Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

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Fortunately for Megan her new teammates were fairly cooperative despite having only just met each other thanks to Jan's poor organizational skills. This meant that shortly after she called out for help, some sort of ethereal shape approached her, apparently identical to the dragon woman Jan had called here, except that she was blue and translucent. It picked up her head, and soon enough she heard the dragon woman's voice as she approached, following behind her astral projection or whatever it was. The way she worded her question caused the girl to let out an amused snicker.

"Oh, you don't have to do much, but I appreciate the lift." Megan spoke as her body parts started rearranging themselves below the head until she was once more whole. She grinned and gave the dragon woman a thumbs up before pulling up her hood and turning her attention back to the demon horde. As she appraised the distance that remained between their group and the reactor. As she did so, she heard the athletic blonde woman from before shout that they needed to keep moving, and ask the bomb man to cover her.

"Oh! I can make you an opening for you to charge in if you need one. Juuust watch." The hooded girl assured before turning to the oncoming stampede. Willing her scythe to grow in size to its very limit, she hurled the oversized weapon ahead as if it weighed nothing to her, sending it spinning forward and cleaving through the army, leaving dozens of horizontally severed bodies in its wake.

"Now you go, boxer chick! I'll watch your back." Megan said confidently. Looking at where her scythe had landed, she extended her hand towards it with the palm facing forward and scrunched her brow in concentration. After a moment, the blue flames appeared around the scythe, and gradually consumed it until there was nothing left. The girl smiled and let her hand down. "Prince Omega!" She shouted, and the weapon once more manifested in her hand. She brandished it and glanced at Hannah, waiting for her to make the first move.

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October 8th

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While Casimir enjoyed his root beer, Icarus fished out another cold can from his plastic bag, this time a can of orange fanta. The blond boy paused and looked at his friend in worry as he nearly choked on the root beer, but Casimir seemed to bounce right back to his usual self, and he simply rolled his eyes at the shorter boy's remarks while opening his can and taking a long gulp.

"I think people would find you more charming if your throat never recovered actually." The young hero remarked casually, a smirk on his face. "Maybe if you could speak less you'd think your words through more carefully too. It's a win-win situation!"

Icarus chuckled, but decided against bothering his friend any further and instead followed him to the elevator while mulling over the options he offered. Before befriending Astrid he hadn't been one for videogames, but they had grown on him since, and now they reminded him of the simple days of his first two years at Thomsen High. Virtual Reality on the other hand was something that he had no experience with, and frankly he had no desire to try it out either. He decided to just ignore the remark about ants - that was classic Casimir and it would just get weirder if he asked about it.

"I could go for a round or two of Hero Rumble 6 if you have that. I'll warn you though, I've learned a lot from playing with the best."

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October 24th

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Astrid took another sip of her soda as the first of her motley crew of friends, Mika, arrived at their usual table, looking none too good as she shambled towards the table. Nodding in response to her greeting, the half-French girl simply chuckled at her friend's remarks and continued watching for the others to arrive. Hearing the compliment Mika offered her a moment later however, she smiled.

"Of course it does. I may be a lot of things Mika, but a shabby dresser is not one of them." She told the shorter girl, before shrugging. "I just felt like being myself today instead of trying to stay under the radar. The radar can go to hell."

Almost as soon as she'd made that last remark, another member of their little crew arrived. In contrast to herself and the other two black-haired teenagers that frequented the table, Ash was extremely naive and innocent, to the point that she tried not to curse near the moth girl even though she otherwise didn't care too much about sheltering her. She had to learn about bad stuff from someone, why not her friends?

Assuming that's what they were. Astrid still had her doubts, despite having readily welcomed the girl into her environment for the past three weeks. Even though she had no reason to dislike her, and she had gotten past the incident on the 4th of August by now, the fact that Ash was a Young Blood still weighed on her mind. But for the time being, she opted to ignore that feeling and simply waved back at her.

"Bonjour, Ash." She spoke, though the greeting was likely lost as the moth girl excitedly told them about her discovery of math championships. Astrid raised an eyebrow at her sudden fascination, but it was easy to simply brush it aside as another one of Ash's peculiarities. "Yeah, and they go to competitions and all that." She added before taking another sip of her soda. "Waste of time, if you ask me. If you know you're good at something, you don't have to go through a circus like that just so someone who's probably worse at it than you gives you a medal."

That train of conversation did not continue either, as shortly afterwards the fourth member of their chaotic quartet arrived... and promptly flopped on her seat, laying her head on Ash's shoulder. It was clear Ava hadn't had the best of mornings, looking even worse for wear than Mika did.

Are Ash and I the only ones who had a decent day today?

As soon as she heard the question Ava raised at the group, however, Astrid grinned. "Oh, I am doing great mon ami. Do you remember that asshole you saved me from the day we met? I forgot his name. Anyway, I shoved him up against a wall and told him I'd come for him first if he didn't leave me alone." The girl laughed. "You should have seen his face. He was completely pale, like he'd seen a ghost."

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Alexis was very startled when Angelica suddenly shouted at her in anger, already starting to regret her words before fully understanding why she was in the wrong. She hardly had a moment to think though, to step back and analyze the situation and the words she had used, and of course it was too late now to try and defuse the situation - one look at Angelica, at how she was red in the face while shouting at her, was enough to make her understand that whatever she said at this point could only make her girlfriend angrier still.

But still, it hurt. Not just that her girlfriend was screaming at her in a rage. Not just that this was happening when they had happily expressed their affection for each other just a few moments ago. It hurt her that her inexperience with feelings and her lack of perception were thrown in her face like that, when both were thing she had expressed the day they became a couple.

And of course, it hurt when she was left alone there with one last hurtful remark.

As soon as the sight of Angelica's back changed to that of a closed sliding door, a vortex of emotions rose within Alexis. Anger at being accused, screamed at, reviled. Confusion at how she had caused things to deteriorate so quickly. Sadness at the realization that she had caused so much damage.

But one thing outlasted all others.

She didn't know what to do about this. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she should even try. How to fix it, or if she even could.

One thing remained, uncertainty, and the fear that it caused.

The girl remained sitting there in stunned silence for several moments, not realizing when her fists clenched tightly, nor when tears started streaming down her face. After a while, she mustered the strength of will to stand up and walked over to her computer terminal, sitting down and getting to work on some project or another. At least if she was working, her mind would be occupied and she wouldn't have to think about... any of this.

[Tomia]

Hannah
Hannah's eyes widen as she saw the scythe mow down dozens of demons. Hannah kept getting hit with a sense that she was really out of her element. "Damn, that's cool" She said to Megan. "I'm Hannah by the way, but we'll talk more when the demons are gone." From there she rushed forward and slammed a fist into a demon, like before the first punch didn't do much but by the third demon was pulverized against the ground. By the time her fifteenth or sixteenth punch came she was obliterating demons on contact. "Come on! the plant isn't that far, let's get this over with!" She shouted to those following behind her.

Roy
Roy headed down to Alexis' workshop. He didn't have any technical needs but he wanted to talk to her about Squad 2. He knocked on the door and seeing she was there working headed inside to speak to her. "Hey Alexis, I was watching some film of team practices and I think we need to find a way to change up your tactics, it gets one note after a few minutes..." He stopped in his tracks when he got a look at the tears that her on her cheeks as she worked.

"Woah... Forget about all that. Are you alright?" He had never seen Alexis cry before, this had to be a code red emergency. "I didn't mean to barge in but... do you want to talk about it?" He was the team leader after all. He was supposed to be supportive and all that. Still that didn't make a crying teenage girl any less daunting of a challenge.

Angelica
Angelica did what she often did when she was upset, she got changed and headed to the gym. The sound of a punching bag slamming through the air could be heard throughout the large building as she slammed her fist into the hanging maize ball. The ball fly furiously back and forth but Angelica hit it back with equal intensity. She couldn't really describe why she was so angry. She knew Alexis wasn't trying to make fun of her and she knew she had been too harsh. But every time she thought of Alexis playfully talking about some of her worst moments in recent memory.... Ice starting forming around her right fist and she knocked the maize ball off the mechanism and sent it flying through the air across the gym. It landed with a thud and skidded to the wall. She stood there, breathing heavily. Hitting things usually made her feel better.... not this time.

[New Neros]

"Well his it isn't big man himself. Heard you finally got out of detention," said Casimir mockingly as he walked by, "How's it feel being just like your friends you beat up for being so nice to you."

Mark Nemo

Consistency was key, and flying under the radar was a specialty Mark had perfected since childhood in order to avoid catching the anger of whatever foster parents the state stuck him with for a few months, and due to it, he was almost always at the bottom of popularity rankings with the team. Even Ava had some followers and fans, but Mark was more of an afterthought. Still, to please the ego, a quick scroll through some versus threads on the Young Bloods would give the teen hero a smirk, watching online trolls post clips and vids of his battles in the tournament to argue why Cosmic was underrated and the strongest on the roster.

An alarm rang on his phone to go to the kitchen, enough time finally passing between his bowls of cereal to warrant another delicious ceramic bowl of raisin bran crunch. He headed to the elevators as it opened in the distance, Casimir emerging out of it and the two catching each others glances. Mark gave the teen a polite smile and a nod, watching how quickly Casimir's facial expression changed to disgust and barely contained anger. He'd seen that look a few times before, and knew all too well how much the Great Kabuto disliked the interstellar hero for everything that's happened since the tournament.

"Hey man, they finally let me out, I'm -" Mark replied, Casimir continuing quickly though, the smirk Mark held fading away as well. "They prescribe me some meds for how I feel about a lot of things. Feels good to be the strongest Young Blood is all. I'm going to go get some cereal, though, so I'll see you later, man. I don't exactly have to live my life looking over my shoulder." He put his hands out of his pockets and kept them at his side as he walked toward the elevator, his eyes cut to the right, waiting for Casimir to respond, having enough knowledge to know that it could quickly get physical.

-The Quartet-

Ava Waldstein

Slurping her food still, Ava nodded as Astrid replied quickly to her question. "My man," She said with eyes closed, "That is rad as fuck, and you did it looking that bomb. Impressive." She gave Ash a quick snuggle, and lifted herself off of her teammate to sit up correctly. "Thank you for being my pillow, Ash, you're the most comfortable person I know." She turned to Mika and flashed her a quick, devilish smile, "So, how much you want to bet that dude Astrid beat up got a fuckin' rager at being smacked up and choked out by a hottie French girl?"

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
October 8th

Alexis stepped ahead of the group as the elevator slid open, venturing into a corridor up ahead. For someone with such short legs, she moved fast, forcing Whitney to lightly jog to keep up with her. In general, it seemed as if Alexis had a nigh-endless amount of energy. Hell, nix the "nigh", it was practically endless. Whitney wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper, but every morning, she would come into the lab yawning and practically knocking back coffee, only to find Alexis in the same place, bushy-eyed and bright-tailed...no wait, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, as if she hadn't slept that night. She had once asked about it, and Alexis had given the very clear answer, consisting of a shrug and a non-committal grunt. Maybe it was just another superpower or something. After all, most heroes had two. It was never just pyrokinesis, it was pyrokinesis and heat resistance, or pyrokinesis and the ability to alter melting points. Kind of weird how that worked.

Whitney's internal rambling was cut off by Alexis saying something about a living room as she disappeared through a nearby doorway. Pretty inconspicuous looking doorway for a supposed living room, but the Tower was already full of surprises. And surprise it was, surprisingly...clean? As Whitney walked through the doorway, it was as if she was being barraged by an overwhelming sense of neatness. It looked like a hangout space for teenagers; couches, tables, remotes, what looked like at least three different video game consoles inside of a handsome TV cabinet, but it didn't feel like a hideout for teenagers. There was no...crumbs, or dust, or...anything! It was like when Gran "rearranged" her room while she was at work. Everything was in its perfect place and there wasn't so much as a hint of disturbance, but the feeling was all wrong, and there was lemon polish in the air. Still, she wasn't complaining; she liked tidiness and organization. A place for everything and everything in its place, all that bullshit. But man, if it wasn't weird...

She continued to drown herself in thought as Alexis said something throwing celebrations after a successful mission, trying to keep her eyes focused on Alexis' face. But instead, she felt them drift further and further down, eyeing her chest, her stomach, her waist...wait, no, stop, rewind. She didn't mean it like that. Alexis was a very fine lady and all, but she wasn't attracted to her, not in that way. No, she felt...jealous of her, jealous of her figure. Whitney sometimes felt as if her blouses barely fit in the morning, but Alexis would have no trouble slipping into one of her own blouses, or anything else for that matter, she fit into her clothes like a hand in a glove. Fuck, what wouldn't she give for Alexis' shoulders, her hips, her body in general. It made her feel like gagging and hurling right then and there, but that wouldn't exactly be professional, so she held it back and forced herself to listen to what Alexis was saying. Something about the...kitchen. OK, that was helpful. She should be noting down the locations of all of these rooms, make sure that she didn't get lost and accidentally wander into any goddamn ant farms.

"Kitchen? Lemme see." Whitney said, moving past Alexis and poking her head through the wide-open doorway. Jesus fuck, it was big. She spotted the coffee-maker in a corner, which counter-tops practically stretched on for miles, there was like four different ovens, and the fridge...Christ, that was a huge fridge. And it was...clean? Something was definitely wrong here.

"Man, you guys keep this place spotless." she commented towards the dynamic duo behind her, turning around to face them. "Do you guys have like, a butler or something?"

---

Carter Graystone
Aye, can someone tell me why we're applying chronological chapters to Comic Book Ti-

Wyatt was going on about...danger? That story about SOMEONE screwing up that just so happened to not be Red was interesting, but this was more important. Who the hell did he think he was, lecturing him about safety?! He was a superhero for Christ's sake, a superhero who had also just so happened to have fought the world-famous, all-powerful Darkstar! Did he really think Carter was weak enough to be in danger on a movie set? The thought soured his mood a little, causing him to scowl slightly. Even still, after proving his worth multiple teams while on the team and breaking his own path away from them, they still thought of him as weak and prone to danger? No...Wyatt didn't mean that, he always respected Carter's contributions on the team. It was just Wyatt being Wyatt. He needed to toss that thought out of his head, it was doing him no good. Plus, he had a point, that guy from ICarly got fucked up. It was hilarious, but still...pretty gruesome.

"Jeez man, don't remind me of that, those screams still give me nightmares." he said with a slight laugh, running a hand through his hair. "That, and that 37 Baker gave me on the exam, I'm still not over that. But yeah, I'll be careful. Can't let my pretty face get damaged, I'm a man in a foreign country! Girls stop me on the street for pictures just because I'm a blondie! If I break my face, I don't know what I'll do..." he trailed off as Wyatt started talking about meeting...Captain Quake. Oh boy, this was juicy gossip, he needed that holy elixir, that sweet, sweet nectar of truth. And the truth was...that Quake was an asshat and a half. More of an ass-bowler. Ass-top-hat? Or, as Casimir (shudder) and Jason apparently named him, "Captain Cocaine". Hmm, not bad. Quake, coke addict? Yeah, seemed plausible. The dude was really peppy, a little too peppy.

"Yikes, sorry about that dude, must've been a bummer." Carter said with a groan of genuine sympathy. After all, how many members of the team had been dying to meet heroes like Quake? Wyatt, Casimir, Jason, maybe some of the girls. And Mars. Shit, Mars would've been crushed. "Poor Mars was probably pissing his Rocket armor at the thought of meeting his idol, now he's probably drying his eyes on his LA Stars t-shirt." Carter said somewhat lightheartedly, trying to keep the mood up. Although, the entire subject of the LA Stars as a whole was probably a sore spot for the team, considering the absolutely horrific beatdown the Bloods had endured. He had live-streamed the results from his room back home, and well, he couldn't help but feel a little thankful that Mothra was the one eating dirt instead of him. "Well, whatever, it's not a big deal. You guys are growing stronger every day, and soon you'll be able to break Quake's coked-up nose without a sweat, I'm sure of it." he said cheerfully, a pick-me-up that sounded rehearsed, but one that had all of Carter's big, loving heart behind it. And who could resist that?

"By the way, who screwed up during the mission, if it wasn't G.I Ginger?" Carter asked, employing one of his favorite nicknames for Red along the way.

[Finland SSR]

October 3rd

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Reject Squad

Hannah

October 3rd

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Hannah

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

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To Floyd and Meridiana, it was becoming increasingly clear that whoever was causing the ruckus was not going to be stopped by just a swarm of demons. Neither of them paid much mind to the battle in the outskirts at first - after the watch tower collapsed, Meridiana even stopped paying attention and made her way to the wall of the main fusion reactor. The succubus pressed her hand, applying melting force and forming a hole large enough for her to step through. Her senses began to ring too hard for her to bear, however. The Virgil was coming near, and so was all of the allies he brought.

"They have several strong mortals out there. You're going to have to take them down."

"That's a lot closer to my language," Floyd spoke, grinned, and pushed himself off the wall. He spat the cigarette in his mouth to the side and crushed it, his right hand instinctively pulling out his sword, cracks and bolts of blood red electricity bursting to life around his body. A massacre was taking place in the path towards the main reactor - scythes, grenades, rapiers and punches were all tearing through demons left and right, coating the ground with severed limbs and piles of charcoal. Plenty of fun stuff thrown all around.

"What language? I'm speaking the same language I always spoke, you idiot..."

"...now you're just fucking with me."

With a flash, the demonically empowered swordsman leapt forth, landing on a nearby warehouse building and continuing to hop from rooftop to rooftop, his enhanced senses kicking in and tracking the battle below. Meridiana stayed behind, folding her arms and watching the arriving breakthrough.

The demons floating and frozen in the air by Vince's grenade did not remain for long - suddenly, a blinding fast series of slashes cut them up into bits, followed by a man dressed in white and black dropping down from the sky in front of them. With a grin on his face, Floyd rose to his feet, focused onto Vince, and spoke:

"I ain't exactly a huge demon nor do I have large enough tits to attract tourists, but wouldcha think I can fill the part?"

Moments later, Jan swept down from the sky, landing next to the bomberman and summoning a psionic construct rapier in his hand - his eyes were locked onto the demonic swordsman, furious, waiting for even the slightest twitch. "That's the man who's been working with them since the start."

Hannah's punch and tear through the demonic hordes had formed a spearhead advancing rapidly towards the core reactor - but as soon as the boxer girl came close enough to see the pale white-haired baroness standing among numerous gate portals, a twin set of fireballs suddenly whizzed towards her and Megan, summoned from spinning pentagram signs which appeared next to Meridiana. A pair of demonic wings suddenly tore into life from her back, and she took to the air with a cackle, her finger casting an another spell.

Powerful flames suddenly burst out of the ground before taking a humanoid shape, four of these fire elementals cropping up and advancing upon the girls. Despite their seemingly physical appearance, they were about as tangible as any ordinary fire was - but that was not going to stop them from trying to hug their opponents regardless.

---

Mika, her room

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

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Hearing that Jan knew about Casimir's personal life and connecting the dots, Mika was overjoyed, beginning to ask about the hero, what he was like in person, and how did the two of them get to know each other. Of course, Mika being Mika, she didn't mince any of her words, taking her chance to crap on Kabuto, calling him dorkiest, having no chance to get a soulmate, making fun of his costume, calling him "Kabuturd"...

Of course, Jan wasn't happy about it, at all. Casimir was just about the only friend he's ever had in San Diego, he even went out of his way to give the psionic vigilante a home after he'd been freed and team up together against Drakon... to see someone badmouth him so harshly, and even for no particular reason except how dorky he was, didn't leave a good impression on him.

"That's... really uncalled for, and-"

Jan stopped and sighed. That really wasn't going to get to Mika's head, is it? Chances are, she was just going to laugh at him and continue on regardless.

"...You know what? I'm not going to tell you anything until you stop and take back what you just said."

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Angelica
Angelica did what she often did when she was upset, she got changed and headed to the gym. The sound of a punching bag slamming through the air could be heard throughout the large building as she slammed her fist into the hanging maize ball. The ball fly furiously back and forth but Angelica hit it back with equal intensity. She couldn't really describe why she was so angry. She knew Alexis wasn't trying to make fun of her and she knew she had been too harsh. But every time she thought of Alexis playfully talking about some of her worst moments in recent memory.... Ice starting forming around her right fist and she knocked the maize ball off the mechanism and sent it flying through the air across the gym. It landed with a thud and skidded to the wall. She stood there, breathing heavily. Hitting things usually made her feel better.... not this time.

Wendy was just finishing up her own workout when she noticed Angelica walking into the gym, looking pissed off at the world. Sitting up after finishing her last set of sit ups, Wendy watched Angelica for a couple minutes. Ever since they'd both had their private lives put on full display by Warwolf, Angelica had become one of her closest friends on the team after Roy. For a second Wendy was afraid to say anything seeing how he was using the punching bag as a stress ball, but eventually mustered up the courage to talk. ""So did your dad try to recruit you to his team again, or do you just not want to talk about it?" She asked, making sure to stay out of arms length as she did so.

[Tomia]

The Night of October 24th
It was 8 PM when Roy received a message from Naja, calling him to his office. He had been hanging out in the living room but wasn't doing anything particularly important so it didn't bother him. Still he was now wondering if she had a new mission for them. Was it a lead on Floyd maybe? He knocked on her door when he arrived at her office and opened it when she heard him say come in.

"Hi Roy, there's a situation the police have asked us to deal with. Some unknown villains, they've well... holed themselves up in a construction zone. It's a building that's set to be demolished. The police don't know what their motives are, protesting, a prank who knows. But they've fought off any police attempt at apprehension so the police made a perimeter and asked us to go clear them out."

"Do we know anything about them?" Roy asked her.

"As far as the cops can tell there's five of them. One has electric powers, blew up a police car with them. Another kept firing shot gun shells at them and then there was one with really big swords. They saw two other people, but no clear indication if they have powers."

"That sounds pretty routine, think we need everyone for this?"

"I'm not sure, but take them just in case, besides squad 5 needs some practice in the field."

Roy nodded at Naja's words. "I'll let the leaders know, we'll be out of here in thirty minutes."

Nightshade first sent a text message to the squad leaders, informing them of the situation and telling them to get their squads ready. He then sent one to his own squad, telling them to be in the hangar in twenty five minutes. He personally headed to his own room and suited up. He wasn't sure what was going on, but they would be ready for anything. He headed down early like he usually did, and sat waiting for the others to gather.

His mind drifted to Floyd like it often did these days. Where was he? What was he planning? These questions endlessly rattled in his mind. They needed to be prepared, he would attack eventually and Roy refused to let that man take anymore from him.

Earlier that Day
Angelica hadn't even noticed Wendy had been in the gym as she attacked the punching bag. At the smarter girl's question she turned away a bit. "The latter" She answered gruffly. However after a moment she let out a sigh. Wendy was trying to help, and Angelica hitting the punching bag wasn't making her any less angry.

"Alexis and I... we fought. It wasn't pretty. I screamed at her and stormed off. I'm angry and worried I ruined things and..." At this point tears were dripping down her cheeks. "So ya, shitty day."

[Absolon-7]

Icarus

Whitney Alvord

Casimir Herman October 8th

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"Ha very funny Mr. Comedian," said Casimir jokingly irritated, "Thinking takes too damn long I prefer act-hck. Ouch dammit."

As they entered Wonder Tower's lobby floor and then into the elevator Casimir pressed a button without thinking and in a panic he double checked. Thankfully he had pressed the floor for the living room. Maybe he has a point... On the way there Icarus actually had the idea to challenge Casimir in one of many of his fortes, that of fighting games and specifically Hero Rumble 6. "I'm up for that. But letting you know I got a new DLC for it that I've gotten pretty good at."

When they got to the living room he rushed over to set up the gaming system as the enormous flat screen lit up with a soft flash. However, in the wide open area connecting the living room and the kitchen's cafeteria saw a familiar group or at least two out of three.

"Hey guys!" greeted Casimir full of energy at Roy, Alexis, and that new blonde girl whose name escaped him at the moment. He nudged Icarus with his elbow slightly before saying "Hey you remember Makeshift from yesterday right. Nighshade too. And uh....what's your name again?"

Mike

Viviana Couture October 24th

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"I sure am baking something up. Hopefully without causing a fire," said Viviana nodding, "Oh you have ingredients? That's great! I have a tray or two of unused batter we can loads with tons of stuff. We'll have one batch of normal muffins and two others where we go crazy! And don't worry. I wouldn't let Casiboy's swarm anywhere near my food. Cause I don't it like it crunchy."

She placed a hand to her lip thinking back to what Casimir had told her about how Mike acted towards him and Icarus during the gala. She didn't approve of how it ended but she could guess Mike was feeling frustrated about something. His behavior in meetings left a lot to be desired just like a certain someone but he did put a lot of thought into at least what he though was right. Even if the delivery was about as subtle as the cooking explosions she wanted to avoid. She wasn't sure if she'd be the best to talk it out but there was always the option of just getting his mind off things with something fun!

"Wait what was thing bout Hadrian sweeteners?.....Well we can put it in one or just so we don't get too big of an explosion," said Viviana looking down to the side as she held her hands behind her back. She spaghettified her arms to retrieve trays of fresh muffin batter and then placed them in the kitchen counter behind her. She rolled up her sleeves to begin putting in the ingredients, "Oh do you want one or two trays to work on? There's like a third I left by the fridge. Damn, I think I honestly went a bit overboard with batter. But good thing you're here to my sous-chef!"

Mark

Casimir Herman October 24th

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"Strongest? As if. If you have that much steam in your head it'll come out of your ass," scoffed Casimir at Mark, "If anything you're the weakest person in this whole Tower."

Casimir stood unwavering in his disgust and anger for the pathetic excuse of a hero they let leech off the team. It was absolutely maddening how he basically got a slap on the wrist for how he acted in the Tournament. The moment he had found out he hadn't been kicked out was the moment he had severely lost a chunk of his respect for Naja. With millions of people watching him snap out there and putting his own teammate in harm's way he was nothing but a danger that needed to get kicked out.

"I heard about you beating up some guys who used to bully you. Usually I'd give a thumbs up to that," said Casimir less angry and more annoyed, "But I just wanted to drive into your skull your the exact same as them for what you did to Ash. Just taking out your small ego on someone weaker to make yourself feel better at the moment."

[Aidannadia]

October 30th
Undisclosed Location

Lacking on any map, Dead Site 000 was a treacherous facility to venture towards. The road leading to it was unmarked and narrow, as well as long and filled with holes. The fence around the facility was then preceded by a thick, iron wall that was patrolled by armed guards, using rifles that seemed alien in nature, within strange geometric shapes, almost artful in their presentation, which clashed greatly with the unmarked, grey uniforms that their holders wore as they strolled along the wall.

And so it was to great surprise that a pristine, white limousine had made its way to the facility's front gate. It pulled up slowly to the door and waited. Guards soon rode out to the front gate, armed to the teeth and expecting anything. A single guard, likely an officer, though no discernable marker as to his rank was present. He opened his mouth to speak, the gate opening to allow him passage, and as soon as his breath was taken, small guns erupted from the limousine's walls, shooting every guard present at the front gate immediately, before even a single trigger could be pulled.

And alarm sounded in the distance as the car launched itself over the many humvees that had come out to meet it with too long poles that shot from the bottom of the vehicle, and began speeding towards the inner wall of the facility. More guards began pouring from the building, lining themselves on the walls, and opening fire, their small arms not even penetrating the pure white limousine's paint. The vehicle continued to increase its speed as it began to close in on the heavily walled outpost, and the gunfire began to let up once they realized what was going to happen.

The limousine collided with the front gate, breaking through in a pile of rubble, but now sufficiently damaged so it lacked the ability to move. The guards began to climb down the walls and approach the car once more to investigate, but something mechanical began to churn inside the machine. The grunts didn't put down their weapons, taking secondary defensive positions as a group continued to ascertain the situation.

Suddenly, the top of the limousine opened up, and from it two long arms of bodies rose, attached to the mechanical limbs, hanging from it grotesquely. All fire ceased, each guard holding their breath as the bodies began to extend their limbs and fall from their positions. It was then that it was clear that the bodies lacked any face, a smooth rounded feature where one would expect such a thing to be.

As the bodies hit the ground, the concrete cracked under the weight of their descent. The guards opened fire once more, but whatever skin these... things had, it was almost as solid as whatever the limo had been made out of, with the bullets occasionally leaving a dent.

Each mechanical beast moved with inhuman speed to the nearest guard, and dealt with them very shortly. Steps leading to the rest of the facility descended into the earth below, as to deny the robots a path to the rest of the facility, but they simply lined up orderly, walking calmly to the wall, and climb one another, until the last robot reached the top of the wall, and effortlessly pulled the rest of the robots up to the level of the guards, whom were soon mangled beyond recognition.

As the minutes crawled by, and the machines continued to dismantled their opposition, the facility grew quiet. The machines continued into the halls of the complex, they came into a room with a set of cells on each wall. The room was quiet as each cell was greeted by a faceless stare, as the mannequins reached to the bars and bent them open. Several individuals stepped out from the cells, shrouded in darkness.

The mannequins spoke from speakers hidden on their person as the room reverberated with the same, half mechanical voice.

"Welcome to the Coven."

[The Republic of Atria]

Floyd emerges

Zayda watched as the strange human pulled herself back together and went straight back into the fray. Rather than get involved with that, she opted to hang back and be more defensive. All it would take is one demon to catch her off guard and she would be dead. Best to make sure she stayed alive since the others looked like they could take care of himself.

Vince on the other hand was loading more bombs into his homemade launcher when the man of the hour stepped out. Floyd... Whatever his last name was. Crazy Brit with a sword that killed people for shits and giggles. Vince shifted his gaze towards Floyd, who was calling him out, right after dicing a demon he had suspended in time. Floyd asked if he could fill the part of a tourist attraction without the tits and a demon's size. Vince smiled a little in reply. "Ya know what? I think you can. Here, just hold still and wait for the flash of the camera." He said, shooting a grenade that landed about 10 feet from Floyd's feet.

The grenade itself exploded, letting out a small, exceedingly bright orb that put out heat and light akin to a small sun, incinerating the demonic remains. Vince himself pulled down his custom made sunglasses. Floyd had survived this long, so he doubted that would be enough to kill him, so he loaded another grenade for when the light faded.

Oct, 24, The Tower

So far, the day had gone by like any other. With the exception of the phone call with Carter, nothing really stuck out about the day. Until the evening rolled around and they got a call about some supers holed up at a construction site and making a ruckus. He'd heard that story before almost word for word. Just replace the construction site with a warehouse. Well, it had been a few weeks, and they were due for what sounded like a fairly routine mission. At least as far as their work could be considered "routine." Rarely was anything ever simple or as expected. Last time they thought that, Ares showed up.

He was not planning on letting his guard down. So he texted Mike and Red the mission details: "Supers holed up in construction site. Making a mess. Get to the jet within the next 10 minutes. Roy said 20 but I want to go over some basic plans first."

[The Rebel Alliances]

Scott Green-Present Day

"So, you gonna stop by for dinner tonight? Your sister has been bugging me all day about it. She wants to play Nintendo with you. She got a new Star Wars game just for you, you know?" I gave a smile from my end of the line. My sister and my family in general have been trying to make up for lost time. My youngest sister almost cried when I moved out last week into my own place. "Of course mom. You still making that Shepard's Pie tonight?" I could hear my younger siblings fighting in the background as my mom scolded them while she spoke with me on the phone. I was just finished tying my shoes as I sprung to my feet with my cell phone tucked between my left shoulder and ear as I kept my hands free to both scoop up an apple and open my apartment door. "Mom, don't worry I'll be there. I gotta go to the bank, see ya soon." With that the call ended as I dropped the phone into my hand and then slid it into my pants pocket. It's been what? Three months? I haven't talked to the Young Bloods since I left back when War Wolf was here. But I made sure to watch them on the competing against all the other NASL league along with the rest of my family. I especially cheered for Renata whom I still consider a friend, albeit one I haven't spoken to in months. And of course Shi was as impressive as always. I even gave a shout out to Casimir through the 4k display. Although I doubt he heard me.

I hummed to myself as I almost skipped down the apartment steps which creaked beneath my feet. My new accommodations were well... economy plus. But I just got my first check from my new job. I was recently hired on to a independent comic company as an artist here in San Diego. My current work is on a smaller character. A side kick who works alongside his heroic brother. And I'm on my way to deposit most of the check into the bank. My therapist, once told me to meet as many physical people as possible. I'm not seeing her anymore but I still keep the habits she gave me. And I enjoy these little trips. Taking a bite from the crisp red apple I exited the door as I turned left and strolled away from my humble abode to the direction of the bank.

As I made my way there on foot my mind began to drift. Probably my ADHD kicking in. I thought about how long it's been since I have flown, not like in a plane. But actually flown. With Spectrum. I had took note some time ago that Renata wasn't using it, and it had occurred to me that she must have been saving it for my return. And honestly, it was tempting. I have thought about it more than once but...nah, my life is finally good now. I have a job. A new place. My family sees me on a regular basis. Everything is just how it used to be...but, part of me wants it back. To be able to fly again. I miss that. And maybe I can visit them soon. I'm sure they would let me on the island again.

I stopped at the sidewalk as my eyes met the front of the bank building. Removing my hands from my pockets and picking the check out if my jacket and holding it securely in my hand I put my thoughts away and pushed ahead for business. Briskly entering the building there was a line which I positioned myself at the end of as I received a text on my phone from Bria. Asking how I was doing. She sends occasional check ups every couple days and we meet about once a week to hang out. I tapped a response on the screen of the phone as I resumed waiting for my turn. When it finally arrived I approached the counter where the teller recognized me instantly from when I was here to set my account up. She is one of those types who remembers literally everybody. A super power all it's own.

"Scott, how's it been? What can I do for you today?" She was just a year or so older than I and attractive but her constant smiling is just contagious.

"Just here for a deposit Kim-" I was interrupted by her sudden shrieking and before I knew what it was about I was slammed in the side of the head and knocked to the tile beneath me.

"Fuck the deposit, we're here for a withdrawal!" My right ear was ringing as I looked up and saw two armed gunman who was now robbing the place. One man watched the door while the second, the one who hit me, waved his gun in Kim's face.

"The hell man, no one's supposed to get hurt remember?!" The second man shouted to the first. My heart was practically about to rip through my chest and dash away from me as scared as I was. But seeing Kim completely frozen, I keep she was much worse off.

"And no one will be hurt if this fucking deaf bitch will move!!" At that she recoiled and closed her eyes almost entirely shutting down under the pressure. I slowly rose to my feet so as not to alarm anyone and the explosive gunman noticed me as he swiftly turned his gun on me.

"Don't be no hero asshole! I'll shoot you, get the fuck down!" My hands were out in front of me signalling no harm. "I believe you." I said in rapid breaths. "But I can help you."

He was visibly confused but I made no sudden moves as I spoke again, trembling myself.

"Kim...please look at me. Open your eyes and focus. Just focus on my voice alright. Everything will be fine." Her eyes slowly opened as her eyes darted back and forth from his weapon and my face.

"Kim...fill his bag with money. Focus only on that, don't look at his weapon alright." The man held his tongue as Kim started to finally move again and after a few moments his bag was full. With his partner's attention on the door and his now on the bag of money another good Samaritan locked eyes with me. Signalling he was about to make a move.

I hastily shook my head "no". Our best chance at everyone getting out of this alive is to just go along with it. They are almost gone and the police or even the Young Bloods can safely apprehend them. If I had Spectrum I could have stopped this minutes ago but I am just a scared civilian right now. I am as powerless as anyone else here.

But the man did not heed my plea, he dove for the gun and a struggle ensued. There was no turning back now. I had to back him up, I started to run towards him but a loud pop was heard as the gun went off. But something was wrong, both the Samaritan and the gunman both seemed unharmed.

No.

I turned my gaze to the counter as Kim lay on the floor bleeding.

The gunman cut and run as sirens wailed outside. I jumped the counter and kneeled beside Kim as she bled all over herself, the tile and me.

There was nothing I could do. My eyes watered as I reassured her everything would be fine. But just like when I told her everything would be ok just five minutes ago, I knew I was lying to her again. I knew because her eyes were drifting away.

[North America Inc]

A Collaboration with Aidannadia

Shihong Smith
Aleta Lindell
October 23th

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As the bright light of the new moon reflected through the ocean below, a lone motorcycle raced through the empty bridge; the overbearing monolith that was the Tower in full view. Most of San Diego had since fallen asleep with only the homeless and the odd entourage still lingering on the streets. Most of the lights had been green since she had ventured out of the tranquil desert of the Inland Empire, giving her some actual time to contemplate more than usual. That odd feeling of melancholy and confusion when she received that order, a man she never particularly cared for but was still a surrogate parent, one of many. She knew she shouldn’t dwell on it but for some odd reason she couldn’t stop.

The electric bike was quiet for its speed, a gift she had been paid to ride. Her body leaned forward to contort with the design, it was as aerodynamic as it was exhilarating. “Its 12’oclock here at the station…” the host of the late night AM station paused for a second, as he audibly wrestled through some paperwork, “The San Diego Police Department has not released any new updates on the disappearance of Doctor Thomas Chen. Thomas Chen who has been apprehended by the Young Bloods only recently had been alleged to be a part of a drug cartel syndicate and developer of a highly dangerous meta gene emulator. No word on suspects or how it happened, but many are pointing directly to his former employer as a likely culprit. The Sheriff’s office in a prev…” Shi turnt the radio off as it slowed and entered the compound.

As the bike crept into its parking spot, Shi did a few last minute checks. She had used a burner vehicle for the first half, no chance of tire tracking. Stepping off the bike, she walked a few feet before looking down. She had checked thrice before, but she needed to be sure. She raised her left shoe sole. Than the right. Nothing. It helped to be thorough. Taking off her helmet, she nestled it right on top of the seat. Unlike most, she didn’t have to worry about hat hair so she flipped and freed her hair as if she was posing for a commercial. She wore an all black attire: leather jacket and jeans; different but not suspicious.

Walking through the rest of the garage, she saw at the corner of her eye somebody working on their own bike. Aleta, but she knew little beyond that. Your run of the mill influencer with delusions of grandeur. At least Renata had a country to back her ego. Walking through the garage she kept to the walkway, holding only her gloves as she turned on her phone.

While Auntie had made a marvel of a machine in creating her bike, it still needed its regular maintenance from time to time. The somewhat tedious work of cleaning and lubing the bike’s chain, usually a chore, was something that had never bothered Aleta. It reminded her of her childhood; living above her dad’s automotive repair shop. Sure, cars came through like any mechanic, but Aleta’s eyes always lingered on the bikes. The openness and the freedom that motorcycles gave the rider was something she needed now, what with being stuck with Mars and Co here at the Tower, and working on it calmed her down quite a bit after her spat with her ‘fearless leader.’

When Shi walked past, Aleta looked up, and saw the Red Princess in an attire not unlike her usual outfit. It was a bit finer leather jacket than her own, but it looked sharp on her nonetheless. “I love your outfit.~” The honey rolled off her tongue effortlessly. “And how is our Princess doing this evening?” Aleta sat back from her bike, moving over to the sink to begin the process of cleaning up herself, her hands slathered with grease.

Shi looked over at her greased covered colleague, watching as the grim washed off into the sink. Taking off her second glove, Shi replied, “Nice of you to notice…” She paused for a second, unsure of whether she was really in the mood to have a conversation this late at night. She relented.

Unzipping the jacket to reveal the matching tank top underneath, Shi continued, “Fine. No worse than any other day.” There was a slight pause at the end of her sentence, as she waited to see if Aleta was going to interject with some low brow comment. Would have been consistent with her file. Leaning against the adjacent wall, Shi perched herself there as she watched the grease monkey finish the last of her work.

Aleta flicked her hands dry into the sink, and looked back up. “Well, I can hardly say that my day was lacking any tragedy.” She paused for a moment, considering stopping there, but something inside her needed to vent. “I mean, getting paired up with Marvin of all people…” She scoffed.

“You understand the problem, right? There are those that are fit to be a leader, and those that fall short.” She said simply, making her way to Shi. “If you were my team leader, I’d have no room to complain, but the Martian… I can stand to see him moved back to a position where he belongs.” Aleta pursed her lips, indulging in a bit of flattery in the face of what was clearly a woman of class and stature, but it was soon back again to spitting her poison at Mars.

“I’m not here to hear you grovel…” Shi exclaimed as she listened to Aleta’s insistent complaints about Marvin. Mind you, she had only worked with Mars a handful of times, but she still… she didn’t really care for the man either. The whole charade with WarWolf escalated rapidly because of him, and while the team came out of the situation for the better, it was no thanks to him. Still it wasn’t Aleta’s place to complain about her superiors, and no place for her to complain about a colleague. “Beyond that I’m not sure I follow. I’ve only heard about Renata’s spat with him, what do you have against Marvin?”

“He’s just… There’s a hierarchy in life. There are those that have it, and then there are those like Mars.” Aleta explained, but something else had clearly gotten her attention in the meantime. “I heard about that actually. I mean… I won’t say it doesn’t sound like Renata to get a little heated, but on a mission?” Her expression was a little overdramatically surprised. “I’ve been meaning to ask her about it actually. Do you know more about it?”

“Apparently a…” Shi held her tongue, Chen’s secrets outliving the man itself, “Terrorist challenged a few of them to a duel. Renata’s ego got the best of her so she blasted Mars because, wait what do you Americans say, because she called dibs. Something childish like that.” Looking over at Renata’s friend, “Then she did what she usually does and shut down and shut out any criticism. That’s basically it.”

Aleta suppressed a tsk in the back of her throat. That explains why he was so… pressed already. He’s probably stressed on top of being in over his head. I almost feel sorry for him. The teenage girl paused. “That’s…. That’s crazy.” She said simply, slightly shaking her head.

“Last I heard she was suspended for a month…” Shi spun her wrist, “I’m surprised you didn’t know. He got promoted for that little stunt. Guessing Renata isn’t exactly the talkative type.” Shi said with a thick layer of sarcasm.

“We uh… haven’t talked since then actually. I guess we’ve both been… busy.” Aleta scratched her head a little, uncomfortable with the thought of her best friend having actually blasted a teammate. It made her think that maybe… maybe Renata was a little more out there than she thought. She could be harsh, Aleta knew that but this was on another level. “Yknow, this was fun; dishing like this together. I could stand to hang out again some time.” Aleta added on the end, perhaps sounding a little hopeful.

Shi raised her eyebrow, Aleta was quick just to end the conversation at the mere indirect mention of Renata not sharing everything with her. That’s interesting. Shi leaned away from the wall and stood up, “Maybe, whatever works for my schedule.” Placing her hands into her jacket’s pockets, Shi headed towards the elevator.

Aleta considered letting Shi go, but something pushed her on a little bit more, just over the edge of what she’d considered cool, calm and collected. “Oh, actually, I was just heading up too. Can you hold the door?” Aleta vaulted over the handrail and covered the distance to the elevator in a few stretched bounds. Shi actually didn’t need to hold the door given the short time it took Aleta to cover the distance, and the pair was alone together in the elevator, listening quietly to the droning elevator music that Wendy and Alexis had programmed into the thing. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you have a system for Capestagram posts? I’ve been trying to really streamline my process, because with the whole shifting to Paragon from Pitch... It’s a bit of a learning curve. I’m still getting new to the professional stuff I guess.” She looked down at her feet, kicking at the air.

“It’s like, posting my victories and fight scenes was more popular when I was Pitch because it was raw and people thought it was genuine, but ever since I came out...” Poor choice of words given the situation Aleta was in, but she continued dauntlessly nonetheless, “...as Paragon so to speak...” Nice Save.. “I am getting more requests for personal stuff or out of costume posts with some of the team.”

Shi stood on the far side of the elevator, listening to Aleta go on about her social media feed, saying nothing beyond a complimentary smile and nod. Aleta was making small talk, but it seemed as if she couldn’t decide on how she felt about it. Shi watched as Paragon went from almost determined to talk with her to a nervous expression to a bored pose that she wasn’t even sure how she was supposed to respond. Adding to the confusion, every now and then, she would catch her partner look over in a very specific manner, suspicious but nothing concrete. Beyond her exhaustion, she was running out of patience. On the other hand, the last time she dissed another teammate they almost killed her; so, a gentler approach was probably for the best. “But ever since I came out…” was enough to actually get her to crack a laugh. As the elevator passed the tenth floor, Shi finally spoke up and asked, “Well I could, I suppose.” A few seconds passed before she added, “Exactly how many followers do you have right now?”

“1,287,026 last I checked.” She dictated, leaning against the side of the elevator. Aleta also knew that Shi’s was significantly higher, but then again Aleta hadn’t been in the game for quite as long. Shi was in another class of celebrity, while Aleta’s own career was like a ship on the high seas, vulnerable to the shifting of the winds and seasons. The former vigilante might not want to admit it, especially aloud, but she needed… something to gain an edge in this life, and Shi’s tutelage and perhaps… companionship could present an opportunity.

“I didn’t mean like…” Shi held her tongue as Aleta went on to state the actual amount, “You’re probably higher than most on the team, not that it’s a high bar.” Shi slid her hand into her jean pocket and felt her phone, “Well at the very least I can give you a mention on my next post. I don’t post often myself, my social media team handles most of that now.”

The elevator rang as they approached their floor. As the two walked out into the dimly lit hallway, Shi asked a simple question, “Can I be honest with you for a moment?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Aleta said immediately. She could sense her partner’s eagerness to end the conversation, and was beginning to think about retiring herself.

“What exactly do you want?” The two reached Shi’s suite, with Shi perching herself against the doorframe. “The last time we talked at Thomsen lasted for about five minutes. Renata, your self proclaimed best friend, hates me. Beyond that I know nothing about you. We’ve rarely interacted but now for some reason you want to know everything about me.”

Remember to be gentle. Gentle… “I’m not saying you’re a fake. I’m saying its’ odd. Look at it from my perspective.”

Aleta’s tone took on a new characteristic; instead of its casual and somewhat sweet nature that was laced into the words she had woven thus far, it took a business-like and almost cold tone that reminded her of her Aunt. She blinked once slowly and sized Shi up one more time.

“There’s hardly ever one reason for why anyone does anything, and I imagine there’s hardly a truth you’re going to be satisfied with. I imagine you’ve not had people be true with you for most of your life.” She popped out a cigarette from a pack in her pocket and held it to her mouth, speaking out the other side of it. “It’s a little... “ Aleta looked up to try to think of the correct word to place here. “Dramatic to say that I want to know everything about you given what I’ve asked so far. Renata doesn’t own me. And I approached you before at Thomsen before we were rudely interrupted despite the company you had, so I’ve shown at least marginal interest in you before.”

Aleta cut off her own tongue before it got sharper and leaned against the other end of the doorway. She didn’t want to scare her off or have this end in an argument. It was late and she’d already been on the losing end of an exchange today, but honesty was perhaps the best policy in this circumstance.

“You intrigue me for a few reasons, chief among them being your features, but also your stature and your experience. Your attractiveness is undeniable, and I’ll admit the bike didn’t hurt that image for me. Your position presents its own unique concerns, which are admittedly thrilling, and your perspective after having been in this game for what seems like your whole life is simply not something I can get from anyone else. Now if that answer satisfies you, could I please get a light, Princess?” It was a gambit, being this direct with someone, but Aleta respected Shi. Perhaps the idol would find it refreshing.

Shi listened to Aleta’s honesty and said nothing several seconds after she finished; the cigarette held itself at the tip of her lip waiting for a light that would never come. Her arms crossed and her face expressionless, Shi contemplated her next decision. It was rare that someone was so stupidly honest about their opportunism, and even rarer still was the practical use of it. She usually had to use her charm or intimidation to get people to do what she needed them to do; this was different. It was easier.

Her exhaustion waned, and Shi contorted a proud smile of her face. Shi walked a single step toward Aleta, studying her intensely. She had it. Still smiling, she reached over and plucked the cigarette. She walked into her room, flicking the cigarette as she did. Aleta stood at the frame, waiting for any semblance of a response.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

[Absolon-7]

Part 4

Jerome Blitzer October 3rd

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Jerome walked out of the doorway of the soon to be abandoned building thankful he hadn't been manhandled by one if not the strongest villain in Eastern Europe. He was meant to steal things not go on some recruitment drive but he didn't have a choice anymore it seemed. He slowly walked out staring at the group of fanatics finishing up their last transfer of cargo onto their vehicles. Maybe there was a chance he could hitch a ride with them and he'll just get back to an airport then. He had already done his duty so now it would be okay for him to leave right? He shiftily looked around before spotting a truck he could still go on but the sudden arrival of a man sized tidal wave overturning the truck to its side made him stop in his tracks.

"The hell is happening now!," shouted Jerome as chaos ensued in the ex-Soviet camp.

A snake like body of water burst through the front gate and out like a jack-in-the-box erupted a costumed woman with wild black hair flowing behind her. Goggles and a full mask covered most of her face but the glint in her eyes revealed a smug attitude behind them. She waved one hand the first tidal wave curved through the center of the camp sweeping over a dozen me off their feet to be slammed together on the side of a building on the opposite side. The woman landed perfectly on her feet after being spit out by the enormous water snake which itself then arched back and struck forward to flip over an armored personnel carrier seemingly following along to the motion of her hands.

"Behold! It is I! Rusalka! Heroine of all Poland!," she shouted into the air confidently posing with her arms on her hips, "I shall give you all one mercy to surrender now or else you'll get another thrashing."

A score of men climbed out of their overturned vehicles drenched in freezing cold water in a similarly cold night and looking around at each other they began realizing their fate. A swarm of police vehicles arrived outside the camp and began police began apprehending all the men before corralling them to their transports outside the camp. Rusalka smiled smugly around the camp as all the wannabe terrorists gave up like the pathetic dogs they were. It was pretty much cleared now and the police just had to get any documents they had hidden here, however, something was off. They were supposed to have recruited one supervillain into their midst but the operation went quite smoothly.

"How odd," she remarked until noticing a trail of disturbed dirt gunning right towards.

Out erupted Karzełek with his enormous claws outstretched to slash her guts open. Rusalka effortlessly front kick the mole-man in the stomach right before punching him in the chest to knock him downwards. Karzełek whimpered away as he dug down into the earth to escape her fury. Rusalka raised both her hands warping the water snake and all the rest of the water she had used into a single enormous blob above her before plunging it down into the tunnel the moleman had created. In a matter of seconds the villain was erupted from the ground like geyser before crashing down right in front of her. His gas mask and steel cap helmet lay sloppily on his head as he could barely register what happened.

"Is this really the best villain this group of shut in rebellion fetishists could hire?" she scoffed before curling her finger up to form a cushion of water beneath Karzełek to get him to his feet, "I hope you like a few decades in jail you disgusting creature. I expected more from some group that wanted to unite all Slavs or whatever dumb fantasy they had."

"THE RODINA IS NO FANTASY!" shouted the gruff voice of an enormous man on the other side of the camp. Ilya stomped his way towards the heroine still fully clad in armor form his earlier intimidation of Jerome.

"Ah Bogatyr, of course it had to be you. Have you stooped so low to let this rodent fight for you?" said Rusalka, "Maybe taking a beating from two teenagers in recent times has proven you've lost your edge. No more the man that fought Mammoth for three hours straight in Saint Petersburg in the Palace Square. Just some old man high off some children's tales."

"Silence you wench! The grand dream shall be lived through blood and steel!" shouted Illya, "For it is I! The Bogatyr that shall make it come true no matter the cost!"

A hail of bullets from the police officers that arrived after the Polish heroine struck him but his armor deflected them all. With a primal growl he clenched his fingers around the frame of an overturned armored personnel carrier and heaved it upwards. He then chucked it forward right to the front of the camp to block the gate and scatter the police. The enormous Russian then spotted Jerome who had been hiding behind the thrown vehicle before dismissively sorting at him.

"Make yourself useful, fox," he viciously snarled, "Prove that this alliance between me and your superior is worthwhile."

"Don't you forget you're in a fight!" shouted Rosalka as she joined up her outstretched arms together. A torrent of pressurized water, wide as a man was tall, burst out of her hands and shot right towards the Bogatyr. He swung out his shield and managed to block half of the blast of water but the rest went of to his side and obliterated a hole straight through the wooden building behind him.

"This is no fight woman," challenged Ilya brandishing his sword to point it at her, "This is my DESTINY!"

Meanwhile, Jerome had ran towards the entrance to the camp but the huge vehicle that mad Russian had thrown now blocked it. He supposed he couldn't escape now so he might as well take up Ilya Muromet's offer. The question then was what could he exactly do?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

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Megan grinned at the boxing girl as she complimented her crowd-clearing technique. The blonde woman then introduced herself as Hannah before running forward and tackling the demonic hordes head-on, continuing to beat up and eventually blow up the fiends in front of her. The hooded girl wasn't quite as fast, but quickly ran up to her teammate nonetheless and began using her scythe against the demons that encroached upon them from their flanks, covering Hannah just as she had requested. "Name's Megan, nice to meet you Hannah." The girl said as she diced a demon into small cubes.

Eventually, the two managed to get close enough to the reactor to see the apparent cause of all the trouble they were having: a young woman with an odd, old-timey aristocratic outfit and white hair done in a fancy style that she didn't particularly care for. I could do better. She thought.

She didn't have much more time to think, considering the woman suddenly summoned two fireballs and sent them hurtling towards the two girls. Oh, yes, this is definitely the culprit. Megan thought before tackling Hannah out of harm's way, though it was remarkably hard. "Damn, you're built like a rock you know?" The girl with the purple hair stated. Looking up, she saw that the woman had grown a pair of leathery wings and was flying away, while a bunch of humanoid masses of fire had suddenly appeared and were approaching.

"Um, i don't think I can cut those." Megan remarked, looking at the elementals and then at Meridiana in the sky, before an idea popped into her head. "Oh, I know." She said, suddenly slashing at her feet with her scythe. Afterwards, she picked up her feet, severed at the ankles, and handed them to Hannah.

"Keep these safe, 'kay? I'm going to go after our friend the ball lover." Megan winked at her teammate, and then began rapidly floating away towards Meridiana at a high speed, attempting to slice her in half.

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October 8th

---

---

Icarus simply nodded along at Casimir's words and followed him into and out of the elevator, trailing behind as he led the way to their living room. It surprised him to realize that he had never actually been here before - he was acquainted with the infirmary, Naja's office and some of the rooms in the tower, but as he was not actually a member of the team and had rarely been here on friendly terms, he had never been here, where they mingled and celebrated their victories. It looked... fairly mundane, albeit very spacious. It had about what he expected from such a large assortment of teens and while it was surprisingly clean, he supposed that was to be expected when they had a robot servant.

He watched Cas head up to the TV before suddenly noticing the presence of others in the room. The blond boy turned to look at them as well and was dismayed to see Roy standing there with two blonde girls, a taller one that he didn't recognize and a shorter one he recognized all too well.

"Yeah, I remember them." He said, nodding in Alexis and Roy's direction. He might as well be respectful to the guy, see if it paid off. "I don't think we've met, though." He continued as he turned to the taller girl, putting on a friendly smile and holding out his hand. "I'm Icarus."

---

---

---

Whitney walked past towards the kitchen and promptly found herself staring slack-jawed at the space, the appliances and the size of the fridge. Alexis chuckled at this but said nothing and simply waited for the taller girl to have a good look around.

"Oh yeah, we do. A butler robot actually, her name's CASSANDRA. With all caps and stuff. I'm sure you'll see her around one of these days, she's the one who keeps everything in here squeaky-clean." The genius girl explained, before noticing two new arrivals to the living room: one of them was Casimir, who seemed to completely miss them for a bit, and the other was Icarus, whom she had conspired with during the gala.

"Hey look, it's your favorite LA Star, Roy." The girl told the team leader, playfully nudging him with her elbow. As the sidekick introduced himself to Whitney, Alexis walked up behind the taller girl and pointed at Casimir.

"Yeah, and that over there is the ant-man himself, Casimir. You probably know him better as Kabuto."

---

October 24th

---

---

Alexis had been trying her best to ignore her pain and simply carry on with her work, but the second she heard the door to the laboratory open she froze up and found herself unable to continue. A hundred thoughts ran across her head regarding who could it be, some of them dreaded and others hopeful. Roy's voice soon enough betrayed his presence, but that didn't make her feel any better - she had nothing against Roy, and he certainly wasn't the worst person who could have walked in at that moment, but still, she didn't really want him, or most of her teammates for that matter, to see her as she was right now, with her fists clenched over her desk and tears rolling down her face.

Roy walked up to her, asking her if she was alright and offering to hear her out. The blonde girl didn't say anything for several moments, but eventually gathered the courage to speak. The only thing that came out of her first attempt was a sob, but on the second, she managed to croak out a few words. "I-I... had a fight w-with Angelica..." She explained, drying up her tears and turning her swiveling chair around to look up at Roy.

"S-sorry, I..." The girl trailed off, taking a deep breath and managing to calm herself down somewhat. "Um, I guess I said something I shouldn't and..." She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying not to break down again. "...She got really angry, shouted at me and stormed off, so... I guess I messed up really bad... and now I don't know what to do." She rubbed her eyes a little and stood up, looking at Roy again and fidgeting with her hands. "I know it's not professional to put off... whatever you came here for, over something like this, but..."

---

---

Shortly after Roy arrived at the hangar to wait for the rest of the team, Alexis walked in as well, fully decked out in her usual mission gear, with gauntlets that seemed bulkier than usual - over the past few weeks, she had managed to install an upgrade that allowed her to send an electric shock through her palms, ensuring that she wouldn't have to waste a shock dart if she found herself in melee range. She walked up to Roy, though she didn't seem to have the usual spring in her step, and what parts of her face were visible seemed largely devoid of expression.

"Hi Roy." She greeted him politely, albeit it seemed cold, simply because it didn't have her usual energy. "I texted the others, they should arrive soon."

Indeed, she had sent a - rather impersonal - text to each member of her squad, giving them all the details on the current mission and telling them to gather at the hangar so that they could respond to the emergency as a team. Now all there was to do was wait.

[Aidannadia]

Alcyone continued fiddling with the neural network of her subordinate, rewiring his nerves to reach peak efficiency. The many upgrades his systems had received over the last few weeks were substantial until he was, in fact, something beyond human. He was above the common man, a being of pure processing power, maintained in the coding of her entire laboratory and in the machines that he inhabited far and wide, their faceless gaze looking over her new criminal empire.

In truth, business was not what it was when everyone was figthing amongst one another, but with most of the market consolidated under her grip, Alcyone could raise prices as she fit to cover the gaps in her services. After all, human trafficking was profitable, and moving away from it would have to be paid for by the drug abusers, their human filth actually having contribution to society. Alcyone was building a better San Diego under her rule

But recently, setbacks had occurred. For some reason, profits were down 10% in one of her districts, and she had called a group of her higher ups to answer for the lack of growth.

They meandered into her lab, guided by one of the Chaffeur-bots, whom quietly moved over to join some of the rest of the fleet lining the wall to her right as she fiddled with one of her brothers. There was silence for a moment, before one her lieutenants cleared their throat. "Ah, so you've arrived." She said, finally acknowledging them.

"Yes, Lady-"

"Codenames."

"Yes, White Lamia. We have answered your call. I assume this is because of the setbacks we've incurred in our district. We overestimated the police presence in the area over the last few weeks, but we're raising prices..." He trailed off as Alcyone made a small 'hmph' to cut him off.

"What's your name, son?"

"Robert, mam." She made a small 'tsk' noise.

"And your identifier."

He looked worried for a moment, trying to recall with some certainty the number he had been assigned. "169-437, White Lamia." She continued with a set of small 'tsk's as she wheeled over to a filing cabinet, and pulled a file from storage.

"I have your file here. It has some interesting things." She wheeled back over to her plaything of a puppet, not even looking at the file as she opened it. "Your predecessor, god rest his soul, suspected you may be skimming money as a distributor, but he was also a disloyal and conniving individual, prone to lying to me, and so the accusation was thrown out." The subordinate took a breath of relief. Alcyone licked her finger and flipped the page.

"It has come to my attention you've rented out a property in the islands. Not a bad financial move." The man's skin went pale. "However, I know what I'm paying you, and its simply not viable given your current expenses that you'd be able to afford such a place. So, it leaves me confused." The mob boss looked up from her project, and stared down the man, who squirmed uncomfortably under her piercing gaze.

"Can you account for this discrepancy? I'm certainly at a loss."

"Madame, I apologize. I... It won't happen again... I was foolish. Your generosity knows no boun-" Alcyone giggled as the man groveled, getting down on his knees and continuing with the excuses.

"Get up, 169-437. I understand. You've served me well, and I know it won't happen again." She paused, and then turned back to the mannequin on the operation table. "Come here, Robert. I want to show you something." The man was still concerned, but for some reason, instead of turning and running right there, he continued at her great pleasure, to cover the distance to the evil mastermind. She looked over as he suddenly was standing a few foot away, looking at the various semi-organic structures that lined the table, combined with advanced bionics.

"Amazing, my-"

"Do you know why I like machine's, Robert?"

"N-no, mam."

She smiled cruelly, then coughed into a handkerchief. "They do what they're told." She sprung forward from the table with an animalistic speed, her teeth inserts sitting on the floor as she dug her fangs into her prey's neck. The reaction wasn't immediate, as the man simply screamed in surprise and pain.

The flesh began to take on a green tone. The screaming continued, but it was unhinged. Inhuman. Primal, as the pain spread throughout his body. He laid on the floor, unable to move for several minutes as he screamed in the quiet lab. The entire time, Alcyone watched the sulking man, almost quizzically, as if taking notes as to his reactions.

The other lieutenant that came with him nearly turned to run, but he knew that the Chaffeur-bots wouldn't be far behind. As the man eventually lied cold on the floor, Alcyone turned to her play thing once more, and the lab again became quiet. The man was speechless, having watched his boss writhe on the floor for what felt like an eternity, he was paralyzed in fear. Alcyone eventually broke the silence. "176-465. You've been promoted. Do well to remember the lesson here. Report back to me at your leisure, and maintain profits. Bribe the pigs if you have to." She said without looking up. A Chaffeur-bot moved, and lead him away from the lab, just escaping with his life.

---

-Andrew being a nerd-

As soon as school ended, Aleta hurried home, changed, and met Zoe in the garage, the pair driving out to El Cajon on Aleta's bike. Zoe's grip on the former vigilante was tight, possibly because of the more thrilling parts of the ride involving cutting off traffic and the occasional running of a light, the speed limit being more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule.

As the pair found Jackrabbit, the Paragon Cycle screeched to a halt, and both girls dismounted.

"Paragon, reporting for duty, Mr. Bunny Rabbit." She saluted him casually.

[New Neros]

-Casimir-

"Sure thing, main character." Mark teased, "We can measure our dicks anytime you want. I'll even skip my afternoon bowl of cereal for it."

The strongest comment stung slightly, but Mark could handle it, he didn't have much to prove since he knew just how far his abilities could go, especially in regards to the team. What Casimir followed it up with, however, took the wind out of his sails. "Yeah?" Mark asked, thinking for a moment, considering the things he had gone through in the past few days and weeks following the incident with Ash and the former bullies at school. He recalled the hours spent sitting on the lounge chair, talking about his life and how he ended up where he was, and how it defined him. He also thought about the steps he could take to take control of his life, so his past didn't define him anymore. Despite his therapist turning out to be a member of some villainous organization, Invader seemed like he knew what he was talking about and actually trying to help out Mark.

"Yeah." He repeated to himself, breaking off the interaction with Casimir. "That doesn't sound very nice at all, and I don't like that. I beat those guys because I finally had the confidence to stand up for myself, now it looks like someone has to stand up to me." He walked into the elevator and turned around facing the Great Kabuto with a blank, stern face. "I got some things I need to do." The doors began to close, Mark giving him two final words before he descended down to the kitchen. "Thanks, Casimir."

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
October 8th

"Wow..." Whitney trailed off at Alexis' reply. Of course they had a butler. Why wouldn't they? By this point, anything that she thought was impossibly or even unlikely seemed to be true. The answer to everything was "yes". Was the leader in a drug-induced coma? Yes, yes he was. Was there a robotic butler named CASSANDRA, with all caps, roaming around the halls keeping things in squeaky-clean order? Yup, count on it. Was there an ant fa...yes, yes there was one, she wasn't going to entertain that thought anymore. Roy mentioned it dismissively, like it was the most casual thing in the world. Like he had seen a hundred thousand ant farms already, and was on his way to go see a few more. Maybe that's what was bothering her so much about this whole thing. Everything she had seen by this point was unexpected, beyond anything she had even imagined being a "superhero" would be like, but everyone here seemed to take it in stride, as if they had been here for years. It was just like back home, when her mother would take her swimming at the local community center. Whitney had been perfectly happy, splashing around in the kiddy pool, but then her mother would drag her to the open part of the deep-end, where she couldn't touch the floor with her legs anymore. She would scream and cry, and beg for Mommy to pull her out. One day, she threw up in the pool after swallowing too much pool water, and the entire pool had to evacuate. Her mother stopped taking after that, and Whitney didn't even bother trying swimming again until she was eleven.

Screaming, crying, or begging wouldn't work here, and she had tried vomiting a lot already. So, might as well try her best to swim.

As soon as she came to that conclusion, stepping back to where Roy and Alexis were huddled at the doorway to the kitchen, she witnessed what looked like a black-haired blur zooming past her line of sight, directly followed by a blonde-haired, regular-paced form. Curiosity intrigued, she popped her head back through the doorway, craning around the corner to see who it was. On the right, there was a fairly tall blonde guy slowly trudging into the room, his long, immaculate hair giving Whitney's a run for its money. On the left, there was another, much shorter guy, with a mop of shaggy, somewhat messy dark hair, fumbling with gaming system that Whitney had clapped eyes on just a few seconds ago. He emanated a certain...aura about him. An aura that she had seen in every high school...that came from boys who sat in the centre-right of the cafeteria...who discussed video games, and the last episode of anime they had just watched on some online streaming service. The weeb aura...the weeb aura.

Could it be?

Was this Kabuto?

She didn't have to mull over her new breakthrough, as the maybe-Kabuto suddenly noticed the touring trio, asking Whitney what her name was. She couldn't blame him, considering she had spent maybe a solid ten minutes outside of the Lab over the past three days, and hadn't even shown up to the Gala, which the entire team was probably still reeling from. She had regretted not taking up the invitation at first, but looking back in hindsight, considering the chaos that had unfolded at Jordan's Scott's mustache-oiling party, taking the day to move in was probably a better decision. Even if he had somehow learnt her name, it had likely slipped right out of his memory the second things went to shit. A re-introduction could never hurt. Plus, there was lion's-mane on the right who also was coming forth for a greeting, so two birds could easily be killed with one stone.

"Good to meet you guys." Whitney responded with a slight smile of her own, giving Icarus' hand a quick shake. His hand was practically the opposite of Whitney's; it was warm, and gripped tightly, while Whitney's hand was a colder, limper take on the trivialities of conversation. "My name's Whitney, I just joined the team a few days ago." she said to both of the guys in the room, her heavily shadowed eyes flicking back and forth between the two.

Alexis chimed in somewhere behind her, providing a few background details to file with each boy's mental profile. Icarus was apparently "Roy's favorite LA Star", which sounded a little...gay, but whatever, no judgement. And the maybe-Kabuto was known as Casimir, a.k.a...the Great Kabuto! She practically had to resist the urge to scream "I KNEW IT!" aloud, considering how many other questions felt like they took priority. She should probably start with the simple one.

"Kabuto? You're the guy with the ant farm?" she asked with her eyebrows raised, lip bit down into a slight smirk. She wasn't exactly swimming yet, but she was starting to tread water, just a little bit. It sure as hell beat crying.

[Absolon-7]

The Great Kabuto!
October 23rd

---

The warehouse was packed with people bagging and sorting goods, with a few tall men, all in hats and coats standing quietly at the corners of the room. White bricks, glass sugar cubes, and bottles of mysterious liquids were abound, as well as numerous wads of cash that had to be cleaned and separated for distribution. Valuables were processed too, some no doubt stolen, as payment for their goods, which would then be turned around into cash or gifts for those more loyal to the Coven.

Two men burst through the door, talking loudly about their exploits around town, and as they did so, a single fly made its way into the facility, flying around for a moment, as if getting a survey of the room, before landing on a floodlight that hung above the criminals below.

One of the motionless men in the hat and coat looked over at it, his face still obscured by the shadow of his hat, but did not move to squash it. Instead, he simply moved back into formation and stood at the ready for whatever came next.

---

Casimir was still on the rooftop of the building next door crouched like a gargoyle on the roof’s edge eyeing the warehouse’s interior through his fly. This place was absolutely loaded with drugs and frankly he had it up to here with shitstains dealing drugs in the city. First it was those vampire drugs, then those super drugs, now this shit. To hell with it. He was going to force feed those white blocks down their throats if he had to.

He leaped across the alleyway between buildings and landed on the rooftop gracefully like a grasshopper. He swiftly scurried forward to where the doors were in a semi-crouch before taking one last look at the inside. Casimir jumped off again and landed perfectly on his feet right outside the door.

“Showtime,” he quietly breathed. He kicked the doors with his boot shattering both to splinters and sending them flying off inside like shrapnel. Casimir then leaped forward to dramatically pose and point at some man in a hat off in the distance, “Surrender now fiends! For you now face the Immortal Kabuto! The mightiest of them all!”

The hatted man and his compatriots looked over at the hero, still silent. One pulled a small lever on the wall, and several of the white uniformed workers stood up, heading for the door, while a few of them actually pulled weapons from their station, and, looking more put out than frightened, opened fire, some with laser based weaponry, others with small arms.

The hatted men moved towards the center of the room, looking to be guarding the escaping workers more than engaging in battle with Casimir at this point in time, instead letting the armed workers engage him first. Fortunately for the hero, the many tables, goods, and other obstacles provided ample cover to move about the room from where he had appeared from.

"Fuck!" shouted Casimir as he backflipped behind an enormous pile of white bricks. From behind he shouted at the men, “I can respect not going after me to protect those other guys! It's boring but it shows you guys got something going for you!”

He then leaped with his might towards the sealing and flicked his wrists down to shoot webbing at the lazer gun of one worker before pulling it away and swinging it forward at another like flail. To the unfortunate soul he landed in front of he greeted them with a karate chop to the arm that knocked them to the ground. He shot webbing at the face of another far away before pulling them towards him to throw them against the ground.

“Take it easy there pal. These are love taps compared to my usual effort,” sneered Casimir running to the side of three other workers who were swiftly dispatched with a punch to the back each. He shot webbing at the guns of other workers who were busy running for cover and he grabbed one gun in each hand once he pulled them towards him. They snapped as easily as twigs in hands leaving the last workers gawking at him.

“This is where you hide if you know what's best for your ongoing health,” he jabbed at them before turning his gaze dramatically to the group of men in hats, “Like I said earlier I can respect protecting the small fry. So give up now or I kick your asses to LA.”

As the last few workers escaped the distribution center, the men in hats still did not move. Casimir approached them, but as he did, he entered a portion of the warehouse where the floor was clear and the sightlines were wide. The men in trenchcoats did not move against him, but instead kept their distance, surrounding the young hero in a hexagonal pointed formation, each one at a corner.

“Swarm tactics? You sons of bitches better not think you can outplay me!,” shouted Casimir pointing up at the sky, “AIR FORCE ONE ARISE!”

Ironically not in the sky but through the doors came a swarm of wasps that he had ordered to follow him at a slightly slower pace so they could dramatically appear in a moment just like this. The swarm danced around in the air before rising up and dive bombing right towards the hatted men to mercilessly sting and bite them wherever they were exposed. For Casimir himself he rushed forward to uppercut the nearest hat man right in the gut.

The stingers met with the skin of the men, but chinked against their forms. Casimir’s punch too, while definitely denting the afflicted area, was similarly without much impact. As the realization began to set in, each machine tore off its clothes in a single and unified fashion, throwing them to the wind and revealing their cold faceless figures, like mannequins at the store. Casimir’s punch was met with two, one from the mannequin behind him and one from the mannequin he had hit, both moving simultaneously.

“Oh, you bitches are machines,” said Casimir as hard punches met him from both sides. He tanked the hits grunting at the pain but clenched onto the elbow of the front one, “Means I can rip and tear all I want.”

He swung the front robot overhand and smashed it against the one behind him and he then backed away. It looked like that didn't do much as they got up as quickly as they had been thrown. He dismissed the swarm to hover up in the air in loose formation to get a mental map of the entire place. Casimir then rushed forward to punch the closest one that was coming towards him but three circled behind to spin kick him in three places on his back at once. He gritted his teeth but he used the momentum of the triple kick to clothesline the one he had punched.

“Fuck you guys are tough.”

He grabbed the head of the clotheslined machine and swung it like a club at another that came towards him. Two others came to punch his face and kick him but he used his ‘hostage’ to block the attacks. Then he swung his arm like a bowling ball and smashed the one that had kicked with his hostage robot cracking the floor beneath it. Now there appeared to be some blue blood seeping off some cracks which was intriguing but not important. He began smashing his hostage against the one on the floor over and over again until the chest finally cracked like an egg. The one that had punched him came again to repeat the action while the other three once more surrounded him. Casimir yelled in fury before swatting them away with his hostage but each one seemed to pause, their limbs hanging limply as Casimir continued.

“Fuck this!”

He raised his boot and smashed his entire leg onto the cracked one on the floor to completely sever its torso and cratering the floor where he stood. He then threw his hostage in the air before rapidly spinkicking it midair, the sheer force creating a violent burst of air behind the hostage robot as it flew through the air and smashed into the wall embedding itself neatly into it.

“Two down. Four more. I like those odds”

The prone robots’ limbs twisted around unnaturally, first walking on all fours towards Casimir at breakneck speed, each from a different angle, then walking on their arms, they began to spin their hips violently, threatening to hit the hero with a powerful kick from each cardinal direction.

“Fuck, I ran into some horror maze tonight,” said Casimir before leaping high into the air. He shot webbing up at the ceiling and swung his legs forward to land far away from the robots. He looked around rashly for something to throw before spotting a large man sized crate.

“That’ll do”

He flicked both arms forward to connect webbing to it before swinging it round and round in the air to gain momentum before hurling it right at the robots.

The robots collided, some of their limbs actually flying off in a slurry of blue blood, and the mangled group of them collided with the crate, creating a cloud of dust. The room was quiet, and Casimir began to think the fight over, but as the dust cleared, the maimed bodies were still moving, their torsos dragging on the ground, grabbing their limbs, and reattaching them, though one seemed to be gushing blue blood rather seriously, unmoving.

There were three mannequins left, and each began to move unnaturally once more, almost spasming in their limbs as the form of their arms began to change into a different weapon each. One, a long spear appeared in his hand, made from the same white material as their outer armor. Another, a long blade sat where his hand used to be, and the last one had a spiked club on a chain, swinging rapidly. They moved as one unit, silently coordinating as if one mind was controlling the set.

“Oh come ooooon. Why can’t you tin cans just delete yourselves or something.”

The spear armed one was the first to strike and he barely deflected the blow before the sword robot lunged at him. Casimir knocked it back with a swift front kick to the chin. He stepped back once before the mace robot smashed its weapon in front of him shattering a tile but the spear robot lunged almost gutting Casimir but he kicked the middle of the spear to deflect it. The sword robot tried slashing him again but he responded with a brutal backhand strike to its face before shoving it back with an open palm strike. The mace robot swung again but Casimir backflipped away before somersaulting back to stomp on the mace robot’s elbow.

By checking with his swarm flying through the air he began to notice that he was much further away from where everyone had escaped. Shit, I need to finish this quick.

The robots each stood upright suddenly, as if receiving some sort of transmission, and each one backed up from Casimir. In the moment of confusion, there was no time to react to a stark white limousine smashing through the main doors where everyone had escaped. A large harpoon shot out of the top of the machine, and pierced the torso of each mannequin, grabbing each robot, and pulling it inside the transport, before beginning to speed off, leaving a few limbs and large puddles of blue blood on the ground.

“Oh fuck no! You’re not getting away, you overgrown tinmen!” shouted Casimir as blitzed forward to catch up to the limousine.

Casimir ran with his inhumane speed to catch up to the end of the air huffing and puffing as he tried to think of what to do next. Whatever he did it had to be something that didn’t endanger anyone else on the road. “Damn BASTARDS!”

He stopped once to crouch down before leaping high into the sky to land right on the limousine roof, close to the trunk, crushing it slightly with his boots. He raised both arms into the air joining his fists together before smashing them onto the roof to puncture it.

The roof, initially holding, could not withstand the might of the Great Kabuto, but instead of breaking through the roof, the roof actually opened up, revealing the punctured torsos and a large railgun that now protruded from the roof, pointing directly at Casimir. The firearm began charging up, red energy pulsating.


“Son of a pig fucking bastard with a damn sword up his ass you got be kidding me,” said Casimir with rising anger in every syllable, “TAKE THIS! GOLIATH BEETLE SMASH!”

Casimir raised his arms the highest he could to obliterate the railgun in a tremendous smash before it fired off. The railgun was beginning to reach peak energy when Casimir’s fist connected with its top, smashing the machine rather easily, rendering it broken beyond repair. The top of the limo began to close on Casimir, but the gun got stuck on the collapsible door.

“HA! THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO MAKE AN ENEMY OF THE GREAT KABUTO!”

He flicked webbing at the side of the limo’s top to entrap it into place as he went for his target. He stood back up and held onto the now broken sides of the roof to hold himself into place. He took a deep breath and raised up his legs before sending them shooting forward to slam into the machines to hopefully send the surging forward to slam into the driver’s back.

The gun punctured the front cabin, but inside, there was no driver. Only a spinning wheel. The controls began to move erratically, but with the gun out of the way, the solid lid of the limousine began to close once more, ripping through the small amount of webbing, threatening to close on the hero’s spectacular form and crush him. Casimir caught the lid and crushed it with his iron grip before shearing it off and slamming it into the limo’s flooring.

“HERCULES BEETLE SMASH!” roared Casimir as he pulled back his fist and slammed it below with the tremendous force puncturing apart the bottom of the limo the shockwave from the force ripping apart the rest of the area until it was eventually bifurcated into two halves.

The limousine, rendered damaged beyond repair, actually halted slowly to a stop, in front of the police station no less, with its contents and technology intact. The Great Kabuto had won the day once more.

Both halves of the limousine finally skidded to a halt leaving Casimir to lurch forward and tumble out of the back half to fall on his butt. He breathed in and out for a bit before taking out his team communicator.

“Hey Nightshade,” cheerfully said Casimir, “Yeah yeah scold me when I get back. Just pick me up or something. I need to rest and shit. Oh! Tell Alexis and Mars they got some goodies tonight!”

[Auropa]

Viviana Couture

Mike Mathews
October 24th
The great tower bake

“Wait really? Alright yeah, let’s do it” Mike said cheerfully as he hopped down from the chair, grabbed an apron and began laying out his extra ingredients along with counter. Baking had been something he enjoyed doing for nearly as long as he could remember. It would’ve been years ago, but it was something he and his mum used to do all the time when he was growing up and even now some piece of that childhood wonder would always crop up throughout the process, maybe it was plain nostalgia or the joy of making something from scratch, but whatever the reason behind it he wasn't pass up on the opportunity to help out. Not to mention that with all things considered, he was happy for the distraction from training and being flung into a conversation that didn’t seem like it would end with a drink or fist in his face seemed great to him right about now.

“I’ll take two thanks, and don’t worry about the batter. We can just make a few extra with it and I’m pretty sure that no one’s been annoyed about having too many muffins, brownies or any sweet thing really. Alright, I’m gonna go ahead and start dumping chocolate into these and very carefully putting a bit of the mysterious h-powder into these ones.” He said as he rubbed part of his face with his wrist and left a small streak of flour across his cheek. “Here’s to hoping that if it explodes Cass will just assume it was Ash trying to hide more lightbulbs”. He joked mostly to himself before pausing for a moment as his mind started to wander.

“Hey, so weird question but you wouldn’t happen to know if anyone’s been able to, you know, talk to Renata recently? I’m not worried about her or anything like that! Its just, she’s benched and is one of our main damage dealers. I figure, the sooner someone helps her, the sooner the team gets back to full strength.” He quickly added as he tried to distance himself from the topic and not seem s curious as he was.

Wyatt

The meeting

Later on in the day, Mike had decided to take things easy and rest up, a lucky choice considering the sudden reveal of a new mission for the team. When his phone pinged with Wyatt’s call to a meeting, he felt a strange mixture of surprise, confusion and relief at knowing they were actually going to plan things out for a change. Deciding to take it as a sign of the team getting serious and more organised with time, he grabbed his gear, suited up and headed for the meeting place to join the others.

“Gotta say, talking things out before we run in for once sounds like a nice change of pace." He commented as he got closer "So what’s the plan? Do we know anything about these guys?”

[Tomia]

Alexis sad

"Hey, don't worry about that." Roy told Alexis, pulling her into a gentle hug. It was a little awkward, as Roy was not used to being in this kind of situation with Alexis, but it seemed like the only appropriate thing to do. "I'm sorry to hear that. Fights suck, I know from experience. It's hard when someone you really care about it is angry at you. I don't know what you fought about, but I know how much you mean to Angelica. I know it's hard, but just try to give her a bit of space okay? Time heals wounds and I know she still cares about you. And if you need to, take a break, from work and all of this. Making sure you're feeling alright is more important than any task someone might give you."

Angelica, Later that Night
When Angelica heard her phone vibrate her heart skipped a beat. She had no idea what it might say, and when she saw it was from Alexis she hesitated to even open it. However after about a minute she built up the nerve and finally unlocked her phone and checked the message. It wasn't about their fight, rather it was about a mission they'd be going on that night. Angelica groaned a bit, A mission is the last thing I need right now. It was clearly a message sent generically to the whole squad. As much as she didn't want to, Angelica knew she had to get up and do her duty. Still, it was a terrifying prospect to be face to face with Alexis so soon after their fight.

She arrived in the hanger twenty minutes later, dressed in her uniform with her mask covering her face. She stood off in the corner a bit, making sure she was visible but not approaching anyone. She found herself occasionally glancing over at Alexis despite her better judgement. The shorter girl's face seemed almost expressionless as she waited for the others as well. I don't even know what I'm supposed to say, she thought to herself wearily. She was sorry for the way she had reacted, even if she still thought her anger was appropriate. In reality it had been a mistake on Alexis' part, not an intentional insult. She hurt Angelica's feelings but she hadn't meant to. Now she was stuck, unsure what she needed to do to get things back to where she desperately wanted them to be.

Ten Minutes Later
Once everyone had arrived they boarded onto the plane, where Roy explained the details to everyone once more. "Five criminals are holding up an abandoned building due to be demolished. We don't know their motives but they've kept the police at bay. Known threats are electricity, gunfire, and swords. It seems like a standard affair but keep your guard up. Squads 1, 2, and 4 will be heading inside to clear them out. Squad 3 and 5, you're on crowd control and establishing a perimeter."

"Roy, don't you think squad 5 would be better served inside? We can help you clear them out faster..."

"No" Roy said, cutting him off. "This is what we're doing. We don't need to many hands on this one so we're splitting into two groups."

Mars looked like he wanted to protest further but said nothing. He clearly wasn't happy with his team being sidelined on the first major mission they would participate in.

It was a short trip and they soon arrived outside what appeared to be a large abandoned apartment complex. There was a perimeter of over a half a dozen police cars and trucks circling the building, Roy approached one of the offers on the scene.

"What's the situation?" He asked.

"Stalemate" The officer replied. "Too risky for us to move in given the lethal force they've shown."

Roy nodded, "Leave it to us, keep your perimeter and stop any crowds from forming. I'm leaving some people here with you as well, they'll help you make sure none of them try to escape."

The office nodded and Roy motioned to his team. "Squads 1, 2, and 4 on me." He commanded as the relevant team members crossed the line of police vehicles and headed towards the building. The building seemed sturdy enough but had clearly fallen to disrepair. The lobby was devoid of furniture as the other seven floors were likely to be. There was a staircase in the right corner and an elevator up against the far wall.

"Squad 4, you're on recon. Find them, do not engage. Squad 1, I want us to start blocking up the exits and vantage points, set up traps if you can as well, Squad 2 you're heading up the stairs, see if you can't draw them out."

Meanwhile
"They're here." A young Asian girl said as she heard the noises from two floors down. She stood next to a mechanical suit that laid dormant.

"It's about time." A girl cleaning a shotgun commented. "I was getting bored."

"Stay focused" another woman's voice said in their ears. "Remember why you are here."

"Right, Shock Troop cut the power." The Asian girl said, and a man turned to the nearest electrical socket and poured electrical energy into it until with a loud pop the whole building went dark.

"Buckshot, through a grenade down the stairs, its time we introduce ourselves."

The girl with the shot gun gave a grin as she headed out the door towards the stairs. "My pleasure, and what an introduction it is." She said as she pulled the pin and threw the grenade down the stairs.

[Finland SSR]

Ten Minutes Later

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

The next few weeks after the team's raid against Ares and his drug operation were quiet, marked more by an ever increasing fandom than by any important missions, which gave Renata hope that she might not end up missing anything after all. Those hopes ended up dashed, as the entire team suddenly mobilized for a yet another mission, one which the entire team had to attend. Except her.

From what she understood of the limited information she had, it wasn't that different from all the dry and usual missions against drug dealers they used to do during the months prior. So at least she wasn't missing out a lot.

Renata ran to the hangar just as the last of her teammates boarded the jet, and stopped to watched it take off. As gusts of air continued blasting one after the other, flailing her blouse and hair in the wind, the girl raised her hand, waving.

"Good luck! Kick their asses!"

Huh... the thought came to her mind as the jet vanished in the sky, speeding off towards the city. The girl turned around, the tower unfolding before her eyes. I've got the whole tower for myself. For several hours.

If she and Mizu had switched places, Renata would dread returning from the mission and think about every step she made inside. Anywhere could be a trap which springs a pie straight into your face. Thankfully, that didn't happen and she wasn't planning to do that... maybe. I could sneak around into everyone's rooms, though.

---

Vince

October 3rd

---

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

Cackling with pleasure, Meridiana watched the fire elementals approach Hannah. If all goes according to her observation, the boxing girl will have nothing to retaliate against them with and will have to either flee or perish - and of course all will go according to observation, she's dealing with a group of weak pathetic mortals who don't know any better. Some cleaving and jumping was taking place down below, the demoness did not pay attention, until it was too late.

"Wait, where did you-" Meridiana yelled, moments before a swing of a scythe suddenly cleaved through her like coffee paper. "come... from?.."

The cleave cut her apart just underneath the waist, her legs detaching and falling to the ground, and yet it sent her no pain to show for it. Her words got stuck in her throat and her mind demanded her body to start regenerating, only for the body to respond that there was nothing to regenerate. It only left the situation more confusing and ultimately made Meridiana even more furious.

"You... insolent... maggot..." the demoness gushed out under her breath and sent Megan a furious glare. The skin of her right hand suddenly broke apart, revealing a demonic claw with a set of long, whip-like nails - Meridiana sent her hand forward and those nails began to extend, aiming to wrap around Megan and cut her apart.

Floyd shoved his sword back into its sheath and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, watching Vince give himself a headstart and toss his first grenade. Instead of sending the grenade right back, the swordsman bent down, getting himself ready to charge forth, and as soon as the grenade ripped open with a powerful flash, he charged forward.

From the blinding light and scorching heat, a blur, once again wielding a sword in its hand, leapt out, still surrounded by the flames, heat and smoke of the explosion, but hardly any worse for wear. In the midst of his descent towards Vince, however, he suddenly found himself blocked by Jan. The Virgil threw himself in between the two men, clashing his rapier with Floyd's sword and ending up locked in a struggle.

For a few seconds. Taking advantage of his far superior strength, Floyd simply twisted Jan's rapier to the side and thus pushed the Virgil out of the way, then charged straight at Vince with an aggressive frontal slash.

[Aidannadia]

"...Squad 3 and 5, you're on crowd control and establishing a perimeter."

"Roy, don't you think squad 5 would be better served inside? We can help you clear them out faster..."

"No" Roy said, cutting him off. "This is what we're doing. We don't need to many hands on this one so we're splitting into two groups."

Mars looked like he wanted to protest further but said nothing. He clearly wasn't happy with his team being sidelined on the first major mission they would participate in.

Paragon snorted as Mars was shut down. Looks like Nightshade isn't taking him seriously either. She pulled up her left forearm, a small computer screen embedded in her armor plating. It was a small upgrade, but the idea was pretty simple; she didn't always have access to her motorcycle, and traveling with all that heavy plating was usually not worth it without the bike. So, she had about three motorcycles with her armor plating attached to the frame, hidden at strategic points throughout the city. One was nearby, but it would take a bit to get into the vicinity. She put the machine on autopilot to hone in on her position, and pulled herself on top of a building overlooking one of the nearby main raids, ready to give chase if someone tried to cut and run, just as Mars was opening her mouth to bark some orders. She entered the Team 5 channel on her communicator, popped a cigarette from her belt, and began to speak.

"I'll watch from here."

[New Finnish Republic]

October 24th

---

A loud buzz on the desk in front of him caused Red to wake up with a jolt, letting out a string of curses as his mug of coffee perilously rocked back and forth on the wooden surface. Reaching for the mug, he let out a small sigh of relief as he saw that he had been lucky enough to have drank a fair portion of it before he had managed to nod off to sleep, resulting in only a few droplets being spilled. Moving the cup safely away from the edge of his desk, Red reached towards his phone, letting out a small yawn as he fought off the urge to return back to his unexpected but much needed nap. Once he saw what the message entailed, he let out a small groan as he realized that he wasn't going to have the chance to either return back to investigative paperwork he'd been working over for the past few hours or to the sweet bliss of sleep he desperately craved.

After dawning on his equipment, Red wasted no time in rushing down towards the hanger, seeing several others doing the same as the entire team assembled there. Noting Wyatt's request, he quickly made his way over to where the rest of his squad was gathered, his helmet cradled on his side as he looked around to see that a notable person was missing from the bunch. Guess Naja hasn't let her off the hook yet, he thought to himself for a moment before eventually shaking his head of the thought and focusing on the task at hand.

“Gotta say, talking things out before we run in for once sounds like a nice change of pace. So what’s the plan? Do we know anything about these guys?”

"I'll agree on the intel request here, Wyatt," Red commented in response to Mike. "Any hostages or anything else that should be of concern? Law enforcement response? Are we looking at some assholes holed up with rifles, or something a lot worse? We need to know now before we try and hit them hard," he continued, a stern look in his face as he waited for a response from Wyatt.

[The Templar High Council]

Andrew

Aleta

Zoe Foster - Impulse
Streets, El Cajon
October 20th

Zoe slid off the bike carefully. After the harrowing journey they took to get here, she doubted that the rest of the night could get worse for her. "Can we head back? I think I left my stomach back in the Heights..." She laughed shakily, but recovered in a second to join Andrew and Aleta on the bridge's railing as they waited for any calls on the scanner.

"How long have you been waiting?" Zoe said as she boosted herself up to sit on the stone barrier lining the bridge. She looked out over the city, nowhere near as towering as San Diego, but all the same it needed protecting now and again.

---

"Squad 5, you're on crowd control."

Aleta

Zoe Foster - Impulse
Abandoned Building, San Diego
October 24th

Zoe listened on the surprisingly spacious jet to the teams within the team being given orders, and noticed Mars' reaction to them receiving theirs. After the jet landed and everyone started to fan out, she offered Mars a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We're probably just out here because it's our first official team mission. We'll definitely get a chance to show off some other times, probably when there's less of us in one place." She clapped him on the shoulder again, smiling. "In any case, let's go establish the best fucking perimeter these guys have seen!" Zoe ran off to find her own perch like Aleta and Andrew, drawing the irritated gazes of a few nearby police officers (who've probably already had it up to here with adult heroes, much less a bunch of juiced-up teenagers).

Zoe launched herself to a rooftop near the rest of her squad, confirming her position with the others over their radio channel. "Yeah, the obnoxiously yellow one. I figure anyone looking for trouble is more likely to be distracted by the paint job to keep scrolling up." She chuckled to herself, leaning against an adjacent taller building as she watched and waited.

[Absolon-7]

Blonds of Opposing Heights

The New Blond on the Block

Casimir Herman October 8th

---

The introduction seem to be going well no doubt to his smooth efforts to start the conversation between his friends. Hopefully Roy had gotten over his hang up over Icarus so this happenstance of a meeting could go well. Last thing he wanted for Icarus was some other jerk to chase him off like at the gala. Casimir initially glowered at being called ant-man to the new recruit by way of Alexis introduction to himself and Icarus but he shrugged it off. Apparently she had been on the team for days which was in slight ways embarrassing for not knowing something so simple.

"I am in fact the the guy with the ant-farm," nodded confidently Casimir, "Not only that but I have several super-swarm throughout the island itself plus I control the mega-colonies of Argentine ants in the city. And don't worry about them getting anywhere near food. As long as I'm around they'll stay far and away from your stuff. "

"Anyways great to meet you Whitney. I'm sure you'll learn about me...and the rest of team in time. Aint that right Lexi?," said Casimir grinning over at Alexis, "So Icarus, you wouldn't mind these guys joining for a round? Well unless they got stuff to do."

Mike

Viviana Couture October 24th

---

"Hopefully, last thing we need is a moratorium on baking from Butler Supreme," said Viviana, "Can you imagine how much that would suck? Like I would die if I couldn't. At least for a few weeks. I'd be fine after getting over it."

Viviana happily hummed to Mike complying with her baking idea. She began to work on her own set of crazily prepared muffins with the ingredients Mike had brought over. Some variation would be nice since this is a grand baking experiment after all! A few more chocolate chips in these and some more cinnamon in others and it would make for a wild batch of muffins, yes sir. Viviana peeked over at Mike who was seemingly engrossed with baking which brought over a smile to her own face to see himself doing something he had lots of fun with. As far as she was concerned this was a spectacular successful mission so far.

"Oh? Rena? Well I heard she got a good talking to from some of us right after the mission but no word from the grapevine the past few weeks. I hope she's learned what she did was wrong. The last thing I want is for to hate herself for something so dumb. Well I guess her getting back to the team would be nice since she's hecka strong," said Viviana finishing it off with a soft sigh. She got back to pouring the last batter onto the muffin trays before a ding from the oven signaled the normal muffin's completion. She went over to get them, while with big cooking mittens on her hands, and place them to cool slightly, "I really like it when you can just tell your work paid off when the muffins look this toasty and good fresh out of the oven. Really makes the time worth it."

The Night of October 24th

Mission Start!

Casimir and Viviana Later into the night of the 24th

---

The two walked into the hangar fully in costume and close to each other as they made their way to the portion of the team that had already assembled. There were apparently some super powered thugs holding up a construction site for some dumb reason and it was important enough for the whole team to gather them up. As the two arrived at the jet it was clear that Viviana was in the middle of some lighthearted rant that she intended to finish with a joke.

"Okay so what's the name for the material walruses use to make balloons!" squeaked out Viviana making puppy eyes at Casimir.

"I don't know what?" said Casimir confused.

"Blubber!" she shouted in a burst of joy with her arms outstretched, "Eeeeh? Eeeeeeeeeeh?"

"Viv stop please," groaned Casimir shaking his head but also holding back a bout of laughter.

Ten Minutes Later
To both of their glee their squads had been assigned to the front lines of the mission but a bit of a disappointment came to Casimir as he was just part of blocking of exit points. Casimir ran around the building to web up the back entrance before running back to the lobby to leave razor thin strands of webbing on the shin level of the elevator to give a nasty surprise to anyone who thought it was a smart move to use it. Now to just figure out traps for everywhere else... He had also sent in a portion of insects inside the building to scope it out and one beetle almost getting hit by the thrown grenade made him do a double take before turning on his team comm.

Meanwhile, Viviana was near the front of Squad 2 as they ran upstairs to lure out their foes but the abrupt shut off of the buildings lights was a shock until her speaker started blaring with Casimir's voice.

Guys watch out! There's a grenade coming for you!