Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Charmera]

---

Shi leaned against the Chain linked fence and watched the two guards talk to themselves from the corner of her eyes. Having a slightly better look at the insides of the compound now, she could visibly see the parked vehicle from fifth street. Not that it really mattered, CASSANDRA's database recorded the vehicle entering in the first place; but still it was nice to bring up. Brushing her left hanging lock to the side as she activated her ear piece, "Viviana. Renata..." she hadn't bother to learn the name of the edge-lord yet, "I can still see the Civic from here."

Leaning her head back against the fence, she saw an gangster walk a brown pit-bull around the main mechanic space. A faux-Glock 17 was not so subtly holstered between his pants. His full-body tattoos instantly marked him as a member of the 18th Street gang; whether this group was affiliated or he was just a former member she couldn't tell. But what this did mean was that she was about to have some a lot of fun, her mischievous smirk lit up. Lighting up the ends of her fingers she informed the group, "This little front of there's might be associated with the 18th Street Gang. I don't want to spoil the surprise but they aren't exactly known for their non-violent resistance. They are definitely armed, so far I've only seen pistols and a dog."

Turning her head to look over at the back side of the administrative office, "Just like I thought, there's a back entrance you can use to get inside the compound. But let's keep this peaceful," not that she herself planned too, "Viviana just show the license plate and police scanner recording to them first." Those were courtesy of Cass. "They're might be a few civilians inside you might to deal with. And Renata..." she thought about adding a snarky comment but shrugged it off, "Take the lead once you get outside. There's a sixty to seventy meter distance between the office and the main mechanic shop."

Shi looked at CASSANDRA and shook her head, "Follow my lead."

Cassandra nodded her head to Shi as she gave that instruction. "As you wish." She assented verbally, in order to ensure that full clarity of meaning was achieved. Cass then awaited the next moves of her partner while she analyzed the situation.

The pit bull was a negligible threat if it did not have any meta mutations. The dog would be completely unable to pierce Cassandra's metallic body with any of its natural weapons and it would at most take a light blow to dispatch. The only challenge would be to ensure that it did not hurt Shi. Though shi is a skilled metahuman, Cass was under the reasonable assumption that she would have a human's toughness and durability. An unlucky situation could lead to her injury.

The human with his gun would be similarly negligible and strategic priorities were similar. Cass' goal in that fight would be to ensure no bullets would cause injury to her partner. It would, of course, be more difficult to deal with this human than the canine.

However, there was the possibility that one or both could be meta-entities, unlikely as such a possibility was. In addition, there was also a potential that the element of stealth might be compromised. In which case the goal might be to sneak past, stealthily dispatch or intimidate one or both hostile entities. It would, of course, depend on Shi's plan of attack. Cass would have to adapt the forming plans for whatever potential plans Shi had.

She turned back to Shi. "Although, it may be wise to share your plan with me Miss Smith." The android explained. "I am programmed for combat, and that programming extends to tactical plans which I can aid in forming."

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

<"Oh, come on, I'm not asking you apologize for that, it- Wait, Bael, what are you doing?">

Seeing the fellow Dra'Quinni suddenly move towards her, Sina opened her eyes in surprise, instinctively taking a small step back, but ending up in range for her shoulder being grabbed regardless. Oh... It's only that. A show of trust. That relieved the vigilante somewhat, although seeing Bael go through such a sudden shift in tone was surprising regardless

<"Yeah, yeah, I know what this means..."> Sina replied and took a deep breath. Okay, okay, calm down, get a hold of yourself. He just put a hand on your shoulder to show that he holds trust in you, your people do that all the time. Nothing more, nothing less. <"Alright, at this point I think the whole day is going to pass before we take off this building again."> she continued, extending her wings and waiting for Bael to take off and lead the two much like before they landed.

[Bentus]

Yoshiro/Scarab
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

The Scarab raised an eyebrow as she felt the animosity echoing from Kiris. Glancing between the two heroes, she saw Red’s eyes glance away from the Hadrian - his unease and discomfort palpable in the air. The girl was glad that she was supposed to be acting happy at the moment, since she didn’t think she would have been able to keep a straight face otherwise. This was all just too rich to ignore, the only thing that would have made it even better would have been a box of popcorn to go along with her front row seat.

Having just found out that his girlfriend was possessed by a malevolent spirit, while slowly coming to the inevitable realisation that there was nothing he could do about it, Red could have used support from his teammates now more than ever. Instead, he was met by anger and distrust, the cracks that seemed to permeate throughout this so-called team being laid bear in his hour of need. The haughty sister who seemed to feel forced to talk to Red when she would have rathered ignore the powerless hero was just the cherry on top of it all. A part of the Scarab may have felt the slightest hint of pity for Red as he found himself standing all alone, although a far more prominent part of her found it hilarious.

As Red turned to take his leave, the Scarab sighed inwardly. It would have been too much to hope for things to keep playing out just as they started getting good. No matter, she still had a little bit of time to have some fun. While Red did his best to mask the discomfort in his tone, Yoshiro reached out to grasp his hand. The girl’s fingers interlocked with Red’s, the contact causing the hero to flinch even as he stopped to look back over his shoulder towards his ‘girlfriend’.

“What is it, Yoshi?”

Flashing the hero a warm, friendly smile, Yoshiro’s eyes nevertheless held a mischievous gleam. “Whatever’s on your mind Red, I want you to know that I’m here for you.” She hoped that would be a juicy twist of the dagger. The girl’s grin widened as she thought of something else she could do to push the boy’s buttons. Smirking playfully, Yoshiro offered Red a wink. “And don’t I get a kiss goodbye?”

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"<It's just a shoulder touch. What, did you think I was going to hurt you? Me, of all people?>" He jabbed a little. "<Watch out for Bael! He's a mean bastard!> Though he'd be lying if watching Sina be as uncomfortable as he got. Sure he might've been a little abrupt, but it was the only thing he could think of to prove what he was saying. "<To answer the question you asked earlier... But this time for real... I... Do hope we can still be friends.>" Maybe he could learn to look past the terrible things she does. At least she met him halfway on it. Kind of.

Sina mentioned that they were probably going to spend the whole day on the building at this rate. "<Good point. Let's go get that phone, finally.>" he agreed and took off. "<One last thing before we get there, do you just want to walk in to the store in all of our reptilian glory, or do you want to take human guises for it?>" Sina preferred to use her human guise when doing human things, he was the opposite. He wasn't sure how that worked out with him being the more weird one and her being the more outgoing on. He figured she'd want to wander around showing off what she really looked liked.

"<I don't care either way, but you know my preference. I do think it's a bit odd how much you use your human guise. You obviously don't think highly of them, so I don't quite get why you insist on looking like them.">

[Finland SSR]

The Great Floyd Tolson! / Lisette Aveline, the nefarious Marionette!

---

Marionette was still looking over herself in the mirror when she heard the sound of her cell being unlocked. She shot a glance towards the sealed door, smirking as she heard the sequence of beeps as the guards entered the code into the electronic keypad. There was a slight hesitation, a brief pause that caused the girl to raise an amused eyebrow. Even though the combination was changed every few hours, the usual guards normally had it memorised pretty quickly. That meant that she was probably going to be picked up by someone new today. Grinning at herself in the mirror, Marionette stood up from where she was sitting on her bed just as the door slid open. She tended to enjoy meeting new people. Their reactions were always fun.

Letting out a breath, the girl put on a sweet smile as she turned to greet the guards who were going to escort her to breakfast. Her mind was already wandering to day-dreams on how everything might play out. She hoped that she would get into her first prison fight, that would be exciting! Plus, she didn’t have to worry about getting any blood on her dress for once - which was at least a minor silver lining to her fashion disaster. However, the girl froze mid-step as her eyes fell on the figure standing in the doorway. Dressed in a uniform that was the wrong size for his well-built frame and wearing a cap pulled low in an effort to at least partially mask his face, was a man who the young villain was loathe to forget.

“Hey. Say goodbye to all of your body pillows. We’re gettin’ you out of here.”

A silence fell over the prison cell after Floyd’s words. The sudden, unexpected pause seemed to suck the air from the room as a look of puzzlement slowly fell upon the features of the two guards. Wondering if they had each heard the bus driver’s words correctly, Eric and Malcolm exchanged a confused glance. Marionette seemed to be stuck processing the scene in front of her, an ‘o’ having replaced her warm smile. She blinked a few times as the pause extended, quickly approaching the point of becoming uncomfortable. Then, slowly, the girl’s expression twisted itself into a look of fury. Looking around, Marionette grabbed the pillow lying atop her unmade bed before hurling it unceremoniously towards her unwanted guest.

“You asshole!” She screamed, all efforts at a facade of friendly sweetness evaporating in an instant. Without even checking to see if her initial projectile made contact with its target, Marionette proceeded to grab any loose item she could before lobbing it in anger. “You ungrateful, untrustworthy, cheating - !” Seemingly too furious to even finish her sentence with another insult, Marionette puffed out her cheeks before stamping her foot. She pointed an accusatory finger towards Floyd, jabbing it towards him.

“Oh no, I’m not going to let you do this to me right now. You’ve got no right to just show up after that stunt you pulled. You shouldn’t be here, I don’t want you to be here, and I don’t need you here. I am doing just fine without you and I especially don’t want any kind of help from you, you useless…” Marionette’s searched for the right word, her own anger clouding her thoughts. “...twat!” As soon as she said the word, the villain scowled at herself - knowing that it wouldn’t have the desired impact. Seething, Marionette glared at the man standing in the entrance as she clenched her fists angrily. “Get out before you ruin everything, Floyd!”

Reacting instinctively, Floyd easily caught the pillow that came flying towards his face. Clutching the feathery-soft cushion in one hand he raised a surprised eyebrow, but wasn’t allowed a chance to respond before he had to duck under a shoe that quickly followed. One of the cops - he didn’t really care enough to figure out which one - cursed at the brief fusilade of objects that the enraged woman sent flying towards them.

To say that the undercover swordsman was confused by Marionette’s reaction would be an understatement. Though he tried to not break character as the villainess verbally lashed out at him, Floyd was struggling to comprehend the situation. Of course, Marionette being mad at him for the betrayal should have been expected, but that she doesn’t even want to be freed...

The hell?

The villainess complicated matters even more when she addressed him by name. Thaaat… was the opposite of good. So, bad. Way to go, smartass. If this means that he’s going to have to break out of here by force…

“You know ‘er?” Malcolm suddenly spoke to the undercover swordsman, confused. There didn’t seem to be any hint of hostility on his face - the cop didn’t seem to connect Floyd with the man who had assaulted Hilton Tower alongside Marionette. Thank goodness for not giving a name back then. Alright, play the role, make something up.

“Yeah… this was kinda the reason why I was iffy on being assigned to escort her,” Floyd replied and put his sunglasses back on, his eyes glancing between the two cops and Marionette. “I was a friend of her family, let’s call it that, tried to dissuade her from turning to villainy. Didn’t work. And she seems to have been holding a grudge since then.”

Should explain why she seems to hate some random cop.

While the swordsman explained the story, Eric placed the power suppressing handcuffs on Marionette’s wrists, locking them and putting the lock in the back pocket of his pants. Malcolm, on the other hand, cracked a smile and continued:

“Man, that’s interesting. Didya get called as a witness for her case yet? There’s bound to be some important info you’re holding.”

Floyd stared towards the African-American cop for a few seconds. Bollocks, maybe that wasn’t the best answer. “Not at the moment, no… Hey, uh, tell your buddy that if Marionette starts speaking bullshit again, he should tape her mouth until we’re in the car. When she needs to go desperate, she goes desperate, alright?”

With the inmate taken out of the cell, the caravan began to slowly move forward, Malcolm in the front, followed by Floyd standing side by side to Marionette and the villainess’ hands held by Eric. “Alright, next stop - the forensics room.”

Marionette continued to glare at Floyd as he tried to brush aside her reaction. So that’s his game, for once the idiot is trying to actually use stealth. Somehow that made her even angrier. Of course the one time he puts in the effort to come up with a plan it’s to do something stupid. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes as he passed himself off as some friend of her family, scoffing at even the thought that her family would be caught dead relating to some lower-class nobody. Marionette desperately wanted to open her mouth and call out Floyd’s disguise, to yell out that he was her accomplice at the Hilton and watch as the full weight of the prison’s security clamped down around him. The thought of ensuring that he was thrown in the deepest, darkest hellhole possible was a tantalising proposition, and one that was almost painfully tempting. But, Marionette forced herself to keep her mouth shut.

Glaring at the swordsman with venom in her eyes, she remained silent as the handcuffs were clamped around her wrists. Even as Floyd blundered in and tore up her plans before her eyes, she knew that he had her backed into a corner. If she exposed him, then that would just lead to her own security being increased - quite possibly leading to the removal of what little basic luxuries she had managed to secure for herself.

“The forensics room? Why on earth do you need to take me there?” As the guards turned to lead them down the hallway Marionette was visibly fuming at the unexpected derailment of events. “If you’re here to take me somewhere else, then I assure you that there has been some kind of mistake. A really big mistake.” She shot Floyd a pointed expression. “The kind of mistake that only someone unspeakably, unrepentantly, and impossibly annoying would make.”

“No, we’re not taking you to the damn forensics room,” the undercover swordsman bluntly replied to the inmate’s complaints, not even offering a glance towards her. “And learn to shut your mouth, too. The bureaucratic papers don’t lie, you’re being moved to Westgate, so zip that lip and fall in line.”

The firm and commanding tone seemed to surprisingly do the trick, catching Marionette off-guard and causing her mouth to clamp shut. Recollecting herself, she turned her gaze forward as she felt her frustration bubbling up within her chest. Internally, she screamed at being forced to allow this plebian to strutt all over her like this, but it was in her own best interests to bide her time.

Oh man, it feels so cathartic to order that bitch around for once. Though the guards following them both offered a few cursory glances. If he knows her personally, apparently, then wouldn’t he be less rude towards her? Oh well. The caravan departed from the lines of jail cells and stopped next to a steel reinforced door on the other side of the administrator’s bureau. Forensics. Malcolm turned towards the rest and spoke:

“Alright, me and Floyd are going in and you tell me what we’re supposed to be looking for. Eric, you keep an eye on Marionette, we’ll be back in a second and-”

“Hold a second.” Floyd suddenly barged in. “How about you and Eric keep an eye on Marionette while I pick up the evidence really quick?”

“Why’s that? Marionette is power suppressed, she’s not a threat.”

“Maybe you think so, but if you haven’t been paying attention, she’s also the smartest bitch in the city by a long mile.”

“That’s not really-”

“And she’s already escaped from prison once. You want that to happen again?”

After a few seconds of silence, Malcolm sighed and tossed a set of keys towards Floyd. Thank you.

“See, was that so difficult?” the undercover swordsman spoke, twiddling the set on his finger. The African-American cop, on the other hand, only responded with:

“You sound like you have some serious issues in that head of yours. Most evidence is stored in the drawers on the left.”

Maybe I do, maybe I do... While the two cops turned towards Marionette, Floyd unlocked the door leading into the forensics room and immediately took a turn towards the left section of the room, faced with a series of drawers, some tiny, some large. Obviously, the large ones are where his sword is likely stored in, unless they disassembled it or something, which… shouldn’t even be possible.

And it, thankfully, wasn’t, as after opening a few of the drawers, the swordsman finally found what he was looking for. His sword, both of the edges still stained with blood, and the sheath next to it. Flawless victory. Ignoring the warning label on the drawer to take all items with special gloves as to not leave any fingerprints, Floyd grabbed his weapon, placed it in its hilt and walked out of the forensics room, faced with two slightly surprised cops looking at him.

“That’s what the thing you needed to pick up is?” Eric spoke. “Got any idea what it’s about?”

“Apparently evidence for some case, I’m not sure.” Floyd replied, making sure to not give away that it’s related to Marionette. “Well, that’s going to be it from me. One girl, one sword. If you have nothing else to say, then we may as well just leave.”

As soon as Floyd vanished into the forensics room, an uneasy silence descended upon the three people left waiting from him on the outside. Without the loud-mouthed, boisterous bus driver to fill the air, Malcolm and Eric found themselves standing awkwardly. Rubbing the back of his head while his partner let out an awkward cough, Eric didn’t really feel like trying to strike up a conversation as he felt the boiling anger emanating from their prisoner. Whatever history she shared with Floyd, he didn’t want to know. But whatever it was, he sure was glad that he wasn’t in that poor soul’s shoes.

The short girl standing between the pair of guards remained quiet while her so-called ‘rescuer’ searched for his weapon. Her eye’s remaining fixed forward as her mind scoured for any semblance of a plan that she could put into motion. Silently, she seethed at Floyd and his blundering incompetence, scolding herself for deciding to invite him to the Hilton in the first place. What had she been thinking?! Frowning, Marionette detested the feeling of being pressed into a corner, the oppressive weight of a ticking clock only adding to her sense of being trapped. Pulled out of her reverie by the sound of the forensic lab’s door swinging open once again, she eyed Floyd’s cocky smile as he carried his sword confidently in his hands.

As he casually wrapped up the conversation, rapidly shrinking Marionette’s window to act, the villainess felt a wave of desperation begin to claw at the edges of her gut. She could feel her options slipping between her fingers, especially as the two guards shrugged in acceptance of the swordsman’s words. As soon as they took her to that bus, and as soon as Floyd removed her from the prison, Marionette would be all the way back to square one!

“Nah, looks like that’s everything we needed to do.” Malcolm replied to Floyd, turning to begin leading the way to the prison exit. “We’ll help you take her back to the bus. Then you just need to sign the transfer papers to take temporary custody. Just make sure you’re careful when -”

“I need to use the bathroom!” Marionette suddenly blurted out the words, cutting off the prison guard mid-sentence. She stopped exactly where she was, planting her feet firmly on the ground like an obstinate child. “Unless you’d rather stop on the way and let me use a gas station.” Taken by surprise, Malcolm seemed unsure of exactly how to respond to the sudden request. For his part, Eric rolled his eyes.

“Nice try, princess. You had plenty of time to go in your cell earlier. You missed your chance.”

Standing her ground, Marionette shot the man a scowl. She couldn’t believe that she was pulling this card, but desperate times demanded desperate measures. “No. I need to use the bathroom now.”

Becoming frustrated with the girl, Eric offered Floyd an exasperated glance before turning once again towards the prisoner. This time his tone was more forceful. “Now look here Missy, you’re not in a position to make demands. You’re just going to have to hold it while -”

“I don’t need to use the toilet, asshole.” Marionette shot back, a look of irritated anger tinting her cheeks.

Almost immediately, Eric’s mouth clamped shut. It took a few moments as realisation began to dawn in the guard’s mind. His earlier confidence evaporated, to be replaced by an awkward shuffling as a hint of colour flooded the young man’s cheeks.

“Oh...oh, you don’t mean?”

Now it was Marionette’s turn to roll her eyes.“Wow, what do you think I could mean? Misogynist.”

That seemed to do the trick, as Eric was suddenly and decisively thrown outside of his comfort zone. Coughing nervously, the man eyed the corridor to figure out where was the nearest bathroom. “Wait, that’s not what I meant. Um, sure. Just be quick about it, could you?”

Marionette lifted her chained wrists in front of the guard, raising an eyebrow as if he were forgetting something obvious. Instantly, another flush of colour rushed all the way to Eric’s ears as he hastily scrambled to get the keys for the prisoner’s cuffs. “Right, of course. You can’t really do anything with those on.” His awkward laugh was evidently fake, causing Marionette to roll her eyes in exasperation.

“Yeah, no kidding Sherlock.” As soon as the chain connecting two wrists together was released - although the power suppressing bands themselves remained firmly in place - Marionette made her way into the female restrooms without even offering so much as a thanks towards the guards.

A minute or so passed, with the three men standing around outside in the hallway. The bright colour hadn’t quite managed to leave Eric’s cheeks as he internally scolded himself in embarrassment for what had just happened. Malcolm seemed to be amused at his partner’s reaction, thinking that this would probably all make for an interesting story during their lunch break at Eric’s expense. After a bit, Eric turned towards Floyd as if in the hope that the other man wouldn’t be as far out of his depth.

“You wouldn’t happen to know how long this kind of stuff is meant to take? I don’t have any sisters or anything so I don’t really -”

“Could I get a hand in here?” The girl’s voice stopped the guard in his tracks, her request nearly making Eric stumble over his own words. Without any immediate response, Marionette rolled her eyes from inside one of the stalls. “They’re all out of toilet paper. I would rather if Floyd brought it if it’s all the same to you. No offence, but I know him better.”

Malcolm snickered as Eric nearly seemed to panic. He shrugged before turning to Floyd. “Alright, looks like you’re up. Hurry it up so we can get this broad on the road and be done with it already.”

During the whole conversation over Marionette having to leave for the bathroom for… private business, Floyd looked like he was about to bang his head against a wall to check which will crack first. Truth be told, he never had much faith in the American law enforcement system, but at least they’ve proven themselves to be progressive - even sacks of potatoes and bricks are welcome to work as prison guards, apparently. He had just informed them that Marionette is smart and cunning and will take any opportunity to manipulate the situation to her advantage, and yet they fall for it at the first possible opportunity!

What’s the chance that she has to go to the bathroom at the exact same time when she is being transported out of her jail cell by a person she apparently hates to the core? Pretty damn low, I’d say!

Floyd took a deep sigh, not even bothering to complain to the two guards about how much the situation left him perplexed, and simply raised his hand to catch a roll of toilet paper Malcolm tossed towards him, taking a turn towards the bathroom which Marionette had vanished into after her little tantrum. Judging by how much the villainess was pissed off earlier and that she specifically wanted Floyd to check up on her… it’s pretty obvious where this is going to go. Maybe I could turn my hearing off to make this bearable.

“Alright, Marionette, what the hell?” the swordsman spoke after closing the door. “Did I leave you this pissed back at the Hilton or are you actually on your period?”

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

Sina frowned a little at Wyatt's snarky comment about being afraid of Bael of all people, pursing her lips. It's not that she was afraid of Bael - God knows she couldn't be intimidated by someone like him - it's more that the shoulder touch came so unexpected to her. Well, at least he wasn't feeling like nothing matters and that she should just go recruit someone else's help anymore. Which she could... but it just wouldn't be the same if she took Alexis or Brianna with her instead of one of her own kind, you know?

As the two Dra'Quinni took off to the sky, Bael raised an another question - since they'll be landing in a shop, a place with a lot of humans around, should they appear in their true forms or under glamour? Along with that, he raised the reasonable observation that Sina seemed to prefer being in her glamour form instead of her true one. The vigilante raised her eyebrow.

<"What kinda question is that? I thought we had to keep up this masquerade so the scaleless don't kill us or something,"> Sina replied, recalling her parents' warnings about not appearing to humans in her true form unless absolutely necessary. <"And yeah, humans do look disgusting to me and so does my Glamour form, but the scaleless themselves seem to give pretty of attention to what it looks like and that's always been pretty amusing. And I like that, you know?">

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

You fucking bitch, Red thought to himself as he felt Yoshiro's fingers interlock with his. Or would it be bastard? Either way...

“Whatever’s on your mind Red, I want you to know that I’m here for you.”

Red bit his lip, the anger that he had felt before beginning to boil up inside him once more. This demon knew what it was doing. It was purposefully playing with him, knowing that he had to continue acting like everything was normal between the two. That the girl holding his hand in her's was the one who had dragged him out of the thing's grasp and had given him the strength to continue being a hero. That she was someone he cared for, more than anyone else he had before. And this thing had taken her away from him. He saw a small smile appear on its face, one that Red knew meant it was planning something even worse.

“And don’t I get a kiss goodbye?”

Red's deamnor cracked just a little, his fingers tightening around Yoshiro's in an involuntary flinch. He glanced over to where Kirisvala and her sister stood watching. He knew that they'd probably expect him to do what Yoshiro, or rather the demon, was requesting. He knew that he shouldn't do anything that would go against these expectations.

But, as he seemed to always do, he went against these expectations.

"Maybe later, Yoshi," he said, unweaving his fingers from her's. "It's probably not best to show too much in front of our guest here." He gave a nod to the two Hadrians before turning around towards the door. "I'm going to be busy working on some stuff for a while Yoshi. I'll talk to you later," he said, not bothering to look behind him as he left. He knew Kirsvala wouldn't think much of this, seeing as both it wasn't unusual for him to be busy with various tasks around the Tower as well as the fact that he could tell she wanted him to leave. Still, he had no doubts it'd raise some questions from her sister, but he could have cared less as he had bigger problems to deal with besides leaving a bad impression.

He didn't bother stopping by to talk to the others that were milled about the Tower, his insides still fueled with a renewed sense of anger and frustration. He hadn't bothered to get any coffee from the kitchen, but it wouldn't be an issue as he had his own coffeemaker in his room he could use. The temptation to throw in whiskey with his drink came to mind, but he knew that alcohol wasn't going to be an answer for his problems, instead just a delay. He needed to think clearly.

After starting a fresh pot of coffee, Red ran his fingers through his hair, doing what he could to remain calm. He needed answers, but right now he wasn't in any sort of state to go looking for the others. Before he went to Amir or Tadeo, he wanted find out what he could on his own. Glancing over at his computer, he prayed that what connections and resources he had available to him would be enough to find what he wanted. Of course, he couldn't be bothered while doing this, so before he sat down he walked over to his door and locked it. The smell of fresh coffee being brewed combined with the determination to find a solution allowed him to finally take a deep breath before taking a seat at his work desk. He glanced down at his arm still resting within the sleeve, realizing he'd be slowed down in his efforts, but that did little to dissuade him. Powering up his computer, he poured the coffee into one of his mugs, not bothering for the liquid to cool down and instead taking a long sip from the hot beverage. It was time to do what he did best.

Digging around for answers he wasn't supposed to find.

---

Sometime later...

Red glanced over at clock above him. It had been several hours since he had began his research. His coffee mug was practically stained brown after the dozens of times he had refilled it. A few discarded energy bar wrappers lay around his table, as were the core of eaten apples whose white interiors had browned after staying in contact with the air for so long. Countless pieces of printed off material and discarded notes were scattered in front of him, their sources ranging from academic discussions on ancient religious practices to obscure occult message boards where members wrote about mystical items and rituals.

It wasn't just his work desk that was a mess, but he himself was in just as bad of shape. Bags had begun to form underneath his bloodshot eyes, his hair a wild mess after running his hair through them constantly. A small stubble of hair still remained on his face due to him having not shaved for the past few days. A permanent scowl seemed to be placed on his face as his eyerbrows remained in a constant furrowed state.

After all of this, what he was left with was little to satisfy his desire for knowledge on what had possessed Yoshiro. From what little he had gathered, what he was dealing with was something that was a remnant of a time long before human civilization had begun to exist. It came from a place where no mortal mind could comprehend, at least while maintaining their sanity. It was only through vague cave paintings, oral stories, and rumors of strange encounters that the existence of this being had been witnessed by mankind, and none of their experiences with it had been pleasant. Most notable of these events seemed to take place in Egypt, but given how stories became warped over the centuries, anything conclusive was hard to find. Even less information was given on how to defeat it. It seemed that only through certain rituals, of which the processes were all but unknown, could the demon be vanquished, and from what he could find, it did not come without great sacrifice.

Red glanced over his scattered notes once more, before finally letting out a groan that held a mixture of fatigue and frustration. This was simply too much for someone who knew only of physical reality. Even for someone like Tadeo or Amir, he doubted they could know as much. Granted, he never had delved that deep into what they knew, so perhaps he was mistaken. For both his and more importantly Yoshiro's sake, he prayed that this was the case. "Saint Bruno, give me some guidance here," he muttered underneath his breath, finally pushing himself away from his work desk.

He needed to get some fresh air, and given the current time of the night, he knew most of the team would be elsewhere which meant he could have some time to himself. Getting onto his feet, he let out a small yawn as he made his way over to his door, unlocking it before it slid open. He took a step forward, but as he did he felt his knee bump into something soft.

"What the hell?" He said, glancing down. His eyes widened in confusion, as a pair of brown eyes stared up at him. These eyes belonged to a German Sheperd, who seemed to look at him with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "Since when did we get a dog?" Red asked himself out loud, poking his head through the hallways to see who was responsible for this. Seeing that it was empty, Red glanced down at the dog once more, who seemed to be looking at him in anticipation. A hundred seperate questions raced through his head, but at this point, he had done enough questioning and simply accepted it.

"Want to go for a walk, boy?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"<The humans aren't out to kill us... And those who would kill us would probably kill us no matter what we looked like. Me and my parents only did so because it was easier to get along with the humans when you look like that.>" Though he had to wonder what would have happened if they chose not to blend in. Could have wound up far better or far worse. Though he had to imagine that it couldn't have played out too different. Maybe he would've gotten more social skills. Then again, it's unlikely he would've wound up on the Young Bloods, or even have his powers.

For all the trouble he's had, those weren't something he regretted. Despite the tremendous responsibility hanging over his head, he was looking forward too it. Sina's reply alluded to that she wanted to use her human one. Though she did mention that she liked some of the attention her human form got. "<I wouldn't use the word disgusting, personally. Sure, they're soft, pink, and hairy, but there's something endearing about them isn't there? You wouldn't be hanging around them as much as I am if that weren't the case. Besides, you're not friends with people because of how they look. Usually. Almost my entire team is human, and from what I can tell, so's yours.>" He shrugged. "<Plus, like I said earlier, we're kind of stuck with them. Might as well learn to live with or at least around them earlier.>" He finished as they came close to the store.

He landed behind some bushes, outside the line of sight to the main parking lot and switched on the hologuise Alexis gave him. "<This shouldn't take more than a few minutes, unless you want to spend twenty minutes picking out a case. Ready to go?>"

[North America Inc]

Cassandra

Renata

Viviana Couture

July 24th

Shihong looked around the various other items littered around the complex: the half torn car frames, the numerous crates, the pilled high junk, and the high vantage points of the mechanic shop and office building. All of these were either advantages or disadvantages in combat, this group was obviously armed; so cover for the meta-humans was paramount. ""Although, it may be wise to share your plan with me Miss Smith." Toying with a flame within her palm, she turned to hear CASSANDRA inquiring about her objective. "I am programmed for combat, and that programming extends to tactical plans which I can aid in forming."

Nodding in agreement, Shi turned back around and motioned to the main mechanic shop. "The stolen vehicle is our way in. American Law stipulates that we announce our approach into an area suspect of crime, so there goes our element to surprise. That makes things...difficult." They always seem to have a knack of holding back people like us back. "Over at the security office, I'm going to state our intention to search. If there is a racket involved... I doubt they'll agree. The other girls are going through the office so we can appear legitimate; the added benefit of flanking when they rush towards us two may have also crossed my mind. Like our fight against Jason and Wyatt, if they start shooting, turn into your combat mode. I'll be right behind you."Thinking it over if she forgot to include anything else, she added, "Other than that, don't slow me down."

Touching up her hanging hair locks and fixing up the creases on her shirt, she stared into CASSANDRA's robotic eyes and half jokingly asked, "So how do I look?" Tapping against her chin for a second, "Never mind. I look...great."

With Cass following closely by, Shi walked up to the gate and security office attached behind it. Waving with her left and playing up her accent, "Hello I was wondering if we could have a little friendly chat." A bright blue flame protruded from her left, as she declared, "I'm sure. It'll only take a moment."

---

"Mommy look! A Superhero." a little boy pointed towards Viviana and her outfit; pulling on his mother's hair as she watched a video on her phone intently. No older than three, he much rather play with his Plush Baby Shark than to focus on the mean man across the aisle. His face turned into elation at the sight of a cute puppy walking behind them, he was able to get a few quick slap pats on the dog's body before it had to continue following.

"Miguel STOP." the mother said with an exasperated sigh. She was too tired and anxious to deal with the overly active mind of a toddler; never bothering to look up from her phone. As the group of heroines walked through the office building, a few curious eyes wandered their way; most of them focusing on their outfits. Copycats and Wannabees were a constant in civilian life, who is to say that there were anything different. The group passed around the professional driver, as he stared demanding that the receptionists bring out her manager so he could speak to her personally. Banging his fist once against the barrier, he was surprised to see an overweight white man in a tie actually come out from his office and greet him on the other side.

"Sir. You are going to need to calm down for us. We can't help you when you're like this."

"Oh my apologize..." the man said in a fever pitch, "It just somebody took my FUCKING car."

As our collection of heroes walked on, they were soon greeted by a glass door that had printed on it. DO NOT ENTER. AUTHORIZED INDIVIDUALS ONLY. No ENTRE. SOLO PERSONAL AUTORIZADO. In a bright red sticker. Ignoring it, they entered the outside to be greeted by a stout, older Hispanic man covered oil stains and wearing a mechanic overall. Messing with the wrist that had been giving him some trouble for the last couple of weeks, only to look up and be greeted by three white teenagers and a dog. Surprised to say the least, he asked, "Que Estan Haciendo?" Before thinking it over and saying in a thick accent, ""What are you girls doing here?" The prettiest of the three seemed to take the initiative before approaching him with a picture on her phone.

"As you have just seen and heard, sir, we have quite valid grounds to be on these premises."

"What's going on?" A booming voice declared behind the group. An obese man with a bald head and a beard to show where his neck line was, held a Tecate can firmly in his hand; behind him were two scrawny gangsters with bloodshot eyes and covered in facial tattoos. One wore wife beater and jeans, while the two wore flannel and khaki shorts. Jaime walked over to the mechanic with surprisingly vigor for his size, the other two stood behind the group, their tucked in pistols clearly visible.

"Ignacio."

"Jaime." They both nodded at each other, before Ignacio took over the situation and ushered for Jaime to leave. Ignacio stood before them and looked at the cute wannabee teenagers standing before him. Checking them out, he visibly moved his head up and down them, undressing them with his eyes; his attention clearly on Elle most of all. As he did so, behind him a lone security officer could be seen running from the gate and towards the mechanic shop; his Colt held firmly in his hand.

The high out of their mind gangsters behind the group didn't seem to notice him either, instead more focused on whether they could grab Renata's bright pink hair locks. More than a few times the wife beater would reach out to pull, only to be slapped by the other. "Come on. Get serious man." the right whispered to the left.

"Can you vigilantes leave? I'm serious. You guys, or girls, come in trying to look threatening. And then we have to go drop you off at Kaiser with your jaw sealed shut. I'm tired and I really don't want to break bones today." Ignacio said with more of an annoyance than trying to be threatening. Finishing his Tecate, he effortlessly crushed it and through it over the chain-link fence. Smashing his foot down against the dirt, "Listen you look cute and I don't like to hurt women. So just walk back the way you came and we'll forget that this ever happened."

"I don't know Nacho. Vargas hates intruders doesn't he?" The Wife Beater said as he took out the pistol and held it from its barrel, "Why don't we just leave like one bruise." Behind Nacho, a group of four or five guys could be seen running to the main gate, each armed as well. While it was obvious Shi and CASSANDRA were behind the incident, the placement of the cars made it impossible to see them from their position. Muffled shouting could be heard, but the three didn't seem to really notice the commotion. At least not yet.

"Calm down Eric." Ignacio said as he placed his hands into his khakis, "It's not the first time I've dealt with vigilantes. I don't want to hurt them if I don't..." the sound of numerous gun shots rung through the air. Behind Nacho, the commotion escalated into a firefight as Vargas began emptying his machine pistol toward the gate; the others followed suit and fired their rounds towards it. Bullets seemed audibly ricochet against the sound of metal as Vargas shouted towards, "Ignacio get over here quick!"

"What the fuck is going on?" Ignacio said shocked as he turned to the girls, "Do you know what's going..." the hum of voltage began to build and build, ringing in each and everyone's ears. Ignacio paused before realizing that something bad was about to happen. He looked over at his friends as they fired through the gate before lightening flew out and tore through it. The explosion launched all of them into the air, some too dazed to get back; while others ran behind cover, realizing they had a fight on their hands.

[Solisian Union]

Catarina and Yasha

The two met again at the supermarket. Catarina was about to bring out what probably is the largest haul in the history of shopping and grocery stores. She was bringing along two carts full of ingredients for breakfast, lunch, second lunch and dinner. Yasha however was in the shop for something light. In her hand was a simple bottle that said CUBA LIBRE.

At that, Catarina brightened up at the drink. Though she disregarded the Cubans, she sometimes enjoyed drinking when she could. When she wanted to.

For now, the two greeted each other briefly and then started talking. While the poor cashier and bagger worked through the humongous load of groceries Catarina was fixing for the Outriders, Yasha nodded as she started to understand Catarina's story. So far, the two realized that they were to be close to each other, to be partners maybe?

Yasha said "Así que en realidad eres como yo. Una persona extraña con poderes extraños. ¿Estos te fueron dados por una cosa que parecía un ángel y un demonio? ¿Como el ángel cristiano y el demonio? (So you're actually like me. A strange person with strange powers. These were given to you by a thing that looked like an angel and a demon? Like the Christian angel and demon?)"

The Colombian replied "Sí Sí. Exactamente así. Aunque espero que realmente no seas católico. Puedo decirle a un católico por su olor, su vestido. ¡Incluso por su carne! Su carne los traiciona. (Yes, yes. Exactly like that. Though I hope you really are not Catholic. I can tell a Catholic by their smell, their dress. Even by their flesh! Their flesh betrays them..)"

Yasha chuckled and raised her hands up "Ah, yo no soy católico. Ni siquiera nace uno. Pero tengo que decirte que he conocido la misma ... entidad. (Ah, I'm no Catholic. Not even born one. But I have to tell you though, I have met the same...entity.)"

At that, Catarina suddenly leaned towards her, speaking up "¿En serio? Entonces ... significa esto- (Are you serious? So...does this mean-)"

Gunfire. Both of them turned their heads, the rest of the people in the shop just taking cover or running out or something. Both of them also grunted at the interruption. They turned to each other and nodded. Yasha then told her "Si realmente puedes pelear, entonces necesito que te quedes conmigo hasta que nos enfrentemos al enemigo. No sabemos a qué nos enfrentamos, pero probablemente son algunos criminales de poca vida. Eso y si tienes hambre ... (If you can really fight, then I need you to stick to me until we face the enemy. We don't know what we're facing but they're probably some low life criminals. That and if you're hungry...)"

Catarina just nodded. Both of them abandoned the shop, Catarina just telling the cashier an apology while also throwing to her the dollar bills she had from her wallet. As they left the shop, Yasha was concentrated on finding the source of the gunfire. For now, both of them were allies.

But alas, another interruption manifested itself when they bumped into another girl. At that point, the two apologized and attempted to get to the scene when Catarina caught Yasha by the belt loop of her pants and told her to wait. She felt something was up with this girl and started to get interested. Even as Yasha was starting to complain about this in her native language, Catarina spoke to the girl (Oasis) in broken English

"Can...You....Do something?"

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

<"Yeah, you could say it depends from human to human. The Outriders are at least more tolerable that the majority of the scaleless running around, but..."> Sina rambled a little in response to Bael's comments about the average human appearance. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that the Dra'Quinni, having lived among them for much longer than Sina had, views them a lot more dfferently. Even able to look past their ugly appearance, apparently. <"Well, a human may have the most endearing personality in the whole wide world, but it's not going to change the fact that they are greasy, scaleless twigs who snap if you touch them too hard.">

With the discussion dealt with, the two Dra'Quinni landed in a bush not far from a nearby parking lot, where Bael activated his... was it a Glamour spell? The sequence certainly didn't resemble one, that's for sure.

<"That's an odd version of the Glamour spell you've got there, what's up with that?"> Sina commented as she activated her guise as well, nodding when Bael asked if she is ready and stepping out of the bushes. Alright, let's just switch back to the human language for now, we'll look weird if we mutter incomprehensible things in front of the scaleless.

"So, Ba... Wyatt, you said humans look endearing in a way, right? Does this look endearing, hm?" Sina spoke, grinning.

---

July 24th

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella! / Ellery Bastion, the intimidating (but still friendly) Shadowkill!

---

Well, this has gotten a little problematic. Almost immediately after the team made their way out of the office building and Viviana explained to one of the workers in the garage on what business they have arrived, they ended up faced with a massive, bald and neckbearded gangster, replacing the worker which Viv spoke to and, having surrounded the trio and their dog with two of his grunts, ordered them to leave with thinly veiled threats. Renata stood in the front of the group, meeting Nacho's glare with her own, with hands placed on her thighs.

Judging by how easily the obese gangster crushed the can in his hands, this was a man with considerable physical strength, and since he was so close to Renata and her peers, any sort of skirmish breaking out would be at her disadvantage. The fact that they were being surrounded, and that there were clearly more gangsters available to join the encirclement if necessary, sent a slight semblance of doubt to Renata's head - but nowhere close to the point where she would consider standing down, merely continuing to stare into the gangster's eyes.

At least, until she heard the sound of hand slapping and muttering behind her back, and, after glancing behind her shoulder, she witnessed one of the two men standing behind them trying to caress her hair. The mere thought sent a cold shiver through her spine. You try that again and I channel so much radiation through that hair that your mom's oven will look cool in comparison...

As the staredown continued, everyone's attention suddenly got directed towards the ongoing skirmish in the distance, behind the assembled cars, complete with gunfire and lightning tearing through the front gate. Nacho seemed to be in panic, confused as to what is going on and asking the girls for the answer. Renata could tell exactly who is responsible - and, by God, their powerset is apparently just as much of a show-off as their personality - but opted to not say anything, slowly removing her right hand from her thigh and waiting until Nacho was completely distracted before moving onto him.

However, the person who took the initiative was not her, but Elle, who suddenly pulled out a smoke bomb from her jacket and tossed it to the ground, detonating as soon as it touched the floor. Before Renata could realize what was going on, the edgelord heroine suddenly pulled her and Viv away, to the side, out of the encirclement, stopping right outside of the cloud of smoke left in the bomb's wake.

"Dammit, Elle, I was about to start on the attack myself!" Renata exclaimed - not exactly with fure, more in a complaining manner. The black-haired heroine said nothing in response, merely reaching out to her right, pulling out an assault rifle armed with rubber bullets through a portal. Makes sense, at this point they're definitely not avoiding a fight. Renata stood back up on both feet, clasping her hands together to begin generating plasma between them, while also exclaiming to her earpiece and, by extension, to the people around them:

"Harley, hold up the big guy! Viv, deal with the other two! Elle, cover her! Shi, what the hell are you doing?!"

[Bentus]

The Great Floyd Tolson! / Lisette Aveline, the nefarious Marionette!

---

“Alright, Marionette, what the hell?” the swordsman spoke after closing the door. “Did I leave you this pissed back at the Hilton or are you actually on your period?”

Scowling, and clearly not in a rush to use any of the restroom’s facilities, Marionette stormed up to Floyd before she jabbed a finger into his chest.

“You’re a real piece of work, Floyd Tolson. You know that?” She hissed, keeping her voice quiet in case either of the dimwits outside were still listening. The girl’s gaze narrowed at Floyd as he immediately jumped to the Hilton, his casual and dismissive tone making her even more upset that she already was. “You hardly lasted more than a few minutes back there! I kind of already knew that you were all talk and no bite, but I actually thought that you were something more than the standard pompous coward. But then you just turned and ran at the first sign of trouble with your tail between your legs. Some great fighter you turned out to be, more like a total disappointment.” Marionette sighed, visibly trying to restrain herself before the guards outside grew suspicious.

“So yes, you did leave me that pissed back at the Hilton. But somehow you seem to have decided that you had to ruin everything even more: what are you doing here Floyd?”

“Oh, yes, Ms. Only Lasted a Few Minutes Herself is going to complain about my stamina now, huh?” Floyd shot back in response to Marionette’s first complaint. Did that fight really only last a few minutes? He could have sworn that he squabbled with the Dra’Quinni and his mates for a bit longer than that - at least for long enough to have Marionette be smashed to a pulp by the pink-haired Hadrian girl. “You’re walking on thin ice with that argument, you know.”

The swordsman raised his blade, held in its sheath in Floyd’s right hand, and continued:

“What I am doing here is rescuing this. One of the Young Bloods chucked this son of a bitch through the window during our fight and the police got their hands on it before I could. Thankfully, they didn’t ship it anywhere far, only seized it as evidence and that’s what brought me here.” After the brief explanation, Floyd lowered the sword and shot his eyes towards Marionette. “You, on the other hand, are just my cover-up story. I needed to find a way to get in this prison without a fight and I opted to play the role of someone shipping you to Westgate. So, please, rip off that tongue of yours and play your part until I’m outta here. After that, you might as well walk back here if you so desire.”

He’s just here for the sword? Marionette was caught off guard by Floyd’s explanation, her next words caught in her throat as her intention to berate the man for coming to her rescue suddenly fell flat. He came to this prison, risked his life and freedom, probably killed on the way....for a sword? After having thought that the swordsman had - for some inexcusably daft reason - come up with a scheme to free her from the jail, to discover that she was little more than a means to some other end, that gave Marionette a moment’s pause.

“The sword. You’re here for the sword.” The words weren’t phrased like a question, and were more of a statement by Marionette to confirm it to herself. It really was taking all of her self-control not to find some way to gut the selfish brute standing before her, even if she had to do it with her fingernails and bare hands. “And so, what: I’m just along for the ride? Absolutely not! Na-uh!” The girl replied adamantly. “Maybe you’re tiny, peanut sized brain can’t understand this, but I have my own plans to worry about - and you’ve so far already been a monumental headache. If I leave with you, do you really think I’ll be able to just waltz back in afterwards like nothing happened?” Marionette scoffed at the thought.

“There’s a timing to this sort of thing, you know - something that proper villains would understand. You...you can’t just break out whenever you feel like, otherwise everything just gets stale and the heroes fight the same baddies over, and over again. It’s better to lie low for a bit, to let the dust settle and a sense of security to settle in before building up to a big reveal in the sequel, you dummy.” Marionette sighed, incredulous that she had to explain something so simple. She’d be damned if she allowed her act to grow stale, all because she wasn’t patient enough to wait for a little while in a cell. “Besides, there’s someone in here who I need to see. Someone who actually understands how things are supposed to go, unlike you.”

Floyd watched Marionette bemoan and complain about the situation with a blank expression on his face - though, the longer the girl went about him being bad at villainy and making things boring for everyone involved, he couldn’t help but crack a slight smile on his face. Not because he was happy or having fun, no no no, but because what Marionette kept assuming about him was leaving him amused.

“You see, that’s where your argument falls flat, girl,” Floyd replied. “I can act like a villain and people can call me a villain, but I’m simply not one of them. Sure, villains can operate under comic book laws if they want to and try to build themselves flashy entrances to make the spectators give a shit about them, I’ll just be over here, having fun my own way - by smashing skulls.”

The swordsman let out a brief sigh. “Shouldn’t you have been aware of that already, anyway? You saw me team up with those two Young Bloods on camera. What kinda villain teams up with their biggest enemy on the hero side? Perhaps one who thinks the whole concept of heroes and villains is BS anyway, hm?”

As for the last point which Marionette pointed out to him. “And no, I’m not a dating service, find a way to reach out to him yourself. I’m here for the sword, not be be your Eb from Bavaria.”

“Oh come on, everyone knows that hero-villain team-ups can be cool. Besides, from what I saw it was more like they teamed up with you rather than the other way around.” Marionette replied, rolling her eyes as she ignored Floyd’s self-important attitude. Pausing for a moment, she looked at the man’s bored expression, seeing that he really had no intention of helping her. Folding her arms across her chest, she decided that there wasn’t much choice but to double down.

“Ok, Floyd how about I cut you a deal? You help me get to who I want, and I won’t raise the alarm right now.” She met the swordsman’s gaze with a smirk.

Floyd narrowed his eyes in response, staring into the villainess for a few seconds. She’s playing a yet another game, it seems. In any other situation, perhaps it would be fun to join up with her in storming out of the prison - but not today.

“If you raise the alarm, I subdue you here and drag you back to your cell. And leave with the sword I came here for. Is that the option you want?” the swordsman replied. Hey, maybe smashing Marionette to a pulp could be even more fun than doing the same to a bunch of defenseless guards? She’s not even an adult, but all the times he’s got to see her in action didn’t leave him with a terrible impression. “Or would you prefer doing what I say and getting out of here without a mangled body?”

Marionette scoffed. “Even if in you’re deluded head you think that you could beat me, you know that you wouldn’t get out unscathed. Plus, I would at least be able to raise the alarm to make it either incredibly difficult, or impossible, for you to escape.” The girl shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure, you could just take me back to my cell too. But that would raise suspicions after you’ve told everyone that you’re here to transport me out. Not to mention, I’d wager that you wouldn’t have even bothered to come get me if you could have just grabbed your precious little toothpick.” That last part stung, even as Marionette said it, but she hid the strange feeling of disappointment from her expression. It didn’t matter if Floyd came here for her or not, only that she got him to do what she wanted now. “Besides, you know that your plan would be boring if it went off perfectly.”

“Not if I make it seem like you were the attacker and I was the victim. An innocent cop suddenly assaulted by one of the prison inmates attempting an escape and, seeing that the inmate is too dangerous to be transported without additional security, she will remain in her cell for the foreseeable future.” Floyd replied to Marionette’s comments, drawing up a theoretical scenario on the outcome of their battle. It’s funny how both of them believe that the other side would have no chance against them. Floyd figured that Marionette was just being an arrogant bitch like always.

Come on, how could he lose to a small girl?

“Pulling the age old trick, I see?” the swordsman muttered when Marionette mentioned that his route was going to be severely boring. “See, I’m trying something a little different this time. Was considering that senseless violence could get a little more interesting if I ration it. Try to resolve a few conflicts peacefully for once. Weird, I know.”

Maybe he could at least check what Marionette’s demand even was in the first place. “Who’s this guy you want to meet so much that you’d be willing to storm a prison for him?”

Marionette grinned at Floyd, feeling like he had taken a bite out of the lure. He could have blabbered on all he wanted about wanting to resolve something peacefully for a change, but a peaceful resolution was different to a smart one. She knew that the swordsman wouldn’t be able to shy away from a challenge if she mixed a few drops of blood into the water.

“Only the greatest, most renowned villain in America.” She declared confidently. “The scourge of the West Coast, and the feared nemesis of both the Justice Queens and the LA Stars. Before the Young Bloods teamed up with the Stars to bring him in.” There was a twinkle in Marionette’s eye, betraying her giddy excitement. She paused for dramatic effect, allowing for a second to pass as her audience surely waited with bated breath. “Floyd, we’re going to break out Weatherman.”

The swordsman blinked a few seconds, his mind trying to comprehend what exactly Marionette was asking him to help on - his mind did its best to try to block it out, but no matter what, he couldn’t help but face the truth. Fucking Weatherman of all people.

“For a moment there, I thought you were onto something, only to realize that the only thing you’re on is a pile of shit.” Floyd replied, trying to keep a straight face as he replied. “No, Marionette, I’m not a bloody idiot, I’m not going to waste valuable time breaking out fucking Weatherman. Unless your plan involves putting him in a circus after this, because that’s the only place he belongs.”

And just like that, the excited smile twisted into a scowl. This was not the reaction that she had been hoping for. Folding her arms across her chest, she pouted at Floyd as the man dismissed one of her favourite all-time villains.

“Psst, goes to show what you know. Weatherman is a real villain, someone who actually gets how it’s all supposed to work. He’s been able to go up against the best that the NASL could throw at him and has just laughed it off.” Marionette’s tone was almost defensive. “Even someone as arrogant and brain dead as you have to admit that his powers are amazing. I remember one time he managed to create a snow storm that covered half of San Diego!” Pausing for a moment, the girl’s voice seemed to waver slightly.

“He...he just got unlucky at the Zoo, though. But that wasn’t his fault.” Marionette glanced away from Floyd as she recalled her first encounter with the Young Bloods. She had been unable to mask her excitement that day, even if it hadn’t ended ideally. I won’t miss my chance again. Hardening her gaze, Marionette seemed to plant her feet more firmly on the ground. “You know what, I don’t care what you think. That’s my bargain. If you want me to stay quiet and let you get out of here with your sword, then you need to help me get Weatherman. And if it means so much to you, we can figure out some way to do it,” the girl made a pair of air quotes with her fingers, “quietly.”

“His powers are only amazing if nobody bothers to land even a single punch on him.” Floyd muttered, sighing and folding his arms as Marionette continued her fangirling of the worst supervillain on the West Coast. And maybe all of the United States. At least Iron Chef has that amusing video under his belt, Weatherman is more cringeworthy than funny. “And I’m starting to get that you don’t know how this infiltration works. I’m a man who works with a set of documents and-”

Suddenly, a voice called out from behind the bathroom door, faint enough to indicate that the person shouting was calling out to them from a distance:

“Hey, is she done?”

It was Malcolm. Bollocks. Floyd hadn’t even noticed that so much time has passed in this little debate of theirs. The swordsman turned his head towards the door and exclaimed:

“Give us a minute, please!”

Turning back towards Marionette and speaking more quietly, the swordsman continued:

“I’m a man who works with a set of documents on what should be transported where. So unless you can forge a document with toilet paper and your blood which allows me to pick up Weatherman, I’m afraid that my hands are tied no matter what.”

Scowling as she realised that time was running short, Marionette shot a glance towards the bathroom’s exit. Thinking for a moment, the girl’s expression hardened with determination as she met Floyd’s eyes. “Fine. We won’t take him with us, but I have an idea.”

Without elaborating any further, Marionette walked back to one of the room’s stalls before she held down the flush. The sound of water swirling down the drain could be heard from the outside, hopefully getting rid of any lingering suspicions held by the two idiots guarding her. Striding past where Floyd was standing, Lisette exited the bathroom to find Malcolm and Eric still waiting. She didn’t pay either guard any mind, her lips pursed into a line. Eric seemed to be amused by Malcolm’s awkward fidgeting, the prison guard still feeling firmly out of his comfort zone. Drawn by the sight of the bright orange jumpsuit once again entering the hallway, Eric scoffed as he pushed himself off of the wall.

“The hell took you guys so long? Clog the toilet or something?”

Twiddling the sword in its sheath, Floyd followed after Marionette, closing the toilet door as if nothing happened, immediately faced by one of the two cops offering a comment on the time they wasted supposedly “cleaning up the mess”. God, if that’s what we had actually been doing, I’d have puked my lunch out instantly.

“Oh, no, it wasn’t the toilet which got clogged, it was her-”

Before Floyd could finish his comment, Marionette made her move. Compared to the heel-dragging, lethargic pace that she had been keeping for the rest of the day, her movements happened in a flash. Twisting round just as Malcolm was distracted by looking for they keys to her handcuffs, the girl grabbed onto the handle of Floyd’s bloodied sword. Pulling it out from its sheath in one fluid movement, Marionette swung the demonically sharpened blade clean through the super-powered guard’s neck before he’d even realised what was happening. Eric for his part had just long enough for his jaw to drop in shock before the blood-slick weapon was plunged into his heart, coming to a stop just as its hilt touched his chest. It had taken a blink of an eye, and the briefest moment of silence seemed to hang for an eternity, until Eric’s head and body fell lifelessly to the floor. Pulling the sword from Malcolm’s torso, allowing the corpse to slump beside its similarly-deceased partner, Lisette turned to look at Floyd.

Seeing the look of stunned surprise on the swordsman’s face, the girl rolled her eyes. “Oh relax, I saw the security cameras when we were walking past here. None of them are looking in this direction. Besides, this is about three quarters of the way through the current shift, nobody’s watching the feeds closely anyway.” Marionette offered Floyd his weapon back, handing it to him hilt-first with a cocky smile on her face. “But I’d say that’s given us enough freedom to do some sight-seeing, don’t you think?”

Oh.

Though lightning quick to any hypothetical observer, Marionette’s movements were slow enough to Floyd’s supernatural vision that he could basically watch and let the massacre happen in slow-motion - which only made the choice all the more baffling to him. Sure, Marionette never expressed interest in keeping her head low and seemed perfectly fine with the prospect of taking on an entire jail by herself… but seeing her respond with violence practically immediately after leaving the restroom was an entirely different thing. And the villainess’s excuses for why it’s not as big of a deal felt almost exactly like that, just excuses for senseless violence.

With a sigh, the swordsman calmed down, picking up his weapon after Marionette handed it back and sheathing it. “You swing a sword like an amateur on a power trip.” Plenty of strength and speed behind it, sure, but Floyd was certain that if she tried to pull off the same easily telegraphed and wide arcing swings against someone who is not leagues below her, she’d be flat on her ass after a few seconds.

“So this is your definition of sightseeing freedom? Spending half of the time dragging corpses to closets because as soon as anyone notices them, they’re going to ring the alarm, right? Or are you going to try powering through this entire facility until your knuckles wear down?”

Marionette scoffed. “Quit complaining. You’re the one who barged in uninvited, last time I checked. I had a whole scheme planned out and everything! At least this way we can both end up getting what we want.” Reaching down, Marionette wrapped her arms under Malcolm’s armpits as she started to drag him into the bathroom. “Now could help me out with these deadbeats before someone walks around the corner, pretty please?”

Not waiting to listen to any snide, self-gratifying comment that Floyd shot her way, Marionette dragged the prison guard’s corpse into the woman’s restroom. Careful to not get too much of his blood on the ground, the girl casually rested the headless body on the porcelain tiles. Without wasting any time, she quickly began to unbutton the man’s uniform. Although aiming for the neck ensured a swift and immediate decapitation kill, Marionette’s main intention had been to avoid damaging Malcolm’s clothes in the process. Smiling as she noted that there wasn’t a speck of red on the uniform, Marionette silently congratulated herself on her excellent swordsmanship. Easy as pie, no wonder even Floyd can use the thing.

Once she had gotten Malcolm’s shirt off, leaving the dead man in his undershirt, Marionette made to undo the first few buttons of her jumpsuit when she froze. A shade of pink touched her cheeks as she looked up to see that Floyd was still standing in the bathroom with a bored expression on his features. Immediately, she felt a wave of anger at the man’s impertinence.

Holding the unbuttoned portion of her jumpsuit with one hand, Marionette gestured aggressively with the other. “Ok, you can get out now.” She hissed. “I need to change and I don’t want some English pervert standing there watching. Go stand guard or something.”

Floyd, after having pulled Eric into the bathroom and placed him in the funniest position he could think of in the ten seconds which he had while Marionette was undressing the other dead cop - sitting on a closet with his legs spread apart - walked back to the center of the room, folding his arms and watching the villainess deal with the other corpse. At least until she barked at him to leave so she could undress without discomfort. Floyd snickered and replied:

“Hey, I’m your family friend, I watched you bathe when you were four years old, both of us area already used to each other and-”

Enough of that sarcastic bullcrap. The smirk faded, replaced by a serious expression, and Floyd suddenly cut himself off, continuing:

“Fuckin’ hell, I’m not watching you undress. You’re at least half my age and you’re as flat as a cheesecake, it wouldn’t even be fun.”

With a slam, the door closed and Floyd leaned onto one of the walls of the corridor outside of the bathroom, shaking his head to get the disgusting image out of his head.

As soon as Floyd opened his stupid mouth - acting exactly as irritatingly childish as anyone would have expected - Marionette’s scowl deepened. She was about to tell him exactly what she thought about the whole “family friend” business when suddenly the swordsman’s smile faded. The shift caught the girl by surprise, stealing the words from her throat as Floyd seemed to actually be reconsidering his words. Having said his piece, Floyd turned and left in a huff, leaving Marionette motionless as his words slowly seeped in.

...flat as a...what?

Realising that she had just been insulted, Marionette began to fume. Cursing herself for being too slow on the draw to have fired back with a retort of her own, the villainess flipped her middle finger at the door before she continued to change.

“Half his age? Oh please, I’m not some kid.” Marionette muttered under her breath. “I’m pretty much 18 - he’s just some old fart with a power trip.” Removing the foul-coloured orange jumpsuit, Marionette’s gaze fell on her reflection in the bathroom’s mirror. She paused for a moment before throwing out the thought that had dared to appear in the back of her mind. Swiping the guard uniform with an irritated huff, Marionette stormed off to one of the stalls to finish getting dressed.

“What a total asshole!”

[Zarkenis Ultima]

July 24th

---

---

As opposed to Red's impressions, though, Kiris had already ceased to pay attention to the scene unfolding before her, looking to the side in discomfort while simultaneously doing her best to keep her animosity to herself; after all, even if she still blamed Red for what happened to Mars, Yoshi was still her friend and it was hardly fair for her to ruin her moment with Red because of her grudge. Instead, she kept her gaze firmly fixed on the microwave oven, the seconds bleeding away slowly. Seristella, meanwhile, simply observed the couple's interaction with mild curiosity, somewhat fascinated by the sheer amount of mixed signals she was picking up from both parties, though she knew better than to interfere. This was not her place after all.

Soon Red was gone, but Kirisvala didn't feel any more comfortable talking anymore, reminded of all the negative feelings it had cost her so much to overcome the previous night. Looking up at Yoshiro, she attempted to mumble a few friendly words, only to fail to come up with any.

Fortunately, a savior came to her in the form of a box making a loud noise. Looking back at the microwave, she realized that the pasta was done, and quickly walked over to retrieve the two plates instead, unaffected by the fact that the porcelain was hot enough to burn a regular person. "Here, try it!" She said as she fished a spoon out of a drawer and handed it to her sister along with the plate. Accepting it, the older sister looked at the strange and undersized eating utensil with a raised eyebrow, before using it to try and dig a scoop of pasta out of the plate.

"...Huh. It's surprisingly good for something that wasn't killed recently." Seristella admitted before digging out another spoonful. "What do ya say we go eat outdoors like we used to?" She suggested with a smile. Kiris' face quickly brightened up and she nodded, before turning to her friend. "See ya later, Yoshi!"

The sisters then made their way out of the kitchen and back onto the hallways of Wonder Tower.

"A shame you're mad at the boy. He's the first person I've seen here that looks like a warrior - as much as one of these people can resemble one, at least." The older Hadrian commented, switching back to Lokwynn once more before eating another spoonful. "What happened?"

Kirisvala felt a little taken aback by the question, and she furrowed her brow. "He... didn't really do a good job as a leader during a mission yesterday, and because of that someone I care about got hurt." She told her sister. "That shouldn't have happened... It would've gone much better if we'd had a plan before going in."

Hearing this, Seristella scoffed. "You should've challenged his leadership and wiped the floor with him. Maybe if you'd taken charge things would have gone as intended." She suggested. A little surprised, Kiris stared at her sister for a few moments before chuckling.

"I don't think that's how it works here, Seris." She said. "Besides... I had no idea what was going to happen until it happened. I tried to make the most of the situation, but there wasn't anything I could've done to prevent it."

The elder sister let out a grunt and stared ahead for a few moments. "Well, I don't like how it works here, then. Maybe you should keep it in mind anyway, just in case he does it again." She suggested, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Do you actually want to go eat outdoors?"

"Huh? You weren't serious?" KIris asked, surprised. Seristella shrugged.

"I just said it to get you out of there. You were too tense. That's not good." She replied. "How about you keep showing me around instead?"

"Okay!"

---

July 25th

---

---

What soon came to her was not the sound of an Uber pulling up, but a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Stella!"

After a short but enjoyable day of leisure, the electric vigilante had spent most of the 25th finding out what he could on the group of black-clad organized vigilantes who called themselves The Crusade, and now that night had fallen upon San Diego, he had ventured out on the streets in order to see if he could collect any more information with his own eyes and ears, as his research had been mostly unsatisfactory. He hadn't fared much better thus far, but as he prowled the rooftops of the condemned district, well away from Warwolf's grasp, in search of whatever lead he could find, he stumbled across something he hadn't expected to see that night: the sight of his girlfriend standing on the rooftop of a rundown, abandoned building, wearing a large cloak instead of her usual outfit.

His first reaction was joy, predictably enough, prompting him to briefly smile and call out to her before leaping through the gap that separated him from the heroine and landing on the same rooftop as her, just a short distance away. But as he approached, obvious questions began to pop into his mind, his smile dying down as he considered each of them. What's Renata doing out here? I thought her team was trying to stay off the streets... Why the condemned district of all places? And what's that she's wearing? Why...

The boy's thoughts trailed off and he stopped in his tracks as he got a closer look at her.

Why is her face bloody?

The sight in front of him, a Stella with a bruised cheek and a thin string of blood trailing down from her lip, provoked not joy but concern and, more importantly, outrage. Fists tightened as Icarus thought of who might have done this to her, but this was an emotional reaction that he quickly subdued in favor of checking on Renata. Right now, making sure that she was alright took precedence over worrying about whatever lowlife had done that to her.

Yeah, better not let my emotions cloud my judgment. He told himself as he quickly closed the last few feet that separated him from his girlfriend, gently cradling her head with his hands as soon as he reached her side, looking straight into her eyes. "Renata, what happened to you? Are you alright? Do you need help getting to a hospital?" He asked in quick succession, his concern evident in his voice.

[Turmenista]

Maxwell Anders
New York City

Ah, New York City.

The epitome of hypercapitalism, ubiquitous superhero advertisements (and advertising in general), powerful corporate suits in tall ivory towers, and supertall skyscrapers with no apparent end to their height. Also, coincidentally, it was the destination of Max's vacation spot... for a prolonged vacation that would extend well into the new year. Something about a new government job that was an extension of her job back in San Diego—who really cared, in the end? If it meant free travel and getting to stay in a very nice hotel room, he was down. As far as he knew, he still had straight-A's back at Thomsen High and most of the work was relatively "easy", so worrying about any lost work was out of the picture.

For now, Max wanted to leave and travel around the city, using the money he had (and the powers he had) to defend himself while he toured around. Namely, there was a large expo next to the massive NASL stadium that was adjacent to their hotel building, and the view they had down onto it was spectacular. He could only imagine the sounds of tens of thousands of people all cheering in unison, explosions and blasts flying astray...

Eh, that came later. For now, he wanted to go see what was up with all those white tents out there.

"Mom, I'm out." Max called a farewell back to his unusually attractive mother, who was too busy on the phone to respond aside from a wave to her son. Closing the door behind his back, Max gave a sigh as he began walking down the hallway to the elevator, placing his hands in his pockets as he brushed his blonde hair away from his eyes.

As usual for his mother, Ms. Anders had decided in a rather impromptu fashion to take the vacation, without even warning Max ahead of time. Either way, as he thought about it before, Max didn't really mind the trip, for now, at least. If it meant getting away from the stresses of school and shit, he'd take it.

To pass the time while he waited for the elevator to arrive, Max pulled out his phone to view the NASL fantasy report, pushing away the useless and spammed messages to take a look at the latest reports. Prospects had the LA Stars winning at... 80%, as usual, while there were still reports of strange robots roaming around Russia that had everyone on their toes. Additionally, there was more coverage of the events that had happened days prior, including a mention of the shenanigans of the "Young Bloods" team somewhere in his home town of San Diego.

Hm. That's interesting. Max read the report of the robots out aloud as the elevator doors opened in front of him. "More reports of apparent alien invaders, NASA reports.. Huh."

"I know, crazy, right?"

Shocked by the voice ahead of him, Max almost punched the man in front of him through the elevator's glass wall, calming down and giving a sigh of relief (along with an audible "Jesus Christ" as he entered the elevator alongside its sole occupant, a stocky Janitor. He wore an olive green jumpsuit, heavily contrasting with the "nicer" material that the rest of the hotel staff wore. "Going down?"

Max shrugged, bored. "Yeah. Lobby, please."

"How long have ya been staying here? A week? I've been here two years" The janitor asked as he pressed the button, wheezing at his own unfunny joke. Max shifted uncomfortably to one of the other corners, trying his hardest to maintain at least a semi-interested or straight face, even with the janitor's putrid tobacco-breath buffeting him in the face at gale force winds. The janitor also shifted to the back of the elevator, practically touching Max's shoulder, causing him to keep a straight face looking forward all the while.

Impatiently tapping the elevator, as if he were trying to increase its weight to keep it moving down faster, Max looked at his phone, watching the cell service bars slowly disappear, cringing. He didn't even have to look up from the screen to know that the janitor was looking down, over his shoulder, to see what he was doing, practically breathing down his neck. "Can I... can I help you?" Max asked, trying to stay as civil as he could.

"All these modern technology trinkets with you kids, dude." The janitor assumed a toothy smile as he chuckled, with Max just now noticing a few of his missing teeth. "I remember back when a smart watch was what you kids would call a dumbwatch! It only used to tell the time! Now, look at this: smart watches and smart phones like you got have the processing power of entire server rooms, and they STILL tell the time! Crazy! You wanna know how I told time back in Vietn-"

"I'll pass, respectfully." Max nodded, trying his hardest to avoid a 30 minute long war story about a single battle of a single war he'd covered a semester's worth of time in school. The janitor smiled awkwardly as he resumed to standing at the wall, coincidentally looking at the floor counter go down. Damn. Is this a long-ass elevator ride, or is this just a super tall building?

Max asked the same question aloud, scoffing in disbelief as he made it more... politically correct, in language. The Janitor shrugged. "Probably the latter. This building's huge, as is everyone else around here. You know, some technopaths built this building, maybe that's why it's so big. I could recall one time when we lost power here, people were stuck so high up, we had to get some super who could fly to get them out! You shoulda seen the looks on their faces when we pried those doors open... it was one of those glass ones that looks out to the city—like the one we're in now."

Yeah, I bet they were mortified. Probably because they had the unfortunate experience of riding with someone like you. He rolled his eyes "Well, at least we aren't stuck on an elevator, ..right?"

The janitor laughed out loud, obnoxiously so. "Damn right! I swear, the probability of us getting stuck in such a small, confined space like this for sixty minutes is slim, but if that happened? That's be funny as hell! Man, that would suck real bad! Kinda like how I got my foot stuck in a pothole back in 'Nam with a mortar round that landed next to me. It didn't seem to want to go off until right after I stepped out, blew one of my toes off. Heh."

About ten more seconds of awkward silence passed, and Max was already having it as the elevator reached the ground. The janitor looked at him, eager to learn more about the kid. "So... uh.. kid. You got any superpo-"

The elevator buzzed, its doors opening as Max sprung off the wall, breaking into a sprint as he laughed. Behind him, the Janitor called out to wait, but, unknown to him, Max spun around, still moving backwards as he kept his feet on the ground, arms open as he slid along the ground. "Careful, buddy! I stole the friction from the floor!"

While the janitor took a step and immediately slipped on the now frictionless floor, Max simply leaped up and, much like a skateboarder would've done to the railing on a flight of stairs, slid down the stairs on his way to the entrance, not before putting the friction back, that is.

_____________________________________

Now that he was finally out of that.. uncomfortable predicament, Max jogged out to the large park that sat sandwiched between his hotel complex and the NASL complex, practically forming a tailgate party that was full of large tents, screens, and people alike. He gazed out to the park of gigantic white circus tents that made up the expo, each emblazoned with the large logo of the Wonders Foundation.

One of the tents in particular had a gargantuan jumbotron on its side, a veritable crowd of youngsters watching a very familiar hero on the television screen giving an inspiring speech, complete with motivational music in the background.

“Attention all young people: It’s me! Captain Quake. It’s not easy being a superhero—in fact, it’s one of the hardest jobs out there. It takes great power and a lot of responsibility to turn yourself into a crime fighting powerhouse, and it’s no easy job to go around stopping evil day by day. You've got to have the right balance between brains, brawn, and cash, nowadays. Fortunately for your generation, anyone can be a superhero. All it takes now is six easy things, in fact: Determination, motivation, maturity, your parents’ credit card number, the three digits on the back, and the expiration month and year. Remember—anyone can be a super. It’s just one chug of a Wonders Foundation^TM Power in a Jar^TM jug away! Now get out there and make a difference, supers! Buy your very own Power in a Jar today!”

After Quake showed the screen his very own power in a jar, The message was replaced by the inspirational jingle of the Wonders Foundation, along with the text:

"WONDERS FOUNDATION — THE FUTURE IS LOOKING WONDERFUL"
Captain Quake approves this message.

Huh. Neat. Normally, Quake’s ego would have prevented him from doing such sponsorships.

Sidestepping through tourists, little kids dancing, and huge groups of girls alike, Max stepped up to one of the tents in particular, which was guarded by a very large and imposing young staff member in a white Wonders Foundation lab coat, apparently blocking up the entrance expo in the largest of the tents—the one the Jumbotron had been played from.

Upon seeing Max, however, his entire demeanor changed instantly. “No need for that, Anders,” the guard said, motioning for his friend to fill in for him as Max put away the Lifetime Membership™ card he had pocketed earlier. “We’ve been expecting you. My name’s Logan, and I’ll be your guide for today.”

“Cool. Thanks, Logan.” Max nodded, stepping into the tent. “Is this, uh, about my membership? Because, as far as I know, I’m pretty much the only guy in the word with this kind of membership…”

“Not quite. And you’re not wrong. In fact, you’re 100% right about that, Max.”
Logan said, leaving Max’s mouth agape as he hurriedly followed him through the doors. “Wait.. what?”

Logan chuckled. “The tour we have planned today would overview the design process for our Power in a Jar™ series, but, knowing you, a huge buyer of our Yellow Series, we wanted to show you what we’ve been working on for that.”

“Neat. Anything else?”

“Uhhh..” Logan paused, briefly reading from a clipboard as they passed by dozens of computers and robotic arms in a real lab to show the design process of their powers. “Says here you have some… strange powers. Even I don’t understand it, but, nonetheless, we’ve got some cool things in store for you. Longer lasting powers, more potent ones, less artificial powers and, in your case,” He paused for dramatic effect. “Strengthened base powers.”

Now, Max was sold, and Logan could tell exactly. Before moving on, though, Max raised a finger. “Though, I’ve just got one question for you, Logan.”

“Hm?”

Max narrowed his eyes, grinning nefariously. This was going to be a very good day. “When do I start?”

Logan smiled. “I was hoping you’d ask that. The expo starts now, Anders. Welcome to the Wonders Foundation.”

---

Meanwhile…
The (Fictional) Town of Grestol, Russia

Running a hand on the sleeve of his red flannel shirt and his jet black hair, Misha Kasparov watched Igor Casitov from inside of his unassuming car, his massive physique and muscles covered up by an even larger jacket tailored especially for him. Despite his size, the aptly-named Mammoth moved as fluidly as a cat, his movements so methodical and calm that Misha could almost call them robotic—like the Kaspersy Unit operator’s own movements—as he picked up a small log from a pile adjacent to him, placed it on a stump and split it it with his ax, repeating the process over and over again

It was quite ironic, really, watching someone who would’ve otherwise been considered a national hero—scratch that, a global hero—in such a humble environment... chopping wood, outside of his tiny home near an equally tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

Still, Misha had a mission, one which he simply couldn’t back down on. Willingly or not, Igor had to come with him, as the safety of Russia depended on his decision to follow him or not. He’d seen the devastation that their enemy were capable of as seen in the total destruction of Fresno, in which an entire Yankee superhero team was decimated (albeit, a team of B-listers), so he wasn’t so willing to just let Casitov sit around while his home was destroyed by the aliens. He was their best bet on something strong enough to contend with the alien robots, and combined his past experience with his raw power to form one deadly package. The Kaspersy unit could only do so much by themselves until support was needed, after all, and Casitov himself seemed to be all the support they needed.

With a sigh, Misha left his vehicle, stepping out into the snow as he placed his hands into his pockets, closing the door behind him. He slowly stepped towards Casitov’s home, still remaining silent as he watched the Mammoth do his work, not even stopping to pause to take a look at whoever was approaching. Almost with a supernatural sixth sense, he already knew who it was, briefly pausing his work as he relaxed his massive shoulders.

“So.. they send child to kill me now?” Casitov chuckled, his voice baritone with his age. “Usually it would be airstrike, or an assassin. A child is new.”

“Well, you are right on that part, Comrade Mammoth. I am 19, but I am no child.” A small smile appeared on Misha’s otherwise emotionless face as he looked down for a moment, correcting his footing before looking back up at the behemoth before him. While Misha had the physique of a Greek or Roman sculpture even at his young age, he was far from capable of taking on the Mammoth in a fistfight. “However, I am not here to kill you. If I were, you would’ve been dead already.”

Igor grunted, pausing his chopping for a moment. “Ah. Mobster?”

“Not quite.”

Igor muttered. “Blyat. Military. Even worse.” Then, raising his voice, “So, army-man, what is it this time? Fighting Ukrainians? Chechens? Hadrian enclaves? Terrorists? ‘Enemies to the state?’ Hah! What must I, Mammoth, be used for in your fight now?”

Misha sighed, his eyes meeting with the Mammoth’s. He needed to be curt and straight to the point with what he needed to say, else he'd probably just get dismissed by the champion. “Comrade Mammoth, your country calls you. Russia is in great danger from a threat outside our world. I fear only you may be powerful enough to face such a challenge head on, Casitov. Now, if we were to work together, we may-“

“No.”

Misha was taken back by Casitov’s abrupt reply. He tilted his head. “Well… no, as in-“

“No.” Casitov turned to his stump, continuing his work. Frowning, Misha dug his hands deeper into his pockets. “Casitov, do you understand that your family would be put in danger if you were to delay? These aliens have been seen decimating entire cities for no apparent reason, but we have found they target superhumans, like yourself. If you were to help us fight them, maybe we could save your“

Another “No!” bellowed from the Mammoth, this time, much louder and more aggressive than the rest. The ground shook like an earthquake as he split the stump in half with a single mighty swing, taking the ax from one of the halves of the stump and placing it to his side, glowering at Misha. "Do you understand what ‘No’ means, little man? It means No! Why must I be used to fight your battles, with little reward for me? I am seen as a monster—my own country and my own people, many times, have turned their backs on me. What makes you think that I may help you, soldier? When all I have been given is a hostile shoulder?”

Misha hesitated for a moment, questioning why he even was here when Mammoth had clearly said he wanted no business in their affairs. However, he persisted, looking to reply to Casitov with six simple words:

“Because people still believe in you.”

Igor paused for a moment, turning around to look down at Misha as a father would to his child, or a teacher to their disorderly student. “Believe in me? Heh. Heh.” He then gave a hearty cackle, scowling at the soldier. “I’ll believe that when my people stop calling me Monster.”

_____________________________________

The members of the Kaspersy Unit’s Strategic Command (СТРАТКОМ) inner circle watched the footage play out from the camera situated on Misha’s dashboard, listening to the Mammoth’s repeated “No” as he refused his offer to join them. Recently-promoted Commander Natalia Kamarov had her elbows propped up against the table, deep in thought, as she watched the events play out. The others of the inner circle were just as concerned as she was with this, and were currently looking to find a way to get the Mammoth in their team.

However, Commander Kamarov was ahead of the game, analyzing the outcome of one of these possible situations in her head. She looked among the obelisks that represented the other commanders, pressing down her button to begin speaking.

“Broadcast a false event on Misha’s position now. Give Casitov a taste of our enemy’s power, then draw them back on their little chase.”

She reeled back as the order pended for five seconds, before being approved by a green light by her screen blinking twice. Clasping her hands together, she rested her elbows on the table, watching the events play out.

---

Harley the Dog

As he moved around with the group of girls and entered the garage, Harley immediately spotted the gangsters, though, never really bothered to figure out what exactly was going on. The mean-ish red-haired girl named Renata stood in front of the group, getting picked on by the others for her hair (which was cool, yes) but not really that cool.

He did have a laugh about the fat guy, who was able to crush a can of some drink with his hand, that Harley moved over to sniff and lap at properly, only tasting and smelling metal, unfortunately. As he lifted up his head, though, the German Shepherd immediately noticed that they were surrounded and went on edge, flattening his ears both as a show of force and of worry. If any one of them wanted to pet him, he thought, they were more than welcome to, but none of these guys here looked like they were here for petting or food. All of them looked like they were here for any of that…

As their little Mexican showdown continued, Harley snuffed the air, smelling the stench of black powder, ozone, and fire outside as loud shouting and booms of shooting were heard outside. The big guy in front of them was just as confused—if not more—than he was.

Suddenly, Elle pulled Renata and Vic away, right before the former was about to blast a hole the size of a dinner plate in the big man—mmm! He smelled of whatever meat that was that came with nachos!—and tossed a smoke grenade into the battlefield. Figuring it was a *real* one, Harley barker at it and leaped away, cowering behind some furniture as the smoke bomb detonated, filling the area with thick smoke.

Now armed and ready to roll, the team faced their opponents, and Harley soon put one and two together and realized they were about to fight. Stepping out from his cover, he returned to the team’s side, flattening his ears as he bared his teeth and began to growl.

A voice to his side told him to hold up the big Nacho-smelling guy, to which Harley nodded in acknowledgment. Okay! Fighting bad guys! I can do this! What am I supposed to do again?

After waking up to him, Harry was then pushed away by the big ball of lard, hitting the wall with a thud. Obviously, being slapped into the wall REALLY hurt, so after wallowing in his pain for a moment, he stepped back into his feet and shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he growled at the pain in his side.

Hrrr.... ow. Ow! OW!! Okay.. that’s a big guy. For me, at least. But I can take him! Now, how do I do that?

Realizing Mr. Nacho was headed right at him, Harley bared his canines, his eyes taking on a brighter glowing blue tone very different than his usual amber tone. Oh, right!

Standing his ground, as one would do in protecting an infant, a growl grew in Harley’s throat, and he let out a powerful bark in the man’s direction.

In hindsight, “bark” wasn’t exactly the best word to use, since this was essentially a compact sound blast which shattered most glass things around the area, swept Nacho off his feet, and sent him careening through the air, ragdoll mode. Once the tinnitus subsided from everyone’s ears, Harley raced up into the air and dove down towards Nacho, barking wildly. Rrrrr… I’ll kill you!

Then, with the speed of an athlete, Harley was grabbed by the collar by Nacho as he stood up, performing a spin around and letting go of the super dog, but not before sending a powerful pistol whip in Harley’s direction, launching him towards the nearest piece of furniture in the area.

Harley crashed through the table, wincing in pain as he weakly stood up. Clearly, he had underestimated Nacho’s strength and was already seeing its results, as seen in how he weak he was even after a few hits.

Panting and looking to his friends as if to expect more help, Harley kept his focus on Nacho and barked once more, sprinting at him and locking his jaws down onto his pants, as if to throw him down onto the ground, much like how a police dog would’ve done to any suspect.

---

Harley, but later on

Roused from his sleep, Harley lifted his head up and looked at whoever had poked him with his foot, silently hoping that they had food for him or something else interesting. The latter seemed to be true as Harley realized who it was, judging by his mopey demeanor and signature hair.

Why, it’s Red! ...I think! But wait, are you Red? You seem more like a White to me. Tilting his head in confusion, Harley processed Red’s inquiry, then- Ohhhhhh! I get it! He’s called Red because his hair is Red! That’s a funny joke! I want to go outside now! This Red seems like a cool guy!

Almost as if he had “Red” his mind—Harley’s tail wagged excitedly at the thought of his own funny joke—Red asked the same question to him. A walk outside was one of the best things in the world, aside from going to the park, sausage, solving puzzles, and interacting with female dogs. As if to say yes, he bobbed his head up and down, careful not to go into Red as to overtake him with his physical strength.

Yes, YES! I do! Let’s go on a walk! That sounds fun!

---

DISCLAIMER: For those unaware, this part of my post is an extended cut of my story acting as a prologue to this arc, from this OS's epilogue: Going Shopping: A Young Bloods Story

Not knowing the context of it would make this rather confusing, so I suggest you do so now.


Breakout One

Maxwell Morningstar Maximum-Security Correctional Facility
Aka, ‘The Mad Max’

All around Earl Grey, there was an unorganized, unholy amalgamation of sound assaulting him from all sides. The hallways were filled with the terrifying chorus of people screaming and crying, cell bars being shook and clattered, buzzers going off as cells were being unlocked and locked, and expletives he’d never even heard of in his life, filling the air with a sense of dread and genuine discomfort as he was led down the white halls of the Maxwell Morningstar Maximum-Security Correctional Facility, affectionately known by by the guards and inmates as ‘The Mad Max,” due to its rather unhinged cast of staff and prisoners alike.

The white fluorescent lights on the ceiling above blinked at irregular intervals, causing an even greater sense of unease to creep up on Earl Grey as the two prison guards behind him kept pushing him along with their clubs, passing by countless numbers of cells in the process. He felt extremely uncomfortable in here—out of place, at best—given how everyone in here were peasants. Murderous peasants, at that. Moreover, everyone here were either experienced killers, former villains, or other general no-do-gooders that happened to have superpowers, all capable of destroying him with ease.

Not to mention, everyone had on big, bulky collars which tracked all of the prisoners at all times, while also doubling as power suppressors and bomb collars, courtesy of Warwolf. If anyone tried to do anything to the guards that was out of line, they could receive anything from a beating with stun batons, to a controlled shock, to a small explosive detonation which turned anything above one's neck into fine giblets. Thus, escape was virtually impossible…

...or was it?

He’d heard some rumors about a few prisoners in The Mad Max who were different from the others: a former high school student and star athlete, who was wrongly arrested by the police for a crime he didn’t commit, and was one of the best fighters in the jail. Then, there was a man who claimed to be an immortal chaos being that was all-powerful and as old as the universe itself, though, it was hard to discern whether or not the man was trying to be serious or if he was just insane. Either way, he too was a very formidable fighter that was incredibly aware of his surroundings. No one crossed his path, and for good reason.

Two odd ones out… that happen to be competent.. this could be my means of escape. I, Earl Grey, simply will not allow myself to stay in such a decrepit prison like this for an indefinite amount of time. I won’t continue to allow this imprisonment to defy my wealth and prestige.

I will escape. Eventually. It may not be today, or tomorrow, but I will escape.

Earl Grey himself also had identified possible routes of escape out of the Mad Max, silently formulating a plan to himself to break apart the prison, distracting the guards and nabbing those two of interest before making his grand escape. However, the plan was still in the, well, planning phases, so before he could actually test his hypothetical, he needed to see what he was dealing with.

“I would like to eat now, gentlemen.” The two guards behind him laughed something unintelligible under their breaths, unlocking Earl Grey’s mag-cuffs as they pushed him along, taunting him like a puppy. “Alright. You’ve been a good boy, Your Highness. Go eat the slop.”

Earl Grey grinned, waving at the men. He made a mental reminder to kill them first once he was armed, brushing his long-sleeved khaki prison jumpsuit off of their grime as he went on his way.

Passing by prisoners who extended their arms out to grab at him through their cells, hurling expletives at the guards in the process, Earl Grey was escorted out to the main “common area” of the prison, a large, open area, filled with an entire cafeteria cordoned off by half-walls, a basketball court, and a kitchen, where meals were served to the prisoners. He was directed to the kitchen, where he received his tray of whatever compote was food for today, and was guided out to the cafeteria tables, which were full of identically-clad inmates all talking about different topics.

True to his suspicions, his two persons of interest were there, conversing amongst themselves in one of the corner tables. The teenager, a young black man with a slight stubble, was talking to the older, white man that had red hair, and two noteworthy scars covering both of his eyes, and didn’t seem to notice that Earl Grey was approaching them, hearing everything they were saying. The teen’s sleeves to his jumpsuit were rolled up to his elbows, while the so-called “demon” had taken the top half of his jumpsuit off and tied it around his waist, exposing the white wifebeater he wore underneath.

“So.. you know, insane, right?” The teen asked the red haired adult, who nodded slowly, drinking some dark liquid from his plastic cup. The teen continued. “Okay, okay, now check it out, Aer. So, I was at this party, right? I had titties in one hand, titties in the other hand. I had two hands full of titties. Crazy, right?”

“Damn right.” The red-haired man spoke while he was still drinking, his voice slightly muffled by his cup. Then, the teen continued. “Yeah, so while that was happening, some asshole jumps in and tries to fight me, humiliate me in front of the entire pa—” The teen seemed to take note of Earl Grey standing behind the red-haired adult, who also seemed to notice, despite not turning his head around. Aer’s violet eyes blinked. “I will guess: that “asshole” is standing behind me now?”

“Not quite.” Earl Grey sat down on another chair, facing both of them. He prodded his “food” with his plastic fork, but was more focused on the two, getting to know them better, learning how they worked… having them earn his trust, than he was eating.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Earl Grey said, eating some of his food just out of hunger alone. “You two seem to be very competent people. Therefore, I’m organizing a little breakout, so we can get out of here and roam the city as we please. All I need are your names, your powers, and a guarantee that you’re interested.”

“What makes us think that you’ll be able to break out? This place is a fortress practically.” The teen folded his arms, to which Earl Grey smirked. “I’ve memorized every single exit and some hypotheticals about escape plans. Not to mention, I have an entire army of butlers at my disposal which I can order to break us out at any given moment, provided I get this collar off of me, which is an easy thing to do itself. You have my word that I’ll back any of your criminal endeavors in the future. In return.. you help me break out.”

Seeing as they were interested, Earl Grey smiled and pushed his tray in, folding his arms as he leaned in on the table. “Now… names and powers, gentlemen? Why don’t you go first, young man?”

“My name is Brock Spencer.” The black teenager explained. “I manipulate zero point energy and I’m pretty strong, I guess.”

“And I am the being known as Aërùszirhfuczixi,” the red-haired man said. “I go by the colloquial human name of Adam. I am a being of pure chaos energy.”

“I guess I shall be the third,” Earl Grey said. “I am Earl Johnston Churchill III of Grey, but you may also call me Earl Grey. I do not have powers, but I have weapons at my disposal made by my family’s company, which I am the sole inheritor of. I am also a master swordsman and combatant. But, enough about me. Brock, out of curiosity, did your… annoying asshole seem to have a name starting with a Johnny and ending with—”

“A Johnny Swift, yeah,” Brock answered, “And his annoying bitchass friend, Floyd Tolson. They’re the reasons why I’m here.”

“I still don’t know why this Johnny is so important, though.” Aer said. “Nor do I know how you plan on breaking me out.”

“Don’t worry about it, mates, he’ll be important later,” Earl Grey said. “Regardless, we have a mission to accomplish: get out of here alive, but that is why I am here. Gentlemen, we are villains. We do what we want, where we want to do it, and when we want to do it—we roll the nickels and deal the cards. As much as San Diego is a hero city, it is also a villain city, and we want it to stay that way. If we all were to work in synergy with one another—which we will—our effectiveness will rise outside the roof. We’ll create a winning team to this little game of ours—a Trifecta if you will.”

He paused, taking a sip from his drink as he stared down the two, pausing for dramatic effect.

“After all… shouldn’t we be able to have our own supervillain team..?”

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"<It does. There are humans that I'm friends with, and there ones that I don't particularly care for.>" Sina mentioned that she had very, very little difficulty in fighting humans. Which was odd unless she worked out alot and even then. "<Sina... I'm thinking that there may something different about you. I don't know enough about us to say for sure, but we are very comparable to them, in most ways physically. The only thing I can say for sure that we're better than them at, is stamina.>" He recalled that he was quite good at long distance running in school, probably from all the time he spent flying. "<I would know, before I received my... Erm, gift. I wasn't much better than them at much. At least physically.>" He finished explaining as Sina took her glamour and mentioned his was a different method.

"Well." He started in English. "A friend of mine on my team noted that I don't like my glamour. So on my hatchday party, she made me a device that lets me change my appearance without having to use magic." He explained. "Plus, it's less intrusive and I don't feel like I'm walking around missing a bunch of limbs."

It was then that Sina tried to flirt with him. He snickered a bit and shook his head. "Not even a little. Come on." He spoke heading into the store. Thankfully it was pretty quiet, making him quite glad he chose to come early on a weekday. "We'll just get you a smartphone. Those are the good ones over there. They come with a charger, and uh. How much English can you read and write?"

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

Jason

Well, Jason's earlier remark about me being weird appeared to be a simple joke. Which, to be fair, I should have noticed earlier. Guess the failure last night kept me too tense. Keep calm and carry on Amir, keep calm and carry on.

Jason proceeded to tell about his 'partner' that, supposedly, reside inside his head. Now, who's the weird one. It would be a bit hypocritical if I called him for it, but this guy might actually need professional help. Should I ask him about it? Then again, I had seen people being possessed by demons and angry Bogeymen. Maybe he is actually saying the truth. Jason did not look like someone with mental illness. He then talked about how his 'partner' grants him increased senses which, according to him, allowed him to sense something on me and Wyatt that we both share.

"That is interesting. I'm not sure what we would both share in common, other than having our rooms close to each other." I wondered what Jason could probably sense on both of us. "I am not, as far as I am aware of, a dragon or a descendant of one so it must not be it." It was not very important though. I could always research more into it later.

Suddenly Jason went... Weird. He shouted something about they couldn't do something. Was he talking to his 'partner'? That could be it. My suspicion was confirmed when he told me that he was indeed talking with his partner. He also told me about another new recruit, Shi, who I did not know anything about.

"Good to meet you to Jason Sludge. I will remind myself not to call the asylum that one of their patients had escaped. I think I need to catch up with a lot of people. It seems Naja is making a bigger army than I previously thought. Again, nice to meet you. Hope we could work together soon, Jason." I ended it by extending my arm, a simple polite gesture for our brief introduction.

[Absolon-7]

Kiris & Seris

Casimir Herman July 24th
Leaving Ash with Naja for her interview into the team, Casimir walked off to his room for a change of clothes since his current ones had a cocktail of blood belonging to himself and that lowly cur Scott. Upon arrival to his room, Casimir opened his closet to pick his clothes and now he had to decide what to wear. Casimir glared inside taking sweeping glances through its contents before settling on something simple. Taking off his clothes Casimir threw on a white undershirt and the rest of chosen outfit that being a black tracksuit. Before leaving his room Casimir swiped a flat cap from the top of a drawer placing it on his head and a bag of sesame seeds. He grumpily munched on handfuls of seeds as he walked though the tower to the living room.

Casimir had earlier texted Viviana but she said she was out with some of the Young Bloods girls. Casimir was glad to see her making friends but he would've liked to see her. It seemed whenever he was alone today his thoughts came back to imagining beating Scott to a bloody unrecognizable pulp so he imagined it'd be best to converse with his fellow heroes to get his mind off that traitorous, cowardly swine. While he would have preferred to track down the son of a bitch and beat him to an inch of his life Casimir decided he couldn't play any hands yet. He'd have to learn more before making a move. Depending on how things went he'd fuck up Scott harder that the Nazis fucked up Poland no matter what the other Young Bloods said. Speaking of other Young Bloods he scanned though his security moths checking the halls and other places in the Tower to see who he could socialize with.

"Kurwa! The hell is that słabeusz Carter doing with a hot redhead!," gasped Casimir with sesame seeds flying out his mouth once one moth spotted the aeromancer with some redhead and Mike as well. The shock of the sight was both hilarious and befuddling to Casimir. On one hand he had to question what type of girl would go for Carter but at the same time he had to congratulate the boy for catching such a legendary feat, "How puzzling."

Another sight that intrigued Casimir was Kiris and what appeared to be an older Hadrian clad in some exceptional armor. The Tower was having a two visitors the same day it seemed. Luckily Kiris and the other Hadrian where near him so he just kept walking forward before spotting them. He reached up with one hand to touch the gauze Jane had put there to cover a gash he had sustained. Hopefully his flat cap hid it well enough until it healed up later in the day. The last thing he wanted was for other to keep bringing up the proof of his defeat to that rat bastard Scott.

"Good morning!," heartily greeted Casimir waving her down already beginning to feel calmed down, "Got yourself a visitor, eh? Or are we all gonna put on some armor for some jousting?"

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

Sina's face formed a slight frown when Bael shot back at her slight flirt by saying that she doesn't look endearing at all. Sure, it didn't wound her that much, seeing as she could tell that Bael was half-joking and that this was merely her guise, not her true appearance, they were talking about, but... you know... She spent at least ten minutes picking out what she was going to look like when she had to put on a Glamour the first time. He could have worded that differently.

Whatever. Bael told her that they're heading out and Sina followed through, and a few minutes later, the two disguised Dra'Quinni stepped into a clean, almost blindingly white telephone store. Bael pointed her to the direction of the lines of smartphones at the side, supposedly those were the "good ones", and raisd a question of just how much English she can read and write.

"I... yeah, yeah, I can read. Slowly, but I can." Sina replied as she walked up to the shelves, each phone model on display behind glass case and with a bunch of words and numbers the vigilante couldn't comprehend written on pieces of paper next to them. The single store clerk, having been napping behind the desk for the last hour or so due to the lack of customers, slowly woke up after the bell above the store rang, and instantly widened his eyes upon seeing a woman with a chest covered by a few loose drapes and bands inspecting the shelves.

'Uh... that friend of yours..." the clerk muttered towards Wyatt, not sure on what the relationship between the two customers was. "...does she always wear like that?"

Said 'friend' suddenly turned towards Bael and exclaimed:

"Wyatt, all of these phones are the same! They're all thin black boxes, how am I supposed to tell which one is better?"

---

July 25th

---

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Renata had spent the previous thirty seconds trying to convince the Uber driver she contacted that no, she's in no condition to meet him outside of the Condemned District. The driver was adamant that he was not going to step a foot in that part of the town, but eventually he folded, coming to the compromise that he will pick up the heroine there, but only as long as she doesn't waste any time while getting on the car and lets him sod off from the district as soon as possible.

Not that I can fault him for such a line of thought. It's called Condemned for a reason. Renata thought to herself, still standing on the same rooftop where Marina had left her a minute ago. Well. Now that her carriage is on the way, the only thing left to do is wait for-

Icarus?!

That was him. That was definitely his voice. She couldn't be mistaken, not like during the fight in the basement. And as Renata turned around in shock at the voice suddenly calling out to her, this guess ended up proven correct - Icarus had just landed on the same rooftop as her. With clear surprise and concern in his eyes - which should come as no surprise, seeing as the heroine definitely looked worse for wear - she was still in disbelief that she somehow managed to survive that bout without a sword disemboweling her.

And because of that, when Icarus grabbed onto her head and began barraging her with questions, Renata simply couldn't focus on any one of them. Merely seeing that the world confirmed her that she is alive was enough to overwhelm her with joy. Immediately after the vigilante finished his questions, the heroine suddenly pulled him in even closer, into a hug, surprisingly tight for someone who had been left wounded and exhausted by the battle earlier.

If she could, she would have hugged him forever. Icarus's warmth was one of the few safe havens she still had in a world which was increasingly turning against her. Immersed in it, she could forget that she was an inch away from certain death three minutes ago, that she was getting increasingly frustrated by her constant reliance on others, that her father would never approve of her relationship with Icarus in the first place...

Or, at least, try to forget. Because seeing as she began to silently sob in the middle of the hug, it was clearly not working as intended.

"Icarus... Icarus, I'm sorry..." Renata began to mutter through her tears, her words turning less and less coherent as she went. "I couldn't... I didn't listen to you, I broke my promise..."

Which, if she wasn't in such a shaken state, Renata would point out as quite ironic. The heroine's hug grew slightly tighter.

"I was so sure... I was so sure... that I was going to die..."

---

Harley the Dog

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

When she first heard of Harley's existence - informed by Naja after she returned to the Tower later than everyone else in the aftermath of the Cabal mission - Renata was told that Harley is a some sort of "super dog", like from some of those children's cartoons she had a faint recollection of. Which is why, while handing out orders, the heroine opted to send him against Nacho while Viv, someone with rubber elasticity and thus CQC area control, took care of the normie thugs. As it turns out, maybe that wasn't a very good idea - as while Harley clearly showed off some strong abilities such as a bark so loud that Renata winced from the airburst despite standing a fair distance away, the human tank overpowered him in the end, tossing him to the side.

Even a super dog is still a dog.

Thankfully, Renata was here, having been preparing for a barrage during the brief skirmish between Nacho and Harley - and with the dog tossed to the side, the heroine put up a snicker. A burst of rapidly expanding hot air shot out from underneath her feet, sending her flying straight towards the gangster.

Don't stay in close range for too long. If he could overpower the dog, then he can break you like a twig.

Clenching the clasped hands more tightly, light from the concentrated ball of plasma filtering through her fingers, Renata spun across the air, flying over the gangster while he was still clearly surprised by the pink-haired heroine's speed and sudden entrance. Now! Stopping her spin and flying upside down, Renata swiftly placed her hands on the gangster's back, all the built up energy between her palms releasing itself as a powerful burst.

[Charmera]

-snip-

Cass was uncertain how to respond to Shi's inquiry about her appearance. She was not programmed as a stylist. Considering it now, it seemed a somewhat glaring oversight in her programming as a butler. Surely ensuring her master, or in this case team, was visually presentable would be a key part of her function. Perhaps it had been to hard to program in initially, so they assumed that her G2AI neural web learning program would allow her to pick up the skill.

She would have to note to herself to learn how to become a stylist.

In the meantime, she would have to perform her more pertinent function: violence. She noted that Shi's attack had left many of their assailants dazed, but a number of them had also used the momentary confusion to take up a position of cover. This was a problematic development, especially if they had guns. Priority A in this combat was ensuring the safety of her teamates, so if they began shooting at Shi, that would be very bad indeed. She would need to draw their attention.

Cass moved forward, mechanics whiring as she transformed into her combat form. The robot now towered over most everyone. "I hope this form won't slow you down too much Miss Smith."

Cass hoped Shi understood that Cass wast to act as her cover now. This would mean Cass would have to worry less about Shi's wellbeing durign the fight, and Shi would be able to use her powers effectively with Cass as her lumbering bullet sponge.

Better begin drawing said bullets.

Cass activated her Megaphone, now that the element of surprise was gone. "CRIMINALS. YOU HAVE ONE CHANCE TO SURRENDER NOW." Spoke that monotone voice, except now boosted to uncomfortably loud levels of volume "OTHERWISE, I CANNOT ENSURE THE NEXT FEW MINUTES WILL BE ENTIRELY PAINLESS."

She registered jeers and gunfire as their only replies. Said gunfire hit her, but was somewhat akin to trying to break down a wall with a rock. You might carve a dent, but the likelihood of serious damage was unlikely anytime soon.

"YOUR RESPONSE IS INSUFFICENT"

Cass then made her own reply with a hail of powerful suppressive fire. None of it was intended to hit directly, instead Cass was moving to push the gangsters out of cover. She was prioritizing sheer volume of fire over accuracy, so she was not confirming many hits. Instead, she was laying down pressure as she walked towards them. This would hopefully provide Shi with the opportunity to ensure they were all pacified.

[Auropa]

Kross Mathews
Beneath the streets of San-Diego

For what had to be hundredth time, Kross read over his email only to finish and have his eyes hover over the sender’s name. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be called out into the field, usually it was to oversee particularly nasty operations or to provide expertise and experience to those in dangerously short supply of both. This time though, it looked like he was being sent to a very unpleasant level of a very personal hellscape.

“Utah huh?” He muttered to himself as he glanced over the details. The operation itself didn’t look too bad under normal circumstances. Close to home, messy and dangerous but not a global threat, barely even continental if he was being honest. What really worried him was who he’d be working with. Considering he didn’t have a choice in the matter though, Kross was left with only one dilemma. As he flicked away the virtual info screen, he rose up from behind his desk and set off towards a nearby wooden cabinet, stopping him halfway however was a sudden knocking on his door before a soon to be sorry agent walked in.

“Mr.Mathews sir. We have a situation with-” He began before being cut off.

“Let me stop you right there kid.” Kross said without so much as turning to face the newcomer on his path “First of all, its Kross or Sir. One or the other, not both and never Mathews. Secondly, we’re still on a level 4 alert which means you do not enter administrator class rooms without permission or level 4 clearance, which I know for a goddamned fact you don’t have. Thirdly, and this one’s important, I just came back from training quite possibly the saddest excuses for soldiers I have ever seen, only to get orders sending me across the country in order to clean up some godless mess. That leaves me with less than 30 minutes of my three year overdue vacation, which I’ll add, I am now spending on educating my idiot personnel. So, whatever you’ve got to show me, you better pray its important.”

At his sudden aggressive response, the agent was caught off guard before regaining his footing and trying to continue “S-sorry sir. But it’s the Young Bloods. I was told to inform you if we got any flags from the intel community, and the NSA just picked up some unusual internet activity from them.”

In response, Kross momentarily stopped rummaging through the cabinet to turn and face the agent recognising him as one of his base’s new transfers. With Warwolf acting as a constant threat demanding equal parts caution and action, while also limiting their presence in the area, Kross had been pushing his people to the limit while rotating them to keep his team fresh and the unwelcome PMC stalkers guessing. As far as Kross could tell, this kid was just like any other fresh agent, smart, brave, headstrong and undeniably loyal, the one problem Kross thought, was his confidence. After passing the gauntlet, getting shield tech, railrifles and runes, PL forces had a dangerous habit of thinking themselves untouchable or invincible. ‘If only they knew’ Kross used to think to himself before taking up the job of personally crushing every last ebb of said overconfidence for both their own good and his admitted amusement.

“Sir?” The agent eventually asked as the silence drew on.

“Give me a second. I’m just trying to think of a way to coherently insult someone as stupid as you. I mean, a crazed militaristic occupation force is sitting on our roof, trying to force its way in. A potentially Lion class threat is loose in the city with a shit-ton of Wonder Foundation chems at their disposal. And all the while we’re losing resources to the theatres dealing with demon class entities, Russian mobilization and guild movements. Meanwhile, you’re spending god knows how long pouring over the internet history of a bunch of teenagers.”

“But sir, nearly half of the team is made up from-“

“Just shut up and tell me what you found.” Kross said sharply as his head turned back into the cabinet

“Well, its hard to explain.”

Breathing out a loud aggravated sigh, Kross reached in and grabbed a large glass bottle filled with an almost pitch-black liquid before closing the cabinet and practically throwing himself back into his chair. “I swear to go if this is about that Carter kid’s ‘habits’ again then you can leave now. God knows reading through that is punishment enough for wasting my time.”

“No sir. It appears to be research. As though the team was looking into some sort of magical artefact.”

Now that piqued Kross’ interest. As he placed the bottle on his desk he extended an open hand towards the agent “I’ll look over it.” He said “Though my point still stands. When you’re in the field you check every lead and cover every angle. When you’re in containment you do what you’re told, and you do it flawlessly. Clear?”

“Crystal sir.” The agent responded as he passed the file to Kross before bee-lining to the exit.

Placing the file on his desk Kross found himself forcefully massaging his forehead in a vain attempt to drive out the built up weariness and ever deepening layers of exhaustion. In truth, he knew that the agent was right to keep tabs on the Young Blood team, in fact, if it wasn’t for Naja he probably would have stepped into the investigation himself. That many ‘unique’ individuals gathering together could only spell trouble for someone like him. After gaining some semblance of motivation, Kross opened the file to view its contents only to let out another aggravated sigh.

“Yep. I’m actually going to kill him” he muttered to himself as he gazed at the unorganised mess of old searches, investigations and data coupled with the odd crude connection tagged on. Wendy was still registered as a potential Lion class cyber-threat, Casimir looked to google himself more than anything else while Naja had seemingly only ever made one input typing in “Kross I know you’re watching. Stop.” Before switching over to a more private network. Passing through the rest of the information was relatively straightforward. Their resident tech wizards had been ordering things from batteries to plasma cells. More than a few searches were about microwave ovens and hugging with claws oddly enough. Then there was the standard things regarding politics, history, magic, fight clubs, bug spray, kpop, cars and restaurant reviews, all in all, mostly things to be expected from the patchwork team. But just when Kross about to call it quits a single word caught his eye: 'scarab'.

The word sent a chill through Kross’ spine as he remembered his talk with the telepath Voice regarding an eerily similar sounding artefact. Knowing his luck, he doubted a coincidence and went back into the papers with renewed vigour. They were recent searches, less than a day old and hinting towards some less than pleasant information. About past civilisations, magical artefacts, possessions, rituals and dozens of different conspiracy theories on previous demons, gods and myths. By the time Kross finished reading he had no doubt. Somehow Red had found out about the scarab totem and was researching into it.

'Shit.'

The realization demanded a drink which Kross wholeheartedly poured and drank before repeating the process twice over before settling back into his chair to think. He had already talked to Voice, he knew that the scarab itself was destroyed by the team’s telepath and if he had any doubts on that, its inert remains were locked up a few floors below him. According to her, the threat was very much defused. And yet, Red was making searches based on information he couldn’t have come across without the input of the scarab. That left precious few possibilities in Kross’ mind: that there were more scarabs, that some shadow had hidden itself away in Red or that someone was still somehow under its influence. None of the options were good and with current events, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to say the timing couldn’t be worse.

As Kross contemplated giving himself a fourth glass of the dark liquid, he finally came to a decision. Nothing. So far, his only evidence that anything out of the ordinary was happening was some teenager’s late-night searches. On the slim chance they were accurate however, said issue hadn’t made itself known yet and was likely playing the long game instead of some power-mad rush. That meant that he would be dealing with an intelligent force, which made the idea of leaving it to someone else completely out of the question. He didn’t like it, but with his own operation on the way he didn’t see any other option. Without evidence, mentioning it to Naja or Voice was pointless and could even make things worse and rushing to get things done himself would have the same effect. In the end, he’d have to hope for the best and come back prepared.

[Tomia]

July 27th

While no major developments had occurred since the incident at Wonder Tower, Mars still felt an anxiousness that made him uneasy. Multiple members of the team were hard at work, either tracking down the Cabal or attempting to gain dirt on Warwolf. Mars himself hadn’t had much to do up until that point, except for continued maintenance and improvement on Rocket. Other than that, he had mostly just been paying close attention to the news and developments around the city. He was doing that very thing early on the morning of the 27th. It seemed that there was growing tension around Warwolf as the public was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the private military company’s performance while Warwolf and its supporters were pushing the blame onto the Young Bloods. Mars knew he probably shouldn’t care what random internet people thought, but he couldn’t help taking in every twitter hot take and news article he could find. He took a surprising amount of joy in seeing people support them. One article titled “Ten Reasons the Young Bloods are the Heroes We Need” made him feel particularly good and in no small part because number eight was “their cool robots”.

As Mars scrolled through the internet a ping popped on his computer screen, indicating he had received an email. It was to the one that he had set up as his hero email, mostly he received junk fan or hate mail. Still he checked it vigilantly in case someone actually needed him. This email was particularly strange. For one, the subject was a short series of zeroes and ones, seemingly randomly repeating themselves. Mars however recognized this as code. While that was unusual, what made it particularly erry was the email address it was sent from. “Theyarewatching@war.org”, Mars read off the the screen. He had obviously never heard of an email provider called “war” but it wasn’t hard to figure out what that was hinting at. Normally this email address would seem silly and ridiculous, like some 12 year old, trying to hide from the government. But there was something about it that gave Mars chills. He cautiously opened the email, hoping his homemade malware and firewall were ready just in case, and inside he found a number of encrypted files.

At this point Mars was very interested but also a little nervous. He stood up and locked his door, before cracking his knuckles and sitting back down at his desk. “Alright let's see what we have here….”

About three hours later Mars had arrived outside of Kiris’ room, he was looking a little pale and was even pacing slightly. The email he had received proved to be very urgent, and his first thought had been to go to Kiris. Why that was was a little unclear to him. It wasn’t as if Kiris was the clear best option to deal with this problem, nor did she hold any kind of authority that he needed to report to. Still, he felt more comfortable going to her than anyone else. What he had in mind was going to be extremely dangerous and reckless, and definitely wasn’t something the team should be involved in in any official capacity. But if the person behind the email could provide what they said they could, he had to try. With that thought in mind, Mars knocked on Kiris’ door, hoping that she would be around.

“Be right there!” The voice of the genius boy’s girlfriend called out from within the room in response to the knock, sounding somewhat distant. A few moments passed by with only the occasional noise or the girl’s own murmurs breaking the silence, until the sound of soft footfalls approached and the door finally went slightly ajar. Kiris’ face peeked out from behind, her noticeably damp pink hair falling like a curtain over a pair of curious eyes that scanned the hallway outside her room.

“Yes?” She asked as soon as she had opened the door, before noticing who it was that had knocked. Upon seeing Mars standing there, the Hadrian’s mouth curled into a warm smile. “Oh, g’day Mars! Um, can ya wait here a sec? I’ll be right back!” She excused herself before closing the door. Once more, various noises could be heard from within the room, this time more frantic, accompanied by hums and grunts here and there with occasional pauses in between.

After a minute or two, the door swung wide open, revealing an alien girl dressed in a simple yellow sundress and wearing a bright smile on her face. “Come on in! Sorry to keep ya waitin’, I wasn’t expectin’ a visit. Room’s a little messy, but…” Kiris spoke eagerly, happy to have Mars drop by her room, as most of the time they met and spent time together either in the common areas of Wonder Tower or elsewhere on the island; however, she trailed off upon taking a better look at his face, her enthusiasm being quickly replaced with concern.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about the mess.” Mars told Kiris when she finally opened the door for him. Her room was in fact messier than his, but that seemed fairly fitting considering their contrasting personality traits.

The Hadrian simply nodded while continuing to look at him, reading his face. She noticed that he looked pale and a little frightened, as if there was something grim weighing on his mind. While wondering what it could be, she reached out to caress his face. “Is somethin’ the matter, Mars? Ya know ya can tell me anythin’.” She assured him.

He smiled when she put a hand on his face, he was slowly getting used to the kind of affectionate behavior that was common in a relationship. Still, his recent revelation was eating at him and weakened his smile slightly. It seemed that Kiris had picked up on this quickly, she had gotten surprisingly good at reading his emotions despite only knowing him a few weeks and being from another planet.

“Ya it is Kiris, I got an email today.” He said with a sigh, walking into the room and taking a seat on her nearby bed, with Kiris closing the door behind him before following suit, sitting down next to him to listen. “On the hero email I made it's usually just fan mail or spam I get, so I ignore it. However the one I got today was very real.. At least, I think it was.” Mars went on to describe the creepy email address and the heavy encryption, which caused his girlfriend no small amount of concern; while she was rather ignorant about things like informatic espionage, Mars’ worry and the secrecy of the whole thing was enough to make her wary of the situation. However, she simply nodded along for now, prompting him to continue.

“When I finally got through all the encryption, I found something unbelievable. There was this video and it told me some terrible things about Warwolf. Things that if they are true, their reputation with the city would be destroyed beyond repair. The person who sent the email gave me a time and a location to meet them, but I’m worried this might be a trap, or Warwolf will find out or…. I don’t know.” He said trailing off a bit, clearly nervous about this prospective lead. “I don’t want to tell the team, the more people we involve the more dangerous this gets. So, I guess I was wondering, if you’d come with me?” The boy genius didn’t know how his girlfriend would react to this request but was hoping that she would agree.

As Mars finished explaining the situation to her, Kirisvala began to understand the reason behind her boyfriend’s distressed behavior. Rather than respond right away, though, she remained silent for a few moments, considering how to respond. On one hand, there was the fact that she obviously wanted to support him, and she would be able to make sure he was safe if she went with him, not to mention Warwolf hadn’t exactly made themselves out to be friends of the Young Bloods in the past. But on the other… what if he’s hurt and I can’t help him? What if I’m not strong enough to protect him this time?

“Of course I’ll come with ya.” She started, not wanting her silence to make Mars feel uncomfortable, or worse yet, make him think he had made the wrong choice in talking to her. After all, even if he had roped her into a tricky situation, she was glad to know he trusted her enough to share this with her. “But… are ya sure about not tellin’ anyone else? I get that we don’t want to put the team in a tight spot in case somethin’ goes wrong… but we shouldn’t put ourselves in unnecessary danger either. Can’t ya tell someone else about it, like Roy? As a friend, not as a leader. You’re friends, aren’t ya?” She asked him, placing her hand over his. “Um… sorry if I’m not very supportive. I just… don’t want this to go backfire.” She stated, leaving the true meaning of her words unspoken.

I just don’t want you to be hurt.

Mars waited patiently for Kiris to answer, he was anxious for her response but he knew rushing her wouldn’t help anything. Besides he himself wasn’t even sure how he wanted her to answer. He wanted her support of course, that’s why he had come here, but he was still hesitant about putting her in danger.

Therefore he had mixed feelings when she agreed to come with him. He thought over how to respond carefully to her question, after all, why didn’t he go to Roy after all? He didn’t want to leave her in silence anymore than she had, so he decided he’d just be honest.

“Of course we’re friends but… Well sometimes I feel like Roy treats me like a little kid. Like I know, I’m younger than him and have less experience and all, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless. I want to prove I can make decisions on my own, that I don’t just need to follow along with Roy.” He told her, his insecurities coming out clearly.

“I don’t know, maybe that’s just me being silly… Maybe Roy would be better at handling this…”

“Don’t say that, Mars.” Kiris said almost immediately in response to his words. Of course, she didn’t want to see him hurt, but seeing him disheartened like this was just as bad. “You’re not silly or useless. You’re the smartest person I know! Without ya and Rocket, many of our missions together wouldn’t have gone as well as they did. Heck, without ya, this team wouldn’t have formed! Ya were there at the start of everythin’, remember? You’re the one who got us to fight together against those orange meanies.” She lightly squeezed his hand with affection, looking him straight in the eye. “You’re important, Mars. Not just to me, but to the team. You’re not useless. You’ve got nothin’ to prove.”

WIth that, the Hadrian girl suddenly leaned in and tenderly kissed Mars on the cheek. “Not to me at least.” She smiled brightly at him, echoing the words he had spoken to her on the infirmary a few days ago, the same words that had brought her back from her pit of melancholy back then. “But if ya want to do this, we’ll do it, and I’ll be there to protect ya because I’m your hero, remember?”

Mars’ cheeks blushed a light pink shade when Kiris kissed his cheek, her words making him break into a bright smile. “You’re right Kiris, I shouldn’t have doubted myself. There’s no reason to when you’re in my corner.” He said, his smile never breaking. “I promise I’ll keep us safe. If things go right we should never even have to fight anyone. This can be a quick intelligence pick up and then we’ll share whatever we find with the team.” He said, a bit of optimism entering his tone. He was determined for this to go well.

“You know, I made something for you, I got the idea from Alexis’ gift to Wyatt.” He told her handing her what appeared to be a simple silver ring. “This will change your appearance, well not really but it will look like it to the outside eye. It’ll allow you to pass as human when we’re trying to be incognito.” He told her. Mars knew Kiris had no interest in passing as human, but this felt like an important step to keeping her safe.

Kirisvala picked up the small loop of metal and looked at it while listening to Mars’ explanation, tilting her head ever so slightly. While Hadrians were no strangers to the concepts of jewelry and accessories, they didn’t often put anything on their claws. He said he got the idea from Alexis’ thingy, but… isn’t this too small for my head? And I doubt it goes on my horns…

The puzzled alien girl continued to look at the ring for a few moments until she finally noticed that it was the perfect size for her ring claw. Putting it on, she didn’t feel any different, naturally, but a quick glance at her mirror made her notice that she now looked like an ordinary human girl, a simple blue-eyed brunette that lacked horns, claws, crystals and a tail, though her body type, facial features and hairstyle remained completely unchanged.

After observing her in the mirror for a few moments, she took the ring off and turned to Mars, nodding. “Good thinkin’, Mars.” She said a little dryly. Her displeasure at having to look like something she wasn’t was evident, but it was for the good of the mission, so she was willing to put up with it.

Mars gently grabbed Kiris’ claw, sensing her displeasure at her fake appearance. “Hey, I think you look a lot better this way.” He said, referencing her appearance that had now returned to normal. He planted a kiss on her cheek, prompting her to smile brightly, and then spoke again.

“I’m going to go get ready, I need to gather some things, prototypes that might help us stay out of trouble. I’ll meet you outside the island in an hour and a half?” He suggested. Kiris nodded and Mars left, heading off to his room, his heart racing with expectations.

The hour and a half seemed to crawl by for Mars, as he played the video over and over in his mind while preparing for this secretive mission. He arrived outside the bridge leading to Wonder Island about ten minutes early, and waited in silence for Kiris. He wore one of his Los Angeles Star’s t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. He also had on a baseball cap and sunglasses. It was corny sure, but the less risk someone recognized him the better. He also had on a backpack, that had his gadgets along with some basic things like water, and even snacks like granola bars. Even when engaging in James Bond style espionage, Mars was a boy scout through and through.

Kiris arrived almost exactly on time at the end of the bridge where Mars was waiting, wearing a simple tank-top and a pair of jeans to look as inconspicuous as her race’s physiology would allow. She had the ring on, dulling her normally vibrant appearance. Mars felt too nervous for small talk so he got right to the point. “Okay, so the email gave me an address of a coffee shop, we’re supposed to go there to meet whoever this is with the information. It’s downtown, so I figure we’d walk to the bus station.” Kiris nodded at that, looking a little nervous herself.

They walked to the small town that neighbored the Island in relative silence. They both knew what they were about to attempt was very risky, so small talk didn’t feel too appropriate. Still, Mars enjoyed walking with Kiris, even if in silence, and she felt the same way. After about fifteen minutes they reached a bus stop, and after Mars deposited a few coins, they sat together on the bus for a few stops, Kiris looking around curiously; she hadn’t ridden a bus before after all, mostly moving around on foot.

“You know, I don’t blame Warwolf for being angry with these so called Young Bloods.” An elderly gentleman said to the equally elderly man next to him on the bus. “These kids are naive, and just stirring up trouble.” He added as the other man muttered an agreement. Mars instinctively balled his fist, annoyed that someone could so callously disregard them. However, he suddenly felt a (camouflaged) claw on his shoulder and looked to the side to notice Kiris looking at him as if pleading him to calm down. Seeing her make a gesture with her head, he turned and noticed a kid nearby, wearing a purple t-shirt with the letters Y and B in bright yellow on it. He was surprised, wondering who had made the shirt and how long people had been buying merchandise of theirs. The thought that they might be an inspiration to people out there, enough for people to want to wear their name on their shirt really meant something to Mars. He slowly relaxed, and soon enough they had reached their stop and exited the bus.

The couple walked a block or two until they reached a Starbucks, the one the email had directed them to. They headed inside and Mars saw it was a bit crowded but found them an inconspicuous table in the corner. Just then he got a ping that showed he got an email. Mars tensed a bit before pulling out his phone and reading.

“Order something, use the name ‘Jeremy Bentham’.” It read. That did nothing to ease Mars. How the hell did they know they were there, were they being watched? Despite the doubts filling his head, Mars had no real option but to continue moving forward. “Hey, you want something to drink? Coffee or tea maybe? They also have snacks, you know, muffins and bagels and things like that.”

While Mars read his email, Kiris was fiddling with her hands, tapping them on the table and trying to get used to how the ring’s illusion correlated to her actual movements. Hearing Mars’ question, she looked at him and tilted her head, thinking over her answer for a moment. “Oh, there’s this tea I tried once that I really liked. What was it called…” She looked down at the table, her brow furrowing for a moment before she suddenly looked back up. “Chamomile! Chamomile tea.” The alien girl nodded.

Mars smiled at Kiris’ enthusiasm, even though they were in a serious situation she had such a naturally bubbly personality that it put him in a better mood. “Chamomile it is.” He told her, earning a nod from her before standing up and heading to the counter. After waiting on a small line he got to the front, where an inconspicuous young man who looked three or four years older than him stood at taking orders. “Hi, uh could I get a Chamomile tea, and a hot chocolate?” He said to the cashier.

“Name?” Asked the man whose name tag read “Nick”. Nick had a slightly robotic tone that you might expect from a food chain employe.

“Jeremy Bentham” Mars said, feeling a bit silly about providing the name. Jeremy Bentham after all was a famous English Philosopher and he sounded like a huge nerd saying it. It turned out their hacker had a sense of humor since Bentham was widely considered the father of modern security systems. However instead of find it strange, Nick seemed to instantly tighten and go white.

“Uh… Okay, that’ll be 8.57, wait over to the side until it’s ready.” Nick was much more focused now as Mars finished paying and the cashier rushed away to ready his order. Mars waited a few minutes until it was ready, but when Nick handed him the drinks, he suddenly pulled Mars close.

Before Mars could shout out or protest he was handed a manila folder. “Take this, and go where it tells you to go.” Nick said in a very serious tone.

Mars was shocked, was this the hacker? He wasn’t sure if this was him or just someone sent by him but Nick walked away quickly and prevented Mars from asking. So Mars simply walked back to the table, looking a bit shell shocked. As he approached, he noticed that Kiris looked very tense and was following Nick with her eyes, gripping the table tightly; looking carefully, he saw marks on it that were clearly not the doing of human hands.

“Kiris, it’s okay, he gave me the next hint he’s not an enemy.” The boy assured her, setting down the chamomile tea next to her before sitting down. In response, the alien girl relaxed and muttered an acknowledgment.

After handing Kiris her tea, Mars opened the envelope with heavy anticipation. There were two pieces of paper and a pencil. Mars raised an eyebrow, were they supposed to take a test or something? The first piece of paper had a quote with the word STREET written on the top. The quote was clearly a riddle by the phrasing. It read:

This man's name shows he is Irish at heart, he is where you go when your loved ones depart.

Mars had no idea, what that meant, at least not on face value, so he decided to look at the second page. It was a Sudoku puzzle, a standard one it seemed, however some of the blank spaces were circled in thick blue marker and above the puzzle again had a word written on top. This time the word was NUMBER.

“So this is the location right?” Mars asked Kiris, who was resting her head on her hands as she watched him work. “It’s the street name and address number right?”

“Why are ya askin’ me?” The Hadrian replied with an amused smile on her face. “You’re the one who grew up on this… um…” She continued, only to quickly trail off as she realized that someone might have been listening, and that asserting that she was from another planet was a fantastic way to blow her cover. “On this, uh, country.” She corrected herself with a sheepish smile.

“But yeah, I think you’re right.” She added afterwards; she was far from an expert, but she had been in San Diego long enough to know how addresses worked. Having answered the question, Kiris reached out and took a big gulp from her chamomile tea, seemingly unaffected by the fact that it was near-boiling hot.

Mars raised an eyebrow when Kiris suddenly chugged her tea. “Uh Kiris, isn’t that hot?” He asked both concerned and confused. In response, the Hadrian giggled at the boy’s concerns.

“I’m fireproof, remember? A little hot water isn’t goin’ to harm me.” She said playfully, prompting him to blush slightly at his silly question

“Anyway, we need to figure out what these clues are.” He said before realizing Kiris probably couldn’t help much. “I mean, I’ll figure it out don’t worry.” He added so that she didn’t feel obligated to help. Kirisvala nodded and stood up, walking over to sit next to him and watch him work in hopes of learning something, but not bothering him otherwise.

The sudoku wouldn’t take him long, he had an eidetic memory and did sudoku puzzles regularly so it wouldn’t be much a problem for him. The riddle on the other hand, that one had him stumped. “Where do you go when your loved ones depart?” He thought out loud. He wasn’t exactly a genius it came to riddles, and he obviously felt a lot of pressure to solve this. A few minutes passed and Mars was getting frustrated, he had already googled a hundred different things, but he just didn’t get this riddle. He was getting visibly frustrated at his inability to figure it out.

Outwardly, Mars didn’t seem to be doing anything in particular, and the processes taking place inside his head were inscrutable to someone like Kiris, but even then, watching him slowly lose his composure while faced with a riddle that didn’t seem to have an answer made her grow concerned, her tail whipping about invisibly. He was already stressing enough over the mission itself, she didn’t want him to start losing his mind over a couple slips of paper, and the worst part was that she was completely out of her element here, she couldn’t help him at all.

Not directly, at least.

Whoever sent us on this goose chase could’ve made things a little simpler for us… She thought as she carefully placed a hand on Mars’ shoulder, turning him slightly so that he was facing her and locking eyes with him, admiring how pretty his were for a split second before speaking. “Mars, ya gotta calm down and start over. I know you’re havin’ trouble with this, but you shouldn’t feel frustrated. You’re gonna solve it, I know you will.” She offered him a bright, reassuring smile. “Because you’re a hero.”

The genius began to calm at his girlfriend’s reassurances. She was right, he needed to relax and focus, panicking wasn’t going to help solve this riddle any faster. Come on Mars, make it simple. Where would you go when a love one died? A funeral? Okay, any famous Irish person have a notable funeral?... Damn it, nothing, I’m not even sure how many famous Irish people I know… Okay where else do you go? Cemetery? No. Church? No. Wake? Maybe… Irish name and a wake…. I got it!

Mars suddenly sprang to life after over a minute of near motionlessness. “Finnegan’s Wake!” He shouted, jumping up a bit before realizing they were in public. “Uh I figured out the riddle…” He said to Kiris much more sheepishly, the alien girl giggling at the sight. He then took out his phone and put finnegan and wake into Google Maps and realized there was a Finnegan street nearby.

With that complete he quickly transitioned to the Sudoku, which he completed with relative ease as his girlfriend watched intrigued. 145, that was the number. He quickly put that address into google maps but was dismayed to learn it didn’t exist. He was sure that he had figured it out, what happened? He checked the Sudoku over five times more until he was sure he had the numbers right. What could it be? He asked himself over and over again, racking his brain to find an answer. Then it came to him, what if it wasn’t an address it must have been an apartment complex. Sure enough, there was an apartment complex on the street that was named after the street itself.

Finnegan Apartment Complex apartment 145 Mars thought to himself, a weight feeling lifted from his chest. “Alright Kiris, I know where we’re going. Are you… Are you sure you want to come? There’s still time for you to go back to the island. I wouldn’t blame you at all.”

At the question, Kiris frowned. “Mars, we’ve been over this. I said I’d come with ya, didn’t I? I’m not gonna let ya do this alone, I want to be here for ya.” The Hadrian said before giving him a quick peck on the cheek as encouragement. “Now let’s get outta here, or they’ll start thinkin’ you’re cheatin’ on me.” She stated amusedly.

Confused, Mars looked around only to notice that many of the customers inside the Starbucks had their eyes on him and Kiris, and some of them even had their cellphones out. Recalling the fact that a photo of his first date with her had gone viral about a week ago and that right now Kiris did not look like herself, the boy genius blushed brightly and nodded at his girlfriend. “Ya you’re right, let’s get out of here quickly.” He said as he stood up and led her out of the building.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

July 27th

Mars and Kiris walked together down a few blocks, and while the boy tried to look as inconspicuous as possible he couldn’t help but look around suspiciously at the people he passed. Who knew if Warwolf was already onto them? What if they were being spied on this whole time? These thoughts could only lead to trouble so he tried to push them out of his mind.

Soon they arrived at the building, it was a tall and multiple story building as you would expect of an apartment complex. His heart started racing as they walked into the lobby, soon there would be no going back. The apartment building used a buzzing system to keep out intruders, so Mars found the button that would buzz apartment 145. The apartment had no name listed to it, which made sense considering this person was hiding from Warwolf, still that made Mars a little nervous that this might be a trap. Mars lifted his hand up, hesitated, and finally pressed the button.

There was silence for a moment before a voice spoke over the intercom. “Who are you?” A masculine voice asked, a frightened edge to the voice was audible.

Mars thought about what to say, knowing he had to toe the line between gaining this man’s trust and protecting himself against ambush. “I got your email.” Mars said simply, keeping his tone calm.

There was a harrowing few moments of silence that followed Mars’ response, but then the door clicked and unlocked and they were let inside the building.

“Well, let’s go see what this is about.” He said to Kiris and she nodded back at him as they walked inside and headed in the direction of apartment 145. “Get ready Kiris, we don’t know who is on the other side.” He said in hushed tones before raising his hand to knock. The Hadrian mentally readied herself for battle while subtly shifting her stance.

“I wouldn’t touch the door if I were you.” He heard through the door. “You’re going to back away against the wall and wait for to open it.” The voice commanded through the door.

Mars still didn’t know who this was, and so hesitated to comply, but this was the point of no return so he backed up to the wall while preparing for a fight.

“You there, girl, who are you? I’ve never seen you before.” The voice behind the door commanded.

Hearing this, Kirisvala folded her arms, a frown on her face. “Whaddya mean? Ya went as far as to try contactin’ the team but you dunno who I am? What-” The alien girl was interrupted by a discreet tap on the shoulder. Surprised, she turned to look at Mars.

“Uh, Kiris…” The boy mumbled as he pointedly fiddled with his hands, bringing attention to his ring finger. Kiris glanced at her own hand and realized she was still wearing the ring that disguised her appearance.

“Oh, right…” She mumbled sheepishly, taking off the ring. Immediately, her appearance reverted to that of the familiar pink-haired Hadrian that was a member of the Young Bloods and had saved the hostages at the Hilton Gala four days earlier. Placing the ring on one of her pockets, Kiris clasped her claws in front of her and addressed the unseen speaker. “Um, is that better?”

“Stay there, don’t move.” The voice said and Mars heard noises behind the door as if things were being moved around. Then he heard the sound of locks disconnecting and considering the amount of time it took it was definitely more than one.

“Come in slowly, just in case I didn’t disarm everything.” That made Mars raise an eyebrow but the door finally opened, revealing an apartment that seemed like it was spoofing one of those spy movies. There was a huge set up of monitors pushed up against a windowless wall. They sat upon a large desk with a wheeled chair and this setup was the centerpiece of a relatively unfurnished living room. The only other significant pieces of furniture were a mini fridge and a couch. When Mars turned to left to look back at the door, he was alarmed to see a make shift but dangerous looking security system. It was complete with tasers, trip wires, and other equipement Mars couldn’t quite make out in the moment.

“What’s all that…?” He heard Kiris say.

“Don’t worry about that shit, it’s not for you. Believe me when I tell you I have bigger fish to worry about.” The man whose apartment it was said and for the first time Mars got a good look at him. The boy genius wasn’t sure what he was expecting exactly, but the man himself ended up looking ordinary in comparison. He seemed to be around thirty years of age with rather ordinary physical features. He had unkempt brown hair of medium length, flowing passed his ears and down his neck. He wore glasses that highlighted his beady and stressed looking eyes.

“Okay… So we’re here. Who are you exactly?” Mars asked the secretive informant but the man shook his head.

“None of that, I’m asking the questions here. I’m putting my ass on the line just by talking to you. So, you’re team is starting a real beef with Warwolf, trust me they are not fans of yours. I’m not sure you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? We can handle ourselves ya know!” Kiris asserted defensively, but the informant simply laughed in response.

“Brave words, tell me what do you actually know about Warwolf?” He asked, prompting the girl to fall silent.

“A lot more than you think.” Mars shot back in his girlfriend’s stead, getting annoyed. “We know about Lycan, and we know about Warwolf’s anti-super agenda.” He said, feeling confident for a moment and surprising Kiris, who wasn’t aware of that. He had done a bunch of his own research into Warwolf and while his sources had been fairly sketchy, the email he had received confirmed a lot of his theories.

“Well, I’m impressed.” Their host replied. “But how much of that can you prove?” He challenged.

Mars froze up a bit. “Well….”

“Because if you can’t prove any of it, you’re the equivalent of the conspiracy youtube videos that talk about this stuff. But lucky you, I can prove it.” The man then produced a flash drive from his pocket.

“This has everything on it you need to expose Warwolf. Who knows what good it will do, or who will listen but I figured you would be interested.”

Mars couldn’t believe it, this was actually real and he was about to pull it off. He reached out for the flash drive, before pausing. “Why should we trust you?”

“Because I need your help.” The man said bluntly. “I contacted you because I’m in danger. Warwolf is coming to kill me, it’s just a matter of time. They started questioning my loyalty and for Warwolf that’s all it takes for a death sentence.”

“Wait Warwolf is after you?” Mars said, his voice filling with panic. If this guy was wanted by Warwolf they were in huge danger and he had blindly brought Kiris into that danger.

Anger surged in his mind and he suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the other man’s collar. “You led us into a trap?! You don’t think you should have given us warning?”

“Mars, calm down!” Kirisvala shouted as she placed her claws on Mars’ shoulders and attempted to pull him back without hurting him. “We came here prepared, didn’t we? This was nothin’ we didn’t expect so don’t lash out like that!” She told him. Mars stepped back but still had a distrusting look in his eyes. She was right, they were heroes and danger was to be expected, but he still resented the man for not telling them sooner.

“If I had warned you, you may not have come, and I couldn’t afford that. Forgive me for valuing my own life.” The man said, looking rather nervous at this point. “Look, I needed your help and I’m not going to apologize for trying to protect myself. But I can actually help you. Here let me show you.” He said, taking the flashdrive and plugging into his desktop. Quickly he started a slide of photos, some showed disturbing images of experiments being performed on prisoners, some of them involving Warwolf’s power suppressors.

During all of this, Mars noticed a logo appearing consistently in the images, a silver wolf within a black circle. Then it flashed to documents that analyzed famous and popular superheroes, identifying their weaknesses and potential countermeasures. Finally they saw a memo granting Warwolf permission to use lethal force in San Deigo.

“This is… It’s...”

“Monstrous ya.” The informant said, finishing Mars’ sentence. “Get this to the right people in the media and Warwolf’s reputation drops to shit.”

There was a pit in Mars’ stomach, he knew Warwolf was bad news but this was just evil. He realized the stakes of what he was stepping into might have been a lot higher than he had anticipated. Still, this made him more resolute than ever that he needed to play his part in beating them.

“This is great but, I have to ask, why are you doing this?” Mars said, curiosity seemed to replace the suspicion in his voice.

“Look its a long story, and we don’t really have time to get into it… Just know I used to work for Warwolf. I worked on the maintenance team for their security mainframe. Long story short I got kicked out MIT because I made some childish mistakes, cheated on a finale I could have passed if I studied. Then when I had no academic or career prospects Warwolf approached me. I worked for them for ten years, not knowing what they were doing, but this occupation just isn’t right. So I left, and I took this information with me. Now, I need you to take me back to Wonder Island and keep me safe, who knows what Warwolf would do to me…” He cut himself off when one of his computer screens sounded off with an alarm.

He turned pale before turning to Kiris and Mars. “Warwolf is here, they just tripped my external security cameras. We have to leave now. There’s an emergency exit behind my kitchen, we go through there. My apartment will give us a head start.” He told them before grabbing the flash drive and a nearby backpack and running toward the door.

Mars started to hear heavy footsteps from outside the apartment and realized the informant was telling the truth. “Kiris, put your ring on we have to get out here.” Mars said. The alien girl, who had remained silent up to this point and allowed Mars to carry the conversation, nodded at him and quickly donned her human disguise before trailing behind her boyfriend and their still unnamed ally.

“Alright, move casually, we’re going to that gas station across the street, we need a second to gather our thoughts and make a plan.” The informant said. They crossed the street as calmly as possible, after a minute or two they heard loud alarms blaring from the apartment they had just left as well as startling bang.

“They triggered the flash bang, they should be having fun with that.” The informant said, a grin forming despite the danger as they made it into the gas station. They walked in, trying to look as average as possible while walking toward the back near the refrigerated drinks.

“Alright, there is a subway station four blocks away, that’s where we are heading.” The informant told them in hushed tones. Mars’ heart was racing, and Kiris was in tension as she swept the store with her eyes.

“If they find us, I have some things I built that can help us.” Mars said, checking over his shoulder a few times.

“We’ll need to move fast, Warwolf is going to be playing for keeps--- Oh shit!.” Their new ally was suddenly interrupted when he saw three armed troopers approaching the store. “Go-go-go, into the storage room by the bathrooms.” He said ushering both of them along. Quickly they pilled themselves into the small room, Mars and Kiris pushed close up against each other. The young nerd and the Hadrian didn’t even have a chance to think about the awkwardness of that situation as they were focused on the agents that had just entered the store.

Mars pressed his ear to the door and heard the agents interrogating the misfortunate store clerk. “We need a plan of attack, it won’t take long for them to find us here.” The former warwolf employe told the teen couple.

“Attack? We’re in a gas station we can’t just attack them.” Mars said, surprised by the suggestion.

“Too late to be soft about this kid, we either attack them or they capture us, we don’t have a choice.” Mars wanted to argue back but he knew they had to attack. He had to think about Kiris and his promise to protect her. He couldn’t go back on that just because he was afraid of getting his hands dirty.

“Alright fine, we’ll have to move fast to avoid danger.” Mars responded, “I have a device that will release a harsh sound, it’ll distract them and give us the time we need to take them out.” Mars said, handing his two allies ear plugs. “Put these in, they’ll protect your ears.”

“Alright but what comes after that?” The informant demanded in whisper. “I’m not much in a fight and no offense but it doesn’t seem like you are either.” Mars didn’t have time to get annoyed so instead he just turned to Kiris.

“Kiris, do you think you could help there? If you charged them, I can pick off whichever one you don’t hit immediately.” Mars said, feeling a bit guilty asking his girlfriend to put herself on the line like this. Kiris on the other hand was more than ready to fight to protect him and their informant, and as Mars asked her to take out the soldiers at the store, she gave him a resolute nod.

“I can take them all out if ya give me a good openin’.” She stated confidently, a serious look on her face. “When I tell ya, throw the sound bomb and wait for me to run out and attack, then run out of the store and I’ll catch up with ya. Got it?”

“Got it.” The man said, figuring it was better than nothing. Mars on the other hand took a second longer to respond, surprised by the way Kiris’ demeanor changed from her usual happy-go-lucky attitude now that they were in a serious situation. He hadn’t seen her take charge like that before and he was impressed. Recalling that they were on borrowed time, though, the boy hastily nodded.

“Good.” Kiris mumbled as she inched closer to the door, awkwardly pushing the informant aside and opening the door ever so slightly in order to peek outside. One of the Warwolf operatives was still interrogating the store clerk, who was clearly scared shitless. Another one stood next to him keeping an eye on the store, while a third was a few paces away, standing by the entrance in order to avoid any nasty surprises.

Not that it’s going to do them any good… The Hadrian thought, unable to stop the smallest of smirks from creeping into her face. She knew that their present tribulation was not to be made light of, and she feared for Mars’ safety and her own yes, but even then, the Hunt was in her blood, and the thrill was hard to resist.

She just hoped the wolf was the prey and not the predator.

“Now!” Kirisvala hissed, low enough to avoid giving away their presence. Suddenly the door was kicked open, and Mars immediately threw his device, catching the soldiers’ attention before the sound burst immediately disoriented them.

As the first of the soldiers regained her bearings and looked in the direction the sonic device had come from, she saw a young brunette running in all fours straight towards her. Undaunted by the strange sight, the soldier immediately raised her weapon towards the teen. “Stop right the-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the teen pushed herself off the ground, her movements not only faster than those of a regular human, but also stranger; her arms almost seemed to cover more distance than they should given their size. After taking to the air, the girl placed one hand on the soldier’s head, a hand which felt much larger than it should’ve been, pushing her into the Warwolf grunt next to her while simultaneously using her as a stepping stone to leap towards the one standing by the door. Just before reaching him, the girl pirouetted in mid-air and raised both of her hands, clenching them into fists before bringing them down on the soldier’s head with enough force to send him to the ground, unconscious.

The second of the three soldiers, who was still standing despite having his comrade pushed onto him, turned around as quickly as he could, bringing up his rifle to dispatch the threat, but an invisible force prevented him from pointing it at the girl. With a small grin on her face, she punched him in the face before grabbing him and violently throwing him to the back of the store, knocking over a few shelves with snacks on them. The last conscious Warwolf soldier, the woman that she had attacked first, was on the ground, and before she could get up, the girl grabbed her head and slammed it against the floor a couple times, ensuring that she wouldn’t be able to pursue them.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Kirisvala dusted her claws off and dropped the rifle she had been holding with her tail, before turning towards the counter. “We’re very sorry about the mess, we’ll try to make it up to ya someday!” She said to the terrified clerk before running out of the store.

Mars and the informant had already ran out of the store and were heading down the street in the direction of the subway. Mars ran as fast as he could but he couldn’t resist looking back to make sure Kiris was behind him. Sure enough she was soon bounding toward them at top speed, a speed that was surely not human. Behind her, half a dozen Warwolf agents were following behind in hot pursuit. Mars knew they would be joined by more soon, they needed a way to slow them done. As the group ran down the street, they were dodging civilians and traffic to get an edge on the hustling soldiers. Mars searched through his pockets as he ran, losing speed in the process until he finally came upon the item he wanted.

“Got it!” He shouted as he pulled out a strange looking box. He pressed a button on the box and quickly dropped it on the ground. Suddenly a thick and sheen layer of ice covered the floor behind the box. Instantly Warwolf agents were slipping or tripping over themselves. The ones that weren’t were moving slowly as to not slip themselves. Though Mars knew this wouldn’t last, it was summer in San Diego after all, but it would give them the time they needed to reach the station.

They were a block away from the station now, and Mars noticed that another half dozen agents had joined the chase. Still the fleeing group now had a significant lead, which made him feel a little easier in this harrowing moment. The subway station was now in sight,

“Kiris over there!” He shouted, pointing to the station entrance so that she knew where they were going, the alien nodding and barreling into the station. They headed down the stairs, and Mars’ immediately looked at the digital schedule being displayed on the nearby wall. His heart sunk at what he saw.

“Kiris… the train isn’t coming for another four minutes, we’re too early. They’ll get here before then!” He said, panic quickly rising in his voice. Kirisvala glanced at the monitor only to confirm Mars’ words, fear gripping her as well. They were so close to escaping with the informant, but thanks to an arbitrary schedule, they wouldn’t be able to get away in time and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

But the Hadrian refused to give in to panic. The man was too nervous to be of much help and the terror she saw in Mars’ eyes made it clear that she would have the one to keep a cool head this time in order to come up with a solution. And desperate times needed desperate solutions.

She knew what to do.

“Mars, I’m gonna stay back and distract them. I think I can buy ya the time ya need to get into that train without Warwolf catchin’ ya. You’re gonna have to get him to Wonder Island by yourself, alright?” The Hadrian told her boyfriend, looking him in the eye.

“What?” Mars asked in shock, “Kiris, no that’s too dangerous! I’m not leaving you here alone!” He was the one who pushed her into this situation, he wasn’t going to let her put herself on the line because he couldn’t keep her safe.

“What do ya suggest then? We stay here together and get caught together? Make this whole mission be in vain and get our friend here killed?” Kiris replied with a small scowl on her face. They were wasting valuable time arguing and she wasn’t happy that he didn’t trust her to take care of herself.

Mars softened at Kiris’ response. He didn’t have an alternative and he didn’t think there was one. “You’re right, there’s no time…. We have to make a decision. Okay Kiris, we'll go with your plan. Thank you and….” he pulled Kiris into a kiss, “please be safe.” He said, before quickly turning to the informant and running with him towards the train platform. Kiris allowed herself just one more moment of contemplation, her fingers reaching up to touch her lips as she watched Mars preparing to board the train.

When that moment was over, she turned and ran towards the street to engage Warwolf’s forces. The last thing Mars heard from her was the mighty roar of a Hadrian about to fight.

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"Oh don't be like that. You know it was a joke." He jabbed as they went into the store. He just figured that she would just pick one randomly and not stare at them like she was watching paint dry. One thing he failed to notice was how... poorly she was dressed. Something the store clerk called out.

"She's uh, planning to go to the beach after this. We needed to get her a phone since she didn't have one... And she's not really from around here." He explained, though Sina really wasn't helping their case when she shouted that they all looked the same. This was hell. He had died and gone to hell. He didn't know what he did to deserve this, but he was in hell. He had to be.

But he wasn't. He took a deep breath and walked over to Sina. "Calm down. Here." He said grabbing one of the phones boxes. "This is the same one I have." Why he didn't just do that to begin with made him a little frustrated. He presented the phone to the clerk. "I'm sorry, I just met her and was just trying to be nice. I legitimately do not know why she freaked out over the phones." He muttered, pulling out his wallet, feeling all the more better about the money Jason made him take. "Here." He paid. Please don't offer me to join some stupid membership thing. I just want to leave...

[Zarkenis Ultima]

July 24th

---

---

As Kirisvala and Seristella ate and toured around the tower, they spotted Casimir walking towards them. While the latter quickly looked him up and down critically, the former put on a wide smile and waved at Casimir with a spoon-holding claw. "G'day Casy! Good to see ya!" She greeted him eagerly, happy to come across another one of her teammates, and a friendly one at that.

"Joustin'?" The older Hadrian questioned with a raised eyebrow. As soon as her mind translated the unfamiliar word, an expression of surprise replaced her skepticism, and then one of deep thought as she considered how such a sport might work for her own culture. Pictures of large howl-howl riders with enormous lances soon filled her mind. "Joustin', huh..."

"Oh, this is my sister, Seristella! She's not here to fight, she just came here with her armor on to show off." Kiris stated, playfully elbowing her sister.

"Can't blame a Ranwynn for havin' her pride." Seris replied with a grin on her face. "Now are ya gonna introduce your friend to me, or...?"

Kiris nodded. "This is Casimir! He's a fun guy and one of the frontline fighters of the team." She explained. "He also makes great pierogi!"

Seristella suddenly let out a laugh, giving Casimir yet another once-over before turning to Kiris. "What, a frontline fighter? Him? My arm's almost thicker than him!" She spoke amusedly, using her tail to point at the boy as her hands were both occupied.

"Hey! Be nice." The younger sister chided her, a slight scowl appearing on her face.

---

July 25th

---

---

Icarus awaited answers as he looked into the heroine's eyes, and was surprised when, instead of receiving them, he was pulled into a tight embrace. It was far from the first time she had done this, and the sensation of her body pressing against him was far from unpleasant, but the boy was still concerned. She was holding him close enough that it was obvious she needed comforting, and there was still the matter of whatever had caused her to be afraid and let to her being hurt in the first place.

The words Renata spoke, the first ones since his arrival, did little to clarify the situation, but they offered a few hints as to what had happened. Broke her promise? Does that mean... The boy's eyes suddenly went wide in realization. You put yourself in needless danger, didn't you? His fists tightened at the thought. After all we've been through, after all the things you said to me? Why...

Then her embrace became tighter still, and she put the fear of death she had felt earlier into words; upon hearing them, Icarus felt disarmed, his anger quickly subsiding. She's hurt, and she's crying... How can I be angry at her? She's terrified...

The blond boy let out a sigh and then surrounded Renata's small frame with his arms, hoping to make her feel safer. One of his hands went up to her head, gently caressing her hair as she sobbed into his chest, all while quietly thinking of what to say to the distraught heroine.

"It's okay, Renata, it's okay." He began, softly whispering into her ear in case there were any eavesdroppers nearby, unlikely as that was given they were on a rooftop. "I'm here. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you when you were in danger, but I'm here now and no one is going to hurt you." He assured her, his voice suddenly gaining an edge to it and losing it just as quickly. "I'll make sure of it."

The vigilante comforted his girlfriend a bit longer. When he suspected that she might feel a little better, he placed a hand on her cheek and gently brought her face up so that he could look at her. "Renata... what happened? Do you need me to get you somewhere safe?" He asked once again.

[Solisian Union]

(CREDITS TO TURKDUCKEN for collaborating with me on this post)

Oasis had followed the group from the burger place this far, but hesitated to actually enter the building with them. They hadn’t noticed her all the way here, but she just didn’t feel right trying to follow them into the building itself. When the interior of the building gave way to an explosion and gunfire, she suddenly regretted following this whole line of thought.

“Oh Shit! They’re serious! Maybe this was a bad idea…” she turned around quickly, catching a face first collision into another pair of women coming towards the commotion.

“Damn!” she shouted, falling flatly on her behind, “You guys really didn’t see me?!” she angrily asked. One of the girls had asked her something in a thick accent. “Can You Do Something?”, the girl asked, they were clearly headed in the direction of the gate. The other girl spoke to her friend, in what she thought was Spanish, but Oasis wasn’t sure.

“Uh, like, I guess?” she mumbled, a little dazed and confused by the line of questioning.

-----

In response to what the girl said, which was simply “Uh, like, I guess?”, Catarina immediately smiled and tried to speak what little English she still could. She said to her

“Good! Uh...help us...fight?”

“Ah, screw this!” Exclaimed Yasha. She had an accent that seemed like a mix of Filipino, Spanish as well as probably Texan. She told Catarina something in rapid fire Spanish to which Catarina agreed before Yasha turned to Oasis and said to her

“Get up, girl. You can help us somehow. Or at least your maybe favorite heroes from the Young Bloods. But whatever happens, you stay with my friend. Her name is Catarina, she doesn’t understand much English but stay. With. Her!”

Without minding any more that maybe Oasis wasn’t going to get up from falling on her butt, Yasha growled as she took out her badge that showed that she belonged to the Department of Defense. Just as she witnessed Shi messing with the gate and the entire situation just boiling down into one giant clusterfuck, Yasha cried out with the loudest voice she could without messing her lungs or breathing up

“This is the Department of Defense. I am arresting you on charges of assault, damage to private property, the danger posed to civilians and more. Drop your weapons or you will be-” A shot came her way, causing her to drop down and take cover "SHIT!" She just ran through the gate and into the middle of the fight! She was exposed!

She then put away her badge and pulled out her gun, a Ruger. She aimed the 9mm pistol at the first troublemaker, which was probably another random gangster, and fired three times in the chest, hoping it hit. Then she took cover quickly to put away the pistol and start wielding her other weapon, an MP5 that she had been carrying in a small backpack.

Once done, she popped out of cover and started to put down burst after burst of rounds at her chosen targets, trying her best NOT to engage the Young Bloods.

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

“Who are these chicks?! They go from running down the street in plain clothes to suddenly being gun toting members of the Government?? the gangsters that Yasha had shot at before taking cover, returned fire, and Oasis spinning off the cap of the jug at her side in a reactive instant, the sand inside pouring out and into the air in front of her. It caught some of the smaller rounds outright, those falling to the sidewalk in front of her, the other ones kinetic energy being absorbed just enough to mitigate damage and falling through harmlessly on the other side. Some of the larger caliber however, punched right through her veil, one round in particular taking a quarter sized hole out of her right shoulder.

“Well shit, that almost worked.” she sighed, before amping herself up. “Hey you gun gals! I’m gonna get in close! Follow me and I’ll provide cover!” she turned to yell at the two, extending both hands to widen the coverage of her barrier. “Come on! Let’s get closer!”

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

Yasha grunted as she was forced to take cover again and reload while Catarina was starting to laugh maliciously when Oasis called them...to the battle!

Yasha smiled approvingly and yelled out “OKAY! I’m giving you girls covering fire!” As she popped out of her cover and started to unleash a ceaseless volley of bullets at the enemy. At this time, Catarina went forward and all out, making it through the gate, ignoring the girls at the gate. She started to turn her hands into claws while her legs started to form bony armor around them. As she to the battle proper, she avoided gunfire and allowed her body to form more bone armor around her limbs and chest until she reached the first gangsters in her reach and howled like a monstrous, hungry wolf. She immediately started to rip the first threats apart while Yasha didn’t even pause to reload as she unleashed an automatic storm of lead.

Oasis watched as the other girl ripped some poor guy to shreds, “Oh Fuck!” she yelled, her powers faltering in that moment. The thin sand veil fell, and Oasis recalled it back into it’s container, quickly running away from the monstrous girl and deeper into the facility itself. In her panic she took several shots to the torso, causing a minor inconvenience to her breathing, but otherwise unharmed.

Only Catarina never saw the reaction that Oasis had to what she was doing. For Catarina, she was only hunting and killing criminals. Even if anyone should try to stop her, her killing them was a good thing. And she enjoyed the taste of blood and flesh in her mouth now.

Yasha wasn’t disturbed too much by this. For now, she concentrated on shooting and aiming. She stopped to take cover and reload when she realized that Oasis was running away. She grunted as she told Catarina to retreat for now and follow her in order to get Oasis back in the fight or at least get her elsewhere that wasn’t the FACILITY.