Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Finland SSR]

Tower, 23rd July

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

"Someone with your aesthetic is going to have to do a lot more than that to convince anyone..." Renata shot back at Elle's comment about dispelling rumors of being a loner, while packing her clothes in her locker and slipping into her shower shoes. Along with that, the girl picked up her towel and shower gel - just in time for Elle to offer some shampoo and even stretch out a handful to her, as if she wanted to smear it over Renata's hair herself - the heroine winced in response.

"...Really, Elle? Shampooning your hair while you're still dry? We're not in a hurry anywhere, are we?"

Ironic, given that Renata was the member of the team most likely to be found in a hurry somewhere. But the heroine didn't bother to analyze the implications of her statement, and instead raised her bottle of shower gel.

"And I prefer this, anyway."

Setting the heat of the water to maximum possible, Renata turned on the shower head, instantly starting to fill the entire room with clouds of vapor and heat. The heroine didn't feel much different, however - twenty degrees or ninety degrees, the heat was only mildly different to her. Were she not already accustomed to cold showers, perhaps this would be her most hated chore of the day.

[Segral]

Sir Edward Whilton of York
Chapter 5: The Battle Begins: Part I

There would be some sort of...preliminary, an early battle to determine who was qualified and strong enough to stay, and who was not. It seemed fair, that was how they did it back in Edward's day! There would always be too many young and pathetic knights showing up, so the tournaments would contain several early battles to weed out the weaker individuals. They were often weaklings, wobbling on horseback, lance unsteady, glimmers of fear trapped behind their visors. Every time, they would get struck in the chests, heads, and necks by the lances, crying as they tumbled off their steeds. The lucky ones got clipped by the shields. The unlucky ones had splinters fly into their visors, cutting their heads and eyes. Edward was responsible for one of these, against a young, novice knight. His lance had splintered against the young ones's collar, the tip shattering. He had fallen off of his horse limply, and was trampled underneath its feet. When they opened his helmet, they found his eyes and temples bleeding, his collar broken, his arms twisted and crumpled.

It was a sad sight, but one that had given him pride, adrenaline, and a sense of courage in knowing he was a good knight, the best knight.

Surely, he could not fail.

Suddenly, one of those peculiar soldiers peasants called "robots" approached him, a laser coming out of its chest. With a cry, Edward jumped back, arms over his head, attempting to block the laser from scorching him. He was expecting to feel awful pain, to have his skin burn, his eyes bug.

But nothing happened.

All he heard was a monotone, buzzy, flat voice saying his name aloud. "Sir Edward Whilton." it said aloud, completely unfazed by his jumpy. He could hear a few snickers, most likely directed at him. Blushing furiously underneath the heavy load of armor he was wearing, he looked around angrily as many competitors gathered around him and the robot, pointing and laughing. Whatever. They would regret it later, once Edward pounded their skulls flat.

"Sabrina Blackheart" the robot said, again in the same monotone, fuzzy voice as a woman stepped forward. She looked young, with silvery blonde hair streaked with red, scarlet sleeves, sleek black gloves and boots, and a surprising lack of armor. That must mean...he was fighting a prostitute? What powers could a prostitute have, unless...she was a succubus! Yes, that must be it!

"Five seconds..." the robot said, moving to the side as several waiting fighters formed a circle around the two, Edward and Sabrina facing each other from opposite points of the radius of the circle. She looked confident, she had this calm expression and posture that showed you she was composed and ready to fight, calmly twirling a wooden staff in her hands. But Edward looked easily as confident, even arrogant as he casually hopped upon Harold, who had been silent up to this point. With practiced grace, he airily drew his lance, holding it in proper position with his shield strapped upon his arm.

"Fight!"

Sabrina, hands flowing as she rapidly muttered under her breath, quickly twirled her staff in her hands and drove the point into the ground, beginning to trace a large sigil into the ground around her. It began with a simple circle, but more lines and symbols were being added rapidly, and Edward would need to move fast to stop it. And so he did.

With a loud cry of "DEUS VUUUUUULT!", he lashed Harold into action, sending the skeletal horse charging forward as he drew his lance aimed straight at Sabrina's head. The distance was closing quickly, thanks to Harold's absurd speed, and Sabrina knew this, as she was moving as quickly as possible to try get the sigil complete, as the lance came closer and closer to impaling her through.

But suddenly, she straightened, her sigil glowing white light out of the ground, coming out to envelop her and her form, just seconds before the lance flew right into her. Or rather, flew right into the light, for as soon as it's tip hit the light, it was rebounded back with a powerful clanging noise as the butt of the lance slammed right back into the middle of Edward's face, flipping him backwards off of Harold. The horse was luckily able to stop in time, skidding to a halt with his hooves. However, it wasn't fast enough to escape Sabrina's staff, as it whipped forward and smacked the horse across the face with a light crack, sending it keeling backwards.

With a groan, Edward got to his feet as he brushed off the shattered remains of his lance, feeling his nose begin to bleed. He wished he could apply pressure and close it off now, but he didn't have time. It was time for battle. He could not fail. With a mighty leap, he rushed forward running right past Harold's cowering form. With a quick hand, he yanked Harold's reins as he rushed by, prompting the horse to sit. Satisfied, Edward drew his sword out of its sheath, holding it aloft along with his shield arm as he rushed towards the figure in light with a mighty screech.

Sabrina was up to his tricks though, and quickly sidestepped away from his oncoming swing, deflecting it with an easy poke of her staff. But suddenly, Edward whipped out with his shield arm, and bashed Sabrina in the chest, sending her stumbling a few paces back. The impact also sent him stumbling backwards, arm jarred from the sheer rebound force of her shield of light. But he needed to break this shield, or else he wouldn't win this duel.

Sprinting forwards with a leap, he jumped up, sword slashing down as he attempted to preform a jumping slash downwards, like in the strange portals peasants watched things occur in. The opposing mage swung out with her own staff to block the slash, causing him to fall backwards and land on his feet. However, it was a bad move, as it dropped Edward directly in front of her for a quick and straight charge, as he lashed out with his shield arm again and clipped her with the edge, this time across the face. The impact twisted his body around, but it allowed him to cross over with his other arm and jab forwards with his sword, driving the point into her hip. Again, the vibration sent him stumbling back, but it appeared to do the same to the other woman, as she was clearly grimacing.

Edward continued his barrage of attacks, sending slashes, jabs, cuts, and punts, bashes and breaks, clips and clashes, doing everything he could to keep the battle going. It was clear she was some kind of demonness witch, who used sigils and pesky runes to preform her voodoo magic, so all he would need to do was keep her occupied so she could not make more and counter-attack.

It seemed to be working, as Sabrina was losing more and more ground, her staff swings faltering under Edward's swords and shield edges. The white light around her, once an airtight shield, now had pale, gray, luminescent cracks running through it, like cracks in an eggshell. Beneath the light, her face was contorted into a grimace, as while she didn't feel the pain of the strikes, she could still feel them battering her and knocking her everywhere. It was clear that the shield would soon break. And once they did...well, she should just speed up the process.

Suddenly, she grew still, allowing Edward to whale away at her with no repercussion. Edward, in his battle-lust and frenzy, did not even notice, and continued to batter her in hopes of breaking the shield. He swung away repeatedly, as the shield grew thinner and thinner, bending and twisting as it was warped and cracked.

One swing....the cracks grew deeper.

Two swings....the splits began to happen.

Three swings...oblivion.

A massive burst of light erupted from the broken shield, enveloping Edward and flinging him backwards with a resounding "CRASH!" as he slammed into the ground, rolling for several feet before stopping himself with his heels and elbows, helmet being flung off his head in the process. He couldn't see, the lights kept dancing beneath his shut eyelids. He couldn't move, his limbs, his body felt so battered and tired. His mind would not move, focused on the pain. He felt footsteps, he heard footsteps, but he could not run.

He weakly attempted to push himself up, to open his eyes, only for a sharp, thick object to be plunged into his chest, shoving him to the ground. It was...a staff. That succubus' staff! Suddenly, a finger trailed beneath his nose, wiping away the blood, before coming back, going deeper up his nostrils for more blood. And then, a wiping, moist noise as someone traced liquid across his armor, feeling a slight pressure on his breastplate.

He was in trouble. Deep trouble.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

"Oh, no. Honestly, that was just an excuse to try and get inside, but these lovely gentlemen here are too much of a pain in the ass to let me through." The dark archer replied, casually gesturing at the two guards that had kept him from entering the hospital. Though they were relieved that he was no longer trying to force his way in, the comment clearly didn't sit well with them.

"You're the only pain in the ass here, Black Arrow." One of them spat.

"You could at least try to avoid bringing a medieval weapon to a hospital next time." The other pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, my bad. Anyways, I only wanted to get a good look at the man who stood up to those two aliens. You must be the only hero in this city that has any rapport with Warwolf." The armored man said, taking a couple of steps back as to avoid blocking the exit to the hospital. "So, what's next for Saint George? Are you going to hunt down the dragon? I heard he and some buddies got in trouble again a couple nights ago."

[Northwest Slobovia]

July 22nd
Justice and Mercy Hospital, San Diego

"Yeah, yeah, my bad. Anyways, I only wanted to get a good look at the man who stood up to those two aliens. You must be the only hero in this city that has any rapport with Warwolf. [...] So, what's next for Saint George? Are you going to hunt down the dragon? I heard he and some buddies got in trouble again a couple nights ago."

Sam winced, pressing his eyes shut and shaking his head. "Oh no, not again!" He reached a comfortable conversational distance from Black Arrow. "I guess it's dragon season now." He extended a hand. "Blizzard, good to meet you."

The archer gladly shook Sam's hand. "Black Arrow, A.K.A. pain in the ass, edgy archer extraordinaire." He introduced himself with a laugh. "I make my rounds around the block sometimes, but sometimes work is- whoops, someone's coming through."

Sam stepped out of the way of the person entering, then glanced around the room, and finally out through the windows and the hospital's force field, nodding at a small building visible nearby. "This isn't the best place to talk, but I'll bet the press pavillion is empty. Not many heroes holding press conferences these days."

"Bet they don't want to see a bunch of soldiers in power armor pointing a gun at them while pretending to act as security for the event." Black Arrow remarked.

A short walk over found the building not merely empty, but practically abandoned: a thin layer of dust coated the single room's podium and chairs. Inside, Sam turned to the archer. "I wouldn't say I have rapport with Wolfie, just that I put up with them. For the moment, they're a legitimate police force, even if I think they're to up to no good. I might as well have them not try to shoot me on sight, and if I remind the public that there are superheroes as well as supervillains at the same time, all the better."

[Absolon-7]

Jane

Scott Green/Spectrum-Wonder Tower, San Diego

Casimir Herman July 23rd
It appeared Renata shrugged him off as well as she went out of the room and Wyatt went off to bro-hug the tantrum Carter. Sighing in annoyance, Casimir walked back to Viviana who was busy gobbling up doughnuts. She waved at him while biting off a chunk of a doughnut in her hand. And a medical form of all things in the other.

"Where'd you get that?" asked Casimir looking at the paper.

Viviana gulped down the doughnut before responding, "That doctor girl gave it to us. Just list out our medical history and such. Oh, I got an extra for ya."

"Thanks. So we got a doctor now?" said Casimir grabbing, "Don't know why I need to fill it out my health is perfection."

"It's mostly medical history and you of all people should know how messed up you've gotten sometimes," said Viviana matter-of-factually.

"Is that so?" said Casimir.

"Member when you had a cold for seven months in middle school? Your words not mine too," said Viviana with a sly expression creeping on her face, "Or that time you had to go on a wheelchair for a bit cause uhm you know who broke your legs in that final duel."

"I try not to remember either thank you very much," said Casimir. I sure as hell don't want to remember that cunt breaking my legs or all the other shit he did to my town, thought Casimir.

"Just puttin' it out there fella," said Viviana before winking.

"I can see that quite clearly," said Casimir faking being annoyed and blushing immeasurably while he looked away. "Wait do you have a pen?"

Viviana Couture July 23rd

"In fact I don't," said Viviana, "I think we can fill them in and give them to her later. But lemme check with if she has any. " After giving Casimir a quick hug while he was in the middle of eating a doughnut Viviana went of to the see the new doctor. Upon turning in her direction she spotted the Young Blood known as Scott who was one of the few she had taken a liking to as he was quite polite to her. Feeling happy she bounced up next to him and proceeded to greet him.

"Hey there Scott!," she said while waving at him, "I'd get those doughnuts before Casimir get at them. The guy's a real glutton."

[Agritum]

Tower, 23rd July

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

"Someone with your aesthetic is going to have to do a lot more than that to convince anyone..." Renata shot back at Elle's comment about dispelling rumors of being a loner, while packing her clothes in her locker and slipping into her shower shoes. Along with that, the girl picked up her towel and shower gel - just in time for Elle to offer some shampoo and even stretch out a handful to her, as if she wanted to smear it over Renata's hair herself - the heroine winced in response.

"...Really, Elle? Shampooning your hair while you're still dry? We're not in a hurry anywhere, are we?"

Ironic, given that Renata was the member of the team most likely to be found in a hurry somewhere. But the heroine didn't bother to analyze the implications of her statement, and instead raised her bottle of shower gel.

"And I prefer this, anyway."

Setting the heat of the water to maximum possible, Renata turned on the shower head, instantly starting to fill the entire room with clouds of vapor and heat. The heroine didn't feel much different, however - twenty degrees or ninety degrees, the heat was only mildly different to her. Were she not already accustomed to cold showers, perhaps this would be her most hated chore of the day.

"Yeah, what's wrong about my aesthetic, Renata? Ever heard of tall, dark and handsome? Even though I probably don't fit the tall or the handsome parts. But I'm dark enough, I guess." Elle commented, stepping in the lavic waters, and thanking Baal that she had enough pain tolerance to just feel some warmth. Renata, Elle guessed, probably didn't really have an issue with temperatures that would burn the average human being.

"Yeah, I'm putting the shower gel on later, myself. My hair is a bitch to clean thoroughly." she commented, quickly putting some more shampoo on her now wet hair, bending her head down to let the water wash through the mane. "Superheroics nowadays are a lot about appearance I noticed. We're as different as day and night, but we probably take pains to iron out our clothes once or twice a week, do we? Like, your new armor, I'm sure you've already bought cans of polish for that. I used to wear metal shoulder and knee pads one time and they were always a bitch to clean. Blood doesn't wash off easily, also."

Elle shoved her hair back, grabbed her own gel and promptly applied it on herself, with a tender massaging motion. "So who were you pissed at? Carter?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Naja had decided it was time for her to address the team but first she had a housekeeping issue to deal with. She went to the living room where the team had gathered and approached Wyatt. “Wyatt, I need to talk you. Let’s go to my office.” She told him, her tone causal as to not embrasse him or alert the others. She walked ahead to her office, assuming he’d follow.

Wyatt put down his book and had a sinking feeling that he knew what this was about. “Alright.” He replied and followed her into her office. “Well, I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty sure I know what this is about. Let’s get it over with.”

When they stepped inside Naja sat down at her desk. “I’m sure you do know what I’m talking about Wyatt. I don’t sense any regret in your voice, is that accurate?”

“It depends on what you mean by regret. I realize what I did was pretty stupid. It puts a lot of people at risk and when I opted to do it I wasn’t thinking about it. I know it was a bad decision now… But...” He trailed off and sighed, looking down at the desk. “I don’t regret what I did to them.”

“I understand wanting to lash out at Warwolf. You’re frustrated believe me I am too. But hindsight and an apology isn’t enough in this case. You put the team in significant danger, I’ve barely been able to keep Warwolf from storming our island after this. What you did was selfish, Wyatt. Heroes need to be able to see the bigger picture, otherwise people get hurt.”

She sighed before continuing.

“You’re a good kid Wyatt, and you can be a great hero one day. But you need to learn to see the bigger picture.”

“I know… I know. I just… wanted to do something. I’m clearly not fitting in here very well at all, so I figured I’d go out with someone I did. I know it was dumb and stupid, but I was tired of them stalking me, stalking my parents… I came very close to getting arrested for the act of being me. I’d be in some cage if Kaban didn’t intervene.” He explained.

“I get it, it doesn’t make up for being selfish. I know I was, but I am not going to sit around and be treated like I’m a monster in my own city. I’ve never done anything wrong to them before a few days ago.” He sighed quietly and looked at the floor. “I was, and still am, angry. I know there’s no way to rationalize this. I just… Yeah. Lashed out. And honestly, if I could do it again, with them only having a bone to pick with me, I’d do it again. If you’re going to kick me off the team, just do it. I wouldn’t blame you. Can’t imagine I’d be missed much anyways.”

Naja looked at Wyatt carefully for a moment, as if really contemplating him.

“I’m sorry you feel that way Wyatt. I know you are unhappy here. And maybe that’s my fault in part. You’re different Wyatt, and I understand how hard that can be to deal with at times. I think you’re wrong though, I think the team would miss you a lot. That’s the thing about friendship, sometimes it’s not until the stakes are high enough that true bonds are realized. I know the people around you could try harder to get along with you, but don’t you think you could as well? There has to be give and take after all.”

“Anyway, I think we should discuss this more later, and maybe I can try to help. But to answer your question I am not kicking you off the team. However we are going to be cooperating with Warwolf against this Cabal threat and I think it’s best if you sat out of it. I don’t think you’d be safe around Warwolf for the moment.”

“It’s not like I haven’t been trying to make friends. It just seems and feels a lot that whenever I say something, it just falls by the wayside. The only time I think I’ve had a full conversation was with Alexis because I snapped at Renata and Casimir fell on my tail. And that was mostly just me venting.” He wasn’t sure how to feel about sitting out the mission with the Cabal, at least until Naja mentioned that they would be working with Warwolf.

“...That’s fair. Even if I hadn’t done what I did, I’d probably not want to go anyways. I really don’t like Warwolf if that wasn’t clear and the idea of working with them just irks me down to my gut. I know there’s not really much I can do to make up for it. I just… Want to feel like less of an alien. These are the first legitimate friend that I’ve ever had, and I can’t help but feel that I’m doing something wrong.”

“It takes time Wyatt, I know that’s frustrating but it's true. It took me a long time in life to find people who really cared about me and accept me and even they took time to warm up to me. But once I had it, it was well worth the wait.”

“I guess that’s true. Another part is… You probably know who Kaban is by this point. Big guys, looks kind of like me… Well. Part of the reason I went is because he went. He’s the one that I’ve been spending a lot of my free time with. He’s teaching me how to fight and generally being a pain to Warwolf. Before today, I haven’t really felt… connected to the team in anyway. That’s not an excuse, just an explanation.”

”I am aware of him yes. He’s certainly caught Warwolf’s attention. I appreciate this talk Wyatt, and I’m glad you were so understanding. Just remember to try to take it a little easier around the team and maybe people will loosen up around you as well. Anyway, you should head back, I don’t want the others to get suspicious. We can talk about your relationship with the team more later if you’d like.”

“Alright. Thanks for not being as harsh as I was expecting. I’d like to talk about it. This fish out of water thing is awful. And I have been working on that. Carter’s cool, even if he doesn’t talk much. Kiris is nice and so is Alexis. And again, I’m sorry for making a mess for the team.” He said and stood up, taking his leave back to the den.

[Finland SSR]

The Great Floyd Tolson!

Four Days Earlier

Battle Theme

---

The robotic referee declared the beginning of the fight, but for the first few seconds, Floyd and Kazimba stood still, staring each other down in a classic martial arts stand-off. The only source sound on the battlefield was flashes of red demonic energy crackling around the former's body. For a little while, at least, before the swordsman finally opened his mouth and spoke.

"So, should I even bother trying to get you into small-talk or just assume you can't even speak English? Doubt they have classes on that in bumfuck Central Africa."

Kazimba remained stern and emotionless as always, but spun the axe in his hands a little and replied, in a thick accent, but clearly in English:

"My people hail from the great plains of Nigeria, a former British colony. Do not worry about my English skills, Westerner."

Without any further warning or attempt at pep-talk, the great chief ran forward, making his way across the battlefield and ready to swing his massive axe forward. Floyd snickered and sent a brief retort:

"Guess I'm fighting for the honor of her majesty's British Empire here, then."

The few seconds of time he had until the African tribesman reached him were more than enough for him to piece up a barebones strategy. Battle axes were far from a common sight on American and British battling grounds, but every encounter Floyd had with them ended up the same - block or deflect the first of their hits, then use your superior mobility and weapon swinging speed to force the axe-wielder to the defensive, at which point, the battle would basically already be decided. Kazimba wore some heavy armor, sure, but that heavy armor had some easily visible gaps which could be exploited.

With his free hand, Floyd grabbed onto the tip of his sword, aiming to slap the flat plane of the blade across the axe and deflect it, making an opening. However, that plan had to be discarded and the swordsman had to leap back once the incoming axe suddenly unnaturally accelerated. Had he not caught this unexpected change in motion in time, perhaps the axe would have easily tore across him - but, thankfully, Kazimba only hit the floor, splitting a tile in half.

Hypotheses came in a flurry. This could just be simply super strength, or super speed... but it didn't seem like it, else both Kazimba and the axe in his hands would have been faster for the entire charge, rather than just the last second. Some sort of energy transferal? Momentum or speed manipulation? Vector manipulation? Any one of these would be a god damn bitch to fight.

The battle continued. After pulling out his weapon, Kazimba went on the offensive yet again, swinging his axe forth over and over. Every single time, the same song would continue - the weapon would first travel normally before suddenly accelerating to hypersonic speeds right before impact, forcing Floyd to rely on his superhuman reflexes and plenty of prediction just to avoid getting hit. And all of those hits looked pretty damn painful.

Maybe it's a trick. Messing with my mind to alter my perception of speed and thus fuck with my senses.

It wouldn't hurt to test this particular hypothesis, then. For once, after seeing the axe accelerate, Floyd decided to not move out of the way and instead placed his sword in a tight horizontal grip to try to block the attack. Big mistake. The axe came with the raw force of a speeding truck, instantly knocking Floyd off his feet and sending him sliding across the floor of the arena, breaking apart tile after tile as he went.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

Floyd stabbed his sword into the ground as an anchor and stopped almost immediately, standing back up on his feet. Dirtied and a little sore, but in no lesser spirits.

"For someone who has only been good at running so far, you have surprising endurance." Kazimba spoke, stopping his relentless assault for a second. "And your weapon, too. Any normal sword would have shattered from such a strike."

"What can I say... they're something to die for."

A sword forged for you by a demon as powerful as Beelzebub isn't going to break like a toothpick, don't worry.

It was Floyd's time to attack now, and the swordsman didn't waste no time, immediately rushing forward and making his way across the battlefield at superhuman speeds, nearly catching Kazimba completely unaware. However, the African chieftain raised his axe in time, slapping the incoming blade to the side. Floyd instantly threw himself to the ground and made a quick roll, stopping behind his hulking opponent - by the time he turned around to see what's going on, the swordsman had released a series of slashes at Kazimba's armor, chipping away at it and testing its strength. Simple steel plating, it appears. I could punch through that with a hand chop, much less a sword.

Kazimba's response to this was a horizontal accelerated axe swing, once again forcing Floyd to leap back and increase the distance between the two combatants.

One more thing to add - it appears that while this lad can attack at supersonic speeds, his reaction times are lagging far behind that. I could probably run circles around him and he couldn't catch me with his eyes.

Alright, I think I've got this now.

"Some sort of momentum enhancement, right?" Floyd suddenly spoke, his stance straightening.

"Hm?" Kazimba raised his eyebrow.

"I think I've figured out whatcha got there as your superpower, you mong. You can increase your weapon's momentum at will and thus increase its speed and striking power - but, for whatever reason, only in short bursts and never to yourself. This is how you've been able to attack me with superhuman speed, but have been lagging in defense."

The chief just stood there for a few seconds, unsure what to say, but after a few seconds, he finally managed to mutter something:

"That's basically what my superpower is, correct. How did you figure it out this quickly?"

"I've got a knack for this kinda stuff. I do nothing but fight supers all day, so you could say that I've got a pretty good comparative database, too."

"Interesting." Kazimba muttered, then raised his axe again. "But what difference does this make? You have been on the defensive this entire fight."

"Oh, it makes plenty of difference." Floyd shot back, sliding his right foot across the floor in preparation for a charge forward. "For example, I can now do this."

The chief's muscles tensed, the stone-wall African bracing for a strike. Moments later, Floyd blinked out of his position, closing the distance to Kazimba in mere milliseconds and appearing right in front of him. The axe accelerated and lunged forward, but struck nothing but thin air, as the swordsman suddenly threw himself to the side and focused his eyes on the chief's weapon. His eyes made out a series of small cracks and bent wood, probably the results of wear and tear across numerous past fights, in the middle of the axe's handle - moments later, Floyd's blade pierced through them, its tip coming out through the other side. Before the chief could react by pulling his axe away, the swordsman twist his blade - almost immediately after, the heavy top of the axe fell to the ground, leaving only a small ripped off stump in Kazimba's hand.

"What about now? What will you accelerate?" Floyd spoke, grinning.

Kazimba tried to make "the remaining stump" the answer, but by then, it was already too late. With his free hand, Floyd slapped the stump aside and began his real offensive - slash after slash at the parts of Kazimba's body not protected by armor, this being his face, waist and upper legs.

"Alright, I yield!" the African warrior exclaimed, slumping on his knee, his left eye wincing under a trail of blood coming out of a fresh wound on his forehead. Immediately after hearing that, the robotic referee screamed at the top of its nonexistent lungs, declaring Foyd to be the winner of the battle. The swordsman nodded slightly and sheathed his sword.

"If you had a good secondary power like superhuman strength or endurance, this fight would have been much more enjoyable, you know."

"If I had superhuman endurance... my style of fighting would have been completely different. I cannot enhance the momentum of my fists because it would just break my bones, after all."

"Tsk, always coming up with excuses, you lot..."

"At least I had the honor of being felled by a seasoned warrior such as yourself, Floyd of the Tolson Clan."

"Don't bother turning my surname into a clan, you chocolate ass. My father's line were all coal workers, not royalty material."

[The Republic of Atria]

Hell's Gate

Onu went and found a seat in the spectator's area where should could observe the two combatants she dragged along. Wyatt was going to be fine, she had no concerns about him going overboard and maiming someone, Kaban on the other hand... Hopefully he would show at least a little restraint. Getting kicked out of the arena wasn't something she wanted.

Both of the men went to their respective arena. Kaban was greeted with a brown haired, toned female bouncing side to side on her feet, ready for action. "Name's Jennifer big guy! Let's not get all angry at each other. We're all here to enjoy some good old fashioned beating the hell out of one another for sport." She approached the large dragon standing across from her, offering to shake hands. "Nice ink. Don't think I've seen those characters before." She mentioned the runes adorning Kaban's body.

"Human's fondness for blood sport is quite enjoyable to me." It took a moment before Kaban remembered that mutual hand grabbing was considered polite and grabbed her hand after a second. "They are very special, both in who gave them to me and what they represent."

"Damn straight, I came here to win-holy hell, that's one helluva grip you've got there. Well, I hope whoever it is, is proud of you."

"Five seconds." Came the robotic referee. The woman quickly backed off and stood ready to fight.

I've seen that brute. He's been all over the news... How did he get here? What's he doing here? She thought to herself.

"Begin!" The machine commanded and the woman shot at Kaban, chunks of the arena following behind her as she bolted towards her target who... Just stood there, looking bored. It might've been boredom, she couldn't read his face very well.

Instead of crashing into him, she stopped, letting the chunks fly at Kaban. She didn't expect him to move with... precision? He looked like such a brute, but as she watched Kaban strike the concrete with timing and precision that could have only have been the results of extensive training and practice. The news didn't show him being this skilled.

She did a handspring backwards to put some distance between them, but when Kaban moved, it was with as much grace as someone his size could put forth. Trying to roll away only to be grabbed by his leathery hand and held off the ground. "Throwing rocks? That's your trick?" He asked, holding her up by the back of her clothes.

"Not all I got!" She flipped forward, sending a spray of rocks into his face. It was enough that he dropped her, but as she aimed to pull an even rock out of the arena, Kaban was already standing over her and simply thumped her on the head and she slumped over, unconscious, but alive with probably a headache for when she wakes up.

"She's alive." He called to the referee as he picked her up and handed her off to the robot and stepped off the stage.

[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."

"Five"

Rohar drew the hilt of "Starchild", a flick of a button igniting the crystal within the device and projecting a solid thin blade of blue energy. He placed the sword in a ready position between himself and his opponent, pointing at his opponent.

"Four"

Rick responded similarly, whirling his daggers in a fluid motion and then putting the two bladed instruments into a defensive stance. He began to chuckle to himself, as if a giddy child about to open a birthday present with joyous viciousness.

"Three"

"You're a fucking stupid little alien aren't you?" The blade wielding man taunted. "A fancy sword don't mean shit-"

"Two"

There was a silent pause as the two fighters stood in opposition to one another. Rohar's blade glimmering of it's own accord, which in the slight shadow of the clouds reflected in the knives of Daggertooth.

"One"

"Fight!"

Rick was the first to move, his daggers flashing as he first moved with one in a lunging stab. Rohar did not move until the dagger tip was but three feet from him, then with a sudden swiftness he slashed out with his blade, slicing the dagger in half with a cold 'hiss". Rick did not stop, refusing to give his opponent time, he quickly followed up with the dagger in his left hand, which came down in an scything motion aimed at the alien's head. Rohar managed to catch the arm with the dagger and held on.

One

"What the-" Rick choked out before Rohar let go of his opponent. For exactly one second that opponent seemed to be in shock, his grip on his dagger strong yet his body didn't seem to move. Rohar sidestepped slightly as Rick suddenly regained control of his body. His eyes widened as he almost fell, his balance failing him as what was once a clean follow through was now a jerky movement. "-Fuck are-" he managed to get out before a foot slammed into his side, sending him spinning.

Rick blinked, unsure of what just happened. He kept his distance from his opponent, who stood still as Rick circled him.

"What the fuck did you do to me?"

Rohar gave no response. He merely lifted his sword once more.

Rick carefully navigated the field around his opponent. After a few heartbeats, he suddenly saw the alien vanish.

Eno

Rick was quick to react, and spun around and dodged, avoiding the glowing blade. It clipped his front, cutting into his clothes and drawing blood. He grunted in shock when realizing it was not hot as he expected, but cold like a blade of ice. His dodge also took him onto the floor.

Rohar followed this attack up with a downward swing, but a sudden swipe with a new dagger kept him at bay. Rohar simply moved backwards with a fencers grace, and regarded his foe with steady eyes.

Rick paused, then chuckled. "You have some tricks, don't you." He got himself up, still pointing a knife at his opponent. He chuckled again. "I have some of my own."

A knife flew from his coat, and seemed to almost graze the alien. Then a second flew which Rohar managed to parry. Then a third which almost cut into his arm. Rohar quickly slammed a fist into his opponent, forcing him to relent in his assault of knives, which seemed to be thrown without touching them. He then grabbed his neck, but was interupted by a sudden knife.

"I can throw things with my mind you see." Rick remarked. "Amazing what powers you can get with a knife at the right corporate douche's neck." He gave his trademark chuckle and suddenly a whole host of knives hovered from his body. Like a swarm of piranhas. None were left inside his jacket. "I'm going to throw all my knives at you! And there will be no way to avoid them!"

Rohar looked at this and merely gave a short sigh.

"What? You're not impressed." Asked Daggertooth with a hint of irritation.

"Your power is ill gotten, and ill suited." Rohar responded. "You use it as a child would, with no finesse or understanding. Like a toy stolen from it's rightful owner. You understand only that more is better. It is pathetic."

Daggertooth briefly squinted at his opponent, then laughed rapturously. He gestured around himself. "You're dellusional. I have you with a hundred knives to your head and you lecture me on how to use my power and insult me? Beg for mercy and I might spare your fucking sorry ass!"

"Only an egotistical coward would require such terms. A man with no honour or integrity." Spoke Rohar, who sat down and disengaged his light blade. "I will not bargain with you."

Daggertooth's face moved from one of amusement to one of anger. "You're crazy!" He shouted. "You're just going to sit there and die?"

Rohar crossed his legs, simply looking into his opponents eyes.

Daggertooth grunted in frustration. "Fine, kill yourself for all I care." He shouted as the knives were suddenly flung towards the seated figure.

And stopped.

In mid air each knife simply stood, suspended as if on wires.

"What- What the fuck?" Asked Daggertooth. He looked to Rohar, who took his time in getting up, and then re-ignited Starchild. Terror was on Rick's face. "How... How the fuck did you..?"

"Arrogance." Responded Rohar. "Power without knowledge. Pride without humility. A child's flaw." he walked towards his opponent, then grabbed his neck.

One

Rick looked around him, desperate and terrified. He looked at the knives which were still. Then he looked to the crowd.

Two

They seemed still, almost too still. Almost as if they had been stop-

"Wait a sec-" He reached out to his knives, attempting to bring them back. To stab into Rohar. Rohar noticed this sudden change and acted swiftly he let go of his opponent and then slipped his time backwards.

Owt

In an instant, Rohar was gone and suddenly Rick was falling in the air. He only had enough time to remember that he had called the knives in his direction. And then to think.

Oh shi-

The audience would have seen a sitting Rohar suddenly be replaced by a standing one. And gloating Rick and his host of knives are replaced with rick stabbed with every knife that wasn't broken. He grunted in pain, still somehow alive, yet rapidly loosing consciousness.

"...Y...Yield." he croaked out.

"Rohar Wins."

And so the Referee bots grabbed Rick and likely took him to a medical tent. Rohar, however, was left standing. But found himself suddenly couching rapidly. He swallowed, shuddering slightly. Then he proceeded back down off the arena.

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

Red stared at the piece of paper in his hands that Jane had handed to him as well as other members on the team. While everyone else seemed not to mind, Red's eyebrows furrowed as his thoughts returned to what she had said.

"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."

Yeah, like that'll happen, he thought before crumpling up the piece of paper into his pocket. While he meant no offense to the doctor, her request was simply not something he could comply with. Even though it would only take a mere glance at the several scars on his body to indicate he hadn't avoided injury in the past, there was nothing that had caused any permanent injuries save for a few sore spots. Besides, I doubt even I could find those records, he thought grimly as he lifted the coffee mug up to his lips once more only to find that it was empty.

Cursing under his breath, he walked over to the coffee pot to fill his empty mug when he spotted. Along the way he saw Alexis getting comfy with Angelica, which caused Red to chuckle a bit, rolling his eyes as he walked past them.

"Careful Alexis, she might melt."

Making his way back to the kitchen, Red poured out a new cup of coffee, enjoying the aroma the fresh coffee filled the surrounding air with. Over the last few days, coffee had more or less had kept him alive and sane. Just the smell alone was enough to relax him, as odd as that may have sounded seeing as it was a caffeinated beverage he was talking about. Yoshiro was a bit concerned at the amount of it he would down in a given day, but he would merely wave away her worries and reassure her he could handle it. Not to mention, there's bigger concerns between us now, he thought to himself as the last drip of coffee filled his mug.

Walking into the living room once more, he spotted Carter in an almost trance-like state as he munched on one of the donuts. Red raised an eyebrow at the sight, knowing fully aware that no donut out there was good enough to garner so much attention. However, he realized that Carter may have still been a bit upset from what had occurred moments ago, even as things seemed to have been mended since. With a shrug, Red head over to where he was at, leaning up against a nearby wall before speaking up.

"I never thought the first sight of true love I'd ever see would be between a man and a donut," he said with a heavily sarcastic tone. As Carter turned around to glare at him, Red offered him a cheeky grin before his face became a bit more serious.

"Everything okay with you, Carter? You've been causing me a hell of a lot less headaches as of late, which while I can appreciate also ain't normal for you."

[The Republic of Atria]

The Tower, Naja
Reem

"I would have suggested you radio ahead. As far as the defenses go, I don't maintain them. They're kept up by Alexis and Wendy, though I don't think they would have fired upon you if you had proper clearance. As far as I know it's linked to some sort of ATC tower that informs of approved flights both national and international. I sincerely apologize for having your plane shot down, but I doubt it's the fault of the engineers." She replied as she went over her personal information. "Everything so far seems to be in order."

"You did pick a rough time to show up, I've got something important I have to handle with another member of the team. You can go. If you want to talk about the defenses, look for Alexis or Wendy, but do try not to make a scene. We're all on the same side here." She finished. "Beyond that, go mingle. Meet your teammates. Roy will properly vet you at some point."

[Turmenista]

Johnny Swift/Keith Westwoods

The Great Floyd Tolson!

Johnny Swift

Johnny quickly rolled himself back onto his back and sprung off his hands after his impromptu slide, landing on his feet a good distance away from the golem as Floyd ran forwards, sword in hand, ready to stab the golem in..wherever he was trying to aim for. As Floyd pulled the thing's arm away, Johnny prepared to advance and assist, but paused as his eyes widened slowly. The realization of the unintended casualty of his slide had just came come into his mind. Had he slid through the legs of the golem on his knees, they easily would’ve been shredded away like a cheese grater from the friction, meaning that, much to his horror, his jacket took the brunt of the damage.

Johnny slowly turned his head around to view the now shredded green army jacket, which had been unceremoniously burnt from and cut up from the slide it had received earlier, giving the impression that a wild animal had scratched deep claw-shaped holes in the back, followed by a quick wash in some napalm. It was smoking almost comically from its monster rug burn, exposing the white t-shirt he wore underneath his beloved jacket.

Johnny's shock quickly turned into pure anger as he grabbed the smoking green jacket by its collar and tore it off, narrowing his eyes at the golem as he tossed it aside. In hindsight, he realized, today was a rather shitty day. A shitty party turned into an unceremonious fight with Brock, which led into an irritatingly frustrating fight with some chaos wizards, all because they didn't want to answer a simple question about the well-being of his ex. All he got out of this confrontation with the Weirdo Clique was a headache from Keith, some useless threats from Gabriel, and, now, a burned jacket.

That shit was nearly $300.

If Keith couldn't repay his jacket physically, then Johnny would ensure that he would repay it with blood money. “Oh, now you’re getting it, you motherfucker!”

After letting out his battle cry, the speedster sprung off his feet and quickly gained forward momentum as he sprinted across the street and towards the monster, hurdling over a whip-like tendril that threatened to take him off his feet. He watched as Floyd, embedding his sword into the lower leg of the golem, twisted his sword and inside the joint, destabilizing the leg and causing the homunculus to tip. In a desperate attempt to keep itself upright, it tried to grab a building to the side, and formed its free arm into a hammer, promptly swinging the new limb-weapon down at Floyd in an attempt to crush him. It's attempt to do so was cut short when the hammer-arm was severed by a flying Johnny using himself as a human lawn dart, blasting straight through the arm and careening down towards the ground, where he immediately bounded off the hood of another unattended car and began moving upon landing. He turned back around and ran for the other leg of the golem, slamming straight through it like an APFSDS through tank-grade armor as Floyd demolished the other leg, causing the entire entity to tumble forwards flat onto its face.

The glowing light in its eyes disappeared as it collapsed into a liquefied mass of ichor, seemingly boiling on the ground and evaporating as if it were water on a hot pan. Johnny stepped away from the sizzling mass, taking note of a few scratches that had appeared on his arms after his stunt with turning himself into a human sabot.

"I think we got it." He unceremoniously said, watching the last of it disappear into the air as steam as he looked towards the direction he saw Keith leaping towards previously. "But fuck if I know where Keith went. Any ideas?"

__________________________________

The full moon out was all that was necessary to light the Weirdo Clique's path down Keith's rather sizable house, with Gabriel providing additional light thanks to a clairvoyance spell that he had cast. Ahead of them, Keith telekinetically unlocekd his front door, stepping to the side as he instinctively pulled out his phone to check the time.

"Almost midnight," He said out loud. "We're five minutes early. Let's hope those Europeans are on schedule too."

---

Harley the Dog
July 22

Today was turning out to be the best day ever!

Not only did the nice guy at the sausage shop give him some good food, but he also was involved in some fun rescue of a cat! Earlier, apparently, someone had lost their cat in a tree, which happened to be the same tree that Harley would sleep under in the park. He'd barked nicely at the cat to try and make it come down to the human who owned it, but that didn't work so well. Then he tried barking in a more assertive tone, so, when that didn't work, he just resorted to floating up to the side of the tree and lightly nudging the cat off, where it later fell into the arms of the human who owned it below. Easy peasy.

The human who owned the cat didn't really seem to be that surprised, saying something along the lines of, "Well, that's something you don't see every day." before giving him a nice pat on the head. "Good boy."

As much as he wanted to keep helping out humans and getting free treats and pats on the head, Harley wanted to rest. Running and flying around the city all day was turning out to be a pretty tiring chore, to be honest, and Harley knew it fully. Just an hour of "patrolling" and going back and forth from his favorite tree was an exercise by itself, not to mention the various escapades he went on through the city and occasional ruffian he had to bust. Right now, however, he wanted to rest. He'd already had a hearty meal thanks to the sausage shop human and the many treats he'd been given through the park, meaning that his hard day's work had been paid off for already. But, for now, it was sleep time...

...or just rest with your eyes closed time. A young humans walked down the path slowly. He seemed to be a young boy and was dragging along with him that strange "bicycle" thing that humans go on top of and ride around. He was approaching an old man that seemed to be middle aged, his beard and hair just barely graying as he noisily gulped down what appeared to be a plastic container full of "CHOCOLATE PROTEIN POWDER." Of course, Harley could understand human speech, but couldn't decipher what those codes meant. Maybe whatever he was eating was delicious!

I want to see what they are going to do first. Whatever the human is eating, it smells good!

"Uhh, Mr. Stone?" the boy asked, much to the big man's surprise. A dark brown cloud of dust escaped from his mouth as he coughed up whatever he could, wiping his mouth. "What, you tryna stop me from ODing, kid? I've been through way worse, bud! Oh wait... you're one of my students at Thomsen High. What do you want."

To any regular dog, all they would be saying would be nonsensical human speak. Harley, however, understood fully what they were talking about. Time to eavesdrop...

"Well, uh, I- you're.. I didn't know you were here." He set his bike aside. "For the record, you can't overdose on that."

"You can overdose on anything, with enough willpower."

"I actually had a question about your lesson on telomeres," the boy explained. "But this area's got lots of barking dogs and is kinda loud. If you would follow me and my bike, I could show you—"

"What bike?"

Harley and the boy both looked up to find that the "bicycle" in question had been taken, grabbed by a thief who simply melted the bike lock with hands which glowed to red-hot temperatures, causing it to snap and sizzle and crumple to the ground in embers. The boy was about to pursue, but upon seeing that the bike's true owner had spotted the crime taking place, the thief hopped on and pedaled away as fast as he could, bringing up a wall of fire to separate him from the two and giving him some good room to run away.

"Hey!" the boy yelled, both at the thief and his instructor. "He just took my bike!"

"First rule of being a superhero, don't let people steal your stuff. That's the folly of you YOUNGSTERS, you see," The man said unceremoniously, folding his arms to his pockets as the pillar of fire disappeared. Harley continued tracking the man on the bike as the two on the trail continued bickering about some nonsensical topic. "Oh, come on, Mr. Stone, you were a friggin A-lister, why can't you go get my bike?"

"First of all, that's not how you talk to me, kid. Second of all, it's not my bike."

Harley quickly sprinted past the two, barking after the thief as the two on the path looked on in a mixture of amazement and disbelief. Quickly catching up to the thief, Harley cornered him in the alley, which led him right into his trap—Yes! I love doing this! Stop right there, you fiend!

Harley let out a bark which shattered the nearby windows and rattled the ground, the sheer power behind the sound enough to knock the man off the bike altogether. Harley sprinted towards the downed thief and continued barking, only stopping as his target scaled the wall behind him, trying to go deeper into the alleys of the buildings. Another sonic bark sent the man way up and over his feet, where he unceremoniously hit the brick wall with an "oof!" and flopped to the ground, groaning.

The sound of poof-ing caused Harley to turn around and almost lose thought of the man he was fighting as the boy from earlier appeared in a flash, holding on to the man from earlier. "Pet of yours, kid?"

"No, we just met," the boy explained, looking at the man in pure confusion, then at the dog.

"You did this?"

Harley unceremoniously seemed to nod his head as the older man behind him gave a "Mmm. Neat. A superpowered dog. That's not something you see everyday."

__________________________________

More treats filled Harley's belly that day, along with more pats on the head and nice comments. Thus far, the day had been going perfectly. A nice meal at the sausage shop transitioned into a good walk in the park, which led to resting, which led into the rescuing of a cat and other deeds, and more resting, before ultimately culminating in the best thing he had done today: helping a human find his lost "bicycle" and showing a thief some justice.

And now, some rest.

All in all, Harley thought to himself as he sat down underneath his favorite tree, this makes for a very, very good day.

[Finland SSR]

Elle

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

"Don't even mention the armor, please."

All that had happened today really soured Renata's mood on that suit this morning. She was obviously still going to wear it, sure, but when half the team would much rather prefer see her wearing a Juggernaut suit instead of something light and fashionable, it's obvious that you're going to feel a bit of a scorn.

Speaking of scorns, Elle decided to touch that salted wound as well, asking who was the person who left her as a sour grape this morning. For a few seconds, Renata's mind hovered on the idea of just ignoring the other girl's question and keeping her mouth shut - it's unlikely that Elle getting involved in this scuffle would make the situation any better, quite the opposite in fact - but her better judgment eventually succumbed to the need to get it off her chest.

"No, if it was Carter, I'd not be pissed, I'd be content with having flashbanged him again," Renata replied, starting to apply shower gel to her body, starting from the bottom up. "No, it was a bunch of people - Wyatt and Wendy, more specifically, and both have been acting pissy at me this whole morning. I guess I can tolerate it with Wendy, her default emotion is hostile and insufferable and I have to live with that, but I have no idea what stung Wyatt this time."

If he was still angry about her not following his plan of operations during the training match, then he's even more clingy than Elle and that's saying something.

"He's always been kind of a nice guy, you know? Awkward and a loner, sure, but never to the point of hostility - and he's a team veteran, too, he should know a thing or two about team cohesion."

---

Johnny Swift

The Great Floyd Tolson!

---

I swear to god, if Johnny steals my win one more time...

Floyd had already braced himself for a wrestling match with the limb hammer that the stumbling golem tried to smash at him, and yet that potentially fun activity got cut off by the speedster torpedoing himself through the monstrosity's arm and other leg, finishing it off, leaving it to dissipate. Frankly, the fight left Floyd disappointed. It lasted for, at best, ten seconds, and there was barely any struggling or strategy involved. Just simple, basic giant fighting tactics, nothing new to spice it up.

"Keith, you hack..." the swordsman muttered to himself and sheathed his sword, just in time for Johnny to come up to him and point out that he has no idea where the telepath himself went. Right. The bastard just fucked right off with his telepathic powers after leaving his bootleg blood golem to fight for him.

"What gives you the idea that I have any more of a clue than you do?" Floyd shot back. "I don't have Keith-vision or any of that shit."

He could try tracking Keith with enhanced hearing or sense of smell, but what does he look like, a police dog?

[Agritum]

*snip*

"Being a team veteran also mean that he feels like he can haze you without problems, though. And I'd wager it's the same for Wendy, really. They don't give me the impression of being bad people though, so I guess they're just acting defensive towards their little group, or clique. Maybe time will mellow that. Honestly it's fine to have a degree of quarrels and attrition at this stage. I've kinda accepted that ever since I arrived here, considered the amount of people I butted heads with. Honestly, as long as this pettyness doesn't get carried over to what we do on the field, I can bear with it." Elle replied to Renata's musings.

The young vigilante sat on a stool and began using a shower brush to carefully clean her back, sitting under the stream of water. Closing her eyes to avoid residual shampoo getting in them, Elle looked much, much less edgier than usual as she struggled to cover all her spots.

"I'm sorry about the armor stuff, myself. If you're comfortable with it, go for it. Even if you feel silly. Honestly if there's something I learned living alone is that you must accept your weaknesses and kinda work it into a strength. Like, you learn where people are likely to attack you and you armor up on it. I kinda have to work on my skill in doing that, myself. But it helps."

Elle brushed some soap off her eyes, opened them and gave a weak, if welcoming smile to Renata. "Thus, I started throwing guns at my problems."

[The Rebel Alliances]

Scott Green/Spectrum-San Diego, Wonder Tower

Before the new doctor ever got a chance to respond, Viv made herself known as she eagerly greeted me in her trademark over eager manner which I found to be...very cute. I could see why Casimir likes her, being so infectious to be around. I smiled as I always do when a teammate greets me but for some reason when I smile at her, it just feels like less of an act. Of course it doesn't mean much. It's obvious she adores Casimir and we are simply friends, nothing more and nothing less. Besides, it was not so long ago when I had eyes on someone else so far away from here. I mentally shook the thoughts away and returned to the present. The here and now where my mind belongs. "Hello Vivi, it's always nice to see you with energy to spare, it's contagious." I greeted with a nickname. I then looked over to Carter and nodded.

"Not like Carter, he has a little too much. Its kinda exhausting sometimes. Even if he really does keep the Tower from ever getting boring." Carter was a cool guy, I have not had much of a chance to talk to him but he reminds me of how I used to be and it's kinda refreshing in a way. Kinda like a positive reminder I am actually capable of being excited for things.

I then turned my attention to Vivi and the situation with the doughnuts. Then back to Jane, Vivi's sudden arrival had distracted me from my interaction with Jane. But, she seemed busy and I could catch up with her later. Plenty of time being on the same team right? But, best to be polite.

"Sorry Jane, Viv's a friend of mine. I promise I will get these forms back to you soon. I certainly do not want to make your job any harder, I am certain being a doctor is tough enough as it is without 2 dozen teenagers recklessly hurting themselves." With that said I returned my conversation to Vivi.

"Thanks for the update but I will kindly pass on the doughnuts. I honestly am still reacquiring my taste for some earth foods. Being away or so long and all. Come to think of it Viv, you missed the training sessions. And we have some other new recruits and all too. Maybe we could get some of us together and show off what we can do? Nothing like full bouts or anything but...I don't know, just an idea. Assuming we stay as quiet as we have these past several days we could have time." I then realized that I never once told her what my 'power' was and decided to correct that mistake.

Oh, by the way I work with a tool which manifests my emotions into hard light constructs. There are several modes for which and all are fairly useful. I am sure you will see it for yourself soon." My mind flashed again back to Ayala and I jammed my eyes shut a moment before getting a hold of myself. Remembering the times I would show off for her back on Aeon. Then remembering how she described it.

"Some have told me...it was kinda pretty for being a super power essentially."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
July 22

Balboa Park. What a beautiful place. All green trees, blue skies, the big zoo, ice cream vendors...and the nearby skate park. He loved that skate park, he still went there every week to train and skateboard. The big domes, the massive ramps, the new half-pipe, the absolute army of rails, it was perfect.

Especially when you rode without any gear.

No wrist guards, no knee pads, no elbow guards, dressed in only shorts and T-shirt as he rode his skateboard all around the park. Was he worried about falling and hurting himself? Absolutely...not. Why did he need to be scared? He had powers, powers that made him way better at skateboarding than the average human, given his enhanced coordination and reflexes. Everyone in the park was always in awe of his tricks, flips, and rail grinds, especially when he gave them a little air-enhanced boost. And they should be! After all, how often is it that you see a little blonde kid like him pulling off gnarly tricks like those?

But man, those gnarly tricks were tiring. Every day, he ran out of water, and by the time he left the park, his stomach was rumbling, his throat was dry, and he was sweating so much his clothes looked like he had been swimming in them. In those cases, a quick trip to the ice cream truck (who's driver would always look at him like he was a pedophile), and a break under a nearby tree always made him feel better. Which is what he was going for now.

The driver groaned as the 16-year old blonde showed up with an eager smile, money jangling in his pocket. "What do you want, Graystone?" the man asked with a sour expression, instantly wiping the smile off Carter's face. "Are you trying to get in another kid's pants?"

"I never got in any kid's pants!"

"Please, there are children behind you!" the fat driver groaned, pointing to the mortified parents behind Carter, causing Carter to blush furiously.

"Er...fine." he grumbled, wishing he could pummel the stupid man. "Can I have one vanilla cone, please. And no jokes about me liking vanilla girls, please!"

"Alright, fine. You don't exactly disprove my point though..." the man muttered as he moved away, pouring the ice cream out of the soft serve machine. A minute later, he grabbed Carter's change from his outstretched hand, handed him the ice cream, and shooed Carter away, which Carter was happy oblige to, with a parting gift of a middle finger towards the man.

"Jerk." he mumbled under his breath, as he licked his cone and made his way to his favorite tree in the park. It was near the playground, a big oak tree with wide branches, fluffy leaves, and plenty of shade, being low-hanging and perfect for climbing. He loved to sit under the tree, with the shade on his face, and the breeze ruffling the branches.

But something made him stop as he approached the tree.

There was something in his seat. To be precise...a dog!

Carter squealed as he saw the dog sitting under the tree. Dogs were the best, he loved dogs. He used to beg all of the foster families he was in to get a dog, just a puppy. He'd wanted one ever since he was a little kid, he loved dogs. Cat people were weird perverted sickos!

Rushing over so fast he dropped his almost-depleted ice cream cone, he knelt down beside the dog. But a closer look revealed something. The dog's fur was a little disheveled and dirty, and he had no leash, not even a tag. It was almost as if...he was a stray. Poor guy, no home, wandering around.

"Good boy..." he muttered, petting the dog in between the ears. The dog looked pretty harmless, considering he was just resting idly without barking at anybody, and he looked pretty calm. Leaning back against the tree, he scratched the dog in that itchy place right behind the ears.

"So where did you come form, little pup?" he asked, mostly to himself, unaware that the dog could speak back to him.

---

July 23

The donut...so blissful...so beautiful...so perfect. The dough was so warm, fluffy, the icing cracking and melting under his teeth, warmed with his own saliva. With an orgasmic moan, he leaned back, savoring the donut as the dopamine flowed through his nerves and shot up his brain. More moans escaped, to the point where one would seriously be concerned if they were looking from afar. But not Carter. There was no concern, no worry, only the donut.

Suddenly, a sharp, NY-accented voice cut through his reverie, leaning up on some wall space next to him. Red. Commenting about his eloping love affair with his donut. Admittedly, once Red put it in perspective, it did make him blush at how caught up he had been. Now that he thought about it, it was downright goofy. Was he that stunned over a fried dough and sugar concoction. Wow...he was weird...and pretty sad, too.

"Eh...I like desserts, and pastries...and food and drink in general." Carter said, giving a sheepish grin towards Red as he laughed. "I'm a desperate guy, y'know, gotta find solace in some beautiful lady." he said, winking and pointing to the half-eaten donut.

"And Jesus man, I give you headaches and pain, and you badger me, and when I stop giving you headaches and pain, you still badger me! God, Red, such a pushy boy, what do you want from me?! Are you like that with Yoshi, too?" he asked jokingly, as Red became more serious and stiff. Although, once it was clear Red wasn't laughing, he dropped the funny-guy pretense.

"Eh...to tell you the truth though, I haven't been in a great mood lately. Just stress and some other crappy feelings. But it's okay, I've got it all under control now, I even got a mentor to help me outside of the Young Bloods!" he said cheerfully, his smile coming back on. "Soon, I'll be back to pissing you off again, and you can threaten to put a bullet in my brain. It'll all work out!"

"But seriously, are you like that with Yoshi? Which reminds me...how is it with you and Yoshi?" he asked, a sly grin creeping on his face.

[Turmenista]

Harley the Dog
July 22

Harley's attention was almost fully focused on something walking down the path in front of him.

Oh, wow. Look at that dog. Look at how big and fat he is. How is he even walking? He's so fat! What kind of food are they feeding hi—wait, wha? Human? Human? HUMANHUMANHUMANHUMAN

Harley first looked up at the boy currently petting him between his ears. He just barely restrained himself from pouncing on the human out of pure excitement, standing up and wagging his tail in glee. Finally! Someone who wasn't so mean and indifferent like most other humans were! Thus far, no one had offered to take him in or adopt him, and most other people that were interested in him were probably animal control or those crazy dog-loving people, but he hadn't seen the latter in a while. But, now was his chance. Already, this guy was smothering him all over with head pats and nice scratches and other feel-goods on that area behind his ears, that one sweet spot that almost made him fall asleep. Maybe, Harley reasoned, He wants to take me home?

Shaking himself awake as the teen began to talk, Harley listened carefully as he spoke, fully understanding what the boy was saying. He was curious about Harley's origins, but seemed to actually be asking the question to himself. Harley took his query literally and backed away, preparing to answer his question in the only other way he could: subtle gestures.

He motioned down towards his chest, towards the almost hidden #495 that was tattooed onto a small patch of bare fur across his chest. Aside from the name "Harley", that number was really the only thing that was left of his old origins.

Do you know what this means? Do you know the people that did things to me? Do you know what my name is? It's Harley! Please call me Harley! Here, let me...

...can I bark out the name Harley?

What came out next was a low, almost inaudible "Hruuf," intentionally toned down in terms of volume (lest Harley inadvertently blast his new friend away with a sonic bark). He hoped that was enough to get an introduction out of the way.

[Tomia]

Wonder Tower
Mars suppressed a laugh as Kiris shredded the paper. "Don't worry Kiris, I don't think the form is really necessary." He told his girlfriend with a smile.

Meanwhile Angelica forced herself to calm, embarrassed by her outburst. "Well I assumed Kiris wouldn't actually hurt you, besides I found them in the kitchen." She said shrugging. She tensed slightly when Alexis asked if she was interested in anyone's attention. She feared for a moment that she might know the truth, but she convinced herself that couldn't be case. "No, I just through this on after working out." She said, a little stiffly but nearly as strong of a reaction as before.

Meanwhile after finishing her talk with Wyatt and finishing some paperwork, Naja headed to the living room to address the team. "Everyone listen up, I have an announcement." She said as she talked to the center of the room. She waited a moment for everyone to settle in and quite down. "I know things have been quite recently, but we have a mission tonight. I'm sure you all saw on the news. A criminal organization known as the Cabal is planning to attack Wonder Pharmaceuticals tonight. Warwolf is already on the scene, but we have been asked to assist them."

"What?" Asked Roy who had just entered the room with Wendy. "We're working with them?" He asked, sounding incredulous and suspicious.

"Yes" Naja responded firmly. "I know this isn't the first choice of anyone here. But Cabal can't be allowed to succeed here, and it's our job to protect this city, Warwolf or no Warwolf. Any more objections?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Black Arrow nodded. "The public could use those reminders, especially nowadays. Not a lot of heroes out there that are- this thing sure is dusty." The archer noted, dusting off a nearby chair to the best of his ability and sitting down while still facing Sam. "Yeah, not a lot of us out there risking being apprehended or worse. At least the wolves keep their end of the bargain and crack down on street crime hard, but you can really see that some people would prefer someone in a cape than someone in power armor." He commented.

"Not that I'm helping a lot, but I don't have anything better to put on." He continued, looking over himself for a moment. "At least I've got the smiling fella."

The armored man paused for a moment to look around, before fixing his gaze on Sam once again. "So, you think they're not planning anything good, huh? I know many people who think the same way, but you sound like you're actually onto something, Blizzard." He stated, raising an eyebrow. Remembering after a moment that he was wearing a helmet, he continued. "Care to share?"

[Rupudska]

"I would have suggested you radio ahead. As far as the defenses go, I don't maintain them. They're kept up by Alexis and Wendy, though I don't think they would have fired upon you if you had proper clearance. As far as I know it's linked to some sort of ATC tower that informs of approved flights both national and international. I sincerely apologize for having your plane shot down, but I doubt it's the fault of the engineers." She replied as she went over her personal information. "Everything so far seems to be in order."

"You did pick a rough time to show up, I've got something important I have to handle with another member of the team. You can go. If you want to talk about the defenses, look for Alexis or Wendy, but do try not to make a scene. We're all on the same side here." She finished. "Beyond that, go mingle. Meet your teammates. Roy will properly vet you at some point."

But I did radio- you know what, never mind. "I shall try that, then," Reem said simply and somewhat dismissively as she headed for the door. 'At some point' implied this Roy person was rather busy, so she decided it was best not to bother him about it just yet. Besides, she was unshakably confident she would pass whatever 'vetting' was necessary. She had never done anything worth denying her entry to a fellow superhuman team.

Well, nothing big enough to deny her entry. Nobody paid for all of their music these days.

The living room was easy enough to find, and by the sounds of things it was crowded. Reem adjusted her hat and pushed open the door. As it closed behind her, she gave a little bow.

"Salaam alaykum," she said simply.

[Absolon-7]

Scott Green/Spectrum-San Diego, Wonder Tower

Viviana Couture July 23rd
"Nice to see ya too Scott and I try my best to be a plague master of happiness," said Viviana. She listened as he brought up Carter and she remembered how Casimir described the blondie as the gadfly of the team. Whatever that meant. He did seem to push everyone's buttons but that's probably cause his own buttons were being pressed somehow by somebody or somebodies. Scott turned to the doctor lady who was apparently named Jane and she spoke up for a bit as well. "I'll turn them in later too, doc."

With that exchange finished the topic turned over back to those amazing donuts. It was a shame he didn't want any but he'll come to regret it one day. He then mentioned being off-world which really peaked her craving fro science fiction or in this case science reality. But he quickly changed the topic to training which she didn't mind. She remembered how battered a lot of the team was when she 'interrupted' their last one so she had her doubts. But one organized by the newbies themselves couldn't be so bad. "Sure thing Scott, I don't mind getting the other newbies for some training. Haven't had that much experience maself so it'd be handy-dandy."

Viviana's ears perked at the mention of what Scott's power's did. It was some nifty tool with lots of forms and such. She nodded her head and placed a hand in L-shape on her chin to signify she was listening intently. It looked like some cool outer space tech and Viviana would have been overjoyed to be in the presence of but for some reason Scot closed his eyes worried her. She discarded the notion after thinking he was probably concentrating on something.

"Well I do like pretty things so why don't ya show me a construct. Doesn't have to be superdeeduper complex. You can surprise me with what it is too," said Viviana enthusiastically.

Casimir Herman July 23rd
As Casimir gorged himself on some donuts, Casimir attention was alerted by Naja entering the room talking about the team's newest mission. That Cabal group he had learned of a few minutes ago were to be hindered by the team. By itself it would have a fine assignment. A decent assignment. Hell, you could even say it was a favorable mission compared to doing nothing despite being a team of heroes. But what really brought bile up in Casimir's mouth was that they were supposed to help Warwolf. Sure they were the town's new law but getting involved in a official capacity like this was asking for trouble. Well it could have been worse.

"Well, I'm fine with it Naja. Can't say I'm happy with it though," said Casimir after swallowing the last bits of a jelly donut.

"Ah, Casimir. I'm glad you spoke up so quickly. Go tell whichever of your teammates aren't here about this information. I'm going to need everyone to be on standby as soon as possible," said Naja, "You have your moths everywhere so it shouldn't be too much trouble."

"Hmm," mumbled Casimir, "Alright, I'll go, Ma'am." After giving confirmation to Naja, Casimir gave a wave to Viviana before exiting the living room. Now who wasn't there at the announcement? Oh, right. Renata and Elle went somewhere together and it was recent so it couldn't have been far. He mentally scanned throughout the moths he had stationed in the tower for any sign of them until he got wind of some steam coming out of the door leading to the communal girl's shower. Wait what the hell? When did they have one of those? Well...no matter. It one more place he couldn't send his moths to without feeling like a deviant. He walked to right outside the door of it and knocked hard enough to be heard.

"Yo! Renata and Elle!," said Casimir finishing knocking, "Naja said we gotta be on standby immediately for a mission against the Cabal or whatever. Get your buts outta there." With the mention of butts, a intrusive thought and inkling of curiosity seeped into his mind about how Renata's and Elle's butts could have looked like but in an embarrassed deep blush he put a stop to it. Stop! You're the great Kabuto! You can't pollute your mind with thinking about your teammates like that, thought Casimir frowning.

[Finland SSR]

Elle

Casimir Herman

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

"You're supposed to shoot guns, not throw them-"

Renata had been working on a coherent answer to Elle, but she was cut short by a knock on the door of the shower. Oh, crap. Did I lock the door? I don't think I locked the door. Instinctively, the girl covered up a little with her hands, just in case this was one of the team's boys trying to take a peek - though she had some faith in the thick clouds of vapor across the entire shower to cover up for them. Thankfully, the worst case scenario did not break out - instead, Casimir's voice rang out from the other side of the door, informing them that Naja needed them on standby for a mission against the Cabal.

Oh crap. She wasted too much time arguing with Wyatt and showering, that's for sure. Instinct kicked in immediately - Renata suddenly ran out of the shower, radiating heat to quickly dry herself (which only made her confused as for why she never tried that method before when she bothered with hair cleaning for hours in the past) and rushing to her packed and folded costume to start putting it on. It was obviously going to take a while, however, so soon enough, after having barely put on her underwear, the heroine decided to not be bothered and rushed through the door like a hurricane, barely stepping out of Casimir's way and avoiding a collision as she did so, aiming to finish while running through the corridors like a derailed train.

Thankfully, the living room was far enough from the shower that Renata reached it not as a half-baked mess, but more or less decked out, though still putting in the final screws in her shock absorbers. Not any less calmed, however.

"What'shappening?Whoarewefighting?Where?How?When?" Renata spurted out before finally stopping and taking a heavy breath. "You... can tell I was in a bit of a rush."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

"Oh, just threw it on, did you?" Alexis repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Well then, maybe it's just that killer body of yours that makes everything look good." She said with a wink, grinning at the taller girl. Just about then, Red walked by, making a quip about her teasing Angelica.

"Mind your own business, ginger." The blonde girl shot back with a chuckle.

A moment afterwards, however, Naja walked into the room, meaning playtime was over. Alexis pulled her arm away from Angelica's neck and shoved her hands into her pockets as she turned to listen, hearing all about the mission with the Cabal. Much like the rest of the team, she was less than thrilled to be working with Warwolf, but a mission was a mission, and she had been itching to go on one for the past several days. The training exercise ended in disaster and she hadn't had a lot of success in previous missions, even when she had helped take down Inferno, so there was no way she was going to turn down another chance to prove herself.

"I couldn't do any repair work on Oberon, so I won't be bringing her along, but I'll be sure to suit up before we're deployed." She announced, mostly addressing Naja but also informing anyone else who intended to go along and might've been interested in knowing which of her assets would be present.

After the short briefing, Alexis' eyes wandered to the door as it opened up, and she spotted a girl she had never seen before. Her mind immediately clicked, and she let out a sigh. "Oh boy, must be the girl Wyatt warned me about." The tech wizard told Angelica, shaking her head. "Oh well... Might as well get it over with." She mumbled, turning to her friend and giving her a light punch on the shoulder. "Stay cool, Frosty!" She said before walking off.

---

---

---

---

While Mars was amused at her alien antics, Kirisvala really wasn't thrilled about the shredded medical form. Sure, it was most likely replaceable, and it didn't seem like filling it out was all that urgent either, but it reminded her of how badly adapted her hands were for certain things compared to humans, and she didn't enjoy the feeling of exclusion that this brought when she was among her friends, even though she knew that there were very obvious differences. Besides, why do humans insist writing in these fragile things? They're so impractical!

Her disgruntled expression disappeared, however, as she turned to face Naja, who had just entered the room and was calling for the team's attention. Kiris listened to Naja as she stated that they would be working with Warwolf to protect the Wonders Foundation from attack; while not the most invested, she had perhaps been the first person in the team to speak up in favor of Warwolf, but some of their actions in the preceding weeks had made her double guess her first impressions. Still, Naja's right. We're heroes, we have to do this.

With that firm conviction in mind, Kirisvala decided to do her best in the upcoming mission. After Naja had instructed Casimir to head off and look for their missing teammates to inform them of the situation, she spoke up. "When are we rollin' out, Naja? I'd like to know how much time I have to get ready."

"Ah, Kiris. Actually, I have something special in mind for you. Would you mind staying back this mission? I'll give you the details in a bit." Naja replied.

"Oh... Okay." Kiris mumbled, nodding at Naja, her enthusiasm somewhat dented by the news, though letting Naja down was one of the last things she wanted to do. She turned towards Mars and looked at him silently for a few moments, tail occasionally swatting at the sides. Perhaps irrationally, she was worried about him, as she wouldn't be able to go with him on the mission and watch his back. Still, many of their teammates were also good friends of his, including Roy, and they would surely watch out for him.

She eventually concluded that a little extra incentive to stay alive wouldn't hurt anyways. She leaned forward and gave Mars a short, tender peck on the lips. "Stay safe, okay? Maybe there'll be more of that waitin' when you come back." She said with a grin, a slight blush on her face. "You should probably go get ready now." She added afterwards, giving him a little wave and then heading off, leaving him free to prepare for the mission.

Just about then, someone else walked into the room, a pale girl with silvery hair that Kiris had never seen before. She wore an odd hat and bowed at the group while speaking a greeting in some unknown language. Kirisvala tilted her head at the new girl for several moments before nodding to herself and responding to her greeting in kind, the girl's language now fully assimilated. "I'm Kirisvala, but you can just call me Kiris. Nice to meet you! Are you going to join the team?" She continued with the same speech, curious about Reem.

Before she could get an answer from the unusually pale Arab, however, Kirisvala had to quickly move aside to avoid having Renata crash into her, the Ecuadorian girl practically smashing through the door in her rush. "Careful where you're goin'!" She shouted in English, before relaxing and letting out a sigh. "Anyway... you're fightin' that group from the news, the Cabal. Warwolf wants us to help protect the facility they're goin' to attack. Um... I think one of them has really strong telekinesis, another's some sorta wizard and... I don't know what the third member does."

"The third member's powers are unknown, but witness reports claim that she's in possession of a modified suit of Warwolf power armor and uses some sort of rifle that shoots electricity." Alexis spoke as she arrived next to Kiris. "Hopefully they'll tell us more when we're on the scene."

[Aidannadia]

El Gran Hechicero

Tadeo listened to Naja, despite seemingly being distracted by something in the distance. Work with the wolves? His hand glowed pink for a moment, and he stared at it frustatedly. "Oh, um, I have something to do. I apologize that I can't be there to help. I need to prepare for a trip now." He began walking off, nearly running into a wall and mid teleport when he heard a snippet of conversation nearby. " I think one of them has really strong telekinesis, another's some sorta wizard and... I don't know what the third member does." Kirisvala spoke to the rude Ecuadorian from earlier. The mystic looked back as he was fading away, confused and intrigued, but disappearing all the same.

Pitch, The Warrior of the Night

Aleta had spent the last few days barely being able to keep everything straight. A meeting here, a meeting there, some board members throwing a party across town. The entire time, she stood in her Aunt's shadow, trying to understand this strange new world being introduced to her. While she was definitely still focused on investigating Chamberlain, Aleta couldn't help but enjoy learning about the business dealings within Trident.

She had taken today off to 'meet with some friends.' I mean, I could see a friend. She had spent the day shopping around and grabbing coffee a few blocks from the Wonder Facility. Apparently, the group that attacked a convoy the other day had left a note promising action here. This should be safer than lone vigilantism right now. My own goals of catching these kids wouldn't be out of line with the WW, so I'm in the clear for my mission tonight as long as nothing goes wrong.

There was also another factor to take into account about tonight though. Was she going to get upstaged again? Aleta decided to probe for some info, so she pulled out her burner and messaged her friend on the Signal app.

Hey doll, doing anything today? I'd love to meet up.

She closed the phone and considered her options, checking the time once more. It's nearly time to suit up.