getting on the flight. But both of these times she managed not to throw up her small amount of breakfast. She hadn't ate much before the mission because of her bad nerves, so her throwing up her meal would probably just make her feel like shit, having such an empty stomach. She figured the heat and humidity probably wasn't helping either. The mixture of the smell, sight of the carcass, heat, and humidity was just the perfect combination for her to feel sick. Due to this, she only heard the last bits of what Michael said, which she hoped was enough for her to know.

When she was handed the PDA, she smiled briefly then looked at the pictures closely while everyone else talked and planned. She also nodded to Michael saying it was worth a try, and she vaguely heard the swearing from Rachael, but overall she was very focused on her task. Though, she did say "Guys, hold on. Let me try to see if I can find it", to make sure none of them took off in the direction of destroyed plants while she was trying to focus. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, then attempted to use her ability to see where this creature was.