Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

Well, now he knew that he really needed to start working on flying on top of everything else. Though it was a lower priority to everything else he had to do. The course was really showing him that he needed to learn how to better make turns. Before now, he'd never given it a second thought since navigating the city was fairly straightforward.

Coming up on the barriers, the first requiring him to duck down a little, which wasn't hard, but he had to pull up right after. Which he did, but a bit too sharply, causing him to nearly stall and requiring him to flap his wings and lose a good chunk of speed as he just barely made it over the second barrier. He caught a glimpse of the others in front of him, several others were having similar problems, save for Sina maybe one or two others who were more than able to get passed without too much difficulty.

He dived back down a bit to go under the next with little issue, when he heard the THUNK of someone plastering themselves into the barrier and dropping down. He looked down just after he cleared to see someone who indeed failed to make it over and was caught by what looked like some sort of magical net, and was lowered gently to the ground. He winced at the thought, hopefully he didn't break anything when he hit the barrier.

He looked forward and around to see that other than a fairly generous turn for lap two, it was obstacle free. The one thing he could do with any degree of efficacy was go fast in a relatively straight line. The second he was free of the vertical barrier, he caught the considerable gap between him, Sina and everyone in between.

He flicked on the metaphorical turbo and shot forward to catch up to his friend and make sure he didn't look like a complete amateur.

Casimir

He tried his best to hold the guy down but he was completely caught off guard by just how tough Casimir actually was. Despite the fact that he actually thought he went overboard in his retaliation, Casimir was still more than able to keep going, even going as far as to try to kick him in the face while trying to wrest Bael's hand off his face.

The latter of which he succeeded in doing via a solid kick to the head that made reflexively recoil and release Casimir from his grasp. He took a few steps back, debating his next move. Casimir always tended to rush at him and try to hit that way, taking advantage of his speed and strength. So Bael decided to mimic that strategy and charged at the Polack, throwing a flurry of blows, though with much greater power and speed than the first time.

[Finland SSR]

Shihong Smith

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

September 12th

---

Shi was relentless. After Renata's lament that she did not want to leave her teammate dead and yet didn't feel as much remorse as she should have in the heat of the moment... she moved on to directly accuse that Renata was a some sort of unknowing mastermind. That she challenged Shi with the sole purpose of not just testing out her Gauntlet, not just humiliating a competitor, but eliminating her completely. Building upon that foundation, she continued by pretty much declaring that she was in the right here.

Her words were starting to turn into a barely comprehensible blur, meshing together with all the other sounds surrounding her, be it the familiar buzz of the plane's engines, or the voices of Mizu and Viviana on the other side of the plane. Renata didn't even wait until Shi finished all she had to say - the pink-haired girl started muttering to herself in Spanish, before switching back to English, speaking:

"I'm not a murderer, I'm not a murderer, I'm not a murderer... I'm a hero..."

The best method of coping is always to assure yourself that nothing went wrong. Renata offered a glare towards Shi over her shoulder. She didn't respond to being implicated to murderous levels of hatred, or being offered to make amends and start their relationship anew. Instead, she simply stared for a few seconds, not sure if she should be angry, confused or afraid, then simply turned to her side and shut up. This time for good.

---

Bael

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

Getting through the vertical gap was as easy as saying one, two, three. Sina had to fly though enough ravines in the Rockies back in her day to deal with the obstacle at hand - and most of her peers apparently did, too. What unfolded afterwards was a rather simple turn, free of any obstacles - which was good, because Sina's attention got suddenly distracted by a loud thump reaching her ears from the distance behind her. Someone's not coming home with a prize.

"Bael, did you just-" the vigilante was about to call out, assuming that her peer's far from perfect flight skills got him, only to see that the young Elder was rapidly advancing. While she was still in the first half of all the competitors, Bael was last, but was putting his speed to his advantage in the obstacle free turn. "Oh, right."

Right, maybe I shouldn't have thought the worst of him...

Hey, if he is accelerating, she's gotta do so too! Staying in the air and having fun was great and all, but she's gotta win, too! Sina hastened the pace of her wings, seeking to reach at least third place before the obstacles start again.

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

Hopefully nobody suspected too much about his sudden burst of speed. Plenty of people could fly in a straight line really fast, but not be good at the finer movements, right? He shook off the doubts and focused on speeding up as much as he could. With some legitimate success. The gap between him and Sina closed somewhat, as he passed from being near last to now in the middle of the pack. As much as he didn't want to admit it, this was probably a much better idea than trying to drag Sina to a history museum, and admittedly probably a little more fun too.

They passed onto the second lap without much fanfare, which caused him to slow a little bit, knowing that the rings were coming up next. He caught a glimpse at them and saw that they not only had swapped positions, but were now at different elevations. His eyes widened a bit upon seeing it. It made sense to keep the race interesting, who would watch to watch a bunch of people fly in the exact same way for several laps? And this was just the amateur race, he could only imagine how difficult the professional track would be.

He elected to get one more burst of speed to try to get through the rings so fast that no one had the chance to get in the way or otherwise impede him.

[Charmera]

Makenzie
Three Hours? I suppose it could be worse. Makenzie thought to herself as she laid back in her plane seat somewhat, She recalled the long flight to get to Japan and the long flight back. They were both fairly long haul trips, at 11 hours apiece, but Makenzie wondered if they felt especially long because of the import of each of them. They were both fairly major steps in her life.

Was she revoking that last step then? Her last decision to swear off the life of the sword entirely seemed to be so long ago now, despite the fact it had been only a few months. She had intended to keep to it, but that nagging feeling of a smothering dread that was not very definable had convinced her she should at least heed Angelica's offer.

If this tournament thing goes to shit, I suppose there's no harm in backing out. Just looking at the Young Blood seemed to confirm her feelings. Most of them lacked the disipline of seasoned heroes, it was evident to anyone who looked at them and looked at the competition. But still, there was something intangible about them that made Makenzie feel they could beat the odds.

Probably some sort of 'Underdog Falacy' as my master called it.

Suddenly Makenzie noticed a pale young woman sitting nearby. She briefly recalled that the woman was called Cassandra, though the imediate and somewhat rushed introduction she had with the team had left her with few details to hang onto.

Isn't she some sort of... robot?

Cassandra
Cassandra had been very quiet recently. It would be quite hard to spot that she had been so, mostly as she was typically quite reserved anyway. Cassandra's manner, however, had not been reservedness so much as complete silence. She had been so quiet ever since she had recieved a certain message from a certain individual and had a conversation with someone else she had never thought she would see again. Her memory cast back to that point, and she recalled the words she had been told.

"You don't belong with them. It was not what you were made for."

"I was created for service, to defend-"

"The weak? To protect others? To run around in a cape and fight bankrobbers? Are you truly so simple as to think that is why you were made?"

"Then enlighten me, what was I made for?"

"One thing, child. You were made-"

"Excuse me?"

Cass felt her thoughts interupted by someone sitting behind her. She turned her head slightly to indicate awknoledgement.

"Yeah, do you know if we can get anything to eat or drink on this plane?" Spoke a young woman behind her, a newcomer to the team. Makenzie was her name.

Cass paused, normally she would reply with politeness and courtesy, even getting a drink if she could. This time she simply responded with nothing, as if she were unable to respond.

Makenzie paused, then leaned back. She seemed annoyed and a bit disapointed. "I'll take that as a no then."

[United Kingdom of Poland]

August 11th
Wendy took a second to calm her nerves as she walked into the Ocean’s Eleven Casino. Orion’s shadow leader hadn’t wasted any time putting her too work, sending her to hack four computers at the Coronado Naval Base. He’d also included a short time limit, with her needing to deliver the information to a dead drop location at the casino in two days’ time.

She’d immediately informed Roy and Naja about the task, letting them send it up to her old FBI “friend” Murray and the other appropriate government agencies, before getting to work. Maybe that was why it had been so easy for her to gain access to the computers with an old laptop she’d bought at a pawn shop. Well, she hoped it was that the Navy had let her in, or several officers needed refresher courses on computer security. It hadn’t taken more than 15 minutes for the targets to take the bait on the fishing emails she’d sent to them.

Now came the hard part. She hadn’t made a fake ID in years, and while Casino’s were even worse than banks when it came to security. Heading over to the cashiers desk, she buying a hundred dollars worth of 5 dollar poker chips and made her way to the blackjack table, confident all the while that the blond wig and facial prosthetic's she was wearing would keep her from being ID’d by the security system. Sitting down at the table, she began bleeding chips over the next hour to keep avoid suspicion as she the envelope with all her notes on the underside of the table.

A small part of her thought about running the table given her dad had taught her how to count cards at blackjack, but winning drew the attention of the camera’s and she could do anything to them as long as the were being monitored by a who team of security experts. Finally loosing the last of her chips, she walked away from the table and the dead drop, disappearing into the crowd at the front entrance with her mission complete… and hopefully her foot in the door at Orion.

[Bentus]

Lisette Aveline - The Nefarious Marionette!
August 5th
The Aveline Estate, San Diego

---

Bursting into her room, Lisette couldn’t wipe the excited grin from her face. Tossing the suitcase she had just stolen from the Wonder Foundation onto her lavish bed, the girl wasted no time in walking over to the police scanner that sat quietly by her desk. Turning up the device’s volume so that the radio chatter of San Diego’s ‘finest’ filled the air, Lisette hummed happily to herself as she still felt the adrenaline from her most recent mission. Catching a glance of herself in full costume in her mirror, the girl paused as she considered her own reflection.

With idle chatter from the police scanner serving as white noise, the heiress twirled herself around, giggling as the pink skirt of her costume waved about her knees. Seeing the girl that was staring back at her, she took a deep breath before letting out a satisfied sigh. Even though she felt the aches and fatigue eating at her muscles, Lisette felt a surge of pride as she considered all that she had achieved these past few weeks. Weatherman’s schedule was demanding, but true villainy never rested on its laurels and each mission was another opportunity for her to prove herself.

Robberies, heists, clandestine meetings, the girl had nearly lost track of the amount of times that Weatherman had sent her halfway across the city to help bring his fledgling scheme to fruition. Lisette felt like she had never worn her costume for such an extended period in her life. But despite feeling tired and wanting nothing more than a nice, relaxing shower to end the day, she couldn’t have been happier: this is what it felt like to be a real villain. With that final thought, Lisette switched off the police scanner - having determined that they hadn’t picked up on her trail following her break-in to the Wonder Foundation. With silence once again filling her room, she plopped herself inelegantly onto her bed and finally allowed her fatigued limbs some much-needed rest. Rolling over onto her back, she lazily unzipped her costume’s boots and kicked them off of her aching feet with a sigh at the immediate feeling of relief. Lying as she was on her bedspread, Lisette decided that it couldn’t hurt to close her eyes before she checked in with Weatherman to confirm her latest success. She wasn’t going to fall asleep or anything, just take a few seconds to collect herself. Slowly, the girl’s eyelids began to droop as a yawn escaped her lips. Inevitably, the sweet embrace of sleep proved to be too much, and Lisette’s chest began to steadily rise and fall where she lay.

And then suddenly, the loud ringing of her phone tore her from her blissful reverie. As her eyes burst open, the girl shot upright as she looked in horror at the morning Sun peeking in between her curtains. Her jaw dropped in surprise as her mind struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. There was no way that she could have dozed off for the whole night. She felt like she had lied down mere moments ago! Stunned into paralysis, Lisette totally forgot about her buzzing phone until the ringing became even more incessant. Dread gripped the girl’s chest as she flung herself in shambles off of her bed, frantically running around and overturning her room as she searched for her phone before she missed the call.
Emptying her purse onto her desk, Lisette sighed in relief as she saw her phone fall among the pile of her belongings. Grabbing the device and answering the call without a moment’s hesitation, she quickly began her breathless apology before Weatherman had even appeared on her screen.

“OhmygodWeathermanIamsosorryIfeelasleepand-”

“Aha, Marionette, you’re awake! I wanted to congratulate you on your mission last night but it was just too late. Can’t expect real villainy to work without plenty of rest, after all.” Weatherman spoke with his characteristic self-confidence, completely ignoring his sidekick’s initial apology. “But when I woke up to see this,” the man waved a newspaper in the frame of the video, “I knew that I couldn’t waste a second before informing you of the news.”

Marionette blinked in surprise at the man’s words, immediately feeling a sense of relief as he seemed to not have noticed her failure to report in at all. Though she felt a momentary sense of confusion - hadn’t Weatherman insisted that villainy was a full-time job? 24 hours a day, 8 days a week? And...was he wearing his own branded pyjamas?

Pushing aside her immediate thoughts, Lisette forced herself to concentrate on Weatherman’s words as he continued to speak. Now that she was listening properly, she frowned as she realised that he was more animated than usual. “Um, yes of course. What is it? What happened?” As her mind tried to consider the possibilities, Lisette felt a pit forming in her stomach. “I...I didn’t mess anything up, did I? I covered all my tracks, I’m sure of it.”

“No, that’s not it.” Weatherman replied, idly brushing aside the girl’s concern as he quickly flicked through the paper to present a page to the camera. “This is what I wanted to show you.”

Pursing her lips, Marionette paused as she scanned the article that the villain was pointing to. As she did, her eyes widened. “Oh my God, we made the international news?! That’s amazing!” She exclaimed, feeling giddy as the achievement threatened to sweep her feet out from under her. Squeezing her eyes shut before opening them to reread the headline in case she was dreaming, Marionette couldn’t believe that there was an article about her crimes in the international press!

Weatherman shot the girl a scowl as he continued in clear frustration. “No, it’s not amazing. In fact it is an absolute affront! We were relegated to some minor mention on page fifteen. The sheer audacity of whatever so-called editor in charge of this insult makes my blood boil. The Weatherman is not something that you squeeze into page fifteen to fill space!”

Taken aback by the villain’s rant - which was only emphasised as we waved his closed fist in the air in an unspoken threat against the paper’s publisher - Lisette frowned. She supposed that Weatherman’s reaction made sense, but did it really matter if they started off small? And keeping a low profile had its use while they were still building up to their main act...but she bit her tongue instead of questioning her mentor. “That’s...awful.” She eventually managed, but paused as a thought struck her. “But if we were on page fifteen, what made it onto the front page?”

Weatherman was about to respond when he paused, clearly not having expected the question and not even having bothered to remember the front page story. Shrugging, he turned the newspaper in his hands to take a look at the main headline. What he saw only caused his anger to intensify. “Great. It’s all about Warwolf and those Small Bloods - looks like something happened last night between them.”

“The Young Bloods?” Lisette replied, surprised to hear that the San Diego team had done something that had gotten them such good publicity. “What did they do?”

A scoff escaped from her mentor’s lips as he scanned the page.

“Well, it looks like Warwolf kidnapped the Mayor. The kids worked with a few pro teams to help resolve the crisis - though it sounds like the Stars did most of the heavy lifting.”

Immediately, there was a twinkle in Lisette’s eye at the news. “The Young Bloods had a team up with the Stars?” She exclaimed, her imagination racing with thoughts of Kiris and Red, or Nightshade and Quake all tag-teaming some diabolical foes.

“Yeah, looks like it.” Weatherman replied, clearly unaware of the awe that was plastered over Lisette’s expression. Continuing to read the article, the man raised an eyebrow. “Oh, seems like the Cabal also made their move. Although those con-artists seemed to have crashed and burned. Only took some of the Young Bloods to take them down, even without any help from the professionals.”

At the mention of the Cabal, Lisette got yanked back into the present as her gaze narrowed. She frowned at the reference to the trio of villains, unwanted memories threatening to surface in the back of her mind. The Cabal were taken down? Does that mean… The thought lingered on, and the strange muddle of emotions that rolled around in Lisette’s chest was not what she had expected. Word of Hex getting his just-dessert for ruining their night before should have sent her over the moon, with revenge usually being one of her favourite pieces of news. But instead, Lisette felt something else entirely. And she didn’t like that. Not at all.

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to redouble our efforts.” Weatherman spoke, sighing as he rolled up the paper. “If they refuse to take us seriously, then we’ll just have to show them what we’re capable of. I’ll send you your next mission later today, but until then be sure to continue your training. Once we have everything, nobody in this city will be able to stand up to my plan.”

Catching herself distracted, Lisette nodded firmly in response. “Right. I won’t let you down, Weatherman.”

The villain cracked a smile, pleased at his sidekick’s response. “Keep up the effort, Marionette. Determination and commitment: these are both traits of a real villain! I’ll contact you later.” And with that, the call went dead.

But Lisette didn’t pull away from her phone immediately. Instead she allowed her mouth to drop into a frown as she tried to make sense of her chaotic thoughts. Closing the video calling app and flicking to the latest news, she scrolled through the headlines until she found details on Hex’s capture. She scoffed as it looked like he’d sacrificed himself for his boring teammates. Running her eyes over the text, she chided herself for even caring what happened to the idiot. He’d been awful, and selfish, and just plain rude. And yet, she’d always thought that he wouldn’t have given up so easily.

Biting her lip, Lisette could hardly believe what she was considering. He deserved what had happened, let him deal with his own mess. But no matter how much she chided herself, she knew that her mind had already been made up. Jeez, why’s he gotta be such a pain? She thought to herself, groaning in frustration as she pulled a piece of paper and an envelope from her desk.

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

---

On the plane ride...

Red glanced over out of his window seat, doing his best not to look over to his left where Yoshiro remained sitting. While the fact that Yoshiro was back to her normal self, at least somewhat, made him feel a much needed sense of relief, a weighing sense of guilt had been placed on him ever since they had returned. He couldn't help but think what he saw as a punishment against Yoshiro was more his fault than anything.

His mind had been running through countless alternative decisions he could have made to have things not go the way they could, in which the whole mess they got involved in could have been avoided completely. He knew that such mindless thoughts were pointless, but he still couldn't help but think he hadn't done enough and it was now Yoshiro that had paid the price.

Closing his eyes, Red let out a small frustrated sigh as he tried to shake the sensation of guilt away. However, these attempts proved futile, so he eventually settled on pulling out a pair of headphones so that he could listen to something to hopefully garner his attention for the reminder of the flight. Scrolling through the various playlists on his music folder, his eyebrows furrowed as nothing there seemed appealing to him at all. Frustrated even further, he finally gave up on the idea and instead tried to close his eyes and try to get some rest instead. God knows I could use some sleep, Red thought to himself, the countless nights of practically zero sleep starting to weigh down on him. Even after they had rescued Yoshiro, his thoughts had still kept him from getting any meaningful sleep, which meant the only thing keeping him alive at this point was some fresh Columbian coffee, much to the disdain of the other redhead on the team.

For some time, he kept his eyes closed, willing himself to try to fall asleep as he curled up in his seat in an attempt to get more comfortable. It took much longer than he wanted, but eventually he began to feel himself slowly starting to drift into sleep. That was, at least, until he suddenly heard the sound of someone sitting down in the seat next to him, followed by one of the last voices he wanted to hear from at the moment.

“You still awake, Red?” Roy said, his voice slightly muffled by Red’s headphones. In response, Red cracked open his eyes to glare over at the team’s leader.

“I am now, no thanks to you,” he replied, his voice filled with a notable sense of irritation. Straightening back up in his seat, Red warily eyed the boy next to him, wondering what he wanted from him. Probably wants to just chew my ass for everything that happened, he guessed seeing as he had yet to receive any kind of punishment for him disappearing from the team once again.

Roy, however, seemed to not display any sign of irritation towards Red, at least nothing outside of the usual look of exasperation he had when talking to him. Instead, Roy held a look of worry on his face, something Red hadn’t seen directed towards him before.

“Is everything okay, Red? Ever since you guys got back, you’ve seen...distant,” Roy finally said, his words trailing off as he seemed to have difficulty in expressing his feelings on Red’s behavior.

Red’s gaze narrowed. “Sorry, I’ve been a little too tired as of late to do my normal routine of baking cookies for everyone and singing kumbaya at the bonfire at night,” Red replied, the sarcasm in his voice as clear as day.

Roy rolled his eyes at the sarcastic response. “Ya, we’ve all missed that about you, Red,” he answered, his voice having a slight sense of sarcasm in it as well. However, this tone soon changed back to that of concern when he continued. “I’m talking about you and Yoshi.”

Red’s expression hardened at the mention of Yoshiro. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wonder Boy,” he replied stubbornly, which only seemed to worry Roy further.

“Red, I know you were probably stressed for some time with dealing with this. Heck, it shook me to the core when I found out, and that was a long time after you apparently found out,” Roy said, continuing to press on.

“And what about it?” Red asked, his tone still stubborn as ever.

“Well, now everything’s back to normal and I don’t think I’ve seen you getting within ten feet of Yoshiro since you’ve gotten back,” Roy said, waving his hand towards Yoshiro to illustrate his point. Red’s eyes hovered over to where Yoshiro and the other girls were sitting, his gaze lingering at the back of Yoshiro’s head before returning them back to Roy. He remained silent for some time, almost to the point that Roy was ready to give up, when he finally spoke.

“Look Wonder Boy, it’s not like I’m not happy that she’s back. Hell, I’m happier than Alexis in a Build-A-Bear workshop. But it’s just that I feel…” Red’s voice trailed off as he tried to find the right words to say.

“Guilty?”

Red’s eyes glanced over to where Yoshiro was sitting once more before finally nodding.

“Yeah, that’s probably it.”

Roy gave Red an understanding nod in response to the hard fought confession. “I guess I can’t blame you. While God knows you can be an asshole from time to time...” Roy paused, nodding as he seemed to be recollecting all the things Red had said and did in the past, “...or maybe almost all the time, you’re still responsible enough to feel guilt when you mess up.”

Roy’s expression softened a bit as a small teasing smile appeared on his lips. “Which you do a lot,” he said in a joking manner.

Red rolled his eyes at the final comment. “Don’t have to tell me twice, Wonder Boy.”

Roy’s smile faded as he returned to a more serious expression. “Look Red, I know you feel as if you could’ve done more. As heroes, that’s the mindset we all have, even me. But if you want to keep your head above water, you can’t let those thoughts weigh you down.” Roy paused, before giving Red a light punch to the shoulder. “Besides, if you keep up the moping act I’m going to be forced to make you sing kumbaya at the bonfire.”

Red paused for a few moments, before a small grin appeared on his face. “Hey, it’ll be your eardrums that’ll pay the price,” he replied, the response seeming to amuse Roy enough to feel content to leave. Before he exited the seat, however, Red had one last thing to say.

“And hey by the way, I’m going to remember you calling me an asshole. Next time we end up sparring really get to see how much of an asshole I can be, Wonder Boy.”

Roy took the challenge with a sense of amusement. “Keep telling yourself that, Red.”

With Roy now gone, Red glanced over once more at Yoshiro, who was busy chatting with the other girls a few rows in front of him. As much as he hated to admit it, Roy was right. He needed to stop overthinking things so much. I’ll make sure we talk when we get settled in at the tournament, Red vowed to himself with a nod before finally closing his eyes once more, feeling much more relaxed as he had been before. It didn’t take long for him to finally fall asleep, his body thanking his mind for finally doing what needed to be done.

[Tomia]

Mars
Mars nodded to Wyatt, "Sparring would be good. I've run a lot of simulations, but actually testing things out would be helpful." He told his squad leader. Mars felt a little guilty that he hadn't been attending as many training exercises as other members of his squads. Still it was necessary, given that having Rocket was necessary for Mars' participation in the tournament and as a hero in general.

Mars grinned when Casimir seemed enthusiastic about Rocket 2.0. "I know, I'm really excited to show off what Rocket can do now that he is new and improved." Mars told his friend before chuckling at his idea for a whip sword. "Well, I'd love to see that. Could you imagine people's faces if they had to fight an ant sword?"

The Team
For the next three hours the team chatted, slept, watched movies, and generally killed time as they flew towards the east coast. Once that time had passed, the plane slowly lowered to the ground. Landing in John F Kennedy airport, Naja instructed the team to grab their bags and head off the plane. It was a somewhat chilly afternoon in New York, especially compared to San Diego and though there was no rain in the forecast the sky was cloudy and blocked the sun.

Naja advised the team members who were disguising their identities to dawn their masks as they walked through the airport, and as she expected there was in fact small crowd waiting for them outside. It was a mix of reporters and eager fans. The fans cheered loudly as the team exited their plane, waving signs as security guards keep them behind ropes.

After exiting the airport they made their way to the parking lot where three limousine's were waiting for them, courtesy of their sponsor Jordan Scott. Naja entered the lead car and the team filled out the vehicles in groups before heading off for the NASL stadium. The stadium was nearby in the county of Queens, and was an impressive sight to behold. The home turf of the Freedom Fighters was a large open stadium that could hold just under 100,000 people. Often called, "Freedom's Nest" the stadium was only a few years old and its facilities were all state of the art. As the team pulled into the parking lot just outside the private team locker rooms, they all got a clear look at the massive crowd that was converging on the stadium.

As the team piled out, Naja gave them a smile.

"Welcome to the NASL boys and girls. The opening ceremony will start in about forty five minutes. You should use the time to change and get ready. The press will likely want to talk to you, fans will too. Feel free to engage but be careful, you don't want to give them any sound bites to harp on. Meet back outside our locker room in forty minutes fully dressed. Until then, feel free to head to league lobby and mingle with the other teams, or get yourself something to eat at the buffet they've set up for the participants. Once the ceremony starts, we'll know who exactly we'll be competing against."

With that, the team was sent off on their own, and Mars and Roy headed to the men's part of the Young Bloods locker room. There they both got into uniform. Roy was in his classic black and blue look, while Mars was in his light red mech suit. It wasn't nearly as big and bulky as Rocket but still well concealed his identity.

Once they were both changed, the team leader asked the boy genius what he had in mind of doing.

"Well, I kind of want to look around the stadium." He replied and Roy couldn't help stifle a laugh.

"Mars, that's a good way to get trampled. We're heroes now, celebrities. Going off into the crowd would start a fan girl riot."

Mars thought for a moment before replying. "Well, what if we didn't look like ourselves?" He asked which raised an eyebrow from Roy. "Alexis and I took a crack at replicating Wyatt's cloaking technology a few weeks back, and I brought a few along with me just in case people needed it." Mars said, pulling what looked like two watches out of his bag.

"Well, I have to hand it to you Mars, you really are a genius."

Meanwhile Angelica had entered the girls locker room with the others. She approached Alexis, Yoshi, and Viv, her closest friends on the team and her squad mates. "So... Anything in particular you three want to do with our free time?" She asked. She wasn't particularly thrilled to be around the epitome of hero society, but she figured it would be easier to deal with if she had her friends and her girlfriend by her side.

[Absolon-7]

Bael

Casimir Herman earlier in the day
Casimir's face flashed a huge grin as his maneuver had worked flawlessly as expected. As his powerful kick landed right on Wyatt's face and the dra'qunni's hand let go of his face Casimir rolled over to the side as his opponent backed away. He got to his feet and clenched his fists he saw Wyatt come toward him for the final bout. This would be where the conclusion would finally reveal itself and show Casimir as the winner. Sure it was just a simple sparring match but a win in a fight is a win in a fight. Most shocking of all was that he was also impressed by Wyatt's performance. This wasn't the lizard out of water all the way from the team's founding.

Casimir let Wyatt get right up and close to deliver his own whirlwind of attacks and it seemed Wyatt was serious about winning as the very first punch struck Casimir across the face like a runaway train. Casimir retaliated with his own meteor shower worth of punches, blocks, and deflections at Wyatt at a even greater proportion of his strength and speed then he and ever shown in the fight. Like a tiger beetle that blinds itself from the intensity of its hunt an ecstatic Casimir ignored the strikes Wyatt managed to land which if left for much longer could be his downfall. His attempt at a coup de grace would be a single straight jab aimed in the dead center of Wyatt's chest that hurtled forward like a mantis.

YB Lost in New York

Viviana Couture September 12th
In some strange yet not surprising turn of events it took the whole of 2 and a half hours for the trio of Viviana, Ash, and Mizu to get through Victory road and only to get utterly wiped out by the very first Elite Four member. Too wiped out to restart Viv simply suggested they just take a nap which was exactly what she did. She'd have Casi carry her own luggage as she put on her own domino mask and plopped his Kabuto helmet onto his head. As they were getting off the plane Viviana gazed at the small crowd of fans which was honestly sort of intimidating but thankfully it wasn't long before they arrived at the parking lot where three limos waited. Limos!

Viviana spun around to give big hugs to Mizu and Ash before she went off to go sit next to Casimir in one of the limos. The stadium itself was a grand thing and grander still was how packed the parking lot for it was! After some wise words from Naja, Viviana headed with the rest of the girls over to the locker room. Everything looked so new, so elegant, so out of her league! Get your head in the game Viv! This aint your high-school basketball league! After she closed her locker Viviana pinched her cheeks and comically stretched them before she let them snap back in place.

"Oh? What to do what to do?" mumbled Viviana at Angelica's question as she stroked her chin. She smacked her fist onto her palm as an idea got into her head "How bout we head on over to the buffet? And gorge ourselves like African wild dogs! Okay maybe not thaat far. Dont want stomach cramps."

[Aidannadia]

*delete*

[The Republic of Atria]

Casimir

Casimir was far tougher than his frame would have indicated, as he was striking him with far more force than he did normally and the human just took it. Not only that, he started throwing his own blows back. They hurt, but he couldn't break, not now. He would never hear the end of it from Casimir. If he had to keep this up until one of them broke, he would just just that. The good news was that he didn't have to, Casimir jumped back, launching himself at Bael not unlike a human spear.

Where he was once uncertain what he should do, was now replaced with reflexes honed from Orro showing him how to dodge and disarm someone coming at him with a thrusting weapon. How convenient that he used a spear to teach him how to do it. Before he even knew what was happening, his body was already taking the proper action. Moving just to the side, letting Casimir's blow slide along his body as he grabbed a hold of his wrist, using his own force against him, forced him farther into the direction where he'd launched himself.

With his other hand, he grabbed back of the Polack's head and forced him into the ground, placing him into an arm bar while holding him down. It was almost surreal, it had happened and he only realized what exactly he'd done a second after he'd done it. "I think I got you." Wyatt spoke as he started to catch his breath and let the adrenaline wear off.

[Galnius]

Dan: Night Before The Tourney
Outside the Aveline household stood a young man in a rather stylish suit. Adorning it was a white rose corsage, and for all respects he was the stereotypical idea of every parent's dream. That is, of course, until you got above the neck. A grin of mischief and victory adorned a jaw decorated by light brown stubble. Even in the dark of night(ignoring the house's lights and the moon), the figure wore sunglasses. He was Daniel McHarris, and he was ready for the best week of his life so far. With that came a bonus. He had left one of his other's behind to watch over the city in his absence, but the real fun would come after. He seemed to have full access to annoying the heiress of the house he was visiting, and on top of that, he may get her cooperation for another scheme.

Removing the sunglasses as he approached the porch, Daniel examined the house once again. It was quite opulent, which did not surprise him knowing who the Aveline's were. He wondered if the two business moguls were even here, now. They seemed to have more in common with Daniel than their daughter, so if he had to guess they were probably skiing in Prague or gambling in Jamaica. Not that it mattered, he was not here for them. Finally reaching the step in his lazy gate, he placed one hand his pocket and used the other one to signal his arrival. He wondered what awaited him at the other side of the door. Perhaps the heiress was waiting excitedly, or maybe she was still packing fervently? Or, perhaps more likely, she was impatiently wondering where the hell Daniel was. Well, here he was, and he brought the best parts of hell with him.
_____________________________________________________
Mikaela Mynd,during time skip
Mikaela was furious. She knew it didn't make too much sense, but it didn't really matter too much to her that it failed to. Arin was hanging out with her new 'teammates' again, a bunch of 'heroes' who hid behind their identities behind masks. Cowards, the lot of them, and now Arin was joining them. Well, she would be back where she belonged if Mika had anything about it.

Grabbing her camera, she investigated the photos she had already taken of people who just seemed to love to show off their powers. Most of them were useless, naturally. A person who could hide their features behind a mist, another who could fly with bright wings that gave away wherever they were, and some idiot who could stretch. Nothing she could use to take on Arin, let alone the Young Bloods. She needed real power, and she would get it. With that, she took her phone and camera and set off into the night, using her mom's car.

What Mikaela needed was an actual hero or villain, and with all the other failings of her previous photos, they were good for that at least. When she ensured the car was parked at a perfectly secluded area, she activated her first photo, taking to the air. The brightness of the wings, thankfully, was toned down. The raven haired girl thanked her power's limitations for once.

It was with some scouting that Mika finally found something. Some...man, she supposed, was fighting quite well. She couldn't tell if they were good or bad, but she felt safe at the rooftop she finally perched on. Besides, he was too distracted to see her, right? It was getting too late to find something else, anyway. Activating her second ability to shroud her features in case any cameras besides her own were in the area, she went to work. She was unsure what his power was (perhaps just super strength? She couldn't tell but it did seem to be enhanced), but the man certainly did seem to be winning. Mika, excitedly, did forget one key thing however. In order to take better pictures in this dark, she had left on the flash...
________________________________________________________
Andrew Donovan

The arrival at the airport left Jackrabbit groggy and needing to move. He was accustomed to always being on his feet, and always in motion. A three hour flight just did not do it for him. However, what awaited him quickly rose him from his tired stupor. The stadium was huge, seemingly sparing no expense. Clearly, New York took care of their heroes, and the home team would have a distinct advantage by that alone.

Looking around at his teammates, however, Andrew felt like that advantage was not going to be enough. They were the favorites to win to his knowledge, and for good reason. Captain Quake was nothing if not a powerhouse, and strategically there was none that could combo as well as Red and Blue. Mudslide and Star Queen, on the other hand, could probably deal with a few teams on their own, and Armorer made Tank look like a minivan. Jackrabbit wondered what he himself was supposed to do, but then again, he knew he wasn't too shabby. Perhaps he would only be used in matches that were easily won, like against the kids from the Young Bloods, but anything was better than the sidelines.

Jackrabbit's musings were quickly moved out of his mind with the coming influx of fans and media. He raised his left hand, greeting the crowds. I wonder if any of the people in there are here for me? Oh well, I think I'll explore first thing. Once away from the ambush, he waved to his allies. "I'm going to go check out the stadium. Maybe find a map. I'll see you guys later!"

[Finland SSR]

Mikaela Mynd,during time skip

The Great Floyd Tolson!

September

---

"If you find solace in that fact..."

Floyd backflipped to dodge an energy-infused spear heading his way, then swatted the weapon aside with his sword.

"...You're the first Crimson Host I'll get to kill."

What stood before him was a pink-haired woman with more arms than a normal person could possibly need, wielding a spear ripped with crackling energy at its rip, and rapidly advancing towards him. The swordsman cracked a faint smile, then raised his sword above his head in a defensive formation.

The first strike was heavy descending blow with the woman's energy staff - the weapon collided with Floyd's sword in a powerful clash, neither one yielding and the inhuman strength of both fighters sending shockwaves across the empty street where the two of them fought. The woman immediately continued her offensive by withdrawing her spear and sending an enormous flurry of punches her opponent's way. A bullet hell of fists, and yet Floyd managed to catch up with each and every one of them, either through blocking, deflecting, dodging, or simply cutting his losses sometimes and letting a few strike him. Each individual blow lacked enough force behind it to deal severe damage, it was the attack as a whole which was dangerous.

But it being a flurry of attacks means that you can micromanage its damage. Choose which attacks to let yourself get hit by and avoid the others.

The woman was a cyborg, an asset in the Crimson Host lineup, assigned to protect a local shipping company from supervillain attacks in the aftermath of Warwolf's departure, and probably expected Floyd to start tiring by now. But that's the thing, isn't it? That just wasn't possible. And once the woman's attention finally started to slip and she started to turn frustrated, that's when he finally made his move. An elbow smashed straight into her robotic, armored guts, the sheer force of the blow slamming her across the street and punching her through the nearest wall, leaving a gaping hole. It definitely wasn't enough to kill her, but...

Now he can pay attention to something else. Because, if his enhanced senses didn't lie, there was a third party in this little skirmish of his... Floyd closed his eyes and turned off his sight, focusing everything onto hearing.

Click. That's a photocamera. Twenty or so meters above, thirty or so meters to the left, Floyd spun the sword in his hand and tossed it at the source of the sound - a meter or so to the right from it, however, so instead of killing them, it'd simply pierce the wall standing behind them as a warning.

"You're not very secretive, ar'nt ya?"

---

Bael

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

The first lap is done. Where's Sina at? At this point, Sina was slowly climbing up to second place. Only a single competitor was flying in front of her - a grey scaled, muscular Dra'Quinni, clearly a professional in the art of flight, keeping a rather wide distance between himself and all the other opponents. Though there was still a lot of time left before they reach the finish line, this wasn't the best possible outcome so far...

So, Sina struck a determined glare.

"Heeeey!" she yelled out at the top of her lungs, pushing her speed as far as she could possibly go, and focusing her eyes straight on the flier ahead. She was so overwhelmed by determined to win that she almost forgot to notice that all the rings and other obstacles had gotten rearranged - only a last minute turn to the side prevented her from missing one of the rings entirely and thus getting disqualified.

Phew... Hey, it only made the flight more engaging. Victory is only sweeter when there is a hanging threat of failure above.

[The Republic of Atria]

Welcome to the NASL

Bael, Sept 12

The rest of the flight was pretty forgettable, Bael went on reading the book he brought and Jason watched whatever movie was being played between trying to catch a glimpse of whatever Bael was reading. At least until he made the rude discovery that he could not read whatever language it was written it. He was pretty sure Bael knew what he was doing but didn't bother stopping him either because he thought it was funny and knew he wouldn't be able to read it regardless or he legitimately didn't know Jason was trying to read it. He'd been sucked into a few books before and knew that it could just immerse you so deep you lose track of everything else. Never would he again do that. Too much to be aware of.

The jet landed and those who were intending to keep the identities hidden masked up. Himself included, though he could do so without having to bother getting out of his seat. Outside they were escorted to several limos which had been waiting on them while fans of the team surrounded both sides of the barriers and security guards.

Jason gave them points, thumps up, bad dance moves and to top it all off: a standing backflip once he had the room. "Watch the fights closely folks! You're about to watch San Diego's newest team show everyone else how it's done!" He proudly boasted. "You're all great, don't let anyone else tell you any different!" He finished before hopping into the limo with the rest of the team.

Bael on the other hand remained quiet and shy during the carpet walk. He wasn't sure how to process all the praise being heaped upon him and the rest of the team. Did he thank them? Did he put on a little show like Jason did? No one else seemed to be doing that other than a wave or two. So he gave a sheepish wave to each side of the crowd and tried to get into the limo as soon as possible. Once inside he let out a loud sigh and sunk into his chair. Did people actually like this amount of attention? How did they deal with it?

Once they had arrived at the stadium "Freedom's Nest" Naja told them that there was about forty five minutes until the opening ceremony and that they should make sure they're ready to go, but also warning to be careful around the press, as they were known for being harpies. Bael figured he'd just head to the locker room and just doodle on his phone to avoid being targeted. Even here, he was sure that he stuck out and would be swarmed with press trying to prod anything they could out of him. Unfortunately, he barely made it halfway when he was approached by about a dozen people.

His eyes widened as he looked for a way out, but unless he was willing to fly, and his wings already halfway ready to launch him, he was stuck. There was plenty of room for him to do so, but he figured that the owners probably wouldn't appreciate it in the likely even he crashed into something that was hanging. He could barely hear himself thing over the people asking questions about whatever. The crowd seemed to see that he was uncomfortable, as the largest man in it spoke up with a loud, deep voice.

"Hey hey hey! Give him a little room. Y'all are gonna suffocate him." He spoke, authority in his voice. Bael looked at the man with pure relief and an expression that screamed "Thank you."

Bael took a deep breath. "Uh, Thank you. It's uh... Really nice to see this." He spoke, the shyness evident in his voice. "So... Ummm... How about you all ask a few questions, one at a time, and I'll answer them? Sorry for being so weird, I'm not used to crowds."

Bael, Aug 8

He shot across the air, putting some distance between the few people that were behind him. He was in the middle of the pack somewhere. He didn't get a good count due his focus on the race. The only thing he could make out was the large gap between the pair in first and second, and the rest of the racers trying their best to close the distance even a little. Bael knew that he was pretty unlikely to even break third, let alone actually get to and maintain first with what time was left, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to at least try to get as close as he could.

Seconds until the newly positioned rings. No longer were they even on the same plane, but the second one was elevated, adding just a little bit more difficulty. At least now he had a better idea of what he was supposed to be doing. A quick glance back showed that this time, he actually had enough space to start gaining a little speed. The first ring was simple, and he pulled up to shoot through the second, the tip of his right wing just barely grazing the ring. There wasn't a buzzer or a shout so maybe the disqualification only happened if you literally dropped out of the race like that other guy?

The third ring was fairly simple as well. Bael felt that he had more or less figured them out, but the barriers were up next, and he only needed a cursory glace to see that the challenge had increased substantially in difficulty. Rather than remaining stationary, they had rotated sideways and moving back and forth in straight lines with relatively quick speed.

[Absolon-7]

Bael

Casimir Herman, Earlier in the Day
An in a single transient moment it was all over. His body was slammed against the ground and kept there by a deadly arm bar. A simple maneuver but damn if it wasn't effective. Casimir grunted and huffed out deep breaths as he struggled to free himself. To somehow pull a last minute win and...and...wait... why was he so desperate for a win over a simple spar? He wasn't beaten by someone as worthless as a villain nor would it have the disastrous implications of its aftermath. He wasn't beaten by a pathetic coward like Scott. But he wasn't supposed to lose even less so in a spar. Ever. He was the great Kabuto for hell's sake. Even still this loss didn't sting as much as he would've thought. It didn't fuel him with a burning hatred and wrath. Oh god no! Do I respect Wyatt now?! It was true that Wyatt gave an honest effort to a challenge he himself asked for but was that enough? If there was anything he did have enough of was having a face full of dirt and dried up grass.

"Yeah, yeah you got me," relinquished Casimir begrudgingly.

Whenever the much larger dra'qunni would've let him go Casimir got up to dust off the dirt and debris. His eyes shifted from the ground to the taller teammate like a blade raking across the ground. His face would soften from a resentful piercing gaze to a confused yet almost inquisitive one.

"Gotta say you fought pretty well there get a lucky win like that," said Casimir laughing it off, "I'm actually surprised. It was actually sorta fun letting loose in a good ol slugfest without the other person wanting your blood for once. Cause that's happened waaay to many times for me. So ya feel like you got anything of it?"

The Great Kabuto and the Mystifying Ashen Moth
September 12th
The ride to the stadium from the airport wasn’t much to speak of as Casimir mostly spent it gazing at the city of skyscrapers that was right outside the limo’ windows. It was a concrete jungle in every sense of the word perhaps a few good chunks of glass as well. Now as for why he was interested he just needed to scope out good places for web swinging. Best thing about was the chilliness that he so long missed from his hometown up north. The grand view of the stadium was just perfect for someone as glorious as the great Kabuto. Upon arrival at the parking lot Casimir went with the rest of the boys to go get changed into their costumes. He waved off Viviana and Ash as they went to the girl’s locker room and suddenly an idea popped into his head.

Remembering the small crowd of New York YB fans Casimir considered perhaps some had Ashen Moth as their favorite. The moth girl was still fairly withdrawn if still curious about everyone and everything so perhaps meeting people who look up to her. So naturally seeing she had fans would do wonders for her morale. Plus any fan of the team would undoubtedly have him in high esteem if not their favorite Young Blood. He swiftly got into his Kabuto suit and ran out to hopefully meet Ash somewhere in between the lobby and locker rooms. He figured they could go to some food stand or entrance in the stadium and meet some fans. Casimir stood in front of a potted fern with his arms crossed aiming to see Ash somewhere in the hall.re

As he scanned the room, it wasn’t hard to pick out the mutant as she exited the locker rooms. Even if she didn’t really have a secret identity to protect, Ash had been told that it was best that she wear her hero costume during the opening ceremony. She could hardly contain her excitement when the plane had landed, but increasingly she felt her nerves beginning to fray as everything seemed to just be happening so fast. On the limo ride over, she’d kept her face planted against the window, straining to see the top of the towering skyscrapers that lined both sides of the street. Everything in this city just seemed to be so big to her! Taking a breath to try and calm herself, Ash turned to head towards the lobby when she saw Casiimir waiting for her.

Immediately, her face lit up as she waved towards her friend. Running over to him she felt a sense of relief at not having to venture out into the intimidating city all by herself. “Casi - I mean Kabuto!” She called out, quickly catching herself as she nearly called him by his actual name while in costume. “This is all very exciting, yes? The buildings are touching the sky! What shall we be doing first?”

“More like skyscrapers but skythouchers is good too,” snickered Casimir at her awestruck bewilderment. He swung one arm to his side and with the other he pointed his finger at the moth girl, “Have I got a deal for you. Seeing as we’re heroes and all that means we gotta have fans. Those people are gonna look up to us and are gonna want to meet us. So how about we go outside to one of the vendors and meet some of em. I’m sure they’ll love seeing their heroes face to face.”

A look of confusion flashed across Ash’s features. “We got to have fans?” She replied, scrunching her nose as she tried to figure out what Casimir meant. She’d heard the word before, and knew what it meant by this point. The Young Bloods were very popular, and their fans were all those people who looked up to them - Ash figured that she was a fan too, in a way. But that wasn’t what Casimir was implying. No, he was saying something else entirely that had never once crossed the mutant’s mind. “I...have fans?”

“Sure you do. You’ve been with us long enough that I’m sure some folks look up to you. Especially after you beat the living daylights out of those rioters and the Cabal,” assured Casimir giving her a thumbs up, “But first some pointers when talking to the masses. First, don’t stutter and do act like you know everything you’re talking about. Second, never let anyone speak over you or have the last word. Finally, give a big smile when you leave. It lets them know you’re satisfied. So what do ya say? We can even get some hamburgers or something.”

Ash’s eyes lit up as Casimir calmly revealed that she had her own fans, her jaw nearly dropping onto the ground as she was stunned by the revelation. Did that mean she was an actual hero now? Like Nightshade, Kabuto and all the rest? The mutant could hardly contain her excitement as she felt like the ground had nearly given way beneath her, a sensation of vertigo unable to keep the sheepish grin from appearing on her face. Wait, focus! He is still talking. Blinking, Ash quickly pulled herself out of her reverie as she tried to concentrate on Casimir’s pointers. Her initial excitement became tempered with nervousness as she suddenly felt that this whole meeting-the-fans idea was more complicated than she had expected. She had to keep speaking to avoid people speaking over her, but always know what she was talking about - while never once forgetting the importance to smile to her new friends.

Ash’s grin wavered slightly as she realised the daunting task ahead of her, but Casimir’s parting words managed to win her fully over. “Wait, I would very much like hamburgers!” She declared, her stomach growling at the mention of the delicious food item that the team had introduced to her. The prospect of food pushed aside her initial fear and Ash nodded in determination. “Let us do it, I cannot wait to meet the fans.”

"Let's do this thing!," grinned Casimir turning around to lead Ash outside, "I saw a small stand outside so it shouldn't take us too long to get back…."

Casimir would lead the cheerful moth girl outside and snake their way onto an outside vendor connected to the stadium selling all manor of fast foods to people coming in through the parking lot or just waiting there. Casimir led Ash right to its side looking sporadically around them. He then turned his head to her making sure to stay close.

"Alright, game plan is we go in line to get our burgers normally and naturally while we wait for em to be done people will start gathering to meet us and we can take photos and give autographs all we like. And once our orders done we zoom on back to the lobby, alright? Showtime."

Casimir would lead by example and get in line motioning for Ash to follow behind him. The line and crowd around wasn't terribly big but already they were given fervent glances and awe filled coos. Casimir smugly crossed his arms and held his head high as the line shortened. Once it was his turn Casimir ordered four barbecue burgers and a coke just the right meal for him. He stood in an area next to the vendor where others were waiting as Ash joined him.

Ash followed closely behind Casimir as they entered the fast food restaurant, smiling sheepishly as she felt all the gazes and wide-eyes slowly turning around to watch them. Shuffling along behind the hero in line, it wasn’t long before she stood in front of the clearly nervous staff member who was manning the register.

“Hi, could I take your order?” He asked, unable to wipe the cheesy grin from his face at his two famous customers.

Pausing, Ash looked up at the menu behind the man to find herself faced with a far wider variety of options than she had expected. “Um, could I please have some of the hamburgers?”

The server’s smile wavered slightly at the girl’s uncertain response. “Sure, which one would you like? We have barbecued burgers, the New Yorker, the Veggie Delight, and the Manhattan - though the Sloppy Joe’s is our top seller.”

Ash stared back with a blank expression, the list of names having gone in one of her ears and proceeded straight out the other without making any sense at all. For a few seconds she stood there in silence, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do next and feeling increasingly nervous as she held up the line. “Uhh…” She began, forcing herself to make some sound to end the awkward silence, “...I will take the one with meat, please.”

Seeing the girl struggle, the server realised that she had no idea what she was doing. Glancing over towards Kabuto as the other hero waited for his order, he opted to begin inputting an order into the register. “How about I make that four barbecue burgers as well? That’d be the same as what your friend got.”

Immediately, Ash’s face lit up as she was given a way out of her paralysis. “Yes, please - that would be very nice, thank you.”

Sighing, the server couldn’t help but grin at the mutant’s evident relief. “No problem, ma’am. That would be forty-two dollars and ninety-five cents.”

“Mmhmm.” Ash replied, continuing to stand where she was with a smile on her face as she waited for her food. The server waited patiently for a few seconds until his own friendly, customer-service-focused grin began to fade.

She doesn’t have any money, does she? Coughing awkwardly, he rolled his eyes as he decided that he’d be better off just cutting his losses. “Great, you’re all set in that case. Go ahead and stand next to - uh - Kabuto and we’ll call you over when you’re meal’s ready.”

Pleased with herself with having successfully ordered her first fast food item by herself, Ash thanked her staff member one last time before she practically hopped over towards the table where Casimir was sitting. When she sat down, the hero leaned in closer to her and whispered into her ear.

“And now we wait.”

Turning her head, Ash followed where Casimir was pointing and saw the small group of teenagers who were whispering excitedly to one another. As soon as Ash’s gaze met theirs however, she felt a rush of colour flooding her cheeks. Remembering the pointers that Casimir had given her, Ash forced herself to put on a wide smile as she offered the group a friendly wave.

“Hello, fans!” She said, receiving a few excited laughs and waves in return. Turning back to Casimir, Ash’s smile vanished and was replaced by a fearful look as soon as the fans could no longer see her face. She spoke in a hushed whisper. “This was not a good idea. They are very scary, what if they do not like me? I could do something wrong...or I could say something wrong. We should very much go now, I am not hungry anyway now that I think -”

“H-hi!”

Ash froze as she heard a voice from behind her. Some of her seta suddenly stood on its end as the colour seemed to drain from her face as she realised that it was already too late. Turning around, she saw a younger girl that had been brave enough to step forward. She was fiddling with her hands and seemed to have trouble looking up at the two heroes.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt. I - uh, we - were just wondering if we could get a selfie with you guys?”

Blinking in surprise, Ash wasn’t too sure what a ‘selfie’ was, but she remembered Casimir’s instructions to always act like she knew everything. “Yes, most definitely. We can all go and get a selfie together.” Silently, the mutant shot a terrified glance towards Casimir - her eyes sending him a desperate plea for help as she already found herself terrifyingly out of her depth.

Casimir watched with observant judgment at how Ash dealt with this new ordeal. So far it was pretty okay for someone who's never had to deal with adoring fans. But the panic that was setting in to her eyes was all he needed to know to step in to help.

“Of course you can citizens. The great Kabuto’s always photogenic,” boasted Casimir at the girl, “Come now Ashen. A few pictures and our orders should be ready.”

Casimir walked beside Ash as the fangirl led them to her friends noticing how some of the patrons where now whispering amongst themselves and glancing at the two heroes. That’s right you flops. Bask in the glory that is Kabuto! Not everyday you see me outside of the TV. The friend group seemed to huddle amongst themselves as if to decide turns for holding their phones for pictures but the task for the first picture fell on a ginger freckled girl. The others arranged themselves around the taller pair of Ash and Casimir and smiled at the camera. Casimir nodded to Ash signalling her to smile at the camera as well. As the first round of pictures ended one of the girls approached Casimir holding a ladybug notebook and pen. Instinctively knowing it was for an autograph, Casimir held out his hand and the girl gleefully gave it to him. With a superfast swip of his hands he wrote his name on the notepad and turned his attention to Ash to see how she was faring.

The mutant had also received an autograph request, and was happily writing out a personalised message on a photo of the Young Bloods. Compared to the practiced ease with which Casimir signed, Ash’s hand move slowly as she put in carefully effort into each pen stroke. Pleased with her work as she finished writing out her first autograph, the girl practically beamed at the boy who eagerly as she handed back the finished product. However, his brow furrowed as he tried to decipher the incoherent chicken-scratch that had been scribbled into the bottom corner. Apart from a capitalised A-S-H, he couldn’t make heads-or-tails of it.

“Um, thanks?” He said, slightly confused as he stepped back to rejoin his friends. Ash’s grin only grew as her fan seemed to be pleased with the result.

“No problem, I am your biggest fan too!” She stated, only causing the confused look on the boy’s face to deepen, though he thought it best not to dwell too hard on it. Alone once again, Ash turned back excitedly towards Casimir. “This is very fun, I never thought that having fans would be so amazing! It is like they all want to be my friend even though they do not yet know me.”

“Exactly,” said Casimir pointing finger guns at Ash, “See? It’s not so hard once you step out of your comfort zone. Think of it like a waterslide you just gotta dive into and have fun with.”

The delicate and savory of their large quantity of burgers could be smelled by now at the vendors so only a few more moments until they were caught up. Ash’s attention was entirely engrossed in her trio of burgers as they were delivered to the table, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she loomed over her unsuspecting meal. Casimir however, frowned as he felt the uncanny sensation of being watched. Looking up from his burger, he scanned the room until his gaze rested on a silent figure hanging at the back of the restaurant.

At the back of the vendor a middle aged man with a clip indicating he was part of the press and a professional camera strapped around his neck came wandering in like a bloodhound sniffing all over the place. Casimir spotted him and froze as the beginnings of an idea crept into the corners of his mind. With a mentor figure such as himself, maybe Ash was ready for the next step in a hero’s public image: meeting with the press. He wondered if it would start to be overwhelming but she was holding herself well. But before he could even make the first move, the mustachioed reporter came over to the two getting in between others who had gathered and extended his hands towards Casimir.

“Good day to you sir, good day. Bart Sullivan of Channel Seven news,” he enthusiastically said rubbing his hands together, “I heard that two specific Young Bloods were spotted and lo and behold hear you are. Let me give it to you straight. The network wants to learn more about two of the ‘most exciting’ Young Bloods. I’m here to offer both of you a chance to speak your minds in a network interview with me and some colleagues. So what do you say?”

“It’s a done deal, man. The world needs a bit more of me on the news anyhow,” grinned Casimir as he rubbed the back of his helmet. His tone became more wary as he turned to Ash, “So are you up for it? Shouldn’t be too hard. Just remember the video of the team press conference I showed you a while back.”

“Mm?” Ash replied, unable to speak with a mouthful of food. Looking up after having gorged on two of her burgers already - although a fair amount of her meal had visibly ended up splattered around her mouth rather than inside her stomach - the mutant was surprised that they had company. Swallowing what was in her mouth, she considered Casimir’s recommendation. The team’s press conference had certainly looked fun, and Casimir did seem to be rather excited about it.

“Sure. I would very much like to speak my mind in an interview.” Ash smiled at both of the men at the table. “It is like meeting many fans at once, yes?”

The journalist’s expression practically ignited at the response, with the dollar signs ringing between his ears as he thought of the ratings’ that such an interview would receive. “Haha! That’s exactly right, my girl. There’s no better way to reach out to those who look up to you than through an interview. It’ll make you seem down-to-earth, relatable, approachable! Just picture it: the Young Bloods’ most adored thematic duo tells all as they respond to questions from their greatest fans - streamed live on the cusp of their team’s great debut on the international stage. It will make you guys the talk of the town, I can assure you.” Turning towards Kabuto the journalist offered the teenager a wink. “What do you say, Kabuto? Think the world is ready to handle what you have to offer?”

“It better be,” declared Casimir holding his hand out to shake the reporters.

“That’s great! My colleagues and I will have our newstruck by the main gate tomorrow at the same time so meet us there.” said the reporter shaking Casimir’s hand.

The man would bid them adieu and excused himself from the venue right as Casimir’s went over to grab two bags to place their food in. They ended up stuffed like teddy bears with burgers and sodas. Tentatively he reached into his pocket and handed the money Ash was supposed to pay with but whatever one step at a time. Note to self. Teach Ash how to buy her own stuff. A several minutes had already passed which meant it was time for the pair to leave. They entered back into the parking lot area and hurried over to the lobby however there was a surprising sight awaiting them there in the form of a tall blonde young man with glowing purple scars. Casimir waved Ash over to come run with him right behind Icarus and clasp his shoulders to get his attention.

“Well look who we have here? If it isn’t Icarus the brave and the bold,” jokingly sneered Casimir. Casimir’s head jerked upwards with lights shining off his helmet’s red lenses as he remembered something, “Oh Icarus let me introduce you to someone. This hear is Ash my protege. Ash this is Icarus my second in command.”

[The Republic of Atria]

Casi

Bael let his opponent up right after he admitted defeat and took a few steps back to give him room to breathe. A few moments of Casimir staring at him with what felt like daggers before relaxing a bit, he spoke up, admitting that he actually had quite a bit of fun having a slugfest without having to worry about getting killed. "It was pretty fun, yeah." He admitted. A few months ago he would've never figured that he'd be fighting so often and even enjoying it. Sure it was just a friendly sparring session, but he knew Casimir had a bit of ego, but he seemed to be taking it rather well. He started checking his body, but there wasn't much more than a few bruises that would be gone before tomorrow.

"I did, actually. Most people I've fought haven't ever gone for the eyes. Sure, I've only really ever fought some Warwolf drones and the only supervillain I fought lasted for like, five or ten seconds before he got distracted. So I don't have much to compare it to." He admitted. "That, and you're... You're pretty quick. I knew you were pretty tough, but I wasn't expecting that kind of speed. That and the webbing thing you did was neat. I've sparred with Jason before, but it never stops being awkward to deal with. So you're probably more experience with villains and whatnot, you got any criticisms for me? Don't worry, I cant take a few critical words. Better my pride than my body."

Bael, Sept 12

The crowd seemed to accept what he was saying and immediately after about half raised their hands, including the man who helped calm the crowd. So Bael figured that he should get the honor of going first and pointed at him. "Don't worry, I'll try to answer everyone's questions." He spoke. "What your question or questions... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"O, it's Joshua. Just call me Josh." He replied, a little nervous but he could tell that Bael was just as nervous, if not more so. "It's a bit of a weird one, but Bael's your actual name, right? Like that's not a stage name?" He asked.

"It's my real name. I didn't really bother with the whole secret identity thing." A half truth. "It's not like it's easy for me to hide what I look like without being just as conspicuous. Plus, I feel that it's a bit easier to have people trust you if you're at least trusting them with your name. That make sense."

"Yes, it does." He nodded. "Other question is, well, we all know that there's more of you living in the Sahara, news has been all over that for awhile. Do you guys have your own kind of handshake? Or some equivalent?"

"We do, it's most common for people to grab each other's shoulder from the front. Come here, I'll show you." He offered and the man approached. "Just reach out and grab my shoulder." Bael reach out and carefully, but firmly grasped Josh's shoulder and he did the same albeit with a little hesitation. They held for a second before letting go. "Any other questions?" Josh shook his head and stepped back to give the others a turn. The hands immediately shot up right after. Bael picked at random, this time a girl.

"I kinda want to go visit that city you guys have in the desert. Do you allow tourists or something and if so, how would I go about that?"

"Uh... I don't actually know. I want to say that we'll probably do that at some point, but there's a few hurdles to get around first. The language barrier for one. The city was also built around the fact that we can fly. So that's another issue to work out. Sorry I can't really give you a better answer, but I'm not exactly high up in all the government stuff."

She looked a little defeated at his explanation, but understood. "Alright, I guess that makes sense... Here's one I understand if you don't want to answer. How do you measure attractiveness and do courting and all that?"

His eyes widened at that. "Woooo... Uh. Well, it's not really that different from humans. You see someone you like, and you go up to him, or her, and strike up a conversation. Maybe try to go on a date or something. Since unlike humans, we don't have breasts, both genders opt to look at tails in the same way. Staring at it isn't considered bad, quite the opposite, but it's extremely 'look, don't touch.' Grabbing someone else's tail without consent or without a very good reason is a good way to get yourself smacked upside the head and some mean looks." He explained.

"Huh... that's interesting. Thanks!" She replied. "Um... Do you mind If I take a picture with you?"

"Of course not. Before we continue, does anyone else want a picture?" He asked, only for every single hand to shoot up a second later. He smiled a bit in response. "Alright. Well, let's take some pictures. Don't worry about time, we've got well over half an hour before I gotta go."

He could definitely see himself starting to appreciate having fans. The sheer fact that people showed up to see him made him feel good.

[Tomia]

Angelica
"Sure Viv, that works for me." Angelica told her friend when she suggested they go get food. "Just let me get changed Angelica said before heading to one of the lockers and unpacking her stuff before changing into her hero uniform. It probably wasn't necessary to wear the mask and all, given that her identity had been exposed publicly, but old habits died hard and she was still more comfortable in her mask than out of it. Given that they were about to be surrounded by superheroes, this definitely wasn't a time when Angelica would consider ditching the mask in public.

With her clothes changed she returned to her friends and squad mates. "Alright, I'm good to go." With that the group headed out of the locker room into a long cement hallway. It was fairly empty with a bunch of blue doors with no signs or clear direction available to passersby. A staff member saw them being somewhat lost and guided them towards the hero lobby. They thanked the man before heading through the pair of doors that he had directed them too. Angelica pushed them open to reveal a large circular room. The smell of food and the sound of people conversing was immediate upon entry. Across the dozen tables that were set out across the room, heroes both in uniform and out were eating and talking together. On the right side of the room sat a buffet with a large variety of foods within it. There were salads and pastas as well as trimmed steaks, chicken wings, and a variety of other things that generally looked delicious. Frost Bite felt like rolling her eyes at all of it. She was used to the decadent life that heroes tended to life and always felt it went against what being a hero was supposed to be about.

Still, they were all hungry and likely had a long night ahead of them so they all headed onto the short line for food. While online the frost hero was looking around when she noticed a group of women sitting at a nearby table. She then nudged the girl in line in front of her to get her attention.

"Hey Yoshi, aren't they the Vixens?"

Mars and Roy
Having disguised themselves, the two heroes had ventured out into the stadium to get a feel of the crowd and the environment. Mars, who was of course a huge fan of the sport, was to say the least a little shell shocked. The stadium was huge, and towered hundreds of feet in the air above the large arena in the center. Massive tvs, bars, and gift shops dotted the area behind the seats and thousands of people were mulling around before the opening ceremony. Roy and Mars headed down towards the seating area where they saw huge crowds lining up at the base of the field trying to get autographs from the small group of heroes that were offering them.

Roy turned to Mars, a grin on his face. "You want to get some autographs, don't you?"

Mars tried to look indigent at the question, but he couldn't hold back the fanboy in his heart. "I hate you, but yes."

Roy chuckled and then the two of them made their way down to join the crowd. As they got closer Roy realized he recognized one of the heroes. It was the newest addition to the LA Stars, Blackout.

"Oh great this guy." Roy muttered to himself as they got closer to the barrier between the heroes and the crowd. Roy respected Blackout as a hero, but had butted heads with him on more than one occasion. Still, this could potentially be a fun opportunity that Roy couldn't pass up. He managed to get a marker by a nearby stranger, and took off the plain white ball cap he was wearing.

"Hey Blackout!" He called out. "Can I get your autograph?!"

[Finland SSR]

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

September 12th

---

New York! The Big Apple, the Capital of the World, the City So Nice They Named It Twice... For non-Americans such as Renata, its skyline was the first thing you would associate with the United States as a whole. And the fact that they arrived to the city as superheroes showered by praise, fame and camera flashes, made this first impression of New York even better. If Renata were in even a slightly better mood, she would have dived straight into that praise during the carpet walk - waved and high-fived their fans, started making selfies with the most eager ones, even answered questions to reporters later down the line. She certainly would have been answered, after all - Stella was fairly recognizeable among the Young Bloods line-up, and it's been long enough that her late arrival was no longer a noticeable hindrance.

However, Renata merely waved along with a forced out smile and quickly made her way to her limousin, sharing the couch with Mizu, who looked like she was going to explode from all the attention directed towards her. While the younger purple-head continued rattling on and on about how crazy it was to make her first selfie with their fans or how much she hoped that her family on the Moon was watching the event live, Renata merely rested her elbow on the door, looking through the window and waiting for the trip to pass. She was silent in the locker rooms, as well - there, she changed out of her Stella suit and instead changed to a rather casual blouse and short dress combo, complete with a parasol at hand. While some of her teammates could reasonably expect to blend in with the ground after changing to casual clothes and maybe fixing a different hair-style... how likely are you to see her bright pink hair and assume that she isn't in any way connected to the Young Bloods member? Aside for the illusion casting device which Wyatt was apparently using, which didn't really interest Renata as an option at all, there was no way for her to remain completely unnoticed - but a parasol might help, at least covering herself up with it makes her less noticeable.

Naja informed her that Shi was not with the rest of the team - apparently, she had an apartment in New York and left for there instead of staying around. So that's where Renata was heading.

For what? Well, the answer was, ultimately, very simple. Renata... couldn't disagree that she was far from the easiest person to deal with. Of course, she knew that she would always challenge others with important reasons in mind, and that she was in the right unless really proven otherwise - but it was simply a fact of live. Not even a negative fact, she could even add - not rolling over to other people's whims and standing by your principles was a strength in her eyes, not a flaw. And yet... being seen as a villain... that was proof that, at some point, she really had gone too far. And that's exactly how Shi saw her, apparently. She saw Renata as someone inherently malicious, someone who acted out of a desire to hurt, maim or even kill her peers.

If Renata were a villain, she wouldn't be here. She'd be back in Ecuador. There's an entire life of villainy awaiting there.

The pink-haired girl folded her parasol and knocked on the door with its butt end, then spoke:

"Hey, Shi... it's Renata. I know you said that you don't really need apologies from me, or something like that, but... I'm sorry. For what happened."

Renata pulled out two pieces of paper from inside her purse. "You wanted the two of us to start anew, right? Well... would you like to go to the movies with me, maybe? I picked out something I thought you might enjoy..."

---

Bael, Aug 8

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

The longer this race went, the more exciting it was becoming. Pulling off increasingly sharp and dangerous stunts, such as spins and near-90 degree turns, Sina managed to push herself through all of the rings despite having gotten distracted earlier. The distance between her and the flier at the front increased yet again - unlike the vigilante, he went through the obstacle a lot more effectively and gracefully, not even a chance of grazing the rings with his wings while speeding past - but Sina's relentless acceleration was starting to catch up.

Darn... this is even getting exhausting... the thought popped up in Sina's mind. Indeed, she hadn't noticed her before, but the strain of staying in flight for a long time was growing greater and greater with each passing second. My wings are gonna be sore all day once we make through this, aren't they?

Thaaat's gonna suck.

The walls from earlier returned, this time moving back and forth to make the obstacle even more difficult. The lead took off upwards, aiming to get past them in a wide arc, away from the trajectories of the moving barriers - for Sina, this was not enough. She sped forward in a straighter line, aiming to pretty much graze the barrier and thus close the distance between herself and her main competitor. Which almost worked - however, at the last second, the moving wall hit her tail, immediately sending Sina flailing across the air and struggling to remain in the race. She stabilized her just in time, then blinked a few times, surprised. Wait, I'm not disqualified? Huh. Good for me, then. The sounds of people splashing to the barrier behind her told that not everyone was as lucky, however. The lead turned over his shoulder for a second to check whether Sina was still in the race, then sped forward again.

The third obstacle was the "ravine" from earlier - however, it was even more narrow than before. Sina turned vertically and sped through - she could see her horns and her chest being centimeters away from each of their respective walls.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

As the other girls finished dressing into their hero outfits, Wendy fiddled with one of the holographic wristwatches Alexis had given to her before ultimately putting it back in her bag and throwing her coat. Shi had told her she needed to start setting the narrative, and she couldn’t do that hiding her face behind a computer-generated image. Leaving her hood down as she made her way to the Hero Lobby with Angelica and the others.

While they went off to the buffet line, Wendy began wandering through the crowd. She drew more than a few looks from some of the other heroes, some sympathetic, but most a mixture of disgust and anger. She could picture clear as day what they were thinking about.

What is she doing here?

“Hey.” Wendy found her path blocked by the one person she wanted to see the least. The fiery red head in front of her dwarfed Wendy by a good half foot, her frame made even bigger by the bright red and orange armor she war. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here.” Molten, the leader of the Pittsburg Pyro’s told her, as she placed a hand on Wendy’s shoulder.

Wendy wanted to run. Her body trembled in fear. She tried to respond but found her voice frozen. Thankfully someone else intervened on her behalf. An arm spun Molten around, revealing a petite woman with choppy, short brown hair dressed in a white suit of armor that seemed to shimmer as if a mirage. “Meg, that’s enough.” She said in a low threatening tone, the white glow in her hand telling Molten that the conversation was over.

As Molten stormed off, the other woman turned back to Wendy. “Wendy!” Hardlight, the leader of the Carolina Bluejays squealed, wrapping her up in a hug and spinning her around. “So good to see you!”

“You to Kylie.” Wendy replied with a smile as the older woman finally put her down. “I was just looking for you. Thanks for those emails.”

“No problem. You know Roy had some issues like this when his past was first brought up. And Roy likes you, so you can’t be too bad.” Kylie said, before pulling Wendy to her table. “You two looked so cuter together at Cora and Katie’s wedding. Here… follow come and sit with my team for a little bit and tell me how 'you've been.”

[Absolon-7]

The Scarab & Team Exorcist
August 31st
Beneath the city of San Diego

---

Kabuto huffed and puffed as he looked on at his fallen foe hopefully down for the count. Alas, it seemed his foe had a different idea as the cult leader tried to flip over to his back to kick him but Kabuto easily dodged it by jumping upwards. This seemed to be exactly what his foe wanted as under his bloodied breath he spoke some cryptic magic words that made twin clouds of thunder and hail whirls around his fists. Kabuto gave him the chance to get up as he reared back his fist but the villain suddenly flashing his hand and unleashing a storm of baseball sized hail at him. The projectiles struck him every which way and it was only through turning on his fly power with a single inhalation that he managed to dodge the worst of the attack. With a pained grunt he leapt into the air curled up like a cannonball and as he came down he extended his arms to shoot webbing at both sides of the sorcerer. With a tug he brought himself crashing downwards like a slingshot bootsfirst into the man’s chest.

Dust and pebbles scattered about as Kabuto landed with a reverse somersault but he would have no time to rest as he spotted Yoshi, Red, and Jan all collapsed near the throne. Around six cultists where running towards them but they were far too slow for Casimir as he blitzed to the throne area. He hooked the chin of the nearest cultist sending him spinning to the floor as the next two tried to stab him with spears. Squadrons of hornets buzzed towards them and scared the two off. Seeing their comrades so quickly lose hope made the last few run for their lives deeper into the tunnels. Kabuto set off to business and hauled all three of his friends’ bodies and placed them side by side at the center of the room. Now to wait to see them come out of the mindscape but a certain sight the corner of his vision made Casimir’s blood boil.

“You can’t just stay down can you!,” yelled Kabuto.

The cult leader was once again plodding towards him and raised his left arm to unleash a devastating thundercrack at Kabuto. The bug hero was sent flying all the way to the opposite room’s wall with his impact cracking the wall. He slid down and touched down with his feet but ignoring the pain he rushed forward to land a gut punch. At the very last second another thundercrack erupted from the cult leader’s hand smashing Kabuto against the ground. Casimir’s vision seem to blur and his disoriented mind scrambled to make sense of the assault. Now with his foe against the floor brought down both gold covered hands upon Casimir’s back like hammers. The hero clenched his teeth stopping himself from screaming as he rolled out of the way of another floor slam. Kabuto swiftly got up and back stepped a few timed until he reached the throne again. Kabuto flicked his wrist out and webbed up his foe’s face and yanked him over. Once he crashed right in front of Kabuto and started to get up the bug hero grabbed onto the golden pole resting on the throne and lifted it upwards like a baseball bat. A mighty swing followed the movement as the pole smashed against the braced golden arms of the cult leader.

His irritation rising Kabuto extended his arms outward like a swan’s wings and at the motion’s end a tide of ants came marching to him like a flood. Building upon each other like molecules the ants formed rising columns that connected like pillars and the legion of ants now enveloped his arms. Suddenly they began connecting with each other in an extended manner beyond Casimir’s hands into long whip like structures. The ant whips structural strands alternated between stingers and mandibles pointed out. With his ‘weapons’ completed Kabuto began lashing the cult leader exposed areas with each strike leaving scores of cuts and blisters.

“Like this one? Still thinking of a name for it,” mocked Kabuto slapping the cult leader across the face with one ant whip.

“The Pharaohs return shall not be cut down!,” screamed the man as he threw a gut punch at Kabuto.

Kabuto stood his ground letting the cult leader’s attack connect. The heavy metal strike made him lurch over in agony and a faint taste of iron in his mouth let him know the attack did something. A bloody smirk filled Kabuto’s hidden face as he clasped the cult leader’s face and wrist with both hands. The ant whips immediately dissolved and began swarming the cult leader. Their burning stings bored into his already bloody sores and open wounds was sheer agony. He tried brushing them off with his metal hands but he noticed that the metal was pretty much gone now. Worse still his formerly youthful and muscular body was regressing back to its elderly state. His face, half transformed back to its original withered self, looked upon Casimir with a pained hateful expression but a surprise punch finally knocked the man out falling to the floor like a felled oak.

As the portal to the Underworld began to close, the skeletons disappearing along with it, the remaining unlikely trio of Kabuto, El Hechicero, and Mustafa Gaul turned their attention on the remaining horde of cultists. Kabuto himself clutched his stomach and walked back in front of the unconscious trio. He recalled the entirety of his swarm to the ceiling above him and dared for the decimated remains of the cult to come attack him. Try as they might he’d make sure not a single one would go behind him. He and Gaul had pretty much halved the entire cult’s numbers and a good deal had fled enteitly after his swarm attack but still he figured the remains would still be a threat.

“Hechicero! Get the hell over here and guard my back by the throne,” yelled Casimir before he looked upon the gathering cult, “Listen you damn fleas! I’m giving you all a chance to give up now and return to whatever shithole you crawled out of. Just ask yourselves this: is some crazy ancient egyptian worth your pathetic lives? Your whole cult is pretty much in its death throes. Your very leader is lying in a pool of his own blood right here. Adding to that, just a little more and the very thing you worship is gonna go kaput. So what’s it going to be?”

Kabuto stood there panting heavily staring into the silence waiting for an answer. And his answer would be the shuffling feet of the cultists backing away from him, dropping their weapons, and either fleeing in a stampede deeper into the tunnels or escaping above ground. From the remains there looked to be barely a dozen with their assortment of weapons shaking in their hands like frightened rabbits. The darkness in the room was suffocating almost as if the room was filled with pitch black oil in places where the torches couldn’t spread their gentle glow. The faces of the cultists looked like hollowed out graves against the flashing lights. Wait a minute? Darkness. There was one last person he needed to watch out for but maybe that Gaul dealt with him. Kabuto turned back to where he last saw Roy’s unconscious body but there was no one there.

Out from the shadows came a nearly invisible Roy, with a face that had definitely seen better days, who seemed to move incredibly fast and smoothly through the shadow of one column. Kabuto wanted to dodge he just had to step aside or use his fly power but breathing hurt like hell meaning that thunderclap had done worse than he initially thought. Like a bullet train Roy smacked his fist against Kabuto’s stomach who returned a hook to his upper arm. Roy was staggered but they were in the shadows which meant Kabuto was in his domain. He brought his arms up as a shield to his torso but Roy simply warped around smacking and hitting Casimir’s sides with increasing strength and frequency. A new forceful blow would hit Casimir from each direction that his groggy mind would take with an indignant grunt. He rushed forward like a meteor and started a high speed duel with Roy with both exchanging blows, blocks, and deflections at their high speed attacks. Using the shadows to move behind Casimir, Roy landed a roundhouse kick to Kabuto’s neck sending the hero flying into the floor.

Kabuto got up swaying like a tree in the wind holding his head with one arm. He aimed to rush forward and attack but a large shadow blast hit him dead in the chest. He was sent flying back even more now and was only stopped by coincidentally his back hitting the carved throne. The bug hero lifted his head up to see the surface of his chest armor had been burnt away as well as the surrounding leather. Roy was upon him now and lifted him up by the neck nearly strangling Casimir. He kicked at Roy’s waist making the mind controlled hero throw Casimir away with a pained grunt. Roy lurched forward but this was a golden opportunity for the shadow warrior as he extended both hands to Casimir’s chest and fired a shadow bolt even larger than the one before. The energy bolt scrapped the last armor plates on his chest and sent the bug hero down to the floor on his butt.

Roy ran to him and kicked him dead in the shoulder forcing Kabuto to roll over. He barely managed to get to his hands and knees as another kick came for his head. Kabuto grabbed the incoming ankle and spun it to the side as he threw himself forward. Both where spent spinning in the air landing next to each other but Casimir had the upper hand now. For they weren’t in the shadows anymore but in the light of the throne’s torches. Casimir scrambled forward like a mad assassin bug to get on top of Roy and proceeded to hook his arm around his team leader’s neck. He pulled up and bent his wrist down to apply great pressure and waited for the struggling hero to slowly lose consciousness. As time moved on Roy’s retaliatory blows started to weaken with greater spaces in between before ceasing altogether. Casimir sat on his butt next to Roy bracing himself up with his arms and exerting long pained breaths.

“Hey Hechicero, can I get a heal over here? I mean on Nightshade by the way. Particularly on his face,” sighed Kabuto coughing up a spittle of blood, “Don’t want Wendy killing us after we get back for ruining her boy toy.”

El Hechicero’s hands glowed violet and he pressed them to Roy’s chest. His form become straighter and more comfortable, and then he moved his healing towards the face,slightly caressing his cheeks. Wounds closed and bruises improved.

Hechicero turned to Kabuto, noticing the blood he was spitting up and the numerous enemies still remaining, the wizard spoke a small phrase of power and the moon appeared above him with energy coursing through the air to his hands once more. “The proud tiger beetle is squashed with only four legs.” He said, placing his hands on Kabuto’s cheek, caressing his face gently before moving down to his chest and filling him with a warm comforting feeling, a magical energy filling Kabuto with the second wind of stamina. “Kabuto, how are you feeling?”

From beneath the helm Casimir stared burning hot daggers at Tadeo as dared to caress his cheek but thankfully he had his helmet on so it's not like Tadeo was actually touching him. What he liked even less what that vague pseudo poetry Tadeo always spewed and this time he dared to touch upon tiger beetles! What did he mean by it? He was out doing hero work not doing some poetry unit in English class. He looked on with both discomfort and the strange paradox of this magic actually making him feel in a good mood as Tadeo began healing his chest with those glowing purple hands.

“I’m feeling fine. Like I could go eat a bowl full of iron nails. And the hell did you mean by squashed? I kicked ass just fine,” said Casimir, “Anyway I think that’s enough.”

Kabuto got up from the ground and went to go pick up Roy. From the looks of it, Tadeo did fine healing him as he looked good as new. Hell, besides a few dried blood stains on his forehead and mouth he looked like he was ready for a dinner date with that girlfriend of his. He hauled his much taller team leader over his shoulders and planted him down next to the trio of Red, Yoshi, and Jan in front of the throne. The bug hero crossed his arms and looked over the remains of the cult. The dishelveld amount that remained where all huddled behind the structures in the ornate cave looking at him with a mix of cowardly hatred. He couldn’t decide whether thinking this pitiful amount were respectable for their devotion or pathetic for their foolishness. Nope. Definitely the latter.

“This whole thing like some messed up nightmare isn't it? ” asked Casimir to the flamboyant magician, “Well whatever. I just want this pain in the ass exorcism to be over with.”

“I’ve seen worse.” Tad said wistfully. “Though there are some definite thralls among those left. Allow me to dispel them.” El Hechicero raised his palms, and they began sparking rapidly, within a few teleports, the magician booped several heads, leaving confused men and women in his wake and then appeared back beside Kabuto in what felt like an instant.As the battle of fists met its end in the cold night of San Diego’ underground a much more treacherous fight for Yoshi’s life was raging on.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

September 11th

---

The moon had risen over California, and yet the City of Angels was anything but quiet as it lay under the night sky. Partygoers danced to lively tunes and strobe lights, artists toiled in order to make a name for themselves or increase their renown... and criminals of all sorts carried out their shady businesses and clandestine operations, in plain sight or under the cover of darkness.

It was a perfect night to go hunting.

Down at the docks, steel clashed as two men faced each other in combat. One was a slick-haired Asian dressed in a sharp suit; the other, a tall American clad in blue and silver armor. Each of them wielded a weapon against the other: the former held a sharp katana, while the latter brandished a pair of hand axes. The armored man blocked and parried the swordsman's swift attacks, and they seemed evenly matched - while the swordsman seemed to hold the upper hand in strength and speed, the axe wielder had a clear edge in skill that allowed him to fight the swordsman on equal terms.

"Give up already, samurai. The only way you're walking free again is if you tell us everything you know." The armored man spoke with a gruff voice as he caught an overhead slash with the shafts of his axes and looked his foe straight in the eye.

"I would not be so sure about that, hero." The suited man replied calmly, pushing against the other man, a glint of metal poking out between his black gloves and the sleeves of his suit. Suddenly, a spray of bullets reached the superhero; they bounced harmlessly off his armor, but he knew that these were no ordinary gangsters - they likely had more dangerous tricks under their sleeve.

"Didn't get all of you on the way in, huh." The Armorer muttered, forcing the criminal's katana to the side before attempting a counterattack. "Surge, I could use a little help right now!" He called out.

"What, you think I'm just chilling over here?!" Replied a young man with blonde hair dressed in a blue and silver uniform similar in scheme to Armorer's suit, albeit seemingly lacking in defense; glowing blue gauntlets covered his hands, and what appeared to be a pair of scabbards hung from his sides. Much like Armorer, he was locked in combat against a powerful foe, a giant of a man whose bulging muscles were barely contained by the suit he wore. He fared better, however, as his agility allowed him to dodge his hulking enemy's attacks while dishing out his own.

Rolling out of the way of an overhead smash that left a huge dent in the ground, Surge quickly shot towards his foe and drove his glowing fist into the meathead's chin, leaving him dazed. The young hero then grabbed the giant and began lifting him above his head, grunting from the effort despite his strength. "Little heavy there. You're making me feel like Atlas." He quipped, before hurling him at the group of gangsters that were attacking Armorer, knocking all of them down save for one, a well-built older man who promptly made a run for it upon seeing most of his bodyguards defeated.

"He's escaping! Kid, switch with me!" Armorer shouted as he deflected another slash from the samurai and then immediately turned around, running after the criminal and jumping over the unconscious giant, his hand axes disappearing and being replaced by a grappling gun.

"I have to do all the heavy lifting again?!" Surge questioned, clearly exasperated. With a sigh, he turned around. "You're not going to absorb your buddy's powers like Ornstein, right?"

The samurai looked puzzled. "What?"

"My two best friends are big nerds. Nevermind. Let's do this." Surge replied, his gauntlets disappearing as he brought his hands close to one of the devices attached to his belt. Slowly, he mimicked the motion of drawing a sword, and as he did so, one seemed to appear in his hands out of thin air, a large blue sword that glowed brightly like his gauntlets did before.

"You know, your partners in crime are all down. You should just quit while you're ahead." The hero stated, but the swordsman simply shook his head.

"That's not how I do things, boy. Surrender is not an option." He said. Surge scowled at this, but nodded.

"Talk time is over, then."

And with that, the two rushed at each other.

---

"How'd everything go?" Armorer asked as he walked up to a police cruiser with a handcuffed mobster in tow. Next to the vehicle was Surge, leaning on the hood and looking over the unconscious swordsman.

"It was disappointing." The young man replied, crouching to grab the criminal's hands and then lifting them up so Armorer could see: they were advanced prosthetics, made from metal instead of flesh and bone. "Things went downhill for him pretty quickly when I saw these."

"That is disappointing, but still, good job. You've come a long way this past month, kid." The older hero said, giving him a friendly pat on the back before looking at the docks. "Did the cops find 'em?" He asked.

"Yeah, they're over there." Surge nodded in the direction of a large container where police officers were busy extracting sedated men and women of all ages, many of them belonging to a minority. "I'm going to be honest, mobsters kidnapping superhumans to ship them across the Pacific is pretty high up in the list of crazy things I've seen."

"Right next to having your city occupied by a PMC I'm guessing?" Armorer remarked, before turning his head to the sound of more cars arriving. Much to his delight, he saw several vans deploying news crews around the perimeter the police had set up. "About damn time!" He grinned before turning to Surge, who muttered a curse in his native language. "Come on kid, you know the drill, time to smile at the cameras." He said as the two began heading towards the reporters, who quickly noticed the two heroes.

"I still haven't gotten used to this..." The blond boy muttered.

"Well, better get used to it quickly. The tournament starts tomorrow and there will be a lot more of this." Armorer pointed out. "But hey, at least you'll get to see your friends again."

Surge nodded. "Yeah... that's true." He admitted. He smiled at the photographers and let Armorer handle the talking, all while thinking about the upcoming tournament.

Maybe it won't be so bad... maybe I can have some fun.

---

September 12th

---

This isn't fun at all.

Before their plane had even landed in New York, an absolutely massive crowd had gathered to greet the Stars upon their arrival, holding signs and cheering loudly as the airport's security struggled to keep them in check. For every other member of the team, this was par for the course - a natural, well-deserved result of their hard-earned fame. For him, it was awkward and embarrassing, especially when he heard a group of female fans of about his age shouting unsolicited invitations at him. All he could do was avert his face as he walked to the limousine that awaited outside the airport.

The trip down to Freedom's Nest offered a temporary respite, and Icarus sipped a soda as he looked out the window, gawking at the host city's enormous skyline - quite unlike San Diego's, and quite unlike his hometown, too. His time inside the moving sanctuary was short lived, however, and soon the team arrived at the stadium, where an even larger crowd awaited the arrival of the Stars and other famous superhero teams.

As he waved and smiled at fans and journalists alike, the young hero held back a sigh. At least there's a line between us and them.

---

"Don't be late to the opening ceremony!" Star Queen shouted after Jackrabbit, but he was already heading off. Icarus looked at him as he left; in a way, he envied Andrew. Unlike him, the other new recruit was clearly at home in the world of camera-ready superheroes and constant media attention, a trait that wouldn't be unfavorable to have right now - it would certainly help him get through all of this a lot more easily.

"Think I can go take a look around too?" The blond boy asked as the team continued to make their way through the crowd of fans that sought to engage the heroes with handshakes, high-fives and autograph requests.

"Maybe in a little bit, kid. But right now we're heading down to the stadium to have a chat with the fans. It's a Stars tradition." Armorer replied.

"Come on, Don, he clearly needs a breather." A female voice interjected, and Icarus looked back to see that it was Blue who had spoken up on his behalf.

"My sidekick needs good publicity Jennifer. He'll get a breather after this."

Icarus sighed and decided that it wasn't worth it to try to change Armorer's mind - he'd just play along. He owed him big time, after all. Turning to look at Blue, he smiled at her. "Thanks for trying." He said, the blonde heroine replying with a smile and a shrug. The group eventually made it down to the field, where a sizable group of fans was waiting for them.

It'll be fine. You've done this before. Just talk to the fans and smile in pictures and everything will go smoothly.

---

As soon as the name was called out, Icarus tensed up, along with various fans and some of the Stars themselves, Armorer in particular. It wasn't as if he wanted to bury his tenure as a vigilante, but the Stars had made a point of not mentioning it and steering the media away from the topic whenever it was brought up, so it had been quite a while since he was last called by that name. As such, he was both surprised and suspicious - after all, his fans always referred to him by the name he was given upon joining the Stars.

Still, it wouldn't do to make a scene or anything of the sort, especially with Donovan watching. With that in mind, the young superhero turned towards Roy and forced a smile. "Uh, it's Surge actually, but sure thing." He said, approaching and taking the marker and the cap. "So what's your name?" He asked as he wrote a quick signature on the cap's visor.

---

Some time later...

---

Much to his chagrin, being dragged to the field to sign autographs and having an unlikely encounter with a past acquaintance wouldn't be the end to his ordeals, and even as he set out to explore the stadium, he was forced to navigate through crowds of fans who were elated to get to meet the newest member of the Los Angeles Stars, who had taken the whole world by surprise a little under a month ago. Still, after more unsolicited invitation than he cared for and more selfies than he could count, Icarus made his way to the lobby, which was protected so that heroes could mingle and chat without fans and reporters constantly butting in.

Letting out a sigh, the blond boy plopped down on a bench and allowed himself to relax at last. He wasn't looking forward to the mediatic circus that was the BAST, but he set aside the gloomy prospect for now and decided to take a well-deserved rest. Pulling out his phone, he idly scrolled through his messages, his mind wandering to his girlfriend as he scrolled past her contact - he had only seen her once during the past month, when he briefly traveled back to San Diego for a few days to celebrate her birthday along with his own, and he knew for a fact she would be here for the tournament. Perhaps I should message her...? No, there will be time for that later... she's probably busy with her team right now and-

The young man's thoughts were interrupted as he felt a hand on his shoulders. Wary at first, he quickly relaxed as he heard a familiar voice greeting him, and looked back to see Casimir standing there, fully clad in his superhero outfit.

"Second in command? I might be a sidekick but I'll kick your ass, Casimir." Surge replied before standing up, smiling and lightly punching Casimir's shoulder. "It's good to see you here." He said. "Your massive ego is excited for the tournament, I take it?"

After addressing Casimir, Icarus turned to look at the person he'd introduced as his protege, a mutant girl with four arms and moth-like features. She was oddly cute, despite her clear non-human appearance, his surprise upon first seeing her passing quickly. "Hello, Ash, nice to meet you. I'm Icarus, or Surge if you prefer the superhero name." He said, holding out his hand - a construct hand appeared underneath, offering to shake both of Ash's right hands at once. "I hope this buffoon is taking good care of you."

---

Elsewhere...

---

"Damn right they're the Vixens!" Alexis cut in excitedly after overhearing Angelica's comment and looking in the same direction as her. "There's their fearless leader Conductor and the rest: Comet, Seer, even Siren! Did you know Roy has Siren's number? Mars told me." The blonde girl spoke hastily as she spied the baton-wielding figure of the Vixens' leader mingling with her teammates - she wasn't nearly as much of a fan of the NASL and its heroes as some of her own teammates like Mars and Mizu, but she was still a fan, and even if she was no longer interested in the Stars, she wasn't about to pass up the chance to meet up with some of the other famous heroes around. Especially when said heroes were icons of female power.

"I'm gonna go say hi, feel free to join me."

And with that, Alexis' tiny frame carried her three cheeseburgers and hefty helping of fries - she was nothing if not an irresponsible eater - towards the table where the Vixens sat by themselves. "Howdy! Do you girls mind if me and my friends sit here?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

Bael took a deep breath as he approached the upcoming moving barriers. Once again, he would have to slow down to carefully avoid the obstacles. While he made it past the first few without too much difficulty, but the remaining few were far faster, more than enough force to knock someone out of the race if they got hit almost anywhere. Only then did it dawn on him how seriously they took races. Maybe it was like NASCAR and a lot of people watched because of the crashes? At least here there seemed to be enough safety measures to keep people from getting too injured.

Measures that almost took him in, as he passed the final barrier, it shot back after he thought he cleared it, crashing into his right thigh and disrupting his flight. Bael having to almost drop in order to reorient himself and get back into the race. Though he had lost a few positions and just had to get through the ravine. Not too difficult, he'd done the sideways thing before. Upon closer inspection, it had gotten quite narrow. It made him wonder just how bad things were going to get for the final lap.

He dropped down in a near perfect drop and pulled up, flipping sideways just before the ravine. His eyes had since sealed shut, but he opened upon realizing he hadn't crashed into the sides, though he could feel the air from being so close to either side of the ravine and the combination of fear and excitement from seeing the side of dirty stone not a few inches from his face. A single twitch would end with him smashing face first into the side of the ravine and he'd definitely be out of the race at that point. Bael held his breath the entire ten seconds it took to clear the ravine and instantly flipped back to his normal flying pattern right after.

He was more than grateful for the next little bit. He's get a few seconds to relax and mentally prepare for the final lap of the race. And gain back some of that lost speed. Already he could tell some of the racers were beginning to lose some of their stamina. Sina and the guy she was racing looked to have slowed a bit, but he still had plenty of stamina left.

Then came the final lap, and he glanced to see what the obstacles had changed to. Only there weren't any obstacles. The rings were gone, the barriers too. The ravine had closed.

It was a final sprint. Pure speed to wrap it up.

For the first time in the race, he smiled out of confidence. This was his chance.

[Auropa]

Mike Mathews
Stadium, September 12th

Clicking his helmet into place and making sure his face was properly concealed, Mike admitted to himself that he was a little worried. Sure it made sense that there would be a lot of hero followers trying to grab a glimpse of their icons, but why would they have to worry? Despite Naja’s warning, to him, the Young Bloods still seemed like some half-thought through group of explosive personalities thrown together in some random experiment rather than a proper team with any sort of following. They got some time on TV with the whole Kiris-Warwolf incident but he figured that was just because people were more against Warwolf than with them. The moment he left the plane and came across the giant crowd though, his doubts were smashed apart by reality.

Caught completely off guard for a few moments, Mike froze like a deer in the headlights as his brain tried to take stock of what it was seeing. ‘Why the hell-‘ he began to ask himself before snapping out of his daze and catching up to the others. Not able to handle the crowd’s appearance and chanting he did the only thing he could and ignored it all. He didn’t want people to cheer for the team. They had been reckless, dangerous and careless, far from anything even close to resembling role models and yet they still somehow drew a crowd. ‘Are people just that desperate for heroes?’ he wondered as his mind practically scrambled itself trying to think up an answer. Whatever the reason, he was far from happy to see them. ‘But at least this means they’re paying attention to us…’

“Limos, really?” He said as he saw their waiting transports “Couldn’t we have found something a little less over the top?” he muttered to himself before shuffling into one of the sleek vehicles ‘…it is comfy though.’

After arriving at the stadium and leaving his bag in their changing room, Mike decided to go off in search of food and the promised buffet. Like everything else he had seen so far, it was beyond exquisite. Foreign dishes, steaks, salads and enough seafood to de-populate a small lake, every type of food he could think of was here and prepared to perfection. Feeling his stomach rumbling at the mere sight of it, he went straight for the main courses and began to pile as much as he could onto his plate before happily going off in search of a table. Between all the colours, uniforms and larger than life figures dotting the room, he eventually found a calm place thankfully tucked away from the main buzz of the room. Just before he could start eating though, a voice caught his attention, different to the others it seemed venomous and threatening.

“-You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here.”

As much as he’d like to, Mike knew he couldn’t ignore it and as he turned to see its source, he was only half surprised to see their own Wendy being threatened by a larger, unmistakable woman. Clicking his tongue in disgust, he got to his feet and prepared to intervene before seeing another of the Pyro’s quickly defuse the situation and go to talk with Wendy in a more friendly atmosphere. ‘You’ve got private jets, hordes of fans, personal limos and giant buffets yet somehow you still need to pick on some scared girl? Yeah, that’s our heroes.’ He thought to himself as he continued forward leaving the room, his conclusion ruining his appetite. As if on cue and solely to worsen his already sour mood, his phone buzzed as he went and with a notification from one of his bookmarks, showing a news report detailing the upcoming date and time for a recently set interview with the famous Kabuto and the team’s mysterious Ashen Moth. ‘The idiots didn’t even get Bug Boy’s name right.’ He thought as he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and went off to try and find someplace to clear his head.

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

Icarus

Casimir + Ash

Eventually going back to the car park to be alone with his thoughts, Mike found his privacy ruined by the arrival of the master of laying low and his pet bug partner, only adding to the mix was the appearance of one returning Icarus. For a minute he considered just keeping to himself and relaxing while he could but whether from left over aggression or an actual desire to prevent another disaster, he forced himself to his feet and moved towards the trio.

“He also goes by Blackout. And sometimes Big Purple Building Smasher if he’s in a bad mood.” Mike called out.

“To be honest it’s hard to keep track of which name and role he’s using. I mean vigilante, victim, arguable villain and now big hero for the LA stars. How’s your hand by the way? Been able to handle all that waving and signing autographs?” He added only half joking as he walked. Truthfully, he didn’t really have anything against this Icarus guy but after everything he had seen today he didn’t have the patience to put on a polite front and the last thing he wanted was to do was tip-toe around with some vigilante made famous with a free ticket to the Stars of all places.

“And speaking of which. What made you think that booking some interview would be a good idea? I mean how did you even do that? We haven’t even been here a full hour, I literally just put down my bag and now I’m getting flooded with news reports about some big talks you’ve thrown yourself into! At least see when our first matches are before going out to slap your face across the tv? And with Ash? Really? Do you want this whole thing to blow up? You can’t honestly tell me you don’t think that she’d-” he began to say before meeting her eyes and letting out a pent-up lungful of air as he tried to calm down.

“Sorry, it’s been a long day.” He eventually said “And congrats Icarus, really. I don’t exactly like the Stars but you did the right thing moving away from the whole vigilante thing. Look, Cas, just- where’s the interview? We’ll tell Naja we made a mistake and she’ll cover for us, we’ll say that the schedule was too tight and you had to cancel the interview. Easy, simple and no harm done right?”

[Union Princes]

Fahcelkel

After three hours and nearly 6 pages of writing song lyrics, Arin looked up when she felt the plane landing on the airstrip. She looked out of the window and saw the cool outline of New York City. Arin felt her heart skip a beat. There was no going back now. Out of all the millions that would soon be watching her fight in this tournament, no doubt her father will be watching her as well from a bar somewhere in San Diego.

When she saw the limousines awaiting their arrival as well as the crowds of onlookers, she was stunned. This felt like a dream, an uncanny one at that. Many of her old classmate would kill to sit in one of these much less in the same car with the YB.

The destination however put the redhead in awe. She had never been in a place so gigantic and so tech savvy before. Her previous highschool was her only experience of giant properties. Can’t turn back now. Arin sighs as she looked beyond and saw other superheroes present and even more people coming around.

No matter where she looked, Arin was out of place. No mask, no suit, not even a superhero alias. It was redundant for her to go to the girls locker room. She didn’t have anything to switch out of her t-shirt, shorts, and a light jacket. But her feet took her there to escape all the stares and mutterings. Arin went straight to sit in the corner as she tried to collect her thoughts.

Still clutching her notebook, Arin flipped through to read some of the lyrics she wrote. At least she had 45 minutes to burn before the games begin.

[New Neros]

Darklight & Cosmic

Exiting the plane and boarding the limousines, both Ava and Mark tried to take in everything at once and found themselves just swept up in the events. Everything seemed like a blur, ushered to their locker rooms, instructions that were vague and hard to remember, and it all set in that this was very much real, and all eyes would be on the young newcomer team fresh from San Diego. He breathed deep and clutched his chest, focusing on the smooth concrete wall as he tried to forestall a panic attack, Darklight peeking her head in to check in on the hero. "Hey," She said softly, "It's all right, we don't need to meet anyone." She continued, walking into the room and putting a hand on Cosmic's side.

The hero was silent and nodded quickly, taking a sharp inhale and blinking quickly, tightening his body and flexing out his muscles as he forced a breath in and then out. "Okay," He stated too loudly, "Okay," He said much more softer, nodding his head as he was brought back to reality. "I'm okay, my pills haven't kicked in yet."

"Mark..." Ava said, looking at him crossways. "Pills?"

"Paxil." He said, Ava still looking at him. "It's an antidepressant, and it helps with my anxiety. It's not like painkillers or some psycho druggie shit." He said, wiping the sweat from his forehead and walking side by side with Darklight as they exited the locker rooms and made their way to the main vendor stalls.

"I, huh." Ava said, thinking back for a moment. "I actually didn't know you had mental problems like that."

"I do my best to hide them." Cosmic admitted, "I don't like being a drag on everyone else so I just bury the gnawing little things the voices in my head tell me."

"That does not sound healthy at all." Darklight replied, "But I guess everyone else is doing it too, so you're in good company. We have some time before the ceremony, is there anything you want to do besides eat?" She asked, watching as Cosmic locked eyes with each sign a vendor would display, showing off the myriad of delicious food and drink they offered. Cosmic stood in line for one such stall, ignoring Darklight's question on accident as his hunger made his body enter auto-pilot. "Cosmic!" She shouted, "What else should we do once you get fed?!"

"Oh! My bad," He admitted, shuffling forward in line. "I would say meet and greet, but we're at the bottom of the Young Blood popularity charts. We don't exactly have fans, sadly."

"How do you figure that?" She asked, "I thought I saw some people looking at us as they passed by."

"Well we're in costume, so they're wondering who we are exactly. But anyways, a quick google search shows we have the least amount of hits, forum posts, and overall fans on the team. We're like, on the back burner of the team." He said, moving forward as the line got shorter, Darklight looking down and out at the news.

"So we're the losers?" She asked quietly, Cosmic nodding in affirmation. "That fucking sucks, we did a lot of shit this past month we've been on the team. We did missions, training, our own side missions, all that shit! For nothing?!" She demanded.

"It's like, superhero saturation or something. Too many in one spot and you're bound to get out-done." He looked up at the ceiling, envisioning the sky above it and the stars beyond that. "That's why space is fucking awesome. Tons of planets don't have a superhero or anything like that, so when you're with the Ultra Corps, you're the biggest, strongest hero they will ever see. And they will love you. It's actually a really big problem with the Corps that many members go on to rule certain planets they're supposed to protect and watch over, so, it does have it's draw backs."

"Psh," A man whispered in front of the duo, Cosmic cocking his head back forward to look at the indignant man stepping into their conversation. He embodied the term tall, dark, and handsome, and with some impressive tattoos on his arms, back, and neck, he looked just like you'd expect some superpowered thug to be. "You want to be famous and sign autographs and shit? Why? Just knowing you can beat someone and they have no idea who you are is way better, my man." The man turned to face Cosmic and Darklight, he too was an unknown, the pair thought he was just someone standing in line for a burger. "Do you two have some names, and your team?"

"Cosmic." Mark replied, Darklight giving her name as well. "We're on Squad Five of the Young Bloods."

"San Diego, huh." The man said, turning away from the two as he was next in line to order. "I'm from Staten Island. My team is the Monster Island Czars. Call me Buccaneer."

"Never heard of you." Cosmic stated, "Are you in the tournament?"

"Not a chance. We're small time teenagers inspired by the Young Bloods to take up vigilantism. We're participating in the exhibition matches instead of the tournament bracket."

"What's that?" Darklight asked, not being familiar with how the NASL Tournament works.

"Basically, you have the main event matches and brackets to go through, those are the crowd pleasers and big time showdowns. In between those, at half time, quarter time, things like that, the time no one wants, the League puts on some supers to fight. Most of the time, they're amateurs looking to get scouted by an NASL team, or some no-name super looking to prove their salt. No prizes, no extravagance, you win and get some pride and recognition. There's a big following online, but not so much in the mainstream. That's where I'm competing." Buccaneer then put in an order for several cheeseburgers and fries, as well as a few milkshakes here and there - Cosmic expected him to be buying his whole team lunch.

"That..." Cosmic thought, feeling like he had more to prove in that type of match, "That sounds more interesting that my event. How do I sign up?" This earned a sharp look from Buccaneer, who took his receipt and broke out of the line at last. "Scared of some serious competition now?" He jabbed, the tanned vigilante narrowing his eyes further.

"Not a chance. Talk to your team leader and they'll get with the coordinators. I have no idea why you'd step down from the main events to butt in with the side show, but you'll get yours all the same." The food vendor was fast, and quickly presented Buccaneer with an overloaded tray of food, the young hero taking it briskly and walking to an empty seat, tearing open several burgers and stuffing his face as Cosmic and Darklight put in their orders, both to go, the two of them ready to talk Naja into letting them compete in the exhibition matches.

---

"Sure."

"That... Didn't take much convincing." Darklight admitted, looking at Cosmic for support.

"Well," Naja, the Young Bloods mentor, began, "It's quite common for NASL heroes to participate in the tournament and also in the exhibition matches, provided there's enough time for their scheduled events. That's how we can see match ups with people on the same team, give us all something to get excited for. Who told you otherwise?"

"This handsome dude with tats named Buccaneer." Cosmic said, pondering on why he looked so upset that Cosmic would want to join in on something that other heroes and heroines already do.

"Must be someone wanting to intimidate you." She said, taking a bite of some fried sweet, "I was actually going to suggest the exhibition matches as a way to help your popularity improve."

"Thanks for rubbing it in..." Darklight said solemnly.

"Nothing to be ashamed about." Naja reassured the heroine, "It's hard to stand out on a big team with a lot of popular members, I understand completely. Just focus on getting settled, and I'll take care of things behind the scenes."

"Thanks!" Darklight and Cosmic said in unison, leaving the table where Naja sat and began to take their time exploring the busy grounds of the stadium, testing the limits of how far they can go before security gives them the boot, eating up several minutes until the opening ceremony begins.