Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Segral]

Lana Graystone/Madeline Davis

"Do we really need to take this path back?"

An alleyway behind a crowded bowling alley and bar is never the most desirable place. Especially when you're in the thick central areas of Downtown, with homeless dudes on stoops, other homeless dudes sleeping under their carts full of knockoff Padres and LA Stars merch, some with knockoff scalped tickets in hand. Said stoops were never the most sanitary place, considering it was prime deployment battlefield for platoons of dumpsters, recycling bins, and plastic trash bins. Flies? Check. Pungent odors? Check. And now, a daydrunk patron spewing vomit into an empty trash bin. Add narrow spaced walls for claustrophobia, a lot of neutral-colored stucco and brick, and obnoxiously hanging streetlights, and it wasn't the best place to be.

Of course, to Madeline Davis, a psionic Japanese half-cat-demon, this path was strangely appealing, but to Lana Graystone, firmly 100% human, she wanted nothing more than to get out of here. For some reason, Madeline believed that the alleyway behind her bar was perfectly safe, that none of her customers (or people for that matter) would do anything dangerous here. Oh, how great it would be for that to be the case, but the vomiter over there was indication otherwise.

"Whaddaya mean, 'Do we need to take this path' back'?" Madeline said indignantly, Texas drawl becoming thicker with every word. "Maybe yer jus' jealous of my great establishment, but th' streets aroun' my bar are safe an' sound, regardless of whatever man o' woman walks up into these parts!"

"Hon, there's literally a drunk guy puking his guts out harder than Nikki Sixx on a bad day, and two used condoms in the storm drain, maybe it's better to take a slightly cleaner and less crowded route. Some may refer to it as...a sidewalk."

"You fixin' tuh have a fight!" Madeline yelped, practically incensed by this point. "My bar is tuh safest place around these parts, no questionin' it, no way, no why, no how!"

"So...there's no reason why your bar is safe?"

"Ey...shut up, ya sneak thief! I'll be fixin' tuh teach you a lil' lesson!"

The argument continued as the two tromped through the alleyway, exchanging words that harshly differed from a squeaky Texas drawl to a slightly lower Vegas lilt. You'd think with how much arguing the two did, they would hate each other's guts, but a brief stint as roommates had ensured that the two of them were close friends forever, and arguing only seemed to strengthen that bond. Plus, it made them good combat partners, something that was always helpful whenever fighting muggers, petty thieves, or even outlandish things like...animal rings.

Suddenly, a loud, doggish barking and snuffling noise, along with light murmurs, rang out as a man stepped out of a swinging door. The building that the door opened up to looked innocuous enough, a two-story brick building with blinded doors and windows, a bored-looking bouncer on the small porch, and a quiet air. Probably one of those bars that opened up onto side streets and alleyways, a place for "locals". But what kind of bar allowed animals inside? Plus, both the bouncer and the man who walked out looked suspiciously at the two women, alarm in their eyes and words dying to be read on their lips. Something was weird about this, and not even Madeline could deny it.

"Maybe we should just keep going, it's probably nothing." Madeline whispered, visibly shaken by the aggressive barking and snorting she had heard. But Lana wasn't having any of it. "I'll be back, let me just check," she whispered back, her hand instinctively feeling the keyring in her pocket as she walked towards the bouncer, one of his grimy eyebrows raised as he removed the cigarette from the corner of his mouth.

"Hey, can I have in?" Lana asked, arms folded as she leaned up against a trash can. The bouncer laughed, a low grimy chuckle in a gritty old voice. "Sweetheart, it's a private event. You gotta membership?"

"No...but I have something else," she said flirtingly, internally cursing herself for even attempting this ludicrous harlotry. Sucking in her breath, she stepped closer, leaning in as she brushed the hair out of her eyes. However, the bouncer didn't even flinch, holding up his hand, a silver wedding ring on the fourth finger. But Lana did not give up, and managed to come up with a diversion. "Can I see the ring?" Lana asked with a smile, outstretching her hand, palm turned up. The bouncer looked confused but relented, sliding off his ring and placing it in Lana's palm.

Meanwhile, the man who had left the building noticed Madeline, and seemed to be regretting his decision to leave for a smoke break. His hand seemed to finger his belt, and a shiny silver object dangling from it. Madeline remained oblivious, staring at Lana and the bouncer as she bit her nails. The bouncer wouldn't object if he confronted her, and both knew it was better for business if all prying mouths were shut.

With a small swish, the man suddenly moved towards Madeline, a switchblade clamped in his hand. With a yelp, Madeline leapt back, tail erect, panic evident in her eyes. The man lunged forward, knife overhead with a small smile plastered to his face. With a screech, Madeline raised her hands to block her head, palms hot with adrenaline, sweat...and fire.

Suddenly, a hot blue ball of fire shot out of Madeline's hands, plunging into the man's stomach. With a scream, he leapt back, trench coat thoroughly on fire and burning his tender skin as he dropped to the ground, rolling like a pill bug to try to put the flames out. The bouncer looked shocked, staring over Lana's shoulder at the incident, only to receive a solid blow in his private area as Lana took advantage of his distraction. He folded over hard, but attempted to reach for a pistol at his waist, his whole body pale. But Lana didn't give him the chance, punching him hard in the face, a shot to the temple which knocked him clean out. A card slid out of his pant pocket, a dark card with silvery writing on it, a fancy cursive script. "Proof of Identication as a Member of the Night Circus Family". She didn't know what that meant, but maybe it would be helpful. Snatching up the card, she dropped the ring beside him, and turned to Madeline, still in shock at the writhing man on the pavement. Striding over, Lana kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out (much to Madeline's ear-splitting protest).

"Y-y-you just kicked him, Lana! Poor guy's in pain 'cause of what I did!"

"We don't have time to deal with that now." Lana said, summoning a pocket dimension to her side. It was her "gun" portal, the one that contained all sorts of small loaded firearms. She usually pilfered them off of criminals she took out on patrols, ones strapped to holsters on the hip or chest. Nobody ever bothered to ask where they went, they were just glad an arrest was made and a holding cell was loaded. Reaching in, she plucked out two handguns, throwing one to Madeline and taking one for herself as she closed the portal with a swirl of her hand.

"Now, are you in, or out?"

"I-I'd haff to say I'm in, but I wan' some compensation for this, Lana!"

"Trust me, breaking down crime is quite the moral compensation."

[Auropa]

Mike Mathews
Wonder Tower

After some more time in the med bay and some help from Jane, Mike finally had the bug’s toxins out of his system and was feelings relatively steady on his feet. After a quick thanks he left in search of something to clear his head. ‘Of all the stupidly irresponsible things to do in the middle of a damn fight. Who adopts a mutated murder pet?! Oh wait I already know who!’ He complained to himself.

Suffice to say his attempts to stay positive had been rapidly failing. Since getting one shotted, he’d been talked into some form vigilantism, ambushed, stabbed, poisoned, temporarily comatosed and lectured by himself to top it all off. After a failed search for the team’s new best member Harley and the dog therapy it would’ve provided, he ended up settling on an aimless walk around the Tower's grounds. That was until he heard a loud familiar voice shooting out from near the main entrance. Seeing nothing better to do and happy to take his mind of things, Mike made his way to its source spotting an unusual item parked outside as he went.

“Hey Carter I can hear you from halfway across the isl-“ cutting himself off mid-sentence was the image of Carter, his fellow unloved brother in arms, all touchy close with an admittedly impressive red-head. Normally, Mike might congratulate the guy and even be proud of him for finding someone. Though after his own recent less-than pleasant dating experience combined with the recent discovery that half the team had been forming or chasing relationship, it didn’t exactly help his already sour mood. ‘For crying out loud’ He thought to himself ‘I'm not really going to be the kind of guy that gets upset about this am I?’

“Ohh, uhm hi.” He said somewhat sheepishly caught between being surprised and disappointed at his own initial reaction. In the second’s delay though another stray thought crossed his mind
‘How the hell do introduce myself here?! Do I say I’m Mike or do I make up some random hero name. Wait… Oh shit! I just called him Carter! is that meant to be a secret?! No!no. Wait. Breathe. The tower’s meant to be secure, no way anyone would be let in unless they had access already or a YB trusted them enough to let them in... Which means these two must be pretty serious then…’

After a quick cough to clear his throat, Mike recomposed himself and tried again “Ah sorry about that. I’m Mike, I’m guessing you must be Carter’s girlfriend. Welcome to the Tower. I’d help introduce you to the others but they seem to be scattered around picking fights, adopting pet weapons or turning us into criminals.” After realizing what he just said though he let out a dry laugh and rubbed the back of neck “ahh, sorry I’m spoiling the date, it’s been long morning.”

[Zarkenis Ultima]

July 23rd

---

"I'll... see you around, then."

The girl's voice was like a soothing song for him, but as he walked away from the place where they met, his feet tracing the way back to a home where he felt unwelcome in a city where he was forced to hide half of his being, the words echoed in his head and slowly lost all their notes, leaving only their meaning behind. Would she really? There was so much that could go wrong. A declaration of war from the wolves, another plot by the Cabal, even the return of one of the villains they had fought in the past, like Inferno. As Icarus walked back home, the overwhelming weight of all the threats that loomed over his and Renata's heads alike fully settled upon his shoulders, this time making him feel not like there was no way out, but rather like the exit of this predicament would only lead to more perils in the end.

Suddenly, a bitter chuckle escaped his throat. Maybe I would have the guts to face these odds if I still felt like I have nothing to lose. He thought as he continued to walk. Indeed, it was only as of late that he had begun to genuinely feel fear, he feared for his life and Renata's and even Casimir's, but he did not have these thoughts before. Just a few weeks ago, he would've been all too eager to have another foe to overcome, another enemy to take out his rage on while in the pursuit of something nebulous that he thought to be justice.

But that was... too destructive. I've changed. I'm not like that anymore, and I don't want to be. The boy told himself. Of course, he still felt he had a mission, a purpose, that what he did was good even though he went farther than heroes like Stella were allowed to go, but anger was not the sole driving force behind his actions anymore, and it couldn't be, not if he really wanted to be above the people he fought. Not that I can't go back to the way I was before just like that.

With a sigh, Icarus stopped both thinking and walking, and instead took a moment to look around. Absorbed in his thoughts, he had neglected to keep an eye on his surroundings, but fortunately he hadn't veered off-course too much. He had long since left behind the abandoned industrial complex and was now in San Diego's old district, where his uncle's house was located, relatively close to the condemned district where housing was cheaper. Determining where he was and where he had to go next, the blond boy continued walking down the dark streets, returning to his thoughts.

I've got to be more optimistic. He assured himself. It feels like I keep jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, but maybe once this is all sorted out, things will start looking up for me? He mused as he turned a corner. I just have to be smart and bide my time. Renata promised me she would stay safe and has a lot of teammates to protect her, I just have to make sure to be safe as well. He concluded. Walking a few more paces, he turned to cut through a narrow alley, a shortcut he had used many times in the past. He just had to cross it and-

"Gotcha, kid." The thug said with a cocky grin as he watched Icarus fall to the ground with a bloody lip. Immersed in his thoughts, the boy didn't realize that there was a man hiding in the shadows and, bereft of his powers, he could not react in time when the man jumped out and hit him in the face. The thug had a crazy look on his face and seemed vaguely familiar, but Icarus didn't have the time to search the recesses of his memories to find out who he was; there were more pressing matters. Glancing to the side, he saw another strangely familiar man holding a baseball bat and standing at the edge of the alley, as if keeping watch. It was clear that he wasn't going to be able to weasel his way out of this very easily.

Dammit... why today, of all times?! The boy questioned, attempting to get up only to get kicked back down.

"Stay down there, you glowy bastard. Don't think I've forgotten your ugly face." The first thug growled, looking over his shoulder before walking up to Icarus and grabbing him by the collar. "Did you think acting like you're tough shit was going to get you anywhere? Think again, punk." He stated, as if he was getting revenge for some forgotten affront. Icarus could only stare at him with confusion and a little bit of fright for several moments, before realization suddenly dawned on him.

"Oh, fuck." He said before promptly receiving another punch to the face. You've got to be kidding me. It's been a fucking month!

"That all you've got to say? Not the last words I'd have picked, but you're clearly not a smart one." The thug snickered, before suddenly pulling Icarus up and throwing him against the wall. "Come on! Do your glowy bullshit again, you freak! I wanna see you try!" He shouted angrily, before running at him with the intent to slam him. However, Icarus was not helpless without his powers, and this time he managed to get out of the way, kicking the man in the shin and causing him quite a bit of pain. Having been in no small amount of brawls even before getting powers, he suspected he could still take the man on without them, but as he was outnumbered, attempting to do so was just reckless. With that in mind, the blond boy began backing off while he had time.

Only to trip on a discarded can of soda and fall on his ass. Laughing derisively, the thug walked up to him and kicked him in the stomach twice before dragging him up and slamming him against the wall, punching him relentlessly afterwards. Naturally, Icarus tried to block the attack, but he was already somewhat disoriented and the man's assault was ruthless. Still, after a few painful blows he managed to deflect his foe's fists and gave the man a vicious headbutt, sending him reeling back.

Shit... I've got to get away now, or else... The boy thought, but both his thoughts and his feet were frozen when he witnessed the man pull out a gun.

"Enough of this!" He shouted angrily, slowly raising the gun to point at the boy's chest while he watched in terror, incredulous that it wouldn't be Warwolf or a villain that would end his life, but a vulgar lowlife he had humiliated the day he got his powers.

Suddenly, the man keeping watch at the entrance to the alley let out a scream of pain, and the thug immediately turned around, only to see a group of three people with black masks and hoodies stomping his partner and beating him up with metal bats. As he turned to look at them, they saw him. Frightened, he fired off a round that would've hit one of them square in the chest, had another one not stepped in front and taken the bullet to his shoulder. The two unharmed hooded figures quickly dropped their weapons and carried the three out of sight.

"Come back here you fucking copycats! Keep playing your game and you'll all end up in a ditch!" The thug roared, moving to give chase, but after he had taken only three steps, a brick fell on his head, causing him to fall to the ground. Suddenly, another hooded figure dropped down from a nearby fire escape, sending the gun away from the man with his foot before kicking him a few times. He whistled and one of the others came back, the other having presumably run off to get his friend some medical attention.

Icarus witnessed all of this with growing shock, recalling all at once the night he had seen the three teens gunned down by Warwolf and the morning he had woken up in the streets after narrowly escaping from the PMC, when he had seen the same group of hooded people.

Ironic that they just saved me, even though I couldn't save them...

The man who dropped down from the fire escape glanced in the boy's direction, noticing he was still there. "We'll take it from here kid. Don't say anything of what you saw here. Just get up and go home." He ordered, his tone far from friendly. At a loss for words, the boy could only nod at the man, though he didn't comply at first, his arms too slow to respond to his mental commands. At this, the man frowned. "Go. Home."

Icarus finally managed to move, and quickly stood up before stumbling in the opposite direction. The adrenaline in his body quickly began to fade, and the pain from the injuries sustained started growing in intensity, but the somber thoughts that were beginning to form in his head distracted him from the physical pain.

I'm going to have to look into this, huh... He mused as he stopped in his tracks for a moment to look at the sky. While he would ordinarily not mind the presence of other vigilantes in the city, as he knew that the honest people in it needed all the help they could use, he couldn't just let them run around unchecked, especially when he had a hand in bringing them about, even if only indirectly. Given what happened with Warwolf a week ago, they were clearly in danger, nevermind how well organized they seemed to be, and if they went as far as to kill criminals... well, that would simply pit him against them, another undesirable consequence. I'm not going to pick any more fights with Warwolf, but I guess I won't get to lie as low as I'd have wanted.

The boy's attention suddenly fixated on a particularly bright star, and he stared at it intently for several seconds, his thoughts suppressed as his mind entered a state of pure contemplation. After a while, he simply smiled and shook his head before continuing on his way.

Keep watch over me, asteri mou.

---

Elsewhere...

At one moment, she was standing among wolves right in the belly of the beast, mocking both Warwolf and the Young Bloods with her parting words, her escape cementing the Cabal's triumph over those who would try to stop them. The next, she was in the middle of their lonesome hideout, the abandoned house in the old district, protected by countless magical wards. With the danger now far away and their goals accomplished, the facade of aloof superiority broke and Ghost hastily took off her skull-faced helmet, carelessly tossing it aside before turning to the person she had brought alongside her, a tall, pale brunet with a vampire mask. Parts of his skin were blackened from the touch of artificially-recreated sunlight, and a metallic spear was impaling him through the chest, inhibiting his power.

They really have no qualms about doing this to their enemies, huh... The armored villainess thought before hastily pulling the spear from Beast's body with the aid of her power armor's physical enhancement. The vampire grunted and whimpered in pain, but Astrid did not relent; she knew that the trauma from removing the weapon quickly was the better course of action, as Beast's body would begin healing sooner. It wasn't long until the shaft was fully removed, and once it was Ghost tossed the stained-black weapon to the side. Beast fell on his back, gasping for air and grasping at the oozing hole in his chest, where black blood was being drained back into his body and strands of flesh were seen fixing the damage done.

Kneeling next to him, Ghost reached down to help him sit up and then took off his mask, tenderly placing a hand on his face. "Mon cherí, how do you feel?" She asked, her concern for him more than evident, though she clearly did not fear he was in mortal danger.

"I feel... like some Joe Bloggs ran me over with a lorry." Lucas replied with a weak chuckle, reaching up to grasp Astrid's hand with his own. "I'll... I'll be fine. Those bastards really took me by surprise, but... now that we know what they have up their sleeve, we can plan for it. It won't happen again." He said before grinning. "Besides, it's not any fun if the opponent never gains an upper hand, is it?"

Astrid's irritated glare was intense enough to wipe the grin off of his face, however, and a tense silence quickly set in. But before he could awkwardly mutter an apology, the black-haired girl suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and leaned forward, pulling him into a passionate kiss driven both by the relief of seeing her loved one safe and the adrenaline still coursing through her system. Though surprised, Lucas immediately responded in kind, his hands coming to rest on her hips and slowly inching further down.

As the villainous young couple shared an amorous moment, a flash of light flooded the living room of the abandoned house, and as it faded away, it left behind the familiar form of a masked sorcerer. Taken aback by the interruption, the two watched with flushed faces as their ringleader looked around the room, quickly spotting the wealth of Wonder Serum located right in the middle of the room. Suddenly, the white-haired boy let out an uncharacteristically boisterous laugh as he raised his arms, which were still steaming as a result of his abuse of the arcane.

"I did it!" He said. While it was clear in his mind that he was doing this for a higher purpose, there was still a clear sensation of fulfillment at having managed to best both Warwolf and the Young Bloods and succeeded in stealing his prize. His eyes soon fell upon his fellow schemers, and he smiled at them beneath his mask. "We-we did it!" He stuttered, all of his remaining energy suddenly draining away as his movements became slower and heavier. "We... we did..." Was the last he said before falling to the ground, the exhaustion of the past few days finally catching up to him and forcefully putting him to sleep.

"Eloquent as ever, mon ami." Astrid mumbled with an amused smile on her face as she watched Adrian's collapsed form.

"Do you think we should put him on the co-mmh." Lucas began, only to be cut off as his girlfriend leaned in to kiss him once again, picking things up where they left off. While he certainly didn't mind the affection, the young vampire decided to pull away slightly before inching closer, slipping a hand under Astrid's legs and picking her up in a bridal carry, armor and all. "We should take this somewhere more appropriate than the living room." He said as he began heading towards the nearby stairs, at the same time using his returning telekinetic powers to pick Hex off the ground and drop him on the sofa.

Caught between her boyfriend's strong arms, Astrid grinned at him. "You really know how to celebrate, don't you, mon petite chauve-souris?"

[Absolon-7]

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!

Casimir Herman July 24th
The initial reaction was a welcome one from Ash but her sudden sutting off her own words in dismay was to be expected. Who would be happy to know that the person who shot at them the night before lived in the same place as you anyway? This partially sour tidbit of information must be sinking in within Ash's thoughts as her previous enthusiasm slipped way as she sunk deeper into her thoughts. Casimir placed his hands inside his pockets and turned his gaze to the side as the seconds for a response from Ash kept ticking. Ash finally let out a promise to be friendly and not attack but it was evident she wasn't putting her heart in it.

Casimir opened his mouth, a slight gap in his lips forming, as if to speak but his eyes met her and he clenched his jaw to consider what to say next. His eyes zipped from her face to the floor before meeting hers once again. Although, hearing Ash implying that Renata was his friend amused him taking into account how tense things had been between the two since yesterday.

"Now hold on. I didn't say be friendly with her. Just don't be hostile. It's clear both of you aren't exactly on the best terms so forcing you two to be buddy-buddy would be unfair. What would be best is avoidance of her," said Casimir in a self-asserting manner, "Although, if you think apologizing is best then I'm not stopping you. Just be careful and try to not be alone with her."

After waiting for her response, Casimir directed her to follow him on the way to Naja's office but it occurred to Casimir that he hadn't exactly explained who Naja was to Ash. He spun around to face her almost bumping into her but backing away the right moment.

"So for the interview before you go in I have to tell you a few things," said Casimir turning to face the moth girl, "Naja's basically the supervisor for the team so she just watches over us, pays for our food, and gives us missions to do hero stuff. Just be honest with her and you'll be fine. Now this shouldn't be too hard for the hero Ashen Moth should it?" Said Casimir with a cocky smile hoping Ash would take it in stride.

[North America Inc]

The situation inside the compound varied greatly between the locations and individuals. As Renata, Viviana, Elle, and Harley approached the guano covered door of 'Stanford and Son', emotions inside were already boiling over. Beyond the poorly placed company logo at the entrance, more than a few civilians were already sitting and waiting for their turn to be called. Despite its shady underbelly, the company was notorious for its deals with repossession firms, stringent neighborhood businesses, and the former San Diego Police Department; everyone was here for a different reason, whether they drove under the influence or they failed to see they didn't put enough coins in. Seven adults and two children sat in the lobby, some watched videos over their phone or read the dated magazine that the place had to offer. The paperwork was arduous, a pain from Document 1A to Waiver 37B.

However the true spectacle of the day was a customer repeatedly shouting more than a few obscenities at the white collar staff. The poor receptionist for her part tried her best to calm him down, but nothing seemed to matter. Parents huddled their kids close, playing bright and flashy animations to distract them from the man who was throwing a temper tantrum. Even the guys upstairs, hardened criminals, who just gathered to have some fun before their deal were contemplating whether they should get involved. The staff downstairs were instructed to not call the police, but Ignacio couldn't help but feel bad. Finishing his McSundae with a deliberate growl as a few other guys in the corner were just laughing at their misfortune "Jesus Christ." he muttered. They quickly stopped.

“What do you mean I can't get my car back?” The balding middle-aged man shouted as he banged against the transparent plastic between him and the tepid receptionist. His neck bulging and his face flushed red, hiding his true despair behind the façade of wrath. Pacing back and forth in the lounge, he reiterated, “So tell me again, why I can’t get my car back?”

The young receptionist cleared her throat and stared at the cluttered paperwork on her table. Not that she was studying it, mind you, she just needed a reason not to stare at him, “Well sir, Mr. Daniels, if you just give me a moment to clarify...”

“Oh go ahead, go ahead! I’m waiting.” He shouted which startled everyone else. He rustled through his pocket to grab his wallet, having repeatedly grabbed it and put back in the span of a few minutes.

“Well sir. You don’t have enough to pay for the $250 hundred fee in your account. If you need assistance, I can give you a few bond references,,,” Her voice nearly squealed as he banged his fist against the adjacent wall.

“And I told you…”His voice becomes somber and tired as he looks around at the identical chairs and fake plants to the left and right of him, “I’m an Uber Driver. I need that car to pay your fuccc…to pay your fine in the first place.” His voice became as quiet as a whisper and he soon started repeating, “I didn’t see the sign, I didn’t see the sign.”

---

Outside, two 'legal' guards sat at their checkpoint with boredom all over their faces. With matching black hats and windbreakers that had 'SECURITY' plastered in giant yellow blocks, they span around their office chairs and made small talk. The youngest one, skinnier than a stick, leaned back and took a quick swig of his bottle. He wondered if he should eat his sandwich now or later; he still had three hours left on his shift, and he forgot to pack the chips from his parent's pantry again. He shook his head and looked over at his older colleague; they didn't have much common ground in terms of interest but anything to pass the time was great.

“Who do you think would win of the fight…” the guard looked away from his phone and sighed at the disturbance, “Original Liberty, Captain Steel, and Crystal Comrade, all blood-lusted, or the entire Andean Condors line up.”

Pulling his hat off to blow some air on his head, “I don’t even know anyone on the Condor roster, besides like Sergio. I don’t really care enough to really look up the supers, as you always say, on my spare time.” He paused before adding, “I got more important things to worry about.”

Not noticing the insult, the guy looked down at his feet, “Oh...that’s fair... Oh hey, how’s your mom doing? I remember you said that she had to do some tests for her lungs. Something about lung cancer?”

“Right, right, yea it was just bronchitis. Not bad for a pack a day smoker.” Looking up at the various security cameras around and inside the compound, he did quick visual checks by flipping quickly through them. Pulling up camera five as three teenagers and a dog stopped near the main office, “Funny enough I got her on Juul because of the diagnosis. I guess its not really funny, but…you know what I mean.”

“Yea, I get what you mean.” Turning his head over to the main gate, he noticed two other girls approaching.

---

Vargas headed over to the mechanic shop, the shop bustling with various drivers, mechanics, and brothers all doing their own thing. Two cars hang in the main center, one of them untouched, while another is essentially a carcass. The piercing sound of a torch cutting through the metal reverberates through the room, Vargas instinctively covered his ears. Head Mechanic Sal with his large beer belly and oil covered face struggled to stand and greet him, but eventually did; grabbing a hand towel to wipe himself, “Hey Vargas.”

“Hey Sal.” He looks over at the man thirty man his senior, before looking over at the car frame in front of him. “Is this the Camry that came in on the 21st?”

Still wiping his head he nods before replying, “Yes it is. The transmission was new so we made sure to save it. The engine though. You would have been lucky to get another 25,000 miles off of that. We just decided to scrap it at that point. Jeff is going to bring his pickup tomorrow, he wants the upholstery. No idea why though.”

Vargas shakes his head in agreement before looking over at the relatively unscathed car, “When do you think you’ll be able to finish that? The 27th?”

“26th hopefully. I know Uli was telling me that you already a buyer for most of it but…” Sal is cutoff by the sound of a dog barking happily as it and a heavily tattooed man entering the shop.

“Canela!” Vargas shouted happily as he gets on one knee and a cinnamon colored Pitbull tackled and licked every square inch of his face. Petting her head and white fur spots, he looked up and asked, “Victor. You find any more homeless for her to play with?”

Squatters have always been an issue for the towing company; modern problems require modern solutions, so dogs were brought in to deal with them. “Nah not this week. She’s found like a squirrel but that’s it.” As if on schedule, another person ran and interrupted the reunion. The younger security guard was panting and pointing at the front gate, unable to spit his words out quite right.

"Supers at...supers at the front gate. They want in. Stolen vehicle."

---

Shi leaned against the Chain linked fence and watched the two guards talk to themselves from the corner of her eyes. Having a slightly better look at the insides of the compound now, she could visibly see the parked vehicle from fifth street. Not that it really mattered, CASSANDRA's database recorded the vehicle entering in the first place; but still it was nice to bring up. Brushing her left hanging lock to the side as she activated her ear piece, "Viviana. Renata..." she hadn't bother to learn the name of the edge-lord yet, "I can still see the Civic from here."

Leaning her head back against the fence, she saw an gangster walk a brown pit-bull around the main mechanic space. A faux-Glock 17 was not so subtly holstered between his pants. His full-body tattoos instantly marked him as a member of the 18th Street gang; whether this group was affiliated or he was just a former member she couldn't tell. But what this did mean was that she was about to have some a lot of fun, her mischievous smirk lit up. Lighting up the ends of her fingers she informed the group, "This little front of there's might be associated with the 18th Street Gang. I don't want to spoil the surprise but they aren't exactly known for their non-violent resistance. They are definitely armed, so far I've only seen pistols and a dog."

Turning her head to look over at the back side of the administrative office, "Just like I thought, there's a back entrance you can use to get inside the compound. But let's keep this peaceful," not that she herself planned too, "Viviana just show the license plate and police scanner recording to them first." Those were courtesy of Cass. "They're might be a few civilians inside you might to deal with. And Renata..." she thought about adding a snarky comment but shrugged it off, "Take the lead once you get outside. There's a sixty to seventy meter distance between the office and the main mechanic shop."

Shi looked at CASSANDRA and shook her head, "Follow my lead."

[Turmenista]

Johnny Swift, the Speed Demon

"We'll only be gone for a few days, Johnny. You're an adult—don't do anything stupid tonight, Johnny. God didn't give you super speed for nothing, kiddo." Johnny's father made for the door, keys jingling to his side as he waved goodbye to his son, who was currently slouched down on the couch watching the news. Then came his mother, who, surprisingly, wasn't wearing her scrubs from her job back at Delta Pharma that she basically wore all day. Johnny, busy watching the president and his disgusting hair strike down remarks about "affairs with Russia" and his mishegoss regarding the incident in Fresno (calling it a huge tragedy), was too zoned out to realize that his mom had come up to him to give him a quick (and cringy) kiss on the forehead. "Don't do anything stupid. I love you." She smiled.

"Okay, doc." Johnny scoffed, rubbing the place where he was kissed on the forehead. Gross. "I love you too."

The humidity outside had made moisture gather on the windows outside, fogging them up, but the couch he was sprawled out on gave a calming, cozy feel to the situation, almost enough to make him fall asleep right there. However, as if it were specifically timed to disturb this placid moment, his phone vibrated in front of him, gaining his attention. Groaning, Johnny slid up from his position and leaned forwards to the coffee table, taking up his phone to read who had mentioned him or what fantasy NASL update it w—

Oh. A text.

"Fancy seeing you around here." Johnny would've expected the only person that would be contacting him at his hour would be Floyd, or that the notification would just be an update from fantasy NASL or some other important update, or his parents, in extreme circumstances. What he wasn't expecting was for the text to be from Clara of all people. The same Clara that had effectively cold-shouldered him after his confrontation with the Weirdo Clique and her unexpected arrival at Brock's party. Why would she be texting him? Normally it was just "hi" or "hey" or just a random meme or some pictures he was better off not opening in public, but when he opened it, this time around, it was a whole essay.

[C:] Hey.
listen.
im sorry for what happened that day with keith and everything, hes normally a really forgiving person but you kinda crossed the line, but so did he.
luckily everyones ok and nobody got hurt so thats good

[J:] All that shit is in the past but everyone was fuckin goin nuts so i admit it's kind of my fault hahhaha

[C:] No, it's mine.
i shouldn't have been so closed off with my chaos magic stuff, but its really serious and time consuming stuff johnny
I'll try to be more transparent about it next time
im sorry
meanwhile please don't try anything stupid around them if you see them again
i cant control what gabriel does and you know he's not as forgiving as keith.

[J:] If that scumbag wants some, all he needs is to ask me
anyways
Apology accepted friendo what else is up

[C:] I wanted to make it up to you.
we can go to that diner in town you always like, maybe see a movie later, or chill.

[J:] Well hey if its movies and chill you want say no more i can get to your house in one minute
30 seconds if ure parents aren’t home


[C:] just meet me at that diner spot dude.

[J:] Offers still up in the air (;
ok ill be there in like 2 minutes

[C:] see you then.

"Nice." Johnny pocketed his phone, grabbing the house keys and his jacket as he made for the door, breaking into a jog that turned into a full on sprint away from his house. An inviting text like this meant he had a great night in store for him.

---

Clara Mason and Johnny Swift
Hero Burger Diner
The Jukebox Has a Pretty Groovy Tune

keith_w - Today at 9:46 PM
I know she said she was gonna be leaving later but honestly where the fuck is she?
Anyone know a spell to find lost things
@clara8 wyd
I need help for the standardized test next week

ITSGABE - Today at 9:46 PM
how do you make your runic art pics @ThelemaG

ThelemaG - Today at 2:52 PM
drew them

ITSGABE - Today at 9:46 PM
NICE. very detailed. very in depth. i have learned much from these two words. thank you, grandmaster thelma graves. very cool! ^_^

ThelemaG - Today at 9:46 PM
pay me 20 and i'll teach u how bitch

ITSGABE - Today at 9:46 PM
if i pay you this 20 you agree to do more than just teach me how to draw if you know what i mean

keith_w - Today at 9:46 PM
Gabe, I'll rip off your arms and beat you to death with them
Anyone know what clara is doing

ITSGABE - Today at 9:47 PM
@clara8
@clara8
@clara8
@clara8
@clara8
@clara8 wake up
@clara8 keith is gonna beat my pretty ass if you dont tell us where you are please reply post haste

ThelemaG - Today at 9:47 PM
give me $20 if they’re hatefucking @ITSGABE

ITSGABE - Today at 9:47 PM
my magic is good today
you're on

clara8 - Today at 9:47 PM
wtf Can u guys stop????
im with johnny
we’re fucking
eating at the diner
Failed to send message. Hold to retry.

ITSGABE - Today at 9:47
is my chaos magic capable of altering the future?

ThelemaG - Today at 9:47 PM
no u're just right about johnny and clara fucking
your magic still sucks

keith_w - Today at 9:47 PM
@clara8
WTFFFF
I KNOW WE ALL MESSED UP THAT NIGHT BUT WHY ARE YOU HATEFUCKING THE DUDE WHO LITERALLY BROKE INTO MY HOUSE
WTFFFFFFFFF
DO I NEED TO KICK HIS ASS AGAIN
IM GONNA HAVE A FUCKING ANEURYSM

clara8 - Today at 9:47 PM
WE'RE FUCKING AT THE DINER NEAR THOMSEN HIGH
EATING FOOD
FUCKING STOP

ITSGABE - Today at 9:48 PM
too late.

ThelemaG - Today at 9:48 PM
wheres my 20 gabriel?

“Cunts.” Clara sighed with a hint of disgust in her voice, setting her phone down as Johnny lowered his aviators down from his eyes slowly, remaining in his leaned back and relaxed position in their booth. Normally, he'd push up his sunglasses when this were to happen, but with the moment, he didn't really want them off. "Huh?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing." Clara awkwardly murmured, picking at her food despite having finished a good portion of it. Meanwhile, Johnny had quite literally sped-ate his food and finished it by now, not just because he needed to eat for his powers to work correctly, but also because he simply was just too damn hungry. He leaned back further in his booth, taking up as much room as he pleased. "It's just... the other guys in the group, they... kinda took something I said out of context. You know what I'm talking about?"

"Not really." Johnny took a long sip from the cup of some generic cola in front of him. "Enlighten me, if you will."

"Like, when you're saying something on a group chat, and someone happens to, like, send something right before your message that makes it look like you're replying to something weird... like, if Gabriel sent a really cursed image and I said, like, "Nice work" or something about something else..." Her voice then trailed off. "Or, like if you're trying to tell them that you're at the diner, and a certain word is cut off because your phone's service is bad.."

"Ouch." Johnny nodded his head, apparently understanding what she was getting at. He got himself out of his slouched pose, leaning forwards slightly to set down his cup. "I mean.. if that happened to me, I wouldn't be angry. In fact, I think it'd be funny as fu—"

Johnny stopped himself as he saw Clara glowering at him, her smoky gray, almost black eyes looking straight into his. He laughed awkwardly, looking away for a moment in embarrassment. "Heh heh. Sorry."

"It's not your fault or mine. Blame shitty reception." Clara huffed, assuming an obviously faked smile as she leaned her chin on her palm, resting her elbow on the table to look at her friend. Johnny saw right through this, folding his arms across his chest. "Okay, I give up, Clara. I'm no mind reader. What's the bad face for? Something on your mind?"

The smile on her face disappeared almost immediately. "Look, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry about what happened that night again—and you should apologize to Floyd too, if you haven't already."

"Look, there's no worries." Johnny smirked. "Besides, I already did, and he took it with a 'piss off, you bloody wanker' at first," Johnny used his "Floyd Voice"—a stereotypical British accent—as he dictated what Floyd had said, before returning to his regular voice. "But then, he was like 'meh, I don't really like you, but I also don't hate you, so I guess you're alright.' So, we're cool. I want to go to the mall with him sometime to buy some jackets. I think he's into that. Just gotta figure out when and hope I don't forget about it until like November or some shit."

Clara only responded with a chuckle, to which Johnny leaned forwards, intentionally bumping his leg into hers. "What? Floyd's a cool dude. What else did you want me to do to him, kiss his feet and call him a god?"

"Well, he did carry you through the fight with Brock—"

"Did NOT!" Johnny quickly retorted, causing a few of the others in the diner, including a very disheveled Warwolf operative sitting at the bar and a man rambling on about some astrophysics nonsense regarding "parallel worlds", to look at him briefly before returning to what they were doing before. In a much quieter tone, he cleared his voice. "Did not. Floyd provided support to my ass-whooping to Brock, thank you very much. What did you do that night, anyways? Aside from turning our car into some birds."

"Sobered you up after you ate some candy you weren't supposed to eat." Clara smugly grinned, brushing her hair away from her face as she checked on her phone, as if to inaudibly tell Johnny that it was time to go. He grumbled. "Touche." Figuring it was time to leave as well, the speedster reached into his wallet to pull out some spare cash and pay for their meal, adding a few extra as tip before he and Clara left their booth, exiting the diner after the former waved goodbye to the staff. The door shut behind them, leaving them out on the front steps of the diner's entrance, right smack in the middle of the city's Downtown district, where Thomsen High and other buildings were located not too far away.

"Alright.. what next?" Johnny placed his hands into his pocket, looking around the area as Clara's face was buried into her phone. "We going home or..."

His voice trailed off as she lowered her phone. "I was looking for a store, right there, Johnny." She extended a finger to the building in question, a small convenience store a block away that was practically blended into the sea of lights and neon that made up the area. Were it not for the flickering neon "OPEN" sign that was hung right outside, they probably would've glossed right over it. It was the aptly-named SuperMarket, a small retail chain which fit with the theme of superhero-themed establishments that were ubiquitous in the area, which Johnny also knew as the gas station which he got that spicy energy drink from.

With no other choice but to follow his friend in, Johnny crossed the street behind Clara and entered the store. placing his hands in his pocket as he aimlessly looked among the shelves and items on display. He was tugged along by Clara's hand towards one of the aisles, a tap returning him to attention. "Yeah?"

"Just grabbing a few things for a you-know-what." Clara devilishly grinned, expecting Johnny to do the same, who simply looked down at her, her reflection mirrored by his aviators. "Babe, I really don't know what you're getting at. You're just pointing at some random cake ingredients or whatever those are... what even are you planning with those?"

She paused, looking at them with puzzled eyes. "You know... I don't know." Clara sighed, turning away from him. "If we're going to a movie or something, I'd buy some snacks. This is just for later."

"Hmm. Alright. I'll go look around." Johnny placed his hands into his pocket and moved into the other aisle, but his mind was taken off of "snack mode" and into "Why am I getting another text?!" mode when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he inspected the notification, rolling his eyes at the notification as he read it aloud quietly. "Huh. Experts expect LA stars to win yet again. The usual! As if they haven't won for the past 3 years and shit."

_____________________________________

"I'm sorry, but did I bump into you again?" Clara, now annoyed, set down the item she was reaching for to turn around to the guy who had purposely bumped into her for the second time. While keeping a close watch on her purse (he was going to lose a limb if he tried to run with it), she looked up at him, scowling at the man. Just by his physique alone, Clara knew the prospects of this sort of interaction weren't looking good for her to begin with. The man, introducing himself as "George" before apologizing, was tall, with a substantial gut that his clothing could barely contain. His strong, muscular arms were padded with a deceptive layer of fat, his hands around a decorative, shiny belt buckle around his waist. He was young, but all the fat on him seemed to make him look much older and larger than he actually was.

Then, it quickly became evident to Clara that something was going on: others dressed in the same biker-like attire were posted around the store, eyeing others that seemed to be flaunting expensive apparel, such as herself and, presumably, Johnny. She immediately moved from the offensive to defense as another gang member "idled" by the end of the aisle, obviously here to trap her in. Typical. They were about to be mugged.

As if to distract them and make for an exit, she accidentally dropped what she was about to put back on the shelf, cringing as George grunted to crouch down and pick it up, just as she did, managing to touch her hand. "Here, lemme help you with th—"

Just then, Clara slapped him on the hand as if to move him away. "Please don't touch me."

Then she saw a glint of metal as George revealed a knife, the goon behind her doing the same, albeit discreetly, with a box cutter. "Aw, now, see?" George jabbed an invasive thumb on Clara as his partner began approaching from behind. Loud talking could be heard towards the front of the store, presumably from a fight about to go down, so she began to worry about Johnny's safety. Meanwhile, her thoughts were taken away from another jab, causing her to reel back into the shelf, keeping her purse close. "If you've forgotten, this isn't the nice part of town anymore, honey. This is Downtown, not the Residential district. We rule down in this part of town, and we say rich motherfuckers like you aren't good down here."

"Okay, whatever. You're jealous I have a nice purse, big deal." Clara rolled her eyes, opening her palm discreetly. Can I leave now?"

"Not so fast. I'm not just gonna let some rich tramp run the show here, you gotta pay the toll if you want to use our services here."

She sighed loudly. Are you fucking kidding me? And I thought crime here wasn't this bad. If Johnny were here, a fight would've started now.

"Now, we gonna have a problem with this, or what?" George inched the blade closer, his fingers tapping against Clara's purse. "'Cause I can make this a problem real quick, honey."

An idea quickly formed in Clara's head—a nasty, awful, no-good idea that was just perfect given the circumstances. She smiled, shaping her hand into what looked like a gang sign at first as she spoke in an almost out-of-character tone to George. "All depends on what you mean by problem. Ignesco."

"Igne-what?"

She opened her palm, a burgundy light appearing in the fireball in her hand as the spell activated. Flaming chains of burgundy wrapped around George's abdomen as he was abruptly thrown to the side, while a violet blast of energy soared down the aisle, charring parts of the floor, along with George's buddy that had begun to run for her.

_____________________________________

Johnny placed the pack of cigarettes down onto the counter, along with his ID, the appropriate cash, some candy, and another packaged certain something "something else" he was better off not saying out loud. The cashier, a middle-aged Persian man named Emad from the name tag he wore, seemed to understand wholly why he didn't want it to be named out loud. "Date?"

"Nah, dude. Well, actually, kinda. We're going to see a movie."

"Then I would recommend End of Asgard. Very good movie, very good director." Emad nodded, scanning his items. "Coupon?"

"Nope. But, I kinda do wanna see this other movie. Apparently it's good. Something like Venture of—"

"Hey string bean and Mohammed, can we get a move on?" What appeared to be a biker behind Johnny urged him on, causing Emad to raise an eyebrow. "But I'm not even Arab-"

"Hold on a sec." Johnny turned away from the man, placing his hands into his pocket as he looked up at the biker, as if to size him up. He was a stocky, yet still large guy, imposing in his size but not so much in his wit and... width. Johnny coughed as he looked at him crossly. "Hey, buddy, I think you've got the wrong shop here—the racist biker bar is, uh, a few blocks down."

"Fuck you."

"Yeah, fuck you too, you tortoise-looking motherfucker. Are we going to have a problem here or what?"

Johnny was grabbed by his collar, the man's fist reeling back. "Yeah, we're g—"

Had it not been for the sudden blast of energy at the other side of the convenience store, Johnny likely would've been clobbered in his face now. He retaliated with a fast uppercut then a hook to his face, pushing the large man off of him as he sped towards the disturbance in the back. At the other end of the aisle, one of the bikers had pushed himself from the ground after being tossed by Clara's throw, and was now charging them like a bull on a rampage. Shouting out the name of a familiar spell, "Quiescat!", Clara's barrier prevented the man from moving further, while Johnny nonchalantly zipped around to the side of the man, pushing one of the aisles down onto his back. "Clara, we're out of here."

"I'm awa—wait a second, what the hell are you doing, Johnny?!" Clara squinted her eyes, watching Johnny stuff his jacket with snacks while also making for the exit with six-pack of beer in tow. "What? I'm rewarding ourselves for our selfless services, that's all! This guy's chill!"

Hesitating on whether or not to join Johnny, Clara suddenly said "Fuck it!" out aloud and grabbed the nearest things she could: another six-pack, along with a bag of some chips—sour cream and onion to be exact, her favorite. She bolted for the exit, hopping over the body of the large guy Johnny had apparently apprehended along with some extra debris scattered along the floor, as Johnny would've done to a hurdle at school, laughing all the while.

_____________________________________

At this point, Emad had since come back from taking cover behind his counter, a large black object in his arms. Shouting something at the trio that had now tried to rob his store in his native Farsi, he pressed the silent alarm underneath the table, surprised to see the blinking blue lights of a Warwolf vehicle approaching so quickly, but was nonetheless still ticked off. Furious, he lifted up the shotgun, pointing it at the large man that slowly stood up at the other end of the counter. "Don't move! I am warning you—I can and will use this, bastard! Sit down and shut up!"

"You aren't even going for the two guys that ran for the—"

He racked the shotgun. "I SAID SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP. BASTARD!"

---

Later....

"Fucking hell, that went south quickly!" Clara huffed as she jogged to catch up to Johnny, who too was catching his breath as he rested by the edge of a very familiar looking building. Panting, he set what he was holding down and held his hands on top of his head, trying to control his breathing. Clara continued, barely keeping in her laughter. "Damn. That was a thrill, wasn't it? Nevermind that I almost got clocked by that dude but.." Her voice trailed off once more. "Johnny..? Ah, shit."

The speedster was pointing directly at the entrance sign of the building in the background: "THOMSEN HIGH SCHOOL" Excited, the speedster clapped his hands. "You know what this means, right?"

Clara rolled her eyes. "Sneaking into schoo—"

"Sneaking into school. Bingo!" Johnny finished what she was going so say, urging her along the fence that cordoned off the street entrance of the school from the rest of the campus. On the other side of the school and surrounded by a large wooded area (serving as part of a cross country track) was the football field, the only thing separating them from entering there being a fence in the wooded area that was just a hop and a skip away from them. They both easily scaled the fence and bounded across the field towards a large building in the background that was detached from the rest of the actual academic buildings. On the side of the building that they faced, the name became legible: "F. BLASKO NATATORIUM"

Once he pressed himself up against the wall and set their belongings down, Johnny grinned wildly. "Check it out. I've snuck in here all the time with my friends—the pool's usually unlocked, and its kinda funny to do it while everyone's asleep, y'know."

"We won't get caught, will we?" Clara didn't seem to fazed by Johnny's proposal, trying the door herself. Much to her surprise, the handle went down all the way, and the door—once being pushed in—opened to the pool. Mouth agape, she slowly entered in, careful not to step on anything as to trip any alarm or cause anyone currently on guard inside to wake up. Sure enough, the pool was just sitting there, as if it were begging to be used by them or someone else in the natatorium. With as much enthusiasm and energy as a child at Disneyland, Johnny was practically halfway done ripping his clothes off and about to jump in when Clara shouted something in her language and suspended him in mid air, causing him to flail around as if he were falling, letting out a rather effeminate scream as he did so. "Clara! Not funny!"

"Shhhh!" She urged him to lower his voice, hearing the jingling of keys towards one of the doors that led to the rest of the campus as she set Johnny down beside her. Looking at each other to register what was going on, they didn't move until the door slowly swung open, a light being shone in as a drowsy security guard mumbled something under his breath, stepping into the building. As if they both knew what this was, Johnny simultaneously began forcing his clothes on and grabbed his things while Clara pushed the door open, letting the speedster out before promptly shutting the door, grabbing the extra six pack that Johnny had left behind with him as they ran up the hill.

All the while, Clara looked behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed, while simultaneously trying not to soil herself from her and Johnny's laughter.

---

Even later...

Johnny took a swig from his beer, wading over to the end of his pool where Clara sat, resting his upper body against the side of the pool. Rather than get into the pool all the way, her feet swung freely in the water, which she occasionally used to send a splash the speedster's way. "So, keep telling me about this Gabe homuncu-whateveritis story. I'm hooked."

"Oh, right." She chuckled, emptying the contents of her bottle to her side, clasping her fists together as she activated the Nihilis Vita Germinatis spell for demonstration. A Tiny golem appeared by her side, made up of the coagulated remains of the alcohol, which waved to Johnny briefly before it began to charge at him, before dissipating into a trio of birds once more as Clara whispered something and tapped it. "Remember when Keith made that golem to fight you? Well... Gabe tried to do the same with one of his bones. Needless to say, the dumbass screwed something up on the spell and it clocked him so hard his neck was hanging to the side for the rest of the say. It was pretty funny, I gotta admit."

"But that's not the dumbest thing he's done, is it?"

Clara stifled some laughter, taking a sip from her beer and pausing as she swallowed. "Well.. there was that one time.."

"Go on."

"He once got so shitfaced drunk that he wore some of Thelma's clothes for the rest of the day. He passes pretty well as a girl, I gotta admit."

"So, along with calling him babyface, I can call him girl-face. Nice." Johnny set his now-finished beer down by the side of the pool. "No offense, Clara."

"Non taken."

Pushing himself up to sit beside Clara, Johnny suddenly swore to himself, as if an internal alarm were going off in his head, simultaneously getting himself up to leave the pool. "Oh, fuck. You know what I realized? It's fuckin 12:24 AM...—"

"Johnny."

He turned around to her, sitting back down beside her and placing his feet back in. "My parents aren't home, Johnny, but that's aside from the point. I just wanted to thank you, Johnny."

"Look, I tried my fuckin' hardest. I get it—today didn't go as we planned, but that's perfectly okay, Clara. I admit, it was better than I thought it would turn out, in the end. Better than whatever movie we were going to watch, that's for sure."

Clara laughed bitterly. "Yeah. Thanks, Johnny. Tonight was kind of like one of those nights when we were younger and dumber, y'know?"

"I get it." Johnny nodded slowly, looking out from his backyard to the city lights beyond the trees. "So, what's up with you and Keith? Are you..?"

"No." Clara said. "Plain and simple, no. It's nothing you need to, like, worry about, Johnny, he's practically like a rock. That being said, he does have a heart of gold and stands up for his friends, and that's unique for a rock, so I have to respect him for that part of his personality."

"Great. Now the telepathic angry rock won't rip me to part with his mind the next time I see him." Johnny chuckled awkwardly, but Clara still had a slight frown on her face. "Again, Johnny, I'm sorry that I had to bail out on so many things that we could've done in the past for this Chaos Magic stuff. It's very time-consuming and draining work, but I promise you, I'll have more time for our things in the future. I'm sorry." Nodding slowly, as if he were understanding his girlfriend, Johnny folded his arms across his chest as he sat beside Clara. He was trying to be nice to her, trying to complement her for her actions tonight and actually agreeing on going out on such a wild excursion through the night with him, but she was still too moody about things in the past that should've been long since passsed. He shrugged, trying a new tactic to try and cheer her up. "Well, tonight was fun, Clara. We both had fun. What else do you want me to say to you?"

Her eyes were fixed out to the skyline of the city off in the distance. "I don't want you to say anything, Johnny."

"Anything? No 'Let's do this again sometime, Clara,' or 'Thanks for such a cool night, Clara' or anything?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

He let out a sigh of frustration, glowering at her. "Look, I'm sorry too, Clara. I'm sorry for doubting you and everyhing. And, yes, I'll apologize to Keith formally, and Floyd too... and Gabriel." His eyes shone with the same intensity that Clara had seen before, locking with hers. It wasn't anything noteworthy, but not, Johnny had noticed something more with her attitude—something... different. He wasn't any expert in reading people's body language, but Johnny knew from experience that women offered permission differently, some a bit more obvious than others. Clara's signals—a deepened gaze and lowered shoulders, eyes looking straight into his—were broadcasting her sign at maximum volume.

Despite lacking any dialogue whatsoever, their gazes meeting seemed to possess a thousand words by itself. It was almost comical to Johnny, in hindsight, as he figured how oblivious he was this whole time. God damn, Swift, how are you so fucking blind?

He leaned forward as Clara moved to meet him, coming together in a long, passionate embrace and kiss. He thought for a moment that he'd made a terrible mistake when she stood up, playfully pulling him up and off his ass as she guided him indoors. In response, Johnny just grumbled in an obviously faked manner, checking his watch as he grabbed a towel. "Well, so much for a movie. It's like 12:50 now. Guess we can look for a movie on the TV here or keep screwing around town for something fun."

To this, Clara laughed loudly, before her eyes met Johnny's. "Screw around? Johnny, we don't have to go anywhere for that."

As if he were solving a math equation in his head, Johnny tried to think of a reasoning behind this. The speedster suddenly stopped thinking as he was pulled in close yet again for another kiss, quickly figuring out what she meant by this as the realization hit him like the tangent to a parabola.

Ohhhhhh.....

---

keith_w - Today at 1:50 AM
Gabe, your ass is helping me on this math so help me GOD!

ITSGABE - Today at 1:51 AM
u have straight as why do i need to help you
i want to sleep @keith_w


clara8 - Today at 1:54 AM
we are fucking for real now guyys haha do not disturb

keith_w - Today at 1:54 AM
WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
WTFFFFFFFF

ThelemaG - Today at 1:54 PM
u still owe me $20 twerp

ITSGABE - Today at 1:55 AM
...pics?

Several people are typing...

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

"Okay, for the love of Naligura, stop shouting." was the first thing which Sina said in response to Bael's long tirade about wanting to have nothing to do with murder. The Dra'Quinni vigilante raised her hands defensively and sighed.

"Fine, fine, I get it. You want nothing to do with murder. And I'm not going to stop you on that. I already expressed my decision on this problem." the vigilante continued. "But I still don't get it why it's so much of a deal-breaker. Sure, sure, you don't want to end up like Naligura and the other one and you don't want to die... but, isn't this whole vigilante business risky by definition? They're gonna try to kill us no matter what, the scaleless are going to be suspicious of us no matter what, so what difference does it make, really?"

"As for it being wrong... Honestly, the scaleless themselves are completely undecided on that, you know? They think that any other species is completely a-okay to murder brutally and they sometimes do that for sport, and they also have this tradition, or ritual, or something, where a person can be killed after passing through a room with big wigs and nobody bats an eye... That's where plenty of the people you don't kill end up in regardless. If the scaleless think that anyone who isn't one of their own can be killed, then what stops me from applying the same idea to myself? I wouldn't kill a Dra'Quinni, you know. Or is even the scaleless position wrong to you? If I told you that I used to hunt bears for a living, would it leave you just as disgusted?"

---

Shi

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

Followed by Viv, Elle and Harley, Renata made her way towards the other side of the street, the trio and their dog trailing alongside the fence until they finally reached the entrance to the office building, apparently the headquarters of a company called "Stanford and Son". Immediately as the trio reached the front door, Renata raised a hand to halt, focusing on the sound coming from inside the building. As one might have figured, the office was in working hours and the building had plenty of people inside, including one particularly loud one demanding his car.

The earpiece on the heroine's ear chirped, Shi giving orders through the comms to her and Viviana. More specifically, Renata had to take the lead once they pass through the office, as there was a bit of a distance between it and the shop. God damn it. Receiving orders from a member who has only joined this morning. A national humiliation. Cover it up, cover it up.

"Fine, though I was planning to do that regardless," Renata replied to the earpiece, then, as she turned it off, her eyes turned towards the team assembled under her lead. "Viv, you heard what to do. Elle, follow behind me. Harley, shut your mouth, don't give away our position."

Why did a dog have to be their team pet? Dogs are dirty, ugly creatures. Why couldn't it be a cat?

With orders relayed, Renata opened the door and walked in, her eyes quickly spotting an exit on the other side of the building. Let's hope that the workers here are too busy with the shouting choleric to notice a few girls in flashy outfits making their way across the corridor.

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"It's because I'm trying to give the humans less reason to be suspicious of us. Like I said earlier, we're stuck with them, and that means we have to work with them rather than against them. Which means we have to follow their laws when we're in their cities." He explained. "We're not the first different people the humans are aware of. I know an alien. One from space. I think just about everyone is friends with her, myself included. They've got a decent standing with the humans and I want us to as well. If only because we can't pack our stuff and leave to go live on another planet." Could they? That would have to be a question he asked Onu.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. The only humans that hunt other people for sport are the ones that I will concede, deserve to die." It took a second to understand what Sina was talking about, but he got it. "You mean a trial? Yeah. And if you get the death penalty it's because there is undeniable evidence that they did something particularly heinous. Like say... Murdering someone. I don't know what you mean when the humans say that those who aren't them deserve to die, because that's simply not true. Warwolf notwithstanding. And even then, they probably don't have a high opinion of us because one of us went around being a jackass." At least Onu was dragging him out of the city so he didn't have to worry about him picking fights.

"You can't compare hunting animals to hunting people. Unless of course you think they're one in the same. At that point, I would say that there is something wrong with you. Humans aren't animals, no more than we are. Despite some of them acting like it." He finished. "Not that you're behaving any better than them by the way. You parade yourself around like you are better, while simultaneously treating them like they're beneath you."

"Let me ask you. You've broken the law, by your own admission. So that means I have a right to kill you by your logic. After all, you're just a murderous animal."

[Bentus]

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

Ash couldn’t help but grin at Casimir’s comments. She felt a hint of heat creeping into her cheeks as he called her a hero and a surge of pride caused the girl’s chest to swell. Kabuto’s assured confidence was contagious; and despite her misgivings about the pink-haired woman, Ash felt her earlier excitement begin to once again bubble to the surface. Maybe she was worrying too much. Casimir would have brought this up earlier if he had thought it was something serious, and regardless, he didn’t seem very concerned about the laser-girl. It did appear as if the Young Bloods were a large team, Ash reasoned, so it would probably be easy to just avoid her attacker.

Thinking over Casimir’s words for a moment, Ash wondered what this Naja character would be like. She certainly sounded nice from what Casimir was saying, especially if all she had to do was be honest. But then why must telling the truth be so hard to do? If it is as easy as it sounds, then why did I not tell the truth to Mike or Casimir? The thought planted a nugget of doubt in Ash’s mind, but she quickly pushed it aside. That was all in the past, before she had decided to do the turning of the new leaf! If Naja was in charge of the food and supervised the team, then she must have been a very important person – so it was only right that Ash introduced herself.

As Casimir continued, the moth girl was suddenly caught off guard as she heard her hero name. “N-no, it is certainly not too hard!” Her initial reaction was defensive, a part of her immediately not wanting to look weak in front of her new friend. However, Ash quickly realised that the bug hero was deliberately trying to goad a reaction from her. Looking up towards Casimir’s confident grin, Ash folded one pair of arms across her chest. Smirking at the hero, the mutant’s tone seemed to imitate his own cockiness.

“I mean yes; you are very right. The supervisor of the Young Bloods team will be no match for Ashen Moth. I will be honest this time, no lies or…stabbing.” Ash felt a touch of embarrassment as she remembered her earlier reaction, hoping that it was not an indication of how her introductions to the rest of the Young Bloods would go. She chased away the feeling as quickly as she could though, doing her best to present the same sense of self-confidence that Casimir seemed to exude. “I shall give this Naja the best interview that she has ever seen, and she will have no choice but to decide to let me be part of the team – no matter what the pink-hair chick says!”

[The Republic of Atria]

Coming Home, July 26

Orro approached one of the people who were organizing and maintaining the building. Some of it did not weather the thousands of years as well as expected and needed to be fixed. Immediately, several cleared out of his path, recognizing his position. The one who didn't try to avoid him was a man, just a little shorter than Orro and was directing people to their destination. He spotted Orro and flinched. "I am looking to direct these people to their homes. We informed of our arrival a few days ago by Onu Bo'ol."

There was a slight pause as he regained his composure. "Of course. Take the next train and get off at the second stop." He replied. "If I may ask, why are you bringing this particular family?" From what information Onu gave, she was a gifted sorceress and her brother acted as a bodyguard, but the family seemed quite unremarkable. The couple did some basic skilled labor, and their son clearly spent too much time with the humans.

He didn't have an immediate response planned. In fact, it was extraordinarily rare anyone ever questioned a Hunhow. Though without Elders to give orders, there was reason to question them now. "The family took me in when I was lost in a human city." A lie, but he had to protect Bael. "This is simply my thanks to them. That will be all. The boy acts as my apprentice." A half truth, but it would at least explain why he stayed around him.

"I see. That will be all." He replied and motioned for Orro to go on his way so he could get back to work.

Orro glanced over at Bael to see him still mystified by the beauty of the city. "You seem happy."

He snapped back to reality and looked to see his mentor standing next to him. "Oh, yes. I've seen a bunch of cities from above before, but this is something else. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie or something. It's great."

"I'm certain you will enjoy your stay. Just so you know, I told the city that you are my apprentice." A spur of the moment choice. "That way it would not seem strange that I spend my time around you and your family. And it should also allow you and your family to remain unquestioned for sometime. Though it seems my authority has waned without an Elder's word to back mine up. Come, I suggest we leave." He said, taking his leave towards the tram with Bael in tow.

Orro's apprentice? Well, it was better than nothing. "Oh, alright. I'm not going to have to shadow you a lot am I?" He asked.

"Unlikely. I doubt the city has finished setting up all the facilities used for training them. It's unnecessary for the time being. If by some chance it is up, it should be trivial for you to pass any physical tests they may demand. Though I do recommend you at least pretend it takes effort." He explained as they boarded the tram. Bael looking out the window as the car took them rapidly through the city. Dozens if not hundreds of others could be seen flying around the city. Buildings below looked like they had people on it. "Oh, yes. It's quite common for smaller buildings to have entrances on both the roof and base."

"Noted." He replied. "So, just to be safe, what kind of tests should I expect if that happens?" He asked, looking around to make sure they weren't within earshot of anyone that might overhear. It seemed safe.

"Nothing too extreme. You're an apprentice so you do not have the augments. Some strength, flight, and maybe some sparring tests. The first two should hardly be an issue for you. But if you fail the sparring, it's simple enough to say that you just need more practice in that area. It would make our relationship much more believable. You have real combat experience so I expect you will be fine."

"Alright, that should work." Bael agreed. "How long do apprenticeships usually last?"

"It can depend. Usually it's a minimum of half a year, but it can be extended to beyond that if needed. Which gives us plenty of time to discuss your gift." He spoke quietly, thankfully there were many conversations going on and they didn't have to worry too much about being overheard. "However, I think you're young enough that we should be able convince anyone that you're not a threat. Even if it's discovered, we can use what I said to prove that you're willing to work for your position rather than demand it."

"I can still just deny that I want it. Leave the politics to the professionals."

Orro snickered and nodded remembering Naligura's final words to him about Bael. So far, both of them were on the right track. "Power is an intimidating thing. It should be. It comes with tremendous responsibility. But it's important to remember that you aren't doing it alone."

"Trust me. I'm more than happy to ask you and everyone else for help." He finished as the tram did for he second time, signalling their stop. The group stepped off, led by Orro and Onu through the entrance of the elegant building, Bael trying to soak up as much of the sights as possible while keeping up.

"I got us good rooms." Onu spoke, approaching the woman standing up front. "I am Onu Bo'ol. This is my brother Kaban, and this family is the Da'Chataka and the Hunhow Orro who is staying with them. We are here for our rooms." She spoke. The woman wasted no time and searching under her desk for several small circular stones. Two in one hand for her and Kaban. Four more were placed on the other side for Bael, his family and Orro.

"Go through the hall and place the runes near the wall. The portal will take you to your floor as well as unlock your rooms. Please come back if you have trouble or questions." She replied.

Onu took the lead once again, the rest following her. "I read about these. Bael, don't the humans use some sort of metal key? I always thought that was strange. These will only work for those it's assigned to. Prevents thieves from getting any stupid ideas. Not that any of have to worry about that. Between you and the tall strong and good-looking Hunhow. And I've got my big brother. Who has been very well behaved."

Orro looked away when Onu started flirting with him.

"I don't have to worry about humans staring at us. It does feel nice to be home." Kaban mused, looking at Orro as he tried to avoid eye contact with both him and Onu.

"Anyways, for the uninitiated: Watch." She said as they approached the end of the hallway, with a frame to an inactivated portal. "Just take your rune and present it to it like so..." She said, facing the symbol towards it, the portal lighting up with a bright blue energy all around the from, the wall vanishing. "And then you step through like so." She said, steeping through, followed by her older brother and then Orro and finally Bael and his parents. The group reappeared on a floor a few lower than the entrance. Several flat doors adorned the hall with a window at the end. "Flip it around to go back to the top. Tap it with the side to choose your own floor. I don't recommend that unless you know who you're visiting." She finished. "Our rooms are at the end of the hall. I'll leave you all to it." Onu finished, taking off with her brother.

"Let's go see our room." Bael's father spoke, finding their room entrance and presenting the rune. The wall vanished letting the family in.

It was a fully furnished room, window giving a beautiful view of the city. Several chairs faced some sort of screen that Bael could only assume was some sort of television screen. Several lightning fixtures, though rather than light bulbs, there appeared to be glowing orbs that seemed to be able to wane or wax. There was a kitchen, though he didn't see how what appeared to be an oven, was supposed to work without buttons or knobs to control the heat. The room was carpeted with a surprisingly soft material. The kitchen floor looked to be tile. The temperature was near perfect.

"This is beautiful." His mother said, putting her box of belongings on a counter and looking around. "I've never seen some of this."

"The city was constructed to represent our best. The best technology and sorceries were combined to ensure the city was the pinnacle of what we can do. I believe it was Taurac who commissioned the city to be built. The closest thing him and Naligura had to an agreement." Orro chimed in.

"And then they made it fly. Because why not, right?" Bael snickered.

"Believe it or not, I have it on good authority that is not too different from what was actually said in that decision." Orro replied. "Go unpack your belongings. We should go out and explore. And get you some more clothes. I'm sure you want some other things to wear other than Kaban's old garb."

"Good idea." Bael replied, heading to his room.

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

Bael's following counter-argument left Sina... confused. So much so that she stood there for a few seconds, blinking, not sure how to respond.

"...What do you mean humans aren't like animals? What do you mean we aren't like animals? We're all living beings, right?" Sina was so baffled by the argument that she even let out a snicker. "We need food and water just like all living beings do. We have feelings and emotions just like all living beings do. All of us can feel pain or joy, love or hate. Sure, maybe a bear or a rabbit can't build a house or stand up on two legs, but we're all of the same cloth regardless. Do you... think we're in some way special compared to them, then?"

Which would be... even more odd to her, to be fair. Maybe this comes from Bael being brought up in a city instead of living in nature for his whole life like Sina was. Not all that many animals around here and none of them are very threatening, besides humans, whom Bael appears to be set to not provoke on self-preservation reasons. Even though they also look and act disgusting and hunting them down is only a favor, but whatever.

The conversation was apparently turning so hostile that Bael even mentioned how he has a right to hunt her down because she... broke the law. Jeez, where does he keep pulling these weird terms from?

"...And I broke what now?"

[Tyr]

"Ability is nothing without opportunity."
-Napoleon Bonaparte

♪♪♪ Music for Listening ♪♪♪

---

California - San Diego
Maxim Eisenmann - The United States of America

---

"Damn, I suddenly remembered something about that dumb spectacle back in Venezuela." Maxim thought to himself as he walks through a corridor while being escorted by five armed mercenaries. "Anyway, I'm being escorted a lot by armed guards these days." He continues

The mercenaries contacted the man inside the room and after a while, the mercenaries opened the door for Maxim. It revealed an ornamental room filled with exotic and elegant furniture. The room was the definition of class and sophistication. A slim tall man with a slicked-back gray hair wearing a stylish three piece suit appeared to be standing in the doorway.

"Welcome to Guild, Maxim Eisenmann, I've been expecting your presence today." The man said as he gestures a handshake to Maxim.

"And you are Guild's Councilman 13, Jose Francisco?" Maxim extended his hand to shake Jose's hand.

"Yes I am." Jose coughs and added "I believe you joined us back in Venezuela."

"Apparently, I was forced to choose whether I should work for Guild or be seized by a containment organization by some guy who helped me escape after my attempt to assassinate the Venezuelan President failed. Naturally, I wouldn't want to be apprehended by some shady organization so I agreed to join this organization. The dude set me up to an aircraft heading to San Diego and told me to meet up with you in this place."

"I'm aware, I received word the man you were talking about that you'll be coming here to meet me."

"I'm quite interested in why both of you know my real name."

"It's not just your name that we know, the Guild has several records of your past actions. The records include your flawless assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and how you covered it up, your track record as a Colonel in the Schutzstaffel, your service in the Soviet Army and later on the KGB, and your hitman career in Latin America. Although, we're still ignorant about a few things."

"Impressive, what else do you all know? "

"Although not an official Guild record, I've created an analysis of your visible strengths and weaknesses. However, this isn't the topic I want to urgently discuss with you right now."

"So what do you want?"

"The Guild will ask for you for one last time, are you willing to work for us?"

"My abilities would be for nothing without opportunity, so I'm quite hooked in working with this organization and whatever it wants to do. Plus, I'm still keen to know on what my strengths and weaknesses are."

"Good, now let's proceed to the important matters. After our consideration of your talents and your past careers, the Guild decides to employ you to handle militaristic aspects of our branch here in San Diego; jobs ranging from sabotage, assassination, infiltration, extraction...you name it. How does this sound to you? "

"Cool."

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

Sina was, quite literally, comparing them and the humans to animals. "Because we're sapient and animals are not. Animals don't build civilizations. Animals don't argue about who's on the right side of morality." Wyatt replied, more than a little frustrated. Did her parents not teach her or even tell her that animals were below them on the food chain? "We are special compared to them because of our intelligence. So yes, I do think we are better than animals. And I tend to want to strive to be better than them. Hence why we are having this conversation."

Her English was obviously not nearly as good as he expected. "<Let me try it this way. When you grew up, I'm sure your parents had things you weren't allowed to do. Now imagine that, but there are rules that everyone has to abide by. Like not murdering people. That's a pretty big one. The humans call it the law. I know for a fact that we're extremely similar to them in that regard. It's another thing that keeps us separated from wild animals.>" He explained, trying to remain calm and not just give up and go to the Tower. Sina was either genuinely ignorant of what was going on, or she was intentionally trying to aggravate him. If that was the case, it was working. "<And breaking it, like what you and the rest of your team are doing, has severe consequences. Not just for you, but for everyone.>"

"<Like your own kind for example. What do you think will happen if the humans think we're all a bunch of murderers? They'll never trust us, and chances are things will get difficult for both of us. How are you not getting this? Did your parents never teach you about what empathy is?>" Hopefully they did.

"<I'm only telling you this, because for some reason, I care about you. I care about our people, and I want what best for everyone.>" He sighed. "<I don't know why I'm even bothering with this... You obviously don't care and never will. Why don't you just go ask your team to get you a phone?>"

[Scotatrova]

Diego Belcourt

For a long time Diego floated in an infinite ocean of pain. It felt like days, weeks...maybe years. Time was meaningless. Then he heard a voice. “You in there, boy?”

“Don’t...call me ‘boy,’” Diego said thickly.

“I need y’all to wake up,” said Mary. “We need to have us a talk.”

Diego slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on his uninjured side and had to look over his shoulder to see Mary, who knelt behind him. She appeared to be studying the exit wound. When Diego looked down at the entry wound, all he saw was a red burn. He expected it to hurt, and it did. The area around the burn was puffy and red. Diego felt hot, as if the heat of the cauterizing blade had infused his entire body. Sweat ran down his torso and pooled under him.

Mary breathed in and out through her nose for a moment. “We maybe got us a problem.”

“Really? A problem?” He arched an eyebrow. “Beyond arrows, burned flesh, an army of killers, and a horned god?”

She did not smile.

“Mary—?”

Mary got up and walked around so she faced him. There was a haunted look in her eyes, and her mouth was drawn and tight.

“Is it poison?” Chong repeated.

“No,” she said faintly. “No, I don’t think we’re going to catch that kind of a break.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“While you were out, I decided to go and see if I could get a lead on the progress of the Angels of Cernunnos, and well, it ain't pretty.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that they're in the final stage to successfully cross Cernunnos over into our world. The Angels are performing a mass suicide come sundown. If what they're saying is true, Mother L-..., my mother, will be able to harness the energy released during the sacrifice to drop the veil between our world and the realm of Cernunnos, which in turn will open an interdimensional rift. Once he crosses over, there'll be no telling to the catastrophe that will follow.”

“Well, then we have to go out and stop them.”

“That's the problem. Its already started.”

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

<"Oh, so like, they write down their traditions and force everyone to follow them? That's what you mean by law?"> Sina replied as soon as Bael explained what the word 'law' meant. Okay, that makes more sense. Square away that as something new she learned. <"Yeah, my parents never mentioned any of that. They did say to not go too overboard with the scaleless, but I figured that was just practical advice.">

Or maybe they did and she simply forgot about it because she never got to put that knowledge to use ever in the past. Before she ended up in San Diego, the only experience of human life she had was visiting the local village of farmers a couple of kilometers away from their hut in the mountains... once every six months of some sort? And they'd only be there for a few minutes at best. Even before her parents were cryogenically preserved and arrived to this brave new world, they didn't seem to be too much into this "civilized society" bullcrap - not any less than their fellow tribespeople living in the remote mountains, at least.

Bael being surrounded by human society for his whole life has obviously resulted in him having a much different view on the manner of things - a view which was apparently so central to who he is that, now, after Sina presented her own, he was so bitter that he was even considering just leaving her here and letting her friends in the Outriders deal with the hassle.

<"Bael, what?"> the vigilante suddenly spoke up, all of her considerations on replying to his arguments about a scenario where the humans think all of them are just murderers. <"I thought you said you don't really care what I do as long as you don't get involved personally? And now you're turning around and saying that you'll leave me here because I apparently don't care. Make up your mind, idiot!">

Sina folded her arms, taking a glance to the side. <"Besides, you are the one who turned this conversation into whether murder is right or wrong, not me, so it doesn't speak well of you if you bail simply because I view things differently.">

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

---

Both Kirisvala's attention and her sister's immediately turned to Red as he walked into the room. While the latter looked him up and down with keen eyes, as if appraising him and reaching an unknown conclusion, the former immediately narrowed her eyes upon seeing the boy and hearing his voice, still feeling quite bitter about his failure to deliver as a leader and what it had caused for the team, and especially Mars. She quickly averted her gaze, conflicted about the anger she felt and not wanting to ruin his and Yoshi's moment, but the feeling was still there, and it wouldn't go away soon.

"Kirisvala, are all human relationships this..." The elder sister inquired in coarse Lokwynn, pausing as she sought the right word; evidently, she had picked up on the mixed signals being thrown around better than her younger sister, who was busy wrestling with her own emotions. "Oblique?"

Taken out of her thoughts for a moment, Kiris shook her head and gave her sister a thin, amused smile. "Nope. Some are oblique, but a lot are pretty straightforward."

"Good." Seristella nodded. "It would be problematic if they couldn't even be sincere with their lovers."

The two continued watching as Red separated from Yoshiro and turned to address Seristella. At this, the older Hadrian paused. "...Red? Just... Red?" She glanced at Kirisvala for confirmation, the younger girl nodding in return. "...Alright then. I am Seristella, Red. And no, I'm not her friend." She smiled as she folded her arms and stood side to side with Kiris, their height difference striking. "Sans hair and horns we're practically identical. Try a little harder."

Kiris snickered and placed an arm around her sister's cloaked waist, leaning her head against Seris' armored chest, making sure her horns avoided her sister's oversized pauldrons. "She's my sister."

"Come on Kiris, you're no fun." Seris chuckled, ruffling her sister's hair with one hand before looking over at the humans. "I take it you're one of the dear friends my little sister keeps talking about, then?"

"Not so dear these days..." Kiris muttered in Lokwynn, averting her gaze once again to hide the small scowl on her face.

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

Okay, she at least understood the concept and even what he was trying to explain. Progress. "<Yes. Most everyone follows them. The ones who don't are probably the ones you spend your time butchering.>" What was he doing? He shouldn't be out here doing this, least of all with an Outrider. Apparently, he had gotten enough on Sina's nerves that she was starting to get fed up with him, calling him an idiot. Not that he completely disagreed, given how stupid he felt for even doing this, but she seemed not to understand what he said earlier.

"<I said I wanted nothing to do with you because of the things you do.>" He sighed and sat on the edge of the building. "<Yeah. I'm an idiot all right. I shouldn't have bothered doing this. Why do you even care how it looks on me? I can't imagine it makes me look any better if I spend my free time with you anyways. I'm already in enough trouble with my team as it is. For doing the exact same thing. So yes, I am very stupid for having agreed to come out this far.>" He's been making many poor choices of late. "<I don't know why I said anything. I don't know why I agreed to help you do this.>"

"<Let's just go get the stupid phone so we never have to speak to each other again.>"

[Finland SSR]

Shooting Down Stars

July 25th

---

Shooting Down Stars

July 25th

Battle Theme

---

Shooting Down Stars

July 25th

Round 2 Theme

---

Oh, Renata, Renata... What have you gotten yourself into?

It was already getting suspicious when the Caudillo's daughter decided to head to the Condemned District all by herself and then immediately took a turn towards one of the broken down, abandoned buildings dispersed across it - but when she signed up for this underground deathmatch tournament for no discernible reason... Marina, who had secretly followed the heroine in her cat form all the way to this place, figured that she would soon have no other option but to intervene directly. Even if it was, technically, outside of her purview.

The price for getting a spectator's pass meant that she would have to pass on that restaurant she wanted to have a dinner in tomorrow evening. Renata, you better make this worthwhile. And don't you dare die. The Caudillo will have my scalp if you even think of letting that happen to you. Which was, actually, half of the reason why Marina was even here, sitting in the spectator lounges, occassionally receiving cursory glances from the roaring shirtless men sitting all around her due to the two cat ears sticking out from the top of her head. Nothing they deemed as too suspicious, thankfully - people with weird body forms were far from an uncommon occurence in this world of superhumans and mutants, and compared to people looking like giant bears or lizards, two cat-like ears and a rail waggling from underneath her skirt is firmly on the "normal" side of things.

As for the battle unfolding before her eyes... Honestly, the longer Marina watched the two combatants square off against each other, the more she was left pleasantly surprised. The half-bakeneko had the chance to witness the Caudillo's daughter back in Ecuador a few times, mostly on television, and she struck her as a pretty face and someone good to put on a pedestal as a figurehead, but not a valuable asset in battle. Too fragile, too reliant on the support of others. After arriving to San Diego and thrusted into the superheroing world all by herself, she was forced to show a lot more initiative and effort, but not to the point where Marina could have reasonably assumed her of being able to take on a dangerous superhuman all by herself and actually keep him at bay. And yet this is exactly what she was doing here - keeping her distance from the swordsman and showing a surprising amount of skill both in evasion and using her powers in various ways.

Well, for a while, at least.

Because now she was on the ground, with a sword raised above her, looming to descend straight into her gut.

Twist, twist, maybe a second stab to finish the job - and that's it, Renata would be no more. And Marina would have to flee from the only nation which didn't treat her as second-class trash. Nope. Not gonna happen.

The half-bakeneko took a few quick glances to the sides. Pretty much everyone here is either a criminal or complicit in some way. They're not going to call the authorities. It's safe to step in.

As Marina was considering her chances, Renata was staring into the point of the blade raised above her, a mix of desperation and acceptance in her eyes. Her mind had already gone through at least ten ways she could dispatch of the weapon in front of him and yet none of them were on the table - her body was simply not in any condition to even stand up without support, much less continue the fight. Her energy reserves had been drained by the constant leaping around and fighting, and that bastard hits like a damn truck. A single heavy blow to her chest was strong enough to seriously screw up her body, and Renata could tell that he's not even fighting at full capacity. During the whole fight, he was clearly giving her opening after opening to attack him, as if to test her abilities, and not only did he leave the fight unscathed, but also pushed her to the brink...

The only thing which she didn't pull was her finger laser, and that was solely because they are surrounded by dozens of spectators. She could have reasonably tried shooting him through the leg or shoulder... but she's not going to try it with so much risk, and accidentally killing an innocent person was something Renata would have never forgiven herself.

Though maybe that's something up for consideration, because the alternative which unfolded before her eyes was certain, unavoidable death. And there's no talking the swordsman out of it. She knew exactly what she was signing up for, and, like an idiot, fell straight into death's traps.

I'm sorry, Icarus...

Isn't it ironic that after all the times she berated him for throwing himself straight into danger and making her worry about him all the time... it's her who ends up biting the bullet first? And in something as stupid as signing up for a deathmatch tournament... It's almost like-

Suddenly, Floyd stopped in his tracks, catching something with his free hand and lowering his blade. Renata's heart suddenly began to beat faster. The swordsman twiddled the small object, which, from her point of view, somewhat resembled a bullet or a small syringe, and turned to the source, speaking:

"Who are you?"

I-Icarus?!

Ignoring the shooting pain from moving her muscles, Renata turned her face towards the left, where the shot came from. That's... not Icarus. Instead, what was approaching them was a golden-haired woman in a skirt and tight blouse, with a tail waggling from her back and two distinct cat-like ears sticking out from her hair.

Hijo de puta... Marina thought to herself as she walked forward, leaving the spectator launges to the shock and surprise of everyone watching and gunning towards the square-shaped battlefield, attaching the dart pistol back to her thigh. Well, that's the easy way of getting rid of this bastard eliminated, guess they'll be doing this a bit more rough. Ignoring the swordsman's question, Marina stretched out her palm, several spinning rings of fox-fire manifesting under it, which she promptly released as a concentrated stream of flames straight at the swordsman, who promptly leapt out of the way.

The audience, which was getting ready to boo Marina away for interfering in this climactic battle, upon seeing this display of power, promptly sat down and began to cheer. They've got a new challenger! How well do they stack up to these two mysteries they've watched for the last five minutes? However, the operators of the fight club were less than pleased. The eye-patched and grey-haired man standing by the exit turned around and walked up to the rails leading towards the ring upon hearing the sound of flames, the one eye he still had intact narrowing. Into his earpiece, the man spoke:

"We've got a jackass interfering on the girl's side. Get her outta there."

Meanwhile...

"Are you alright? Do you need help standing up?" Marina spoke after turning towards Renata and stretched her hand towards the fallen heroine, which she weakly grabbed upon and suddenly felt herself pulled back up with considerable force. After looking her unexpected savior up and down - nope, completely unfamiliar - and noting that her accent betrayed her non-native birth, Renata spoke:

"Who... who are you?.. And why did you help me?"

"Yeah, that's a pretty bloody important question, y'know," Floyd joined in on the conversation, spinning the sword in his hand a little bit as his enhanced vision analyzed Marina's body, composition, possible powers and potential structural weaknesses. "So did I just get transported into an anime, because you're literally a catgirl who looks like she's straight out of a Japanese high school. Am I getting a harem next or something?"

Yeah... I'm not even going to try to answer that.

Let's see, what paths of escape do we have... We're not gonna push through that entrance, that's for sure, and we're in a basement, so there are no windows either... The roof, though, if you could call it that...

While Marina was considering her options, Floyd continued speaking:

"And look who just received the gift of speech, huh? Figured all that muteness gig I was informed about was too convenient to be true."

"I, uh..." Renata muttered, not sure how to respond. She did break character in that moment, huh? "Mierda..."

If I can get Renata to use her laser in just the right way, I won't need to fight anyone and-

Marina's eyes suddenly twitched. Oh, was she not the only person intervening in this fight? That's certainly what the sound of footsteps behind her told her. And the movement of air, as if someone was winding up for a punch or a slam... And faint breaths, masking their presence... And, of course, Floyd on the other side of the battlefield suddenly widening his eyes.

The half-bakeneko suddenly threw an elbow back, striking a thug armed with a spiked bat in one hand straight into the windpipe, the blow swift and precise enough to send the six foot tall man stumbling away and falling to the ground in an instant. Not bothering to turn around to not waste time, she pulled out the Browning pistol attached to her thigh underneath her skirt and fired over her shoulder to the other source of incoming breathing - a pained scream and a stumble informed her that the shot landed where it needed to. When Renata turned around to see what had just happened, she squeaked at the sight of two dead bodies behind Marina.

"You... you killed them! You-"

Renata got suddenly cut off, however, by a speaker speaking across the entire underground fight club. It ws the same eye-patched man by the exit, this time with an assault rifle in one hand and speaking to a microphone:

"Stand down and drop your weapons, now. I appreciate the power gesture of slaughtering two schmucks, but the rules were lound and clear- no interfering in the middle of a battle." A couple more thugs were walking out of the exit, all armed with weapons of their preference, be it guns or spiked bats, ready to head straight to the arena and bash some skulls.

"Hey!" Floyd suddenly exclaimed towards the staff. "Ya not even gonna let me finish the job and kill both of these girls myself?!"

All he received was "You're not involved in this anymore, Tolson."

"Ditto..." the swordsman muttered to himself, then turned his eyes towards Marina and Renata. "Hey, you two thots! Wanna join me in stomping out this-"

"Renata, listen to me." Marina suddenly spoke to the heroine, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"H-how do you-" Renata exclaimed in response, but got shut down by the half-bakeneko continuing:

"I'll explain. How much energy do you still have stored?"

"Not... enough to make a difference if we're gonna be fighting."

"Which we're not going to. I want you to shoot me a hole in the ceiling with that laser of yours."

"How do you know-"

"I said I'll explain!"

Renata took a sigh and turned her eyes towards the ceiling, composed of old grey panels like the rest of this entire building, and raised her right finger towards it. Floyd, upon seeing what the two girls were planning, immediately jumped in to interfere:

"Oh hell no! If you're going to be bailing, then I'll-"

only to receive a dart straight to his arm from a Marina done with his shit - he pulled it out instantly with a brief grunt, but at that point, it was too late. The sword in his hand fell to the ground after the grip loosened, and the swordsman himself suddenly froze in place, the muscles in his body locked to the position they were in last from a toxin spreading across his body. It's not going to kill him and will lose its effect in a few hours, but that's more than enough.

By that time, Renata had already cut through a small, but good enough circular hole in the rooftop, a slab falling to the basement floor and revealing the first floor of the building above. The grunts and the ring leader could only stand and watch as Marina suddenly pulled the pink-haired girl over her shoulders and leapt straight towards the newly made exit, grabbing onto the edge of the hole with her claws and pulling herself upward. One of the grunts raised his assault rifle, but by the time he was ready to fire, the two girls were already out of sight.

Marina continued running across the building, Renata tightly latched onto her back by holding onto the neck, and sped out of it before climbing up to the rooftop, underneath the faint moonlight only disrupted by the occasional cloud, where she finally stopped and let the heroine let go of her to stand back up on her own feet.

The first question was obvious.

"Who are you?" Renata spoke. "And why did you save me?"

Marina stared into her eyes for a few seconds, considering her options. The Caudillo informed her to never let Renata know that she is being spied on. But it simply wouldn't be fair to leave here or respond with a non-answer, that will just cause her to start looking for answers herself.

"Let's say that I am your guardian angel." the catgirl replied. "My name is Marina. I know a lot about you."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could glean that from the moment when you addressed me by my real name. That's not an answer. Who are you and why do you know so much about me?"

Okay, there's no getting around it. "I'm sorry, Renata, but I can't give you answers to either one of those questions. I can only tell you that I am your guardian angel. And because of that, I had to save you from death."

"Okay. Let's say that I believe in guardian angels, spirits or what have you. Why is my guardian angel a bakeneko armed with paralysis darts and openly kills people?"

"..."

Marina said nothing - instead, she merely leapt off the rooftop.

"Wait!" Renata exclaimed, running up to the edge of the roof - unfortunately, her body was in no condition to go after the mysterious woman, so she could only sit there and watch as Marina transformed into a cat, landed on her feet and ran off into the darkness, vanishing among it in mere seconds. Despite nothing but the tranquil street of the Condemned District in front of her, Renata continued staring for a few more seconds, dumbfounded.

What the hell was that?!

And...

...Can I call an Uber to the Condemned District?

[Finland SSR]

"<Let's just go get the stupid phone so we never have to speak to each other again.>"

Don't make promises you can't keep...

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

Okay, so apparently Bael misunderstood her this time, rather than the other way around. Upon hearing her call him an idiot, he immediately took it at face value and began moaning about he has been an idiot for ever wishing to talk to her and trying to explain to her why her point of view is wrong. Apparently, this has had so much impact on him that he is starting to enter an emotional crisis of some sort. He doesn't know why he is doing the things he is doing and that's apparently driving him mad.

What?

<"Okay, Bael, hold up."> Sina spoke, sitting down on the edge of the rooftop next to him. Sure, he spoke about leaving to get that damn phone which started the conversation, but she's got something to address first. <"You're an idiot, but I'm not calling you an idiot for that. Hell, you trying to convince me that something is wrong is probably the bravest thing you've done in front of me, and that's pretty big for someone who has been the complete opposite of bravery so far.">

That's not to say that it wasn't annoying as hell to see Bael verbally assault her and act like he's the smarter and more responsible one during this whole conversation. But at least, for a while, he looked like he was actually standing his ground against someone of equal footing, even if only in an argument.

Sina's eyes trailed off to the street below their feet.

<"I mean, yeah, it's a futile fight, but if you're gonna be giving up on something as simple as an argument... Well, you know, if you're trying to fly somewhere, you're never going to manage it if you're just going to fold your wings at the first opportunity.">

That's what her father would say sometimes, usually literally, sometimes metaphorically.

Psh. As if she would actually allow herself be convinced by Bael's arguments, though. It's just a guy brought up in a completely sterile environment trying to convince her that his sterile way of life is somehow more moral.

Sina stood back up on her feet and spoke:

<"Yeah, alright, let's just go get that phone. You sure you still want to do something after that, though?">

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina is not so bad after all

To say that this had gone poorly would be putting it mildly. Why the hell did he feel so awful? Sina was a criminal, right? Though her sitting down with him and even being, relatively speaking, at least a little understanding. Even telling him that his arguing with her was "brave" somehow. Apparently last night where he was fighting a hi powered mech suit in hand to hand combat wasn't brave. Sure, he was a little awkward, and apparently Sina considered that cowardice for some reason. "<You do realize I was never trying to convince you to stop right? I was only trying to explain why I thought and felt the way I did.>" He started. "<And remind me of how exactly I was a coward? Or rather, the opposite of bravery? Being a little bad at talking to people isn't cowardice to most rational people.>"

"<On top of that. If what you thought I was trying to convince you of was completely futile. Then why are you telling me to keep trying? There's a difference between doing something objectively impossible and trying something that can be done, but requires multiple attempts. There's a difference between practice and wasting time. You kept operating under the impression that I was trying to convince you to stop, when I said at least twice that I knew that there was no way that was going to happen and I knew it.>"

She finished by standing up, asking him if he still wanted to go get the phone and maybe even do something after. He waited a moment and shrugged, still quite conflicted and frustrated at everything. "<I don't know... Why would you want to hang out with a cowardly idiot like me anyways?>"

[Absolon-7]

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!

Casimir Herman July 24th
Casimir was satisfied his goading of Ash had worked excellently after all he made the goading so of course it would work. The moth girl sounded more then ready for her first step at being a hero as she seemingly imitated Casimir's previous tone in explaining her resolve for the interview. If she kept this attitude up then things should go well considering Naja's laissez-fare attitude in running the team. Although sometimes Casimir had to wonder if she was too free reigning after all she had let second class cowards like Park and Mike onto the team or that freeloader Tadeo. Thankfully Ash had all the traits he thought could do well in hero work or at least bud into so. Although, he'd have to work in getting her to not attack in nondiscriminatory manner like how she did with Renata.

"Just as I expected," confidently said Casimir imitating her crossed arms, "Now let's get going. Ready. Set. March!" Casimir waved her to follow him to Naja's office and soon enough the Tower's winding hallways led them to the front door of her office.

"After you're done here I'll come and show you other parts of the tower. Just so you know where all the important parts are, alright?," said Casimir. After hearing her response Casimir opened the door to see Naja look up from some paperwork. "Hello, I brought the moth girl I told you about in the morning."

"Ah, I wondering when you would. Ask the dear to come in and sit would you?," said Naja indicating with her eyes a pair of chairs in front of her work desk.

Casimir stepped aside to let Ash have a way inside while he held the door open, "This is where I'll be taking my leave," he said turning to Ash, "So uhm see ya later."

[Finland SSR]

Wyatt

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

---

<"What's the problem with trying to do something futile?"> Sina spoke up immediately after Bael's complaints about being complimented for trying to convince her. <"Fighting bad guys is futile, too, more of them are always gonna pop up, and yet you, me and all the other vigilantes and heroes go out of their way to fight them regardless. Clearly there is something else at play there - so why not here, either?">

What was at play in the minds of vigilantes and heroes who fight crime despite it, ultimately, being futile? Sina couldn't specify, it's definitely something subjective. For her, it would be the adrenaline high she goes through in every fight and the enjoyment she squeezes out of it - but she was sure that someone like Bael would disagree with that. Or present different motivations.

After the conversation finally moved on to something which wasn't both sides constantly misinterpreting the other's words for increasingly annoying results, Bael went out of his way to berate himself by asking why she would want to go out with a "cowardly idiot" like him, anyways. Way to take what she says at face value, idiot.

<"Well..."> the vigilante muttered, stumbling over her words for a second, then sighed. <"You know how you said that you have no idea why you even signed up for any of this and why you should bother with me? Honestly, I'm kinda in the same boat. Well, I mean, I can think of a few things. You're still the only Dra'Quinni I've met in this city, and I don't have many others to talk to. And the way how you act completely opposite from what you look like... honestly, it's really amusing to watch. I'm not making fun of you in my mind, though! Well, I'm trying not to, at least.">

With... questionable success, but ignore that.

<"So are we going or what?">

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

"<Well... Something being futile usually implies it being a pointless waste of time that accomplishes nothing.>" Sina brought up the fact that there was always going to be criminals and thugs and for once, he agreed with her. "<But the difference here is at least there's some short term benefit. It's a war of attrition, but if the good guys give up, we're all dead. Meanwhile, I go from wasting my breath and annoying you to... Not doing that.>" He shrugged. Maybe he was a little bit more intense than he wanted to be. At least she didn't seem to be the sociopath he was thinking she was.

AS it turns out, he wasn't the only one who stumbled over his words and even cracked a small smile as Sina fumbled around trying to find out what to say. Mostly explaining that she didn't really know why she was bothering with him either. Other than loneliness. And that she found him to be funny, but not in the way anyone hopes. Just that he supposedly looked much much more... Put together when in fact he was admittedly kind of a dork. At least she tried to make it clear that she wasn't trying to put him down. It made him feel a little better.

Yeah, he was definitely being a moron. "<..I'm sorry. For you know, being like... That.>" He said standing back up. "<Really. I've always been kind of a mess. Side effect of being raised around humans I guess. I don't know if your parents showed you this...>" He stopped, putting his hand on her shoulder. "<But apparently, to us, this is a sign of trust... And hopefully friendship. So yes. I'd like to go do something after getting you a phone.>"

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

If Red had sense of humor left in him, he would have probably chuckled at Seristella's confusion over his name. It was always interesting for those whom he greeted to hear the name of a color rather than a person when he introduced himself, but for many reasons he preferred to use the nickname rather than his real name when possible.

Instead, however, he forced a small grin to appear on his face, almost as if he was embarrassed at the fact. The two exchanged words in what was apparently their native tongue, at least from what Red could recall from Kirisvala's songs she used in combat. He did his best not to scowl at the fact that they were undoubtedly speaking with no good intentions, and instead did make it appear as if he was still paying attention to the two while he made quick glances over to Yoshiro standing beside him, who seemed more than pleased at the interaction going on before her.

"I take it you're one of the dear friends my little sister keeps talking about, then?"

"I suppose not a lot of people on the team would call me by such an affectionate title, but yes, I'm a member of the Young Bloods." He glanced around, doing his best to keep on his neutral composure while on the inside wanting nothing more than to leave the current situation. He had easily noted the change in demanor Kirisvala had shown him, and while he couldn't understand what she said in her native tongue, her tone was all he needed to confirm his suspicions that his presence was not welcome. Not to mention, he could feel the protruding eyes of her sister staring down at him, judging him with no doubt an impression of worthlessess. When combined with a girlfriend currently being possessed with a demon, it was at bare minimum enough for him to leave, if not disappear to his room and drink the rest of his stashe.

"Well, I think maybe I should just try and get some rest instead of drinking coffee. It was nice meeting you, Seristella," he said with a nod, turning around in preparation to leave the kitchen when all of a sudden he felt a hand wrap around his wrist. A hand he was very familiar with, and one which the current owner had no right in using.

"What is it, Yoshi?"

[Tomia]

The Mystifying Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower

---

Ash marched along behind Casimir, her chest swollen with pride and the hero’s contagious confidence. Swinging her four arms by her side, she was rearing and ready to go for the interview. After her time spent in the Tower already, and with all of Casimir’s support and advice, she couldn’t wait to blow Naja’s socks off! Just in the past day she had managed to meet some of the team, and had in her mind succeeded in befriending at least a few of them. While she knew that the team’s leader would present a greater challenge than any she had faced before, Ash knew that to face and overcome some challenges was what it meant to be a hero!

Coming to a stop outside of Naja’s office, Ash continued to grin eagerly as Casimir knocked before vanishing inside. Impatient to get started, the girl heard the pair’s voices drift out from the room - even if she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. She wondered if Casimir was introducing her, telling Naja about everything that she had already managed to achieve: her friendship with Wendy, her nice talk with Jane, her poisoning of Mike, her inability to remain in her room...her attempt to lie and cover her tracks...and her battle with the chick.

As Ash’s overactive mind began to drift along its train of thought, her wide smile and anticipation steadily faded. What if Casimir was telling Naja about all of those things? Was she going to be asked to explain them all? Suddenly, Ash felt a feeling of dread and nerves once again begin rising in her chest, pushing aside her confidence like a tsunami crashing ashore. Wait, maybe I am not ready for this...what am I going to say when I go inside? The early signs of a panic caused Ash’s heart to miss a beat. How do I even say hello? Should I call her Naja? Or Mrs. Naja? Or is it Master?

"This is where I'll be taking my leave," Casimir’s voice tore Ash from her reverie, bringing her attention crashing back to the present and catching her like a dear in a pair of headlights. "So uhm see ya later." The hero seemed to be oblivious to the mutant’s growing sense of panic, walking past her with a comforting pat on her shoulder without missing a step. “Knock her dead, alright?”

Wh-what?

Ash’s feet seemed to move of their own accord, pushing her forward despite the feeling of vertigo that was crying out in her mind, until inevitably, suddenly, the office door closed behind her and she was left alone with the leader of the Young Bloods.

“H-hello, I am Ash.” The girl managed weakly, doing her best to force a smile on her face.

“Hi Ash,” Naja replied with a kind and warm smile. “Please, have a seat.” She said, gesturing to the chair across from her desk.

It took a second before Ash realised that the woman was actually talking to her and expected her to move to the open chair. Embarrassed at her paralysis, the mutant hastily moved to the seat. Crossing one pair of arms across her chest while resting the second on her knees, Ash avoided Naja’s gaze, her closed-off body language easily betraying her nerves.

Naja could tell by this girl’s unique background and clearly nervous demeanor that she would have to take a different approach than she had previously. When Ash had finally taken her seat Naja began to speak. “So Ash, I understand you want to join our team here. I’m going to ask you some questions, both to learn more about you and to ensure the Young Bloods is a good fit for you. First, why don’t you tell me why you want to join the Young Bloods?”

Smiling nervously, Ash shifted in her chair as she responded. “Yes, I would very much like to join the team.” Think back to what Casimir told you. Ash tried to think of what Naja wanted to hear, she knew that this was some kind of test and that she had to try her hardest in order to pass. “I want to be a Young Blood like Casimir and the others so that I can help people. Being a hero means that I can learn to use my powers to do good and become a better person. I would like to be someone who is willing to risk themselves for the betterment of others.”

Be honest with her and you’ll be fine…

Casimir’s words suddenly echoed in Ash’s head, causing her words to trail off. Her answer to Naja had been spoken rigidly, as if she were reading from a pre-prepared script. However now, the girl seemed to hesitate as she wondered how to proceed.

“Actually, that is not true. I…” Pausing, Ash seemed to be questioning whether she was making the right choice, before pushing herself past the point of no return. She once again shifted in her seat. “...I want to join the team because I do not have anywhere else to go.” Admitting it caused Ash’s to look to the ground in front of her, embarrassed and feeling like she was really blowing her chances. “I do want to become a hero, really. But I want to be a Young Blood because I like being here in the Tower. I feel safe and welcomed here.”

Naja hadn’t reacted much to Ash’s original response, her facial expression not betraying her thoughts. However when Ash corrected herself Naja’s face softened with concern. Naja was always a sucker for well intentioned orphans, it was a large part of her desire to be in charge of the team in the first place.

“Ash, please look at me.” Naja said softly, her eyes giving off a kind look. “You don’t have to be ashamed. The world isn’t easy for people like us, who look different, or just are different by no fault of our own. What you want is not selfish, everyone wants those things in life and I appreciate your honesty.” Naja said, giving Ash a moment to process things before continuing.

“Now, I want to talk about your history. We found you under fairly… unusual circumstances. Do you know how you ended up in Wonder Foundation? Or what your life was like before you arrived there?”

Naja’s response caught Ash by surprise, the genuine sign of compassion not having been what she was expecting. Following the older woman’s instruction, the mutant turned to look at the heroine properly for the first time. Now that she paused to think about it, Naja was the first person she had met who also didn’t look similar to everyone else.

“I am not sure.” Ash replied honestly, scrunching up her features as she tried to think back to her earliest memories. “I am sorry, but I do not really remember much from before I was with my Handlers.” The realisation was something of a surprise for Ash herself. Not a literal surprise of course, they were her memories after all, but she realised that she had never really considered her past before. Had the collar influenced that part of her as well, keeping her from thinking about where she came from or who she used to be? “I do know that there was a time before, and sometimes I feel as if I recall something or I wake up from a very vivid dream. But it is all so hazy that I have never been able to pin it down.”

Naja nodded along as Ash relayed her experiences, she would have to look into her history but it was no fault of the girl that she didn’t remember. “That’s understandable Ash, hopefully we might be able to help you discover more of your past.” She told her before moving on to her next thought, “So, Casimir is the person who introduced you to us, it seems that the two of you have gotten along since you have met. Tell me, what do you think of him?”

“Oh, Casimir is my friend. We get along very well together!” Ash responded happily, relieved that this question seemed to be a very easy and natural one for her to answer. “I like him very much, and I think that he is kind, funny, compassionate and very heroic. He is the one who told me about what a hero is and made me decide that I want to eventually become one like him.” The girl seemed to pause for a second, recalling her earlier interactions with Kabuto. For some reason she felt a hint of colour touching her cheeks, although she didn’t waste her time trying to figure out the strange feeling ensnaring her chest. “He also gave me my name. I look up to him.”

Naja smiled at Ash’s response. “It’s good to see you’ve made a friend. It’s important to have people you can really rely on, especially when you’re a hero. An important part of being on this team is developing relationships with your teammates. So, because of that I have to ask. What is your side of what happened between you and Renata and Mike?”

And that was when the pin dropped.

It was the question which Ash knew had been coming, which had been approaching inevitably like a freight train as she lingered idly on the tracks. Ash had been dreading the moment that Naja would eventually arrive at this topic, and her face fell.

“I am very sorry for my reaction when I met Mike.” She admitted. “I was scared, and I knew that I was doing something which Casimir told me not to do. When I saw him, all I could think about is what would Casimir’s reaction would be if he found out, and I assumed the worst.” Realising how bad this was making her look, Ash hastily added. “I intentionally did not inject enough venom to kill him! I never meant to hurt him or anything, I just wanted him to go to sleep for a bit so that I could think and figure things out. I know now that it was not the right thing to do, though.”

For the second part of the question however, it took Ash a moment to figure out who Naja was referring to as ‘Renata’. Since she was being brought up at the same time as Mike, and in light of the revelation that Casimir had revealed earlier, it could only have been one person.

...the Chick…

“I have not met the Chick after I arrived at the Tower.” Ash admitted, she honestly still had not really spoken a single word to the other woman. “But we did meet her back at the lab. We got into a fight after she flew in from above to attack me and Casimir.” Even though Casimir had told Ash to not be hostile towards this Renata, surely there was no harm in laying her feelings bare? Ash’s brow furrowed as she recalled the event. “I tried to run away, but she used her lasers to shoot my wing. I have not been able to fly since, although I am healing.” The mutant’s wing twitched slightly, the hole in the thin membrane still plainly visible, as well as the burn marks surrounding it. “Casimir said that there was a misunderstanding, though?”

Naja listened as Ash outlined what had happened between her and the two members of the team. Naja was admittedly concerned about this, as she needed to make sure Ash could control herself around others and that she could be cordial with her teammates. She raised an eyebrow at the way she referred to Renata, feeling that was something that needed to be addressed.

“I understand what happened between you and Mike, it seems to me that it was a mistake you don’t intend to repeat. I know much of the world is new and strange to you but in order to be a proper hero you must respond better to change and surprises. As for Renata, I’m a little concerned with the prospect of you two working together. Ash, she thought you were an enemy of hers as much as you felt that way about her. It is unfortunate that you hurt each other, and we will do everything we can to help your wing recover, but you’ll need to move past this if you’re going to join the team. Do you understand that?”

A feeling of panic returned to Ash’s chest as Naja said that she may not be able to join the team. “Yes, I definitely understand and I already promised Casimir that I will not be hostile to Renata.” The mutant added hastily, trying desperately to allay Naja’s fears. “I want to apologise to her like I will with Mike, that way we can all be members of the team. I am also very sorry about what I did, and I promise that I will learn to do better later.” Even if she wasn’t breaking that cardinal pledge she had made to Casimir, Ash felt uneasy as she knew that she was keeping the whole truth from Naja. Could she really work with the Chick? It was a question that she didn’t really know the answer to, but Ash had little choice but to try.

Naja nodded, mostly satisfied with the answer. “I appreciate your earnestness and sincerity. Don’t worry Ash you can relax, I think it’s in your best interest and the team’s for you to stay here with us.” She said, giving the girl a second to take in the news and relax.

As soon as Naja finished, a beaming smile exploded onto Ash’s features and she practically leapt out of her chair. Letting out an excited whoop, the girl looked like she would have taken flight had one of her wings not been damaged. The girl cheered happily and embraced a surprised Naja in a four-armed hug before the woman properly had a chance to react.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Ash exclaimed, squeezing Naja tight enough that her super-strength made the bear-hug slightly uncomfortable. “You will not regret this, Ms. Naja. I will work very hard to become a proper hero and a member of the team.” Realising that she may have overstepped in her excitement, Ash suddenly released Naja before taking a step backwards. Nevertheless, the girl could not quite keep a giddy smile from her features. “I will not let you down.”

Naja was taken aback by Ash’s embrace but reacted to the hug as best she could. It was awkward but Naja couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s enthusiasm at the prospect of joining the team. You’re very welcome Ash, I’m glad to have you aboard. Now take a seat again and let’s continue.” When Ash was seated she continued, “Now that we’ve covered everything, do you have any questions for me Ash?”

Taking a series of breaths in a largely unsuccessful effort to calm herself down, Ash’s thoughts had already moved back to excitedly imagining what it will be like to actually be a Young Blood. She still had to meet the rest of the team properly, and she could hardly wait to see what kind of adventures they would all get up to together. However she was caught unaware by Naja’s sudden turning of the tables. The mutant had not expected to be given the chance to ask questions of her own, and a look of puzzlement flashed across her features as she tried to think of something to ask the more experienced hero.

“Why do you look like a lizard?” Ash asked, an innocent curiosity in her tone. It was a simple enough question, although the mutant was entirely unaware of the lifetime of baggage and exclusion that Naja may have associated with it. The plain bluntness with which Ash posed the question painfully lay bare her ignorance. “You kind of look different to everybody else. Are there others like you too?” A thought which had never before occured to Ash suddenly burst into her head, a question so simple that she couldn’t believe that she had never considered it before. Excited, the girl grinned as there was a glimmer in her eye. “Do some people look like me?”

Naja winced a little at Ash’s question. Her self esteem and self image had improved dramatically since her youth, the question stirred up some painful feelings and memories. “Well simply put Ash I was born with a mutation that altered my physical appearance and biology. And while no one looks exactly like me, yes there are others that have animal like appearances, like yourself Ash.” She thought for a moment before shaking her head at Ash’s second question. “No I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone with your appearance Ash. But you are not alone in being different, especially not here. And it’s important for people like us to support each other, it makes things easier believe me.”

Ash nodded politely to Naja’s response, although inwardly she found herself slightly perplexed. What did she mean by her not being different alone? Everyone who Ash had met so far, from Mike to Casimir to Naja had been different from one-another. Even back when she had been at the Wonder Foundation, her Handlers and the people she saw on missions had their distinguishing features. Although she had to admit that she couldn’t tell her Handlers apart when they wore their funny bunny suits. Maybe Naja was trying to get at something like that?

“Of course. It is important for friends to all support one another, and I am certain that having a team makes being a hero much easier.” Ash’s reply seemed to miss the key, unspoken meaning behind Naja’s words, but the mutant continued to offer the woman a friendly smile. “It is good to know that I will not be alone with the Young Bloods, too.”

Naja got the feeling Ash hadn’t fully comprehended her words, but she decided it wasn’t the best time to have that conversation. “Well, I’m glad to hear that Ash, once again welcome to the team.” Naja said, offering her hand to shake. “You can go now, and maybe try to spend some time getting to know the rest of your teammates. I’ll be in touch to see how you are adjusting soon.”