Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[The Republic of Atria]

Red

Mike

In a display that completely subverted his expectations, both Mike and Red showed up at his request and even started asking questions, with Mike quipping about them "finally" talking about a plan before going into action. "First of all, we always plan. If you neglect to listen, that's on you. Maybe try doing that instead of looking for new things to rag on Mars for." He replied.

"Anyway. As far as intel goes. We don't have a whole lot. Someone with electrical powers and someone with large swords are all that's confirmed so far, but I think there are more of them. No hostages or guns, these guys just seem to be making noise and blowing stuff up just because they can. Probably some disgruntled ex-employees or something of that nature. Police have cordoned off the area, but that's where us three come in. We're on crowd control, keep the civvies away from the attackers, and make sure the attackers don't get to them if they try." He explained. "Supposedly, Squad 5 will be joining us for crowd control, but I have my doubts. Newbies, and one of them is an ex-Stars trainee. Spirits only know he's going to want to be in the thick of it. Any more questions? If not, let's go."

Later

The team's jet landed and Bael wasted no time taking point and headed towards the crowd of people who were gathered behind the half a dozen or so police cars and all trying to get pictures or a good look at what was going on. The police didn't bother obstructing him, Mask, or Forge from entering, in fact, most of them were relieved at the backup. Bael looked around and took a look at the construction site. There was plenty of loose rubble and even dump trucks filled with more. "Alright, listen up!" He shouted, authority in his voice. Hundreds of rocks flew from the trucks, and began to congeal and amass between the police and the construct yard, sealing it off. Bael himself floated on a rock as he constructed the massive wall.

"Go home. Unless you're a police officer, you have no reason to be here. You've all got a fun water cooler story to tell everyone at work tomorrow. No need to be here and risk getting hurt if this escalates." He spoke as his rock wall made it impossible for anyone who couldn't fly to see.

[Segral]

Chandigarh, India
Time Unknown

The streets are dark, the overcast sky smudging out any hints of moonlight that had been shining down from the thin, fragile crescent in the sky. The streetlights are on, and so are the traffic lights, but there are few pedestrians to light the way for, and surprisingly few cars for a busy Indian street. A light murmur of chatter, a faint hint of "aloo chat" in the air that you can almost smell, but little of the hustle-bustle that India is so famous for. This is not the daytime rush, this is the nighttime walk, the time for middle-aged men to gather at the local bar, the time for the red light district to start its peak hours, the time for thieves and drug dealers and tired college students to crawl out and show their faces.

A street dips up and down, starting in a hill, a hill that eventually lowers and flattens out into a casually meandering boulevard. It's wide, with four lanes on each side, but only a few lazy cars move across, leaving the spaces in between thick and empty. However, somewhere off in the distance, a sound slowly creeps across the horizon. It starts as a low, deep-bellied purr, the sound of a luxurious cat who's belly has just been rubbed, and soon, it swells into a tremendous lion's growl, and eventually, a tiger's roar. Now, everyone's checking out the street. Who's the cat, the lion, the tiger? Who's the "yaar" with the fancy bike? Women aren't supposed to walk alone late at night, but those who brave the risk or have a man to guard them are now checking out the street, wishing for a fleeting second that their boyfriends and husbands had a ride like that.

The bike is pretty nice; you can't see the make, but as the driver crests over the hill, clad from head to toe in all black despite the summer heat, you can see the strong frame, the stark tires, the smooth paint finish, and you can see that whoever owns this one doesn't use it to commute to work like millions of other Indians. No, this is just one toy, and he probably has three more. Why else would he be wearing that sleek helmet, that stylish riding jacket, those riding pants that almost fooled you into thinking that they were raw denim.

There's a red light up ahead, and the cars have idled into place. But the bike doesn't slow down, hell, it's only going faster. The roar is vast now, practically clogging out all other noise as the driver hits the gas, his boot heel pressing down hard on the pedal. One of the cars, a silvery-grey Tata Indica positioned in the leftmost lane slowly begins to roll down its window, as if calling out to a nearby "machan". But there is no friendly, waving hand. The only thing that pokes out is a closed fist, wrapped around the grip of a cold, black pistol, aimed directly at the speedy biker's head.

"BANG!" goes the pistol, a shot flying out from it with a noise that would make the Mughal Emperors of old jump in their golden thrones. The shot just misses, the bullet skidding just past the helmet as the bike blazes right through the red light, but that is no reassurance to the crowd. The screams and footfalls of fleeing people soon explode in a deafening chorus, loud enough to obscure the sound of a man poking his head out of the open car window and screaming something in a coarse Hindi accent, waving his arms. He's 30-something, slightly chubby, with heavyset eyebrows, a thin beard, and a thick mop of hair places upon his scalp all serving as accessories to the gun, now hidden away within the car's depths. The cars began to rev up and roll down their windows as the chubby man tucks his head back through his own, the red light now a distant memory. The motorcyclist has escaped the clutches of death briefly, but if he didn't stay vigilant, his escape would be a brief one.

Within seconds, five cars from the left lane were hot on the heels of the dashing motorcyclist, five drivers with enough to skill to ride the road with one hand and strike point-blank with another. You can practically feel the war drums pounding through your ears, the strings shrieking, the suspension building up. Why were they after him? Why were they shooting? Who is this plucky protagonist in the leather jacket? So many unanswered questions, and what felt like a bullet for each one. The driver slid from lane to lane, weaving back and forth, back and forth in an attempt to evade his attackers and sends their aims "peekay" or tipsy. But the shooters did not relent, only picking up in speed as they shot back and forth, back and forth. A few of them even shot at themselves, bullets pinging and denting the doors, but it was no concern. These weren't Mercedes or Ferraris, they were Tatas, easily replaceable. Burner cars.

The motorcyclist, through his tinted helmet, could see the reflection of the cars in his rearview mirrors, and they were showing no sign of slowing down. He had already ran through three red lights, if he kept on running through more, they would catch up too him, and a bullet would be in his back. Action needed to be made. With the slightest tilt of his head, he acknowledged his own next move, his hands shifting on the motorcycle's grip. His assailants were blissfully unaware, and the next junction was just up ahead, a smaller side street intersecting with the chase's main thoroughfare. With a vicious jerk, he whipped the bike into a vicious, breakneck turn to the left, feeling the back wheel of the bike slide in a donut-like figure as it arced around for several perilous seconds. The slower cars and the drivers within them had a few extra seconds to respond, and they did so with an off-guard surprise, spinning their steering wheels as fast as they could and slamming the brakes in an attempt to make the turn without killing themselves. Soon, the back wheel of the bike caught traction on the asphalt, and it skidded off down the left-hand side street, leaving behind only a stripe of thin, black tire marks, the acrid smell of burning rubber, and four cars in hot pursuit. The fifth, the one on the rightmost lane of the left-hand side, the one closest to the concrete median, was to be met with an unfortunate fate. The driver was too reluctant to slam the brakes and too far away from the side opening, and although he gave a mighty attempt to squeak into the street, he was a hair too late. He mounted the curb with a sickening crunch, skidding with three wheels off and one wheel on for some time before slamming headlong into a streetlight's pole, the front of the car buckling and twisting around the hatchback. The driver barely had time to scream before his un-belted body was flung out through the shattered windshield, slamming hard into the wall of the nearest building and falling limp onto the sidewalk. It was brutal, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario; if he had stayed in the car, the combination of the crumpling front half and the streetlight promptly falling on top of the vehicle would've likely done him in.

Still, the pursuit was not over, and it had just gotten more difficult. While the last street had practically been empty, this one had a few cars dotting the street, trawling slowly along. Weaving around them with grace was easy enough for the biker. Doing so with shouts, curses, gunfire, screams, and horn honks were echoing in his ears was a challenge. Doing so with four gunmen hot on your heels, each armed and just as comfortable weaving around traffic as he was, well, it was brutally hard. But still, his eyes were focused on the goal, and he would not let any number of cars, trucks, and rickshaws distract him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a parked car at the side of the road, an inconvenience to the usual driver, but a potential lifesaver for him. You could practically see the gravel skid across the ground as the bike slowly drifted to the left, dodging a passing rickshaw and shifting to a position where he was hugging the bare curb, seemingly cornering himself. One driver shifted behind him for the kill, while the other slanted diagonally, attempting to close in from the side. However, it was all a ruse; the bike quickly accelerated, tucking to the side and shooting off ahead. All that was left was the parked car, and the two cars heading straight for it. Both slammed hard into the car at top speed. The one from behind slammed into the back and stuck fast, folding up into a smashed wreck, while the diagonally-slanting car flipped over the stationary one and flew into an epic tumble, rolling several times over before hitting the nearest wall. There would be a fire soon, but the crews would clear that up.

There was now just two more, but they refused to relent, even as the throng of cars began to thin. The pandemonium from the chase was now hitting a peak, with drivers literally abandoning their cars to flee, with pedestrians, tavern-crawlers, and hobos running and screaming in every direction, especially once the shots started coming close. One stray bullet struck an old man in the chest, his gray beard splattered with a dark red as he slumped over on the door of a nearby bar. The sight seemed to catch the biker's attention for a brief few seconds, his gaze lingering as he rode down the road, his steering unsteady. A bullet took advantage of his temporary lapse in concentration, nicking his leather jacket with a screaming hiss. You could practically imagine the man gritting his teeth from underneath the tinted visor as he hunched over and hit the throttle hard, continuing his trajectory pulling him close to the median on the right-hand side. Both cars were on his left now, forcing one to slowly start to angle his path in the hopes of trapping the biker against the concrete barrier. Once the motorcycle had pulled away from the median with a sharp zig-zag in the opposite direction, practically going parallel to the street as he attempted to drift away in escape, the driver finally realized it was a trap, and all too late, as the car was tripped up hard by the median. It flipped once onto the roof and skidded horizontally down the width of the street, a wave of sparks and smoke coughing out as the poor soul inside had his head dragged across the inside of the roof. It would be a miracle if he survived.

The final car's luck wasn't much better. The zig-zag shuttled the biker down a second left-hand turn, a narrow street with only one lane per side. The fat, greasy, capitalist Tata car couldn't even hope to match the sleekness. It had already been losing control trying to keep up with the vicious zing to the left, and once the turn came, it was all over. With a resounding screech and a harsh, final cry from the chubby man inside for help, the hatchback completely missed the hard 90 degree angle turn, going into an awkward diagonal as it drove right up onto the sidewalk and smashed through the glass doors of a large department store. The metal revolving mechanisms at the entrance clamped around the front of the car, twisting and crushing it as it ground to a slow halt. Five assassins, five criminals, five murderers had chased the man in black, and not one had succeeded in so much as nicking him. One couldn't see his face, but they could feel his joy as he relished that thought, his bike cruising idly down the empty, pitch-black Chandigarh street. Hell, he practically wanted to pump his fists up, sing, turn on the radio, pop a wheelie, anything! If he kept the throttle going, he might even be home to see Sabrina bef-

With a roaring honk, a massive eighteen-wheeler trunk with no logo came hurtling through the intersection. All one could see were the blinding headlights of the truck, a sheer white glow that masked the sights, but not the sounds. The smashing sound as the motorcycle was flung into a vacated stall, twisted and ripped apart beyond repair. The sound of banshee-like screaming as the truck braked hard, continuing to drive right across the street and plowing right into a small building. The sound of bricks being crushed under the truck's mighty wheels, plus whatever the hell was in that building. Glass, merchandise, people. And, most importantly, the sound of a body tumbling, rolling and pitching and popping across the rough, cracked asphalt before sliding to a stop, well outside of the headlights' range. A pair of feet walked up to the limp form of the biker, feet clad in heavy, black combat boots and baggy, orange pants, elastically bunched up at the tan ankles. As they got closer to the surprisingly intact body, the damage could be seen. His boots were scuffed, torn in some places. His pants were in tatters, patches of bloody, bruised skin lying underneath. The jacket had been ripped open down the middle and had half of a sleeve missing, revealing a torn white undershirt in some areas and more damaged skin in others. The gloves had more holes than leather. And the helmet, the crown jewel of the entire piece, the coup de grace, the mysterious mask that protected the dashing biker's identity, had cracks running all along the visor, dents and punctures in the helmet's thick casing.

The one in boots couldn't help but stare closer at the broken body's head, the cracked visor, the slight chipping in the upper right corner that allowed him to see a bit of skin. He looked closer...closer...closer. The visor became a deeper and deeper black, quivering slightly as if it was about to pop open by itself.

And then, just like magic, it did. As if on a mechanical hinge, the visor popped up and slid to the top of the helmet, revealing the face of a pale, brown-eyed boy with long blonde hair, a shit-eating grin decorating his face.

"AAAAND CUT!"

[Galnius]

Mika, her room

Mika's eyes were alight with excitement as she waited Jan to continue on about Kabuto. However, the lightly soon began to fade as her expression soured. She found herself on the recieving end of a brief tongue lashing, with Jan reacting like a child and swearing he would give her a cold shoulder.

"Fine. Look, I was just joking around and poking fun. I don't actually know the guy, even if that suit is more than a little dorky. It's just....Ash is one of my only friends, yeah? I have two people in this world who actually give a damn when I talk- You don't count you have to care- , and she's one of them, and she really seems to like this guy. So I'm helping her with it, the other girl be damned. I know it doesn't sound great but there's no way whoever it may be can be better than sweet Ash. Do you know what I mean?"

---

Mika, The Tower

Mika looked to Ash and sighed as the other girl became downtrodden. Excitement was fine, as was showing her around, but that could come later. However, Ash seemed to agree as well.

"Yeah Ash, let's check out your room. And maybe find a place to hook up a game system. I didn't know what you'd like so I grabbed a bit of everything. Doom, God of War, Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage, Barbie Dream House....oh, and a bunch of games that will teach you how to flirt. I already know, I've beaten them all and moved on to, let's say, less tame ones. My favourite of these is a nerdy girl barely recognizable as a chick entering an all guys gentleman club undercover as a guy to pay off a debt. It's a comedy. Once you've studied up Kabuto won't stand a chance against your mad romance skills. So, lead the way Moth Captain."

---

Mika, Losers' Table

Mika snorted as Astrid explained how her day was going, highlighted by treating one of the assholes in the school like he was a plucky freshman who stood near the wrong locker. "Jeez Astrid, you're really whooping ass recently. And the dude probably has a huge crush on you now. He probably wafts you to grab him by the-"

Mika cut herself off with a poorly faked coughas she glanced over at Ash, who's joyful face probably had no idea what they are talking about. "Anywayyyy, Halloween is coming up around the corner. I already have my costume. Gonna go as a gothic magical girl. With my size people still think I'm 12 so I can still get all the candy I want. The original plan was Bayonetta, but you know...I'm a bit lacking in certain spots to make it work. What about you guys? And Ash, ever go trick or treating?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

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"Heh, didn't see that coming, did you?" Megan laughed as she quickly flew away from Meridiana, taking joy in watching Meridiana's completely shocked expression. "Just try not to lose your head, hm?" She flashed the demoness an ivory grin that was visible underneath her hood, the thinly veiled threat made all the more evident as the girl expertly twirled the oversized scythe in her hands.

Unfortunately, while she had managed to catch Meridiana by surprise and cause quite a bit of harm, in a sense, to her, she hadn't managed to put her foe out of the fight. In fact, after getting over the shock of her lower body being severed at the waist, the succubus became enraged and promptly retaliated, transforming her hand into a sickly, monstrous claw - her true form, Megan assumed - that suddenly elongated towards her, quickly reaching her and wrapping around her limbs, her neck, her entire body.

The nails then squeezed, and with a pop, Megan's whole body was disassembled without a drop of blood being shed. The severed parts fell to the ground.

Except, that is, for her hands. Still gripping the scythe, they floated up to Meridiana and attempted to cut off her head, while the rest of Megan's body reassembled in the air before hitting the ground and floated away once more, the now limbless girl looking on with curiosity.

---

October 24th

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---

Astrid said nothing and simply laughed as the other two black-haired girls at the table commented on her exploit of the day, seemingly focusing on what blonde douchebag's reaction might have been and the possibility that he might've been aroused by her attack. On a personal level the idea made her feel more than a little grossed out - that boy couldn't hold a candle to her Lucas after all - but that didn't make it any less amusing.

But after a bit of that, Mika quickly changed the topic to that of Halloween, talking about her costume and her plans to go trick or treating. At this, Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you still do that?" She asked with surprise evident in her voice. "I haven't gone trick or treating since I was like twelve. Hell, I'm turning eighteen next year." She said. "I probably still have a few old costumes I could tweak, but I wasn't planning to dress up."

---

---

Alexis was pretty surprised when Roy suddenly pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. She knew he was too gentle a person to scold her for letting her feelings get in the way of her work or anything like that, but even then she wasn't expecting to be shown this kind of affection. She supposed it made sense that a teammate who had been with her since the very beginning of this venture would support her, and accepted the situation, bringing her trembling hands up to Roy's back while listening to his words of kindness. She didn't hold him very tightly at first, but after a moment she hugged him more closely, a silent sob rocking her body, followed by a few deep breaths.

"T-thanks, Roy..." She managed to croak out after a few moments, having managed to calm down enough once again after momentarily losing control of her feeling as a result of the hug. "Hey..." She mumbled afterwards. "I won't tell Wendy about this if you don't." She said with a weak chuckle.

After a few moments she pulled away from Roy and plopped back down on her chair with a sigh. "So... have you had fights like this before then?" The blonde girl asked him. "You said you knew from experience how much they suck."

---

---

As the jet touched down and the Young Bloods filed out of it, Alexis trailed behind Roy and the other squad leaders, listening to the brief exchange between the team leader and the police officer, and then nodding at Roy's instructions. Gesturing at her squadmates to follow her, the young engineer crossed the perimeter and entered the building alongside the others, observing the empty lobby and noting its state of disrepair.

"You heard him. Squad 2, behind me." The blonde girl spoke in the same monotone she had used to greet Roy earlier, briskly heading towards the staircase. However, as she was about to turn the corner, she caught some movement from the corner of her eye even before hearing her headpiece come alive with Casimir's voice. Turning around, she saw the hand grenade tumbling towards her and reacted immediately.

"BACK!" She shouted at her teammates as she used her gauntlet's telekinetic module to send the grenade as far back as possible and then shielded herself with her arms just as it exploded. Thankfully, it had blown up in a place where it couldn't hurt her teammates, and though she herself was in a poor spot, any shrapnel that made contact with her harmlessly bounced off her personal force field, albeit not without draining some energy.

"Be careful, team. They're clearly well equip-" The young genius spoke over the comms, only to be interrupted as an unknown figure suddenly came into view and jumped straight towards her, kicking her into a wall that cracked from the force of the impact. The figure in question was a shotgun-wielding brunette wearing a coat that showed off her cleavage, and whose body had been replaced in various parts - including an eye and an arm - by cybernetics.

"How do you do, friends? The name's Buckshot. A pleasure to meet you all." The woman spoke as she turned the corner and came face to face with Alexis' team, flashing them a cheeky grin before calmly leveling her shotgun at Angelica and squeezing the trigger.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-Present Day

So this is what normal life is all about huh? The thought rang through my mind as I listened to both the light inoffensive music in the background of the grocery store as the excited chatter from Marcus, Theresa and Sarah all told me that I was in for another large hau of sweets and junk food for the house. Kyle the oldest boy of eleven years old didn't make much in the way of a sound as he kept his hands shoved in his pockets of his stained blue jeans with his eyes fxed on the scene of his adopted siblings ahead of him. As for me, I had adopted the look of a blonde hair and blue eyed woman in her early thirties who dressed in a comfortable rock band tee shirt and of course tight fitting jeans and sandals. Not at all the image of a woman who not all that long ago had been one of the more infamuos vigilantes in San Diego. That was one of the perks of being a living hive of microscopic machines which were implanted in you against your will. Lots of string attached with that package. My eyes met the kids as they scurried over to the kart an just before tossing the food in with a gleeful shout. I gave a smile at the group as my mind wondered about the events that led me here. Not so long ago I was revived using technology which is honestly beyond my own understanding for the most part but basically turned me into a cyborg badass that can eat bullets and spit them back out. I can also turn invisible, regenerate from all manner of wounds and disguise myself as well as see in various spectrums and the whole physical works. Not long after I was used to kill a rival arms dealer and his mutant pet project by the man responsible for my continued existence. Walt Bismark. After I realized he was using me, I left. But I had no memory and little ideas on what to do. So, I retraced my steps, steps. Spent some time wondering before I eventually found Nile, Nck and the Orphans. From there, the gravestone of my deceased father. I learned that Walt was the one behind not only my eath, but the deaths of freinds as well. But I also learned a truth....

Despite my multi month war on crime in this city. The countless damages I caused organize crime and the fear I instilled in the underworld. As soon as I died, everything came back. Slave and drug rings I wiped out were replaced in weeks. And the crim rates were back to normal. It was as if I never existed at all. Not a damn thing I did mattered in the big game. So, I re prioritized. I learned Nick is dying so I wont allow him to further risk his very short lifespan fighting some crusade, despite him constantly trying to convince me to continue He still seems to believ in what we did. But as the former orphans raced around me playing tag in the stoor I didn't want to risk what I finally had. At least not on a war I can't win. There is also the realization that my father was still controlling the direction of my life years after he died. I hated him so mu, I still do. But his memory wont decide my life no more. From now on, anything I do will be because it is my own choice. Free of him. I want to refocus and give these kids the things he never gave me. A shoulder to cry on when I had a bad day in school. A knowing smile of permission when they grab things they desire. And protection from anyone who wuld ever do them harm. But that doesn't mean my days of Vendetta are entirely past me. There are still certain centences I need to carry out. NamelyMarionette...and Walt Bismark. I only need to wait for the proper time.

As I pushed my buggy down the next aisle I let loose a hearty laugh at the sight of Marcus tagging Sarah and Sarah doing her adorable pouting thing with her lips. It was then that another parent, a woman who appeared to be a few years older than I appeared to be and was very involved in her phone conversation bumped into one of my kids and then immediately shot a galre at me as she barked for them to watch where they were going. And then turned her attention to me.

"What kind of a parent are you? You should control those kids of yours. Letting them just play like that in the store! Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Oh shit, control yourself Alexis. Dont murder this bitch in front of the kids. And hers. I cleared my throat.

"Actually I do have something to say." The woman crossed her arms in response, having excused herself from her phone call. Waiting for me to admit how guilty I was.

"Perhaps if you were paying attention you could watch where you were going. Sure the kids were excited buut they were in plain view." I resisted so much not to swear this lady all up and down but her face was completely twisted, as if she could not believe what she was hearing.

"You know what, if you would dicipline those kids like your supposed to this would have never been an issue. Spare the rod you know. I feel sorry for them honestly, being brought up by someone like you only assures they will be in trouble for the rest of their lives." Kyle actually surged forward as I reigned him in from him attempting to kick the lady in the shin. With my left hand on his shoulder I kept him in place as he looked at me with a confused look on her face and I gave him a 'dont worry I have this' look.

"Actually, I think you are right. I'll actually take them home now and talk this behavior over with them." Kyle was even more confused and so were the rest of the kids, they were just having some fun. And they certainly didn't cause any harm. But the lady just got cocky and called out as I turned us away.

"Well, I suppose some people cn be taught." She place a strong empathis on her last word.

I gritted my teeth as I hurried us through the cashier line. Sarah tugged at my pants. "But momma your meat." She was referring to the, large quantities of fatty meats I purchase to feed my nanites.

"We can come back tomorrow sweetie." I answered.

"Are we really in trouble?"

"Nonono of course not. I just have something I have to do quickly."

We walked briskly outside as I searched the internet for the woman I met in the store. Having a million different computers in your brain has advantages as I ran the face through facial recognition and finally went through her records, to find her car. And just like that I saw her red Toyota parked not that far away from my own. I helped the kids load the food into the car as I told them we were going home for supper and to see 'dad' Niles. While I did so I dispatched several tens of thousands of nanites from my own body to make their way to her own car. Where they began the process of eating away at her car, until there is nothing left.

I then let myself into the driver side as I let loose a satisfied grin. I could get used to this mom shit.

[Tomia]

Roy, earlier in the day
Roy continued to hold Alexis as she cried into him. Then smiled at her joke about Wendy. "Deal, wouldn't want her to delete our twitter accounts after all." He joked back, hoping to cheer her up. When she pulled away and sat down she seemed to be doing better, then she asked Roy if he had ever gotten into a fight with a romantic partner before. Well... ya I have. There was this girl Katie. We met at an NASL tournament, really hit it off. We went on a few dates and then it started to get a little serious. She wanted me to come back to New York, so we could be together and well... there was a lot of reasons I didn't want to do that. We fought, she accused me of not caring about her, I told her she was being selfish... It wasn't good. But, we're friends now, and that's well behind us. You and Angelica will get through this I promise." He told her. "I should probably give you some space now, but if you ever want to talk about something that's bothering you, you can count on me."

Angelica, Mission
Right as she she was the shotgun raise in the air Angelica brought up a wall of ice, which reached eye level just before the bullet slammed into it. The ice cracked but didn't shatter. Frostbite held out her hand forcefully and the ice broke apart, flying towards Buckshot in sharp chunks.

"Nice trick, but far from original." She said to the cybernetic villain, getting a good look at her now that the ice cleared. Where the hell did she come from? Angelica thought. She had seen cybernetics before but this was a whole different level. Still she was just a thug with a gun, neither the first nor the last that they've defeated. Buckshot jumped back, avoiding the sharp pieces of ice. As she reloaded another stepped forward, electricity sparking from his fingers.

"My turn, hey girls, fancy seeing you here. I'm afraid this is private property, so you'll have to leave." He said, raising his hands to drop an electric blast onto the floor.

Roy
As his squad went about preparing the lobby in case their foes showed up, one in fact did. A robot jumped down into the lobby, landing between the spread out squad. It said nothing but approached Roy menacingly. "Kabuto, get your bugs to work, bite this thing to pieces!" He shouted as his staff slammed into one of the machine's blades as he dodged another. "Ash, I need you to help me distract it so we can get an opening. Selene, keep a look out, who knows what else is coming our way!"

Outside
Mars didn't love the way Aleta took to their orders but he wasn't surprised given his disagreement. Even so they were handling their assignment well and everything was going well so far. That was until strange noises could be heard from above. Two creatures, one human like and the other not, swooped down towards the police blockade. The crowd shouted and dispersed as the beasts turned and headed toward Squad 3.

[Auropa]

Viviana Couture

Wyatt

Mission - Outside

Mike Mathews
October 24th
Muffin time
“If I’m being honest, I rarely do any real cooking here. I kind of just, kept stashing stuff and telling myself I’d use it then never really getting around to it. Though on the bright side, if Cass does decide to put up a ban, I think I can smuggle the bits I need home without too much trouble.” Mike half joked as he worked. At first, each and every one of his muffins looked identically perfect but as he peaked at Viv’s chaotic bed of muffin creations, he couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous and before long was making his own wild creations alongside her. When she answered about Renata though, he went a little quiet as he considered asking another question before pushing back the idea. 'She’d be fine, besides, it wasn’t like they were even friends, why bother worrying?'

“Now those look nice!” He commented when Viv pulled a set of muffins from the oven “I’m actually kind of surprised. I mean, I didn’t think anyone else on the team baked! But its a good type of surprised, its nice to know other people enjoy this sort of stuff.” He quickly added to cover his slip up.

“Though now that we’ve got a good batch, how about a bit of experimenting?” He asked, as he pulled out some more of the mysterious and potentially explosive Hadrian sweetener. “I’m thinking we set some of our batter up to bake and mix some of this into each. Start with a small amount on the left and work our way up to see how it changes the taste. Besides, I’m pretty sure the whole exploding thing was just some internet myth.” He stated with at least some level of confidence.

“So who’re the muffins for anyways?” He asked as he began pouring an already generous heap of the sweetener into his first muffin.

Pre-mission meeting
Throwing up his hands in mock surrender Mike dropped his comment. If it were someone else snapping back at him, he might have pushed back a bit but Wyatt was the team leader and he had a point, while Mike probably wouldn’t ever admit it, he did think that he might have been acting a bit too harshly towards Mars. ‘Still, its not like the guy didn’t deserve it’ he thought to himself as he listened to Wyatt go over the mission details. While it didn’t cover everything he would’ve wanted to know, it answered a some of his questions and gave him a good idea as to what he’d need to do.

"Sounds good to me. And besides, its crowd control. Most likely outcome is that squad 5 complains about their first mission being boring." He added with a shalf shrug as he checked his gear one more time and got ready to follow the rest of the team.


Fight'in time
“Incoming from above! Two lizard things and a flier!” Mike called out as the descending villains screeched towards them.

In the space of a few seconds their straightforward crowd control job turned fully defensive as the team came under attack. Still seeing a few civilians nearby, Mike figured there weren't many options other than holding his ground and keeping whatever focus he could away from them and towards himself. That, unfortunately meant he needed to be ready to take a hit. Draining some of the nearby material into his gradually re-occurring makeshift shield and baton, he bent his knees, readied his arms and braced.

A few moments later one of large creatures surged past him. Violently raking its claws across his shield and nearly knocking him clean off his feet as it went, he managed to push back the attack and keep the talons from cutting into his him on their first pass. ‘Well this just isn’t fair!' he thought to himself as he turned around to strike back only to see the winged beast already a few meters away and turning around for a second pass.

“At least they seem pretty focused on us.” he commented through the squad’s channel as he locked eyes with the nearby creature and slowly backed towards some nearby barricades.

“I’ve got a dumb idea for this one but I’m open to suggestions if anyone has them.”

[North America Inc]

Roy's Orders

Shihong "The Red Princess" Smith

---

Located at the intersection of Harbor and Magnolia, the half constructed apartment building was tall enough that you could briefly catch the 405 in the distant horizon. But as Squad Four arrived, it wasn't the lights of the freeway or the neon signs of far off businesses that caught their attention; it was the the lights of the barricade just six floors below. Cruisers lined the area, as officers held their sights directly at the main entrance. There had been little minutes since the initial engagement, and a strange calm held over the area even before the Young Bloods arrived.

Squad Four had been tasked with recon, a role Shi gladly accepted. Before handing out orders, she eyed the surrounding neighborhood and the police presence. An industrial sized crane hung over the side, a support beam still held on its line; construction equipment were strung around the area, but nothing of importance. Even the high intensity floodlights caught nothing in their gaze, instead endlessly going up and down the sides.

Then it was time to get to work. Walking over to her teammates, who had gathered behind a SWAT truck, she spoke up, "Law Enforcement has seen no new movement since we were called. No new enemies seen, and two of the five we still don't nothing about. Nightshade has tasked us with recon, we're going in before everyone else. We don't engage, until we report back. So don't attack unless it's self defense. Squad 1 is going to stand back and block entrances while Squad 2 is going in afterward after us; clearing floor by floor."

The team spoke amongst each other for a few more minutes, clarifying a few issues before Shi gave out the first order: Take the roof. Cosmic flew in first, with Ava close behind him. Jason, for his part, used the crane to swing his way upwards, while Shi came in last, carrying Wendy on her side. Not much was up there beyond the roof hatch and gravel, the group must be within the lower floors then. The team, once again, regrouped and huddled together as Shi began to formulate a plan. "I counted six floors coming up...Building this high would need an elevator. The shaft would have been built during construction with nothing inside...." She turned over to her side at Wendy, "Wendy pull up the schematics of this complex."

Wendy nodded and typed away at her tablet, handing it over in less than a minute. As Shi analyzed it, a smirk came over her. "Here's the plan: The hatch isn't too far from the shaft. We sneak in and take it. From there we have a open access to all the floors, from there we find the perpetrators and call in the rest of the..."

A large explosion rattled the Squad as Shi immediately ran to the edge to see the ongoing commotion. Dust was pouring out from the entrances, with the cops running back and forth amongst each other trying to get a handle on what was happening. Shi focused more intently below her, where she saw the crux of the issue: one of the squads had already entered. Before the actual Reconnaissance team. Hundreds of thoughts flowed through her head but she didn't voice a single one. Rushing in without a second thought, that would have to come back later to bite the team in the back. But now wasn't the time to complain, she had to act and quick. "New plan." She held out her hand to reveal a congealing puff of smoke around it, "From the shaft we take each floor and smoke them out."

The team nodded in agreement. Seconds later, they followed their captain down the stairs and into the ensuing chaos down below.

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
October 8th

Indeed, he was the guy with the ant farm, and not just the ant farm, but the "several super-swarms" located in various places across the island, as well as the mega-colonies of...Argentine ants?! She felt a massive migraine coming on, and she didn't even get migraines. He seemed very proud of his conquests and pillages within the animal kingdom, and all of the power in the world to him for it, but uh...this was still kind of weird.

"Well, that's good to know..." Whitney muttered in response to this Casimir's assurance that the ants would stay far away from food or anything else that she owned...like that was her biggest concern at the moment. Did she have any RAID on her? No, it was probably back at the apartment. Maybe she could remake that bug repellent she had mixed together last summer, she probably had the formula written in one of her notebooks somewhere. Every single chemical she had ever made had its info recorded in one of her notebooks, with a full procedure, materials list, everything she would need to recreate it at some point. When the paper had started running out, she had invested in three hard drives, and kept a digital copy of everything there. If only she could remember which book or drive she had recorded the repellent in...whatever, it wasn't important. The point was, she needed to make a mental note to go find that formula later. She wasn't exactly fond of insects, especially not around where she worked, and as confident as this guy was, she doubted he could control that many ants. After all, weren't there supposed to be like millions of ants in a colony? Surely, a few thousand would slip from your eye every once in a while.

Coming out of her thoughts, she caught wind of Casimir asking Lion-O...er, Icarus, if the three of them could join for a round. She took a sideways glance at the now-lit up TV screen, revealing the title screen for Hero Rumble 6. Whitney was well acquainted with the entire Hero Rumble series from multiple family gatherings with her young cousins, and she wasn't half bad. Maybe a round couldn't hurt. After all, she felt a little bit...tired, a little achy. Maybe it was the boots. The ankle boots she was wearing were fashionable, but not great for walking around in, and even less so for jogging around in to keep up with both Alexis and Roy. Either way, sitting down for a change wouldn't hurt.

"Well, Roy and Alexis were actually showing me around the island," Whitney started, gesturing with one hand towards the dynamic duo behind her. "But I wouldn't mind taking a break for a round or two, if you guys don't mind, of course." Whitney said, eyeing her two tour guides. "After all, it should only take me a couple minutes to kick both of your asses."

[New Finnish Republic]

Red and Yoshi
Wonder Tower

---

Still slowed by the residual drowsiness from being woken up, Yoshiro pursed her lips at Red’s apology. Frowning as she remembered her surprise at the gala when the other girl - Marionette, as she would later be revealed - had confidently strode up to Red. “Yeah, Casimir mentioned that it looked like you knew each other.” She admitted, her gaze shifting away from Red’s as she pushed against the conflicting emotions in her chest. “But you don’t need to apologize about that. A part of me wants to scream at you for keeping it a secret from the rest of us. I really want to call you out for being so stupid.” Yoshiro allowed her words to hang in the air for a moment, hesitating before forcing herself to continue.

“But I can’t. I don’t know everything at the moment, but I’m sure that you had your reasons for keeping us in the dark and...whatever they were, I get it.” Yoshiro’s brow furrowed as she remembered the secret that she’d kept hidden, and how close she’d come to ruining everything by keeping it from the rest of the team. “But you’ve got to know that we’re all here for you if something comes up that we can help with, no matter what. I forgot that before, and I let the Scarab get the upper hand. And when we heard that that girl was actually Marionette,” Scowling at the name, Yoshiro all but spat it in disgust, “I just feared the worst, you know?”

Looking back up at Red, the girl met the other hero’s gaze and only noticed that she was lingering on his features after a few moments longer than necessary had passed. Immediately shifting her eyes away, Yoshiro seemed to take half a step back from the boy, as if also aware of how close they had been standing. Realizing that she’d been rambling, a hint of color tinted the girl’s cheeks as she also realized how out-of-place she must have looked with her day-old makeup and cocktail dress.

“I uh - I’m glad that you’re not too hurt, though.” She managed sheepishly. “Jacob said that you’d be fine, but that it’d be good for someone to stay to keep an eye on things. Some people were getting a bit worried, and I guess I must’ve fallen asleep after everything. Though if you’re all fine, I guess that I should let you get some rest?” Forcing a chuckle to try and brush over her own feeling of awkwardness at suddenly finding herself alone with Red, she silently hoped that he didn’t try to confirm her story with Jacob. “I should probably get some sleep in something other than a chair too, huh?”

As she turned to walk away, a hand suddenly reached out to grab her wrist, halting her mid-step as she spun around to see Red standing there with an expression similar to that of a deer in headlights. He was just as surprised as Yoshiro, not realizing what he had done until their two gazes had interlocked once more. Panicking briefly for a moment, Red let go of his grip, his hand sliding slowly down towards the ground as his eyebrows furrowed.

“Urm, sorry, I just-”

Letting out a small sigh, Red mentally cursed at himself over his own stupid actions, fully aware that he should have let the girl leave. But for whatever reason, his body had decided to move on its own, forcing him to now have to find an excuse for his actions. Racking his brain as a moment of heavy silence followed, he eventually spoke up, his voice soft.

“Look, Yoshi. Saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough. Things have gotten...complicated, and it’s my fault that I’ve let them get this way. I want to make things better, but…” Red’s words trailed off as he tried to find the right words to say. “...I don’t know how to.” Rubbing at the back of his head, Red’s mouth had turned into a small frown as he contemplated his next words. “But I want to try. So…” As his words trailed off once more, he glanced up towards Yoshiro with an expression that held a mixture of both hope and dreadful anticipation as he continued.

“...what do you say we give it another shot? Just one evening is all I’ll ask for. After that, it’s up to you to decide if you want anything to do with me anymore. Whatever your decision is, I’ll respect it.”

Red’s words hung in the air, their impact causing Yoshiro to wince as her mouth twisted into a pained frown. She hesitated, meeting the boy’s earnest gaze with her own as she felt her gut twisting in her chest. “Red, I…” She began, although the words simply faded away before they could be said. Two waves of emotion clashed within her, with her heart skipping a beat even as she recalled the hurt and anger she’d felt after she’d been pulled from missions. Taking a breath, Yoshiro forced herself to continue. “I want to say yes, I really do. And I want to just snap my fingers and go back to how things were - but I can’t.”

Looking up at Red, she offered him an apologetic smile. “I miss you. I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I was when I saw you talking to all those girls at the party, or when that bitch came up to dance with you. But let’s be honest, neither one of us is ready to get back together yet.” Yoshiro seemed to hesitate before she decided to try and explain herself. “When we...broke up...you lashed out at yourself, Red. And you did it in a way that wasn’t healthy. We’ve all seen how much you’ve been drinking, and you’ve been throwing yourself at danger even more recklessly than usual. The Red I liked is brave, but that’s not what this is - it’s self-destructive. And...right now that’s not something that I can help you deal with. ”

Biting her lip, the girl’s gaze seemed to shift away as she continued, with her voice dropping as she did so. “Not when I’m still dealing with my own problems, Red.” And not when she still had to deal with the nightmares that kept rousing her at night, serving as unwanted reminders of what it was like when she was in control. Unconsciously, Yoshiro clenched her fists as she forced herself to take a breath. Looking back up to the boy, she offered him a faint smile. “But look, that doesn’t matter. I just...need some more time, okay?”

Standing in silence for a few moments, Red bit at his lower lips before eventually nodding his head slowly in response to Yoshiro’s answer. “That’s...fine. Take your time. I...I shouldn’t…” As his words trailed off, he found himself unable to meet Yoshiro’s gaze, as his gaze wandered down to see the clenched fists of the girl. I did this, he thought to himself, a wave of guilt and shame washing over him that made him feel nauseous. “I...I need to get some rest.”

His voice was as quiet as whisper as he turned away from Yoshiro, unable to look back at her. Slowly he made his way back into his bed, sweat still staining the covers below as he tossed the blankets over himself, holding back the pained winces as his body cried out achingly from the effort. While part of him wished to try and say something more, he found himself unable to get the words out of his mouth, instead simply remaining silent as he lay there.

Watching as Red’s shoulders slumped, Yoshiro felt a stab of regret at her words. Unable to do anything as the boy turned away from her, replying with a defeated tone tainting his voice, she lifted a hand as if to reach out to him, but stopped herself. Pursing her lips, Yoshiro slowly pulled her arm back.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” She said, hating herself for how fake her own words sounded after the brief exchange. With nothing else left to be said, and with second thoughts and self-doubts already causing her to question her decision, Yoshiro turned to make her way towards the exit. At the door, she hesitated for just a moment as she turned back to the injured hero. “Get better soon, Red. I’ll see you around, okay?” And with that, she left him alone once more.

Red listened as Yoshiro’s eventually began to fade away, their irregular beat hinting towards a sense of hesitancy before eventually the sound of the infirmary’s door closing echoed out in the now empty room. Slowly shifting over in his bed, his gaze hovered over the sight of the vacant chair next to him, the sight of the crumpled blanket left behind causing a swell of regret to wash over him. Letting out a small pained grunt, he gingerly made his way out of the bed, walking over towards the chair and reaching for the piece of cloth.

Holding it in his hands for a few moments, Red bit at his lower lips before slowly beginning to fold the blanket into a neat square, slowly lowering it on the empty seat. After this was done, he hobbled over towards his bed, his body once more protesting the effort as he made his way back underneath the sheets. As he did, a wave of exhaustion swept over him, no doubt a result of him moving around so much when he was clearly not recovered. As his eyes began to slowly blink shut, Red’s gaze centered on the chair next to him once more, the sight of the neatly folded blanket resting on it making it seem as if no one had been there in the first place.

And in that moment, Red wished there hadn’t.

[Absolon-7]

Whitney Alvord

Casimir Herman October 8th

---

Casimir raised an eyebrow at the sudden downturn of enthusiasm from Whitney but he shrugged it off as the girl was seemingly in deep thought. Now he had one more person on board with to show off his skills in Hero Rumble 6. He was slightly disappointed there weren't any more questions for him especially considering his esteemed status on the team but not like that was necessary. For now all that mattered was picking out his mains on the game before anyone else thought of choosing them. The screen on the giant flatscreen eventually developed to the main menu of the game with the choice for multiplayer flashing brightly.

"Alright, we got three on board. We can do doubles matches then," said Casimir heading over to the couch to grab a wireless controller before looking over at Icarus, "Kicking your ass at the game is gonna have to wait a round, Icarus. Seems like Whitney wants to rope in someone else."

Muffin time

Viviana Couture October 24th

---

"Ah," said Viviana mouthing it slowly before springing up, "So you procrastinate! And you're suggesting we become underground smuggler lords too? Didn't know you could be such a bad influence....Sounds perfect I'm in. Well if it happens to turn out that way."

Viviana beamed as her finished work was complimented by Mike as well as how glad he was there was somebody else who baked although granted she didn't really start doing it regularly to practice until after Mike had left in the tournament and someone had to take up the torch of finely crafted baked goods in the Tower. She nodded along furiously to his idea of experimenting with the Hadrian sweetener especially as his idea of creating a gradient seemed appealing in how it could go. There might be some where its not even noticeable and others where who knows how strongly it would taste.

"Sounds like a good idea to me chief. I think we're good on putting them in the oven once we use up the sweetener, "said Viviana as she held out a hand for her own share of the sweetener to pout although Mike's last question left her a bit off guard, "Huh? Oh. Well I felt like making a batch for the team. No reason to it just y'know a good ol gesture of camaraderie totally not a bribe....Okay it's a bribe. But not really. Unless you count doing nice things inherently bribery."

Stairway Battle

Stairway Battle Prt2

Viviana Couture, later in the night

---

Viviana had hoped they would've progressed further into the building but the timely intervention of Alexis forcefield saved the squad from a blast from the grenade as soon as Alexis had made it to the first landing on the stairs. She could only watch in horror as their leader was kicked hard enough to be embedded into the wall. Now in Alexis places stood a woman introducing herself as Buckshot who much like her name fired into their direction and thankfully Angelica had enough foresight to raise up an icewall to protect herself from the shotgun's blast. If that wasn't enough there was now somebody else with the woman crackling with electricity all around him.

"Oh boy!" feigned fright Viviana as the electric blast hot the floor in front of her as she was second behind Alexis. The electric blast incinerated the wooden parts of the steps and surged upwards towards and all around Viviana but it harmlessly surged around her before dissipating. She blinked blankly at the two villains before scowling and leaping up to their level in the landing. She formed her hand into a giant hammer before twisting her arm into a coil and sending it flying towards the electricity manipulator's face sending him crashing against the curb of the stairs, "You deserve a good smackerel!"

"Shock Troop! You bitch!," growled Buckshot as she fired a round from her shotgun at Viviana.

The bullets all sunk into her but were quickly spat back out wildly in Buckshot's direction making her curse as some grazed her metallic parts. The cyborg quickly reloaded and pointed her gun at Viviana but the brunette had already sneaked up on her and stuck her fingers into the double-barrel shotgun right as the trigger was pulled. The blast exploded the shotgun's barrels ripping them at the tip as Viviana retracted her fingers shake her hand as if she touched something hot. Viviana was then punched in the face hard enough for the robotic fist to sink into it and rebound her up the stairs to the second floor. Shock Troop had gotten up and noticed Viviana flying above him to the second floor. The brunette girl crashed into the stairs and bounced back into the air before stumbling back down falling flat on her face right in front of Shock Troop.

"So what's up doc?" she smiled at the angry man crackling with electricity.

Robot Fight

Casimir Herman, also the same night

---

Casimir was busy pulling at the trap string of webbing he had set up by elevator door to test it when a sudden clang of metal behind him signaled the arrival of a multi-limbed cyclops robot. Everyone in his squad was spread out all over the lobby and he was more then ready to rush in there to crush and tear it apart but Roy going in first and ordering him to use his swarm to...bite the robot made him do a double take at the absurdity of the idea.

"Are you fucking with me?" shouted Casimir clenching his fists. How were bugs supposed to chew trough solid metal? Did Roy even realize what they were good for? It for sure wasn't chewing through damn steel plating or whatever that junk was made of. What he did try to do was order some of his nearby flying swarm to circle around the robots single eye to block its vision. He then leaped right at the robot to spin kick it in the neck but its long tail shot out and wrapped around his leg to use his immense momentum to smash him against the floor. Casimir was going to clench the tail and snap it but it retracted and he was kicked in the chest instead sending him sliding back.

"You rotten tin can!," shouted Casimir.

[The Republic of Atria]

Jason

Mission time! A handful of supers were making a big ruckus downtown in a building and the entire team was going down to deal with it. Jason personally felt it was a bit overkill to send two dozen people after seven, but he wasn't a squad leader, so what did his opinion matter? The team all scurried to the jet and arrived at the construction site in no time. Squads 3 and 5 were on crowd control, which led Jason to wonder why they were putting some of the heavy hitters in the back instead of upfront. Again, not his call.

Shi told them that they needed to get to the top of the building and attack from the stop. It was only a six-story building, so scurrying up the side while avoiding the windows was as simple a test of his stealth as any. Mark, Ava, and himself were up there first, with Wendy, being carried by Shi coming in not long after. "Ya know, pretty sure Mark and Ava could have carried you two. I coulda done it too, but I charge money for that." He mused as they began to figure out their battle plan. Wendy did her thing, and the plan was to climb around the elevator and clear the floors. Simple enough. At least until the team heard gunshots and an explosion when Shi suggested that they literally just smoke out the building.

"Well. It works for bees, and if you squint real hard, they could probably be mistaken for bees. I can do smoke just fine, it's all filtered out. I can run search while you do that."

Vince/Zayda, the Nuclear Plant

Vince watched as Floyd bolted around his explosion barely singed. He reached into his duffle bag and pulled out another grenade, with Jan jumping in to give him a few moments of preparation. Unfortunately, he didn't do too much to impede Floyd, as he just swatted Jan aside and went right back to trying to slice him apart with his sword.

He pressed the button on the side of the grenade, arming it, but Floyd was within stabbing distance. He instinctively raised his prosthetic arm to block the blade, only for Zayda's projection to appear in front of him and take the attack, the blade visibly cutting into it. Zayda herself grabbed Vince and started to run back. "Avoid missing your shots."

"This one won't. Come on Floyd, no snarky remark? I just went, it's your turn." He said, tossing the new one at the feet of Zayda's projection. The grenade's effect looked not unlike some heat waves coming out from what looked like a bug zapper, but gravity in the area reversed, sending every loose object within twenty feet of it into the air, and then violently slamming back into the ground.

"Ooooh! That one. That one's called the Pancaker. Gravity goes up, and for a few seconds, it's... I dunno, twenty to thirty times Earth's."

[Galnius]

Jackrabbit
El Cajon
Andrew waved lazily to the two girls as they quickly approached. It had taken them a small amount of time longer, but that was to be expected when one followed the winding paths that were South California's roads. Still, friendly banter seemed to be in order.

"Good of you two to join me. I was afraid I'd have to camp out waiting for you guys. And Impulse, don't forget, I can carry you. It would probably have less motion and less groping than I'm sure Paragon has planned. At least, from what I've heard from some other teammates. Speaking of...its Mr. Bunny Rabbit to you missy. Or just Mr. Bunny, as I belong on the front page of a magazine. Now come on, the chief is waiting for us to do a job. I'll fill you in on the way."

Andrew set off with the two in tow, staying on the roads to lead them and using google maps, just in case he got lost. He didn't glance at it too often however. He had made sure to memorize as much of the trip as possible.

"So, when I came up with this idea, I had it in my kind that we were probably going to get some people that fled San Diego with Blood or something. No such luck however. If they came here the vamps are in the shadows. And no highly wanted villains came this way either, yet. There's reports of a catburglar but....meh. Instead..."

Andrew hit the breaks, stopping instantly in front of a small factory. "This is our destination. The factory has lost 3 workers in a span of a day, and they have no clue what is behind it. Basically, we're going in blind. Luckily for us that's not a concern. Any questions?"

---

Andrew and Angelica, squad 5 mission

Andrew rolled his eyes when he saw Mars returning with the bad news. They were definitely stuck on recon. "Good going oh fearless leader. Now gloryhound Kabuto is probably going to Leeroy Jenkins it. You need to stand up to Nightshade man. You're just as good of a leader."

With that, he went off and started circling the area at building level. "Don't forget to tell me if something is going on. I don't want to be left out of what little action we'll see."

Angelica, however, looked more at the ground than on where to go. "Umm... M-" Phoenix stopped herself from going a sound further, ensuring that the M was all anyone could hear. Hell, it could even be part of the umm, right?

"Rocket? Sorry, still getting used to this. Sorry I'm not as experienced as the others. I don't know what to do. Is there uh..anywhere you want me to be? I can fly, but I can't go too high or everything will just look like specks."

Their conversation was soon cut off though as Andrew's voice cut through the comms. "Shit, sorry Bossman I've gotta break the perimeter. Squad 3 is under attack from a birdman and a rat with wings. I'm gonna go help them out."

Racing towards them, he shot by the beast and landed just in front of Wyatt's crew. "Hey Bael. Need any help dude? These guys look like fun, and Rocket won't miss me too much. He's got 3 others."

[Bentus]

Mika and Ash - the Sleepover Adventure!

The Amazing Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower

---

Ash listened carefully as Mika rattled off a sampling of the games that she’d brought over for them. Furrowing her brow, she pursed her lips as she didn’t recognise any of them as one that she’d played before - although she supposed that meant she’d have the chance to try something new, which was always a good thing! Still, she hoped that her new friend wouldn’t mind having to teach her the ropes. Offering her friend a sheepish smile, Ash rubbed the back of her head with a hand as she replied.

“Are any of them like Pokemon? I played that game once with some of my teammates when we went to New York. It was very fun, but I was never able to finish it to find out how it ended.” Realising that Mika could misinterpret her question as her disliking the games she was offering, Ash hastily continued. “But the games that you mentioned also sound very exciting! And…” Her voice trailed off as she felt those strange feelings swirling in her stomach once more. “...it would be nice to learn the ‘romance skills’, too.”

She couldn’t mask her eagerness, even though she felt nervous at the same time. Kabuto and her were best friends already - he’d said so himself - and she was sure it would be a nice surprise to show him that she wanted to become even better friends. But there was always the nagging fear of messing something up along the way, something which would make him reconsider being her best friend. No, I must not doubt myself! Heroes never question their decisions and would do anything for their friends! With a renewed sense of determination, Ash grinned as she grabbed onto Mika’s hand. Pulling the girl behind her once more, she began to race towards her room.

“Okay! My room is this way, Mika - we are going to have so much of the fun! I am sure of it.”

The Amazing Ashen Moth!
Thomsen High

---

As Ava let out a defeated sigh before burying her face in Ash’s shoulder, the mutant offered her friend a supportive smile. She wasn’t quite sure what had left the other girl so drained, but she was more than willing to help in any way that she could - that was all part of being a hero, after all. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a warm glow when Ava gave her a quick hug in thanks, and the girl felt a surge of pride at being labelled as the ‘most comfortable’.

As the other girls continued to talk among themselves, Ash quickly found herself having trouble following along with the conversation. She’d learned to listen and learn in such situations, but was content with simply being in the presence of her new friends as she focused on greedily slurping down her meal. However, as she was nearly down to the point where she was considering getting up to ask the lunch lady for seconds, Mika’s mention of candy caused her antennae to perk up. Glancing up from her tray, Ash’s expression seemed to light up as she listened to the talk of this ‘halloween’ with renewed interest.

“I have not heard of ‘halloween’ before.” She said, the curiosity evident in her voice. “Does everyone dress up and get candy? Can you dress up as anything, or does everyone go as the ‘Bayonetta’ or the ‘magical girl’?” When Astrid revealed that she hadn’t gone trick or treating for years, Ash was initially caught by surprise. Thinking it over, she realised that she must not have had anyone to go with for all that time - why else would anyone have chosen to miss out on what sounded like such a fun holiday? Suddenly the girl’s expression lit up and she clapped two of her hands together. “Wait! I have heard of this halloween. It is on those posters around school talking about the ‘halloween party’, yes?” As she spoke, the gears in the girl’s head were rapidly turning. Now that she was Astrid’s friend, she could make sure that the girl had a chance to go and enjoy her halloween this year. “What if we all went together? Then you could do the trick or treating with us, Astrid.”

The Amazing Ashen Moth!
October 24: Mission Night

---

“Right!” Ash called out to Roy, offering her squad leader a determined nod before she turned her attention to the robot that had landed among them. Narrowing her gaze as she assessed their opponent, Ash watched as Casimir didn’t hesitate before jumping into the fray. She felt a surge of anger in her chest as she watched the other hero get surprised by the villain’s tail. Booted back across the lobby, Casimir grimaced from the force of the blow. Clenching her fists at the sight of her friend in trouble, Ash called out to the robot as she raced towards it.

“Yeah, you rotten tin can!” She cried, repeating Casimir’s insult as she raised a fist and ploughed it into the machine’s face. Already, an initial plan had begun to form in her head. Roy had told her to distract it, and while Casimir’s poor insects would struggle to bite through its thick armour, Ash had a trick up her sleeve.

Aided by the other hero’s swarm and the robot’s divided attention, Ash’s blow struck home and sent the robot staggering a few steps backwards. Although it was only a brief contact, thin trails of vapour were lifting in the air as the mutant’s acid began to interact with the metal. Such a small quantity would hardly cause any significant damage, but Ash had clearly succeeded in establishing herself as a threat. With the robot’s sensors swivelling towards her, the mutant hovered in the air defiantly as she raised her arms. “Why do you not pick on somebody with as many arms as you, huh?”

For a few moments, the robot appeared to assess this new threat before a hiss sounded from its body. In an instant, its lower arms split into an additional pair - each new hand wielding the same menacing blade as its initial four limbs. Blinking in surprise at the change, Ash’s initial confidence seemed to waver. “Oh...wait, that is not very fair.”

Responding with actions instead of words, the robot leapt towards the heroine with inhuman speed. Ash shrieked in surprise as she quickly tried to maneuver out of the way of the initial flurry of blows. Turning tail, her wings beat rapidly as she sought to fly away from the aggressive robot that was now doggedly chasing behind her. Turning upwards, she tried to fly out of her opponent’s reach only to have it jump at her with its powerful legs. Twisting herself in midair, she was only just able to parry the lethal blade attached to its hand - although the collision succeeded in sending a shock through her arms. Calling out to her team, she yelled out what must have been a redundant warning at that point.

“It has six arms, guys! Six arms!”

Yoshiro Nakama
October 24: Mission Night

---

Having been guarding the rear of the squad as they moved up the stairs, Yoshiro was out of the immediate danger as the first two villains made their appearance. Feeling her teammates’ surprise through their mental link, she turned around just in time to hear Viv’s warning about the grenade. Despite her heart instinctively skipping a beat at the sight of the small, deadly metal orb, she knew that the others would have been able to handle the initial attack with ease. As if on cue, Alexis was the first to react as she used her gauntlets to hurl the grenade a safe distance away from them.

Grimacing as she realised that this would only have been the beginning of the attack, Alexis turned to call out to the rest of her squad. "Be careful, team. They're clearly well equip-"

The girl didn’t get a chance to finish her warning before she was kicked halfway across the hallway so hard that her small figure embedded itself into the solid wall. Her eyes shooting open at the brutal attack, Yoshiro instinctively called out to her friend even as the first of the villains made their appearance. “Makeshift!”

As Angelica and then Viv engaged their foes, Yoshiro’s gaze lingered on the motionless body of their squad leader as she silently hoped for some sign that the other girl hadn’t been hurt too badly already. She could at least tell from her aura that she was still conscious, but Yoshiro had to force herself to focus back on the ongoing fight regardless. You wouldn’t be able to help her if you just let yourself get taken down in the process. With Viv having been thrown up the stairs and dealing with the electricity user, Yoshiro focused her attention on the cyborg. With the force that she’d managed to hit Alexis with, it was clear that her strength wasn’t something to be underestimated. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she were the one to get hit by something like that. But the thought of sitting this one out never even crossed the girl’s mind.

Just as Buckshot had knocked the troubling brunette into being Shock Troop’s problem, she found herself having to backpedal in order to avoid Yoshiro lunging at her with her staff. Frowning as her opponent managed to dodge her initial attack, Yoshiro refused to give up the initiative as she shifted her grip on the weapon and swung it wide into the woman’s side. But Buckshot’s cybernetic arm shot out faster than even her mental forecasting could predict. Grabbing onto the staff with a metallic hand, the villain winked cockily at a surprised Yoshiro before ripping her off of her feet and flinging her into a nearby wall while wrenching the staff from her grasp.

Slamming painfully into the concrete before sliding down onto the floor, Yoshiro nevertheless didn’t suffer quite as much of an impact as Alexis had earlier. But she also wasn’t granted a respite as she looked up to see Buckshot swinging down at her with her own weapon. Letting out a cry of surprise, Yoshiro raised her hands as if in a futile effort to beg her opponent to pause. While Buckshot would never have even hesitated for such a pathetic sight, her swing was nevertheless deflected by an invisible barrier that blocked her path. Her eyes shooting open in surprise at the unexpected obstruction, she was left open as Yoshiro then pushed herself back off of the wall. Letting out a determined cry, the telepath tackled the gunslinger’s torso with all her strength and pushed them both onto the ground. Desperately trying to pin her stronger opponent, Yoshiro called out to her nearby teammate.

“Frostbite, do your thing!”

[Finland SSR]

Roy

Casimir Herman, also the same night

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

---

Setting up traps and getting the corridors ready for anything that might pass, huh. That's... a weird task to assign to their squad. Casimir immediately went forward to start setting up his swarm, Mizu pondered over the situation for a little bit before diving deeper into the lobby. Years of practice meant that she could set up a trap like a pie spring into someone's face pretty quickly, but, first off, she didn't really have the materials at hand, and second, it wasn't gonna be useful against the enemies they're gonna be dealing with anyway.

So she had nothing set up by the time the first of their enemies smashed down into the lobby. And it was a robot, too. So not only could she not do anything against it, even using illusions to help her allies was pretty much useless. The way how her powers worked meant that electronics made them useless...

Roy gave her an order, though. Keep tabs on whether anything else was coming their way.

"Uh... I guess..." confused somewhat, the girl began backing away and looking around, then suddenly leapt onto her back and shapeshifted herself to a pitch black cat mid-air.

---

Mika, her room

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

Mika's answer swung both ways - she let out a begrudging "fine" and yet went to great lengths to defend herself, even weaving around how she was only doing it all for her friend Ash and only wanted good things for her. At the same time, she dropped how Ash was one of the few people who cared for her - a category which didn't include Jan, apparently - but before he could protest, Mika turned the conversation around with a question to him.

"...No I don't get what you mean." the Virgil bluntly replied, blinking a few times in confusion.

"You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this scheme, would you? Say if you had a boyfriend, and some other girl was trying to make the two of you break up so she could force her friend to be with your boyfriend... And if you wouldn't want something to happen to you, you shouldn't let others experience that thing, right?"

---

October 3rd

Vince/Zayda, the Nuclear Plant

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

It's become pretty obvious - whatever Megan's abilities were, they were going to be a headache to deal with. Not only could she pop off the succubus's limbs without issue, her own body exhibited the exact same trait, so when Meridiana's nails wrapped around her, all they did was turn the girl into a pile of Megan-chops.

Her hands remained in place, holding the scythe as if nothing had happened, while the rest of the girl's body reassembled on the ground almost instantly. You...

Meridiana waited a bit for the disembodied arms to come closer and build up momentum, then suddenly grabbed onto the air before her and ripped to the sides. As if she were spreading apart a set of curtains, her magical powers cleaved open reality in order to create a swirling demonic portal, the same as numerous others which spawned new demons on the ground. This one led not to the underworld, however, but rather right behind Megan.

As soon as that got dealt with, Meridiana reached forward, a burst of fire manifesting in her fingertips before it formed a longbow of darkened ashwood. The succubus summoned several arrows in her other hand and let loose a volley at the purple-haired hairdresser.

Floyd's ears caught the sound of something taking place as he charged straight at Vince, and, what do you know, what should have been a killing blow ended up as a clash with an energy projection of a Dra'Quinni. Nothing he couldn't break through with enough effort, but certainly annoying nonetheless - especially since Vince began pointing out his silence right after, too.

"Well whaddya know, you can make enough snark for both of us, so why should I take the wind outta your sails?" Floyd blurted out, right before a grenade under his feet began to fizz and detonated. This time, the swordsman stood in place to see what the fuzz was about - and got promptly lifted up in the air before getting slammed back down with supernatural force. Vince instantly gave him the courtesy of an explanation - gravity switching, picking up the grenade's victims and smashing them to the floor with twenty times the gravity.

"Cool gizmo, buddy..." Floyd muttered under his breath as he rose back up to his feet, then released a huff. Demons continued rushing past them, charging towards the police barricades outside the reactor - Floyd stepped to the side a bit and reached out to suddenly grab a massive one, in the shape of a mutated bull yet almost twice as heavy, by its horns and spin it over his head.

"Here's a bull to go with ya shit!" he yelled as he slammed the demon down at Zayda's projection and then tossed it at the duo in the distance.

[Aidannadia]

Paragon inhaled on her cigarette deeply, but nearly choked on it when she heard the first blast go off. Kabuto had identified it as a grenade on the stairs, and gunshots soon could be heard afterwards. Downstairs, Paragon could just make out what was happening on the first floor from her vantage point, and it wasn't long after that the bird duo jumped out of nowhere and divebombed towards Bael's team. She began to move to help them, but paused for a split second as she saw Jackrabbit make the leap in a single bound.

"Shit, sorry Bossman I've gotta break the perimeter. Squad 3 is under attack from a birdman and a rat with wings. I'm gonna go help them out." Jackrabbit said over the Squad 5 comms.

As the situation quickly deteriorated, Aleta instead of jumping at the opportunity to engage the enemy, realized a few things. In the initial police description, five individuals were described, none of which were identified as being capable of flight. That means there were seven people at this fight total. She could see the lobby, and that meant that three were directly accounted for. Then, there was at least one individual on the stairs fighting Squad 2. That left roughly three more criminals in the upper levels, meaning Squad 4 would soon meet one, leaving a few to either escape or call for help.

And then there was the strange thing; Why was this group here? What was their goal? Aleta exhaled finally, time seeming to move in slow motion as Squad 3 began to engage their enemy. They caught attention, held up in the building long enough to get attacked, then when we began to move in, not only did unaccounted for reinforcements show up, but they moved with tactical precision and synchronized movements. It was strategic.

Someone might think that they were simply there to cause a ruckus and panicked, but that didn't quite add up. They targeted police, and then moved directly into the construction site. That would mean that instead.... She pressed her communicator to the Squad 5 channel and spoke calmly. "We're the targets. We walked into a trap, Rocket." She didn't move from her spot, keeping her gaze on the building.

[Tomia]

The Mission
"Got it!" Angelica called out to Yoshi! She rushed forward, dropping her batons as she placed her hands on Buckshot, who kicked at her and knocked her back. As she fell back Angelica carefully aimed her hand and fired a blast of cold at Buckshot freezing her arms to ground. The villain struggled, but wasn't going anywhere. "Alright, she should be stuck like this. Makeshift, anything you could do make sure she isn't going anywhere?" She asked. Then she turned on her communicator to speak to the rest of the team. "Squad 2 has one villain down, one more in progress."

Meanwhile Roy was busy dealing with the six armed menace. It was currently distracted fighting Casimir and Ash, and Mizu had jumped on the thing, distracting it. This was an opportunity for him to take advantage. He absorbed the dark energy around him, growing stronger and stronger as the energy exuded off of him. He charged forward staff in hand as he slammed down on the nearest arm, avoiding the blade and instead targeting the duller inner metal. The staff smashed down heavily and the machine jerked downwards at the blow. Nightshade struck again and again and soon one of its right arm's was ripped clean off.

"Kabuto, if I get a few more arms off this thing I need you to start smashing it alright?" He called out as she changed his focus to another one of its right arms. The machine was swinging its free arms at Roy and manages some small cuts across his arms and chest but Roy was not deterred, soon the second arm shot off and a minute later the third one followed as well.

"Selene get clear!" He shouted to Mizu, giving her a moment to get clear before turning to a different teammate.

"Kabuto now! Chuck this thing!" Roy shouted as he slammed it in the chest and sent it hurdling toward Casimir.

Hannah
Hannah barely had time to be disgusted by being handed a pair of severed feet before she was face to face with what seemed like four living piles of fire. These creatures moved towards her menacingly and Hannah tossed the feet behind her as she thought about how she was supposed to deal with this situation. She couldn't punch fire after all, and that was pretty much all she could do. She kicked a nearby pile of debris in frustration and when she went to kick it again she realized her kick was much harder and that gave her an idea. She kicked the debris more and more until the fire things were nearly upon her. Now or never she thought as she picked a nearby lose tire that was lying around. She tossed it into the air and pulvarized it with an extremely heavy punch. The blast sent a huge wave of air flying towards the elemental beasts at high speeds.

I really hope this works.

[Absolon-7]

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

The moonlit night was filled with the blaring of siren horns and the shrieks of the fleeing crowd of civilians that scattered every which way like a swarm of gnats. The birdman and pterosaur-like creature first swooped in towards the police blockade causing chaos on the street before making u-turns to had back to the heroes. The latter swooped down first at Mike scraping its claws against his shield and flying back away. It turned midair for a second strike and dived right down back at Mike but the giant winged monster suddenly gave a giant flap of its wings right before it struck Mike again and flew straight up before curving back down further along the street. It was going closer to the fleeing crowd of civilians before it picked up one and flew high up before throwing them up in a curve. It divebombed back down and harshly grasped another civilian to fly high up again and throw them up. It seemingly would keep doing the same action to any stragglers of the large crowd.

Meanwhile, the birdman had finished his own turn back towards the police barricade and he was flapping in the air observing them. He suddenly flapped himself high into the air, higher than any other building in the street, and crashed right down on the hood of a police cruiser. A hail of bullets from the assembled policeman greeted him but he had landed with his giant wings perfectly encapsulating him. The bullets ricocheted off wildly dispersing the police and even grazing a few which allowed him to unfurl his wings. The birdman hopped down from the ruined police car and sighed heavily as he saw the ones known as Bael and Forge closest to him.

"This is so boring. Would've been better if I didn't bother waking up," he sighed with not a mean tone but a genuine one.

He then cracked his neck and brought down his hands to grip onto the police cruiser. His gloved hands heavily dented the rim he gripped as he raised the police cruiser into the air and threw it right towards Mike.

[New Finnish Republic]

The Surprisingly Present Mask!

October 24th

---

"Alright, get back now. That means you, asshole," Red spoke in a scolding tone as he motioned for the crowd to remain away from the perimeter of the building, his harsh tone directed at a rather brazen spectator who was attempting to inch his way closer with a camera in his hand. The man seemed about to complain, but the sight of Red's blue vision slits glowing ominously in his direction seemed to dissuade him enough to back away. Red saw the man mumble something under his breath, no doubt scheming to write some scathing on his social media about the Mask later. Red could care less, however, as he continued to prod the crowd away from the area.

“Incoming from above! Two lizard things and a flier!”

Snapping his head back towards where Mike was, Red's eyes went wide underneath his helmet as the sight of two object flew down from the night sky above towards where he and the rest of his squad was. Letting out a loud curse, he briefly turned his attention back towards the crowd of spectators who had yet to fully react.

"Get out of here, now!"

Red's shout towards the crowd seemed more than enough to send the bulk of them scrambling away as loud panicked shrieks and cries rang out from the fleeing onlookers. However, a handful had been either too brave or too stupid to run away, the results being that one unlucky bystander had ended up in the claws of the flying creature. Almost as if it was some form of cosmic irony, the bystander happened to be the man Red had previously pointed out to back away. As he was tossed towards the ground, Red cursed once more as he pointed his wrist up towards a nearby balcony, his grappling device shooting out and quickly securing itself before sending Red flying into the air. As he did, he managed to catch the falling bystander, the man letting out a terrified cry as he changed directions in his fall until suddenly he found himself on solid ground. Or rather, above on an overlooking ledge with no clear way of getting down, a fact that was not lost upon Red as underneath his helmet a small smirk appeared on his face.

"Enjoy the view," Red sarcastically told the man, before flipping backwards off the ledge, using his still attached grappling hook to slow his descent. Once he landed, he quickly cut the line from his wrist and made his way back to the battlegrounds.

"We're at a disadvantage if they can keep swooping down on us," Red said in reply to Mike's comment. "There's too many civilians still around to get too crazy with things, but we need to get these things on the ground. Whatever you're planning, just make sure it works," he continued, rushing towards where the others were currently engaged with their unexpected advisories. Watching as the onslaught of gunfire failed to even put a scratch on the humanoid opponent, Red glanced back at the police officers nearby, noticing how several had been injured in the process.

"Don't bother trying to fight them. Get your wounded out of here, and focus on evacuating the rest of the civilians. We'll take it from here."

One of the police officers hesitated for a brief moment, seemingly not wishing to give up so easily. But a second glance at what they were up against seemed to change his mind, as he quickly gave Red a small nod before relaying the commands to the remaining officers. After he did this, the officer stared at Red for a few moments before finally speaking up.

"Give 'em hell, Mask."

Red was taken back by the comment, but quickly shook off his surprise as he turned his attention back to the threats at hand. It appeared that the humanoid was busy dealing with some of the others, which meant that it would be up to him and whoever else wasn't occupied to deal with the flying creature. Pulling a pair of rederangs from his hip, he waited for the it to swoop on past once more before sending the two projectiles flying towards it, both of them managing to clip the wings of it as it attempted to dodge out of their way. It let out a bellowing squawk as it clearly had been injured from the attacks, but nevertheless it remained flying, seemingly now having directed its attention towards the heroes rather than the civilians.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-Present Day

The trip home filled with the sounds of random chattering going on between the kids seated throughout the car. Talking about which shows to watch or games to play. It seemed strange almost as just weeks ago they were talking about if they would be able to eat. I wasn't so different. There are times I wonder if I am even the same person who hunted down the guilty throughout the city just a few months ago with only my nanites to remind me of my past life. I pulled the car up towards the drive way and just short of the garage, the kids hardly waited for me to place the car in park before the doors shot open and they hit the lawn of the suburban home like a squad of marines hitting a beach. All except for Kyle who kept pace with me. Stepping out of the driver side I made way to the front door I passed a wave to Phil who was watering his garden next door. A middle aged man with kids almost in college. I followed the kids into the house and closed the door behind me with my foot as I carried groceries in. Each of the kids placed the bags in the kitchen as I caught sight of Nick spread out on the couch, laptop on his well...lap and passing a over shoulder glance up to me. He wasn't smoking as he wasn't allowed to in the house. However his own pad across the street had a permanent aroma of Marlboro. He waited until the kids were either upstairs or in the backyard to pre occupied to eavesdrop on the conversation. I knew what he wanted to talk about, he had that same look on his face. I gave a heavy sigh as I moved to the kitchen to place the bags I held in my arms on the counter top and then started filing away the contents.

"So, tired of retired life yet?" He jabbed as he followed me in coughing.

"I'm just starting to get the hang of this shit actually. I met a real nice lady at the store today." Nick scoffed.

"Yeah, so damn nice you deconstructed her car. Look, I found something I know you will want to hear. I think it's-" I stopped him as my nanites started the work of resuming my normal appearance.

"For fuck's sake Nick drop it!" I bit my lip, not intending for it to come out like that. There was a heavy moment of silence before I tried to speak again as Nick in turn cut me off.

"Sure, I'll drop it. But let me just make something clear. All those months ago, you found me. You pulled me into this crazy ass crusade of yours. Before we met, I had resigned myself to a slow death without ever doing a damn thing to make a difference in the world. Working with you, Brianna, Sina, Seb and Caterina...it was the first and only time in my life I felt like my life would change anything. And I know I am not the only one. Brianna and Seb both believed in what we did. And guess what? Sebastian is fucking dead. Died fighting for something you started. And he believed in it. Who the hell knows where Sina or Brianna is or Catarina. We gave everything for your mission. And you got lucky. Here you are with a suburban life and kids to look after and a weekly grocery store run. That's real nice for you Alexis. But you turned your back on everyone who sacrificed for you, bled for you. And died. So while you play family life here there are monsters like Marionette running around ending lives..." He then suffered a coughing fit and slapped my hands away as I tried to help him. His eyes glaring sharply into mine as he stepped away from me.

"But please, I don't want to waste anymore of your precious time." He snatched his laptop up as he slammed the front door closed and I buried my face in my hands. He was absolutely right. And he is entitled to his anger. There was a time when I had planned on returning to my work. But when I saw that all the damage I had caused on my rampage to the criminal underworld in San Diego had been swept away....I just didn't see a point anymore. And Nick's health was even worse. I wanted him to rest. My eyes then looked out the window to the kids in the yard.

And that was what made all of this tolerable. I know I made a difference for them. Sure, I used the money I had stolen from crime rings as Vendetta to do all this but like that made a difference. Nile has enough money to float this until I get...some kind of work. But even so Nick's words just would not leave my mind.

"Nick's right you know....you used to be soooo much more funnnn." The familiar combination of a synthetic voice combined with purring was unmistakable as Calypso leaped from a cabinet onto the table. "And keeping me cooped up in the house all day is certainly animal crrrruelty." I cast a warning gaze over to the cybernetic cat.

"I won't be back talked by my own cat." I exhaled and placed my hands on my hips. Then looked downward at the cat who was curled up and obviously bored. Just like every other cat in America.

"Nile in the garage?" I asked. Calypso just gave a wide yawn and stretched out. Knowing her language that was a yes. I then made my way over to the garage door which connected to the house. I needed to talk to at least one person who would be on my side. Stepping into the garage that we kept shut because we housed the Demon in here I leaned against the garage wall and crossed my arms.

"Babe...we need to talk." I announced as Nile was slid underneath the car obviously tinkering with it.

[Tomia]

Mars
Mars was impressed by Aleta's insight and her decision to stay put. He had expected her to give him trouble after everything that had happened between them but she was clearly taking this seriously. "You might be right Paragon, but we can't worry about that now. All we can do is be cautious and prepared." He said as he saw the two bird creatures flying towards them. Things had just gotten more interesting for the perimeter team. Jack Rabbit then announced that he was going off to join the fighting, and this bothered Mars a bit. They couldn't just jump in whenever there was action and besides that wasn't their orders... His thoughts were interrupted when one of the beasts started throwing civilians in the air. Mars' mind immediately jumped to action, his boosters activating as he launched into the air.

"Paragon, you get the guy in the red shirt near you, I got the woman!" He shouted as he shot towards the woman who was falling violently. He activated a shield around his arms to cushion the impact as he slowed down and grabbed her. He slammed into the building in the process and was sliding down for two floors until he slammed down on his back, keeping the woman as steady as possible.

She climbed off of him, shaking in fear.

"Thank you!" She shouted as she ran off back behind the barricade.

"Bael we need to stop that thing from tossing civilians!" He said on his communicator.

[Aidannadia]

Mars
[...]

"Like I don't know what to do..."

Paragon was already moving when the order came through, though she didn't agree with Rocket's call not to warn the rest of the team, the most important situation going on at the moment was the civilians getting thrown about by the ugly bird. Her armor still attached to her bike, she leapt from her vantage point and swung herself across the way to the rest of the team, barely dodging a flying car that one of the miscreants had thrown earlier, until she grabbed the man in the red shirt mid air, covering the pair of them in a ball of pure tar, controlling its properties to allow it to bounce off the incoming buildings and hit the ground safely with the man inside. Though a bit shaken, he was alright. "You know, next time you come out to one of these things, maybe don't wear red? Just saying." She quipped before turning her attention to the pterosaur.

"I got it." She boasted over the radio, calling her motorcycle to her from its own vantage point, and hopping on without a single care, the pieces of armor from the bike slowly being melded to her form as she chased down the flying beast. When the lizard got close to another civilian, Paragon stood on the now naked frame of her bike, and punched the air, sending her gauntlet flying to the creature, and grabbing it by the leg, jumping from the bike, and firmly attaching herself to the ground in a single motion. "I call this one walking the dog."

[Absolon-7]

---

The birdman sighed as he let he looked over to the other side of the street and saw his compatriot in a bit of trouble which prompted yet another sigh. He unfolded his wings completely and flew high into the sky before folding them back up to torpedo himself to his location before abruptly stopping midair next to his ally. He quickly took off his glove and morphed into into the talons of a predatory bird with black scales and giant talons. He gripped the gauntlet holding onto the pterosaur's leg and with gargantuan grip strength he obliterated the gauntlet to pieces while ignoring the rabid squawks.

"Fuck off! Butcher Bird!" shrilled the pterosaur in ear percing screeches flapping his wings wildly, "The prey is mine! Not yours!"

"Can it, Abomination. Let's just deal with them and get it over with," said Butcher Bird tiredly.

His hand morphed back to a human's as he put back his glove and swooped down to on top of Aleta, "I call this stepping on gum."

Butcher Bird spun midair before letting loose a tremendous spin kick right at her head with enough force to crack the street below her. He then flew up and over the rest of the street before smashing back down to the ruined police barricade. Repeating the same action as before he then threw another police cruiser at Wyatt. Meanwhile, Abomination swooped over to Rocket and leaped onto the robots back digging its claws into the robots armor as well as trying to bite into the head with its needle like teeth. With the act futile against the armor he breathed in before letting loose a sonic scream at the helmet.

[Aidannadia]

[...]

El Cajon

"Keep it up and I'll get more creative with the nicknames, Jackass." Paragon retorted, admittedly a little satisfied with the amount of touching that was happening on their bike ride through San Diego. "So, a missing persons? I mean, are we sure they didn't just quit? Seems like a loose lead to be going off of; Do you have any more details? Do we have any solid evidence anything weird is actually going on.

[OOF]

Paragon's heart sank when she saw the hawkman's talon crush her gauntlet, leaving her with a blind spot in her defenses and showing off more strength than she thought was possible. Auntie had said her plating was 'practically indestructible, but he'd snapped it like glass. She shook off the fear that began creeping into her heart.

"Fuck off! Butcher Bird!"

The pterodacyl began talking, and Paragon admittedly had to stifle a laugh. It sounded exactly like you'd expect. Apparently, the Hawkman was actually Butcher Bird. The hero hadn't heard the name before which surprised her. She had thought herself to be pretty knowledgeable when it came to villains, but these guys were serious business and Aleta hadn't the slightest who they were.

"The prey is mine! Not yours!"

So her suspicions had been correct; the Young Bloods were the target of this group.

"Can it, Abomination. Let's just deal with them and get it over with,"

Paragon barely had time to react before the Butcher Bird divebombed her, spinning mid air, and planted his foot solidly towards her skull. She'd have dodged, but she had already planted herself firmly in place to keep Abomination in check before. As the heel connected with Paragon's helmet, a huge splash of pitch erupted from her form, splattering across the ground and onto the surrounding surfaces.

The splash had served a few purpose. Firstly it was a reflexive approach by her body to both nullify the incoming attack during a panic response. Secondly, it covered the ground, potentially lightening the blow of hitting the road below. Thirdly, a bit of pitch had actually attached itself to the bottom of Butcher Bird's foot, so that if she survived this blow, she'd at least cause him some discomfort when he landed again.

That being said, while the kick did hit like a freight train, and she felt the ground rise up to reach her face quickly, Aleta noted that the strength of the kick was hardly the strongest thing she'd ever experienced. Interesting, but a moot point as it would still be enough to leave her dazed for the next few moments. As she began trying to get back up, she felt a wave of vertigo, all too familiar at this point, and vomited pitch onto the concrete, doubling over.

"I just need... to catch my breath." She said between heaves, trying to center herself once more.

[Auropa]

Squads 3, 5 and their new avian friends

Mike Mathews/ Forge
October 24th

‘Come on you stupid bird, just get a little bit closer annndddd’ Mike thought to himself as the large bird began its dive towards him. It was a simple, dumb plan but if he got the timing right there was a good chance he could ground one the oversized thing and maybe even stand a chance at taking it out. Whether it figured out his idea or decided on a better opportunity though, it pulled up at the last second and soared away from where Mike stood. ‘Oh that is so much worse’ He thought to himself as he saw the creature dive bomb towards the civilians.

Coming to their rescue thankfully was Mask and team 5 as they moved through the crowd and worked to save those caught and flung by the creatures. But as good a job they were doing, the fact was that the squads had been pushed onto the defensive and could barely fight when they were focused on trying to protect the civilians. As things were, they were in a bad position and needed to change things fast. It was at this moment that the crunch of metal rung out as the apparent lead villain landed nearby and shrugged off the bullets sent his way before lazily looking towards Mike and letting out a sigh.

‘That can't be goo-’ Was all he was able to think before the birdman casually hoisted up a police car and tossed it straight towards him. Not seeing many options in the face of a large steel vehicle being hurled at him, Mike detonated the ground beneath his feet like a spring board and flung himself to the side in a desperate attempt to dodge. While feeling like he was close to shattering his ankles in the process, the extra force managed to push him just out of the car’s path and flat onto the floor as debris scattered and crashed around him.

In the short time it took to pick himself up, the battle continued to spiral into chaos. The Birdman, or Butcher Bird as the ‘Abomination’ creature had called him, had gone on to target the team members first with a heavy kick to one of the new members before taking aim at wyatt and hurling another car while his ‘parnter’ had made Mars his main focus and was in the process of trying to take him out with some sort of screech. But through all the chaos, Mike did spot a certain opportunity. Despite the situation around them, Mask had managed to land some of his weirdly named dart-boomerang things into the creature’s wings and while they weren’t massive, they were more than enough material for Forge to work with. Readying his shield and moving to a jog, the beginnings of another bad idea fell into place.

“Rocket, if you’re not dead yet then you’ll have an opening in a second, don’t-waste-it! Now if anyone’s got an idea for dealing with the bird guy down here, I’m all ears because I really don’t want to play keep away more than I have to.” He called out across the communicator as he began dumping his powers.

‘Well this feels eerily familiar’ he thought to himself as he picked up his pace into a run and charged towards butcher. Thinking back to how his last charge against Hex backfired, Forge braced his body, moved the shield to his front and leapt. As his feet came off the ground, his powers kicked in. The rederangs still embedded into Abomination began to flare and burst like firecrackers as the outer layer of Mike’s shield burned a blinding white before blasting outwards in a wave of force light. While sending him back the way he came, the front end of the shield let out the energy like some twisted shrapnel filled flashbang. He doubted it would be able to do much against someone who could shrug off bullets, but he hoped a blast that close and a few fistfuls of fiery rocks would grab the guys attention if nothing else and buy some more tme and opportunities for both the team and fleeing civilians.

As Forge skidded back and began recharging his shield, he took a defensive stance and paused. ‘Really wish I had a second part of this plan’ he thought to himself as he tried to guess the best place to dive to and braced for what could come next.