Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Absolon-7]

Hell's Gate Tournament Saga

Casimir Herman, Undetermined Time in Future
This was terror incarnate. Casimir had followed the address on the note to the city's nearby airport only to find some hippy looking Baby Boomer waiting for him with a sign saying "Bug Man on Motorcycle?". As much as Casimir would have loved to yell his alias to set things straight, he figured scaring his ride wouldn't go so well. He begrudgingly followed the guy and only to be mortified by the sight of a dingy seaplane waiting on the runway. The utterly decrepit machine looked it was made out of papier-mâché rather than steel or aluminum and Kabuto could've sworn some parts were mismatched and belonged to different planes. Unfortunately, Casimir had to leave his motorcycle behind and call Jadwiga to pick it up as there was no space for it and barely enough for his luggage. Once that matter was settled Casimir hoped on board and gripped onto the seat for dear life. If Casimir's eyes weren't deceiving him it look like duct tape was holding some parts together!

Several hours later as Casimir had turn as pale as arctic ice as it looked like the plane had finally reached its destination. It landed on the atoll's runway, although it be more appropriate to say it skipped like a stone, and once they landed Casimir popped himself out of the window and squirmed onto the ground panting in anxiety. Luckily, his eyes were greeted by a beautiful island paradise. As Casimir got onto his feet and looked around next he felt a tingling sensation at the base of his skull and then he saw from the corner of his eyes his luggage being thrown at him. Following instinct he took a step in the direction where it would just miss him and be immediately caught by his extended arm.

"Oh just testing ya out Bugman. I think I pulled somethin'," said the hippy Baby Boomer filled with a stench of marijuana and Bob Marley songs blasting out the seaplane's radio. Yes, he was smoking the entire time. "Ya know? If you took up my offer to smoke a joint. You would have had a helluva good time mah man"

"No, żaden!" yelled an infuriated Kabuto lying on the ground. Suddenly, a well dressed attendant came over to greet him with letting out a faux cough to get his attention. "Mister Kabuto I presume? I must say I am a fan of yours as I caught videos of your early days as hero. Shame your exploits are not so well known."

"Finally a fan! About time my gift of a presence is recognized," said Kabuto getting up and trying his best to make his fairly soft voice sounds like a menacing booming one. "I say my invitation will not be regretted."

"I do hope so," said the attendant now sounding more annoyed than he first did when suddenly an extremely swole guy in a tuxedo flanked him to get Casimir's luggage. "Now come, come. I must take you to the main for important information will be given to participants."

"Is there food?," asked Kabuto innocently.

"Uhm, yes. Yes there is." responded the attendant.

'Sweet!" said Casimir jumping up and clicking his heels. The two then made their way to their destination with the attendant growing disillusioned with how annoying the real life Kabuto could be.

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Immediately upon opening the front door of the tower, Wyatt would be stared down by an angry, frustrated Renata, her hands placed on her hips and her torso slightly leaning forward to have her eyes beam straight at Wyatt's eyes. Metaphorically beam, of course.

Renata could have definitely been doing a million better things right now - seeing the new member of their team who was apparently causing a ruckus, saying hi to the new team doctor, even though that doctor seemed way too young to be qualified, or just simply going back to her room to vent all her frustration all by herself. But no, simply venting your frustration to yourself won't cut it here, Wyatt needed to hear everything.

"What the hell were you thinking?! I'd ask if you stepped out of your bed on the wrong claw today, but this really has gone beyond that!" Renata exclaimed, walking forward with every sentence. "I have feelings too, you know, I'm not just some lifeless sack you can verbally kick around for fun! And if you're feeling down or want to lash out against someone for whatever reason, do it against a mirror, not your teammate! You'd find a lot more things to insult in your reflection, anyway."

[The Republic of Atria]

Floyd

CBST, Warwolf Raid

"That's your cue." Wyatt told the large dragon man. "I'll meet you on the roof once you've demolished the fence." Wyatt finished and jumped into the air, flying overhead the building waiting for Kaban to make his move. He was fairly confident that bullets wouldn't hurt him, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Kaban grunted and walked towards the electric fence. He grabbed a hold of it, the electricity surging through his body. It was a very strange sensation, like invisible tendrils wrapping around his arms as he made a clear opening. As expected, lights turned on and immediately spotted him. Of course the got a smile out of him, he'd made his impression on them awhile ago and was looking to get back into the swing of things. To further show off, he spread out his impressive wingspan and his arms. Completely unnecessary, but it looked cool in his mind.

It also served more or less as a beacon for Wyatt. Pretty much every single soldier Warwolf had was directing their attention at Kaban, and paid no attention to the small one who landed on the roof. Take out the suppressors for Nate... And then the grunts. He reminded himself as he grabbed the large black box that let out an unusual blue glow. The metal created and snapped as he tore it free of it's mounting. The Warwolf grunts were not as deaf and blinds as he had hoped as the immediately turned their lights on him. "Freeze!" The one taking charge shout

Wyatt responded by throwing the power suppressor at the group of soldiers. He wasn't really aiming at them, but they didn't know that and dove out of the way of the glowing device that crashed into the streets below.

The soldiers scrambled back to their feet much faster than Wyatt expected and responded to his throwing something at them, to shooting at him. Wyatt dropped the power suppressor he was carrying and used it for cover. He was a rather large target, and it was hard to get a good look at all of their positioning. Suddenly the gunshots stopped, and scarcely a moment later, a cylindrical grenade flew over the suppressor. Wyatt caught a glimpse of the word "Flashbang."

"Fuck."

July 23, The Tower

Wyatt felt a little better about his position as he entered back into the tower, only to have his eardrums assault by Renata's yelling at him for making a joke at her expense. It would've been simple for him to just walk past and ignore her, but that would work against what he was trying to do. "Assuming you're done trying to burst my eardrums with your voice, I wanted to apologize for being rude to you this morning, because I did in fact wake up on the wrong talon this morning." He explained. "I apologize for hurting your feelings. I can't take back what I said. I can only hope you get over it. A large part of what happened was due to Casimir falling on my tail, which... I can't imagine you would be too happy if someone grabbed onto your breasts without your consent and then tried to yell at you afterwards." He explained.

"That being said." He started again. "It was a joke. I didn't mean anything by it and was just having a little fun. I don't think less of you for anything, but if you're that angry about a harmless joke, then maybe there is a kernel of truth in there after all." He finished, honest in his words, but firm.

"And yes. I'm aware that I'm... Not attractive by human standards, but the feeling is mutual. Now if you'll excuse me." He said and walked around her over to Carter.

"Hey, airhead." He said and pulled Carter under his arm. "Only one of us can be in a pissy mood at a time."

[Charmera]

Hells Gate Tournament Arc

Above the airport that many of the Hell's Gate contestants were arriving at was a small black craft of strange and alien origin. A sleek and jagged craft which seemed to be build of some strange metal not known to the earth. It moved with a swiftness and accuracy beyond the technology of mere earth, yet still it was seen enough to project an ethereal wrongness. It seemed as if it were a knife in space, threatening to cut it open and let what was between it's soft fabric spill out. Soundlessly it landed on the airstrip and opened a small hatch. A medium figure jumped from it, a cloaked humanoid who was garbed in white. Their face was an alien slight grey, from which two beady eyes of pure darkness looked out. The rest of his body was covered in a black furlike substance, but seemed semi intangible, almost as if this man was made of sand or smoke. His fingers ended in a subtle claw, and his mouth was covered from view.

A guide moved up to the craft. He was flanked by the same two burly men who eyed the alien with some suspicion. The guide, despite a strange discomfort he could not place, affected a smile. "Hello and welcome to Tropic Island, home of Hell's Gate Tournament! is there any luggage you would like us to take for you?"

The Alien shook his head. "A travelers burdens are his own." He replied simply, as if that should make everything clear.

The Guide nodded. "You are Sir Tal’Shadarim correct?" He paused, then gestured for the alien to follow him, which the strange cloaked humanoid obliged.

"Please. I am Rohar. It is tradition among my people to refer to each other by given name." He explained.

The Guide nodded. "Sir Rohar. It is not often that we have one of an alien race. Do you have special accomodation you would need?"

"I will be fine with a bed and a roof." He replied, then paused. "And privacy whenever possible."

"That sounds... reasonable."

The guide proceeded to lead the alien to his room, still uncomfortable for a reason he really could not name.

[Rupudska]

A few moments passed, and Reem decided that the girl in the cat pajamas in front of her was a little too shocked to say anything right this moment. Deciding it was of no use to stand around any longer, she walked around the black-haired girl in the cute pajamas and headed towards this 'Naja' person's office.

Moment of truth, sorta. Any tests they could throw at her, she was sure she could handle. But it was the first impression part that was the most difficult, every time.

No need to foul it up like she did with the Eagles.

She knocked on the door.

"Miss... Naja? Permission to enter?"

[Absolon-7]

Viviana Couture July 23rd
"That's the spirit! If everyone feels like that, we'll give anyone who threatens the city a good whackin'! And you're welcome." The Hadrian girl replied, bumping her fists together as if to accentuate her message before offering the new member of the team yet another warm smile.

Viviana returned Kiris' smile as she bumped her fists before saying, "Hell yeah we will!"

Afterwards some blonde haired girl came over asking for Alexis. She sort of remembered her being the zany techie of the team. She seemed quite off putting compared to the other Young Bloods she had interacted with. She had a quick exchange with Kiris before leaving to talk to yet another new person who looked like a doctor. And what do you know the flamboyant boy had disappeared. Which now left her alone with the blonde girl. To be honest she felt intimidated by the blonde girl so Viviana quietly sidestepped away.

Casimir Herman July 23rd

"Sheesh. Maybe they should try building their own stuff for a change," agreed Casimir, "From what the glimpses I got off it Oberon looked pretty badass so I hope to see it in action."

Things could have gone a lot better from there on out. Wyatt gave quite gruff response to Casimir's apology and then Renata, in a very attractive new outfit, came over to scold Wyatt over and he similarly gave a vicious response. Luckily, Alexis was there to smooth things over and mediate the tension. Casimir stood aside as he still felt his muscles being too relaxed to stand up for long so he hoped he wouldn't fall on anyone else. It seemed Alexis was doing a good job a mediator as she managed to convince Wyatt to go for a walk.

"Aight! We'll be right back, then."

Casimir returned the farewell with a small wave, "All right, see ya Alexis." If anyone could make Wyatt get in a better mood then Alexis would surely be the one for the job. Although, now he was left alone. While Casimir considered himself great company it seemed out place to be alone in a room full of chatting teammates. Well it looked like time to grace on of his teammates with his presence. It was at this moment he felt a familiar pair of coils wrapping around him and dragging him back.

"Heyo boyo," said Viviana.

"Hey, Viv. I see your getting along with everyone."

"Of, course. By the way where were you going? Off to fight with your nemesis Carter over there," coyly said Viviana tilting her head to the currently tantruming blond.

"He's not my nemesis, Viv" retorted Casimir, "We just know how to push each other buttons."

"If you say so," said Viviana, "Anyways, so what do you think of the Cabal's message?"

"Who the hell are the Cabal?" said a bewildered Casimir.

Viviana's expression changed to a deadpan one as did her tone, "You know that group that warned they were gonna make a heist? They've been all over the news. There's a news coverage of them right now on the television." With the final word she pointed at the television that was indeed having a news story on their warning.

"Would you look at that. Hope I get to kick their asses if we move out on them," said Casimir.

"You seriously haven't heard a thing about them?" asked Viviana.

"Well, I've been either helping Kiris training with her spellsongs, binging on Gundam, or uhm passed out," said Casimir sort of laughing at the last one.

"That makes more sense than it shoulda," warmly said Viviana taking Casimir's hand into her own. "Let's go get some snacks."

Any other conversation they would have had was interrupted by Renata exploding on Wyatt as he returned with Alexis. Apparently, her fiery spirit needed more than the time allotted to cool down. She teared into him letting out her grievances at the dragon. Casimir was glad Wyatt apologized for his earlier actions but it died down with the passive aggressive remark he followed it with which Casimir disagreed with. Casimir felt he had to step in before Renata tried escalating it even more since he was sorta responsible for Wyatt's pissy mood today as well. Casimir walked over to her and spoke up.

"Hey, Renata. Let's just leave Wyatt alone. It's kinda clear he doesn't want anything to do with either of us," said Casimir.

[New Neros]

Hell's Gate
Welcome to Hell

With a large majority of the participants having arrived or in the process of arrival, Mr. Thomas took a back seat and allowed many of his nondescript co-workers handle the processing of fighters and their extensive entourages. He held a look of concern, however, as he knocked firmly on a lavish door of the hotel where the fighters would be staying in between matches. A thin, yet toned man breathed deeply through his nostrils and exhaled harshly through his mouth, eyes wide, glancing around the room as the door creaked open. "Roger? Roger, it's Thomas, most of the participants are here. They've been gathering in the courtyard for some time, I think we should make an announcement."

"Yes, yes." The man said after a delay, wiping his nose close and blinking quickly. "Preliminaries, right? Too many showed up, have to cut out the weed." Thomas nodded firmly, concerned as he stared at the young man, "Let's go." He continued, walking past Thomas and stepping quickly, throwing on a pair of oversized sunglasses and bobbing his head up and down as he walked, matching his steps, as if he was playing an upbeat tune to walk with. On a balcony overlooking a large courtyard filled with guests intermingling and chatting incessantly, Roger stood briefly in front of a microphone and with large speakers beside him. An audio whine got the attention of the crowd, with Roger looking gleefully over the assembled people.

"No tests, I guess." He rhymed with a sly grin, all eyes glued to his figure. "And honestly, we don't need much introduction, but because of all the newcomers we have, let me be the second or third person to welcome you to Tropic Island, home of this years' Hell's Gate Tournament. It may be it's final home, we never know, but I am Roger Grant and I am the director of this martial arts expose, if you will. If you don't know, and it's fine if not, our tournament goes back many years and decades as a martial artist gathering to test the skills of master and student against several schools of unarmed combative thought. Ever changing, ever-growing, and this year is no exception. For many years, we have excluded superhumans from our ranks, aside from those trained in such arts, as a means to keep our arena pure and focused only on the artistry at hand."

Shakily, the man took a large gulp from a glass of water, sweat pounding out of his forehead and neck, "But that is not the case in the real world. Too often, martial artists are faced against a supernaturally powerful opponent, or one our artists doubles as a hero or villain in his or her spare time. This tournament was planned several years in advance to make Hell's Gate take the next step forward, and by purposefully including several supernaturally gifted individuals, we hope to craft the perfect display of martial talent throughout the known and unknown world." Roger finished off his glass of water, and continued, "However,"

"We usually have many invitations go unanswered, but this is not the case this year, as we have had a nearly universal acceptance rate among all invitees. This has given us a unique problem for this tournament, and after discussing it with my executives, we have decided to hold an immediate preliminary elimination round for all contestants, decided at random, single knock out or battlefield removal permitted, forfeit as well." He informed the contestants, who chatted slightly at the sudden announcement. "If you'd be so kind as to look behind you, we have prepared twelve solid slabs, fifty by fifty feet each, equipped with a referee. Make your way to the slabs, circle them, and wait for your name to be called."

---

The contestants begrudgingly made their way from the cramped courtyard to the open field, all of the competitors surrounded one of the twelve arenas, each with solid slabs of smooth concrete-like floors. Roger and Thomas looked on from afar, Roger bobbing his head up and down, Thomas looking up at him with concern. "I need another bump." He flatly stated, Thomas sighing in agreement, watching silently as the robotic referees began scanning their crowd and randomly assigning two contestants to battle. "Mustafa Gaul." One sounded, the hulking man stepping forward out of the crowd and setting foot on the ring, murmurs and whispers sounding at his name, "Koga Einz." A dark cloaked figure emerged, standing opposite of Gaul with a determined look from what what little one could see of his face. "Five seconds."

[Finland SSR]

July 23, The Tower

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Renata was left to groan and mutter to herself when Wyatt gave her a response. Sure, it was nice to hear the dragon apologizing for what he did at last... but, to be perfectly clear, the girl didn't expect his response to be so calm and calculated. It made her look like the aggressor in this situation, even though that was the complete opposite of Renata's intentions.

"I mean... well... uh... I'm not going to lynch you for this, but... you know..." the girl began to mutter, trying to explain herself and form a coherent thought. Wyatt was already gone, however - after explaining himself to Renata, he moved on to Carter, trying to cheer his friend up, pretty much leaving the heroine standing alone in front of the tower door.

Renata took a sigh. This really was not her day.

I'll just... go take a shower or something. Maybe that will make me feel better.

---

CBST, Warwolf Raid

The Great Floyd Tolson!

Four Days Earlier

---

Hold your horses. Is Kaban really... just going to walk forward, grab the fence and let himself be seen like that? Not only that, but once all the spotlights and soldiers immediately turned to him, the Dra'Quinni showed off his impressive wingspan, practically turning himself into a beacon for the entire facility to turn their sights at. And yet, it somehow worked - Wyatt used this as a distraction to slip on the top of the facility and start taking out the suppressors.

Ballsy, I'll give them that. And props to that, too.

"Let's go, Nate. Else there won't be anything left for us to hunt." Floyd spoke to the teenager, smirking, then rushed forward, leaping over the towering Dra'Quinni with a single leap and suddenly throwing himself straight at the distracted Warwolf soldiers, starting out by descending onto one of the closest soldiers and driving his sword straight through their thigh - not enough to kill them outright, but certainly enough to keep them immobilized for a while. From there, everything was a lot more simple - the soldiers around the perimeter raised their rifles and opened fire, all available alarms across the facility were raised, while Floyd started zipping across the courtyard at superhuman speeds, throwing himself at one fireteam and disorganizing them by slashing through a couple of the soldiers before the rest can even react, then speeding away to do the same to some other team, in an odd equivalent of hit-and-run tactics.

Nathan, meanwhile, knelt behind Kaban, using the Dra'Quinni's leg and wings as a makeshift cover while he put some meager ranged support for Floyd with his pistol. The Young Blood had some practice in using guns before, but far from enough and never in darkness, so he doubted if he hit anything from here at all - but hey, some help is still better than no help.

While busy in the front courtyard of the facility, Floyd caught something with the corner of his eyes - a brief, but bright flash of light from the rooftop of the building. Knowing who they were fighting right now, it was likely a flashbang, and directed towards Wyatt. The swordsman suddenly leapt away from the Warwolf soldier he was about to cap in the knee and, after flying across the air for a good dozen meters, he landed next to the fence, speaking:

"Your spawn probably isn't doing too well, Kaban."

---

Hell's Gate
Welcome to Hell

The Great Floyd Tolson!

---

Right, so they're going to have the preliminaries beforehand. Weed out some of the weaklings before they get to the real meat of the event, and Floyd couldn't help but agree. After all, there were at least a hundred participants here, maybe more, and the swordsman couldn't be convinced that all of them were on the same tier of power. This planet simply doesn't have room for so many professionals. So, alongside all the other eager warriors who had gathered to Hell's Gate to test their might, Floyd walked to the open field, stopping next to a flat concrete plane of his choice.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long, as one of the robotic referees suddenly called out:

"Floyd Tolson."

Floyd snickered and leapt out of the crowd, landing on the concrete arena and pulling out his sword. So, it's time to put this tournament to the test. See if it was really worth it to steal the cash for that ferry to arrive here. The robotic referee soon called out the name of his opponent:

"Great Chief Kazimba M'wakaboni of the Oyo tribe."

Kazimba Mwa-what the fuck?

A tall, heavily armored African with an eyepatch and a massive axe stepped out of the crowd, walking onto the concrete arena and resting his weapon on his shoulder. Well, at least the first impression didn't disapppoint. This boy's at least two feet taller than me.

"Five seconds." the robotic referee called out. Floyd lowered his stance and turned off a bunch of unnecessary senses, focusing on the Chief and any structural flaws his body might have. Kazimba lifted his axe off his shoulder, slightly narrowing his eyes.

This better be good.

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

July 19,
Downtown San Diego


Two days.

Two days and still no result.

I ran the flash drive Old Bran gave me two days ago, and it only contained gibberish. The files are encrypted and it took me two days and I still could not crack into it. I gave up trying fancy techniques to crack the encryption and resorted to brute force my way into it. Suffice to say, my simple personal computer was not exactly the right instrument to finish the task. If I could not get any result today, I'd return to the tower and see if Wendy or Alexis could try decipher it for me.

For now though, I got a day all by myself. I decided to spend it by doing night patrol, without wearing clothes usually associated with Wondermaker of course. Naja would not like it very much if I do a mistake that would cost us our credibility. The Mask Incident was still fresh in everyone's mind, and there is no use to remind anyone about it. I was not planning to do vigilante works anyway, or at least I was not planning to. Troubles come from all shape and sizes, and not all troubles could be solved with punches. Some trouble, they require punches quenched with holy water and blessed by ordained cleric.

Going home means I had access to tools I had not brought yet to the tower. One of which is my shotgun and their improvised slugs. Beings I used to face before I joined the Young Blood are not exactly the kind you could just shoot in the face and get done with it. Some needs special... approaches. Sawed-off shotguns and breaching rounds owned by civilian might not be entirely legal, but as far as I know there are no laws that cover ghost hunting and vampire killing. Just gotta need to stay low and make sure the police does not catch you carrying it on your back and you are safe.

I touched the rounds in my pockets, remembering which pocket contains which ammunition. Using some black inks and dirt,I had redrew and refreshed the ignoring charm, this time scribing it on my jacket to amplify its effect. Going out alone by myself again, I was trying as much as I could not to be left unprepared like I did when I went to meet Old Bran. It was a very stupid thing to do, and I should have known better not to do so.

Under the city lights, the downtown looked beautiful. I know there are other people that would disagree with me, but it is what I thing it is. It might not be beautiful like a garden of roses, or like a golden palace, but seeing the city and its denizens, children walking with their family, the youths and their friends, the city looked lively and vibrant. Looking from behind my enchanted glasses, gold wisps and bright lights flew all around the city, radiating off from all the happy emotions going around in the night. Of course, it is speckled with dirt and sadness and pollution and corruption, but when you see the whole picture, you could see the subtle beauty that is weaved into the city.

Beauty that, sadly, been corrupted by Warwolf's presence.

There is something about their presence that annoys me. Something felt foul and noxious. I would say it is due to their jerkass behaviour towards things that are not "normal", but I have seen other people and organizations with similar attitude and they don't give out the same..... Aura. My father called this sense as Premonition. A self-defense signal that tells impending danger. But these Premonitions, they are vague and cryptic, unreliable at best and paranoid-inducing at worst. I don't need some magical-uber sense to know that these fellas are up to no good. I kind of wish that the encrypted files would have something to shed more lights into them. Something that would reveal their secrets. Ah, all I could do was waiting for my computer to finish compiling the files.

As I walked towards the less urbanized area, the lights got dimmer and the colour was fading. These are the areas where the Creatures of the Dark hunts their prey. Not just the supernatural. The thieves, muggers, killers. The thugs, the desperates. If a cartographer is to map the city in medieval style, these are the areas that should be marked "Here lies monsters".

But even here, there are sparks of hopes. Young kids that in their innocence, still believe that the world is a very beautiful place. Teens and young adults that wish to make their neighbourhood a better place. Single moms and dads that would do anything to give their children a better life. Where humanity goes, hope is sure to follow. Seeing those sparks here reminded me of my vows, my speeches in front of the Young Bloods and my namesake. About time for me to prove it to the world.

I heard that there were reports of pale skinned thugs going around this area, mugging strangers and attacking passers by. Interestingly, the people here themselves had not been attacked at all. Between the Warwolf and the thugs though, they were scared. And it appeared very clearly in how none of them dare to walk out of their home during the night. Only some drunkards and fill de joie. Maybe I wouldn't found anything here either. The street were more or less empty, with only the aforementioned alcoholics and a single Warwolf patrol that either fell asleep or had left the area an hour ago.

I began to walk back to leave the area when I noticed that the alcoholics had also moved from their places. Curious. They moved towards the end of both street, putting them at the right place to corner me if they want to. Inside the buildings, the inhabitants drew their blinds and covered their windows. Something's definitely up.

Two people stepped out of the shadows between the apartments. How had I not picked their sense earlier? They followed behind me, maintaining a slow but steady pace while my way ahead was blocked by the alcoholics. I tried not to pay any attention to them, while still keeping them within my field of vision. I tried to let them to a parking space so I could get the tiny advantage of having an open and level playing field, should push comes to shove. Their limited number also means they could not cover all the escape routes. All things considered, I would have better chance surviving the encounter here than in the middle of dark alley.

I stopped my tracks once I reached the parking lot. Almost instantly, the "alcoholics" and stalkers stopped too. I turned my back and looked at each and everyone of them. There were seven of them, two standing before me while five others spread their presence to surround me.

The two men fixed their gaze at me and I observed them carefully in return. They were not much taller than me, and only maybe a year or two older. They wore casual clothes, one wore a jacket on top of it, and their hands were empty, but I could make out the outline of a machete or a sword beneath their shirt. Most importantly though, they were pale. Not albino or vampire-like pale, but clearly not something caused by fatigue or lack of sunshine. Exactly the way the reports described them.

How had they noticed me? The ignoring charm had worked plenty of times before, so why had it failed now? I got no time to figure that out when a cloud of smoke flew between the two palemen before coagulating into a male figure. A figure so pale it beat the other two by miles, so pale it almost look like a...

"Vampire?" My thought vocalized itself without me realizing it. The figure stepped closer at the mention of vampires. I silenced myself before I slipped out something that would put his fist on my face, guiding my mind to find a quick solution instead. Here I was, trapped in the middle of nowhere with a potentially angry vampire within a length of arm from me. The figure appeared human, in most sense. Save for his complexion, he looks like any other twenty something man, wearing blue jeans and black shirt. His left hand was holding a gun while his right hand reached out for me and grabbed me by the neck.

"Is that why you come here, huh? You're a Hunter" He asked me. His words came out cold and controlled, but it felt to me as if he could snap out and break my neck at moment's notice. I croaked an answer, hopefully to pacify him.

"I am, eugh, not affiliated with them!" I felt his grip loosened on my neck. I struggled against his arm and pushed him backward, enough to free myself of his grip. His friends went towards me, killing intent flashing in their eyes, but with a sign he ordered them all to stop. He rose back to his feet, dusted off his shirt before he stared me right on my eye.

"That brave of you. Stupid as fuck, but brave." He spoke to me. Now that I could pay attention to trivial matters, I noticed how he had a faint European accent in his voice. "Now, Imma let you go just for that, if you gimme the shotgun." Damn. How had he known about it? Well, no use to hide it now, ain't it?

I took the shotgun from its strapping inside my jacket, before I pointed it at him. They all reacted, but kept their distance away from the muzzle. My finger touched the trigger carefully, signaling to them my willingness to pull it. I stepped back, still aiming at them, until I was a step or two from the thugs behind me.

"You know, when I heard that some thugs are beating people up, I did not expect them to be Sons of Dracul." The man only smirked. "You ain't know the half of the story kiddo. Fellas, go round him up."

They ran at me, and I fired off my shotgun at the same time. Bright gold-green flames erupted from it, covering the two pale men and three of the other thugs, while promptly blinding everyone else. I used the chance to ram myself between the thugs behind me and escaped the vampiric thugs. The Faerie Fire illusion would not last long, but it was enough to buy me some time to run.

I heard gunshots before sharp pain shot through my right elbow. The jacket protected me from most of the damages, but it still left my right arm numb. No shot followed them though and I kept running. He must be reserving his ammo, preferring to shot me when he could deal the critical damage. These people are good, clearly not a wanna-be gang. The two pale men kept hounding me down while the rest left, apparently to corner me from the other direction. Again, the two stalker followed me in impeccable leisure pace, like tigers following their wounded prey.

Gotta turn the table to my advantage. I searched for a nearby alley, and baited them to follow me. From their pace, I'd say I got a full minute at most before they arrived. Just enough for me to draw a basic ward. I took out my chalk and drew a faint circle in the middle of the street, drew a larger circle, and add the ouroboros sign around the inner circle. Finally I put a slug in the middle of the ward.

Now the final part, waiting for the fish to take the bait. Just seconds after I was finished, the men stepped into the street. They looked at the ward, grinned at me, and turned into their mist form and rushed for me.

Which activated the wards.

The sigils of The Eye activated first, after they passed through it in their mist form. It then triggered the inner rings of wards and exploded the Faerie Fire slug. The Ouroboros conjured a minor time loop that trapped the explosion, fed it to itself, before going unstable and broke, unleashing the force of the explosion, amplified twenty-threefold, to the two stalker. The mist that was their body was gusted away, before the Fire stripped them of their mystical form. Took me sometimes to find where they landed as the explosion had temporarily blinded me.

Funny how they looked less pale after I hit them with the Fire. The explosion had knocked them into a nearby wall and left them fainted and disoriented. I dragged them to a small corner between two apartments and drew a sleeping charm around them, making sure they would only wake up in the morning.

After I made sure they won't trouble me anytime soon, I took one of their machete and went back to find my way back out of this place, when I found that once more, they had surrounded me.

After a second thought, maybe lighting up a fifteen feet tall firework when you try to run away from someone who might have supernatural senses might not be the brightest idea I had.

As the group surrounded me, I could feel the temperature dropped with each steps they took. The vampire gangster appeared as if he was surrounded by a cloak of fleeting mist. He reached out his hands and swiped it in an arc, conjuring a wall of ice behind me and covered everything in a thin layer of ice flake.

"You put up a good fight kiddo," he stared right at me. A psychotic smile adorned his face. "It's been a fun hunting. Too bad, time to end it now."

[Agritum]

Tower, July 23

Elle stood wide-eyed as the edgy-looking, petite girl looked her up and down, obviously confused by her cat pajamas, before leaving. Maybe her shocked silence had been enough to embarass the new student and shy her into hauling her ass away from Ellery. Maybe she had recognized the low, deep voice of Shadowkill, heiress of the -Kill vigilante family, and had gotten too scared to actually reply.

Nah. She wasn't really threatening, with those big, fluffy fake cat-ears right above her head.

Hands buried in her pajama pants' pocket, Elle sighed and made her way into the building, mumbling to herself. 'They come here crashing entire planes, and act like they've just stepped out some taxi in Malibu. I hope Naja tears her a new one, this was straight out an Al Qaeda terror attempt. I even wonder how she didn't get shot down. And no, the helicopter wasn't the worst thing ever. It didn't crash, in fact."

Elle found herself at the crossroad between the lounge, and the hallway leading to the girls' resting room. She raised her arm, smelling the pit. Her eyes closed, a cringy expression manifesting on her face. "Eww. I need some soaping up". With that in her mind, Elle stepped out into the hallway.

Before her eyes, a giant pink, curvy blob manifested. Or rather, Renata.

"Uh, hullo Martinez. I mean, Renata. You look pissed. Anything wrong? Is it about the baton? I've kinda got to apologize for that one, yeah."

Elle investigated her glare. Nah. It wasn't focused enough on Elle to be related to the unfortunate, electrizing accident of a few days before.


"oooooh.....do I have to crack some skulls for you?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Floyd

White and unbearable ringing in his ears was all Wyatt felt next. Disoriented to such the he fell over when he tried to stand up while rubbing his eyes trying to get his sight back. Dammit! This hurts. Have to watch out for those in the future. He mentally noted as several Warwolf grunts tackled him as he tried to climb back to his feet.

The effects of the flashbang were starting to wear off as his hearing slowly started to return along with his eyesight. He couldn't see much more the roof he was face down on, but it wasn't white flashing blobs of nothing anymore. Enough to focus and switch his powers on. Wyatt pushed the ground with enough force that even with several men on top of him, he was back on his feet and the soldiers were getting back to theirs.

The first one charged Wyatt, but with near mechanical precision, Wyatt grabbed and casually tossed him aside. The other two drew their knives. The left one thrust in an attempt to stab Wyatt, who stepped to the side, grabbed his arm and swung him, the grunt's thrashing legs striking the other soldier. He let the man drop and went over to finish his job of destroying the power suppressors.

He folded the second one in half, sparks and weird glow getting everywhere as it ceased functioning. Finally, his hearing was just about back to normal. As he went to finish destroying the final suppressor, out of the corner of his right eye, he saw a soldier drawing something. He glanced over to see what he was pulling out just as the soldier fired a taser.

Wyatt instinctively flinched, but in the moment between, his hand had caught the wires to the taser, the two prongs hanging harmlessly away from his body. The soldier looked as surprised as Wyatt did despite his face being completely covered. "...Wow. I didn't even know I was that fast. Neat." He finished and kicked the suppressor off the roof.

Kaban slowly walked through the base, paying no mind to the amount of soldiers shooting him. The bullets sparked as they bounced off his body and he only stopped when Floyd mentioned that his "spawn" might need help. "You mean Bael? No. He is not my spawn, and if he needed help, he would ask. I would be very disappointed in him if these harmless men did anything that would hamper him for longer than a moment. When do we fight the armored ones? Those are much more amusing."

The Tower, Naja

The reptilian woman was working away at some paperwork. She heard some elevated voices coming from outside her office, but paid it no mind. Teenagers yelled a lot and unless there was the sound of objects being broken or screaming, there was no need for her to intervene. Best to let them work things out among themselves.

However, a knock came from the door and she expected the worst. "Come in." She called out and in came a gray haired, pale, yellow eyed girl who looked a little bit annoyed. She wasn't any of the members of the team, and she looked young enough that her intent was obvious. "You want to join the team. We've been getting quite a few new recruits these last few weeks. Sit on down and we'll get through the paperwork as quickly as we can."

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Wendy blinked as the islands defense system warned her about its activation. Looking through the cameras she spotted Carter and Wyatt talking with a new girl outside, the likely owner of a new crashed aircraft decorating their front yard. The girl was clearly pissed off about something, and it didn’t take to many leaps of imagination to figure out what it was about. Sneaking off into a hallway, as Carter led the newcomer inside, Wendy waited for the coast to clear before running backup to her room, grabbing her gym bag, and heading over to the gym.

“I wondering what was taking you so long.” She heard Roy say as she entered the gym.

“Well someone crashed a plane into the island… again, you think Naja will mind if I ship in a few SAM sites? Because this is getting to be a really annoying occurrence.”

“Didn’t want to introduce yourself?” Roy joked.

“Well I’m pretty sure the the new girl doesn’t like the fact that my defense system did its job, and I know Rena didn’t like my opinion on her new “all show, no go” costume… so yes.” dropping the bag to the floor, wendy looked around the room. “So where do we start?” She asked him. “I’ve never actually had any training like this before I joined the team.”

“Well, we should probably just start with the basics then. I’ll teach you how to box first, sometimes knowing how to throw a punch and move your feet is the most important thing in a fight.”

With that Roy started demonstrating the basics of boxing form, teaching Wendy how to properly make a fist and execute a punch, and then teaching her the proper stances to take when boxing. With that he picked up a large punching bag and effortlessly dropped it into a nearby hook so that it dangled in the air.

“Alright, try hitting the bag Wendy.”

Nodding, Wendy got into her stance and landed a right jab into the bag. Smiling, she put two more punches into the bag, than a couple more. Okay, She thought. Maybe this isn’t so hard to do after all. Dodging the bag as Roy gave it a push in her direction, Wendy landed two more punches from throwing in a roundhouse. She recoiled back as pain shot through her arm as her fist connected with the bag, a small pop echoing through the room. Cradling her arm, she took a couple steps back.

“You okay.” Roy asked.

“Yeah,” Wendy nodded, flexing her hand as another pop sounded from her wrist. “Just give me a second.”

“You jammed your wrist didn’t you.”

Wendy nodded. Stepping back towards the bag, she resumed her stance. Her wrist felt like it was on fire with every hit, but she kept at it. She wasn’t going to get any better whimpering over every bump and bruise, and Jacob could fix her wrist after they were done.

Roy watched as Wendy continued to practice, taking note of how determined Wendy seemed to be. It was clear that her wrist was bothering her, but she pushed herself past it.

“You need to square yourself more Wendy, don’t let your body be stiff and still when you’re punching. You have to put your whole body into your punches.” He told her, gently putting his hands on her hips and guiding her into the right place.

“You know, this wasn’t what I had in mind when I said I wanted some one on one training.” Wendy joked, suppressing a smile as she did so. Following his advice, she landed a few more punches on the bag. Almost immediately she felt the difference, her wrist hurt a little less, and the bag seemed to move back more with each blow.

Roy returned Wendy’s smile, “Well, a big part of combat is multitasking.” He joked back. He watched her follow his instructions. After a little while Roy stopped Wendy.

“That’s good for now. Let’s have Jacob go look at your wrist.”

-------------

“Alright.” Jacob said as the blue glow surrounding Wendy’s hand faded. “It’s going to be a little sore for the next day, so be careful. And next time you hit the gym, don’t keep punching stuff after you jam your wrist the first time. You could have dislocated it.”

Wendy shrugged. “I’ll try to keep that in mind Jacob.”

“Sure you will.” He replied with a playfully sarcastic eye roll.

“Well if it makes you feel any better. I know how to fix a dislocated wrist…” Wendy watched as both boys looked at her. “Foster kid, remember… Those houses are the wild west.””

“Well I’ll take your word on that.” Jacob replied. “But anyways you’re good to go now.”

“Thanks.” Wendy replied, making her out of the room with Roy right behind.

“Foster home…” Roy said as soon as they were out of earshot. “You know that excuse isn’t going to keep flying for much longer.”

“Yeah, well I’m not sure well ‘my mom taught me how to break my own wrist in order to escape handcuffs’ was going to go over with him.”

“Look, I get that it’s hard to talk about. But it's even harder to pretend the past didn’t happen. Believe me I know.”

Roy sighed. “I know this isn’t easy, and I’m sorry if I’m being pushy. I just… worry sometimes you know?”

“I know, and I know the longer I keep a lid on this the worse it’s going to be once it flies off. I can’t risk it though, not with how quickly the teams growing and everything that’s going on with War Wolf. Once this mess is cleaned up, I’ll think about it.”

Still looking a little troubled, Roy nonetheless nodded in agreement with Wendy’s decision, the two walking towards the main tower in relative silence.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

Happy that her words had helped comfort and cheer up a teammate, Alexis nodded at Wyatt and walked back towards the living room alongside him. Hearing the question he made, she couldn't help but chuckle - indeed, it was rather ironic considering he had basically told Renata off when she asked about her own outfit, but the tech wizard was obviously not going to pick on him for that or berate him, especially not after she had made such an effort to lift his spirits. So instead, she decided to simply do what she did best.

"Well, I obviously don't know a lot about reptile people fashion--closest thing I've had experience with is helping Kiris pick out clothes--but, seeing you right now, I'd have to say that..." The blonde girl paused briefly, making finger guns and winking at Wyatt. "It suits you."

Awful pun done, she shoved her hands back into her pockets and walked the rest of the way to the living room with a huge grin on her face.

A grin that promptly evaporated as soon as the door opened.

Really? God, I know you're upset too, you have every right to be, but... Damn it, it's like nobody respects my work around here. Alexis complained to her insides, while outwardly remaining impassible, staring at Renata and Wyatt with a poker face. Of course, the situation eventually resolved itself, more or less at least, by Wyatt moving on, but by then the blonde girl had already given up and moved elsewhere, not wanting to know what happened next. If she had to, she'd gladly deal with the aftermath, not the explosion.

So with that in mind, she sought someone else to hang out with, quickly finding it in the form of one of the friends that had been given notes.

"Hey Frosty, looking ready to induce some paradoxical undressing." The young inventor greeted Angelica, using another pun to compliment her outfit. "Did you pay my ransom yet? Next thing you know it'll be my ear on your doorstep, and I don't want to end up like Van Gogh."

---

July 22nd
Justice and Mercy Hospital, San Diego

---

"I'm sorry, sir, but we already told you we can't let you in." One of the guards at the front door of the hospital said to a man who was clad entirely in some sort of black armor, his hand clutching a bow and his face obscured by a black hood; the only part of his getup that contrasted with this darkness was the bright yellow smiling face plastered right in the middle of his chest, completely out of tune with the rest of the outfit.

"Why's that? This is a hospital for supers, I'm a super, and I think I ate a stale burrito or something this morning. You don't want to smell it. Better let me through." The armored figure insisted.

"Sir, please-"

"Come on, what's the matter? I'm one of the good guys, see?" The hooded man interrupted, pointing at the emoticon on his chest as if it was undeniable proof of his allegiance.

"Sir, you can't enter the hospital with weapons, it's strictly forbidden!" Another guard interceded in a significantly less polite tone, clearly fed up with the visitor's antics.

"Well now, no need to get all violent, officer, I'm just trying to make a visit here but this is an integral part of my outfit and I appreciate my privacy. You wouldn't force Goliath to undo his weird lion form thing if he wanted to come in here, would you?" Black Arrow shot back, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

The guards wouldn't budge, however, and with good reason, so the commotion continued for a bit, at least until the shadow hero noticed the person he was looking for walking towards the reception desk.

"Hey there, if it isn't Saint George himself!" The man waved at Sam even as the guards at the front door tried, and struggled, to keep him from physically entering the building, even though he was already having his way. "Didn't look like a dangerous enough stunt to put you in a hospital, though."

[Charmera]

Red raised his free hand in what could be considered an acknowledging wave.

"Er, welcome aboard...Doc?"

Jane quickly consulted a small clip board in response to being acknowledged. She flipped through it until she got to the young man's picture, then nodded to herself slightly. Shad had been given the bare bones files that the YB had on file so far, but she was going to have to do a serious upgrade. "Thank you, Red. Currently we're undergoing a large overhaul of our current medical information for each team member." She explained, taking out a paper form which she handed to the Red haired teenager. "Your record especially is somewhat... well it's basically nonexistant. Though I cannot force you to divulge any information. It would help immeasurably if you could fill in some of the blanks."

She paused, looking back at the clipboard and shaking her head. "Hell we don't even know your bloodtype..." She muttered under her breath, but then realized she may have said that too loud.

"Hello... My name is Jane Rolfen." She began nervously, but then returned to a degree of professionalism. "I am your new doctor. I will be in charge of providing medical care to you all."

His physical form faded out of reality, then appeared nearer to her, flashes of light heralding his return to this plane. Tadeo waved at the doctor. "Hola. Welcome, Doctor Rolfen. The team seems to get themselves hurt rather readily, so I'm sure you'll have plenty to do soon. I guess Jacob has caught you up with everyone's condition?"

Jane was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Tadeo. But she managed to quickly flip the paper of her clipboard to the right profile. "That is a major concern Tadeo. I did hear second hand of the training... incidents. It would be best if we know as much as possible to give as full a possible treatment as possible." She handed him the same form as Red. "If you also feel that there are any concerns that are health related and magic related, I will do my best to help."

Afterwards, she walked over to Jane, as it was only polite to introduce herself to their new doctor after she had done the same. "G'day, doctor! I'm Kirisvala, but you can just call me Kiris. Nice to meet you!" The Hadrian girl spoke, cheerful as always. "Would've been nicer havin' you four days ago, though." She said with a chuckle. Indeed, it would've been convenient to have more than two or three people capable of dealing with injuries after the sparring matches, but it obviously wasn't something under Jane's control, nor something that should be held against her. "Oh, we have snacks if you want some." She said, backtracking a little to pick up the box of donuts and offer it to Jane, though she paused briefly and smiled to herself upon noticing that the person she had been looking for had recently entered the room. "Here." She handed the donuts to Jane before heading off.

Jane looked at Kiris, nodding slightly as she moved her clipboard. She was now seriously getting overwhelmed, but her mind kept itself working and whirling between possible problems and potential solutions. She waved off the snacks as she reached for her forms. "Thank you but donuts really are not a good nutritional item. Even taking possible physiological-" She paused to look up as she saw Kiris had left. She quickly moved towards her, handing her and Mars forms in the middle of their conversation. "Fill these out please! I mean you don't have to but... It would be good if you did!" She spoke, before rushing off to hand more of the forms out.

[Tomia]

Wonder Island, Living Room
Mars saw Kiris running towards him and smiled widely as he braced for the inevitable bear hug. When it came he hugged back warmly. "Hi Kiris! It's great you're feeling better." He was going to say more when suddenly Jane shoved some kind of forms in between them. Mars raised an eyebrow, not too pleased about the interruption but briefly headed Jane's advice and skimmed the forms anyway. "Oh, so you're a doctor right?" He asked, before realizing Jane was already gone. He gave Kiris a quizzical look, "Uh do you know what's going on there?" He asked quietly.

Meanwhile, Angelica saw Alexis coming back in from outside and her heart skipped an involuntary beat. She hated that she couldn't control her reaction anytime Alexis walked into the room. She felt childish, dreaming over something that wouldn't happen. After all, Alexis was the fun loving life of the party, she was just some freak in a mask. Angelica tried to keep a cool exterior but Alexis' greeting threw that out the window.

"What?! I'm not trying to undress anyone!" She said, in a surprisingly startled tone. She was blushing so brightly she was positive it could somehow be seen through her mask. "I mean.... Thanks I guess, and hi." She said, practically stumbling over her words. She desperately wanted to change the subject. "Ya I brought snacks, I gave them to Kiris. I don't know what she did with them." She said, having calmed down but still speaking faster than normal.

[Finland SSR]

Tower, July 23

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Strolling across the corridors of Wonder Tower with a slightly sour expression on her face, Renata eventually had to come to a stop, as Elle in her pajamas suddenly emerged out of the corner and began to barrage her with question after question. Riiight. You just can't go though a morning without this particular character showing up.

How many times will I have to explain to you that I'm not mad about that damn taser, come on?!

But, thankfully, Elle did not linger on that particular problem too long and deciphered Renata's frown to figure that someone in the team needed some clobbering. Resting her hand on the doorknob leading to the girls' shower, the heroine sighed. Sure, she definitely wasn't going to make the "happiest Young Blood" list, but asking the team's edgelord to beat up Wyatt was not going to fly, either.

"It's... it's nothing, Elle. Someone's just in a sour mood. Besides, if I wanted to 'crack some skulls', I'd probably do it myself." Renata muttered. "You should instead put more priority on a shower - you smell worse than a cup of Colombian coffee."

---

Wyatt

The Great Floyd Tolson!

Four Days Earlier

---

Okay, now Kaban is just showing off. There's arrogance, and then there walking through a courtyard ignoring all of the soldiers shooting you while Floyd's actually going out there to deal with them. At least the massive Dra'Quinni was providing Nathan some moving cover - but, for the most part, he was practically just a statue raising all the alarms in their vicinity. And now he thinks he's entitled to a Juggernaut, too?

Bloody freeloader, huh?

While Kaban was busy slowly moving forward, Floyd opted to use the dragon-man to his advantage, suddenly leaping on his shoulder and using the raised vantage point in order to jump into the air, descending into one of the arriving Humvees with superhuman force and practically piercing the vehicle's armored roof like a torpedo. The swordsman's weapon got stuck in the poor driver's arm and the rest of the soldiers inside raised their rifles to open fire, but by then, everything was a lot more simple - a series of wide slashes across the car, and the entire thing collapsed into several large smoking chunks, some still with warm flesh inside. Floyd landed back on his feet a meter away.

Suddenly, his eyes blinked several times and the enhanced senses he had right before entering the perimeter of the facility came back to normal. Moments later, the sound of something metallic crashing to the ground was caught by his ears. Like music. You gain a point of respect, Smaug Jr.

"Nate, the suppressor's down!" Floyd exclaimed to the teenager cowering behind Kaban.

"Got it!" Nathan exclaimed and immediately cocked his pistol, firing several bullets into his palm to absorb all of the kinetic energy of the shots and fuel up his regained energy tank - to which, the swordman responded with a raised eyebrow and a comment:

"You trust me enough to shoot yourself immediately after I tell you you'll be fine, huh?"

Either way, the power suppressors got taken down at a perfect time, as a mere second later, the wall behind Floyd burst open and revealed the heavy armored fist of a Juggernaut driving straight into the swordsman's cheek, sending him barreling across the courtyard. It wasn't enough to kill him or even knock him unconscious - Floyd stood up from the trail of rubble he had been left in and rejoined the battle a few seconds later - but it was still a nasty surprise. One of the garage doors at the side of the facility rolled up, revealing a second Juggernaut, stepping forward with a triple-barrel recoilless rifle loaded and attached to its right arm.

"Right, you wanted your big chaps? Here are your big chaps." Floyd spoke to Kaban, slightly wincing from the pain in his cheek and assuming a low offensive stance with his sword. "Which one do you prefer? Ganging up on one or letting you and me fight one each? 'Cause I ain't gonna lie, but OI wouldn't wnat to miss the opportunity to fight one of these boys either."

[Agritum]

*snip*

Tower, 23rd July

Elle reeled a bit back at being called 'a cup of Colombian coffee'. As far as she knew from what her father had told her about the narco-wars in the 80s, the coffee was nice. Not as nice as pharmaceutical grade cocaine distilled from the best undercover criminal labs there, but it came close. In fact, Elle wondered how her father knew how cocaine tasted like and could even compare it to coffee, but she shook her head, trying to bury her memory. It wasn't the most pleasant.

"Yeah, that was what I was about to do. You're coming in too? Well, at least I can dispell the rumours about being a loner." Elle noted, quickly following Renata in the room, unlocking her locker with a quick gesture, slipping her feet in her shower shoes, and unzipping the pair of pajamas, and everything under it, before folding the clothing in a neat square and placing it in her locker, using the last motion to withdraw a violet towel, and a bottle of Pantene Smooth & Sleek shampoo.

"You need some, Renata?" Elle queried, splurting some of the clear liquid on her hand, and tenderly passing it over the base of her long mane.

[Rupudska]

The Tower, Naja

The reptilian woman was working away at some paperwork. She heard some elevated voices coming from outside her office, but paid it no mind. Teenagers yelled a lot and unless there was the sound of objects being broken or screaming, there was no need for her to intervene. Best to let them work things out among themselves.

However, a knock came from the door and she expected the worst. "Come in." She called out and in came a gray haired, pale, yellow eyed girl who looked a little bit annoyed. She wasn't any of the members of the team, and she looked young enough that her intent was obvious. "You want to join the team. We've been getting quite a few new recruits these last few weeks. Sit on down and we'll get through the paperwork as quickly as we can."

Reem dutifully sat down, though she thought the situation was a little odd. Right to paperwork? No tests, no nothing? Did she not hear the anti-air defenses, not see her get shot down? She must have had serious confidence in the capabilities of this team.

Sure, it was a good sign, but she didn't expect her to be so... trusting. Better than being on the other end of the trusting spectrum, though. Much easier to build trust within a team when everyone isn't pointing guns at each other's temples.

She fished a resume out of her 'costume's jacket. Combat data, combat evaluations, work alongside and with past teams, education within the system of the City of Dubai, et cetera.

"I must apologize about arriving uninvited, my father intended for me to arrive after landing at the international airport, but we were harassed by some common lowlifes, and before Warwolf could provide escort he felt it safer for me to head here myself. I believe the island's defensive systems mistakenly fired upon my craft in an attempt to shoot down my pursuers."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone

Soon Carter felt an arm being placed on his shoulders as Wyatt sat down beside him. Looking over, he saw Wyatt, looking a lot more content and a bit more relaxed, probably now that Casimir wasn't preforming the Dra'Quinni equivalent of a prostate exam without medical agreements or consent. Compared to him, Carter looked like a moping mothball, all curled up and looking all sad and mutter-y. Well, he felt about as good as a mothball right now, especially with what had happened. He should probably get one thing off his chest.

He began to open his mouth, words full of apologies, but Wyatt spoke before he could. Somehow, Wyatt wasn't even angry, he was more jovial and teasing, and the tone of his voice suggested that he wasn't angry. Closing his mouth to avoid flapping all slack-jawed like a fish, he smiled back at Wyatt, leaning back into his arm. It was just silence, but one could easily tell that Carter was sorry, Wyatt had forgiven him, and that all was well. They didn't need to speak, it was apparent, it was just there.

Sometimes, friends work like that in mysterious ways. Or so that stupid English textbook told him.

Carter now looked considerably cheered up, settling into a more casual and calm expression than an angry and bitter one. If only the Twins could win...and if only he wasn't so hungry. Right as he thought that, he noticed the massive pile of snacks sitting on the table, including the big open box of Krispy Kreme donuts. Oh...they were so delicious. So warm, the icing do delicate, the dough so juicy and fluffy....it was heaven in every bite. Surely nobody would mind if he took one...

With an easy reach, he leaned forward, airily plucked a donut from the box, and lifted it to his mouth, completely unaware to what was going on around him, focused squarely on the donut in his hand....

[Charmera]

Hell's Gate
Welcome to Hell

With a large majority of the participants having arrived or in the process of arrival, Mr. Thomas took a back seat and allowed many of his nondescript co-workers handle the processing of fighters and their extensive entourages. He held a look of concern, however, as he knocked firmly on a lavish door of the hotel where the fighters would be staying in between matches. A thin, yet toned man breathed deeply through his nostrils and exhaled harshly through his mouth, eyes wide, glancing around the room as the door creaked open. "Roger? Roger, it's Thomas, most of the participants are here. They've been gathering in the courtyard for some time, I think we should make an announcement."

"Yes, yes." The man said after a delay, wiping his nose close and blinking quickly. "Preliminaries, right? Too many showed up, have to cut out the weed." Thomas nodded firmly, concerned as he stared at the young man, "Let's go." He continued, walking past Thomas and stepping quickly, throwing on a pair of oversized sunglasses and bobbing his head up and down as he walked, matching his steps, as if he was playing an upbeat tune to walk with. On a balcony overlooking a large courtyard filled with guests intermingling and chatting incessantly, Roger stood briefly in front of a microphone and with large speakers beside him. An audio whine got the attention of the crowd, with Roger looking gleefully over the assembled people.

"No tests, I guess." He rhymed with a sly grin, all eyes glued to his figure. "And honestly, we don't need much introduction, but because of all the newcomers we have, let me be the second or third person to welcome you to Tropic Island, home of this years' Hell's Gate Tournament. It may be it's final home, we never know, but I am Roger Grant and I am the director of this martial arts expose, if you will. If you don't know, and it's fine if not, our tournament goes back many years and decades as a martial artist gathering to test the skills of master and student against several schools of unarmed combative thought. Ever changing, ever-growing, and this year is no exception. For many years, we have excluded superhumans from our ranks, aside from those trained in such arts, as a means to keep our arena pure and focused only on the artistry at hand."

Shakily, the man took a large gulp from a glass of water, sweat pounding out of his forehead and neck, "But that is not the case in the real world. Too often, martial artists are faced against a supernaturally powerful opponent, or one our artists doubles as a hero or villain in his or her spare time. This tournament was planned several years in advance to make Hell's Gate take the next step forward, and by purposefully including several supernaturally gifted individuals, we hope to craft the perfect display of martial talent throughout the known and unknown world." Roger finished off his glass of water, and continued, "However,"

"We usually have many invitations go unanswered, but this is not the case this year, as we have had a nearly universal acceptance rate among all invitees. This has given us a unique problem for this tournament, and after discussing it with my executives, we have decided to hold an immediate preliminary elimination round for all contestants, decided at random, single knock out or battlefield removal permitted, forfeit as well." He informed the contestants, who chatted slightly at the sudden announcement. "If you'd be so kind as to look behind you, we have prepared twelve solid slabs, fifty by fifty feet each, equipped with a referee. Make your way to the slabs, circle them, and wait for your name to be called."

---

The contestants begrudgingly made their way from the cramped courtyard to the open field, all of the competitors surrounded one of the twelve arenas, each with solid slabs of smooth concrete-like floors. Roger and Thomas looked on from afar, Roger bobbing his head up and down, Thomas looking up at him with concern. "I need another bump." He flatly stated, Thomas sighing in agreement, watching silently as the robotic referees began scanning their crowd and randomly assigning two contestants to battle. "Mustafa Gaul." One sounded, the hulking man stepping forward out of the crowd and setting foot on the ring, murmurs and whispers sounding at his name, "Koga Einz." A dark cloaked figure emerged, standing opposite of Gaul with a determined look from what what little one could see of his face. "Five seconds."

Rohar waited patiently for his name to be called. The cloaked fighter had few people around him, those fighters around him not exactly comfortable to be very close to the strange alien. In the light of day his unnatural visage was even more apparent, yet still a nameless and formless discomfort. The best those around him could articulate was the sentiment that he seemed oddly out of sync. His movements seemed just a hair off, as if sometimes slightly slower and sometimes ever so slightly faster. It was as hard to notice as it was to name.

"Who invited some alien freak? I thought this was supposed to decide who was the world strongest." A male voice behind him spoke. "He's not even from this world. What kind of asshole shows up from space and-"

The voice was told to shut up by others around him, and he seemed to. If Rohar was bothered by the comment he did not show it.

"Rohar Tal’Shadarim" One of the robotic referees called out.

Rohar moved towards the concrete arena. The white cloak trailed in the wind as he moved. Despite his strangeness, his moving from the crowd was not noted by any interest. Rather a general relief of a strange pressure, a reminder.

"Richard "Dagger Tooth" Karlson."

A partially masked man, over his mouth like Rohar's scarf, moved to the top of the concrete.He had a rough, untamed look of a warrior and two knives were displayed in his hand. A small gust of wind revealed that Richard had more knives under his coat. Some of his attire was still scattered with dried flakes of blood.

"Five Seconds."

Rohar took the time to bow to his opponent. Then drew his sword. This archaic gesture seemed to amuse his opponent, because he laughed a raspy, scraping chuckle which came from behind his mask. He played with his knives.

"Five seconds would be all I need to carve you up dog." Dagger Tooth spoke through a scratchy voice in an unfamiliar accent. Rohar had not been on this planet long enough to know what it was. "Turn your tail and run. This is no place for a tourist."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

Kirisvala nodded at Mars' kind words, still beaming at him. Much like the boy, however, she stopped and turned towards Jane with a puzzled face. Even though they spent quite a bit of time together as of late, she wasn't happy in the slightest that her moment with Mars was interrupted, but of course, she wasn't going to lash out over that or anything. That would've been mean, and it wasn't like she couldn't share a few more moments with her boyfriend later on. For now, instead, she examined the medical form that Jane had handed her, trying to read it over. When she heard Mars' question, she looked at him and then glanced at Jane.

"Oh, I think she said she was the team's new doctor or somethin' like that, so I guess she wants us to fill these things out to know what's goin' on with us? Maybe she wants to know if we've already gotten our melistarna." She suggested, before looking back at Mars with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I don't know a lot about human doctors, my people's healin' practices are a bit different."

Lifting the paper form above her and trying to read it, she blinked as she noticed an unfamiliar word. "What's an allerg-" She paused as one of her claws went through the outstretched sheet of paper, rending it and rendering it mostly useless. "..."

---

---

"Woah there, calm down girl." Alexis quickly responded after a little jump, as Angelica's sudden, vehement reaction had startled her as well. Someone's clearly not into medical puns... The blonde girl thought. Fortunately, the ice manipulator seemed to calm down relatively quickly, correcting her outburst and returning the greeting before answering her question, though her innocent pun seemed to have made a lasting impression on the taller girl. I guess she really wasn't prepared for it... Maybe she was thinking about Jacob when I said that?

"Oh, so you did pay up, then. That's so sweet of you! I'm happy to know you'd be willing to part with some treasure for my sake." The tech wizard stated, throwing an arm around her friend's neck as was customary and grinning widely. "And you don't need to get flustered so easily, Frosty. All I wanted to say was that you look pretty stunning this morning. Got someone in particular whose attention you'd be interested in having?"

[Northwest Slobovia]

July 22nd
Justice and Mercy Hospital, San Diego

"Hey there, if it isn't Saint George himself!" The man waved at Sam[...] "Didn't look like a dangerous enough stunt to put you in a hospital, though."

Sam looked the black-clad figure up and down as he continued to the check-out desk. "Eh, the dragon ran away; that's not why I'm here." He barely glanced at the person handling the desk as held out his arm to have his hospital bracelet scanned for discharge. "What about you, Little Black Robin Hood? Super tummy ache?"

The guy's barcode reader beeped, and Sam took a few steps towards the archer, who was conveniently on the way to the exit. He wasn't at all familiar, and Sam couldn't think of that many Left Coaster super-archers to start with. Note to self: make a new database entry for this guy.

[Bentus]

San Diego, California

---

Shadows stretched across the alley, the dim light from the moon overhead doing little to pierce the tall city buildings that shrouded the passageway in darkness. A few faint street lights flickered in and out of existence on the empty city street, the local city council having long since decided that funds sent to maintain the rundown, lower class part of town were better spent elsewhere. The fluorescent illumination of the street lights only served to harshen the shadows while destroying the night vision of anyone walking quickly past the alleyway. Those who knew the area kept to themselves, their hands buried in their pockets and their eyes fixed firmly on the sidewalk ahead. In this part of town, neither Warwolf nor the police had the resources to respond to cries for help and the shadows had become a prime locale for the San Diego underworld.

Within the depths of the alleyway, safely concealed from any prying eyes who may have been wandering the late-night city streets, Marionette was humming idly to herself. Her two arms were outstretched in an effort to improve her balance as she navigated along a crack in the pavement. Her expression was locked in concentration as the young villain carefully placed one foot in front of the other while taking care not to lean too far to either side so as to stumble off the narrow crack. She seemed to be blissfully oblivious to her surroundings, far too engrossed in the little task she had set for herself in order to pass the time.

“How interesting.” Came a voice whose owner was shrouded in the same shadows that concealed everything in that darkened alley. “Certainly not the sort of activity we would expect one such as you to do to pass the time, especially considering the reputation that precedes you. But, who are we to judge?” The voice continued, clearly amused, though not quite derisive. Suddenly, a faint light could be seen amidst the darkness, in the form of a disembodied pattern of images that possessed a faint arcane glow. Then, a flickering flame emerged on one of its extremes, the light of the fire revealing it to be the arm of a hooded boy, his face concealed by a black mask adorned with mystical symbols, strands of white hair poking out from beneath the hood.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hex, leader of the Cabal.” He spoke, offering a small bow to the figure clad in pink. “As you’ve no doubt realized, we are not exactly keen on reaching out or organizing social outings. I do hope this unorthodox meeting will be worth our time.”

The sudden sound of the voice piercing the darkness caused Marionette to lean slightly too far to one side of the crack, and she stretched out one of her legs in an effort to maintain her balance. She waved her arms in the air for a moment, her body shifting to stay upright on one foot like a child doing their best to stay off of a playground floor turned lethal lava. But, in an instant the girl pirouetted herself around to face the new arrival, immediately planting both of her feet firmly on the ground. Her little game was instantly forgotten, and a wide grin beamed at Hex from ear-to-ear.

“And yet you found the time to meet with little old me? That is so sweet!” A hint of colour touched Marionette’s cheeks as she basked in the compliment, before she eyed the other villain mischievously. “I bet that you’re really popular with all the girls, huh?”

Before Hex could respond, she slapped her hands together as she had just remembered something important. “Oh, right! I’ve been following you guys as well, especially with that bold move last night. You really know how to put on a show - though going after Warwolf seems like such a waste. I can’t wait to see you go up against the Stars. They would eat you alive!” Marionette seemed to squirm at the thought before getting a hold of herself. “But I digress. See, I think that you know that you’re going into this outgunned and outnumbered, especially with all the new try-hard hero teams that seem to be popping up.”

The obvious reference to the Young Bloods left their name unsaid, and Hex may have been able to notice a hint of venom slip into Marionette’s otherwise carefree tone. “Watching what you have been doing though, you’ll have some kind of plan lined up. Even when you just hit Warwolf on the street, you and your friends went in knowing exactly how to catch them off guard. With your big head Mr. Leader, I can’t wait to see what it is that you have in store. Although you have to know that you’re chances at winning this time aren’t looking very pretty.” Marionette’s smile wavered, twisting into a mournful frown. “It would be such a tragic ending to a fire that burned so bright, and yet got snuffed out before it’s time: you and your two partners in crime left as the centrepieces in a grisly mosaic of the tattered remains of your final stand.”

The words hang for a moment in the air, Marionette wavering as if she were struck by a sense of sorrow at the possible future loss. It hardly lasted more than a moment. Swinging her arms behind her back, Marionette stood up straight as if parodying a soldier standing at attention and her grin returned in full-force. “Which is why I want to help out a kindred spirit! I’ve been working on something myself, you see. I was getting really bored with Warwolf stealing all the thunder anyway, even if there was this one guy who was maybe a little less boring than watching paint dry. If we coordinate just a teensy-weensy little bit however, we can split the pie between us. Some of the goody-two-shoes for you, and some of them for me. What do you say?”

The one called Hex did not reply immediately. Instead, he raised his free hand and placed it against his chest, looking away from Marionette’s eye. “My, my, how you underestimate us, how deeply you lack faith in us.” The sorcerer spoke dramatically as he walked past the villainess, crestfallen. His voice sounded hurt and disappointed, and his posture and gait offered the same message. His face, of course, was inscrutable, but did that fact take away any merit or did it, on the contrary, increase it?

The boy continued to walk, his other hand still cupping the flame that was the only source of light in the dark alley. “I will admit it, you haven’t told any lies. We are outgunned, yes; heavily outnumbered, too. But this is precisely why we outsmart and outplan our enemies. Overwhelming force is useless without direction; conversely, when faced by a keen mind, even vastly superior foes will fall.” By this point, the teenage mastermind had dropped the act, and merely circled around Marionette, slowly.

“After all it is not merely sheer luck or force of will that has carried us this far, nor can our success be justified in terms of Warwolf’s ineptitude. If I did not have a hand in every factor that affects the battle, we would not be here, would we?” He came to a stop on her left side, folding his hands behind his back, though the flame continued to burn in the air in front of him. “Underestimating us is a mistake. The mistake Warwolf made. The mistake the Young Bloods will make.” He looked straight at Marionette’s eye this time. “We had assumed a lovely and distinguished lady like you to be above making such banal mistakes.”

He continued circling around her. “Now about your proposal, it certainly is interesting. Those young so-called heroes will undoubtedly show up, we’re counting on it, but dividing their attention would certainly be a boon to our plans. It would make the tide of heroes more easily manageable.” The sorcerer stated, now standing once more in front of the pink-clad villainess. “However…” He continued, taking a couple of steps towards Marionette. “Isn’t it rather trivial? You could have done all of this without our consent or permission. Is that truly the only thing you wanted?” He asked, head tilted as he stood face to face with her once more, grey eyes staring curiously at her from beneath the mask.

Marionette suddenly leaned in forwards until her face was mere inches away from Hex. The villain raised an eyebrow as the girl’s eyes studied his inscrutable mask, unflinching under her gaze. “Mmm, you do have a smart head on your shoulders, don’t you?”

Marionette didn’t really expect a response to her musings, and Hex didn’t appear to offer any in return. Regardless, a wide grin slowly grew on Marionette’s features, and she looked at Hex with the beginnings of a mischievous gleam in her eyes. Leaning back with a smug smirk, Marionette seemed to be pleased with what she’d seen so far.

“There is one, tiny little favor that I wanted to ask of you. Nothing that will get in the way of your own goals, but something that would mean the world to me.” Reaching down her shirt casually, Marionette pulled out a small clay talisman with what appeared to be the worn remnants of a scarab carving on its surface. A tag with the logo of Warwolf’s science division and some scribbled notes was still attached by a zip tie to the talisman. “See, I picked up this trinket from Warwolf earlier. I was hoping to use it on one of the Young Bloods, but it needs to be used with an accompanying spell: a spell which is a little bit complicated for a novice like myself.” Marionette allowed her words to hang in the air, waiting as Hex drew the obvious conclusion and figured out what she was asking.

Stepping closer to the boy, Marionette placed a palm flat on Hex’s chest - her eyes looking up into the dark circles in his mask. “That’s when I saw your work plastered on the news. I thought to myself: a magic user capable of that would have no problem with something as trivial as this.” She offered the other villain a smile, betraying her excitement while offering the talisman for Hex to take. “What do you think? Care to give a girl a hand?”

Hex’s hand shot up to take hold of the ancient trinket, eyes studying it with utmost attention, almost hungrily. “Egyptian… Strange that it would be held by someone touched by a Loa…” He mused out loud, clearly no longer addressing Marionette. He glanced back and forth as if conversing with someone who didn’t seem to be there, but eventually, he turned back to the villainess.

“Consider it done. I’m sure a lovely lady like you will know how to repay the favor.”

[Absolon-7]

Hell's Gate Tournament Saga

Battle Theme

Casimir Herman, Undetermined Time in Future, Preliminary Match
Kabuto was lead to a large courtyard filled with fighters or one would say too many fighters. There was a low hum of chatter reflecting the incessant buzzing of bees which was another similarity Casimir had noticed between the two. Quite fascinating. Casimir stood there idly tapping his foot and arms crossed. When was this so called important announcement gonna be made! Suddenly a loud audio wine drew Kabuto's attention to a balcony on the hotel's courtyard with some strangely upbeat music playing in the background. The apparent tournament's host went on a tirade about what the tournament was about, superhumans, and other stuff he didn't give a crap about. What finally caught his interest was the mention of "immediate preliminary elimination". All fighters were to head out to some nearby arena's and have their opponent randomly selected. Casimir made his way to them before some robotic referee scanned him and called out his name.

"Kabuto," it spoke with its mechanical voice. Kabuto stepped out of the crowd and onto the arena while cracking his neck and joints before doing several stretch excercises.

"Doctor Julius Reinhold," it spoke again. And out came an absolute mountain of muscle. By god he was massive amount of muscle! It was far more than any human should be capable of having without collapsing in on itself. It was a preposterous amount more than that one muscle head convict leader from long ago. It honestly looked like a birth defect to Kabuto. "Five seconds."

"Fight!," its cold automated voice spoke louder to emphasize the start of the battle.

With the auotuned voice starting the match the two fighters walked up to each other and stared each other down. Kabuto dared to to look up at the mass of muscle and tendon. Reinhold similarly stared him down and with each breath a gust of wind blew in and out his nose.

"So let's get this straight, doc. You're the one losing so just show me your worst side and I'll wallop at it. Is that a killer deal or what?," boastfully said Kabuto. Instead of an answer, Kabuto felt a tingling at the base of his skull as he could see the ever minute small movements of his opponents arms. He was sure he was just gonna punch him. One good back-flip and he'd avoid it. This fly power had exaggerated danger before so why not now? And this was the moment Reinhold simultaneously clapped both hands around Kabuto's lower legs and in a 180 degree arch slammed him against the ground. And he did it again. And again. And again before throwing Kabuto to the side like a piece of litter.

He turned his head to the robot referee and spoke somberly, "Call the match, the boy is done." Suddenly he felt a sharp thwack at the back of his head and turning around he saw Kabuto rising from the ground with a black and white bandanna covering half his face from the nose down.

"Gotta say, if it wasn't for my unforgiving rage, I would have complimented your straight to the point attack. But I'm not that guy," said Kabuto in a hoarse voice, "POOOOOOOLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEC!"

Casimir rushed at the goliath at a blinding speed and at first looked like he was going to tackle the giant's midsection. Instead he flicked out his wrist, shooting out webbing at Reinhold's shoulders. Like a slingshot he pulled down hard launching himself in the air before pulling the strings up and shooting himself down boots first at Reinhold's neck. The crashing impact at first stunned the doctor but something was amiss. Casimir couldn't budge his foot!

"The trapezius muscle. Your fate shall be decided by it," said the doctor in a cold voice.

Immediately he clenched his neck muscle while Casimir's boot was trapped between two. He clenched his teeth in agony as his foot was caught in the vicegrip. Grinding his teeth,hundreds of thought flew by his head thinking desperately for a solution. Thinking quickly he used his free foot to stomp on Reinhold's ear as hard as he could. This sent him crashing down as he lost the rest of his balance. This also loosened up his neck muscles which freed Casimir who back flipped away. He bent down to apply pressure to his now strained foot as it periodically sent waves of pain.

"You're not gonna make this easy, huh" said Casimir coughing up blood between irregular breathing.

Reinhold started to run at Casimir at an astonishing pace even comparable to a first rate sprinter! But there was one thing he didn't know. Casimir was all the more faster! Casimir started to charge head on yet again before making a sharp turn and shot webbing at one of Reinhold's feet forcing his immense body to trip yet again. Casimir leaped up in a spinning matter straight at the leg but Reinhold's immense arm swatted him away. He tumbled straight before the crowd of fighters waiting for their turn on the match. The crowd took a step back as he painfully got back on uneven footing and yelled at the top of his lungs before charging. As Reinhold was attempting to dislodge his foot from the webbing, Casimir came up to his side and whipped his fist against his ear. Casimir followed it up with several other hooks and jabs that threw the giant's head from side to side as he was stuck bent on one knee.

As Casimir kept wailing on Reinhold's face, the brute brought up one arm to catch Casimir's fist. Turning his arm downwards made Casimir crash onto his side onto the cement arena. Reinhold followed it up with by karate chopping his exposed side which made Casimir wheeze in pain. It looked like he had somehow dislodged his foot because Reinhold got back up on his feet and lifted his foot to stomp onto Casimir's chest. Every second brought pressure down on him and every exhalation brought down even more. So great the pressure it felt like he was being sent straight to hell's core. Struggling like a bug he fidgeted around trying to use the dwindling supply of oxygen to think of any solution he could grasp. With determination and fury invading his face he brought his chin up and clasped onto Reinhold's big toe with open hands and with as much might as he could he pushed it to the right before a tremendous wet crack shuttled throughout the arena. Reinhold's face contorted into a sick grimace before his lips started to quiver and finally a painful yelp escaped his mouth as he landed on his back. While not completely broken it was clear something was displaced in his toe.

Casimir got up on his butt, lifting up the bandanna halfway with one hand and wiping away the blood on his chin with his other arm's sleeve. Reinhold got back up to his feet and a momentary moment of anger flashed his face before it was wiped away by cold indifference. Casimir got back on his feet and got into a boxing position with a few hops from side to side. The two stared each other down as a warm gust blew over the arena. The sounds of other battles raged on in the background but they were drowned out by Casimir's heart's tremendous beats echoing in his ears. Taking deep breaths he forced himself to get it back to a regular pace before his attention was again was drawn to Reinhold. The mountain of muscle began running at Casimir who stood his ground. As Reinhold was in front of him he brought his open hands down on Casimir but the young man bobbed even closer to Reinhold to point where his arm could touch the gargantuan muscles. Casimir spring-boarded himself upwards propelling his fist straight into Reinhold's lower jaw.

The giant was felled unto his back and Casimir landed back down to his feet breathing heavily and rapidly. He then spoke, "Got any more in ya? I know my raw spirit is just getting me fired up."

Like the living dead Reinhold rose to feet looking almost completely unfazed. He took a step forward bringing one open hand at Casimir who then shot out one his wrists webbing that trapped Reinhold's outstretch hand. Casimir then twisted his body to the side with great effort almost as if he was rowing a mighty oar. Reinhold was brought down straight at Casimir's free hand that was sent straight into the giant's chest. The sheer force caused each to bounce back staggering. A large dented bruise could be spotted in Reinhold's chest as the skin was delicate where it was punched and he was hunched over in pain. Casimir seized the opportunity to go at him again and sent a straight jab at Reinhold's gut compelling him to hunch over even more. He followed it up with two hooks straight at his cheeks that sent Reinhold back a step.

Casimir stepped forward and uppercutted the giant's hunched over chest before shooting webbing at his neck and bringing him down towards Casimir's oncoming fist yet again. Reinhold counterattacked with a punch off his own that upon contacting Casimir's face made him fly back several bodylengths. But Casimir threw his legs forward making him spin midair before landing on all fours a few seconds later. Blood streamed down his nose and he was sure both his eyes were bloodshot. A faint ringing could be heard in his head and it seemed that the whole arena was shaking and little did he know it was only in his head. Breath after breath his lungs emptied of air to fuel his burning muscles. Like a tremendous cascade of thunder his heartbeat drummed on.

With a burning passion in his heart he raged at Reinhold and sent himself straight at him. His fists repeatedly made contact with multiple points of his body and Reinhold attempted to return the damage but Casimir stood his ground and weathered the massive fists. The two fighters exchanged blow after blow but Casimir was able a give far greater number in the same amount of time Reinhold made even a single hit with the same amount of force in each blow. Reinhold similarly hammered down his fists at Casimir pinning him to the ground. He raised his fists to hammer down yet again but Casimir rolled over to the side with the massive fists barely missing. He jerked his body upwards holding onto his stomach as he could barely stop himself from vomiting and his body from spasming. Drool left a corner of his mouth as he was barely able to hold himself up and a violent coughing fit followed.

Reinhold followed it up with slapping and punching Casimir around quite maliciously. Casimir barely being able to get back up after every hit. His wobbly legs just narrowly letting him avoid some of the strikes. It appeared Reinhold had enough as he grasped Casimir's shoulders and threw him. Or he attempted to as Casimir shot his webbing at Reinholds face. As Casimir flew away, Reinhold's immense body was used as an anchor that was brought down to the floor as Casimir landed some distance away. Casimir still holding onto the the webbing walked over to Reinhold and yanked up the webbing. Before Reinhold's torso could fall again Casimir grabbed his head and began to crash his knee into the face fourteen times in total before punching it away.

"Get the fuck up!," yelled Casimir barely holding onto, "That can't be everything you have!"

"Indeed, it is not" said the giant man face down on the floor. Again he rose up oblivious to the large amount of damage on his body and stared with freezing silence at Casimir's bloodshot eyes. Ignoring his broken toe he jumped into the air to deliver a punishing hit at Casimir but manged to dodge in time. He spin kicked Reinhold in the chest and bounced back. Reinhold grabbed onto Casimir's extended leg and threw him on the ground as he himself spun to hit the floor. Reinhold got up and grabbed the Polack by the torso and repeatedly slammed him into the ground before Casimir managed to randomly kick Reinhold in the face. Unfortunately it was with his sprained foot so it was immediate hellfire of pain. Casimir limped away as Reinhold clutched his bleeding nose.

Reinhold attempted to charge him again but Casimir shot a wide net webbing by relaxing his forearm thus entrapping Reinhold's arms against his torso. Casimir jogged in circles around Reinhold shooting webbing at different angles tripping over several times. At this point Casimir was anxious as the webbing was only its strongest when faced with direct tension. As a final webbing attack, Casimir shot it at Reinhold's head again and like bringing down a great tower he pulled down and back hard. Reinhold crashed onto the arena face first. Struggling to look up he turned his head only to see Casimir drive a swift tremendous kick with his good leg at his face flipping him entirely over.

Casimir spotted his helmet and shot his webbing at it to retrieve it. Putting it back on he limped to Reinhold's webbed up body and raised one foot to step on top of the unconscious brute. Tiredly he raised his fist into the air and looked up at the great blue sky. He held his other arm onto his chest in a futile attempt to quell the pain. Besides the war drum of a heart he could hear the faint sounds of seabirds and the calm ocean waves. He could sort of hear the robot referee counting down but he didn't care. Once he again he proved how amazing he was and this time for all the world to see.

"Winner: Kabuto!" shouted the referee its automated voice ringing in Kabuto's head. Suddenly he fell over onto his butt and propped himself up on his arms with his chest rising and falling with every last breath.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Scott Green/Spectrum-Wonder Tower, San Diego

I had slept in today. Likely a side effect from the increased dosage of the sleep meds I am prescribing myself. The last several days have been, well, less than ideal. Ever since that day of training, my mind keeps going back to Aeon. Just when I was starting to get through a day without thinking about it. And if I had to guess, its because of Yoshi. She must have done something in that battle which caused the flash of memory which made me see Ayala. Either intentionally or not. I doubt that she has been the cause past that, but still. Just seeing her again, seemed to have been enough to bring those memories back to the forefront again. Whats more, I have not mentioned this to either her or anyone else. What would I say? Accuse her of making me go through nightmares or something? So once again I just did what I always seem to do, shut down a little inside and pretend everything is fine.

And obviously I have not used the gauntlet since the training bout either.

Aside from that, there were other things that kinda scratched at me on the inside as well. Such as seeing Viv and Casimir so close all the time. It reminds me of...well her. Viv has little in common with Ayala but how she dotes on Casimir just...never mind. Its not my business, just ignore it and get yourself straight. That being said, I am aware that something has to give. I have to find a way to get past what happened on Aeon and move forward. The team needs me in the here and now.

But knowing that...how exactly do I get over it?

Why is it bothering me? Eating me up so damn much? Why can I not just move on? Is it really just because I have not shared what happened with anyone else? Could it simply be that it keeps me awake at night because I have not allowed anyone else to blame me for what happened that day as much as I blame myself?

Could it be that simple? Or do I just need time? And if so how much time? How long do I have to pretend that I am happy in silence before I actually allow myself to be happy?

I don't know. I don't know anything. I don't know what to do about it. And I do not know who to tell. I live in Wonder Tower, and I am surrounded by heroes. True blue actual heroes. Many of them even younger than I am. And they have put their lives on the line to save people countless times. Since I arrived here I have researched their exploits. They banded together against the inmates who escaped from that prison. They defended innocents at the Zoo incident. Busted up a drug operation, defeated a member of the Hellfire gang. In anyone of those several of them could have been killed multiple times over. They understand what it means to be a hero. To bear that burden.

How could I stand and look any of them in the eyes and tell them, that when I was faced with danger. Faced with death for defending a world of innocents I chose to run. That the only reason they even know who I am is because I abandoned people who trusted in me to protect them. Trusted me like the Young Bloods do now...

No, I can never tell them that. Not if I want them to keep trusting me. To allow me the chance to prove that maybe a coward...can be a hero.
Interrupted from my thoughts by a massive crash I picked myself up and got dressed. Travelling down to the Living Room, which was many floors beneath my own room on the top floor. I opted for a slow pace and took the stairs. Not eager to put on the mask of a smile so soon. Finally, I found myself confronted with a bustle of activity and that we have a new doctor on the team? As well as another new member in addition to her?

The doctor was handing out what appeared to be medical forms when I noticed just how young she was. It did not take me long to realize she was likely a superhuman of some sort. One does not become a doctor that young and have no powers. I waited a moment until after she had handed some forms off before saying anything.

"Hey there. I'm Scott, another new member of the Young Bloods. Could I have one of those forms? I would love to help out and as new as I am I doubt my medical history is known to the team medical staff." I explained in a helpful tone.

"Oh, by the way...I never got your name Doctor..." My voice trailed off as I allowed time for the new doctor to answer.