Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Absolon-7]

Looney Tunes

Viviana Couture October 24th

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Shock Troop didn't bother with a response but proceeded to stomp on Viviana's head who elongated her neck to avoid the attack. She rolled on her side and sat up against the wall as Shock Troop blasted electricity around her to destroy the stairs. With a yelp she hopped up and sent out her leg to strike him across the face forcing him to smack against the other side of the stairway's wall. He grunted angrily before sending off a bolt of electricity even larger then the one before nearly filling the entire hall's space. The bolt scorched the floor around her and blasted chunks away from the space behind Viviana but she peeked around unscathed aside from her hair becoming quite frizzy.

Hey Chicle! Send him towards me. I got an idea once I get out of this stupid wall.

"Got it boss," said Viviana to the sudden command on the team comm.

Viviana shot one arm forward coiling it at the wrist before slapping Shock Troop in a rapidfire of smacks across the face with her hand as the coil unwound itself. With him disoriented Viviana coiled up her entire other arm from the wrist to the shoulder as she walked up to Shock Troop and held onto his collar. She then threw her arm like a punch unraveling the coil to add a huge amount of tension to it which resulted in Shock Troop flying off on a spin back down the stairway to the landing right where Alexis could get to him.

The Amazing Ashen Moth!

The Six Armed Robot

Casimir Herman October 24th

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Ash's frightful cry about the robot gaining another pair of limbs and Roy's sudden order to throw the robot ignited a new source of anger within him as Casimir got up from where the robot had knocked him over with its tail. Roy had destroyed half the machines arms which seemed to force it on the defensive but Casimir simply clenched his fists at his side as he walked around the robot. He suddenly leaped upwards with his arms raised above his head and like sledgehammers they came down upon the machine's shoulders. In a matter of seconds the machine's body began collapsing in on itself as his might destroyed the robot's chassis and it finally crumpled onto the ground in a squashed mess reminiscent of an oddly shaped can of metal. Large cracks spread like a spiderweb all around the epicenter of the ruined machine as the red light in its single eye flickered away.

"Belostomatidae Smash! Oh," said Casimir stepping away from the mess adjusting his red motorist scarf, "Well looks like it over then."

[North America Inc]

Jason

Shihong "The Red Princess" Smith
Squad Four

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The team made its way with ease through the sixth floor of the complex, finding nothing beyond the echoing sounds from the fight below As Shi gassed the empty apartments, her team followed suit, most wearing a mask of sorts or outright ignoring it in the case of Jason. As they reached the shaft and slid down, they went continued with the same tactic: from the elevator opening, Shi would fill the whole floor with a thick blanket of smoke. If there was no sound, off to the next.

"This is unexpected..." Bladestrom said as he watched from the unmarked room as the floor began to fill with smoke. Along with Skysword, the two had originally been tasked to watch the upper decks of the apartment in case of a rear attack. But as the lower chaos continued to prolong itself he had considered moving to support but ultimately decided to against it. His master had trained him well in the necessity of commands; after all, good soldiers followed orders. As the smoke began to rise higher and higher he turned his gaze to its source: the elevator shaft. "Cough..." He bit harder into his sleeve, not wanting to give away his position; ripping off a piece of his shirt, he wrapped it around his nose and he began the process of pulling them into reality. Tapping his ear piece, his thoughts communicated an order to his guard dog of sorts; 'Search and Destroy, Hostiles located within Elevator Shaft.

The once stationary android awoke as its eyes glowed a bright red light. Pulling out its sword, Bladestrom gave it a complimentary nod as it scanned and located five thermal signatures. Walking past its current master, it jumped up an construction opening and landed on the above floor. The two prepared for a pincer attack of their own.

The shaft itself had little in the way of natural light, with only the constantly flashing lights of the lobby creating an almost eerie feel for the descent. Although it would of been preferable to descend through the Squad's own powers, the glimmer of their abilities would of been too much of a target for the team to risk it. As Jason descended through first, the girls climbed and held on to the loose pieces they could find, whether that be a support beam or a miscellaneous wooden plank. As Wendy slid down to the second floor, she felt some type of force come over. She looked, a bright light was approaching fast, it would enter the shaft in any moment. "We have to get out now!" She warned.

The team without a second thought took it in and rushed out through the closest opening: the third floor. Only a second after they got out, sounds of metal clashing against metal rang out. The team circled around each other, watching their backs for the encroaching sound of a figure in the shaft. Shi readied her fists, aiming for anything that dared to make its self known. More metal scraping against metal but she couldn't place it, but it made a distinctly sheathe sound. They were at the intersection of two hallways, with the elevator opening right behind them; a basic T shape interior format with them in the middle. Each hallway had a total of four visible doors each, the enemy could be in any of them.

*Creek* the last door at the end of the central hallway had opened inward with Shi instinctively firing at it. As the stream of fire dissipated, no hit but something was indeed facing her: a sword slowly extending out of the end wall. Then another one appeared above it. And another to the right of it. And another. "Take cover!" She shouted as a volley of swords shout out towards them. As the team jumped for cover, they were meant with another surprise: more swords from inside the elevator entrance. None managed to hit but they had gotten awfully close.

Ava needed to find cover, it was too chaotic and she needed time to collect herself. As she ran down the hallway, a bright glint of a sword shooting upward stopped her dead in her tracks. She looked up to see it there, stuck in the ceiling above her. If she had been a second faster, it would of gotten her. Then she looked down. She felt a sharp presence slowly puncturing her sole, she raised her foot: another sword edge. She jumped and fell on her back before blasting away it before it shot out.

The android descended the floors of the shaft and jumped directly through the opening, landing directly in the middle of the confused group. It had the element of surprise, or so it assumed for before it could swing, Cosmic tackled the samurai and launched the two a few feet to their left.

Shi was blasting as many of the swords as she could with her electric blasts, but she knew that they needed to get out as soon as possible. The attacker needed to be found or they'll get taken out by the sheer amount of them. Charging up her lightening bolt, she aimed at the wall directly in front of her; the blast tore through that wall, the dividing wall, and the outside wall. As the smoke cleared, Shi saw a figure in the corner of her eye jump to cover at the end of the second room. "Jason on me, we have him!"

[The Republic of Atria]

Bird

So far, things seemed to be going as well as they could for a battle between groups of superhumans. He was about to mutter about how he rarely ever got to see some actual conflict in these scenarios, when a pair of flying superhumans erupted from the area and dove straight towards him and the rest of the squad. He felt a bit of excitement well up, remembering the last time he got to fight a superhuman, it was someone who was considerably more intimidating, and he only had Red for backup. Now he had the entire team and a pair of fliers seemed pretty easy to deal with.

The winged man, being shrieked at by the pterodactyl thing, seemed to be called "Butcher Bird" or something to that. He spread his wings, but before he could get into the air, Bird grabbed a police car and threw it at him. Bael caught the vehicle, staggering back before putting it down. Cars weren't so much heavy as they were bulky and awkward to carry. The thought crossed his mind of having him throw it right back, but he figured that was a dumb idea.

His wings unfurled and he shot into the air, tailing Butcher Bird from behind. "You're not the only one with wings, pal." Bael called out.

"No, but I'm the only one with wings that can do this!" Butcher replied, flinging his wing at Bael, shooting a barrage of his razor-sharp pinions at Bael, who brought up his arm to protect his eyes. The pinions struck his arm, feeling pain not unlike getting poke by some thorns on a vine. Bael hissed and flew higher, with Butcher turning around to head him off.

Shaking his arm loosed the pinions which fluttered down below, he glanced to the side to see Butcher shooting at him, hands open like a bird would have its talons ready to grip prey. Bael caught him by the wrists, but their shoving match caused both fo them to lose control over their flight, stall, and drop down onto a SWAT van, denting the roof. "Dinosaurs turned into birds! That means I'm better than you!" He swiped at Bael, who jerked his head to the side, letting Butcher's talons slash straight through the metal of the van.

Bael wormed his foot into Butcher's abdomen and shoved him off the van and into the street. Bael rolled off the van and landed on his feet.

"Come on! You just gonna push me around or are you actually gonna hit me?" Butcher taunted. He watched as Bael pointed his fist at him and clenched. "Is that some sorta threat-" He was interrupted by the asphalt of the street shattering and reforming around his legs and up to his thighs. "Oh you ASSHOLE..." His wings flapped, but his attempts to fly weren't working, instead opting to shatter the asphalt with a little work, the black substance cracking and breaking apart in just a few seconds. It left him out of position for Bael to get close enough to grab one of his arms and head and slam him face-first into the concrete of the sidewalk. "Someone watched American History X..."

"Shut up. Are you going to quit this nonsense?" He asked, shoving his knee into Butcher's back, and trying to wrestle with his wings without letting go of his arm and head.

"Are you gonna fuck off?" He flicked his wing, send a few pinions into Bael's face, causing him to release Butcher who scurried away as Bael pulled the pinions out of his head.

"Gah!" Bael hissed. The pinions missed his eyes, and came out easily enough, but they still stung. Alright. Fine. You wanna play like that, huh Bird Brain...

[Tomia]

October 8th, Wonder Tower Living Room
Roy nodded politely back to Icarus, he didn't love how much he was seeing of the newest LA Star, but he wasn't going to get into an argument in their living room. It bothered him how quickly Icarus managed to go from vigilante to famous hero without any consequences. Still Roy couldn't throw stones considering his past, so he mostly stood by while the others talked until they tried to get him to play video games.

"Uh I'm good, not really my kind of thing." Roy commented, hoping they didn't pester him into playing. But conveniently Mars walked in just as they were getting ready to play.

"Hey guys... oh you're playing Hero Rumble 6! Can I play? I've been working on my Red Mammoth combos and I'd love to test the out!" He said getting all giddy at the prospect of playing.

It pays off being friends with a nerd sometimes. Roy thought playfully as he watched the group sit down to play.

"Oh... hi Icarus." Mars said as they sat down as if he just realized the visitor was there.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

October 3rd

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"Uh oh, that's not good." Megan spoke just before her head was cut off by her own scythe. Her hands seemed to react in a panic, flailing for a moment before leaving the scythe in her floating body's arms and then shooting off to catch her head before it crashed painfully on the ground, which was several yards beneath the girl and the succubus by now. Fortunately, her hands quickly caught up to her and turned her upwards so she could assess the situation from a distance. Unfortunately, this meant that she saw the exact moment the arrows tore into her from above.

"Oh dear." Megan would've shaken her head if it had been connected to her neck and shoulders, but instead she simply stared on. "I'm glad my clothes stay on, at least. It would be very awkward if they didn't."

Her body parts, and more importantly, her scythe, were falling to the ground - although her arms continued to cling tightly to the weapon - and her hands were definitely not going to reach them in time. So of course, Megan did the only thing that made sense. With all her strength she threw her head towards her body, and it promptly flew across the air. When the head was close enough, the other body parts rearranged themselves and reattached to her.

"That's better.." The girl thought out loud before looking up at Meridiana. "Now what do I do about her..." She wondered. Clearly her surprise attack had worked wonders, but now that the succubus knew what she was capable of she seemed more than prepared to prevent herself from being cut to pieces.

"Maybe if I can stall her long enough for the others to help." The girl shrugged before reattaching her hands and charging towards Meridiana once again, though this time there was a catch - she started swinging well before reaching the succubus, and willed the scythe to elongate at the last moment so that it would take her by surprise and manage to cut her head off. It was one of the few tricks she could think of, so she hoped it would work.

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October 8th

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Icarus listened as the taller of the two blonde girls introduced herself as Whitney and explained that she had joined the team a few days ago. He was a bit surprised to notice that Casimir didn't know her and that she hadn't been at the previous night's gala, though he supposed both could be explained by her recent joining - she likely didn't want to deal with the attention, and it was probably not an easy feat to get to know everyone in a team as large as this. Mentally shrugging at the thought, he simply shook Whitney's hand and watched as the conversation moved on to a peculiar topic.

Ant farms, huh? Well... can't say I'm surprised. The blond boy thought, shrugging at Casimir as he asked if he was fine with more players. "The more the merrier." He said without much thought. It wasn't like he was going to object, though he also wasn't surprised when Roy declined.

"Well, if we don't get a fourth player we could just play free for all instead you know." He pointed out as he sat down on the couch in front of the flat TV screen, sitting next to Casimir and grabbing one of the wireless controllers for himself. Just then, another person joined the conversation, a boy with messy black hair. He looked familiar, and it took Icarus a moment to place him as another Thomsen High student, though that only confused him more.

"Uh, hey. Mars, right?" He greeted a little awkwardly. "Hope you're ready for Weatherman to kick Red Mammoth's ass." He joked afterwards, before glancing over to Casimir. "So, he's in the team too?"

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October 24th

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After getting kicked into the wall, Alexis immediately directed every effort towards getting back on the ground in order to help her teammates take down the villains. However, much to her misfortune it seemed that the shotgun-wielding woman's kick had actually been a lot stronger than expected, despite not draining away too much of her personal force field - she was now apparently very stuck in the wall, and couldn't seem to break free despite struggling to get out. She would've sighed had she not been actively suppressing her emotional side at the moment, but instead she simply resorted to watching the ongoing fights from her rather uncomfortable vantage point.

Before long however, she saw an opportunity she simply couldn't allow to slip past her. Redoubling her efforts to break free, she spoke through the team comms to Viviana. "Hey Chicle! Send him towards me. I got an idea once I get out of this stupid wall."

With that said, the girl angled her wrists so that her palms were facing walls and activated her traction modules at full strength, essentially pulling herself out of the hole in the wall and immediately activating her rocket boots so that she wouldn't just fall over and hit her head on the stairs. Now free, she watched as Viviana walloped Shock Troop and sent him flying towards her. Quickly spinning in the air, she delivered a rocket-powered roundhouse kick straight to the electric man's head, sending him into the wall and creating a hole just as big as the one she had only recently escaped from.

"Good job Chicle." The squad leader complimented her teammate before heading downstairs with Shock Troop in tow and seeing Buckshot frozen to the ground. "We're done here, squad 2." She said before tossing the villain's body next to his partner in crime and activating the team channel. "Makeshift here, the targets that engaged us have been secured. Awaiting further instructions."

Afterwards, Alexis looked at Angelica, though it was clear that her eyes did not have the same light or emotion they usually had.

"Frostbite, secure Shock Troop as well. We don't want him waking up and electrocuting someone." The girl commanded before moving over to sit on the stairs.

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
October 23rd

Dear Mom,

Sorry for not e-mailing you earlier, I've just been so busy lately. I got a new job, one working in a proper lab and everything. It's entry-level at the moment, but it's pretty hectic, my hands are always tied working on some project or another. It pays well though, especially for a high-school grad. It was enough for me to move out of Gran and Pop's place, and get my own place on the Coast. It's pretty small and the commute isn't great, but I can stay close to them, and visit whenever I have time. They're doing pretty well, the shop's gotten a lot of customers lately, so they've been a lot more cheery. Pop even took some time off, and I can't even remember the last time he's done that.

I know you're going to ask about college, and I'm still not sure. I want to take some time at this job, maybe save up some money before I make the commitment. It'll just be for this year, and as soon as applications are open for 2018-2019, I'll apply right away. I just want to make sure that I'm making the right decision, that I don't get stuck with some major and degree that I hate, and that I can't go back and change. You and Dad would know, you guys always talked about how you took two years after high school to travel the world and discover yourselves. I also want to discover myself, even if I can't exactly fly to South America, or anything like that.

I miss New York a lot. I know I said it in my last email, but it's true. San Diego's nice and all, but it's nothing compared to NYC. I miss the noise, the crowds, the snow. It'll be a miracle if a few flakes come down over here. To be honest, I'm not even sure if people here have any holiday spirit. I remember when we'd drive up to Uncle Jim's house in Syracuse, and every house would practically coated with white. The kids would split off into family factions and spend all day building snow forts and raiding each other's territory with snowballs, we called it "Civil War". You guys, the adults, were the Loyalists and Confederates sending us into battle. Eventually, we'd feel like we were about to freeze to death, so we'd all crawl inside for hot chocolate and to get our presen

Whitney stopped typing, staring at the email draft hovering in the bottom right corner of the screen. This was stupid. This whole story was stupid. Sighing, she pressed down on the backspace button with one finger, watching as the cursor slowly erased her entire email, letter by letter, word by word, until there was nothing, just a blank draft with the words Dear Mom, at the top. Just like it had been thirty minutes ago. And an hour ago. And two hours ago, when she had first started trying to write this cursed email. The three cups of coffee in between hadn't exactly helped. Nor did her stomach growling.

With a groan, she stood up from the revolving chair at her desk, crossing the room in a few strides and moving towards the large window. Luckily, she had gotten a room with a view, and what a view it was. The water all around the Tower practically sparkled under the sun, looking like the scales of some monstrous creature. The coastline, with all of the thin strips of sand and thick trees dotting it looked peaceful, but soon turned into a clutter of apartment buildings, twisting streets, and haphazard urban planning. It was too pretty to look at behind glass, so Whitney opened the window, flicking the two latches on the bottom of the frame and pulling it open with some effort.

Before she knew it, her hair was gently floating in the breeze and she was struggling to light the end of a cigarette, the flame constantly snuffing out before she could get it to connect. After a few curses and several agonizing tries, she finally managed to light up the end, taking a long draw in as she slipped the lighter into the breast pocket of her jacket. The warm smoke was harsh on her throat, and it made her cough, hacking into her sleeve for a good five seconds. By the time the ordeal was over, her throat felt dry and scratchy, the taste of tobacco lingering inside. Still, the coolness that spread through her entire body was worth it, worth every bit of rattling breath and itchy cough. She felt her muscles finally relax, and she slumped over on the windowsill, her cheek resting on her arms as she watched a few birds fly past. Sitting at the computer with caffeine in her veins, she had felt fine, but all of a sudden, she was oddly tired, like all she wanted to do was fall asleep. It wasn't like she had never been tired before (hell, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt fully awake), but this was different. This was more like exhaustion, mixed with thirstiness, mixed with hunger, mixed with a whole other set of things into one massive solution. Heh, chemistry joke. Funny.

Maybe she could do something about her thirst and her hunger, kill two birds with one stone. She turned back to look at her nightstand, the top of which was bare aside from a lone plastic water bottle, as well as a smaller bottle, a thick, white plastic one that was full of eye drops. Which first?

She chose the water bottle, unscrewing the cap and downing half of it in a few seconds before finally setting it back down. Half a bottle, but she still wanted more, not realizing how thirsty she had been. It took all of her willpower to set the bottle back down, instead slipping her hand into another one of her leather jacket's pockets and extracting a small, silver compact mirror with two fingers. Another reason why she preferred jackets to dresses; pockets. Lots and lots of pockets. And deep ones too, no need for a handbag. As she popped it open, she watched her unfolding reflection stare right back at her, ballooning in the small, concave sheet of glass. Or was it convex? She didn't know, all she knew was that her eyes were bloodshot. Puffy, blue, and bloodshot. It was worse on the right, where a small dark patch was forming in the corner.

With her free hand, she grabbed the eye drop bottle, squeezing a bit into the dropper and allowing the mirror to take the bottle's place on the nightstand. She hated this part; her navy-blue fingernails always poked into the skin around her eyes, leaving red welts behind that made her eyes look even worse. Today, it was navy-blue. The week before that, it had been bright red. Two weeks before that, it had been yellow. Either way, the mark was always red, but at the very least it was over quickly. One downward tug of her lower lid, one look up, and a squeeze. Wash, rinse, repeat, for the other eye. As she closed her eyes, pressing the pads of her fingers against her lids, she felt the burn slowly to start to fade, eyes slowly cooling off. She hadn't even noticed how searing the eyestrain from computer had been, how much writing that email had been hurting her eyes. It made her press her lids down a little harder for a few seconds. She tried to pry them back open again, only to clench them back shut as the afternoon sunlight streamed in, burning them again, making them sear.

She turned away, grabbing the mirror back off of the nightstand and flipping it open. Her face came into view yet again, starting with her chin, then moving up to her lips, nose, and finally, her new eyes. She hated them, she hated her eyes. The red welts were there, right underneath her eyes. The red tinge was there, right inside her eyes. The eye drops and blood had caused her makeup to smear, creating a black fog underneath both eyes. She must've pressed too hard, or missed the drop, or something else. Either way, it looked hideous. People always complimented her on her eyes, on their shape, on how blue they were, but all she could see was red. Red, red, and more red. If only they knew. She was so fixated on her eyes that it took her a moment to realize the mirror was shaking. Or rather, her hand was shaking. She could barely even feel it anymore. Her hands, or the mirror. And how long had the cigarette been in her hand?

She felt overwhelmed by this new information, like she was back in the community center, and she couldn't touch the floor anymore. Too tired to tread. She needed to breathe, breathe a long, slow, deep breath. Air. She needed air, she needed all of San Diego's humid, thick, washy breeze. Poking her head out of the window again was refreshing, and it let her chest loosen, her lungs open up. Taking another puff was even more refreshing, and it brought her back to her old position, slumped over with her cheek on her arms. It was like she had never moved at all.

The birds were still flying past her window, gliding off on the horizon as they chirped and flapped. House finches. That's what Grade 11 Biology had taught her. They lived in the West, and moved to a lower elevation in the winter. They were free-flying birds, who flapped around and glided and flocked without a care in the world. Whitney was the opposite. She had come from the cold winter of New York, where kids played Civil War with snowballs and the ground was twenty feet above the sea, and had migrated to the San Diego summer. She wished she could fly and glide like them, flutter around in the breeze like it was nothing. She wouldn't even fly with a jetpack strapped to her back. She had no control, no way to fly over the winds and back to her home, back to what she knew. She was lost, and both of her wings were broken.

The mirror was still in her hand, staring right back at her. She hated it. She hated it. She hated everything about it. Her hair that was always permanently dry. Her red, bloody eyes. Her yellow teeth. Her baby fat, why wouldn't it fucking go away?! Was starving herself not good enough? Was tearing apart her family not good enough? Was tearing herself apart not good enough?

With an angry, hoarse yell, she threw the mirror out the window as far as her weak arm could fling it, watching as the piece of glass slowly spiraled to earth, fading into a tiny speck before disappearing entirely. She wasn't done yet. She wanted more. She wanted to mash her cigarette into ash on the windowsill, so she did that. She wanted to slam her window down hard enough to sound like a gunshot, so she did that. She wanted to drop on her bed and pant with anger like a movie scene, because she was tired, and that was all she could do right now. Jacob wasn't in the infirmary when she got there, so she had dumped her medications and left. Her team wasn't there when she had come back down, so she had left the living room. She had nothing else to do, so she had gone upstairs and tried to write that stupid, bloody email to her parents who had shipped her across the goddamn country, and now she had nowhere to go. So she dropped on her bed. But soon, that wore out its welcome.

This wasn't her, and she knew it. She was acting ridiculous, looking for metaphor where there was no metaphor, like every awful English teacher she had had. Like Mr. Blake in Grade 10, who forced the class to look for "symbolic meaning" in The Scarlet Letter, when he knew damn well nobody had a vexed interest in reading Nathaniel Hawthorne. A break would be good, she had been stressed out lately with all of her research and work. Relaxation was all that she needed. She would pick up the broken mirror later, or whatever was left of it. She would finish that email later, when she was thinking clearly. Everything would be alright. Everything would be fine, with just a little bit of time to take her mind off of, well...everything.

But first, a new makeup job.

---

She hadn't known what to expect when she had first walked into the gym, on that tour that felt like it had happened years in the past. When she had walked in for the second time, just twenty minutes ago, it was like she had forgotten those memories and was experiencing everything all over again. It was massive, chock-full of both regular exercise equipment and contraptions that Whitney didn't want to touch with a fifty-foot pole. She had no idea what a "Gravity Press" was, but the farther away she stayed from it, the better. Conveniently, target practice was on the opposite side of the gym, in its own little isolated space. Every ten shots, the human-shaped dummy would retract into the floor, pop the bullets out, and come back up, just like pins at the bowling alley. Whitney was trying to get a Spare. Or a Strike. Whatever it was, she was landing all ten.

In the beginning, she had played with the traditional rifles and shotguns, getting the feel back into her hands. But soon, something had caught her eye; a funny-looking rifle with a ridiculously long scope. After firing it a few times, it was clear that it didn't contain any bullets, but...darts. It was an air rifle, a tranq gun. She had kept toying with it long after she had put aside the other ones, letting it go and go and go as one dart after another hit the dummy, the dummy's neck, the dummy's leg, the dummy's chest. She had hunted before, so many times. Half of her summers back in New York were spent tagging along on hunting and fishing trips with her dad and his friends. They would head upstate for a week, to Yates or Ontario County, and go hunting for deer. Usually, they had more beer in their stomachs than any actual venison, but it was always fun. Until they made their shot. The blood wasn't that bad she didn't even mind the smell, but she hated the glazed-over look in the carcass' eyes, the way their mouth would hang open. It freaked her out, and was making her finger twitch harder even now, causing her darts to miss their mark and fly to the sides. 7/10 blood-vessel intensive hits. Sloppy.

Maybe that was why she liked the dart gun. No dead carcasses, just knockouts. It wasn't a bad weapon, either. A little awkward, but nothing she couldn't handle with practice. She could probably make the tranqs herself. After all, it was all of the same stuff that went into anesthetics and muscle relaxants, right? It would take her no time at all. But she couldn't think about that. She had just gone down to 6/10.

She was still angry, and she was still tired, but the loud noises that blasted through her shooting earmuffs kept her eyes open, kept her thoughts focused elsewhere. It was a simple mantra. Click, click, click, click, click. Neck, shoulder, thigh, wrist, foot. She was in control here, nobody could stop her from filling the dummy with ten darts, and hitting 9/10 blood-vessel intensive spots. Finally, a decent score.

[Absolon-7]

Wyatt

Mike Mathews/ Forge

Butcher Bird staggered forward once he escaped from Wyatt's grip. The dra'qunni was strong. Very strong. He'd have to watch himself and get a grip on a body part first. Butcher Bird sighed as he gazed with a disappointed expression at the dra'qunni who was clearly not in a good mood. He was going to fly off and find something to stab Bael with but he noticed that he couldn't move his boot anymore. He tilted his head downwards to see a wad of the female he had kicked black substance stuck to his boot and essentially pinning him in place. A barrage of explosions behind him signaled something bad happening to his partner but he noticed the hero Forge he had chucked a car at skidding by on some shield. He would've smirked but a flat expression was all there was to see on his face.

Butcher Bird raised his hand into the air and with a twist of his wrist all the feathers he had shot at Bael throughout their fight moved excruciatingly fast towards Mike's location but stopped dead in their tracks once they hovered around his neck. Butcher Bird turned to face Bael knowing he was stuck but with the leverage this provided he doubted the dra'qunni could do anything.

"So, lizardman," he said with only the hints of a smile, "What's it gonna be? Smack me around harder or have your friend guillotined?"

Meanwile, Abomination's sonic screech into Rocket's helmet was suddenly interrupted by a cacophony of explosions on himself from the weird contraptions one of the heroes had attached to him. They popped one after the other making him slip from Rocket's back by their repeated force dislodging his claws. The bottom half of his body was covered in soot but with his body free from the extra weights so he flapped up and began scratching at the visor with his legs.

"Get off!" Mars shouted as his vision was blurred by the creature. He aimed his left arm at the creature as it morphed into a blaster. An electric shock emitted from it, not dissimilar to a taser. Once the blast took effect Mars took the opportunity to slam his right fist into the beast, trying to knock it off for good.

Abomination squawked in anger as he was suddenly electrocuted by the blast with his anger rising enough to make his reptilian eyes bloodshot. He barely swooped out of the fists way with only a few scorched throat hairs being grazed by the fist but it was enough movement to have him get far away from Rocket. He flapped upwards and stayed in place as he let loose another sonic screech right below towards Rocket.

Mars winced at the screech and his screen flickered as it seemed to be disrupted by the attack. He aimed his blaster once more, this time on full power. He shot it point blank at the monster. Mars wasn't trying to hit him, he knew the creature would dodge. But this would allow Mars to try out a new invention. He ran his right hand over his left arm and produced four mechanical disks. He threw them into the air like tiny frisbees towards Abomination and they quickly separated out ten feet apart to form a square like shape. Electric pulses shot from all four, creating a prison like structure around the creature.

"Got you!"

He flew out of the way from the initial blast but the discs came at a complete surprise to the pterosaur and he was stunned enough to fall back to the ground leaving a trail of smoke. He fell limply on the floor but a drool filled mouth and ravenous gnashing of his teeth followed him getting up on all fours. He swayed side to side before giving one last flap forward to crush his teeth into Rocket's knee.

Rocket sputtered as his circuits worked over time to over come the damage to his knee. However Mars didn't need to move much and so he sent his auxiliary power to his right arm as it shot forward at high speeds and slammed into Abomination's jaw. With the final attack Abomination's jaw let go of Rocket's knee as his beaked face was slammed into the asphalt cracking it into a spiderweb. His eye looked directly up at Rocket with nothing but pure animalistic hatred but with some twitching it soon was closed by white eyelids signalling his defeat.

[New Neros]

-Squad Four-

Mark Nemo | Cosmic

Things went as planned, and with Shi at the helm of their squad, the teen heroes progressed through the building quickly and effectively as described. They were relentless in their training and synergy, Shihong demanding each person in the squad be able to compliment any other in some fashion so that they could branch off and work alongside each other. Mark was not the leader type, he felt no issues with authority, he worked well in a structured system with clearly defined roles and actions, and was thankful to his squad leader in providing those for him despite his recent re-admission to the team. He acted quickly in tackling the samurai away from the group, knowing the others would need to focus on taking down the sword summoner, so he could at least get one problem out of the way.

He wrestled the armored warrior for a moment, pouring energy into his muscles as the complex android turned it's vicious, red-eyed stare towards him. It was silent as Mark grunted, feeling the hydraulic power trying to force it's way through Cosmic's grip. It was lethal for any normal person, and it was something Cosmic needed far away from the squad quickly. He lifted his grip and and ducked, missing the cyber-samurai's vicious swing, the sheer force carving a straight line from one wall to the next, cutting the top off of a defenseless door that got caught in the draw.

Cosmic used his position to shoulder-tackle the android hard, forcing him backwards abruptly and tripping over his feet. Cosmic continued the momentum and stepped to the side, pouring his energy into a closed fist and swinging hard, catching the robot's left side with a right hook, exploding the sword-swingers body and forcing him through a wall into a vacant room. It was dark and dusty, but Mark followed through without thought, locking on to the red eyes of the samurai and shot his left hand up. In a flash of metal sparks, Mark caught the android's wrist as it tried to swing down, preventing it from cutting his shoulder apart. He groaned slightly and reached out his right hand, grabbing onto the other wrist of the samurai, this one much closer to his body, Cosmic glancing down to see it stabbing a vibrating dagger into the side of his abdomen.

"I thought samurai had some sort of code of honor." He spat, "One that made sure a piece of shit wouldn't stab you in the middle of a duel." Mark stared hard at the android, watching as the cyber-samurai leaned closer as well, a robotic voice answering him through some static.

He answered, "Ask the ghosts if honor matters." The android tried to move the hand with the dagger to the side, intent on cutting it out of Mark's body. The Corpsman gripped his wrist tighter, preventing it from moving, but still feeling each single millimetre of struggle between the two. The blade overhead started to press down as well, Mark keeping it up but slowly cracking the floor around him as the hydraulic pressure started to mount. "Do you intend to die here?" It asked, Mark flashing a quick smirk in response.

"No, I just have to hold you down for a few more minutes."

Ava Waldstein | Darklight

It was a game of cat and mouse and Ava was the one running for her life. She cloaked herself in moonlight armor, but it would stop one or two swords at most before needing to be re-applied, which is what she had to do while running through the hallways searching for the sword summoner. Mark immediately went to deal with the samurai with Wendy close behind him, which was nice to get the pressure off, but that left Ava, Jason, and Shi to contend with a million swords with no rhyme or reason to their owner. Ava simply blasted open a door or two and dodged as needed, avoiding a direct confrontation with a blade beyond a slight scratch or near-miss.

Ava gathered some energy and produced two spears in her hands, running behind Shi and Jason and watching their back as the squad leader made the advance. She used her construct spears to blast swords out of the air as they attempted to catch Sludge or the Red Princess off guard, waiting for the signal. A blast rocked the wall in front of them, though, with Ava impressed that Shi could make such destructive powers come forth. Keeping her rear-guard duty up, Ava played the role she was given and ensured Shi and Jason could tag team the sword controller without having to worry about every angle. She took deep, lung-filled breaths as the activity proved to be a major, continuous work-out.

Ava Waldstein | Losers' Table | October 24th

Ava was quick to defend Mika and support Ash as her prior exhaustion at the shitty day she had been having started to melt away as she spent time with her friends, "My man, there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting free shit. Candy especially." She said, eating part of her dinner roll and tapping her forehead as if she had it all figured out. "Mika knows what's up, I would grab a shitty face mask and a pillow case and fill it up with candy for the last two years. You shoulda done Bayonetta and just stuff the titties though, it would look hilarious." She joked, "But goth magic girl sounds cute, got any pics of it?"

She put both hands on the table abruptly, "This sounds awesome, let's all show Ash a great time on Halloween. Let's dress up in tacky costumes and build the perfect one for Ash to wear. It sounds like something out of a teenage rom-com and I'm all for it." She turned to Astrid, "C'mon, you gotta score some big candy with us, you for-sure have some amazing costumes, right? We can go to a party, go trick or treating, or even just vibe somewhere like hoodrats." She smiled brightly, hoping the consensus meant more fun-times to be had later on. "Maybe we could all dress up like villains instead of heroes and heroines. Counter-culture, am I right?"

-Vendetta-

Nile Canaan | Mirage

YouTube had everyone you need to become a mechanic, and Nile was sure of it. It had simply everything, just get passed the annoying intros and sponsors and you too can add these oxygen force-filters to your intake so that when you need that extra little kick, it was there at the flip of a switch. Nile scoffed at the idea, working his way around a wrench and some lubricating spray to bust some nuts and replace the thing he was attacking. He heard the door open, figured it was Alexis, but continued working until she spoke up, as he didn't want to suddenly let her know that he was aware of her presence.

Still, the words and quickness of them startled him. Jumping with slight surprise, he knocked his head on a cross-member with a clang. "Ah, oh, ow, fuck, I can go intangible and that still happened to me. How dare it." He said, sliding out from under the car and rubbing his forehead, unintentionally smearing grease on his face. "Hey there, darlin', how was shopping with the kids?" He said with a sweet, genuine smile. "If the talk is about me eating all the nutter-butters again, you know I'm sorry, and I'm trying my best to keep a close watch on them. They're too good and delicious, I just can't catch a break."

His smile was wide and beaming, lifting himself off the floor roller and standing up fully as he kept facing Alexis. Wiping down his hands, his smile began to erode. "You saw Nick in the living room, huh?" He said with a sigh, "I think I know what we need to talk about it." He turned to face her again, an open-invitation on his face, calm and collected as he would hear her out on anything. "Say what you need to say, I'm always all-ears, Lexi. I'm willing to listen."

[The Templar High Council]

Outside
Mars didn't love the way Aleta took to their orders but he wasn't surprised given his disagreement. Even so they were handling their assignment well and everything was going well so far. That was until strange noises could be heard from above. Two creatures, one human like and the other not, swooped down towards the police blockade. The crowd shouted and dispersed as the beasts turned and headed toward Squad 3.

Andrew and Angelica, squad 5 mission

Andrew rolled his eyes when he saw Mars returning with the bad news. They were definitely stuck on recon. "Good going oh fearless leader. Now gloryhound Kabuto is probably going to Leeroy Jenkins it. You need to stand up to Nightshade man. You're just as good of a leader."

With that, he went off and started circling the area at building level. "Don't forget to tell me if something is going on. I don't want to be left out of what little action we'll see."

Angelica, however, looked more at the ground than on where to go. "Umm... M-" Phoenix stopped herself from going a sound further, ensuring that the M was all anyone could hear. Hell, it could even be part of the umm, right?

"Rocket? Sorry, still getting used to this. Sorry I'm not as experienced as the others. I don't know what to do. Is there uh..anywhere you want me to be? I can fly, but I can't go too high or everything will just look like specks."

Their conversation was soon cut off though as Andrew's voice cut through the comms. "Shit, sorry Bossman I've gotta break the perimeter. Squad 3 is under attack from a birdman and a rat with wings. I'm gonna go help them out."

Racing towards them, he shot by the beast and landed just in front of Wyatt's crew. "Hey Bael. Need any help dude? These guys look like fun, and Rocket won't miss me too much. He's got 3 others."

Paragon inhaled on her cigarette deeply, but nearly choked on it when she heard the first blast go off. Kabuto had identified it as a grenade on the stairs, and gunshots soon could be heard afterwards. Downstairs, Paragon could just make out what was happening on the first floor from her vantage point, and it wasn't long after that the bird duo jumped out of nowhere and divebombed towards Bael's team. She began to move to help them, but paused for a split second as she saw Jackrabbit make the leap in a single bound.

"Shit, sorry Bossman I've gotta break the perimeter. Squad 3 is under attack from a birdman and a rat with wings. I'm gonna go help them out." Jackrabbit said over the Squad 5 comms.

As the situation quickly deteriorated, Aleta instead of jumping at the opportunity to engage the enemy, realized a few things. In the initial police description, five individuals were described, none of which were identified as being capable of flight. That means there were seven people at this fight total. She could see the lobby, and that meant that three were directly accounted for. Then, there was at least one individual on the stairs fighting Squad 2. That left roughly three more criminals in the upper levels, meaning Squad 4 would soon meet one, leaving a few to either escape or call for help.

And then there was the strange thing; Why was this group here? What was their goal? Aleta exhaled finally, time seeming to move in slow motion as Squad 3 began to engage their enemy. They caught attention, held up in the building long enough to get attacked, then when we began to move in, not only did unaccounted for reinforcements show up, but they moved with tactical precision and synchronized movements. It was strategic.

Someone might think that they were simply there to cause a ruckus and panicked, but that didn't quite add up. They targeted police, and then moved directly into the construction site. That would mean that instead.... She pressed her communicator to the Squad 5 channel and spoke calmly. "We're the targets. We walked into a trap, Rocket." She didn't move from her spot, keeping her gaze on the building.

The moonlit night was filled with the blaring of siren horns and the shrieks of the fleeing crowd of civilians that scattered every which way like a swarm of gnats. The birdman and pterosaur-like creature first swooped in towards the police blockade causing chaos on the street before making u-turns to had back to the heroes. The latter swooped down first at Mike scraping its claws against his shield and flying back away. It turned midair for a second strike and dived right down back at Mike but the giant winged monster suddenly gave a giant flap of its wings right before it struck Mike again and flew straight up before curving back down further along the street. It was going closer to the fleeing crowd of civilians before it picked up one and flew high up before throwing them up in a curve. It divebombed back down and harshly grasped another civilian to fly high up again and throw them up. It seemingly would keep doing the same action to any stragglers of the large crowd.

Meanwhile, the birdman had finished his own turn back towards the police barricade and he was flapping in the air observing them. He suddenly flapped himself high into the air, higher than any other building in the street, and crashed right down on the hood of a police cruiser. A hail of bullets from the assembled policeman greeted him but he had landed with his giant wings perfectly encapsulating him. The bullets ricocheted off wildly dispersing the police and even grazing a few which allowed him to unfurl his wings. The birdman hopped down from the ruined police car and sighed heavily as he saw the ones known as Bael and Forge closest to him.

"This is so boring. Would've been better if I didn't bother waking up," he sighed with not a mean tone but a genuine one.

He then cracked his neck and brought down his hands to grip onto the police cruiser. His gloved hands heavily dented the rim he gripped as he raised the police cruiser into the air and threw it right towards Mike.

Mars
Mars was impressed by Aleta's insight and her decision to stay put. He had expected her to give him trouble after everything that had happened between them but she was clearly taking this seriously. "You might be right Paragon, but we can't worry about that now. All we can do is be cautious and prepared." He said as he saw the two bird creatures flying towards them. Things had just gotten more interesting for the perimeter team. Jack Rabbit then announced that he was going off to join the fighting, and this bothered Mars a bit. They couldn't just jump in whenever there was action and besides that wasn't their orders... His thoughts were interrupted when one of the beasts started throwing civilians in the air. Mars' mind immediately jumped to action, his boosters activating as he launched into the air.

"Paragon, you get the guy in the red shirt near you, I got the woman!" He shouted as he shot towards the woman who was falling violently. He activated a shield around his arms to cushion the impact as he slowed down and grabbed her. He slammed into the building in the process and was sliding down for two floors until he slammed down on his back, keeping the woman as steady as possible.

She climbed off of him, shaking in fear.

"Thank you!" She shouted as she ran off back behind the barricade.

"Bael we need to stop that thing from tossing civilians!" He said on his communicator.

"Like I don't know what to do..."

Paragon was already moving when the order came through, though she didn't agree with Rocket's call not to warn the rest of the team, the most important situation going on at the moment was the civilians getting thrown about by the ugly bird. Her armor still attached to her bike, she leapt from her vantage point and swung herself across the way to the rest of the team, barely dodging a flying car that one of the miscreants had thrown earlier, until she grabbed the man in the red shirt mid air, covering the pair of them in a ball of pure tar, controlling its properties to allow it to bounce off the incoming buildings and hit the ground safely with the man inside. Though a bit shaken, he was alright. "You know, next time you come out to one of these things, maybe don't wear red? Just saying." She quipped before turning her attention to the pterosaur.

"I got it." She boasted over the radio, calling her motorcycle to her from its own vantage point, and hopping on without a single care, the pieces of armor from the bike slowly being melded to her form as she chased down the flying beast. When the lizard got close to another civilian, Paragon stood on the now naked frame of her bike, and punched the air, sending her gauntlet flying to the creature, and grabbing it by the leg, jumping from the bike, and firmly attaching herself to the ground in a single motion. "I call this one walking the dog."

The birdman sighed as he let he looked over to the other side of the street and saw his compatriot in a bit of trouble which prompted yet another sigh. He unfolded his wings completely and flew high into the sky before folding them back up to torpedo himself to his location before abruptly stopping midair next to his ally. He quickly took off his glove and morphed into into the talons of a predatory bird with black scales and giant talons. He gripped the gauntlet holding onto the pterosaur's leg and with gargantuan grip strength he obliterated the gauntlet to pieces while ignoring the rabid squawks.

"Fuck off! Butcher Bird!" shrilled the pterosaur in ear percing screeches flapping his wings wildly, "The prey is mine! Not yours!"

"Can it, Abomination. Let's just deal with them and get it over with," said Butcher Bird tiredly.

His hand morphed back to a human's as he put back his glove and swooped down to on top of Aleta, "I call this stepping on gum."

Butcher Bird spun midair before letting loose a tremendous spin kick right at her head with enough force to crack the street below her. He then flew up and over the rest of the street before smashing back down to the ruined police barricade. Repeating the same action as before he then threw another police cruiser at Wyatt. Meanwhile, Abomination swooped over to Rocket and leaped onto the robots back digging its claws into the robots armor as well as trying to bite into the head with its needle like teeth. With the act futile against the armor he breathed in before letting loose a sonic scream at the helmet.

Paragon's heart sank when she saw the hawkman's talon crush her gauntlet, leaving her with a blind spot in her defenses and showing off more strength than she thought was possible. Auntie had said her plating was 'practically indestructible, but he'd snapped it like glass. She shook off the fear that began creeping into her heart.

"Fuck off! Butcher Bird!"

The pterodacyl began talking, and Paragon admittedly had to stifle a laugh. It sounded exactly like you'd expect. Apparently, the Hawkman was actually Butcher Bird. The hero hadn't heard the name before which surprised her. She had thought herself to be pretty knowledgeable when it came to villains, but these guys were serious business and Aleta hadn't the slightest who they were.

"The prey is mine! Not yours!"

So her suspicions had been correct; the Young Bloods were the target of this group.

"Can it, Abomination. Let's just deal with them and get it over with,"

Paragon barely had time to react before the Butcher Bird divebombed her, spinning mid air, and planted his foot solidly towards her skull. She'd have dodged, but she had already planted herself firmly in place to keep Abomination in check before. As the heel connected with Paragon's helmet, a huge splash of pitch erupted from her form, splattering across the ground and onto the surrounding surfaces.

The splash had served a few purpose. Firstly it was a reflexive approach by her body to both nullify the incoming attack during a panic response. Secondly, it covered the ground, potentially lightening the blow of hitting the road below. Thirdly, a bit of pitch had actually attached itself to the bottom of Butcher Bird's foot, so that if she survived this blow, she'd at least cause him some discomfort when he landed again.

That being said, while the kick did hit like a freight train, and she felt the ground rise up to reach her face quickly, Aleta noted that the strength of the kick was hardly the strongest thing she'd ever experienced. Interesting, but a moot point as it would still be enough to leave her dazed for the next few moments. As she began trying to get back up, she felt a wave of vertigo, all too familiar at this point, and vomited pitch onto the concrete, doubling over.

"I just need... to catch my breath." She said between heaves, trying to center herself once more.

Mike Mathews/ Forge
October 24th

‘Come on you stupid bird, just get a little bit closer annndddd’ Mike thought to himself as the large bird began its dive towards him. It was a simple, dumb plan but if he got the timing right there was a good chance he could ground one the oversized thing and maybe even stand a chance at taking it out. Whether it figured out his idea or decided on a better opportunity though, it pulled up at the last second and soared away from where Mike stood. ‘Oh that is so much worse’ He thought to himself as he saw the creature dive bomb towards the civilians.

Coming to their rescue thankfully was Mask and team 5 as they moved through the crowd and worked to save those caught and flung by the creatures. But as good a job they were doing, the fact was that the squads had been pushed onto the defensive and could barely fight when they were focused on trying to protect the civilians. As things were, they were in a bad position and needed to change things fast. It was at this moment that the crunch of metal rung out as the apparent lead villain landed nearby and shrugged off the bullets sent his way before lazily looking towards Mike and letting out a sigh.

‘That can't be goo-’ Was all he was able to think before the birdman casually hoisted up a police car and tossed it straight towards him. Not seeing many options in the face of a large steel vehicle being hurled at him, Mike detonated the ground beneath his feet like a spring board and flung himself to the side in a desperate attempt to dodge. While feeling like he was close to shattering his ankles in the process, the extra force managed to push him just out of the car’s path and flat onto the floor as debris scattered and crashed around him.

In the short time it took to pick himself up, the battle continued to spiral into chaos. The Birdman, or Butcher Bird as the ‘Abomination’ creature had called him, had gone on to target the team members first with a heavy kick to one of the new members before taking aim at wyatt and hurling another car while his ‘parnter’ had made Mars his main focus and was in the process of trying to take him out with some sort of screech. But through all the chaos, Mike did spot a certain opportunity. Despite the situation around them, Mask had managed to land some of his weirdly named dart-boomerang things into the creature’s wings and while they weren’t massive, they were more than enough material for Forge to work with. Readying his shield and moving to a jog, the beginnings of another bad idea fell into place.

“Rocket, if you’re not dead yet then you’ll have an opening in a second, don’t-waste-it! Now if anyone’s got an idea for dealing with the bird guy down here, I’m all ears because I really don’t want to play keep away more than I have to.” He called out across the communicator as he began dumping his powers.

‘Well this feels eerily familiar’ he thought to himself as he picked up his pace into a run and charged towards butcher. Thinking back to how his last charge against Hex backfired, Forge braced his body, moved the shield to his front and leapt. As his feet came off the ground, his powers kicked in. The rederangs still embedded into Abomination began to flare and burst like firecrackers as the outer layer of Mike’s shield burned a blinding white before blasting outwards in a wave of force light. While sending him back the way he came, the front end of the shield let out the energy like some twisted shrapnel filled flashbang. He doubted it would be able to do much against someone who could shrug off bullets, but he hoped a blast that close and a few fistfuls of fiery rocks would grab the guys attention if nothing else and buy some more tme and opportunities for both the team and fleeing civilians.

As Forge skidded back and began recharging his shield, he took a defensive stance and paused. ‘Really wish I had a second part of this plan’ he thought to himself as he tried to guess the best place to dive to and braced for what could come next.

So far, things seemed to be going as well as they could for a battle between groups of superhumans. He was about to mutter about how he rarely ever got to see some actual conflict in these scenarios, when a pair of flying superhumans erupted from the area and dove straight towards him and the rest of the squad. He felt a bit of excitement well up, remembering the last time he got to fight a superhuman, it was someone who was considerably more intimidating, and he only had Red for backup. Now he had the entire team and a pair of fliers seemed pretty easy to deal with.

The winged man, being shrieked at by the pterodactyl thing, seemed to be called "Butcher Bird" or something to that. He spread his wings, but before he could get into the air, Bird grabbed a police car and threw it at him. Bael caught the vehicle, staggering back before putting it down. Cars weren't so much heavy as they were bulky and awkward to carry. The thought crossed his mind of having him throw it right back, but he figured that was a dumb idea.

His wings unfurled and he shot into the air, tailing Butcher Bird from behind. "You're not the only one with wings, pal." Bael called out.

"No, but I'm the only one with wings that can do this!" Butcher replied, flinging his wing at Bael, shooting a barrage of his razor-sharp pinions at Bael, who brought up his arm to protect his eyes. The pinions struck his arm, feeling pain not unlike getting poke by some thorns on a vine. Bael hissed and flew higher, with Butcher turning around to head him off.

Shaking his arm loosed the pinions which fluttered down below, he glanced to the side to see Butcher shooting at him, hands open like a bird would have its talons ready to grip prey. Bael caught him by the wrists, but their shoving match caused both fo them to lose control over their flight, stall, and drop down onto a SWAT van, denting the roof. "Dinosaurs turned into birds! That means I'm better than you!" He swiped at Bael, who jerked his head to the side, letting Butcher's talons slash straight through the metal of the van.

Bael wormed his foot into Butcher's abdomen and shoved him off the van and into the street. Bael rolled off the van and landed on his feet.

"Come on! You just gonna push me around or are you actually gonna hit me?" Butcher taunted. He watched as Bael pointed his fist at him and clenched. "Is that some sorta threat-" He was interrupted by the asphalt of the street shattering and reforming around his legs and up to his thighs. "Oh you ASSHOLE..." His wings flapped, but his attempts to fly weren't working, instead opting to shatter the asphalt with a little work, the black substance cracking and breaking apart in just a few seconds. It left him out of position for Bael to get close enough to grab one of his arms and head and slam him face-first into the concrete of the sidewalk. "Someone watched American History X..."

"Shut up. Are you going to quit this nonsense?" He asked, shoving his knee into Butcher's back, and trying to wrestle with his wings without letting go of his arm and head.

"Are you gonna fuck off?" He flicked his wing, send a few pinions into Bael's face, causing him to release Butcher who scurried away as Bael pulled the pinions out of his head.

"Gah!" Bael hissed. The pinions missed his eyes, and came out easily enough, but they still stung. Alright. Fine. You wanna play like that, huh Bird Brain...

Butcher Bird staggered forward once he escaped from Wyatt's grip. The dra'qunni was strong. Very strong. He'd have to watch himself and get a grip on a body part first. Butcher Bird sighed as he gazed with a disappointed expression at the dra'qunni who was clearly not in a good mood. He was going to fly off and find something to stab Bael with but he noticed that he couldn't move his boot anymore. He tilted his head downwards to see a wad of the female he had kicked black substance stuck to his boot and essentially pinning him in place. A barrage of explosions behind him signaled something bad happening to his partner but he noticed the hero Forge he had chucked a car at skidding by on some shield. He would've smirked but a flat expression was all there was to see on his face.

Butcher Bird raised his hand into the air and with a twist of his wrist all the feathers he had shot at Bael throughout their fight moved excruciatingly fast towards Mike's location but stopped dead in their tracks once they hovered around his neck. Butcher Bird turned to face Bael knowing he was stuck but with the leverage this provided he doubted the dra'qunni could do anything.

"So, lizardman," he said with only the hints of a smile, "What's it gonna be? Smack me around harder or have your friend guillotined?"

Meanwile, Abomination's sonic screech into Rocket's helmet was suddenly interrupted by a cacophony of explosions on himself from the weird contraptions one of the heroes had attached to him. They popped one after the other making him slip from Rocket's back by their repeated force dislodging his claws. The bottom half of his body was covered in soot but with his body free from the extra weights so he flapped up and began scratching at the visor with his legs.

"Get off!" Mars shouted as his vision was blurred by the creature. He aimed his left arm at the creature as it morphed into a blaster. An electric shock emitted from it, not dissimilar to a taser. Once the blast took effect Mars took the opportunity to slam his right fist into the beast, trying to knock it off for good.

Abomination squawked in anger as he was suddenly electrocuted by the blast with his anger rising enough to make his reptilian eyes bloodshot. He barely swooped out of the fists way with only a few scorched throat hairs being grazed by the fist but it was enough movement to have him get far away from Rocket. He flapped upwards and stayed in place as he let loose another sonic screech right below towards Rocket.

Mars winced at the screech and his screen flickered as it seemed to be disrupted by the attack. He aimed his blaster once more, this time on full power. He shot it point blank at the monster. Mars wasn't trying to hit him, he knew the creature would dodge. But this would allow Mars to try out a new invention. He ran his right hand over his left arm and produced four mechanical disks. He threw them into the air like tiny frisbees towards Abomination and they quickly separated out ten feet apart to form a square like shape. Electric pulses shot from all four, creating a prison like structure around the creature.

"Got you!"

He flew out of the way from the initial blast but the discs came at a complete surprise to the pterosaur and he was stunned enough to fall back to the ground leaving a trail of smoke. He fell limply on the floor but a drool filled mouth and ravenous gnashing of his teeth followed him getting up on all fours. He swayed side to side before giving one last flap forward to crush his teeth into Rocket's knee.

Rocket sputtered as his circuits worked over time to over come the damage to his knee. However Mars didn't need to move much and so he sent his auxiliary power to his right arm as it shot forward at high speeds and slammed into Abomination's jaw. With the final attack Abomination's jaw let go of Rocket's knee as his beaked face was slammed into the asphalt cracking it into a spiderweb. His eye looked directly up at Rocket with nothing but pure animalistic hatred but with some twitching it soon was closed by white eyelids signalling his defeat.

Zoe Foster - Impulse
Abandoned Building, San Diego
October 24th

Zoe was standing guard on her rooftop opposite of the bulk of Squad 3, ending up as the furthest away when the chaos started to unfold. She listened to the comms: orders to stay cautious and prepared amidst the fighting, people calling out to others for injuries and backup alike, and a lot of explosions and crashing. Barely waiting to see what the rest of her team had to say, Zoe hopped across the street from her rooftop guard post to the construction site, and again to the roofs lining the street where the rest of the Young Bloods were fighting. She arrived just in time to see Bael walloping one of the baddies with a stone sucker punch, before his opponent halted the fight with a threat on another teammate's life. Zoe hadn't met the guy in danger, but he was on her side so what more was there to say? She made her way to a rooftop out of his line of sight before making her move.

After taking a few steps back, Zoe leaped off of the building feet-first. She almost seemed to hover in the air for a second, before using her powers to crank up her inertia to unstoppable levels. This led to the hero Impulse taking a sharp turn downwards, planting her boot between Butcher Bird's shoulder blades and slamming him face-first to the ground. As she landed, Zoe grabbed the raised hand with both of her own and twisted it painfully behind his back. "How about option 3: you quit talkin' and we won't clip your wings?"

[Absolon-7]

The One Where Casimir, Ash, and Red Start a Detective Agency
October 16th
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

Casimir initially tried to ignore the pounding on his door. The harsh sound tore him from the vestiges of a dreamless sleep, and he groaned as he flailed briefly beneath his covers, twisting his bedsheets into a tangled mess in the process. Glancing to the alarm clock on his bedside table with drowsy eyes, his gaze narrowed as he made a note of the time. It was still a good few hours before his alarm was supposed to go off, but the thought wasn’t allowed to linger as a second wave of rapid knocks struck like hammer blows to his skull. Scrunching his features, the boy tried in vain to smother himself with a pillow as he called out.

“Alright, alright, I’m up! Who is it?” He didn’t try to mask the frustration in his tone, irritated that someone would deem it fitting to rouse the Great Kabuto at such an hour on a Saturday. It wasn’t that he needed beauty sleep or anything, but a good schedule was a key part of a healthy lifestyle.

“It is Ash!” The sing-song voice responded back eagerly. “May I please come in, Kabuto? We must do a talk!”

Frowning in confusion, Casimir was caught off-guard by the mutant’s presence. She was probably the last person that he’d have expected to try and barge in on him like this, not least because she had to warm herself up each morning before she could do...well, pretty much anything.

“Kabuto? You are there, yes?”

Sighing at the girl’s seeming impatience, he rolled himself out of his bed. Resigned to an early morning it seemed, Casimir made his way to his door before swinging it open. Wearing his favourite pair of pyjamas - a matching set branded with his own alias’ likeness that he’d found a few months back - he tried to think of what had brought the mutant here. “Okay, Ash. What’s so import-gah!”

As soon as the door opened, Ash practically pushed her way past Casimir into his room. A wide grin spread across her features, she seemed to be oblivious to the other hero leaping out of her way as she darted by him. In her four arms, she cradled a significant stack of books. Some were thick volumes with bland covers and obnoxiously lengthy titles, while others looked to be little more than children’s stories. When Ash spoke, her voice was quick and excited - as if brimming with energy.

“There is this place at school that one of my teachers showed me, called a library.” Ash eagerly explained, carefully laying out each of her books on Casimir’s desk until they nearly covered it. “It is meant to help one study and do research, yes? And so I thought that it must have something that could help us figure out my past.” Grinning, the girl picked up one of the books and proudly offered it to the other hero. “The librarian helped me find some that could be useful, and I started reading what I could on my own, and there is so much here!”

Blinking as he struggled to follow along with the girl’s rapid fire explanation in his dazed state, Casimir glanced down to take the book that was being held out towards him. Reading the title, he frowned as he looked over the cover for a children’s book based on Anastasia. Trying to recall what the animated film was originally about, his memory was quickly jogged as Ash breathlessly continued.

“This is a story about a girl separated from her parents who has also lost her memory. It turns out that she is actually a Princess from a distant land called Russia, and her family was overthrown by villains. There’s also a movie, though the library said that they did not have it so I just borrowed the book instead.” Making no effort to hide her pride at the fruits of her research, Ash gestured towards the books behind her. “I borrowed all the books with lost children. But some of them are very difficult for me to read, so I need you to help me. Although apparently it is very common for princesses to be lost! Did you know that Casimir?” Ash hesitated for a moment, knowing that she was maybe jumping to conclusions but unable to contain her dreamy excitement. “What if I am also a lost princess? It makes sense, yes? I could have been kidnapped!”

It was definitely a lot to take in.

Not responding immediately, Casimir’s frown deepened as he looked at the piles of texts now stacked on his desk. He doubted that any of them would be that useful in their quest, but something about Ash’s excitement kept him from brushing her aside. I suppose it’s good that she’s getting in some extra reading. But that still didn’t solve the more immediate mystery.

“Ash, it’s five in the morning. What are you doing awake?” He asked. “How are you awake?”

The mutant’s gaze seemed to have drifted away from Casimir even in the brief few moments that he’d taken to respond, though her attention had snapped back to him as soon as he’d started speaking. She was definitely jumpier than usual, and Casimir was starting to have an idea on what might’ve happened even before she replied.

“Oh, I made myself some of the coffee that Renata and Red use to focus themselves while working. It did not taste very nice, but I feel so amazing! It is like there is a bee buzzing in my chest, yes? I do very much like this coffee. Why do more of the team not drink it?”

Damnit, Red. You showed her the coffee machine? Well, that explained things, at least. If nothing else, Casimir couldn’t help but find the caffeinated mutant now hopping from leg-to-leg at least a little bit amusing. “Some of us just don’t like the flavour as much, Ash.” Pausing, he offered the girl a raised eyebrow. “Though, how much did you have?”

Having been distracted by the task of re-arranging her books into some kind of order, Ash lifted a single finger. “Do not worry, Casimir. I know that I should not have much, so I only made myself the one. I am learning how to use the kitchen, remember?”

Unconvinced, the hero continued as a smirk inched onto his features. “One cup? Or one brewing pot?” Suddenly, the mutant stopped what she was doing. Turning around, she offered Casimir a surprised expression.

“There is a difference?”

---

Casimir had guided Ash to Red’s room to rope him into this mess to firstly if he was going to get into this mess then so was Red because he had promised to work on it. Secondly, he hoped he could teach Ash a little of what investigating is actually like instead of reading children’s books. Remembering correctly Red was the type to be awake at the crack of dawn or something so hopefully he was just waking up. He stood in front of the door and knocked on it with the back of his knuckles.

“Hey, Red!,” shouted Casimir, “Ash wants to share her investigation. Figured you could give her a pointer.”

The sound of muttered cursing and things getting rummaged around inside the room was heard for a brief moment before the doors in front of them slid open. Standing inside was a freshly showered and dressed Red, a large mug of steaming coffee in his hands that clearly had yet to see the attention it needed as the redhead held a sleepy expression on his face.

“What are you even doing up this earl-” Red began to question the two, before suddenly his gaze centered on Ash and then back to the cup of coffee in his hands. “Oh right, I did that.” Letting out a small groan, he waved the two inside, muttering under his breath as he walked over to where his computer desk was. “I told Renata it was a bad idea, but did she want to listen to me? Nooo, because freaking Princess is always right about everything…”

Sitting down at his computer desk, Red watched with a suspicious gaze as the two entered the room, at a loss as to what Csimir had meant by Ash’s ‘Investigation’. While the discovery of coffee was likely the source of Ash’s bubbly sense of energy, he knew Casimir wasn’t the type to get up at such an hour for anything short of the end of the world, which meant that whatever it was she had was apparently worth the time and effort. Taking a small sip of the simmering cup of coffee in his hands, Red held up a small finger to indicate for the others not to speak until he eventually let out a content sigh as a sizable portion of the liquid was emptied.

“Okay, time to play the game of ‘Why The Hell Are You Here!’. Fair warning kids, there’s only one right answer, and anything else will result in a demonstration of what a sleep deprived Red looks like before his caffeine has kicked in,” he said, raising an eyebrow directed at Casimir as he waited for a response.

“Like I said. Ash wants to show us what she found in her part of the ‘investigation’ of her past,” said Casimir emphasizing Ash’s action before he scooched on closer to whisper to Red so Ash wouldn’t hear, “Listen, she got super excited about how her own research went I just need you to look it over and show her how actual research goes.”

He got outside of Red’s punching distance to stand back to Ash, “Come on Ash. I figure Red here can give you pointers on how to do research. Hell, maybe he found something himself.”

With her thoughts having happily drifted away from the exchange between the two boys, Ash was caught off guard when Casimir suddenly gestured for her to show her research to Red. Blinking in surprise as the attention in the room suddenly turned towards her and the stack of books that she once again cradled in her four arms, a hint of colour began to tint Ash’s cheeks.

“Y-yes, definitely!” She replied sheepishly, surprised at how nervous she felt now that she was being placed on the spot. Silently, she found doubts and concerns that she’d never even considered before creeping into the corners of her mind. What if they thought that her research was dumb? They’d probably found everything she had already, considering how much more experienced they were at investigations like this.

“I - uh - I went to the library at school, and found that there were many books and movies about missing children.” Despite her self-doubt, Ash still couldn’t stop herself from being excited at the treasure trove that she’d found. Holding her ‘research’ with a pair of hands, she began to carefully search through the stack of texts with her two free arms. “I thought that maybe they could be useful, or help you and Kabuto to figure out my past.” Finding what she was looking for, the girl carefully pulled the slim copy of Anastasia free before offering it to Red. “This is one book that I was telling Kabuto about earlier. It is about a girl who grows up without her family or her memories - like me - but finds out that she is actually a princess!”

Glancing between the pair of heroes, Ash continued to smile sheepishly. Red was studying the book that he’d been offered, while Casimir continued to stand beside her. “I have not read all of the books yet, but that one was my favourite. There is also apparently a movie too, that we could perhaps watch for research as well, yes?”

Taking the book in his hands, Red raised an eyebrow as he flipped through the book clearly designed to be read for children based on the colorful drawings and large text of words that were brief and simplistic. Having full knowledge of who Princess Anastasia was and what exactly happened to her, he couldn’t help but wince at the childish portrayal of events that played out in the book, but he supposed that an entire family being slaughtered by revolutionaries hardly made for an appropriate children’s story.

“It’s...something,” Red finally replied, doing his best to be nice to Ash even as what she had provided to him was outright worthless. Closing the book and placing it on his desk, he took another small sip of his coffee before continuing. “It’s always a good thing to try and get your information from a wide range of sources so I guess I’ll have to say...good job?” Red’s voice came out a bit hesitant, forcing a small smile on his face as he did what he could not to utterly crush Ash’s spirits.

Glancing over to Casimir, Red gave him a small pleading look as he tried to find a way to go on further. After a moment of realizing that he needed to say more, he finally let out a small sigh, rubbing at the bridge of his nose for a few moments as he began to piece together what to say next.

“I suppose since we are in the mood of sharing our…’findings’ this morning, I might as well let both of you know what I’ve managed to scrounge up on my end.” Turning around to his desk and rummaging through one of the drawers, he pulled out a rather meager sized tan file and tossed it over towards Casimir. “It’s not much, truth be told. Finding anything about Ash’s past is like finding a needle in a haystack the size of a mountain. But there’s enough here that could give us a better idea, if we’re willing to put boots on the ground so to speak.” Watching as Casimir opened up the file, Red waited for a few moments to allow both he and Ash to peer into the contents of the file before speaking up once more.

“Not that long ago, police happened to stumble into an incident where a superhero had single-handedly defeated a metahuman criminal. According to the reports, said criminal possessed the ability to mutate human beings into various anthropomorphic creatures possessing a wide array of abilities that corresponded to the animals they had mutated partially into. Whether these transformations were done willingly or unwillingly, the police apparently could never get an answer since the man who did it was, well, dead, but regardless the poor bastards effectively lost all sense of being human in the process. Essentially, they became mindless killing machines, and pretty damn capable ones at that.”

Glancing over at Casimir, Red raised a small eyebrow at the hero for a brief moment as he watched the boy think over what he had just said. He had left out a key detail in his recounting of what had happened, that being that the responding hero had been none other than Casimir himself. The fact that he didn’t speak up about this drew a bit of suspicion from Red, but he decided not to press the issue. He reasoned that it was either due to him simply forgetting about the entire ordeal, or that he purposely didn’t want Ash to realize he had been involved. Whatever the reason was, he didn’t want to discuss it in front of her, but he would certainly be having a conversation with him about it the second the opportunity presented itself.

“At first glance, this doesn’t really seem to do us any good in knowing. However after, er, temporarily obtaining some of the after-action reports, I found something rather peculiar that caught my eye.” Reaching forwards towards the files, Red pulled out a small stack of staple papers, holding it out so Casimir could see. “A press authorization form filled out by Northwest News Station signed by none other than the police chief, giving them permission to film the crime scene not even an hour after they had cleared the scene. While normally that wouldn’t be that big of a deal, there’s two main issues with it. First, there hasn’t been a Northwest News Station since it filed for bankruptcy in 1987. And second, this isn’t the police chief’s signature.” Red’s gaze narrowed as he tossed the stack of papers on his desk. “Which means that there was someone else there besides the authorities who wanted to poke through the mess left behind there. And now what do we end up stumbling upon in a Wonder Foundation facility, but a mon-” Red’s words halted as he looked over towards Ash, a small amount of shame felt as he realized what he was about to say. “-a girl who has no memory of who she is, yet possesses a wide plethora of abilities brought on by her essentially being a hybrid of a human and a moth?”

Taking a deep breath after going through the list of evidence, Red slumped back in his chair, placing his cup of coffee onto his desk before staring up at the two before him expectantly. “At least, that’s the best I can come up with. Nothing concrete on exactly who Ash is, or exactly where she came from, but enough to let us follow the breadcrumbs. I’ve done as much as I could from here, which means if we want to know more, we’re going to have to go there ourselves and try and piece together things bit by bit.”

As Red finished telling the others about his investigation, he failed to receive the immediate feedback that he’d expected. Instead Casimir looked at Red with an extremely bewildered look and the fact that he didn’t dare to mention how it was him who killed those mutants drew a bit of suspicion from Casimir, but he decided not to press the issue. He reasoned that it was either due to him simply too dumb to realize his hero name wasn’t Bug Boy, or that he purposely didn’t want Ash to realize he had been involved until they got the facts straight. Whatever the reason was, he was certainly going to have a word with Red to see why he didn’t mention it for his own reasons.

“That sounds great, Red. See how much you can find out with a little bit of digging in the right place, Ash?” Meeting Red’s eyes for a moment, Casimir shot him a glance that said he was very confused at why Red didn’t say anything about him “It looks like we know what we have to do next, though. I’ll try talking to Naja and Roy about getting a few days off from the team so we can go investigate the scene of the crime! We’re getting close Ash, I know it.” As he offered the girl what he hoped were words of encouragement, Casmir was taken aback when he saw that she was nervously biting her lip. He raised an eyebrow. “Ash?”

Fiddling with her hands, the girl didn’t immediately respond. “Oh, yes - um. That is very good news and I am most thankful for what Red has found out. It is just that...I too have other news to share.” She knew that Casimir wasn’t going to be happy about what happened at the gala, and that she hadn’t told him about it earlier. She had to figure out some way of getting him into a good mood. Appearing hesitant, Ash glanced around the room until she spotted an unopened bottle of fanta sitting on Red’s desk. Recognising Kabuto’s favourite soda, she wasted no time in grabbing it and popping open the lid. When the increasingly suspicious hero didn’t immediately take the drink as she offered it to him, she reached out and guided his hand so that it clasped onto the glass bottle. However, if she’d hoped for her friend to at least take a sip, she would be disappointed.

“Ash.” Casimir said, his voice taking on a sterner tone as he watched the girl’s even stranger-than-usual behaviour. “What is it?”

Knowing that she couldn’t put it off any longer now, Ash took a breath. “So there were many people at the gala, yes? And there was a lot of very nice food. At one point, I was refilling my plate when Harry Hope came up to me and introduced himself. He was very friendly, and said that he knew a bit about my past and that he wanted to help with my training with the team.” Seeing Casimir and Red’s eyes widen at the mention of the influential head of the Wonder Foundation, she quickly tried to explain herself. “He was very nice in person! He said that he had not known about what they were doing with me and that he wanted to try and do the making of amends. I told him that I would talk to Naja about it. I know that you said that I should be careful with the Foundation and that they are not our friends, but maybe he could help teach me how to better use my powers, yes?”

"Ash," said Casimir flatly and bringing up a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, "You know how there're plants that give off really sweet smells to get bugs to them? Like flytraps and pitcher plants? This creep is acting like one to get you back. There's no way he didn't know. Jerks like him have their gross little hands in everything. He'll just snap you up in a trap the moment you trust him. Hell, maybe he'll put something to mind control you again.”

Her shoulders slumping at the expectedly negative response from Casmir, Ash’s eyes shifted away from him slightly. “I know that he could be trying to trick me, and I remember what you told me about the Wonder Foundation earlier. But what if he is saying the truth?” Looking back up towards both Red and Casimir, Ash hesitated for a moment before continuing. When she spoke, her voice sounded firmer, almost determined. “I know that I am still learning a lot, but I am not stupid. You remember the videos of what I did during the riots? And you remember how everyone reacted to it during our interview? I do not understand my powers, but I want to. And I want to be able to control them. If Mr. Hope is being truthful, then he might be the best person to help. And as a hero, the right thing to do is to trust him until he has been proven to have guilt, yes?”

“No. Trust is earned by action and the fact they kept you for who knows how long as a thing to experiment should make trust impossible,” said Casimir tiredly at Ash seemingly ignoring half of what he said, “And the fact that he can offer real help to you is just what makes the pitcher plant’s allure even stronger, Ash. Its not about being stupid. It's about how you’re being used for their own evil intentions. If you need help controlling your powers just ask the friends you have here. You don’t need some shady corporations help. You’re smart enough to figure it out as you go like me. Like I punched my old principal’s car in half when I first got my powers but look at me now.”

Ash frowned at Casimir’s words, a feeling of uncertainty and doubt clouding her thoughts as she struggled to decide what to do. Casimir had never been wrong about anything before, and she trusted his input more than anyone. But at the same time, she wanted to be the best hero she could be, and that meant figuring more out about her powers. Biting her lip, Ash’s gaze shifted away from her friend’s as she nervously fiddled with her lower pair of hands.

“I...do not know if punching the principal’s car would be very heroic.” She eventually said, cautiously talking back to Casimir. It felt strange to push back against his advice, and yet Ash couldn’t help but feel conflicted. The Wonder Foundation was a very large company, so what were the chances that it was all bad? It seemed to her that she might’ve just been unlucky and fallen into the hands of some bad people who worked there. Surely that didn’t mean that everyone there was a villain? “But...okay.” Ash eventually said, acquiescing as she offered Casimir a soft smile. “I trust you, Kabuto. And you are right. I have my friends here, and they are all that I need in order to succeed, yes? I will not reach out to Mr. Hope, I promise.”

“Well yeah it wasn’t heroic. It was an accident just like ones you’ve had,” said Casimir warmly with his arms crossed proud she talked back to him, “Well that’s good to hear. A lesson every hero should know: The greatest of evils hide behind the sweetest of gifts.”

“And the greatest of heroes hide behind the biggest of mouths,” Red said in a low sarcastic voice, shaking his head for a few moments before letting out a deep breath. “Either way, there’s nothing we can do before getting Naja’s clearance. I’m used to her death glares at this point, but there’s no reason that you guys have to end up on her shit list as well. I’ll make sure we’ve got everything ready to go before then. So for now…” Glancing over at the now empty cup of coffee on his desk, Red let out a small sigh as he got up from his seat. “...I’ve got some of my own matters to take care of.”

[Absolon-7]

Zoe

Butcher Bird stared blankly at the asphalt in front of him as the red haired girl pinned him down with her toddler strength as the sneak attack was enough of a break in his concentration to lose his focus on his feathers threatening Mike letting them drop to the floor. He thought about just maneuvering his arm away thus manhandling her along with it and possibly making the scene very messy thus his next idea would be much better to execute. Chunks of his wings seemed to disintegrate and rise into the air above the two where they laid before aligning themselves points first at Zoe's back. The girl saw the swarm, excusing herself out of the arm lock by releasing her grip, and was forced to retreat away from Wyatt location. Without another word Butcher Bird flapped towards her spinning in the air to send another swarm of feathers right at her like a single machine gun's spray. Once the spin was over Butcher Bird aimed his falling self towards her to deliver a brutal spin kick towards Zoe's temple.

[The Republic of Atria]

Jason

The squad entered the building, and had every intention of sneaking around using the elevator shaft, but the instant they did, a bunch of swords shot at them. Jason flipped backward, narrowly avoiding the barrage of blades. Then came the metal clanking as their two opponents made their way out. A cyborg-robot thing that Mark and Wendy had under control, so that left the sword guy with himself and Shi. "So like. A gun would probably help you out tremendously." Sludge mused as Bladestorm readied a few more blades.

"As if I need a gun to deal with the likes of you." He replied, flicking his hand forward and shooting the blades towards Sludge, who was ready, jumping onto the ceiling, the blades slicing through the wall. Bladestorm pulled them back, while he summoned more blades to create a miniature whirlwind of blades and moved it towards Sludge.

"Bladenado!" Sludge shouted, dropping from the ceiling as the blades swiped at the ceiling. Bladestorm moved the whirlwind towards Sludge, blades swinging at his chest, who ducked, dodged, and dipped out of the way with body movements that could best be described as inhuman. "It's like dodgeball! Except I could get a paper cut."

"Shut up. Do you think you're being funny?"

"The jokes are for me mate, not you. Besides, no joke I could make would be sufficient to make fun of your aim." Two blades shot from behind, aimed at Jason's back. Jason did a jumping backflip, shooting two tendrils at the back of each of the blades and using them to propel himself forward. Bladestorm instinctively resisted the pressure on his blades, which Jason used to slip between the pair and dive straight at Bladestorm.

Bladestorm summoned several blades out of his body to act as armor as Sludge closed the distance and rolled landing a few feet apart. "No more stupid quips?"

"Oh buddy. If you think all these flips are my real superpower..." He said in a challenging tone. "You get my... Point? Eh? EH?!"

Bladestorm swung at Sludge with several elongated blades sticking out of his arm. Sludge sidestepped it, shooting a thick tendril at point-blank, and with a single spin, flung him into a wall. "Hey Princess, we got a lightning rod!"

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Chasing after Mark and the android, Wendy found a place to hide out from the fight and storm of flying swords as she concentrated on disabling the metallic samurai. Leaving her body she dove in the machines circuitry, Wendy found the systems inside that were far more advanced than she had been expecting. The programming was nearly at the level of a full blown AI, and she had to fight just to keep the system from deleting her. Finally she managed to disconnected the robots battery, jumping out of its systems as fast as she could as it collapsed on Mark. "Robots down Shi!" She called out from behind her cover.

[Finland SSR]

October 3rd

---

Hannah

Jan Sorok, the Champion of Heaven!

---

Of-bloody-course, the purple haired girl getting turned into an arrow cushion didn't even phase her - she was more concerned about her clothes getting ruined than actually getting hurt, too. Yeah, she's just invulnerable, simple as that. Frustrated as always, Meridiana chucked her bow to the side and it dematerialized. As soon as the girl reassembled, she immediately began twisting her finger, ready to cast another spell and cover the entire battlefield in hellfire. Fire always solves everything!

Then a powerful burst of air ripped through the whole nuclear power plant.

"H-huh?"

It came from the boxing girl below - she was still dealing with the fire creatures Meridiana had summoned for her and Megan, and to stave them away, she released a punch so powerful that the shockwave alone ripped them apart and dispersed them. The few seconds of distraction were enough for the purple haired girl's assault to take advantage of - Meridiana had thought that she had a few seconds to spare while she charged, and so was left surprised when an elongated blade cut through her neck. The comically severed head immediately fell into the now frozen succubus's lap.

"...You."

Down a whole body, Meridiana's options were limited - but with bloodshot eyes, the demoness's head turned towards Megan, her fury having gone through the roof. Casting complex spells was out the window, but she could still do a few things.

"Oh, you're glad your clothes are still on, huh?!"

Suddenly, she opened her mouth - releasing a massive wave of flame from her tongue, breathing it out to cover as much of the battlefield as possible.

[Aidannadia]

Paragon, still dizzy from the concussive blow she took from the Butcher Bird, was struggling to concentrate on the fight. Should she engage the enemy? Her Pitch reserves were rather low, but she could make use of that which was already out on the ground. The heroine stood up, only swaying a bit now as she refocused on the fight; It seemed that Rocket had already subdued the Abomination, but currently the rest of the team was engaging the one with the killer grip, the Butcher Bird.

She cursed under her breath; Perhaps Paragon could do something at this distance, but her options were limited; Judging by his strength, binding him with pitch would be difficult. It'd required a lot of investment of the pitch, and while there was only one foe remaining, in the time that it would take to bind him, he'd free himself once more. Moreover, the independent control of his feathers being able to cut through said bindings made it a nonfactor. She wasn't a threat to him; she could harden the pitch into spears and launch them, but with her comrades around, such a move would no doubt not play well with anyone involved.

There she was again, on the team, and yet still being outshined by these brats, relegated to the sidelines and contributing little to the battle ahead. If only I could- She saw the fight take a turn for the worse as Impulse was forced back, and she moved instantly to cover for her, the lake of pitch now at her feet slinking across the floor to defend her teammate. While Impulse was dealing with the feathers well, Paragon moved her pitch to catch Impulse as the spin kick connected with the side of her head, covering her in the black ichor and dragging her across the battlefield towards herself, out of harms way.

As Zoe approached Aleta, the pitch began to fade away. "You good?" Paragon said, walking between Impulse and the Butcher Bird, still a ways from the actual fight going on and ready to take any follow up coming their way.

[Absolon-7]

Part 5

Jerome Blitzer, October 3rd

---

The two combatants stood silently eyeing each other in the ruined camp field. Turned over cars drenched in water littered the area and the APC the Bogatyr had thrown blocked the only feasible exit out. The ruined wooden building behind the Bogatyr offered a foreboding sense of the heroine's power could reach. He was drenched in water from the previous attack and the bitter cold of the night sunk in deeper into Ilya's body but the giant Russian stood firm on opposition to Rusalka. He charged forward to swing his sword down at her but she blasted a blob of water right in his chest to unbalance him and proceeded to drop low to kick his ankle in a sweeping low arc. As the great armored man fell flat on his back as Rusalka directed a highly concentrated lace of water upon her leg and kicked upwards sending the ribbon surging up to slash at him. It nicked a small notch in his armor's side but the force of the water was enough to spin him away.

Rusalka marched toward him but the giant man slowly got up to menace above her slice at her again. She blasted water from her feet to suddenly swerve to the side before aiming her arm sideways and blasting water again to reach above him. In one last midair maneuver A burst of water spun her forward to spin kick his neck with a balloon of water acting like a club. The Boagtyr's head was smacked forward but with a pained grunt he swung his shield back and viciously smashed its edge at Rusalka's leg. A painful snap and the heroine violently being launched all across the camp to ultimately smash into the main building breaking apart a chunk of the front. The Bogatyr stood firm shield and sword in hand and pointed at the ruined mess before he noticed every bit of water ever used in the camp slowly move towards the building coalescing into a giant snake form. A bruised and battered Rusalka stepped out of the ruins of the building large cuts all over her costume and aided by some floating blobs of water helping her move.

The giant water snake then curled upwards opening its maw as The Bogatyr leaped upwards with his tremendous might cratering the ground he jumped off. The snaked surged at him engulfing him completely before slamming into the ground boring its way into the dirt as the Russian villain's was being pulverized by the repeated surging of the water snake. Eventually a great hole had been bored into the ground that Rusalka limped towards and she dared peering into it to see her fight's results.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" boomed a deep voice as it leaped upwards and landing across from her in a cloud of mud, dirt, and debris. The waterlogged figure of The Bogatyr slumped towards her with no weapon nor shield in his hands. Just his brawny, callused hands that had seen decades of combat. The man snarled at her with rage coursing through his veins as he spoke, "In the Battle of Kulikovo, the turning point of the yoke slaving at Muscovy was finally set on a course of ultimate destruction. This yoke never disappeared! It simply transferred to more vile ways later in the millennia! AND I SHALL BE THE ONE TO BREAK THE YOKE ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

"What the fuck," blurted out Rusalka.

The heroine barely manage to maneuver her way of his next attack which came in the form of him leaping at her to strike her with his fists. His gargantuan strength punctured away at the ground cratering it but the heroine blasted herself out of harm's way. Her arc of departure left her back where the fight seemingly started near the overturned APC but the Russian was relentless in his pursuit as he suddenly body slammed her from behind sending her to crash into the APC denting its side. She peeled herself off it now with a large cut on the side of her her matting her locks of hair with blood. She manifested a blob of water on the cut to keep it from bleeding but she was simply on her hands and knees once the great shadow of The Bogatyr loomed over her. The heroine dug her hands into the dirt clenching her teeth as she waited for his next move to end her life.

That is until he slipped and fell on his back from a random puddle of water in front of him.

Rusalka looked at him as she slowly got up with a highly intrigued yet disturbed expression as the seven foot tall giant kept falling over the same puddle over and over again. What in the world? She looked around only to see a figure leap off the APC's side and land right next to her. It was none other then Soldier Schweik! The peppy hero, dressed in a WW1 era Austro-Hungarian soldier uniform and a lazer rifle fashioned to look like one from the same era, hoisted her by the shoulder and guided her away from the comical mess.

"That gag won't last for long. Let's get you out of here until others arrive. The heroes of the neighboring cities are on their way," he said in a comically serious tone before turning a beaming smile at her, "You okay, Ruli?"

"Don't call me that you swine," spat Rusalke but not resting the help in the slightest, "What are you doing here anyways? Czechia couldn't be farther away?"

"Not important now. You're hurt and we need to get out of here," he said earnestly.

However, at that moment a giant tire from the APC flew through the air behind him before smacking Soldier Schweik in the back painfully causing both heroes to fall. However, it was also in that moment where Soldier Schweik's rifle fell to the floor somehow being triggered to blast at its highest setting right it hit the floor. The nigh instantaneous energy attack went off like an entire bag of grenades in the scope of its sound and blinding light as it struck Bogatyr right in the chest as he was in the middle of another fit of puddle slipping. It burned away at his supernaturally tough armor and blasted him several bodylengths away. Now the only person standing was Jerome who had turned one of the APC's wheels into styrofoam and threw it at the fleeing pair of heroes to let it turn back halfway through to dish out the pain.

"Well fuck," said Jerome as he scurried over to The Bogatyr's side. Hopefully he was too busy eating dirt to realize what happened. He got near him and was surprised to see the villain rising back to his feet his teeth still gnashing in anger. "You alright big guy? Not sure keeping at it like this is gonna do wonders for your health or our plan."

The Bogatyr winced as he looked forward to see the heroes apparantly having been hit hard by a wheel of the vehicle he had thrown, "That must've been your revenge for doing this to me, Fox?"

"Oh..oh yeah. Hell yeah," nodded Jerome furiously. He then took out a ticket from his coat and looked it over not understanding heads or tails of the runes inked on it, "So apparently this is supposed to be a one-way and one-use teleportation enchanted thing our friend gave to me. Only a last resort but I figure about a dozen high profile Polish heroes swarming over here isn't the best idea for either of us."

The statement angered Ilya now apparently back to his full rage and invigorated spirit before in a flash of light when the paper was turn left nothing where they stood as Soldier Schweik got back on his feet rubbing his back looking around confused before the sharp condemnation by Rusalka prompted an apology and offer to to get her back up. The cold night lingered as the moon glistened off the pools of water in the ruined area like a shattered piece of glass.

[North America Inc]

Mark Nemo | Cosmic
Ava Waldstein | Darklight

Jason

Wendy

Shihong 'The Red Princess' Smith
Squad 4

---

The tendril latched onto its target and flung him back against the wall, knocking the wind out of him; his barrage of miscellaneous swords dissipated into dust. Bladestorm exhausted and wary from the little spar with Sludge, was totally unprepared for what was coming next. Lightly raising his head, a bright blue hue started to shine at the corner of his eye. It took a moment, but it clicked. "Shit!" He immediately rose his arms to release a torrent of swords upwards between him and the Princess. As the trail shot out of her hands, the constructs lightened the attack, but it wasn't enough. Right above him the blast shattered the outer wall, flinging outwards.

Sludge and the Red Princess immediately ran into the dust to catch the criminal, but as they looked down the several floors they saw no trace of him. "He couldn't have fallen that quickly." Shi mused as she looked to her left, then right. He wasn't there either.

"Huff huff." Bladestorm ascended up the wall, each new foot sapping his strength. He was almost sure his left leg was broken or out of place; but it didn't matter, he assured himself, the other's will be able to attend to it. Each foot up, he conjured a new hilt into the brick, entering the above floor through an unfinished section. Falling inwards, he laid there a moment, catching his breath. They had their rules for engagement, but that didn't mean he had to go crawling back to them. His face slid against the drywall, he just needed a breather. His hair was disheveled, dust was in his eyes, and he was almost positive blood was running out of his ear.

"Did you really think you would escape?" His eyes shot open to the sight of Shi standing across from him, at the doorway to the halls. She played with one of her hair strands, her face more annoyed than anything. She took a seat against a nearby construction table and asked, "So what's with the attack? Your team decided to attack an empty site for no other reason besides the res..." She stopped, an epiphany.

Bladestorm, for his part, was hearing church bell's more than what she was saying. He slowly rose up, the wall as his support. "Ready for Round 2?" He joked.

"Are you?"

He heaved at the response, a twisted smile took shape. He furrowed his brow, and raised his arms; a barrage of constructs formed out of the floor, shooting upwards in every which way. Shi immediately jumped to the other side of the room, boosting her speed with a little propulsion. She spun to his side, shooting bolts of fire as she dodged the oncoming fire. One brushed his side, hitting his shoulder and knocking back a few inches. As he looked down to catch himself, Shi took advantage and rushed forward.

"Really? Getting close to a swordsmen!" His right hand swung to her oncoming right side, forming a sword mid swing. Putting his weight into it, at least he could be sure he killed one before the main event.

But right before she entered his range, she immediately stopped and slid against the ground. Using her previous propulsion, the trail ran out from her leg for a devastating kick. The flame smacked against his leg, knocking him off balance. He reached for the wall, but couldn't get a hold. The right side of his head smacked against the floor, the sword in his hand dissipating.

She stood over him, "Stay down."

Wiping the blood running down his eye, he laid there. Shi still stood still, arms raised if he planned to do anything else. No one said a thing to the other, the Red Princess cautiously reached for the handcuffs she had on her waist. He watched that hand, waiting for the opening. Come on, I still have enough energy for one last attack. He told himself, a sword behind both forming. She un-clipped them and walked forward. "Is this the part where you read my Miranda Rights?"

The construct shot out directly towards her back. The distinctive sheathing sound caught her attention, and she jumped right. Crack. She turned around, while his face went from glee to disappointment. A bright green slab of construct hung in the air, the sword in its center. Shi looked back at the hallway to see the supportive face of Darklight giving her a thumbs up; she gave her a proud smirk. Then she got back to business.

"Well you can't bla..." A head jab immediately knocked him out. Afterwards, she cuffed him.

[The Republic of Atria]

Bael hesitated during his fight when Butcher grabbed ahold of Mike and threatened to eviscerate Mike unless he... Hit him harder? Now there was confusion piled on top of the hesitation, but the good news was that one of the newbies, Impulse specifically, was paying attention and kicked him into the ground. It didn't seem to bother him that much as he got right back up and was about to attack Impulse, but Pitch intervened just in the nick of time and saved her teammate's head.

It was as good a time as any for him to step in while he was distracted, dashing behind Butcher and grabbing him into a bear hug. "Alright. That's enough." Bael said and squeeze hard enough that Butcher's face began to turn red. "How about you give up while you're still conscious? Great work you two. I'll take it from here." He said, increasing the pressure of the squeeze. Anyone who wasn't superhumanly durable would have popped, but Butcher was proving himself to be very resilient. "Last chance..."

"The... Fuck... you will!" A single pinion shot from one of Butcher's wings, and the point-blank range helped as it stuck into Bael's arm a bit deeper than the rest. Bael dropped Butcher who spun around and punched Bael in the chest, staggering him. He continued his assault, striking Bael in the gut and across the head. "Come on! You gonna hit me back, you giant bag of scales?!" He taunted. Bael swung at him, his blow striking Butcher across the jaw, sending him staggered back farther than he did Bael who pulled the pinion out of his arm. "About damn time!" He spat, some blood in his saliva.

The two charged at each other, however, Butcher used his wings to jump over, and land behind Bael, grabbing ahold of his tail. "Lets see how you like being tossed around!" He said and yanked with all of his might. However, instead of Bael being pulled back and thrown there was a wet popping noise and butcher fell on his back. There was blood, and in his hands was the back half of Bael's tail, still wriggling and flopping around. "Ew!" He dropped it on the ground, stepping on it. "That's disgusting, what the fuck?!" He shouted, now looking up and seeing Bael towering over him with a death glare that he'd only seen a few times in his life. the fire and hate he saw in the split second before Bael hit him.

He didn't feel it at first. He wasn't even sure what was happening as his mind felt like something was bouncing around inside of his skull as he smashed into the SWAT van with such force that it slid several feet before it finally tipped on it's side while Butcher fell unconscious inside the massive dent on the van's side.

Bael struck Butcher harder than he'd ever hit anyone in his entire life. Time felt as if it slowed as his knuckles slammed into Butcher's nose. The blood sprayed from his nose as his feet left the ground, as he smashed into the van. He came too not long after, at first too scared to look, but finally mustering up the willpower to investigate how bad it was. He glanced down, seeing half his tail missing, with blood leaking out of the end of the stump that was left. It would regenerate, but that would take at least a week or two. "<ASSHOLE!>" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

[Tomia]

Roy
With their opponents defeated, the Young Bloods aided the police in ensuring the arrest and processing of the villains, with the exception of the robot squad 1 had fought which had been destroyed and was being taken into evidence. Roy got briefed by the other squad leaders and things had gone pretty smoothly with the exception of Wyatt who suffered an awkward loss of appendage.Still Roy hadn't liked how they had gotten the jump on them like that, first with the grenade and then with the creatures that had come flying in. The police thanked them for their help and now that the situation was handled a massive crowd formed around them. They cheered as the YB approached their plane, signs being waved through the air as cameras flashed. Squad Five had the longest walk to the plane and so they spent the most time along the crowd. Roy had ignored the gatherings that were irritating him more and more and was now waiting for the others. He noticed, in annoyance, that Mars was held up among the crowd giving autographs and taking pictures. Casimir and Andrew were right alongside Mars, soaking in the appreciation of the crowd. Roy got up from his seat in the plane and marched over to the crowd, ignoring the cheers directed towards him.

"Rocket! Kabuto! Jackrabbit! Get on the plane, we're leaving!" He shouted at the squad leader who seemed startled and sheepishly refused anymore pictures. "Sorry" he said to Roy meekly as he passed. Roy then made sure everyone was wrangled and on the plane and in a few minutes they were taking off. Most people were chatting happily on the plane, glad about having another victory to their name. Roy however was quite in a pensive and sullen way. Tonight felt off in more ways then one and it seemed clear that they were missing something.

They arrived home and the team headed off to the living room for the usual post mission celebration while Roy went to Naja's office for a debriefing. While he was doing that he heard a knock on the door and turned to see Shi standing outside.

"Something wrong Shi?" Naja asked from her desk.

Shi walked in further into the office, giving a nod to Roy before turning back to Naja. "I stayed behind after the fight to assist the police, from what I heard, they're being booked as we are speaking. But to tell you the truth..." She placed her hand on her hip, "Nothing about that mission made any sense. A well funded, team of professionals decides to barricade themselves in an empty construction site? No demands or hostages?"

Shi raised her eyebrow, "There was absolutely nothing worth while for them. Except for one facet: the response. Think about it, they made a big spectacle with their powers so the police would call us. I don't know who or what they are, but they wanted us to be there."

Naja and Roy exchanged looks, it was clear they had been having a similar discussion themselves.

"Told you I wasn't being paranoid Naja." Roy said before turning to Shi. "Why do think they'd do this? What could they possibly be after?"

"It's hard to say. If they were recording us I would say it's just a group trying to get famous." Shi looked off to the side, collecting her thoughts,"But Mark fought an advanced android in pristine condition. I don't think it was contraband, I think they're being funded. As for why, possibly to test our tactics? If our entire team was called in to deal with this incident, maybe the one's afterwards split up to attack different points at once. And there will be a next time. No group goes to prison so nonchalantly if they didn't have assurances."

Roy nodded, clearly deep in thought. "I think you're right." He said after a bit of silence. "It just doesn't add up... there's something bigger going on here and I think I know what."

"Roy not this again."

"Naja, it's him. I'm telling you. Ares is behind this. I don't know how or what his angle is exactly. But his resurfacing wasn't random. Plus that doctor we recovered from the drug scene is still missing. He is trying to tie up lose ends."

"What makes you so certain it was him?" A double entendre to say the least, "It could be anyone the team has previously fought. WarWolf might be using meta-humans to throw off any idea of their involvement; we know nothing about Dark-Star's connections."

"We have... a history." Roy said, his expression growing darker. "I know him. He made this personal at that factory and he is doing it again here. Sorry... I'd rather not go into it more tonight. I'm tired. But thank you for sharing your thoughts Shi, I'm glad someone else is paying attention."

With that Roy made his way out of the office and towards the living room.

Wonder Tower
Once they arrived back home and got off the plane, Angelica finally worked up the nerve to approach Alexis, cautiously walking towards her in the hanger bay. It was really strange trying to talk to someone you had just yelled at hours prior.

"Uh, hi... I just wanted to...you know..."

"Now is not a good moment, Angelica." The young engineer cut her off before she could go on, turning to look at her with the same emotionless expression she had worn all throughout the mission. "If it's important, we will talk later. I have to go back to the lab."

"Uh...ya...right...sorry. See you later then." Angelica said, trying not to feel as hurt as she looked at the dismissal. She hurried out of the building, not wanting anyone to see her upset. She knew Alexis was suppressing her emotions as her powers seemed to let her do, but still it didn't make it sting any less.

After the team had changed out of their uniforms and gotten cleaned up, a large number of them gathered in the living room as became customary. They had the news on which was favorably covering their latest victory. Mars sat on the couch with the others and looked fairly pleased as he watched the news. Things could have gone a little smoother with his squad but they had managed to win with no serious causalities or risk to civilians and that of course made him happy.

As people were mulling around and generally having a good time, Roy came into the room with a serious look on his face. He grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, turning to address the group. "Head to bed, all of you. We're having an early morning practice tomorrow before school. We're going to analyze the villains we faced tonight and then after school we're going to practice counter measures." He said firmly.

Mars looked a bit stunned at the announcement. "Uh Roy, is that really necessary? We won after all, those guys are going to jail. Why bother with studying them?"

"This isn't up for debate Mars. Something was off tonight, and we're going to be prepared if something comes of it. End of story. 6 AM tomorrow, meet here." Roy said and with that he walked out of the room without another word.

Mars surveyed the room, wondering if anyone understood exactly where that was coming from. He waited to see how people would react, he knew it was probably best to listen to Roy but he also didn't want to look like the nerd always listening to what Roy tells him to do.

[Galnius]

Mika, Her Room

Mika was beginning to find Jan incredibly...difficult. She was trying to help a friend here. What was the issue with that? Did he not just understand? Maybe if she explained it better...

"Jan, look, I'm not trying to hurt anyone here. Quite the opposite. Ash is being kind to me and only seems to want this one thing. Just to help her, success or not. And that's what I am going to do. I don't know the other person, and call me selfish or whatever, but I'm putting my friend first."

Mika took a deep breath, trying to express that she had no intention of changing her plans. On top of that, that her plans should be done.

"No matter who it is, and no matter what they are like, I can't think of anyone that deserves happiness more than Ash. She's sweet, innocent, and just a cheerful girl. She's a bit odd, but I mean..." Mika gestured to Jan's entire being. "Look at the other company I keep. Weird is my normal. And whoever this Kabuto guy is, I'm sure he's just as weird as the two of you. You know, in a good way. And they are both heroes. Heroes shouldn't date civilians, that's how you get hostages and death threats. Besides, if whatever relationship Kabuto has can't handle me of all people stepping in, they aren't going to make it."

Mika turned in her chair to reach for the stereo nearby, done with that particular conversation. "Oh, uh...what music do you like? You're the guest, I'll let you pick the tunes this time."

---

Mika, Losers Table

Astrid shooting Mika down had made Mika want to leave the table and find somewhere wise; initially. Soon, both Ash and the other girl, Ava, stepped in to support her idea. They were definitely picking up what Mika was putting down, even if Astrid wasn't. Maybe it was a french thing? Mika could respect that. Different cultures weren't alien invaders. Hell, they had those in Australia, and even they seemed friendly enough.

"C'mon Astrid, Halloween will be great. I'm sure I can get you a sexy costume to show off. I'm thinking a female Napoleon, or maybe a simple cat. You'd look good in anything if I can find enough black."

Turning to Ava, Mika started digging through her bag. "Yeah uh, hold on. I've got a picture in here somewhere...."

As she was rummaging through Mika had an idea. These were her friends, right? And friends were supposed to trust friends when they were good to them. It had been a while, so maybe she could let a few select people know....

Mika pulled out a picture with a black winged costume, but didn't stop there. Reaching towards it, she pulled on it slightly and began removing the dress itself from the picture.

"Pretty cool huh? I've got a black choker at home to go with it. Might get some extensions to make my hair a bit longer, to really finish off the look, but I'm not sure on that end.

---

Mika, Wonder Tower

Mika smiled as she had finally gotten Ash back on track.

"Alright Ash, let's g-again with the pulling oh god." Eventually the pair had reached Ash's room and Mika looked around. It was....a place. One issue was a lack of a tv, but Mika had sort of expected that much. "Alright, let's start with hand held games. First though, mood music. Do you have anywhere I can put this?"

Mika pulled a small bluetooth speaker out of her bag and began looking around. Someplace close, but with a nearby outlet for charging was her general aim. Eventually she found something that would fit. The outlet was currently taken by a lamp, but if Mika needed it she was sure Ash wouldn't mind.

"Uh...go through the games until you find one that interests you. There's uh...Love Plus, School Days, and a pirated version of Fruits Basket. They are all decent enough to keep you up at night. There's two DS's in there to put them in. Make sure to ask if you need help."

[Aidannadia]

Earlier in the week...

Aleta was still becoming familiar with the layout of the Tower, so it took her a bit to actually find the training hall. She roamed aimlessly through the halls, still taking in the relative grandeur of the facility. While she was accustomed to her Aunt’s gaudy home over the years, the stark white hallways and the large spacious rooms were something to behold. Eventually though, she did end up making her way to the training hall.

There, she saw someone familiar wrecking some of the equipment. He was about her height with bright red hair and a broad frame. It took a moment of thought to identify the individual, but soon she realized who it was. “Hey, Red! Or uh… I guess it’s Mask here.” She waved from across the room, then moved towards him as he stopped his training for a moment.

Covered in sweat, Red took a few moments to collect his breath before replying to Aleta. “No need to worry about that stuff around here, Aleta,” he said, reaching out towards the heavy bag he had been using and halting its swaying. Reaching down, he picked up his water bottle on the ground next to him and took several large gulps of its contents, letting out a small relieved sigh as the cool water rehydrated him. “I was about done here, if you were wanting the gym to yourself,” he offered, momentarily glancing at the large clock displayed in the corner of the gym to see that he’d lost track of time in his workout.

“Oh, you were heading out?” Aleta sat down next to him and crossed her legs. “I was actually hoping to catch you here.” Aleta pursed her lips and let her forward facing leg kick rather harmlessly. “See, I wanted your advice… I’m running into this issue.”

Aleta punched his fist into her palm, and pitch wrapped around it easily. “See, my fighting style relies on tanking hits and hitting back, over time taking down the opponent. Sure, I can do fancy stuff like tie them up...” She winked at him, but continued. “But when it comes to the really strong opponents, the ones that are stronger than the average man.” She couldn’t help but pause again, the implication being clear in her voice that she was talking about Red. “I can’t really keep them down with my bindings, and while my armor is really good at taking their hits, it slows me down, and I know for a fact I can still get concussions in this thing.” She explained in detail. “Not only that, but if they get a grip on my armor, a stronger opponent can rip them off because my pitch underneath is usually super thin; after all, in that case it’s a little more than adhesive to keep my armor on.”

“And I know you face opponents that are stronger all the time, I was wondering if you have any tips when I was against the wall with no armor.”

Red paused for a brief moment before eventually letting out a small sigh. “There’s a few things I can teach you, if you’re interested,” he replied, glancing over at the clock on the wall once more. I guess I can hold off on my patrols for a bit, he thought to himself as he shook his head. “Come on, let’s get to the mats,” he continued, motioning over towards the corner of the gym where the aforementioned cushioned mats were laid out on the ground.

“First, take your shoes off,” Red ordered as the two reached the mats, already in the process of taking his own off before stepping on. After Aleta met him in the center of one of the mats, Red let out a deep breath as he lowered himself into a fighting stance. He curiously eyed the stance of Aleta, taking only a moment to realize that her form was amatuer at best. Shaking his head, he suddenly dropped towards the floor, kicking out her legs from underneath her and sending her sprawling down to the floor in surprise.

“Your stance is way too narrow. When all your weight is centered in one small area, it won’t take much to send you toppling down,” Red said with a tone similar to a parent scolding their young child. “Not to mention, you’re too focused on where my hands are. There’s a lot more ways to attack someone than simply throwing a haymaker.”

Aleta grimaced, holding her tongue. Dammit. I couldn’t react in time. She got up, wiping off her workout clothes. She readied her stance once more, spreading her feet apart and locking her knees.

As he watched her get up, Red’s eyes narrowed for a brief moment, seeing that she seemed to take his advice to heart. It didn’t take him by much surprise, as pain was often the best teacher when it came to any combat training. “Good. Now, to add on to our previous lesson: Strikes aren’t your only weapons, either. Sweeps, throws, and feints all can open up an opponent to attack. Especially when you find yourself against a larger or stronger opponent, sometimes the best defence makes the best offense.” Pausing for a brief moment, he proceeded to gesture Aleta to come at him.

Aleta’s stance, her hands in front of her face, shifted slightly, with her hopping around looking for an opening. Red didn’t seem to move at all in response, which only pissed Aleta off even more. She finally got tired of waiting and pushed solidly towards his face.

Watching as the strike came whistling through the air towards him, Red gracefully ducked under the oncoming blow, sliding down briefly onto one knee as he grasped around her right leg. Tucking his head around her back, he pushed himself upwards, lifting the girl up in the air for a brief moment before she was slammed against the mats. Before the girl could recover, the forearm of Red snaked across her neck, latching on to his opposite arm as he placed her in a tight rear-naked choke.

“Even something as simple as a single-leg takedown can put you in an advantageous position. And once you’ve been given the opportunity, even if it's for a split-second, you take full advantage of what you’ve earned and punish your opponent. Any hesitation can mean the chance you gave yourself will be wasted.”

Retracting his arms and hopping off of her back, Red waited patiently for the girl to get back onto her own feet. Once she had gotten back into her stance, he gave her a small nod. “Use your opponent’s own momentum against them. Even if they’ve got all the strength in the world, if you can turn it against them, it won’t matter how physically weak you yourself are.” Rolling his shoulders briefly, Red’s gaze narrowed as he let out a deep breath. “Alright, now it's your turn.”

Pushing off of his back foot, Red directed a sharp hook towards the side of Aleta’s head. While it certainly held enough power to be dangerous if unstopped, he purposely slowed down his movement and gave enough movement prior to the punch to show where it was coming from, giving her the chance to react.

Aleta almost rolled her eyes when she saw what he was doing. She ducked under his punch, and launched herself similarly towards her opponent to Red’s move from earlier, and wrapped her arm around his neck. “Don’t hit me with that pussy shit again. Come at me.” She whipped at him before relenting her grip.

She stood again, taking her stance once more. Her arms were raised defensively, ready to extend with quick strikes. Red was about as strong as she was, but his frame was a bit bulkier. Maybe he’d be slower; dodging his strikes should be within the realm of possibility.

Taking a few steps, Red raised an eyebrow in an amused expression as he saw the defiance light up in Aleta’s eyes. She’s got spunk, I’ll give her that, he thought to himself before a small devilish grin appeared on his face. “Alright, if you’re really asking for it.”

Without hesitation, Red quickly moved in on the offense. While not quite at his most, he did little to hold back his attacks as he let loose several combinations of strikes against her. To the girls’ credit, she did well enough to hold her own, but as the tempo of their fight increased, it quickly became apparent of the skill gap that the two had as Red feigned a right jab towards her face. The oncoming fist caused Aleta to attempt to duck to the side on reflex, only to realize her mistake at the last moment as Red’s weight suddenly shifted before her. Before she could react, Red’s left leg suddenly sprang upwards and impacted into her exposed ribs, sending a shockwave that forced all of the air left in Aleta’s lungs to rush out in a large gasp as she curled over instinctively. However, Red’s offensive was not over yet, as he turned around to deliver a punishing elbow strike to the back of her neck, sending the girl sprawling face downwards towards the mat.

Laying in a stunned daze, Aleta was practically defenseless as Red straddled over her, turning her around so that she could see the raised fist ready to deliver a finishing blow above her. The girls’ eyes widened as she saw the strike come straight towards her face, only to close them in reflex as it appeared too late for her to react.

“What the f-”

Red’s surprised words were cut short as a massive black substance wrapped around his fist, completely immobilizing him in the process. He briefly attempted to rip free of it, but he found himself utterly stuck as the substance refused to budge. Almost as if in response to his attempt at freedom, the sludge suddenly whipped towards the side, sending him hurtling through the air and rolling across the mats.

“Jesus, I was gonna pull that punch you know…” Red said with a groan, the impact having taken the wind out of him briefly as he wobbled up onto his feet.

Aleta covered her mouth, chuckling slightly. “I’m sorry. It’s a uh… it’s like when you’re putting in contacts when someone punches me. I’m trying to keep my eyes open, but they just keep trying to close…” Aleta’s suit retracted. “Next time we can fight with your suit on. Even the tables a bit.”

Reaching back towards his right shoulder and rolling the appendage for a few moments, Red let out a small sigh. “No, I need the practice just as much as anyone else here,” he replied, a small amount of frustration present in his voice. However, as he got back into his fighting stance, Red couldn’t help but find himself enjoying himself, even if it meant he had just gotten tossed like a ragdoll. Sure brings back memories, Red thought to himself briefly before a small smirk appeared on his face as he mockingly gestured for Aleta to approach once more.

“Alright, let’s go again, shall we. Just try to keep your eyes open next time, okay?”

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Vendetta-Present Day

I gave a light hearted giggle as I watched Nile emerge from beneath the car and hit his head. But as he asked if I had spoken to Nick in the living room I gave a affirmative nod. Leaning against the wall I started to just speak my thoughts aloud, knowing the conversation was past due. "Nick...still thinks I should...get back in the game." I started off. My mind racing in a couple different directions. I had known for some time that something would have to be done about both Walt and Orion, but I had tried not to think about going back to work full time. "Well we both already agreed that we are gonna have to do something to make sure Walt or Orion doesn't come knocking here but Nick said some things which, well...he has a point. When I became Vendetta he never asked for me to drag his ass into a city wide war to destroy organized crime. And Sebastian is dead...it wasn't just me who lost in all of that. Do you think it's right just to live like none of that ever happened? The Young Bloods are more famous than ever now but Marionette is still out there and I try not to think about her because when I do I just want to smash windows. And there are others just like her, people who hurt others not for anything that makes fucking sense. Like money or revenge. But...just because they like the way it feels." I let out a sigh. The life me and Nile had managed to piece together was a wonderful dream. One that reality kept threatening to pull me awake from at any moment and drag my ass back into the real world.

But there was a deeper question than that resting in the back of my mind.

"Nile...do you think it's possible to be both Alexis and Vendetta?" For weeks now I told myself that choosing one would mean the end of the other. And so I have chosen to be Alexis Cain. But upon that decision Walt was still out there threatening to make Vendetta necessary. And admitting that Vendetta was necessary to eliminate him to protect what we have built here...maybe Vendetta is still necessary in San Diego?

"Babe...I used to be so pissed at what I saw around me. And the Young Bloods were only just getting started back then. I have only told you about growing up with my father. The way he...well, he made me realize that there are certain kinds of people in this world. Predators I guess...those who hunt, hurt and damage others. In a way he made me who I am. I'm just..." I started to choke up, I have never cried in front of Nile and I had no desire to now. But there was no retreating from this conversation.

"I'm afraid...I am terrified that if I become Vendetta again I will lose everything." And that was really all there was to it. I finally had so much that I never had before. A man who sees me as something other than a one night stand or a living nanite weapon. A actual family with friends. These are things I had longed for for so long as a kid but was always out of reach. And I am just afraid that honoring those that fell for me and what I had started in this city would mean losing all of this. For once I just want to be selfish.

[Absolon-7]

Wonder Tower Living Room

Icarus

Casimir Herman October 8th

---

It didn't look like Roy was in the mood to have fun with Icarus there but luckily Mars had come into the room with more then enough willingness to play even if he did seemed intimidated by Icarus. On the other side of the coin, Icarus was pretty open to Mars joining in Roy's place. Although it didn't seem like Icarus recognize him which made sense since Mars didn't look like a giant machine man.

"Yeah, another founder that you'll know as Rocket," answered Casimir before looking over at Mars, "Hey tell him bout the time you saved half the team from that self destructing robot. When those furry mercs were around."

Before long the Hero Rumble 6 game would start and it was chaotic as it could be with a four person free for all. However, Casimir had been using DLC characters he had bought last night and it had become apparent he had no clue on how to use them as in half the matches he kept dying to ring out due to a complicated combo. Frustrated he leaned over and intensely stared at the screen more determined than the last time to get the sequence right.

"I got it this time! I just know I do!" frantically said Casimir about to lose again, "I practiced half an hour on this in the morning!"

Mission Complete

Casimir and Viviana October 24th

---

Casimir and Viviana were sitting together on the couch watching the TV with a good portion of the team when Roy interjected the team's usual post mission celebration ordering them all to go to sleep for more training and some headache inducing stuff with analyzing the villains. Casimir rolled his eyes at the frantic behavior coming from Roy and had zero intention of following it. The robot Squad 1 faces was a complete pushover he destroyed in a single attack. And from what everyone else had said the rest didn't seem that impressive at all. Certainly not worthy foes for him to face in combat.

"What the hell's up with him? Those guys were complete chumps. All we needed was to send a squad or two after them. One if it was mine. Six in the morning training is complete overkill for those losers," blurted out Casimir as the first to speak up after Roy left, "I don't know about anyone else but I'm taking a rain check on that useless meeting."

Viviana twirled around a braid of hers thinking back to the two she fought. The Shock Troop dude ruined her hair but didn't do anything else and Buckshot lost her gun easily. If anything these seemed like some upstart hooligans who thought taking on the city's team would give them a lot of street cred. It sorta reminded her of how some other highschool's basketball team's would challenge hers back in the day for bragging rights in their own schools. Although this seemed a lot more extreme and dangerous so maybe it wasn't the best analogy.

"Well haven't we been skimping on training lately guys so maybe its not the worst," said Viviana nonchalantly before taking a deep breath, "Buuuut. Six. A. M. What is the man thinking? Who wakes up that early it? It might as well be the previous night. It's going to ruin our sleep cycles and won't ever get used to it and then we'll have medical emergencies cause of team wide insomnia. And we'll lose all our cred cause we look like tired sacks all the time....Okay maybe not all of that buy y'know. Seems a wee bit of an overreaction."

"I guess," muttered Casimir, "Guy can at least explain himself better."

[Aidannadia]

Bang! Alcyone slammed her fist onto the table with a force, the loud clang reverberating throughout the empty laboratory.

"We lost a limousine? Why wasn't I made aware of this sooner?" The Chaffeur's faceless stare would have been unnerving to anyone else, but Alcyone actually preferred it. "What's the point of your upgrades if you're going to fuck it all up with them?"

The Chaffeur paused, as if waiting for more of a tirade, and then spoke clearly with a metallic tinge to his voice. "The 'Kabuto' was more potent of an adversary than anticipated. It will not happen again." Alcyone began to laugh, the slightest bit unhinged. Her fingernails clicked against his headpiece, and then

"You're right it won't because we can't sustain a security leak like that again." Alcyone. "You've proven yourself incapable of handling your purview alone. We'll need some muscle. I believe there's a prison in the Alps that has a few 'willing participants.' We can send a limo their way and fold them into the Coven soon enough-." Alcyone stopped short at the end of her sentence, gripping her side in pain. The Chaffeur moved to stabilize her, and the pair made their way to a chair.

"Your condition continues to deteriorate." He said simply. She scratched at his face piece, not able to quite make a mark on the armor. It was similar to her niece's, but she lacked the amount of pitch to mass produce armor of that magnitude. It was more metallic, light and more workable, but not nearly as strong.

"Do you not think I'm aware?" Alcyone snapped, then her features softened and she sighed. "There isn't a cure; at least, doing so with crispr tech would have drastic side effects. I would likely become... stunted. Rudimentary. That can't happen; I am a Naftis. I was always destined to rule the feeble minded."

"There is the-"

"We agreed not to speak of the child." Alcyone cut him off. "She was abandoned as a prospect long ago. My final back up plan. If I were to lose her, my legacy would fade if I were to fail."

"Then your niece."

"Aleta is another prospect that I've been examining. The pseudo-organ is unique to her bodily structure; my body would repel it as if it was my poison in her blood. And we know how that works..." She slumped in her chair.

"Then we come back to the child." Alcyone began to raise her voice, but a segmented armored finger placed itself on her lips. "We cannot lose you. You are the entire plan. I... cannot lose you." The robotic mannequin looked in the best way it could towards his hands. "You make me whole." Somehow, even with his robotic voice box, the hollow sadness of the thought of failing, of losing his great leader, was conveyed perfectly. Without her, he had no purpose. He had not reason to live. He would gladly die for her without a moments hesitation.

Alcyone thought deeply, considering her two wrinkling, slightly bony hands. On one hand, it was unlikely she could manufacture another heir like she had all those years ago, especially with her body in the state it was now. On the other, the entire plan was for her to guide the ill-fated masses against the tide of self-destruction and moral deterioration. It was her duty to survive.

Even though the child was her last resort, she had no control over her development after she was gone. She curled slightly into the metallic arms of her minion, appreciated even his cold touch as tender as it was.

"Yes. Agape is necessary. It will take time to prepare though. We should cement our position in San Diego and continue to experiment with Aleta's physiology. I don't want to end up alive with no power, or dead with no heir." The Chaffeur released his grip, Alcyone perhaps lingering for a bit longer than was normal.

"We don't have forever."

[New Finnish Republic]

As their battle with the two flying villains concluded, Red rushed over towards Wyatt, only to be stopped in his tracks as the wounded Dra'Qunni let out a booming roar. Red's gaze lowered down towards where a rather large pool of blood was beginning to spill out on the ground below, its origin being that of the now ripped off tail of his squad's leader. Underneath his helmet, his eyes went wide as he reached back towards his emergency field care kit located on his back hip, grabbing ahold of the Israeli bandage he kept inside. Walking up towards Wyatt, Red was prepared to kneel down to begin to wrap it, but as he began to make his way towards where the wounded appendage was, the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up as a thought crossed his mind.

"Now Bael, I know the last thing you're going to want is for someone to touch...that, but we've got to stop the bleeding," Red said, a small amount of hesitancy in his voice as he slowly approached where Wyatt was with his hands clearly visible. "So you've got trust me here, alright?" Red waited for Wyatt's reaction as kept the bandage held firmly in his hands.

---

Afterwards...

As the team exited from the plane, Red took a large breath as he took his helmet off and allowed the others to walk past him towards the Tower. Running his fingers through his sweat covered hair, he briefly rolled his shoulders, grimacing slightly as his body still retained a good deal of soreness from his injuries the Gala. Idle conversation filled the air around him as the success of their mission seemed to have boosted the spirits of most of the team. While Red certainly felt content in knowing that the team had essentially defeated the group of villains without much in terms of losses, he didn't share the same level of excitement as the others did. Based on the rather sullen expression he had spotted on Roy's face on the flight there, it seemed Red wasn't the only one who shared the feeling.

Something's on Wonder Boy's mind, Red silently thought to himself with a small grimace as he watched the team's leader storm off in front of the others. For a brief moment, Red considered chasing after him, but as he began to take a step in his direction, Red found himself frozen in place as his gaze had wandered away from Roy and ended up catching the eyes of someone else.

As they did, a sensation similar to that of a gut punch filled Red as his eyes met Yoshiro's. Red's mouth opened to say something to Yoshiro, but before he could say anything, Yoshiro's eyes snapped away from his, causing the words he had been about to say to remain unspoken. Standing still for a moment, Red's mouth slowly closed as his expression hardened, a small puff of air escaping his lips while he turned away from where the rest of the team was walking.

Not like I wanted to talk to you anyways, Red thought to himself with a small amount of spite as he exited from the hanger, hearing the conversations from the team beginning to fade away as they made their way into the Tower. Although it had been brief, the gut-punch sensation he felt had discouraged him from following behind them, the excited chatter making him feel even more irritated as he wandered away from the outskirts of the hanger.

After some time, Red found the firm grass below him becoming replaced with soft sand as he made his way towards the open beach area of the island. He hadn't really had any sense of direction in his aimless wanderings, instead having been more focused on his own thoughts as his mind had wandered back towards his last conversation with Yoshiro some time ago. Did I do enough to change your mind yet? Red thought once more, this time with a much more somber attitude before eventually letting out a small frustrated groan as he stared up into the star-lit sky above him. "Of course not," he mumbled in response to his own thoughts, shaking his head as his gaze shifted from the sky above towards the stretch of beach around him.

Although dark, there was enough light from the moon above for Red to a shadowy figure sitting down on one of the scattered benches a few dozen yards away from him. Narrowing his gaze, Red was able to spot several trails of golden hair hanging down from the hood of the figure, causing Red to immediately recognize who it was. "What is she-" Red mumbled under his breath, before he suddenly recalled the sight of Alexis and Angelica briefly talking with one another in what seemed like far from a friendly conversation as they had exited the plane.

Looks like I'm not the only one who needed to catch some fresh air, Red thought grimly as he hesitated on what to do next. It didn't take long for him to connect the dots on what might be happening, and he knew that there was more than a fair chance that at the current moment the girl probably needed her space. Considering this, he was prepared to give her just that, when suddenly he noticed her gaze turn in his direction, undoubtedly being able to see him even in the dark environment.

Guess I can't just pretend I didn't see her now, Red thought to himself, a small string of curses being mumbled under his breath before he let out a small sigh and reluctantly walked over to where she was, giving her a meek wave as he approached. At the moment, the two had yet to say a word, even as Red hesitatingly sat next to where she was. For a small moment of time, Red had to imagine just how ridiculous the two must have looked as they were still in their hero outfits sitting on an otherwise empty moon-lit beach. Thank God there's no press around to see this, Red thought to himself half-jokingly before he decided to finally break the silence with another small sigh.

"Let me guess: Girl problems, right?" Red said, barely managing to give Angelica a meager grin as he tried to lighten the mood up on a topic that was going to be far from happy.