Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Tomia]

Mars, San Francisco
"Well you have a good point, if you're willing Kabuto we can do it that way. Though you'll still have to be careful. The other heroes might not think much of some bugs, but Naja might notice." He told his teammate. What they were doing was risky, and very much unlike Mars, but... it felt like what was best for his team. While his role was only defacto at best, Mars was starting to understand what Roy had been trying to tell him about being a leader. He felt responsible for everyone, and after today it was becoming clear how much was at stake and what was riding on his shoulders.

Naja, San Fransico, some time later
Meanwhile Naja was sitting at a small table in one of the conference rooms off to the side within the main headquarters. They were taking a break from arguing with each other to get something to eat, which was brought to them from the main dinning hall. Naja rubbed her weary eyes as she took a sip of her coffee and sighed. Kylie was sitting next to her and soon they were joined by Cora and Katie.

"I don't like this plan Naja. I know he is a criminal, but using him as bait feels wrong." Katie said a bit under her breath as they ate together. Cora, who was not eating, spoke up. "Not to mention what the Hadrian embassy will think if they find out."

"From what he has told us already, they are going to have their own problems pretty soon." Kylie replied back.

"This just feels reckless. We know how crazy Animaster is." Naja could tell Katie was more than a little anxious about their nightmarish villain's return. "When he sees his target what stops him from lashing out and tearing up the whole city."

"He's doing that now Katie." Naja said, her tone sympathetic. "We can't let him stay locked down in city hall while his army trashes the city. Drawing him out is the only way to end this."

"What about the other one? He just going to sit there while this happens?"

"Necromancer is his name. We honestly don't know all that much about his motivations. He isn't exactly a people person... well not a living people person." Kylie responded as she took a bite of her hamburger. She was visibly calmer than the rest, probably from the fact that unlike the others she never left the bright lights of mainstream hero work.

"Based on what the mad scientist told us, seems like he just wants to prevent the reunion. I'm not exactly sure he'll just abandon his new fortress and all, but at the very least we can deal with him separately."

"I still don't like it." Katie grumbled.

"I'm not completely happy either Katie, but we were out voted." Naja replied back after another sip of her coffee. "Kylie's Bluejays are well respected here but my position doesn't garner me all that much respect."

"How are the kids?" Cora asked, her artifical blue eyes carried none of the stress and wear of the others around her.

"Today was rough, but they managed well. They... aren't happy about being left in the dark.

"Not that you can blame them." Katie interjected.

"I know, but they're just kids. I don't even like them being here as it is." Naja replied solomly, her gaze diverting a bit.

Kylie took Naja's hand, "Naja, I know you care about, hell all of us here do." She said, gesturing to Katie and Cora. "But you've seen the UC's reports just like I have. There's no way you can hide them from this. And we're gonna need all the help we can get." There were a few moments of grim silence as they all ate, lost in their pessimistic thoughts until Cora broke the silence.

"I've been working with these kids for weeks now. What happened to them would have sent most kids running home and hanging up their capes. Their determination to get better... They can handle this." Katie took her wife's hand and kissed her cheek.

"My beautiful wife is right, they got this. But... you may want to start being honest with them. They're good kids, they want to help, but you of all people can't treat them like kids. They'll resent you for it."

Naja sighed, "You're probably right, but I care about their safety more than what they think about. I won't let a second massacre be my legacy."

[Absolon-7]

---

Casimir Herman January 15th

---

"Hell yeah. Sometimes my own genius is overwhelming," said Casimir leaning back where he was sitting on the bed corner, "Now gotta concentrate. This is gonna be full body control. This could take a while so feel free to take a break or something."

Casimir closed his eyes and in the mental net that he kept his swarm dispersed throughout the base connected he tried to see where these other heroes could be. His vision flashed through a multitude of bugs until he finally landed on a carpet beetle. Through it he could see the familiar serpentine likeness of Naja with two familiar heroes as well. Beetle-Casimir rubbed his hands together as he skittered under a potted plant and began climbing the way facing the wall away from prying eyes. Not that he'd expect someone to see such a miniscule vessel.

Alright maybe they'll have something for me....What the hell are they talking about? Bait?

Beetle-Casi continued to listen in on their conversation until it turned from the mission to just personal thoughts. He was about fade out but the pained tone in Naja's voice made him stick around curious at her troubles. His antenna drooped upon hearing what she thought of them slightly guilty that he was going behind her back to spy on her.

I'd feel like shit right now if I wasn't so good at ignoring how I feel.

In an instant his mind flashed back to the room, "Good news I found secret plans. Bad news. I have no fucking clue what they're talking about." He almost jumped out of his bed to slam his hand on Mars' shoulder, "Oh we got something big on our hands here, Mars my man. Something real big. So first there's something about using some villain as bait for Animaster, whose in city hall, that somehow involves the Hadrian embassy complaining. Next the other villain is called Necromancer and he wants to prevent some reunion...They didn't say shit about what that meant...And uh last thing. I think we should be just a bit nicer to Naja next time we see her. She feels kinda crummy."

Casimir proceeded to try to repeat anything else he heard while internally thinking what would be the fastest way to get himself to city hall.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

January 15th

---

With dinner concluded and most of the team heading back to the temporary accommodations set up for them, Mars decided to start the meeting and call everyone to his and Casimir's room. Kirisvala shuffled inside along with the others - it was a bit of a tight squeeze, but eventually everyone settled in, and Mars broke the news that the superheroes in charge of the defense effort were up to something and that they needed to get the whole picture. The alien girl felt rather uncomfortable with the idea of going behind Naja's back to find out what the grown-ups were planning, but with a majority of the team - or at least the most vocal minority - seemingly in favor of espionage, she felt even more uncomfortable at the prospect of voicing her thoughts and just let things unfold. A part of her did resent that they were being kept in the dark, though it troubled her to admit it.

Before long, with no opposition from anyone on the team - including Kirisvala herself - the plan was carried out, and a beetle relayed to Casimir a conversation between the former Justice Queens, who were discussing various matters involved in San Francisco's current conundrum. Something about using someone as bait, a villain known as Necromancer being a part of the struggle here... and even the Hadrian embassy, the mention of which made her stomach churn. Why would the Hadrian embassy have reason to be involved in something like this? Did her people have anything to do with such a crisis?

As the plan was carried out to its conclusion and the team had found out everything they could at the moment, the young Hadrian reached a resolution.

"We should confront Naja with this." She said firmly, even as she gripped her skirt tightly - the words were not said lightly, and the thought made her more than a little anxious, but they were already too deep into this mess. "If we're really gonna do somethin' about this, then we need all the facts and like Casi said we have no idea what any of this means. And we can't just keep doin' stuff behind each others' backs... bad things happen when we do that." She stated. Unpleasant memories of her time as a prisoner ensured that the lesson remained fresh in her mind. "We need her to tell us everythin'."

[Talchyon]

Molly Shanahan (aka "Jinx")
Team meeting in Mars' room
Jan. 15

As the team meeting turned into an evening of espionage's most organic listening devices, Molly was even more confused as she heard the news. First, she didn't even know if she was a team member or not. If a trial by fire counted as a whole initiation into the group, Molly had that down. Yet she was pretty sure that fighting cars and a popcorn machine did not quite officially make her one of the established Young Bloods. Not yet.

But secondly, and more importantly, the whole interaction of this hero group to the others was shady. They were being kept in the dark, sent in to fight an arch villain who the powers that be knew wasn't even there.
On top of that, their fearless leader, Mars, also seemed on the shady side too. Despite the fact that he was attractive ("and taken," Molly had to mentally remind herself), yet Molly could not shake the feeling that he was holding things back from everyone else too. Trust had to be earned, and so far Mars had work to do to earn it.

The other, more established, members of the team were coming up with ideas. Confront this Naja (whoever she was). Learn more about this clash of supervillains. Save the city, and all that jazz. But Molly had heard enough. "I know I'm the new girl here," Molly started, "but why are they lying to us? Didn't they tell us that Animaster was in the movie theater? Only they knew he wasn't. You know, that might have been good to know before we went charging in. Like they cared if we had all the information they had before we went into harm's way. I have no idea who is calling the shots here, but I can definitely tell that they're trying to play us. And I for one don't like being played."

[Europa Undivided]

Nandras Varaget and Bael De'Chataka
San Francisco

A collab between Europa Undivided and the Republic of Atria

Nandras could still scarcely believe it. His mother had transcended mortal form and underwent the process of bio-transference, shedding flesh in exchange for being a soulless construct with true sight. As for his father, he was now more machine than Ezohir, as the tenets of the holy machine demanded. He barely acknowledged his own son now.

What could he do about it, though? The old were seeking to transcend mortality itself. The young wanted to know the joys of living on this world, and so, their ideals were as reconcilable as light and shadow. All he could do now, then, was to get to know more people. That is what they always told him before they willingly became machines.

Speaking of people, some members of the Young Bloods piqued the alien's curiousity more than the rest. Especialy those that seemed to look profoundly different from the others, or were simply not human, like himself. And it just so happens that the Dra'qunni called Wyatt was just nearby.

Daintily, the xenos approached. "Ah, um. Hello, I believe we have yet to make acquitances? I'm Nandras, one of the newcomers."

After the sheer insanity of the past half an hour and a quick explanation to Naja and the rest of the team that he absolutely was not the cause for the explosion that knocked down a building, Bael just needed a few moments to relax. He sat on a chair and just let himself slouch over, let his wings sprawl, lean his head against the wall, close his eyes and try to forget whatever magical body horror he just witnessed. Not that he was having much luck, as the scene continued replaying in his head. It still didn't rub him the right way that whatever it was, was probably still happening somewhere and there wasn't much he could do to help.

But in the midst of processing, he was approached by the large crow man from earlier. Definitely a positive distraction. He introduced himself as Nandras. "Oh, hello." He said, sitting up a bit straighter and folding his uninjured wing back. "Sorry, I'm kind of a mess right now, it's nice to meet you. I'm Bael, some people call me Wyatt, call me whichever you prefer. It's probably not your best first impression of Earth, I guess, huh?" He said half as a joke.

Nandras chuckled at the thought. His people had come to a world that is constantly beset by eldritch horrors and whatnot, but a habitable planet was still a habitable planet. "Don't worry. I am also a mess, not that any of us aren't after that whole affair in the mall. And, well, after 100 years of living in the void of space with dwindling resources, I guess anything goes, even if there are cataclysms every month. If the air is fresh and the food has taste, then I can say that we are blessed. Not that the old folk of my people are satisfied with that, though."

Bael blinked a few times as Nadras explained some of his race's history. Drifting through space for a century definitely seemed quite hellish. "Well, then you're going to fit in just fine. The mall thing wasn't so bad, we knew we were being ambushed and we got the guy out of there. It's just kind of difficult to punch a building to death. Even with super strength." He said. "And I'm sorry your people went through that, it sounds horrible. What about the old folks not liking it? Surely they understand that things have to be done out of necessity, even if they don't like it."

The Ezohir nodded, slightly relieved that he was told that he was going to fit right in with the rest of them. Though there was the rest of the story to tell. "When we came here on Earth, many of them had congenital illnesses due to malnutrition and low air quality," Nandras answered, remembering when they first arrived. Resources were prioritized for the younger ones, like himself. "I thought that they would be cured with the medical knowledge here on Earth, but I didn't know what they would actually do. All this time that I had been in San Francisco, they had been shedding flesh in exchange for metallic parts. I don't know if you've seen them a few blocks away from here, but I've met my father again and... he barely acknowledges me as his son. One of the Striders said that the emotional parts of his brain had been replaced with a computer. And my mother is now a computer, apparently. Even now I can still scarcely believe it. I leave the colony I helped build for a few months and all that happens."

Bael listened and thought to his own people. Which thankfully didn't have nearly as many issues as the Ezohir did when they arrived. He was curious as to what medical technology he expected Earth to have when they weren't a space fairing civilization. Then again, he had to wonder why there were so many aliens on Earth to begin with. There almost definitely wasn't anything here worth anything to a race that could travel through space. The Ezohir seemed to only be here out of desperation. "I might have caught a glimpse or two, but I've been kind of out of it for a bit." His eyes widened when he mentioned about his parents becoming emotionless because of the cybernetics used to extend their life.

It made the issues he had with Yharon seem so mild in comparison. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said, offering him a hand on the shoulder in hopes to give a little comfort. "I can't imagine what that must feel like."

"Thanks," Nandras answered simply, accepting the hand on the shoulder. "I am simply glad that I could share this with someone. The others of my kind around my age are all undergoing more or less the same thing."

The Ezohir stepped a bit to the side, albeit with an unsteady gait without the aid of the exoskeleton that had aided him in the construction of the colony as well as the recent battles with the animated and undead. He then pulled a red pill and a flask from his pockets, downing them very quickly. In that moment Bael could have seen the sharp, serrated teeth that lined his beak.

"Pills for the gravity," Nandras said, feeling his balance get better. "But enough about me. How about you? I heard you... ah, flew out and got involved in some explosion?"

There had to be someone who could help. Jason mentioned that he knew a guy who was as good with biology as Alexis was with tech. Definitely something to talk to him about. "Maybe someone could make a better mind interface or something, not you guys, but we know a few tech whizzes who could probably help. I also have... Uh, I guess a friend of a friend who might be able to give your people some help." He said. "When things are less insane."

Then he brought up the kerfuffle from earlier and he shuddered a bit. "I wish the explosion was the worst of it. It was I think some witch woman. She was experimenting on the zombies, which at that moment in time looked like they'd been kind of restored? It's hard to explain. Anyways, whoever was running it clearly didn't want people learning about. Got attacked by some weird cyborg zombie soldiers, and by the time I dealt with them, they blew up the building to mask any evidence." He said. "I don't know who they were, but now I'm a little wary about being hunted by some nebulous organization because I definitely wasn't supposed to see that."

"That would be very much appreciated for us," Nandras said, nodding hopefully. "My people are... uh, very fearful of mortality and seem to be willing to pay any price to transcend it. But if we could retain our, as the people of this planet say, 'humanity' while having the benefits of mechanisation... perhaps the Chancellor will be thrilled."

Then there was the matter of the Bael's scuffle with a mysterious force in the darker portions of the city. One that seemed to be curing the undead but at the same time... not?

"I see a diplomatic incident in the making," Nandras answered with a slight chuckle. "I'm sure, though, whoever they are, they will have to go through the rest of our comrades if they do go on to hunt you. Which I suppose is reassuring and terrifying at the same time..."

"I'm not super knowledgeable about tech, but there's plenty of people who are, I think the guy Jason knows is good at the biology part. I'm sure if what Jason's told me about him is true, undoing age isn't too hard for him." He said.

"My biggest thing is the fact that whoever did it is obviously very well connected. I don't think it would be too unreasonable that it wouldn't be too hard for them to steamroll the team or even just target me. So I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do about THAT. Coupled with everything ELSE going on, I'm a bit stressed." he said. "I'm sorry, I really don't want to burden you with that, you're clearly already dealing with a lot." At the very least, he did feel a bit better now that he said it aloud.

"Eh, having a third of my race's population turned into robotic shadows of their former selves isn't all that concerning compared to potentially being hunted by an evil organization," Nandras replied. "One can at least can be reasoned with, and it sure as hell won't be the people conducting illegal experiments. So, yeah, you don't have to apologize to me for, as the humans say, 'spilling the beans'. I believe even the simple act of sharing is therapeutic, in itself."

There were many things he couldn't share, though, not yet at least. Such as the time when the Council decided to cut off the oxygen supply of several cabins in the Refuge so that there would be enough air for the rest of them to reach Earth. Or the fact that their resistance to radiation is partially due to highly unethical experiments done onboard the station. All in the name of surviving in the cold void.

...

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-San Francisco, CA-January 15th

"But yeah, we can...I don't know, talk about things, find somewhere without zombie gangs and civilians. Anywhere, just...not here?"

I took a moment as I collected my thoughts. So much has happened today and finally being face to face with Carter after he has finally seen first hand what I have been doing all these months. I stood up slowly, deliberately and nodded to him. Even if I had no idea where we would go to talk in a city overrun by zombies. Just then a splash of rain hit my cheek as I glanced up and spotted the rain which quickly turned to a downpour that smashed against the pavement as if it was trying to wash away the evidence of my deeds. Still holding the weapons in my hands and having no idea as to where we would go to talk I simply started walking off in a random direction. Carter followed as one way was as good as another. Despite the weather I didn't run through the storm. My eyes instead scanned each building, each window for signs of a suitable resting place.

Finally I stopped in front of a diner with a large sign that looked like it was from the 50s maybe which read 'Greg's Burgers'. Moving through the entrance I turned to Carter and signaled for him to follow me in.

"Seems as good a place as any."

The establishment wasn't entirely random. The last battle took quite a bit out of me. And I needed to recharge so to speak. And I'm sure Carter could do with a bite too. Not long after being resurrected Bismark explained to me how the nanites require protein as a fuel source and should they be taxed too much I would need to 'refuel them' much like a normal human body. The dining area was eerily neat as we walked in and found ourselves a booth and slid in opposite of each other.

I sat there for several moments before saying anything. But Carter spoke first, lightening the mood about how long we have been here and we have yet to be served. Joking he'd leave a bad review on Google or something. It was a cheesy joke. But after all the shit that I have been through lately it was needed. From there we simply chatted about the old days. Both of us intentionally ducking around the metaphorical elephant in the room. Finally though I needed to eat and I stood up and volunteered to venture into the kitchen and fix both of us a plate.

Pushing the metal door to the kitchen open I caught a glimpse of my reflection and paused a moment to look myself over. The dampness of my clothes, the soaked black hair on top of my chalk white facial features and for some odd reason one black 'eye patch' over my left eye. Never understood that look myself. I closed my eyes for a moment and visualized what I looked like before I became a walking nanite science experiment. The chestnut colored hair and peach like skin tone. Exhaling deeply I opened my eyes and my features had returned to what they once were. It takes concentration and isn't automatic. The old look will return once I stop focusing on this one. I had already tried to permanently look like this, but once I rest or sleep or even get heavily distracted it all just changes back. But it'll hold for now.

Continuing into the kitchen I moved around and peered into the coolers until I found what I was looking for grateful that the lights were still on in this establishment. Tossing several t bone steaks onto the grill alongside a burger for Carter my mind raced back to the days when I would cook at home for my father after my mother passed. I wasn't very good...burning most things. And he was sure to remind me how shit I was at cooking on his better days or on his worse days throw his plate inches from my face. Just about anything dad thought was essential for a 'girl' to do well I normally failed at. Snapping back to reality after the few minutes it took to prepare the meals I carried the two plates out. In one hand Carter's rather plain burger with cheese and lettuce and the other was simply a plate with five separate steaks stacked like they were pancakes.

Returning to the table I saw that Carter had already fetched drinks for us and by the taste of the coke mine had already started to get watered down from the ice. Sliding Carter's plate towards him I made sure to inform him that he could get his own damned ketchup as I sat down and quickly picked up the first steak and took a large bite from it before realizing I hadn't used utensils for it. Gulping slowly I put the steak back down and breathed.

"Decided to change my look a bit, hope this is better for you." As soon as I said it I wanted to rephrase it. I know Carter could give a damn less how I look. I changed it for me. I'm a monster. A murderer. I just want to look human, for this moment.

"Back when...we were helping those people I skipped over what had happened to me Carter. I just...don't really know where to begin with you anymore. I'm not the girl I used to be...I remember her. I remember what she looked like. What she dreamed of. What scared her. What pissed her off. Who she looked up to." I let the pause hang there before continuing. "I always knew you'd make it further than me. You were just too damned good to hang around me. Some days you made me believe I could make it out of the garbage too. "

A few more moments passed before I continued.

"I...almost couldn't do it....kill for the first time. I remember feeling sick over the idea, it's why I chose the most evil guy I could find in the local news back then. David Aims. I saw that you were finally joining the Young Bloods and...I was gonna be left behind in the streets. Doing the same stupid shit I had been doing. Skipping class and fucking up. I didn't have powers or anything. I felt I needed to make a difference like you were. Someone like Aims, people would be happier if a rapist dies right? I mean, people must think about it when they watch the news. They see these run of the mill psychos and costumed serial killers and villains and think, if someone just did it. Those people would never harm anyone again...but they don't do anything. They change the channel and go tuck their kids in bed and go to work the next day. And why would they do anything else? They have lives. People who would miss them. People who rely on them. They have so much to lose. But some juvenile bitch with no future like me? I could do what other law abiding citizens only think about. I thought I had nothing to lose." I said with a sarcastic snort.

"I was fuckin wrong Carter."

"Somehow I found myself with a team I didn't deserve. The Outriders, people I cared about. And I lost them to my fucked up crusade. Nick is dead, he was a sarcastic asshole. You'd probably like him. Had a dry sense of humor, smoked him lungs out though. Brianna was some ancient warrior with immortality. You'd probably hit on her and be shot down. We even had a fuckin dragon girl, Sina. Caterina was...something else. Honestly you may have puked if you met her. There were others over time and most are missing I guess, I haven't been able to find them. Then I fucking died..."

"At first...I thought the Outriders had a reason. That we were doing some necessary service. On some level I still have to believe that. What I didn't expect though was that the more people I killed, the easier it became...and the easier it became the more I hated myself. Hated the person I was becoming. I kept going because of the people around me who believed in me, believed in what we were doing. Everything that was once good in me was in them. But eventually I knew that my own time would come. That I would die in some back alley and I would get the same justice I have been giving other murderers for so long. And that thought gave me peace. I'd go out and take as much evil with me as I went. And the world would go on."

"Well, that did happen. I did die Carter. And some asshole brought me back and it wasn't even for a fucking grand purpose. I was a fucking science experiment. I was already a monster when I died but he brought me back as one inside and out. I barely sleep, I can go days without it. I look like a fucking zombie and I am designed to be the most efficient killer a mad scientist could make. There were a million and one people out there more deserving of a second chance at life and I come back. Where's the fucking justice in that Carter? Even worse with the regeneration the nanites give me I'm harder to kill than ever. I could shoot myself right now and wake up in a few hours. Honestly I don't really know what it would take. A bomb maybe? All I know is that alley way was supposed to be the end of my fucked up story. I don't deserve the life I have, just I as decided that all those gangsters and super villains didn't deserve their own lives. I am not a good person Carter. I am not a hero. I am not like you. I may hate who I am now but it is who I've become. And now I have a second chance at life and I got no fucking clue what to do with it. So I keep doing what I have been doing. And I feel just as shitty about myself as I used to. Only this time I am alone." I put my face in my hands and spoke without making eye contact.

"I am sorry...I...don't know if I'm sorry for what I have done but...I am sorry for what I have become. And for not being the friend that you deserved." With my speech over for now I pulled my face from my hands and glanced at my cooling food on the plate then back at Carter. Not wanting to eat anymore until I heard from him.

[Tomia]

Young Bloods, San Fransico
Mars felt very torn when he heard his girlfriend speak and insist that they had to speak to Naja about this. He understood not wanting to keep secrets, she was certainly right that that had often been disastrous for them in the past. But he wasn't sure things were that simple this time. "Crystalheart, I don't want to keep secrets from Naja either, but how are we going to explain what we are confronting her about? She isn't going to be happy that we spied on her." He then heard Molly's comments, which didn't sit well with him.

"Look I know we don't like being kept in the dark, but that's too far. You're new here but Naja has our best interest in heart, she has went to bat for us over and over." He let out a sigh, tensions were running high and he didn't want to start a fight within the team.

"If people want to confront Naja, I'll go along with it. But we'd have to be really careful about what we say."

At this point, Angelica who had been largely quite through this conversation spoke up. "Alright, I've been holding my tongue about this, but when did we actually decide Rocket should be leading? You're my friend Rocket, and you're a great guy, but things are getting serious and I know everyone has been willing to play along but we need to have a leader we actually chose."

Mars was a little surprised, Angelica wasn't the type to speak up unless it was something important. He realized he probably should have seen this coming, but deep down he was afraid of what his teammates might say.

"She's right guys. Roy isn't here and I've been trying to fill his shoes but, that needs to be our decision not just mind. We have a chose to make right now, whether to confront Naja or keep it quite. And we should have a leader we trust make that decision. If its me, great, if not, well... I'll follow whoever we chose."

[The Republic of Atria]

Jason

He'd mostly be relaxing and browsing stuff on his phone to kill time when the group decided to talk about something in Casimir's room. Where it was explained that they were planning to use some villain as bait to lure out Animaster. Which sounded like a perfectly good plan to him, so long as it wasn't some poor bastard who had one too many unpaid parking tickets. The gang was debating confronting Naja on it. "Honestly." He finally spoke up. "Yeah, we need to call her out. She thinks this is dangerous? Now? No offense to her, but does she remember anything from the last half a freaking year?"

"Warwolf. The entire thing at the tournament. The Warhound shit. The entire coup in Ecuador. Even the Mesa Verde." He said. "We've been through so much worse." He said, with a tone that was more annoyed than anything. "And we're already here. She dragged us here and now, of all people, she's getting cold feet? No sir. Fuck Animaster. Look what he did-what he's DOING." He motioned towards the nearest window. "Apparently Necromancer too but zombies aren't really that big of a threat to anyone who can maintain a brisk pace for more than two minutes." That didn't even include all the crap he went and did outside of the team.

"If I'm being honest, I don't care what her verdict is. If she doesn't approve, well, if I have to go out there and search every building until I find him, I'll do that. If nothing else, it sure beats being cooped up in here with my thumb up my ass waiting for him to just knock on the door and turn himself in."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

January 15th

---

It did not sit well with Kiris at all that Mars seemed to be less than willing to come clean to Naja in order to get a better understanding of what was happening. There was going to be a lot of tension between her and the team, that much was evident, but what was the alternative? To run blindly into the fray armed with just what little cryptic knowledge they had managed to extract? To continue spying on their mentors and the other heroes? How could those options be any better than the truth? She failed to see it, and it made her feel rather disheartened once more. Was there something she didn't see? She knew she was considered naive by the others - Wendy's comments earlier were but the latest proof - but she had hoped that wasn't the case, that just because she tried to give some people, namely their mentor and caretaker, the benefit of doubt, didn't mean that she was foolish. Was she?

The shift in conversation that followed did little to assuage her emotions. Where she had previously cast her gaze to the ground in discomfort, at Angelica's words the pink-haired girl instinctively stood up, turning to look at Angelica. The blonde girl was her friend, and she was also in a relationship with her best friend, but at that moment she felt the need to speak up. "Things aren't just now gettin' serious, they've been serious for a long time. I mean I don't agree with Jason that we've been through worse, I don't think we've faced anythin' that's left an entire city in this sorry state, but he's got a point that we've been through a lot before, and the fact of the matter is that when Roy left the team, only one person stepped up to the role, and that was Mars. We might be havin' a different conversation if someone else had stepped up, but that's not the case." She stated. "And if anyone thinks I'm sayin' all of this just because of our relationship, tell me I'm lyin'." She added afterwards, crossing her arms. After a moment, she looked around and sighed.

"Don't get me wrong, I... I hate what we're doin' here. But maybe I'm the one in the wrong. Maybe spyin' on Naja will turn out to be the right thing to do. I don't know. But in any case I trust him to make the call, and I'm willin' to stick to that and face the consequences." She admitted.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Wendy was about to say something to Molly when Mars interrupted and explained his fears about what Naja would think. Then, Angelica dropped the bombshell of a vote of no confidence for Mars. Honestly Wendy found herself agreeing with Angelica. Mars was a good friend, but it would be a lie for her to say she didn't hold Cas and him a little responsible for what happened at the mall and Roy leaving. The fact he was always rushing in without a plan and rolling over whenever someone from the NASL told him too didn't help matters either.

"I get what you're saying Mars." She finally replied. "Naja been more of a mother too me than my own mom. But she isn't protecting us by keeping us in the dark like. The only way we're going to avoid another mall incident is if is by having as much information as we can out in the field. When we asked everyone else come help with Warwolf, we laid everything bare. I should know, I typed up the briefings myself. The least we deserve here is a clue on what the endgame for this entire mess is."

She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, if you're worried about blowback, just let me handle talking to Naja. I can frame it as me stubling on the information while hunting around the mainframe for info on Animaster and the other supervillain. She'll just roll her eyes and tell me to be more careful, maybe ground me from accessing any computers while we're here even though she can't enforce it, and the rest of you avoid her ever even knowing we've been snooping on her. Meanwhile, I'll get Alexis hooked up to the federal and NASL databases, see if we can't figure out who this mystery Hadrian is."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
Beta Zone // San Francisco // California
January 15th, 2018

---

At first, "It- *cough* " was the only thing that spluttered out of Carter's mouth in response to Alexis' story, which shocked him. He pulled his hands away from his face, and they were still wet, which also shocked him, and started to make him upset. He hated feeling like this, feeling like he couldn't control anything he was going through, feeling like no matter how hard he tried, anyone could see the emotions written on his face. Desperately, he looked somewhere to Alexis' right, jamming his fist over his mouth and blinking hard a few times to prep himself. The rain outside still looked like God's piss stream, but it was lightening up a little bit, the sound of water lashing on glass lowering to a dull hum. Lately, it felt like God had been pissing on his head more than usual, and he was sick of it. Thinking about something as stupid as that made him want to circle back to what he had just been told, and there was a whole U-Haul worth of baggage to unpack there. Maybe two.

Her...Alexis' story. It sounded so unbelievable, so ridiculous, even when some dumbass imaginary angel on his shoulder reminded him that his life had gotten equally as weird. A mad scientist? Seriously? Was it possible to be more cliché? Everything she was saying sounded wrong, sounded backward. There was no such thing as mad scientists who turned you into killing machines. Everybody needed sleep, and everybody could die, bullet or bomb. But shit, he had seen her regenerate, when he had stumbled back into her street junction and watched her mercy that samurai lady. He had seen it with her own eyes, so she couldn't be lying. And Alexis didn't lie, not to him, at least. So why did she keep telling him he was better? He had hurt people, abandoned people, and let people die, so didn't that make him just as bad? Why couldn't she see that they were both in the same boat? Now, he really believed this scientist was real. Because someone had made her this way, transformed his best friend until she didn't recognize herself anymore. That scientist...and the Outriders.

A heated fist grabbed his sternum and laced its fingers through his ribs at the thought of the name, maybe something residual left over from when he was still a Blood. That was the worst shock of all, hearing her describe her time with that...team. Even when he first learned that his best friend had killed someone, when he pretended to be clueless every time the Outriders were brought up, he had been convinced that she had thought it was right. That she thought it was the only way to keep people safe. At points, he might've even agreed with her. But now, hearing that she never even liked it, that it made her hate herself, that she kept doing it, ended up killing herself, because of peer pressure??? It made his blood boil, and his face flushed over as he gripped the edge of the table hard. He wanted to scream. If he did, he would've probably screamed that this all could've been avoided, that they wouldn't even be having this talk right now, if she had just used half a brain and cut it all out.

How was the fact that he would've liked some of the Outriders supposed to help him? It only made him hurt more, made the raw bruise in his chest sting worse. If he could go back in time, he would've killed all of them. He wouldn't have become a silent witness, he would've cut everything out so that none of this would've happened. He would've taken out Nick, and Sina, and Brianna, and Caterina, and every single other one until none of them were left. Even if it destroyed his friendship. At least she would still be alive. But he would still need a time machine to do all of that, and he would trade anything in the world for that machine. Name a price, and he would've paid it. Even one of his teammates? That prospect made his head hurt, so he pushed it aside.

But it wouldn't have helped. He knew it wouldn't have helped. Alexis was too driven, too stubborn for that. And she had other reasons too, she had said so herself. That she had nothing to lose. That her first kill was an evil psycho. And that he had moved on and left her behind, joining a team and leaving her to stay in the streets. That was it. It wasn't anyone's fault but his. Because if he hadn't gotten on some self-righteous tip, then she wouldn't have felt like there was some sort of obligation for her to pay up in her own way. And if she hadn't felt that obligation, then she wouldn't have killed Aims. And Carter wouldn't have blown up on her. And she wouldn't have joined the Outriders. And she wouldn't have died. And she wouldn't have been a robot.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Carter croaked out at last, burying his face in his hands in an attempt to muffle the words. It felt a little better staring at the inside of his hands, so he kept doing that, beginning to rock back and forth as he spoke. "Y-you...*sniff* sh-shouldn't apologize for anything. I...I messed up too. I c-c...I could've done something, I could've h-helped you more, I could've stayed in touch. Everybody screws up, y'know...you and me both. There's nothing..." he trailed off, letting his hands slip down so that they only cupped over his nose and mouth, causing his eyes to peek out. They were red to the outside look in, but he seemed to be unaware, hiccuping slightly as he peeled his hands away from his face and grabbed one of the fresh steaks. Just as Alexis had, he neglected any sort of knife or fork, ripping a bite with his teeth and taking a few jumpy sips of Coke to wash it down.

"Where...where are you gonna go now?" he asked quietly, finally making direct eye contact with the woman across the table. "Let's say...if San Fran gets back to normal. No more brain-eaters. What'll happen to you? Will I see you again?"

---

---

Whitney Alvord
Rising Suns Territory // San Francisco // California
January 15th, 2018

---

Whitney nodded in response, an array of thoughts already beginning to jumble and flow through her head. "Perfect." was all she responded to Hyperdrive with, unfazed by even the potentially lab-busting orb of magic in his hand. With a slight spin in her chair for flourish, she began to type at a rapid pace into the nearest terminal, sending lines of text snaking across a typically blank document. If the cloaked boy happened to peer over her shoulder at the screen, he would recognize the writing as jot notes of various ingredients, measurements, and chemical processes all collected under the heading "SPICE (?)". Any potential understanding of the notes' meaning was strictly limited by no less than two spelling mistakes per list item, each one underlined in an irritating red. If he thought keeping up with the text was a difficult affair, he was no match for the art of conversation. It would probably be easier to go shoot in the dark and make the spice himself.

"So, identifying the raw ingredients shouldn't be too difficult, a few runs through the lab and I should have a full list within a couple of days. By tomorrow, if I'm lucky. Figuring out their measurements and how to combine them, process them, and get them from Point A to Point B, might take a little longer. Optimistically, maybe two days best-case, might take up to four, somewhere in that ballpark. When I say ballpark, I'm accounting for the time it takes to make all of this viable. If I have to take a year to pressurize dust from an asteroid floating around Saturn, I might as well give you cumin and tell you to snort that. Hopefully, your family isn't so...uh, illustrious that they'll have made the contents hard to find. Even if it's a little rare, I might be able to wrangle it fast, but it could take some time to ship. And then there's prep, there's measurement, combination, testing, bringing you in to do your thing, and re-trial if necessary, which probably won't happen. I have some ongoing...actually, forget it, my other projects can wait. That could free up some time, and make it a little...easier. If I focus on this 24/7, with one day for ingredients, three days for procedure creation, a week for collection assuming I get on it as soon as I figure out the ingredients, and a few days for product assembly, I can have it ready by...uh......"

Then, everything stopped, as she made the final process of addition in her head, slowly, painstakingly checking her work. And then, she turned to Hyperdrive and fixed him with an inquisitive look. "Do you have enough of this stuff to make it to January the 28th?

[Europa Undivided]

Joakim Ferro | Hyperdrive
January 15th, San Francisco

Then, everything stopped, as she made the final process of addition in her head, slowly, painstakingly checking her work. And then, she turned to Hyperdrive and fixed him with an inquisitive look. "Do you have enough of this stuff to make it to January the 28th?

Joakim looked down, fumbling in his coat to find the remaining canisters of glimmering, yellow spice. The great repositories that his clan had kept in the vault had been reduced to an amount that could be counted by the fingers on his hand; a truly sorry affair. Much of it had been rendered useless by the passage of time, and what remained were but a shadow of what they used to be. His hopes all rested on Whitney from now on, then...

"1... 2... 3... and, ah, 4," Joakim counted the canisters that he had. There were five, but he had used the fifth back when he evacuated the Young Bloods from the Mall Incident. Now he could take four long distance trips, but after that, he'll be severely restricted to perhaps a few hundred meters. And there could be times when that is just not enough.

"I have enough, probably," Joakim replied to Catalyst as he set the canisters back into their container, "Assuming we don't have to flee from the field of battle four times in a row, then these should be sufficient until the 28th. And, err, we weren't too illustrious. I think. My dad did say we were one of the lesser clans within the Brotherhood, whatever it was. I can't quite remember..."

Joakim fidgeted for another moment, and snorted. "So uh, yeah, thanks a lot, Catalyst," he said, bowing respectfully, as if she was the royalty of an important kingdom. "You're very helpful, as I heard from the others. But, um, I got to go for a bit..."

---

'Here upon this world lie the twenty billion souls consigned to oblivion when the nights grew long and the sun never rose again."

- The Sardon Memorial


Nandras Varaget | Twin Bite
January 15, the meeting

The Ezohir, at first, simply listened to the others talk about the dire discoveries that Casimir's insect minion had. Apparently the plan had shifted from a frontal assault upon Animaster's stronghold to drawing him out with another villain, thereby making him vulnerable to an attack. But can he be ambushed, though? He was a man that, according to what he had seen, seems to sense what his minions are seeing. Can one ambush someone whose entire army acts as his eyes and ears?

And now, they had gone down to a vote of no confidence, and the debate on whether they should confront Naja about these methods, as well as the fact that she is keeping secrets from then.

"I know I only joined today," Nandras stated, "But I concur with the notion that your mentor has to be given a confrontation. She may believe that she is keeping you safe by keeping secrets from you, but it is obvious that this kind of dynamic cannot continue. You know well that you, we, can't be treated like children anymore. I've read of your exploits and the horrors that you have faced. I believe that the Young Bloods should be treated just like any other team of heroes, not kept in the dark simply because of our lesser age."

He should know. Nandras has seen his fair share of death and suffering during the Great Trek. Whole cabins asphyxiated by order of the Council, their bodies cast into the cold void of space instead of a proper burial. Elders blinded and sickened by increasingly meagre diets and air. Passengers that had lost the will to live shutting themselves out through an airlock rather than endure their horrific existence. He had seen it all. And one time, he was the one that pushed the button.

He was sure of it. This world offered its own share of horrors, and those that have witnessed them cannot be blinded to the truth.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

San Diego
Mid-January

---

Its food drenched with grease. Its odor repugnant.Its bathroom dirtier than its fryers. But none of that mattered because for anyone crowding its dining section, ‘Up-N-Atom’ made a mean burger. Grass-fed beef patties, crisp onions, ‘fresh lettuce’, sliced tomatoes, American cheese, and the ever-important secret sauce had made Atom Burger infamous throughout SoCal. Its delectable taste only tarnished by the side of high cholesterol you were getting with that.

Still, people powered through. It was half past ten in San Diego, and the Fast Food Franchise was still up to its nose in foot traffic. It being Friday only made it worse. The neighborhood didn’t help much, either. At this time and location, the only people who came were drunks, those looking to get drunk, criminals, vagrants, and the odd undercover cop or two. People shouted and spat in each other’s faces; fights would break out outside, while cars would spin donuts outside. Needless to say, it was loud.

Which worked perfectly for Alejandro. A lanky Filipino with more tattoos covering his arms than most murals, his appearance and swagger made it clear he was a gangster. Slicked back hair that sheened with the overbearing light fixtures above and a pencil-thin musketeer goatee that he was meticulous about not touching. It would mess with the gel. Alejandro was a part of the 54th Street Sicarios, a loose cell of the broader organization that operated much more discreetly compared to the Russians and Mob north of the city. Direct orders from Tijuana,

On the one hand, that worked for ‘AJ’; he wanted nothing to do with those high visibility, ‘superhero magnates’ schemes. He was fine with his minor drug network and stolen credit card ring; he was pretty sure the Bloods were too much of glory hounds to ever deal with something so trivial. That was why he was here. Public spots with high traffic made the perfect spot for meeting with his mules or potential customers. Hiding in plain sight and all that.

But still, it may have been easy money, but it wasn’t always fast money. And while AJ will always be a 54th by heart, he looked for other low-key endeavors to pad out his wallet. So when a mysterious Blonde approached him for his ties to the local crime scene in South San Diego, how could he pass up that opportunity? He wasn’t working for any rivals. He was just passing along sensitive information to her from time to time; he even rose in her ranks, having his own group of informants he watched over. Entirely separate from the 54th. Of course, Ignacio would kill him if he ever found out. But he never would, so who cares?

He lit a cigarette to pass the time. A lowly employee came by, sighing as she knew how AJ would respond. Her manager was breathing down her neck and knew she would expect her to say something.

He ignored her, looking off to the distance as if to pretend he didn’t hear her.

She tapped his table, “This is a no smoking area.” She said with a bit more agitation.

He looked over at her, “Why?”

“That’s the company pol…”

He cut her off, “No, why do you think a fuck?” He put the cigarette back into his mouth and gestured toward the kitchen, “Bitch you make burgers for a living. Go do that.” He pulled out his rumpled receipt from his back pocket and lifted it up to her, “I’m still waiting for my Electron Deluxe Meal.”

She stared blankly off to space as she rethought every decision in her life that brought her to this moment. Then she turned around and sighed, heading back to the kitchen. This was not worth minimum wage.

“That’s no way to treat the people serving you. You know someone’s going to spit in your burger, right?” An unassuming young man with black hair spoke as he casually slid onto the table, sitting across from Alejandro with a small tray of fries stolen from some careless drunk. “I’ve heard you’re the guy to come to when procuring information. I may have need of those services. Not for free, of course.”

The sudden intrusion caught AJ off guard, looking at the man with a deadpan glare. He provided most of his intel to Sephia foremost, not that he hadn't acted as a broker himself before. He briefly considered if he was an undercover cop, but he quickly shot that idea down. He knew anyone and everyone on SDPD payroll like it was on the back of his hand. His glare broke into a casual smile, warming up to him. "Them spitting on it would probably be the healthiest thing they do here with the amount of shit they put into those burgers." He flashed his teeth, revealing the grill underneath. "Now…I might be. Depends on who is asking."

Rather than identify himself verbally, the dark-haired man simply smiled back and searched for something within his jacket, eventually retrieving and placing on the table a black and red mask that had appeared on the news quite a few times the past several months - the mask worn by Hex, leader of the Cabal.

“We’re looking for people who didn’t hold up their end of the bargain after a recent job. I was hoping you’d have some leads or other information to go off of.”

"The Up-and-Comer," Alejandro remarked as Hex revealed his mask. He knew of their past works, not intimately; costume villainy wasn't his forte. But he knew instantly what job Hex was speaking of; the Mesa Verde shootout had dominated the news cycle prior to the SF crisis. It also helped that he was tangentially involved with it, not to a significant degree, but Sephia had asked him to pass around a few names of possible hires. He had been the one who recommended 'Hugo Boss'.

But that was the extent of his involvement. Sephia preferred to keep things compartmentalized to an absurd degree. He could only guess if she had been contracted to help plan the heist or had just been paid to pass names along. Adding to this confusion was her radio silence before and after the heist had gone down. This wasn't uncommon behavior for her. She had ignored him for long periods only to pop up with her Russian enforcer in his own home. But her silence after such a pivotal event was odd; he figured she would have told him to change his dead drop patterns at the very least. Nope, assumed business as usual until told otherwise.

Any information he may have on the specifics of the heist was based on what her informants had passed to him, which was incomplete at best. Still, it was usable and, more importantly, sellable. "I can hazard to guess which job you're talking about. How 'important' is this to you?"

“Well, it’s a loose end I’d rather not have. I’m not someone to hold grudges, particularly, but I can’t have someone renege on a gentlemen’s agreement and just let it slide, can I?” The other man replied, leaning back on his seat and grabbing a fry off his stolen tray. “If you’re familiar with the job, then you know what happened. I came prepared to negotiate for the information if you have it.” He added afterward.

Alejandro slid his nail between his teeth, cleaning off some gunk while calculating how much this should go for. He had a number in mind but didn't directly say it; he was curious what Hex was willing to pay. "Well, what I know probably won't end this search for you as I can't answer 'who' directly, but I do know enough to lead you on the way." He waited for a number. Rather than offer one, the newcomer displayed a small vial with a shimmering liquid.

“Do you remember when a Wonders Foundation facility was raided last July? We kept some of the stock on hand after that. A crate or two. I figured it could come in handy as a bargaining chip.” He explained. “Perhaps you’d be interested in that? I’m sure you can sell it to some of your contacts for a pretty penny.”

He chuckled at the reveal; self-proclaimed villains always had a flair for the outlandish, and WF serums were up there in terms of moveable units. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out two joints. He held it out towards Hex."Want one?" He asked, but the villain simply refused with a shake of his head.

He lit his, annoying the passerby. Closing his lighter, he answered Hex after a short coughing fit. "Now, on the one hand, that's easy paper. Too easy. Cargo like that…" he grimaced, "Way too high profile. And not just cops. Heroes love it when guys like me move stuff like that. They get to do the whole nine yards: saving the day, media tours, all that. They tend to ignore crooks just - shit - boosting ATMs or running no-show jobs." He took the joint out of his mouth, "I also have to distribute that…more work for me." He furrowed his brow, "Guessing you don't have anything more 'liquid'?" He was talking about cash.

The other man shrugged and put away the vial of power serum, a little disappointed that AJ hadn’t been willing to take it off his hands. “I don’t make a habit of keeping much of that on me; I don't tend to need it. But I can easily get it for you. How does five grand sound for a start?” He offered.

AJ gazed intently into Hex's eyes as he thought the proposition over; he didn't say a word for some time, opting to just snuff his cigarette by repeatedly smothering the end onto the table. It left a sizable burn. "Hmm…" He spoke up, having weighed his options, "I suppose I can live with that. Half first, half after we finish."

“Sounds good.” He nodded. “Then I’ll contact you shortly when I have the money on hand. I’d offer to shake yours now to seal the deal, but I think that would be suspicious and I would hate to sour whatever business you were expecting before my arrival.” The young man then stood up and began to leave. “You can keep the fries.”

Before AJ could say anything else, he was already walking off, effortlessly navigating the lowlifes and drunkards that tended to frequent Up-N-Atom at that hour without drawing any unwelcome attention, aided by a little bit of crafty sorcery of course. A man in a leather jacket outside took a long stride to approach the door and open it for him, and he offered him a brief nod in appreciation before continuing on his way.

AJ could see Hex walking away outside from where he sat, briefly watching the villain as his mind focused on what to reveal. He didn’t want to leave him feeling short-changed; that would be bad business. Taking another puff of his roll right before the intercom called out his number. Digging through his numerous pockets for the receipt, he slid out of the booth and casually made his way through the crowd grabbing his meal and drink. It couldn’t have been longer than a few seconds.

The man in the leather jacket had his hands nestled into his coat pocket, staring up at the menu with a carefree, nonchalant smile. The first thing that stood out about him was his height, towering over most, though he had very gaunt features: sharp cheekbones and sullen eyes. He watched AJ grab his food, doing a minor double take to verify he recognized the face before walking to his table. “Hey, Alejandro, right?” He said in a cheery tone.

AJ looked away from the fat, juicy burger dripping between his fingers up to the cheery man. “Yeah?” He responded in confusion before lightening up, “Hey, what’s good man?” He went for the fist pump.

The man left him hanging.

Pulling out a pistol from his coat pocket, he fired the first shot into his left cheek. The gangster slammed back into his seat. With as much willpower as Alejandro could, he tried to lift his leg to get out a single kinetic blast.

It was in vain—another shot tore through his chest. Then came the next one, and another,

The man fired eight times, emptying his clip to ensure his contract’s completion. AJ’s singular wind swipe did little beyond destroying the table he had been eating from. Cries and screams rang out as the glut of people took cover and kept their heads concealed in case of crossfire. They had no idea what was going on. With his last shot, the assassin held out his pistol and dropped it onto the crime scene, dashing out of the room and onto a motorcycle waiting outside.

The sound of gunfire did not go unnoticed. Outside, Adrian had taken refuge in the shadow of the street to shed his disguise, but not more than a minute had passed when the sound caught his attention, followed by the same man from before leaving the scene in a hurry. The implication was clear, but as he glanced inside the locale, he saw the deed that had been carried out. He saw AJ’s inert body, his face mangled beyond recognition though his tattoos betrayed his identity. A rather unfortunate coincidence, to be sure.

Too bad I don’t believe in coincidences. The sorcerer thought as he raced after the motorcycle. There was not a chance in hell that he’d catch up with the killer on foot, but there was also no reason to waste any time while he organized his thoughts. It looks like a typical hit put out by another gang, but I can feel there’s more to it than that. If nothing else, maybe I can get something useful out of this.

A mental command caused golden sigils to appear all over his body, and he shot up to the rooftop of a nearby building, surveying his surroundings. Amidst the traffic of downtown San Diego, it was difficult to see or hear a single motorcycle, but the sorcerer focused his senses, enhanced by the magic coursing through his entire body, and moved in pursuit of the assassin, a cloak dark as night appearing and shrouding him to keep away prying eyes.

It took several minutes until the villain tracked his quarry to a side street where they were unlikely to be bothered. When the moment came, he did not hesitate. He shot down from the rooftop just as the man in the leather jacket turned a corner. One instant, he was on his motorcycle. The next, the vehicle had skidded out of control and crashed into a nearby dumpster, and the assassin was being held up by his throat, a curious Hex looking at him.

“What do we have here? Not just a hired gun from another lowly gang, I hope. That would be disappointing.”

In those few seconds, the previously cheerful veneer of the assassin cracked. His left leg let out an audible crack when he was tackled onto the floor. In addition, he took other minor scrapes and burns from the asphalt slide. It was a minute before he was in a position to speak, the wincing pain deafening his voice. His eyes darted towards his injured leg, fixating not on the wound but his hidden ankle holster. He looked back at Hex, bitterly explaining, "Why ask questions to answers you already know?" His adrenaline began pumping, dulling the sensation and calming his voice, "Contracted by an anonymous third party, paid through offshore accounts. I don't even know who that asshole was; that's the point."

Adrian followed the assassin’s gaze keenly as he waited for an answer, frowning in disappointment at the one that was given moments later. “Hm.” He grunted, staring at the man for a few loose instants - though he did not seem to be doing anything, the golden markings on his body started shifting and deforming only to assume new shapes. “So, you don’t have anything to tell me? Nothing to bargain with? That’s not a very advantageous position to be in.”

The constantly reshaping markings on Hex's body caught the assassin's eye, not knowing what to make of it. It only further added to the strangeness of the encounter. Grunting, he responded, "No, no, it's not. Which is the point." He circled back to his original argument. He let out a weak chuckle, "If you are going to torture me for more, we can just skip to the part where I make up what I think you want to hear until you let me go."

At this, the sorcerer chuckled. “Sounds good, go ahead. I’ve always enjoyed a good story.”

The sullen-faced man wheezed at the response, briefly looking down at the asphalt as he tried to come up with a story. He knew costumed freaks loved when people fed their ego. "I'm sure I was contracted by some all-powerful, clandestine organization that secretly pulls the strings of world events." He looked into Hex's eyes, "So powerful but so scared of you for–" He paused, fumbling on what to say next, "Reasons. You're a major threat to them or whatever. They are so scared of you that they hired me to kill your contact…at a run-down, rat-infested burger joint. That sound like what you want to hear?"

Adrian sighed. “No, not really.” He stated. “I was looking forward to it at first, but you really didn’t put any creativity into it. I’m not some paranoid conspiracy theorist out to expose the unseen elite, you know?” He said with another chuckle. “No, what it seems to me is that I stumbled upon something large, albeit unrelated to myself. I was hoping to find out more about it, but it doesn’t seem like you’re going to be of any help with that.”

With that, the sorcerer fell silent. Tension began rising as he and the assassin stared at each other for a few moments - an uncomfortably long period of time in that situation.

Then, Hex grabbed the man’s leg. A cry of pain followed but was quickly silenced as he channeled a spell through his arm, the broken bone snapping back into place as if nothing had happened. “Tell you what, I feel generous today. You can go; you don’t need to spend your hard-earned cash on healthcare either. Just don’t try to shoot me; that wouldn’t go well.” He said before dropping the assassin to the ground and turning to leave the alley.

Now, is this worth pursuing further? What could we uncover here?

[Talchyon]

Molly Shanahan (aka "Jinx")
Team meeting in Mars' room
Jan. 15

Were the Young Bloods this divided? All Molly had said was that she didn't like being kept in the dark, and then all of a sudden there was a call for new leadership on the table! Obviously, Molly didn't know any of the group dynamics except the few she had seen, which was to say, not much to go on. She knew the group had been through a lot, and now was on the verge of turning against itself.

She should have brought popcorn.

Molly had no clue what to think of Mars' past leadership methods, and very little to think about his present ones. Only that he was very hesitant to approach this Naja. And his own team was drawing up sides whether he should keep leading or not. She heard Kiris and was thoughtful. The same with Nandras, her once-designated protector. Though part of her also resonated with what the short dark-haired guy in the hoodie said. A large part.

Jason

...(Jason) "If I'm being honest, I don't care what her verdict is. If she doesn't approve, well, if I have to go out there and search every building until I find him, I'll do that. If nothing else, it sure beats being cooped up in here with my thumb up my ass waiting for him to just knock on the door and turn himself in."

Shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it, Molly piped up again, especially to Mars. "Look - and again, I know I'm 'Sally New Girl' here - but this is really dysfunctional. I don't care who's the leader, as long as you're honest with us and not giving excuses for those who don't want us to know important things that might keep us alive."

Then, looking to Jason, she said, "I'm in if you're serious."

[Galnius]

Andrew Donovan, Jan 15th
Things were heating up in the cramped room the Young Bloods had chosen for assembly. Lines were being drawn, people were calling for mutiny, and a question of leadership had come up in about three minutes. Basically, an average day in the life. Jackrabbit stood against the bed just listening in for most of it. It wasn't until Frostbite spoke that he even felt the need to chime in.

"Let's not go after Rocket right now, okay? He did a good job keeping people from dying earlier, and told off the idiots that sent us into a death trap. He doesn't deserve to be attacked for having an opinion." He paused for a moment, letting Rocket get a breather for a moment.

" That said .. Bael should lead us. He's consistently kept a cool head, handled having both Mask and Stella on his squad at the same time, and shows self control every time he fights criminals by not accidentally splattering them. He also hasn't made any majorly questionable decisions, and as far as I know he's not dating anyone on the team. Sorry to those of you who are, but it's a liability if you are leading. As for Naja..."

"Honestly, let's just get the info on our own and make our own decisions. She doesn't need to be part of the conversation, or even know we are having it. "

---

---

Angelica Dalin, Jan 15th

Angrophobia, the fear of conflict. It can be set off by many different things: coaches yelling at your team in practice, burnt turkey at Thanksgiving, or a superhero team spiralling into chaos in the middle of a refugee camp. Angelica Dalin found this particular fear going off right now, as questions of trust ran rampant. Trust in Naja, trust in Rocket, trust in the other heroes, all of it. So Angelica did what anyone with the fear did, look for an escape. Thankfully, the door was right there, and everyone else seemed to distracted to care about her vanishing.

As the door closed quietly behind Angelica and the voices became nigh nonexistent, she let out of a breath she didn't know she was holding. The past few days were stressful enough without the infighting, and she was feeling burned out in more than one way, not even able to produce enough flame to be of much use in the infirmary. Where to go, then? She has began towards Whitney's room, thinking maybe they could talk, but then stopped herself. Whitney was busy, and Angelica's clumsiness might make it worse. Somewhere else, them. Maybe to get food? But she wasn't hungry. In fact, if she ate, she might just lose it immediately. That wasn't really an option either. So she just walked.

As Angelica wandered, she couldn't help but once again notice how quiet everything was. Yes, people spoke, but in hushed , nervous voices. Even the children were quiet when they cried, too frightened too let out a proper yowl. It was an experience not many saw, the deafening silence of a war zone. At least, that's what it seemed to be. A war between a broken city and it's people. Angelica felt like an outside observer as she walked, self conscious of the fact that she didn't fit in with these people. They didn't choose to be here, but they had no where else to go. Angelica did choose to be here, and while she couldn't go anywhere else until everything was resolved either, it was for a much different reason.

At least, after the longest five minutes in her current lifetime, Angelica stumbled into the domain of someone who didn't fit into those taking shelter either. Alexis was busy doing something beyond Angelica's knowledge, which is usually how it was, but she seemed hard at work. Discarded sodas filled a bin nearby, and the most recent was tipped over, clearly empty prior to it's tumble. Angelica didn't know why Alexis drank so much of it, as she definitely didn't need it, and rarely drank actual water, but it brought enjoyment to the younger girl. Something everything could use more of right now. Maybe Angelica could bring that, here, and push down her own worries?

Angelica left momentarily, coming back with four of the sodas, boring that the other girl hadn't budged an inch, demonstrating a hyper focus only a machine could maintain. Would she welcome the interruption, or was Angelica a bother? No, there was no good in worrying about that too. Besides, Alexis was addicted to the soda.

"Hey, Alexis? I brought you some more fanta. If uh, you'd like it, that is. Here." Angelica held out a cup, precariously balancing the others in her arms. A token of friendship, given clumsily and with care.

---

---

.
Mikaela Mynd, Christmas Eve

Mikaela Mynd, Christmas Eve

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

Confronting Mika about wanting to fight demons and demon-powered swordsmen again got her demeanor to slightly crack - in defense, the girl went on to explain that she was worried about him. If she never hears about his adventures, about any missions he goes to, then what would happen if he gets hurt, or dies in one of those? She didn't want to lose a friend and be left in the dust. That got Jan to pause, blinking in shock.

"I... I see..." That did explain why she wanted to be informed and invited for any incidents like the one at the nuclear power plant - but the reason why caught him off guard. For the longest time, he wasn't sure if he was connecting to Mika at all, but here he was, hearing how she saw him as a good friend and someone she could not afford to lose.

Mika's answer, though it took time for her to formulate it, reinforced this as well. After giving it some thought, she decided that if she were transported ten years into the past, she'd tell her past self to find him. That way, they could meet up earlier, hang out before his death, and not be restrained by all these divine rules. That...

Jan stepped forward and gently pulled Mika in for a hug. Had he not been in his human body still, his angel wings would have folded around them both, too.

"I'm sorry," he spoke. "Then I'll be the best friend I can possibly be, with these restrictions."

After letting go of Mika, Jan stepped back again, and lost himself in thought as he considered her question. He couldn't offer much from his mortal life - not anything she would find interesting, at least. His family, while he still had one, would have a friendly Christmas dinner with homemade dishes - but he could already guess Mika was not going to be up for that. Besides, you have to start preparing for it at least on Christmas Eve.

"Well, I don't know what "Rudolf Christmas special" is, so I'll take that one."

After Mika had answered her question she was completely off guard. That is to say, she wasn't expecting a hug. She didn't even know how to respond. She couldn't really get mad, and honestly she was too dizzy to work up the energy needed to be. Instead, she just let it happen. Loose like a sack of potatoes. Red in the face. Beat red.

Even after Jan let go of her she was still stunned. She really needed to teach him not to hug her. Was it like stopping a dog from jumping? Damn it, she couldn't think.

"Um, uh, yeah, Rudolph special. One sec." Mika quickly grabbed it and put the movie on, shaking off the awkwardness from before. As it began, Mika found herself glancing toward Jan, seeing if he was enjoying it or not, curious as to his childhood, and wondering what he would do if he went back in time. The latter thought led her to a half waking state, the drinking taking it's toll. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed. The day had gone by decently quickly, and though it was only two hours past sundown when the movie ended, Mika was already mostly asleep, her head tilting, falling onto Jan's shoulder. It was oddly comfortable. Safe. Like home.

[Finland SSR]

Mikaela Mynd, Christmas Eve

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

So... did Mika enjoy the hug or not? It was impossible to tell - she went red from embarrassment, which was kind of a good thing, at least she didn't hate him for the intimacy? On the other hand, it was still visible discomfort... Mika immediately moved on to fetching the Rudolph Christmas Special and shook off any lingering emotions to plop down on the bed alongside him to watch.

It was... surprisingly charming for something that Mika recommended to him personally. Jan found himself generally smiling throughout, occasionally shifting his eyes towards her to see her watching his reactions to the movie's key moments. It wasn't hard to tell that she was getting drowsy and sleepy, however - by the time that the movie credits began rolling, she was happily snuggled onto the Virgil's shoulder. Quite different from the loud-mouthed, constantly agitated Mika he had been familiar with ever since they first met.

Jan did not have a need for sleep, so he remained laying there, and carefully pulled out a small rosary from his pocket. If Mika really is sleeping, then he has all the time to go through the mysteries one more time.

"You know... my father once told me that during this night, all the animals and pets in the world learn human speech," he whispered - if Mika did not respond, he would continue speaking to himself, then begin his silent night prayers. "Or, at least so say the rumors. Nobody can ever confirm - anyone who tries to pretend sleeping during that night and then tries to listen in on the animals is struck down by a terrible fate. But, if you don't want your cats or dogs to badmouth you while you're unaware, make sure to not mistreat them..."

[Tomia]

Mars, January 15th, San Diego
There were a number of opinions expressed, some for him, others against, some just seemingly venting frustration. Mars greatly appreciated Kiris' words however, it meant a lot to know that she thought so much of his effort and willingness to sacrifice for the team. But still overall it didn't seem like they were getting much of anywhere as far as a consensus. And perhaps that was the point, and the reason Kiris was right all along. "No, we can't just abandon Naja." He said in response to Andrew's comment. "The fact that we don't seem to be agreeing on much shows why we need Naja. Crystalheart is right. We can't keep going rogue and keeping secrets. I'm going to talk to her about what we heard tomorrow, anyone that wants to join me can. But for now we should get some rest, it's been a pretty long day." And with that Mars started to make his way out of the room as the meeting ended and people were free to do with the rest of their night as they wished.

Mars, January 16th, San Diego
Mars woke up the next morning after a restless night's sleep. The prospect of confronting Naja was anxiety producing to say the least. Mars looked up to Naja greatly and the thought of confronting her made his stomach feel unsettled. None the less he was confident this was the right thing to do. And so, after he breakfast he gathered those among the team that wanted to join him and headed for the main office. It was even busier than usual this morning, all sorts of heroes were walking through seemingly completing one task or another. There was a big white board in the center with a number of diagrams and lists that Mars couldn't completely make out. Angelica had come with him and she noticed that her father was in front of this board, occasionally glancing in her direction.

Mars led the group into the conference room where Naja had been spending most of her time and sure enough she was there along with Katie and Cora. Mars wasn't sure about having this conversation with an audience but Katie and Cora were their mentors as well so it seemed okay.

"Well, you all are up a bit earlier than I expected." Naja commented as the group entered the room.

"Well, there's a reason for that Naja..." Mars said, his nerve getting the better of him for a moment as he paused. "We've been pretty frustrated about being left in the dark and well last night... we overheard some of the things you said. A Hadrian, a coming attack, a mysterious villain. Naja, what's going on? We're in this fight just as much as you, we deserve answers."

The room went quiet for a bit as Naja looked at the assembled group with a gentle but serious expression. "Is this how all of you feel?"

Angelica was the first to speak up, "You've done a lot for us Naja, but right now you're treating us like all the people who don't think we're real heroes. Either you trust us to be in this fight or you don't." She added in her blunt nature.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

January 15th

---

---

Alexis seemed more than a little absorbed into her current task - from the other girl's perspective, she hadn't even noticed her come into the mostly empty meeting room, her eyes fully focused on one of the many screens in front of her, which was currently displaying some sort of feed from one of the city's central districts. Aside from her right hand that was controlling the mouse, she wasn't moving one inch, and in fact didn't seem to be breathing, though this wasn't altogether too strange and had been slowly becoming more common after the young genius' traumatic realization about her true nature.

As soon as she heard Angelica's voice, however, she jumped a little in her seat and quickly looked back to see who was behind her, a bit too startled to recognize the voice at first. Spotting her teammate there, and bearing gifts at that, she quickly switched off the feed and turned her chair around to face the dainty blonde. "Oh hey Dalin." She said with a smile but also with just the slightest bit of agitation in her voice as she hurriedly grabbed the bottle being held out, and afterwards stood up and took the others from Angelica's arms, placing them by the keyboard on her desk.

Rather than open one bottle straight away and take a big chug as her friend might have expected, Alexis just sat back down - she did take a bottle, but merely held it in her hands as she looked down for a moment before turning to Angelica. "Um, thanks for this, I'd actually just ran out earlier." She said with a bit of a chuckle as she cast a sideways glance towards the trash bin by the door of the meeting room, rather full of orange cans.

"So how was the meeting?" She asked as if trying to set a topic for the conversation. "I figured it was more important to replenish my fairies for whatever is in store for us tomorrow, so I came here to work on that instead of going." She explained. She'd actually finished working on that task a little earlier.

---

---

As Mars spoke one last time and brought the meeting to an end, Kirisvala was left with a bitter taste. In the end he had agreed to take the information they had gathered and confront Naja with it, but the fact that it had taken some convincing left her more than a little concerned, not to mention she didn't feel good at all about how they had acquired the information in the first place - she understood that things were being kept from them, and that the others were angry about that, but did this have to be their first resort? And on top of that, during the conversation Mars' leadership was called into question, and rather unfairly at that, in her opinion. She understood that she was biased to a degree, but that didn't mean that now of all times was a good idea to demand a change of leadership. Everyone seemed to have a strong opinion on the topic as well, further adding to her discomfort.

All in all, a few remarks short of a disaster. Why did she have the growing feeling that things didn't tend to go right during these gatherings? Memories of the unnecessarily long conversation outside the theatre came to her mind. Was it always like this, or - like she feared - had something changed?

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, the pink-haired girl excused herself from the room - to whoever would listen, if anyone - and then promptly made her way not to her room, but out of the building altogether. She didn't know if Dalin might have gone to their shared room to hide from the commotion, and she didn't want to burden the poor girl with her own thoughts. Besides, after what had just happened... she could do with a little walk. There was a lot she needed to process at the moment, perhaps the night breeze and night sky would help her with that task.

As soon as she set foot outside, she once more bore witness to the dreary sight that was Alpha Zone, with its refugee camps as far as the eye could see, divided up into semi-organized rows and columns to allow the transit of military transports and supplies. Far from uplifting, but still better than the alternative - she really didn't want to be in the dorms at the moment. Taking care not to wander into places that had signs of exclusion on them, Kiris took to walking around the encampment, more focused on her turbulent thoughts than on whatever happened to be in front of her.

Eventually her feet took her to the Rising Suns' headquarters, and though she was at first a bit surprised, it only took her a moment to figure out why her subconscious had brought her there. This was where her best friend had set up, wasn't it? The one person on the team who never slept. She hadn't been on the meeting, so perhaps she'd be in a better mood than the rest of the team and willing to converse a little. With that in mind, she walked inside.

Stepping through the door, however, she found herself staring at something. Two heroes, one of which she recognized as Storm Surge due to the ominous miniature gray cloud floating over her head, were dragging along a man who appeared to be a prisoner, a tall, pale man with short black hair.

A man with a bone tail, black and gold scales on his arms and two pairs of curved horns on his head that looked as if made of solid amber.

For a moment, Kirisvala froze. She already knew that a Hadrian had something to do with all of this, though she knew not what exactly, but seeing tangible proof - indeed, seeing it right in front of her - had a much stronger impact. She wasn't sure what troubled her more, that one of her people was being treated as a criminal, or the fact that he could have played a role in the devastation all around. Was this an evil man, like her late uncle?

Regaining control over her feet, she began slowly trailing behind the two heroes and their prisoner at a distance, moving in the same direction until the trio entered an elevator. As they turned around to face the door, the man's eyes met hers, his scowl fixed on her until the doors closed. Kiris shuddered.

After spending an uncomfortable amount of time standing still by herself on the building's lobby, the girl forced herself to move. She didn't know what to make of that encounter, but she had more than enough on her mind already. She didn't need this as well, and tried not to think of it as she moved on.

---

January 16th

---

---

That morning, both Kiris and Alexis decided to tag along with Mars and Angelica. Even though the pink-haired girl was still troubled by some of the things that had come up the previous night, she had resolved to make an act of presence to offer some moral support to her boyfriend. Alexis, meanwhile, decided to come despite not having been present for the meeting the previous night, in case her best friend or her girlfriend needed her. The two hung back as Mars took the lead and addressed Naja - Kiris stood by the door, leaning against the wall while looking at her feet, and Alexis stood nearby.

After Angelica's intervention, Kiris looked up towards Naja and simply nodded, a little meekly. She wasn't particularly inclined to chime in verbally, but technically this entire conversation had been her idea, and she did agree that the team needed to have all of the information on hand.

"I uh, I wasn't around when the rest of the gang discussed this, but from what I've heard everyone's on the same page with this." Alexis spoke up.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

"Forget trust, this is about keeping us alive." Wendy added, looking past Naja and towards the council. "We're not drones or cannon fodder for you too chuck at the bad guys to see if they're paying attention. You lost the right to keep us in the dark the second our plane touched down here, and as long as we're operating outside this base with you we deserve to same information. We already got walked into one supervillian evil lair blind since we got here, and like hell I'... We're going to let it happen again."

"So." She took a step forward. "You guys going to be honest with us and tell us whats going on, or am I going to have to waste ten minutes going through your mainframe to find it?"

[Talchyon]

Molly Shanahan (aka "Jinx")
The next morning, alone in her room
Jan. 16

The sun was up, but Molly still lay in her sleeping bag on the floor. Not many beds in this makeshift base, but she was getting used to sleeping on the ground. At the very least someone had found cozy sleeping bags. She had thought California would have been warmer, and it was definitely warmer than Edmonton ever was in January. Still, her room was cold and Molly was glad for the extra layers at the moment. Now if only her back wasn't so stiff.

Apparently Mars had been moved to take action this morning. Kiris had popped her head in and let Molly know the team was going to meet with Naja the elusive one that morning. Molly took this as a statement and not an invitation. Technically, she still wasn't a member of the Young Bloods yet. As proof of that reality, the others had costumes that went along with their alter egos. She was still in her street clothes, with a limited amount of clean clothes to put on. Maybe that's something she could do this morning. Laundry. It was a little gross to sleep in the same clothes you might be wearing that day. But since Molly was not quite a member of the Young Bloods and had no idea what any of this meant yet, she decided to skip the meeting. She could find out what happened later. Or, be kept in the dark and still have to rely on just her instincts.

Her mind wouldn't stop though. Anger and hurt still overwhelmed her. Each moment was a moment that she knew she would probably never see her dad again. Yesterday was the last day. Though he hadn't been around much of her years, the man had still tried to look after her and provide for his only child. She couldn't keep back her tears. Mingled with her emotions were also the rage she felt at her mother. The one and only Jessa Shanahan had acted selfish, ruthless, uncaring... true to hurtful form. Molly knew she'd also never again have to see the woman she was technically genetically descended from, and that was a good thing. But that she could toss aside her own daughter! That this woman was so self-absorbed that she wouldn't care if Molly was safe or not, only that she was in someone else's keeping. Her tears were not only tears of hurt and loss, but of rage and helplessness. She could ask the inevitable question "Why," but she mostly knew the answer already and it hurt to ask. The reason was because her technical mother had never wanted her. She was on her own in this world... well, at least in the company of these other powered teens. Who she didn't know if she could trust yet or not.

Molly was still wondering why she blurted out last night that she'd go with Jason to find Animaster and take him down wherever the rat was hiding. That was the problem with leaping before looking and acting before thinking, of which Molly was the self-titled queen. But from the little she knew of Jason on her squad, the less sure she was of the prospects of joining together with him to take down a villain. Yesterday Jason had no care about murdering this man. That crossed a big line in her mind. She wasn't a murderer. Yeah, she was a criminal. A thief. She had used her powers to switch items from outside stores with merchandise she liked inside the stores that she didn't want to have to buy. But taking the last breath out of a person's lungs was dark and psychotic. If she joined forces with her potential teammate on a killing spree, there'd be no going back. She would bear it on her conscience the rest of her life, and that would definitely be an existence that would either hound her, or desensitize her to doing greater evil things. For once, she was glad cooler heads had prevailed at the meeting the night before. (Her first semi-official Young Bloods planning session, as she reminded herself). Molly was glad that she was not given the chance to leap and was forced to sleep on it. Now in the morning, she didn't want to go on the path she almost stepped out on the night before. Despite her hurts at the moment, she felt a twinge of relief that she had not fallen further down. She was down, yes. But she might one day rise back up again. Whatever doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. It might be awhile to ease the sorrow she felt at the permanent separation from her dad and the internal wounds caused by the woman who had given her birth and not much else. But that was alright. Already she was one day removed from what had happened. And each day after would give further separation until the time when even these deep emotional wounds would heal. She hoped. She really hoped that would be the case.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-San Francisco, CA-January 15th

Carter was getting emotional as the story unfolded, not that I blamed him or anything. Hell I'm pretty emotional myself about all of this, which is unusual for me lately. He told me that there was no need to apologize and the usual 'we all make mistakes' and so forth. But there's 'making mistakes' and then there's deliberately running around spinning glocks on people.Then came the ultimate question I was afraid of...

"Where...where are you gonna go now? Let's say...if San Fran gets back to normal. No more brain-eaters. What'll happen to you? Will I see you again?"

That was the million dollar question.I'm honestly just going through the paces right now. Moving from place to place and playing the part of Vendetta because well...the fuck else am I gonna do? The problem with that is once you start that life there is no real way of just going back. You piss off too many people. I let Carter's question hang in the air for a minute as I thought of the best way to tell him this very likely will be the last time we meet at least face to face. I don't want to drag him down to my level. Better he stay with the Young Bloods and having me around will only complicate that for him.

"Listen..." I began fumbling over the words. "I...once everything is done here I am honestly not sure where I'm headed next. I am sure your not surprised to hear that I've managed to piss off a lot of people doing what I do. I'm not just talking costumed super villains or gang banging scum bags. I'm wanted Carter, an outlaw. I'm on more than a few law agencies radars and I have had some run ins with heroes even. I've never killed a hero or cop but I have broken a few bones....may have hurt some feelings too. I used to think I'd stay in San Diego ridding the world of worse people than me but with my team dead and missing I'm not sure about even that anymore." I waited a few more moments before continuing.

"Carter...do you understand where this is going? Where I am going? The life I made for myself doesn't leave me with many happy endings. I'm constantly on the run these days and I end up in some life or death fight at least every other day. There's only one way this eventually ends for me. It's happened before Carter...It's only a matter of time before it happens again. I thought I could take on the world Carter...well the world's pretty fucking big. As for me seeing you again how does that work? I mean we can only meet here because as far as this city is concerned the world is ending. But if we were back home how would it look for Carter of the young Bloods to be on a lunch date with Vendetta, the known murderer? Because as far as the world is concerned that's all I am. You're the only person left who sees me for who I was. Or as a person at all. To everyone else who knows me I'm either an insane vigilante coming to kill them or just another outlaw." There were options of me disguising myself to interact with him later but ultimately it all runs into the same problems. The fact the longer Carter associates with me the odds of him doing something incredibly stupid increase. The best thing for him is that I disappear after we are done here, it's not as if he can help me out of the mess I've made for myself anyways.

"Or who knows? Maybe I could just join the Young Bloods with you..." I suggested making an attempt at a Carter style joke to lighten the heavy tension in the room. I mean, that would be funny. Me, Alexis Cain, Ven-fucking-detta as a Young Blood.

[The Republic of Atria]

Jason

The team disbanded for the evening and then, of all people to approach him, Molly said that if he was going, she was going to. Though there was a look of almost regret on her face as she said, almost like she didn't mean to. "Cool. Leaving tomorrow morning. What's the expression? Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?" As if he wanted anyone's permission to stop one of the most wanted super criminals on the planet. It wasn't about fame or money, he had seen just how horrible people could be, and people like Animaster didn't deserve life. Not after everything he did. It irked him just how soft the team was being on him for killing god knows how many and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. "Assuming you haven't come to your senses by tomorrow, you'll know when I'm heading out. Nice to see there's still a few people here with a little bit of spine."

He spent the evening mulling over what exactly he was going to do. Heading out was the plan, but where exactly? Animaster had to have a base somewhere, and it was an entire city. He'd probably holed up somewhere where the amount and quality of his minions was much higher. Dealing Animaster himself, in theory, wasn't the hard part, it was finding and getting to him. Basic strategy when dealing with summoners was to ignore the summons and focus on the one controlling them since they rarely had any powers beyond that.

He fell asleep thinking about it, woke up early the next morning, grabbed a small snack and rehydrated just in time to hear a fair amount of the group discussing confronting Naja. It didn't make him feel any better, but he was tired of playing the mouse, it was time to become the cat. "Alright, I respect all of your choice to go talk to Naja about this, but-" He slid his helmet on over his head. "-I'm just gonna go look for places where he might be hiding. You wanna come with? Hell yeah, I'd appreciate the company. Stay here? Also fine, I'm not waiting up." He said and made his way to the door.

[Tomia]

Young Bloods, San Fransico, Conference Room
Naja sighed as her team expressed dissatisfaction for how they were being treated. Wendy in particular made the point that they felt like they were being treated by pawns, and Angelica that she was treating them like the people who didn't believe in them. "Look, I need you all to know that this doesn't have to do with me not believing in you. I do, with all my heart. But things are changing around us. I've already seen what happens when you all get involved in what these villains are planning behind the scenes and I can't risk a repeat of that. You're stronger than you were then, better prepared and more understanding of the risks... but I'm really worried about all of you." She admitted, her voice growing a bit emotional.

"But Wendy is right. I may be putting you in danger by keeping too much from you. There somethings I just can't talk about, and others frankly that I just don't know. But I will do my best to answer whatever questions you have."

It was around this point that Jason announced that he was going off to find Animaster, and Mars looked alarmed at this. "What? We can't just run off after him!" He exclaimed, moving towards Jason as the latter moved towards the door. "Look, I know we're frustrated. But believe me I know from experience that that doesn't mean you should act recklessly."

"Ya Jason, I've wanted to burn people to ground before, trust me. But fortunately someone convinced me that was a really dumb idea." She said, glancing over at Alexis.

"I really wouldn't recommend that Jason" Naja added, though she herself didn't make a move. "We're just about to make our move. Not only would leaving now be pointless, but you'd be getting in the way."

Mars then turned back to Naja, "Okay, so what is the plan then?"

Cora spoke up at this point, "There's been a lot of disagreement but, we've finally settled on things I think. We're going to split our forces in two, our largest force is going to use our forward base as the site of launching an attack on Animaster. He'll be the easiest to draw out, plus we have something he wants, really badly. So we draw him out of the fortress that he has turned city hall into, and then a team will go to Alcatraz to deal with... well the other guy."

Naja then joined in, "The Justice Queens and I, well we have unfinished business with Animaster. We'll be joining that team. As for you all, I figure you've earned the right to decide how to participate. All of you are senior members of this team, so can decide whether you which you want to fight or whether you want to split up into teams and join the fight separately. I know Wendy says this isn't about trust, but it is important for you to know that I do trust you, you've earned that much at least."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

January 16th

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This morning meeting was... difficult to sit through, to say the least. Not only did Kirisvala not appreciate the hostile tone with which many of her teammates - her friends - were addressing their mentor, she could also very clearly see that their words and accusations were affecting her. True to her character Naja was quick to clarify that none of the secrecy she had upheld before was due to a lack of trust or faith in their capabilities, but an attempt of sorts to protect them, misguided as some may have called it. It made the Hadrian girl feel worse about this entire confrontation, and the way the team had acquired information about the heroes' movements in the first place. Hopefully the others would be satisfied now that they had what they wanted.

Hearing about the coming battle, the pink-haired heroine couldn't avoid a feeling of concern. Their previous mission had been a rather rocky ride, made no smoother by the team's internal friction. This next task would no doubt be far more difficult, and with Mars' leadership having been called into question the previous night, there was no guarantee things would be any more coordinated. Still, she was not one to shy away from danger. Not when they had the chance to put an end to a tragedy that had caused the people of San Francisco an incalculable measure of suffering.

"I'll join ya in goin' after Animaster." She declared. Going off of what little she did know about him and the other person who had caused all of this, he seemed like the more dangerous of the two. Besides, she had a feeling about what it was Cora said they had that Animaster wanted...

Afterwards, Alexis stepped up as well, concerns of her own filling her thoughts. "Uh, I'm not sure I'll be able to help with both missions if they're simultaneous. I don't think I have the tools for that." She expressed. Indeed, she was low on her supply of fairy drones, not to mention the task of keeping tabs on over a dozen heroes across two completely different assignments was daunting. She looked towards Naja. "What should I do?"

[Galnius]

Mikaela Mynd, Christmas Morning

Mika was never an early riser. Never had a reason to. Most days she didn't even want to get out of her room. Today however, whether due to her early sleep or the slight chill that pervaded her dreams, she felt herself stirring as the light of dawn peaked through the window. Her eyes fluttered lazily. She didn't want to get up yet. She felt comfortable. Safe. Besides, if she got up she would have to move off of the warm pillow she found herself against. Or maybe it was a headrest. It was a little firm for a pillow. With a groan and a slight shift, she tried to remember if she fell asleep on her gaming chair again. No, that wouldn't be possible. She was in Italy for holiday. Then what was it?

Mika felt the solid surface she was leaning against, refusing to put in the effort to open her eyes. It was pretty tough. A really tough armchair? As she patted higher, she noticed it had a pretty weird shape. Eventually, she hit something not covered in cloth. there was a large bump in the middle, and the lower part could be slightly pried open, and was damp. It felt a bit like skin, actually...

Wait. Mika shot up, eyes fully open, and pulled her hand off of Jan's face, her face turning scarlet. "Holy shit Jan, say something! I could've poked your eye out." Had she fallen asleep on his shoulder? She remembered last night completely, so she couldn't have been too far gone. Still, this was ridiculous. And why was her heart racing so much? You're okay, it's okay. Completely normal thing to happen. Just play it off. Oh god, my face feels like it was in the sun for an hour. How red am I? Be cool Mika.

"S-so, uh, w-well...you make a good pillow?" I said be cool. What was that?? "Heh."

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Andrew Donovan and Angelica Dalin
The first team meeting ended pretty abruptly with Jackrabbit more than a little irritated. Nothing was resolved. Nothing was ever resolved in those meetings. Luckily, the next morning had more to offer. Naja listened, which was good. For once, Andrew was grateful that someone else was in charge. Dealing with this fiasco must be a mess, especially with everything already going on. Jason still wanted to go off on his own though. Andrew was halfway up to join him when Naja spoke up with their options.

"Oh, we're actually doing something? Little late for a present, but I'll take it. I'll join the group pestering Animaster. After yesterday, I need to break things", he said, stretching his neck. The fun began now.

Toward the back, an aura of heat started filling the room. There was no flame, but Phoenix was looking intense, actually meeting Naja's eyes with conviction. Jackrabbit didn't know what had gotten into her, but whatever it was, it was directed at whoever else was causing problems. "I'm going to Alcatraz."