Infinite Justice: Beyond (Marvel,DC,DBZ X/Over, IC, Open)

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"Er.. Alright." He sighed, grabbing his radio. "Commissioner, you there?"
"This is Boxer, the Commissioner is in the field. Where the hell have you been? Did the Mask try and kill you?"
"Nah, he was just trying to figure out why I was spying on him. He's an ally, if... er.. A bit of a brutal one." He said, with a glance back at him. "I'd put him at or above Reclaimer."
"Perfect. I got word that there was a firefight up at an old mansion, word is, Vannis' people are there. Take main street, and if you see Vannis, take him out."
"Got it." Putting down the radio, he glanced back at the Mask. "You got a car? We should get there as fast as we can, Mr..?"

"Lazarus. I have a cycle, you alright with that? It's parked at the next block." says Lazarus. "You tell me where to go though, it's been a while since I've been in Gotham." the butcher continues.

"Lazarus, huh? Like the Lazarus Pit? I'm okay with a motorcycle, so long as it's fast. Main street is close by." The Runner replied. "You use guns, or just the blade? Vannis' people aren't exactly gonna sit down and wait for you to get close to them."

[Pygmalionia]

"Lazarus. I have a cycle, you alright with that? It's parked at the next block." says Lazarus. "You tell me where to go though, it's been a while since I've been in Gotham." the butcher continues.

"Lazarus, huh? Like the Lazarus Pit? I'm okay with a motorcycle, so long as it's fast. Main street is close by." The Runner replied. "You use guns, or just the blade? Vannis' people aren't exactly gonna sit down and wait for you to get close to them."

The duo reach the bike and get on it. "I just have blades. Guns are a bit too, humane for my taste. Don't worry, I can probably think of something. Oh and, what the hell are Lazarus pits?" Hope remarks as they drive off to the Main Street.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"Lazarus, huh? Like the Lazarus Pit? I'm okay with a motorcycle, so long as it's fast. Main street is close by." The Runner replied. "You use guns, or just the blade? Vannis' people aren't exactly gonna sit down and wait for you to get close to them."

The duo reach the bike and get on it. "I just have blades. Guns are a bit too, humane for my taste. Don't worry, I can probably think of something. Oh and, what the hell are Lazarus pits?" Hope remarks as they drive off to the Main Street.

"You're not a local are you?" The runner remarked. "Ever since guys calling themselves the League of Assassins attacked the city a while back, the old legend about the so-called Lazarus Pit started coming around again. Supposedly, if you get in it, you come out healed. Some of the weirder versions of the tale even say people can get immortal. I'd say that it was crazy talk, but in a world where Hercules, Thor, Superman, and Galactus are all real, who the hell knows, eh?" He kept his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.

[Pygmalionia]

"You're not a local are you?" The runner remarked. "Ever since guys calling themselves the League of Assassins attacked the city a while back, the old legend about the so-called Lazarus Pit started coming around again. Supposedly, if you get in it, you come out healed. Some of the weirder versions of the tale even say people can get immortal. I'd say that it was crazy talk, but in a world where Hercules, Thor, Superman, and Galactus are all real, who the hell knows, eh?" He kept his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.

"Yeah, I haven't been here in a while. Those magic pits don't even surprise me anymore. Only thing sure in this world is that nothing's for sure. How far are we from the destination?" Lazarus asks, as he speeds up his cycle; dodging cars.

[The Templar High Council]

The Beginning.

The battle had begun! Jamal's friend Adam was apparently a bad guy now, and an earlier friendship wouldn't stop Kylie from shooting a cannon at his face! Actually, let's call it payback, for flashing her in her home.

"Take this, pervert!" Kylie fired a "ye olde" black powder cannon at Ultron and his crew, but the cannon was filled with grapeshot. That way, it would spread out and hit all of them. Following up with a comically large toy grabber hand, she reached for K'Ragnar to get some revenge from earlier. The Tamaranian was blocking the cannon fire, and couldn't stop Kylie from grabbing him and throwing him at the ground.

"How do YOU like it, PUNK!?" Kylie yelled at his speeding body. "I'll get Spray-Tan Man, I think you guys can get this. It's time for REVENGE! WOO!" Kylie speedily flew after K'Ragnar, towards the planet's surface and probably more Kree soldiers wanting her dead.

But Kylie wasn't thinking about that. She was more focused on beating up the guy who squeezed her into blacking out. That really hurt, and Kylie was going to make him pay.

---

As K'Ragnar smashed into the ground, he broke through to an underground cavern. He heard the Green Lantern coming after him, and planned on surprising her when she entered. He hid himself behind a pillar of stone, and waited.

Kylie, meanwhile, sped underground and appeared in the cavern. It was dark all around, except for the hole she created and the area around her illuminated by green light. "Where are you, Ginger?" She called out, as K'Ragnar must have dimmed the glow from his light. "I'm just gonna beat you up, so then I can go home. Then it'll all be fine..."

Suddenly, K'Ragnar pounced on her with alien-looking claws! Kylie erected a shield to block the attack, but she was still pushed back by the force of his light. "You know, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot." Kylie said, stopping the fight for a moment to pull back some of her hair. "Why don't we start over with names? I'm Lady Lantern, and you are..?"

"..." K'Ragnar watched the Terran for a moment, before deciding that it didn't matter if he told her his name. "I am K'Ragnar, Terran. Of the Sinestro Corps, and of the Phalanx. And you will submit to our will."

"K'Ragnar? I'm gonna call you Krag." Kylie said, smiling. "I've got one more person for you to meet too..." Before K'Ragnar could realize what she was talking about, a baseball bat flew at him and knocked him in the gut. The bat was made as a Green Lantern construct, and flew back to Kylie's hand before he could think to grab it himself. "This is Al, he's my bat. And I'm about to introduce him to your head!"

Kylie dashed towards K'Ragnar, bat in hand, while K'Ragnar created a curved sword that didn't look native to Earth. The two clashed, creating a ringing sound and making yellow and green sparks fly. But K'Ragnar broke the struggle by kicking Kylie in the gut. Hard. She flew back and cracked the cave wall, protected by her willful aura.

"Damn, that hurt." Kylie groaned, picking herself up. "Why did that hurt so much?"

"[He is a Tamaranian.]" Kylie's ring spoke up. "[They generally have greater physical abilities than humans.]"

"Fantastic." Kylie responded, hefting her bat up to her shoulder. "Anything else for me to know?"

"[They can also fly.]"

"... Ring, after we're done here, we're gonna have a long talk about telling me things before I do something stupid." Kylie began to sigh, but it quickly turned into a maniacal laugh. "Too late now! Let's get 'em!" She jetted towards K'Ragnar again, towards the repeated clash with the fourth alien she'd ever met.

And the first to want her dead.

---

After repeatedly clashing, being knocked back, and creating various implements of pain to fight each other, K'Ragnar and Kylie both leaped away for a breath. "Well, this a bit more of a workout than I'm used to. Way tougher than the tin can my friends and I beat up."

K'Ragnar was getting a bit frustrated. Why is she not afraid? he asked himself. "I tire of this fight." He said aloud, brandishing a pair of glowing yellow claws. "It's time to end this!" K'Ragnar dashed at Kylie, who barely had time to block with her bat before it was knocked aside. Now beginning to panic, she created more constructs: a shield that was rended to shreds, a wall that was shattered, and a car that was sliced through the middle before K'Ragnar grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up.

For the first time since she got her ring, Kylie was truly afraid. And that meant her ring held no more power for her. K'Ragnar smiled a wicked grin. "Now, you know fear. And soon, you will be one of us." He threw her against the wall again, and Kylie blacked out.

---

"... Where am I?" Kylie opened her eyes in the dead of space. Looking at her hands, she was made of green light. For some reason or another, she appeared as a Green Lantern construct. And she had no idea what was going on.

Suddenly, her emerald form was whisked away across the universe. Stars streaked by, as did planets, until Kylie appeared outside a green planet that she somehow knew the name of: "Oa..." She was dragged down to the planet, and saw for herself the de facto birthplace for Green Lanterns: the Central Power Battery.

"[Kylie Perceval of Earth,]" a voice boomed from the battery. "[Welcome to Oa.]"

"Thanks." Kylie said, at ease with the strange voice. "So, why am I here? I'm not dead, am I?"

"[No, simply unconscious. And this... I suppose you could call it an introspection.]"

"And... who are you?"

"[I, am Ion. Cosmic embodiment of willpower. Origin of the Green Lantern Corps. And I see great power within you.]"

"Well, that means a lot. Thanks." If Kylie wasn't made of green light, she'd be blushing right now.

"[I brought you here, to ask you a question. The Green Lantern rings seek out beings with immense willpower, and empower them using their emotions. Now how is it, that you have so much inner strength? So much power of will, that I could recognize across the galaxy your power?]"

Kylie thought for a bit, then responded. "I don't really know. I guess it's just how I am. Getting upset or angry over the little things doesn't help anyone, but a bright smile can fix a lot."

Ion's voice pondered this for a moment before continuing. "[I accept that answer. Kylie Perceval, I will gift you a second chance in your battle. Use it wisely, and I hope we meet again.]" The central power battery began glowing brighter and brighter, until Kylie could see nothing but emerald light.

---

Suddenly, Kylie woke up, back to reality where she was laying on her back. K'Ragnar was attended by Kree sentries across the cavern, and hadn't noticed her awakening. But for some reason, she felt so much stronger than she had. Like she could take on the universe. "Ion... thank you." She stood, her stomach still hurting from K'Ragnar's earlier blows, but ignoring the pain as she recited a creed she shouldn't have known.

"In brightest day, in blackest night..."

K'Ragnar heard this, and turned to see an empowered Green Lantern standing against him after she should have been beaten. At first he smirked, thinking he would knock her down for good now. But then, he felt the absence of fear within her. A complete absence. And he could only watch in awe as Kylie continued.

"No evil shall escape my sight..."

K'Ragnar became afraid. This Terran... something had happened to her while she was unconscious. He stepped back, as the Kree sentries readied their weapons.

"Let those who worship evil's might..."

"Well? Attack her!" K'Ragnar commanded, creating an alien gun from his yellow ring. The Kree attacked, but were too late.

"Beware my power, Green Lantern's Light!" An emerald explosion emanated from Kylie's outstretched fist. The Kree were knocked back, staggered, as viridian wisps coiled like steam from Kylie's suit.

They were scared.

They were right.

"Let's finish this, Krag. I'm not afraid anymore. Especially," Kylie stepped forward once, and was immediately within arm's reach of K'Ragnar. "not of you!"

A glorious right hook! Powered by green light, K'Ragnar went sailing through the stone wall into an adjacent cavern. Kylie grinned, floating through the broken wall.

"It's go time." As the Kree returned to fight, they collectively charged at Kylie.

Oh, how they would quickly regret it.

---

Filled with vigor, Kylie's renewed assault could not be stopped. She was fighting a dozen Kree soldiers and K'Ragnar at once, and barely breaking a sweat. Better than that, she was enjoying it. Laughing, having fun, while at the same time fighting Kree with boxing gloves that extended forward when needed.

And K'Ragnar... well, he tried to fight back. But when all the fear is concentrated within him, it's hard to generate constructs to fight. He could only watch as Kylie grew stronger and stronger, beating his allies faster and faster, until she finally had him pinned against the wall with a construct.

"It looks like I win." Kylie said, K'Ragnar watching her with fear in his eyes. "You know what?" She thought aloud. "I think I'll take your ring."

"My ring?" He scoffed. "This ring was given to me when I joined the Sinestro Corps. It's a symbol of the fear I inspire. I won't give it to you!"

"I'm not asking." Kylie said, pressing forward on the green hand keeping K'Ragnar trapped. "I'm telling. Give me the ring. Do you want to die?" K'Ragnar howled in pain, afraid for his life, when something unlikely happened.

K'Ragnar''s ring left him. It floated from his hand, through Kylie's construct, and ended up hovering in front of her face as it spoke: ["Kylie Perceval of Earth, you have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."]

A bright yellow flash, and Kylie was wearing the ring. With the yellow ring on her left hand and the green on her right, her suit was conflicted between green and yellow. In the end, Kylie imagined it looked better green, so that's the way it stayed.

"Well, that settles that." K'Ragnar opened his mouth to protest, but Kylie put a sock in it. Literally. A yellow construct of a sock. "Have fun facing your nightmares, Krag."

Nothing happened externally, but K'Ragnar's body suddenly shuddered uncontrollably as his eyes rolled back. Kylie had made him see his worst fears. What they were was none of her business, but he was no trouble to anyone now.

---

"Phew! Now that's over with!" Kylie wiped her brow, free of sweat, but it was a reflexive action after a lot of hard work. She took off from the planet's surface, seeing Phyla fighting a green robot-looking thing.

"Hey Phyla!" She yelled from behind Super Adaproid. "Look what I got!" She started waking her left fist around, a gold glint being visible due to the distance, but nothing more. For all Phyla knew, Kylie picked up a copper lugnut from a building's support beam.

[Charmera]

---

Garnet grinned to herself as she heard the massive 'crack!" of the giant skeleton's femur as it suffered under the sheer force form her fist's impact. Sure, it hadn't quite broken like she hoped, but at least she had caused quite a bit of damage, and for that she was content. She watched as Masami rushed over to it and began attacking the cracked leg as well. Evidently she wanted to bring it down too, so cooperation was key here.

However, she didn't get to punch the leg again, instead being forced to kick herself off of the giant's femur in order to avoid being slapped away like Masami.

Then, the giant skeleton tried to punch Masami. Garnet's eyes widened as she saw this. "Shit!" She thought to herself. "I have to do something! I can't let another friend bite the dust!" She told herself, her mind racing to figure out what she could do with the artifacts she had on her currently. Thankfully, it didn't take long before an idea popped into her head, and just in time, too, as the fist was about to collide with Masami's blade.

Acting quickly, Garnet tapped into the power of Longing, the amulet with the orange and blue gemstone, causing a portal to appear right in front of Masami's blade. The portal connected to another, which had oppened just next to the giant skeleton's own cracked leg.

"Pick on someone your own size, anorexic bastard." She muttered as she used Despair to swing to Masami's side. "You okay?" She asked.

"I'm alright." She spoke, pain still flooding her system. The Bone cracked and the giant skeleton toppled as the femur did "shatter" Masami moved backwards, realizing the skull of this giant skeleton would land right in front of her. She hopped back as the landing of the skull at her feet set dust kicking up and bits of bone. Masami paused, wondering if the thing was truly dead or not. Her answer came momentarily. It groaned and moved it's fist upwards, attempting to strike her. But she managed to dodge him, learning from the last time she was hit.

Masami then looked towards Garnet. "Go for the Skull. Enough blunt trauma and we can crack it!" Masami spoke, as she suddenly hopped over the skull to the back of it and slammed her blade into the back of the skeletons head, slowly cracking it. She frowned as she sheathed the blade and simply used her own fists.

---

"I see." Hadrimmelis stated, closing her eyes for a moment to check up on the battle taking place on Earth. The threat had been disabled, it seemed, but at a great cost. The planet had suffered much in order to ensure that no other planet would suffer at the hands of that monster. It was a regrettable necessity, but not a regrettable action. After all, almost always, sacrifices were necessary in order to stop an even greater misery from spreading. Once again, this train of thought took her back to the Time Demon War, but she shook her head. She didn't want to fall into those dark thoughts again so soon, especially now that Yamirakkelis was present. She didn't want to show weakness in front of one of the second generation.

"Some of us avoid talking about the war because we did things we are not entirely proud of, Yamira. The annihilation of the Time Demons can be considered as an objectively good thing, but the lengths we were willing to go to in order to ensure that nothing like the war would ever happen again still frighten us sometimes." She explained. "It is not because we think you would never understand, much less because we want you to feel segregated."

After a sigh, the World-Dragon's avatar smiled. "Now, you wanted to talk to me, yes? How about you tell me a bit about your findings? After all, if you claim to have been too busy to pay a visit, then surely you must have found something interesting enough to absorb your time." She said.

---

"I... suppose that's understandable. I merely prodded as first hand accounts tend to be more informative. But if you don't wish to speak of it than I will do so no longer." Spoke Yami. Still. I can't help but feel that Gap... She thought to herself. She did get treated differently due to her second generation nature by her first generation kin. It irked her slightly.

She smiled when the topic turned to her discoveries. "Well I've been refining soul manipulation a little more. As well as trying to adapt and create a form of magic so that it's easier for us to use and pick up. Linking it to the dragon force perhaps." She spoke. Then adjusted her glasses. "After all, I don't intend on being the only dedicated magic wielder out of all of us. And I don't expect you all wish to undergo the lengthy process of learning and attuning as I did. it would also allow us to bestow magic upon our champions." She sighed. "Not all that much luck there. The Dragon force itself seems to reject my attempts to do anything like that. Which might explain why it takes longer for us to pick up magic, so this might be a dead end. But I did find some promising results in the Aura department and some talks with the Vokornian collective have led to them giving us access to their libraries, which could lead to more discoveries considering our shared knowledge. The Order and the Kabal still refuse to speak to us of course..."

"I tried to find some information on the being... "Lula." which you described and there are a few texts that refer to her in my library. I may be able to loan them to you if you're curious."

---

Not far from where Aru stood, Gilbert's body had managed to fully regenerate yet again, and he stood up shakily. That last attack had taken quite a bit out of him. Indeed, it had completely burned his reserves of stolen time, and in order to regenerate, he had exhausted himself. Barely able to walk, and only slightly more capable of standing, he looked up. Asra was gone, destroyed by his own corrupted flames once his Core had ceased to function, but the world felt... different. Empty. The sky was gray, and there was not a sound but that of his own breathing and his own footsteps, as well as whatever mechanical noises came from Aru's suit.

Hearing the alien's comment, Gilbert would have smiled if it weren't for that strange sensation. Instead, he simply nodded, more to himself than to her as she could not see him.

"Yeah, we did it." He echoed, taking a few steps towards the white-haired woman and offering her a hand. Earlier, when the fight against Asra was in full swing, he had barely stopped to observe her, too focused on the battle. That is not to say, of course, that he didn't look at her; he had noticed her appear after all, had offered her some aid and worked together with her, but he had seen her as only an ally, had looked at her without seeing. Now, however, there was no such pressure, and he couldn't help but notice that, for a blue alien woman at least, Aru was quite pretty. She had some rather human features, after all, and he realized that he quite liked her white hair.

Before he had the chance to comment on it or even help her up, though, something happened. The same pain that had ripped through his body inside the Batcave came back, with a vengeance. Suffering flooded his every sense, causing him to fall to the ground and scream in agony. With apparent despair, he clawed at his chest, ripping off his shirt and looking down to what he knew was the source of the pain. And there, he saw it.

The clock had made a full revolution.

Aru flashed a small smile. The first one she had made this entire time, and took Gilberts hand. She was about to speak further when suddenly he convulsed, leaving her on the ground. She frowned and suddenly floated upwards, quickly moving towards Gilbert. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the tatoo he had exposed. Some sort of chrono tracker for humans she supposed. Why would it be on his chest?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Etla was more than ready to meet Craig's charge; in fact, she was expecting it. As soon as he got in range, she planned to deliver a solid kick to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, as she was well aware by now that humans could in fact get the wind knocked out of them, even if the concept of having to breathe was quite alien for the self-sustainable Rainborn. After that, she suspected, it would be easy to do whatever she wanted with him, and finish the fight. It was quite an exciting duel, truth be told, but after thinking on it for a bit, she figured that the sooner the battle ended, the sooner he would stop being afraid of approaching her, which right now would work pretty well towards her newfound interests.

But all this quite suddenly stopped mattering. Etla was distracted when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her, and thus, was unable to react to Craig's charge. Craig himself was apparently distracted as well, since instead of doing anything elaborate he simply wound up tackling her to the ground, ending up on top of him in a rather awkward position; at least, it would've been awkward if she had been an earthling, but as that wasn't the case, she didn't feel particularly embarassed, merely enjoying the young inventor's proximity once again, smiling as he leaned closer and closer.

"You've become pretty bold after stepping into the ring, you know that?" She remarked playfully, by now pretty solidly distracted from the familiar voice that she thought she had heard earlier. "I would have thought you'd want to finish the fight first, but I don't mind this either." She stated, having all but forgotten the fact that they were in the middle of a crowded place, with several dozen pairs of eyes looking at them, if not more.

---

---

"I can do that!" Garnet shouted back at Masami, using Despair to latch onto the creature's skull and pull herself up towards it. With the momentum from the pull, she delivered a pretty solid punch to the skull, empowered through Agony's might, the cursed gauntlet colliding with great force against the bone and creating an explosion of red light around the area of impact. Afterwards, she settled into a more or less comfortable position atop the beast's skull and began pounding at it with Agony, over and over again. She couldn't beat it with both of her fists like Masami did, as using the hand that didn't have a gauntlet would likely only end up getting her hand broken and dealing no damage whatsoever to the skull, but on the other hand (pardon the pun), Agony held the power to destroy entire buildings in one strike, so cracking the skull likely wouldn't take too much effort, or so she hoped, anyway.

Pausing for a moment from her tedious task and looking around from her vantage point, Garnet spoke. "So, uh, do you think there's any more of these things coming? I think it's pretty suspicious that this guy came alone and crushed all of its buddies without a second thought." She said before resuming her task.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"You're not a local are you?" The runner remarked. "Ever since guys calling themselves the League of Assassins attacked the city a while back, the old legend about the so-called Lazarus Pit started coming around again. Supposedly, if you get in it, you come out healed. Some of the weirder versions of the tale even say people can get immortal. I'd say that it was crazy talk, but in a world where Hercules, Thor, Superman, and Galactus are all real, who the hell knows, eh?" He kept his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.

"Yeah, I haven't been here in a while. Those magic pits don't even surprise me anymore. Only thing sure in this world is that nothing's for sure. How far are we from the destination?" Lazarus asks, as he speeds up his cycle; dodging cars.

"We're about- Hold up, the hell is that?" He suddenly asked, pointing towards a collection of black SUVs. "Nobody in their right mind is out tonight, let alone someone important enough for a convoy. Unless... Hey, pull over towards them. I want to knock on a window. It might be Vannis in there."

[Pygmalionia]

"Yeah, I haven't been here in a while. Those magic pits don't even surprise me anymore. Only thing sure in this world is that nothing's for sure. How far are we from the destination?" Lazarus asks, as he speeds up his cycle; dodging cars.

"We're about- Hold up, the hell is that?" He suddenly asked, pointing towards a collection of black SUVs. "Nobody in their right mind is out tonight, let alone someone important enough for a convoy. Unless... Hey, pull over towards them. I want to knock on a window. It might be Vannis in there."

"Do you even know anything about this Vannis person aside from him being a crime boss?" says Lazarus as they begin to slow down, clearly doubting the Runner's plans. "I don't know, on the off-chance that it might be Vannis; he's not gonna be alone. We're only two guys. You really think this is the way to go, mister..?" Lazarus continues as he looks at the group of automobiles, realizing he hasn't asked the Runner's name.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"We're about- Hold up, the hell is that?" He suddenly asked, pointing towards a collection of black SUVs. "Nobody in their right mind is out tonight, let alone someone important enough for a convoy. Unless... Hey, pull over towards them. I want to knock on a window. It might be Vannis in there."

"Do you even know anything about this Vannis person aside from him being a crime boss?" says Lazarus as they begin to slow down, clearly doubting the Runner's plans. "I don't know, on the off-chance that it might be Vannis; he's not gonna be alone. We're only two guys. You really think this is the way to go, mister..?" Lazarus continues as he looks at the group of automobiles, realizing he hasn't asked the Runner's name.

"Just call me John. As for Vannis, he's the guy that just ordered a massacre on Gotham. Anything else you need to know?" He remarked. "And you're a mask who can take a round to the chest. I'm sure we've got this."

[Pygmalionia]

"Do you even know anything about this Vannis person aside from him being a crime boss?" says Lazarus as they begin to slow down, clearly doubting the Runner's plans. "I don't know, on the off-chance that it might be Vannis; he's not gonna be alone. We're only two guys. You really think this is the way to go, mister..?" Lazarus continues as he looks at the group of automobiles, realizing he hasn't asked the Runner's name.

"Just call me John. As for Vannis, he's the guy that just ordered a massacre on Gotham. Anything else you need to know?" He remarked. "And you're a mask who can take a round to the chest. I'm sure we've got this."

"A round to the chest, thanks to a Kevlar. I'm not as strong as any other uh, Masks you've seen. I'm different from the average human, but I am by no means a super." the Butcher admits. "By info on Vannis, I meant his personal capabilities. For all we know, this guy's hiding some bat shit insane powers, you know?" Lazarus continues, before pulling over 10 meters near the SUV. "You sure about this, John?" Lazarus admits finally.

[Altito Asmoro]

"Just call me John. As for Vannis, he's the guy that just ordered a massacre on Gotham. Anything else you need to know?" He remarked. "And you're a mask who can take a round to the chest. I'm sure we've got this."

"A round to the chest, thanks to a Kevlar. I'm not as strong as any other uh, Masks you've seen. I'm different from the average human, but I am by no means a super." the Butcher admits. "By info on Vannis, I meant his personal capabilities. For all we know, this guy's hiding some bat shit insane powers, you know?" Lazarus continues, before pulling over 10 meters near the SUV. "You sure about this, John?" Lazarus admits finally.

"Sir, we've got vision on unknown people near us."

"Hmm...let's continue to the mansion, we will be safer there, how long our travel is now? 20? 30?"

"It's um....25 minutes, Sir. We'll make it 20, if we fast enough. Reports came that Batgirl, and unknown person had undermined our attempt. And we have no location of Mia."

"Sure, go for it. Have the men in front of us to arm themselves and prepares for the worst. Not that Mia's important, anyway..."

The SUV began to increases its speed, the safety of them is undermined heavily with attacks on every sides of the flanks they can cover, and it's only time before they will be overwhelmed, something they can't counter for now.

[Pygmalionia]

"A round to the chest, thanks to a Kevlar. I'm not as strong as any other uh, Masks you've seen. I'm different from the average human, but I am by no means a super." the Butcher admits. "By info on Vannis, I meant his personal capabilities. For all we know, this guy's hiding some bat shit insane powers, you know?" Lazarus continues, before pulling over 10 meters near the SUV. "You sure about this, John?" Lazarus admits finally.

"Sir, we've got vision on unknown people near us."

"Hmm...let's continue to the mansion, we will be safer there, how long our travel is now? 20? 30?"

"It's um....25 minutes, Sir. We'll make it 20, if we fast enough. Reports came that Batgirl, and unknown person had undermined our attempt. And we have no location of Mia."

"Sure, go for it. Have the men in front of us to arm themselves and prepares for the worst. Not that Mia's important, anyway..."

The SUV began to increases its speed, the safety of them is undermined heavily with attacks on every sides of the flanks they can cover, and it's only time before they will be overwhelmed, something they can't counter for now.

"Ah shit, they left. Probably noticed." says Lazarus. "Better safe, though. Lets wait for them to advance a bit before tailing them to avoid suspicion." Lazarus offers.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"A round to the chest, thanks to a Kevlar. I'm not as strong as any other uh, Masks you've seen. I'm different from the average human, but I am by no means a super." the Butcher admits. "By info on Vannis, I meant his personal capabilities. For all we know, this guy's hiding some bat shit insane powers, you know?" Lazarus continues, before pulling over 10 meters near the SUV. "You sure about this, John?" Lazarus admits finally.

"Sir, we've got vision on unknown people near us."

"Hmm...let's continue to the mansion, we will be safer there, how long our travel is now? 20? 30?"

"It's um....25 minutes, Sir. We'll make it 20, if we fast enough. Reports came that Batgirl, and unknown person had undermined our attempt. And we have no location of Mia."

"Sure, go for it. Have the men in front of us to arm themselves and prepares for the worst. Not that Mia's important, anyway..."

The SUV began to increases its speed, the safety of them is undermined heavily with attacks on every sides of the flanks they can cover, and it's only time before they will be overwhelmed, something they can't counter for now.

Watching the SUV pull forward faster, John remarked. "Kevlar, huh? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he's got powers, either. In my eyes, all we gotta do is make him crash. He dies, this all ends, right? As for safety.... Let's see what happens." He laughed, before pulling out his pistol and carefully aiming at the wheels of the nearest SUV. "Boom." He fired several times, hoping at least one would hit.

[Pygmalionia]

"Sir, we've got vision on unknown people near us."

"Hmm...let's continue to the mansion, we will be safer there, how long our travel is now? 20? 30?"

"It's um....25 minutes, Sir. We'll make it 20, if we fast enough. Reports came that Batgirl, and unknown person had undermined our attempt. And we have no location of Mia."

"Sure, go for it. Have the men in front of us to arm themselves and prepares for the worst. Not that Mia's important, anyway..."

The SUV began to increases its speed, the safety of them is undermined heavily with attacks on every sides of the flanks they can cover, and it's only time before they will be overwhelmed, something they can't counter for now.

Watching the SUV pull forward faster, John remarked. "Kevlar, huh? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he's got powers, either. In my eyes, all we gotta do is make him crash. He dies, this all ends, right? As for safety.... Let's see what happens." He laughed, before pulling out his pistol and carefully aiming at the wheels of the nearest SUV. "Boom." He fired several times, hoping at least one would hit.

"Well, there goes any hint of espionage!" Lazarus comments in a laughing tone while he observes the effects of John's actions.

[Altito Asmoro]

"Sir, we've got vision on unknown people near us."

"Hmm...let's continue to the mansion, we will be safer there, how long our travel is now? 20? 30?"

"It's um....25 minutes, Sir. We'll make it 20, if we fast enough. Reports came that Batgirl, and unknown person had undermined our attempt. And we have no location of Mia."

"Sure, go for it. Have the men in front of us to arm themselves and prepares for the worst. Not that Mia's important, anyway..."

The SUV began to increases its speed, the safety of them is undermined heavily with attacks on every sides of the flanks they can cover, and it's only time before they will be overwhelmed, something they can't counter for now.

Watching the SUV pull forward faster, John remarked. "Kevlar, huh? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he's got powers, either. In my eyes, all we gotta do is make him crash. He dies, this all ends, right? As for safety.... Let's see what happens." He laughed, before pulling out his pistol and carefully aiming at the wheels of the nearest SUV. "Boom." He fired several times, hoping at least one would hit.

We got hit.

The fourth SUV crashed into the building, wounding seriously all of the members inside the car, with the rest of the SUV stop.

"Order one of the SUV to check the people inside, if they all dead, it means we have to left them. If one of them still alive, or few alive, bring them to the other SUV! Now! I will continue to the mansion, only with this SUV and one other SUV, got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

One of the SUV backed down, and then 6 trained and heavily armed guards went outside from the SUV and went to checked the crashed SUV. One of them, however, noticed someone from afar. Being wary he told the rest and the rest became wary and cautious.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

Watching the SUV pull forward faster, John remarked. "Kevlar, huh? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he's got powers, either. In my eyes, all we gotta do is make him crash. He dies, this all ends, right? As for safety.... Let's see what happens." He laughed, before pulling out his pistol and carefully aiming at the wheels of the nearest SUV. "Boom." He fired several times, hoping at least one would hit.

We got hit.

The fourth SUV crashed into the building, wounding seriously all of the members inside the car, with the rest of the SUV stop.

"Order one of the SUV to check the people inside, if they all dead, it means we have to left them. If one of them still alive, or few alive, bring them to the other SUV! Now! I will continue to the mansion, only with this SUV and one other SUV, got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

One of the SUV backed down, and then 6 trained and heavily armed guards went outside from the SUV and went to checked the crashed SUV. One of them, however, noticed someone from afar. Being wary he told the rest and the rest became wary and cautious.

John smiled. "Ignore the ones getting out. Vannis is going to be in one of the two still going. Still worried about it, Mask?" He laughed, then pulled out his radio. "Boxer, I've got Vannis in my sights, in pursuit with the Mask. He's en route to the old mansion." He pulled out his second gun and began to take aim at the two SUVs still going. "Get close enough so I can get a shot in on them."

[Pygmalionia]

We got hit.

The fourth SUV crashed into the building, wounding seriously all of the members inside the car, with the rest of the SUV stop.

"Order one of the SUV to check the people inside, if they all dead, it means we have to left them. If one of them still alive, or few alive, bring them to the other SUV! Now! I will continue to the mansion, only with this SUV and one other SUV, got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

One of the SUV backed down, and then 6 trained and heavily armed guards went outside from the SUV and went to checked the crashed SUV. One of them, however, noticed someone from afar. Being wary he told the rest and the rest became wary and cautious.

John smiled. "Ignore the ones getting out. Vannis is going to be in one of the two still going. Still worried about it, Mask?" He laughed, then pulled out his radio. "Boxer, I've got Vannis in my sights, in pursuit with the Mask. He's en route to the old mansion." He pulled out his second gun and began to take aim at the two SUVs still going. "Get close enough so I can get a shot in on them."

"Alright, I'm not AS worried; but those guys are still armed. I'll do my best to try and dodge if they ever fire. You focus on your shots." Lazarus replies as he revs up his cycle. He takes a bunch of small knives from his coat, clipping four between his fingers. "Ready?" says the Butcher, before suddenly speeding past the crashed SUV to pursue Vannis.

[Altito Asmoro]

John smiled. "Ignore the ones getting out. Vannis is going to be in one of the two still going. Still worried about it, Mask?" He laughed, then pulled out his radio. "Boxer, I've got Vannis in my sights, in pursuit with the Mask. He's en route to the old mansion." He pulled out his second gun and began to take aim at the two SUVs still going. "Get close enough so I can get a shot in on them."

"Alright, I'm not AS worried; but those guys are still armed. I'll do my best to try and dodge if they ever fire. You focus on your shots." Lazarus replies as he revs up his cycle. He takes a bunch of small knives from his coat, clipping four between his fingers. "Ready?" says the Butcher, before suddenly speeding past the crashed SUV to pursue Vannis.

"Goddammit, he's trying to kill Boss! Kill him!"

The men began to open fire on the two guys, hoping it will hit them, while one of them went back to SUV and started it, ordering his friends to got in as well to pursue them.

---

Meanwhile Vannis and the rest of his men already on their way to the mansion, as it has become the more safer place for them now. And in the end hopefully, they will survive to see the next sunset.

[Pygmalionia]

"Alright, I'm not AS worried; but those guys are still armed. I'll do my best to try and dodge if they ever fire. You focus on your shots." Lazarus replies as he revs up his cycle. He takes a bunch of small knives from his coat, clipping four between his fingers. "Ready?" says the Butcher, before suddenly speeding past the crashed SUV to pursue Vannis.

"Goddammit, he's trying to kill Boss! Kill him!"

The men began to open fire on the two guys, hoping it will hit them, while one of them went back to SUV and started it, ordering his friends to got in as well to pursue them.

---

Meanwhile Vannis and the rest of his men already on their way to the mansion, as it has become the more safer place for them now. And in the end hopefully, they will survive to see the next sunset.

Upon hearing gunshots, Lazarus begins to maneuver his cycle in an erratic manner. One of his side mirrors shatter upon getting hit. "Son of a bitch!" Lazarus mutters. He brakes to the side then recklessly throws his knives with impressive strength with hopes of taking out some of the men getting in the SUV. The knives hurl through the air at speeds a normal man wouldn't be able to achieve. As soon as the knives leave his hand, Lazarus continues his pursuit as he pushes his bike to its top speed in an attempt to catch up to the crime lord. "Keep shooting, John!" Lazarus orders.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"Goddammit, he's trying to kill Boss! Kill him!"

The men began to open fire on the two guys, hoping it will hit them, while one of them went back to SUV and started it, ordering his friends to got in as well to pursue them.

---

Meanwhile Vannis and the rest of his men already on their way to the mansion, as it has become the more safer place for them now. And in the end hopefully, they will survive to see the next sunset.

Upon hearing gunshots, Lazarus begins to maneuver his cycle in an erratic manner. One of his side mirrors shatter upon getting hit. "Son of a bitch!" Lazarus mutters. He brakes to the side then recklessly throws his knives with impressive strength with hopes of taking out some of the men getting in the SUV. The knives hurl through the air at speeds a normal man wouldn't be able to achieve. As soon as the knives leave his hand, Lazarus continues his pursuit as he pushes his bike to its top speed in an attempt to catch up to the crime lord. "Keep shooting, John!" Lazarus orders.

"I am!" He yelled. "Drive straighter, dammit!" He continued to fire at the vans.

---

"Reclaimer, this is Boxer, I've got one of my runners on Vannis, but I can't be sure if he'll take him out. If he fails, I need you to head to the old mansion."
"I'm a bit-" He slammed his fist into one of Vannis' goons before rolling out of the way of gunfire. "Busy at the moment!"

---

"Commissioner, are you-"
"I don't have time to talk!" The Commissioner nearly screamed. He continued to fire at the remaining men outside the Mayor's office. "I've got four men down!"

---

"Uh.. He-Hello?" A new voice showed up on the radio. "I.. Is this the GCD?"
"Who are you?" Boxer questioned. "How did you find this frequency?"
"I found it on a dead man. I'm with a couple of my friends, we have guns, and we want to help. Where can we go?"
"Thank God. Head to the Mayor's office, our Commissioner is pinned down there."
"Got it."

[Bentus]

Mia Aveline – Joker’s Funhouse

---

Harley Quinn gave a mischievous smirk, tutting as she did so. “Shame on you, Becky! You didn’t tell me you were inviting guests.” Jester’s face contorted at the mention of her old name, of her dead self. But before she could respond, the pasty woman’s grin seemed to widen menacingly as she hurled an object from behind her. “Lucky for us, I made sure to get enough sweeties for everyone!”

What appeared to be a cupcake landed at the Jester’s feet, except the sole candle on its top was rapidly shrinking as flames ate away at it. Recognising the ploy for what it was immediately, the woman leaped deftly backwards in an effort to escape from the trap. Mia could only look on in confusion at the strange display, until the candle disappeared and the whole cake detonated with enough force to send both women flying back across the room. The wooden walls of the abandoned factory did little to obstruct their passage and both Mia and the Jester landed in an inelegant heap in the next room across.

Groaning, both in pain and in dismay of the hideous state her dress would surely be left in, Mia pulled herself to her feet. She shot an angered expression towards Harley, the woman still standing where she had been moments before, clutching her sides in laughter. “Puahahaha! You should’ve seen the looks on your faces, that is a trick for the ages!”

Mia glowered, clearly not sharing in the joke. “That was so rude!” The young woman stamped her foot in displeasure. “Could you not see that Jester and I were trying to do some catching up?” The Jester, barely resisting a chuckle at what, she had to agree, had been a pretty hilarious act, sprung herself up off the ground with a snap of her fingers.

“Aha! You were at Arkham weren’t you?” The villain’s eyes lit up with realisation as she continued to click her fingers, as if they may jolt her memory. “Mary – Merion – Marrionette, that’s it! I thought you got singed to a crisp.” The Jester giggled, remembering her last absolutely killer joke. “What are you doing here?”

Mia’s expression turned blank for a moment, having forgotten herself for a moment. She looked over at the woman, her clothes torn and some of her make-up having become smudged with blood. Evidently she and Harley had been at it for some time already. “Oh, same as you actually!” Mia answered in a cheery, sing-song tone. “We’re here to kill the Joker.”

“Oh.” Jester seemed to actually be taken aback by that unexpected turn of events, but swiftly turned back to her original opponent – her chances were suddenly looking brighter. “Seems like the enemy-of-my-enemy is actually worth a thing or two!” The clown-faced woman cracked her knuckles in anticipation. “Well then Harley dear, isn’t that quite a punch line?”
Mia thought she may have seen a look of doubt flash across Harley Quinn’s face, but it could have easily simply been some more of her make-up starting to run. The older woman only seemed to grow more excited by the sudden two-on-one odds, brandishing her hammer in preparation for their attack with her usual confident grin plastered upon her features. She lifted the hefty weapon with a practiced ease, making one think that it was far lighter than it initially appeared. “Hun, you know I hate to interrupt a good joke, but I’m afraid Mr J’s busy at the moment with anoth –“

Harley never made it to her own punch line as a cinder block ploughed itself into her chest, the force of the impact forcing the air from her lungs, the momentum causing her to careen over onto the floor. Jester looked over towards Mia, who smiled innocently – a Thread which had been used to hurl the projectile returning to her fingertips. “Sorry, but you have no idea how difficult it’s going to be to clean all this out.” She stated, gesturing to her spoilt dress as she did so, before darting over to engage Harley. The Jester grinned manically, quickly moving forward to join her ally-of-the-moment against their common foe.

Too experienced to allow for a surprise attack to keep her down for long, Quinn used her arms to push herself back to her feet. A look of pure fury twisted her face into a grimace, no one dared to interrupt her jokes before the big finale! However, she immediately found herself forced onto the defensive as her two assailants launched into a flurry of attacks. Mia struck first, using her still-closed parasol as a blunt implement to lunge for Harley’s exposed abdomen, but was parried by a quick shift of her foe’s hammer. Undeterred, Mia carried forward her momentum into a quick twirl to bring her weapon about sharply into Harley’s side. Again, the attack failed to connect as Harley expertly shifted her hammer, using its hardened shaft to obstruct Mia’s progress. The quick block halted the young woman’s momentum, leaving her vulnerable for a swift counter-attack. But before Harley could take advantage of this, she saw a sudden movement form the corner of her eye and had to take a step back in an effort to avoid an overhead swing from the Jester’s cane.

The action gave Mia enough time to regain her footing and once again launch into a burst of rapid jabs in an effort to break Harley’s defences. This, coupled with the Jester’s similarly relentless assault forced Harley to constantly be on the retreat, unable to shift between the attackers without taking a step backwards to brace for the weight of each of their blows. CeeCee’s pained screams, agonised cries for help, remained fresh in Mia’s mind as she abandoned almost all pretence of defence in an effort to rapidly overwhelm her opponent through sheer weight of attacks. The tactic was making progress, and Harley was tiring quickly from the unrelenting blows, but it also left the assailants open. A sharp pain tore into Mia’s gut as Harley thrust the hilt of her hammer beneath her ribs, causing her to fall backwards. The strike would have easily broken bones were it not for Mia’s Threads working to strengthen her skeleton and allow her to absorb the significant force of the impact.

Harley immediately moved to capitalise on the successful hit, lifting her hammer to bring it down smashing on the girl’s skull, but instead found herself doubling over as Jester swung her cane into her back. The woman cried out in surprise and pain but gritted her teeth and blocked another strike from the former Rebecca Philips with her forearm before thrusting with her elbow. The hard bone slammed into the Jester’s face, causing her to stumble backwards momentarily. Before Quinn could deliver any more lasting damage, however, she once again found herself having to shift targets as Mia once again dived into the brawl. Using an old, dusty table as a springboard, Mia jumped up above the duo to bring her parasol down in what she’d hoped would have been a fight-ending strike against Harley’s head. However, the woman managed to leap out of the way of the heavy downward swing and Mia found her arms buckle as her weapon struck up against cold, hard concrete. Ignoring the uncomfortable pain, she instead opened up her parasol with the push of a button – the bright pink canvas striking a sharp contrast with the dull and faded colours of the factory basement. Mia pushed upwards with her legs, swinging the serrated edge of her weapon towards Quinn’s neck. Hardly having had enough time to recover from the unexpected aerial assault, Harley threw her torso backwards to duck under the attack, a few strands of her hair flying through the air as they were severed by the razor sharp implement. Not wasting a moment though, the experienced killer righted herself almost immediately to once again parry any further blows.

This back and forth continued between the three women, as Jester and Mia alternated between launching ruthless and aggressive fusillades of strikes at their opponent, gradually tearing down her defences piece by piece. Harley managed to deliver the occasional connecting blow, but before she could press any advantage, she’d find herself being attacked from another angle by an equally determined opponent. She was feeling her muscles weaken, one of her shoulder crying out in pain from where the Jester’s cane had landed a particularly devastating hit. The woman was panting heavily as her reflexes became increasingly sluggish, but she’d never give up on her Mr J. She delivered a kick to the Jester as the latter tried to rush forward for an attack, causing her to gasp for air and stagger a few steps backwards.

Harley’s eyes glistened as she saw an opportunity, reaching behind her back with one hand to draw out a laughably exaggerated revolver which she directed towards Jester, who found herself wide-open. The two women’s eyes met for a moment, both knowing that there was nothing the Jester could do to outpace a speeding bullet. The large barrel of the weapon was aimed squarely at its victim while Harley looked down it with a wild fire in her eyes, sticking her tongue out in a childish expression of certain victory. But instead of the surprised stare she had expected, the look of horrifying fear or terror, instead Harley found herself aiming at a woman with a manic grin – she soon found out the source of the Jester’s confidence.

A sudden flash of pink darted into Quinn’s vision as time seemed to slow down, everything happening before she could even have the chance to pull the trigger. An unbelievable, agonising pain shot through her gun-arm, tearing along her nerves with such a ferocity that her mind seemed to be numb at first as to how to react to it. It took the time for the revolver, coated in Quinn’s own blood, to impact on the ground for her body to react to what had happened. Her right hand continued to grip tightly to the hilt of the gun as it lay severed on the floor, the entire basement consumed with a spine-chilling scream as Harley grasped at the stump that now ended her arm. Her eyes were wide with horror as the bloodied mess focused in her vision; Mia smirked coyly, part of her parasol’s edge now tinted a dark red. Driven into a rage, Harley roared as she launched an upward swing with her hammer using her one remaining hand – or at least the only one still attached to her arm – the impact sending Mia flying up through the ceiling and out of view.

However, motivated by fury and a desire for immediate vengeance, Harley had left herself wide open to the Jester who closed the distance between them effortlessly. Harley cried out again as Jester’s can shattered her already wounded shoulder before being whirled around to slam into her kneecap with a sickening crunch. The broken bone, unable to support her weight, caused Quinn to collapse to her one knee with the Jester grinning down upon her, twirling her can in one hand.

“And now, for the punch line!” The crazed woman swung her weapon up with all her might, the cane connecting with Harley’s jaw and sending her catapulting over backwards and into the opposing wall. Her body lay motionless where it lay: battered, bruised, and lying in a growing pool of blood as it oozed from the stump where her right hand used to be – along from the myriad of other cuts and wounds she now sported. Jester stood there silently for a few moments, refusing to lower her cane as she waited for her opponent to once again spring back to her feet, but no movements shook Quinn’s figure. Slowly, the Jester’s smile widened as the thrill of victory began to rise up in her chest – mimicking the bellowing laugh that burst from her throat. She dropped her can as her whole body started to quake with each explosive cackle, her eyes wide with triumph. Pulling a face at her victim, the Jester felt as if she’d finally paid back Quinn for destroying the old her all that time ago – and all that remained was to deliver the same fate to her precious Mr J.

Suddenly, a quiet chuckle emerged from Harley’s body. The Jester froze, her eyes burning in anger at having her victory snatched from her clutches. She turned to see Quinn struggling to prop herself up on an elbow, one of her eyes swollen shut as her chuckle steadily evolved into a giggle, growing in volume as it did so. This giggle transformed into a mad laugh as Harley, using the last of her strength, pulled what looked like a stick of dynamite from her belt. Twisting the top of the object with her teeth, Quinn tossed the stick into the centre of the room as a series of increasingly high-pitched beeps to sound from it. Her eyes had a mad, crazed look to them as she seemed to force whatever air was left in her lungs into her laughter.

“Learn from the best, Becky – that is what you call a punch line!”

The Jester turned to make a dash for the exit. It couldn’t end yet, her joke hadn’t been finished, not with the Joker still –

The woman’s thoughts turned blank as a blinding light consumed her vision and she felt her body picked up like a doll and tossed aside.

---

When Jester came to, she immediately groaned in pain and lifted a hand to her throbbing head, pulling it away with a slight sheen of blood. Her whole body felt like it had been beaten and tormented, her individual muscles responding sluggishly as if they were in shock. Rolling herself over, Jester felt shards of shattered glass breaking under her back as her eyes fell upon her trusty cane lying by her side.

The weapon was damaged, a part of it having broken off and now being nowhere in sight, but it still served her faithfully. Using it as a crutch, the Jester forced herself to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. The sight of the factory, the area around her damaged well beyond repair by Harley Quinn’s explosive, triggered an onrush of memories. Despite her likely broken ribs, the Jester still managed a few wheezed laughs as she looked down over a balcony into the gaping hole where their battle had just taken place. She whistled, impressed that the device had had enough of a kick to throw her up to a higher floor. She was similarly surprised that she’d been able to survive at all, even in her wounded state; then again, it was all in the name of a good joke.

The sound of more cracking glass caught the Jester’s attention as she saw pink reflected in the shards at her feet.

“Haha! What do you think Marionette, best trick ever, or what?” The Jester pushed aside her pain in the name of another chuckle. “Ding-dong the bitch is D-E-A-D, DE-!”

Rebecca Phillips never finished the sentence as her words were replaced by the sound of choking. Her cane fell to the ground as she tried to use her hand to claw at the Threads that now wound tightly around her throat. The Jester’s eyes were bulging in her head as she struggled to get even the minimal amount of air into her lungs. Surprise was quickly turning to fear as she recognised the betrayal and felt her triumphant last laugh slipping through her fingers.

Mia tutted from behind as she walked calmly up behind the suffocating Jester, shushing her harried chokes. “Sorry, Jester.” The voice sounded truly sincere. “Really, I am. I’d hoped that I’d be able to do this when Silvie was around as well. Don’t you think that would have been nice?” A faint smile crossed over Mia’s face as her eyes glazed over, imagining the scene with a tinge of jealousy. “Two true lovers tragically succumbing to the cold hand of death as they lay side-by-side.” Mia squealed at the though. “So [i[romantique[/i]!”

Jester’s vision was beginning to fade at the edges as her attempts to loosen the Threads became increasingly feeble and pathetic.

“Don’t worry though,” Mia started cheerily, hoping to brighten the mood. “The Joker’s going to be next.” With that, she delivered a forceful kick to Jester’s back, sending her body careening over the edge of the balcony she’d been standing over. Acting quickly, Mia shot the other end of her Thread to wrap around one of the pillars holding up the factory’s roof. The Thread spooled for about a second before suddenly growing taught with a sickening snap, easily supporting the weight of the corpse that now hang suspended in the air.

Mia smiled to herself, resolving to hunt down Silver Queen once she and Sentinel had finished up with the Joker – that way she could be re-united with her forbidden love. Jester would have liked that, she decided. The young woman giggled to herself, confident that there’d be no way that CeeCee could ignore her now.

[The Templar High Council]

Ralph the Rat-16 Yrs-New Mobius

Meanwhile, Ashley was tearing it up in her attempt to explore New Mobius. The other members of Speedstream, the team she was about to go pro with on Mobius, were more concerned with setting up houses and making the new planet livable than riding right now.

Not that she could blame them, it was pretty crazy how they were brought to the new planet. And someone said they had crossed dimensions on the way.. weird. Too much thinking for Ashley, who was more than content just riding around, fueling her Extreme Gear by herself and exploring New Mobius from above.

"Ooh, what's that?" From a high cliff, Ashley spotted a grey Mobian training on a floating island. He was about level with her, altitude-wise, but he was doing some crazy things. Like kicking trees and moving rocks with his mind. That's so cool... she thought. I gotta go meet that guy!

Taking a good many steps back, Ashley started running for the cliff's edge. She ran, jumped, mounted her board, and flew all the way to the floating island using air currents she made. Dismounting before landing, Ashley grabbed her board mid-air and fell to the ground. She stumbled to a stop right before Ralph, and noticed the fruit he was eating. Using the air, Ashley pulled another fruit from the same tree and took a bite out of it.

"Hiya." She said, after taking the first bite. The fruit wasn't too sweet, but at least it was something to eat. "It's cool seeing someone else not freaking out after what happened. What was that stuff you did just now, with the power kick and floating rocks?" Direct as ever, Ashley went straight for the obvious question. Not even bothering to ask the name of this stranger she met on a floating island.

[Charmera]

---

"I can do that!" Garnet shouted back at Masami, using Despair to latch onto the creature's skull and pull herself up towards it. With the momentum from the pull, she delivered a pretty solid punch to the skull, empowered through Agony's might, the cursed gauntlet colliding with great force against the bone and creating an explosion of red light around the area of impact. Afterwards, she settled into a more or less comfortable position atop the beast's skull and began pounding at it with Agony, over and over again. She couldn't beat it with both of her fists like Masami did, as using the hand that didn't have a gauntlet would likely only end up getting her hand broken and dealing no damage whatsoever to the skull, but on the other hand (pardon the pun), Agony held the power to destroy entire buildings in one strike, so cracking the skull likely wouldn't take too much effort, or so she hoped, anyway.

Pausing for a moment from her tedious task and looking around from her vantage point, Garnet spoke. "So, uh, do you think there's any more of these things coming? I think it's pretty suspicious that this guy came alone and crushed all of its buddies without a second thought." She said before resuming her task.

The Skeleton really couldn't do anything against the two warriors. It sort of simply flailed around as it was slowly beat into submission. Masami gritted her teeth. "Taking too long..." She spoke. She hopped down.Using her incredibly speed and strength, she got under the neck/spine of the great skeleton, grunting as it's weight was on her shoulders. She roared as she suddenly pushed upwards, the beast shooting upwards with considerable force. Then when it came back down, assuming Garnet didn't stop punching, Masami had timed her own final blow so that they would strike at the same time. Either way, it was enough to crack the skull with a resounding crack and a blast of light. Then the struggle stopped, and slowly parts of the beast seemed to disentigrate, the Skeleton no longer one full skeleton, but as various bones fell off it was revealed to be the combined skeletons of many a soul.

"Anything else coming..." Her ears perked up. "Not that I can hea-" Suddenly there was a flash of light as another tail was added to masami's backside. She exhaled. Not yet knowing what powers it had brought. "I... suppose I leveled up." She spoke as she grinned sheepishly. "Three down... nine to go."

Meanwhile, Garnet and Masami might soon notice a group of black clad humanoids nearby. Eyes fixed on the two of them. But for now they did not strike, nor did the Kitsune notice them. The two warriors had time to rest. But they were being watched...

[Charmera]

"I see." Hadrimmelis stated, closing her eyes for a moment to check up on the battle taking place on Earth. The threat had been disabled, it seemed, but at a great cost. The planet had suffered much in order to ensure that no other planet would suffer at the hands of that monster. It was a regrettable necessity, but not a regrettable action. After all, almost always, sacrifices were necessary in order to stop an even greater misery from spreading. Once again, this train of thought took her back to the Time Demon War, but she shook her head. She didn't want to fall into those dark thoughts again so soon, especially now that Yamirakkelis was present. She didn't want to show weakness in front of one of the second generation.

"Some of us avoid talking about the war because we did things we are not entirely proud of, Yamira. The annihilation of the Time Demons can be considered as an objectively good thing, but the lengths we were willing to go to in order to ensure that nothing like the war would ever happen again still frighten us sometimes." She explained. "It is not because we think you would never understand, much less because we want you to feel segregated."

After a sigh, the World-Dragon's avatar smiled. "Now, you wanted to talk to me, yes? How about you tell me a bit about your findings? After all, if you claim to have been too busy to pay a visit, then surely you must have found something interesting enough to absorb your time." She said.

---

"I... suppose that's understandable. I merely prodded as first hand accounts tend to be more informative. But if you don't wish to speak of it than I will do so no longer." Spoke Yami. Still. I can't help but feel that Gap... She thought to herself. She did get treated differently due to her second generation nature by her first generation kin. It irked her slightly.

She smiled when the topic turned to her discoveries. "Well I've been refining soul manipulation a little more. As well as trying to adapt and create a form of magic so that it's easier for us to use and pick up. Linking it to the dragon force perhaps." She spoke. Then adjusted her glasses. "After all, I don't intend on being the only dedicated magic wielder out of all of us. And I don't expect you all wish to undergo the lengthy process of learning and attuning as I did. it would also allow us to bestow magic upon our champions." She sighed. "Not all that much luck there. The Dragon force itself seems to reject my attempts to do anything like that. Which might explain why it takes longer for us to pick up magic, so this might be a dead end. But I did find some promising results in the Aura department and some talks with the Vokornian collective have led to them giving us access to their libraries, which could lead to more discoveries considering our shared knowledge. The Order and the Kabal still refuse to speak to us of course..."

"I tried to find some information on the being... "Lula." which you described and there are a few texts that refer to her in my library. I may be able to loan them to you if you're curious."

Meanwhile, the elder world dragon might find that there is a telepathic message sent towards her. Though it was not to the avatar in specific, but towards the entity of Hadri as a whole. "Hello Hadrimmelis. We haven't spoken in a few millennium have we?" Spoke the voice. The voice of Ashyhandra, the Vokornian who was present during the war against the Time Demon Ku. And she sounded like she had many a year ago. Countless, countless years. "I thought I'd share the results of a recent... development." She then couldn't resist any more. "I got my body back!" She nearly squealed in a girlish manner.