Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Finland SSR]

Mike Mathews
The Gala

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

---

It was Mike's time to reassure Mizu this time. Her eyes had been trailing across the tiles of the floor and her mind was lost in thought, but she drew her attention to the boy as soon as he began to speak. To Mike, what she said... didn't even make sense. If she's out here, risking her life against threats powerful enough to crush her with a single punch, and she's even got enough optimism to encourage others, then how could she possibly feel selfish about signing up?

It's... a lot more complicated than that. Hell, how much of her drive to help others was pushed by this feeling of unease about her background in the team? It wouldn't really feel right to join a superhero team without any greater purpose and then not do anything to make up for it... Mizu quickly rid her mind of those thoughts. Mike continued speaking. To him, she was one of the most heroic people he knew. An example.

A blush immediately formed on the girl's face, and she turned to the side. Mike even went as far as to say that he might change his mind on the NASL if it inspired a person such as her... jeez...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

"You... you don't have to... go that far..." Mizu mumbled under her breath, trying to avoid eye contact. She shook her head to cleanse her thoughts away, but they remained no matter what.

"Y'know..." the girl continued, turning back towards Mike at last. "If you've had enough of this event, then maybe we can go somewhere else together? I doubt we're locked inside this building, after all... and the downtown is not that far from here."

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

He realized a little after he said that, that she might not get the human slang, but she figured it out. "Yeah... It's slang for being like a couple-" He didn't get to finish before she started nuzzling him and for just a moment, he felt all the stress from the team melt away, the bruise on his back didn't bother him. Just pure happiness about being with Sina. She stopped a moment later, saying that they would after he showed her around the Tower. He grinned and nodded.

"Perfect timing then. We just did a big bust. Bad guys usually lay low for a week or two after that. So uh... You can come around within the next week or two. I can introduce you to the gang. Jason's still hanging around, if you remember him." He said and took her hand. "I'm really glad I bothered to humor Yharon. I... I don't know. I think I just needed a push, ya know?" He asked. "And one of the only people here I can really relate to. Thanks for hanging out with a boring old fuddy duddy like me."

The Tower, October 24

Things were quiet over the next few weeks. As expected most of the criminals who witness another major gang get taken down, they opted to lay low for a bit as not to draw ire. Or so he thought. Casimir, Viv, and Alexis went on a mission to knock out someone, and then there was his escapade with Red and that crazy guy who called himself The Fool or something. Most of the time was spent resting or training. The news of their victories had spread throughout the internet and they were now nothing short of a sensation. Which he found to be a pretty mixed bag. On one hand, he was happy to see that he had quite a decent fanbase, and occasionally popped into random threads to answer random questions.

But now, he was almost forced to use the hologuise just to go around the city without being accosted by either the press or fans.

Not that he let the fame go to his head. Orro reminded him of that, and even suggested increasing the regimen a bit since he felt that they had gotten a little stagnate. Bael agreed, much to his own chagrin. He suggested it to the team and got more than a few bites. Mark, Jason, and Casimir all wanted to have some real fights. Fights that ended with broken bones, but relatively high spirits all things considered. Then Orro also increased his viciousness, which caused a few other members of the team to want to try their hand at fighting Orro. He obliged and let his trainer come in and mop the floor with his team as badly as he did himself.

Speaking of training. He made sure to take Renata outside and ensure that she went back inside exhausted. He earned himself a few burns, but he was more than happy to let her burn herself out while trying to get her to be more forthcoming with her issues. Which he felt he helped at least a little. Enough that there shouldn't be anymore cases of intentional friendly fire.

Sadly, it wasn't all good news. Not that the newest information was bad, but for him specifically it was bad news. Mars was getting his own squad with several new members that had joined up, which included his new friend Andrew. And while he wished his friend nothing but the best, he was concerned that he was now stuck with three of the... bolder personalities on the team. Despite his efforts, he still felt like Red and Mike didn't respect him much at all, and he had absolutely no idea where he stood with Renata. He'd hoped that they'd at least gotten to a point where they could trust each other a little, but who could know.

He entered the main room of the Tower ready for another cool Fall day.

[Galnius]

Mika

Mika was unsure whether Jan was pathetic or sweet like Ash in his naivety. The response was the same however, as she had to stop herself from spit taking with her wine.

"Dude, you almost made me choke", she said in between her laughter. "I don't know what's sadder dude, the fact that you don't know what prep school is or the remark about virtuosity. I hate to tell you this, but I'm the opposite of a virtuous person Angel-Boy. If you're my guardian angel they should've at least let you know what you were getting into."

Mika caught her breathe after the laughter stopped. Was she a magnet for people who seemed like they lived under a rock for the past 20 years? Ash at least had an excuse, she probably had been living under some rock. Jan however had said he was friends with a young blood while he was still alive, so he was alive rather recently.

"Alright, so a prep school huh? Well, to put it bluntly, it's where young naive rich girls go to learn how to be the perfect wife and boys learn how to bribe cops to not putting them in jail for joy riding daddy's mid-life crisis Harley at 120 down the free way. The teachers all perv on the girls, while the mandatory priest picks his favourite of the boys for special time behind the school's church's pew. Need any more info? Trust me, I can be very detailed."

---

Andrew

Andrew's eyebrows furrowed Bael explained his conundrum. It wasn't an easy thing to solve, that much was sure, and the dra'quinni definitely had a point. Andrew realized he may have been taking his ability to sense how much damage something could take for granted. Perhaps it was a side effect of his powers and training, letting him know how much force was keeping him back. For someone as strong as Wyatt, without that ability, it could definitely be a problem.

"Hmm...alright, I see the issue there. Maybe if...no. I don't think that could work. Hmm..." Andrew's eyes seemed to focus on a specific point in the distance as he tried to figure out any way to help his new teammate. His father had explained to him the risks of his own powers, and when he was younger he had always been afraid of doing too much damage, shattering a man's ribs or paralyzing them for life. For a while, he only attacked the arms and legs, and even then the fear had haunted him. If Bael didn't have anyone to help like his father did, or if he was new to fighting, then Andrew figured he would have to step up.

Andrew tried his best to emulate his greatest hero as he gently put one hand on the towering boy's shoulder. "You know, I honestly don't know what to do to help right now, but I'll keep thinking on this. You're stronger than me, but I think I can help with this. The way my dad did this, for me, is he forced me to know how to detect that kind of stuff, but we have no such luck here. For now, just try get your opponents in a situation where you can pin them with your rocks. Until then..."

Andrew rose and stretched his mostly healed body. "Why don't we check out the beach? You ever surf before?"

[Tomia]

Angelica
The heroine rolled her eyes at the fact that her girlfriend was chuckling at a meme that illustrated Angelica's point that she had become an internet sensation. "I'd rather they just leave me alone. I don't do this so people can gawk at me on the internet. Besides, just as many mean things are said about me as nice ones." She said before Alexis joined her on the couch. She managed a smile as her girlfriend kissed her on the cheek, and the taller girl wrapped an arm around the waist of the shorter girl in response. "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but this really bothers me. It's like... I've lost all my privacy, and that's exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don't want to be that blonde superhero on the internet. I just want to be me you know?"

Mars
"Well... I'm not sure it's really my place to share." Mars said hesitantly to Renata who was asking for details about Roy's history. "But, the basic story is Roy well I guess you could say was mentored by Floyd when he was younger. They didn't part on friendly terms of course, and they've confronted each other a few times over the years. If you want to know more though you'll have to ask Roy, it's not really my story to tell."

Roy
Roy gave Alexis' a dirty look when started up on her non-sense about him being a lady's man, worse still Whitney seemed interested in playing along, which was the last thing he needed in that moment. "Uh, ya right, let's get going then." He said, making sure he kept a respectable distance as they headed away from the room. "This building is where pretty much everyone's rooms are. There's some lounges on each floor but most of the rooms are empty anyway. I'm pretty sure Mars turned one of the lounges into a game room, and well Cas kind of turned another into an ant farm... don't ask." He said as they headed onto the elevator back to the ground floor.

"The island is still a bit overgrown, but we've cleaned up the beach pretty well, its a good place to play can jam." He said as they headed to the main building. "This is where Naja's office is as you know. We also have a floor that's basically our hangout floor, we've got a kitchen and a huge living room there. We can go there now if you'd like."

[Aidannadia]

Throughout her new team’s strategy meeting, Aleta had been quiet and distant,completely dumbfounded as she realized that her team leader was none other than uber nerd Marvin Asarin. As the team broke apart, she was left, mouth slightly agape as she came to terms with what being on this team would mean; She would be taking orders from the Martian Supreme Command Ship.

Aleta stomped her way to Mars’s room and rapped harshly on the door, without saying a word as she waited for the squirt to actually answer.

“Uh… Hello?” Mars called through the door when he heard the seemingly urgent knock. He was confused as he wasn’t expecting anyone at the moment. Still he got up from his desk and walked over to the door to answer it.

“Oh, hi Aleta, what’s up?” He asked her. She seemed upset about something based on her demeanor and the way she knocked.

Aleta silently huffed, looked him up and down in spite, and pushed Mars to the floor abruptly. “Look, don’t think because you’re my ‘leader’ or whatever means I’m going to listen to a dweeb like you. I’m a solo act and just because I’m on this team doesn’t mean that’s gonna change. I’m only here because I have to be.”

Mars’ eyes widened when Aleta shoved him. He knew she wasn’t exactly the play well with others type, but he wasn’t expecting something like that. He pushed himself back to his feet. “Hey, there’s no need to get aggressive like that. This isn’t the playground in middle school, you can’t just shove people to get your way. And look, if you’re to be on this squad you’re going to have to work with others. I’m not going to let you be selfish and get other people hurt.” He said firmly, looking her in the eye.

“I’m fine working with everyone; Bunny and Sweet Caroline both have a reputation I can get behind, and Angie 2 seems fine enough. I won’t be taking orders from you, Marvin.” She stares right back at him, not moving an inch despite Mars’s firm gaze. “You are not a leader and you’re hardly a hero. Just stay out of my way and you’ll be fine.”
Aleta paused for a moment, waiting for a response, but just as Mars was catching his breath, she turned to leave the boy standing there.

“Hey!” Mars called back, his voice raised. “Don’t just walk away like that.” He said, stepping forward and blocking her path. “I don’t know who you think I am, but I can promise you you don’t scare me. I’ve faced people a hundred times more scary than a wannabe bully, and I’ve almost died multiple times. So if you want to be on this squad you will take orders from me, I don’t care whether or not you think I’m a hero or a leader, the fact is I am one, your leader in fact.” Mars said, anger rising in his voice.

Aleta sized him up, not expecting the former wimp to be so adamant. “Whatever.” She said, spitting a lob of tar all over his left foot and shoving past him, leaving him stuck there, trying to get out.

Mars pressed a button on his watch and suddenly the pieces of Rocket shot out of his room at high speed, stopping in front of Aleta as formed together to produce the full sized mech standing in front of her, its eyes glowing an intimidating mech as it towered over her. Aleta’s eyes went wide and her Pitch suit immediately covered her body as a reflex, panicking slightly.

“You should remember you’re not the only one that can do cool shit. How is that for nerdy?” He said, as he blasted the tar around his foot with the lower energy blaster attached to his watch before heading back to his room, Rocket following behind.

Aleta didn’t say a word as Mars left, but as soon as she heard the door close, she let go of the breath she held onto, released her Pitch suit from its defensive position, and walked off still steaming mad.

[Bentus]

Yoshiro Nakama - Psyche
The Gala

---

Feeling an overwhelming mixture of emotions after the rollercoaster of the past few minutes, Yoshiro wasted no time in walking away from the dance floor. Suddenly, she felt like everyone was casting her glances, judging everything from her appearance to her actions. She knew that was just her own fears talking - she’d have noticed the change in the crowd’s auras if they were paying her any extra attention - but that didn’t stop a rush of embarrassment from colouring her cheeks. She wanted to scream into a pillow, or slam a door behind her in frustration, but she could do neither while surrounded by the continued chatter and laughter of the other partygoers. Groaning internally, Yoshiro scanned the room for any sight of Alexis, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Distraught, the telepath noticed Angelica standing idly by herself. If anyone knew where the tech wizard was, it would be her girlfriend.

Wasting not time, Yoshiro walked quickly towards the isolated heroine. Angelica had never been one for large social gatherings, and it was hardly a surprise to see her keeping mostly to herself, but she must have been surprised to see the asian girl appear beside her. Before she’d even offered a word of explanation, Yoshiro allowed a groan to escape from her lips before she buried her face in her hands.

“Angie where is Makeshift?” She asked, knowing that there was no harm in using Angelica’s real name since her identity had been revealed. Instead of waiting for a response however, Yoshiro felt a sudden desire to simply vent to her friend. A deep frown maring her features, the girl continued. “I can’t believe she made me dance with Surge like that and didn’t tell me that he had a girlfriend. I made such a total fool of myself out there, and Red was right there during all of it. If he finds out, he’s going to think that I’m such a loser!” Sighing in exasperation, Yoshiro allowed her head to sink onto the table as her shoulders slumped. Squeezing her eyes shut, she spoke defeatedly. “Is there any chance you could just freeze everyone here? Maybe then I can wipe everyone’s memory of seeing me. Then I can just come up with a new hero persona and try a redo.”

Jordan Scott
The Gala

---

The businessman’s expression remained impassive as the girl offered her reply. He remained silent as Alexis did her best to sell herself, casually explaining that she intended to change the world before the decade was out - whether or not she received any outside help. Jordan appreciated the ambition, but the corner of his mouth nevertheless crept downwards into a slight frown. As Alexis finished speaking, he rubbed his chin as he considered her words. Ambition was a powerful weapon, and he knew that the young woman had the abilities to back it up, but determination and good intentions wouldn’t be enough on their own. Not by a long shot. Still, she was clearly passionate, and that was something that he could work with.

“Choosing what you will and will not make is one of the main perks of being the boss.” Scott admitted. “Though it’s a luxury that’s harder to come by when you’re starting out. That being said Makeshift, your inventions can take on a life of their own once they’re out there in the world. With Oberon and most of the projects you’ve done so far, you are the designer and the end user, so you remain completely in control. But to really make a difference, you need to allow others to use your ideas as well. And let me tell you, people have a habit of misusing your ideas in ways that you could never have expected.”

Cracking a smile as the girl considered his words, Scott continued. “Though there are ways to limit how badly someone else can ruin your vision, provided you have the know-how and the resources to manage something like that. Which is something that I hope Scott Industries might be able to help you with - assuming you accept my offer for an internship, that is.” Casually dropping the offer, Scott kept an eye on how the hero would react. “Alice will be your main point of contact, and she’ll walk you through the fine print. But this wouldn’t be a normal summer program - wouldn’t want to have you get bored on your first day. You and her will identify some initial projects that you could work on, and we’ll put you in touch with any teams within Scott Industries working in the field. We’ll provide you with legal support and resources, with the goal being for you to file your first international patent. And it’ll be all yours, Scott Industries will just have royalty free access to any patents you acquire while working for us, but otherwise what happens to your designs is entirely up to you.”

Scott paused for a moment as he allowed his words to sink in, knowing that the girl might need some time to think things over. “All that being said, don’t rush into this. You’re smart enough that I feel comfortable giving you plenty of independence and resources, but this is going to be hard work. You won’t learn and grow if it wasn’t, and you’ll have to balance this alongside your time with the Young Bloods too.”

As Alexis responded, there was a sudden buzzing from her pocket. At the same time, Scott’s phone started to ring. If Alexis went to check her mobile, she would’ve found that the source of the noise was actually her team communicator. Raising an eyebrow as he looked at his own device, Scott nevertheless answered the call immediately. It would’ve automatically gone to messages if it wasn’t important.

“Scott here.” He stated bluntly, ditching any pleasantries in favour of an efficient transfer of information, but he was surprised when he heard Naja’s grim voice.

“Lisette is Marionette, Scott. The police just confirmed it and they’re on their way. It won’t be long before it gets publicly announced, but you and the team have got to start getting people out of there. Now.”

Lisette Aveline - The Nefarious Marionette!
San Diego

---

As Kabuto stood triumphant after defiantly declaring his opinion on Marionette, Lisette stood dumbstruck. He was so self-assured in his convictions, giving no ground nor offering no compromise towards the villainess. And that left Lisette dealing with a body-blow. The silence seemed to drag out unusually long as the hero’s words sunk into her chest. There was no sympathy and no empathy, no thanks for everything that she’d done to try and be the best villain she could be. Even though she’d thought that Kabuto might’ve been one of the few who’d understand, it turned out that he was as blind as everyone else. Didn’t he realise how boring everything would be if she wasn’t around? How could he be a hero if there weren’t any villains worth defeating? But Lisette couldn’t say any of that.

Swallowing nervously, she forced herself to smile and break the uncomfortable silence - although her tone was slightly pained. “Right, obviously. I guess I just never thought of things that way. Seems totally obvious now that I think about, like duh.” She offered, even as she internally wanted to scream at the hero’s stubborn intransigence. Glancing over Kabuto’s shoulder, Lisette scanned the hall. Silently clenching her fists, Lisette forced herself to push aside the bug-themed hero’s words. Even if he wouldn’t help her, she wouldn’t give up. The Marionette would never surrender - no matter what. Offering Kabuto an innocent smile, Lisette changed the topic in case he was starting to get too suspicious. “Hey, do you know where the Mask is? One of my friends is a huge fan of his and I was hoping to get her an autograph while I was here.”

[Finland SSR]

Mika

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

For some reason, Jan knew that Mika was going to say that - if not now, then eventually. She asserted that he must be mistaken - she saw herself as anything but virtuous and confidently stated that he should have learned more about her before becoming her guardian. To protect her was not the only reason why he's been sent here, but perhaps she had a point there...

"Lots of people say that, you know, but they're always pessimistic about themselves. They might not be virtuous all the time, but they'd find their heart in the right place when push comes to shove."

What Mika said next confused him, however. The girl, surprised that Jan did not know what prep schools were, offered an explanation, but what she said was baffling. So it's a school where the students learn nothing and all the adults just sin around? And apparently, Mika knows a lot about the inner workings of such places personally... and was hoping to share.

"Uh... no thanks... that sounds like a really weird place." the Virgil responded, blinking, his voice cracking slightly. "I... Well, I went to a public school, and I didn't get to experience anything like that out there. I mean... I did end up dropping out halfway through, not because of my own decision, but still... At least I learned how to play the guitar, that's one of the few things which stuck with me."

---

Mars

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

---

"Ah..."

Asked about Roy's connection with Ares, Mars stayed mostly tight-lipped, all that he revealed was that Ares mentored Roy when he was younger, but they have since parted ways. Renata didn't need to be told to figure that last part out, saying that you want to kill all of a person's friends kind of implies that you're not on good terms with them... Not wishing to delve into the matter himself, Mars offered to have her speak to Roy herself instead.

"Maybe... probably later." Renata replied. "If it's something Roy is bothered by like you said, then I'd rather ask him when I'm not the whole team's punching bag. Which I guess I brought upon myself, but y'know."

She glanced to the side, staying silent for a few seconds, and finally stated:

"Well, uh... I'm glad you're not holding any grudges, at least. Part of me thought this was going to be a lot more complicated. That you were going to yell at me or something - and I really wasn't looking forward to one more person doing that..."

---

The Great Floyd Tolson!

October 3rd

---

The night was still young, the Downtown and much of the city were still buzzing and busy, but total silence had already settled down upon the San Onofre Cold Fusion Reactor. Fenced off, surrounded by several layers of fences and cleared out land, and the sea to the west, this marvel of modern construction engineering sharply stood out from everything else in the Condemned District, where it technically resided in. Perhaps it might sound ridiculous to construct a cold fusion reactor in the worst off district of one of the most crime ridden cities of the Western seaboard, but up until today, it served the Department of Energy well.

"Flair for the dramatic, much?"

Floyd sat atop one of the fences deep within the San Onofre complex, which did not have an electric current running through them, with several guards taken out underneath his feet. The sirens have ceased by now, the police were still scrambling, the reports they received conflicting with one another and leaving them confused, but both of the assailants knew that they were going to get struck with reinforcements. With a passive expression on his face, Floyd watched Meridiana below - with her hands twirling across the air, she was surrounded by glyphs glowing upon the ground, each of them opening into roaring gates, one after the other. At that point, the sound of powerful, hellish wind bursting into the mortal realm was no longer an issue.

While the first demons, sensing the scent of mortals through the gates, began to crawl out of the gates and assemble, Meridiana turned towards Floyd with a frustrated expression on her face. To not draw too much attention to herself while following Asmodeus's mission, the succubus had been forced to assume a human form, which only fueled her resentment.

"Bold words for someone whose first instinct was to try to charge headfirst into the electric fence." Meridiana shot back.

"I thought you'd enjoy seeing it," Floyd spoke, shrugged, and jumped back to the ground, stepping through the vast array of humanoid, canine, and increasingly more esoteric forms. Though he was still human, the demons could tell he was one of their own thanks to his pact to Asmodeus - any other human person, if they were to stumble across the assembling horde, however, would not be as safe. Already, a monstrosity with four sword-wielding arms and six limbs made its way to the corpses and began using its weapons to cleave through a few. "Besides, you're implying that casting spells to get half of the guards to see each other as mutated wraiths is less dramatic."

"But it worked. It makes sure that whatever defense the mortals can muster, it won't arrive when they need it. I'd rather not get interrupted by their giant metal birds when I'm still summoning."

"Meri, you know what helicopters are, you said you seduced a pilot before. Don't pull that clueless savage shit on me."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the buzzing of giant metal birds."

"There's no..."

Floyd turned his eyes to the sky, sighed, and glanced over to the reactor complex before them. Already, more gates were opening across the rest of the facility, both inside and outside. The demons were only barely controlled by Meridiana's whim, but at least they followed the order to not break anything. Apparently, she was going to need the reactor.

"...why a nuclear reactor, though? You're not gonna try to turn it into a bomb now, are you?"

"Shut up and keep watch."

Atop a distant watch tower, abandoned during the demon and swordsman's dual assault, a little angel crouched, trying to stay out of sight while eyeing the gate after gate being opened across the complex. He hadn't ventured much into this part of the city ever since he came back to San Diego, but a sharp feeling of demonic energy brought him here. So sharp that it almost got him to drop out of the sky. Blaring police cars driving across the city was the other red flag, and as soon as he landed here, that red flag turned to crimson.

Jan pulled out a flick attached to his paper and unfolded it to a map - immediately, this patch of the Condemned District would begin to glow brightly on every man in sync with him, just as he explained. Several times, actually.

Now, just to hope that none of them have gone sleep by now...

[Absolon-7]

Lisette Aveline - The Nefarious Marionette!

Casimir and Viviana October 7th

---

Whatever he had said it had apparently struck a nerve in the girl but his eyes noticed that she was clenching her fists. Sure would be funny if some rich heiress decided to punch him right then and there for no reason. Before his imagination could run wild Lisette changed the subject to Red, or his alias Mask, was as her friends wanted an autograph. And none of her friends were fans of the great Kabuto? How dare they! Well whatever he figured others would have some fans as well.

"I think he's by the dance floor or brooding by some wall," nonchalantly said Casimir as the young woman left him for her friend's favor.

He shrugged away the strange girl's fixation before resigning himself to finish his food. Considering his friend ran off in a bad mood, his argument with Mike, and that weird Aveline family the last thing he wanted was for his mood for food to be ruined. In the middle of his gorge he suddenly felt a soft kick at his shin. He looked around and he spotted Viviana having a conversation with Mars on the opposite end of the team's table. She had her whole body turned away from him while keeping a hand close to her mouth. He squinted his eyes before he chomped onto a slice of steak but then another kick hit his shin. He looked back at Viviana and this time she had hunched over as if she was trying to hide. He pretended to look away to eat again but this time he expected when the next kick would come so he returned it.

His retaliatory kick was enough for Viviana to sit up straight in response and swiftly turn to face him. Casimir raised a glass of punch towards her as if he had gained a victory. The brunette puffed up her cheeks to put at him before crossing her arms and looking away but not without a hint of a laugh escaping her mouth. With victory in hand his mind suddenly flashed back to how he had directed Lisette towards Red which may not have been the best idea with how things were. Red running off with some rich broad wouldn't go well at all and ruin his chances to get back with Yoshi. He stood up from the table and without notice he began walking through the large crowd focusing on any nearby insect.

His mind latched onto a lone beetle that had been sheltering in the location's luxurious curtain and he used it to focus in on the scent of alcohol. No doubt that normally in a party like this it would have been difficult to find a single person with that but regrettably but thankfully Red had been drinking enough to replace his plasma with beer. Sure for a rich heiress she was hot but he pretty sure Red wanted to get back with Yoshi. He sneaked away from the main showroom and to the back hallways. He was ignoring the rare couples that had taken residence there was frantically following the beetle to the strongest concentration of alcohol. Notably he felt his team communicator buzzing wildly but he finally found Red and Lisette back up against the wall together almost about to kiss.

What the fuck man? Are you that desperate to get laid? He took out his team communicator and put it up to his ear and it was playing a repeating message from Naja about how Lisette Aveline was Marionette and the police were on their way. Now this gonna make the night worth it. Casimir undid his tie, threw his black suit to the floor and rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards the two before loudly cracking his knuckles at them.

"Stop right there psycho-tits!," he loudly shouted as the ceiling lights dramatically shined off his helmet, "Don't think I've forgotten your nefarious attempts at seducing me at the tournament foul wench! But the Great Kabuto won't let Marionette escape again! Or should I say Lisette Aveline?"

[The Republic of Atria]

The Gala

Jason and Bael began to float around the Gala, waving to the occasional fan and answering a question or two after Jason had a brief interaction with Casimir about Mike. "Yeah, I know. Don't say a word about Mi-him" Bael caught himself. "I still have to talk to him at some point. But uh, yeah. There's a reason I don't usually come to these sorts of things. Don't like the attention."

"The six and a half foot indestructible dragon-man doesn't like attention." Jason ribbed. "Really. Come on. Just chill a bit and enjoy rich people food. These little shrimp things probably cost ten bucks a pop and are barely the size of my finger." He said, offering Bael a few of the hors d'oeuvre he snagged from the table. "And for the record, I do get it, but some attention for the team every now and again will do us some good. So long as... Certain big-headed morons don't blow it and make a big ass scene..." He muttered. "Man, I'm going to be honest: Really, REALLY glad I'm not in your shoes right now."

"Don't remind me." He said, and took one of the shrimp Jason offered. As the pair continued talking, they looked over to see that things were getting heated with the rich host girl. They moved closer, but maintained a fair distance to try and get an understanding of what was happening. Thankfully, Kabuto being as loud and as obnoxious as he was, informed them that the little rich girl was in fact Marionette.

"Oh no."

"Aww shit. Alright, I think Casimir is wholly capable of taking her on, lets start getting the people outta here before she does something we'll regret." Jason said, ducking under the table and popping back up costumed and back onto the table. "Those of you without superpowers, please scream and run in the direction of the nearest exit!" He shouted over the hubbub. "Look for Bael! Please scream and run in an orderly fashion! NO TRAMPLING!"

Bael took a deep breath as Jason shouting badly worded instructions to the party-goers. He had positioned himself near the corner of the exit, beginning to direct the shouting and screaming people to the exit.

[Bentus]

Surge and Psyche!
October 7th
San Diego

---

“No way!” Yoshiro declared, making no effort to mask the expression of disbelief from her features. “Kabuto? Of everyone on the team, he’s the one you know the best?”

Standing around one of the small cocktail tables that dotted the ballroom, Yoshiro hadn’t been keeping track of how long she and Surge had been asking questions back-and-forth. She found that she didn’t really care, with all of her earlier thoughts of leaving the gala early having been pushed aside.

“There is no way that is true.” She stated, laughing as she tried to picture how the pair must get along. “Have you seen him out there? What with the poses and referencing himself in the third person? Meanwhile you’re…” The girl waved a hand around Surge, gesturing towards all of his torso. “...you.” Smirking, she raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Are you really sure we’re talking about the same Kabuto?”

Icarus let out a chuckle at the girl’s disbelief. “The one and only, yes. The same Kabuto who appeared screaming ‘Bullet Ant Extermination’ on national TV.” He stated before picking up one of… whatever appetizers they had grabbed along the way. He didn’t quite know what was in them, but he loved the taste. Lobster, maybe? “He wasn’t as… you know… over the top, in school. Probably because even someone dense like him realizes that acting the same way as Kabuto all the time would be pretty suspicious. Plus, there’s a little more to his personality than just Kabuto if you dig a little. I’ve even lent him books if you can believe it.”

After laughing a little more at his best friend’s expense, the blond boy figured it was his turn to ask away. “What about you? Did you know any of your teammates before this whole Young Bloods business, or had you never met them before the team started?”

Still shaking her head as she tried to align what Surge was saying about Casimir with the eccentric hero that she knew, Yoshiro took a moment to consider his question. She was about to instinctively answer that of course she’d known her teammates before, but she stopped herself immediately. Hesitating, she realised with some surprise that she hadn’t really known any of the Young Bloods before the party where this whole crazy journey had begun. Sure, she’d known about some of them, and she’d even been in classes with a few, but she’d never really been in the same social circles as them.

“I actually didn’t really know any of them before the team formed, now that I think about it.” It seemed crazy, but there was no way around it. She felt like they’d been a team for ages by this point, but in reality it had only been a few hectic months. “I guess I tend to hang out with different people in school. You know, friends from clubs and classes. Most of them weren’t as involved in stuff as I was, I suppose.” Smiling sheepishly as she realised with some embarrassment that she probably would’ve never even spoken to most of her teammates if they hadn’t been thrust together by fate, Yoshiro continued with another question for Surge. “How about you? Were you in any clubs back at Thomsen? Or I guess you probably had your hands pretty full back then as Blackout.”

“Actually, I didn’t become Blackout until this last summer started, the day school went out. That’s the day I got my powers. I didn’t have any special abilities before then.” Icarus explained once the conversation shifted back to him. “So I didn’t actually have my hands full with that, though I wasn’t really involved with any clubs either way. I mostly just focused on doing my homework and getting good grades.” He said, before letting out a chuckle. “I know, that’s not a very interesting answer either. Let’s see… I tended to hang out at the library after school. You probably wouldn’t guess, but I like books quite a bit. They make better company than people when you’re a stranger.”

The blond boy paused for a moment as he picked up another lobster roll and popped it into his mouth. “I stopped going there this last year, though.”

Leaning forward to place her elbows on the table, Yoshiro rested her chin in her hands as she studied the figure across from her. The more that she learned about Surge, the more she felt her own curiosity piqued as her expectations for the famous vigilante were overturned. Not in a bad way mind you, but the man that she was learning about seemed to be radically different to the rebellious persona that she’d seen portrayed time-and-time again. Instead, Surge seemed to be...nice.

“You only started out as a hero last Summer? That’s amazing, Surge.” She asked, evidently impressed at how quickly he’d seemed to be able to master his powers. “I’ve had my powers for as long as I can remember, though it took me a while to realise that they made me ‘different’.” Yoshiro hesitated for a moment as she recalled the countless hours she’d spent training in the past few weeks. “But even then, I feel like I can hardly control them properly. Let alone use them effectively as a hero.” Biting her lip, she looked at Surge once again. A part of her wanted to ask him who he was, to just remove the mask - figuratively speaking - and satiate her gnawing curiosity. But she knew better than to do so when there were so many others around them, and a nervous voice in her head cautioned her about saying anything that could push the other hero away. “I...I wonder if we knew each other at school.” She eventually offered. “Like, actually knew each other. I feel like we would’ve gotten along.”

Icarus couldn’t keep a sheepish smile from forming as he listened to Yoshiro’s sincere praise regarding his brief, but meteoric career. He normally didn’t care for that sort of compliment, especially considering the type of person they usually came from - rabid fans and viewer-hungry journalists and talk show hosts, among others - but, coming from a fellow hero, and a girl who seemed fairly grounded and humble, the words rang more meaningful. A slight frown replaced the smile, however, as Yoshiro turned the topic around to talk once more about how she found her control and her powers to be lacking.

Before he could say anything on the matter, however, he was taken by surprise as the girl changed the subject. After a moment though, he smiled at Psyche. “If this conversation is any indication, yeah, we would have.” He said before leaning forward and looking her straight in the eye. “Perhaps we would know for sure if we know each other if you just took off that mask and told me who you are.” He stated, holding her gaze for a moment before leaning back. “But I know that’s not a great idea with all these paparazzis around. We can start with names, though - mine is known, so I don’t mind.” He smiled once again.

“I’m Icarus Sarantos.”

Immediately, Yoshiro’s eyes widened behind her mask. “Icarus?!” She exclaimed, her jaw dropping as she tried to reconcile the daring hero with the quiet, studious boy she often saw at the school’s library. “No way! You were always so quiet at school. I was in your English class last year, and we’d keep wondering how you kept aceing everything despite always working by yourself.” Grinning as she recalled how different her past life seemed to her now, she nevertheless felt excited as they discovered a connection between their non-heroic personas. “You always seemed distant though. It always kind of felt intimidating to go up and talk to you, like you never really wanted to be disturbed.”

Pausing, Yoshiro seemed to hesitate as she remembered how things changed for Icarus in his final year. He’d been fairly popular before the stories about his dad had begun circulating through the school. She remembered meeting with him every once in a while at a party, while he would often be the target of some games of truth-or-dare among the girls. But he’d never really been a permanent fixture with any particular group, and so the gossip quickly turned cruel and she’d seen him more and more rarely. She’d spoken to him once after she’d heard about his dad, trying to offer some semblance of support - but it hadn’t developed into anything more than a passing exchange. How could it have? Yoshiro had her own friends, and they had their own opinions about the quiet boy.

Yoshiro offered Surge a thoughtful glance. She wanted to tell Icarus who she was too, with the opportunity to share her feelings and worries with someone who was going through the same whirlwind of becoming a hero. But as she glanced around, Yoshiro couldn’t help but worry about the gathered crowds around them. What if someone overheard? She couldn’t make her identity public. Not yet, at least. She just couldn’t do that to her parents. Biting her lip, the girl turned her gaze back towards the hero across from her. Maybe...would it be so bad if they became closer? She felt a giddy unease in her stomach as she nervously played with a strand of her hair. No, come on. You just met him...but Alexis would say something like I should just be more confident. Taking a breath, Yoshiro offered Icarus a sheepish smile.

“Hey, I’ve really enjoyed talking with you, Icarus. Maybe we could meet up outside of our masks sometime?” A hint of colour rushed into the girl’s cheeks as she continued. “This all feels a bit rushed, but you could take me out somewhere too. Make a date out of it, or something.”

Needless to say, Icarus was taken aback by the sudden loud reaction the girl had upon learning his name - he quickly looked around and was relieved to see that the partygoers around them weren’t especially agitated or curious about the disturbance. Looking back towards Yoshiro, he couldn’t keep a feeling of worry from creeping in as he saw her mouth agape, suspecting that she had immediately associated his name with the rather infamous reputation he had been unfairly stuck with during the past school year.

As he continued listening, however, his worry transformed into relief, and he couldn’t keep a grin from appearing on his face as he realized that, in fact, what she remembered was not the angry lonesome boy that got into fights every other day, but the quiet, mundane student he had been. It felt rather strange, though not in a manner he minded, to be remembered for who he had been before Surge, before Blackout, before his father’s arrest. Besides his childhood, his first two years of high school were among the best in his brief life, and he was content to let his mind wander back for a few moments.

But what came afterwards broke his reverie rather quickly. At first his own feelings echoed Yoshiro’s words - he too had quite enjoyed himself while dancing and conversing with Psyche of the Young Bloods, after all - and he certainly would’ve enjoyed the chance to talk to her some more, especially since he still didn’t know her name, even though she clearly knew him well. But as she continued, expressing her desire to go on a date with him, he realized that there had been a big misunderstanding.

“A date, huh?” He repeated almost mechanically, as if to earn time while his mind worked to figure out how to best decline. “I, ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Psyche.” He began. “I, um, didn’t mean to…” He trailed off, changing his mind about his choice of words. With a sigh, he decided to just speak the truth plainly. “I actually have a girlfriend called Renata, you probably know her. I asked you to dance with me because I thought I could cheer you up a little, and I enjoyed myself and would love to talk to you some more, but a date… well, it’s not possible.” He explained.

“Sorry if I misled you, that’s on me.” He said sincerely.

The moment that the look of surprise flashed across Icarus’ face, Yoshiro knew that she’d made a mistake. Bracing herself for the rejection that she knew was coming, she was nevertheless caught off guard when he revealed that rather than just turning her down, the hero was already in a relationship. And more than that, he was in a relationship with Renata. Feeling the colour burning at her cheeks, Yoshiro waved a dismissive hand as if to brush aside Surge’s concerns.

“Oh no, I should be the one apologising! I guess I should’ve asked about that first.” Doing her best to laugh at her own expense, inwardly the heroine wanted to bury her head in a paper bag. She had been ready for Icarus to say no, but she’d had no idea that he was already dating someone else. And the fact that it was the team’s resident hothead only served to make things worse. Oh my god, what would she think if she found out? “You didn’t mislead me at all, Icarus - I was just rushing into things like an idiot. It’s fine, really.”

Did he...did he say that he only danced with me to cheer me up? Remembering how Alexis had pushed her towards the boy, Yoshiro’s smile wavered. Had this all been set up by the pair of them because they felt sorry for her? That thought only soured her mood even further as she imagined what even her closest friends must be thinking about her. “You win some you lose some, right?” I should have just left when I had the chance. Lexi why did you put me on the spot like this?

Clearing her throat nervously as the situation suddenly felt awkward now that the natural flow of their conversation was broken, Yoshiro regretted her actions even more. They’d been hitting it off pretty well, and then she had to go and ruin it by biting off more than she clearly could chew. “I...uh...I should probably go back to the team, you know. See if they need me for something?” She offered, the words sounding painfully flimsy as she said them. “It was really nice to meet you though, Surge. Maybe I’ll see you around?” And then, another voice broke into the bubble that encompassed the pair.

“Ahem.”

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
October 8th

Poor Roy. The usually camera-ready Nightshade was rapidly turning a very deep shade of crimson, one that contrasted somewhat poorly with the white T-shirt he was wearing. He seemed to be trying his best to keep his leader's composure, but his best was...not terrific, as evidenced by the wide berth he was giving both herself and Alexis as he set off down the hall at once, throwing Alexis a dirty look along the way. Whitney simply looked at the shorter girl with a slight grin, shrugged, and followed on Roy's heels, beginning to blow a bubble along the way. The taller boy was in the midst of describing the current building they were in, apparently a home to bedrooms, lounges, ant farms, game roo-...ant farms?! What in the hell did they need an ant farm for, and why the hell did they need an entire room for it?! She was barely registering Roy's whole spiel about beaches and Kan Jam, she still racking her brain to figure out why the team would need an ant farm. She was still mulling it over by the time they had reached the elevator, and Roy was saying something about a kitchen and a living room. Kitchen...probably had a coffee maker. Good, she needed a caffeine fix, there was only so much you could get out of Alexis' never-ending stash of ice-cold, if mildly flat soda.

Whitney popped the bubble in her mouth, swallowing the wad back up and shifting it to the side to allow her to reply. "Sure, I'd love to check it out." she replied casually, leaning back against the elevator and turning to face Roy. "I do have a question, though. What's up with the ant farm? Like, is it a room full of ant farms in boxes, or is it a whole-ass terrarium, or...not that I'm judging or anything, but why the hell do you guys have an entire room dedicated to ants?" Whitney said with a mixture of curiosity and perplexion, genuinely wondering as to what the answer could be.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

---

---

Several minutes would pass until the first member of the motley crew the angel had recruited would show up at the marked location, wearing a black hood that had clearly been taken from an old Halloween costume, which served to conceal her face and form from prying eyes. It had been difficult to make it in such short notice, especially when all she had for transport was a bicycle, and it had been harder still to sneak past the perimeter that had been set up by the police around the area, but a little ingenuity and Prince Omega's aid, she had managed to make it to the watch tower unseen. From there, climbing to the top was a simple enough matter, and soon enough she saw Jan keeping watch over the reactor.

The young angel would suddenly notice a disembodied hand landing on his shoulder.

"Psst, angel boy! Over here!" A female voice whispered from somewhere nearby. If the boy turned around, he would see an obscured figure sitting in the corner of the watchtower and holding a large scythe, a pair of eerily familiar violet eyes keenly observing him. Before the suspense continued for too long, the figure raised a pale stump to her face and pulled down her hood, revealing herself.

"Did I scare you?" Megan asked him with a playful grin on her face. "I figured I could mess with you a little while we wait for the others - you looked so cute, all focused on keeping watch over whatever is going on there." She said with a wink. "But my, you could have picked a less troublesome place to meet up, don't you think? Avoiding all those cops wasn't easy." She added afterwards, gesturing with her stump at the distant perimeter.

"So what's going on?" She asked, before extending her stump towards him. "Oh, and do you mind giving me back my hand?"

---

October 7th

---

---

Upset as he was after the conversation with someone as odious as Mike, Icarus wanted to unwind. While the night had definitely had its enjoyable moments - catching up with Casimir and conversing with Makeshift and Frost Bite, as well as dancing and talking with Psyche - the thought of the swordswoman in red had lingered in the back of his mind since the moment the incident at the tournament had come up in Jordan's speech, and now his anger flared up again, ruining his mood. Part of him wanted to just take his leave, but Armorer had sent him to the gala to start building a presence on his own, not to mention that leaving over the brunet's words would be giving him far too much credit.

Besides, he was half hoping to get to talk to his friends some more before the night was through. He didn't get to see them often, what with now living in another city.

He was still amidst these thoughts when, as luck would have it, he stumbled across yet another familiar face. One that he hadn't expected to see, and one that he hadn't ended on great terms with during their last meeting, but a familiar face nonetheless. The scowl on his face remained set there, though his eyes betrayed his surprise. He said nothing at first, unsure of what to even say, but as she broke the silence with a simple greeting, he understood that she was just as lost, and the realization allowed him to relax slightly.

"Hey." He said as the stiff stance from his brisk walk faded into a more open stance. He scoured his brain for something to talk about so that there wouldn't be another awkward silence to deal with. "I, uh, heard about the Goat. Good job with that."

---

---

Throughout her speech, the young inventor had obviously noted Jordan's reaction, but instead of panicking over it and what it could mean, Alexis simply chose to ignore it and hold her confident smile, knowing that maintaining a strong presence was key when dealing with people like him - and even if her height didn't help her, she was happy to use other resources at her disposal.

She was surprised when the first thing that the CEO said to her was essentially a word of caution, and a fairly wise one at that. She made a note to keep it in mind for her future projects, since she had a habit of being rather impulsive with the machines she designed, which had led her to many a blunder during her short career as an inventor. More exciting was the casual offer that Scott made to her, telling her that she had the option of working an internship with Scott Industries, where she'd get as much help as possible in order to break into the global tech market. It was like a dream come true, and she had to make a conscious effort to avoid jumping in glee.

"Please, Mr. Scott. I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without a lot of hard work to go with everything else. Tech doesn't grow on trees, you know? Not yet anyway." She said, her tone betraying a fraction of the joy she felt inside. "I accept of course. What do you expect me to say to an offer like that?"

Unfortunately, the night changed tune quite quickly and suddenly, with both Jordan and her receiving a rather worrying message. Now, she didn't really know who the hell Lisette was, but either way, if she was here and she was Marionette, then clearly everyone around was in danger. So while some of her teammates opted to go for the loud option and began causing the people around to panic, Alexis simply slapped Jordan's shoulder to signal her departure and then went to try and soothe the crowds and convince them to make a more orderly exit.

[Auropa]

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

Mike Mathews
The Gala

Seeing Mizu’s reaction to his comments, Mike couldn’t do anything to stop a wide smile from forming across his face. Even if it was a complete fluke, this was the first time he had managed to catch the girl off balance and the closest thing he figured he’d get to payback for all the pranks, but he also felt that vice-like grip on his chest as she spoke and he tried to consider his next words. ‘Maybe I should let Jacob know about this. Now would be a pretty crappy time to get the flu’ he figured as he did his best to ignore the pressure and keep focused.

As he began to decide on his choice reply though, Mizu once again turned the tables and caught him off guard with a genuine offer to leave the party. Thinking things through, Mike knew that what he should do was try to apologise to Casimir again and help make the team look good for the people, but as he thought about everything Mizu and him had just talked about, he came to a choice.

“I think everyone here can probably handle a party on their own. Tell you what, I know this great little bakery not too far from here, I used to do a bit of work part time there and the owner makes some of the best-“ He began to say before being interrupted as two soft, but unmistakable buzzing noises began to emit from the heroes. Giving an apologetic half shrug to the girl, he pulled out his communicator to take a quick glance at what was happening, at first expecting some junk about a group photo or something, only to be stunned into silence as he read its contents.

‘Who’s Lisette?’ he thought to himself before finishing the message and coming to a single conclusion ‘ohhhhhhh shit.’

“We need to help evacuate.” Mike stated as he put his Forge mask on and faced Selene.

“I’ll go through the kitchen and make sure the staff know what’s happening and have a way out, can you handle the people wandering the halls?” He asked as he began heading to the door, his mind thrown into work mode and thinking about the different possible dangers ahead.

“And if you see Marionette send a message to everyone but do not try to fight them! We'll need everyone together if we want to catch her and keeping the guests safe has to come first.” he added as he quickly thumbed what he was doing into the communicator for the others to see before pausing for a moment as an out of place thought crossed his mind.

“I know you can handle yourself but- just stay safe alright?” he added before ducking out of the balcony and moving to the back rooms of the gala.

[Aidannadia]

"I, uh, heard about the Goat. Good job with that."

“I watched NASL. You were okay.” She sipped her drink, thinking of something to say. She had seen him dancing with Yoshi, and while she doubts Renata would approve.... Well, Aleta wasn’t exactly the snitching type and with something as harmless as that... Renata could be harsh, so maybe she didn’t need to know about it.

“I’d ask how everything is going, but I imagine that you’ve been over that a few times already.” She sipped her drink again, settling in to the conversation for a moment. He’d mentioned the Goat, and while they still haven’t found his body, and she doubted they were going to at this point, she couldn’t help but feel bad over the whole thing. She likely could have killed the bloke; perhaps she had. Or perhaps whatever lab built him was looking for just the right opportunity to take him back. That seemed to be what happened with these villain types.

[Bentus]

Frostbite and Psyche
The Gala

---

"Well, if you managed to set the sprinklers off I think could pull it off." Angelica half joked, as she glanced towards the gloomy looking telepath. "But really, maybe you shouldn't worry so much what Red thinks? Sorry about Lexi getting you caught up in this though... she's a schemer at heart.”

Yoshiro groaned, Angelica's words clearly doing little to alleviate her current downtrodden feelings. "That's what I thought too, Angie. But it's so hard!" She bemoaned. "And I know it sounds petty, but this whole night I've just seen him constantly get surrounded by all these cute girls who are obviously into him. Heck, one girl straight up interrupted us when we were talking just now and immediately starting flirting with him right in front of me! And Red just kinda let it happen." A sigh escaped from Yoshiro's lips. "And now I'm finding out that the one other guy I thought was acting interested in me was actually sent by Lexi just to make me feel better." Turning towards the ice hero, the girl offered her a defeated pout. "Like, when did I become a pity case?"

"Don't be too hard on yourself." Angelica offered. "Nobody sees you like that trust me." The ice heroine wasn't exactly sure what else to say that might cheer her up. "Don't take this the wrong way, and don't EVER tell Lexi I said this, but take it from me... you're hot." She said, blushing a bit. "Guys are dumbasses if they aren't interested."

Despite her best efforts, an amused grin flashed onto Yoshiro’s features as she chuckled at Angelica’s comments. Glancing up from the table, she offered the other girl a joking wink. “Wow, Angie. Maybe that’s why Makeshift pointed me towards Surge. Clearly she was worried about having some competition.” But after she spoke, Yoshiro sighed as she thought about all the trouble that she could’ve just caused. “Though apparently she put me up against Renata instead. Cause it turns out that’s who Surge is currently dating.” Groaning, Yoshiro offered Angelica a frown. “If she finds out that I asked him out, she is going to absolutely blow a gasket. Seriously, sometimes I’m jealous of you guys. Being straight isn’t what it’s cut out to be when guys are such idiots.”

Angelica offered a playful dirty look at Yoshi's comment about Alexis, before chuckling at the idea that she was jealous of her. "Trust me, girls aren't much easier. But ya, I'm sorry that happened. All I can say is... you're a good person Yoshi, you'll find someone eventually. Don't settle for someone just to be with someone, you're too good for that.”

Replying to her friend's words with a thankful smile, Yoshiro genuinely appreciated Angelica's efforts to make her feel better. She felt a feeling of pride on behalf of the other hero. Only a few months ago, Angelica was effectively a loner. She'd rarely reach out to others, and even within the team she tended to act alone and keep away from the rest of them. But since the three of them became friends, and Angelica and Alexis became an item, the team's own 'Ice Queen' had been opening up more and more. "Thanks Angie. I'll do my best not to forget that." Before either girl could say anything else however, a buzzing immediately came from both of their pockets. Exchanging a pair of surprised glances, they both pulled out their communicators and scanned the emergency message from Naja. As she read the text, Yoshiro's eyes slowly widened into a look of horror. With a feeling of dread, she looked down to the image that had been sent around of this 'Lisette', even though she already knew with a sickening feeling who it would be. "Oh my God, Angie we have to go find Red."

[Finland SSR]

October 3rd

---

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

Psionic signatures began to appear at the back of Jan's mind, only one and two at first, but they soon turned into a large mass. San Diego police was finally getting their act together and establishing a perimeter - the vast size of the nuclear complex meant that it was very loose at parts, but it nonetheless ensured that nothing would be able to escape without a fight. That... Well, that was going to be helpful, even if the thought of putting even more people on the line in this conflict which should not have concerned them left a pit in Jan's stomach. Even when seen from afar, the demonic hordes crawling from the underworld were intimidating he was sure that a small band of supers wasn't going to take all of them out by themselves. Help from the city means they will be able to focus on whoever is leading this invasion while the rest of the demons are being dealt with...

He quickly caught solitary signatures making their way through the perimeter and into the proximity of the nuclear station, too - though he figured that those must have been his teammates, Jan opted not to telepathically contact them, just in case they turned out to be someone else. He wasn't familiar with anyone's psionic signatures just yet.

It also meant that, when Megan scaled up the watch tower and made her presence known, it did not surprise Jan one bit. The disembodied hand on his shoulder was a different matter.

"Huh, wha-" Jan turned around in haste and pulled the hand off, and stared back at Megan as she happily waved a stump and explained how cute he looked while watching from the roof. The Virgil only barely kept up with what she had been saying, looking at her, then back at the clearly human-like arm, then back at her, until she finally asked him to give her hand back.

"Aah!" Jan yelped and flailed, tossing the disembodied hand to the ground in the process. Realizing what he had just done, however, the Virgil quickly picked it up and made his way to Megan. The girl clearly was not in any pain and could even afford to play around, so maybe this had something to do with her powers? "Are... are you okay?" he asked regardless, then gently grabbed Megan's arm stump to poke it with the disembodied hand, as if the two of them were pieces of Lego he tried to stitch back together.

"What's going on? Well, it's hard to tell from afar, but..." Right on cue, several more demonic portals opened up with powerful roars in the distance, in the ground surrounding the nuclear reactor complex. Hellish air shot out from them like a geyser, flashing with light before dispersing once again - from them, creatures of various shapes and forms would begin to crawl out of. "...that. That's what's happening."

---

Mike Mathews
The Gala

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

---

Everything was going so well. And then, Mizu, much like everyone else, had to be reminded that they're the Young Bloods and thus trouble follows them on every corner. Her YB button began to buzz in tandem with his, hidden within her dress, and she pulled it out just in time to get the transmission. Marionette. That's who they're dealing with. Apparently, she's here, and she's the scion of the Aveline family, whom Mizu caught snooping around in the gala before.

Well uh... I guess they do look alike...

Mizu gave a determined nod to her teammate's call to help with the evacuation and snapped her fingers, activating her shapeshifting powers and immediately shifting into her Selene costume.

"Yeah, I suppose I can cast a some sort of alarm illusion..." she replied, the first thought on how to get such a massive mass of people to move coming to her mind - just in time for Mike to order her to stay safe. No matter what she does, if Marionette goes after her, she should not engage and call for others to do so. She turned her eyes to the side, striking an apologetic smile. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll make sure to look after myself..."

Just... keep that advice in mind for yourself, too.

Right after Mike ran off, Mizu returned back to the gala, witnessing that her friends were already doing their best to get everyone to move. Some were doing so by causing a commotion - and got the purple-haired heroine to form a light pout - others were more graceful about it. If they need to get a lot of people to realize that they're in trouble, then there's one option...

Mizu hopped onto a piano stationed in the corner, ignoring the pianist's confusion, to be able to see the entire gallery at once - then snapped her fingers to cast an illusion. A sharp, overwhelming noise rang off and the light became more red tinted - for everyone in the room, the fire alarm was off.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

---

---

Megan giggled as she saw the effect that discovering her disembodied hand had on the Virgil: he went from surprise, to confusion, to outright fright and shock as he flailed and tossed the appendage away, letting it fall to the ground. Fortunately for her it wasn't at risk of catching an infection or anything of the sort - it was no different than her simply pressing her hand against the ground - and so she said nothing and simply continued giggling even as Jan hastily picked it up and asked her if she was alright, with an almost apologetic look on his face. When he tried to press her wrist against her stump, Megan let him do so. The flesh promptly merged together and, in an instant, it was as if her hand had never been separated from the rest of her body.

The purple-haired girl waved her hand and wiggled her fingers in front of Jan to show that it worked exactly as intended. "I'm fine, see?" She said while offering him a charming smile. "But it's so sweet that you're worried about me! You're such a gentleman, Jan." She added afterwards, pressing her finger against his nose.

As the Virgil gestured towards what was going on at the reactor and she witnessed alongside him the myriad of portals that spewed out brimstone and creatures from the depths of hell, Megan looked on with wide eyes. Needless to say she had never seen something quite like it, and though their demonic visage did not scare her - she was comfortable in her certainty that she could not be harmed while wielding Prince Omega, after all - she still raised her newly restored hand to her mouth while the other gripped her scythe.

"Oh my, they look very powerful and fearsome." She observed, feigning fright. "You recruited a simple girl such as myself to deal with something of this caliber? I don't think I can do it..." She said before leaning on him. "I'm going to need a dashing guardian angel to protect me~"

After a moment, however, she backed away and looked towards the demonic creatures with a more clinical eye. "By the way, you said you were putting together a team, right? How many others did you get? What are they like?"

---

October 7th

---

---

Icarus let out an amused grunt at the girl's reply. That's typical of her, I suppose. He thought. She certainly wasn't one to praise others normally, going off of what he knew of her, and given they had left off on a poor note he certainly didn't expect it. In that regard, 'okay' was a fairly surprising thing to hear, so the blond boy figured he should just take it as a compliment.

At Aleta's next comment, he simply nodded. "Yeah, well, more or less." He said, looking back at the people mingling along the ballroom. "There's been some low points but overall I can't complain." He shrugged. "I could have done without Mr. High Horse over there." He added, pointing with his thumb in Mike's general direction. He preferred not to think about him, but it felt good to get a little bit of his frustration off his chest, even if it was with Aleta.

"So... I'm guessing you've been asked how everything is going already as well?" He asked her out of curiosity. "I mean, with the whole Paragon stuff and joining the Young Bloods your popularity's skyrocketing, isn't it? The paparazzis are probably all over you." He said. Personal experience had somewhat acquainted him with how that part of the superhero world worked, despite how little he liked it.

---

October 24th

---

---

"Weeeell, you haven't really lost your privacy." The cheerful blonde said while playfully poking her girlfriend's chest. Suddenly, her hand wandered up and she caressed Angelica's cheek before moving in and kissing her tenderly. After a few seconds, she pulled away with a wide grin on her face. "I didn't see any paparazzis catching that on camera, did you?"

Angelica leaned into her girlfriend's kiss, pulling her closer as her hands drifted down closer to her hips. She wasn't sure how she felt about her comment but she found the kiss to be too distracting. When it was finished however, she had a bit of a frown on her face. "Just because I can have some moments where people aren't filming me doesn't mean people aren't invading my privacy. I mean, I have people filming me when I'm trying to eat lunch in the cafeteria, how is that privacy?"

Alexis saw the taller blonde's expression and immediately felt some of her cheer and playfulness deflate. Slumping against the couch, she leaned her head on Angelica's shoulder. "Fine, I guess it is annoying and all." The young genius reluctantly conceded. "I don't know, I like the media attention you know? Feels like I'm doing something big, getting through to people and all that. Plus it's not like a lot of people would look at the flat shorty otherwise." She said with a chuckle.

"I guess they still don't, what with my identity not being public, but you know what I mean."

Angelica could sense a little tension in the air as she realized she might have been pushing a bit too hard. "Hey, I'm not mad at you or anything." She said softly. "I get why you like the attention, it's just different with me. They aren't just watching me as a hero, they're watching me as an anxious teenager trying to get through high school. But I don't want to kill your enjoyment of it, I know it's all new and exciting to you."

Hoping to cheer Alexis up again, Angelica scooped the shorter girl next to her up and moved her so that she was sitting on the taller girl's lap, an easy feat considering how light Alexis seemed to be.

"Besides, maybe you're right, we should take advantage of when the cameras aren't looking." She added with a wink. Grinning as she understood the meaning behind Angelica's words, the petite blonde threw her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders and pulled her in for another kiss.

Once a few minutes had passed and the two girls had finished making out, Alexis found herself lying on top of Angelica while in the taller girl's embrace. She was content to lie there for a few minutes before going back to work - her fairies were making progress on her behalf, anyway - but then a sudden thought reached her. "Hey, did Yoshi ever tell you about that time we wanted to pair you up with Jacob?"

[Aidannadia]

"So... I'm guessing you've been asked how everything is going already as well?" He asked her out of curiosity. "I mean, with the whole Paragon stuff and joining the Young Bloods your popularity's skyrocketing, isn't it? The paparazzis are probably all over you." He said. Personal experience had somewhat acquainted him with how that part of the superhero world worked, despite how little he liked it.

“Nah, bunch of sticks at this party. Haven’t been asking me shit.” She sipped her drink once more. She sighed as he continued. “I won’t lie; It’s nice to get some appreciation from the press for once. I’m their darling all the sudden. I thought for a long time the only way forward for me was to build his image of the edgy, cool vigilante against the world, but I think It realizing now that maybe there’s something to the whole ‘going straight’ thing.”

“You seemed to be having fun.” She gestured to Yoshiro. “New boo?” Aleta wasn’t above teasing him, even if her best friend was his girlfriend. “I heard she’s single. Something about... uh... Mask or something... I don’t know. They all are fucking each other it’s hard to keep track.” She sipped her drink again.

“You know...” She scratched the back of her head and looked down at her drink, inspecting the red ichor. “I don’t really like how we left things. Maybe.... maybe I kinda looked up to you as a colleague and maybe you were... not like I expected. And maybe sometimes I can be a little... bitchy.” She said bluntly, not making eye contact with him. “So... I’m sorry for what I said.”

“Alright? Geez, Brownout, you happy? That’s all you’re getting too. No hugs or kisses or make-up sex, k?” She snapped, blushing a bit as she looked around to make sure no one was listening in.

[Galnius]

Mika

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

For some reason, Jan knew that Mika was going to say that - if not now, then eventually. She asserted that he must be mistaken - she saw herself as anything but virtuous and confidently stated that he should have learned more about her before becoming her guardian. To protect her was not the only reason why he's been sent here, but perhaps she had a point there...

"Lots of people say that, you know, but they're always pessimistic about themselves. They might not be virtuous all the time, but they'd find their heart in the right place when push comes to shove."

What Mika said next confused him, however. The girl, surprised that Jan did not know what prep schools were, offered an explanation, but what she said was baffling. So it's a school where the students learn nothing and all the adults just sin around? And apparently, Mika knows a lot about the inner workings of such places personally... and was hoping to share.

"Uh... no thanks... that sounds like a really weird place." the Virgil responded, blinking, his voice cracking slightly. "I... Well, I went to a public school, and I didn't get to experience anything like that out there. I mean... I did end up dropping out halfway through, not because of my own decision, but still... At least I learned how to play the guitar, that's one of the few things which stuck with me."

---

Mika shifted slightly in her chair, sitting atop one of her legs and leaner forward slightly. Jan's reaction was almost exactly what she was hoping for. There was simply something about making him feel uncomfortable that brought a grin to her face. A wicked, impish grin, with her teeth showing partway through, starting at her canine that gleamed like a fang. What was more interesting was that he had started drinking the wine and opening up. It seemed tonight would be plenty engaging if it continued on like this. She just needed to keep him talking.

"Oh, you can play the guitar huh?" Mika rose and looked through her photo book, but soon returned to her chair. "Damn, I don't have one. Well, next time you come around, I'll make sure to have a few for you to try out. For now all I have is Rock Band."

Mika wondered if she was ever going to get the text she was waiting for as she took another gulp from her own glass. Even if Jan didn't take what was given, she wasn't going to waste hers.

"Anyway~", Mika paused, thinking of the best way to keep him talking about himself. She didn't want to be too obvious, but he did seem interesting. After all, the dude was dead. He had to have something interesting to die at so young. Still, he didn't seem to keen on talking about his death, or opening up at all. Luckily for her however, she had recently read a book on how to interview people for her journalism class. Maybe if she started talking about something she knew, he'd spill something as well.

"So, I have this huge plan for the sleepover. The friend is Ash. I don't know if you know her or not, but I found something pretty entertaining. I think I confirmed that she and Kabuto, you know, have a thing going. But she also has this thing for another guy. I can't remember his name, but it's probably unimportant. Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do to hook them up. What do you think, would I make a good Cupid? I am going to bring some alcohol just in case she gets cold feet, that way they'll warm right back up.

---

.

Angelica Dalin

"Oh, yeah, I uh, recognized you from school." Angelica stood just inside of her door, unsure what to do next. In a way, this was an opportunity for her to learn more about the Young Bloods, and maybe even make a friend early on in her time here. Still, she couldn't quite hold in the excitement of being here in the first place, and there was always the possibility that she would make a fool of herself. Her mind was made up when Mars spoke of group chats, something that Angelica was still trying to fully figure out, as she had never had enough people she would talk to to ever bother with one. At least, not in this lifetime.

"I'm just going to, uh, take some time to take it all in. See you later Mars! Er...Rocket! Oh, wait, I'm going to have to officially choose a name for myself huh. I put Phoenix on the application I printed up, but would that really work...?"

Realizing that she was still standing there with the door open, Angelica felt her cheeks reddening, and quickly shut the door. Once inside, looking out towards the water, Angelica let out a deep breathe, and immediately went to work. "Okay, so with the lighting of the room, maybe some fiery orange bedsheets, and on the desk I can put a picture of my family, and this is a great place for a laptop, and here I can put a poster, and here..."

Trailing off, Angelica mentally decorated what she planned on being like her second home. She didn't plan on sleeping over here too often, but when she did she was going to make absolutely sure that it would feel like she belonged there, not as a guest but as a member of the team. A member of the family the teens were forming together. A small tear trickled down her cheek. She was home again. This was....just like when she would stay over all of those years ago. "Maybe I should find out if Steven has a picture of all of us. It can go right there, on the desk. That way, every time I lay down, I can see them." A family again, huh? I wonder if, all those years ago, that was something she had been after with the Wonder Warriors as well.

[Galnius]

The Nefarious Marionette!
Daniel McHarris, Spectre
San Diego

---

Darting into an alleyway, Lisette pressed herself against the wall as another police car screamed down the city street. Its wailing sirens and flashing lights were obscured by the relentless downpour that remained centered on the studio, and the villainess breathed a sigh of relief as she avoided detection once again. Even though Weatherman’s appearance had thrown the police cordon into disarray, she was still struggling to evade all of the patrols and lookouts. Breathing heavily, Marionette leaned her head against the wall as she turned to look up towards the night sky above her. What was she supposed to do? Her powers were all but useless when she was running this low on energy, and it was only a matter of time before Weatherman was defeated and the roadblocks were put back into place. When that happened, she’d be trapped and helpless when they found her. Instead of a dramatic last stand, she’d be captured with a pathetic whimper.

Marionette’s shoulders slumped and a feeling of helplessness washed over her. She was cold, and wet, and still grappling with the revelation of Weatherman’s attempt to betray her. She’d gone into the mission eager and excited, only to see all her expectations come crumbling down around her. Her hair, soaked through by the downpour, clung to the side of her head and was covered in muck and grime from both the battle and her escape. Her clothes were similarly drenched, and a part of her just wanted to crawl into a ball and stop running, to give in to the fatigue and exhaustion that was screaming from each of her limbs. How could it all have gone so horribly wrong?

Unbeknownst to Marionette, however, the authorities were not the only ones looking for her. A set of four searched the nearby roads and alleyways unseen for any hint of the girl. Eventually, one of them stumbled across the pitiful scene.

"Wow, that just looks sad", said a voice from behind her. A man who had just finished fighting her stood there, scratched and bruised yet wearing a confident grin. Taking off his hat, Daniel McHarris gave a graceful bow, extending out his hand. "It looks like you could use a hero Marionette. Luckily, I know of five charming gentlemen perfectly fit for the job."

Jumping in surprise at the unexpected voice, Marionette instinctively braced herself for a fight. However, when she turned to see who it was that had joined her, her features twisted into a scowl. Quickly reaching down and patting at the ground at her feet, the villainess began to pick up loose pebbles and whatever loose items she could find. Hurling them one after another at Spectre, she made no effort to mask her frustration.

“Oh yeah? You know what I think about a ‘charming gentleman’, right now?” One pebble flew through the air. “Or some stupid hero!” She threw an empty glass bottle next. “Or stupid Weatherman!” Looking around, Marionette’s scowl deepened as she already seemed to run out of makeshift projectiles. Even though her throws had been hamstrung by her fatigued limbs, the physical activity still threatened to make her lose her breath. But that did little to dissuade her from lashing her frustrations out on the hero.

“What do you even want, Spectre? Here just to gloat? Cause there’s no way that I’m going to let someone like you take me in quietly if that’s what you’re after.” Folding her arms across her chest, the battered villain looked the hero up and down. “And just f-y-i, you should totally work on your opening lines. Wouldn’t want anyone to think that you’re just a group of creeps offering kids rides home after school.”

Daniel took a deep breath, being quite fatigued himself. Between the earlier fight and deflecting the glass bottle, this villain was really wearing him out.

"Look, I'm not here to take you in, or out for that matter. I'm just here to take you the hell outta here. After all, being a hero is no fun without a villain, and a villain is useless in jail."

Pausing for a moment, Daniel sent a message on his phone to find a meeting point, careful to leave out any names. "Alright then, if you have finished throwing your little fit, I'd recommend getting out of here. My car is parked in the parking lot of a family grocery store near here. Are you going to walk on your own or do I need to pull another out and carry you there while you kick? Honestly, you're so bratty I'd think you were an heiress, not a villain."

“Oh yeah? You and what army!” Even as the words confidently left her lips, Marionette suddenly paused as a look of confusion stretched itself across her face.

“Wait, what did you just say?”

He wasn’t planning to take her into prison? What the hell was up with that? Genuinely left speechless as the conversation veered off the rails towards uncharted territory, the villainess eyed the hero with suspicion. He had to be trying to pull some kind of trick. There just wasn’t any other possible explanation. But then again, maybe he really did think that she was villainous enough to keep around for future fights? Biting her lip, the girl found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Even if this was a trap, there wasn’t much that she could do about it. Despite her stubborn facade, her body was screaming out for rest and she knew that she wouldn’t even be able to put up a token resistance against a determined opponent. Then, when the hero made an off-handed remark about her being an heiress she felt her heart freeze.

No, he doesn’t know. There’s no way. He just got a lucky guess. Doing her best to keep the look of surprise from visibly flashing across her features, Lisette lowered her defensive stance. “Fine. I suppose I don’t really have much of a choice.” She admitted, before quickly jabbing a finger towards Spectre. “Though don’t read too much into this, buster. This does not make you my nemesis or anything, got it?”

---

Sitting with her arms folded across her chest, Lisette wore a stubborn scowl as she sat in the backseat of Spectre’s car. Grimacing at the humiliating situation that she’d found herself in, she nevertheless remained uncharacteristically silent throughout the drive Inwardly, she was struggling to unpack how horribly the mission had gone wrong. Nothing had worked like she’d expected, like they’d planned, and she’d been forced to simply focus on making it from one moment to the next. But now that she had a moment to breathe, the villainess felt the twisting feeling in her chest only deepen.

Even if Floyd and his boyfriend had defeated her, everything had been in place to ensure that she’d emerge victorious in the end. The bombs that she’d set on the hostages would’ve made sure of that, and yet nothing had happened when she pulled the trigger. Even if Red was adamant that he had blocked the remote’s signal, the fail-safes should have allowed for at least a partial activation. No, there was only one way that Lisette could think of for why the bombs never went off: they’d been rigged to fail from the start.

The girl’s frown deepened, her eyes narrowing as she seemed to scowl even more at the back of the seat in front of her. A part of her wanted Spectre to open his stupid mouth so that she had an excuse to lash out at him, if only to pull her thoughts away from the sinking feeling in her chest. Weatherman had set her up. After everything, he’d intended for her to not only get caught, but to fail and be humiliated in her grand debut. She’d gone into the night restlessly eager for the new life she’d have in the morning, when she would emerge as a real villain in her own right. But instead, she was left feeling hollow and hurt. It also didn’t help that the driver had the radio playing a live commentary of her own failure.

“It was the LA Stars who ultimately saved the day when they arrived on the scene, relieving the Young Bloods and novice heroes who had initially been squaring off against Marionette.” Rolling her eyes, Lisette rolled herself over in her chair and planted her forehead against the car window as if staring at the passing roadside would distract her. “It is clear that the casualties from Weatherman’s attack would have been far worse had heroes not arrived so quickly on the scene, and we will keep you up to date San Diego on this developing story as we get it. As it stands, Weatherman has been successfully taken into custody, although Marionette has fled the scene and the SDPD now believes that she is at large within the city. However, new information has emerged that might make it only a matter of a time before she too is put behind bars. For more information, we have the following report from New York.”

Suddenly bolting upright, Lisette turned her attention towards the radio. “Hey, hey - shut up and turn that up!” She called out, a clear panic in her voice as she listened in horror as the reporter recounted recent efforts by the NYPD to unravel the near-disaster at the NASL tournament.

It was impossible, there was no way that they would have been able to figure out who she was! Sure, she hadn’t been able to plan ahead as much as she normally did, but that was because she had to step in to actually try and help the heroes! Didn’t that count for anything? Listening with a growing sense of dread as the reporter explained that police had found a jacket that she’d been wearing with a partially damaged - but still traceable - ticket inside, Lisette’s jaw dropped. She’d entirely forgotten that she’d taken the jacket from that woman to try and mask her identity. She must have slipped her ticket into its pocket without ever realizing. Could they figure out who she was from just that? Part of Lisette wanted to brush off the possibility, but she knew that she’d be kidding herself. And from how the reporter was talking, it was only a matter of time before the evidence was traced back to her. No...no, no, no.

“Stop the car!” She called out, suddenly finding it hard to breathe as she felt a wave of panic washing over her chest. Grabbing onto the door, she was fully ready to simply throw it open - locked or not - if the driver didn’t comply. “I said stop the fucking car!”

As the vehicle came to a skidding halt on the side of the mostly abandoned outer-city road, Lisette didn’t even wait for it to come to a complete stop before she stepped out onto the roadside. Gasping for air, she keeled over and placed her hands on her knees as she felt her vision swimming. This wasn’t happening. It just couldn’t be. After everything she’d done, all the effort she put in, it wasn’t fair for it to just end like this.

"Woah woah woah, don't tell me you're going to hurl on the roadside." Daniel stopped the car and tried to stay in between Marionette and the car, not fully sure what was going on. "You're not allergic to iron or something are you? Oh who cares, I need you to stay near the car, or anyone around can see you."

Approaching cautiously (so as to avoid anything gross from coming out of her mouth) he went to place a hand on her shoulder, but stopped when he saw how wet and gross her clothes had gotten from her earlier excursion. "Look, if it's about the news, it was kinda only a matter of time. Secret identities are a
thing. Obviously. Half the fun of being a villain is supposed to be getting caught, so I'm going to need you to chill the fuck out. You're dampening the good mood."

Ignoring Daniel’s attempts to calm her down, Lisette felt her heart pounding like a runaway train. She desperately tried to think of a way that the newscaster could be wrong, that they wouldn’t be able to trace the ticket back to her. The hero’s attempts to brush aside her concern only served to panic her further, and she whirled around to snarl at him. “You don’t think I would’ve ditched the disguise if I thought I could get away with my identity being public?! What the hell am I supposed to do when they find out who I am, idiot?”

Lisette wracked her brain for any glimmer of hope that she could latch onto, any way that she could distance herself from that darn ticket. But there was nothing. No last-second idea that could come and rescue her from the disaster barreling towards her. Clenching her fists, she turned to glare at Daniel. “This is all your fault. I never would have even had that stupid ticket if you hadn’t given it to me. I wouldn’t have been there and I wouldn’t have had to step in to help if you’d been a better hero.” She knew that she was all but revealing herself to Daniel, but at this point what did it matter? “You ruined everything, Daniel.”

He allowed Marionette to rant on and on, actually getting a little bit of enjoyment out of her troubles. He couldn't quite figure out why she was blaming
though. After all, he was the one who saved her here.

"How am I to blame? First of all, if it wasn't for my beautiful self, you would probably be unconscious in some back alleyway and ruin what is left of that stupid dress. Second of all, the only person I brought with me to the tournament was some boring little brat who didn't have the common courtesy to thank me after. I think I would know if you were...Lisette….Aveline…."

Dan brought up a finger as he studied the girl in front of him. Sure, there was some resemblance, but Lisette was just a whiny child. Marionette was a villain of wonderfully disastrous proportions. Though here and now, with her current mood, it began to slowly click. She was acting pretty high and mighty, and she did sound like a spoiled brat in this moment.

"It can't be...Lisette? How? Oh my god this is great I can’t believe I personally know the Marionete, and of course you know the Great Spectre. Small world, huh? And to think you had everyone fooled thinking that you were some boring, bland, stale, spoiled, frumpy brat. I am curious on one thing though. What do you have to lose if they find out? Your family? Everyone knows they don't care. Your fortune? You won't get that until your parents both die, and unless you do it they'll be alive for another century at this rate. Your friends? I'm pretty sure I'm your biggest friend in your current life, so you really have nothing to lose. Now calm down and get in the car before someone crashes into it."

Lisette seemed to be genuinely taken aback by Daniel’s casual dismissal of her concerns. She’d expected him to be an ass about her identity, it was perfectly in character for him, but the rest of his words left her blinking in surprise as she struggled to respond. What was he talking about? How could he be so ignorant about what she stood to lose if she got found out? She’d get arrested for sure, and this time would be next to impossible for her to channel funds to make it at least a bearable experience. Recollecting herself, Lisette’s eyes narrowed into a scowl as she felt the anger rising in her chest.

“H-hey! I have plenty of friends, you idiot.” She declared, jabbing a finger towards her self-proclaimed savior. “And you are most certainly not one of them. Plus, you clearly don’t know my parents at all. I’m their daughter, of course they care about me! That’s what families are for.” Seething, Lisette felt herself becoming angrier and angrier, with the man’s words getting deeper under her skin the more that she allowed them to rattle around within her skull. “And you know what? Things were going totally fine for me before you showed up. I was in a team with Weatherman, you know. I was going to be a real villain while you’ve never been anything other than some lame footnote of a hero.”

“But you know what? I’m going to be just fine.” She declared, forcing herself to stand up straight as she clenched her fists beside her. “Mother and father will be able to sort everything out, and if not I’ll fix everything myself. But if you think, even for a second, that I’m going to get back into that car with you, then you’ve got another thing coming!”

Dan's expression seemed to grow darker and darker in concern as she rambled on. He looked not at her, but at the growing storm-cloud headed in their direction. He seemed to be thinking deeply, a rare sight to see. He dismissed her with a hand wave, and addressed her while speaking in between thunder claps and the approaching rain.

"Sure, sure. Um...out of curiosity, if I say that I believe you and pretend to apologize, would you get in the damn car? That storm looks a bit wet, and my new upholstery isn't about to get ruined before it can even go through anything fun."

Lisette’s scowl only deepened as Dan hardly even paid her angry tirade any mind, brushing aside her furious comments with a wave of his hand. She was about to lash at him once again when a sudden burst of thunder caused her to hesitate. Looking over her shoulder, the girl’s expression wavered as she saw the ominous storm clouds quickly gathering behind them. Sure, she’d already been drenched pretty thoroughly by the downpour outside of the studio, but she’d managed to mostly dry off since then. And now that she looked around, where was she really? Frowning, Lisette looked up and down the empty road, with the forest on either side of it obscuring her vision, and realized that she didn’t have the slightest clue as to how she could get home from here. Typically, she would’ve just had a driver take her there. There’d never really been any point for her to figure out the route herself. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Lisette’s dismay only worsened as she saw the low battery warning flashing across its screen.

“I…” She started, her tone initially defiant and stubborn before her words trailed off. What was she supposed to do at this point? Walk until she found someone with a phone she could steal? Sighing, the girl clenched her fists as she stormed back towards the car. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Idiot.”

Dan grinned devilishly as Lisette finally caved in, and opened the door like a chauffeur. Slamming the door behind her he started the car, ignoring her bad mood even now. "Of course princess, we wouldn't want your pretty little head to get rained upon. Why, it might make you look even worse."

Stomping into the gas pedal, he raced towards his destination and filled the girl in to his brilliant plan. "So, I'm bringing you to the boatyard. You are to get onto my yacht, and let your parents know I had invited you to use it for a relaxing day on the waters. I was going to join you, but I was called into hero business. I can pay off someone to say that they saw you go there this afternoon with me dropping you off, let's say, two hours before this incident. It'll give you a cute little alibi so you don't have to worry your pretty little head. Of course, if you are outed, I'll just say you made me do it by threat of death. I'm sure you are fine with that. Now…"

Screeching to a halt, Daniel parked the car just at the end of the pier, only a few yards from going into the water. "You should probably get changed before I let up the cloaking. I don't know if you packed any spares, but I can have one of me go fetch you something from what other girls aboard wore. Don't worry, I'll wait outside of the car, and the windows aren't see-through."

Having remained unusually silent throughout the trip, Lisette now stared out through the window towards Daniel’s yacht. Hidden slightly behind the sheet of rain that fell like a curtain between them, the vessel sat motionless at its dock as Dan waited for her response. However, Lisette’s frown deepened as the hero casually explained his plan for her. She clenched her fists in frustration as she felt a wave of anger rising in her chest. Is this what he thought of her now? Treating her like some lost stray that he had to dump the morning after?

“One of the other girls?” A bitterness had crept into Lisette’s tone as she scowled at the hero. “I’m not some slut that you picked up at one of your stupid parties, Daniel. And I’m not taking my clothes off anywhere near you, gross.” Scoffing at the man as she vented her frustrations, Lisette stubbornly folded her arms across her chest as she glanced once more towards the yacht. “Just...take me home. I said that I didn’t need your help, anyway. Sheesh.”

Rolling his eyes at her comments, Daniel started to pull back out of the docking area. "You know, Lisette, there's no need to get jealous. You're too young for me, and inexperienced. You wouldn't be able to even get on that boat with me princess. But whatever, to your ivory tower then."

Daniel once again sped down the roads, expertly dodging the cars that didn't register his presence. Soon, he reached the long driveway belonging to the Aveline's and pulled up, halfway. "Alright, out you get. I'm sure you can walk of shame the rest of the way to your front door."

After Lisette got out, he called to her one last time. "Hey, when everything goes to shit do you think your parents will move to avoid the embarrassment? I could use another party house, and this place is nice."

Having remained silent for the whole trip back to her family’s estate, Lisette showed no interest in breaking the silence just to offer Dan a begrudging thanks for taking her home. Opening the car door, she hesitated for a moment as she was greeted by the continuing downpour that had seemed to envelope the city that evening. Scowling, the girl stepped out of the car and shoved the door shut behind her, immediately feeling the cold chill of the rainwater starting to drench her dress. Ignoring the discomfort from the storm, she began to stride up the gravel path path towards her door when she heard Dan’s voice call out from behind her. She froze as his sly comments registered with her mind, the shock of what he was implying causing her to remain motionless for a moment. Feeling an onrush of anger, Lisette bent down to scramble for a pebble at her feet. In the dark, cloud-filled night sky it took her a moment, but when she felt her hands clasp around a particularly sizable rock, she whipped herself around and hurled it with all her might at Dan’s car. Colliding with a hardened window, the projectile nevertheless caused the glass to shatter as a spider web of cracks spread out from the impact. Seething the villainess bent down to try and find another rock to throw as she shouted back at Daniel.

“Get out of here you creep!” She screamed, allowing her frustrations to drive her actions. “Get away from my home!” With another swing of her arm, she’d thrown another pebble, though this one merely dented a car door. “Go away!”

Rolling his eyes one last time at the damage done to his car, Daniel started pulling away. “Alright already, I get it. It’s a joke, not a dick, though it’s clear you could use some.” As he finally escaped her wrath from the driveway, he had time to assess the damage. “Damn it….and I just fixed this thing.”

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
Chapter 5: Sweet Paradise

"Terribly sorry, terribly sorry about everything that's happened." Randhawa said for what felt like the thirtieth time in the last half hour, hands clenched on the wheel of the BMW X6 he was driving. It had taken a full half an hour of coaxing and pleading for the Bollywood mogul to get Carter and an aggressively growling Harley into the car in the first place, and even after that, he hadn't exactly been excited to hop in, regardless of how nice the air conditioning was in the muggy heat. Air conditioning or no air conditioning, that bastard set him up to get shot by some hick backwoods terrorists in the middle of nowhere! Well, he looked like he was about to cry with relief when he saw Carter, and he swore up and down on several of his distant ancestors' gravestones that he was betrayed, and Carter didn't have anywhere else to go, and it was really muggy, so Carter managed to stop Harley from attacking his second victim of the day and agreed to get in the shotgun seat with a dejected sigh.

"I can promise you, there will be some financial compensation for this trouble," the older man said, his knuckles beginning to turn a white sheen as he continued to drive down the highway, edges of civilization beginning to show up. The vast plains of scorched dirt had been replaced with pavement, with factories and office buildings beginning to pop up on either side of the highway. Not that he cared however, he had other things to worry about.

"Well...thank u', Mr. Randhawa, thass ve'y kin' o' you." Carter said stiffly, his broken nose having finally stopped bleeding, but still remaining as broken as ever. Apparently, the on-location doctor that Randhawa had hired "for emergencies" would treat it "no problem", but that didn't exactly stop it from hurting like hell. The blond aerokinetic finally uncrossed his arms and turned in his seat to look at the driver with a scowl. "Bud...how am I subbosed to truzzt you? You sai' that the driver was a bersonal frien' o' yours, and your 'bersonal frien'' tried to kill muh! How do I know you not he' to fini' the job!" Carter asked angrily, causing a grimace to grow across Randhawa's face.

"...I don't know what to say, Carter." the Indian man said after a pause, a hard edge of anger in his voice. "I trusted Arun, I've known him for years. He used to be my personal chauffeur. I had no idea he would do such...heinous act, and I can't fathom why either. He is a good man...or at least was a good man."

Carter remained silent, churning over his words, so Randhawa continued. "I know that explanation is poor, but it's all I can give you. That, and my sincerest apologies." he said in a softer tone. "I made a mistake sending Arun, that much I know, and it was a terrible mistake. I promise that security will be much better on location, and that I have every continuation of continuing to employ you, but I need your forgiveness to be able to do that. Can you forgive me?" he asked with the earnestness of Harley begging for a treat. Carter could never refuse Harley begging for a treat.

He let out a sigh through his nose and relaxed, nodding. "Alrigh', I forgive you sir. But I'm not ge'ing in any ca' with one of your 'frien's' ever again, go' it?" he said lightheartedly, causing both men to laugh. Truthfully, he was forgiving the man not because he had actually felt benevolent (he was feeling anything but that right now), but because of the same reason he had gotten into the car in the first place: he had nowhere better to go. It would take a while before he could even find his way back to Delhi, let alone get a flight back home, and in the meantime, where was he going to stay? He certainly wasn't planning on hitchhiking back, he didn't need another scrape with Lady Death today. If Vikram Randhawa was true to his word, he would get his pay and get out of here. If he wasn't, he'd beat the crap out of him like his buddy Arun.

"I'm glad. We'll be at Chandigarh in an hour or so, why don't you get some sleep? I'll wake you up once we're near the hotel." Randhawa said, sounding quite glad indeed. His knuckles loosened on the steering wheel, his posture relaxed, the creases that had been working their way into his forehead beginning to unfold.

"Hotel? Where, when, what?" Carter asked with a renewed interest, pushing his grimy hair back. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he had had a nice, hot shower, or for that matter, slept in a decent bed. Days of flights and crappy Japanese hotel rooms had turned him and Harley into a sweaty, sleep-deprived messes, and the idea of a decent mattress sounded very appealing right now.

"Yes, hotel. My cousin Kaushal owns a hotel in Chandigarh, and I've booked rooms for some of the cast and crew. I booked one for you as well. We have a saying here in India, 'Atithi Devo Bhava'. It means 'Guest is God', and because you are a foreigner, a guest from America, you get a room worthy of God. Of course, during the day, you'll be in your trailer in between shoots, but at night, you're free to sleep at the hotel."

"Huh...bein' a God doe'n't sou' half bad." Carter said sleepily, beginning to doze off once again. He wanted to stay awake to make sure that he didn't end up on the wrong side of a Glock's barrel for the second time that day, but jet-lag had other plans for him...

---

Carter awoke sometime later, his eyes blurry and his nose still throbbing somewhat, although the pain was starting to subside. His eyes slowly began to focus, his ears slowly began to pick up sounds, and his nose...his nose was smelling something amazing. A pang went through his palette, his mouth beginning to water with the scent of freshly fried...something. He wasn't exactly a connoisseur with food, but he had one area of expertise; eating it. However, there was one issue. His mouth wanted so badly to eat whatever was being cooked out there, but his stomach objected, the hours-old greasiness of Original Recipe Fried Chicken shifting and pitching in his stomach, making his innards do backflips. And another thing; he was thirsty. He hadn't realized it before, considering he was practically fighting for his life against a group of crazed extremists, but his throat was about as dry as his last attempt at cooking chicken, and he could use some overpriced, fancy hotel water bottles. Did they have Fiji water in India?

"Carter, we're here. Come outside." a distant voice said, rousing Carter from his daydreams. Randhawa. "Yeah, yeah, comin', one sec..." Carter sleepily replied, peeling his sweaty back off of the seat and fumbling for the driver's side door handle. At last, he was able to open it, a blast of sunlight cutting straight through the opening and practically blinding him. Cursing, he slipped his way out of the seat belt and out of the car, his feet hitting solid pavement on the way down. He rubbed his eyes a few times to shake away the blinding sensation, giving a few wide yawns and stretches in between as he slowly began to re-open his eyes, adjusting his baseball cap to shade away some of the sunlight.

And what he saw nearly made him throw his baseball cap back off, just so he could see a little more.

He was in the middle of one giant market, one that seemed to flood across several blocks. People walked in every direction, wearing a mixture of Western clothing and traditional saris of all colors, a never-ending stream that bordered cars and vans and trucks and even the occasional rickshaw with an inebriated driver at the helm streaming across the street. Buildings lined both sides, full of stores that appeared to sell mostly clothing and jewelry, but holy shit look at all the clothes and jewelry. Every display windows showed an army of mannequins, or racks of shoes, or this, or that, or...it was all too much. Neon signs flickered, people shouted, sales ads were wrapped around every free post in a foreign tongue. A stall across the street was cooking up some twisted candy in a deep frier, and there was a huge spread of the least convincing fake Gucci handbags that Carter had ever seen.

Now this was a city.

He barely even noticed Randhawa and what looked like a doorman lifting his trunks out of the BMW's trunk. He barely even noticed the front of the hotel. He barely even noticed Harley trotting up to him, Carter absent-mindedly scratching between his ears as he looked around, lost in this fantastic, psychedelic world he was in. The people had noticed him, gaping about with his pale ass and blonde hair, a few maybe even recognizing him. A man that looked to be in his 30's, with a thick, dark beard. A mother with two children, the younger one's eyes fixed directly on Carter for a good thirty seconds. A teenage boy running through the crowd in a white collared shirt, staring at his watch as if he was late for a date or a job interview.

And the girl from heaven.

She had two girlfriends on either side, their arms loaded up with shopping bags. But not a single bag was in girl-from-heaven's delicate hands, patterned with decorative henna and topped with deep red nails on every fingertip. He felt like a creep for noticing things like the shade of her fingernails, but everybody probably already thought he was a full-blown creep anyways, so might as well live up to his name and keep on noticing things. Things like how her hair was dark and lush, a smooth curtain that made him wish his own hair didn't look like one of Casimir's ant farms. Things like how the simple white dress she was wearing hugged her form tightly and showed off her shapely, tawny legs, making Carter wish he wasn't wearing a gray, slightly baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants with a hole in one knee. Things like her almond-shaped eyes, the most striking shade of brown hidden behind a pair of thin-framed glasses, making Carter wish he was...smart? Actually, he wished she would look at him with those eyes, so that this wouldn't feel like one-sided creeping and instead could be a two-way thi-

She looked at him.

It was just for a few seconds, a moment or two where her eyes met the lenses of his sunglasses, but goddamn those two moments were euphoric. But then she looked away, kept on walking and chatting with her bag-inundated girlfriends, and his heart sank, because he realized that he could never get a girl like that in his wildest dreams. Especially not with his pale ass, grimy hair, and yipping German Shepherd. She was luxury and class, and he was as bum as bum could get. Oh, the humanity! The tragedy was enormous, the tragedy being that he was losing this girl whom he had never seen before in his life and never spoken a word to but was still madly in love with! THE DESPAIR WAS ENDLESS!!!!!

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh....." Carter moaned to himself, moaning out of misery and regret and a little bit of horniness, a groan that seemed to echo around his brain, formulating into one thought: chasing after the love of his life. He really was in Bollywood now. Stooping down, he grabbed Harley's trailing leash, ignoring the slight griminess that had been picked up by the nylon. "Come on, Harley. We're going for a walk!" Carter said defiantly, more to himself than the dog. Nonetheless, Harley barked excitedly and began wagging his tail, eager to aid Carter in his quest. It was glorious, as the two set off at a defiant pace, charging forward to chase after the trio of girls' fleeing backs...and straight into Randhawa.

"Woah there, Carter, the hotel's this way!" he said cheerfully, his own face covered up by sunglasses and a turban to avoid unwanted paparazzi attention. "Jet lag must have your head spinning, huh? Follow the trolleys, the valet will get the car..." he said, his words becoming a blurred mess under the sheer sense of...betrayal (!) that Carter was feeling. Men were supposed to help each other out, be each other's wingmen, but Randhawa had just...broken his wing! No, worse...he had cockblocked him. OH, THE MOTHERFUCKING HUMANITY!!!!!!

Grumbling, Carter reluctantly followed Randhawa and his quickly retreating brass trolley of luggage across the concrete walk out front and through the revolving doors, barely noticing the change in setting until a blast of cool, air-conditioned air slapped him across the face. The lobby wasn't massive, but it was still far from ugly. In fact, it was quite...luxurious. It was almost like a poor man's Grand Budapest Hotel, with the wall's panels covered in handsome, shiny wood, plenty of thick, spongy brown-green carpets, abstract paintings, enough leather couches and chairs to seat at least fifty people, and a set of stairs twisting up to the second floor, complete with a row of somewhat clashing silver elevators nestled in between. Various arches and halls lead off to the sides, and customers, bellhops, and everyone in between rushing back and forth, flowing in and out of god knows where. It wasn't 5-star, but it was...pretty decent, considering he was just a stuntman. A highly skilled stuntman, but a stuntman nonetheless.

Randhawa's booming voice brought him back to reality, as it usually did. "Kaushal!" he said, referring of course, to his cousin who had graciously provided the hotel rooms free of charge. Kaushal was the tall, slim man, with receding black hair streaked with gray and a thin, wispy mustache standing behind the reception desk, seemingly waiting for the dynamic trio to have arrived. Somehow, Randhawa and his bellhop had gotten way ahead of him, as they had quickly rushed forward, Randhawa to embrace his cousin and give him an affectionate peck on the cheek, and the poor bellhop to keep up with Randhawa's pace. He moved fast for someone from the geriatric ward.

As Carter slowly inched forward with Harley, a wide berth ensured because of the fearsome guard dog, he could catch Randhawa's words to his cousin, in a foreign tongue. "...yes, yes, it was quite a stir. I had to give the police a little money to oil their damn mustaches. It was the only way they would let me take him." he said in Hindi, his words unfamiliar to Carter but native to his cousin.

"They had four armed hoodlums out there and that was their concern?" Kaushal asked curiously, his voice a touch raspier than his cousin's.

"Indeed, it was a mess. It took me ages to get past the roadblock, and another age to get out of it!" Randhawa chuckled, before noticing Carter's approaching form. "Ah, here he is. This is the boy Kaushal, our special guest from America, Carter Graystone!" Randhawa said, switching to English. With a flourish, gesturing towards Carter's meek form. "You know...Aeolus! From the Young Bloods!" he elaborated upon seeing Kaushal's blank look, which soon flooded with recognition.

"Ah, yes! Of course!" Kaushal said, his own English slightly more accented than Randhawa's, but still fairly good. "Welcome, sir, it is an honor to be in your presence! You're quite the sensation in India, did you know?" he asked, his fanboyisms becoming apparent.

"I've been told, yeah." Carter said with a grin, recalling what Randhawa had said when they first met in San Diego. He knew the Young Bloods were popular, even more so when they had practically exploded all over the Internet some time ago (which was a tad annoying). But when he had been told India of all places were fans of him? He was skeptical. After all, his research had revealed dozens of Indian news articles with stories on him, and a viral clip on an Indian YouTube channel that had dubbed one of his fights over the "Tunak Tunak Tun" song with a whopping 55 million views. Hell, the surge in Young Blood popularity had been good for him too; it had been a while since he had left, but his name was still fresh in people's minds, and he was enjoying a little spotlight of his own. Of course, nobody had asked him for an autograph yet, but that was just because he was so well-disguised!

"So humble. Now, Mr. Randhawa has handled most of the check-in, I just need your ID, passport and confirmation of reservation." the other man said, his attention drifting towards a computer screen who's keyboard he clicked away at with alarming speed. Thankfully, Carter had actually remembered his passport and confirmation of reservation, having printed copies of both a solid ten minutes before he had hopped inside the cab to the airport. With a bit of fumbling, he procured very wrinkled copies of both from his wallet, handing it over to the man. A few more seconds of clicking, and Kaushal turned towards Carter, smiling. "OK, you're booked in Room 505. Here is the key card to your room. Breakfast is from 7:00 AM to 10:30 AM, and is located in the same place as our lunch and dinner restaurant, just to the right of the reception desk. You have complimentary Wi-Fi, you may access it through our online portal by signing in with your last name and room number. The basement level contains the business and fitness centers, and the hotel pool is located on the tenth floor. Room service is also available, and the menu is located in your room. Any questions?"

"Er...no, thanks." Carter said, struggling to take in all of the information in as he pocketed his room card. Kaushal smiled and nodded, leaning in close to whisper into Carter's ear.

"Um...could I ask you a favor, Mr. Graystone?" he asked somewhat haltingly, seemingly embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure. Say the word, what is it?"

"Can I...get an autograph from you. For my son Adesh, he is a huge fan of you, ever since he saw the Tunak Tunak Tun video. You know how kids are, right?" Kaushal asked with a nervous chuckle, anxiously awaiting Carter's response. He seemed surprised when Carter burst into a silly, wide grin, seemingly brightening up with enthusiasm.

"Sure! You got a pen and paper or something?" Carter asked, prompting Kaushal to turn red and begin muttering "thank you" repeatedly as he scrabbled around on the desk for a pen and notepad. He handed it to Carter, who quickly scribbled a message that he hoped would be somewhat legible, despite the fact that his handwriting was about as tidy as the one's on doctor's notes. With a quick hand, he signed the piece of paper with a clumsy signature, before scribbling a quick message down below addressed to a certain Adesh and handing it back to Kaushal. The older man was practically glowing, bowing to Carter slightly and pulling him into a vigorous handshake. "Thank you so much sir! If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. Don't worry about payment, Mr. Randhawa has covered that. Samir will bring your bags up to your room." he said, gesturing towards the bellhop in red uniform. Carter turned to look at him, only to notice that Randhawa had disappeared, leaving Samir as his only companion. "Yes, my cousin is an elusive man, always disappearing with suspense and drama." Kaushal said dismissively, waving his hand. "If there is anything you need at all, feel free to ask me or the concierge. Have a wonderful stay!"

"Thanks." Carter nodded at the man, turning to follow Samir, who was moving at a fast clip towards the row of elevators with his trunks despite his constrictive outfit. By the time Carter had dragged Harley quickly enough to catch up with him, he had already hit the button, and the open doors of an elevator greeted them not long after. It took some maneuvering to get inside thanks to the brass-framed trolley, but by the time the doors slid close, they were all safely inside, albeit in a bit of a tight squeeze thanks to Harley's bulk, which was the source of a near-constant whimpering from down below.

"So...are you really the Aeolus?" Samir asked, his eyes slanting over to look at Carter as the elevator began to rise, numbers on the small black screen slowly increasing.

"Mhm, that's me. I'm your guy." Carter said, puffing up slightly.

"Wow..." Samir said, seemingly in awe of the grimy teenager beside him. Hell, he didn't look much older than Carter, more of a bellboy than a bellhop. Couldn't be older than 17, 18, maybe 19 or 20 at the most. He didn't have much time to ponder it over though, as the elevators soon slide open and Samir headed out with Carter's trunks in tow, heading down the hall to his left. It was fairly plain, with the same wood and carpet combination as the lobby, with slightly flimsier lights and fewer paintings. "Your room, Sir." he said simply, gesturing to a plain door with the number "505" written on it in ornate, gold letters. Carter lazily swiped the card through, the lock emitting a green light and making a small beeping noise as it unlocked, evidenced by Carter putting his hand down on the handle and pushing the door open with a light click. The door swung wide open, revealing a dark room of modest size, lights off and lamps unlit. Turning back to Samir, he gave him a weary gesture with his head, smiling slightly. "I can load these in myself, you can head back down." he said, gesturing towards the trunks and pet carrier on the trolley.

"Really, a-are you sure?" Samir asked, Carter's response clearly taking him aback.

"Don't sweat it, I got it." Carter said dismissively, lifting the luggage off the carriage with a gust of air in a move that practically made the eyes pop out of Samir's head. "Thanks for the help, dude." he said casually, another small gust of wind pushing a loose five out of his wallet and pocket, floating to Samir's outstretched hand. The bellboy accepted it with a sheepish "thank you", discreetly tucking it into his pocket as he pulled the trolley back, trudging back down the hall with it.

Sighing, Carter tugged the luggage with him deep into the room, letting the door close behind him as he threw all three bags onto the floor with a resounding thump. He was too goddamn tired to care if he broke this or that. Hell, breaking his laptop might even get him out of Thomsen's online classes, which his mother had forced him to sign up for. Blah blah, keeping your education ongoing, blah blah, not a vacation, etc etc. All he really wanted to do at this point was flop on the bed. Which is exactly what he did, falling back-first onto the mattress with a sign, limbs splayed out. Harley also jumped on the bed, sniffing Carter's neck and chest as he nuzzles beside him. He patted and rubbed Harley's head, causing him to give a grunt of contentment as the two finally settled down, the weariness from days of flights full of crying babies, subway trips through a Japanese metropolis, fighting gunslinger terrorists on a highway, and meeting (and losing) the girl from heaven finally beginning to overtake both of them like a drug. As he faded away, only two questions were left in his mind.

Was this paradise?

And what the hell was in that water Arun gave him?

---

---

Carter Graystone
Chapter ???: HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN HERE

The bed was pretty comfortable. The entire hotel room was pretty comfortable. It wasn't super fancy, but it had everything Carter needed. A nice, soft bed. A wooden desk for his schoolwork, which he had used for gaming more often than he had for online learning, because screw Baker and his goddamn physics projects. A few armchairs for when he didn't feel like lying on a bed. A flat-screen TV with decent, albeit completely foreign cable and a decent selection of movies. A microwave and safe, because why not, and a minibar, which he had absolutely raided. He wasn't the one paying for it! The bathroom was even nicer, with a huge shower and a dozen of the whitest, softest, fluffiest towels he had ever used. These people knew their towels. Food here wasn't that bad either, the room service was so-so, but the restaurant was pretty solid, even if they were lacking a bit in the whole "eating meat" department. Not a beef option was in sight.

Of course, he wasn't spending all of his time in the hotel. The filming was pretty grueling, this Randhawa guy did not fuck around when it came to his stunts. He had gotten beat up by a professional martial artist, flown a hang-glider, and done a goddamn skydive into a hotel pool. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. His whole body was sore every day, from both sparring with Garuda (who also did not fuck around) and his stuntwork, but it was the good kind of sore. He kind of missed being this sore, to be honest. He missed a lot of things about home. Sure, Chandigarh was crazy, even crazier than San Diego, and he could get lost in it for hours, but he missed San Diego. He missed the ocean, he missed Balboa Park. And as crazy as it was, he kind of missed the team. Sure, there were certain members that he would not miss in the slightest, but they were some of his closest friends, and it was sort of fun to beat up bad guys with them, even if they were way better at it than he was. Well, Alexis was his closest friend, but after her, they were the closest.

He was sitting on the bed right now, dressed in his usual white T-shirt and boxers that he wore to bed. It was past midnight, but he was still on his phone, scrolling through an endless haze of news alerts and posts about the Young Bloods. Their popularity had skyrocketed even more since the day he had first gotten here, practically turning into a firestorm. Tons of interviews with new members that Carter hadn't even heard of, missions that he hadn't known about (he couldn't believe he missed the NASL tournament!), viral clips, and a series of very peculiar TikToks where people dressed like Frostface...alright. He wasn't jealous though...OK, he was a little jealous. Actually, very jealous, why the hell couldn't they have blown up while he was still there?!

"Maybe I would've stayed..." he grumbled half-heartedly, scrolling through various interviews and press conference clips. Makeshift, Wi-Fi, Selene, Bael...Bael. Wyatt. He hadn't seen him in a hot minute. Wyatt was basically his best friend on the team, one of the only people who actually enjoyed having him around. He almost felt bad for having fallen out of touch with him, considering his name was, as affirmed by a quick search, still in his contacts. He hesitated, looking at the time at the top of his phone. It was past midnight, meaning that it would be roughly late-morning-noon-ish over at San Diego. Surely, Wyatt would be up by then, right?

Without a second thought, he hit the "call" button and brought the phone to his ear, listening to the sound of that annoying "calling" tone pierce his ears. Hopefully, Wyatt would pick up soon and spare him from having to listen to it any further.

[The Republic of Atria]

Andrew

He kept quiet as Andrew tried to come up with a solution, to no avail, but continued to be sympathetic to his problem, even reaching out and grabbing his shoulder to reassure him and give him some advice. "That's why I grapple so often. I can usually tell pretty quickly if someone is capable of getting hit by me or not. After that it's just a matter trying to win." He explained. "And again, sorry. This was, hopefully, the first and only time that'll happen. I tend to be pretty careful since I can take a hit or two." He finished nodding while Andrew offered more training sessions together. "I'm more than happy to do more practice."

Then the topic got onto... Surfing of all things. "No. I've never surfed. I like swimming though. The tail helps. But isn't it a bit cold to be going out and surfing?"

Vince and Zayda

"Vince?" Zayda called through the house. It had been a few days since the "girlscout" as Vince called him, had shown up and given them the strange map. She received no response, which meant Vince was usually in the garage working on something. So she made her way to the garage. Before she even opened the door, she could hear light strikes from a hammer. "Vince." She said, this time a bit louder.

"Huh, what? Sorry, you know how I get when I'm doing work stuff."

"It's fine. The map the child gave us is glowing." She said, showing the map.

"He says he's not a girl scout, but I don't believe him. Lemme see that." He said and looked at the map. "Huh... Looks like..." He opened his phone and looked up the point that showed up. "Oh. Okay, that's... Bad. Ish. They're at the nuclear power plant. Assuming he means the demons or whatever he was talking about."

"He did say demons. What kind of plant is a nuclear power one?"

"It's actually a building. They... Honestly, they just boil water with uranium to produce electricity."

"This is bad?"

"Kind of. Nuclear planets are basically impossible to make go... Nuclear. Unless you really know what you're doing. So they're probably after the uranium. Lord only knows what for." Vince explained, grabbing his prosthetic and locking it into place on his arm. "Lemme grab my bag'o bombs."

And with that, the two piled into Vince's car, and drove towards the location the map led them.

Bael, October 24, the Tower

So far it seemed like a normal day at the Tower. Everyone going about their business, talking about the recent string of successes the team was on. For what it was worth, he agreed that they should feel good. His tail flicking about more casually than usual. Jason was playing some video games, one of the new girls was relaxing. He was going to join his friend when he got a phone call. It was quite rare that he ever got one. Though seeing the name "Carter" on the caller ID made his tail perk up, though he rushed outside to escape the loud noise of almost thirty people talking over each other.

"Carter?" He answered. "Hey man! I haven't heard from you in forever! What's going on?" He started. "Things around here have been really good man. Busting some druggies, we've taken down a few supervillains. We even fought Ares a few weeks ago. Though that could have gone better... Anyways. What've you been doing these past few months?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 7th

---

---

As he listened to Aleta's response, the blond boy chuckled, nodding along at her words. While he had never been one to hold the media in high regard - with the rare exception, such as the woman that had interviewed him all those months ago - hearing Aleta put things in perspective made him realize that he was also grateful for the change in approach. Sure, these days they were obsessed about whether he was single, his favorite cereal or any number of irrelevant details, but it sure beat being labeled in every newsreel as the dangerous vigilante, the outlaw, the criminal...

The murderer.

Luckily for him, the bitter memory was promptly buried as the blonde girl brought up her dance with Psyche, with some less than savory implications, though he paid them no mind - they hadn't done anything but talk and dance, so it was obvious she was saying it just to get a rise out of him. It was interesting to hear, however, that she had been dating Mask, the same boy who had gone and interrupted them. He couldn't help but start suspecting that Alexis had some ulterior motive in getting him to ask Psyche for a dance.

Before he could make any sort of reply to Aleta's tease however, something rather unexpected began: an apology. In a fashion he had never seen before, and never expected to see again from someone like the heroine Paragon, she admitted her faults in order to mend the rift that remained between them after their last few conversations before he left San Diego. She was clearly struggling, but it was touching nonetheless.

Then she promptly tried to save face by telling him, in the most bashful way possible, that that was all he was getting. Icarus guffawed at her remarks. "Wow, I'm disappointed to hear that." He joked, an amused smile on his face, though it was far from a mocking sneer. "Alright, I... I guess I should do the same. I know I was pretty stubborn back then and I didn't handle things in the smartest way, and I owe you a lot for helping me out with Warwolf. I'm sorry for not having been a good partner." He said sincerely.

"Now then..." The young man offered Aleta his hand. "It's not... what did you call it? Make-up sex. But we're good now, right?"

[Aidannadia]

[...]

Aleta smiled wryly. “Yeah, you were a pretty shit partner. Always getting into trouble and all that....” She took his hand “but we’re good.” She places her hand gently into his, not making the motion to shake but offering for him to kiss the back of her hand like a gentleman. Such was a privilege after all.

But Aleta was interrupted by the sound of the crowd moving to the door and Jason jumping on the table, yelling something to get people out of the building. “Yo, Shitstain, I was gonna eat those!” She yelled at the punk, pointing to the shrimp he had knocked over on his ascent to the table. “Do you know what’s up, Icky?” Aleta conveniently packed a communicator at this moment in time, as her dress was lacking pockets.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 7th

---

---

Obviously, as he was standing right next to Aleta, Icarus noticed the commotion as well, watching as one of the Young Bloods jumped on the table and started making a fuss, causing the crowds of partygoers to start panicking. As he was not a Young Blood, however, he was not privy to whatever information had caused them to start behaving that way. A fact he quickly communicated to Aleta with a shake of his head when she asked.

"I have no idea. You should ask one of your teammates, they look like they know." The blond boy nodded in Jason's direction before looking around, trying to spot someone he knew but failing to do so. Scowling, he turned to leave. "I'm going to go look for Casimir. Take care of yourself, Paragon."

And with that, Surge ran off to look for his friend.