Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Tomia]

After cake was served and the birthday/hatchday boys had been sufficiently celebrated, the team continued to hang out for a few hours, playing games, watching tv, and having interesting conversations amongst themselves until some members decided to go home, and others who were living there decided to head off to bed.

Kiris, for example, let out a huge yawn as she sat on the couch next to Mars.

"Well, I'm gonna sleep Mars. I hope you had a great day!" She beamed brightly before heading off to her room. At this point Mars was alone in the living room that had mostly been cleaned up and he found himself smiling brightly as well as he slowly cleaned up the remaining mess from the party. Not only had he gotten wonderful and thoughtful gifts from his friends, that kiss on the cheek from Kiris was still on his mind. She had been wonderful today, between all the planning and setup and then just being her usually cheerful self during the party had meant a lot to the young genius.

The party had felt like a much needed source of relief and distraction for the team. They had all been getting restless since the arrival of warwolf had limited the team's activity and as they sat around worrying about their future and what would come next, the party was a much needed source of fun and socialization.

Mars was still getting used to being a hero. Admittedly sometimes it was so overwhelming he questioned if he was right for the job. But the party, and the care his friends showed for him made him realize why the Wonder Warriors were such a powerful force in their day. The bonds and friendships they forged made them more formidable advisary than any power or technology could hope to achieve. He felt that now with the Young Bloods, with his friends at his side, there was no foe Mars wasn't willing to face head on.

With these excited and adorably optimistic thoughts floating through his head, Mars headed off to his own room. He showered before changing into his pajamas, the content smile never leaving his face even as he slept.

[Bentus]

Yoshiro
Wonder Tower

---

As Yoshiro smirked, watching Kiris lead Carter from the room, she tried not to laugh at the thought of what he was going to look like in one of the Hadrian’s dresses. His reaction almost made it even better, his emphasis on viewing the dare like some sort of challenge to his masculine pride causing her to roll her eyes in amused exasperation. But, she had no intention of missing Alexis’ performance even for a moment. The tech genius had a reputation for going above and beyond, and the mischievous grin on the younger girl’s face promised a real treat for the rest of the partygoers. As Alexis borrowed Wyatt’s birthday gift, Yoshiro couldn’t help but wonder who she was going to impersonate out of the team. She doubted that Alexis would poke any more fun at Wendy or Angelica considering how touchy their previous turns were, although secretly the telepath was hoping to see the bubbly girl acting like their cold and aloof friend. Yoshiro didn’t need to wait long for the show to start, and she was already grinning as Alexis mocked Roy with a relentless enthusiasm. But, as soon as the girl hopped to the side, things took a turn for the worse.

Puzzled, the telepath’s brow furrowed as she tried to figure out who was the target of Alexis’ acting. Going from the reaction it had to be Wendy, but it didn’t really seem like something that she would do, not to mention Roy’s reaction seemed a bit out of character as well.

“Perhaps if some dangerous vigilante without superpowers came along, you could hook up with him instead."

The slow-turning gears in Yoshiro’s head all reached the same conclusion as soon as a hint of red returned to her cheeks. I - I wasn’t like that at the party, right? She thought nervously to herself. I mean, sure it was exciting to meet Roy back then, but that was because he was Nightshade. Who wouldn’t have been happy to meet a real life superhero like that? He may be strong and handsome, sure, but come on, it’s not like I would have thought of him like that as soon as we met. Nervously, Yoshiro offered Roy an apologetic wave from across the room as Alexis continued with her act. Alexis, you’re the absolute worst.

Staying mad at the energetic tech wizard was an impossible task however, and Yoshiro was clutching her sides with laughter by the end of her act, her amusement coming in no small part at Red’s expense. It was nice for the team to bond like this together, to share a laugh with each other. Quietly, Yoshiro realised that they had come a long way together already, and she felt like they had really started to bond together as friends. They were certainly going to cause some waves at school next year when they all came back from break being so close. However, the return of the main attraction dragged her out of her reverie.

The sight of Carter in a dress was immediately greeted by a chorus of laughs, with the team practically howling in hysteria at the sight. The air manipulator dove headfirst into his role, refusing to allow himself to be outdone by Alexis’ prior performance, going as far as to curtsy and twirl - in heels no less! Yoshiro was impressed that he was even able to stay standing. Following on from the boy’s grand entrance to the his imaginary ball, Alexis served up a doozy for the new guy: who he thought was the prettiest there. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, leave it Alexis to bring up the controversial topics. Yoshiro had to admit, a small part of her was curious who he’d pick.

Caught on the spot, Alex seemed to panic as the eyes of the group turned to him. It must have been quite a first encounter with the team, and Yoshiro felt a pang of sympathy for him as glanced at each of the girl’s in turn. However, the telepath found herself distracted as she felt a flood of thoughts coming, not from Alex, but from Casamir. Glancing over towards the boy, she realised that he seemed to be deliberately avoiding her eyes, his face locked in an expression of focus and matched the concentration in his aura. Curious, Yoshiro raised an eyebrow. He was thinking so hard about whatever it was that it was almost difficult for her to ignore it. In an effort to calm him down, Yoshiro lifted a hand to offer her teammate a friendly wave, but the action seemed to only cause him to redouble his efforts. It was then that Yoshiro caught a whisper of his thoughts.

...just don’t think about Renata’s endowment, or what Frost Bite might look like. Just concentrate on not letting Yoshiro hear your thoughts. No! Now you’re thinking about Yoshiro in a -

Yoshiro’s hand froze midwave, the colour draining from her face as the strange ebbing in Casamir’s aura suddenly made sense. She nearly jumped as Red leaned over to whisper in her ear. For the umpteenth time that night, Yoshiro found herself blushing sheepishly, trying to push Casamir’s thoughts from her mind until Red’s next few words brought her amusement to a screeching halt.

“Uh, doesn’t that belong to you?”

It took a moment for Yoshiro to realise what Red was referring to, but as soon as she did, her jaw dropped. Engrossed in the scene itself, she had lost the forest from the trees and slowly a growing wave of horror began to overtake the telepath. Wh - Why was Carter in her dress? Terrified of what they might uncover, Yoshiro’s eyes roamed down the boy’s figure to see that not only was it her dress, but her shoes and leggings as well. The girl’s eyes widened in sheer terror. Turning, Yoshiro could only look at the fiendish grin on the horned demon that had brought this hell upon her. Kiris simply shrugged at the other girl, acting her typical innocent self despite the magnitude of the crime that she had committed. But now Yoshiro knew the truth, she knew the heart of darkness that lay inside.

With a sigh, Yoshiro resigned herself to her fate. She supposed that she had been asking for it, assuming that Kiris would have been fine allowing Carter to wear her clothes while shuddering at the thought of lending him her own. Regardless, she felt a stab of embarrassment at the mental image of a boy rummaging around through her drawers...what if he had gone through, those. Blushing violently, Yoshiro forced herself to ignore the possibility. It was truth or dare after all, and she was sure that Carter wouldn’t have been a total twat. Besides, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“Cake time!”

Responding to Kiris’ call, the team swiftly crowded around the birthday and hatchday boys, all of them wearing bearing wide grins as the cakes were brought out to them. Yoshiro couldn’t keep the smile from her face as Wyatt and Mars blew out their candles and Mars immediately began to prod Wyatt about his wish. Making her way closer to the table, she waited patiently for her own chance to get a slice of the delicious-looking dessert. But, as she turned around with her plate in hand she found herself face-to-face with Carter, the boy still wearing her dress. Cracking a smile, Yoshiro was about to make a joke about his appearance, probably something about him being able to pull it off better than she could, when she noticed a thin black strap stretching over one of his shoulders, poking out from behind the strap of the dress. Around the telepath, the world seemed to slow down, sounds and conversations fading into the background.

Her eyes remained locked on the black strap, her voice hardly more than a whisper. “Um, C-Carter.” She managed. “Is - is that my…” Her mind was following along with her words, the implications of her realisation striking her in an instant as she yelled at the top of her lungs. “YOU PERV!”

And suddenly, Carter found a slice of cake being smashed forcefully into his face.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

After such a passionate speech, Icarus had been half-expecting to sway or rouse the heroine. Instead, he got grabbed by the collar and shook around while receiving a scolding, reminding him of that one time when Renata picked him up and did the exact same thing after they defeated Inferno, even though he had taken one hell of a beating for her sake. Now, why am I always the one getting chided for being reckless or careless? I didn't charge a vastly superior enemy despite lacking close combat prowess, and I sure as hell didnt' go around accusing anyone of being ruthless criminals without proof. He wondered briefly, though of course he didn't voice any of these thoughts, there was no telling what the hot-headed heroine would do to him if he spoke up.

He was even more surprised when Stella suddenly relented, letting go of his collar and looking to the side as she accepted that he wasn't going to change his mind. Come on, I'm not really that stubborn am I? He questioned, always inside his mind. Sure, he had spoken with remarkable determination before, and he fully intended to give Warwolf hell for everything they had done in just over a week since their occupation, but the full plan was something he had come up with in the span of a few seconds and it wasn't like he couldn't be talked into changing some of the details.

Not that she had any intention of doing that at this point, so Icarus simply listened as Renata assured him that she would do what she could to assist him, even if she didn't have a lot of sway at the moment. Hearing this, he nodded, smiling at the girl. "It doesn't matter if you can't do much yet, even if you start out slow, I'll appreciate anything you can do to help." He stated, before digging into his pocket. "We can stay in touch throughout this all, too. And..." He added, holding up his phone and then trailing off, scratching the back of his head a bit awkwardly. "Well, Warwolf has never seen my face yet so... I think there shouldn't be any danger if you want to meet out of costume at some point." He stated. There was a great ordeal coming up for him, but secretly he hoped they would have some time to meet up and talk just like three days ago.

Suddenly, the boy paused, looking at the heroine with a confused look on his face as he quickly went over their conversation in his head. "Wait, you said your team has had bad experiences with law enforcement? I thought you worked alone."

---

July 19th
Wonder Island, San Diego

It was early morning, with the sun having only gone up a little while earlier, but already Wonder Tower was beginning to buzz with activity. From early risers who enjoyed hitting the gym to the odd members that took up far more time than usual in grooming themselves, the Young Bloods were already up and at it. However, this morning was different: shortly after their successful raid on the San Pharmaceuticals headquarters, Naja had scheduled another training exercise, and the previous night everyone had received a reminder to be ready for it. Thus, all those hopeful teenage heroes had something to look forward to, and as the morning passed and all of them progressed through the day with their respective routines, they were bound to eventually converge during one of their activities: breakfast.

A little bit before all of the group began pouring into the tower's large kitchen, Alexis quietly snuck into it. Nobody seemed to be around yet, which at first made her suspect that she might have been too early, but as she observed the area more carefully, she noticed something on the table: a tray with a couple plates full of steak, fried sausages, bacon and other goodies. It was a relentlessly carnivorous retinue of foodstuffs, and this tipped the blonde girl off to the fact that her target was already present somewhere nearby; it was only a matter of waiting patiently. Fortunately, the kitchen was of just the right proportion for the number of teens that inhabited the tower: large table, large sink, large cupboards. Thus, she walked up to one of the latter, sticking a tiny camera on the outside before hiding inside.

Years spent without ever sleeping had taught Alexis much in the ways of patience, and she awaited inside the cupboard like a virus, ready to spring to life at the touch of a living being and enact her nefarious plans. Not that she had anything nefarious prepared, or even much of a plan, but still. Fortunately for her, it wasn't long until she started hearing cheerful humming from nearby. Only a few moments later, a certain pink-haired alien walked into the camera's field of vision, holding a big box of orange juice on one hand and a pair of plastic cups of the reusable kind on the other. Just as she set them down on the table, the blonde girl burst out of the cupboard, flying towards the alien and throwing her arms around the girl's neck as she let out a loud yell.

"KIWI!"

Kirisvala immediately tensed up as she felt something latching onto her and attempting to constrict her, preparing to subdue whatever pesky creature had snuck into the tower. But before her instincts made her lash out, she remembered that there weren't monsters or even many animals in Wonder Island, and any baddies would've had to get past their defences first. Thus, it had to be one of her teammates, and she quickly realized that there was only one of them that would weigh so little as to fail to knock her over with a flying tackle like that. "Lexi?" She guessed.

"Yup, it's-a-me, your friendly neighborhood inventor girl!" The blonde said cheerfully, before fishing her cellphone out of her work pants and very nearly shoving it into Kiris' face. It had the news article she had found the other day, with the thumbnail being a photo of the moment Mars kissed the alien. "Did you know this pic's been seen by thousands of people across like fifty countries? You're viral, girl! I guess the date went pretty well after all." She grinned. Kiris' face went from a sweet smile upon remembering such a wonderful thing, to an embarrassed expresion as she heard just how many people had seen their moment of intimacy, and finally settled on an annoyed look. She lifted Alexis off the ground by her scalp with one claw.

"Why didn't you tell me it was a date?! I was so embarrassed! I thought the whole thing was gonna flop before startin'!" The alien yelled, her free claw flailing about as it usually did when she was angry or otherwise distressed. Also flailing was Alexis, who didn't expect to get picked up like that.

"Hey, hey! I had to make sure you'd both go or- Actually you know what? I don't need to explain anything to you. You're picking on me for my low height and I have no intention of playing nice until you put me on the ground, because that's not cool." The shorter girl replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest even as she hovered a few inches off the ground. Hearing her harsh words, Kiris was taken by surprise.

"W-what? But, I'm-I'm not pickin' on-" The alien began, trying to justify herself, but the blonde girl coldly interrupted her.

"Down. Now." She commanded, and a now crestfallen Hadrian complied. Alexis immediately perked up. "See? That's much better! Now we can talk as equals again, isn't that nice?"

"B-but now I have to look down? What are you even talkin' about?" Kiris replied, alarmed and confused. Her distress only grew when she saw Alexis' ultimate death glare deployed against her, but after a moment, the blonde girl closed her eyes and let out a sigh before smiling again.

"Anyway, what's with this, hmm?" Alexis pointed at Kiris' athletic top. "Sports clothing, beads of sweat, higher than usual body temperature... since when did you start hitting the gym?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I have to keep myself sharp somehow, y'now. There aren't any giant grunt-grunts I can play wrestlin' with on this island so ever since comin' here, besides the missions, random trainin' sessions and my magic practice, I've been a couch potato! I gotta start tryin' to stay in shape!" The Hadrian explained rather passionately, earning a few chuckles from the human.

"Oh, really now? You sure you're not doing it so that a certain boy will fall in love with your toned b-" The blonde began, but before she was done teasing her friend, the alien girl raised her claws, closed her eyes and yelled.

"IDON'TKNOWWHATYOU'RETALKIN'ABOUT!"

[Scotatrova]

Diego Belcourt

Phoenix

Diego, Steven and Veronica finally arrive at a Phoenix psychiatric facility where their locator spell had led them to the huntress. As they enter the facility, Diego looks around as they make their way through the main hallway.

"Nuthouse for the criminally insane. Sounds promising."

"She is a deranged serial killer. Maybe karma caught up with her?"

They make their way to the end of the hall before a nurse quickly jumps to her feet to stop them. As soon as the nurse gets up, Diego sees the puzzled look on her face as they then walk by unnoticed, concealed by a cloaking spell. They make their way to an empty computer where they enter the information they needed. Seline Devereaux, room 535, north wing. As they all make their way to the north wing, Diego starts feeling uneasy.

"So do we actually have a plan here?"

"If we find her, then we deal with her."

"Don't be so cavalier. You know what she's capable of."

They finally come up to the correct room, only to look through the screen on the door to find a white-haired woman laying flat on her back on the bed. Her wrists, ankles, and shoulders are bound in five-point restraints. Steven and Veronica both look stunned when they see Seline in her bed. Diego gives the both of them an unbelievable look. "Okay, this is your vicious, terrifying, big-bad Huntress? Got it." Diego, Steven, and Veronica enter Seline's room, though they are still wary enough of her to keep a safe distance despite her being restrained. Seline is awake and looks at them in confusion.

"I'm sorry, what are your names?"

"I'm Diego, he's Steven and that's Veronica. You're Seline right?"

"Sounds right."

"And we don't look familiar to you?"

"Should you?"

Veronica scoffs, not buying Seline's act and steps forward to her.

"Considering you're a murderous hunting bitch who chased our parents across Europe for years... Yeah, we should look familiar. You sent one of these to all of us. Ring a bell?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what any of that means."

Seline turns toward Diego, who is clearly surprised by this woman's demeanor.

"You wouldn't happen to have a cookie, would you? They only feed me through a tube these days."

Diego pulls Steven and Veronica out into the hall.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we should hurry this up and strangle her?"

"No, we're thinking this couldn't possibly be the woman we're looking for. She couldn't send a postcard, let alone kill a warlock."

"We don't know that for sure. Why should we risk it?"

"I'm not letting you hurt an old woman whose only cold-blooded ruthless mission is to eat a ginger snap. We'll keep looking. She's probably here under another name."

"I'll keep looking." Veronica says irritably before walking off. Diego turns to Steven. "Go help her look." As Steven goes off to help Veronica, Diego returns to Seline's room a short while after, where he's approaching her bed with a cookie in hand.

"Hard to believe they don't have vending machines in high-security psychiatric prisons, but I managed to snag you an oatmeal cookie... from someone else's meal tray."

Seline looks genuinely surprised from his kindness. "What was your name again?"

"Diego."

"You seem like a nice boy Diego, What's a nice boy like you doing with two deviant sorcerers?"

Diego's eyes widen in realization. "So you are the huntress."

"Mmm. I don't think you can really call me that anymore. Now I'm just an old woman in a dingy room, waiting to die."

"How did you end up here?"

"I was careless. The drive to kill... the drive instilled upon me... it got a little scrambled in my old age. I killed a checkout girl at the supermarket. My mistake."

Diego becomes unnerved and horrified by this story, but Seline's tone of voice remains kind as she gestures toward the cookie in Diego's hands as well as she can with her wrists restrained. "Could you... help me with the cookie, please?" Diego still looks uneasy, but he does as he's asked. However, when Diego reluctantly unwraps the cookie and goes to feed her a bite, Seline grabs Diego by the ID badge hanging on a lanyard around his neck and starts to choke him with it. Diego struggles against her and tries to cast a spell to break free, but Seline smirks at Diego's attempts to fight her. "I'm afraid your magic won't work on me. Now untie my hands before I crush your windpipe to dust." Diego gasps and struggles against her grip when suddenly, someone appears in the doorway.

"Who the hell are you?" The boy unfolds a pocket knife and throws it at Seline which hits her right in the neck, causing a fount of blood to splash out as Seline lets go of Diego and dies. Diego, still recovering from nearly being strangled, looks at the boy in shock as he rushes over to check on him. Theo. As he gently lifts up Diego's chin so he can examine his neck, Diego slaps his hand and backs up in shock. After he finishes gasping for air, he gets up and looks at Theo in complete surprise.

"Hey. You all right?"

"I'm...fine. What are you doing here? You've been missing for so long I assumed you were dead."

"It's a long story. Let's just say, for today, that I'm your guardian angel."

"Where have you been? You just fell off the face of the earth."

Theo gives him a smile. "You missed me! That warms my heart."

Diego tries his best to act cool and aloof, though it's clear that Theo isn't exactly wrong about his missing him.

"I didn't miss you, I'm curious as to your recent whereabouts. There's a difference."

Theo starts unbinding Seline's restraints, now that she's no longer a threat to them, and Diego starts to help him. "Let's just say that I was there after the...attack, on your parents. There was still some of those thugs there by the time I arrived, and it didn't turn out the way they'd expected, guarantee you that. But I was too late to save them, and I thought that they had already gotten to you before I picked up your aura. It was all over the area, and I had tracked it for months, before I finally traced it down to the middle of nowhere in Central California. I saw what you did up there at that bastardly arena. I've been staying close ever since. Now, look, we've got to get this body out of here before someone notices, so a bit of cloaking would probably be helpful."

Diego is then leading Steven and Veronica to Seline's room and Steven looks worried about Diego's condition.

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, considering I was almost strangled to death by an 80-year-old psychopath...Did you know the Huntress was immune to magic?"

"I had no idea."

As the three of them arrive back at Seline's room, they find that both Seline's body and Theo have completely vanished. Diego looks around the room furiously. "That lying little weasel."

---

Unnamed Warehouse

Seline's body is laying on a metal autopsy table, covered in a white sheet, while Theo stands outside closed glass doors and watches her. "You see? I knew if I sent those postcards, one of the Belcourts would lead me right to you." Theo looks over at the clock on the wall, which reads 12:45AM, before turning back to the table, where Seline's body bursts into flames. He watches her burn with a surprised and curious look on his face as the room fills up with smoke, clouding the sight of her scorched corpse. After a moment, a young, naked young woman with brown hair rushes over to the door and pounds on it with her open palm, looking scared and horrified. It's Seline, in a younger body, the way she looked when she was enchanted to be the Huntress.

[Finland SSR]

July 18th
San Diego

---

July 19th
Wonder Island

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Icarus's response made sense. They would still have the ability to connect through phone calls, and if necessary, they would still be able to meet each other out of costume. Both of these options carried their own risks, however. After all, Warwolf had complete control of the city's law enforcement, including all the detective work and population control that comes with it, so if they really wanted to take Blackout down, they wouldn't have much trouble with finding out his secret identity, right? Wiretapping their phone calls would be as simple as adding two plus two, then.

Maybe Renata was growing too paranoid here, but the risk was always above them, like a sword of Damocles.

Icarus had something else to worry about - namely, her later mention of the team she was working in and that they had had bad experiences with law enforcement. Apparently, this caught the vigilante off-guard. She hadn't told him about her choice to join the Young Bloods before? Crap, she hasn't told Icarus about her choice to join the Young Bloods! For someone who has gotten the chance to accept foreign emissaries with her father and was raised for a future role in politics, she sure doesn't have much control over her words...

Roll with it.

"Um... well, times changed, you see. I used to work independently, but, to put it simply, the Inferno fight made me that I've been making a mistake." Renata began to explain herself, carefully putting her words together. Icarus didn't have a good relationship with the Young Bloods, especially not with its leader Nightshade, so you couldn't be too careful here. "You see... I'm a Young Blood. At least for the time being. I applied to join a week ago, soon after the Inferno fight, and-"

The shrieking sound of wheels suddenly turning stopped Renata's voice in its tracks. Lights were starting to flicker and beam from behind the buildings lined up around Balboa St., slowly, but surely drawing closer to the courtyard. This late at night? The only thing this could be is a Warwolf patrol column - which brought nothing but bad news. It was unfortunate to have to cut off their conversation like this, when there were still things left unsaid... but the risk of being noticed by the people hunting Icarus down was far too high.

"I... I have to go. I'm sure you can tell why."

Renata moved away from Icarus, keeping eye contact with him for a few seconds as she backpedaled away, then shot him one last smile and turned around. Fortunately, Warwolf wasn't so close that they could immediately notice a red-clad heroine leaping away with a plasma speed boost.

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

A brief night's sleep didn't help much to dissipate the feeling of weight in her mind, and, in some ways, as Renata came to realize while washing her face in front of the mirror in her bathroom, only seemed to have made it worse. The heroine was barely able to close her eyes tonight, and though exhaustion eventually managed to win the tug of war, she ended up waking up on 5 AM. Jesus, only five hours of sleep. Let's hope I don't collapse during the training today.

The tower was, as should be expected, dead quiet this early in the morning, breakfast tables weren't ready yet and neither were any facilities, so after brief preparations for the day, Renata left the tower to watch the sunrise, charging her radiation storage a little bit and trying to dispel all the thoughts which had bubbled up in her mind since yesterday. To no avail. Like it or hate it, but the meeting with Icarus yesterday was one of those events she'll probably write down twenty years ago as one of those which had changed her life - and not just because it was her first kiss, Truth or Dare discounted. That night singlehandedly placed her against Warwolf and gave her a mission to try to convince the Young Bloods to do the same - even though her mind was still in disbelief that Warwolf, the same organization she praised for bringing order to this chaotic city, were murderers and her enemy. Icarus now being in even deeper shit than ever before was not to be discounted, either...

Renata's mind was replaying all of those thoughts while standing in front of the mirror - at least until she suddenly splashed a handful of water straight into her face.

Get a hold of yourself!

With heat radiating from the heroine's face much faster than normal, the water soon turned into fumes of vapor and settled on the mirror. Renata cleaned it away with her hand.

Remember what Dad always says! Failure, sadness, loss and grief are all never a reason for a hero to stop! Clench your teeth and work through the pain! Otherwise, evil has already won.

Your team has a training mission today, and for the first time, you're participating! Focus on that! You've got skills to show and newly developed techniques to test! Work on that!

As "motivation", Renata's right hand suddenly slapped across her cheek. She instantly winced and clenched it, saying:

"Ow..."

She opted to put that plan into motion, however. And with the final touches of her morning routine done, the heroine ran out of her room in classic hyperactive motion, making her way towards the cafeteria. As soon as she reached the wide double door, standard procedure ensued, as if executed by a professional relay racer - grab a tray while rushing past the pile, avoid all the obstacles in the form of tables and chairs and make your way towards the kitchen in the back, where you start out by grabbing a coffee mug, pouring in all the ingredients and water before moving on while heating the mug up to boiling temperature in her hand, building yourself a few makeshift sandwiches and a bowl of cereal before rushing out.

Actually, Renata's speed was lower than normal this time, thanks to her still being a little drowsy from a lack of sleep, which was the reason why the corner of her eye caught a glimpse of Alexis toying with Kiris in the same kitchen. It wouldn't be polite to just rush past the two girls without saying hi, huh?

"Good morning!" Renata exclaimed, raising her right hand for a greeting motion while trying to hold her full tray with only her left hand. Thankfully, nothing got spilled or dropped. The heroine's focus soon went to Kiris. "I saw that picture of you and Mars from yesterday - or, I suppose, you and 'who could this Young Blood's boyfriend be?' Either way, it was pretty cute!"

Renata giggled a little to finish off her comment.

She hadn't even known Mars and Kiris were dating before that day - but hey, now she did, and that was one of the few things which managed to divert her thoughts away from yesterday's meeting with Icarus just a little bit, so she enjoyed it as well.

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
July 17

Park texted back, sounding about 63% sketchier than before. Like, this was downright shady by this point. Seriously, who says "I have my own connections"?! That's basically code for: "I got it off a shady drug dealer in a black market somewhere in Fresno". She should be way more discreet when discussing the purchase of goods that tilt on the legal fringes of some law somewhere. And, "It's good for me"?! At this point, it was futile to hope that she hadn't sucked it off the neck of some homeless dragon in broad daylight, and...what was Wyatt even gonna use it for? Study it to trace his ancestral heritage?

Casimir also looked quite confused on the matter, with a "Holy-crap-I-want-to-puke-my-guts-out" expression on his mug. As much as Carter hoped it was a prank, knowing Park's heritage, the fact that she did have connections, it seemed pretty likely that it was indeed not a prank. Hopefully, that blood didn't have HIV in it, but who could tell?

But he shouldn't spend so much time dwelling on that. The cake supply was dwindling fast, and it looked absolutely delicious, only compounded by Carter's slightly aggressive sweet tooth. Switching off his phone, he made a beeline for the cake, coming face-to-face with Yoshi as he pinched a slice of cake away from the batch. He gave a little sheepish grin, only echoed by Yoshi's grin, albeit of a snarkier variety. Admittedly, he had been a little worried when he saw Yoshi's expression of dismay upon realizing that he was wearing her clothes, but she seemed to be okay with it, or at least blamed Kiris above him. So hopefully, it was all okay.

Famous last words, indeed.

Yoshi's grin quickly evaporated into thin air as she began to stare at Carter's left shoulder, muttering something under her breath. The worrying part was that she was practically shaking, which definitely rang a few alarm bells. Following her gaze, Carter clapped eyes upon his own shoulder, the strap of the dress upon it, and some thinner, black strap that mystified Carter on its purpose. Maybe it was an extra securing strap or something, he had felt some kind of thick piece of fabric in the sleeve, so maybe it was just some extra padding?

However, his questions were soon met with the very loud answer of "YOU PERV!". With an expression of slack-jawed shock, his gaze went back towards Yoshi, only to be met with a piece of cake flying right towards it.

With a cry of shock, the blinded Carter stumbled backwards, collapsing into an armchair. His nose and mouth were covered by a thick layer of moist bread, forming a thick coat over it all. The frosting was splattered all over his face, his cheeks, his eyelids, his lips, even his hairline were covered. Even his sight was obscured by crumbs dangling off of his eyelashes. He tried to yell something out in surprise, only for it to be muffled by a wad of cake acting as a gag in his throat. Swallowing it down with a wet and thick gulp, he began to protest and cry with an ear-splitting wail.

"OK, OK, OK, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, KIRIS TOLD ME TO PUT THESE ON! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE SO TOUCHY ABOUT IT, IT'S ALL KIRIS' FAULT!" he accused, apparently under the impression he was being tortured.

"THAT...THAT WITCH PUT ME UNDER A SPELL, IT HYPNOTIZED ME, IT'S NOT MY FAULT. I DIDN'T EVEN PUT ON YOUR UNDERWEAR OR ANYTHING, I SWEAR TO GOD, PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME! I HAVE TOO MUCH TO LIVE FOR, TO DIE FOR, TO SEE! I WANNA STAND ON THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, I WANNA CATCH A BALL AT A BASEBALL GAME, I WANNA GO TO A PING-PONG SHOW IN THAILAND, PLEASE LET ME GOOOOOOOOOO!"

---

July 19

As the saying goes; "Another day, another dollar". Only in this scenario, it was more like; "Another day, another...training exercise". Yeah, it didn't really roll of the tongue, but it was true. Because apparently, they were going on some tippy-toppy-secret-Rosetta-Stone training exercise to do some teambuilding, or something along those lines, he hadn't really been paying attention yesterday, he was too busy fiddling with his necklace. Thank god he was out of that dress, he had definitely needed to recharge both his masculinity and his ego, both of which had gotten pretty badly bruised by the laughing and Red's snide remarks about nightgowns.

In fact, he had almost forgotten there was a training exercise. His day had gone so perfectly normal that it was easy to forget. He had gotten a quick brush and shower in for the early-morning freshness and daintiness, changed into a basic athletic shirt and shorts, grabbed his boombox and phone, and headed for the gym.

When at the gym, he usually gravitated towards the small collection of obstacles that he had convinced Naja to install, with a minor financial contribution from Carter, courtesy of a few overtime hours at the rock-climbing gym. But the extra work totally paid off, now the gym had more than just weights and machines, even if those came in handy sometimes.

A sweaty while later, the breakfast bell clanged through the gym, cutting through the boombox blare of the Arctic Monkeys and shocking his grip right off the Salmon Ladder, bar remaining halfway up the five rung ladder. Panting heavily, he rubbed the excess chalk off his palms, arms singing with pain as he stared up at the silver bar. He had been trying for weeks to clear that stupid latter, using regular grip, reverse grip, cross grip, every type of grip imaginable, but none doing, he couldn't get farther than the third rung. He always lost his grip, fell off, sometimes even pulled the bar off the rungs.

One day, he would beat it.

Today was not that day.

With a final sigh, he wiped the sweat off his brow, and headed outside, leaving his boombox inside. After all, he could always pick it up after they returned from training. He meandered through the halls, stomach grumbling and eggs, bacon, and pancakes on his mind. He was a decent cook at best, but breakfast was always something he could nail.

Eventually, he found his way outside the kitchen, only to hear a loud shout of "KIWI!", which he assumed was Alexis' pet name for Kiris. But then, she mentioned something about a certain pic...oh boy, he needed to hear about this! He didn't know about this pic, but if it was truly about Mars and Kiris' dating, he definitely needed to hear about it. He didn't even know they went on a date!

The conversation quickly devolved into something about Kiris' discriminating based on height, and Kiris trying to appeal to Mars with good looks. Now was the time to insert himself.

Walking inside, he noticed Kiris, Alexis, and Renata all grouped together, Kiris still looking infuriated against Alexis and Renata's sheer joy. Feigning a convincing expression of innocence, he walked up to them with a big smile.

"Heyo, ladies! What's going on? I heard someone mention something about some great viral pic I haven't seen! Can one of y'all show me, I hate being behind on the news. And wow, Kiris, I didn't know you were so big on working out, we should totally train together!"

[Charmera]

CASSANDRA, July 19

Cass was preparing waffles and pancakes for the rest of the team. Cass had been tempted to simply purchase pre prepared waffles, but instead she decided to make them herself, having purchased the nessecary equipment a long time ago. Typically she had a system for choosing what would be for breakfast called "The Food Lottery Algorithm," whereby all possible eater's preferred meals and health requirements were taken into account to choose a random meal. This would ensure variety while also occasionally selecting one of the team-members favorite food. Cass also took requests, within health limitations, for breakfast. She had also memorized any diets she had been programmed with or any allergies and had adjusted breakfast accordingly. It wasn't a perfect system, and sometimes led to complaints, but she found it an effective element to her routine.

This meal however was not randomly selected. It was a request that the team in general had been asking about for some time. So she decided today was a non disruptive day to acquiesce to the desire for waffles and pancakes.

Cass finished the waffles and pancakes, then proceeded to go out to the teammembers currently gathered at the designated eating area.

"I have prepared two possible options for your breakfast meal. Option one is waffles. Option two is pancakes. Either with the toppings and condiments of your choice. Within reasonable health requirements of course." She remarked. "Alternate orders are, as always, acceptable. Though please do inform me of what you would like to eat this morning."

Cass awaited their answers. Standing with strait back in a proper butler posture.

[The Republic of Atria]

Wyatt, July 19th

The past few days were quite nice. Between his hatchday and the team bonding a bit more, everything seemed to be looking up. Even more so when Naja said they were going to be doing training today. Something he'd been looking forward to. The last time he had just barely gotten his magic under control and was afraid to fight. Having actually seen some combat and done remarkably well in his own opinion. Especially when a month ago he was too shy to even talk to people. Progress was progress no matter how you spun it. He headed down the stairs of his home in an unusually good mood, as expected, his parents were getting ready to head out for the day, just like him.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" His mother asked as Wyatt gave her and his father a quick hug.

"I did. Sorry to be so rushed, but we're doing some training today and I gotta get there early. I'll eat over there, so don't make me anything. Love you guys!" He said and bolted out the door and took off flying towards Wonder Island with such speed that he was fairly certain that he had broken his previous speed record. His landing was a bit rougher than usual, but he was more interested in the day ahead than the safety of his knees.

Entering the tower to the smell to the smell of pancakes and waffles was more than delightful since he was hungry. He didn't eat much from the previous day, instead working on something he was preparing specifically for a combat training exercise with Kaban. He'd mostly gotten it down, but using it during what amounted to a live fire exercise, and in the backyard of a friend's house were two completely different things. But that was the purpose of training.

"Morning everyone. I'll take a half and half plate, Cass." He said uncharacteristically cheerful for him. He wondered who he'd team up with. Lots of great choices. Cass brought a lot of firepower, or so he was told. Alex hadn't quite shown off his power yet, so having the element of surprise was always good. Kiris was pretty strong to boot. Roy had range, which he lacked, but so did Mars and he could fly as well as Alexis. A team of all fliers seemed pretty strong.

Carter could control wind. Trying to avoid some you couldn't see or hear until it was smacking you around was good. Elle and Red had guns... Well, Elle was likely to be using rubber bullets and Red gave them up. Casamir would be a good team mate, having both of the members of the team who had super strength on the same team could be interesting. Plus Casimir had extremely high range and sight lines. Renata had great mid to long range potential, which would make up for his own lack of it.

Now that he was thinking about it, he did have pretty short range compared to the rest of his team, barring maybe Red. Having a longer range with him defending them seemed pretty viable all things considered.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

---

---

Shortly after Kirisvala's appalled, distressed and outraged scream towards Alexis, two more people arrived, Carter and Renata. The light-fueled heroine was first, seemingly running up to the pair and greeting them excitedly with a little wave, somehow managing to balance all the things on her tray with one hand. The arrival of another teammate quickly distracted the alien from her reflexively-triggered torrent of negative emotions, and she quickly spun on her heels to look at her fellow pinkhead. "G'day!" She greeted cheerfully, returning the wave with her own. As Renata's attention focused on her and she brought up the picture that Alexis had shown her on the phone moments earlier, rather than act embarrassed, Kiris displayed the same entranced smile as before.

"Boyfriend huh?" She mused out loud, staring out into the nothing. Alexis simply looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, Kiris. It's not funny if you're not embarrassed." The blonde girl complained, arms crossed as she looked at the alien, who simply looked back with a confused look replacing her dreamy stare.

"Embarrassed? why?" She asked, genuinely puzzled. Before anyone could begin to explain, Carter entered the scene as well; unlike Renata, he didn't have a tray of food already served with him, and in fact looked like he had just exited the gym, much like Kirisvala. Why they didn't see each other was anyone's guess, but it was reasonable to think that it was because the gym, much like the kitchen, was made to be big enough to accommodate a lot of teens.

"Oh, hi Carter! I'm up for trainin' together whenever you want!" The Hadrian replied enthusiastically. "I wouldn't say I'm big on it though, I only started workin' out today, and that's because there aren't more fun ways to stay in shape in this island." She added afterwards, with far less excitement.

"Oh, don't tell me the great Carter isn't up to date on the latest juicy gossips? Well that can't be, we've got to fix that!" Alexis said to the blond boy in place of a greeting, showing him the picture of the internet article, with the very Captain Obvious header and the picture of the kiss.

Just then, Cassandra and Wyatt also joined the party, with the former offering to make breakfast for the teens. Kirisvala quickly shook her head in response. "Oh, no thanks Cass! I made myself breakfast, made enough for Mars too!" She said cheerfully, pointing at her tray full of meaty dishes that were perfect for a ravenous carnivore, but perhaps less appropriate for a human with average nourishment needs. Alexis, meanwhile, walked over to the table and sat down.

"I usually skip breakfast but once in a while won't hurt. How about a hefty serving of waffles with chocolate syrup, Cass?" She stated, before turning to Wyatt. "Hey there! Isn't it tiring to fly over whenever you have business with the team? You should just move over already." The blonde girl spoke, before receiving a light tap on the head by her alien friend.

"Hey, leave him alone, family's important too." The Hadrian chided, before turning to Wyatt as well, offering a smile and a greeting. "G'day, Wyatt!"

[Absolon-7]

Casimir Herman July 19th
Well, Casimir had woken up much earlier than he'd like to, sure the team was having a training day today but a few more minutes wouldn't have hurt. Unfortunately his body had other plans as he woke up automatically on time. This was because he had gotten into the habit of doing some morning exercises for a warm up. If his memory served him right today it would consist of 100 push ups, 140 sit ups, 120 squats, and 100 triceps dips. This was gonna suck wasn't it? Wait no its wasn't. It nothing but a trivial habit for someone as such as him. He eventually wanted to do some strength training as well so one of these days he was going to have to drag a car to the island or perhaps one of the island's trees would be suitable.

Once he was done, a swift shower followed and after getting a fresh set of clothes it was on to the glory of breakfast. Quite fair number of his teammates where already there including Kiris, Alexis, Renata, Carter, Cassandra, and Wyatt. Quite a collection of folk indeed. There was some talk of a picture about Kiris on her date with Mars. No doubt taken by some dirt tier paparazzi. Nothing but scum the lot of them. Once the great Kabuto would be known worldwide as an amazing hero dealing with paparazzi was not something he'd look forward to. Honestly they're more annoying than a termite infestation in an old wooden home. Damn bastards.

"Morning guys! Whose ready for some hot-blooded training today?," greeted Casimir quite jubilantly. Going to the freezer Casimir got a gallon of milk and served himself pint of milk. Discreetly, he also added in a few spoonfuls of strawberry Nesquik powder into it. As he went to a table, Casimir overheard Cassandra offering to make either pancakes or waffles. Such a complex question. Waffles would be his choice however.

"I'll take five of those waffles Cassandra. I wouldn't mind some chocolate syrup on them as well," said Casimir. While waiting for Cassandra's waffles, Casimir wondered about the butler robot. Like how close to a human was she? Did she have any opinions of her own? Might as well just straight up talk to her to find out. "Hey, Cassandra, so how do feel about being on the team? It's gotta be pretty different from wherever you were before right?"

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

"YOU PERV!"

Red raised an alarmed eyebrow as Yoshiro smashed her cake into a very confused Carter's face. At first, Red couldn't figure out what had compelled Yoshiro, normally composed and well-mannered, to do such a thing. But it was then when his eyes followed her gaze, which was centered on a black strap that hung over Carter's shoulder. Is that...Yeah, it is. Red took another bite of his cake, enjoying the sweet taste it provided. Yup, I'm going to kill him. Placing the cake onto a nearby counter, Red watched as Carter tried to defend himself, but Red wasn't up for a discussion. The trial was over, and the jury had found the need for an executioner. Cracking his knuckles, he walked up to Carter, placing a hand on his shoulder with a forceful grip and began to drag him away.

"Carter, we're going to have a nice, long, talk about respecting other people's privacy."

Red continued to drag Carter down the hallway, as several of the girls glared at him with murderous intent. Carter continued to scream out in defense of his actions, but his words fell on deaf ears as Red recalled the various torture techniques he knew that would cause the most amount of pain without killing someone. Well, probably won't kill him, he thought to himself.

But I suppose his odds are better with me than the girls.

---

Red shook Yoshiro's shoulders gently in an effort to wake her. She replied with a groan and wrapped herself up with the sheets, a clear indication she wanted to continue sleeping. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed ahold of the sheets she had curled herself around in like a cocoon, and with a single pull, managed to send her spinning off of the bed and onto the ground. She seemed less than please by the awakening, even less so when she saw Red sticking his tongue out at her.

"Rise and shine, Yoshi."

His smile faltered, howevever, as his eyes caught the sight of the bandages that had been wrapped around her head from their encounter with Orion the day prior. He still felt guilty for what had occured, refusing to leave her side as he had rushed her back to the Tower to be treated by Jacob. After a heated exchange, mainly from Red, that almost left him being strapped to a gurney and sedated, Jacob gave him the news that she was going to be okay as long as she took it easy over the next few days. Yoshiro ended up staying over at Red's room that night after the two ended up falling asleep on the couch while watching movies, Yoshiro seeing no point in returning to her room when she woke up in the middle of the night and instead suggested they just relocate to the bed. Red was a bit nervous, but accepted her proposal.

Realizing Yoshiro had noticed his slight change in expression, Red snapped back to his previous grin, albeit a bit weaker this time, and suggested that they both get ready for the day. The entire team was scheduled to do training, and both knew that if they waited around too long someone would come in to check where they were. If they found Yoshiro not in her room, but instead in Red's...well, such an event was something they'd like to avoid.

And thus, Red gave Yoshiro a parting wave as she left his room to get ready in hers. Staring back at his bed, he couldn't help but wish they had had more time. While he normally had trouble falling asleep, due to a combination of him working on his investigations as well as some other...issues that found him having issues at night, with her next to him he had managed to get some of the best sleep he'd had in quite some time. Still, he knew that it wouldn't be a good thing to do often, as the more they did, the more likely they would be caught. Not to mention, I don't think Yoshi's the type to move onto something that serious that fast, he thought as he began to throw his clothes off and head towards the shower.

He normally would have been up for a few hours already, but due to the previous day's events as well as his rare instance of restful sleep, he had slept in a bit later than usual. Thus, working out today would be off the table, or at least for this morning. He doubted he would have the time later in the day, hence the reason he did it in the morning, but he put a mental note in his mind to try and find some free time to do some bag work in the gym. I should just get one of the damn things in my room, he thought as he lathered himself with body wash before letting the warm water wash it off his body.

Turning off the water, he stepped out of the shower and began to dry himself off. This done, he wrapped the towel around his waste and performed all the other morning rituals, brushing his teeth, rinsing his mouth out with mouthwash which stung like a swarm of bees, and roughing up his hair with his hands to get it to lay down somewhat neatly. Exiting his bathroom, he pulled out a pair of athletic shorts and a Yankee's T-shirt that fit snug around his upper body. Before exiting the room, he glanced over to where the corner of his room was, seeing the pile of paperwork that was only a minor fraction of what he still needed to do. It seemed as if it was never ending, even with all the good intel he had discovered as of late. It'll pay off eventually, he thought with a shake of his head as he headed towards the exit.

Walking down the stairs, the sound of loud chatter made it clear the others were up. The smell of food caused his stomach to rumble, indicating a hunger he hadn't know was there until then. He heard Cassandra asking if anyone wanted food, which made him raise a hand as he entered the kitchen.

"I'll take up your offer, if you don't mind. Just let me grab some coffee first."

Walking over to their coffee maker, Red poured some water into the pot and added in a fresh pile of South American coffee grounds spiced with cinnamon, a delicacy Red had recently discovered much to his pleasure. After a few moments of waiting, a fresh pot of coffee was made ready. Red was all too eager to pour some into his personal mug, which was decorated with a "World's Greatest Detective" label worded on the side. The mug had been a gift from Casimir, who had thought the label suited Red in both a legitmate yet humrous way. As much of an eye roll he had given Casimir, Red had accepted the gift and found himself drinking from it quite often, as it could hold a lot of coffee and had a handle that fit his hands perfectly.

Waiting for Cass to get done making a fresh plate of of food, Red went over to the living room which was in ear-shot of the kitchen. Flipping on the television, Red began to watch as the news reporters droned off the latest morning news from around the world, contently sipping on his coffee as he did.

[Aidannadia]

Aleta and Renata
July 18th

The pair walked all the way across the mall together, making quiet chit chat as they did so. Nothing as heavy as before, mostly just details, whether real or fake, from the last few days. Aleta told her friend for example about punching the creep at the concert, but not about taking the guards out and going on patrol as Pitch despite her best judgement.

“But yeah, it was toootally crazy. Party was ridiculous, can’t even remember getting home. Colors were beautiful though.” Aleta nodded, as they reached the bank, and stepped into the long line in front of the counter where three tellers tried their best to service the accounts as needed but the line was definitely stalled. “Ugh, looks like we’re going to be waiting for a while.”

Aleta took a few glances around the bank. There were a few families, a handful of kids, and a couple business suit clad men waiting in line. A few more interesting looking characters, one missing teeth and another with unkempt facial hair were set up at the machines on either side. Actually, they didn’t seem to be operating the machines at all…. “Uh, Renata, do you wanna maybe go to the bathroom for a minute?” Aleta said, not taking her eyes off the few men. She saw another man in work out clothes holding a duffel bag with a friend of his own. How many are there exactly? Why here? While Warwolf is still on patrol? How do they even plan to get aw-

Renata was gone. Completely, as if she had never been with Aleta in the first place.

Meanwhile, locked in one of the stalls in the nearest girl’s bathroom, she was hastily taking off her casual clothes and revealing her dark red superhero costume underneath. Taking my suit to a friendly visit seems to have paid it's dividends after all. Renata had seen similar sights to the one in the bank multiple times - someone, for some reason, was trying to pull a robbery. And, surprisingly, Warwolf was nowhere to be found, which meant that Stella had her chance to appear in the news for the first time in over a week.

It’s going to be a little troublesome with Aleta in the vicinity, though. Especially if her friend recognizes her in costume. Renata couldn't do much to hide her identity without a mask of sorts, like what other heroes do… but the best she could do is to take off the ties holding up her ponytails and let her hair fall loose. It’s not much, but who knows - maybe, in the heat of action, the different hairstyle will throw spectators off.

Now fully prepared and in her Stella persona, Renata unlocked the door of her bathroom stall, stepping out and waiting behind the door leading back to the mall, waiting for a chance to intervene.

I guess she got lost on the way over? No, that really doesn’t make sense.

The thought was cut short however, as an important looking man walked over and began talking to the teller. “I’m here for the uh… Chamberlain account.” He gave a knowing nod, trying to act inconspicuous. The teller nodded back, rolling her eyes, and made a call on the store intercom.

“We have a Chamberlain here to manage the account.” The phone clicked against the desk, and a round man waddled out happily to greet the business suit, shaking his hand happily. The pair began walking into the back rooms together, talking amongst themselves jovially. I need to switch my power on without anyone noticing… or use it without signaling that I am…. Aleta concluded, devising a plan of attack.

The heroine walked over to the man by the machine, and bumped into him, giggling as she did so. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m just a little tipsy, I guess. Oh, I’m so dizzy~.” The man was confused at first, but was interrupted by his partner pulling out a rifle and yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Everybody, on the ground!”

Aleta took the opportunity to wrestle with the individual she was leaning against, shooting a camera *accidentally* in the process before knocking him to the ground. Gunfire went off, and she bolted towards the counter, hopping over it and into the bank’s back rooms to find a place to let loose her powers. Here’s fine. She hid in a closet, mostly filled with cleaning supplies, and let the black ichor overtake her as she donned her persona as Pitch.

---

Renata slowly opened the door of the bathroom, trying to not alarm anyone just yet, only to witness that she was slightly too late and a hostage situation had already developed. Six robbers, some of whom were armed with pistols or assault rifles, were dispersed among the civilians who had been attending the bank and were now down on the ground. Aleta was nowhere to be seen - though, admittedly, Renata could only see a small part of the bank lobby from here. Darn, if she was taken as a hostage, then I’ll have to be extra careful.

Thankfully, fortune gave Renata a slight smile, as after some discussions and deliberation between the six robbers, two nodded their heads and began to make their way deeper into the bank. For what purpose, the heroine didn't know, but this cut down the number of robbers she had to take down from six to four. They have guns, though, so I’ll have to be more careful than usual. Of course, you can only be so careful in the superhero world, but still…

Renata suddenly kicked away the bathroom door and stepped forward, screaming like a madwoman:

“FBI, OPEN UP!!”

Perfect, this got their attention away from the hostages, and even scared a few of them for a second, before they realized that the only thing screaming at them was a teenage girl, and not a special ops unit. One of the robbers sighed, clearly irritated at the sight of a yet another one of these youngster heroes, and nonchalantly raised his assault rifle to fire the remainder of its clip.

Renata, was, fortunately, prepared for this. Her body suddenly emitted a continuous pulse of infrared radiation, manifesting itself as an invisible heat shield around her body. The bullets coming her way instantly caught fire and dissipated into puffs of gas upon merely touching said shield, leaving the robbers confused and the armed thug desperately searching for his reserve magazine to reload.

Now, for part two of my master plan…

Turning off her heat shield and clapping her palms, Renata generated some plasma out of the air inside, then suddenly threw it to the back while leaping forward as a sudden speed boost. Enough to have the heroine slam feet-first into the armed thug and slide his body across the ground for a few seconds before stopping.

“Who’s next?”

---

Pitch looked around the supply closet, trying to formulate a plan on the fly. They know I’m back here, so I need to establish where I as a hostage am as opposed to where Pitch is. Where can I go that won’t be taken as somewhere Aleta could have run off to… The heroine looked up to find a vent. That’ll work.

Dark tendrils extended from her hands and ripped the vent off its hinges, climbing inside with ease despite the slim walls. The vigilante listened, silently sliding through the vents with her tentacles pulling her forward. A few voices from below. “I think she went this way.”

“Look, the vault is over there. That asshole is probably hiding in there with the manager. Let’s go get him.” Another voice said, much to Pitch’s interest.

She waited until the first robber passed, and when the second robber appeared beneath a grate in the hallway, tiny black strings of tar grabbed him, pulling him against the grate as the hero slammed down into the hallway below, crushing the man beneath her just as gunshots rang out from the front room. The other man shot at her, slowing her advance. He managed to begin sealing the door behind him, but a few shots of tar managed to keep the door ajar.

The robber was struggling to get the door closed, and eventually gave up, instead rushing the rich account holder. “Open the box, now, or I shoot.” The pair nodded as the heroine tried to hurry down the hallway, slingshotting herself forward and kicking the assailant down on the ground.

There was no time to celebrate, as the villain did a kickflip to an upright standing position, a strange device in hand. Pitch had no time to react as beam of red, burning hot energy shot her back down the hallway. She crashed through a door all the way across the bank with a smoldering Bang.

---

Generally, Renata disliked going into melee range, which is exactly what she had done right here - however, that was because she had been used to fighting enemies with the same or higher level of skill as her. Surrounded by human, untrained thugs, some of whom didn't even seem to be much older than the heroine, she had much less to worry about - the bigger problem was making sure that none of the hostages get hurt in the process.

One of the robbers was down, three were left. Two in front of her, one behind her. The latter attempted to use this advantage to run at Renata and try to send a right hook, but unfortunately for him, the silence of the bank lobby meant that his footsteps could easily be telegraphed. The heroine dropped down, avoiding the hook, then grabbed onto the trailing arm to pull the robber over herself and slam the poor dude on his back - just like Dad taught her. Renata didn't get a chance to catch a break, however, as the two other thugs suddenly lunged at her, in a tackle.

Leaping back to avoid getting hit, jumping over a few lying hostages on her way, Renata soon went on a counteroffensive - running right at the two incoming thugs, only to suddenly grab the right one’s hand and tug him to the side, isolating him from his buddy and then instantly smashing the sob's head into the nearest wall. It wasn't enough to kill the man - Renata could not claim to have enough superhuman strength for that - but it definitely left him dazed and unconscious for enough time to see the cops arrive.

The last thug pulled out a pistol, backing off while unloading a few rounds at the ever so mobile heroine. No dice - Renata had let out a plasma jump boost even before the man pulled the trigger, leaping to the right, practically circling the man, only to suddenly stop with her feet placed on the wall, a good ten feet above the ground, and lunge right at the thug like a jet missile. Renata didn't actually slam right at him, though - are you crazy, charging head first into a man with a gun? - but rather landed on the floor right next to him with a slide stop and immediately pulled the thug in for a choke hold from the back. Her free hand grabbed onto the barrel of the pistol, melting it into a puddle in seconds.

“Pray tell, with Warwolf and professional heroes running around, what, if any, was the reason why you thought this was a good idea?” the heroine muttered, finding time for a snarky comment. The thug said nothing, only gargled and let out a few choking sounds. I figured as much. The heroine proceeded to slam the thug's face into the ground, knocking him out, and raised her hand to inform the hostages still across the floor of the lobby. “We’re all clear. Everyone's safe.”

A few sighs of relief followed, and much of the room began to stand back up on her feet. Renata cracked a smile. Missions where she can take care of the situation all by herself with minimal casualties are few and far in between, but damn did they feel good.

Except nothing was done yet. Suddenly, a heavy thud sound echoed across the hall, coming from one of the doors leading deeper into the bank. Right, didn’t two of those robbers went inside? Maaaybe I was too early to call.

“Who’s there?!” the heroine yelled, slowly walking towards the source of the recent sound, somewhere deep in the corridor to the right.

All that was heard was a groaned and some movement as if someone was trying to stand back up.

Okay, just waiting here won't cut it. Renata thought to herself, hastening her pace, now practically speeding through the corridor. Her eyes quickly caught the sight of shattered pieces of metal and wood, dust and debris scattered across the floor to her left - which, as one might expect, came from a wall being broken down. How did these robbers have something which could cause such destruction and decided to use it on a random door instead of the vault? She didn't know, and it's not like she cared when she stopped in front of what used to be the door.

Because out there, where the door should be, Aleta in a pitch black costume laid on the ground. And she seemed to have been hurt, too…

“A-Al-Ah…” Renata muttered a few incomprehensible things before her mind pulled the brakes. Again, keeping her secret identity in secret. “...What are you doing in this crime scene, citizen?”

Aleta groaned again, standing up slowly while the mask reformed, a bubbling mass of tar forming the guise of Pitch, a minor vigilante right before her friends eyes. When she began to get her bearings, she acknowledged the heroine in front of her. “Oh, hey, Stell-” Aleta stopped, recognizing the voice and face immediately at this close of a distance. “Come on. Did you think your hair was what made you so familiar?” She laughed to herself, cringing from the pain of a bruised rib. “I mean, I’m not an idiot, Stella.” She busted out laughing once more, wincing occasionally as she did, with “Ow” interrupted the flow of her chuckles.

She stood up solidly now, standing up with her shoulders back in her costume, impersonating Renata’s feeble attempt at hiding who she was. “Well, citizen, I was inspecting the crime scene when a fucking laser beam shot me across the damn hall. Golly, excuse my language. Anyway, there’s the final guy in the vault at the other end of the hall. Something tells me your powerset doesn’t really care about what he’s packing, right?” Pitch was confident in her assessment of Stella’s powers from what she could piece together of earlier research on the hero.

“I’ll back you up.”

Did she… instantly tell who I am? Renata thought to herself as she stepped into the hall, taking focus on the villain on the other side, who seemed to be preparing his glove for an another shot. Judging from how Aleta spoke to her… that's probably correct. Renata had never held much trust in the security of her costume, anyway. The second shocking thing of the day was Aleta herself - judging from the fact that she survived a laser sending her across the hall and later regenerated her suit out of nowhere, she must definitely be superhuman, if not a heroine just like her.

What. The hell.

Hey, at least it explains why she didn't see Aleta among the hostages…

“Fine by me.” the pink-haired heroine finally replied, her face forming into a slight smirk. If she and Aleta are going to be role-playing superheroes now, then she cannot just call her friend by her real name, right? For that, Renata turned her eyes towards Aleta. “So, what should I call you for now?”

Aleta looked somewhat torn up that Renata hadn’t heard of her, sighing a bit. “I’m Pitch.” I tag my busts and everything, and this is the turn around? I need to get out there more.

Renata gave a slight nod and began to walk forward, towards the armed villain. Pitch, Pitch… No, don't think I’ve heard of anyone with that name. she thought to herself and let the matter slide. The villain, meanwhile, seeing that he is getting outnumbered, raised his powered glove, aiming it at the approaching pink-haired heroine and exclaimed:

“Don’t move an inch or you’ll be a splatter on the wall!”

Pitch is right, if this glove uses light or something of that sort, then I won't feel anything. I shouldn't flaunt this immunity, though - he’ll only get suspicious. With this dilemma resolved, Renata continued the same pace, pretending as if she didn't hear what the robber yelled at her. He, meanwhile, appeared to have gotten a little nervous, but his face soon cracked a smirk. “Don't say I didn't warn you.”

An instant later, the thug fired from his glove, releasing a wide and burning hot beam of energy from its palm. Renata suddenly stopped, spreading her arms to the side to absorb as much radiation as she could, then waited. The beam reached her at the speed of light and then… faded. Aside from a few rays which somehow made past the heroine by navigating between her arms or legs, the entire bolt of energy vanished.

“Interesting, I think there's even some X-Rays in there. I never get to use those in battle.” Renata muttered, then raised her right hand and released the exact same beam of energy back at the assailant, who had both fortunate and unfortunate news to worry about. Unfortunate for him, he couldn't just absorb the radiation coming his way. Fortunate for him, he raised his power glove just in time to have it block much of the energy coming his way, leaving him only sliding back across the floor and wielding a glove which was now partially melted and had sparks of electricity cracking around it.

The fight still wasn't done, though, so Renata ran forward, clapping her palms and generating plasma in between them. There was still some distance left between her and the thug, though.

“Pitch!” she suddenly exclaimed, calling for her ally to tag in.

Pitch licked her lips, and climbed like an animal around the side of the wall, attaching the ceiling and lunging across the hall like a creature in a horror movie, tackling the man to the ground and crashing him against the far wall of the vault. Another few swifts movements and his wrists were attached together behind his back with sticky tar.

The criminal struggled for a moment, and Pitch spoke. “Great job, fellow heroine Stella. We sure make a great team. Now time to round up the rest of the-”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thaaaank youu-hu-hu-hu-huuuu,” The manager, nametag reading Darren, was crying with fear and relief, having been saved by the pair. His arms struggled to raise his form to a standing position, but he eventually got their, face red from the tears. “Oh, I must look awful. I’m sorry, cool superheroes.” The man wiped his face the best he could with a rag he had tucked away.

“Indeed, very impressive.” The businessman said. “You took down this mercenary like it was nothing.”

Pitch smiled beneath the tar that covered her body, finished LARPing as an optimistic superwoman of the people. “Yeah? Pass around my title; Pitch, dark as night.” She sounded like she was beaming with happiness, gesturing like a dork for effect. “Oh, and you probably know Stella already.” Aleta gestured towards her friend, who promptly nodded and spoke:

“I was just on a patrol in the area when I caught the sight of trouble going on. No biggie. Right, so, onto more pressing matters, Pitch,” she said as she turned towards her black-clad ally. “I took out the thugs who were busy taking hostages in the lobby - they're knocked out for now, but I don't really have anything which could lock them in place. If you could pull some of your makeshift tar cuffs on them, that would be really helpful - I’ll go call the police to take them in as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, right.” Pitch ran down the hallway, spending the next few minutes tying the rest of the crew up with tar, and then arranging them into funny positions that were very uncomfortable. It wasn’t long before the police had arrived.
In the meantime, in the back room, Chamberlain took an interest in Stella. “You know, someone with your abilities could do great work. I’m sure you know the going rate for enhanced security.” A catch all term used to refer to powered mercenaries.

Renata had just ended a phone call to police when she heard the businessman speak to her directly, asking about - and her mind quoted it - enhanced security. The heroine raised her eyebrow and replied:

“Could you be more specific, please? If you're asking about installing some cameras in your home or something, then I’m not the person you should talk to.” Her mind had a hunch on what it might mean, but she needed to be more sure.

Chamberlain chuckled. “I mean, there are plenty of interested parties looking for powered laborers. Maybe something off the grid in South America…?” His words trailed off a bit. “Consider it.” He handed her a card for his office.

So he really was offering work as mercenary… Renata thought to herself as her finger trailed across the card, leaving a trail of burnt paper as it went. Being a part of the types of people his father and their team fought long to stamp out was not in her mind. Odd that he’s so cavalier in recruiting the supers who rescued him as if nothing happened, though. You’d imagine that someone in his situation would be a lot more shaken.

Aleta returned not too long, some on duty officers already having responded to the scene in toe with her. “See, I told you I wasn’t behind this. I mean look at that guys gadget.” She said defensively, gesturing to the small laser weapon in the head mercenary’s hand.

Darren ran over to the officers. “Oh, good. You’ll take my statement, yes?”

The police nodded still taking in the scene. It wasn’t long before more investigators arrived and the bank was beginning to flood with people. Pitch was interrogated with more suspicion, but Dareen testimony put her enough in the clear to warrant letting her go without a trip to the station. Before leaving she walked over to her friend. “Oh, and Stella, I think I’ll stop looking into that case we were looking at earlier.” She winked. “Here’s the number for my Signal account… It’s a burner I have for errands. If you need my help, just call. Maybe I’ll show up.”

“Oh, thanks…” Renata muttered in response, picking up the number Aleta handed to her. So this makes two vigilante friends I’m in touch now. ...neat… “I suppose I’ll see you around, then. It’s not like you’ll be able to withdraw any money from here while an investigation is going on.”

Pitch frowned on her tar-obscured face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She said, turning to go.

Pitch was beginning to leave when she caught the tail end of Darren’s statement to the police, “And it’s really just bizarre they knew I was opening that vault today and didn’t know that the work had just been devalued. I almost think it would be fitting to let them have it. It’s more use to them than to Mr. Chamberlain after all.” Then, something else caught her attention, something from before.

You took down this mercenary like it was nothing.”

The thug didn’t mention being a mercenary. He hadn’t spoken since we stopped him. And the painting was found to be a fake just recently…. But I don’t know for sure. Maybe this is something to look into later.

Pitch turned to see Chamberlain’s face, a smile creeping across it confidently. Her eyes narrowed. Chamberlain. I’ll remember that.

---

Tadeo Baltasar
July 19th

When El Hechicero had first arrived, the most of the team had been out doing errands or some such. Tadeo had seen a few of them in the hallways, and smelled a few of their signatures left behind them. Most of the team seemed like good people. He had come to an agreement about the nature of his involvement with the team; he would help them out for a place to stay. That wasn't a total lie, and what he was doing in San Diego was harmless anyway. He had promises to keep after all.

So, when he awoke in the morning, having decorated his own room with various foreign and sometimes otherworldly flora, it was not long before he made his way downstairs for breakfast. When he walked through the door, he noticed a few of his new teammates had already gathered for the day. He smiled politely and without a word went over to grab some food and a coffee. "Oh, thank you, mam." He nodded at Cass, but soon his curiosity got the better of him and he leaned forward to whisper to Cass, "You definitely have a connection to the Realm where thoughts go, but the rest of your connections are muddle to my senses. You may have mechanical implants that interfere with my ability to sense them, or you may be a powerful magician able to mask their magical potential. Either way, I feel obligated to inform you that that person," He pointed to Wyatt carefully from across the room, "Is wearing a glamour, which I associated with Changelings. However his lack of reaction to me entering the room suggests he is either aloof or uncaring, and I don't sense a fae presence on the island. Is it normal for them to appear that way?" Tad finished, still a little confused.

[Finland SSR]

CASSANDRA, July 19

two mildly good girls

Red

---

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Alexis was absolutely right - what fun is there in poking their friend on the relationship they’re having with someone if they’re not even flustered, just accept it as a compliment? Renata may have commented more on that, perhaps tried to poke Kiris a little further, but Carter’s arrival and the subsequent flurry of their teammates rushing into the cafeteria saved them both from this conversation.

Hey, Kiris could have at least commented on the fact that she and Mars are not even the same species... Renata thought to herself and dropped the matter from her head entirely, instead heading over towards Cassandra, who was holding two prepared plates of snacks, one for waffles and one for pancakes, with toppings and condiments of their choice. On the way, she got to reply to a number of “Hello”s and “Morning”s, coming from Wyatt, Casimir and Carter, to all of which the heroine would respond with a brief, laconic, but still enthusiastic “Hey!”

“I’ll take a waffle, please - with no toppings,” Renata spoke to the butler like one would speak to an unenthusiastic waiter, then picked up her dessert of choice and placed it on her tray. And with that, her breakfast is complete - a sandwich, a bowl of cereal and a waffle, enough for someone of her level of activity to last for a few hours. The latter two practically fell into her mouth within minutes, but the sandwich, alongside her cup of coffee, got a chance to travel with her. After all, there was so much to do today before the training session - visit the living room and watch the morning news, hit the gym, go outside and absorb some radiation, check on social media… that there simply wasn’t enough time for her to just sit in the cafeteria and waste time having breakfast.

Sure, this also means that she’s acting as a bit of a loner right now, but who cares. Renata stood up and ran back into the kitchen, placing her used plates in the large dishwasher, and walked out with a sandwich in one hand and a cup of coffee in another. First stop - the living room! A stop her sandwich didn’t get to see before its inevitable demise in the heroine’s teeth, but a stop nonetheless.

When Renata stepped into the living room with a half finished coffee mug in her hand, however, she saw that she wasn’t the first to think of the idea. Red, who had briefly appeared in the cafeteria before to get himself a cup, was sitting on the couch facing the large flat-screen TV installed in the room. Said TV was showing exactly what Renata had set out to check upon coming here - morning world news reports. How convenient.

Almost as convenient as the chance to get to talk to a member of the team she hadn’t gotten the chance to chat with ever since she arrived here. Austin ‘Red’ Flanagan, formerly known by Renata as ‘that Young Blood she saw on the news once as being prosecuted’, now as ‘that brash teammate who spends his time fulfilling their team’s antihero quota’. Wouldn’t hurt to at least get to know him.

“This insomnia seems to have really paid a toll on me - I’m not even first in getting here anymore,” Renata spoke and yawned, as if to illustrate her point, then sat down on the couch next to Red and took a sip from her coffee mug.

“So, are you interested in world politics or did this just so happen to be on when you arrived?”

[The Republic of Atria]

Kiris and Alexis

Wyatt went down on his food as soon as he could. Extra syrup drenched and drowned the waffles and pancakes until they were less cake-like and soft; just like how he liked it. Cassandra did really good cooking, that was for sure. They were perfectly cooked, not too brown, but not too light either. As he was chowing down, Alexis asked him if he ever got tired of flying all the way to and from Wonder Island, even going as far to suggest that he move in. He considered it, but decided against it earlier on in his career.

"Mmmm." He started, mouth full of sugary goodness. "I'd given it some thought, but flying isn't all that big of a deal. It's gotten much easier since I got my powers, plus it's good to keep doing it often for my reflexes. And if I'm being honest, it's fun as hell. Like, no matter how many times I fly over the city and swoop down over cars and stuff, it never stops being exhilarating. And what Kiris said, family. I love both of my parents, and I have some other friends I go to visit whenever I've got some free time. They're the ones teaching me how to better use my magic and how to fight." There was a reason he didn't name any names, lest he get wrapped up in the drama involving Warwolf Kaban was responsible for. "It's really not that big of a deal. If I really try, I can make it in like five to seven minutes." He explained, thinking for a second to make sure he didn't say anything too personal.

"But I do have a question. Where are we going to be doing the training today? My parents would like to know in advance if I'm going to be gone for another few weeks, and I'd like a little more time to pack. I'll probably bring my computer and more than two pairs of pants and shirts."

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

Red had just began to settle in to watching the news when Renata, one of their teams newer members, joined him on the couch. A fresh cup of coffee was in her hands, as was a few bags underneath her eyes that signaled she needed it more than him.

“This insomnia seems to have really paid a toll on me - I’m not even first in getting here anymore."

He chuckled lightly at her comment.

"Yeah, I feel you there. Funny enough though, this is considering sleeping in for me usually."

“So, are you interested in world politics or did this just so happen to be on when you arrived?”

Red shrugged, taking a sip from his coffee.

"I've always had an interest in what's going on in the world. Given my line of work, it's always kind of been a....necessity. Besides, as weird as it sounds, it's actually calming in a weird way to be reminded that there's people out there who have it a lot worse than me. Only thing that probably keeps me sane in this crazy world we live in."

He gave her a small smile before putting his mug to his lips once more. Red had paused briefly in his response, thoughts of his time with The Five flashing past his mind briefly. The two stared at the television for a few more moments before Red decided to move on to a new topic that was less serious.

"How do you like the coffee? I got the grounds ordered from a small business down in Columbia. It's a bit of a pain in the ass to get, but I'll be damned if it's not worth it."

[Tomia]

Wonder Tower, Morning of July 19th
Mars typically woke up earlier than the other members of his team, and this morning had been no exception. In fact he got up a little earlier than usual, his active mind busy with thoughts about the training exercises that Naja had planned for them that day. As the sun rose in his lab, Mars was meticulously checking his armor suit as well as his mech Rocket. He wanted things to be perfect for their training session at least on his end. He was a bit anxious about their performance. They were clearly improving in their abilities, but the appearance of Warwolf created new challenges and variables that they needed to be prepared for.

Eventually though he realized that he should probably head off to breakfast, evident both by his watch and the grumbling of his stomach. So after reluctantly putting down his equipment he got up and headed towards the kitchen.

Mars smelled breakfast before he saw it, his stomach grumbling even more vigorously as he approached the dining table. Luckily for Mars he had missed all the teasing that Kiris had been receiving about their relationship, still blissfully unaware of the photos, videos, and written commentary that centered around their date previous day. Admittedly when he first walked into the room his eyes searched for Kiris immediately. When they found her he smiled fondly before going over to sit down next to her. He thought it best to not show too much affection, as they hadnt really discussed their relationship status beyond the kiss and he didn't want to make assumptions.

"Wow, this is all amazing Cass!" Mars said appreciatingly to his robot teammate as he took some waffles and pancakes onto his plate.

"Ya, but how many times do I need to tell you you don't have to be the team's butler?" Roy said half jokingly as he entered the room. He was awake a little later than usual, having had a long day the day before involving the Warwolf protest as well as his date with Wendy.

He took a plate of food as well, thanking Cass before hearing Wyatt's question about training. "We're not going anywhere Wyatt, we're going to be training right here. With everything that's going on, Naja doesn't think it's a great idea for us to leave San Deigo." He told his teammate.

Meanwhile Jacob, the team's new medic, arrived at breakfast right around the time that Roy did. He was settling in fairly well with the team, despite his unique role, and was starting to feel at home with them. Though obviously it would take some getting used to.

"Uh thanks Cassandra" he said, the robot butler being one of the things he needed to get used to.

Finally there was Frost Bite, who was one of the last people to arrive for breakfast. This wasn't unusual as she often slept late. Along with her usual mask she wore simple baggy sweatpants and a white tshirt. She didn't take a plate for breakfast and she sat at the end of the table, seemingly in a slightly more sour mood than usual.

[Absolon-7]

Viviana Couture / Chicle, Los Angeles, July 19th
Headphones on her ears, sundress draped on her body, and luggage in her hand Viviana departed from the train station. The ride to her current location was so uncomfortable. Who could even stand sitting for more than an hour anyways? But now she was out and about with a whole city to explore and it was one of the nation's superhero hubs too! Although keeping track of the time so she didn't miss the bus later would have to come first before any fun activities, sightseeing, or her new "hobby". Stopping crooks in an unfamiliar city probably wasn't the best idea either but she’s had worse ideas.

After that, finding her guy would come next. If the news was correct, then the bloke had actually decided to join a team! It was such a shock the first time she learned that particular fact and she couldn't help feeling proud of the guy. Back home he had always done everything himself so having someone who could actually watch his back would be nice for him. She suddenly giggled remembering the part of the news where Casimir was accused of murder by some crazy reporter dude.

Stopping to lean on a tree, Viviana checked her phone for when there was gonna be a Greyhound bus to San Diego and until it was time to depart she felt a craving for a smoothie and crackers. Viviana roamed for a while until she found a nice smoothie store to order from. She found a nice shade to sit under with one of the shop's outside parasol tables. It was a nice experience up until she got up to leave and some shady guy bumped into her without apologizing. The worst part about it was him just leaving without apologizing! In fact, the streets were absolutely clogged with people. If the city was a body these streets would be just as clogged as Uncle Jacques's arteries. Poor Uncle Jacques, may he rest in peace.

"Maybe momma was right about how SoCal is full of assholes." Grumbled an annoyed Viviana pouting her cheeks in vexation. She strolled down the street after finishing her food and enjoyed the vibrant city scenery in all its midday glory utterly astonished by the skyscrapers in the distance. Her mouth was held agape in amazement at the faraway buildings until she realized her jaw literally fell to the floor and it would look really disturbing to nearby onlookers. Viviana snapped it shut as soon as she realized what had happened and thankfully no one noticed with most folks faces buried in smartphones. This rubber power could sure be annoying so she definitely striked out in the superpower lottery.

A while later, she had reached the bus transit center so it was only a matter of waiting one hour exactly for the bus to arrive. Yes. One hour. Oh dear. Well, might as well look around the shops in the area. Nothing peaked her interest but as she was walking around she heard a violent commotion next to a convenience store she was passing by. Peering inside she could see some scraggly looking dude holding up the cashier. He had to be stopped before someone got hurt. She rushed to a public bathroom and went into one of the stalls to change into her supersuit and left her luggage in the stall so it’d appear occupied. Once she finished changing, Viviana ran outside ready to stop the robbery. And he was gone.

Never to fear he couldn’t have gone far. Running around frantically she finally found the culprit nonchalantly walking down a nearby street with a burlap bag filled with cash. This was her chance to get the upper hand and apprehend him.

“Stop in the name of the law criminal scum!,” yelled out Viviana moving her arm in front to make a stop gesture.

The robber surprised someone dared confront him after such an easy heist looked around in confusion before he turned around spoke to Viviana. “Are you talking to me?”

“Yescerritos!,” talked back Viviana, “Now listen mister. What your gonna do is wait here patiently until the police come and then your gonna plead guilty got it? And I am not gonna hear any buts about it.”

Coldly, the robber brought up a pistol and shot at Vivana’s head. The bullet hit her right in the forehead but it didn’t stop there. It went further and further and strangely stretching the part it hit some distance back. In the blink of an eye it was catapulted straight back at the robber going straight through his shoulder. Viviana's forehead had immediately snapped back into shape with her cradling her head to soothe away the pain.

“Owie, that hurt you shithead,” said Viviana wincing in pain.

Meanwhile the robber had fallen back onto the street screaming in pain and trying to stop the bleeding. Exasperated at what happend the robber was flabbergasted at what had become of what was supposed to be such a clean hit. He scurried next to a nearby car and single handedly flipped it at Viviana. It hit her topside first and straight supposedly pinned her hard to the nearby building. Thankful that his superpower had come in handy the injured robber got up from the ground and started to limp away.

A hard impact suddenly knocked him down face first. Infuriated that someone else had intervened the robber looked up only to see a single hand floating in the air. Wait it wasn’t floating as it was connected to a stretched out arm that originated right from the flipped car wreckage. Squeezing out of a large space in the lower half of the wreckage was a tube of white skin covered in that blueish green suit the wannabe hero was wearing.

“Oh hell no,” muttered the robber.

Once she was completely out of the car’s flipped side Vivana snapped her body back into shape. “Ta-da! Foul villain, you're facing the beautiful heroine CHICLE!”

The robber enraged limped over to pick up another car and throw it at her but as he lifted the car straight up Chicle imitated a left hook but as she was far away what happened instead was her hand stretched out and punched the robber’s wrist. Surprised by the hit, the robber let go of the car and as it crashed down the car shattered into several chunks alongside countless smaller pieces. Surprisingly they made little noise. If anything the bigger chunks made squeaky noises as they collapsed onto each other creating friction.

“Wait what?”, spoke an utterly confused Chicle. She squatted down to pick one of the car pieces in order to inspect it. It appeared normal at first glance but the texture was completely off for something from a car. In fact, once she looked at the middle of the piece it was stark white. Playfully she ripped it apart enjoying the tearing sensation. Now she had figured it out.

“Guess I don’t hav’ta to be afraid of your super strength anymore! Cause you don’t have any! In reality you turn stuff into styrofoam and turn them back. Am I right or am I right?,” boasted Chicle.

“Damn you bitch,” grunted the robber. With one last punch, Chicle coiled up her arm and sprung it forward at an incredible speed at the robber’s jawline. With him finally knocked out Viviana made a run for it as she saw some police cars away in the distance. Oh no I gotta get my luggage before someone gets it from the stall!, thought Vivana as she reached the restroom. She changed back into her sundress and straw hat before going to the sink to wash her face. It still sorta stung where the bullet hit but it was no biggie. Looking at her phone there was still some time left until the bus came. She recollected spotting a vending machine earlier but decided against as she wasn’t thirsty at the time. Although with the fight she just had something cold right now wouldn’t hurt.

[Finland SSR]

Red

---

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Renata yawned a little during Red's explanation of his interest for world news, trying her best to hide it and pretend it was just a heavy breath. She definitely wasn't bored or disinterested - her exhaustion was trying its best to pull her down into the abyss. I'll need more coffee after this.

"Yeah, that makes sense, I suppose," the heroine replied, taking a sip from her mug. "I've taken an interest in keeping up with world news, especially politics, not too long ago, actually. I'm definitely going to need as much knowledge there as possible, so better start preparing now than regret in the future."

The red-haired boy swiftly moved the conversation elsewhere, however, for better or for worse, and asked Renata on whether she liked the coffee. He acquired the grounds himself, apparently, from a small place in Colombia.

Renata looked down at her mug, a slight touch of bewilderment on her face.

Colombia.

From the same country which has had more border incidents and diplomatic crises with Ecuador than she could count on her fingers and toes. The most vivid memory of Colombia that Renata had was when she was seven, and accidentally listening in on a behind-doors meeting between her father and their president. It felt less like a diplomatic meeting and more like a shouting match, complete with their side storming out of the hall entirely. Seven-year old Renata didn't know what it was about or how it got resolved, but seventeen-year old Renata got to learn that it was for some forestry rights in the Amazon and ended up solved by MERCOSUR.

So. Drinking the coffee of your country's enemy. Slightly killed the taste in Renata's mouth.

"Yeah, it's uh, it's good coffee, not going to lie," Renata began to carefully work out a sentence, trying to not come off as too aggressive towards something Red clearly put a lot of work into. "I've seen better coffee in Ecuador, though."

Maybe Red could consider searching for coffee grounds there next?

The news broadcast was shifting into sports news, which instantly killed any interest Renata had in keeping tabs on the TV, so she decided to steer the conversation towards something else.

"We're having a team training session today, right? I think they said something about fighting in squads, too, although I might just be conflating this with something else here," the heroine spoke, taking an another coffee sip and glancing at Red directly. "Have you got some sort of plan for today already? Anyone you'd prefer to work with or fight against?"

[Turmenista]

Johnny Swift

The Great Floyd Tolson!

---

Johnny Swift/Keith Westwoods

"An odd strategy -" The swordsman chuckled as he taunted Keith, advancing down the dark street with his sword in hand as blood red sparks began to crackle around his body, briefly illuminating him in the shadows. "Circumcising your own chances of victory by eliminating any chance of receiving reinforcement."

But he doesn't know I don't need reinforcements.. Keith balled his fist in frustration. If I could slam Johnny I could definitely do the same to him. What makes him so different?

As much as Keith wanted to simply rip this guy apart right and smear him all over the street right there and now, he needed a clear, calm mind to mitigate the amount of destruction with his otherwise uncontrolled and destructive mental abilities, destruction that he wouldn't want to be held accountable for. But.. there was something about this man that was really just ticking him off. At least Johnny knew how to shut up and fight, as annoying as the speedster back there was, but this guy—Floyd—was really pushing his buttons. "You're better off leaving like Johnny told you to. I don't want to do have to do this."

But, Floyd kept on prodding him. God damn him, guess he was really asking for it. "Must be really confident in your powerset, huh? What's it about?"

"This is about you leaving me and my friends alone. I'm warning y-"

A voice yelling at the two behind him prompted him to stop walking towards Floyd. It belonged to Johnny, of all people. Wasn't he KO'd from earlier?

"Floyd, we're making a big mista—"

"SHUT UP!"

Keith whipped his head around to the speedster, who rolled away to the side just before Keith roared a battle cry and concentrated his mental energy downrange. An invisible wave of telekinetic force ripped chunks of pavement and the sidewalk into the sky as the road Johnny had been incapacitated on ripped open, spewing debris into the sky. Johnny zipped past Keith's vision but was clotheslined by an invisible force and dragged across the street before being flung right at Floyd. Keith snapped back around to the swordsman as Johnny made his way to his feet, wasting no time in swinging an arm down in their general direction.

It then seemed as if the space in between Keith's palm was seemingly distorted for a moment as more cracks along the street and surrounding buildings appeared, rattling the two as a rumbling was heard ahead of them. Johnny had the right idea of darting to the side as something very large and honking wildly flew past Keith's side, followed by another trail of destruction and debris closing in on the two's location.

"Car, car, car," Johnny called out to his friend as if he were telling him to slice the incoming vehicle in half before it crushed them. "Car! He's fucking insane!"

[Finland SSR]

Johnny Swift/Keith Westwoods

The Great Floyd Tolson!

---

Floyd's walk and shit-talk towards Keith brought good news and bad news. The good news was that Keith, fortunately, did not take the bait that many supers in Floyd's life have done and did not start on a long, overtly extended tirade on what his powers are and how he's going to use them to smear the swordsman's ass across the floor. The bad news was that Johnny just couldn't stand not being in the spotlight for more than three seconds and suddenly lunged into the battle, leaving Floyd standing and watching as the speedster continued his classic routine of not being able to do shit against whoever they are fighting. The only action he got to do was slapping Johnny away with a backhand when the boy got thrown into him by an invisible force.

Can't he go and be a punching bag on his own damn time?

The brief scuffle did give Floyd plenty of insight into what he was facing, however. Judging from how this Keith cunt was able to rip apart much of the street and then toss Johnny right at me, it wouldn't be bad to assume some sort of telekinetic and telepathic powers, or something similar.

I fucking hate telepaths.

And this bloke seems to have his powers geared for pure offense, too. That street rip is no small feat.

Floyd didn't get to be an observer for much longer, however as Keith suddenly tossed a car right at him. How cute. He even made Johnny panic, as if that hasn't been the norm for the last three hours. The swordsman turned off all of his senses except for sight, balance and limb position, which instantly threw the entire world into nigh-slo mo. Plenty of time for Floyd to pull out his sword and identify a number of cracks and design flaws on the bumper of the car about to ram into him, all to identify the most effective path of cutting through the massive chunk of metal threatening to strike him.

Slash.

Two cleanly cut halves of the car slammed into the ground behind Floyd, and the swordsman sheathed his weapon moments thereafter.

"Watch where you're flaunting your junk," he added. However, his mind was humming a different tune.

I've been talking shit about him and just showed off a little for intimidation, but let's be honest, this ain't no walk in the park. If he hits me with any one of his stronger tele-attacks, I ain't gonna be standing up easily. Fortunately, that power doesn't seem to be geared for close quarters combat. Or reaction speed. I could be wrong, but I sure wish I'm right.

And if the plan is to get Keith into close quarters, then, well... Floyd was going to get him into close quarters. The swordsman suddenly lunged forward, running towards Keith at superhuman speeds, and cocked back his right fist, aiming to strike the telepath in the solar plexus hopefully before he got a chance to react or counterattack.

[Agritum]

Ellery "Shadowkill" Bastion

BWOOOONG BOOO, BWOOONG BOOOOO, BWOOONG BOOO

Elle's arrival in the living room was heralded by the booming, muffled basses of her black Skullcandy headphones playing Combichrist at max volume. Marching in with a black footie pajama complete with an hoodie and an embroidered skull symbol on the torso, the young vigilante had quirkily positioned the headphones OVER the hoodie, gracing everyone with her tasteful choice in music.

Chance made her sit next to Stella. The dark-haired youth set aside her dish of vegan pancakes & maple syroup, opened the latest number of "Guns & Ammo", and promptly set her feet on the table, reclining over the chair and giving everyone a display of her fuzzy black flipflops, which depicted a bunny with a demonic grin.

"World affairs?" she echoed Red. "All I know about world affairs is that the place is full of slimy shits out to make the weakest and defenseless suffer and that's why I've got this skull mask on my head." she motioned to it, before darting her finger to a carefully syruped pancake, and skilfully suspending it over her mouth with two fingers, quickly chewing it like a woodchuck would with hardwood.

"Sorry for the ice by the way, Martinez."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone

Carter seemed shocked and appalled when Kiris criticized the lack of ways to stay in shape in the Tower, as if he couldn't comprehend the very words she was saying. "What do you mean, there's no fun ways to stay in shape?! You've never tried roof-jumping on the top of the Tower? There's so many windows and roofs and other fun stuff to hop and jump off of! Granted, some got destroyed when we had to improve the Tower's security, but there's still plenty left! I have to show you around sometime!"

However, right in the middle of his little speech, Alexis suddenly shoved her phone in his face, a photo on the screen of what looked like a news article off one of those shady superhero fan-blogs online. There was some header that read "Young Bloods Member Found Dating Local Student!", and a picture of Mars and Kiris leaning over a kiss, looking as if they were on some date. Admittedly, it was pretty sweet and cute, but he didn't see what the big deal was. In fact, he was a bit disappointed. That was it? Just a regular kiss on a date? Big whoop, a lot of people went on dates.

"Alexis...?" he asked tentatively, preparing himself for the intense amount of disappointment about to emanate from her. "Come close for a second." he said, leaning forward as if about to whisper in her ear.

"It's called a date, Alexis." he whispered, before leaning back with a pitying smirk on his face and turning to Cass, who had just exclaimed something about waffles and pancakes. He had been kinda looking forward to some bacon and eggs, but hey, who was he to argue with robot-cooked waffles? Besides, they actually looked pretty good, nice and crispy.

"I'll take three waffles, Cass. Got any maple syrup and blueberries to go with it?" he asked, only to be greeted with an affirmative and a ready plate of waffles at his disposal, without having to lift a finger. Wow, that was convenient. He had to admit, Cass was a whiz with those waffles, as she was at...basically everything that involved combat. Gotta admit, it was pretty cool having a ultra-powerful robo butler that could eliminate peeps with ease. Kind of made you relax a bit.

However, turning around, it seemed like not everyone was in a relaxed and good mood. No, Red was being a downer as always and moaning about how there's people in the world who have it worse than him and how it helps him continue living, a mood not helped by Elle's very...aggressive music.

Heading into the living room with the whistled tune of "Arabella" on his lips, he winced slightly as he passed by Red, a certain itching in a place of his body beginning to arise as he recalled what had happened two days ago. He still hadn't forgiven Red for torturing him because a piece of underwear accidentally got caught in his damn sleeve, and he tended to hold grudges for a while. He took care to plop into a seat as far away from Red, chiming in off Elle's last point.

"I mean, why do we have to watch politics and world affairs and feel shitty? Like, I get that it's important and you should keep an eye on it, but why do we have to constantly use it as an excuse to moan like you're the lyricist of Skillet? Like, c'mon, you gotta keep optimistic! Just acting depressed and musing over it isn't gonna change it, so might you might as well just quit it."

[Bentus]

Yoshiro
Wonder Tower, July 19th

---

The sweet embrace of sleep enveloped Yoshiro, the calm escape of nothingness and dreams which punctuated the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. A trickle of sunlight was filtering through the curtains on the far side of the room, a few rays of the morning sun trickling onto the half-sleeping girl’s face. Yoshiro was content to lie there in her not-quite-awake state, hovering just on the edge of sleep as she allowed any thoughts of commitments or responsibilities to vacate her mind. She could go for a few more minutes of this, of lying motionless with a light smile on her face in blissful ignorance of the ticking hands of the clock. Unfortunately, the wider world had other plans.

A pair of hands gently shook Yoshiro’s shoulders, softly goading her back to the waking world. Irritated at the disturbance, she scrunched her eyes up tighter and shifted in that half-drunken way that those inebriated by fatigue usually did. Swiping away at Red’s hands while groaning in annoyance at his efforts, Yoshiro began to coil herself in the bed sheets, wrapping herself up in a makeshift cocoon. As her cunning plan came to fruition, she smirked cockily. Hah! Take that commitments and responsibilities! There was no way they’d be able to coerce her out of bed now. She hardly had a few seconds to relish her triumph when the sheets were suddenly pulled in a single, swift motion from the bed. Ensnared in her makeshift cocoon, Yoshiro was helpless as she was spun by the action, her eyes shooting open as she found herself rolled clean off of the bed and onto the floor with a yelp.

“Rise and shine, Yoshi.”

Red was standing with an amused expression, clearly enjoying his girlfriend’s struggle against the morning. Groaning, Yoshiro shot Red an irritated glare.

“You’re a horrible person.”

He simply stuck his tongue out in response, and Yoshiro couldn’t stop the small smile from tugging at the edges of her mouth. With a sigh, the telepath lifted her hands in defeat, rolling over to push herself back to her feet. “Alright, fine - you win! I’m up, I’m up.”

Stretching as she stood, Yoshiro let out a wide yawn as she greeted the day. She felt a hint of giddy embarrassment as she once again took in the sight of Red’s room in the morning light, waking up in his bed still filling her with a sense of nervous excitement. But, as he was quick to point out, they had plans for the day and she couldn’t waste any time loitering around. Begrudgingly, Yoshiro began to make her way to the door, hoping that she could make it to her room at this hour without being spotted. Offering Red a light wave goodbye, her eyes couldn’t help but glance over the mess on his desk. Folders, documents, images and other pieces of evidence lay scattered across the entire surface, mingling with a number of cups of coffee at various stages of consumption. And, to the side of it all, a binder with a post-it note stuck to the cover.

For Alexis.

Brushing aside her thoughts, Yoshiro smiled at Red before opening his door and making her way out into the hallway.

---

Coming back to her room from her morning jog, Yoshiro casually pulled her earphones from her head and placed them on her bedside table. There was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead from the physical exertion, and her heart was was still slightly elevated, but the run around the outside of the Tower complex had succeeded in waking her up for the day ahead. Removing the armband that held her phone, Yoshiro paused for a moment to continue playing her music through its speakers, the sound of the electronic music filling the air in her room as she but the device down by her earphones. Humming along to her music, smiling contently, Yoshiro sat down on her bed to untie and remove her running shoes. Glancing at the clock, she was a bit later than she would have liked for breakfast, but the shortened run had been more than worth it, and she still had enough time to wash up and grab some food. But, before she could get to that, first thing’s first.

Standing up and stepping into her bathroom, Yoshiro gave a firm nudge to her scale and waited a few moments for it to turn on and zero itself. Stepping onto the device with her bare feet, the girl continued nodding her head while humming to her music as the values slowly adjusted themselves to identify her current weight. When the three digit value finally settled on the small digital display, Yoshiro’s humming stopped. Furrowing her brow, the girl’s smile turned into a slight frown of irritation. Brushing aside her disappointment, Yoshiro stepped off of the scale, muttering something under her breath about eating too much cake. Stripping down in frustration and stepping under the running water of her shower to wash away the last vestiges of sleep, Yoshiro.

Finishing up in no time at all, Yoshiro stepped out and quickly began the final steps to her pre-breakfast routine: drying, getting dressed and combing her hair. All of which she attempted to do as quickly as possible, acutely aware that she was already pushing her luck to get downstairs in time before the team’s training session.

“I wonder if anyone of them will wonder why you’re so late?” The smug voice came from the partially fogged up mirror, and evoked a scowl from Yoshiro as she dried the last few drops of water from her face. “Especially if our boy-toy isn’t on time either.”

The telepath rolled her eyes, side-eyeing her own reflection. “Sticks and stones. That’s probably the worst effort you’ve made yet to try and get under my skin.” An amused chuckle reverberated around her head in response.

“Ouch, I never knew that you could be so cruel.”

There was a pause, and silence returned to Yoshiro’s mind, for a moment she wondered if the scarab had decided to actually leave her alone for once. Stepping out of the bathroom and getting dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, Yoshiro walked left her room for the hallway, only to find herself staring back at her in the window. The unwanted sight prompted a sigh from the teenager as she turned to continue making her way towards the kitchen, her reflection easily keeping pace in the hall’s windows.

“You know, I nearly completely forgot why I wanted to talk to you in the first place.” The reflection gave Yoshiro a confident thumbs up. “Way to go with Red! I’ll be honest, I thought he would have dumped you to the curb by now. But, it looks like you’ve managed to shoot way out of your league this time.” Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Yoshiro didn’t dignify her reflection with a response, instead pressing the button to call the elevator. Her lack of a reaction did not seem to deter her however. “I wonder how long it’ll last though. I mean, I know that we’d have a better chance if I were driving, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s got the hots for this Raven character.”

That caused Yoshiro to bristle, just as the doors for the elevator opened. Stepping into the metal box, she shot a final glare at her reflection, The other version of her continued to smile smugly as the doors closed between them.

---

As the elevator slowly made its way down to the ground floor, Yoshiro frowned as she felt unwanted thoughts swirling around in her head. However, she scowled as she forced herself to stop worrying about a whole heap of nothing.

She’s just trying to get under your skin, Yoshi. That’s all she’s ever been trying to do, especially when you’re looking forward to a good day.

Determined not to give the muted presence in the back of her mind the satisfaction of seeing her squirm, Yoshiro forced a smile onto her face as she strode out towards the kitchen. As she’d suspected, most of the team were already there and munching their way through their breakfast. Beaming at her friends, Yoshiro rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

“Hi guys, sorry I’m so late - didn’t think it’d take me that long to get ready.” Suddenly, the smell of waffles and maple syrup began to attack the girl’s senses. A rumbling in her stomach drew her attention to wear Cass was still making meals for the rest of the team. “Hey Cassandra, do you still have any waffles to go?”

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

---

---

Alexis listened to Wyatt and nodded along as he explained his reasons for not moving into the tower for good like many of the other members of the team had done already, which were two: one, that his ability to fly made getting to the tower a cinch, and two, that he liked staying with his parents and hanging out with other members of his species. She raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing otherwise. She found it odd to hear about other members of his race, but she supposed stranger things had happened in San Diego, so she simply accepted his reasons for staying home.

Afterwards, Wyatt asked about the training. She would've answered him herself, but instead opted to let Roy do it as she was approached by Carter, who seemingly wanted to say something about the picture she had shown him. She expected some sort of reaction, but instead, she got a very dumb remark from a Carter who thought he was being all smug. Unwilling to give him the slightest measure of satisfaction, she simply gave him a poker face and watched him walk away. Once he was sitting over in the living room, she raised her gauntlet to her face.

"Update payback record, subject 07, date 07 19 17." She spoke, before grabbing one of her waffles and tossing it in Carter's direction. It flew past him, but then, her telekinetic gauntlets kicked in, causing it to turn around and smack right into the blond boy's face, smearing it with chocolatey goodness.

Seemingly without thinking anything of it, she turned back to Wyatt and Roy as the latter finished explaining about the training. "Yeah, no need to worry about leaving, Dragon Boy. Naja asked me to set up something nifty in one of the empty buildings just so we wouldn't need to go anywhere."

Meanwhile, Kirisvala was content to sit on the table and much on her steak, while at the same time enthusiastically greeting the many Young Bloods that walked into the kitchen with an energetic wave and a kind smile. She always enjoyed seeing the faces of all of her any teammates during breakfast time, especially since she didn't get to mingle much with some of the more elusive ones.

When Mars arrived at the kitchen and their eyes met, the Hadrian beamed at him, always happy to see him, more so taking into account everything that had happened the previous day. She continued smiling as she watched him walk over and sit down next to her on the table, her tail eagerly swinging up and down. He seemed far less eager to talk to her than he had been yesterday, though, and while that was understandable considering they were surrounded by teammates who enjoyed teasing them, they hadn't exactly been alone that day either.

Instead, the boy quickly scooped up some of Cassandra's food into his plate. Kiris looked at this and then at the extra plate of meat that she had cooked for him, alternating her gaze between the two for a couple moments before her smile faded and she pouted. "It's okay, don't think anythin' of it..." She told herself repeatedly before stabbing through a fried sausage with her claw and devouring it, a dejected look on her face.

Soon after, another friendly face entered the kitchen, distracting her from her thoughts. Looking up, the alien girl smiled again, waving at the girl. "Yoshi!" She greeted with her usual cheer, before looking at the extra plate of meat once more. "Um, I made a bit too much food for myself, in case you want somethin' a little more fleshy." She offered, tapping the plate for emphasis.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Nicholas Finch/Neo-Sebastian's Gym, San Diego-July 18, 2017

The Gym was about what I would expect from it, a large ring in the center some training equipment spread around, pictures adoring the walls and a stairway leading up to a office. Frankly, I had never been in a Gym like this in my life. Even in school I was in the school gym under protest. I cannot really do physical activity. So, it was always the last place I would consider hanging out. On the opposite end, Alexis seemed to be at home almost immediately. She slid herself into the ring after putting her alcohol aside and declaring a challenge to Brianna. To which Brianna seemed more than willing to oblige. As for myself I was dressed in jeans with holes in them, a plain white t-shirt and shoes that had no laces. I paced around the ring at a slow pace as Sebastian finally revealed himself, taking up Alexis' challenge and declaring she will be down in three minutes. Alexis seemed more than content to accept the bet, as she moved over to the side of the square closest to Sebastian and leaned over the ropes.

"Well it would take a gambling man to join us. But unfortunately you are about to be one Andrew Jackson poorer." She then turned her attention to Brianna.

"And as for you, I think maybe Red may like a girl who can take a punch. So, I may let you get a hit in on me after all. Or..." Her mind then seemed to go somewhere else as she seemed to be thinking about what she just said.

"Maybe he likes softer women. Either way I am not the one falling here."

Alexis, seemingly content with her opening statement with a smirk plastered on her face backed away from the ropes and moved to the opposite side of the ring as Brianna before calling out to me.

"Nick, pick a song and play it over the speakers, make sure its a long one because we need to use it as a timer. We start when the music does." So, it seems that it was left to me to pick the fight music as I lit up a cigarette and moved over to the sound system armed with my phone to search for a song that Alexis and Brianna could punch each other in the face to. But as I did so I placed my own wager.

"$40 on Alexis for five minutes." I stated just loud enough to be heard in the ring.

"I may have misread you, your alright Nicky." I could hear Alexis call behind me. I turned around with a annoyed glare at the nickname where she promptly raised her fists up in a 'my bad' statement. Chuckling to herself at the small joke. Before returning her attention back to Brianna. That left me to continue my work of picking a song to essentially time the match.

My music tastes is a bit different from that of Alexis who is a fan of rock music. Both modern and classic. As for myself, I am partial to Hip Hop, to that end, I picked I'll Hurt You by Busta Rhymes and just like that the match began.

At first I took a drag from the cigarette and observed the match, after all, I do have $40 riding on it. I figured since this was a boxing match, Alexis being a boxer, she would be the safe bet. And not only that, in order to win, all she has to do is not lose. Pretty sure she knows that. On the other hand Brianna has to actually down Alexis.

Alexis started off as I expected, moving quickly and light on her feet. Dancing around Brianna and throwing fast and light jabs, checking her defenses. But it appeared as if Alexis was avoiding trapping herself in a corner. She was in good athletic shape despite her drinking and I was certain she could dance around for five minutes.

But it became pretty clear very early on that Brianna would not make it so easy. See, she is not slow herself and is just as capable of moving quickly as Alexis is. I am no expert on this sport, but looking inside the ring now Brianna could very well just chase after Alexis and back her in a corner. It's not impossible. You have two, physically active and agile women going head to head and really it was a toss up as to who could win the bet. I took another drag of the cigarette as I now knew that I could lose $40 but I still think Alexis can hold out. Again, she does not have to defeat Brianna to win this.

After some early opening jabs, some foot work and moving about. Alexis then left an opening for Brianna to exploit which if I had to guess was to bait her into a trap. Likely to sucker punch her if she falls for it. I looked at the time. It's been a minute. Really she just needs to last longer than three I suppose. Would be surprised if she makes the full five minutes myself.

With the fighters in the ring and Busta Rhymes in the surround sound I looked over at NightRaven, who was standing by herself at the moment. She was our newest member up until just two minutes ago when Sebastian announced his membership. But it's been a week and we still know next to nothing about her, and I have only had a chance to speak to her a handful of times. That being said, I guess it is not really an issue in itself. After all, I haven't told Alexis jack all on my history and she really doesn't care where any of us come from as long as we are all on the same team. It's a bottom line that I can respect. After all, everyone has secrets. That being said, everyone else here at least knows each others name. We do not even ave that on NightRaven. Still calling her by her alias. Kinda funny since she kinda forced Alexis to pick a new alias herself. Guess the red head wears the name Raven better than Alexis does. Well, suppose we are here to hang out right? May as well talk to her while I potentially lose money.

Sulking over to her I pulled a box of cigarettes and offered one from the half empty box. I know she will decline, but really do not know how to greet anyone any other way. It's just good manners.

"I think the betting has closed." I informed her as I watched Alexis take a pretty nasty hit, causing me to wince just a bit. Not out of any concern for her face, but for my wallet.

"That may be best for you though. No need to throw money away." I finally withdrew the offered cigarettes before continuing.

"I get the idea that you might be like me. Not really your scene here is it?" As I talked to her, my eyes turned back to the ring as I finally asked the forty dollar question.

"So, between me and you, who do you think is going to win this?" I asked lighting up a fresh cigarette.

Scott Green/Spectrum-Wonder Tower, San Diego-July 19th, 2017

WIP