Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Solisian Union]

Yasha and Catarina

During the mission, things went badly. If someone wanted to speak colorfully about it, they can say it went to shit.

That was a shitty time to get into a shitty mission and shitty as things went, they became shitty all the same.

For Yasha, it meant that she got several injuries. Plasma blasts from that cyborg ruined her day as much as getting shot at by angry and serious mercenary law enforcement officers despite her attempts at convincing them she was working for the US government. It also meant that she was going to get some seriously bad news from the top. She could get fired or arrested or both or she could simply land a desk job and that meant bad news anyway.

For Catarina, it meant that it was fun. It was shitty but fun. She managed to eat maybe one or was it two people? She didn't care. She wasn't hungry today and that was good news already for her. At least they tasted great. Eating criminals for her was a good thing for her to do. Yup, yup. That and it made it more exciting that some powerful people that were like her and her friend Yasha tried to fight them. She thought they wouldn't because they were the heroes but fighting them was fun too. She'd tell her Outrider friends about it when she got back. She could even talk about Yasha but Yasha told her that she didn't want to go meet the Outriders right now and that she had to go to her safehouse. That and she had to do about getting gouged in the eyes and hit in the neck with a bat. That really hurt but she liked it. At least it was not as bad as what happened to her in Colombia.

So what did they do right now when that mission still was going on? Well, for Catarina, she did what any cute Latina cannibal would do when faced with a tough female opponent? Why, she accepted the injuries first. She screamed loudly as she got poked in the eyes and she lost herself to the bat when it hit her in the neck. When she was down, she stayed there for a bit before rising up to her own two feet despite the pain of being poked in the tear ducts really really fast and really really hard. Vision was a pain for a couple of seconds as she retreated where she came. She looked for Yasha.

And she found her. She was hurt! That she cannot accept. She saw the machine girl thing but did not mind her as she dared to drag Yasha out of the battle despite her own injuries. Her neck ached so badly as she thought she might have broken something. Whatever, she ate some bodies, she'll heal over time. But Yasha can't eat people and heal like that. So all she can do was to bite down on Yashas clothes and drag her as fast as she could out of this place.

IT was time to leave.

---

With the Outriders, things were better. But sadly for Catarina, she was alone. Well, technically she was not. She had her Outrider buddies but without Yasha, it just didn't feel as exciting. Yasha (Yashy as she started to call her when Yasha was not around) said that she would have to stay in the safehouse she told Catarina to bring her to. She also said that Yasha would have to come back for her if she didn't call Yasha. She gave her a cellphone but Catarina didn't really understand that device as she could understand a computer. It was too small and she hated it because she might choke on it. She remembered trying to eat something that bulged and vibrated in the pocket of some criminal back in Colombia. Turns out it was a cellphone and she did almost choke on it.

Metals and electronics taste bad. That she knew.

So for now, though, she was back with her friends but Yasha was not available. Well not right now. Maybe next time. That made Catarina grin and giggle even though it may look discomforting to her friends. She did not mind. People were like that. Maybe. Maybe they will get used to her over time. Yay!

She, however, realized that she was late. She was not at the meeting yet. She was just coming right now. As she made her way into the meeting place, she was humming and hopping whenever she could. Catarina was still covered in bits and pieces of flesh that started to smell over the time it took her to go from where the mission went badly to back to this place.

She started hearing their voices and got excited, the Colombian going down on fours and running over there. She reached them as they talked and she simply said as she got there

"Estoy aquí, estoy aquí! Am here, my friends! Ay!"

And she rose until she stood like a honest human being again. And yes, she still smelled. While flesh covered her, there was also blood on her clothes. Blood on her face and blood on her feet. She rubbed her neck as she groaned in pain, telling Vendetta

"Amigo grande, me duele el cuello. (Big friend, my neck hurts.)"

[Turmenista]

Misha Kasaprov in Siberia
(Fictional) Town of Grestol, Russian Federation

The bar was pretty much your regular, unassuming pub located a good walk outside of the main area of the town. That was to be expected from a hamlet like Grestol, which was pretty much your regular, unassuming town in the middle of Siberia. Even in the middle of July, the town seemed like it was frozen (no pun intended) in a perpetual state of being snowy and icy (but not too snowy or icy), which, combined with some of the derelict Soviet-era buildings in the old section of town, large, blocky brutalist apartments, and huge radio tower in the background, made it seem as if it were something stuck in time 30 years ago.

The town had less than 1000 people or so in terms of population, and was surrounded by thick boreal forests and imposing mountains on all sides, making entry into the town impossible aside from the roads. The Russian Ground Forces had a small outpost nearby, mainly to maintain the radio tower outside of the town, which was crucial for communicating with other bases in the area. There was only one major road going through the town, which split off into an intersection in the middle of town, with roads going East to the rest of Russia, North to the tower, South to a frozen-over lake, and West... also to the rest of Russia.

For someone like The Mammoth, it was the perfect place to call home: quiet, secluded, and remote. For someone like Misha, it meant that news of an attack on a town like this would be sparse, if it even came out at all.

He exited his car, moving towards the building in question. Knowing his physique and intelligence, Misha could pass as someone at least 2 or 3 years older than his actual age of 19, thereby letting him into the bar without having to worry about laws and whatnot. Upon entering, The Kaspersy operator found that it was already full of people—most notably, one of the town's local militias that had, along with the local Russian Ground Forces contingent, been advised about a new "training operation" from command. Of course, this was just a cover up to have the Kaspersy Unit, assisted by the regulars, set up for an ambush to destroy the Enforcers.

Undoubtedly, they were going to die, so he didn’t bother talking to them for now. He stepped over to the barkeep who knew him well (at least, his alias of someone all the way from Moscow), and knew exactly what to get him.

He winked at the clean-shaven barkeep. “Privet, Zoltan.”

“Tough day?” Zoltan nodded back at him.”

“Tried talking with a friend.” Misha explained. “He didn’t seem too keen on the idea of helping me out.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll change his mind one day or another, Misha.” The barkeep said, trying to reassure him. Before he could answer, however, the doors to the bar swung open (and rather abruptly so), briefly buffeting everyone inside with the cold air as they closed. Casitov’s titanic figure filled the doorway as he fit himself into the building, albeit slumped down slightly to compensate for his height.

Misha stared at the Mammoth. “Funny you say that, about changing minds and all.”

He strode over to the bar, right beside Misha, in fact, and motioned for a drink. “I have made up my mind. We will discuss this over a bottle. Comrade.”

_____________________________________

“Vipr 1. to control, we have a confirmed lock on the target, designated Python. Repeat, we have a confirmed lock on the target.”

MiGs had already been scrambled, but not on СТРАТКОМ’s orders, which only further complicated things. Commander Kamarov watched the events take place on her screen in silence, intently viewing the two jets intercepting the unknown object headed towards Grestol’s radio tower. They were asking for permission to fire upon the alien spacecraft, which was out of her control.

“Affirmative, Vipr. Kill Python.”

The pilot’s breathing was audible over the radio. “Roger that, control. Kill Python. Fox one.”

The orders suddenly came through from the radio tower, granting them permission to begin firing. She swore, watching the two tiny blocks representing the missiles fly across the grid, meters dropping by the second on her screen. At this rate, she wasn’t sure what would be hit first: the spacecraft or the tower.

“Commander Kamarov,” one of her subordinates said out loud as the Air Defense grid started beeping wildly, other СТРАТКОМ officers and soldiers running around to provide new updates. “The alien spacecraft is drastically reducing its altitude and speed, headed towards the Grestol radio tower. Time of impact for the missiles is ten seconds, same for the spacecraft.”

_____________________________________

“I’VE FINALLY CRACKED IT.” CORE’s logic declared loudly as it merged with PLEX’s, watching the incoming projectiles accelerate towards the rear of their starship. The primitive missiles obviously wouldn’t do anything to their shields, so that was the least of his concern, though it was interesting that they were the ones being intercepted by a threat, not the other way around. Still, after days of deliberation and calculations and chasing threat after threat in the barren wastelands of Siberia, CORE had finally figured out why they had been brought here, to such a remote location on Earth.

“Enlighten me.” PLEX said, busy piloting the spacecraft to even care what his brother was thinking.

“The HUMANS have purposely REPURPOSED their communications apparatuses to BROADCAST false events of THREATS to us. EVIDENTLY, they are AWARE of our mission from ALCYONEUS and are using it to EXPLOIT our weakness. IN HUMAN TERMS, WE HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED.”

PLEX remained quiet for a moment, briefly looking up a definition for the silly human word. “...And you have just figured out about this, brother?”

CORE too remained quiet, possibly glitching out of pure rage or contemplating what had just happened. “No matter, brother. I, too, am aware of their mission. I have been aware from the start, intentionally following their bait. They have led us here into a trap—unknown that I, too plan to trap them.”

“A MOST IMPRESSIVE PLAN.” CORE admitted.

“Indeed. In one fell swoop, this settlement, its inhabitants, and the massive superhero threat that resides here, shall be eliminated. The humans are under the impression that we are mere single-minded automations playing their simple game. We are not. The threat here may be the largest we have ever faced. We shall hunt it down.”

_____________________________________

“Vipr 2., break course, break course NOW! Python has changed course!”

The pilots screamed, breaking away from their intercept course as the alien spacecraft suddenly thrust upwards, in an almost completely vertical motion, and dodged the missiles. Unable to keep up with their pursuit, the missiles missed their target and hit the radio tower instead, causing an ear-splitting buzz to emit from Grestol’s side of communications once the tower was destroyed.

Both fighters began to flee, but were cut short of this when the spacecraft opened fire with its own weapons, destroying the fighters with ease in the form of two bolts of dark matter.

Commander Kamarov was speechless. “Did they just—”

“Commander, they appear to be aware of our plan.” One of her underling officers reported, interrupting her mid-speaking. She gritted her teeth in frustration. “I know.”

“Orders?”

She clasped her hands together, looking over the sector map of Grestol. “Order a full evacuation from the town. Inform the local police to begin the evacuation. The militia unit, ground forces garrison, and the rest of the Kaspersy unit will need to mobilize immediately.”

“And what of Casitov, Commander?”

She contemplated her answer. “If he is not willing to defend his country, then so be it. This will be a rather one-sided battle if he does not show, however. If Misha is able to convince him to join our side, we may have a shot of getting out of this in one piece.

_____________________________________

As the words exited Zoltan’s mouth, expressing his dissatisfaction with the television reception and repeated playing of the same thing over and over again, another rumble was heard in the town. Initially assuming it to be an earthquake, someone yelled out the words, but was stopped upon remembering that quakes in this area were impossible.

Looking out the window, Misha saw the flaming black figures of two jets—or, at least, their remains—tumbling out of the sky towards what remained of the crumbling radio tower in the background.

Shit. Are they already here?! Those who happened to have weapons immediately drew them as those who didn’t scrambled for cover, fleeing the area as police urged them to do the same.

Misha was just about to run for his vehicle to grab his equipment when he heard whistling in the air, louder than the wind outside. The unmistakable sound of an incoming mortar shell was enough to cause him to dolphin dive away from the area as something large and invisible dropped down, producing a large dent in the icy parking lot that also shook him to his core.

Igor Casitov stopped his drinking, setting the bottle down as he looked to the militia group, who were likely preparing to exit as well. “Outside. Now.

Large footprints appeared in the pavement alongside metallic clanking as Misha, half in a crouch and half in a run, sprinted as fast as he humanly could towards his car, coming to a sliding halt behind his trunk. All the while, Casitov stomped outside towards the slowly approaching invisible machines, his breath visible in thick white clouds coming from his nostrils. “Show yourself, soulless metal bastards.”

His demands were answered as Misha shouted for him to look out, as more clanking was heard in his direction. The footprints in front of Casitov, however, disappeared as the ground crackled slightly. Immediately, the Mammoth snapped his attention up into the air, which turned out to be a great choice once his hands caught up with the invisible object that promptly became visible after being slammed into the ground.

The red light acting as its “eye” shone bright as Igor was pushed off of CORE, the move causing PLEX to practically flip over a partially-armed Misha (and his car) once he became visible and charged. However, Misha’s suit had since assembled, ending with his helmet, and he had already begun prodding the blue-eyed Enforcer’s armored back with his rifle.

Meanwhile, once Casitov recovered, CORE’s massive figure vanished again, reappearing this time right next to the resident superhuman. The machine swung an arm-blade, Casitov barely avoiding it as he tossed away the remains of Misha’s car. He dodged a swing of the massive Tacitite blade again, Misha barely able to keep track of their movements after the Mammoth ducked under the swing.

Pushing his body to his limits, Igor shouted as he swung a haymaker so fast that a vapor cone appeared around it. Its power was evident in shaking the entire lot (and causing a very noticeable dent in the robot’s armor plating), all while also pushing the Enforcer back.

It staggered, then recovered from the dent, quickly matching the Mammoth’s speed and power by parrying an incoming punch, following up with another to Casitov’s gut. Still, the Mammoth remained on the move, blocking a punch sent towards him with a sudden dropkick that caught the Enforcer off guard once again.

This demon-machine-thing is learning from me. What the hell is this?!

Shocked, Casitov backed off as he assumed a guard, the Enforcers briefly looking at one another before vanishing once more into the snow, apparently bounding off towards the forests surrounding the town. Panting, Igor held his stomach as he watched them leave, still trying to figure out if they were simply retreating, or relocating to somewhere else to ambush them…

“Don’t follow them.” He ordered out aloud. “Wait until reinforcements arrive. I still do not know what we are dealing with, and it matched me in physical combat. Not only that, there are two of them.”

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-Outrider Base, Condemned District

Most had already contributed their initial thoughts and I was not that surprised with the suggestions. Yet, it felt better to work this out with the team at large. It seemed that most of us believe that luring the targets outside would be for the best and I have to agree. In an enclosed space like that the risk is just too great. I thought of ways to separate the targets from the civilians and I soon came along the non so original idea of tripping a fire alarm or something. Maybe even start a small one to sell it. Uptown people like this tend to panic fairly easily. Once we get them outside it should be simple to pick off the targets. Crossing my arms I thought about my team. Most of us are melee or close range fighters. Brianna, Sina and Edward. Catarina from how I hear it likes to get close and messy. And even Sebastian prefers a good haymaker to a automatic weapon, but he is flexible enough. Pretty much only myself and Isaac use guns as primaries. Means most of the team will need to be fairly close to the exits to make sure no one slips past us.

"Why don't you trip the fire alarm Brianna? Of any of us you would probably blend into this kind of establishment the most easily. And it would not hold you up because you can summon your armor at any moment." I then took a step back.

"As for the rest of us we will be just outside at the various entry points or on roof tops above waiting to ambush." My eyes then flashed in Isaac's direction.

"Isaac, you will be our primary eyes and ears out there. As a mobility specialist you are best suited to make sure WW, the police or possibly even the Young Bloods get the drop on us. Every moment in advance that we know they are coming is for the best. If we get boxed in we are all dead." Then bringing my attention back to the larger group I summed up what would have to work as our plan.

"So, in short we ride in. Surround the place, Brianna moves in and sets off an alarm and we wait for our targets to exit the building while Isaac keeps an eye out for the authorties who would be arriving in just minutes. So, we need to be fast about this once that alarm goes off. Memorize the targets and take them out as quickly as possible. Also..." My voice then lowered a bit as I moved on to the final piece of the briefing.

"If we are forced to split up there is a...less than reputable...club. I know of, Four Roses on Ellens Street in the Condemned District, trust me, you wont be able to miss it. We can all meet up there if we have to split up. Best not to return straight back to the base." The facts that this was a seedy little 'Gentleman's Bar and I had worked there briefly after turning 18 went unsaid. They didn't need to know that, but the owner there is fond of me and if anyone asked questions I am sure he wouldn't sell me out.

"So, that closes things up and everyone is dismissed..." My voice trailed off as my nose just made me painfully aware of the presence of one very specific team member. Catarina. She was covered in tattered, blood stained clothes which were covered in various pieces of now rotting human chunks not to mentioned the caked up blood around her mouth and well...my stomach turned a little looking at her. Many of my fellow Outriders find her...unsettling and honestly, even among a group like us I can understand why. While I...mostly, have reserved judgement on her, she does creep me out and frankly I could probably get past her eating people if she was just more...classy about it. Like Hannibal or some shit.

But this feral jungle shit has to stop, really. And better me than someone else, if Catarina has any chance of establishing anything remotely resembling a normal human connection around here. As everyone else scurried out of the garage I signaled to Catarina to wait up as I promptly scooped up a bucket with cold soap water which I had washed my car with earlier as I stopped, and held my breath, in front of her.

"You...trust me? Right Catarina?" I asked, knowing she understood some English even if she could barely speak it. Without waiting for a response I dumped the contents of the cold soapy bucket over her head.

"Because this is me helping you." I jumped back slightly to avoid getting any human remains on me which was washed off and onto the floor as I then grabbed the wet towel and proceeded to scrub her with it starting with her face, then moving to her arms and shoulders and from there on down. Doing so I noticed a lot of scar tissue which I had never really noticed before. And seeing them I wasn't sure if I should be surprised or not, not knowing what types of injuries a tribal jungle girl could get. But as I worked my way down I noticed some which...well, made me want to hunt down those responsible. But knowing this girl, she probably already got to them.

Throughout the ordeal I remained largely silent from her dirtied nails to her rough feet. Doing my best not to invade her privacy more than absolutely needed. Once that was done I stepped back away from her and picked up a hose, then sprayed the remains of the soap off of her. Still turning over the things I had learned about her just in the process of giving her a bath. Not even certain what to do with the information. Seeing her cold and soaked I exhaled deeply and then removed a dry towel in from the Demon, I shower at a truck stop myself so I bring my own supplies. Tossing the towel to her I shuffled around in the car until I found a spare toothbrush and tooth paste.

I moved over to her swiftly once again and signaled for her to open her mouth, doing so myself to get the point across only to gag slightly when her breath hit me. Jesus christ. Immediately placing the toothbrush inside her mouth I furiously began scrubbing and brushing, leaning back as far as I could while doing so.

"Listen Catarina, your gonna have to learn to do this yourself from now on alright." Finally satisfied with my handiwork I told her to just spit the paste on the ground. Reaching into the car once more to pick up some spare clothes, a white tee and some blue jeans with undergarments I tossed them over to her once by one.

"OK, those may not be the best fit but they should do the job until-" I started to explain as I glanced over at her ash she stood holding the bra in one hand with the other clothes in the other.

I groaned as I planted my face in my hands knowing what was coming next.

---

Later that night

I had set myself up on the opposite rooftop to the back entrance. I guessed that if the scum bags bailed they would not use the front doors. But just to cover the bases I had Sebastian set up across that street as well. With Isaac doing just as he suggested and gathering some recon. Everyone was in place and all there was to do was to wait for Brianna to trip the signal. I had my usual set today, plus one extra surprise just in case. I was up here with the AK-47, a Magnum revolver with the standard set of grenades and knife. With one RPG, a weapon that I have trained with since the battle with Marionette. My arms dealer finally found some time to get me out in the desert with one a little more than a week back. And I will need it if WW shows up with anything bigger, which they very well could.

But for now, all I could do is sit and wait for Brianna to hit the signal. And listen to no one in particular with the ear pieces as I scanned the windows of the restaurant salivating over the food they were serving in there. But shaking the thought from my head I returned my attention to the task at hand. Ready to hit the ground running when the world came crashing down.

There was one thing for certain, with so many people around and cameras, there was no way the media would ignore this. Once this is done, the Outriders are in a spot light for real. And that meant a lot of heat coming down on us. And it wont just be the mob this time, War Wolf and cops would be eager to serve us up.

I only hoped everyone was as ready for it as I am.

[Tomia]

Wonder Island, July 27th
Roy was busy with Naja, moving chairs and tables to set up one of the island's large, and now abandoned, buildings for the press conference. He was glad for the menial tasks, he needed something physical to do to take his mind off the awful situation they were now in, and Mike had already monopolized the gym's punching bags. After about an hour things were set up and Naja told Roy to go get ready. He nodded solemnly and headed towards the tower that held his room. When he arrived he started a shower and found himself standing in the running water, deep in thought. He had never asked to be the leader of this team, and really he had never been formally been named it, yet he could feel the pressure of people constantly looking to him for answers. He had been skeptical of this team when it started, and now here he was cast in the middle of it, one of his dear friends now in the hands of a dangerous enemy. The stakes that the Young Bloods were playing for continued to climb higher and higher, and now they were entering the national spotlight. Roy let out a deep sigh as the water sprayed onto his head. Things had been so much simply when he was just a lone hero, working where he wanted to with no responsibilities. But still, Roy couldn't deny that he enjoyed the sense of comradery the Young Bloods gave him. They were slowly becoming his family and he would be damned if someone hurt them. Eventually he got out of his own head and went to the business of cleaning himself, once done he dressed himself in his now famous Nightshade costume and headed down the tower to the living room.

Roy was there a little early but others had already started to gather. Mars and Yoshi had finished talking to the informant and were there in costume, and they joined by Frostbite who stood stoically in the corner as usual. Once everyone had arrived, and the time to go outside had come, Naja came in to speak to the group. "Okay everyone, I know you've been in front of cameras before, but this is different. National news networks, newspapers, and NASL reporters are here tonight. I'm going to open with a statement and then we're going to allow them to ask you questions. I know some of you don't like the press but remember this is for Kiris. If we are going to save her from Warwolf, we need the public's support. So please, best behavior tonight." She said before leading them outside.

The bright lights of cars and cameras caught Roy off guard and dozens of reporters were arriving and shuffling into the building where the press conference would be held. Reporters noticed the large group of heroes walking out and started to converge around them but were hoarded off to their seats by Roy and Naja. Soon the Young Bloods made there way the front of the large previously empty building. There were 5 large tables stretched horizontally for the team to sit at, with a microphone for each of them. Man this team's size has really exploded. Roy thought, as he sat in the middle with Naja next to him. Wendy sat next to Roy and Mars was next to Naja. Once the rest of the team had taken seats, Naja cleared her throat into the mic to get people to settle down before speaking.

"Welcome everyone, and thank you for coming on short notice. We've called this press conference, because a grave injustice has fallen upon this city, and we can no longer sit idle by and allow it to continue. The private military force known as Warwolf, was brought in to our city to provide justice and protection to its citizens. However, today we have seen a terrible example of their failure. Kirisvala, a dearly regarded member of our team and member of the San Diego community, has been unjustly arrested by Warwolf agents. The Young Bloods now stand together and call for the immediate release of Kirsvala, and we call on the public to stand with us as we demand accountability and restraint on behalf of Warwolf. The city of San Diego has too long been in need of watchful heroes, but those heroes are not Warwolf. Instead, the heroes sitting in front of you are the ones I hope this city embraces as their own. As part of that, we want to take some questions you might have for the team members."

Suddenly dozens of hands raised and shouting started from the reporters in the audience, and Naja called on a woman in the third row first.

"Nightshade, can you give us a clearer picture as to what happened earlier today regarding Kirisvala's arrest?"

Roy leaned closer to the mic, his stomach tightening a bit at the knowledge that everyone's eyes were on him. "We maintain Kiris' innocence, any action she allegedly took against Warwolf were done in self defense, after she was wrongfully pursued by the organization. We don't want to say any more than that for now." He said, as calmly and professionally as he could manage.

Another reporter was called on and another question was asked, "Mars, there's been no shortage of rumors about you and Kirisvala spreading around the internet, do you think you could comment on Kirisvala's character for the public?"

Mars took a very shaky breath before speaking, "Kiris is the kindest person you'd ever meet. She's fierce in her desire to protect the innocent, and caring and loyal to her friends. Believe me whatever stories are told about her that paint her as hostile or dangerous and disingenuous lies. Kiris is a good person, and she doesn't deserve what's happened to her." There was a second of silence as pictures of Mars were being taken before the question game continued. Soon they were coming rapid fire, to various members of the team.

"Kabuto, you played a notable role in the operation to stop the Cabal at Wonder Foundation, could you tell us from your view what went wrong that night?

"Aelous, you were a founding member of the team, what brought you to want to be a hero at such a young age?"

"Makeshift, you're one of the teams "techies" as they are referred to by many superhero fans. Do you have any personal projects you've been working on?"

"Follow up question Makeshift, are there any particular places you draw inspiration from as a tech hero? Do you have any heroes from the NASL you particularly admire?"

"Stella, your home country of Ecuador has a very different culture surrounding heroes, what do you make of American heroes compared to those back home?"

"Mask, there's been a lot of controversy surrounding your relationship with both the law and the general public. Has that effected your relationship with the team? And what would you say to people who doubt the Young Bloods because of these controversies?"

"Bael, could you tell us how it feels being one of the few of your race among humans? How has being a superhero affected your interactions with humans?"

"Forge, you're one of the members of the team that has had previous experience as a hero, what is your take on Warwolf's dealings with Kiris and other heroes that it has deemed dangerous?"

"Red Princess, you're one of the newer members of the team, how have you felt settling in with a team as a relative new comer?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Press Conference

The time to the conference flew by much faster than Bael had expected, leaving him with hardly any time to psych himself up for the coming attention. What, if anything would they ask him? He prayed to the Spirits, dearly hoping that they didn't know anything about some of his more morally questionable decisions. The two ones being his escapade with Floyd and Kaban. Thankfully there was barely any footage of that, and most people blamed it on Kaban regardless. The large Dra'Qunni wasn't even in the city any more so that was good news. The other being his hanging out with Sina. However, there wasn't much to go on for that. For the most part, all they did was fly around the city and rip up some grass in the park. Hardly a criminal offense. He jsut hope that she didn't do anything that would bring a lot of attention to her.

He looked over to Jason who seemed pretty relaxed, slouching on the couch watching some cartoon on TV. Well, it was hard to tell what his face looked like under his "mask." Apparently the suit was actually alive and talked to Jason, something that he found to be disturbing. Despite that, there didn't seem to be any signs that he was weirder than anyone else on the team. Between the moth looking girl, Kiris, and even himself. The whole team was weird in some way, shape or form. And it made him feel better that they were all okay with it. "You're pretty relaxed." Bael started to Jason. "We've got this big conference coming up and you're just sitting there.

"Yeah. It's called relaxing." Jason mused. "You should try it some time, it's great."

"I am relaxed."

"Really? So your tail isn't doing it's best inflatable waving tubeman impression?" He snickered. "Cause it looks to me like it is. Take a seat Scales. It's gonna be fine. Worst case scenario, you just ramble about nothing for a minute and end with something that sounds like it meant something, but really means nothing. Just like politicians, or car salesmen."

Bael offered a small nod and chuckle as he went to sit down on the couch. They had a good half hour before the conference. A little TV never. The cartoon seemed to be about an anthropomorphic blue cat and his "brother" a gold fish with legs. Much to his surprise, it was actually pretty entertaining.

The time came and the team headed to where the conference was being held. Bael in his best loincloth and Jason as slimy and toothy as ever. Both of them took their seats at the preferred tables and waited as the press started showing up. Neither of them realized just how many people were on the team. There had to be at least twenty of the superpowered teens in there. Hopefully no one said anything too stupid. Himself included.

Bael braced when they started asking questions. His heart skipped a beat when they called his name. It was quite odd to hear a human say his real name. Maybe he should just abandon the Wyatt moniker altogether. The question was... Actually a nice question about how he spent his time as a non-human among a human super team. Immediately his heart rate dropped to a more reasonable speed and the tightness in his chest immediately lifted.

"I'm not going to lie. It was lonely for a long while." The dragon started. "I'm from and raised by a different culture. So, as you would expect, I didn't have a lot of friends. I was, for lack of a better term, weird. I got made fun of, bullied... That kind of stuff, but that all changed when I met my team." He motioned to the group on either side of him. "They didn't care how I looked or that I had mannerisms that are out of the ordinary. In fact, they embraced me. Over the past month, these people made me feel, for the first time in my life, that I wasn't wrong for being me." He started, honestly putting his feelings out in the open. "Being with them has made me realize that everyone's a little weird, and that's okay. You just have to find people who are weird in the same ways. Or who will appreciate it."

"I would say that being a superhero has influenced my interactions with humans in an extremely positive manner. It's given me confidence, self respect, and the thought of knowing that I do have people to watch my back and help me with whatever I needed. Because I would do the same thing for them. I honestly can't come up with how this has affected my life in a negative way. My parents do get a little worried sometimes, but they're proud of what I'm doing. Doing this has made me go from feeling ostracized to feeling like a member of a family." He finished with a brief nod. "And as with any family, you don't like it when someone is taken from it. Kiris was one of the first people I ever spoke to. She really helped me come out of my shell, and is one of my closest friends. A friend I very much hope to see again soon. Thank you." He finished and sat back down.

A warm smile made it's way across his face. He really did feel that way about his team. He would move Heaven and Earth to rescue one of them, and believed that the team would do the same thing for him.

[Finland SSR]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-Outrider Base, Condemned District

Later that night

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

So then. With the plan all set and Sina's idea accepted as the crux - something which brought a smile on her face, even if she was not really the planning type - the Outriders moved out. Brianna was designated as the team member who was going to go inside and cause a ruckus by tipping a some sort of alarm, while the rest of the team surrounded the restaurant from the outside. Perched up on the rooftop of one of the residential buildings at the side, ready to leap off and pick off any suspicious humans like a hawk descending upon its prew, Sina caught a glimpse of Alexis in a building to her left and Sebastian to the right, both taking the front and back of the restaurant respectively.

Both of them were armed with one of those scaleless weapons. The Dra'Quinni vigilante could only hope that they were precise enough with those things to not hit their teammate as she flies around in the aftermath of the collab. Or the innocents which will definitely be mixed along with all the mafia men and women...

There's going to be a lot of innocent people. And a lot of bystanders. And a lot of attention placed upon them. Which was worrying, but at the same time very, very exciting.

Come on, Brianna, start it already...

---

Wonder Island, July 27th

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

The two hours Roy gave to the rest of the team to prepare for a press conference came and went, faster than she might have expected. Turns out playing around with the Spectrum Gauntlet was actually more fun than she could have ever imagined - although, on second thought, perhaps she should have expected that, given that creating all the stuff in one's imagination and turning them real couldn't possibly not be fun. Alas, the time for playing games was coming to an end - seeing some of her teammates start to make their way out of the Tower towards one of the large abandoned buildings sprawling across the island which was designated for the press conference, Renata swiftly dropped what she was doing in the courtyard and ran back inside, heading to her room and immediately pulling off the Spectrum Gauntlet to toss it at her bed.

The dark green suit on her body swiftly vanished, restoring what she had been wearing right before turning the Gauntlet on. Ah, that's handy. Since she's going to be attending this press conference as Stella, however, the Gauntlet will have to be left behind right now. In a few minutes time, the pink-haired girl changed into her costume, opting to leave the shock absorbers behind for now as well - putting them on and screwing in all the necessary screws would take too much of the time she did not have - and, after a few seconds fixing up her hair and putting on lipstick for the occasion, the heroine stormed out.

Press conferences and speaking in front of national television was not something which Renata hadn't seen experience in - however, this occasion was going to be special. All the times in the past when the Andean Condors would be required to speak in front of crowds and cameras, she would take the backseat and, if any question flew towards her, ehr father would help out with the answer. None of these chains tying her to her father's shadow were there anymore. If a question is presented towards her, she will have to respond to it solely with her own ability. Which, and she had to be honest with herself about this, made this conference really, really exciting.

So, when, after Roy and then Mars explained the situation with Kiris's kidnapping and Warwolf's actions, she was presented with a surprisingly easy question, should she take it as a relief or as something to get mad over? Renata's mind was leaning towards the latter, but she opted to not show it - Naja was correct - this was not the time to screw around and show their best behavior tonight. And knowing her upbringing... Renata figured that she should be the example here, not loose baggage dragging the rest of the team down.

"Thank you for your question, mister." the heroine began her response and continued with a brief and polite nod. "Well, as you may aware, the difference between the superhero community of Ecuador and the United States is as different as night and day. We pride ourselves in championing a third way between the First World and the Second World, between letting superheroes roam free and openly cracking down on them - my country considers people with inhuman abilities to be a vital part of society, and their allies, not villains or subjects."

Indeed, in Ecuador, superhero teams, such as the Condors, were considered to be a separate branch of law enforcement and integrated into the government structure, rather than being something outside of it. What's the word for the integration of public associations into the government and have the country thus work for the common interest of everyone... corporatism, right? She could name-drop it to further her point. But I think Americans think too much of business when they hear the word "corporation"... keep it for a later date, then.

"When I arrived to the United States, I was surprised to witness such a commercial and mass popularity view towards superheroes, and especially often treating them as idols and celebrities rather than enforcers of law. That did not leave me with a very good first impression. However, now that I have gotten some time to settle in, I've come to appreciate the liberty which the United States provides. Almost anyone, with or without powers, is able to make their way into the superhero arena as long as they have the will behind their actions. Many of the members of this team are good examples of this.

On the other hand, however, there are still places in which problems shine through the glittery facade. This entire sequence of events with Kiris is a good example of that. If something like this took place in Ecuador, you can be sure that such an injustice would not be allowed to stand."

[Confederation of the Equator]

[minecraft villager sound]

[Bentus]

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower

---

Ash seemed to ponder Kabuto’s response for a moment. So these reporters would be asking them questions during the press conference in order to figure out the truth? She felt a sense of relief at Kabuto’s explanation; the serious way in which the rest of the team had been reacting to the prospect of a press conference had put Ash’s nerves on edge. But Kabuto made it sound like when Naja had interviewed her, and that had turned out to be really nice. Thinking for a second, Ash nodded firmly, having decided that she was looking forward to her first press conference. If all she had to do was be honest again, then it didn’t seem like it would be hard at all.

It was then that Kabuto asked if she wanted to join him and Jason as they tried to practice their web swinging. Immediately curious, and not wanting to miss an opportunity to spend some more time with Kabuto, Ash grinned eagerly as she turned to address both of the Young Bloods.

“That sounds very fun, I would love to come along.”

The mutant couldn’t help but feel a hint of excitement as Kabuto suggested that she could also use the chance to show off. As she followed the pair outside, she realised that she hadn’t left the Tower since she had first arrived, not even for a quick fly to stretch her wings. Grinning, Ash was determined to make the most of the chance to show Jason and Kabuto what she could do - that way they’d know that she would be able to pull her own weight within the team when it mattered. At first, however, she was content to simply watch wide-eyed as the two boys swung among the tree branches.

Ash couldn’t help but stare at Jason’s ‘suit’. It looked unlike anything else she’d seen before, as if the thick liquid that the scientists had sometimes filled her pod with had taken form and clung to his skin. Following the boy’s moving form curiously as the suit seemed to almost shift and flow around him, Ash tilted her head as she tried to figure out where it ended and the Young Blood began. If she hadn’t seen Jason don the outfit in the first place, she would never have guessed that the fairly skinny young man lay underneath the thick, menacing black substance. It was almost like he became a different person when he allowed his powers to shine through.

Blinking as she realised that she had maybe her staring could be misunderstood as being impolite, Ash turned to see Kabuto throwing himself into his practice with his characteristic determination. Smiling as she watched her best friend swing from tree branch to tree branch, the mutant decided to try and use the opportunity to introduce herself properly to his teammate. Casimir had said that she had to make the effort to be friendly, afterall.

Hopping over to the base of the tree trunk that Jason was perched on, Ash didn’t hesitate before she began to clamber up the bark. Her four hands and legs moved with a practiced ease on the surface, adhering to it and holding her body weight with minimal effort. Unconcerned about the height, she didn’t even bother looking down as she nevertheless realised that Jason had managed to swing himself higher up into the branches than she had first thought. Meandering her way around the trunk until she was a few feet above where Jason clung, watching Kabuto as he continued to practice, Ash kept her bare feet and a pair of her hands in contact with the tree to fix herself in place. Reaching out with one of her free hands, she offered Jason a friendly handshake - a greeting which had not served her wrong yet.

“Hello, Jason. I feel that we have not yet met properly enough to be friends.” Smiling, Ash put aside the slight feeling of unease that instinctively set some of her hairs on end as the suit’s eyes turned to look at her. “I am Ash: Kabuto is my best friend, so I figured that it would be good for me to try and make his friends, my friends too. You call your suit Sludge, yes?”

[New Finnish Republic]

Brianna

---

"Hví ir þat opt minn knǫð, Óðinn?" Brianna muttered underneath her breath as she walked quietly towards the entrance towards the building. She was dressed rather...provocatively to say the least. At least, in her standards. Wearing a black dress that hugged her figure that showed off much more than she liked, she did what she could to maintain an eloquent look upon her face as she approached the doorway which lead inside the restaurant. Two men stood guard, their eyes hidden behind pairs of sunglasses and their faces devoid of expression. One of them held a clipboard in his hand, a list containing the names of those who were allowed to be inside the restaurant during the meeting amongst the criminal leaders. Brianna was clearly not on this list, but if there was one thing she had learned over the years, mortal men were easy to persuade if you gave them enough of a..."reason" to reconsider. And given how their expressions changed quite significantly upon her arrival, it was clear that she had provided enough of a reason for them to listen to her.

Standing in front of the two burly men, Brianna did her best to swallow her disgust and instead place a wide and alluring smile on her face. "Excuse me, but I believe I have a reservation here tonight," she said to the guards. The men continued to stare at her for a few moments, before one of them came to his senses and nudged the one holding the clipboard with his elbow. Broken out of his trance, the guard quickly brought his attention to the list.

"And your name, m-ma'am?"

"Nykvist. Astrid Nykvist," Brianna said, purposefully thickening her accent to add to her mystiqe. The guard holding the clipboard began to quickly scan through the list of names, and to no surprise of Brianna was unable to find the name.

"I-I don't see you on here. I-I'm sorry, but we can't l-let you in," the man replied, his words stuttering as they came out of his mouth. Had it not been for the situation at hand, Brianna might have thought it to be flattering, but at this point it made her want to just run her spear through his obnoxious face. Still, she had a job to do, and she had fully planned on what to do next.

Quickly closing the distance between her and the guard holding the clipboard, she wrapped her arms around the man's free arm, purposefully pressing her body up against it. "What? How could this be?! This is such a wonderful resturant, and it brings me much joy to eat here. My fiancee broke off our engagement just this morning, and the thought of being able to enjoy this delicious food was the only thing that kept me whole! If I have to go home now, all alone and hungry, I just might...I might..." As she had practiced, she began to force her tears to begin to appear in the corners of her eyes, faking a series of sniffles before burying her face into the shoulder of the guard. The man, not knowing what to do with a beautiful young woman appearing to be breaking down in front of him, looked over to his partner who equally looked confused on what to do. Finally, after a few more fake sobs, Brianna felt a pair of hands grasp onto her shoulders, gently pushing her away from the man.

"You can come in. Please, take your time and enjoy your meal. After what that...idiot of a man did to you, you deserve the best," he said, a small amount of red tint covering his face. Brianna looked up to the man, faking a look of joy and surprise while on the inside a devilish smile was forming. To fully sell the act, she wrapped her arms around the man's chest in an emrbace, taking care as to not squeeze hard or else give away what kind of person she really was.

"Thank you so much, Mister! Please, if you have the time, come join me at the table so I can properly thank you later," she said. The red tint in the man's cheeks flared up even further as he could only respond with a simple nod. The other guard, a look of jealousy on his face, wasted no time in opening the door for the white haired girl, and like that Brianna had completed the first stage of the plan.

As she walked inside the greeting area of the restaurant, Brianna could hardly be impressed with what she saw. While to someone unknowing of the outside world the place would have seen spectacular with its various pieces of artwork, sculptures, and chandeliers, Brianna could hardly contain a yawn as someone who had experienced places much grander than this over her many years. Not to mention, the halls of Valhalla made even the most exquisite of mortal eating establishments seem like rundown hamburger joints in comparison.

The area inside buzzed with conversation and movement as waiters dressed in fancy suits carried around gourmet food platters for the restaurant goers. Considering Brianna had a relatively light supper of a dozen eggs, the aromas from the food made her yearn to try some of the food. Unfortunately, she did not have the time nor the money to actually order anything. A server greeted her, asking her where she wished to seat. Glancing around, she spotted a red box resting on a wall, the object she was looking for. Pointing at a table located not far away, she was happy to sit down for a few moments as she got an idea of who her targets were going to be.

Given that they were surrounded by men dressed in black suit, sunglasses, and all seemed to be grasping at what were obviously weapons hidden in their coat jackets, it wasn't hard for Brianna to spot the group of criminal leaders assembled around a large table. The mood in the air was tense to say the least, each leader seeming to be probing the others for signs of weakness. No different than a gathering of chiefs vying for control of the kingdom Brianna thought to herself.

After naming off something randomly to eat for her waiter, Brianna glanced over at the group for a few more moments before sitting up from her table to heads towards where the fire alarm was. Given that it was near the bathrooms, her actions didn't raise the concerns of the guards surrounding the criminal leaders nor did it concern any other patrons. It may be their end, but at least they got a good meal before they left, Brianna thought to herself with a sigh before pulling down on the handle, the sounds of blaring sirens and falling water all of a sudden filling the air of the restaurant.

---

Red

---

Dropping the duffel bag with her clothes on the floor as her eyes ran other the gym’s other inhabitant, the Scarab smirked at Red. Crossing her arms and leaning on the wall beside her, the young woman scoffed at the heavy sarcasm lacing the boy’s tone. Rolling her eyes smugly, she seemed unfazed by the venom in his voice. She hadn’t expected to see Red down here, having thought that all the team would have been too busy preparing for their oh-so-important press conference. Although it was always fun to catch the hero on his own: it gave her a chance to really twist the knife without any extra prying eyes.

“You really think so?” Stepping away from the wall, the Scarab twirled herself around as if showing off. “I like to think that I’m really starting to get a hang of the character, you know?” She offered Red a wink. “Maybe it won’t be too long before everyone else forgets what your Yoshiro was even like. Who knows, the rest of the team may end up preferring the new version.”

Before Red could get a scathing retort in, the girl casually made her way further into the room, looking around as if he was little more than a passing concern. “Although I feel like I still haven’t taken this body through its paces. I should probably start figuring out its limits, seeing as I’m going to be sticking around for a while.”

Red’s eyes narrowed as he tracked her every movement, watching as she slowly circled around him like a shark waiting for its moment to strike. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable. I’d hate for you to be disappointed when I bottle you back up in your little lamp or wherever the hell you were in before.”

An amused smile briefly appeared on Yoshiro’s face at the comment, seeming to find his retort amusing. “Is that so? Well, then I might as well get as much out of my time here in this body as I can, as I’m sure you already have a foolproof method of defeating me. After all, as one of the notorious members of the Five, who could defeat someone who belonged to such an overwhelming force?” A much more devilish smile began to spread on her face. “Although I suppose considering how fast they were killed before your very eyes due to your own negligence, maybe I shouldn’t overestimate you so readily.”

As was her hopes, Yoshiro watched as Red gritted his teeth, a vein clearing beginning to form on his forehead. She was fully aware of every dark memory that the boy before her hid deep inside his mind, and she had just touched on his darkest ones of them all.

Placing a finger to her lips, Yoshiro feigned a look of concern on her face. “Oh, was that careless of me to say? I apologize, I wouldn’t want you to get upset. After all, when your emotions get in the way, bad things do tend to happen. After all, the reason I get to talk to you like this today is all because you didn’t trust Yoshiro around that little blonde girl, all because you knew what happened the last time you two squared off against one another.”

Red simply glared at Yoshiro for a few moments, his knuckles turned a ghastly tone of white as he struggled to hold his anger within himself. He knew that freaking out was exactly what this demon wanted of him, and he wasn’t about to give it what he wanted. It took all of his willpower, but after a deep breath in he managed to find the willpower to begin walking towards the exit.

Before he had made it more than a few steps, however, he saw a blur of movement come out of the corner of his eye. His instincts kicking in immediately, he found himself catching a familiar leg with his hands.

“Don’t try this. I’m not going to fight you, not like this,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Yoshiro. The girl gave him a small amused grin, before suddenly he felt the body shift. Yoshiro’s body twisted in place as her free foot flew through the air directly towards his unprotected head. Not having any other choice, Red was forced to let go of the captured leg as he blocked the new attack with his forearms, connecting with her shin with a painful thud.

This only being a mere means of freeing herself, however, Yoshiro wasted no time in returning gracefully back to both feet, her posture matching that of which Red had taught the real Yoshiro some time ago. Grinning, she kept her gaze fixed on the hero.

“Come on, why not?” She goaded. “I’m itching to really give this body a twirl, and I know that you want nothing more than to lash out at the oh-so-mean evil monster that’s taken your away your precious damsel in distress.” Pausing as she realised that Red still didn’t seem to be rising to the bait, Yoshiro pouted as she dropped her defensive posture. Placing a hand on her hip, she rolled her eyes at her partner’s intransigence.

“You cannot seriously be this dull. Lighten up a little bit, could you?” The Scarab paused, pondering her options. She really didn’t want to spend the hour or so before this stupid press conference just lounging around feeling bored, especially now that the idea of sparring with Red had planted itself in her head. “How about you look at it this way: I could use the practice before we go out on this little mission of yours. If I’m not used to fighting in this body, who knows what would happen to it if you ever got your poor Yoshiro back? Maybe she’d be missing an arm, or a leg - or worse.”

Seeing an opportunity to prod at Red further, the Scarab’s mouth twisted upwards. “But then again, letting down your friends and allies is nothing new to you, is it? You’ve left an impressive trail of bodies in your wake, Red. Has anyone who’s ever trusted you lived long afterwards?” Yoshiro allowed the words to sink in, hoping that they would dig and pick at Red’s conscience to evoke the desired reaction. “I wonder what the rest of the team would think of you if they found out - or what Yoshi would do if she knew? Or maybe you’ll end up killing her like everyone - “

The Scarab’s cocky voice was suddenly cut off as the wind was forced out of her lungs. As Red slammed his shoulder into her stomach, her lighter frame was sent flying across the gym’s floor, landing in a crumpled mess on the ground.

As Yoshiro struggled to return to her feet, Red looked down with a mixture of disgust and contempt on his face. “You just don’t shut up, do you?” he said in a low voice, glaring at Yoshiro who had finally managed to get up to her feet. At first, she was taken back at the suddenness at Red’s attack, but a small devilish smile appeared on her face. She had finally managed to get him where he wanted, and now the fun was about to begin.

Once again going on the offensive, Yoshiro went in for a simple leg sweep, hoping to catch Red unprepared by the attack. As was shown with her being sent across the floor with a mere bash of his shoulder, Red certainly had the advantage in strength against her. She knew she couldn’t try and go toe to toe with him, but if she could take advantage of him in a weaker state, she could still come out on top.

However, not only did Red have the advantage in strength, but he also had the advantage in technique, one that had been refined over years of training and combat. Stepping back so that the oncoming kick missed his legs, he wasted no time in delivering his own kick to her torso. The impact landed with a hard thud as Yoshiro desperately tried to block the attack with her forearms, but being caught on one leg resulted in her being once again sent sprawling onto the floor.

“Get up,” was all Yoshiro could hear as she glanced upwards to see Red standing above her, stone-faced in his expression. Gritting her teeth, Yoshiro rolled backwards so that she could land on her feet, only for her to be the one on the offense as Red launched a series of blows directed at her upper body. Yoshiro desperately tried to redirect the oncoming strikes, but her opponent’s attacks were too fast and too unpredictable for her to keep up. Even though she could tell he was nowhere near going full out, she still ended up falling for hard right hook that ended up being a feint. With her guard down, the attack was instead directed towards her lower vulnerable sides, she could only close her eyes in anticipation of the pain to come.

Only it never came.

Snapping her eyes open, she saw that Red had stopped his fist mere centimeters away from where her sides were, his eyebrows furrowed as he realized what he had done. Not one to waste an opportunity, Yoshiro reached for his wrist and began to spiral downwards to her side, using her momentum and Red’s forward resting weight to bring the two sprawling to the ground. Given its use for smaller fighters going against larger opponents, this had been one of the first things Red had taught the real Yoshiro, and now this knowledge had been turned against him.

With a pained grunt, Red grimaced as he felt his elbow immediately begin to contort against its natural direction as Yoshiro wrapped her legs around his arm and neck in a tight armbar. Gritting his teeth, Red felt as his ligaments strained against the unnatural movement in which Yoshiro was only worsening as she settled lower and lower into the armbar. The two struggled for a few moments, Red’s strength holding off Yoshiro’s leverage for the moment. Instead of panicking like most would have, he allowed his muscle memory to kick in automatically for him. While the arm bar had indeed been placed well, Yoshiro had forgotten to secure the wrist of the arm she was trying to control. It was a common mistake amongst novices in martial arts, and even the more advanced ones. And while most people would not know what to do with this knowledge, Red did.

Waiting for Yoshiro to begin another attempt to fully straighten his arm down, Red suddenly reached out with his other hand, securing Yoshiro’s hand in which she was controlling her other arm. Using her backwards force against her, Red forcefully shoved the hand to the side, moving his trapped arm at the same time. It took a split second, but in that time he had managed to get the trapped arm free. Before Yoshiro could even respond, Red began to twist his hip so that he could begin pushing upwards, grabbing ahold of Yoshiro’s leg with his left hand and thus leaving her weight resting solely on her shoulders while the rest of her body remained in the air.

Prepared to finish her off, this time with no hesitation, Red cocked back a fist, prepared to strike at her exposed sides once more. However, as he did, he suddenly saw a terrified look appear on Yoshiro’s face, her eyes widened in fear.

“Please Red, don’t!” She screamed. Red stopped dead in his tracks, the sound of Yoshiro’s voice as well as the vulnerable look on her face causing him unable to comprehend that this wasn’t Yoshiro in front of him. At that moment, he didn’t see the demon but instead the girl who meant so much to him. Red’s rational side screamed at him otherwise, but it was drowned out instead in a much more overbearing sea of emotions that left him weak.

And it was in this moment of weakness that Yoshiro, or rather the Scarab, took advantage of him. Using her still free leg, she suddenly launched a jarring kick directed at his face, catching him right in the nose with a sickening impact. Reeling back in pain, Red let go of her and reached a hand up to his nose, of which blood poured down from.

Before he could regain his senses, Yoshiro once more attempted a leg sweep, but this time it successfully managing to knock Red down onto his back. In a single moment, Yoshiro leaped on top of him, straddling his chest to lock his arms into place. Raising a fist, Red watched with shock as Yoshiro began to throw a punch downwards towards him. With no way of defending himself, Red braced for the blow, only to hear the fist smack against the ground right next to him.

Looking over at the fist for a moment, Red turned his gaze back to Yoshiro above him, who held an ominous look of triumph in her eyes. The two locked eyes for a few moments before Yoshiro leaned her head downwards and placed her lips firmly on Red’s. Immediately, his eyes shot open in surprise - a feeling like a jolt of electricity shooting through his body. Inwardly, he wanted to scream and rally against the girl who was pinning him down, but whether it was Yoshi’s strength or his own reluctance to fight against the warm, comforting sensation that emanated from the contact, he felt powerless to do anything. Allowing his eyes to close in the moment, Red just wanted to forget the chaotic shithole that his life had descended into. He wanted to forget about the Scarab and Warwolf and being a hero. He just wanted to pretend that it was Yoshiro who was kissing him, his Yoshiro. And for the briefest of seconds, and accompanied with a feeling of guilt that sunk like a stone in his chest, Red allowed himself to pretend.

And then it was over.

Pulling herself back, the Scarab straddled her defeated opponent with a smug smirk. Red blinked in surprise, the feeling of peace and ease that he had felt suddenly fading away as he was pulled jarringly back into the reality of his situation. Slowly, a sense of sickening disgust rose in his chest as he realised what he had just allowed himself to feel. It must have shown on his expression, because the Scarab seemed to only become more amused.

“Not bad, for a mortal.” She stated matter of factly, looking down at her hand she noticed that she must have scraped her knuckles while punching the ground. “I’m definitely still going to have to get used to this body. It feels so much lighter than I’m used to. Slower too.” Pausing for a moment, the Scarab contemplated how much more she would have to eventually get used to before once again turning her attention back to Red. “But that will come with time. Especially now that I have a sparring partner.” She smirked, reaching down to lightly poke Red on the nose before pushing herself back to her feet. “This was fun. Let’s be sure to do it again sometime.”

Making her way towards the exit, the Scarab didn’t even look back towards Red as she swiped her gym bag from the floor, wearing a satisfied grin as she offered the hero a wave as she walked away.

“I’ll see you round - Red.”

Red remained still on the ground, his stomach doing more flips than a rollercoaster and his mind a blur going faster than the speed of sound. What have I done? he disgustingly asked himself. Not only had he allowed his hesitation to cause him to have Yoshiro win their confrontation, but he had fucking kissed her afterwards. Red tried to make sense of it all, to try and find a reasonable path forward. One he could logically plan out, strategize for, and find the best solution.

But for the life of him, he just couldn’t find one.

---

Steam filled the air as Red stood motionless in his shower, letting the warm water wash over his bare shoulders and back as he stared at the ceiling above him. His mind was still a blur, trying to comprehend what had just occurred between him and Yoshiro. His memories traced back from their fights and what he did wrong, him twice throwing away opportunities to end the sparring session. His memories traced back to the anger he held within him at the words Yoshiro had said to him prior, how much the continued to reverberate within his head. But the worst of these memories came from that kiss he had with her. The mere thought of it caused him want to vomit, considering how he allowed himself to fall for such a trap. That he enjoyed it. What would Yoshiro think if she found out he had just more or less kissed the demon possessing her body right now? Hell, if I don't do anything soon, I might not be able to find out the answer to that question, he thought grimly to himself before finally forcing himself to turn the shower off. Not that I might like the answer, he thought as he stared at his blurred reflection in the foggy mirror.

Wrapping his towel around his waist, Red could only shake his head in an attempt to place his thoughts and emotions to the side. While he had much more pressing concerns on his mind, until he could figure out a way to rid the demon of Yoshiro he had to continue acting like nothing was wrong. That meant he had to go to this press interview, whether he wanted to or not.

Tossing on his under layers first and then stepping into the exosuit, Red couldn't' help but remember the time when he had done this process before. Warwolf was still a threat but wasn't anywhere near what they were now. Kirsvala was still with the team as well as didn't hate his guts. And Yoshiro was still...Yoshiro. It had only been a few days, but it felt like an eternity since then. Glancing at his masked face in the mirror, Red couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself. You could have done more, was all he could think. You could have lead the team better. You could have given the rest of the team your information on Warwolf. You could've kept Yoshiro with you and out of harm's way. You... Red locked eyes with himself in the mirror, staring into the white patches which covered his eyes from anyone looking at him. You're just a fucking joke, he thought before shaking his head and turning around to go where they were instructed to meet at.

Once there, Red made no points to try and make himself stand out amongst the team. He wanted Roy and others like Alexis to be the ones talking, not him. Not only was he not in the mood for dealing with their questioning, but he knew that his reputation with the media was...spotty at best. While the few casual searches he had done online had shown that he had his fans out there, he most certainly had more enemies out looking for any opportunity to hit him where it hurt.

"Mask, there's been a lot of controversy surrounding your relationship with both the law and the general public. Has that effected your relationship with the team? And what would you say to people who doubt the Young Bloods because of these controversies?"

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Red grumbled to himself, giving Roy a look of "What the fuck" before he eventually resigned himself to his fate. Leaning forward towards his microphone, he stared directly at the reporter, a look that was far from friendly on the young redhead's face as he answered the question.

"No, it hasn't. And I would say they're idiots if you think one or two screwups is enough to hurt our team. Unlike you guys in the press, we actually fix our mistakes." He replied, a borderline aggressive tone in his voice that caused the reporter who asked the question to shrink back down to his chair. That should keep the bastards off me for a while, he thought to himself as he glanced over to see how the others were responding to their questions.

[Auropa]

Mike Mathews / Forge
Wonder Tower

Luckily enough for Mike, he arrived not long before the press and didn’t have too much of an awkward time waiting for the conference to begin. After having some time to cool off he was willing to admit that he may have possibly overacted just a smidgen, of course actually admitting that out loud wasn't exactly something he wanted to do. The press conference started well enough, Naja gave a strong introduction that called for Kiris’ release and the support of the city before leaving the floor open to questions. The first one went to Roy ‘big surprise that they went straight to the team leader’ Mike thought to himself as he listened to Nightshade’s impressively professional response. Mars was next and did a good job playing the bleeding heart for the public but while Mike regretted parts of his outburst he still hadn’t come close to forgiving him for getting Kiris in this situation to begin with. Soon enough though, the questions were coming freely and addressed to several members within the team, surprisingly enough, including him.

"Forge, you're one of the members of the team that has had previous experience as a hero, what is your take on Warwolf's dealings with Kiris and other heroes that it has deemed dangerous?"

‘At least they got the new name right.’ Mike thought to himself as he tried to think of an answer. Truth be told, the question hit him a bit more close to home than he’d like to admit. On one hand, it felt strange to consider himself one of the more ‘experienced’ members of the team. While he had been on a few missions now, he still felt completely out of his depth and lost with nearly everything they were doing. On the other hand there was plenty he wanted to say about Warwolf and regardless of what they actually did and are, he had more than a few thoughts about what they were meant to be. In the end chances like this, opportunities to make a real difference, that was why he was here. “When Warwolf first came, I’ll admit that I actually thought they would help the city.” He eventually said earning a few surprised looks from the crowd.

“It might not be the most popular opinion, but I think everyone needs to be accountable or at least held to a certain standard, especially people like us, whether we're powered, magical or otherwise gifted. As strong as we might be and as good as our intentions, raw power shouldn’t be what makes and directs us as a whole. Though for that to ever be possible, we need a proper, stronger policing force more able to handle modern threats. But that’s not what Warwolf are, they’re an occupation force and their shoot first ask questions later mentality shows that better than I ever could. As for how they’re dealing with Kiris and the others, I mean, I could go on about the cruelty and hypocrisy of brutally hunting down those trying and able to help but we already know all about that, I guess all I can say is that in my mind, good guys aren't the ones who go about violently kidnapping girls in the dead of night. For me, they’re meant to be the ones that stand to protect others and one another.”
While he couldn’t stop his voice taking an icy tone towards the end and his eyes from glancing to the other end of the table, he felt good about speaking his mind but he knew he'd feel even better when they got their friend back.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Roy’s message had been an unwelcome annoyance when it had reached Wendy, who was busy digging up every last schematic she could on all the building War Wolf had occupied since taking over the city. She knew it was too soon for them to be mounting a rescue mission and a quick scan of the news channels confirmed nothing was wrong. Donning her costume, she made her way to the conference room and helped Roy set it up.

It was at that point the news went from bad to worse. A press conference! She screamed to herself. Roy knows that in front of a camera is the last place I ever want to be. Still, she knew it was for Kiris, and if they could free her without getting into a fight with War Wolf, how ever small that chance might be, it was worth it.

The conference went well enough… until the reporters attention turned to her. “WiFi,” One of them asked. “What do you say to those who are worried about the ease at which your abilities could be abused for less noble purposes?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roy move to defend her. Gently squeezing his hand to let him know it’s okay, she turned to address the reporters. “I know I’m a teenager,” She replied with a smile. “But you do realize I have more important things in life besides tricking the towers smart tv into giving me free Netflix right?” a few of the reporters laughed. “To answer your question, the thought of someone like me using their powers for selfish and evil reasons keeps me up at night as well. Every day more and more of our world is connected and put online, and I have a good idea on how it would be to abuse those connections. In fact One I get done with high school and college, I hope to go into the cyber security field as well as continue my hero work.”

[The Republic of Atria]

Jason, Prior to the Press Conference

It was an odd feeling being a teacher. Jason never expected anyone to honestly listen to him and take his advice. Though watching his pupil smack into trees repeatedly definitely helped. Casimir probably deserved a good smack upside the head, most people do at some point. Jason was so absorbed in watching Casimir, that he only noticed the moth looking girl staring at him from behind when Sludged mentioned it.

"She's watching us, and coming closer."

"Oh, I completely forgot about her. Thanks bud." He spoke quietly and turned to greet the moth girl who was already greeting him from mid air. As she spoke, the face portion of his mask retracted somewhat, revealing his his face. The lower jaw near his neck while the upper jaw was just behind his forehead. "Guess we haven't met before have we? Don't worry, he only bites if you really deserve it. The black tar I'm covered in is indeed Sludge. We're... Pretty close I guess you could say." He said, the teeth and facial features of the "suit" retracting revealing all of Jason's head, but a small rounded limb stuck out from his shoulder looking somewhat similar to a snake, bearing the same teeth and eyes that covered Jason's head previously.

"You're Kabuto's friend?" The slimy face spoke. "He's arrogant and mean. I dislike him, but Jason tolerates him for some reason. I say we teach him wrong so he hits more trees. Or throw him at one."

"Be nice." Jason spoke. "Sorry. He's in a sour mood today." He explained. "He likes action and we haven't had much action lately that didn't involve him being set on fire, so he hasn't gotten the amount of exercise he's used to. Anyways, it's nice to meet you, Ash. Hope we don't weird you out too much. I've been meaning to go around and meet more of the team, but some people are a liiiiitle antsy right now so I kinda figured that maybe I should hold off a bit. I gotta ask though, what do you see in..." He flicked his thumb at Casimir. "He's far from the worst person I've ever met, but he seems a little full of himself often times."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone

Mission success, Wyatt was cheered up and there was no longer a risk of impalement! Smiling broadly, he slammed Wyatt on the shoulder enthusiastically, rubbing his shoulder to relax him further. "Exactly! If we want to save some face and make the public think we're hot shit, we can't be all herky-jerky-stressed out like Red. Seriously, the guy pulls so many guns on reporters that you could supply the NRA with them." he said, trying to relax Wyatt, who was clearly still stressed out. "All we have to do is act normally and we'll look measured in comparison."

However, that was not enough to ease Wyatt, who seemed to be nervous about reports barraging him with questions. Understandable, reporters were like sharks in Bondi Beach; if they smell blood in the water, they won't stop with the hunt. Carter wasn't exactly happy about having to answer to them either, especially after they ranked him the worst available bachelor on the team on their recent August Special, but if it was worth keeping the wolves at bay long enough to get Kiris out of jail, then he might as well just suck it up and do it.

"Are they going to ask us questions? Well, they're reporting on superheroes and Warwolf, they're bound to ask every question they can think of. The trick is making our answers as agreeable and safe as possible when we're not designating Warwolf as Public Enemy No. 1, and getting the crowd to like us." he said as Wyatt slung his very bulky arm over Carter's shoulders, which was...oddly comforting. However, Wyatt wasn't done, and he began to confess how upset he was over Kiris' capture, complaining that he felt helpless. Wow, that was scary. Wyatt was easily twice as powerful as him, and he was one of the most powerful on the team, but even he felt helpless?

"Dude, like every other day!" Carter said, almost laughing with relief at the knowledge that even Wyatt was freaked. "On like every mission, I have powers, but I can't do anything with them, I get my ass kicked, other people have to rush in to save me. It was a bit of a blow to my ego, but it did humble me up. They come and go in phases, you'll be fine."

And with that, the dwindling minutes before the conference began.

---

Luckily, Carter hadn't needed to do many touch-ups before the conference, considering most of his body was covered by his kick-ass costume. He mostly waited around as the conference set up, leaning back in a thin folding chair behind the team table as he whistled, whistling almost nothing in particular. The whistling went from lullabies and nursery rhymes, to trap songs, to the Beatles, to what he thought might be an old Kraftwerk song. "The Model", maybe? His stepdad had a slightly unhealthy obsession with Kraftwerk, so Carter was constantly subjected to pummels of drum machines and synths in his house.

Soon, the conference began, Carter snapping to attention as Naja took the stage. Even though he wouldn't dare admit it after watching Mike get massacred by the rest of the team earlier, Carter couldn't help but privately think that the tone and words Naja was using were kind of unjustified, considering Kiris had provoked and attacked them. He didn't agree with Warwolf, and he wanted to get Kiris back, but he still felt that this was the wrong way to do it. But whatever, that wasn't up to him, that was up to Naja, Roy, and the dumbass named after a planet. Now was time for the lightning round, and questions would be coming rapid-fire.

"Aelous, you were a founding member of the team, what brought you to want to be a hero at such a young age?"

Nearly leaping out of his seat as the question was directed towards him, Carter grew excited as he leaned towards the microphone eagerly and...microphone screech. The whole audience clapped the hands over their ears as the feedback wailed, even a few of the photographers. The whole room went quiet except for pained moans and a few shuffles of the feet, with all eyes on Carter now. Crrap. Smooth move, ex-lax.

"Well, now that I'm done deafening everyone, I guess I can answer the question," Carter said after the feedback had died, getting a few laughs and murmurs from the crowd. "What made me want to be a hero at such a young age...sex, drugs, and rock n' roll?" he sarcastically answered, getting a few more chuckles from the crowd. "In all seriousness though, my desire to become a hero didn't start very young. In fact, I wasn't much of a hero or a role model when I was a kid. For all parents in the crowd, you know that kid that your son or daughter comes home crying about, claiming that he or she stole your kid's milk money, or threw a basketball at your kid, or called your kid a "wet-nose"? Yeah, I was kind of that kid, but even worse. Did it all, played hooky, stole homework, broke curfew, toilet-papered a house, the drill. I apologize for any torment I put your children through, can we keep this between us?" he asked aloud, getting a few more giggles.

"But yeah, when I grew up, I realized how terrible I had been acting, and I wanted to make up for all the damage I had done by using my powers for something good, something great. And that's what lead me to this beautiful people, and getting another beautiful person out of the slammer."

[New Neros]

The Battle of San Francisco
Black and Blaze

There was no clash of heroic might and villainous power, against the backdrop of a wounded city crippled by superpowered fighting and now a roaring inferno, the Rising Suns came face to face with an almighty force of nature. There were rumors and accusations, but nothing concrete had emerged of Black Luminous working with Orion beyond his relationship with Blaze Luminous, but his sighting at prior the Orion engagement with the Stars was a tell-tale sign that he was held in reserve. As his black form rose in front of the heroic group, Goliath's eyes grew wide and his speed slowed, dread filling his body as he felt a slight hint of weightlessness, and looking around at his surroundings, he noticed small pebbles and dust slowly removing themselves from the ground and rooftops, and began to gravitate towards the armored one.

"Everyone..." He began, officially ready to retreat from the battle, knowing that at full strength, a battle with Black Luminous would require weeks of planning and training for the whole team, but was silenced as Seismic flew forward to confront the demon that stood in front of the group. Flooding herself with her own gravitational power, she was able to resist Black Luminous' own manipulation to a staggering degree, but Seismic ran into an invisible wall some feet in front of the supervillain without warning. Goliath had to support his teammate immediately, but Radar announced the pending arrival of Gaul, while Blaze Luminous seemed to be hunting down Eden and Fragment. "Cardinal! Radar!" Goliath called out, "You two need to support Seismic against Black Luminous, that man is beyond dangerous."

"What about Gaul?" Radar asked, unintentionally copying the same phrase Eden had used earlier.

Goliath sighed and grit his teeth, wondering if he had enough power left to face the villain once more, "I'll hold him and keep him out of the fight with Black or Blaze. Everyone, keep constant communication. Plan and counter, don't rush in, team-work makes the dream work. Let's do this." Goliath rushed on ahead, leaving Radar and Cardinal to fly up and assist Seismic, searching relentlessly for where Gaul would strike and beat him there. A sudden and sharp pain blinded him, Gaul's fist slamming into Goliath's nose with full force, spraying blood over several feet. "Of course..." He spat, reeling from the hit and jumping back to avoid another solid jab, "He'd target me."

Forcing his eyes open, Goliath saw the terribly injured and field-dressed Gaul, wielding his scorch marks with pride, showing the deep incisions Goliath had left on his midsection. He held a grim face, serious and full of sinister intent. "Hopefully you had a light lunch," Gaul began, "Because I'm going to ram my fist into your stomach, and break your goddamn spine." Goliath readied a retort, but true to his words, Gaul landed a hit against the partially blinded hero, upper-cutting his gut with immeasurable force and speed, Goliath knew he had made a terrible mistake of letting Gaul's injuries snowball into such a fearsome degree. The hero flew backwards wildly, clipping the side of a building and breaking some pieces of concrete free, Gaul in pursuit as Goliath's mind raced to re-orient himself and put up a proper defense against the mad villain.

Unsheathing his claws, Goliath sank them into a concrete rooftop to stop his momentum, tearing through the rock abruptly and coming face to face with the juggernaut. Bringing up his opposite hand, Goliath tried to slash at Gaul, but the man moved effortlessly to the side, his speed and reaction time having increased dramatically, allowing him to see Goliath's moves and respond without delay. Goliath swung wild, flailing his arms side to side and up and down relentlessly, watching how each deadly attack was in vain, Gaul not letting a single swipe land due to his impeccable dodging skill. Without warning, Gaul grabbed Goliath's forearm mid-swing with a single hand, stopping the metahuman's powerful attack and staring him dead in the eye, almost as if he was trying to read his mind.

Gripping hard, Gaul ripped down violently, putting tremendous force and effort in a single instance, snapping the two bones of Goliath's forearm with a sickening CLICK. Immediately, Goliath threw his other hand at Gaul, but he blocked that attack with his own arm as well, and at that point, the pain set in for the former football star. He roared deeply and with thunder, but Gaul was having none of it. Stepping into yet another devastating hit, Gaul hit Goliath square in the front of his mouth, teeth and bone chips flying as Goliath flew back into the side of a concrete parking garage. He slammed into the structure and vibrated it entirely, his body slowly peeling out of it's cracks and lifelessly falling toward the street. Gaul turned and walked away, not caring to see Goliath's death all the way through, unphased by the murder attempt as Goliath was ready to kill Gaul just moments ago.

---

"You are strong," Black Luminous declared, collecting Seismic from the wall of gravity she had ran into, using his hand to gently guide her frame closer to his own, the young woman struggling desperately to counter-act the villain's manipulation. "But I am stronger." Her light resistance ceased immediately as Black Luminous forced her body to become rigid and without even a breath of movement, leaving her trapped in her mind as he spoke in a deep, melodic tone. "You have underutilized your gift, you are in need of guidance. Gravity is powerful and versatile, a creative mind armed with such an ability is quite deadly, allow me to demonstrate." Without warning, Black Luminous eliminated his protective barrier, allowing Cardinal to rush in.

Unable to scream or warn her teammate, Seismic watched as Cardinal flew at Black Luminous with her talons extended, viciously clawing the side of his helmet as he swooped past him. Congratulating herself on a successful hit, Cardinal found her retreat stopped immediately, Black Luminous extending his other hand and and gently pulling the bird-girl back towards him. Making Cardinal face the supervillain, Black Luminous turned to reveal the deep gash that the girl had inflicted on his otherwise immaculate helmet, causing her chest to thud rapidly. "H-hopefully it'll buff out." She stammered, before losing her voice as Black Luminous applied gravitational force to her light frame.

"Seismic, they call you, yes? How much gravitational force is required to break bones?" Relaxing his hold on Seismic, she opted to gasp for breath rather than answer the supervillain. "A regular human skeleton can withstand ninety-times Earth gravity, but for your friend here, she is lighter and a bit more fragile than a normal human. Let's make a scientific observation." Flexing his fingers closer to his palm, Black Luminous applied gravity specifically to Cardinal's left femur, and let it go quickly, relaxing his gravity-hold on her as well, stating: "Four-thousand newtons."

Cardinal screamed horrifically as her left leg rolled to the side, her knee twisting away as her femur was broken in two. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you sick bastard?!" Seismic screamed, flaring her own gravitational force in an attempt to overcome Black Luminous' own. Smirking beneath his helmet, Black Luminous pushed Seismic and Cardinal away abruptly, exploding an incoming rocket Radar had launched to blindside the villain. Turning to face the underpowered sensor of the team, Black Luminous waved his hand over the man in order to bring him up as well.

"Perhaps this is part of your plan," Black began to taunt, "Get closer to me, distract me, whatever it is, it's pointless." Whipping Radar around to give him a clear view of San Francisco in it's entirety, the unending wild fire continued to burn with relentless passion, extending past the Golden Gate Bridge and deep into the heart of the city. Fires erupted and spewed forth from a single black dot in the distance as well, Blaze Luminous igniting the growth Eden produced. "How does that play in your plan? How does Gaul defeating Goliath play into everything? What is the next move, little man?"

"I.. I don't-" Radar began, but Black Luminous cut him off once more.

"Let me show you something, and you as well, Seismic," He stated, the gravity-manipulator he was toying with earlier having attempted to confront him from behind, and fell into his gravity well once more. Positioning her next to Radar with her arms and legs pinned to her body, "Gravity affects small things like gasses and molecules, even in the air. Say, for example, I decide I needed more fresh air in my lungs," He declare, crushing his fingers toward his palm and bringing in significant amounts of oxygen into Blaze Luminous' raging fires, causing them to ignite and burn higher and brighter, casting a shadow of deep, pitch black smoke across the Bay. "Do you see the enormity of it all? Or do you see the insignificance of yourselves?"

Between the two heroes, despite Black Luminous relaxing his grip on their lungs, there was only silence.

---

Hopping rooftop to rooftop was less than ideal, but Gaul was not blessed with wings or gravity manipulation, or fire manipulation to heat and float on the air around him at will. No, he had his own two legs and even they failed some of the time, but there was still a hint of jealousy as he looked over to Black Luminous and his command of gravity and his god-like application of power. Turning to look at Blaze Luminous' fight, it was more apparent that he was outclassed on whole-sale damage output. The woman just lived and breathed fire, igniting the destroyed pathway Eden and Fragment had earlier chased him on. Two fists, elbows, knees, legs, and a head, that's all Gaul could bring to the table, making him sigh sadly.

"Please don't hurt me." A small voice called out on the rooftop Gaul had stopped on. Whipping his head to see who had spoke, Gaul saw Cardinal with her traumatic leg injury. At first, he felt a hint of anger, but the tears in her eyes were real, and her vain attempts at crawling away were heartbreaking. The villain moved closer to the girl, who seemed a bit frantic to get away. Kneeling down near her, he placed a hand on her shoulder and hip, causing her to wince slightly, and look back at Gaul intently. His eyes weren't fierce or passionate, but calm and inviting. "What are you.."

"Your leg is broken, and you can't stay here." He said quickly, looking around himself and behind his back. Cardinal stared intently at the villain, her eyes gliding over his muscled form, seeing the newly earned battle scars inflicted by Goliath earlier, but she held back her gasp. "Iris." Gaul called out, still looking around. Slowly, a little blonde girl floated up from between the buildings, scarily looking at Gaul as she was found out. "I know you've been following me despite me telling you to run, but I need your help." He said, rising to his feet and showing Iris the wounded Cardinal. "I need you to get her out of here, take her back to the Rising Suns Tower. And take Goliath back too." He said, Iris appearing sad that her deed of saving the Rising Suns leader had not gone unnoticed by the villain. "They need your help, and so do I." Iris beamed and nodded quickly, with a look of determination, she gently lifted Cardinal off the rooftop, sliding her over to Goliath, who was far more badly damaged and beaten. "Thank you." Gaul replied, watching as Iris waved good-bye and floated away with the wounded.

Leaping a few more times, Gaul came upon Black Luminous and his extensive torture session with Radar and Seismic, and turned to observe what they were forced to look at, which was Blaze Luminous absolutely handling Eden and Fragment, scorching plants and buildings alike with a smile and maniacal laugh, sending a shiver down Gaul's spine. Rather than join in, Gaul sat down, watching as the embers danced across the summer sky, reflecting on what Yoshiro had said in his mind. "Wait..." He stated aloud, "Yoshiro? How do I know that..." He fell backwards onto his back, staring up at the feet of Black Luminous and his captive audience. "Hey!" He shouted, closing his eyes and relaxing his entire body, letting the fatigue of battle catch up with him all at once, getting the attention of Black Luminous.

"I'm ready to go home now."

[Aidannadia]

Aleta and Renata

Despite the nice weather outside, a long sleeved leather jacket, jeans, and sunglasses that covered Aleta thoroughly. Perhaps passerby thought her to be hungover or perhaps making a statement with her style, but she had more practical reasons.

“Where is Renata?” Aleta checked her phone for a running late text as the time they’d set up clicked on her home screen. “Maybe I should bail? She wouldn’t snitch now would sh-”

“Hey!” a voice suddenly called out to her from a distance, coming from a familiar pink-haired girl, dressed in a yellow blouse and a long skirt. After making the way to Aleta, Renata stopped in front of her, pulling her friend in for a quick hug before letting go and speaking:

“Sorry, I was a little bit late, I know, we were swamped with work...” Who could have known that dealing with that Honduran racket earlier was going to take that long?

“I’ve been pretty busy too, yknow!” Aleta gave a grin, adjusting her sunglasses. “I’m starving though. Let’s hit a to-go place and head to the boardwalk. I think the mall’s a bit crowded anyway.” She said, giving a quick hug to her friend, immediately turning and walking away, gesturing for her to follow. Of course she wouldn’t.

“You know, I heard it was pretty noisy at the Abandoned District earlier.” Aleta pursed her lips smugly, giving a little giggle. “Suppose the traffic getting here wasn’t that great.” She covered her mouth to keep from outright buffaw-ing.

“Uh, yeah, I suppose you could call it that,” Renata replied, walking right after her friend as soon as she gestured to follow. How does she already kno- okay, I guess that’s a stupid thing to think about. She always knows everything. “I wouldn’t say it was problematic to get here… sure, there were delays, but I’m still here, not stuck in the Abandoned District or something.”

“Mmm.” Aleta kept walking, looking off in thought, then back at Renata. “How are you feeling? Not like… shaken up or anything, right?” The girl inspected her friend closely when she was responding, very briefly checking over her shoulder.

“No no, nothing like that at all. It’s just standard procedure at this point.” the pink-haired girl replied, occasionally glancing to the sides just in case if there were any suspicious people eyeing their conversation as they were passing through. Thankfully, it seemed like the bystanders in their path were all too busy with their own stuff to notice.

“Nothing on the same level as what happened last night, at least.” she continued.

“That’s good.” Aleta said simply, being quiet for a while before spotting a thai place with tables outside. “Let’s stop in here. I’m a regular.” She sat down, still taking small glances at the road on occasion.

“What’s new? I feel like we haven’t talked much recently.”

Upon offered to stop in at a nearby joint and offered to sit down at one of the tables - apparently, Aleta was a regular here - Renata followed suit and, upon sitting down, rest her face on one of her hands, gazing to the distance behind her friend’s back.

“Yeah, uh… That’s probably my fault. I have to spend a lot more time with my team and that doesn’t leave me with as much time as I’m used to.” the pink-haired girl muttered in response to Aleta’s statement. “Not sure if you want me to tell you what’s new - after all, you were there with me. What were you even thinking, though? That place was infested by Warwolf and they treat even registered heroes with suspicion...”

Aleta gave a crooked frown. “Talking shop so soon? We haven’t even ordered.” She tsk’d, shaking her head in faux disappointment. “What were you doing there, considering that you yourself mentioned their distrust towards even registered heroes.” Aleta raised an eyebrow.

“I’m my own person and nothing anyone else is gonna do will change how I’m gonna behave.” She poked a thumb into her chest confidently. “Besides, seems to me there were plenty of people that needed the extra hand.” Another pose with arms facing up towards either side in a matter of fact manner.

“I suppose...” Renata muttered, her eyes still fixated on the distance, before she finally let go of her cheek and straightened up. “Funny, you’re not even the first person I’ve had this conversation with.” A disinterested and slightly overworked waiter, going from table to table to attend numerous tables one after the other, plopped down two menus on the table, almost looking like he threw them straight towards the two girls. Renata picked up one of the two menus and began glossing through it.

“And, regarding the people who needed an extra hand out there… I suppose I owe you a thanks personally.”

Aleta called the server over. “Oh just the regular. With a coffee.” The waitress walked off, rolling her eyes once out of view. Aleta’s attention shifted again to Renata, “My dad came here with me when I was younger. It’s nicer than it looks I promise.” A smile flashed on her lips for the slightest second imaginable before she continued on.

“At least I’m not Blackout. What an idiot. PFFT.” She blew a strand of hair out of her face and leaned back in her chair, the pegs standing balanced on two legs as she stretched her legs on their table. “I know to lay low for a while… In fact, I bet you I’m not the only one that’ll be laying low for a while. Something tells me the Cabal will- Oh food!” Aleta positioned herself excitedly as a plate of steaming noodles was placed in front of her, a pitcher of coffee placed on the table instantly as well. She instantly began to eat without regard for how she looked devouring her food.

Renata did not order anything verbally, only pointing to the picture of a latte on the back of the menu to the waitress immediately after Aleta exclaimed her offer, while her eyes continued to be fixated on the distance. The pink-haired girl practically skipped through the dialogue, only occasionally nodding out of habit, until Aleta suddenly dropped the name “Blackout”, at which point her eyes suddenly livened up and her body straightened up.

Just in time to be handed a coffee - and the first sip immediately reminded her why she might have better stayed dreaming. What, did they forget to put sugar in this cup? I’m not gonna drink that! Putting down the mug after a slight shiver went down her spine, Renata turned her eyes towards her friend on the other side of the table, speaking:

“You were saying something, right? Something about Blackout?”

Aleta tilted her head at Renata’s response. “Did I? I dunno. Wasn’t listening to myself.” She pursed her lips at Renata smugly and smiled. “Something bothering you?”

The pink-haired girl blinked for a second, staring back to Aleta and considering her options. “Oh, uh, nothing, if anything is bothering me, it’s the taste of this coffee.” She twirled the teaspoon in her mug a little bit and soon continued:

“I was just… thinking a little about what happened yesterday. And sort of got lost in thought.”

Aleta frowned, her meal seemingly disappearing spontaneously between all the pauses. “And what brings you out of that trance but the mention of my partner in crime.” She raised an eyebrow at her friend, “Do you not trust him?” Aleta said, snapping at a waitress as she went by and motioning for the check by miming a pen and pad.

Upon hearing her friend’s inquiry, Renata stopped for a few seconds, struggling to form a coherent response before finally energetically exclaiming:

“What- no! Of course I trust him!” The mere mention of Aleta’s accusation reminded her of the moment a few weeks ago when she almost went and arrested Icarus out of a snap decision… it would have been amusing if it wasn’t terrible. Renata’s hands clenched onto the edge of the table and leaned forward, her eyebrows furrowed, and continued:

“Why are you even asking about him, huh? Can we move to something else?”

Hmmm… So I’ve struck a nerve? Aleta looked her friend up and down again, paying close attention to her body language, while paying for the meal without leaving a tip. “Of course,” She paused on the phrase, interested in her friend’s use of it. “Of course, we can move on. Let’s walk to the beach actually. I need the sun. I feel like I haven’t been out in ages.” She stood, stretch arms on either side, and yawning loudly. The streets-clothed heroine checked the road again, swearing she saw a familiar car drive by again. “So, how are your friends doing?”

Renata released a sigh upon Aleta backing down from the issue and following it up by offering the two to go out to the beach. Thank goodness, she did not try to press the question. Aleta was never the type of gal to openly pry on her secrets like that, so that was a bit of a relief. “Oh, of course, the beach is a lot better than this stupid place.”

Standing up from her seat and taking a glance towards the street in front of them, which Aleta seemed oddly interested in, she overheard her friend’s question on her friends’ wellbeing.

“Oh, uh… they’re fine, I guess,” Renata replied, assuming that she means the Young Bloods. “We’re taking a break for now, not much has really been happening since that skirmish a few days ago. And since Warwolf has been keeping up order on the streets for a while, it’s not like there’s much to do, either.”

“Warwolf isn’t doing that great of a job,” Aleta pursed her lips. “There was the bomb on the pier. Supposedly the gangs are doing it. And you all had to bail the mutts out when they were doing what they were hired for in the first place.” She checked the street again. Maybe I’m just imagining things again.

“Plus, the Masked Cabal is still at large. Real phantom of the opera type stuff. Like poof and they’re gone.”

“That’s true...” Renata muttered, her eyes trailing to the side, as she recalled the events in Wonder Foundation from a few days earlier. In a way, at least part of the blame for the Cabal’s escape has to fall on her hands - she was the leader of the squad which infiltrated Wonder Foundation and promptly failed to catch Hex in time, after all. “I’m not even sure where that team popped out of, either. They just entered the city villain scene out of nowhere as far as I can tell...”

Renata’s thoughts soon trailed to something else, however. “Speaking of what happened during that night, I think I’ve heard that your aunt was at the Hilton, when, you know… Is she alright? Didn’t get hurt?”

“Aunt Nasty doesn’t really get scared. She got out okay.” Okay, that’s the third time I’ve seen the car. The plates are the same as last pass. “She’s been holding speeches and stuff. Keeping busy.”

“I’ve actually been trying to learn a bit from her. It started out as a way to get more information… um, you remember the bank? So I did a little research and that weasel looking guy that got held up? Not only did he own the painting, but he’s a known entity within the financial side of Warwolf. I thought it was a little suspicious how the painting was actually a fake, yet was the focus point of a robbery. Well, since Warwolf moved in to town, he started buying Trident shares and it was an easy excuse to watch him more closely.”

“He’s actually a total idiot though. I think I might be able to piece something together soon. I’m waiting on some confirmation from a source.” She smiled.

“Sounds good.” Renata muttered, her focus trailing off for a few seconds in the middle of Aleta’s explanation, but soon returning back to where it was. “And good to hear that she’s doing well, um, send her my best regards.”

Come to think of it, she hasn’t really gotten the chance to meet Aleta’s aunt in person yet, right? Aleta herself has mentioned her a new times, but well… that’s as far as it went.

“Sorry if I’m acting sleepy, by the way, I… actually didn’t sleep all that much the past two nights. And the fight earlier kind of drained all my energy for the day...”

Aleta looked genuinely concerned, grabbing her friend’s shoulder. “Are you alright? Here, let’s sit down, I can call an uber to your house.” She half guided, half carried her friend to the nearest bench, then shifted her focus and Renata roughly towards another bench, this time on facing the road.

Aleta lowered her companion carefully, casually flipping through her phone while checking the corners of her eyesights for the tail from earlier. Was that him? It was definitely a dark car but I don’t know if it was jet black.

“What? No, no no no!” Renata exclaimed in response, gently pushing herself from Aleta’s half-carry and standing back up on her feet as soon as her friend tried to set her down on one of the benches, almost amused at her friend responding with just worry. “You know better than anyone that we’re enrolled in a job which doesn’t leave much leeway in the way of schedules. And even then, I was, um...”

The heroine’s eyes shifted to the side. “...worried about someone.”

“He’s not that slick is he. I think he’s been following me since I left my house.” She pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and idly twiddled it between her fingers. “I haven’t decided who he is yet. Amateur suggests that he’s not any serious law enforcement. Maybe a PI.” She puffed a single time while she considered her options.

“Let’s take a walk.” She stood abruptly and pulled Renata along. Summertime meant the beach was full of people.

Seeing Aleta suddenly shift the topic of conversation to something completely different got Renata’s eyes to perk up in confusion, especially when her friend suddenly grabbed onto her hand and began to pull her by her hand.

“H-hey! Aleta, what’s happening?!” Renata exclaimed, looking around to see if anything had suddenly startled Aleta. “Who are you talking about?”

“The guy that’s been tailing us? Who are you talking about?” Aleta looked incredulous at her friend, hands raised in confusion.

“The guy that’s been tailing us-” Renata repeated Aleta’s words without thinking, only to suddenly stop at the realization. “-What?! We’re being tailed?! By who? Since when?!”

“I just said!” Aleta facepalmed. “Here I think I know how to lose him. Sprint with me to the changing rooms.” She rolled her eyes and dragged her friend along before she had a chance to respond.

“But you-” Renata was starting up a response when Aleta suddenly yanked her into a changing room before she could even complete it. Only once the situation calmed down a little bit did she find the opportunity to speak again. “You keep talking like I’m supposed to know who you’re talking about, but I don’t, Al.”

Aleta rolled her eyes as she slipped off her jacket. “I don’t know who he is. I just know a van with tinted windows has been following me today.” She slipped her shirt off over her head, revealing her ink bottle tattoo on her collarbone and continued speaking. “He’s not any good at being a tail though. Probably inexperienced.”

Hurried footsteps could be heard outside. Aleta coughed to clear her throat. The sound of boots thwomping on the pavement stopped for a moment….. Perhaps two…. Then they continued once more, towards the door.

“It’s fine though.” Aleta pulled a couple of rubberbands off of her wrist and tied her hair up messily. “Play along.” She whispered at Renata before pushing her against the wall solidly and giving her an aggressive kiss on the lips.

“Could you… give me a second to-”

!!!

Renata was going to say “comprehend what’s going on”, but that had to be tossed right out the window when Aleta suddenly kissed her. The pink-haired girl’s body immediately heated up and her eyes widened in shock. Okay, okay, calm down. Al said to play along. The heroine closed her eyes and accepted the kiss, her arms wrapping around Aleta’s, pulling her friend in for an embrace.

The footsteps drew closer, and Aleta heard the faint footsteps stop at the door. She whipped around catching the stalker in his tracks. “Hey! Dickwad! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” She wiped her lips off, smearing lipstick on her arm and moved towards him aggressively. He seemed surprised more than anything, putting his arms up defensively when Aleta pushed him back against the wall, and then once more out into the crowded boardwalk.

“You think it’s okay to go peeping on a couple of minors?” She yelled as loudly as possible, only clad in her black-lace brassiere. She kicked him another time in the shin, then when for another punch, but the man grabbed her arm. He was winding up for a punch of his own when a passerby stopped him.

“Hey, man, leave the girl alone.” The tail paused, looking at the passerby with a rage.

“Is there a problem over here?” A police officer sauntered over, both thumbs resting underneath his belt.

“Yeah, this perve was trying to spy on me and my friend!”

The police officer raised his eyebrows, nodding to himself. “Was he now?” He turned his attention to the tail. “I’m gonna need you to come with me then.” The man didn’t move, weighing his options in the situation, still deadly silent.

“I’m not going to ask again sir.” The officer’s hand moved to his taser. The man looked the officer up and down a few times, but relented seemingly with no trouble.

Aleta put on her best performance. “Oh thank you, Officer. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t come along. Thank you so much for what you do.” The officer gave a very stoic nod, clearly self-satisfied in his work, and Aleta scurried back to Renata.

“Alright, he shouldn’t be able to follow us if we leave now. Let’s move.”

Renata had watched the scene unfold between the tail and her friend, opting to not intervene and instead stand back. Thankfully, Aleta managed to resolve the situation fairly swiftly with the help of a nearby police officer - although, for a few seconds, when it seemed like the scene was about to come to blows, Renata was ready to jump in and help. As soon as Aleta came up to her and offered to move out, the pink-haired girl responded with a swift and stern nod, scurrying right after her.

“So...” Renata muttered once the two girls gained a bit of distance from the changing rooms. “I know this was an extreme situation and all, but… you were surprisingly not hesitant to kiss me back there.” With that playful jab sent, the pink-haired girl immediately moved on to more serious matters:

“So… I think I’ve got that that person was spying on us and all, but, then, do you have a clue on who might be behind him? Anyone you’d suspect who might want to keep close tabs on you?”

Aleta shrugged. “There are only a couple people that know what I do at night. Otherwise, I’d guess it has more to do with me investigating that guy than anything.” She waved her hands dismissively. “I don’t know. I am kinda glad that he was real though. I get the feeling that I’m being watched pretty often. I used to think…” She chuckled to herself. “... I used to think people were spending spies after me. Or that Auntie had sent them even.”

“But uh… I don’t know I guess I just kinda grew out of it.” She played with her hair idly in thought.

Renata frowned and glanced at the side, but her expression soon cleared out and she placed her hand on Aleta’s shoulder, speaking:

“Hey, it’s nothing to worry about, is it? I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I not only feel watched, but I actually am watched. Maybe by multiple sides, too. And I don’t really worry about, you know?” The pink-haired girl’s eyes turned to the distance. “So, I guess now that this soured our mood, I’m not sure if you’re really up for hanging out more...”

“Oh, right, your dad is like an ambassador or something?” Aleta asked. “Wait….” The teenager started making motions with her hands and mumbling like she was trying to do an equation or something. “Oh shit! I forgot you were the Laser Lass! Your dad is… that guy… um….” She scratched her head, trying to remember his name.

“...Really, Aleta...” Renata muttered in response, clearly unamused, and took a deep breath to calm down. “I thought everyone back at Thomsen already knew what that was about. Plata, Silver in English. My dad. Leader of the Andean Condors. Most important person in Ecuador.”

“I don’t really keep up with the news… but I remembered your lessons, huh?” She gave two finger-guns smiling somewhat playfully. “But yeah that sounds pretty shit. I bet he’s always away, and it always sucks when your dad can’t make it home.” Aleta flashed a little sad, but her usual confidence came back almost immediately.

“Well yeah, it definitely sucks, but… I also understand that he’s busy for a reason. And he always tried to dedicate as much of the little time he had to me as he could, so it wasn’t all terrible.” Renata muttered, her vision fading towards the bleach teal sky. Usually, it would only be a few minutes a day, but those were usually precious minutes. The pink-haired girl’s focus soon returned back towards Aleta, however, and she struck a smirk, continuing:

“You know, it may sound weird, but it’s actually good to hear that you had forgotten about that. At least one person doesn’t get to judge me by who my father is.”

Aleta shrugged. “I don’t think kids take after their parents.” A lit cigarette was firmly lodged between Aleta’s teeth. She shook the box as she put it back into her jacket pocket. “What about your mom?”

“Uhm...”

Upon hearing the question, Renata suddenly stopped, raising her eyes to the sky, then finally resting her hands on a nearby fence.

“Well, you see… I don’t know anything about my mother. I’ve never seen her once in my entire life, as far as my mind can recall, and my father doesn’t really talk about her. The Internet doesn’t have much info either - though I’m sure that I could find something if I really wanted to.”

The pink-haired girl let out a snicker. “Sometimes my classmates back in Ecuador would joke that I’m like Astroboy, that my dad built me for whatever reason and fools me by saying that I’m alive. But that’s probably not it.”

Aleta pursed her lips, fiddling with the final bit of the cig before popping it into her mouth. “I never knew my mom either. My dad said she got sick and died when I was really young. And he was always working double shifts at the mechanic’s, so I was able to uh… yknow like play on my own a bunch.” She sniffed, checking her cigarette box again, knowing from the earlier shake she only had a few left.

“We couldn’t afford gas so he’d always get around on a bike. It was so cool! It was red and black, with these stripes and…” Aleta continued on with a bunch of technical talk about the engine and its RPM’s and the way it turned.

“But yeah sounds like we’re both kinda fuck ups when it comes to family.”

Renata listened to Aleta’s prolonged explanation, her thoughts drifting to the side, but the girl trying to keep attention regardless despite not really understanding what she was talking about. “Well this conversation kind of went morbid all of a sudden, didn’t it?” she added afterwards, and soon continued:

“Maybe you want to go get ice cream instead?”

“Ice cream sounds good.” Aleta smiled and the pair walked off.

---

The White Lamia

"So Ivanov invited me to a meeting. How peculiar..." Alcyone clicked her fingernails on her desk with her legs crossed gracefully. "I didn't expect to be invited considering she's the host. Not after the last time we saw each other... Perhaps she's looking to make amends."

The Chaffeur stood silently, not reacting to her musings in the slightest. His features made him look impossible to clearly give an age, but his bald head and gray hair did suggest experience. His glasses had the slightest glare to them, obscuring his eyes even in the brightest room. He frame was not what made him imposing; in fact, he looked as if the wind could knock him over if it weren't for his cufflinks, but there was an uneasy calm to his every move, or lack thereof, that made you quiver with anticipation.

"No, not likely." Alcyone said, continuing to speak to herself mostly. "I don't know her play, but I can't imagine she's practical enough to invite me even if she did need me. This is a trap, but of what kind I'm unsure." Her clicking's speed increased between sentences. The noise was almst deafening in the office, not a single competing noise daring to make against Alcyone's nails. "But I can't withdraw. So I'll need a proxy." The Chaffeur nodded, picking up his umbrella.

"Thank you. And do be safe; it'd be a pain to have to replace you."

"Of course." The man's voice was devoid of any accent, or inflecton.

"Before you go, what of our intelligence gathering?" The Chaffeur stopped, turnning around with a manila folder from seemingly nowhere. He swept over the room, almost instantly arriving at Alcyone's side.

"We've narrowed the bombers down to within a few blocks of the Condemned District. The girl is still alluding us." He admitted, summarizing the folder's contents.

"So these photos are from the camera on our tail? Anything interes-" Alcyone paused when she saw her niece locking lips with another woman.

"Hm. Who is she?" The White Lamia raised her eyebrow.

"Renata Martinez. Student at Thomsen High. Previous resident of Ecuador, but there isn't much to be found after that. I have people looking into it further."

"Is it an alias?"

"I cannot say with certainty what it is."

"Of course." Alcyone closed the file, her face somewhat disappointed. "You're dismissed. Make the pitch tonight. Make note of how each of them responds."

[North America Inc]

The End of Stanford and Son
The retrofitted police trucks mounted the curb as the blinking lights of the siren continued on their perpetual loop. WarWolf was here. "Get on the ground!" Shots rang into the air, as the troopers jumped out of their trucks and onto the unsuspecting gangsters. The gangsters that laid there were either dazed or injured, doing nothing to resist. "This is not a fucking request! On the ground now." The nearly two dozen agents secured the intersections around the complex, preparing to move in once the situation stabilized. Despite the fact that the agents had the situation relatively secured, that did nothing to curb their aggression; they kicked, bashed, and smashed any face that they could find. Eric with a broken arm and concussion walked out of the Office to the sight of guns trained on him; they reiterated what they had been saying for the past two minutes. "On the ground. Now."

"Fucking Pigs." Eric replied as he dropped to the floor and spat out some blood on to the cracked concrete of the street. To his confusion though they traded their ARs for batons; the voltage making a nerve wracking audible buzz. As he rested his cheek against the ground, he shouted out loud, "Hey man. I'm doing everything. What else do you want?"

Three men got behind him and slapped some cuffs on him; after patting him down, they checked their corner from left to right for the sight of any running cameras. Laughing behind him for a few agonizing moments, they did nothing but eye the tattoos that littered his torso.

"We good?"... "We good, man?"

Than the shouting began. "Stop resisting!" The WarWolf agents began to slam the baton hard against his bare skin, leaving new marks to cover his body. His cries and demands fell on deaf ears as they continued on for several more minutes.

---

Vargas looked over at the injured Ignacio on the ground, the redhead loomed over him. She then turned to look at him. The elastic girl was on his other side, while WarWolf agents awaited just beyond the tarp covered, chain linked fence. He knew it was over, he just didn't want to believe it. He emptied another round into his hostages chest, as he dragged her to mere feet away from the supposed safety of the office door. Los Sicarios were not to be messed with, the Salamancas were not to be trifled with, and Lalo was not going to forgive. Wiping the sweat from his brow, his hand obscured his view just as the Chicle rushed towards him. His eyes widened in surprise, "What the Hell!", as she wrapped around his hand and pulled away his machine pistol.

Ignacio did his best to stand up, but his his whole body felt like pressurized jelly. "What did you do to me?" He tried to move his left arm and grab the charred remains of the bumper, but nothing wanted to move. He could tell that it was healing, but he didn't have the time; it's all over. His livelihood over, because he couldn't hurt one little girl. Coughing a little, he joked to himself, "I'm hopeless."

Vargas was assaulted by a rapid barrage that left him in no real shape to go on. Elle quickly freed herself and ran off, leaving the bald gangster bloodied and injured. Viv's latest assortment of attacks left him without any will to push on; he wasn't in any shape anyhow. His face laid against the rough asphalt, hearing the Elastic girl demanding that somebody stay down. He could only assume it was Nacho. The last thing he could see was was a fire stream land and jump from building to building; an oddity to be sure, but he didn't even think about that. It was time for him to sleep.

The Red Princess jumped from the mechanic shop to the legal office, using short bursts of fire streams to go the distance; as well as cushion her land. With the arrival of WarWolf and the neutralization of most of the gangsters, Shi almost enjoyed how textbook the attack was. With the exception of the Outrider's Arrival and the Sand meta-human shattering, nothing was different than what she expected when she first planned the attack out. Seeing the other girls standing over an overweight man, Shi head- springed to the ground, landing right behind Viviana. With a slight pant in-between her breath she declared, "Well that was fun. And more than that, I'm sure the Los Sicarios are less likely to try this sham." Looking over at the bloodied Elle, "How are you doing? I know you're a regernator, but I'm sure that still doesn't feel great. Do you need medical attention? I believe Cassandra implied she might be able to help with that."

[Finland SSR]

The End of Stanford and Son

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Oh how quickly pride leads to fall. A few moments earlier, Nacho was boasting that he could smash Renata to bits and that she should probably turn around and leave if she wants all of her bones to remain intact. And, now, he fell to the ground, his limbs immobiilized and the man asking to the point of screaming on what she had done to him. Despite any and all effort from his part, he was pretty much at their mercy at this point.

Renata let out a faint grin and answered:

"What happened to bashing my brains in, hm? Or did you forget that you are dealing with some of the premier superheroes in San Diego, not just your average teenagers?"

To be fair, with so few real superheroes in San Diego, pretty much any average superhero team or above counts as "premier", doesn't it? With the Warwolf forces arriving and storming the building, detaining the gangsters one after the other, some with unnecessary brutality, and the rest of the team gathering around Nacho's body, the mission seemed to have been complete. Renata was about to shout "Good work, team!", when Shi suddenly pointed out Elle's medical condition - the raven-haired heroine was stumbling her way towards the crew, with a wound in her chest.

All else had to be dropped immediately.

"Elle!" Renata exclaimed, running up to her friend and helping her up, the two heroines walking back up to the gathering point. "Of course she needs medical help, Shi, have you even looked at her?!"

Regeneration is, of course, a powerful thing, but it can only go so far.

[Bentus]

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

---

Having pulled under a shallow bridge, the bus idled quietly as the traffic on the main highway passed overhead entirely unaware of its presence. Marionette had sat in silence after guiding Floyd to the meeting point, her eyes glued to the windshield and the prison that was just visible in the distance. Right on the hour, the sirens had begun to wail as spotlights burst into existence to illuminate the sealed off courtyard. Although they were too far to make out any sounds or details of the struggle, it was obvious that the plan had been thrown into action and the prison guards were responding to the full-blown riot that had resulted. Marionette’s mouth was pursed into a line, and she couldn’t help but nervously play with her hands as she waited in the cabin. She could feel her stomach clenched, painfully aware that all she could do was wait for each passing second to elapse. It was a feeling that she wasn’t used to, having become accustomed to such activities years ago - but this time was undeniably different. Suddenly it wasn’t just about having fun, but about putting her best foot forward and showing Weatherman what she was capable of. Would he be impressed by the breakout? Or would something go wrong that would cause him to rescind his earlier praise?

The 8-bit soundtrack emanating from Floyd’s phone, along with the occasional beeps as he pressed a button, only served to stress Marionette out even further. Turning to shoot the other villain a scowl, she narrowed her eyes at the swordsman.

“Could you put that thing away? This is serious.” She complained, masking her own nerves by berating Floyd. “Weatherman expects me to be a professional, and right in the middle of a breakout you’re just sitting there playing tetris or something. You’re going to embarass me!”

Floyd’s final challenge, a boss in the form of an anime girl spamming a quadrillion and more projectiles towards him with his character being forced to dodge each one of them, turned slightly more challenging once Marionette started nagging at him from the side. The swordsman’s eyes began to look from the touchscreen to the annoying Barbie dolls at comically fast speeds, and while he appreciated the extra complexity in this final fight which would otherwise be only a slight competition at best, he couldn’t help but find Marionette’s complaints irritating to the core.

“Shh, shh shh shh,” Floyd released from his mouth. Add one more layer of complexity to this boss - now he has to talk and play at once. “This is the serious thing here. Your date with a man three times your age is not.”

How old was Weatherman again? Floyd had no clue. He struck the swordsman as older than him, however, so he decided to go with it. With the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure starting to make its way towards the truck from the distance - the one and only. Guess there’s not much time left.

“Besides, this is Weatherman we are talking about. You could take a big fat dump in your pants and you’d still be more serious than what he does on the daily.”

Incensed my Floyd’s dismissive comment, Marionette didn’t notice the figure approaching the bus as she turned to the swordsman. “Do you honestly enjoy being such an uncouth brute? You’re just jealous that you’ll never be as good as a real villain like him, so you try to hide your own insecurities behind tough talk and attitude.” Getting into the roll of things, Marionette couldn’t but feel a sense of relief as the words flew off her tongue. It really felt nice to give the swordsman her two cents. “And I’m not trying to date him, asshole. Unlike you, I’m actually interested in being something more than the typical, run-of-the-mill villain who shows up every other week. And that means that I’m going to need a teacher - and there’s nobody out there who knows more about proper villainy than the Weatherman.”

Taking a breath once she finished, Marionette felt a smug satisfaction with her efforts to defend her hero. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to rub that self-serving, know-it-all smile off of Floyd’s features. However, suddenly the swordsman’s words crept back into her head.

Wait, did he just say that I was more serious than Weatherman? Marionette’s smile wavered slightly in confusion. Was that supposed to be a compliment? From Floyd?

Before she could manage another word, she heard one of the bus’ doors being opened as another voice caused her to jump in surprise.

“Aha! I haven’t had a good breakout like that in years, well done Marionette.” Weatherman was wearing a wide smirk as he clambered into the cabin, still wearing the orange jumpsuit that identified him as a prisoner. Sighing as he set himself down into one of the seats, he paused as he glanced towards the driver. The man’s gaze seemed to hold an unspoken criticism as he looked over Floyd. Reaching forward, he eventually offered a hand to the other man. “You must be Floyd. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

Weatherman showing so much respect for him that he even offered a hand came as quite a surprise for Floyd, but despite that, the swordsman opted to accept the gesture regardless, pausing the game in his smartphone for now and reaching out to meet the villain’s right hand with his own.

“I’m surprised. I figured that a man so respected and famous would struggle to even recognize a lowlife such as mine. After all, I am but a mere acorn in front of the mighty oak himself.”

However, Floyd did not let go of Weatherman’s hand, instead continuing to press it further - not to the point where his bones would start to break and crumble, though he definitely could have gone that far, but instead just enough to make him sweat. A slight smirk formed on the swordsman’s face - he did not even bother to hide all of the sarcasm and contempt at this point.

“I’m sure that if we meet in a less tense situation, you would have a lot to teach me. After all, when such a dastardly villain is not even afraid to apply for the bi-annual Hero League competition, he must have a lot of guts. And maybe a death wish, but what is villainy without at least some of that?”

Wincing as he felt the superhuman pressure applied to his hand, Weatherman’s initial surprise at Floyd’s friendly greeting were immediately put aside as he picked up on the sarcasm lacing the swordsman’s words. Narrowing his gaze, the villain offered the overconfident young man a raised eyebrow.

“Ah, so this is what Marionette meant when she talked about you.” Weatherman replied, mostly talking to himself. He had to admit, there was a certain confidence in the boy’s attitude that he liked. After a moment, he grinned at Floyd as if having come to a conclusion about the young man. “We all have our own reasons for doing what we do, although some of us seem to be more well-suited for success than others. You had a brief stint as a hero back in the day, didn’t you? How’d that end up?”

“About as well as Marionette’s stunning victory at the Hilton’s.” the swordsman gave a laconic reply, snickering.

Meanwhile, behind Weatherman’s gaze, Marionette was silently glaring at Floyd. She had picked up on his sarcasm immediately, his obstinate attitude infuriating her to no end. Could he not keep his macho need to overcompensate whenever he met another male in check, just this once? Silently, she mouthed a threat towards the swordsman who was sabotaging her dreams right before her eyes.

I’m. Going. To kill. You.

Gesturing first to herself, and then to Floyd in order to accentuate her point, Marionette wrapped up by running a finger across her throat to just to make sure that the swordsman understood. However, just at that moment Weatherman turned to her, causing the girl to frantically move her hands back to her lap and smile as if she hadn’t noticed anything amiss.

“Weatherman, it’s good to see that you made it out!” Marionette spoke, doing her best to brush over the tense atmosphere. Hastily, she added. “Not that I ever thought that there was a chance you couldn’t get past the guards, of course.” Come on, just ask him now - Floyd’s just going to make your chances worse and worse. “Actually, Weatherman - there was something I wanted to ask you. See, I was thinking after my last encounter with the Young Bloods that I still have a lot of room to improve. And since they all have mentors and heroes who could train them, it’s only fair that I find my own teacher?”

Listening to Marionette’s blurting, Floyd felt a pit in his stomach. Something in his mind was trying to get him to violently puke.

“Bloody hell, am I stuck in a saturday morning cartoon about the power of friendship?..” the swordsman muttered under his breath as he placed his smartphone at the side and turned on the engine. They can’t just sit here under the bridge for all eternity, after all - and what better time to start moving out than now? Offering a glance to Marionette, Floyd continued:

“Out of all the people on the planet, this is the one you want to take lessons from? For fucks sake, even I would be a better mentor than him - not the least because I would actually teach you how to fight, or have fun. Instead of how to make the best stage entrance or fill out a CV for Doofenschmirtz Evil Incorporated.”

Marionette seemed to freeze for a moment. Having overcome her own unease and taken the plunge to ask Weatherman to teach her, hearing Floyd’s voice immediately respond with his typical sarcasm seemed to cause the world to slow around her. Turning to look at the swordsman in shock, Marionette felt a wave of fury rising in her chest. Was Floyd being serious? Had he really just casually insulted Weatherman right when she had worked up the courage to finally ask him for his help? The young woman could feel her careful preparations falling away, all her efforts and hopes to really gain a proper mentor falling away because some self-centered, second-rate crook couldn’t keep his mouth shut for just five minutes. As she felt a wave of embarrassment and anger at Floyd’s outburst sending colour rushing ot her ears, Marionette wanted nothing more than to run the idiot through with his own sword.

“Wh-what did you just say?” Marionette muttered, clearly struggling to contain herself as she tried to comprehend what Floyd had just done. “You, a mentor? You couldn’t even be a half-decent criminal if - “

“I think it’s a brilliant idea.” Weatherman suddenly interrupted, cutting Marionette off just as she was about to lay into the other villain. He was wearing a thoughtful expression, a soft smile on his features as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. “It would really set a new paradigm for villainy, taking on a sidekick, and the lessons will be anything but easy. But it is a challenge that I would be more than willing to tackle in order to better prepare the next generation!” Pausing for a moment, the villain’s grin widenned as the idea continued to grow on him. His own sidekick...it would be the surest proof yet of his position as North America’s premier villain - the reputation boost it would provide alone was too good to pass up. “You can start tomorrow as my intern, and if you do well we’ll see what happens from there.”

Marionette couldn’t hide the wide, sheepish grin from exploding onto her features. After Floyd had nearly blown her one shot, she wasn’t about to pass up on a second-wind. Without hesitating, she reached out and excitedly shook Weatherman’s hand. “Yes! Definitely, I’ll start first thing. You won’t regret this Mr. Weatherman, trust me. I’ll be the best intern you’ve ever had; I won’t let you down.”

Seemingly pleased with the response, Weatherman nodded before turning to wink at Floyd. “You know Mr. Tolson, even though there’s quite a bit of work to be done around the edges, I would be willing to impart my expertise on a second student as well.”

Floyd sighed upon hearing Marionette and Weatherman continuing their comedy duo of having zero clue how the real world works and immersing in fantasy. He could at least try to forgive Marionette for acting so childlike, since, well, she was still a child, but Weatherman, on the other hand…

Once he revealed to have the audacity to ask him to join as a second student, Floyd opened his mouth in shock, locked there for a few seconds, before finally cracking a smirk and replying:

“Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Weatherman, I would love to study… villain things… under your wing, but I am afraid that I lack the necessary qualification of being braindead.”

Alright, that’s their cue to leave. The truck left its shelter underneath the bridge and pulled over on a nearby asphalt road.

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower

---

Blinking in surprise at the suit’s rude comments about Kabuto, Ash was about to berate the snake-like head when for being a bad friend when Jason apologised on his partner’s behalf. The mutant smiled sheepishly as she pulled her gaze away from the unnaturally shifting face that protruded from the Young Blood’s shoulder. There was something about Jason’s suit that caused her antennae to twitch, as if signalling a danger. It caused the girl’s heartbeat to pound just a little bit faster than normal, and for her hair to stand a little bit on its ends, as if she were instinctively picking up on the scent of a predator. But it was a feeling that Ash was determined to push to one side in an effort to do her best to make new friends.

Opening her mouth to respond effortlessly to Jason’s question, Ash stopped herself just as the words crept onto the tip of her tongue. She wanted to be as honest as possible, right? That’s what Kabuto had told her was the best way to start off on the right foot with the team, and something about her impulsive response rung hollow in her mind. Hesitating as she thought over Jason’s words, Ash turned to look over towards Casimir. The pole seemed to be paying the pair of them no attention, alternating between loud curses and triumphant cheers as he worked tirelessly to improve his abilities. He seemed to be completely oblivious to Ash and Jason’s conversation, and almost certainly couldn’t hear them from where he was. Eventually, the mutant pursed her lips as she formulated a response.

“Kabuto is...very confident.” She eventually managed, smiling lightly as she recalled watching how her best friend interacted with his teammates over the past few days. Ash was still getting used to how the Young Bloods all worked together, and she still decidedly felt like an outsider, but she felt like she was beginning to understand. “But he is never mean to his friends, and he is always trying to be the best hero he can be. I think he works very hard because he wants to help people.”

Ash paused for a moment, shifting uneasily from her perch as she recalled the night when she had first encountered Kabuto. “When I met Kabuto, I was not nice to him. But even though I was mean, he did all he could to help me - even if it meant putting himself in danger.”

It might not have been the whole truth, since Ash was leaving out the fact that she was the danger which Kabuto had been facing, but she hoped that it was close enough not to break her no-lying promise. “Afterwards, I did not know what to do or where to go. I kind of felt, alone for the first time. But then Kabuto gave me my name and offered to help me join the Young Bloods. He told me all about being a hero and I decided that I wanted to help people like he does.”

As she spoke, a smile began to creep back onto Ash’s face until she was practically beaming. Then, turning to look back at Jason, she realised that maybe her explanation had not quite been what he was expecting. Embarrassed at having not quite being as clear as she would have liked, Ash was about to try again when she heard Casimir call out from across the yard, calling for her to get involved and practice now that she was outside.

“Yes, definitely!” She called back, turning to look back at Jason. “It was nice talking to you, Jason and Sludge. I am glad to be friends with both of you now. I cannot webswing, but perhaps you could watch me and offer some advice too, yes?”

And with that, the mutant wasted no time in clambering further up the tree. Once she made herself to the highest fronds, Ash casually stepped out onto one of the thing branches at the tree’s upper levels. Grinning, she stretched her wings as she prepared to jump into the sky. It was nice to once again feel the cool breeze of the open air brushing past, and Ash was itching for the chance to fly after her injury.

Suddenly, Ash froze.

Blinking in surprise, she felt her legs frozen in place. Confused, Ash realised that she was trembling as she stood on the thin branch. Not understanding what was happening, the mutant glanced down to see if her feet had become caught in something only for her eyes to fix on the ground beneath her. Her stomach felt like it fell through to her ankles, a feeling of vertigo washing over her as fear gripped her chest. Suddenly, Ash recalled the burning sensation in her wing, the dull sensation of pain that was swiftly followed by a strange weightlessness as the air’s reliable support vanished from underneath her. Any thoughts of trying to jump left her in an instant.

It was then that Ash heard a large crack from behind her. Turning around, the mutant’s eyes widened in horror as she realised that her hesitation had meant that the narrow branch that she was standing on had been taking her whole weight for far too long. Letting out a cry, she made a desperate attempt to race back to the safety of the tree trunk, but not before she felt the ground once again disappear from underneath her.

Clawing at the air, Ash desperately tried to beat her wings as she fell, but it all felt wrong. The regular, instinctive beats that had come naturally for as long as she could remember felt stiff and cautious right up until the ground raced up to meet her and a sharp pain was followed by the breath fleeing from her lungs.

[Absolon-7]

Jason

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!

Press Conference

Casimir Herman July 27th
By the glory of his efforts Jason expressed approval at Casimir's attempts at webswinging as it was only natural he'd do well. As Casimir caught his breath huffing and puffing out his chest he listened with an attentive ear at Jason's instruction on keeping up practice and to just get a handle on muscle memory. This would be simple enough as he had plenty of spare time and he'd make a habit of practicing webswinging every time he finished working out at Dunkmaster's Gym. Casimir swiftly turned his head to Jason once he offered the chance at a race.

"Excellent! A race sounds excellent," said Casimir as he clenched his fists in excitement, "You'll be amazed at the progress I'll make."

Jason then moved on to talk about Kiris' capture by Warwolf. The thought of his friend being held captive infuriated him. He furrowed his brow and crossed his arms in mock defiance of the situation but he figured he should chime in his own thoughts at Jason's opinion on the matter.

"No, there's no plan yet or Roy would have told us then and there at the meeting," said Casimir, "Whatever we do it would have to involve everyone. Everyone acting together as a smooth functioning hive where everyone has a place in the operation. Judging by Roy's reaction I figure its only a matter of time he and Naja get us together for the next step."

Casimir stretched down to his toes as well as other stretches before he leaped up and shot out his webbing to continue practicing. As he swung from branch to branch, narrowly avoiding hitting some or hooking is feet on lower ones, Casimir could spot Ash and Jason making idle conversation. This was a nice development as he didn't wish for Ash to be friendless in the very group Casimir had invited her over to. Such a fate would be all too cruel and he certainly wasn't going to let fate get away with its sick humor. Although he had to wonder what they were talking about. He landed on a tree branch and squatted down to balance himself while he dug his fingers into the bark.

"Hey Ash! How about showing us what those lean mean wings can do?," hollered out Casimir. He grinned in anticipation at seeing what the moth girl was capable of but as thing went horribly wrong his heart sank as a heavy stone would plummet down a well. Casimir leaped down from where he was perched and sprinted to where Ash was. Upon reaching her he bent down to sit her up by cradling her neck and head with one arm while grasping on her other limbs with his free one. His eyes flashed to the infirmary, courtesy of a fly, where it seemed Jacob was currently stationed.

"Ash! Ash?," frantically blurted out Casimir, "Jason grab her other two arms and help me get her to the infirmary, Jacob's there." The well where Casimir's heart had fallen seemed to fill with sewage as some strange emotion to seep into his chest. It was similar to when he got Renata injured by Ash a few days ago and was incredibly similar to whenever he didn't make it in time to save folks back home. She got injured because of his coaxing her to show off and Renata was hurt because too slow and injured to help her. Was this how guilt felt like?

Two hours later
The team's first official exposure to the press was set to begin any moment as Casimir, or for right now Kabuto as was fully clad in his supersuit, waited alongside the rest of the team until they were given the signal to head out. Although it didn't look like everyone was here yet. Not surprising some of the second rates didn't show their faces. He was leaning back against one of the room's couches with Viv in her own costume to his side clutching onto his arm. There were others around like Wyatt and Jason sitting together on a couch next to where Casimir was and it appeared there was a rerun of Gumball on the room's TV. It had been quite sometime since he watched it perhaps years in fact and he was pleasantly surprised by how it was still entertaining.

Soon enough the moment of fortune had come when Naja came in to take them to the actual press conference's room. As everyone was taking their seats Casimir tried to get a seat as close to the center as possible with Viviana tailing behind. Naja gave an exemplary opening statement that should have made it clear where Warwolf's interests lied and with her finishing came a cascade of question at various members of the team.

"Kabuto, you played a notable role in the operation to stop the Cabal at Wonder Foundation, could you tell us from your view what went wrong that night?"

Kabuto puffed out his chest the armor clinging to seemingly making him stand out even more but the question that was directed at him was a discomforting one. True he was a major contributor in that mission but he did get his ass handed to him by that tincan of a juggernaut. Tapping his finger on a table twice he delved into his thoughts before justifying a satisfactory answer.

"Ah yes, that fateful night. I remember it very well dear sir," said Casimir grimacing beneath his helmet as he bitterly remembered the juggernaut, "From my insightful and enlightened perceptive, what went wrong was those damn curs from Warwolf getting in our way. Granted there was also us not realizing that the initial attack was a diversion but that was simply not within our realm of possible knowledge. What was within our knowledge was Warwolf swooping in at the last minute and setting the dominoes to the mission's failure. My squadron was well on their way to stop those Cabal fops but those vultures interference thus they caused a delay in getting to the villain. Those so called law bringers were simply not willing to cooperate with us and treated us as simply their own fodder as once most of the dangers were nullified or bogged down by us they conveniently stepped in. They were scavengers to us. Nothing more nothing less. So says the Great Kabuto"

Casimir leaned back as he realized he had been leaning forward to the microphone too closely. He crossed his arms and it seemed the reporter who questioned him was satisfied. Tilting his chin forward he resigned to see how everyone else was questioned although not without keeping an eye out for any other reporters who wanted him.

[Segral]

Lana Graystone

Well, the plan seemed interesting. Especially considering they were going to be teaming up with Carter's team, the Young Bloods, those little rascals. Granted, she was slightly reluctant to get them involved with their little operation, especially as the team was still young, and they would be sent reeling by a PR scandal involving Warwolf. But to be fair, their plan wasn't getting caught, and they could use the help of a few technopaths and tech-savvies. Lana could barely figure out how to work her desktop after a software update, and Geek Squad had taken WAY too much money out of her pocket. Tech would help, help keep them clandestine, help them plan their mission, help act as back-up along with Arrow.

Lana nodded along in agreement, giving Sam clearance to continue on with the speech. The radio coverage would be essential, and any help they could get was a bonus. Especially after hearing some of the gadgets those kids could make. Email breakers, electronic keypad openers, how do these kids make this military-level tech in a week? Sounded like a lot of wasted childhood and not very much fresh air. And a lot of favorable genetics.

And finally, the meat of the plan. Jump in, install an email snatcher, jump back out, and reveal the fruits of their labor. Simple, yet effective. Granted, a lot of the logistic "why" and how" was unclear, but she was sure Sam was a man with a plan. "Nope, no concerns on my end," Lana said, responding to Sam's ending question. "Well, just one. Do we have a concrete date in place for when we're rolling out, or is that still up in the air? I get that we need time for the devices and such, but at the same time, we lose valuable investigative time.

---

Sir Edward Whilton of York
An Exciting Prologue

Harold snuffled as he stood in place, attempting to stretch out for space. Even as a skeleton, Harold still behaved much like a real horse, attempting to eat food and drink water, despite it all falling right through his bony gaps. Sometimes it would get caught in his armor, and Edward would have to spend time scrubbing the precious, coal-black armor to a level of clean polish. Ay, if the horse was only alive! Harold had been such a noble steed, a courageous animal, always charging into battle, afraid of nothing, obedient to the lightest touch when in battle. They had an energy that was beyond mortal words. But now their energy had been snuffed away, spirited away by filthy Muslims, their swords, their bows. They stole his life away, put him into eternal sleep until those evil men and women had resurrected him, put him through endless torture. He had run away, but he remained shackled. No longer though, he was a free man now, his only debt was to his home and the Outriders, his loving comrades.

He was positioned behind the same building that Issac was atop, kneeled atop Harold's leather saddle with weapons in hand. He had his enchanted armor for defense, along with a large, circular shield strapped to his arm to protect against any spare fists or knives. Bullets would be more problematic, but his armor could sustain them, and all things were repairable by a trusty blacksmith like himself. As well, Harold was coated in enchanted armor, only the best that a knight could afford. Along with his father's lordship. In terms of weapons, Edward had traveled light, keeping only his broadsword and a crossbow to take out some from afar. He could not afford to be bogged with weapons on the battlefield, and he would have support regardless. He had picked his position carefully. He was out of sight from the restaurant, but was just a building away from the location, and he could easily turn into the main road. Issac could also provide support with his gun, and he could easily defeat the peasants with the simplest flicks of his blade.

He was nervous. He knew the team did not have a favorable opinion of him, especially Sister Alexis, and they thought he was an insane man, someone they called a "cosplayer". But he was not some disgusting peasant! He was Sir Edward Whilton of York, a crusader, a nobleman, and a warrior. He would slay every beast in his path. But to calm himself, he began to hum "Ave Maria", a lovely Christian hymn that brought a sense of peace and inner solitude to him.

Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena, Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus, dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus, et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tuae, Jesus.
Ave Maria

And then, hell.

Edward yelped as the sounds of sirens began to ring, screeching and wailing like the innocents massacred in holy Christian tales. Screeched like dying peasant children in the homes. His armor protected his ears to an extent, but it hurt, piercing his ears, eyes, his head. Harold almost bolted, but Edward snapped his reigns, choking his horseback as it whinnied and neighed. This must be the signal! The holy song directing them into battle against the evil filth! Although it was possible a fair Sister was being murdered as well. He would need to confirm. He was so excited, but he must keep his lust intact, prevent another painful death destroying him and his life. He would not lose.

"This is Brother Edward, is this our signal? Will our targets be charging from the building soon? ...Over?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Ash

Sludge's head retreated back into Jason's body as Ashe explained how she met Casimir. How he was actually really nice, helped her get her footing and even helped to get her on the team despite her being mean to him. "That Casimir sounds much better than this one." Sludge chimed in, though only Jason could hear. Jason nodded along to Ash's story, more than happy to give the bug hero a second chance. Seems there was a decent person behind all that arrogance and smugness. Food for thought if nothing else.

Either that, or Casimir was trying to get into her pants. Maybe his powers had some strange effect on his libido. Either that or he was one of those weirdos who'd find people like Wyatt attractive. "Really? Huh." Jason replied. "I guess there is a good person in there. Fair enough, can't say I've known him as long as you have, so that's fair." He shrugged. "I get that, but I think maybe that the fact that he's got what seems to be a decent power set and is on a superhero team has gone to his head juuust a little." He finished, pinching his fingers together to wrap up his point. "It was nice meeting you too." Just as he finished, Casmir called out to Ash, telling her to show them what she had.

That would be an interesting sight, and one of his favorite things about the superhero lifestyle was not only learning about one's own powers, but watching someone else learn theirs was also quite fun. Who knows, maybe watching someone else explore theirs could help him learn something. It was pretty unlikely, but hey, weirder things have happened, and were likely to happen. "Yeah, Ash. Let's see what you got!" Casimir even got back, taking him up on his offer of a race later on. "Alright then. Gonna warn you now, I've been webswinging for close to three months. I've been all around the city. Bring your A game Casimir, cause I ain't gonna be taking it slow just cause you're new!" He challenged his Polish teammate, the black ooze covering his face as he perched on the tree branch to watch Ash show off her powers.

Though the showing off was rather brief, because something caused her to freeze up. Judging from the look on her face, some very bad memory. Bad enough that she dropped like a stone and crashed into the ground quite hard. He immediately jumped out of the tree alongside Casimir who was already trying to help her up, telling him to help carry her other side. "On it!" He replied, carefully helped lift her up. "What the hell happened? She just... Froze? That can't be normal." He asked.

"Seems to me like some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Sludge chimed in. "Associated with using her powers most likely. Likely a bad experience with using them."

"How... How do you know that?" Jason quietly asked.

"When you sleep, I get bored without someone to talk to, so I watch TV. Sometimes all night. There was a documentary about soldiers who have it."

[The Fallen Jedi]

Elysian Embassy, Downtown San Diego
July 27th
Asumar Masaki

Weeks had passed following Asumar's rather deadly encounter with Warwolf and the situation had begun to degrade to the point where most, even Kazuko had become unsure of what decision the Federal Council would make by the end of their little debate. The situation did not improve when the identity of the purple-armored being had been confirmed as Asumar himself, causing some in the US Congress to erupt into an uproar over the fact that a dignitary of the Elysian Collective, a nation that they had helped was responsible for the murders of many Warwolf soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage. This put the Masaki family in an uncomfortable position with press lining up outside of their home and protests to erupt around the Elysian Embassy. Some in the United Nations condemned Asumar exclusively for his actions and even suggested that his diplomatic immunity be revoked so he could face trial for his actions, something that had inflamed the elder Masaki to the point where he outright dismissed himself from all dignitary duties so he could present his defense to the Elysian Federal Council, which had very little outcome in the decision they would soon make.

Sitting within his office would Asumar stare out into streets of San Diego with an exhausted expression on his face. He had just gotten through with the final round of questions that the Federal Council asked him before their final decision would be made apparent to him minutes later as he heard a knock on the door. He turned around towards the door and let out a quiet sigh. "Come in," Asumar stated quietly, the door slowly opening up to reveal a rather straight-faced Kazuko as he moved to take a seat in front of his elder sibling. "I presume that the council has come up with a decision?" Asumar asked, sensing his brother's discomfort through the telepathic link they shared, a sense of hesitance from his brother becoming known to Asumar only seconds later, who then placed one hand over his forehead "This already isn't looking up..." He sighed with exasperation.

Kazuko's frowned slightly as he rubbed his chin in uncertainty as he spoke. "I don't know where to start Asumar..." Kazuko began hesitantly, knowing in his heart that this action was only to appease the United States from acting against the Elysian Islands. "That stunt you pulled with Warwalf, even if it was in self-defense was excessive, to say the least: multiple fatalities, hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage and not to mention do we have the United States breathing down our back because of that little incident... You aren't going to like their decision."

Asumar sighed as he gave a small gesture "Go on, tell me their decision."

Kazuko rose up, pacing around the room with an uncomfortable expression. "Due to the destruction, you left behind when fighting Warwolf, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages: the Elysian Collective has decided to revoke your diplomatic immunity in the United States." Before Asumar had time to say anything would Kazuko bring his hand up "I'm not done yet brother, it gets worse." Asumar slumped down in his seat as Kazuko continued. "Due to the deaths attributed to your little encounter with Warwolf, the United States has also decided to pursue the charge of multiple counts of murder, property destruction against you and as a result they've moved to order Warwolf to confine you in one of their maximum security prisons until such a time that you can be formally charged."

The world fell completely still for the elder Masaki, whose eyes widened like Petri dishes as he shot out of his chair and placed the palms of his hands on the desk. Surprise wasn't the only emotion that he was feeling right now, it was a mixture of shock, anger and a feeling of betrayal. It was at this point that there was no secret that Warwolf had an immense bias towards superpowered beings what with their internment of multiple notable superheroes and even supervillains in the city "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Asumar snarled as he slammed his fist onto the table, completely outraged at the notion of being taken prisoner "What the hell is running through the mind of you people, thinking it's alright for Warwolf to get involved after what's been happening in the city!" Asumar's emotions began to get the best to him as his psionic aura began to surge over him like a mighty tsunami, coating the room in a purple tint as his anger became only that much more pronounced. "I swear, you politicians have your heads so far shoved up your ass you haven't seen the writing on the wall that even affiliating with Warwolf is something that'll take us all down in the future!"

"You think I HAD a choice?!" Kazuko replied evenly, the room now beginning to experience a growth of plant life in the floors, walls, and ceilings of the room, the purple aura becoming mixed in with green as the anger between the two brothers finally came to a head. "You've killed more than a dozen Warwolf soldiers, endangered the lives of nearby civilians and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage! The Council didn't come to this decision lightly but with the US and UN now beginning to bear down on us because of what's been happening recently they aren't going to let us simply give you a slap on the wrist just because of our status as a nation!" Kazuko rose to challenge his brother, their auras swirling around them like a vortex ready to practically explode with energy. "If you fight this then think of what this will do to the Elysian Islands, our family... your son!"

"Your Son!"

"YOU FUCKING SNAKE IN THE GRASS!" Asumar screamed, finally snapping upon the mentioning of his son, sending his left arm shooting forward with his palm sticking out, sending Kazuko violently hurtling down multiple hallways within the embassy, an alarm beginning to go off upon Asumar's show of force. With his free hand would Asumar cause the wall of his office leading outside to collapse, knowing that the power suppressors of the embassy were bound to be activated in seconds. As he began to step over the edge of the now demolished wall would Asumar turn towards his brother, who was now beginning to rise up out of the rubble around him. "I would much rather die than willingly turn myself over to those Pro-Human bigots and kill the entire Federal Council than surrender my freedom after what I did in our home galaxy!" With that would Asumar take flight levitating above the embassy, his eyes glowing dark purple as he moved his left hand in the direction of his office, crushing his hand into a fist and causing the roof of his office to collapse along with a few other rooms before taking flight towards the south of the city, effectively going rogue from the very nation he had served and becoming a fugitive in the eyes of the United States.

[Absolon-7]

Press Confrence

Viviana Couture July 27th
After hugging Casimir goodbye outside the meeting room, Viviana skipped merrily away humming along to some nondescript song. She wondered why Casimir hadn't put more of a protest to her saying she was gonna borrow his computer. A guy's hard drive was their sacred treasure filled with their most treasured files. Now what sort of stuff could Casimir have? Well that wasn't any of her business so now the question what could she do right now. Fraternize with her fellows perhaps she considered but everyone seemed like douches right now.

"Eureeka!," yelled Viviana leaping upwards and shooting her hand upwards enough to hit the ceiling, "Ouch!"

She skipped faster to her room as the anticipation of her idea was gaining momentum. She threw herself on the wheeled chair next to her computer and booted it up. Her usual tabs opened up and she killed a few minutes checking stuff to watch or read later. She even spotted some thigh high boots she'd been wanting for 50% off! Ultimately she closed them and prepared to check her games and the first which caught her attention was Homeworld. She doubleclicked it and with a big dumb grin on her face as it booted up. This would have gone amazingly had it not been for a text she just got.

Team Press Conference in two hours, everyone should be there. Dress in your costumes, especially if your identity is secret. I know this isn't everyone's favorite thing, but its important and its for Kiris.

"Sonfabitch!" gasped Viviana pushing herself away from her computer and thus rolling in circles in the chair. Two hours was nowhere near enough time to play. Now what could she do for two hours? She dreaded anything that would involve staying in one place for too long although watching, playing, or reading science fiction was an exception. She hanged her head over the backrest of the chair and stared at the ceiling. Well, time to watch some terrible sci-fi film and scrutinize the hell out of it.

Two hours later

Viviana had joined the team, or a good portion of them, in the waiting room half an hour before the press conference. She was dressed in her Chicle costume and clung to Casimir's arm watching the TV. She could feel her heart beating faster then normal and her knees were shaking up and down fast but ever so slightly. She bit her lips every so often and tried to watch the show on the television but the thought of being in front of so many people made her stomach uneasy. It was weird how much she loved talking to people personally but public speaking was a huge no-no. Which did contribute to her losing points in school presentation, a fact that she still feels indignant about.

"Take a deep breath. All the way from your diaphragm," suddenly said Casimir as he clasped her hand.

"Okie dokie," said Viviana. Her chest rose up as air slowly filled her lungs and her heart began a slow slope to normalcy as it exited back out. A small smile crept on her face as the minutes crept away. Soon enough Naja appeared and gathered the ones that had shown up and the bright flashes of cameras met them. Viviana meekly followed behind Casimir and sat idly listening to everyone answer their questions. She was pleasantly surprised at the answers were more mature sounding then how they acted just two hours ago. It seemed she was in the clear until a reporter actually picked her.

"Chicle, you made your debut in Los Angeles stopping a robbery from the wanted robber, burglar, and thief Silver Fox. How does it feel to have joined a rising team such as the Young Bloods so soon?"

"Well Mister," said Viviana as she placed her hands on the desk twiddling her thumbs, "To be honest I don't know to feel. I sorta joined the team for a selfish reason though not something I'm ashamed of. I haven't been here too long or participated much so I don't know where I fit in thus big ol team so I don't know where I'm going. Riding the team's coattails isn't really what I'm looking for either as I really just want to help peeps along the way. And I'm fine with not knowing really. I like taking my time so I don't regret anything. If I know one thing its I'm not gonna regret joining the Young Bloods."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

July 27th

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---

After a brief conversation with Shi while on the way to the newly restored conference hall, Alexis arrived, walking inside and noticing with no esmall amount of surprise that Roy and Naja had done a pretty good job at setting up the room for the press conference without her or Mars' intervention. Could be better... but it's still pretty good. She thought before turning to Naja, listening as she addressed the team as a whole, explaining the importance of the conference - though she was certain that by now everyone was well aware of how much it mattered and why they were doing it - as well as the people that would be attending, from local news to NASL reporters. Despite the gravity of the situation, the tech wizard was excited about showing up on national news channels, but she kept it under wraps, not wanting to give the impression that she was somehow glad for her friend's capture.

Before long, the teens all took their seats in anticipation for the reporters' arrival, and the blonde girl opted to sit next to Shi, whom she had been talking to earlier. Under normal circumstances, she'd have stuck with Angelica and Yoshiro, but given everything that had happened during the mission against the Cabal and the following day, she didn't feel comfortable hanging near them, especially the former. For obvious reasons, she also couldn't stick close to Kiris.

The reporters soon poured into the room and were ushered to their seats by Roy and Naja, and moments later, the team's mentor gave an eloquent opening speech condemning Warwolf, speaking in favor of the Young Bloods and explaining the purpose of the press conference, before allowing the reporters to ask their questions. As expected, Roy and Mars were the first ones to be addressed, and both stuck to their guns, asserting Kirisvala's innocence and calling out Warwolf much like Naja had done. After them, however, the floodgates seemed to open, and a veritable barrage of questions was fired, aimed at many of the other members of the team, herself included.

Clearing her throat when her turn to speak came, Makeshift faced the crowd and leaned closer to the microphone. "I'll answer in order." She clarified, pausing just a moment before beginning her response. "Yes, I've been working on a pet project for a while now - since before I began my superhero career with the Young Bloods, in fact." She spoke in a voice that was clearer and more measured than her usual one. She even nearly succeeded in taking the squeak out of it. "One that I hope will help me and the team to better perform our duty to protect this city, and allow us to more effectively handle threats like the Cabal's attack on the Wonders Foundation four days ago, where additional firepower might've allowed us to apprehend the culprits in spite of Warwolf's malicious intervention." She made sure to emphasize her accusation; the point had likely been driven home by now, but it didn't hurt to continue stressing it.

While speaking, Alexis had placed her hand on the table in front of her, palm facing up, and began pressing a few buttons on it. As she finished speaking, a colorless holographic image of Oberon appeared on top of her gauntlet for all the reporters to see. Immediately, photos were taken of the display, and the tech wizard allowed herself the smallest of smiles at the attention given, her expression partially obscured by her blue visor.

"As you can see, this project I have called Oberon is a humanoid combat mech. It has recently reached completion and has been tested and improved since its creation, so you may see it out on the streets soon." She stated before shutting down the hologram. "Of course, besides that, there are also various common projects that Mars or I have carried out to expand our assets and improve our coordination as a team." She nodded in the distressed teen's direction. "We want you, the citizens of San Diego, to know that we are sparing no effort in making sure that your safety and your freedom are not threatened by the likes of Inferno, Marionette or the Cabal. That is what motivates us, and though my teammates have said it enough already, I would like to stress the fact that Kiris is no exception to this."

Alexis paused and took a deep breath before continuing, her tone softening after having grown more and more stern as she answered the previous question. "As for the second question, inspiration, huh? Well, what can I say? The muses are fickle mistresses, but most of my designs come from my own mind - I try to find out in which ways I can improve my ability to stop crime and work on that. I try to stick to strictly non-lethal weaponry, however. I firmly believe that, as heroes, our purpose is to protect, not to kill. We are driven by justice, not vengeance." She allowed another, shorter pause to elapse. "I'm afraid that my biggest inspiration in the world of superheroes is not a NASL member, nor currently active, but he's an all-American hero nonetheless: Silverwing, whom you might know for founding Thomsen High here in San Diego. I personally admire the way he used his wits to try and make the world a better place, and I hope to follow in his footsteps." This time, she did smile to the cameras.

"I do admire Zookeeper from the Bluejays, though. I think she applied her genius in a very creative way, plus her robo-pets are adorable!" She exclaimed, earning a few chuckles from the audience. With her participation over, she leaned back on her seat and relaxed slightly, trying to put on a serious look again as the conference continued, though inwardly she couldn't wait to see how the results of the press conference affected her public image - and more importantly, the conflict with Warwolf.

[The Republic of Atria]

N'Toak

The pair arrived at what appeared to be a clothing store. It looked somewhat similar to what he expected, though it seemed to be quite a bit smaller than it was for humans. There didn't seem to be a different section for males and females. Which made sense after he thought about it; there didn't seem to be nearly as much dimorphism in his kind as there was for humans, and it was fairly easy to see where everything was laid out. Loin clothes were sold near the front, with about a half dozen other customers all looking for one they liked. It was a strange feeling to walk into a public place and not get stared at by everyone in the store. He was normal there. Relatively speaking. "I rarely ever shop for clothes so... I suppose just look around find a few that you like." Orro spoke. "We should at least get you one or two more that you can wear when you're with your team, and a more formal one if you need it. And a formal robe as well."

"Alright. Any suggestions?" He asked and Orro gave him a shrug in response. Shopping with another guy had it's perks, and it's downsides. Sure, Onu made him try on damn near everything for close to two hours when they went shopping, but at least she wound up picking stuff that she believed looked nice. He and Orro would likely be out within ten to fifteen minutes. Oh well, He couldn't imagine that his people were too pretentious when it came to clothing. Thought after looking around for a bit, he started to understand a little more as to why Onu liked wearing human clothes. A lot of it just looked the same to him. Sure, there were some differences in color and design prints, but it all just covered his nether regions and that's all he needed.

He picked two that seemed like that would fit without getting in the way if he needed. Picking a formal one was simpler. Though it just looked like a fancier golden version of what he was already wearing. "I guess... These? I don't know." He said with a weak chuckle. Orro joined him in it.

"I don't get it either, but what you picked looks fine to me. I am paying for it, so don't worry about that."

"Thanks. I'll pay you back at some point... What do we use as money, again?" Bael asked as he went to examine some of the robes that were on selection.

"We use gold. In older times, they would be crafted into coins. Though as time has gone on, we've been working over to using a digital version. Gold credits. I can't imagine it's too different from how humans usually do it. From my understanding of it at least." He explained. "The coins still hold value, though they can be weighty to carry in large amounts. Most often people who carry them are collectors." He finished explaining. "And you can pay me back by being a good Elder." There wasn't anyone within earshot so he felt safe to mention that.

Bael's expression visibly changed, and he squirmed a little at the mention of that, the tip of his tail curling around his leg. Uncomfortable didn't even begin to describe it.

"I know you don't like to talk about it." Orro spoke sympathetically. "But it's not a secret we can keep forever. You don't need to worry. I will be with you the entire way. You have my word." Orro promised, firmly placing his hand on Bael's shoulder. "It's my job to guide and advise my Elder."

Bael relaxed a bit as Orro reassured him. "Thank you. I just... It's a lot of responsibility. And I barely know the basics."

"Learning takes time, and you've got plenty of it. Have you chosen a robe?"

"O-Oh. Yes." He said, pulling a light blue one with an elegant golden trim. One that matched his scale color somewhat. "I'm sorry. It's just... daunting. I'm not really the leader type."

"I apologize for bringing it up." Orro said. "Let's go pay for these and make our way back. I know Kaban wanted to take you somewhere that you might enjoy. If it is what I think, I do think you'll enjoy it." He said.

Bael wasn't sure how he felt about Kaban taking him out for some fun. It was probably some kind of bar, bare knuckle fighting club, or brothel. None of which really appealed to him, but Orro seemed to think he would. "Do you mind telling me what you think it is?"

"I think it would be better for you to experience it yourself."

Bael would have dearly appreciated it if people could stop being so vague about everything.