Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

by **Tomia** » Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:12 pm

December 10th, Young Bloods Go Camping
Mars stepped out of the car that Angelica had been driving, a bright smile on his face as he looked out at the camp site they had just arrived at. Alexis had gotten the idea of a camping trip for the team, and it took more than a little begging to convince Naja to let them take this trip, but ultimately she agreed to let them go out camping for the weekend. Cora and Katie helped win Naja over, by assuring their former teammate that they would check in on the team every once in a while to make sure they were safe. With that assurance, the team was set for weekend of swimming, campfires, and hanging out together. After a fairly stressful vacation to Ecuador, Mars was really looking forward to this trip. He had Kiris had taken the short ride with Angelica, and went to the trunk of her mother's car to grab their things. Besides the typical coolers, tents, sleeping bags, and everything else you'd bring on a typical camping trip, Mars and Alexis had brainstormed a few fun contraptions to make things more convenient.

After a bit of lugging their gear around through the campsite they eventually came to a nice open spot where they would be staying. There was no one in sight which would offer them a great deal of privacy and they were only a short walk from the lake.

"This is going to be awesome!" Mars called out to his friends.

"You know Mars, we still have to set all this stuff up." Angelica noted, but she had a small smile on her face. "Have you ever even been camping before?"

"Well ya on the beach that one time. I've also read about it..." Mars grumbled which got a laugh from her. As Angelica found a spot to starting setting up a tent, she was a little nervous about how this trip would go. Alexis was here with them... and they hadn't talked to each other since the fight. Angelica didn't even know if they were still dating, but her hopes weren't particularly high on that front. Still she wanted to try to have a good time with team, and maybe things would get a little less awkward between them in time.

"Alright, can some people go out and get us fire wood? There should be a station nearby that has some, and find some little sticks for kindling if you can." Angelica had gone camping a bunch as a kid, so she felt confident enough to take charge. "Everyone else should just helping us set up the tents and the sleeping bags. Once we do that and have a fire ready we can hangout." It was a little afternoon at that point, so it probably wouldn't be too long until they could head over to the lake, which Angelica was definitely looking forward to.

by **The Republic of Atria** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:34 pm

YBs go Camping, Wyatt

It'd been about three weeks or so since Jason had gone off to join up with The Elite or whatever they were called, and since then, he noted that the team had been a bit down, but Alexis had suggested that since Ecuador turned out to be a bit of a bust when it came to being a vacation, that they go on a camping trip. He was hesitant at first because of the cold weather, but he could probably go get some warming clothes and a decent tent, plus Aleix and Mars apparently had whipped up some sci-fi stuff to make it more enjoyable. To top it all off they could br5ing some friends who weren't on the team, but could be trusted. Of the friends he had outside of the team, the only one that would probably fit in with a group of superpowered teenagers was... Sina.

It was as good as a chance as any to introduce her to the team. Plus, he'd been meaning to spend a bit more time with her anyways. So he got the location of the camping site and rushed off to N'Toak to find his girlfriend. She was usually training with the Sandstorms, but they were usually done or wrapping up about this time, so it shouldn't be too much of a wait.

It didn't take too long to spot her, and figured the best way to surprise her was with one of his trademark bear hugs. "Hey Sina." He said. "Uh, my team's going camping, and we're allowed to bring friends... And since you haven't met any of them outside of Jason, I figured that I should invite my favorite lady." He said, slightly nervous if his tail flicking around was any indication.

The Campsite

Bael was flying over the campsite with Sina in tow, looking for where everyone set up, seeing a bit of a fire was a good indication of where they set up, and he recognized a few of them from above. He swooped down and landed as gently as he could. "Hey guys... Uh... I hope you don't mind if I brought my girlfriend... She speaks English, mostly, so don't worry about that."

by **The Rebel Alliances** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 9:50 pm

Scott Green/Former Spectrum-Wonder Tower

Seems I am not the only one who needed to step away for a while. Honestly hearing Elle talk about getting back into hero work was giving me something of a feeling of deja vu. We both seemingly stepped away for personnel reasons and seem to be jumping back into things at about the same time, and for her end she even decided to skip out on her best friend's vacation just to get a handle on hero work again. Gotta respect that. She then continued to comment that the team needs a rework and some more training to get back into things again which nearly gave me flashbacks to the earlier sessions of training I took part in.

Andrew for his part who initially seemed more annoyed about our presence than anything now seemed to be actually interested. Politely informing us that he can come off as something of an ass but he was rather experienced in this line of work and that he could help us prepare although not today. He then asked Elle if she had suggested if she knew where the Spectrum gauntlet was and inquired about what we could do. The thought of just going to grab the gauntlet without speaking to Renata first though did not sit well with me. After all I did give it away to her. So instead I just focused on Andrew's last question.

"Well...without the gauntlet not much. I come from a family of normies. But with the Spectrum Gauntlet? Well then there is....a lot that can be done. Although all of it could be summed up with construct construction powered by the various parts of the emotional spectrum and manifested through lights of the color spectrum. There are other abilities such as flight and environmental shielding for travel in dangerous environments and each emotional mode has it's own quirks and traits. So far I have discovered Courage, Fear, Envy and Rage and Renata revealed Compassion. There could be more than that but I'm unsure and it's important to note that none of this is unique to me. Seemingly anyone can harness these abilities as long as they are wearing the gauntlet. There are some more specific traits to each emotional spectrum of the gauntlet but that can be saved for another time." I finished my brief textbook summery of Spectrum and let a awkward silence hang in the air a minute before piping up.

"So what can you do?"

by **Segral** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:04 pm

Carter Graystone
A Continuation from Our Last Exciting Cliffhanger!

He was falling. He didn't know how, or why, or where, or when, only that he was falling, falling right towards an pond of blue that was expanding rapidly from puddle to bog to lake to the whole goddamn ocean. At first, everything had been dark, he had been choking under a breathing hole rapidly filling up with thick, black, smoggy smoke, but just a second later, he was totally clear, the air whipping fast enough to rip the reflex tears out of his eyes and make his crotch feel like it would fall off with one bad move. He didn't even know how he had gotten in this position, only that he was falling feet-first, looking straight down at the Pacific Ocean. He couldn't hear anything but wind in his eardrums, couldn't smell or taste anything but smoke, couldn't feel anything but the pressure in his fingertips and the wind trying to rip his crotch off, couldn't see anything but the ocean, the Mariana Trench down below. It wasn't coming in slow motion like it did in movies, it was coming fast, scrambling up to meet him, and if he didn't do something to break his fall, he could break every bone in his body.

With a deep breath, he clenched his fists and pushed himself into a straight pencil dive, hoping and praying with every fiber of his being to land in the deep end. He had watched some show with Wyatt once that told him that hitting the water feet-first gave you the best chance of survival. He felt wind whip even harder through his helmet, the flexible clasps and bands struggling to keep the shell on top of his face as he concentrated a massive stream of air to blow up underneath his body. The air resistance began to buffer his fall, sending slight wobbles through his course and creating a shallow crater in the water's surface as it pushed up on his suit and glued it to his skin. Still, it wasn't enough, wasn't enough to prevent him from stopping below the water's surface, and so, he tightened his muscles, shoved two fingers through his breathing vent, and grimaced hard enough to make the nerves in his face twitch as he prepared for impact.

And impact it was, an almighty PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM as he kicked through the crater and broke into the water underneath. For a moment, everything was dark aside from a rush of tiny, foaming bubbles spraying against the helmet's visor, but the light soon caught up with him, illuminating his entire world blue. The chill too, causing his whole body to freeze over and thud with the dull ache of slamming into the pool at such a high speed. Especially in his fingers. He almost forgot to plug the vent, and good that he had remembered. If he had left it open, his helmet probably would've turned into an aquarium and his skull probably would've turned into one little fish tank. Instead, he was breathing whatever leftover oxygen was stuck inside his helmet, his head forced into a weird backwards tilt that forced him to look up at the surface of the pool he had just fallen through.

He could see beams of sunlight slashing through the water and illuminating the walls and floor around him as he drifted further and further down, as well as small chunks of rubble and plaster that were beginning to storm down from the world above like hail. He was a Cali boy, he wasn't ready to deal with hail, especially on summer vacation! Pushing his eyes and to the side away from the hail showed a few details he had missed before. Peacocks decorating the siding of the pool, just underneath the concrete apron. Large floodlights that probably shot the water with some sort of deep blue or gold, like they did back in San Diego. A metal ladder some distance away, tempting, but too far away to reach. His best bet was to try to kick back up for the surface, and soon. He could already feel his toes beginning to skim the ocean floor.

With one huge, frog-like whip kick, he pushed his way up, using his free arm to help shove the water down and let him float to the surface. The suit was weighing him down, especially the boots, but he was making his way up in decent time, the surface and shadows behind it becoming more and more clear as he got higher and higher. Three feet away from the surface...two feet...one foo-

A sudden explosion blasted out to Carter's right, throwing him off-course and sending him rapidly tilting around in an attempt to see whatever the hell had just joined him inside this aquatic Terrordome. A cloud of foaming bubbles kept whatever it was view, but he heard it before he saw it, a whirring, slurring, clicking monstrosity that sounded like this really catty bitch from his English class whenever she got all pissed at him for his "overdue" homework. Stacy Paul! That was her name! It was a croaky, tweaked-out version of Stacy Paul, one that held a full head of black instead of strawberry blonde. Wait, why was it--

It hit his head as it hit is torso, catching him in the leg and stomach and beginning to rip him away from the painstakingly close surface. A drone. It had to be, it had the same flat top, the same long propellers at the back that nearly caught his foot before he dragged it back, the same ring of light bulbs that brightened up the camera lens for better exposure when necessary. The camera was gone, probably torn out, but the motors were still working, and they were raging bull angry. The motor went up, down, and to the side, the push knocking his fingers loose from the breathing vent and forcefully wrapping his arms around the metal disk crushing his torso. It was aggressive and pillowy at the same time, nothing behind him to stop it, but no way to push back against the sinking weight in his stomach. At least not until he felt his back meet the wall, a gentle press turning into a hard clamp that firmly pushed any remaining air out of his lungs as the drone hit an immovable wall, began to skew to the right, and got its propellers caught right through one of the peacock's wings, missing his arm by inches in the process. For a few moments, the motor and blades dangerously shuddered, the flickering bulbs throwing weird splotches and shadows all over his mask. And then, they stopped, not even shaking in place, just completely still.

And there he was, all trapped up like Shawshank.

The shift right had relieved some of the pressure off of his abdomen, but in return, the pressure around his valve had decreased from his loose fingers, and by the time he plugged them back in, he was forced to throw his head back as much as possible to avoid dipping his mouth and nose underneath a growing swamp of cold water. Grunting, he attempted to throw the machine off of him with his free arm and whatever strength he could muster from his waist, but it was no-go. It was too heavy, and the propeller was too far jammed into the siding. He tried to push it away with a gust, but that was no-go too, he too drained after breaking his fall to make any real push out. Everything hurt, his whole body hurt, all the way down to his bones. Even his neck hurt, just from the strain of craning to avoid choking to death. He had to escape, he had been through too much to go out like this. He could survive four angry terrorists with guns, but he couldn't survive this? But how was he supposed to get out? He couldn't move, couldn't use his powers, couldn't take his suit off, couldn't do...anything. Was this what Wile felt like every time he couldn't catch Roadrunner? He didn't know what to do, and the more he didn't know what to do, he could feel himself begin to panic more, panting like Harley as he began to flail and hopelessly drum against the drone pinning him up against the plastic peacocks.

"Breathe innnnnn, machan." echoed Garuda's voice in his head, his eardrums taking over as he scrunched his eyes closed. "You cannot allow fear to overtake you. Retreat to your inner sanctuary, find the breath in your chest and throat, examine the surroundings.", or something like that. Usually, Carter thought that it was a bunch of bullshit, but he needed to calm down now. The more he moved, the more he wasted his energy and breath. And he didn't have much time left, he was already starting to feel lightheaded. Here went nothing.

With one last draw in through his nose, he let warm air fall down his throat and chest for a few seconds, letting it sit for another five afterwards. He couldn't hold it anymore past that, letting it gush out in a gentle flow and closing off his nose for another moment to let the cycle reset. He repeated the cycle a second time, focusing on maximizing the amount of seconds he could get off of a tiny amount of breath, and then a third, letting his body fall into a natural rhythm. He could feel his breath and heartbeat slow in soft, even measures, his whole body stop moving aside from what was naturally carried by the water's currents. Working fast was key, he had almost nothing left in his helmet by now. His chest was burning up, screaming out for air, and his head felt like someone was trying to hit a home run with it, slamming it with a bat until his skull split open. He had to probe out, reach out, gather his power. He could feel it swirling around his palms, he could feel pressure building up between the metal and his suit, he could feel his skin skimming across the suit and hear his own heartbeat. But it was too late. It was too late. He was already too peaceful, he wanted to stay, he didn't want to leave...

The next thing he knew, light was everywhere, stinging his eyelids and dancing in splotches all around him. He was tumbling, his knees and elbows hitting dry land, then wet land, his breath coming back in streams as cold air washed all around his face. Shouts and mechanical whirrs echoed all around him, but they dulled out into one indistinguishable blur, moving at the same speed as he did as he rolled across what felt like rough-edged stone. Eventually, his whirling stopped and he landed squarely on his back, his shoulders rolling back and forth and his cheat heaving up and down as he narrowed his eyes in a bleary attempt to focus his vision. It cut through the glittering drops that had accumulated in front of his vision, focusing on a small, floating cloud that was hovering over him. And then, another cloud at his corner, and another cloud, and another cloud, all peering in and taking the shape of human faces that crowded him from all sides. Because they were human faces. That was a real person, and they could all see him sputtering and coughing away underneath his suit, spasming and jerking around like he was on Intervention. Or so he thought. From the fragments of English he caught, it seemed as if they had no idea what the hell they were looking at.

"...alive...?"

"Move......"

"CPR?"

"CPR, moorkh! What the fuck are you waiting for?"

"Lekin Garuda-ji, tum aison kyo--"

A loud smack pierced Carter's ears, accompanied with the sight of one face swatting another with a clearly irritated expression. "

"TUM PAAGAL HO!" the swatter shouted, eliciting a mixture of painful giggles and grimaces from the rest of the crowd. "HIS RIBS AND HIS SPINE WILL BREAK, OONT! USE CPR KEE JAROORAT HAI!"

"But Garuda-ji, what of Good Samaritan La--"

"INDIA HAS A GOOD SAMARITAN LAW, SANVIDHAAN KO DEKHO!"

At those words, Carter grunted in an attempt to put an end to the chaos, raising one arm with his index finger out in an attempt to silence the conversation. Almost immediately, every face and pair of eyes snapped to look at him, some even kneeling down to get closer to him, to hear his words if they came out as a dying whisper. However, instead of a pained gasp, they came out as an even groan, one that sounded more annoyed than tortured.

"If you guys fucked up that take, I'm quitting this stupid movie..."

A collective laugh erupted out from the crowd, a few cheers and roars and whoops worming their way in as well. The words had a noticeable effect on the the mood, breaking the tension like a sharp knife and taking the straws off of everyone's backs. Worried grimaces were swept away in favor of light, easy grins and chatter, and Carter's position on the ground was replaced by a man who vaguely looked like Garuda suddenly hoisting him onto his shoulders somehow, ripping off his helmet in a single sweep so that Carter's wet mane could flow freely in the wind.

"Disaster and evil tried to claim this boy, but God said no, GOD gave him the blessings to live! God, and the one and only GARUDA!" the muscular man shouted, a spread of cheers erupting in response to the boast. "Did you see the way he used the air to break his fall, spread the water like that?! We learned those techniques together, that's our training! Certain death transformed into one of the finest cinematic stunts of our time!"

"But will it even make on the final cut, Garuda-ji?" said another voice, thin and polite. Abhoy Basak, Shaatir's actor. One of South Asia's hottest and most viral new superstars. "The producers may not appreciate the deviation in storyboard, haan? Or the screenwriters. It may be best if we...if we reshoot."

"No." said another voice, a trembling, older one, one that still carried enough boom to silence the entire crowd of chattering individuals. Randhawa. "The shot is perfect. It's beautiful, it's daring, it's dramatic, and before the drones went down, we caught multiple shots. I will discuss it with the producers and the screenwriters. It will stay. It must stay!" he proclaimed, another round of cheers echoing out above the hotel's back lot.

"That's the spirit!" Garuda rumbled, shooting a cocky grin at Basak, who looked somewhat miffed at being rebuked so easily by a director of Randhawa's clout.

"Filming will be stopped for today. Something very special happened, and it would be wrong of me to hold you back from celebrating while I work out the kinks. Enjoy yourselves, and prepare for tomorrow!" Randhawa cried on, sending another wave of whoops and cheers and pumped fists through the crowd, the crew immediately beginning to scramble back to their stations while the cast and stunt doubles began to file out of the hotel's gates in massive droves. The air was lively, making Carter's sensitive, water-logged head spin with the effort of keeping track of all of the conversations, songs, dances, footfalls, and shouts that whistled past him. If he listened to it any longer, he'd get queasy and fall right off Garuda's shoulders, so he blocked it out. He pulled his head up, looking towards the blue sky, the white, cotton-candy-like clouds, and a chubby white bird flying lazily overhead. It distracted him from the sudden, pitching motions of the crowd and the never-ending sprawl of grins mixed with a few oddly sour faces that grew underneath him. At least, until the realization hit him.

Bending down, Carter put his mouth to Garuda's ear, whispering a single sentence.

"Uh, where exactly are we going?"

"Have you ever heard of Chandigarh's Gunpowder?"

by **Finland SSR** » Tue Jun 29, 2021 8:55 am

Sina As'tari, sponsored by the Desert Sandstorms!

It has been a while since the last time Sina hanged out with Bael - formerly curiosity, then mission partner, then friend, then... boyfriend? That's the best way of describing it, probably, though it was still weird to imagine sometimes. So, when the fellow Dra'Quinni suddenly tackled her in the streets of N'Toak, she yelped in surprise. Immediately, she started wrapping her arms around Bael's shoulder, getting reading to lift him over and slam him to the ground - but as soon as she heard his voice, Sina giggled and replied:

"Heyyy, Bael..."

The other Dra'Quinni needed her for something - his superhero team is going camping, they are allowed to take friends with them, and he wanted to take her - his "favorite lady" - an odd choice of words which got Sina to chuckle.

"Cute..." she muttered, then slowly pulled herself out of Bael's bear hug. "Sure, when is this?" After a quick date check, and a thought back to what she has on her schedule, Sina replied:

"Ah, well, I have flying safety practice on that day - but I'm not gonna need that... so sure thing!"

Unlike Bael's human friends, he and Sina took the far superior flying route until they finally reached the campsite. Unlike her boyfriend, who landed slowly and safely, she dove straight down, speeding past treetops and branches before finally landing with a roll, a slide, hands out-stretched and a "Tada!"

"Hey everyone!" She called out as soon as she jumped up to her feet. A thought in her was wondering how many of Bael's peers would recognize her - she was, after all, a member of the Outriders before they split, and as far as she was aware, the Outriders, or at least Lexi, had a tight relationship with at least some of the Young Bloods. After the initial smile and wave, she leaned closer to Bael and whispered in their language:

"I thought your friends would be more intimidating. You're probably the only one here who could even scare anyone..."

by **North America Inc** » Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:15 pm

Shihong Smith
December 10th

"Why are we even here?" Olivia asked as she exited the car. It was just past the afternoon as a grey overcast hung over the area, trails lead too and from the dirt parking lot.

April getting out of the backseat was quick to answer, "Well Shi asked us too. And well, it's not like everyday we go camping. Come on, just enjoy it."

Not even ten seconds in to the trip, Olivia stepped on a mushy mud puddle. Deadpan she stared down at her now sludge covered foot, not cleaning it or even moving it, just staring. "My hatred for this place can not be fathomed."

Shi couldn't agree more with that sentiment. The last thing she wanted to do after Ecuador was go on another trip, even less so here in this backwater rural hellhole, but this was apart of her job. Unfortunately. So she'll play the usual niceties and 'hang out'. Olivia and April were just here so she didn't gouge her eyes out from the sheer boredom. Grabbing the bare minimum from the trunk while April took the lion share, "Come on you two. The campsite is over here."

Olivia grabbed a single solitary sleeping bag, her sleeping bag, and followed right behind the two."This has to be the worst thing we've ever done for you."

"Don't remind me."

April who carried three luggage bags, two sleeping bags, foldable chairs, and her own frisbee, took the lead as she made out the group's silhouette. "That's the team!" Peaking through the side of Shi's Gucci, she took some time to get a good look at each of them. Besides the ones she went to school with, she had only heard the stories Shi had shared. It sounded so much larger than life. Acting, and their own side jobs, couldn't compare to that. "Oh." Her nose lifted, her face souring a bit, "They've much more...frumpier than I imagined. Definitely more sixes here too." However she wasn't going to let that ruin her day. Her permanent smile to returned, "Well at least they still have their personality!"

Olivia grinned, before her permanent scowl returned. "Oh how I love giving up my weekend for this. I'm sure 'everyone else' is doing something infinitely better than this."

Shi nodded in agreement, while April entirely ignored the point for her own question. "Hmm I wonder, what are they doing? You ever think about that, like what is someone doing right now as we do this. Not even knowing someone else in the world is thinking about them."

"Right..." Olivia was annoyed about the tangent. Coupled with losing her train of thought, she just repeated her last point, "So yeah, I'm sure it's a lot more action packed than this drab meet-in greet."

Somewhere in LA

"So now you use the clay?" Lucy asked as she hung over his side watching his artistry at work. He had cut the onions, the garlics, done all the seasoning, so her interest was at a fever pitch as she eyed the large reddish-brown block.

"Almost." Virgil had already placed the prosciutto around the pork loin, now he was them tying together. "After you tie together, you double wrap it with lotus leave."

"Right, right. So besides looking really cool, what's the point of roasting clay?"

"I love cooking with clay. It creates a more succulent dish. And adds a little..." Virgil stared off to the hammer resting on the dining table, "...theatricality to dinner."

The trio finally made it to the group, a little while after Wyatt and his girlfriend had made their entrance. Taking the lead Shi spoke up, "Hey everyone." She turned back to April, "Thank you again for letting me bring some friends with me. That was so nice of you guys. This is..."

"Hi I'm April! It's so nice to meet all of you." April placed their stuff on the ground near by, handstanding the rest of the way. " I've heard so much about you guys!"

For her part, Olivia just stood there and quickly flashed her hand, "Hi I'm Olivia."

by **New Finnish Republic** » Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:58 pm

Camping Trip

The roar of engines could be heard loud and clear as a pair of motorcycles raced down the highway stretch that led to the campsite. One bike held only one rider, while the other had an additional passenger that was hanging on to dear life to rider sitting in front of them. Back and forth the two motorcycles went ahead of one another, gaining the lead for a short while before a slight error or fortunate slipstream would send the other in front of them. From time to time, would rider would briefly turn back to deliver the other some form of taunt, whether it was verbal or through the gesture of a lone finger. Approaching the entrance to the campgrounds, the two riders reluctantly ceased their chase and gently throttled their motorcycles next to where a large collection of vehicles had already assembled.

Taking off his helmet and running his fingers through his now sweat-soaked hair, Red took in a deep breath as the fresh air of the countryside filled his lungs. It wasn't often he was able to get away from the congested city that was San Diego, and he had every intention of enjoying this brief "vacation" as much as possible. He knew that now that the team was back from Ecuador, he knew that he would get much more busy once they were done here. He'd also have his hands full with his plans with Aislinn soon, and just the thought of what lie ahead was enough to make Red grimace.

Looping his helmet onto his bag, Red popped open the storage area of his motorcycle and pulled out his remaining belongings that hadn't been able to fit in his backpack and began to make his way over towards the campsite. When he got there, a few things of note immediately were brought to his attention. The first, and much less important, aspect was that a pair of girls Red didn't recognize were situated next to where Shi was. Based on their body language, it appeared they weren't familiar with the team as well, making Red question why Shi had brought them along in the first place. It didn't matter too much he supposed, but he hoped that they were a bit more "amicable" than his teammate.

The other thing of note that drew the largest portion of his attention was the sight of someone Red recognized. A red Dra'Qunni female stood next to Wyatt, and based on what he could see between their interactions, it appeared that there was a little more than a mere friendship going on between the two. While Red didn't blame his team leader for pursuing a relationship, the fact that he had chosen someone previously a part of the now defunct Outriders was enough to raise an eyebrow from him. For a brief moment, Red caught Sina's gaze, prompting Red to give a curt nod before heading off in a separate direction away from where everyone else was congregating. He didn't want to cause a scene, but he'd get around to talking to the Dra'Qunni once he could get her away from the rest of the team.

Unfurling the small personal tent he had brought along, Red wasted little time in getting his living arrangements sorted out. He picked a spot a little further away from where people had thus far set up their items, but based on the fact that not many other tents were present it was likely he'd soon be crowded by others by the time the night finally arrived. Red could only pray that whoever picked the spot next to his wasn't a snorer. Aside from the tent itself, he had brought along a few other minor items such as a sleeping bag, a pillow, a few outfits he could change into, some basic hygiene products, a small hand axe, and a fishing pole with enough accessories to accommodate whatever was biting.

Putting on one of his more worn out Yankees ballcaps on, he kept said said fishing pole and started making his way towards where the lake was. As he did, he passed by where everyone was still assembled, giving everyone a small wave of his hand in greetings. "I'm going to try and catch something for dinner. I read that they recently stocked the lake up with some rainbow trout, so with any luck we'll have a nice meal," he called out before continuing onwards. Whether or not anyone planned on joining him was of little concern to himself, as he was looking forward to what was promised to be excellent fishing.

After making his way to a more secluded area, Red started setting up his line so that it would be optimized for his targeted prey. Placing on moderate sized spinner lure and hook on the end of his line, he scanned the water around him for an optimal location to cast towards. It had been quite some time since he had last gone fishing, but he recalled how especially with trout they were often found near either aquatic vegetation or fallen logs as a way in which to avoid larger predators. While far from the freezing conditions he would have faced elsewhere, the December weather had cooled off enough that going for deeper spots in the lake would be a last resort as the fish would tend to stick closer to the surface where the water was more hospitable.

After making up his mind, he flicked his pole towards a large clump of algae a few dozen yards away, listening to the sound of the lure impacting the water with a satisfyingly plunk. Once he was confident he wasn't snagged on anything, he found a comfortable spot up against a nearby tree stump and waited for any sign of vibration from his pole.

by **The Republic of Atria** » Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:42 pm

Who Dares Wins, Part 2

Maria alternated between tacking away at her laptop and looking at Jason who was running on a large treadmill. It was easily large enough to fit a small car, but he was wearing metal armor so it was close enough. "Solid heart rate. Good speed too. You're doing at least thirty five. Close to forty in full sprint." She said.

"I can see that. That's good isn't it?" He asked, trying not to sound as winded as he was. Though it probably wouldn't slip past her.

"Well, Usain Bolt's record is 27.78. So I'd say you're definitely in the superhuman range." She said, tapping a few keys that started to slow the treadmill down. "Catch your breath. I don't know how that compares to your old stats though. I can make some guesses but you're probably in a similar range."

"I didn't get around by running very often. The whole slime swinging thing was way faster." He replied, stepping off, and collapsing into the nearest chair. It was easier to breathe with his helmet off rather than it off. "Plus, the whole sticking to walls and ceilings was pretty good. I liked the maneuverability."

"I can see that." Maria replied. "I think I've got most of what I need on the stats portion. Have you been thinking about a new name? You can't go by Sludge anymore now that you're all silver, and glowy purple."

"Been thinking about a few, but I'm not settled on anything. It's harder than I thought."

"It can be. There's a ton of ways to go about it. The most common is just to include or give an allusion to your power, since that's what's going to be on display. Like Kabuto on your team. He obviously likes anime, and the bug helmet is the main focus. Unless he's just a dummy and doesn't know Kabuto translates to helmet. Bael just... goes by his first name. But it's alien enough that it doesn't matter. He's a three hundred pound lizard man who can press lift a goddamn tank. I'm just happy he didn't go with one of the 'ironic' brute names like Smalls or Tiny. And I say that as someone who knows a brute who calls himself 'Truck Tire'."

"There's no way there's some lunatic calls himself Truck Tire." He said, only to be met by Maria's grin and a nod. "Okay, I can definitely come up with a better name than that."

"There're some people who give themselves deliberately goofy or unusually edgy names. The thing about those is that you really better be able to back it up. In Truck Tire's defense, he's pretty competent. So he gets a pass. People will respect you more. Turbo edgy names though, naming yourself after some deity is just cause for people wanting to see if they can take you on for the super equivalent of street cred. So you'd better be powerful enough to back up that name or you're going to get your ass beat thoroughly and mercilessly. Example for that is-" She explained before being cut off.

"Moloch."

"Ding ding ding." She said in the voice of a game show host. "Yeah. He's actually a pretty scary motherfucker. Props for paying attention."

"What about you? How'd you come up with your name?"

"Well, it's how my power works. Some people have the power to see forward in time. Some can see backwards in time. Some can see..." She trailed off and motioned to him.

He thought for a second. "Sideways?"

"Two for two." She said. "Yeah. I can extrapolate on things far, far better than a normal person. Early on I just used it to cheat in school and verbally eviscerate some prick guy who was an asshole. Told him his then girlfriend was cheating on him with another guy. Oh boy. Oh boy. High school was... An interesting time. But I never had to study, so that was a plus. Teachers were never the wiser, just thought I was one of the super nerds. Graduated, did a bit of snooping, these guys found out, and hired me because they needed a good thinker. Which I absolutely am. I called myself Witness because well. I can see things in such a way that I witness them. Like when you call someone in who saw a crime. That's my power. It's not flashy, but goddamn it's effective. Most of the time."

"Oh yeah? Seems to me like it's pretty strong."

"It's really good. Some people've called it 'anime logic'. You watch any anime?"

"Not really no."

"Damn. Anyways, it's almost as good. Thing is I do need actual facts or things just... Spiderweb out of control. Too many paths. I get overwhelmed. I can also jump down the wrong rabbit hole if the information I get is incomplete or flawed. Which wastes a lot of time and effort. I'm sure Dragoness has rubbed in the fact that she found a way to mess with it."

"You don't do languages you don't speak?"

"I can usually grasp the intent if not the exact meaning. I've had enough exposure to most languages that I get most of them, but that was the first time I've ever heard Dra'Qunni spoken aloud. So she took advantage of it. I'm only slightly bitter about it, but Aurelion says it keeps me grounded and remembering that my power isn't flawless. Which is true. I can get a bit of a big head sometimes."

"Sometimes she says." Jason replied with a sneer.

Maria rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "Yeah. Hey! We're supposed to be talking about your new name, not my life's story!"

"I've got a few. Sentinel's the one that first popped into mind, but it's a bit generic. Bulwark, but like, I only use the shield a bit."

"Hmm. Yeah, I think Sentinel's a bit generic. Bulwark doesn't fit either, yeah. Your focus isn't force fields. Hmm. Well, lets narrow things down. I'm getting the vibe that you're not really going to go with something edgy or goofy." She said and Jason gave her a nod. "Amp, because you amp things up and your staff thing has that weird electricity thing going on. Amplify? Upgrade because you upgrade things?"

"Ehhh... I think Amp gives off the idea of electricity too much. Upgrade sounds too tinkery."

"To be fair, you can basically do that minus the tech part."

"Not the point!" He said and went back to thinking. "Bastion?"

"Better than Bulwark. Kind of gives off the hero vibes a bit more too. Somehow it hasn't been taken already, but it is slightly generic." Maria replied.

"Hmmm. Arsenal? Cause I've basically got an entire arsenal of melee weapons in one?" He said, bringing up his baton and shifting it a bit.

"Taken."

"Fuck." Jason muttered. "Man, this is way harder than I thought it would be." He said with a bit of a defeated laugh. "Alright, I've got one more idea. Manifest."

She thought for a moment and looked at her laptop. "That's not too bad at all. Multiple meanings, has people focus on the weapon manifesting different shapes while hiding your ability. I'll pencil that down as a definite maybe. My next suggestion was going to be Chevalier, but I think that's a bit too... Noble sounding for you?"

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad." He snickered and leaned back in his chair. "It's not bad though. Fits the knight theme I've got going."

"It does. However, my final suggestion, best for last, given everything I've learned and know about you: Intrepid."

"That sounds like a bad thing."

"Intrepid's exact definition means to be fearless and adventurous. Which you are, in my honest opinion. Come on, you fought Darkstar in hand to hand combat and were being an asshole to her the entire time. That's pretty brave. You joined up with us, which was a pretty bold and adventurous thing to do given the circumstances. You're about to fight Jack tomorrow."

"Yeah..." He said in a way that was obvious that he was still conflicted. It wasn't bad and fit quite well in his mind. "I'll think about it."

"Sleep on it." She said and closed her laptop. "Don't be afraid to run it by some of the others. It might go over Jack's head, but I think everyone else might see it." She said and shook his shoulder. "I wasn't joking about the sleep, Jack's got a bone to pick with you. I highly recommend going to bed a little early."

"Any tips?"

"Don't back down. If he sees that despite everything, you're still not gonna surrender to him, he'll at least give you a bit more respect. He'll give you more bonus points if you hurt him to such a degree he gets some new mutations. I'm not going to lie, the odds are stacked against you. He's got a pretty crazy pain tolerance and heals fast enough that it doesn't matter. Which in turn makes him stronger. Hit him as hard and as quick as you can. Go for bits of him that'll throw him off. Eyes, tendons, his spine if you can. All of those will heal up, but they'll give you a minute or so to catch your breath." She said.

"Yay." He said with all the enthusiasm of a child getting used socks for his birthday.

"You'll be fine. Worst case scenario: Salazar fixes you up. Jack doesn't pay much attention to the goings on of everyone else, so he'll probably take it... easy-ish."

"I'll figure something out. He can't be worse than Darkstar."

by **Galnius** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:16 pm

Young Bloods vs Nature

To Angelica Dalin, the idea of going camping seemed almost alien. She had gone before, of course. Just after school went out, in fact. Before she raised she had powers. Before she remembered an old life. Before the Young Bloods. In a way, it felt like she know had two precious lives, both with very little in the way of memories. One back in the 90's, and one that lasted a short few months. In a way she missed the latter, but she wouldn't go back if given the choice. Still, when given the option to do something as normal as an all kids camping trip, she leapt at the opportunity. She may not return to being normal, but there was no harm in pretending she was, at least for a little while.

She rode with Whitney and Wendy, her best friend and someone she hired she could count as a friend. Normally she was quiet, but today for some reason she couldn't keep her mouth shut. She hoped she wasn't annoying either of them, but there was just so much to talk about. As they came upon the last stretch, she shifted the topic from her previous camping trip to what she has prepared for this one.

"One moment, let me check to make sure I have everything. Let's see..."

Angelica unbuckled her seatbelt and quickly clambered over the seat, grabbing a backpack that seemed to weigh as much as she did. With quite a bit of effort, she pulled it up, over, and onto her lap, managing not to bump anything but the top of her head. Opening it, she quickly shuffled around.

"Other than clothes, because obviously, I have....sunscreen, a bathing suit in case we go out on a boat, a foldable life jacket, also in case we go out on a boat, some whistles that are also a compass, enough for everyone, bug spray as I don't know if Casimir can keep them away while he's sleeping and I really hate mosquitos, a first aid kit big enough for the team, just in case anything major happens, blankets, toiletries, a sleeping bag, an extra sleeping bag in case anyone forgot theirs, and I brought the Leviathan Trilogy. I couldn't leave home without it. I've got 'em in a water proof bag, just in case it rains."

Angelica looked over her bag sadly. "That should be enough right? I couldn't bring much more. Do you think we'll be okay? Nothing will happen, right? Oh, there's everyone!"

When the car finally came to a complete stop, Angelica hopped out, her orange summer dress catching the breeze and clinging to her for a split second. She gripped the backpack as strongly as she could, and with nothing more than a small wobble managed to catch it on her back. After only a few steps, though, the weight seemed to disappear, though she also seemed caught on something. Looking up, she was surprised to find Andrew holding onto it.

"Let's not have you hurt before we even reach the campsite. Give it here and help your friends. I'll let you at the campsite."

Angelica reluctantly complied, and Andrew took off towards the others. He arrived just after Shi's party, bounding in through the clearing and removing his trademark goggles.

"Ah, looks like I'm on time. Just one second..." Andrew placed Angelica's backpack, and his own sport's bag, down in a heap in the clearing and rejoined the group.

"I haven't been camping in ages. How is everyone anyway? Bael, Bael's girlfriend, Princess, Princess's.....groupies?" Andrew extended a hand out to the plus one's while trying his best to come off as welcoming. " I'm Jackrabbit. Let me know if you need anything."

by **Segral** » Fri Jul 02, 2021 1:31 pm

Whitney Alvord
December 10th

When Angie said she had wanted to bring a few items "to be prepared", Whitney had assumed it would just be a few extra odds and ends. A water filter, or some freeze-dried meals, maybe a trowel if she was really paranoid about losing plumbing. What Whitney hadn't been expecting was an inflatable life raft, what looked like two dozen mirrors, and enough nylon to commit at least three, maybe four executions. Admittedly, she had thought about putting up a fight over getting them in the trunk at all. Her Mazda could only carry so much between herself, Angie, Wendy (who had elected to tag along with them as they headed out), and their respective sets of gear, and although the drive was short and she was good behind the wheel, the engine or tires had a solid chance of blowing out at any moment. They had a good handful of other teammates to lug their own fair share, and with whatever gadgets the lab rats would bring along, it would probably be as close to glamping as you could get without just building a cottage with a wooden fireplace smack dab in the middle.

She knew it was a lost cause though. There was always the chance the entire team would fall into the bystander effect and not bring anything because everyone believed someone else would bring something, and besides, she didn't want to make Angie any more anxious than she already was. Her anxiety never got as bad as it did back in the library all those weeks ago, and Whitney had given her enough sleeping pills to force her to catch a few hours of shut-eye every night, but it was a never-ending tide that came and went, flooded and retreated. Some days, it would be a slightly awkward conversation on what they would do if a fire started in the infirmary. Other days, it was, well...the drapes on the fourth floor. At least that weird Deacon guy helped her where Whitney couldn't, but even still, the last thing she needed was to feel exposed and unsafe in the middle of a forest. Picking a fight would just go sour, especially if the two were going to be hanging around each other all weekend. Maybe if she felt like her fear was acknowledged, she could feel safe leaving town and actually relax for a change. Or maybe Whitney was just enabling her by letting her lug all that extra gear...

Either way, when her slightly decrepit chunk of metal on wheels finally skidded into the parking lot after teetering through a hair-raising bend in the road, Whitney couldn't help but let out a long exhale of relief, sinking into the back of her seat for the first time that trip. She hadn't realized how tightly her jaw muscles had been clenched until she felt the loose pressure escape through the gap in her teeth, nor how tightly she had been gripping the wheel until a flood of relief ripped through her hands, the color finally returning to her knuckles. She could almost feel the blood pressure decreasing in her veins, even when Angie jumped out of the car with a boulder strapped to her like Sisyphus. Andrew seemed more than happy to deal with that. On her part, Whitney could focus on unbuckling herself and leaning to the left, peering out the driver's side window to see part of their crew making a beeline for an open patch of land in the distance. The outline of a sparkling lake wasn't too far beyond in the distance, the path and the lot not too far the other way, and there was no way to get treed in to the point where every step came with the risk of getting whacked in the face by a loose branch. Not a bad spot, not a bad one at all. Maybe this little trip would actually be...nice?

It was relieving to hear considering how much prodding it had taken to convince her to go in the first place. Between the steaming pile of shit that the Ecuador "vacation" had turned into and her pheromone booster ending up as a bust at home, she had been too bummed and engrossed in work to even consider the opportunity when it first came up. But it was always possible that a break was exactly what the nurse had ordered. She hadn't been camping in forever, and had barely left the city aside from the occasional Thanksgiving ski trip in the same period of time. Even in the days and hours leading up to their departure, she would catch herself daydreaming like a goofy idiot about sitting around a roaring fire, or hiking through some overgrown bush. It was kind of childish, but whatever. She could grow into it.

On that cheery note, she popped open the door on her side and jumped down into the dirt, popping another piece of mint gum from her jacket's plastic pack in her mouth as she made her way to the back of the car. One press of her keys caused the trunk's door to slowly bend its way open by the time she made it to the rear end, revealing a space that was crammed from side to side and floor to roof with whatever Angie had carefully and neatly packed in perfect rows, plus whatever herself and Wendy had thrown on top. While on one hand, she was feeling mildly prideful over having driven up a mountain with that much weight in her car, she was also feeling mildly apprehensive at the thought of lugging all of that to the campsite, to the point where she shivered from apprehension and a particularly strong gust of wind as the other two girls came into her field of view.

"Alright, unless there's a particularly strong need for the inflatable life raft to be on hand at this moment, I'm gonna suggest that we just grab the bare essentials for now." Whitney said with a slight smirk, grabbing her own backpack by the straps and beginning to hoist it onto her shoulders with some difficulty. "Tents, bags, whatever. The rest can stay here, we'll grab it on a return trip once we get everything set up. If you want more, you can take it yourself, I guess." she added with a shrug, using her free hands to grab a short pole repair sleeve and a small hammer that she had tossed in the back as an afterthought. The thing was surprisingly heavy, as was the pack, which immediately began to dig into her shoulder with enough bite to make her grimace. Perfect confirmation that her decision to leave most of the gear behind in the car was the correct one. "Any objections?"

by **The Republic of Atria** » Fri Jul 02, 2021 6:40 pm

Finland SSR wrote:Sina

Much to his surprise, the group seemed perfectly fine with Sina. Everyone pretty much gave her a slight look and went back to what they were doing. Red gave her a longer look, but he figured that was because it was Red. At least until Sina whispered in his ear, in their native tongue for some reason, that they weren't as scary as she thought they were going to be.

"<Why... Why would they be scary? They're not trying to be scary. Superheroes aren't supposed to be scary. Plus, they're not even in costume.>" He replied. "<It's just supposed to be a fun camping trip. I'm pretty sure I told you the last vacation went bad, so we're trying to get a few days of just rest.>" He replied. "<Just for future reference, let's just speak English unless we need to have a private conversation.>"

He did notice Shi brought two of her friends, April and Olivia. He did want to go say hi, but wasn't sure how things were between them after their awkward conversation, but Shi struck him as being pretty unflappable, so it probably wouldn't be too bad, then he noticed Andrew had arrived with Dalin. "Come on, I'll introduce you." He said and approached the pair.

"Hey Andrew, hey Angelica!" He said. "Been a little bit since we've hung out. This is Sina, she and I are... together. Have been for a few months." He was going to say intimately, but they really only hugged, and that wasn't much as far as 'true' intimacy went. "Sina, this is Andrew, he's a good friend of mine. We do a lot of practice together." He didn't actually know how to introduce Sina to Angelica, since they'd never really spoken much. "Uh, Well Angelica, I guess this is as good a time as any for us to chat."

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:50 am

November 23rd

After their brief, yet heartfelt conversation, Alexis and Kirisvala made their way across the island, into the tower and up to the living room, which often doubled as a meeting room when there was something important for the team to discuss, as was the case that night. After a short elevator ride and an even shorter walk, the two girls stepped in through the door. Waiting for them in the living room were three people: the familiar serpentine visage of Naja was closest to the door, and beside her were a dark-haired man with an easygoing smile and a young woman with red hair and an air of elegance about her. Seeing the trio, the Hadrian girl smiled at the team's guardian figure, but seemed puzzled at the presence of the other two.

"Hi Naja!" She greeted the reptile woman with her usual cheer. The trip to Ecuador had not been easy on the team, but Kiris tried her hardest not to let it get to her. Plus, at least for that specific evening, she had plenty of reason to be happy. "Who are these people?" She asked, curious.

"Kiris! Welcome back." Naja replied with a warm smile. "These are Aislinn McHarris and Douglas Caldwell, they're here to offer to support the team in different ways. They were both in the vicinity and I thought this meeting would be a good opportunity to properly introduce them to the team." She explained, the redhead smiling and waving at the two girls while the man acknowledged them with a nod. "I'm sure you have some questions for them, but I was hoping to leave that for when the team's all here and we've discussed everything else we have pending."

At this, Kiris nodded. Naja's reasoning was sound, and while she was indeed curious about the two strangers, she didn't want to be a bother or cause them to have to repeat themselves in front of the rest of the team later on. With that in mind, she instead went to find a nice spot for herself on the sofa.

Alexis, meanwhile, was more than a little nervous. She couldn't help it, really. Despite the reassurance she had received on multiple occasions from her parents, from Naja, from Kiris and even from Douglas, there was still a certain uncertainty about how the rest of the team would react that made it difficult for her to feel at ease. It wasn't even that she was someone very concerned with what others thought of her, or that she wanted every last teammate to have a good opinion of her. With something this big, it was just hard to feel comfortable breaking it out to others, and she still had no idea how she would even handle things moving forward. It had to be done, and the sooner it was done, the better, but even so...

"What's wrong, Alexis?" Naja asked her, noticing that the blonde had a look of concern on her face. Brought out of her own thoughts by the snake woman's voice, Alexis let out a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, well, you know. I'm still nervous about this whole thing, and it seems we have more of an audience than I was expecting." She replied.

"Alexis, you don't have to worry about that. You have allies in here, you're in good hands. And even if some of your teammates express concern during the meeting, remember that we're here to support you." Naja stated as she placed her hands on Alexis' shoulders.

"Yeah! If anyone raises a fuss I'll just punch 'em. Especially if it's Red." Kiris chimed in enthusiastically, causing Naja to turn around quickly.

"Please don't do that. The last thing we need is another incident involving a Young Blood attacking another." She pleaded. At this, Kiris giggled.

"Don't worry Naja. I'm just kiddin'." The pink-haired girl said with amusement. Naja sighed, but decided to say nothing more about that.

"Anyway, we just have to wait for the others to arrive now, it should only be a few minutes until the team's all here. If there's any no-shows on account of being tired after coming back from Ecuador, I'll just fill them in myself later, so you don't have to worry about that." The snake woman said as she turned back to Alexis. The blonde girl nodded and sat down on a nearby chair to wait for her teammates to arrive. Minutes trickled by as the others filed in one by one, until it seemed that everyone who intended to attend the meeting was already inside the room. At that moment, Naja spoke up.

"Hello everyone. I'm glad to see you're all back safely. I understand you might be tired after your trip back, so thanks for making the effort to come regardless. There's a few things we want to bring up, but let's start with the most important." She said, before pausing and turning to the side. "Alexis?"

Taking her cue, the blonde girl stood up and moved to the center of the room, next to Naja. "Right, um... hey guys. It's nice to see you all, it's been a while. The reason I've been away since that incident at the mall is because, well, something happened. I..." She trailed off for a moment, taking a deep breath before letting it out. "I discovered I'm not human." She stated. At the same time, her hand went up to the piece of gauze on her cheek and pulled it off, revealing the metalwork and the glowing blue power lines underneath a patch of missing skin, where a piece of scrap metal had made a deep puncture about a month prior. Suddenly feeling a lot more self-conscious than before now that the bomb had been dropped, the genius girl hastily continued.

"S-so yeah that was a big surprise." She said with an awkward chuckle. "I've been sorting things out with my family the past month and none of us really have any idea of where I come from or why but I feel more or less secure enough to come back to the team now so... yeah. That's what I wanted to say. I mean you guys risk your necks together with me every time we go out there and try to save people so I figured you all deserved to know, and really it would be a pain to try to keep it a secret from everyone here, so it's easier to just let everyone know and all that." She spoke in a much faster pace than before, only to start winding down a little as she ran out of things to say. "Just, you know, don't go around telling everyone you know about it."

by **The Templar High Council** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:19 pm

Galnius wrote:
The Templar High Council wrote:
Zoe Foster - Impulse
Some Beach, San Diego
November 20th

Zoe grunted as the rocks were swept away, slinging her handful towards Tidal to the same effect. She ducked and slid as another water whip swung towards her torso, but in her slide she didn't manage to retract her left arm in time. It got splashed with water, and Zoe knew it was out, but at the moment her continued survival in this game was more important. She popped up to her feet just as Andrew crashed into the ground, sending a cloud of debris into the air that concealed their movements. She raced after Andrew to his hiding spot and began to catch her breath.

"I didn't think it'd be that intense from the get-go..." Zoe huffed out before listening to Andrew's plan. She nodded, but raised a hand to voice her thoughts at the end: "There's one problem: I can't reach him without touching the water. Maybe if I run and jump really hard, but if I miss then I'm definitely out. But I don't think I can distract him like you can so... here goes, I guess. Good luck!" Zoe grinned and gave Andrew a thumbs up; she waited for Andrew to start drawing Tidal's attention before leaping out from behind the rock to launch her own attack.

Andrew launched off two the right, traveling along the edge of the black rocky wall for a few yards then suddenly bursting through it, the debris creating a smokescreen of shale and sand. Andrew zig-zagged ever closer, inch by inch. He died himself not to look back. Impulse was trustworthy, she could do her part. If he checked to make sure, he would just be open to any of the water arms flicking out past him. Jackrabbit adjusted his goggles for a millisecond, seemingly knocked offkilter on one of his sharp turns. The attention seemed focused on him, and that was good. So far, the plan was working.

Then, in spite of himself, he looked towards where Zoe had placed herself. The arms going after her must have been double what Tidal was sending after Andrew, and the tide crept slowly forward, hoping to take advantage of Zoe's focus on the arms and the person behind the water. That wouldn't do.

Andrew suddenly shifted sideways. He reached down with one hand, turning sharply with one foot outstretched. A wall of shale flew forward, and the arms and tide attacking Impulse shrunk, taking a more defensive position as half the water came to block Andrew's sudden new technique. Alright, Zoe should have him-

Andrew realized too late that he had not been paying full attention when he was trying to help Zoe. A single strand of water had managed to find his leg, and suddenly, it quadrupled in size. Andrew had stopped, and his momentum and force was shot. "Oh, this is going to fucking su-"

Suddenly, Andrew was whipped around towards the ocean at high speed. He tried to keep himself in the air, but he was spinning too fast to track exactly what was happening. With a slight blorp, Andrew find himself completely encased in water, which formed a soft buffer and allowed him to a stop, before spitting him back into shore drenched from head to toe. He was out.

Zoe Foster - Impulse
Some Beach, San Diego
November 20th

Zoe raced out into the open after Andrew made his exit, and was momentarily stunned by the impossible wall of water between the two heroes and Tidal. How am I supposed to get past that? But there was no time to hesitate, as the water came crashing towards her without delay. Zoe dashed forward, the last place most would expect someone to run when faced with danger, as tendrils smashed into the ground in her wake. She dodged to the left, then the right, a smile creeping onto her face as her speed increased with every step. Zoe didn't notice the water sneaking up towards her feet, but Andrew made that problem apparent on his own.

She snapped back to reality as Andrew hurled a mass of stone towards Tidal, forcing the aquatic hero to react and withdraw to defend. Zoe looked over to Andrew, amazed, before she watched his leg get pulled out from underneath him like he had slipped on a freshly mopped floor. She had to suppress a laugh at the suddenness of his defeat, but the way he was pulled under the water and knocked out of the fight was less entertaining. Zoe turned her attention back towards Tidal, as the waves reconvened to try and catch her again.

Before the tide could reach her feet, Zoe planted one food solidly into the sand and focused everything right there. A second passed, the sand shifting around Zoe as the water came closing in, but in an instant she wasn't there. She shot forward like a human missile aimed directly at Tidal, and for a moment it looked as if she would make it. That was until water came rushing up from underneath her, and Zoe had a split second of realization, "Oh shi-!" before the artificial geyser blasted her straight up into the air. Thankfully, Tidal wasn't so brutal as to leave her to crash into the bay below, and caught Zoe in a water slide of sorts, sending her back to shore beside Andrew.

Zoe sat up and knocked water out of her ears, then looked over to Andrew. "Sorry, I thought I could beat his speed if I just threw it all at him... Shoulda figured that it wouldn't be that easy!" Despite just having their butts handed to them, figuratively and literally, Zoe still wore something of a smile on her face. It felt like it had been so long since team training with the Bluejays back home that getting outside and giving it everything she's got (without the danger of civilians getting hurt) was nothing short of refreshing.

by **The Republic of Atria** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:19 pm

Who Dares Wins, Part 3

The next two days were going to be something. He had his rematch with Jack, or Behemoth as he went by now, and the next day they had to go deal with that Moloch guy. Maria had given him some files detailing all the information she had gathered on the team as a whole. He should definitely look at it so he knew what he was walking into, but that was a problem for future Jason. Another thought that creeped into his head, his new name, he was leaning towards Manifest and Intrepid, but still hadn't settled on anything yet. He had his charge refreshed and ready for the day and walked to his armor stand wondering what he should put it into.

He did the baton yesterday, and the helmet the day prior. So he should put it into the chest piece or the leggings. The tiny mobility boost or the tiny strength and durability increase. It was pretty unlikely that boosting either would make much a difference against Behemoth. Trying to out muscle him was a bad idea, even if he wasn't great at fighting, so it would be better to ever so slightly increase his odds of not being hit at all rather than trying to shrug them off. Plus, Maria said if he kept boosting his leggings, he'd probably get the ability to fly within a few weeks. Which did make him a bit excited, because flying was cool. Until then though, he'd make due with really good jumping like he used to.

He slid the armored legs on, pushing the stored energy into them and feeling them get ever so slightly more potent. He slid on the chest armor and grabbed his helmet and baton which lit up like a lightsaber when he grabbed it. It didn't make the noise, but it was still really cool to watch. Throwing on his helmet felt the opposite of what removing face wear usually felt like. His senses were more muted without it. Jason headed out of his rather drab room and down into the hall. Behemoth's room was pretty obvious compared to everyone else's due to it's larger door and frame. Both of which were visibly reinforced to accommodate his greatly increased strength he didn't seem to care about learning to control.

Jason pounded at the door for a good ten seconds straight until he heard the thudding from the other side and backed up a few steps. Behemoth flung the door open and looked like he'd just waken up. Judging from the condition of his bed, he probably just had. "Come on. Let's get it over with."

"It's a bit fuckin' early for a fight, but whatever."

"It's..." Jason checked his phone. "Oh shit, I slept in more than I thought. Nine twenty."

Behemoth grumbled. "Go get Witness. She'll get the arena all set up and call Salazar. Not for me, obviously."

"Right." He said and didn't have to walk far. Witness was already rounding the corner.

"Oh, perfect timing. I've already got most of the stuff set up for you two, and I got as many people as I could to come watch. Aurelion'll be showing up, but he always shows up to these things. Dude loves his super fights. Do try not to fuck each other up too bad, we've got that big thing tomorrow, and I've got a gut feeling it's going to be rough."

The pair looked at each other, and then back at her.

"You two..." She muttered and looked at them for a moment, seeing if she could say anything to dissuade them from being too savage. Lots of things popped into her head, but as did the thought that in the long run, this ultimately might be better. They both needed to get some mutual respect for one another before the mission. At least then they'd probably be able to not try to one up each other and get killed. Jason was defiant when it came to authority trying to order him around, and Behemoth was bullheaded, backed up by his relative invulnerability. "Alright. Rule one: if someone says 'uncle', 'I give up', 'I'm done' or some derivative, that's it, you stop. Rule two: Don't kill each other. Rule three: Know your limits. Don't be afraid to throw in the towel if you're spent. We clear."

"Yeah." Jason replied.

"Yep." Behemoth replied.

"Good. Have fun. Elevator, second floor down." She pointed down the hallway. The pair complied wordlessly and went down into the practice area. It looked similar to the training area, minus the equipment.

Jason noticed that all the battle damage was on the floor, the walls were pretty much unharmed. As he walked over to investigate, a large, blue-around-the-edges energy shield surrounded him and Behemoth. It was circular, but there was plenty of room for him and Behemoth to have it out.

There was a viewing room near the back of the room, lit relatively well and pretty much everyone he met since he joined up with them, Witness, Aurelion, Larry, Fuse, Dragoness, and a bunch of other people he'd not met yet. "Force field probably isn't necessary since you both fight in melee, but better safe than sorry." Came Witness's voice over the intercom. "Let the violence commence!"

Jason glanced over at Behemoth who was mid swipe with right hand. He had to twist to do so. Jason jumped back instinctively and almost lost his balance, extending the baton behind him to regain it. He's right handed... Extremely so. Either that or he's just being sporting.

"I've been looking forward to this..." He charged at Jason and threw his entire body at him in hopes to crush him with sheer girth. Jason jumped over him, while Behemoth crashed into and slid across the ground almost touching the barrier.

Jason spun around mid-air, and landed fairly gracefully about twenty feet from Behemoth and bolted at him. His weapon shifted to that of a short sword. Behemoth brought up his right hand to try to block using his left arm to keep himself balanced. Right handed. Bingo. Jason swiped the glowing blade and cut a deep gash into Behemoth's palm. Behemoth himself didn't react much, and thrust his right foot square into Jason's chest. Jason was knocked to the opposite side of the 'arena' and had the wind knocked out while he tumbled into the barrier.

"Alright. You got first blood." Behemoth said, looking at the gash where a few dropped of his thick red blood dropped onto the floor, but the wound sealed itself within a few seconds. "Glad I waited."

Fuuuuuuck... Can't... Inhale... Inhale, stupid fucking lungs! He forced himself to inhale air, and ignore the soreness in his gut and chest. He once again used his baton, extending it to force himself to his feet. Jesus, he's hitting fucking hard...

"Hope you can do more than paper cuts." Behemoth said and began quickly lumbering over to Jason.

Jason held his ground readying his weapon, while he began to concoct a plan. Fucking hell he's actually strong... Doesn't know how to think mid-fight... Alright I think I can work with that. As Behemoth approached, Jason's weapon changed shape, encasing him in a purple dome.

"Oooooo, forcefield. Scary." Behemoth taunted as he towered over it and slammed his right arm down upon Jason's shield. It held with only a slight wobble. "Oh, it's actually got some strength to it." He slammed again, with greater force, causing the shield to wobble and even dent for a split second.

All with his right arm... Jason watched as Behemoth adjust his stance to throw more of his weight and strength into the shield. Behemoth swung and Jason shifted the weapon. The barrier vanished and the weapon took the shape of a bident. Behemoth threw himself completely off balance, striking nothing.

Jason jumped at him and thrust the weapon straight into his eyes, Behemoth recoiled backwards and Jason rode the momentum and flung himself and his weapon free as Behemoth thrashed around. He allowed himself to exhale as he bought himself a few seconds to catch his breath.

"You motherFUCKER!" Behemoth snarled, gripping his face and looking around the area, spotting nothing. "Can't fucking see... Grr... Where the FUCK did you go?" He already stood back up, blood still leaking from his eye sockets.

Jason remained completely still and silent as Behemoth stumbled around the area.

"When my eyes grow back, I'm gonna-" He cut himself off, staggering a bit as small slits appeared along his body, upper arms, thighs, torso, and back. The slits opened, revealing freshly grown eyes. The two holes on his head healed over completely leaving two armored patches where his eyes used to be. He staggered a bit, and then every single one of the six eyes facing the front, darted into Jason's direction. "Huh... Alright then. This is cool. Got eyes on the back of my head." He turned to face Jason.

"It's 2 to 1. Unless the eyes count double. Then it's 3 to 1." He said, a small smile on his face, but invisible to everyone else. He bolted at Behemoth who widened his stance, ready for more. Jason held his baton like a pole vaulter, and rapidly extended it, launching himself into the air, shifting the weapon to a battle axe and swinging it at Behemoth's right arm that he brought up to instinctively guard his face. The axe cleaved through the tar colored flesh and stopped when it hit bone. Blood leaked out, from the wound, but the axe was stuck.

Behemoth grabbed the weapon with his left hand, pulling it free while Jason still gripped it, he then smacked Jason, causing him to release the weapon, which returned to it's normal shape, out of Behemoth's grasp and clacked onto the floor while Jason crashed into the ground. "No more weapon for you. How about you give up?"

Jason remembered what Witness said about Behemoth, and responded by flipping him off, which made Behemoth laugh. "I didn't hear a fucking bell."

"And here I thought you were just some annoying goody two shoes with a chip on his shoulder. Lets keep it going then. I'm having fun."

Jason grimaced under his helmet. He needed his weapon back to be able to put up a fight, and it was located right near Behemoth's feet. Most of the scenarios he ran in his head ended with the likelihood of him getting kicked, punted, stepped on or some combination of those. Behemoth seemed to recognize that since he didn't leave his spot, even as Jason circled around to get him to move.

"I got eyes everywhere now, thanks to you. I'm almost tempted to let you get this back just to see what you've got planned."

"You think I'd show you all my tricks? I've got a bunch left, but uh.. Yeah. Kind of need it back."

Behemoth thought for a moment, and kicked the weapon back over to Jason. Bad strategy for winning, but great for having fun. Jason picked it up, and it took the shape of a polearm. "Don't disappoint me."

Jason bolted at Behemoth one last time. Behemoth braces himself, and Jason's weapon shifted to a war pick as he jumped to the right, Behemoth's left, and slammed the sharp end of the weapon into Behemoth's side, shifting it to a long scythe and slicing a good chunk out of his hip, causing Behemoth to slump, unable to kick at him without losing balance. The flesh and muscle tried to knit itself back together but was having difficultly due to Behemoth's constant shifting and tearing it back apart.

He grabbed at Jason, forcing him to the front. Behemoth still couldn't stand properly, but then brought his arms around and grabbed Jason in a death hug, and began to squeeze, hard.

Jason struggled as all the pain he'd felt to that point reignited. His chest on fire, brain shooting off randomly to latch onto any idea whatsoever, trying to maneuver the weapon, changing it's shape to a knife, giving him the tiniest bit of wiggle room to point it at Behemoth, and then shifted it to a spear.

The weapon punched straight through Behemoth, the tip of the spear visible from his back. The huge monster opened his mouth, and blood leaked out, indicating a punctured lung. and he finally toppled forward, slamming into the ground, on top of Jason.

Behemoth's grip weakened considerably and Jason was able to shove the one-and-a-half ton monster off of him. He ached all over, pretty sure his ribs were bruised or a little cracked, but he still gripped his weapon. He tried to find the strength to stand, but felt his legs and free arm not working as well as he wanted them to, and used his weapon to force himself to sit up, where he saw Behemoth already climbing back up to his feet. The hole that went clean through his body now pretty much gone, along with the chunk taken out of his hip. He was still hacking up blood, with deep, guttural coughs. "Well. I can cross 'impaled' off my bucket list..."

Get up you stupid body. GET UP. COME ON! He screamed internally, fighting to get to his feet.

"Alright. I think you should call it." Behemoth said, matter of fact rather than condescending.

"Fuck you. I'm not done."

The forcefield around the area dissipated. "Looks to me like we are. Have to say, it was worth it. Fuse and dragon lady don't like fighting all that much. Besides, you're not gonna be any fun to fight lying there. That and I'll get in a lot of trouble with the bosses. Good fight. We'll have to do it again."

"Not... Done yet." He sputtered, finally getting the wherewithal to stand as Witness approached with the others, Salazar included.

"Yeah. You're done." She said and grabbed him to keep him from falling over. "Don't think it's too bad. You might be a little sore tomorrow, but it shouldn't impact your performance any. Fixer, you mind giving him some medical attention?"

"It's why I'm here." He said, the Sludge covering him head to toe. He moved to support Jason in Witness's place. "Come along my friend. You did very well."

"Doesn't feel like it..."

by **New Finnish Republic** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:33 pm

Team Meeting

As the alarm went off next to him, Red let out a small groan as he blindly reached over towards his nightstand and shut the device off. Groggily getting up from his bed, a small yawn escaped him while he made his way over towards his bathroom. Splashing some cold water into his face, his eyes wandered over towards his bare chest where the most recent of his scars marked across his shoulder and chest. Immediately the memories of his fight with Abomination came to him, the feeling of his shoulder nearly being ripped out in the aftermath still fresh in his mind. Most notable of them was the surgical marks that dotted across the lateral side of his shoulder, a result of the aftercare he had received afterwards.

Rolling his shoulder in large circles, he fought back a small wince as a dull ache still remained there. He had only just yesterday gotten clearance to rid himself of the brace he had worn for nearly a month, and that had come only after he had insisted to take the thing off against the wishes of his physician. It had taken no small amount of begging and bargaining with the team's defacto medical staff, Jacob, that allowed him clearance to return to his normal activities, albeit with a word of caution about easing into things. While Red was stubborn, he wasn't stupid enough to ignore the advice, and was now in the process of following the physical therapy routines that Jacob had suggested after his clearance.

Putting on a workout outfit and grabbing his workout duffle bag, he made his way down the stairs towards where the gym was located at. With majority of the team still on their way back from their trip from Ecuador, it came as no surprise that the gym was empty. Since sparring had been out of the question for some time, Red hadn't had the need for anyone else to be there with him, and he had began to somewhat appreciate the privacy he had. The thought of getting up even earlier once everyone was back crossed his mind, but he reasoned that he would miss out valuable interaction with the others should he do that. As much as he hated to admit it, the antics of his teammates were interesting enough to keep him on his toes, and he had began to somewhat miss them during their absence.

Putting on some laid-back music, Red scrolled through the list of movements and lifts that Jacob had recommended to aid in his recovery. While he had already done some of this in the last month, what Jacob had listed out from him was clearly a step up from before. The dull ache in his shoulder grew ever so slightly as he read through the list, but he simply gritted his teeth and forced himself to go through the routine laid out for him.

Laying down on his back gulping for air, Red took a fair share of time to curse under his breath at Jacob, the mental image of his carefree smile floating around in his vision before fading away. Okay, looks like I've still got a ways to go considering just how much that kicked my ass, Red thought to himself as he wiped away at the sweat that had began to collect on his forehead.

The sound of his phone buzzing caused Red to eventually decide that he had rested long enough. Letting out a grunt, he slowly got up from where he had been laying, the shape of his figure outlines in sweat on the ground below. Taking a large gulp from his water bottle first, Red grabbed his phone and scanned through the message that had been sent to him. His eyes narrowed as he saw what was written, letting out a small sigh as he put the phone back into his duffel bag.

"Team meeting, huh. Maybe it's about what happened in Ecuador," Red said to himself as he gathered his things and began to make his way back to his room. Wasting no time in showering and getting dressed, Red made his way down towards the living room where the meeting was to take place. It seemed like he was one of the first to arrive, which was expected given that most of the team was likely still unpacking from their trip.

As he entered, he caught the glance of a familiar face standing next to the team's mentor, Naja. His eyes widened slightly for a moment as he caught Aislinn's gaze, giving her a small shake of his head to indicate that they could talk later. Unbeknownst to either his teammates or Naja, the two had been in cohorts getting things prepared for their plans on provoking Marionette into resurfacing. Red had made sure to keep up the appearance of simply acting as the young woman's personal bodyguard since their initial meeting, but the truth behind the matter is that the two had spent many hours discussing what they were going to need and how they were going to go about things.

Eventually the remainder of the team assembled in the living room. Red had perched himself up against the wall with his arms cross his chest as Alexis began to speak. As she revealed the truth about her, Red's expression remained neutral as he considered everything that they entailed. And when Alexis finished with her explanation, Red didn't waste any time before raising one of his hands up questioningly.

"This is probably going to sound insensitive, but how are you just finding this out now?" Red asked, pausing for a moment as he thought over his next words. "There would've had to have been signs before this, right? I'm not saying that you're lying, but its just odd on my end that this is something you're just figuring out now."

Of course, another question rested in Red's mind, but it was one he'd have to find the answers himself later. If Alexis wasn't human and was instead some sort of android, this meant that someone had to have created her. And given that she had inadvertently fooled everyone up to this point of her true nature, whoever designed her was damn good. There was no way Red would voice his concerns out loud, but the concern that something as believable as Alexis could be made drew several red flags within Red's mind about the implication. He'd do some digging of his own and find out what he could find on the matter, if nothing more than to simply confirm what Alexis had told them.

by **United Kingdom of Poland** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:42 pm

Team Meeting
Leave it to Red to have the least amount of tact in the room at any given moment. While in hindsight the idea that Alexis was really an super advanced android made a lot of sense out of all the unusual quirks she had, Wendy could tell this was news to her as much as it had been to the rest of the team. “It’s not that far fetched, Red.” She quickly responded. “The idea of an AI so advanced that it’s indistinguishable to a human, even to itself, is one of the holy grails of science.”

Of course that holy grail was still decades away at best. Wendy turned her attention back to Alexis. “I might have a few ideas about how to figure out the who… or at least the where you came from.”

by **North America Inc** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:10 am

Galnius wrote:Young Bloods vs Nature

Oshima 'Olivia' Koyuki

The scenery itself was passable. A somber muted grey hung over the area with the occasional strong autumn breeze going through the campsite. If it wasn't for the mud, the thousands of leaves, and well, the people, she might have enjoyed it. Instead, she was content to hang back, giving April space to meet everyone and anyone and for Shi to do whatever she wanted. No one really answered her hello, which was fine by her though she could see that bothered April somewhat. Taking a seat on a fallen log, she could hear the team chatter amongst themselves but she wasn't close enough to contribute to the conversation.

She lifted her boot up, scrapping the dried on mud off it's side. Even with it all gone the stained blotched lingered, a large brown outline right across her toes; she rolled her eyes and gave up. 'It is what it is.' For most of the intervening time she was just on her phone, scrolling through her feed though the service was spotty. She couldn't even watch a video.

"Princess, Princess's...groupies?" A Blonde haired, dark skinned teenager inquired to ask.

'What did he say?' Olivia looked up to see a hand outstretched while hearing the other two sniggering in the back about it. She looked up, recognizing him somewhat but not so much to place a name. Instead of shaking his hand, she crossed her arms and leaned into her knees. "Groupies, ha...ha." She turned away, "If you're going to insult me just go all the way and kill me next time."

by **Tomia** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:01 pm

Angelica, November 25th
After thinking things over and working up the courage, Angelica made her way to the Stars' headquarters. It had been very strange, sleeping in her father's apartment. However, walking into his place of work was arguably even stranger. She made her way to the front door of the massive skyscraper and entered the lobby. Security recognized her immediately and let her up to the private elevator and held back the small group of reporters that were clamoring for a comment from her. She was really getting sick of that, as if her entire life was somehow breaking news. When the elevator door opened again she was on the top floor of the building, where a number of the Stars were gathered around a table. Blue saw Frostbite standing outside the elevator and waved over to her.

"Hey Frostbite! You're just in time. We've got a situation in town." She said, as Star Queen looked over at Frostbite with scrutinizing gaze but ultimately did not comment as she approached. At the table along with their temporary leader was Red, Blue, and Mudslide. As Frostbite took a place next to the twin super heroes, Star Queen spoke.

"As I was saying," she gave a dirty glance to Blue before continuing. "Dante has come to Los Angeles. She attacked USC, one of their bioengineering labs. We haven't discovered what she is after just yet."

"I watched you take down Dante a few months ago? What's the problem this time?" Angelica chimed in.

Star Queen rolled her eyes at that comment. "Not only does she have backup this time, but they've also taken hostages."

"Who is with her?" Mudslide asked. When not covered in mud he was a muscular African American man with a slight southern accent that Angelica couldn't quite place.

"Unknowns, Armorer and Surge are on the scene and have them pinned down inside, but hasn't been able to identify them. He is keeping the situation at bay to by us time."

"So what is the plan?" Frostbite asked.

"The plan, is that Mudslide is going to infiltrate the building and be our eyes and ears. I'm going to assault the main entrance while Red and Blue go for the hostages."

"What about me?"

"Well ideally I would say you stay here and water our plants." Star Queen replied sarcastically but Blue nudged her with her elbow. "But I suppose you can be useful. When Blue and Red rush in, I want you to be incapacitating as many of the accomplices as possible. However do not engage Dante. She is to be left for me." Star Queen then turned to the whole team. "Now, let's get moving, we have people to save." With that the meeting was adjourned and Angelica headed to a nearby bathroom to change into her costume. As the others made their way up to the roof to the team helicopter, Red and Blue approached Angelica.

"Thanks again for coming." Blue said with a smile.

"Star Queen doesn't seem as thankful." She replied coolly.

"Becca is just in a bad mood, she knows we need backup." Red chimed in. "Come on, let me show you the helicopter! We have cup holders..."

Roy, November 27th
After a night out with Wendy that resulted in a trove of interesting information, Roy became singularly focused in planning his attack. His goal was to catch at least one of the Warhounds unaware, and make them tell him where Floyd was. He focused mostly on the security footage Wendy was able to recover. He studied the behavior and habits of the members, trying to figure out when he would best be able to isolate. Soon enough his eyes were drawn to their leader "Lady Hawk" She very frequently sat up in her custom made sniper's nest on the roof. It was a structure that looked like an overgrown tree house, but it was high enough to give her a 360 view of the entire property. As he watched her go about her day Roy felt anger rise through his mind. This was the woman who had threatened to kill his teammates, he was left helpless as they were held at gunpoint. It would not be him who was helpless this time.

It was midnight when Roy headed out towards the Warhounds' compound. It looked somewhat between a large house and an apartment complex. It was a brick building with five floors, a large series of fire escapes that ran down the right side of the building. Lady Hawk's pearch was high up on the roof, she would see any attempt Roy made at reaching her, regardless of how fast he was. That was why Roy was planning on bringing her to him. His eyes currently weren't on Lady Hawk, but her pet which was flying around the property. Roy knew that the sniper had a tracker on her bird, and that's how he would lure her out.

Roy was crouched in the bushes right outside the fire escape when the bird started to swoop down. On cue Nightshade fired a taser shot, hitting the bird which let out a soft screech as it hit the ground. With the bird demobilized, Roy began the setting of his trap. He picked up the bird and took some string out of his pocket as he silently climbed up two levels of the fire escape. After tying the bird to the railing, he stepped into the corner and completely blended into the shadows. Now he would wait.

Five minutes later, about when Roy wanted, Lady Hawk noticed that her bird hadn't moved in a while and was slowly moving out of her nest to check on it. He could hear the light pattering of her foot steps as she approached the fire escape. Roy's breath slowed as he attempted to slow his heart as much as possible.

If she notices me I'm dead, if she doesn't...

The ladder on the top level moved and Lady Hawk was climbing down towards him. He waited patiently as she moved down two levels. Finally she reached the level above his and that's when she noticed the bird tied to the rail.

Shit

"What the..."

Roy didn't hesitate. He couldn't wait for her to make another move. He raised his staff and laced it through the rail above him and threw his entire weight up as if he was pole vaulting. He slammed into Lady Hawk, who went flying against the wall. She quickly adjusted however, dodging Roy's staff as he attempted to slam it into her chest like a lance.

"You again?" She asked as the spotlights on the building illuminated his face.

"You're going to wish you killed me the first time." Roy replied as he once again merged with the darkness and dodged the silenced bullet from her rifle. Suddenly he was behind her and he slammed her hard against the rail, forcing her over the edge as she fell down to the next level. Roy followed her down immediately, landing on the floor of the fire escape with a bang as he grabbed Wanda's head off the ground by her hair. She looked dazed, but was conscious.

"You're going to tell me where your boss is, right now."

Wanda laughed at that. "Or what boy scout? You might wear black, but I'm not scared of you."

Anger flared in Roy's mind as he dragged her toward the rail by her hair, holding her head over it.

"If you knew anything about me, you'd be scared."

"You don't think Floyd told us all about you? I know you're too scared to take a life when you need too. Too busy playing hero to be any use to anyone."

Roy slammed her head against the rail hard and threw her back against the wall, his staff pressing dangerously on her neck.

"Where is he!" He shouted at her, there was a danger in his eyes that hadn't been there in years."

Wanda was struggling to breath, however it was defiance rather than fear in her eyes. "Fuck you, I knew it was an act. You're a killer, just like us. You just want to pretend you're better. You're just as broken as we are."

Roy realized this wasn't working, so he decided to change course. He reached back and grabbed her bird off the railing and held it up so that she could see it.

"You're right, I am a killer, and if you don't tell me what I want to know I'll prove it to you."

Fear was present in Wanda's eyes for the first time. "No! You bastard... Fine... I'll give you Floyd, just don't fucking hurt my bird. He's on a small island off the coast of San Deigo, it's unmarked but I'll give you the coordinates. I hope he fucking kills you this time."

"Thanks" Roy said, gently placing the bird on the ground. "You know, Floyd is just using you. Has he even told you what his plan are? You aren't part of the world he is building, he's going to bury you along with the rest of us."

With that he slammed her onto the ground with his staff. He checked to make sure she was still breathing before he slid back down the fire escape. She would likely not wake up until the morning.

Just as Roy reached the edge of the property, thinking he was home free, something moved in front of him at impressive speed. Sky Sword now stood in front of him with his weapon drawn.

"You are trespassing." The robot said in his monotone and robotic voice. "This will not be tolerated."

by **United Kingdom of Poland** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:27 pm

“Worth every penny.” Wendy said to herself, smiling as she admired the red full length v-neck dress with a collar strap she was wearing in the hotel room mirror. It was funny to think how not even three months ago, Naja and Roy would have needed to force her into a dress like that at gunpoint. But now… screw it, she didn’t know how many more chances she’d get for stuff like this, might as well make it count.

Reaching for her makeup, she took out a pad and began dabbing some on the scar running down her shoulder. While she might not have cared about it, she knew it was a sore spot for Roy and this night was as much about forgetting all the stuff going in their lives now as it was about her helping his plans for dealing with Warhound and Ares once and for all.

Fixing the strap on her dress, Wendy reached back and grabbed the black opera style gloves that completed her look. Glancing over at her phone to see no new messages as she slid the gloves on her arms, she rolled her eyes. “What’s taking you so long?”

“Wow, when you told me to dress up you really weren’t kidding.” Roy said with a smirk as he appeared on the balcony of Wendy’s room out of a small shadow that was created by the hotel’s roof and the setting sun. He had taken her instructions to heart and was wearing a black dress shirt with a matching suit jacket and a red tie. It wasn’t exactly something he had packed for his rogue mission, but he managed to sneak back to Wonder Tower without anyone being the wiser and go through his closet.

He stepped forward to embrace Wendy, kissing her on the cheek. “You look amazing, this must be some really special intel you have for me.”

“The best intel freelancing for the NSA, FBI, and Interpol can buy.” Wendy jokingly replied. While that wasn’t entirely true, she already knew what Roy’s reaction would be to her still being in deep cover with Orion. “And I’m glad you like this. Alexis practically shor-” Wendy caught herself, remembering how much in poor taste that joke was given Alexis’s current situation. “Well lets just say she was trying to remember what Angelica’s sizes were when she went dress shopping with me.”

Roy smiled, letting Wendy’s slip up pass without comment. “Well, the trip was definitely a success. So what are we doing here anyway? Not that I’m complaining, but this isn’t exactly our usual meet up place.”

Wendy smiled. “Well I figured we’ve both had a pretty hectic month, so a nice dinner and an evening spent in each other's arms would be a nice change of pace.” She turned around and gave Roy a quick peck on the cheek. “Am I wrong?”

“I guess not, we haven’t exactly had any time for candle lit dinners. That sounds...nice. Well, this is your mission, so lead the way.” Roy said, smiling softly as Wendy kissed his cheek.

“My pleasure.” Wendy replied, leading her boyfriend out of the hotel room. “I was told the restaurant here cooks steaks that are to die for, and I have a lot to catch you up on.”

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

“Well, in our defense we didn’t intend on going to Ecuador to meddle in intricate South American politics.” Wendy sheepishly admitted after finishing the story about the team's rather interesting Thanksgiving vacation. “It just kinda followed us back to our hotel room.”

“That seems to be the story of our lives doesn’t it.” Roy said as Wendy finished up her story. “Feels like ever since we showed up at Wonder Island, one mess or another has been following us.”

“No.” Wendy reminded him with a weak smile. “The crazy stuff has followed us since we were born.”

“Well you’re right about that.” Roy said with a grim chuckle.

“Well at least all that craziness led me right to you.” Wendy said with a smile. “You know, ever since Angie came back and told us about what happened to her dad, I’ve been thinking about my own folks. I mean sure, they tortured me for my entire life and left me a psychological wreck. But I don’t think I’d be as good of a hero without all that. Once this is all over, would you mind going with me to see them in prison?”

“If you want me too, of course I will. What would you say to them, if you visited?”

“Honesty, I don’t know yet. Like I said, part of me wants to thank them. While I might be a psychological wreck thanks to them, I also would be anywhere near the hero I am now without everything they forced me to learn at gunpoint.” Wendy let out a coy smile. “Also,the rest of me knows that seeing me nice and happy despite everything she did will drive my mom nuts.”

Roy gave a bit of a grim laugh in response to the last comment. “Well, I guess that old saying about living well being the best revenge is applicable here. I guess it makes sense though. I never really had parents honestly, but I can’t deny that however awful my childhood was, it's the only reason I am who I am, for better or worse.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “But still, you ever get the feeling of wanting to be normal? And I don’t even just mean changing what happened and everything, but like your abilities. Do you ever feel life would have been better without them?”

“You really don’t know how fucked up my family is.” Wendy replied after a brief chuckle. “I was the unfortunate little accident until I got my powers, and knowing my mom she still would have eventually used me as either a lookout or a spy. Kids are too useful for staking out a place.”

"You're right, I mean I doubt my life would have been amazing growing up in a tiny village without parents anyway powers or not, but still, powers made it a lot more complicated. I guess these days, I'm seeing a lot more of the bad than the good…" A slightly dark look came across Roy's face, one that he was wearing more and more these days.

“That’s only because you’re going out of your way to look for it.” Wendy smiled as she clasped Roy’s hand in her own. “And you care about me and the rest of the team, even if some of the others can’t see it.”

“Well, I guess you’re right about that. I could just drop everything and get a day job…” He said, giving a small smile at the absurdity of the thought. “It’s not who I am though, who either of us are I guess. Regardless of what happens, I’m happy you’re here with me Wendy.”

“No place I’d rather be…” Wendy replied as the waiter arrived with their food. “There is one thing I wish I could redo though.” Her gaze briefly dropped down to her food before returning to Roy. “I should have been more honest about my past from the start. With you, with the team, I probably never should have changed my name to begin with. Maybe if I hadn’t needed to spend some much time letting that control me, the last two months would have turned out different and you’d still be around.”

"Hey" Roy said in a more serious tone than before. "None of that was your fault. I am where I am because I made my own decision. You didn't do anything wrong. Floyd, those monsters that attacked us, they're the only ones to blame." He said before his tone softened. "No one thinks you've done anything other than your very best, especially not me. I get why you kept your secrets, you have nothing to be ashamed of."

“I know it’s just…” Wendy threw her hands to her head. “The ambush and you leaving, Renata being grounded for life by her dad, Alexis leaving field work after she found out she was a robot. It feels like the team is coming apart and I just want to go back to the way things were.”

Roy reached out and took his girlfriend’s hand. “Hey, I’m here right now aren’t I? I know things aren’t the way we want them right now, and we can’t be together like we want, but we’re together now. And honestly, that’s because of you. I’d probably be scoping out a building right now in the pitch black if you didn’t push me to take a break.” He then paused for a moment after he considered Wendy’s words. “Wait, Alexis is a what?”

“Yeah… I guess when they were checking all of us out after the ambush, the docs found something besides flesh and bones under her skin.” Wendy replied, more than happy to change the subject. “Honestly, neither Mars nor I have any clue who, or what created her. Adaptive, self repairing metals and a neuronet that so perfectly mimics a human that it managed to slip under my technokinesis… this stuffs all decades away at best. I’m not sure if I want to admire whoever made her for being a genius, or sic Spot on them for being a psycho.”

Roy let out a soft whistle. “That is… well it's not like I haven’t met robots before.” He said before he took a bite of his food. “But that’s so impressive it's scary. I can’t imagine what it would have been like for her to find that out, I hope she is doing okay.”

“She’s taking it as well as anyone could expect.” Wendy remarked. “I honestly would have preferred to have her still in the field with me rather than babysitting duty, but it’s her choice and I can’t blame her for wanting time to sort all this out.”

“Ya, I get her wanting to take some time off from fighting.” Roy said before taking a sip of his water. “So… think we should talk about what you have for me now?” He said, lowering his voice slightly to avoid easedropping.

Wordlessly, Wendy slid a small envelope over to him. “Like I said, the best info freelance work can buy. Everything the US Government and Interpol have on our friends. The other things you asked for are still in the room. They’re a little too bulky to carry in a purse.” Finishing up the last bits of her food, she signalled for the check. “I got this.” She said, handing the waiter her card. “You wouldn’t believe what the FBI pays for the accounting info for an entire Cartel organization.”

Roy smiled as he took the envelope from her discreetly. “Best girlfriend ever.”

“I try.” Wendy replied as the waiter came back. Returning to the hotel room, grabbed a small bag out of the closet and tossed it to Roy. Inside were a dozen black boxes the size of a lighter. “One dozen listening devices, complete with builtin power supply and data storage, and set to only start transmitting if they hear one of the Warhounds or floyds vocal patterns.” With that she grabbed another bag and headed into the bathroom to change.

“Awesome,” Roy said as he grabbed the bag she tossed to him. When Wendy headed into the bathroom he continued to speak to her through the door. “Well, I should probably head back now. Thanks to your help I have a lot of work to do.”

“Excuse me!” The door flew open, revealing Wendy in a Carolina Bluejays T-shirt and pair of sleep pants, an expression of mock outrage on her face. “WhenI said you were taking the night off, I meant the whole night.” She threw him a balled up set of clothes he immediately recognized had been taken from his room. “I did not pay for a hotel room just to have you ditch me after dinner. Now get changed, cause we have a month’s worth of cuddling to catch up on.”

Roy thought about telling Wendy he didn’t have time to stay but sighed as he realized she was right. “Well, I guess that doesn’t sound like the worst idea in the world.” He said with a smirk as he headed towards the bathroom. On his way there he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks for this, I love you.” He told her softly before heading inside the hotel bathroom.

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:56 am

November 23rd

New Finnish Republic wrote:---

United Kingdom of Poland wrote:---

No sooner than she had finished speaking, Alexis saw Red's hand shoot up as he voiced his question. It was a reasonable one to have, she supposed, but still, the way in which he spoke made her feel more than a little irritated - especially since it was coming from someone who depended so much on the results of her work. She had half a mind to fire back a sarcastic remark right there and then, but fortunately Wendy spoke up before that happened. Turning to look at the brunette, Alexis' attention was instead caught by a certain alien who was making a punching gesture and giving her a questioning look. As discreetly as she could do so while standing in front of everyone, the blonde shook her head and then looked back at Wendy.

"Um, yeah, that would be great Wendy. We can talk about that later." She said with a nod in response to her offer to try and find some answers for her. Truth be told, finding out who had made her or where she had come from seemed like another big step in this unexpected journey of self-discovery, one that she wasn't so sure she wanted to go through just yet, but even so Wendy's help was appreciated, and she was sure she had the resources to back it up.

"As for your question, Red." She continued as she turned to look at him, feeling less irritated, though the feeling hadn't gone away entirely. "I suppose you could say there were signs that I was different, but there were no univocal signs that I was a machine; there were other more likely explanations for all of them. Up until the day of the mall incident, I thought I was just a human with superpowers." She explained.

December 1st

"Alright, looks like we're here little cupcake." Harry Callaghan said to his daughter as the family car pulled into the parking area of the lakeside campground. Sitting on the shotgun seat next to him, Alexis was clearly very excited for the coming weekend, with her face practically glued to the car window as she took in the landscape. She was wearing a denim skirt and a light yellow blouse for the occasion.

"Great! I think I can see where the others are from here. This is going to be awesome!" The blonde girl declared, before suddenly turning back and giving her dad a quick hug. "Thanks for driving me here." She said, before unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the door.

"No problem, sweetie. Stay safe, and be a good girl, will you? Being a robot doesn't mean you get to break the rules, young lady." The blonde man said in a playful tone, causing Alexis to roll her eyes as she walked to the trunk of the car to retrieve her things. Split among two large bags were some clothes, a bed roll, a tent and certain other necessities, along with a variety of gadgets and contraptions she and Mars had designed to make their stay more comfortable. In addition, she had a cooler full of her favorite drink to hopefully last her the weekend.

"Don't worry dad, I'm not going to get drunk or light the place on fire." She said as she used her special gauntlets to lift her luggage more easily. "I'm not sure I can get drunk, to be honest." She added as she walked around to the driver seat window with her bags in tow.

"Well, that's good. No reason for you to try it then." Her father replied, before reaching out and affectionately ruffling her hair. "Alright, go have fun with your friends dear. I'll pick you up... you said Monday morning, right?" He said.

"Yeah. If I need you to pick me up before then I'll call you. Bye-bye!" The blonde girl said before heading off into the camp, approaching the area where the rest of the team seemed to be setting up everything. At the center of it, she spotted Angelica, which caused her to briefly stop moving. Their relationship, if she could still say there was one, hadn't been in the best of shapes before the mall incident, to say the least, and she'd cut off all contact with the team afterwards, including Angelica, until the day she decided to return, which coincided with the team's return from Ecuador. On top of that, Angelica had been away on Los Angeles until recently, which meant they hadn't had a chance to talk things out at all.

And, as she quickly realized, she wasn't sure she even wanted to talk things out. Especially now, during a weekend that was supposed to be fun.

Opting to postpone that at least for a little bit longer, she instead decided to approach a group of girls on the periphery of the clearing where the team was setting up shop. She had noticed that there were a handful of new faces around, particularly another Dra'Qunni hanging around Wyatt and two girls who had tagged along with Shi. Nearing the latter group, she waved her hand at them. "Howdy. Are you friends of Shi? I'm Alexis, nice to meet you."

Tomia wrote:---

Much like the others, Kirisvala was quite happy to be at the campground with the rest of the team. Not only was it a bit of a vacation near home to take their minds off the chaos that had been Ecuador, it was also the first time she had gone camping with the team, and indeed, the first time she had gone camping on Earth in the first place. Her boyfriend's excitement had rubbed off on her as well, and she could hardly wait to get started. Luckily for her, she had hitched a ride on Angelica's car alongside Mars, and it wasn't long until they arrived at the site. Predictably, she wound up carrying most of the baggage towards their designated camping spot, but she didn't mind, taking in the sights and sounds of the campground instead of complaining. While normally a sundress girl, today she was wearing a tank top and shorts, expecting a lot of activity throughout the day.

As they arrived at the place they were going to set everything up and Angelica began giving out orders, Kiris snapped a salute. "'I'll go get the firewood, sir!" She said playfully before scurrying off to find the firewood, climbing a tree to get a better vantage point from above the treeline.

A few minutes later the Hadrian girl returned carrying plenty of logs and sticks to get a nice fire going. She was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of people had arrived since she set off, including her best friend, various teammates and even some of her teammates' friends. She was looking forward to meeting all the newcomers, but before that, she had to continue helping Angelica set everything up.

"Mission accomplished sir!" She said as she arrived back at the tall blonde's side, stifling a little laugh afterwards. "Anythin' else ya need me to do?"

by **The Republic of Atria** » Fri Jul 09, 2021 12:19 pm

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:Alexis

Bael entered the meeting room shortly after Wendy and Red, snagging a place where he could stand comfortably. It was Alexis who called the meeting, which was interesting, she'd been gone for a bit and he didn't remember hearing why. He originally thought that she just needed some time to decompress after the absolute mess that things had been lately. At least until she took the bandage off her cheek revealing incredibly elaborate circuitry. She was an android, and admitted as much, as well as admitting she actually had no idea that she was one. Which scared him a little, since the implications of that dug pretty deep.

He used to do something similar for most of his childhood, but he at least had the knowledge to know he was masquerading as a human, Alexis didn't have that benefit. However, she was also one of his closer friends, having helped drag him out of the pits he dug for himself emotionally and get him to where he was today. Her being a robot didn't make that appreciation any less genuine. For obvious reasons, she didn't want them blurting that out to everyone, but he'd probably tell Jason next time he saw him, but he already had a lot going on at the moment.

He approached his small friend, speaking softly and understanding. "I think I speak for most everyone here when I say that I don't think that this is going to change anyone's opinion of you. You're one of the best members of the team in more ways than one. You've helped me, Red, Mars and Wendy, and that's just the stuff I know about. If you ever want to talk about it to anyone, I'm here, and I'm sure everyone else is more than happy to lend an ear. You being an android doesn't change everything you've done to help us and other people. We love you, you're our teammate until the end."

He wasn't usually one for speeches, but he hoped he got the point across.

by **Tomia** » Sun Jul 11, 2021 4:30 pm

Zarkenis Ultima wrote: Teen Romance Awkwardness and Kiris the Camping Soldier

Angelica heard someone else approach the growing crowd and out of the corner of her eye she saw it was Alexis and a flood of panic ran through her. She resisted the temptation to look over at her as she approached a different group. It was clear that she didn't want to talk to Angelica, and she didn't want to make her uncomfortable. The frost hero understood, but it hurt like hell to have someone she had been so close to avoid her like that. Angelica just wished they could talk, even if things couldn't get better, she didn't want to leave things the way they were. Fortunately, Kiris offered a distraction away from those thoughts, as Angelica chuckled softly and rolled her eyes at the Hadrian girl's dramatic salutes. "Thanks Kiris. Well, that's pretty much all we need to get started other than for people setting up their tents and all. I could get the fire started if people want... or" She said with a smile. "We could go to the lake and go swimming?"

"Swimming sounds good to me!" Mars said with a smile before walking over towards the gathering group of his teammates. "Hey everyone! After we set up our tents who wants to go swimming?" He asked the crowd.

by **Bentus** » Sun Jul 11, 2021 9:32 pm

Yoshiro
Camping Trip

“Taking a dip does sound like it’d be nice.”

With her arms cradling a box of snacks, Yoshiro responded to the ongoing conversation as she approached the rest of the team. She’d packed what she’d thought she’d need in her backpack, but she figured that there’d be no such thing as too little food considering some of the voracious appetites on the team.

Placing her items in the growing pile of belongings in the campsite, Yoshiro stretched her arms above her head in an effort to weed out all the kinks from the long drive. She hadn’t ever driven for so long at once before, and the rental car had made it more stressful than she’d expected - but she couldn’t complain after having made it there in one piece. Turning her head towards the passengers walking up behind her, the telepath offered her teammates a smile.

“What do you guys think? It’s probably getting a bit late for a hike, I guess. But we could probably wake up early tomorrow if we wanted.”

“If we do go swimming, I would like to do so now.” Ash replied. “It will take some time for me to dry off if we wait for the Sun to set.” Even if she’d cut the timing a little close, she was eager to try out the swimsuit that Mika had helped her pick out specifically for the trip. Up until that point, she’d simply had to make do with spares from the other girls.

Yoshiro nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. I’d prefer if we had the fire going before dark as well.”

Although she spoke confidently, Yoshi didn’t actually have all that much experience with camping. It wasn’t something that her family had ever really done, with her parents never being able to understand the appeal of deliberately living for a few nights without the comforts of modern living. But how could she have made it through high school without silently wondering what it’d be like? Even though, if she were honest, she desperately hoped she could make it through the trip without needing to use the bathroom.

Smirking at the thought, even if it was at her own expense, Yoshiro took a breath of the fresh air. Really, she was looking forward to the chance to clear her head after Ecuador. She supposed that they all were. The news had been inundated with wall-to-wall coverage of the attempted coup, and the Young Blood’s supposed involvement. Talking heads and experts alike weighed in on their motives, on whether their actions were justified, and on what kind of an impact it could have on the people that called the smaller South American nation their home. Yoshiro couldn’t help but wonder if they’d done the right thing, going in to help the regime like they did. Even though it was Renata’s father, a lot of the things that he’s supposed to have done hardly made him seem like the kind of person they should’ve been supporting.

Sighing, the telepath pushed the thought from her mind, along with the nagging concern she felt for the teammate they’d been forced to leave behind.

“Angie, do you know somewhere we can change?”

by **Tomia** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:17 am

November 20th

After a long, mostly silent bus drive to the city of Guayaquil, the Young Bloods were finally dropped off at the hotel where they would spend the next few days waiting to be transported back to San Diego. The hotel, nestled in a prime spot near the beach and away from the busier parts of the city, was quite a sight to behold, no less luxurious than the JW Marriott. And yet, whereas she had been all too excited to arrive at such a place the previous day, Kirisvala found that she had a hard time mustering any sort of enthusiasm this time.

Before long, the bus dropped them off at their destination, and the check in process went without a hitch, leaving the teenagers free to do as they pleased. With little else to do for the time being, Kirisvala made her way to her room, seeing that her luggage had already been delivered by the hotel staff. Acting on autopilot, the pink-haired girl set her roller bag on the bed and reached towards the zipper, before suddenly pausing. Certainly, unpacking was the natural thing to do, but after having unpacked everything the previous day only to hastily put everything back that morning, Kiris realized she didn’t have the energy or the motivation to bother with it again. What was the point if they were just going to fly back to San Diego in a day or two?

Instead of unpacking, she sat down on the side of the bed, letting out a sigh. This vacation had been very messy, but it seemed the worst of it was past them, so she reasoned that thinking about it wouldn’t do her any favors. With that in mind, she left her bedroom behind, taking to the hallways while thinking of what to do to pass the time and clear her mind. It was a bit late in the day for a beach visit to be worthwhile, and while the nearby hills looked quite scenic, she wasn’t sure she wanted to wander so far from the hotel already. Not with what was going on in Ecuador.

Amidst all these thoughts, the Hadrian girl inadvertently found her way to the hotel’s pool. Looking around, she recognized a certain black-haired boy relaxing on a lounge chair by the pool. Smiling to herself, Kiris began walking towards him as stealthily as possible, making sure to cast no shadow that would tip him off until she was close enough to lean over the back of the chair so that she was face to face with him.

“Hey darlin’!” She greeted him, cheerful as always despite the circumstances.

Mars was a little surprised when his view was suddenly blocked, but smiled when he saw the cause. “Hi Kiris!, wasn’t expecting to see you here, but I can’t say I’m not happy for the company. Want to sit?” He said, gesturing to the lounge chair next to him. The Hadrian girl smiled and nodded at him before taking his offer and sitting down.

As soon as she reclined on the lounge chair, she felt her body relax and inadvertently let out a yawn. Between all the fighting from last night, a sleep that was not very restful, and a day that consisted of packing up before going on a bus ride lasting several hours, the alien girl hadn’t really had a chance to properly rest and relax. Now that she was presented with one, she made the most of it, stretching a little bit before getting into a more comfortable position and closing her eyes for a bit.

“This is nice, Marsy.”

"Ya it really is. I know yesterday went off the rails, but hopefully we'll be able to relax a bit. In hindsight, maybe Ecuador was not the most ideal vacation spot."

“Yeah, it really wasn’t…” Kiris agreed. “Well, Esmeraldas was really pretty and really fun to visit, but other than that… we just didn’t come here at a good time I guess.” She sighed. She didn’t really want to talk about it at this point, but she supposed it was only natural for conversation to go there. “It’s not like any of us could have known though.” She said, and a thought suddenly made her laugh. “Least of all me, I don’t really know a lot about Ecuador or other countries.” She admitted, before straightening up in her chair.

“If it had been a trip to Adai though, I could’ve shown ya guys all sorts of fantastic places without riskin’ gettin’ caught in the middle of a civil war. It would’ve been really fun!”

Mars smiled at that. "That sounds like fun. I'd definitely like to see Adai one day." After a second Mars realized that might sound like a big step in their relationship and quickly added. "Of course, whenever you want to bring me is fine. I'd take you to my hometown, but you basically live there now." He added with a grin. Kiris turned to him with a surprised look on her face, though it quickly turned to a bright smile.

“I’d love to take ya there one day, there’s a lot of things I’d love to show ya!” She said enthusiastically. “Maybe my sister could help me out with that. But probably not super soon, wouldn’t want to take ya away from San Diego for too long when there’s people to save.” She continued afterwards, before thinking back to his comment. “But hey, me livin’ in San Diego with ya doesn’t mean ya can’t give me a tour, ya know! We haven’t really been to a lot of places other than that big park. And we still haven’t visited that cake shop ya told me about!” She reminded him in a playful tone.

Mars smiled in response to that, "Good point, there is still plenty of stuff for you to see. Maybe we can go there when we get back… but we'll probably have to ask Naja for some money. Knowing your sweet tooth you'll bankrupt me." Mars said that last part with a joking tone.

“Oh, so it’s my fault that ya don’t take me out more often?” She shot back with faux indignation, only to let out an amused laugh afterwards. Deciding that she wanted to change position, she stood up from the lounge chair and sat down directly on the side of the pool, getting her feet wet and resting her head on one hand, leaving the other on the ground next to her. “Ya know, ya don’t have to worry about money to go out with me. We can just go somewhere else, anywhere is fine if it’s with ya.” She said, looking at Mars with a sweet smile before turning back to the pool. “Sure five star hotels are really nice and fancy but I’d stay in a hut if you were there with me.” She added with a chuckle.

“I would too.” Mars said sincerely. “Plus give me enough time and I can probably build us an air conditioner wherever we are.” He added jokingly before deciding to join her at the edge of the pool, slipping his hand into hers as he sat down, earning a loving smile from her. “You know after everything that’s happened, I’ve been thinking about my future a lot. I was wondering, do you think you want to be a hero forever?”

The pink-haired girl tilted her head as she heard her boyfriend’s question. “Forever? That’s a long time to do anythin’, Marsy.” She quipped, before turning back to the swimming pool, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I know I want to keep helpin’ people no matter what, savin’ others is what gave me the strength to come this far, and I don’t think that’s gonna change anytime soon.” She stated. “But… that’s not really the same thing as being a hero is it? Besides, I don’t know if I could do it forever even if I wanted to. It’s… a dangerous callin’.” She continued, frowning slightly as their many close calls with fate flashed before her eyes.

Not wanting to put a damper on the mood, she turned back to Mars. “How about ya, darlin’? What do ya want to do? Do ya want to be a hero always?”

"Well, I've always wanted to be a hero. Growing up it was just so cool to watch heroes flying around and saving the day. And it's been awesome. But… there's a lot at stake you know? After that last attack, I realized that the more famous we get, the more extreme the villians will be. I just think maybe one day, there will be other ways I can help people better." Mars said before similarly realizing he was dampening the mood. He turned to look at Kiris. "But regardless where my future takes me, I really hope you're a part of it."

“I really hope so too.” The Hadrian girl replied immediately, affectionately squeezing Mars’ hand before grabbing it and bringing it close to her chest. “My present with you has been so wonderful despite all its hardships. And it’s only been a few months! I’m really excited to see what a future with you will look like.” She said sincerely, her voice full of emotion as she looked into her boyfriend’s eyes. “But I’m in no rush either, because I’m really enjoyin’ the journey so far.”

“I am too.” Mars told her quietly, before leaning in for a gentle kiss. A moment later they separated, and Kiris raised a finger to her lips, giggling.

“You’re so sweet, Marsy.” She told him. “But we should probably save that for later.” She added with a wink. Her boyfriend smiled and nodded at that.

“Well, what do you want to do now?” He asked her.

“I bet ya I can swim to the other end and back faster than ya!” She exclaimed all of a sudden, leaving a very confused Mars staring at her.

“What?”

Instead of answering, Kirisvala jumped into the pool, and Mars realized too late that her tail had wrapped around a part of his shirt, pulling him into the water. Giving in to his girlfriend’s shenanigans, he started to swim after her with a smile on his face.

by **The Republic of Atria** » Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:45 pm

Who Dares Wins, Part 4

Fixer and Witness all but dragged Jason to a recovery room while Behemoth went about whatever business he had to. Jason was next to a bed, and begrudgingly took his armor off to get an exam from Fixer. "I'm fine. Just a little sore."

"Better safe than sorry." He replied and started with the exam while Jason attempted to relax. He had to admit that it was uncanny seeing his old slime suit being used by someone else. "Besides, I know Witness wants to speak with you about the mission tomorrow." As he said that, she walked in with a large folder and dropped it in his lap.

"Required reading. Do it now so that I don't have to nag you about it. Besides, you like talking about powers and stuff anyways." She said, pulling up a nearby chair, sitting in it with her front leaning against the chair's back. "And these are some real fun ones."

Jason took it and flipped it open, revealing four pages, each page having a lengthy description about a member of the team. Set, Typhon, Unkindness, and Moloch. A powerful group of superpowered mercenaries.

Name: Set. Martin Benedict.
Description: Average, fit Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes, scruffy facial hair. Five foot eleven inches tall, approx 175 pounds. Martin's kind of a weirdo. A bit eccentric, but surprisingly effective and competent. I'm fairly confident that the rest of his team either somehow enjoys his behavior or they just enjoy the benefits that come from working with him. He genuinely enjoys his mercenary work, and the community has a very positive opinion of him. He fights fair, tends to avoid fighting the unpowered, and avoids collateral damage on top of that. Only thing stopping him from becoming a genuine hero is that he just loves getting into fights so goddamn often with whoever he can, regardless of anyone's place on the morality scale. He's in a relationship with Unkindness. Yeah, I know, he's weird.
Powers: Set, fundamentally, is a shapeshifter. He has the ability to create metal bands that envelope him not unlike a mummy, hence his Egyptian themed name. He can create a seemingly endless amount of them and keep growing or altering his shape as he sees fit. The more of these overlapping bands he creates, the stronger and larger he becomes. He's been seen at sizes up to about fifty three feet, but I don't think that's his limit.
Limitations/Known Weaknesses: Focused damage is the most effective at taking out sections of his body, forcing him to regenerate the bands, and weakening that area in the process. Ideally overloading his focus with several attackers is the quickest and most effective way to take him out. Ideally by finding where he's located himself in his "mech" for lack of a better term.

Jason nodded. From what little he knew of the guy, mostly from Witness showing him the email, he was a bit of an oddball, but a lot of people who leaned into the super lifestyle tended to be more than a little weird. He could point out several members of his own team who could fit the bill, and he himself would probably be on that list too. "Alright, doesn't seem too strange so far. Guy seems alright, strong power, plays well with others, doesn't step on toes. Just wants a good time and has the means to accomplish it."

"Yeah. Most of them are actually pretty alright." She replied. "Just, ya know, the one shitbag ruins it for everyone."

He pulled up the next file: Typhon
Name: Typhon. Kimberly Stone
Description: African-American Woman, glowing white hair and eyes, five foot nine inches. She's pretty quiet and a bit of a loner from my understanding. I'm pretty sure she tags along for similar reasons to Set, because her power isn't as marketable or 'clean' as the hero community would like. I'd even say it's a little creepy if I didn't know any better. I actually think it's neat and would like to have her working with us. Other than that she's pretty relaxed. Set does all the talking and she's just there for support or to fill a need for whatever mission they've got.
Powers: Typhon has the ability to create a singular, powerful 'pet.' The designs are usually alien/weird, but have fairly decent powers that can be anything from box standard Brute powers to being a Tinkerer. She's versatile as hell with her creations and there's too many for me to bother list. The pets are completely and utterly loyal to her.
Limitations/Known Weaknesses: It varies from pet to pet, but Kimberly herself isn't all that difficult to deal with, she's in shape but if she's separated from her creation or it's preoccupied with something else, she's pretty helpless. Though getting her away from her creations is the hard part. They also take time for her to manifest if one gets destroyed.

"No pictures of any of her pets?" Jason asked.

"Set sent me one picture of Unkindness. I figured their names out on my own, but that wasn't too hard. Typhon seems cool. I wanna try talking her into joining us, but part of me thinks that she enjoys all the super fighting as much as Set does, but she just enjoys it all on the inside whereas Set is... More open with what he wants to do. We probably don't offer enough action for them."

"She's their jack-of-all-trades. Alright."

Name: Unkindness, Real name Unknown
Description: She's a Raven Chimera Six foot, eight inches. Yeah, she's tall, can't speak English, but she understands it perfectly fine. I couldn't find anything on her history, but I'm leaning towards Wonder Foundation experiment, but don't quote me on that. From my understanding, she and Set are in a relationship. I thought about delving into how that works, but decided I don't want those mind images so use your imagination. She's pretty intelligent despite the whole bird thing. Lots of people underestimate her because of that, but she's actually pretty damn powerful. Just treat her like you would anyone else and you'll get along just fine. Also, don't shake her 'hands', I'll explain why below.
Powers: Eye Blasts: She can shoot some purple/black colored energy from her eyes. The blasts are sticky and she can detonate them. The more she has on you the more it's going to hurt.
Blades: She doesn't have hands, but those blades can cut through anything. That's not a joke, that's me using my power to warn you.
Phaseshift: She can do this weird thing where she and anyone she grabs are phased out of reality for a few seconds. This has a potent regenerative effect for her and acts like slow, short ranged teleportation for anyone else.
Void Explosion: She can channel whatever effect her arm-blade things have into an explosion around her. It's fairly large, about a five meter radius around her is completely wiped out of existence. Her excepted.
Limitations/Known Weaknesses: Her only ranged attack is much slower than you'd think and at max potency, only hits about as hard as a grenade. Block it or get out of the way. Her blades are nasty as hell, but they're her arms. Stay out of arm's reach. Her void explosion is nuts, but it takes a good five seconds or so before it actually goes off, and clearly marks it's range.

"Huh. Interesting. And she and Set are a thing?"

"Yep. Again, trying not to think about that."

"It's rare you get powers that just flat out ignore durability like that."

"They're not super uncommon, it's just that when your power is 'Ray that annihilates everything around it period' it's kind of hard to be a marketable superhero when there's no setting between off and instant death for your target, but there's a job for those people in cleaning up that giant trash pile in the ocean. Not Britain, the other one."

Jason smiled a bit and pulled up the last file: Moloch.

Name: Moloch. Fredrich Kanter.
Description: Almost bleached white skin, Six feet, one inch, bald. Skinny as a rail. Ooooh boy, where do I begin with this jackoff? He's a super supremacist, and makes no effort to pretend he isn't. He muscled his way into the group and is more or less dragging them along to try and wipe out WarWolf. Problem is he's powerful enough that Set's not confident he and the rest of them can take him. Basically a giant asshole who everyone would be much happier without.
Powers: Moloch's power is that he transforms into a giant snake-like thing. It's about three times as long as a bus, and about fifty percent taller. It's made of some kind of white lava that he can spew out with firehose pressure. It burns inorganic matter faster than organic matter. He's also faster than you'd think a big ass a lava snake would have any right to be. Hurting him is a pain since you have to cut through all that lava to even get to the parts you can damage. Most conventional, and even unconventional weapons are worthless. The transformation also Triggers automatically if he gets hurt.
Limitations/Known Weaknesses: Not much. His head is the most exposed part, but it's moving so much that hitting it with anything powerful enough to damage it is extremely difficult. The best news I can give other than that if you do cause enough damage to him, he'll revert back to human while it recharges. He's also got no powers aside from his transformation.

"Alright. I'm slightly concerned about fighting him now." Jason admitted. Salazar had left, leaving his chest covered in a 'cast' of the black tar to heal the bruising. The rest he insisted would be gone by tomorrow. Minor injuries and bruises. Considering how Behemoth basically took him out in two hits, that was about as good as he could've hoped for.

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'm gonna be in your ears. We're sending you, Dragoness, Behemoth and Fuse. Plus those three for backup, plus whatever WarWolf's gonna be doing to help." She said.

"Really? They're going to help us?"

"They'd better. I've spoken to the dude in charge of the base Moloch wants to hit, Captain Baxter. It took some convincing, and a few promises to not guess their passwords again, but he cleared out a lot of them, and is going to have some stuff helping out. Everyone wants Moloch dead, and the effort required to put the shithead down is, unfortunately, immense."

"You're not going to stop hacking into them are you?"

"Pfft. No. Just not that particular base. I don't do anything malicious. Usually just get some info on where they plan on hitting and selling it to the people in the area. What happens after that is out of my hands." She replied. "Maaaaybe blackmail a higher up into letting some stuff fall off a truck, but that's pretty rare."

"Right. Well. Do we have a plan for dealing with him?"

"The basic idea is pretty simple. Dragoness has been working on a suit of armor for herself that's inspired by Behemoth. Her, Behemoth, and Set are planning to hold him down while Fuse and Unkindness vaporize him. You're there to run interference and because you're actually the most experienced person out of the group we're sending. Fuse mostly just blew up gang bangers and demons, Dragoness tagged along with him and very new to the whole powers thing. Behemoth is... You know. You were actually on a team, and have fought a decent number of villains. Even Darkstar, and you're still around." She explained.

"Why not have Aurelion come too?"

"You didn't hear this from me but his powers aren't exactly... Precise. Yeah, he hits really hard, but the Wolves are interested in keeping their base as intact as possible. Plus, we're trying to actually give them the credit for beating Moloch. Keeps the illusion strong. Set and his Misfits get a fun fight and their own team under their control again. The rest of these newbies get some field experience, and you get to help make the world a better place." She said. "That, and we get a better relationship with the superpowered mercenary community."

"And all we have to do is kill Moloch."

"Yup. Everyone wins. Except Moloch, but fuck him."

Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

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