Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Galnius]

Training Day, Andrew

Andrew launched off two the right, traveling along the edge of the black rocky wall for a few yards then suddenly bursting through it, the debris creating a smokescreen of shale and sand. Andrew zig-zagged ever closer, inch by inch. He died himself not to look back. Impulse was trustworthy, she could do her part. If he checked to make sure, he would just be open to any of the water arms flicking out past him. Jackrabbit adjusted his goggles for a millisecond, seemingly knocked offkilter on one of his sharp turns. The attention seemed focused on him, and that was good. So far, the plan was working.

Then, in spite of himself, he looked towards where Zoe had placed herself. The arms going after her must have been double what Tidal was sending after Andrew, and the tide crept slowly forward, hoping to take advantage of Zoe's focus on the arms and the person behind the water. That wouldn't do.

Andrew suddenly shifted sideways. He reached down with one hand, turning sharply with one foot outstretched. A wall of shale flew forward, and the arms and tide attacking Impulse shrunk, taking a more defensive position as half the water came to block Andrew's sudden new technique. Alright, Zoe should have him-

Andrew realized too late that he had not been paying full attention when he was trying to help Zoe. A single strand of water had managed to find his leg, and suddenly, it quadrupled in size. Andrew had stopped, and his momentum and force was shot. "Oh, this is going to fucking su-"

Suddenly, Andrew was whipped around towards the ocean at high speed. He tried to keep himself in the air, but he was spinning too fast to track exactly what was happening. With a slight blorp, Andrew find himself completely encased in water, which formed a soft buffer and allowed him to a stop, before spitting him back into shore drenched from head to toe. He was out.

Zoe Foster - Impulse
Some Beach, San Diego
November 20th

Zoe raced out into the open after Andrew made his exit, and was momentarily stunned by the impossible wall of water between the two heroes and Tidal. How am I supposed to get past that? But there was no time to hesitate, as the water came crashing towards her without delay. Zoe dashed forward, the last place most would expect someone to run when faced with danger, as tendrils smashed into the ground in her wake. She dodged to the left, then the right, a smile creeping onto her face as her speed increased with every step. Zoe didn't notice the water sneaking up towards her feet, but Andrew made that problem apparent on his own.

She snapped back to reality as Andrew hurled a mass of stone towards Tidal, forcing the aquatic hero to react and withdraw to defend. Zoe looked over to Andrew, amazed, before she watched his leg get pulled out from underneath him like he had slipped on a freshly mopped floor. She had to suppress a laugh at the suddenness of his defeat, but the way he was pulled under the water and knocked out of the fight was less entertaining. Zoe turned her attention back towards Tidal, as the waves reconvened to try and catch her again.

Before the tide could reach her feet, Zoe planted one food solidly into the sand and focused everything right there. A second passed, the sand shifting around Zoe as the water came closing in, but in an instant she wasn't there. She shot forward like a human missile aimed directly at Tidal, and for a moment it looked as if she would make it. That was until water came rushing up from underneath her, and Zoe had a split second of realization, "Oh shi-!" before the artificial geyser blasted her straight up into the air. Thankfully, Tidal wasn't so brutal as to leave her to crash into the bay below, and caught Zoe in a water slide of sorts, sending her back to shore beside Andrew.

Zoe sat up and knocked water out of her ears, then looked over to Andrew. "Sorry, I thought I could beat his speed if I just threw it all at him... Shoulda figured that it wouldn't be that easy!" Despite just having their butts handed to them, figuratively and literally, Zoe still wore something of a smile on her face. It felt like it had been so long since team training with the Bluejays back home that getting outside and giving it everything she's got (without the danger of civilians getting hurt) was nothing short of refreshing.

Andrew sputtered and wiped his wet hair off his face. Still, even on his hands and knees coughing up seawater, he tried to maintain some air of confidence.

"To be completely honest, I didn't know he could do half of that. He's a rescue hero, I don't even think he's fought a villain. "

" Well, not a villain, but there was a kraken off the Washington coast two years back. " Tidal approached the duo and moved the water that was clinging to them, drying them out as much as was safe and bringing the salt with it. "I mostly learned this to train upstarts like you two. You ready to go another round, or do you want to skip to lunch? I made some mean ham sandwiches."

Andrew rose quickly to his feet and did a quick one over of Zoe and himself.

"Nothing life threatening. I say we give another crack at it. I think I have a few ideas...."

"Oh, take your time. Talk. Please. As fun as dragging you around is the point of this is strategy."

---

Bank Heist- Andrew

One thing Andrew always found irritating about fighting as a team was traveling as a team. To him, travelling in the jet was like moving around in a giant target with explosives attached to the sides of it. He wasn't afraid of flying. He basically flew on his own, with mobility better than some actually flyers he knew. what he was afraid of was exploding. However, he had sworn to work as much with the team as possible this go around. That meant using the screaming metal death trap.

Needless to say he felt a hundred times better once he got off the jet with the others and met up with Red Princess and the cops on duty. Any leftover stiffness from that awkward hell could be worked through on the criminals. He wanted to dive right in, maybe through the roof, but one thing he had learned so far was why it was stupid to be so reckless. Instead, he watched the short clip with everyone else. Patience was his virtue for one, allowing others to discuss what they saw. Then, suddenly, the front door exploded in a fury of hounds, golems, and one big ass man.

"Phoenix, we've got injured here! I'll cover you!" Angelica rushed out to help any injured cops as Andrew made a point to block as many incoming bullets as he could and deter the hounds, jumping just out of their reach in an attempt to distract them.

"What's the plan, Princess? I can distract all of these on my own, but I can't do that and fight and I don't know how long I can keep their interest. Should I go for the golem instead or do you want me to try to put the pups down?"

---

Aislinn McHarris, November 25th. Team Meeting

November 23rd

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Alexis couldn't help smiling brightly as Wyatt approached and spoke up, echoing the sentiments that Kiris, Naja and others had expressed before in more private conversations. The support and understanding that the big guy offered her was no less appreciated, of course, and as the Dra'Qunni finished his brief, yet heartfelt speech, the blonde girl walked up to him and gave him as much of a hug as she could give someone so much larger than her.

"Thanks Wyatt, I appreciate it." She said sincerely before pulling away.

There didn't seem to be any more Young Bloods eager to voice their opinion on the topic, so after a moment, Naja cleared her throat.

"Before we move on to other things, I believe you had another announcement to make, Alexis?" The snake woman said.

"Oh, yeah! Well, this one's more about my role on the team. I've given it some thought and I think I'm going to stay away from the frontlines for a while. There's just so much to do between maintenance, intel gathering and new projects that I think the team would benefit more if I supported you guys from behind the scenes instead. Besides... I'm not sure I want to jump back into the fray right away after the mall incident." She admitted, rubbing her neck awkwardly. It wasn't the most heroic thing, to state that she preferred to move to desk work because of a death scare, but her hope was that a pair of eyes and ears on the outside would help prevent another situation like that from arising.

"So yeah, I can talk more about the stuff I've got planned later, but that's the gist of it. So... Thanks for hearing me out, guys." The blonde girl said before excusing herself from the front of the room and moving to sit next to her best friend, who wasted no time in trying to cheer her up.

Satisfied with how things had gone, Naja took over the meeting once again. "Well, with that taken care of, there's just another point to discuss today, and that would be related to our two guests here." The reptile woman gestured at Douglas and Aislinn, who had remained respectfully silent during Alexis' part of the meeting. "Some of you may remember Douglas Caldwell, AKA Black Arrow, from the time he offered his assistance in ending Warwolf's operations in San Diego. He's offered to help myself, Cora and Katie with various odds and ends and is also available to help in training if needed." She explained, gesturing to the dark haired man who gave the teenagers assembled there a little wave. He didn't feel the need to say more than what Naja had done, and the team's caretaker, understanding the situation, quickly continued on, gesturing at the redhead instead.

"And this is Aislinn McHarris, she's an Irish businesswoman whose PR team has been working with us recently. I'll let her give you more details."

---

.

The first part of the meeting had surprised Aislinn initially, revealing that Makeshift was A. a very very small girl and B. not really a girl at all, or even human. Still, the surprise only flashed across her face momentarily. In her world, giving too much of a reaction could have dire consequences, and honestly this wasn't the most outlandish thing she had been witness to this year alone.

Eventually the time came for Naja to introduce the heiress, and Aislinn gave a small curtsey in response. "Thank you Naja for the warm welcome. I don't want to keep you all here for too much longer, as I'm sure you are all waiting to return to whatever recreation it is you all do."

Aislinn's excitement to finally meet the team and introduce herself in person seemed to keep itself a secret, underneath her eyes. However, that did not last long, as her hands started to shake and a smile crept up on her as she surveyed the group.

" Wow, you are all rather charming aren't ye. As she said, I'm Aislinn McHarris. Technically, I'm just here for PR. However, I would truly love it if I could get te know a few of you better. I have already formally met Mask over the break, and I hope I can do that with more of you. Sorry, I'm a little excited. I've been waitin' so long for this. "

Aislinn reached into her pearl colored hand bag and pulled out a smaller, amethyst bag seemingly made of silk, which she placed on the nearest table and opened it to reveal hard candies of various kinds. She took a lemon drop for herself and left it, still quite happy with her speech.

"Well, anyway, if any of you wish to talk, or need help writing a speech or preparing for an interview or are having an issue with the press or any other type of unsavory person, I'm but a phone call away. Well, um, feel free to the candy. I'll just sit here. Thank you. Yes. "

Aislinn went back to her seat next to Douglas, beaming and brimming with restlessness. She did all that she could to not force herself into conversations with the teens of which many still kept their identities and true selves from the world. Trust had to be earned, and she would do what she could to earn it. She just wished it didn't take so long.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

December 1st

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Sitting on the small beach on the shore of the lake, Icarus was content to observe as the Young Bloods gathered to have fun in the lake. Some of them, like Mars and Andrew, jumped straight in, with the former even deploying some sort of contraption to make dives more exciting - a part of him was tempted to try out the water trampoline, but he opted to stay put for the time being. Some of the other teenagers stayed on the slope overlooking the lake, while it seemed a few others had forgone visiting the lake altogether. In the distance, he could see the same boy who had interrupted his dance in the gala fishing and conversing with the blonde girl that had turned out to be a formidable Hero Rumble 6 opponent in a previous chance encounter.

Finally, on the beach not far from him, a blonde girl that looked vaguely familiar tried and failed to brave the waters, stumbling back as the waves from someone's jump crashed against her. Concerned, the young hero began getting up, but the girl was quick to assure everyone that she was fine.

If she says so... He thought, letting out a brief sigh as he relaxed and settled back down on the sandy ground. Only a moment later, the same girl brought up stone skipping as a possibility. Thinking it might be fun and figuring that he wasn't doing anything else at the moment anyways, he decided to join in.

"Sure, that sounds fun." The blond boy said casually before jumping to his feet. Immediately, a grimace appeared on his face and he quickly lifted his right foot off the ground. "Ow. I think I found one already..." He commented as he pried a small round stone off his bare foot and observed it. It's not quite as round as the ones I remember using but... it should work. He thought to himself, before getting to work on finding a few more.

"What's your name, by the way? I don't think we've met before. I'm Icarus." He told the girl.

---

December 21st

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"On it!" Kirisvala shouted as she heard Shi's call to action, immediately kicking into gear. However, while her teammates appeared to be all too eager to jump into combat against the bank robbers, for her the first order of business was to support and help minimize the losses of the police officers who were out there risking their lives. Running over to the police blockade that was getting torn apart by a hail of bullets from the Giant's heavy gun, the alien heroine grabbed one of the spellbound crystals shards she had prepared and smashed it into the ground, releasing the magic contained within. At that instant, a wall of white crystal rose from the ground, thick enough to stop the bullets that were tearing apart police cruisers and wide enough to protect the officers scrambling to find cover amidst the chaos. Hopefully, this would help save some lives, but Kiris knew that her job was far from over.

Spotting Angelica nearby doing her best to help downed officers, the Hadrian girl had an idea. "If anyone near you is hurt, bring 'em here! Phoenix can tend to their injuries!" She shouted out at the men in uniform. It would be easier to protect and tend to the wounded if they were all in the same area.

Before she could say anything more, the pink-haired heroine was ambushed by a hellhound that had run around the barrier, approaching her from behind. She was able to hear it and turn around just in time to see it leaping towards her, but not in time to react, finding herself pushed to the ground by the sudden attack. The creature seemed intent on taking a bite from her exposed flesh, but Kiris managed to grab it by the snout to hold it back, then placed her other claw on its lower jaw before dislocating it with one swift pull. With a mighty effort, she then tossed the fiend towards the crystal wall with enough force that it couldn't get back up, at least for a moment. Wit that done, the heroine quickly scrambled to her feet.

"Makeshift, you've fought these things before right? Anythin' you can tell me about 'em?" Kirisvala inquired through the team comms.

"Bulletproof hide, unharmed by fire, and very agile. Their flames can be a threat, but I don't think you need to worry about that." Alexis promptly replied to her teammate. As Kiris listened, another hellhound showed up, but a shock dart fired from a nearby robot fairy left it stunned and unable to attack.

"Electricity seems to work pretty well against them. Red Princess, I imagine you could take advantage of that." The blonde girl added afterwards.

"That's good to know!" Kiris said as she approached the shocked fiend and grabbed it by the head, slamming it into the floor twice for good measure, which seemed to be enough to incapacitate it. If their hide could block bullets, then she wasn't certain she'd be able to get through it with her claws, but blunt trauma appeared to do the trick just fine.

Looking around, the heroine was pleased to see that several policemen were moving into the cover offered by the crystal wall, setting up a perimeter as best as they could to protect their wounded. However, there were still some officers in need of help. One such officer was a man who had been knocked prone behind a cruiser by one of the hellhounds, who was currently sinking its fangs into his leg. Kiris ran over and pounced on the unsuspecting creature, dragging it away from the man and then grabbing it by its spiny tail, which she used to hurl it away. With the threat gone, she turned to the officer.

"You're going to be fine, mister." She assured him as she carefully picked him up, making sure to disturb his injured leg as little as possible.

"Thank you... Crystal Heart..." The man said between heavy breaths. With a smile and a nod, she carried him over to the crystal barricade.

"Phoenix! I've got another one here!"

[North America Inc]

Virgil Armani

Lucilla 'Lucy' Giannini
November 28th
Getty Center

As her brother took care of business, Lucy waited patiently outside the Getty proper at a sight called the Grading Gardens. She sat there with a stoic yet dignified pose, fashioning an image in her head of how proper she looked. She had been there for quite some time, proud that she wasn’t pacing back and forth impatiently or made some scene. Virgil had repeatedly told her she needed to work on that. Leaning against the railing of the viewing deck, she stood about twenty or so feet over the serene and tranquil garden. She rested her head onto her arm, and by extension the rail, appreciating the melody of it all. The soft cries of the waterfall, the songs of the birds, the whistle of the wind; she could close her eyes and feel at home.

Not that she didn’t enjoy California, this last month and half in this chaotic cacophony that was the outside world had been equal parts thrilling and horrifying. Avalon had the usual dredge of tutors, dream simulations, and technical visitations, yet here in America no day had been the same.

The sound of passersby snapped her out of the lull, turning her sights to the crowd. Some were seated in benches, others jogged along in set paths. She stared at the crowd of at least a dozen, each homely in their own right. She felt awful thinking like that but the more time she spent in America, the more this facet stood out to her. Most of the workers back on the island had not been so ‘stout’ as the crow here, while the Simulacrum went without saying. A major culture shock on her part. It was a definite surprise when she found out ‘how much’ there was to the average American. ‘It's there choice. But its still too bad, and a little careless. They’ll keeping getting old, maybe a bit bigger too. Do Americans care about their ideal self? That might be it, maybe they never studied that. Or do they push it off to the side, maybe it’s better not to think about it. After a while it could only be depressing.’ Most of what she thought about had been told to her in one form or another, how important it was to self-actualize before she got old. Of course, she would never get old so now that she thought about it, she wondered why they placed such an urgent timeframe on it.

The tutors would usually paraphrase this with some philosophy, much more nuanced then what she was making it out to be. The name of it slipped by her. Ugh. She groaned and pouted, hugging the bars as she swung on them annoyed. She didn't really forget, how could she. It was the Forms. She was more disappointed that she let her mind slip back into her studies, she had given them so many years of her life and they're still taking more of it. Still, she hated to admit it but it was applicable. ‘Why do people not care about being their ideal form? Too hard, maybe? Still though, can they even be happy living like that. The tutors would probably say no. Can they even be happy like me?’ She paused herself there, now fixated on that.

‘Well I am happier now than I was before. But why back then when that was all I thought about, why did I feel so sad? I know it’s because I wasn’t doing much and I was bored out of my mind.' She liked the sound of that, outwardly nodding along. 'So that’s it then, the best Lucilla needed to kick Nazi butt on a train. But wait, the end result is supposed to be obvious right? Like you don’t need to see a perfect circle to know a perfect circle. So wouldn’t, wouldn’t I already know I was supposed to kick butt on the train. You don’t find out that there's some necessary angle in a perfect circle. It just is. It's self evident.' She was shaking her head now. ' Am I even doing this philosophy right? Am I being pedantic? Why am I thinking so much about myself when I just wanted to know why Americans are so fat!’ She loudly sighed, sliding down to her knees. Her hands still clung to the rail.

The wind picked up some more, her arms and waist quivering as the cool breeze brushed against them. It was a bright sunny day with only a few sporadic clouds. That, however, didn’t mean it wasn’t still autumn. A black strapless bustier and a pink colored beach skirt wrap maybe weren't the best combo for today; but what could she do? She had an aesthetic to maintain. ‘And no I’m not trying too hard.’ She stuck her lower lip out and wagged her head back and forth imitating her sister's voice mockingly. “Stop trying to make your tummy work. It’s not going to work.” Bleh. “I’m Xi I work out thirty hours a day. What’s your excuse?” Bleh. “Oh you got bloated that one time because it was that time. Sucks to be you. I’m going to point that out to everyone.” Lucy ends her tirade by sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes.

“Well this has been fun.” She said aloud. ‘Well actually the more apt word would be cathartic.’ That got another eye roll out of her. She got back up and sat on top of the rail, facing the other visitors. She slid up her wrist watch, “Well Virgil has been in there a while so I’m sure it’s not going to be…Ah!” She bit her tongue, choking on her own words, “It’s only been fifteen minutes!”

---

Five Minutes Later

With her knees over the rail, she was now hanging vertically upside down over the edge. Below her head was a twenty foot drop, but that wasn’t important to her. What was important was to see if could lick her elbow at the same time. “Come on. Come on.” She lowered the elbow further and raised her outstretched tongue, the side of her arm already wet from the other passed attempts. “I’m...almost...there…”

A sudden tap on her shins followed by three security guards pulling her back up ended her fun.

“I’m sorry.” She must have repeated at least fifty times.

“If you do that again, you’ll be asked to leave. You could have died.” The female guard must have said at least fifty times.

---

Ten Minutes Later

She was back on this side of the rail. Laying across the whole of a bench as if it was a bed, her new game was throwing a stick up and down. ‘I wonder if Hadrians can hang off of their tail? Like a monkey.’ She caught the stick with her right and threw it with her left. ‘Well it's a scaly tail but they are mammals. Right? I mean they do have hair, they make milk, and I don’t think they lay eggs. Or... do they?’ Goosebumps ran through her whole back as that image traumatized her. ‘Eww. There’s no way. Like it has to be for swinging, what else do they use it for? Balance? It’s pretty long so that would make sense. Wait. If a Hadrian is born without a tail do they have to crawl on their hands for their entire lives? But they are pretty advanced so maybe they would give them a prosthetic tail. To help them. She had gone through several different throws at this point. ‘But I do remember from anthro class that hunter societies tend to leave the disformed babies to die. Oh jeez, is that you never see a disformed Hadrian? Not even one with glasses. They couldn’t, right? They would. Those poor babies.' Her eyes actually began to water. While she wiped her tears, she lost sight of the stick. Which immediately smacked against her forehead and gave her an actual reason to cry. She didn't want to think about Hadrian tails anymore.

---

Fifteen Minutes Later

Back to leaning against the railing now that everyone who saw her hang had left, she went back to enjoying the hedges. The hedges had been trimmed in a circular matter around each other, forming three distinct circles intersecting. Despite it being autumn there wasn’t much in the way of amber leaves, pretty green though there was a notable lack of blooming flowers. Which was a little disappointing for Lucy, she always enjoyed smelling them. She looked away, twiddling with her thumbs as her patience had reached its limit. ‘Like how long does it take to do this. Aren’t you just supposed to walk towards each other and they’ll hand you the briefcase as you cross. Like it should take five minutes, at most. I should go in there and see...Oh hold on.’

Right to her side, not too far from the railing was a bush with one fully blooming rose resting on top. Due to the stepped slope of the location, she could literally walk to her right by about six steps and be relatively level with it. She just stared it, the vibrant colors calling out to her. She wanted it. She looked to her left and then to her right. Now she knew she shouldn’t mess with the garden but she was deathly bored by this point and it go great with her hair and outfit. She knelt down, outstretching her arms as far as she could to grab it. She waggled her fingers closer but to no avail, it had to be three inches too far. She looked back to the crowd, some were definitely staring. The middle aged moms had just caught sight of her, while she was sure those middle aged dads had always staring except their heads would dart somewhere else if she stared back. She couldn't imagine why. Regardless, she needed a new strategy.

And just like that she was back to standing against the rail, a newly plucked rose in her hair. Two seconds lost to the outside world. The train had helped her resolve in more ways than one, helping her down the path. She was pushed to the brink and it was then she learned what else she could do. She didn’t understand all of the complexities of it, but she was very much eager to learn; hopefully with V’s guidance she would. ‘Speaking of which.’

Virgil had walked out of the building, a computer satchel across his shoulders. He motioned towards her and she came running toward him. Buttoning up his jacket as the wind picked up, he began to walk to the Lambo as she arrived. “We have to stop by somewhere before lunch.”

"No problem."

He looked down at her, “So what did you do while you waited?”

“Oh nothing.” Her hand brushed against the rose, “Just hung around.”

[The Republic of Atria]

Who Dares Wins, Part 7

Moloch recoiled back from the assault, his vision obscured from Behemoth using his eye sockets to maintain his grip. He snarled and slammed Behemoth into the attacking Dragoness, knocking her aside.

Set dug his large spear-arm into Moloch's side, and pulled it out, only to see that it had been melted about halfway. Moloch flung his head to the side, slamming Behemoth into Set and causing the giant man to lose his grip. Set toppled with Behemoth falling on him of him. "All of you are weak. You fail to see the bigger picture! But I am nothing if not a stern teacher. You will all learn. It will hurt, but in the end you'll understand." He spoke, lifting the top half of his body like a snake poised to strike.

Typhon, her many armed pet, and Unkindness scattered to put distance between themselves and Moloch. He turned his attention to them only to feel pain like he'd been jabbed, and glanced down to see Intrepid sticking him with his glowing weapon, arcing with electricity. Moloch slammed himself down, causing the little knight looking man to jump away and narrowly avoid being crushed. Since he was the closest, Moloch kept his attention on him. "I don't understand. Why defend these people? Especially these WarWolf idiots. The world would be such a nicer place without them."

Yeah, he's too far gone to convince him to stop. Intrepid thought. "Cause you're being a worse shithead." He replied, shifting his weapon into a shield that he held with both hands, but was backing away.

Fuse is lining up a shot, just keep him there a for another few seconds! Came the words on his eyepiece from Witness.

"Oh? How many innocent people have they locked away and killed without trial?"

"I imagine it's a similar number to you." He replied.

"If they're not going to play fair, no reason I should." As he spoke, there was an audible series of *thunks*, three of them. A fraction of a second later, several impacts were visible on the side of Moloch's body, followed by the sound of boiling and sizzling metal. There was one explosion that seemed to freeze a chunk of his side and stagger him with what looked to be some sort of ice crystals that didn't seem to be melting jutting out of Moloch's side.

Good news, bad news. Bad news is that Moloch's liquid fire is just soft enough not to immediately detonate Fuse's bombs, and melts them fast enough that they might just not go off at all. Good news is that the one that did seemed to hurt him. Watch him, he's going to go after Fuse.

Almost immediately after the words vanished, Moloch roared and threw himself into the woods outside of the base. Intrepid looked around. Set was growing larger and Behemoth standing back up. Unkindness was staying with Typhon, and her pet was rapidly taking apart a few humvees for whatever reason.

Behemoth was heading towards him and Dragoness took to the air above the trees, her winds glowing a bright white rather than doing any sort of flapping. Intrepid rushed in after him.

The large crystal jutting out of Moloch's side was ripped out, dripping with Moloch's glowing lava that dissolved even the dirt.

Fuse grimaced as Moloch smashed and burned through the woods far faster than he could run. He loaded another grenade, the one specifically meant to kill Moloch and readied it just as the monster approached. He hesitated in firing because of the trees being just dense enough that he didn't have a clear shot at his head. "Come you asshole! I'm right here!" He called out to antagonize him. "Right over here, I've got a present for you..." He said, aiming down the sights of his grenade launcher.

Moloch stopped suddenly, coiling up and thrusting himself above the treeline. Fuse kept track due the brightness and his eyes widened as he realized Moloch was going to land right on top of him. He grabbed his bag of bombs and moved as fast as the dense woods allowed. Moloch dropped like a stone, not slowed in the slightest by any of the trees of branches as they were incinerated about as fast as he fell. When he hit the ground, the shockwave was enough to trip Fuse up enough that he fell over. He grabbed his bag of bombs and threw the whole thing at him.

Moloch opened his mouth, letting out a jet of the white lava that incinerated all of them. "There goes your bag of tricks, idiot."

"Not the important one." Fuse replied taking aim with his weapon and fired just as Behemoth crashed down from above the trees and knocked Moloch off balance. The grenade flew by both of them into the tree line behind them. "Fuck! FUCK! You fucking IDIOT!"

"I just saved your life!" Behemoth growled as he tumbled off of Moloch's head and hit the ground with a thud. Moloch was quicker to respond, using his massive jaw to grab Behemoth by his legs and slam him around like a dog would a chew toy and heaved him into the sky with incredible power and distance.

Dragoness swooped in, her wings detaching and forming a large green ring that clamped down just behind Moloch's skull. He was forcibly shoved into the into the ground and held there as the rest of his body bend to try to lift his head. The green ring continued to shrink as she landed with a heavy impact. "That ring will not stop shrinking until it removes your head." She said in her matter-of-fact tone and walked around so that she could see his head, but at the same time be out of the range of his lava breath.

Her ring shrunk and eventually broke through the outer layer of his body, when she began to receive warnings that the ring was damaged and suddenly, Moloch flung himself backwards, aiming his head at her and spraying a stream of the lava at her. Her armor did a decent job at withstanding it, but was still being melted away. She put her hands up trying to block it, but they were quickly beginning to melt.

Intrepid was nearly there, sprinting as fast as he could, using the trail created by Moloch. He jumped, shifting his weapon into a spear and thrust it at him. Moloch thrust his head to the side, into Intrepid's weapon and knock him away. "You see?" He said. "You are all weak, but you are all still so much better than any of the humans could ever be."

Intrepid crashed into a tree, and fell to his feet and leaned back against the same tree. "I-uugh-Yeah. With a little hard work and elbow grease, we too could become mass murdering pieces of shit just like you." He muttered.

"I wouldn't worry about that. You'll die with your egos and reputation intact." As he spoke, a massive metal figure body checked him. Set had caught up and was much larger, easily Moloch's size, maybe larger.

"I've wanted to do that since the day I met you." Set said, his voice took an echoy effect as he spoke. "God damn, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't satisfying!" He shouted, his massive right metal fist striking Moloch in the jaw. His left hand grabbed his right as it was above him, more of the metal strips coiled around them, making a spike ball that he brought down onto Moloch's head with enough force that there was a visible crack in his skull.

"The feeling's mutual." Moloch hissed as he backed away. Set swung again, but Moloch twisted his body such that he missed the strike. Moloch lunged at one of Set's legs, biting it and tearing it off. The massive metal man lost his balance and fell over, getting caught and twisted in the trees and vines. Moloch pressed the attack, slithering on his body and tearing at the metal that composed the form. "All this effort to kill me, and you failed. This is why I took charge! When I'm done with you, I'm going to make sure the other two die slowly."

Set rolled over, throwing Moloch off, his body growing more and more of the metal strips to repair the massive gashes from Moloch's bites and body. "Fuck... you!" He said, his body starting to collapse under it's own weight. The bitten off leg had regrown to look like a spike, but he was still falling apart. Which Moloch took advantage of and attacked the other leg, tearing through it with frightening ease.

Get Moloch back to the path he made. Typhon's got a thing. Witness ordered.

Intrepid grunted and nodded a bit. He took in a deep breath and bolted at Moloch, switching his weapon to a large, two handed hammer. He jumped and landed on Moloch's head, slamming it into him once, twice, three times before Moloch smashed his head into a tree to get him off. Intrepid didn't fight and landed a fair bit away, a bit closer to the base. "If you want to die first, by all means."

"Come and get me asshole." He taunted and ran back towards the base as fast as he could. Moloch tore off after him. Intrepid had a head start, but Moloch was faster. Intrepid leaped as hard as he could, and Moloch lunged after him. Intrepid twisted mid-air ending his weapon as long as it could go, and Moloch struck it, launching him further. He quickly reoriented as he began to fall, and hit the ground harder, but tucked into a roll, grateful that his armor negated the worst of the fall. If he was hurt, he couldn't tell through the adrenalin and sprinted at the base with speed he didn't know he had, and was never so excited to see the cold and lifeless concrete and steel buildings.

He jumped left as he heard Moloch approaching, and skidded across the ground a bit as Moloch narrowly missed him. "Prolonging this will only make it hurt more."

"Yeah. If you wanna surrender now to spare yourself that, I'd recommend it."

Moloch's reply was a dark chuckle. "A funny man. Cracking wise until the end. I always found that 'funny' guys like you always tended to hurt. What's your story? Abuse? Neglect? Girl trouble?"

Intrepid felt his grip on his weapon tighten. "Pretty much. Hit me like a laser hit a fuck stick." He said as the twisted machine created by Typhon's pet rolled around the corner of one of the hangers a good several hundred feet away.

There was a brief moment of confusion as Moloch looked around and a blindingly bright blue laser fired from the cobbled together machine straight into Moloch with such power that he was forced back. Intrepid bolted towards them as Moloch struggled to get out of the way of the laser as it tore into his body.

"Will that kill him?" Intrepid sputtered as he came to a rough stop, catching his breath from running so fast. Suddenly, he was glad for all the running Larry made him do.

"No." Typhon said. She looked at her pet, who was using it's many arms to both hold parts of the weapon together and operate it. "He's been struck with worse. This will buy us precious seconds. Does your weapon hurt him?"

"A bit. If I had a few minutes where I could just smack on him, I might be able to do something."

"We don't have that long, obviously." she said, the laser now beginning to flicker out. "I think we have one more idea, but you're going to have to do it. You need to get Unkindness very close to him, and keep her protected until she can use her ability."

Intrepid looked at the large bird-woman who nodded in confirmation. "Alright. Yeah. Great." He said, finally starting to catch his breath as the laser finally stopped. The barrel immediately fell off into a pile of melted metal and as soon as it did, several other chunks fell apart and Typhon dismissed her pet, which looked like it shriveled up and vanished. "That's... Wow."

"I'll try to help you." She said and backed off from the group. Her eyes and hair began to glow bright white as she began to construct another pet.

Intrepid looked at Unkindness. "You're absolutely certain that if you can get to his head for a few seconds, you can kill him?"

Unkindness responded with a very clear nod.

Intrepid sighed and pulled up his weapon shifting it to a shield large enough to protect his entire front. "Alright. Let's fucking do this." He said, getting in front of her as Moloch shook off the effects of the laser and charged at them. However, as he got closer, he slowed and kept his distance.

"Don't think I don't know what she can do." Moloch growled, circling around them like a hungry wolf, but not committing to an attack. Intrepid kept his shield pointed at him as he circled around until he got to the giant pile of military vehicles and various other parts. He spewed out a bit of his lava, just enough to ensure that it was mere pile of slag that couldn't be remade into anything, and as a threat to the pair. "Typhon ran away. Probably to make a new pet that she'll throw at me. I wonder if she'll be able to make a new pet in the time to save you?" He said, his body expanded a bit and Intrepid expanded his shield so that it encompassed both of them in a dome.

Moloch let out a spray of the lava far more intense from what he used against everyone else. It was almost like a laser or a water jet. Intrepid grit his teeth as he felt another charge built up already, he pushed it into the weapon without thinking, giving it just the littlest bit more power. It held strong. Moloch stopped presumably to check and saw the lava had melted everything around them, but failed to pierce the shield. The lava had melted through the cement of the ground a few feet and dissolved as it cooled. His facial expression began to change, despite the heavy lack of features to display emotion, he looked frustrated and angry. "Just fucking die already! Why do you have to make this so difficult?! It's going to end the same way no matter what!" He shouted with uncharacteristic fury.

Typhon's got a pet that messes with emotions. She's fucking with his head. Get him mad.

Making people angry and frustrated was something he was born to do. "Losing your cool already? Come on." He said and dropped the shield. "It's just the two of us. What's your plan anyways? You kill us all, and then you're on your own. Set has all the connections. Without him you're just an overpowered worm flailing about and attacking people who can't fight back."

"Fuck you!" Moloch snarled and got closer, albeit hesitantly.

"You know what that makes you? A coward. That's all you are, and that's all you ever be. Afraid to fight anyone your own strength because you'll lose."

"I've beat all of you!"

"We're still here fuckstick! We're still fighting! You haven't killed anyone because you have the attention span of a braindead gnat! You think you're so much better than everyone because you've got powers. You want to know something? You're not. Because you gave into every little psychotic urge! You've never been told no. Mommy and daddy must've been cowards, because they sure as shit raised one. Fuckin' wannbe loser."

Moloch remained silent and still.

"You aren't good enough to be a hero. Not smart enough to be a villain. Man. No wonder you latched onto this, the easiest possible route: Attacking unpowered people. I feel bad for you. You're not going to accomplish anything. The instant you die, you'll be forgotten within a week. No one will care. Just some edgy jackass who picked an edgy name and got shit on as a result. That happens at least twice a week."

Moloch lashed out, slamming his head down at Intrepid, who raised the large shield once again. Unkindness got close to him, careful with her blades as Moloch slammed into the shield haphazardly, bouncing off, and letting out a noise that was a mixture of fury and sobbing as he just threw himself at the barrier in desperation to make the source of his mental agony stop.

"Unkindness." Intrepid said in a hushed tone. "I've got an idea, can you escape for just a second? He's really going to try to kill me. I'm going to drop the shield and jump. Can you follow me into the air?"

She nodded.

"Great. Stay close, I need you to be in the shield." He said as Moloch continued making the unholy racket while bashing everything he could against his shield. He sucked in a deep breath of air, dropped the shield as Moloch reared back to smash his head into the barrier once again, and leaped into the air with every bit of strength he had.

Unkindness flickered out of existence, leaving behind a tiny dark navy blue orb about half the size of a golf ball that floated up behind Jason.

Moloch lunged himself with a bit more accuracy, looking like he was about to bite Intrepid in half when the weapon became a shield again, but it was a sphere as opposed to a dome. Moloch bit down, locking the barrier inside of his jaw. Unkindness made it, reappearing inside the barrier and almost tumbling into Intrepid. She quickly stood up and put his 'arms' carefully over Intrepid's shoulders in a sort of hug from behind and began to emit a strange, black but with a purple outline glow around her.

Moloch's fury was such that his teeth were biting into the barrier with enough force that it was beginning to crack. With each crack spiderwebbing into yet more cracks as Unkindness took the seconds that felt like hours to charge her ability. Intrepid closed his eyes, gripped the internal handle of the shield and prayed. He could feel the cracks that now spread through the entire shield, and his own sense of his power told him that the shield was going to break when... Nothing.

Everything was gone. No noise. No light. Nothing. For a few more seconds that felt far longer than they were, everything appeared once again. He fell a foot and hit the ground and immediately scrambled to his feet. Unkindness was behind him and pointed with one of her blade-hands.

He looked and saw Moloch, but his head was gone, like it had been obliterated, but the body was still there, flailing about like a worm that had been caught by a bird. Slamming into the ground and spraying all the white lava all over everything like a hose, shrinking and shrinking until it blurred like someone had smeared something over his eyes before snapping down immediately and becoming a man. A pale, skinny man that looked just like Witness's report described him. His expression was a mixture of fear, rage, sadness and regret. A mess of a man. As he walked over, the man, no longer Moloch, but Frederick Kanter. The thin man stood up and attacked Intrepid. His fists harmlessly bouncing off of him until Intrepid shoved him to the ground. "Gotcha asshole." He said, pointing his weapon at him.

Frederick winced and closed his eyes, clearly trying to transform. He opened them to see Set, now mostly regenerated approaching, carrying Dragoness, whose armor had been melted, but she managed to cut herself free of. Fuse who was mostly covered in cuts and bruises from tripping over himself in the woods. Typhon approached, her pet looking like a perfectly white wolf with six legs, minus any real facial features and the fur. More like the shape of a wolf than anything. Intrepid grabbed him by his bicep and pulled him up. "Fuck you all."

"Don't worry guys. I'll take care of this." Set said, raising his foot like he intended to set on him.

"Hey! Wait!" Came Witness's voice as she approached with a WarWolf Captain. "This is Captain Baxter."

"I can introduce myself." He said in a unhappy tone. "Frederick Kanter will be entering WarWolf custody."

"He will be entering the afterlife." Witness corrected. "If you take him into custody, you're one power outage away from having him be a problem again. A problem you really don't have an answer to short of leveling a few city blocks. We talked about this. If you want the credit, put a few bullets in him."

He looked around, taking in the sight of about a half dozen superhumans who took down another. He drew his sidearm, turning the safety off. Intrepid jumped a little, his instincts telling him to get out of the way of the handgun.

"Hold on." Set said, his form dissolving in a small cloud of dust to a more human size that grabbed Frederick from behind. "There."

"I want to make this absolutely clear, I take no pleasure in this." Baxter said to him. "I can read you your last rites-"

"Fuck you." He spat. "You are. All of you psycho fucks get your rocks off killing people. I'm the only one-" His words were silenced by several gunshots from his handgun into Moloch's chest, and one to his head for good measure. Set tossed the body aside, blood splatting a bit on him, but he didn't seem to mind.

"All yours Cap." Set said.

"All of you, get off of this base. This is a restricted area." He told the group and started making calls on his radio as he walked away to retrieve some men to dispose of the body.

"Ungrateful asshole." Witness muttered. "Whatever. Let's go find Behemoth, I'm sure he's still lost in the woods somewhere. Great work everyone."

"Witness." Typhon spoke up. "I'll help you track your friend and then we can go our separate ways." She said, her wolf pet crumpling like paper and her eyes and hair beginning to glow once more. They walked back towards the woods, leaving the guys and Unkindness to themselves.

"Hell yeah." Set said. "Good shit Intrepid. You too sweetheart." He said and Unkindness wrapped her blade arms around him, cutting a few of the metal strips in the process, but Set didn't seem to care. He returned the hug. "Thanks for keeping my girlfriend safe. Well, since we're down a member, consider this an official invitation to the Misfits. Sorry it took so longer for me to catch up, I was trying to help your robot friend." He said, and pointed to Dragoness working on getting the melted metal off her main body and doing what field repairs on herself she could.

"Thanks." Intrepid replied. "And no problem. I'm... I've already got two teams, and it's complicated with that."

"Damn, two teams? How's that work?"

"Well, one's temporary. There's a chance that I'm getting kicked off one. Not a huge chance, but a chance nevertheless."

"Ah. That fuckin' sucks. Well, tell you what. I'm gonna give you my number. You've earned at least one freebie. You ever need help ruining some shithead's day, give me a call. If it's a good fight, I'll consider giving you another freebie, but after that I gotta start charging because Typhon'll get mad at me."

Intrepid nodded. "I'll definitely keep you in mind." He said and then sat down on the ground. "That's probably the closest I've been to death so far."

"It's great, isn't it?"

"It was... Intense." He said. "Definitely makes a lot of things seem easier in hindsight."

"Get into a lot of fights and then the only thing that'll scare you is all the goddamn paperwork." He muttered. "So glad I got someone to handle that shit. I don't have that kinda patience." He said.

"Yeah." Intrepid said. "Yeah." Though he still wasn't sure if he'd rather face Moloch again by himself or go back to the Tower and explain everything that had happened in the last month.

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
December 10th

"What? It wasn't that funny..." Whitney grumbled in response to Red doubling over with laughter at a genuine compliment, trying her best to fix him with a deep, furrowed scowl. However, laughter was infectious, and before long, she had joined Red by giggling into her hands, a wide grin taking the scowl's place on her face. Between talking Angie through her nightmares and (hopefully) making Red hold a higher view of himself, it was starting to feel nice helping someone else for a change. She hated being the problem or the issue, she had been the problem in so many people's lives for so long. People diverted their attention, their time, their sympathy, everything they had towards her complaints and problems, and it only made her feel more useless and needy, more like deadwight on people's conscious. It finally felt like she was paying it forward, or at the very least, starting to. It finally felt like she was normal, and that feeling was a warm, airy one that spread through her chest and staved off the chilly breeze that had been stinging her face just a moment ago.

Maybe it was that newfound optimism that convinced her to grab the fishing rod from Red's outstretched hand, jutting her chin out with challenging pride as she did so. "Alright, but don't expect to be teaching too many 'tricks of the trade'. I know my way around the po...water, I know my way around the w-water." she asserted, voice wavering as she desperately tried to claw out of the innuendo pitfall she had just jumped headfirst into. If she continued to look in Red's direction, she would start reddening over again, so she decided to busy herself with opening the rod's bail and slipping the line over her index finger. The moment the material connected with her hand, the muscle memory from all of those Lake George fishing trip that she had been reluctantly dragged on every year. It was a well-oiled machine, the most perfect of chemical reactions. In perfect glides, she pushed the rod forward to point towards the same patch of water that Red had previously been fishing in, whipped the whole thing over her shoulder, and swung it back down, letting the line slip away from her finger and fly with a thin plink into the water. Her left hand slid over to manually close the bail the moment she became satisfied with her cast, forcing the reel into engagement. It was a pretty beautiful toss all things considered. She could still see the ripples echoing out from all directions, still hear the ringing of the disturbed water in her ears, feel the line twitching under her fingers. She was in total command, and it was wonderful.

Well, wonderful for the first little while. Several minutes later, she was still sitting there with her beautiful cast in the water, the line going completely still as all of her imaginary twitches began to fade out. Lesson learned; she had remembered how to cast a rod with perfect precision...but she hadn't quite remembered how boring it was. Sighing out of her nose, she turned to look at Red with her head only, eyes pleading with him before her mouth did.

"So...about those tricks of the trade..." she said sheepishly, tossing her head to shift her ponytail away from her face and to the side. "You got any for getting fish interested?"

[North America Inc]

-Alexis-

An 'April' Mi-Hee

Shi and Olivia turned to looked over at each other, that twinkle in April's eyes said everything they needed to know. She was just waiting for their, or rather her, approval. Shi turned off her screen and stood up, "It's not like we are doing anything else."

So the pair followed the other two, staying quiet as April answered Alexis. "Well I'm a dancer and a model..." She mulled over some roles in her head wondering if they were worth mentioning, "Also an actress but it's not like my full time gig. It's more something I'm looking into. I was just in my first movie, it's Korean so you probably wouldn't know, but we will see how that goes. The premier is actually next week. These two are going." She gestured ecstatically behind her.

"I'm wearing Dior." Shi added while Olivia said some snarky comment under her breath.

As the teens made their way down the trail to the beach, April remarked with a hint of disappointment, "I wish I had known they were going swimming. I was sort of expecting a bit more smores and a little less snorkeling to be honest. I really wish I had brought a bikini."

Olivia came by the side of her, "Wow, I'm absolutely shocked you didn't bring one. Going by your feed, that seems to be all you wear."

Shi shook her head, "Olivia don't tease her about being a tease. She can't help it."

The faint of echo of water splashing and the others having fun concealed April's own awkward expression; the lake came into view with the majority of Young Bloods already there. The centerpiece had to be the trampoline, given that no one in the trio remembered anyone carrying one. The next peculiarity had to be Red with his fishing line. Olivia wondered aloud, "Don't you need a license for that?"

"Yes." Shi answered.

"So what are you going to do Alexis?" April asked the blonde heroine, "I think these two want to be two sticks in a mud..." She emphasized her point by flicking mud towards them with her foot, "So if you want to hang out, I'm free."

[Tomia]

YB Camping Trip
Angelica smiled at Kiris' comment about them both wearing wraps. "I guess we are, and thanks. You look great too." She told her friend. "So are you not going swimming? I'm surprised you didn't want to go fishing with the others." She said with a small smile.

Kiris beamed at Angelica's compliment, before shaking her head at the question. "Nah, not right now. Swimmin' is fun, but..." She trailed off for a moment as she looked down at the lake, a bit of a coy grin appearing on her face as her eyes fell on her shirtless boyfriend again. "I kind of like the view from up here." She said with a giggle.

"And as for fishin', I'm used to a different kind, I don't really know how to use those pole thingies and I feel like I'd just get in the way, so I'd rather hang out here." She explained.

Angelica followed Kiris' eyes and grinned as well. "Ya I bet you do." She replied chuckling a bit afterwards before her eyes grew a little sad at the thought of their relationship as it reminded her of what she had had with Alexis. She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind however, hoping that Kiris didn't notice. "Well I could teach you if you want. I was thinking about maybe doing a little sunbathing myself. Maybe later I'll try freezing the water, I can show you how to ice skate." Angelica said, smiling at the thought.

Contrary to Angelica's hopes, the pink-haired girl noticed the slight change in demeanor and remembered what Alexis had told her about their relationship. She briefly wondered if she should say something to fix the situation, but the tall blonde seemed to perk up quickly, offering to teach her to fish and skate. Beaming at the offer, Kirisvala nodded enthusiastically.

"That would be great Angie!" She said as she grabbed her friend's hand. "Maybe I can teach ya how to catch fish without a pole too. Warnin' though, fish are all slimy when you grab 'em." She added playfully afterwards.

he frost girl chuckled as she was pulled along. "Sure that sounds great Kiris." She said, thankful for the other girl's friendship. She lead the other girl down the beach where the water was a bit calmer with less people splashing around. Angelica reached down and placed her hand on the water and soon the water around them had frozen into a small ice rink. She took out a pair of padded water shoes that she had brought for the occasion and she carefully created a sharp ice skate like blade of ice underneath the shoes before handing them to Kiris.

Angelica then hopped on the ice, her graceful movements showing off her years of experience. She moved back towards Kiris and offered her hand, "Come on! I'll catch you if you fall."

YB Goes Banking
"I've got it!" Frostbite said as she came flying past Kiris on a path of ice. She laid her hand on the injured civilian who soon was covered in a thin layer of ice that would heal his injuries. Soon the hellhounds seemed to take notice of their activity and were attempted to encircle the two heroines.

"Crystal Heart keep looking for people, I'll keep these things off of you." She told her teammate as ice shards began to form at her fingertips. A group of three hellhounds nearby snarled at her with their menacing teeth bared.

"I can help!" Came Rocket's voice, as the large mech came in from above, landing next to Crystal Heart and Frostbite. One of the hounds leapt at Rocket upon his arrival, clasping onto his right arm, which the mech swung in an attempt to remove the creature. When it became clear the hellhound wasn't budging, Mars instead pressed a button inside of Rocket that activated an electric pulse across the mech. The hellhound let out a shriek as it was electrocuted and Rocket took that moment to toss it away as it slammed hard into the ground.

Meanwhile another hellhound jumped towards Angelica but she blasted it with ice and sent it flying towards Kiris. "Crystal Heart, get him!"

[Galnius]

Mikaela Mynd

Tales of a Mid-December Day

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

Some time has passed since the last time Jan has stepped foot in the mortal world, a period during which quite a bit has changed both for the helper spirit and for the girl he was chosen to protect. Well, "time" is a word that needs to be taken with a grain of salt at this point, it did not really exist in the same form up above as it does among the living, but still. As such, when Mika called out for him to the skies, nothing happened at first.

It took half a minute before light began to shine in the air before the window of the girl's room, turning to a gate-like entrance from which the Virgil boy stepped out. Immediately, Jan's wings outstretched and pushed him forward, until he landed on the windowsill.

He glanced behind him, then towards Mika and past her - nothing unusual. The girl's room was a bit more tidy than before, shockingly, but that did not necessitate an intervention in of itself.

"What's wrong?" Jan asked.

For the first few moments there was nothing but silence. Mika searched the skies fervently, trying to catch a glimpse of Jan. When no sign came she began to turn away. Then, as if waiting for her to turn away, a blinding light erupted through her window, signaling his arrival.

Mika looked him over as he spoke, her eyes darting around. For half a second she was afraid that she had been abandoned once more. For half a second her eyes had begun to burn and venom prepared to curse everything. For half a second she once again felt alone.

"You're late Angel-Boy. There was at least twelve abduction attempts while I was waiting for you. I even punched Satan in the face. He was about to gobble me up when you scared him off. " Mika gently punched his shoulder and moved back to the closet.

"I'm kidding. Nothing is really wrong. I just kinda... Wanted to see you."

Now that he was here, all of the cohesive sentences Mika had built tumbled apart, like someone had pushed over the tower she had so carefully built. She did not stumble over words or stammer meaninglessly though. No, instead she stared at her closet door silently. Perhaps the patterns from the wood would reveal the secrets of communication, or maybe she could even get her stupid brain to work. This should have been easy. Other people did it all the time.

Mika took a deep breath, fully ready to speak. Her mouth stayed closed. Her back stayed turned. She inhaled again. Still, nothing. Come on, really, it's not that hard. Just turn around and say something. Anything!

"Thank me." No. That wasn't right. "I mean thank you. For, well, showing up." She was doing great. Only forty seconds of absolute awkwardness. Mika bit her inner cheek, hoping that it would kill whatever made this all so difficult.

"I wanted to thank you. For saving me when we first met. Even after I put a knife to your back." Why did I mention that? That was dumb. "And um... To thank you for all the times you've shown up. I've made some friends, and being with them, well, it made me realize" What? I swear there was something there. What am I trying to say here?

"Thanks for caring about me. I've uh-I'm not actually sure anyone had actually really cared before I met you. It's a bit new to me, but it's getting easier to handle. Not-not that it's a bad thing! I'm just not used to it. Anyway, I know when friends normally care about each other they get each other something for the holidays. And the holidays are coming up."

I think he knows that.

Shut up brain.

"Well... I don't really know what you like. Or what you can even have. Is there uh... Anything you want? Please don't say nothing. This is the first time I'm getting someone something, and I don't want to argue about it."

---

Angelica Dalin

December 1st

---

---

Sitting on the small beach on the shore of the lake, Icarus was content to observe as the Young Bloods gathered to have fun in the lake. Some of them, like Mars and Andrew, jumped straight in, with the former even deploying some sort of contraption to make dives more exciting - a part of him was tempted to try out the water trampoline, but he opted to stay put for the time being. Some of the other teenagers stayed on the slope overlooking the lake, while it seemed a few others had forgone visiting the lake altogether. In the distance, he could see the same boy who had interrupted his dance in the gala fishing and conversing with the blonde girl that had turned out to be a formidable Hero Rumble 6 opponent in a previous chance encounter.

Finally, on the beach not far from him, a blonde girl that looked vaguely familiar tried and failed to brave the waters, stumbling back as the waves from someone's jump crashed against her. Concerned, the young hero began getting up, but the girl was quick to assure everyone that she was fine.

If she says so... He thought, letting out a brief sigh as he relaxed and settled back down on the sandy ground. Only a moment later, the same girl brought up stone skipping as a possibility. Thinking it might be fun and figuring that he wasn't doing anything else at the moment anyways, he decided to join in.

"Sure, that sounds fun." The blond boy said casually before jumping to his feet. Immediately, a grimace appeared on his face and he quickly lifted his right foot off the ground. "Ow. I think I found one already..." He commented as he pried a small round stone off his bare foot and observed it. It's not quite as round as the ones I remember using but... it should work. He thought to himself, before getting to work on finding a few more.

"What's your name, by the way? I don't think we've met before. I'm Icarus." He told the girl.

---

It didn't take long for Angelica's idea to gain some momentum as a tall boy with long blond hair rose to his feet. She couldn't really place him, but she felt like she had seen him around somewhere. As she went through her mental catalogue of faces and names, however, he stepped on what appeared to be a perfect skipping stone. It seemed harmless, but still.

"Oh! Icarus. Now I know why you seem familiar. I've overheard when Renata or Casimir talked about you. Now sit. Let me check your foot. "

Angelica took a commanding stance after she gently placed the stones she herself had gathered. Even if the rock he had unfortunately stumbled upon looked flat, there was always the chance of a small groove or single pointed chip that could cut him. As the resident nurse, with Whitney elsewhere, it fell upon her to make sure Icarus' "ow" was nothing more than surprise. At least, that's how she saw it.

"I don't want to hear anything about how you're fine or how it's nothing, I need to be sure. First of all, if you step on more good skipping stones you'll get blood on them if you're actually hurt. For two, I'm not letting anyone have so much as a nosebleed for longer than two minutes on this vacation. "

[Finland SSR]

Mikaela Mynd is Being Tsundere

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

As soon as Jan arrived and stepped inside of Mika's room, the girl began speaking about how he was late and she's escaped dozens of kidnapping attempts already - even if she were not clearly tongue-in-cheek, he wouldn't have bought it. Besides, he didn't even take that much time to come here - sure, Bowdyn stopped him for a second, explaining to him that maybe he doesn't need to answer every single call for aid when the person he is guarding is clearly not in any danger, but that was basically it.

And, of course, the joke quickly broke apart and Mika explained that she merely wanted to see him.

"Ah, well, that's fine!" He could stay here for a little while, then. After all, who knows, maybe in this ten minutes he's around, some demon or supervillain is going to ambush Mika out of nowhere? At least, he can use that excuse. While the girl was still trying to figure out what to say, Jan sat down on the floor, his wings folding.

It clearly took effort for her to say it all, but Mika was thankful. Thankful for his aid, and for being the first person in the world who actually cared for her - and even though she cut herself short, she's clearly been trying to become a better person herself. Make new friends, find it in herself to become grateful... Hearing everything she had to say, even with the constant cuts and mumbling - or maybe especially with them - was heartwarming, and Jan was smiling brightly by the end.

"That's... great to hear," the Virgil answered and glanced to the side. "For me, especially. Before I went to Heaven, I was an aspiring hero, just like... some people you know - and making someone's life a little happier, even in this form... is almost like I achieved that dream in the end, you know?"

Mika did not want to merely say thanks, however - the holidays were coming up, and she was dead set to give back to him for the occasion somehow - a puzzle which left Jan in thought.

"I could ask you to visit the church for the occasion, you do need it - but I guess that counts as "asking for nothing", doesn't it?" the Virgil answered, while his eyes briefly darted across the room. "We don't have any earthly possessions ourselves, and it isn't like we lack anything up above - it is Heaven, after all. But, I suppose... if you're set on getting me something and won't compromise..."

Hm... how should he say this... "If you leave a guitar for me in your room, I will be able to play for you next time. That's... another thing I aspired for in my past life."

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
The Cockroach Litter: Part 1

"Have you ever heard of Chandigarh's Gunpowder?"

12:30 AM

His footwork couldn't keep up. He kept trying to leap in and out of the strikes, keeping his feet clear in a weird breakdance-type move, but he had gotten tired, or sloppy, or hell, maybe both. And now, his ankle would pay the price. It was already caught in a total vice-grip, fingertips plunging deep into his flesh and yanking his leg out from underneath him hard enough to send him flipping 90 degrees onto his back. If it wasn't for the quick pillow of air he had formed under his head, he probably would've smashed his head in on some brick. At least he could stop that. What he couldn't stop was the force ripping him feet-first across the ground despite his scrabbling hands' best attempt to find any purchase, bump, anthill, headless Barbie doll, anything that would slow his rough, tearing path across the uneven ground. But it was no use. Why in the hell did this place have to get daily sweepings??? This wasn't a fair, or a natural fight. He couldn't overcome an opponent like this, not someone with this much apparent experience and equipment on their side. He had to dig deep, find those skills that had been drilled into his skull for days now. That would even it out.

Carter took a deep inhale, letting air slither into a tiny pocket between the arch of his back and the ground. The air gushed in rapidly, effortlessly lifting his body off the ground and shoving him forward in a massive gale. The wind caused the shadowy figure in front of him to stumble and focus on his feet to reorient himself in the dark, which prevented him from following his ascending chain towards the form of a maniac teenage aerokinetic hurtling straight towards his head. They were essentially the same size, but that didn't stop the concussive force smacking into his top half from being enough to shock him into dropping the grapple and send him stumbling backwards, hands clawing in an attempt to yank Carter off of him by the shirt. However, a simple lean forward reduced the grappler's attempts to get free to spinning wheels in the mud, sending him falling back several steps into the doorway of the hovel. The frame was so low that it nearly ripped the blonde boy off of the grappler's shoulders by catching his head and shoulders with a face full of rock, but he was able to duck quickly enough to avoid getting knocked flat, essentially nocking his chain around the top of the grappler's head. The forward pull was perfect for getting off in time to avoid mashing his head against the hovel's low, grungy ceiling, putting him in position to kick off the grappler's torso and dive towards the low, queen-size bed over his shoulder. It was too dark to even figure out the patterns on the spread, but he didn't need visibility. All he needed was bounce.

He landed hands-first on the bed's mattress, body coiling instantly into a deep, tilted handstand. The grappler had quickly recovered from the kick off his chest, whirling around while lifting his hook up to take on the aerokinetic for a second time, but was instead met with feet flying towards his face in rapid time. Carter had sprung out of his handstand, launching himself off the mattress and sending an air-boosted two-footed kick directly into the grappler's face. The force ripped the slim figure right off of his feet and snapped his head back, sending him flying into a patch of wall just left of the hovel's now-destroyed doorway. The force was enough to practically shake the building on its foundation, the only sound besides the crrrunch of the wall being the sound of air being forcefully ripped out of the grappler's lungs as he hit his head a second time and flopped to the ground in a crumpled heap, his body limp and unmoving. He could be dead for all Carter knew, but by this point, he didn't care. It would serve that fucking bastard right.

The bedded boy's head moved to the left as he flopped back onto the mattress, moved towards the small archway into the home's second room. He could see the outline of a man peering out of the corner, his eyes wide with fright as he struggled to keep the small child in his arms secure. Poor kid must've been freaked by the sound, if Carter was his age, he would've screamed until Kansas could hear him. Well, you could hear anything in Kansas the way it was set up, but the point still stood. Someone must've clapped their hand over the kid's mouth to keep him from bawling out. Still, being out of sound wasn't enough. They had to be out of sight.

"Stay dowwwwwwwwn." Carter mouthed in a whisper, accompanying the words with a gesture of him pushing his flat hand down to make it even more obvious. The man complied, quickly ducking back behind the open hole in the wall. Satisfied, Carter mashed his head against the mattress, groaning slightly as he began to press down into the material. What wouldn't he give to just sleep this whole thing off? This day was horrible, literally the worst goddamn day of his life. Maybe even worse than getting cracked across the head by some crazy drug addict back when Warwolf was a thing. Was one near-death experience not enough??? Was there some devil down in the nethers giggling right now as he sent up threat after threat through some extradimensional portal in the fabric?! Grappler wasn't getting back up, he knew that, but Pistol #1 and Pistol #2 were still moving, they would find their...partner (gag) soon, and if he didn't take them out, he would be dead meat.

He had never tried this without Garuda, and he had never tried it under pressure like this. But he had to do it, it was the only way. With a deep breath in and out, he began to find his four-step rhythm, jamming his eyes shut and spreading his field of air out across the room. It was already sloppier than his gym attempts, he couldn't make out anything beyond vague lumps and shapes, as if every object in the room was completely flat and squared off. He didn't need texture though, he just needed the holes, specifically the front doors. He could hear vague shouts echoing in his ears, so he cranked up the waves entering his ears, trying his best to amplify whatever sound was entering his drums. It didn't work amazingly, but the voices and surrounding white noise got louder, like he had an unbalanced microphone from the outside feeding in. He even recognized one. It wasn't a resident, it was bassy, and low, speaking quickly in Hindi or Punjabi with a sandpaper roughness, like he hadn't cleared his throat since Partition. It sounded like Pistol #2. No, it was Pistol #2. And lo and behold, what does he feel next? Two vaguely human shapes crossing through the stream of air wafting out the doorway, perking up and beginning to stride quickly once they were dead center. Playing dead wasn't gonna last much longer.

He gave one last look to his left, this time mouthing "I'm sorry!" without so much as a whisper. Then, shutting off his air field and hearing, he focused the wind under the tallest, heaviest object he could find in the room, a tinny rattling beginning to echo through the crowded rooms.

He was about to destroy the poorest family he had ever seen's most valuable piece of furniture; their entire goddamn china cabinet.

---

8:30 PM

"So, I just...fell off the roof?!"

Gunpowder wasn't exactly what Carter was expecting. Given the fact that he was literally a blood cell in the heart of Bollywood, he had been expecting some weird preppy private-school business lunch type dinner place where he had to dress up in his pink polo and order only water to avoid looking like a doofus. However, what he had gotten was a literal open-air tavern (with a handy rubber tarp for rain!), paved over with tiled stone for most of its corner-block area and dotted with a few rickety tables onto whatever patch of sidewalk it could claim. Well, every table was rickety, all unstable, crooked metal with tilting legs and white plastic chairs, unless you sat at the scratched, two-sided wooden bar in the center of the pavilion with the nicest stools in the house and a handsome spread of alcohol of all varieties lined up inside. There was probably some attempt to set the tables in organized circles, but it looked like they had given up after the third row, and had just let the customers move and match the furniture in whatever order they damn pleased. Under the floodlights ringing the entire pavilion, you could make out every word on the ratty newspaper tablecloths that soaked up any mess from hitting the surface underneath, but good luck reading them with the sound of homemade bhangra blaring loud enough from multiple speakers dotting the lights to send vibrations through your chest and make the ground shiver. There was barely enough room to shout between the music and the sound of everyone in the packed tavern yelling over it, let alone think. Plus, you didn't even really want to talk. First, you would smell the mouth-oozing aroma of spices, vegetables, curried meat, baking bread, yogurt, and everything in between wafting in steamy clouds from a small kitchen building next to the tavern, and then you would proceed to stuff your face with said spices, vegetables, curried meat, baking bread, and yogurt until you just couldn't take anymore. Seriously, the grub was amazing, and everyone enjoyed it with tall glasses of mango milkshake and t-shirts instead of water and pink polos. Just his kind of place, and apparently Garuda's too.

"FELL, JUST LIKE THAT!" Garuda boomed, clapping his hands to accentuate the word "THAT!" in the sentence. The man with short, thick hair and a bristling mustache looked much different than the one Carter had seen on set every day, thanks to some hologram technology equipped to a small chain hanging around his neck that kept the paparazzi away. It was even more sophisticated than what Alexis could cook up. "We were so confused, you made every move correctly, not a single step out of place. But there's a one second delay, and then BOOM!" he shouted, slamming the table hard enough to send several chunks of potatoes bathed in chutney across the newspaper. "You were falling!"

"We had no idea if you would make it out alive." said Victor Kaushal, the lead cinematographer on the movie said, finally removing the sugarcane juice-coated straw from the corner of his mouth. He was a lot more stiff and well-mannered than Garuda, even down to the button-up shirt he wore in a sea of tanks and chains. "It's a miracle that you were able to react fast enough to escape, especially with the drone coming down."

Carter sipped his shake thoughtfully in response, the corner of his mouth drooping in a frown. "How the hell did it even happen? I thought there was supposed to be drones with nets to catch us in case one of us fell or missed the target?"

"There was." Kaushal responded, folding his hands on the table in front of him. "But one of Basak's arms snagged on the drone and pulled it out of orbit. The drones work by sensing both the actors' and each other's locations, and moving accordingly if someone falls out of place. However, the...how you say it, the...algorithm was knocked askew. It believed you were falling many feet away from where you were, and the drones began to crash into each other. That is how one fell into the pool."

"It wasn't my fault." Basak growled in response, sitting two seats down with a goat samosa in palm. Unlike Garuda, he had chosen to skip out on the holograms, mostly thanks to his new shaved head that was both necessary for his role as Shaatir. Even if his hair was fully grown, he probably would've gotten half the cameras that an unmasked Garuda would, and the thought seemed to be eating away at him throughout dinner. "Those damn limbs are too unwieldy and long to keep straight. If I didn't send the drones astray, I would've cut his leg open."

"Shant ho jana, moorkh!" another man shouted, sniggering at Basak's whining. "Nobody's accusing you, haan? Goat cal--"

"Who are you call--"

"ENOUGH!" Garuda rumbled, slamming his bottle on the table with a resounding thunk. "We are in public, and you would do good not to embarrass yourself. We are celebrating life and victory, not conflict! The only violence we should be speaking of is what we will do to that ghatiya inasan who was supposed to watch the explosions." he said proudly, leading to a series of murmurs, nods, and whispers from the group.

"Where did he go after filming ended?"

"We don't know. Victor went to round him up and talk some sense into his thick head, but ghatiya inasan was gone. Probably ran away once he realized what he had done. Achchha chhutakaara."

"On purpose?" someone on the other side of the table called out, some boom mic guy or dolly grip guy or someone else.

"Na, you should speak with him, he was always manda, always stupid." Garuda said with a grin, eliciting a hearty roar of laughter from the rest of the table. "We will file a missing person report if he doesn't show at his family's village some 50 miles from Patna in a week. Until then, achchha chhutakaara."

"ACHCHHA CHHUTAKAARA!" the table cried in unison, lifting up their water bottles, beer cans, shot glasses, and shakes and throwing them back down again. The chatter seemed to resume from then on, everyone digging into their butter chicken wings or lamb kebabs or mutton rolls with renewed gusto, a few of the most drunken cameramen even getting up and beginning to dance up and down in a clear space to the side of the restaraunt.

"Aggggh, now this is the life." Garuda said, finally turning his attention back to Carter as he threw his head back and took in a deep breath. "Good food, good drink, good music, friends. You have to savor this when you become rich and famous like me."

"It's good shit." Carter said with a wide grin, his mouth slightly muffled thanks to a wad of cauliflower. "Anybody could get knocked out chowing down on this."

"Hmm, perhaps." Garuda said, stroking the spot on his holographic bald chin where he could still feel his beard underneath the digital imaging. "Still...I'm upset over what happened today. The choreography was so beautiful, and Vikram has been so stressed as it is with all of the problems...God, if I find that oont, I could just...hrrrrrm...." he snarled, clenching his fists and shaking them with repressed rage hard enough to generate sparks around his skin from air friction.

Teeny, tiny, red, sparks...

---

12:00 AM

The sparks were getting big now.

At least three scantily-clad women were nearly sent falling a good eight feet into the floor as the one named Chawla was sent flying across the club and into the wooden dancer's stage in a flash of red. The opposing gang member smashed into the side hard enough to send the entire thing caving in upon itself and rip the steel poles from their fixtures in the ceiling in a spray of splinters, dust, and a terrible ripping noise that sent tremors through Carter's chest. The flying man wasn't even stopped by the impact of the stage, his body breaking right through the wall and falling into the hollow inside of the stage that would soon be crushed flat by raining boards and whatever else Garuda had punched loose. That included the stage's handrails. As the stage went down, the brass guardrails rimming the edge twisted loose from the foundation and began to curve downwards in a deadly scythe, ready to cut open more than a few drunken throats. Carter's hands were shaking so badly that he almost didn't catch the rail as it went down, sending a huge blast of air towards the falling rail that threw the clubbers' hairdos up in the air and safely pushed the rail back onto the stage.

The glimmer of the rail falling into the ruined heap of a showcase was the last thing he saw before the entire room suddenly went dark, the neon green fixtures on the wall suddenly blinking out. Even the blue light of the DJ booth had disappeared, although music was still pounding through the walls and floor hard enough to shake the bricks thanks to the DJ having scrammed for the back as soon as the fight had started going down. Not that he could hear it, because the club had immediately erupted into the sound of screaming and footsteps as everyone dashed for whatever exit they could find, throwing him to-and-fro in a massive match of hot potato that put his chest in a vice grip. "Need to find air, gotta get out, gotta get out..." Carter muttered frantically, shoving and pushing to what he thought was the exit in pitch-darkness, and only feeling elbows and knees getting all up in his space in return. He didn't like people up in his space, especially not from all sides. He had to find an exit. He was hot, he was slimy, he was burning up, like an ant under a magnifying glass. He tried to extend his sixth sense, but he accidentally triggered his hearing too, causing a metallic screech to rip his eardrums in half.

Carter shouted in pain and instantly clapped his hands to the side of his head, stumbling and chewing on his bottom lip to keep himself from sobbing from the pain. He could already feel water forming behind his eyes. The clashes of metal were still going at a quieter volume, creating a rhythm that operated at a completely different pace than the bassy beat pumping through the floor and the mess formed by the crowd. He couldn't find his footing, couldn't find the flow of the crowd. His legs were buckling, the floor was slipping away...and then he fell. It was like falling into a river (which he had done...twice), a deep, swift current that pinned him to the floor and rained on him with blow after blow, sucking the air out of his chest. His tongue still stung with rubber from where a stray shoe had hit him in the face. Stomps on his arms and legs, kicks into his chest and hips, one nearly clipped his ear before his hand stopped it. He wanted to curl up and die, he wanted to just let go and go to sleep in the river. It was still dark, the darkness was pressing down on his eyes, his ears, his nose, his mouth.

He couldn't let it choke him out. He had to get out. Breathing deeply before someone could kick it out of him again, he suddenly pushed off the ground with his hands like a classic push-up, except instead of stopping once his arms were fully extended, he kept going, propelling himself out of the crowd with another gust of wind and throwing himself upright so he didn't hit the ceiling back-first. Yet, despite the darkness, he was still transforming into a target. The second he lifted into the air, he heard several thin woooooshes of air, followed by a sharp pain slashing across his forearm that made him grimace. Astra! She couldn't see where she was firing, could she? That, or she was too high to aim properly. He couldn't even consider screaming out to stop, because he instinctively kicked out with a leg once his arm had gotten cut and began to fly backwards with another blast. It was like throwing a van into reverse and slamming the gas, complete with the immediate crunch on his back as he hit some wall and came to a full-stop. He felt another arrow whistle somewhere above his head, but by the time it hit the wall, he was already slipping down, falling for a second before crashing down into a fairly flat surface on his side, bouncing up, and falling another few feet down onto cold tile. The bar, the one at the side of the club. He could tell from all of the glass ringing around next to his ear.

As if on cue, the green and blue lights around the nightclub floor flickered back on, illuminating the world around him as he peeled his face off of the nasty, grimy floor. He could see the counter, shards of broken glass that he had narrowly avoiding falling on, and what looked like a row of bottles that were dangerously close to falling off of the shelf some feet above the top of his head. People were already spilling past him, hopping over the bar counter and trying to make a break for the side exits or bathrooms to avoid the crush of people trying to rip out of the front doors. It was a miracle there was no fire yet. Well, at least until he dared to peek over the counter of the bar and saw a BEAM OF COSMIC LIGHT RIPPED OUT OF THE STAGE AND INTO THE GODDAMN CEILING!!!

Out of nowhere, a tall, thin, blue-tinted column of light burst through the ruined heap that had been made out of the showcase, flying up into the ceiling and ripping right through, sending a shower of debris and dust that only made whoever was left in the building scream louder. The light faded quickly though, revealing a ragged, sizzling hole in the ceiling, large enough to filter in what looked like moonlight once Carter had blinked away whatever was left over from the beam in his eyes. That didn't hold his attention from his crack over the counter, because as if on cue, a shining arrow burst out from the back of the room, and as he tracked its path across the club from his position, he spotted a shadowy figure in robes suddenly leap to the top of the room, a bolt of electricity leaping from his fingertips as he extended his arm towards the arrow. It had to be Rishi. The electricity circled around the arrow, energizing the surface as it fired in a straight line towards the gap in the ceiling created by the blast of light. The shot was well under by a few feet, but as it passed under the hole, it burst out into a disc of light, completely blocking any light filtering down from the gap. But then the light turned to dark, the sparks and bolts turning into shadowy thorns and the middle of the disc being filled in by foamy black matter that made the whole thing like a portal to the underworld.

What came out of it looked like it was from the underworld too. Another black bolt of lighting leaped out of the portal, scorching the empty space in front of the destroyed stage. Immediately, the bolt began to expand into a large black mass that blotted out the green light from the opposite wall, morphing and sculpting into the shape of an...elephant? A small one, but weird, completely...black-skinned from the look of it. But with gleaming white tusks, huge curving blades that were instantly recognizable. And was that blood around its ears? Or rubies? Maybe gold on its har--, oh, now it was rearing up, and roaring like a lion. Great, now more people were afraid, whoever was still stupid enough to stay inside. Shit, what about that girl? The brown-haired one, Goddess Girl. She had been walking towards the bathroom before this shit had started, before Garuda had been stupid enough to pick a fight. Was she still in there? Were there other people there? Were they trapped? What could he do?

His legs shivered with hesitation as he watched a small, slight man in a backwards baseball cap leap out of the crowd with a superhuman jump, kicking the elephant in the ass in a hit that glowed blue around his shoes when it connected. The elephant, not liking a foot up its asshole, tried to turn around and roar again, but out of nowhere, a figure in what looked like a glowing suit of armor leapt out of the wreckage behind the elephant, landing hard on its back and digging his hands into the beast's flesh. What had Garuda said when they had first spotted the Guild? "Chawla, their leader. He can draw power from the stars, moon, any light he can get his hands from.". It had to be Chawla. Garuda hadn't taken him out with that punch. His legs kept shivering more.

A figure that looked like Garuda tried to lunge out and punch backwards-baseball-hat, and Astra shot another pot-laced arrow at Chawla's face, but both were easily sidestepped, with baseball-hat doing some weird dance move ending with a stomp into the ground that fired off a bright shockwave into the elephant's foot and sent the monster falling belly-first to the ground. Eating floor, just like Carter had. The moment his tusks had so much tapped the ground, several bright, translucent chains magically sprang from small circles in the ground, wrapping around the elephant's head and legs and locking it in place, despite it growing, scratching, and struggling to break free. His vision flicked to the back of the room again, seeing Astra beginning to stumble towards where Garuda was currently trying (and failing) to throw punches at fancy-pants, but a glimmer of yellow suddenly erupted from the arm of a lone straggler still left in the club, striking Astra in the face and causing her to stumble back. No, not a lone straggler. A Guild member. It was too late. The yellow glimmer was a hook, almost like a hockey stick, one that rotated towards the ground as it deflected off of Astra's face and was swung back around like an axe, a small white fireball forming on the tip and flinging off into the archer's chest. A horrific scream echoed through the club, one that caused Carter to wince and plug his ears, his stomach already beginning to squirm as the crackles and pops came to his ears. In one second, Astra was stumbling, and in the next, she was limply crumpling to the ground, her bow bouncing some feet away.

The comparative silence was deafening. Aside from a few trampled bodies that had been knocked out, everyone had vacated the club floor, so you couldn't hear any footsteps or screams. No roars, no weird hell elephant noises...and no metal clicks. At the back of the room, he could see Khanda locked into a standstill with a ten-armed woman, a weird spider lady. The one Garuda had called "Durga". One of her arms was hanging limp, and the other five were clinging small daggers that were all caught along the edge of a massive, shining broadsword stuck in Khanda's hands, his wet hair nearly drooping into his eyes. Those were the screeches he had heard earlier.

And then, a break in the combat. Durga lost her footing, backpedaling while Khanda advanced again, rearing his sword back and taking swipe after swipe, sending sparks in the air with each blow. Garuda roared again, Chawla's feet hit the ground, and Rishi crashed down with a gust of wind that nearly knocked Carter flat on his back from the other side of the club, sending a fiery blast at the hook-wielder that had taken Astra down. It was too much to keep up with, his eyes and ears darting back and forth trying to cram the entire brawl into his head. Durga was now in the lead, but she was threatening to cross paths with Rishi's blasts, which were being deflected by hookman, sending sparks to the ground where fancy-pants was throwing shockwaves at Garuda while he was trying to elbow Chawla out of his face and into the elephant, which had very worriedly stopped moving. It was too much to keep track of.

And then, someone broke the rhythm. Garuda suddenly twisted around and landed a sparking kick in Chawla's chest, sending him flying over the elephant's form/corpse for a second time. Fancy-Pants, shocked by his supposed leader going down, got his leg immediately caught by Garuda, who elbowed down hard enough to make a crrrracking sound and a scream that sent electricity up and down Carter's spine. Every hair on his neck was raised as he watched Garuda throw down the boy's leg, grabbing his shirt and punching him in the face and shoulders, before letting him drop to the ground and beginning to kick and punch and spit all over the boy's growingly limp form. If Carter strained enough, he could practically hear every hit. It was too much. Usually, he never flinched when it came to fights, but this? He wasn't supposed to see this. He couldn't see this. He had to get out of here.

It felt like a robot had taken over his mind, like he had turned into Cass. With a blast of air, he leapt sideways off the counter of the bar and grabbed a strut running up the side, essentially a naked pipe that threatened to give way under his weight. Everyone was so caught up in their fight that they didn't see the half-muscled 5'6 kid with a leg wound scampering up to the second level, jumping from groove to groove and using his air where he slipped. Within seconds, he had reached the second-level balcony and crawled over the railing, just like that. Adrenaline was in control now, making everything weightless. There was no use heading out into the back hallways, he would never find his way out. He needed to leave now, he needed Garuda to be out of his sight. The hole in the roof was his exit out.

His exit out all of this. If he could convince himself tonight, out of India altogether.

Chawla, caught up in avenging his teammate's fall at Garuda's hands with a mixture of fists and blasts of light that threatened to blind anyone too close, didn't notice the boy perching on the edge of the balcony railing. He didn't notice a thing until he felt a soft impact and a blast of air nearly mow him down from the still elephant's back, and by the time he turned around, all he could see was a shadow darting out through the roof he had formed in the ceiling and decorating the edge of the hole. Even that faded a moment later, retreating until it was no longer visible in the moonlight. Even if he had knocked Garuda dead right then and there and jumped right out the hole, the shadow would be long gone, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of fresh air...and maybe some answers too.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

December 1st

---

---

Following the blonde girl down to the beach, Kirisvala waited patiently as her friend prepared the area, taking the improvised skating shoes from her when offered and carefully putting them on. Truth be told, skating on ice while wearing her swimsuit was the last thing she had expected to be doing while preparing for this camping trip, but even so, she was more than a little excited to try out and learn a new activity, and she trusted that Angelica would be a good teacher - after all, the frosty heroine did this all the time and her graceful movements were a clear indication of her experience.

Hearing Angelica encouraging her to step onto the ice, the Hadrian girl nodded. "Okay!" She said before hopping onto the rink. As soon as her feet landed, one foot slipped away from the other, and the slippery ice made her lost her balance almost immediately. In a desperate attempt to remain upright, the pink-haired girl began tumbling forward with no real way to stop herself.

Angelica saw Kiris struggling and quickly moved to help her. She gently took hold of Kiris' right arm, letting the other girl lean on her in order to regain her balance.

"Relax, I got you. Keep your knees bent as you go. When you want to stop, spread your legs out and then turn your right leg to the side. If you feel like you are going to fall just tuck in, kind of like you were doing a somersault." Angelica instructed kindly, keeping hold of Kiris while she got her bearings.

"Wow, sounds pretty complicated." Kirisvala said with a nervous chuckle, leaning on the taller girl and holding onto her to avoid losing her balance again. After nearly tripping the moment she tried to move to the rink, her excitement waned a bit, the whole experience now appearing a little scary. However, she convinced herself that she didn't have anything to be afraid of. She had Angie there to help her out, and really even if she tripped, what was a little fall compared to the dangers she regularly faced? With that in mind, the pink-haired girl stopped holding onto Angelica, attempting to stand on her own.

"But I think I got it now. Thanks for the catch though!" She added with a smile.

"You got this." Angelica told Kiris with a smile, staying close to her friend as she worked on staying up. "Nothing can keep the great Crystal Heart down right?"

"Yup! Right! Nothin' can keep me down!" Kiris replied enthusiastically as she began to skate on her own. A sudden movement made her nearly lose her balance, but keeping in mind the advice Angelica had given her, the cheery heroine managed to briefly slow down and stay on her feet. She smiled at herself for managing to do that much without help, her confidence steadily growing as she began making her rounds around the rink.

"I'm doin' it!" She happily cried out. As she went, she noticed the arrival of her best friend to the beach alongside Shi and her entourage. Smiling brightly, the girl began waving in Alexis' direction. "Lexi! Look!" She shouted, eager to display her newly acquired skating skills. Unfortunately for her, excitement got the better of her and she did a little jump to show off. As her feet touched the ground, they immediately slipped away from under her, causing her to fall on her butt. That was far from it, though - before she or Angelica could react properly, the alien girl slid along the rink the rest of the way and promptly fell onto the lake with a brief splash.

Despite the embarrassing episode, however, when the team's resident alien rose back out of the water, she did so with a smile on her face, albeit a sheepish one. "I'm alright!" She assured everyone. "Water's a little cold though. Brrr."

---

---

Noticing how the other two girls seemingly turned to Shi for approval, Alexis raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. If that was how they rolled, that was how they rolled, and who was she to call that into question? Especially since these three had likely known each other for far longer than she had known Shi, let alone Olivia and April. Regardless, the idol gave her approval, and so the group began heading towards the lake.

Along the way, the blonde listened to April as she divulged some information about herself as requested. Rather than make her feel on even footing with the other girl, however, the things the brunette said made Alexis feel like she was more than a little out of her depth. Sure, Shi was already an idol and a very famous one at that, but now that she learned that even the friend she lightly called groupie was a model and even an actress, it added another layer of depth. Even if the Young Bloods were quickly becoming celebrities in the hero world for their exploits, she wasn't sure they could compare.

Still, though, she hadn't come along on this camping trip just to be in awe at some of the other teenagers around. Nodding along and making a few comments, the genius girl led the group along the trail and down to the small sandy beach on the shore of the lake. Hearing April's disappointed comment, Alexis chuckled. "Yeah I was kind of expecting the same, but I guess Mars just really likes swimming." She said with a light shrug. The brunette continued, and the blonde girl snickered at her remarks about Shi and Olivia, before nodding at her last few words.

"Sure, hanging out sounds great. As for what we can do, uh, let's see..." Alexis said before looking around to see what others were doing. In doing so, her eyes quickly fell on the two girls skating on a small ice rink that had been created on the surface of the lake. The blonde girl found herself staring for a moment, the scene bringing back memories of her date with Angelica on the taller girl's birthday, of when they danced on ice at the pier. The sweet memory, in light of their last conversation, took on a bitter quality, but still evoked a sort of yearning.

The brief reminiscence was broken when she noticed Kiris waving and shouting at her. Forcing a smile, she waved back at the cheerful alien girl, only to watch afterwards as she made a poor decision and ended up falling in the water. Her shenanigans made Alexis' smile become more genuine, and soon enough the blonde girl was giggling at the whole thing. "Silly girl." She said, shaking her head.

"Uh, where was I? Oh yeah, stuff to do. Well, not swimming for one. I didn't really pack a swimsuit either, I'm not much of a swimmer." The young engineer said to April once she managed to stop laughing at her best friend's shenanigans. "Uh, we could see what the other guys are up to. Or I could grab a frisbee if you want to toss it around. We could also just chill on the sand if you prefer, I can grab some drinks too." She offered the brunette, albeit she wasn't sure if the other girl enjoyed soda at all. "So yeah, what do you think?"

---

---

After introducing himself to the girl, Icarus offered her a smile and a nod as she seemed to recall hearing about him from her teammates, but the last thing she said left him more than a bit confused. Rather than return the gesture and introduce herself, she ordered him to sit down so that she could check his foot for injuries. Unsure of how to react at first, the blond boy scratched his head in confusion.

"Umm..." He mumbled. "...Yeah, okay. If you insist." He added with a shrug, using his immanent charge to create a small stool to sit on and doing exactly that before grabbing his foot to get a good look at it. "See there's no injury down here at all. And even if there was it'd heal up in a few seconds. I'm not exactly a fragile person." He quipped. "So yeah, I'm fine. Can we go back to skipping stones?"

---

December 21st

---

---

Kirisvala watched in surprise as, instead of Phoenix, Frostbite arrived to help with the wounded. Considering this was an ability she seldom used and that she very much looked the part of the action heroine, it was no surprise that Kiris didn't often remember Angelica had the power to heal wounds with her ice. At the moment however, she was very much grateful for the taller girl's assistance, and with a nod, she carefully set down the wounded officer and watched as the blonde covered his leg in ice, seemingly soothing his pain and beginning to heal his injuries.

"Nice job, Frosty!" She said to the icy heroine, before listening to her words. She offered to keep the encroaching hellhounds off of her so that she could focus on rescuing any injured officers still in need of aid, and the Hadrian heroine nodded. "Okay, let's do that!"

With that said, Kiris took off, partially climbing up the crystal wall to get a vantage point from which she could survey the area. It didn't take her long to spot another unlucky officer who was leaning against his cruiser, clutching his side as though he was wounded. The Hadrian girl resolved to head over and help him, but as she jumped off the wall and landed on the asphalt below, she heard Angelica calling out to her and turned around just in time to notice a hellhound darting towards her after being sent away with a blast of ice.

"A little warnin' next time!" She shouted at Angelica as she moved to catch the fiend, grabbing it by the tail and using it to swing it like a flail, smashing it against the ground a few times to ensure it was thoroughly down for the count before releasing it. After ensuring it was no longer moving, the alien heroine left it behind, heading towards the policeman she had spotted earlier.

"Don't worry, you're goin' to be fine. I'm here to help now." She said as she bent down to pick him up. However, the man gestured for her to stop.

"My partner... she's over there..." He said between laborious breaths, pointing at the torn carcass of a police cruiser nearby, and the unconscious form of another officer not far from it, seemingly toyed with and then left for dead by the hellhounds.

"Okay, I'll go get her and then get ya both some help." Kiris replied softly before sprinting towards the policewoman, picking her up and running back. Looking around to make sure there were no hellhounds currently nearby, the alien girl began singing softly, weaving together the notes for the Waltz of Wandering. After a few moments, the three found themselves behind the crystal wall, in an area that was being protected by KIrisvala's teammates as well as by healthy policemen. Letting both officers rest with their backs against the crystal wall, Kiris called out.

"Got two more here!"

[Tomia]

YB Camping Trip
Angelica chuckled at Kiris' antics as she slide into the water. She took off her wrap and tossed it onto the beach before gliding over gracefully to the edge of the ice. "Hey want to see something cool?" She called out to Kiris before using her hand to create a small ramp of ice. She then glided towards it and did a few spins in the air before falling into the water in a pencil like form. With Angelica in the water and no longer maintaining the ice it began melting away slowly from the temperature and the warmer water surrounding it.

Meanwhile Mars smiled at Kiris, swimming up towards her in the water. "I thought you looked very graceful." He said playfully with a smile.

November 25th, Los Angeles
When the rest of the Stars and Frostbite arrived at USC, they landed next Armorer's position. "Armorer, give me a sit rep." Star Queen ordered, and the hero nodded, opening his comms to let Surge in on the conversation. "They've made a few attempts to sneak around, but nothing serious. Surge over there has been keeping them at bay pretty well. They're certain to be ready for us in there. No sign of Dante yet, which concerns me to be honest."

"What are our options in terms of entry." Star Queen asked as a follow up.

"There are three ways in as far as we can tell. A main entrance at the front of the building. I'm certain they'll be ready for us there. We don't know the powers of any of her goons just yet, but I'd be shocked if they weren't packing some heat. Then there is a side entrance on the right side of the building. There's a set of stairs right when you walk in. That's definitely a choke point they can hold pretty easy but they won't have room to shove a bunch of guys there. Finally there is a private maintenance entrance in the basement. It's at the far end of the building. Dante may not even know about it, we haven't seen them try to get through there yet."

Star Queen was silent for a moment, clearly thinking.

"Alright, I have plan. Red and Blue, you're going through the side entrance, use your speed and get past the guard. You're in charge of the hostages. Get them out of there as quick as you can. Mudslide and I are going through the front, we'll make as much noise as we can. Hopefully Dante will come for me for a rematch. Armorer, you're staying out here. No one escapes."

She then turned towards Angelica. "Surge, you and our guest here are going through the basement. When I draw Dante out, you get into that lab and take out whatever guards remain."

Frostbite crossed her arms at that, clearly feeling like she was being sidelined but didn't complain as Star Queen continued. "Alright people lets get moving." With that Red and Blue disappeared in a blur and Mudslide began melting into the ground. Frostbite put her hand to her communicator. "Alright Surge, I guess we're working together. I'll meet you at the basement entrance." Angelica told him, still not happy about her assignment as she got directions from Armorer and made her way towards the back of the building.

[North America Inc]

The Janitors

Infiltrating the staff had been the easiest task, now came the actual challenge: reaching the said depository of the Mesa Verde Depository. Buried six floors underground with numerous traps, security systems, and automated countermeasures, the depository had never once been robbed in the bank’s hundred year history. Only accessible by one elevator with both floors having Olyumpium-alloy vault doors that were necessary to cross. Once underground you had multiple sealed rooms that each individually needed to be breached. It was as redundant as it was effective.

Protecting the above ground entrance were four guards taking cover behind a loud circular desk, the few remaining still maintaining their positions. In place of a wall between the elevator lobby and the hallway was a steel bar fence, no different physically from a cell block, though obviously much more clean. The sliding door had been locked, the key strapped to one of the guard’s belt; his face pressing against the oak of the table while his gun laid on the red wool carpet. The four stared at each other, not saying a word. Their sweat soaked faces and pained expressions said plenty. The echoes of the gunfights outside could faintly be heard, causing their imagination to run wild.

A door creaking open from the hallway followed by footsteps brought them back to reality. The one in the exact center of the table raised his shotgun and pelted three successive shots at the hallway. “Don’t come any closer!” He ordered, though not sure if it was even the robbers.

More shots were fired by the others, waiting for an answer that hadn’t come. The other beside him reloaded his pistol added, “We’re warning you!” His voice cracked, “We’re serious!”

The man with the shotgun got up from cover again, firing two more shots through the bars. The tilling of the adjacent wall cracked and crumbled onto the floor. His eyes darted from one side of the viewable hallway to the other, just waiting for anything to get in his way. He ducked back down, the other three staring blankly at him. They pelted him with questions, even if he didn’t have the answers for them. All he said was, “We just wait for help and buy as much time as we can.”

“What if help doesn’t come?” One asked, holding up their phone, “All the lines have been cut.”

“We can hear the boys in blue outside fighting right now.” He loaded in two new shells and motioned to stand back up to keep a lookout. With one hand, he held onto the wooden table to get up, letting go of his grip on the shotgun. He added to his point, “Don’t lose faith we are going to get…” Each additional syllable getting quieter as his focus was drawn elsewhere. A man stood in the hallway in front of him in that same red janitorial outfit he had seen a thousand times before. If it hadn’t been for the balaclava, he may have felt some relief seeing other staff. The man had nothing in his hands but there was a holstered pistol clipped to his belt, his left hand hovering over it.

“What’s the matter?” One of the three asked, staring up at the man’s distressed expression, knowing the answer but too frightened to admit it.

The guard may have had a shotgun but he was holding it by the barrel; it wouldn’t do much for him beyond a good clubbing. The two men locked eyes, despite most of his face hidden, the guard could feel the smoldering intensity of the man’s gaze. It was as if he had already been shot. The guard slowly reached for the grip, while the man just stood there watching as he did. Doubt filled the guard’s mind, understanding full well that the thief chose to come out in the open as if to toy or study him. But that didn’t matter, he had a chance, and regardless of how ever small it was, he was going to take it. He gave the thief one last look, giving away his intention, before his hand darted downwards; lining up the barrel at the same time.

Four shots rang out, the realization of what had happened hitting the guard as he hit the floor. In one smooth motion the masked thief had raised his snub nose, fired four from the hip, gave the revolver a twirl, before keeping it steady and facing the desk. Blood splattered from the four entry points across both of the guard’s upper arms, disarming him completely. Two of the remaining three, raised their arms over the table and fired wildly in that general direction.

“Suppressing fire!” One shouted to psych himself up.

They let out ten shots while the thief only needed two. The two guards yelped, coddling themselves on the ground as a sharp pain tore through their shoulders. “Wha…” The only one not to fire said shocked, trying to help apply pressure but utterly confused how the shots landed. The table had not been punctured in the slightest. He applied pressure, the realization hitting him as he did. The bullets had not gone through the table, but over it. He didn’t know how but he could see the results clear as day in his hands: a shoulder entry wound that went down vertically.

“Surrender.” That was all the gunslinger said.

The remaining guard raised his bloodied hands, not interested at all to put his life on the line for minimum wage. “Here! I’ll even unlock it.”

“At least some of these morons have some sense.” An obnoxious laugh shrilled through the air as two people came into view. A younger man, a Hadrian, his arms wrapped around a much older woman with a thin figure and bright white hair.

He purred and whispered something into her ear, getting a cackle out of her. While lovingly rubbing his tattooed cheek, the woman addressed the guard, “Thank you. Makes our jobs ever easier. Didn’t want to have to cut off some thumbs from your friends out here, now did we?”

The guard imputed his finger into the scanner, the door slid open. The gunslinger casually stepped in and pistol whipped him unconscious before twirling the gun back into his holster. As he got to work, digging out his tablet to begin the hacking process, Windex wandered over toward the other injured guards. “So how in the Dragon's name can a skinny-arm sharpshooter actually curve the bullet a full ninety degrees down? That's a lot more than shooting really good."

The gunslinger said nothing as he pulled open a panel to reveal about seven different colored wires, attaching conduit into one of them.

“Sharpshooters are a dime a dozen these days but what's your secret? Telekinesis like Valentino and Desert Eagle?"

Silence.

"Hey skinny arms.” The Hadrian looked up at Mr. Clean, irked at the lack of a response. “Skinny, I know you people have shit hearing but I know you can hear me. So why don’t you answer me?”

The man began to type a few commands into the tablet, scrolling through the list of functions for what he needed.

Windex held out his razor sharp claws while walking towards Clean. “Are you uh too fffing dumb to understand me? I know your backwards, literal bumfuck language kind of takes away from the eloquence of my speech so I’ll ask again real...slowly...this...time.” He latched his claws onto his shoulders, “How did you curve the bullet?”

Mr. Clean looked back over at him, gave him that same glare he gave the guards, and went back to work.

“Hey, hey, hey.” With each 'hey', he emphasized it with a kick to the calves.

Clean sighed, not looking away from his tablet but answering absolutely deadpan, “I use little invisible goblins to kick the bullets for me."

Now Windex was the one who was silent.

"They live in my gun.”

“Okay, now listen here you lit…”

“Zaichik…” Lysol let out, “Leave the man to his work. Remember what I said?”

Windex awkwardly turned to face her, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, “Yes mommy I know.” He replied, though not at all revealing the context of what she had told him in private.

She held out her arms, “Good! Now come over here, it’s been too long since I held my most valuable treasure.” The two embraced, letting out a kiss that was far too loud for anyone else to feel comfortable with. Lysol wiped her lips, “Oh Bon Ami, I would like my drill now.” While Clean had to deal with Windex’s antics, Bon Ami had Lysol.

The girl had remained out of sight while the other three took care of the guards, content to simply guard the hefty piece of equipment and not expose herself to gunfire. Hearing Lysol calling out to her, however, she let out a sigh and bent down to pick up the oversized, high-tech drill. With a grunt, she lifted it off the floor and then quickly walked over to where Lysol and Windex were, making an effort to raise the machine a little higher to offer it to the older woman.

“Here you go.” She said hastily.

Lysol let out a haughty laugh as the drill was held up to her, Bon Ami’s arms shaking to keep it up, “Little girl do you expect me to drill from here?” Her hand gestured toward the metallic vault door, “Now please, use your head.”

Bon Ami narrowed her eyes on the woman. She had half a mind to just drop the drill and leave at that moment, but instead she took a deep breath and began moving towards the vault door, struggling to carry the drill all the way there. “I don’t expect you to do anything at this point.” She muttered under her breath. Seeing her approach, Mr. Clean grabbed the drill and helped her set it down, allowing a grateful Bon Ami to rest her arms, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t expect anything from you either, so it’s good to know at least one of our expectations was subverted.” Lysol coolly answered as she waved the girl off and took her position beside the drill and it’s connected tablet, waiting for Clean to finish what he was doing.

“Alright.” He pulled out the conduit and slammed the panel closed, “The elevator is now back online, and heading up.”

Giving a nod, Lysol informed mission control. “We have reactivated the elevator, beginning the drill.”

“Perfect Lysol. Message me when both entrance vaults have been breached.” Mission Control ordered.

“Zaichik…” Lysol said as she put on her industrial strength goggles, “If you would.”

“Of course, Mommy.” Windex sang his spell, conjuring forth a crystal that encased the drill bit to strengthen it’s piercing potential.

A relatively quick conjuring, Lysol gave Windex the usual gluttony of praise then signaled him to get back. The drill sputtered to life, puffing out smoke and shooting out sparks as it made contact with the vault. This was by far the most time consuming part of all this, and if they didn’t knock out that teleportation jammer, it would take a lot longer as well.

---

The Guards

The last of the guards had been rounded up and gagged, giving the five, or rather four, 'guards' a little leeway in terms of time. They had their missions to do, and of course they would have to remain ever vigilant but compared to the laborious drilling or getting into a firefight, this wasn’t too bad. Colt strolled over to Eagle and SIG in the control room, her rifle and arm encased by the same ethereal vines that helped dispatch the big guard. The two were keeping a close eye on the security feeds, in case SWAT or the YBs tried to enter through a different entrance. “Eagle, you busy?” She asked.

“I’m just here to beat up people and look menacing, and there’s no one to beat up right now, so no. What do you need?” The armored young man said amicably.

“Glock needs some help carrying the explosives, she was wondering if you would help?”

“Glock?” SIG asked incredulously, turning away from the screen, “Why didn’t just she ask me?”

“Uh sir, you ain’t a superhuman vampire that’s why. Try lifting some more and maybe your girl will ask for you next time.” Colt playfully remarked.

“Man, sheesh I just asked.” SIG lightly laughed. He tapped Eagle’s shoulders, “I got it under control here. Keep your comms on in case of anything.”

Desert Eagle nodded. “Will do, chief.” He replied before following Colt out of the control room. “She’s going to be the one setting everything up, right? I can move things around no problem, but I don’t know the first thing about explosives.” He admitted.

“Yeah babe don’t worry about it. She’s good with this sort of thing. If she wasn’t, she would of...you know... exploded.” The two walked to the back of an armored truck, most of the content having already been emptied out by either the drones or her. “Grab those two boxes in the corner.”

“Bleh!” Firestarter interjected as he sat back up, drool running down onto his straitjacket; his body resting right next to the boxes. He was murmuring some sounds or lyrics under his breath, but it was more gibberish than anything.

“I would get it but…” She pointed toward him sitting there, “Ain’t no way I’m getting anywhere near that junkie.” She thought about what she said, and quickly backpedaled, “But don’t worry, as long as you don’t knock off those headphones you’re fine.”

Eagle chuckled at her words. “I’m not worried.” He said simply. Rather than walk into the back of the truck to grab the boxes, he simply crossed his arms and focused. After a moment the boxes began to rise into the air, staying clear of Firestarter as they floated out of the truck and hovered above Eagle himself. “Where do you want them?”

She waved for him to follow her, “Over here, it’s a little way down the garage tunnel.” She watched the spectacle of them floating in the air, giggling out loud as she had a realization “Man I’m dumb. I could have just used my vines to get them out.” Said vines flashed brightly for a second before returning to her normal hue.

“It’s fine. As long as we get the job done, right?” Eagle replied.

The sound of someone pacing back and forth, Glock made her presence known; with schematics in hand and her aviators resting on her head, the Asian girl was murmuring something involving mathematics under her breath. Though this time much more coherent for Desert Eagle’s enhanced hearing to make sense of. “Thank you, you could put those boxes over there.” She pointed to one of the cylindrical support pillars.

“What’s wrong girl?” Colt asked as she walked over to her friend to comfort her.

“Shitty city planning that’s what.” Glock exclaimed though Colt’s eyebrow made it clear she wanted to hear more. “You know the construction job?”

“Yeah?” Colt nodded along.

One of the chief components of the heist was to utilize the underground highway construction that the city had commissioned to place their getaway vehicles for the eventual escape into the sewers. Behind fifteen feet of concrete was their only way out. Except, based on her own scanning schematics, it was actually twenty. “Actually nevermind, I don’t want to get into it.” She waved her hand, “We’re just gonna need a bit more explosives.” She then turned her attention to Eagle, “Hey quick question, do vampires fly or jump really high? I need to do something high up. I would use my flight suit, but uh…” She rubbed her neck, “I don’t want to flood this whole place with exhaust.”

“Uh, not inherently, but I’m sure I can get it done. What do you need me to do?” He replied.

“I’ll use my laser pointer, just place it there.” The distance between the roof and the wall had to be about fifteen to twenty feet, lacking any distinguishable markings besides a reflective paint to catch the light of car headlights inside.

“I can try to help with my vines.” Colt added.

“Definitely. But he’ll need to input a combination into them to prime them. I don’t think you have, what do you call it, the finer control over the vines to do that.” Glock walked over to the case and flipped them open. Multiple charges sat there nestled in black shock resistant padding, “These bad boys will burn at 2000 degrees Celsius and dig about, I’ll say, six to ten feet into whatever you want open. Add in C4 and hey, we got a big fu...Sorry mom. A big freaking hole. Too bad these would have collapsed the elevator shaft and we could have used them in the vault. Instead we have to use Lysol’s stupid drill.”

“Yeah.” Colt smiled, “She’s probably throwing a bitch fit with your girlfriend right about now.” She didn’t know if the two were together, but she had knack sensing this sort of thing, “She’s like that with everything girl she works with.”

“I swear, I can’t stand that literal black widow.” Glock added, “I feel bad for her Hadrian boy toy after she rips his head off to survive off of his sustenance.”

“Well, I shouldn’t judge seeing as I am, you know, a vampire.” Desert Eagle commented as he used his telekinesis to place the charges where Glock pointed - he could jump over to prime them when needed, but for now he stayed put. “But I’m not going to be happy if I hear she’s been mistreating…” The young man trailed off for a moment. “Shit, I forgot her codename. Whatever, let’s just finish this.” He said as he continued to place the charges.

“Oh please with your looks, no one cares if you need to get a suck off every now and then.” Colt lampshaded as she placed one of the charges onto the mark and brushed her brades away from her face, “Oh babe, if you would.”

Eagle chuckled at the comments, but opted to say nothing. He was sure he’d be in big trouble if she had been there to see that exchange. Instead of saying anything, he went straight to work, using all of his strength to jump up into the space between the wall and the roof, landing beside the charges and starting to input the combinations required to prime them.

“But yeah, Lysol is the absolute worst. There’s a reason why the girl who can shrink into any literal size isn’t on that team.”

Glock cleared her throat as the last of the charges were readied, pulling out the detonator resting on her belt. She pressed one button and each of the charges lit up bright red, “Okay you two back away.”

“Sure thing. I didn’t plan on getting blown to pieces today.” Lucas quipped as he and Colt moved far away from the wall.

Walking several feet away and cowering behind a pillar, Glock stared down at the ignition switch. “Alright. Three. Two. One.”

---

Riverside, California
Mission Control

Staring at the left uppermost monitor, Charlie watched the situation unfold from the perspective of the news crew on the scene. Standing over his more rotund friend as he issued more orders and received more updates, the criminal lawyer stayed unusually quiet beyond the odd comment or two. Though the sound on the news report was muted, the feed more than illustrated the utter chaos befalling the streets of San Diego. On screen at that very moment a wall of crystals manifested and surrounded the now porous police barricade. Charlie chuckled at that, “I have to hand it to these little twerps, they’re more competent than the average government employee. I thought you said this after school club was supposed to be down a few members.”

Mission control audily groaned and flailed his free hand at Charlie to get him to shut up, trying to receive the latest communique. His ear pressed against the headset, trying to listen to Glock. “What was that? Go again.”

The sound of collapsing debris and whisking dusk partially obfuscating her response, “I repeat, we have breached the first layer of the…” A loud bang of concrete slabs hitting the floor again silenced her.

“Of the what?”

“Of the wall! What else would we be trying to breach!? According to my new calcs, we have to do this twice, not just once more. Higher chance of a wall cave in mind you.”

“Shit...be careful.” Mission control typed another set of commands into his drones for an entirely unrelated reason related to Glock’s message. Multitasking was rather a pain, “Fill me in if anything else comes up.”

“Understood, over and out.”

“Damn it. Damn it.” He muttered under his breath, trying not to lose his cool. He downed another shot of his energy drink, wiped it off his stubble, and went back to work trying to tirelessly coordinate this whole mess. When Charlie first approached him about this mission, he was more than ecstatic. $150 million from just the gold bars alone, potentially doubled depending on how much Charlie was able to sell these magic artifacts for in the black market. It was so much money, in fact, that he chose to forgo his usual cautiousness and contact a few people he knew from the LLC who might be interested in a job like this; he even went a step forward and recommended they bring in another crew, a group of upstart villains known as the Cabal when he realized they were fishing for the same prize. Charlie was hesitant but he figured with a job this big, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Though now that he was in the thick of it, he was second guessing himself. Or he would be if he had the time or the mental energy too second guess himself. Going this far out of his comfort zone was eating at him, his mind festering on every possible negative outcome. It didn’t matter that one extra explosive charge through the wall seemed rather quaint given everything else going on at the same time; but the butterfly effect could be in full effect here. Those extra charges, for example, could leave them trapped in there and him short $300 million.

MC switched focus to another monitor, going back to Charlie’s question a minute later. Which surprised Charlie, the lawyer having been certain he had moved on from it. “They are missing a few in their lineup. Nightshade resigned though with the jammer in place, I didn’t think he would factor much into the equation. Stella has not been seen since the Thanksgiving coup, while Cosmic hasn’t been seen for weeks. A brick like him missing is a godsend.” He held out his index finger, “Hold on Charlie let me do this.” MC went about inputting and checking on the drones he had stationed outside watching the fight unfold.

“Right, right.” Charlie said aloud though he was more talking to himself, “I noticed the bug one isn’t there or the other big robot isn’t there either. Thank god right.” He added jazz hands, “The bug one could have used all the bankers against us.”

“You’re going to have to be much more specific about the robot.”

“The girl one.”

“They have two.”

Charlie rolled his eyes, “The one where the girl goes into it, not the sexy French maid one.”

“Makeshift? Well she’s there. I’m staring right at HER AT THIS VERY MOMENT! I SWEAR MISSY IF YOU SEND THOSE STUPID FAIRIES AGAIN IN FRONT OF MY DRONES! Ah! Ahhh! There will be consequences. Major consequences!” MC abruptly shouted as he banged his fist against the keyboard, letting out some impotent rage. “Ah you think you can spy on my crew? Hmm Missy, well let’s see how you handle .556 machine gun fire!”

---

Downtown San Diego
The Suits

The situation on the streets was about what you would expect. Compared to the sustained fire unleashed by the SDPD on Hugo during the initial salvos, most of it had been reduced substantially. While a few officers were still shooting at the makeshift circular encampment that the Suits had created around the main entrance to the bank, most were now focused on the Hellhounds still running amok. Officers who had only arrived on the scene with their holstered pistols were either the first to be killed or the first to fall back. Those well armed were able to keep pace with either a few well timed shotgun blasts or holding down their trigger until their magazines were spent.

Smoke from the charred wreckage of exploded vehicles filled the air, the high speed winter winds blowing them every which way. The sound of this commotion was about what you would expect, Hugo’s constant suppression made for a loud rhythmic drum, only ever paused when he needed to reload. The hounds from hell let out the expected deathly shriek while most of the sirens had been far too damaged to work properly. The only comfort for the officers and the Young Bloods had been the fact that the downtown had been evacuated, besides the hostages most civilians were safe.

Hugo Boss inserted another magazine into his modified weapon, returning to his set rhythm. He never liked this part of the job. As the giant stood on top of the makeshift wall, taking fire from the remnant of the police force, he tried his best not to focus on the specifics. This was an anti-tank rifle, it tore through everything. Everything. He knew he couldn’t avoid it but when he got a ‘direct’ hit, he could feel his stomach sink. He always added some detail to the fallen, a narrative to their lives that made their unexpected deaths a bit more deserved. ‘That one beats his wife. She’ll be glad he’s gone.’ He thought as he took out a SWAT officer. ‘That one likes to steal from the people, the community will be better for it.’ This time a police cruiser exploded. ‘She’s an addict. She made her bed.’ That one for a beat cop in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was an unfortunate predicament when the best way to provide for your people was through death and violence; his strength and size invited these opportunities. Of course he could say no, but was it morally right to say no when his people dreamed of freedom? The Lord had made him gifted for a reason, it would be a sin not to use it. Silver and his ilk still sat on their throne paid for in the blood of the innocent. The Condor Regime endured, and the Anti-Condoristas needed these resources for the fight. His sister could never know where he got it, she didn’t need to know.

“Hugo, focus fire on the central vehicles.” Dolce ordered as he sent out another volley of projectiles at the feet of the officers, making them easy prey for the Hellhounds.

“Understood sir.” He reloaded his weapon and took aim, keeping a keen eye out for any of the Young Bloods cowering in the wreckage. That had been the unexpected silver lining of this mission, getting to deal with them personally. Though he was a professional and wouldn’t outright seek to antagonize any of them, he wouldn’t refuse the satisfaction of killing one or two of those fascist collaborators. He let out another torrent of destruction, tearing through the armored cars though it lacked the impact of destroying the flanks.

“Here Jefe, let me help you.” Valentino said in a mock Mexican accent, waving his arms about to shift and move the vehicles about to open up new lines of sight. The cowering officers were cut off guard, finding themselves out in the open. The middle aged man did this for several more seconds until the snag of a nearby round almost striking him sent him back under the wall.

Still inside the lobby with two glowing purple streams going from her hands onto both Dolce and Hugo, Prada let out a laugh at Valentino’s little display. “Oh come on love, reckon you were out there for about five seconds. And they sent you, tail tucked between your legs, already?”

“Ha bloody ha, you Brit.” Valentino said this time in a mock English accent, looking over to his colleague behind him. “In case you forget I don’t have that forceshield stream that the other two got. What, you expect me to get shot in the ass and take one for the team?”

“Aight, I can live that.” Prada replied.

Ralph Lauren temporarily grew back to normal size, revealing herself to have been sitting next to Valentino. “I can live with that too.” Then just like that, she went back to being small.

He whisked his hands at them, “You guys, gals, whatever, are worse than my wife.”

“Ex-wife you mean.” Prada said as she got a bit closer to the entrance to ensure that she was fully covering the two main pillars of the group.

“Quiet, both of you.” Dolce, one of the pillars, ordered as he watched a new predicament unfold before him. The Hadrian was on the field, having summoned a wall of crystals to protect the cops and shore up their defenses. They still had fifteen minutes they had to burn, and he wasn’t just going to let them encase and ensnare them. Though there was one upside to the wall: if they can’t shoot the cops, the cops can’t shoot at them. That gave them a moment to breathe. “Etro.”

The sorcerer had simply been standing behind the wall, observing the battle as it transpired, but the mention of his codename made him turn to look at Dolce. “Yes?”

“How is the fodder holding up?” The squad leader asked as Bael took one of the gargoyles directly while the other had it’s arm blown off by another barrage from a vehicle camping the backline.

“There’s about a dozen hounds left, most have been put down by heavy weapons or the Young Bloods themselves. They should buy us some time still, but not a lot. They don’t have much of a fight left in them.” Etro answered truthfully with an air of nonchalance. “The fallen are still in good shape, they should prove quite a challenge for the heroes and the police even if they get rid of all of the hellhounds first.” He explained.

A pint-sized Ralph Lauren jumped towards him, sitting on his shoulder. “The fallen, what are those?” She asked.

“Oh, the gargoyles, I suppose you could call them.” He replied promptly.

“The gargoyles?” Ralph Lauren repeated. “What, you mean like the one that just got its bloody arm blown off?”

Etro chuckled. “Well, yes. They don’t feel pain, so in the end it’s not too much of an impediment for them. Losing a leg would’ve been far worse.” He stated, before turning back to Dolce. “Anyway, that’s-”

“Wait hold on kid, we have a dumbass charging.” Valentino remarked as a hero, one that none of them could identify, was running as fast as he could toward them. For a second each of them felt anxiety, albeit different levels of it, as this unknown variable charged onto the scene. But Valentino acted quickly and caught him in a telekinetic hold; he was lifted ten or so feet in the air, giving the others further away from the wall a chance to see him.

“MC, you seeing this?” Dolce inquired before additionally asking Etro, “You’ve fought with the Bloods before. Recognize this one?”

A reconnaissance drone flew close to his face, hovering around him to study him. “Oh this is just great. Must be some new vigilant from the streets.”

Etro shrugged at the question. “I haven’t seen this one before, but their roster seems to change every other week, so I’m not too surprised.”

“What should we do with him?” Valentino asked as he held his hands up toward him.

“I don’t know, uh hmm. Just get rid of him.” MC said exacerbated.

“Understood.” Valentino replied. At the same time, one of the four police helicopters flew back into view. Kicking up air and nearly deafening the crew with how low it came, it turned to its side to reveal a SWAT gunner perched onto its side. Hugo and Dolce stood in place because of Prada’s shielding though the rest scattered behind the chipped pillars further inside though this didn’t last long. An idea formed in Valentino’s head and he decided to run with it. This hero was a pain to keep still, and he himself wasn’t sure how long he could keep him in its grip; so might as well chuck the problem away. “You have a flight to catch kid.” He said, fully channeling the 80s superheroes he grew up loving though with how loud it was and the distance between the two he wasn’t even sure if he heard.

The unknown hero was thrown face first into the side of the cockpit, directly hitting one of the two pilots and instantly causing to sputter violently. It began to circle in on itself, with the thieves losing track of it as it flew behind the bank.

While the wall may have temporarily aided them, it was time for him to deal with it before the enemy could regroup. They had scattered the police force, now it was time to focus on the heroes. Dolce grabbed the side of his concrete wall, allowing his rock gauntlets to reform. “Prada, what's the range for your stream?”

Prada etched herself back across the threshold of the door. “Forty, forty-five feet if I really exert myself.”

Dolce looked back down at the wall, estimating the distance. “I can work with that.” He murmured under his breath before speaking up to the rest of the crew “I’m heading down there to break their line. Etro, how much control do you have over the fodder?”

“I don’t control their every move, but they’re bound to my will. My targets are theirs. Tell me what you need them to do” The sorcerer replied.

“They have set up an area to treat the wounded, have the hounds and Fallen focus in on them.” Dolce turned to Hugo, “Continue doing what you’re doing. Now Valentino.”

The man perked up, “Yes?”

“If any of the heroes try to rush us again like that last one, start throwing hostages.” Valentino wanted to crack a laugh, only to see how dead serious Dolce was, “Force them to catch them.”

“Well uh, okay then.”

“Ralph Lauren.” He looked down at his shoulder, knowing that she had jumped onto him in the intervening time, “Do what you do and take one of them off the field.”

“Will do.” She jumped off of his shoulder and grew back to original size. She held up her right hand to reveal her rapidly growing index finger; in a matter of seconds the nail reached the same size as her actual finger, with an extremely sharp and pointed edge. She slid against the wall, sizing up the Young Bloods she could clearly see on the field. She had more than a few that she could choose from, so she left it to chance. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...”

She landed on the Princess, standing out there blasting electricity bolts at the Hellhounds.

“Catch a tiger by the toe”

Then came Frostbite helping the wounded.

“If he hollers let him go,”

Her finger now pointed at Bael clashing with the fallen.

“Eeny... meeny... miny... moe.” She had her target, Jackrabbit standing out there next to Frostbite and mouthing something to someone. She perked up, gleefully smiling and waiting for him to get out of cover to get a clear shot. Which didn’t take much time. As the gargoyle with the missing arm trashed about, he nodded to someone and rushed towards the beast. “Well here we go!” Lauren said aloud, flicking her nail off with a precise swipe through the air. The nail struck true, nicking the hero on the side of his neck. It drew blood but other than that it wouldn’t have felt worse than a needle sting. He wouldn’t feel any different for a while, until he made the poor decision to approach her.

Per Dolce’s instructions, Etro focused his will, the great stone beasts reacting accordingly. The one that Wyatt had flown towards turned to intercept the airborne Dra’Qunni, its massive hand looming above as it attempted to slam the superhero back into the ground and pin him down there. The other, meanwhile, ignored the rockets that had blown its arm off and instead began lumbering towards the wall, aiming to go after the injured officers.

Using his powers, Dolce brought forth rock from the ground to launch him from his feet and onto the center of the intersection. He took his power stance: outstretched, bent knees, and raised arms. He focused on the crystals, the material itself magical and alien, though just as much a product of this earth. With one pull of his arms he tore through the centerpiece, splitting the asphalt and crystal in two. Pieces flung into the upper floors of nearby buildings as the street ferociously shook from his display. It hadn’t been completely cleared, but it had opened a major line of sight for Hugo. And more importantly, it gave him the opportunity to focus on the second objective. It wasn’t enough to tear through the barrier, he needed to attack its source. He skated forward, mounds forming and smoothing to allow his speed. He kept an eye on his distance, the stream acted as his harness, but he needed to deal with Crystal Heart quickly.

[Galnius]

Mika

Mikaela Mynd is Being Tsundere

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

As soon as Jan arrived and stepped inside of Mika's room, the girl began speaking about how he was late and she's escaped dozens of kidnapping attempts already - even if she were not clearly tongue-in-cheek, he wouldn't have bought it. Besides, he didn't even take that much time to come here - sure, Bowdyn stopped him for a second, explaining to him that maybe he doesn't need to answer every single call for aid when the person he is guarding is clearly not in any danger, but that was basically it.

And, of course, the joke quickly broke apart and Mika explained that she merely wanted to see him.

"Ah, well, that's fine!" He could stay here for a little while, then. After all, who knows, maybe in this ten minutes he's around, some demon or supervillain is going to ambush Mika out of nowhere? At least, he can use that excuse. While the girl was still trying to figure out what to say, Jan sat down on the floor, his wings folding.

It clearly took effort for her to say it all, but Mika was thankful. Thankful for his aid, and for being the first person in the world who actually cared for her - and even though she cut herself short, she's clearly been trying to become a better person herself. Make new friends, find it in herself to become grateful... Hearing everything she had to say, even with the constant cuts and mumbling - or maybe especially with them - was heartwarming, and Jan was smiling brightly by the end.

"That's... great to hear," the Virgil answered and glanced to the side. "For me, especially. Before I went to Heaven, I was an aspiring hero, just like... some people you know - and making someone's life a little happier, even in this form... is almost like I achieved that dream in the end, you know?"

Mika did not want to merely say thanks, however - the holidays were coming up, and she was dead set to give back to him for the occasion somehow - a puzzle which left Jan in thought.

"I could ask you to visit the church for the occasion, you do need it - but I guess that counts as "asking for nothing", doesn't it?" the Virgil answered, while his eyes briefly darted across the room. "We don't have any earthly possessions ourselves, and it isn't like we lack anything up above - it is Heaven, after all. But, I suppose... if you're set on getting me something and won't compromise..."

Hm... how should he say this... "If you leave a guitar for me in your room, I will be able to play for you next time. That's... another thing I aspired for in my past life."

" A guitar... Yeah, yeah I could do that. " A hundred ideas ran through Mika's head as her brow furrowed. She could gift him hers, but that didn't feel right. Just taking a picture of one didn't seem right either. For one, it might as well be stealing. Whole she didn't normally care, this was a gift. For two, the lesser quality could effect the tuning. Then, of course, there was what style the guitar should be in. Jan send like an acoustic sort of guy.

Mika was, in a way, anticipating his answer ahead of time, at least as a possibility, so she had done a good bit of research. This proved detrimental though, as so many more options had come around. More questions, like what material, look, size, or color he would prefer. One of those could be answered now at least.

"Hey Jan? What's your favourite color?" As soon as the words left her mouth Mikaela realized just how little she knew about Jan. About any of her friends, really. What were normal things she knew friends knew about each other? These all are unanswered. She could guess, but even then she wouldn't know. Even if they told her she'd probably forget anyway. There was only one way to ensure that the information stayed.

As Jan answered her first question she grabbed a notepad and pen from her desk, ones she typically used solely for her habit of people watching. Names of random students and teachers and what they were doing when she had observed them covered about a quarter of the pages in total. A quarter wasted. She ripped them out by bundles and tossed them into a small overflowing bin, which they immediately bounced out of and onto the ground. Eh.... I'll get that later. For now...

"Since I have you here anyway, I have a few other questions. What is your favorite food? What is your favorite band? Hmm, I already know where you " live", so that's a dumb question." Mikaela chewed on the back of her her pen as she thought for more questions, holding up her now free hand to hopefully stop him from answering until she was done. "Ah, right. What are your hobbies that aren't guitar or watching me? What kind of movies do you like? What kind of girl or guy are you interested in? Are you a fan of any sports? And finally, what is your favorite animal? Answer all of them please, I'll repeat them if you forget any. Oh, and one more thing. Can you um... Visit over the holidays? Just kinda stay nearby, at least? You are my guardian angel, at least according to yourself, and it's not like I don't literally talk to you. Couldn't you guard me from, I don't know, having a crappy Christmas or something? Dying of loneliness? Protecting me from being alone in the house? That's gotta be allowed at Christmas, at least. "

---

Angelica Dalin

---

After introducing himself to the girl, Icarus offered her a smile and a nod as she seemed to recall hearing about him from her teammates, but the last thing she said left him more than a bit confused. Rather than return the gesture and introduce herself, she ordered him to sit down so that she could check his foot for injuries. Unsure of how to react at first, the blond boy scratched his head in confusion.

"Umm..." He mumbled. "...Yeah, okay. If you insist." He added with a shrug, using his immanent charge to create a small stool to sit on and doing exactly that before grabbing his foot to get a good look at it. "See there's no injury down here at all. And even if there was it'd heal up in a few seconds. I'm not exactly a fragile person." He quipped. "So yeah, I'm fine. Can we go back to skipping stones?"

---

The way Icarus reacted caused Angelica to feel like she might have been a bit too forceful. Her worry was getting the better of her, and now she was alienating someone she just let because of it, without even thinking about how minor of a cut it would have been if it was even there. Was she still anxious from that wave? Maybe that was it. She inhaled deeply through her nose, making sure to release any tightness in her chest as she exhaled, just like she had been told by the team therapist.

" Right, right, thank you. Sorry. I just- I'm a little worried about this vacation. My team isn't exactly good at not getting hurt. Even if just training...." Angelica trailed off as she crouched down to gingerly pick up the stones she had so haphazardly dropped. "So uh... Over here is where i was thinking of skipping them" she said, getting up and bringing them to a place where the water seemed even more still, nary a ripple disturbing it. They were a good forty feet from the swimmers, and more so from Whitney and Red, to whom she gave a small wave. "Have you ever done this before? I am not super good at it, but I managed to get three skips once that I can remember." As if to demonstrate, she tossed a stone almost like she were throwing a frisbee, her arm going across her and her wrist flicking violently, causing the flat stone to bounce once and immediately go under. "I'm uh... A little out of practice."

[Finland SSR]

Mikaela Mynd is Being Creepy

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

Mika did not mind the answer - she quickly answered that she will be able to get a guitar for him and then wandered into her thoughts. For a bit, Jan considered taking it back. It'd be far too much of a burden if she was now forced to spend her savings on him. She wasn't particularly well off, right? And living with a single parent, too, while guitars, especially good guitars, were very expensive...

Before Jan could speak up again, Mika suddenly launched a question at him.

"Ah, uh..." the Virgil mumbled under his breath, caught off guard, and scratched the back of his head. "I guess... Green? Or blue? If you are asking about the guitar, then I honestly don't care about the color that much..."

Mika's antics, meanwhile, turned rather... concerning. The girl pulled out a notebook and a pen, pulling out pages until she reached a blank one, and began the interrogation. One question after another flew at Jan, each one increasingly personal - and there was no escape. He could not just turn around and fly away, he was unable to lie, so the only thing left to do was to take a breath, close his eyes, and answer to the best of his ability.

"Well I haven't really needed to eat for quite a while, but if I remember my first life correctly, I liked having cold borscht whenever possible. It's... Polish food."
"Closest thing to a favorite would probably be, um... Luxtorpeda. Though I haven't listened to them since their second album, I don't know if they've changed."
"I'm not particularly interesting in that regard, um... I read books. Geography ones, usually. I tried to catch up on all the years of education I missed, too... but that got cut short."
"I used to watch westerns when I was younger, and a few superhero films, too, but my parents wouldn't let me see the ones in big theaters. They said there's too much indecency and propaganda in them."
"Uhm-can-can I skip this question...?"
"Well I suppose playing football with my friends when I was a kid doesn't really count... I saw Olympic fencing on TV once and that caught my attention. It's why I usually summon a rapier when fighting someone."
"Uh... Penguins."

And finally, after a breath and a sigh... One last question. Can he visit during the holidays? Protect her from dying from loneliness, or being alone in the house?

"Well, it's a very holy time, isn't it? And I did say I could ask you to go to church more often, right?" the Virgil answered. "So we could make a deal. There are Catholic churches in this city, so if you visit one on the night before Christmas, I will show up to join you."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

November 25th

---

---

Noticing the timely arrival of the rest of the Los Angeles Stars to assist in the hostage situation, Icarus allowed his bow to dissipate and listened as Star Queen, the de facto leader in Captain Quake's absence, got a situation report from Armorer and then concocted a plan to deal with the villains holed up inside the university. As expected, the sidekick got the least glamorous job of all, and per Star Queen's instructions, Frostbite would be joining him in heading through the back to take out the guards. The blond boy had only been back for two days and still didn't know what to make of the Young Blood's presence, given her less than friendly demeanor during their last meeting, not to mention she was likely carrying a lot of baggage given Quake's situation.

Still, he was a hero and so was she. They might not be on the best of terms, but that didn't mean they couldn't work together to protect the innocent.

"Understood." He said to Star Queen through the communicator once she was done explaining his and Frostbite's part. Having already scouted the building before alongside Armorer, he knew where to go and immediately began moving, circling around the building and trying to keep to cover so as to avoid alerting any lookouts as to where he might be going. Thankfully, his lightning speed helped quite a bit with that. As he made his way to the back of the building, he heard Frostbite's voice through the communicator. "Yeah, I'll meet you there." He replied briefly.

It wasn't long until Surge found himself towards the back of the university laboratory, in front of a discreet staircase that led down to a metallic door. In a matter of a few moments, the blonde girl he was to team up with arrived to the same location. The electric hero nodded at her. "Frostbite, good to see you." He said to her, already beginning to walk down the staircase. He always figured she wasn't one for pleasantries, and he didn't want to waste any time, either. "I know one of their goons can turn his skin into metal and manipulate it to a degree, but I've only seen two of them at all, and I don't know the other one's power. I do know they're armed with SMGs, so we have to be careful." He said, opting to fill her peer in on what he knew of the situation.

Frostbite nodded at his assessment "Alright, thanks for filling me in. I think given our powers, you're better off taking the lead offensively, and I'll cover you with my ice."

Surge nodded. "Sounds like a good plan." He said and stepped forward to open the door. Despite his best efforts to remain stealthy, there was no way to stop the light metallic creaking that echoed down the basement when the door moved, but with the commotion that the other Stars were sure to be making right about then, the blond boy hoped nobody would notice.

In front of him was a large, gray concrete hallway with metallic doors lined on either side and a staircase at the far end leading into the rest of the building. Icarus slowly walked forward while keeping his eyes fixed on the staircase. "Do you think we should check all of these rooms, or just head upstairs?" He asked Frostbite in a hushed voice.

"No, the sooner we clear out the guards the better." Angelica replied to his question. Icarus nodded and moved towards the staircase, but just as he reached the bottom of it, the door suddenly opened, revealing the same man he had seen before.

"I knew I'd heard something!" He growled irritably, before looking back. "You two! Get over here!"

Thinking quickly, Icarus rushed the man before he could react, crackling azure gauntlets forming on his arms. The hooded man was pushed back out of the basement, and Icarus found himself standing on a spacious hallway. He noticed two other hooded thugs to his left, clearly having been on the way until his actions gave them pause. However, they snapped out of it rather quickly and, as the first man backed away, they pointed their guns at him. The blond boy quickly reformed his gauntlets into a large shield just in time to block the hail of bullets sent his way.

I wonder if the others are doing any better.

---

December 1st

---

---

Still floating in the lake, Kirisvala heard Angelica calling out to her. Turning to look at her friend, the Hadrian girl listened to her question and nodded, wondering what exactly she was going to do. Right before her eyes, Angelica skated towards the ramp at full speed, launching into the air and spinning gracefully before diving into the water like a spear, barely causing a splash and leaving only a few ripples in her wake until she resurfaced.

Needless to say, the display left Kiris more than a little impressed, and at its conclusion she cheered enthusiastically. "Wow, Angie! That was really sweet! Ya must've had to practice a lot to be able to do that!" She said cheerfully, clearly still a little in awe. "I like to think I'm athletic, but I couldn't do that if I tried." She continued with a chuckle. "Then again I'm much better on land than I am on ice or water."

Noticing Mars approach, she turned to look at him, only to giggle and shake her head as he complimented her. "Yeah, graceful like a water bark-bark." The pink-haired girl replied with a playful roll of her eyes. "But it's fine, it was only my first time tryin' it after all! I'm sure I could get better if I got to practice some more." She stated, glancing at Angelica and smiling.

The thought of skating practice gave her an idea that made her giddy, and she suddenly swam right up to Mars, grabbing his hands while her legs continued kicking to keep her afloat in the water. "Oh, Marsy, we could try it together!" She said as she beamed at her boyfriend.

---

---

Seeing the effect that his words seemed to have on the blonde girl, Icarus frowned. He'd been taken aback by how forceful she seemed at first, but perhaps he'd been a little snippy himself. He knew that even if he had hurt himself, which was unlikely, the wound would be healed just as quickly, but seeing as he had only just met this girl, it stood to reason that she wouldn't know that. Besides, what she was saying was true, the Young Bloods weren't exactly good at staying safe or out of trouble. He wasn't either, the scar across his chest a stark reminder of that.

"It's fine, don't worry. I'm not... mad or anything like that." He said in hopes of reassuring her a little, before following her to her designated stone skipping spot, making sure to pick any other suitable rocks he could find along the way - it wouldn't do to have just the one, after all.

Standing by the water, he watched the girl give it a try and listened to her question. "Uh, well I used to do it back when I lived overseas, but that was when I was still a kid, so I'm out of practice too." He answered as he grabbed a stone and got into position. "On days when the sea was calm I remember I could consistently get a couple of skips, but I wasn't great at it or anything." He continued. As he made his first attempt with a flick of his wrist, he noticed that the stone did not skip once, quickly sinking beneath the water. Notably, it flew quite far, surprising the blond boy.

"...Oh, right. I haven't done this at all since I got my powers, I guess." He realized, before grabbing another stone. "Let me try again." He said, taking a little more time than before in order to try and apply the right amount of force - and also correct any mistakes made previously. Sure enough, this time the stone skipped twice over the surface of the water before going under.

"There we go! That's better." He smiled, happy to know that he hadn't forgotten how to do this properly.

After a moment, he turned to look at the girl. "By the way, you still haven't told me your name."

---

December 21st

---

---

As she did her best to rescue and protect the officers that had survived the hellhound attacks and the salvos from the giant's gun, Crystal Heart suddenly felt that something was wrong. At that exact moment, the middle section of the wall was suddenly split apart, sending white shards flying into the air and exposing some of the officers that had previously sought cover behind the crystal formation. Astonished by this development, the alien heroine nonetheless refused to freeze up in shock. Realizing the danger that they were now in, she grabbed a few officers close to her and shoved them away in the direction of the intact portions of the wall so that they would not be sitting ducks for Hugo's bullets.

"Phoenix! Frostbite! Protect the injured!" She shouted at her teammates. Now that some of them were exposed, the team needed to work even harder than before to keep everyone safe.

Now, if given some space to breathe, the pink-haired Hadrian knew that she'd be able to repair the wall in a moment, thanks to her spells and the magical crystals she had prepared previously, but there was an issue with that, and - aside from the few hellhounds still rampaging across the outside of the bank and the massive stone beasts running amok, there was the gauntlet-wielding, suited villain that was heading straight towards her.

Seeing the incoming Dolce, Kirisvala prepared by crouching low and seemingly beginning to sing softly. Rather than finish, however, as Dolce closed in on her the heroine bolted forward, hoping the feint would get her an opening. There was no spell this time for the villain, just a good old fist to the face.

[Segral]

Carter Graystone
The Cockroach Litter: Part 2 (Stay Tuned for Part 3!)

Part 1

12:10 AM

He didn't know how long he had been running for. He didn't know if anyone could see him. He didn't care. He needed to get away from that club. Far away. He needed to disappear where no one could find him, where he could curl up and disintegrate into a thousand tiny parts and not a soul would discover him. It felt like someone had lit his spine on fire, and his nerves couldn't stop tweaking in and out and throwing his body in all directions. Even on falls and jumps that sent him to the ground, eating pavement crumbs and nearly blowing out his knees, he never stopped, he just kept going, kept running away from what was to come. He couldn't get caught in this. He was like a car in an auto wrecking machine. One piston on one side, one on the other, and soon, both would crush him to death like a tiny bug.

Ever since hopping out of the roof of Brass Rail, he hadn't touched back down on the street. He had been using the buildings' roofs, walls, and slopes, sprinting and leaping across the streets below and using his air to blast him up if he ran out of space. He was never very far up, maybe four or five stories at the most, but it felt higher, felt like cars and rickshaws were pinpricks and that streets were thin dashes in the ground. Almost like it was back at the Tower. Except this wasn't parkour for fun. This was real, and if he stopped moving when he could still be moving, or if he fell, he'd get hurt. So he kept moving, jumping over strip malls, apartment buildings, banks, balconies, even a temple at one point. That was the highest he got, and he only made it through by running over the roof instead of hopping through the highest parts. It was a good thing they had given him two hours to crash and relax before they left the hotel. If it wasn't for that nap, he would've ground to a halt minutes ago. Or maybe he would've gotten dizzy and just toppled over.

His legs were turning into wooden planks, shocks jolting through as he began to hop over an ascending row of building ceilings. He had leapt over a taxi stand that gently bustled with activity and loud shouting underneath him, followed by a petrol station that burnt his nose with the scent of oil as he passed over the thin gaps. Then, a tall building, and another tall building, the oil still burning his nose and adding a weird taste to the hot air in his mouth. At this hour, everything was dappled in glimmers from windows and street lights that cast a thin, faint, outline to everything against a backdrop of shadows with only one or two stars in the sky.

Maybe that was fucked him up once he reached the dome. As he approached the edge of the tallest building, he could see nothing but a massive gap between his edge and the edge of a domed building across the way, complete with what looked like towers or massive sticks flanking it on either side. A big jump, but nothing he couldn't handle. With a shaky, deep breath in, he let out a small blast of air underneath his feet, throwing him over a large, winding road and just short of the massive dome, his feet hitting what felt like the lip of the building. Getting up was even easier, despite the slope of the roof. There were grooves and rims and edges carved in, big cracks that gave him grip as he climbed up with his hands and feet, and the stone was full of friction, letting his worn-out Nikes dig into the surface. It was smooth climbing up to the top, his body still moving despite his arms screaming out for rest...until the spike. He hadn't seen it, but he felt it. One second, the dome was flattening out, becoming easier to climb up as he pulled his back foot forward, and the next, his back foot had stubbed on what felt like solid metal, causing an involuntary "FUCK!" to leap out of his mouth and for his entire body to arc clean over the spike and begin tumbling down the roof of the building.

The good news? He kept bouncing off the roof, so he didn't tear massive holes in his arms and legs. Bad news? It really stung! And it was dizzying as hell!!! He was basically falling head over heels, tumbling in and out and around as he fell further and further down the roof of the building, scrabbling uselessly with his hands in an attempt to break his fall. Three seconds later, he was falling into a complete void, about the time he had realized that his efforts were useless. With every last ounce of energy he had left, he straightened himself so that his back was parallel to the ground and he was facing straight up, and pushed the wind underneath his back in an attempt to break his fall.

The result was a hard, solid thunk as he slammed into what felt like a squelchy patch of mud, his back and hair and bandana instantly soaking over with thick, black sludge. Nasty. Could be worse though. Once the air had stopped ringing in his ears, he could hear what sounded like cattle and buffaloes braying and cawing, probably chewing on the clumps of tall grass he could see from the corners of his eyes as he stared up at the smoggy sky. He could have easily fallen in their shit. Or maybe he did, and he just didn't know it. Either way, he was too tired to pull himself out of it. Now that his back had finally hit the ground and his legs had stopped moving, the adrenaline had drained out of his body, and his entire form felt like it had just been locked in wood. His eyelids felt heavy, his head felt heavy, his nose felt heavy with all the wet mud and OIL that REFUSED to go away, his arms and legs felt heavy, it was like the mud had perfectly wrapped around every inch of his body, trying him to cradle him to sleep. It was pretty convincing too. But, instead of sleeping, he brought his hands to his face and pressed them in, pushing his hair back as he let out another blast of air through his nose.

How the hell did he get here?

---

11:45 PM

Maybe coming here was a bad idea. He hadn't drank as much as Garuda and the others, mostly because of how many eyebrows that would raise, but he had eaten, he had eaten a lot, and his entire body felt warm and woozy from how many good sauces and chunks of the fattiest, most mouth-watering cuts of meat imaginable were shoved inside his stomach. He tried to sneak away some to bring back to Harley, but after getting a dirty look from their server, he had dropped it all back to the table. Either way, it was coma-inducing, and that wasn't good in the middle of one of the most packed crowds Carter had ever seen, let alone been thrust in the middle of. He shouldn't have even been there. He thought the plan was to eat, drink, get the coma waves, and then go back to the hotel to crash. But apparently, the dinner was just the start. Gunpowder may have been the crew's favorite watering hole, but the Brass Rail, a kinda glammy looking nightclub near the upper right corner of Chandigarh that supposedly had the "#1 late-night Friday DJ set in North India", was their favorite party spot. It was a hassle just to get in, surrounded by a mix of people who were dressed in nothing sloppier than a button-up t-shirt, jeans rolled up at the ankles, and Western shoes, all jostling and elbowing in front of a practically barrier-less line and getting randomly turned around by bouncers, which sent more chaos into the crowd like a fucked-up game of human pinball. It was even worse when they got joined by the rest of Nagas. Not wanting anyone to be left out of the fun, Garuda had called up Khanda, Astra, and Rishi to join and party in disguise, and they had all turned up by the time the group's motorbikes and rickshaws had made it there. But...Khanda forgot his disguise, and before Rishi could mask him up with magic, their camp got swamped by fans begging for autographs and pictures.

Even Carter got pictures. He knew that people in India knew about him, he had checked that video that had gone viral of him. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF VIEWS!!! Plus, the press of him being in the new Randhawa, and hanging around with legendary ND Naga member Khanda? He was royalty. People would ask him to sign their T-shirts, their arms, even their collarbones (?), and for some reason, people kept staring at his hair, or pointing to it. White people couldn't be that rare here...were they? It was...a weird feeling. On one hand, it felt kind of cool! People NOTICED him here, more than they ever did in San Diego! He was powerful, he was fast, he was energetic, and NOBODY thought of him like that. But when people stared at his hair or rustled it when they grabbed his shoulders for a photo, it was hard not to feel...naked, like an insect on one of those insect display boards from middle school. Plus, the crowd was getting too close to comfort. He wasn't religious, but he was thanking gods of three different pantheons that the bouncer didn't throw him back. Guess he didn't want to be the one to kick Khanda and that one blonde kid out of the club.

Although, maybe he shouldn't have prayed so soon. The actual nightclub was like being caught in a pressure cooker, like the party where he had met the Young Bloods, except a thousand times worse. The actual club was cool, the acid green lighting and neon signs were crazy, all the smoke machines made everything super hazy and weird, and he always loved a good...dancer. None of the drinkers crashed into the dancefloor either, since the bars were set at the side of the massive room and several feet away from the main crowd, which let the DJ in a blue-lit booth behind the dance stage crank out his music at blaring volume without any interruptions in the flow. If it was a house party, it would've been a dream come true. Except it wasn't. It was a whole flesh sea of people, and it was pressing the breath out of his chest.

Usually he was pretty fearless about this stuff, but even finding a space to get his groove thang and shake his tailfeather was difficult. He kept getting jostled left and right, his arms shaking more and more every time. It was hard to catch his breath, and sometimes, he just had to stop in the middle of dancing to recollect himself. It was even harder to find his people. He would find a group of the crew, jump up and down and get the groove thang, and then as soon as the groove thang was obtained, he would get separated again by a flooding crowd, and the groove thang would be regulated to his own person. It was exhausting, and confusing, and holy crap, he really wanted to go to bed. It was hot in here too. His second T-shirt of the day was now soaking wet thanks to a thick layers of sweat that had begun coating his chest, pits, nose, hands, literally EVERYWHERE. His hair was literally gluing itself to his forehead, WHERE WAS THE FUN IN THIS? The song was pretty cool, though. He would have to check out that playlist Garuda sent him.

Eventually, his latest attempt at getting the groove thang on with his group flickered out, managing to stay inside the circle for about five minutes before someone jumped up a pole at the front and every pervert in the group tried to rush to the stage. Oh, don't get him wrong, he was tryna rush up there too, but of course, someone blocked him, and thirty seconds later, he was spat out at the back of the room, still sweaty, and still kind of sleepy. Maybe dancing wasn't for him. He kind of wished he was still outside, riding on the back of Garuda's bike through the streets as they chased after the elusive Brass Rail. He called it "Kapil Dev", after some cricket dude, and it ran about as fast as a cricket ball, whipping around corners and blowing through intersections like it was nothing. They had all charged out of Gunpowder like they were going to war, jumping in cars and trucks and vans and bikes and ripping down the street, a few with the sunroofs peeled back. The hot air was chilly, whipping his hair back underneath the spare helmet he had thrown on, but he didn't care. Everything was fast, exhilarating, but it was OPEN too, he could BREATHE in and out without water or claustrophobia getting in the way. What wouldn't he give to be on that bike now. Maybe he should get a motorcycle. Nah, too overplayed. Like half the Bloods had bikes, and not even cool-looking ones either. He needed something new, like a...moped, or a dirt bike, or an air glider. That would get the people talking.

For now though, he stuck to his own two feet, trudging over to one of the bar counters at the side of the club and throwing his elbow over the top as he waited for one of the tenders. Within seconds, one was at his side, a young man in a rumpled white dress shirt and skewed up tie, his hair almost as thick as the caterpillar on his lip. There was no point in trying to talk to him (he could barely hear himself think over the pulse), so instead of talking, Carter stuck his finger out and pointed towards a tall, clear bottle of what looked like water, which is really what he wanted right now. The tender gave a single nod and turned his back, grabbing the bottle and a tiny glass from the shelf. In one move, he popped the bottle, flipped it around, and began pouring as the bottle hit his hand, the clear fluid quickly filling the glass to the brim. One wedge of lemon at the top, and it was good to go. Why hadn't the tender ID'd him? Maybe it was because he was already inside the club, maybe just because it was water...

But why was it in a shot glass? Yeah, that had to be a shot glass. His stomach beginning to sway queasily, he brought the glass to his lips, quickly snaking his tongue to take the tiniest sip of the liquid possible. He promptly gagged as his tongue began to burn, nearly dropping the glass on his foot. Vodka. Of course it was vodka. Great. Juuuust great. What the hell was he supposed to do? He had done alcohol before. Rum and eggnog? Only his favorite. But vodka was a bit, uh...stronger. It even smelt weird. He hadn't even taken a shot before. Was someone else at the bar doing it with him? Uh, left turn...nope. Right turn...woah...

How had he not noticed that chick before? He should've noticed her, she looked weirdly familiar, like she had been on the cover of a magazine he had seen in an airport. Everything about her screamed "model". Especially her face. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, allowing Carter to get a full eyeful of her face, her long neck, her eyebrows, long, dark dashes that outlined even prettier eyes. She had to have been one of the prettiest girls Carter had ever seen. Even her hands were pretty, with long, white nails that gently set down a shot of her own. He was staring, staring for so long, that eventually, she turned to her left and stared right back at him, catching him red-handed. Would she think he was a creep? Oh crap, not another girl who thought he was a creep, pleeeeease say not another one...wait, why hadn't she walked away? She was still looking right back at him, and she was...smiling, a grin that made him involuntarily squeeze a smile out as he scratched the back of his neck. And then he did a little wave. God, that was stupid, why did he do the little wave?

She seemed to think it was cute though, because she giggled, and then she started slinking towards him, almost like she was gliding. He wanted to turn away out of embarrassment, but he couldn't, it was like something had a vice grip over him, a vice grip over his neck. Within a second, she was right next to him, craning that ultra-long neck next to his ear to shout something into it. "Why are you standing out here alone?" she asked teasingly, speaking in perfect English with a not-so-perfect accent. He could literally FEEL her breath scalding him. "You look so grumpy. You should dance with me instead. Finish your drink, and then get in there. I'll find you." she said, before finally pulling away and beginning to stride away. His head finally swiveled to follow her retreating back, and her face, her face as she turned over her shoulder and flashed him one last grin before striding off down the side of the room, hair waving underneath a glowing neon sign with well-placed bathroom symbols.

It was like the air had been cleared around his head. He didn't feel queasy, he didn't feel sick, he felt...buzzed. All he wanted to do was drink the shot. Drink it, and then get on the floor and shake that damn tailfeather until it flew off. How hard could it be? Just throw it up, chug it down. Simple as. With a deep breath, he did exactly that; gripped the glass, brought it to his lips, threw the whole thing back, and let the vodka slide down his throat. He didn't cough, not once. A warm glow suddenly shocked his spine, sending tremors up and down, immediately pushing down the gnawing in his stomach. One step completed, and he already felt GREAT. This girl was already good news for him. Now, to get into the floor.

Marching away from the bar without even bothering to fork up some cash for his drink, he stomped right into the floor, charging directly into the crowd...and slamming right into a man's side. The man was huge, a lurking, hulking, beast, with a shaved head and a thick, overgrown beard to match. He had earrings in both ears of what looked like stars, rings on at least five fingers, and what looked like a necklace around his throat. Iced out to the max. Oh, and his face was WEIRD. Spots all over it, like he had vitiligo or something, and lips that looked discolored. In the green light, he looked downright terrifying.

"Carter, stay back!" a sudden voice shouted as the bald man glowered at him, except the voice was loud and clear, and wasn't in the flesh. It was in his head, like Yoshi would've done at home. And it was a familiar voice. Rishi. He had heard the man speaking in disguise, a nasally, thin voice that was speaking in perfect, clear English for some reason. How was he speak--

"Everything is translated to your mother tongue, don't fuss over the magic." said the voice in a slightly impatient tone, one that nearly sent Carter jumping to the roof with shock. "Stay away from that man, he's dangerous. We don't associate with him."

"Associate with me? Please...you follow me everywhere..." emanated a gruff, harsh voice followed by a deep, waterlogged yawn, one that seemingly came from a smirking bald man looking over Carter's shoulder. When Carter turned around, he saw Rishi, out of his goofy disguise and now looking like he did in Nagas billboards and posters all over Chandigarh. Thick, curly hair, with a bit of stubble around his face and dark brown eyes. "The Nagas love kissing our ass, boy. They are obsessed with us." he said thickly, a lazy grin overtaking his face.

"This cocksucker is Chawla." said another voice, one that was more familiar to Carter's ear. Garuda! He had suddenly peeled up on Rishi's right, his disguise now gone and his hair and beard free flowing. People were already staring and pointing, but everyone had the good sense to keep out of the discussion circle. Especially as a severe, hard-boned woman in a red dress materialized at Chawla's side. "The one on his arm is Durga. They are part of The Red Guild, a group of so-called 'heroes' that turn to loan sharks to anyone too poor to pay their fees."

"Wha-what do you mean?" Carter squeaked mentally, whipping his head back and forth between the two.

"They are for-profit, Carter. They are superhumans, but they offer their protective services to people in need for a price, often one that becomes more exorbitant the more damaging the job is. When the fees are not paid, it becomes debt. Chawla can control light sources around him and draw energy from them. Durga has...well, the gift of many limbs, so to speak."

"Turning rat, are you, Chatur?" Durga said, a surprisingly feminine voice that caused both Nagas and Carter to flinch as Garuda's real name was uttered aloud. "Yes, child, we are for-profit, but your boyfriend is exaggerating. Our members span all across India, we can cover anyone and anything, much better than any weak huddle of Nagas could. They preach sooooo much about equal access to all for protection, yet when villages in Uttar go up in smoke, who is first on the scene? Not Chatur and his boytoy Khanda. Look at him hiding there!" she mentally cackled, pointing towards Garuda's side as she did so. The figure of Khanda, a tall, broad man with features that looked more East Asian than anything, slunk out from behind Garuda's back, his eyes screaming bloody murder.

"Besssst for villages, eh?" a spunky female voice ripped out, accompanied by a presence near Carter's shoulder. Astra, the archer, now letting the blue highlights in her hair (and her drunken slur) ring clear. Two more men stepped forward behind Chawla and Durga, seemingly allied with them given how okay they were with the two stepping into their circle. Maybe they were goons. "Is taking children out of school to pay your debt better for...for villages in Uttar? Is b-burying their grandparents alive better?"

"Drown your ssssorrows in an endless pit of sh-shitty spirits all you -hic- want, whore." Chawla stuttered, towering over Astra with magnificent presence. "At least we didn't let a hundred people die in Chennai."

All four of the Nagas nearly screamed at that, baring their teeth, and in Garuda's case, his fists, fixing his bloodshot eyes on Chawla's sneering face. "SHUT UP!" the man screamed, nearly knocking Carter backwards with the force of his voice. "At...at least every new recruit on our team makes it out alive! How many children have you murdered in the last ten years...HOW MANY, SISTERFUCKER?!"

"M-more than y-yours, because they actually join our ranks." Chawla bellowed, followed by a round of guffawing and hiccuping at various intervals. "It...it must be so hard to attract talent when they keep ending up...all...dead. Remind me, what happened to Kirpan and Shiv?"

The silence was palpable, even with the pounding music and screaming. Carter wanted so badly to get lost in the sound, but it was like it was muffled, drowned out underneath a thick, washing wave of utter silence as Garuda just trembled in place, hate and rage and disgust slowly seeping into his eyes. This was a bad idea. This whole thing, everything he had done, from drinking that shot to stepping inside all for a stupid girl, this was a bad idea. Garuda seemed to think so too.

Because in one second, Carter was nearly thrown over keeling by the most inhuman, most animalistic, most...nightmarish scream he had ever heard, a scream that sounded like stabbing someone through the chest with a blunt fork on fire. Well, he didn't quite do that. But, he did take a single, thumping step forward, lash out with his arm, and ram Chawla in the middle of the chest with the heel of his hand, miraculously sending him arcing across the heads of every clubber in sight and into the wooden stage at the front.

And he never stopped screaming.

---

10:30 PM

"But their politics are backwards, Garuda-ji!" exclaimed one of the boom mic operators, a noticeable thickness coming through in his speech thanks to the three empty glasses of apo next to him. "Mehanat kee paravaah nahin, they place arbitrary limits on themselves, vikshipt." he said in Hinglish, twirling a finger in a "cuckoo" gesture around his temple. "They would rather drink, rob, steal, rape than work, support family. 2013--"

"We know what happened in 2013, machaan." Kaushal said grimly, fingering the edge of his collar. The man had not drunk a single drop of alcohol the entire dinner, which was more than many could say. Even those such as Carter who had remained equally teetotalling had begun to go into food comas and grow limp, their chatter dwindling to a buzz barely louder than those of the flies lazily dangling over Gunpowder's lanterns and artificial lights. The blonde boy had passed out entirely, a loose strand of hair sticking to his face thanks to a tiny glob of drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth. He was totally oblivious to the conflict that was raging around him.

"To aap jaante hain." the boom mic man responded, crossing his arms and scowling. "These backwards Uttar Pradesh villages churn out badamaash, lowlifes. Delhi ka jahar. We would be better without them."

"Mere Bapa jab bees varsh ke the tab yahaan aae the," said Salim, one of the drone operators sitting at the end of the table. "He work in factory, in hospital as night watchman, as baggage handler, day and night, no meals. Bihar se. Is he poison?"

"Na, kyonki hamesha apavaad hote hain." a voice piped up, a woman, sitting over at the next table. One of the makeup artists. "Lekin, Arjun is correct. For every hard-working man, two hoodlums spring up. They do not respect women, they do not respect anyone."

"2013 was caused by more than just village men." Kaushal responded in a completely calm, even tone, although his mouth twitched slightly at the woman's words. "Do we outlaw police because they failed to catch the bus at the checkpoint? Do we outlaw the superhumans that were supposed to catch the bus and protect people? Do we outlaw the superhumans that partake in violence, harassment themselves? Do we outlaw politicians and pay-for-hire agencies for depriving Delhi of appropriate transit?"

"Those are coincidental." another woman retorted, some lady who probably did lighting or sound or set design or something else. "Jugaad works 99.9%. 2013 was not caused by transit failure, because transit failure occurs every day, and few get hurt. Wth these village men, people get hurt and destroyed every single day."

"Musalamaanon ko mat bhoolana." Arjun said, immediately causing both Salim and another broad-shouldered man from another table to stand up and shove their chairs back.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Salim yelled, clenching his fists as the vein in his temple threatened to pop out. "Main tumhaara kaan maroonga aur tumhaara sir hilaoonga!"

"Janmajaat." Arjun replied with contempt, spittle beginning to foam in his mouth at the words. "Violent. Ve Hindu mahilaon se unaka dharm parivartan karane ke lie shaadee karate hain. I have forbidden my daughters to marry a Muslim, or else I will flog him with chappal."

"I will flog you right now!" Salim yelled, and stayed true to his word too, with himself, the broad-shouldered man, and two others suddenly racing towards Arjun in an attempt to pick a fistfight. The drunken Arjun, who was unprepared for such a blow, found himself getting ripped off of his chair by his shirt before he could fight back, shoving Salim back and beginning to scream curses at the group of man accosting him, who began to shout right back in response. More and more were beginning to scrape their chairs back with ear-wrenching screeches and shove their arms into the mix, a whole shoving match breaking out before Garuda suddenly stood up, bellowing so hard that all of Chandigarh could practically hear him.

"SILENCE!!!!" he roared, slamming his fist down at the table hard enough to jolt a snoozing Carter back into reality. "You will not attract distasteful attention to us as the front of Bollywood, you will not argue like children, and most importantly, you will not express hatred within one of the most diverse film cast and crew that India has ever seen. Vikram would be very displeased to know of this argument, and if we would like him to remain in the dark, I suggest that you all pipe down this instant. Meere baat samajh meein aa gaee?"

"Haan." came a collective murmuring, the rest settling down with a few dirty looks exchanged in either direction. There was no real desire to eat charred aubergine now, given the soured mood, so the conversation essentially shuddered to a stop, replaced by sips and the clacking of utensils on plates. If the crew weren't staring at each other like they wanted to throw their hands over necks and crack them sideways, they were focused on their food or drink, or wistfully staring at some attractive girl who had the misfortune of wearing a skirt in the North Indian nighttime. Nobody even spoke up at all until one of the sound crew spoke up, a slim man in a turban. "Garuda-ji, what do you make of this debate? Raay? You do not speak on this issue often."

Garuda coughed slightly, staring at his hands as he spoke. "India should be equal for all. You know I say this frequently. I detest those who charge for their services, and believe only the wealthy should be afforded protection. I blame NASL. They have...style, but they have turned public service into business, and those two things should never cross paths, ay? India wants to become more Western, adopt Western food, fashion, businesses, infrastructure, city planning, but we have become too Western by making heroes money-hungry and fame-hungry. We have also adopted Western hatred. We hate other religions for stereotypes taught by our parents, professors, and pass them to our children. We hate other races for their supposed crimes. They do not exist."

"How can you say that though? There is proof in many cases." the lighting/sound/set design woman said, twirling her hair with her finger. "What about crooks like Mohamed, who fund anti-India films? Bollywood mein har koee aapako bataega. Director Sir too."

"I agree with you, Garuda-ji, but I am surprised to hear this coming from you." Basak chimed in, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "You lost your close friends to scum like the Brotherhood. They wreak havoc, and they cause violence, which convinces many they are evil. Many cite your allies as reason why all Muslims are crooks. What brought you to this position?"

"I must remind myself every day that the Brotherhood represent the minority. Tainted individuals. They do not know their head from their ass. Every day, I devote myself to crushing them, and then when I want to falter, I crush them again." Garuda said, his own fists beginning to clench tightly. Mohamed and his mafia are the same. They are bad men. Evil men, even. But they do not speak for men like Salim's father, who work day and night to provide for their children. Every side is manipulative, and every side commits atrocities when they only think for their own welfare. What of Hindus who slaughtered Sikhs and Muslims in the streets? What of rich Delhi cats who embezzle and steal from the poor? They did not come from villages. Appreciation of all is how we progress."

"Put yourself in their shoes, haan?" asked the man with the turban.

"Haan, machaan." Garuda said with a nod, finally looking up from his own lap to see the entire crew in various phases of nodding, murmuring, or crossing their arms with curious scowls. "Weigh the consequences of your actions, and empathize with the man across from you. Examine how they see the situation, how they feel. I healed many bridges in my life this way."

"Bakavaas." scoffed Arjun under his breath, rolling his eyes while gratefully rubbing the ear that had come seconds away from being swollen up to a massive size. "Phal khabee ped se door nahin girata. No Muslim can be trusted"

---

12:15 AM

He couldn't believe it. How could someone so tolerant, so peaceful, who had been nice enough to carry the whole conversation in English so that Carter could understand every word, punch a teenager badly enough to break his leg, beat him so badly that he couldn't even scream out for help? Risk killing or injuring so many innocent people because he was too drunk to stand up straight? His meditation teacher beating up a defenseless kid...it made him want to vomit. Maybe Garuda had been manipulating him, just like he had said back at Gunpowder. Manipulating him into thinking he was a nice guy, someone who wouldn't beat down his rivals for no reason, just because. But maybe he wasn't wrong? Carter could barely wrap his head around The Guild either. They tried to argue back, but they never denied what they did. He had read about Indian superhero culture for class (one of the only projects he had gotten above a C+ on that year!), read about how most of the force was made up of for-hire militias, but dropping debt? Taking kids? Killing people? If it was true, maybe Garuda was right for punching their shit out. He didn't even know about Chennai, or Kirpan, or Shiv. But they had made Garuda mad. That was hard to watch too. Maybe it was something the Nagas had failed at. Maybe they were people Garuda had failed to rescue. Maybe they were ex-girlfriends or something, he didn't fucking know.

All he knew was that he was out of his depth. He was like those useless flailing arms trying to break up the fight at Gunpowder. He was caught in the middle of something bigger than himself. He had people, terrorists he didn't know trying to kill him, fans who didn't even speak his language asking for photos, the hottest girls in the world asking to dance with him, militia soldiers who cared enough about him to keep in their weird mental link conversations. He used to like tagging along with one of his favorite heroes in the world, literally his second favorite hero of all time (Knockout would always be #1), but now that everything ended in disaster, now that everything involved extensive meditation and physical training? Why didn't he just go back to San Diego? Well, besides the contract, but why else? It was hard to deal with all of this. He could practically feel it crushing the breath out of his chest, forcing him to take deep gasps in and out of his chest. He could practically hear the sound of it crushing him, a metallic whir that sounded like an engine idling and wheels uselessly crunching on dirt.

Wait, that was wheels crunching on dirt. Turning over onto his belly and jutting his chin out, he saw what he had fallen right next to as he crashed into the mud. Well, besides buffaloes and buffalo shit. A large white van with a black tarp tied over it, idling in place on a rutted dirt road with no apparent lanes, let alone signs or streetlights. The only light came from the driver's high beams, a tired, weary looking man half-asleep on his dashboard. Guaranteed to cause a crash in San Diego. Already in court in San Diego. The back of the van was open, and three men were leaning against the side, one holding a cigarette glowing at the tip, and the other two holding something in their hands, dark shapes at their waists as they murmured to each other in whispers. One shifted to the side and was lit up by the high beams. All brown. Pants. Vests. Light wraps around the mouth, although this one had nothing on his stringy, long hair. He turned around a bit to knock on the window, yell something at the driver in a language Carter didn't know. His vest was adorned with a huge design, two crossed guns...and an arc of stars underneath. The Brotherhood. The ones who had tried to kill him on the highway.

His blood ran cold at he sight, so cold that he nearly slipped and gave away his presence by kicking his foot right into the mud. But nothing happened. The driver gestured something to the man at the window, who nodded and yelled something back to his two men. Another yell, this time muffled, maybe from inside the van. The cigarette was mashed against the ground, and the three men walked single file towards the end of the van, turning around the edge and jumping into the back. One open door closed from inside, followed by a second. Carter barely moved the entire time, his eyes just barely peering over the edge of the slope that his mud patch tilted on. After a brief period of silence, the engine suddenly roared to life, the high beams blinked off, and the driver began to putter away, peeling away to reveal a mess of long grass, weeds, and what looked like a gas station on the other side of the road, complete with its own convenience store. Well, more like a convenience closet. Just like that. The headlights had flickered on, cutting swathes of light up and down the path, but even now, they were beginning to dim and retreat. He would be free within seconds, the van too far away to do anything about it.

He had to move.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly leapt up, scrambling up the muddy slope and turning onto the dirt path, running right up behind the van's blind spot at a dead sprint, like it was the Thomsen High track loop. Foot to the ground, foot up, arms in and out. This was a terrible idea. They hated him, they wanted him dead, they were armed and dangerous. The point was to remove himself from conflict, not throw himself in even further. But these people only meant trouble. He didn't know where they were going, or why they were going there, but maybe he could learn something, even stop them. And plus, he needed to know. Was the fight Garuda was fighting, the fight that the "good guys" were fighting, worth it? Were they just misunderstood, or was Arjun right, they were all evil, all rats? It was missing, it had been missing since he was taken hostage on that highway. He needed to know how he fit into this jigsaw puzzle. The only way to find that piece was by chasing the van.

Using the air made the run faster, letting him catch up and come within several feet of the van's rear bumper, but he was exhausted, his body draining by the second and every gust getting weaker and weaker. He needed to jump now, and rest, even for a few minutes. With the biggest leap he could muster, he blew himself up, letting his feet rip off the ground and his head rapidly rise to peer over the top of the van. But he was still short. His head and arms landed over the roof, but his stomach and legs slammed right into the doors, knocking the wind out of him. If it wasn't for the tarp being available to cling to with his fingers, he would've slipped right off and either sprained his ankles on the bumper or just slammed right down into the road. Using his upper body, he was able to yank the rest of his torso onto the roof before his body flapped back into the door and convinced them to open it up again, slipping under the side of the black tarp and throwing the heavy material back over him. The space was tight, causing his chest to squeeze again, but it was secure, and the wind blowing in from the cracks helped air the place out. He just needed to lie low, make sure they believed that the thump was just a bird or a hallucination. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice him. They HAD to not notice him. If they noticed him, he would die. Simple as that. And then Chawla would have another body to taunt Garuda with.

[North America Inc]

An 'April' Mi-Hee

April considered her options, listening to Alexis go into detail about them. She really didn't know the girl all that well, and while she was eager to meet the rest of the team, she was apprehensive to answer out of fear that she would choose 'wrong'. She knew it was silly but she always thought about stuff like that when forced to make a decision. She looked over to Shi and Olivia talking to themselves, hoping to see some affirmation in their eyes. Instead they didn't even notice her staring.

She tapped her chin and stared up at the sky. "Well let me see...I think we should go with the Frisbees." She nodded slowly at her answer, trying to justify it internally, "Yeah Frisbees... It's perfect! Easy game for anyone else to join in on, we can play like any game we want with it, and we don't have to get cold and wet playing it. What do you think?"

The Suits

"There she is." Dolce grinded his teeth as the Hadrian came into view. She called out too two other teammates, a facet he needed to keep in mind at all times. It was far too easy in situations like this to get bogged down by single targets while other's were flanking the periphery. Especially true for him, as he felt the eyepatch press against his skin.

Hadrians were tenacious fighters. Of the few he had killed, each had presented some sort of challenge. Though through practice and repetition, as his Master once loved to say, you will find commonalities between the fighters. In the Master's context, it was for different martial schools. For Dolce, it was for a people. Use their tactics against them, focus on their weak spots, and exploit their natural instinct.

In his aggression and eagerness to follow MC's carefully coordinated plans, he gave her the first hit. He had hoped to silence her before she could cast that spell, exactly as she had planned, drawing him to land a punch on his face. He stood in place, recoiling from surprise but not the hit itself. The pair stood at each other, giving her an affirmative nod as he collected what had just happened. "Draw me in for a direct attack. Smart."

For where Kiris had stuck was a forcefield that seemed to engulf him and surround him. The force itself glowed an ever brighter shade of violet around where she struck, negating her attack. Dolce gestured his arms upwards, lifting the ground below him. Standing ten or so feet above her, he kicked the ground, summoning two stones that levitated in the air.

These two stones were his sleight of hand, his gauntlet was his actual attack. He punched both, sending them hurtling towards her. As he punched the second however, he sent his gauntlet directly behind it; obscured from her view, the projectile maintained it's open palm shape aimed for Crystal's Heart mouth. To first deal with a Hadrian one must first silence them.

[The Republic of Atria]

Bael, The Bank

What he initially expected to be a simple bank robbery was anything but. Jason charged forward, and was immediately flung into one of the police helicopters that were surrounding the building and a pair of massive stone monsters erupted from the stone supports of the bank. One was fired upon by the heavier police vehicles and he was taking charge of dealing with the other one. He'd never seen them before, but they definitely looked like the monsters Jason described when he fought the Cabal. He was less concerned about his ability to beat it and more about making sure that it didn't cause too much damage.

Hopefully he could keep the damage as low as possible. Bael approached, and was now the closest to the stone monster, and it's gaze turned to him. It was made of stone, maybe... He reached out like he did when he controlled stone, and nothing, the creature tore a chunk of cement out of the ground twice the size of his torso and flung it at him. He could definitely control that, moved his hand slightly, and the stone slowed it's acceleration and stopped right in front of Bael, floating around his hand, and was shot from his hand like a baseball, and the chunk of stone smashed into the Gargoyle's head, cracking one of it's horns. He growled and backed up slightly, mostly from the stagger as Bael moved closer.

"That's right, just focus on me. I'm your target, I'm the threat." He was a brute. It was his job to get into the thick of things, take the hits that no one else could and draw attention. Force people, or in this case, a big monster, to have to deal with him.

The gargoyle swung at him with it's right arm, and Bael spread his wings, to assist in a jump back, his claws sinking the ground as he gripped for balance and used it to thrust himself forward like a scaly bullet straight into the gargoyle's head. It recoiled backwards as Bael tore a chunk out of it.

It grabbed him in it's left hand and slammed him into the ground, pinning him with it's massive hand.

It was far from the worst blow he'd ever taken, but it didn't feel nice. More than the pain, it took a moment to realize exactly where he was, and only by months of practice, did he manage to stick his arms out and stop the other arm from striking him directly. The ground beneath him shattered from the force of his back hitting it.

Bael didn't let the gargoyle's hand go and sank his claws into it. The gargoyle attempted to pull it's hand free, and failed. Bael wrenched his hands with all of his might and the gargoyle's hand shattered. It snarled, released him and jumped back, giving him just enough time to jump to his feet and charge at it. It swung it's remaining hand at him like it was trying to hammer a nail.

Bael braced, stuck his hands out and the ground shattered from the force of the gargoyle's attack, but Bael held strong. He adjusted his stance and twisted his body, pulling the gargoyle off it's feet and slamming it into the ground in a psuedo-Judo flip. He wasted no time in capitalizing on it, and jumped onto it's chest and struck it in the head, hard enough that it sounded like a loud gunshot. He did so again, and again, until it's head powderized. It went limp and crumbled shortly after. "And that's that." He said, wiping some of the dust from his fight off his body.

[New Finnish Republic]

Camping Trip

It had come as a surprise at how eager Whitney had taken up his offer, albeit one that brought a content feeling to him. He had thought of commenting on how eager she seemed, when the genius girl in front of him nearly made the grammatical mistake of the decade. Red had to fight back the urge to not burst out laughing as he saw the girl's cheeks turn into a shade of red brighter than his own hair and quickly went to work casting the fishing pole. This sudden change in personality was unexpected, but Red couldn't help but feel it showed that he had at least not made another person on the team hate him.

Watching as the line spun through the air, a sudden realization hit Red as it plunked it the water. At first, he simply sat quiet, waiting for the girl to pick up the issue. But as the seconds turned into minutes, it seemed the girl was unaware of the situation at hand. And as she turned around in apparent defeat, Red was unable to contain himself as a snorted chuckle escaped his lips. Holding his left hand to his mouth to hold back his laughter, he lifted up a single finger to indicate for the girl to give him a moment. Once he had finally recomposed himself, he cleared his throat as he spoke in the gentlest voice he could manage as he held up a small container in front of her.

"Well, step one is probably to put on...the bait."

As he said this, his eyes caught the sight of one of his team members, Angelica, waving at the two of them from a distance. Red could only imagine what the girl could be thinking as she saw him nearly bursting into laughter, and could only pray that she hadn't overheard them from this distance.

[Tomia]

YB Goes Camping
Angelica smiled sheepishly at Kiris' compliment. "Thanks, I guess I just have a way with ice." She joked, her smile widening as she was amused by her own joke. "That was always a fun way to pass the time when I was younger."

When Kiris pulled up to Mars in the water and excitedly suggested they "try it together" he raised an eyebrow with a grin. "Try what? You mean skating on the ice? Well ya, that sounds fun I guess!" He said before turning towards Angelica. "Think you could help us out?" The ice hero nodded as the couple got out of the water and fixed Mars up with a pair of water shoes for his feet. With that done she used her powers recreate the ice pond that was quickly melting away.

"Alright uh... I have no idea how to do this." Mars admitted as he stood on the edge of the ice, making Angelica chuckle.

"You lovebirds should just get on the ice, I'll make sure you don't fall and hurt yourself." She told them with a smile.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

December 1st

---

---

"Oh, I didn't mean right now actually. But if you're up for it, all the better!" Kirisvala spoke after listening to her boyfriend express enthusiasm about learning to skate on ice together with her. Angelica didn't seem like she was opposed to the idea at all either, seemingly happy to help out and teach them. The idea of learning a fun new activity with her beloved boyfriend made her giddy, and as she and Mars swam back to the beach in order to step onto the ice once more, the Hadrian girl couldn't wait to glide across the surface of the ice with his arms around her.

At least, until she finally left the water.

As the cool December air made contact with her wet, exposed skin, the pink-haired heroine immediately shivered, wrapping her arms around her body as if to shield it from the wind. She had been more than eager to skate with Mars, but now she wanted nothing more than to sit around a nice fire.

She wasn't going to ruin the others' fun, though.

"Y-ya know, Marsy, I think I'm g-goin' to sit down for a bit." She said, rubbing her shoulders a little. "B-but ya can get some practice in! Just hop in, Angie will m-make sure that ya don't fall like I did." She said with a chuckle before giving the boy a loving smile and a tender kiss on the cheek.

Then, she scurried off to find her stuff, grabbing the towel she had brought with her and wrapping herself up with it in hopes of warming up a little. It seemed to be working, albeit slowly, and the alien girl let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps this temperature wasn't anything too bad for humans, who were far better accustomed to a variety of climates, but for a Hadrian like her, it was a bit more than she could take comfortably.

---

---

Alexis raised an eyebrow at first, noticing that April seemed a bit apprehensive about picking an option. However, she seemed to get over it relatively quickly and decided that flying discs were more her style. "Yeah, when you put it that way it really does sound like the best idea, April." She told the brunette with a smile after hearing out the reasoning behind her decision. "Alright, I'll just sprint back to the camp and grab a few things then. You just stay put here, I'll be back in no time!" The blonde girl stated enthusiastically before taking off, moving back towards the camp, where she had - rather unwisely, now that she thought about it - left all of her stuff save for what was on her person at the moment.

Fortunately, it didn't take her long at all to reach the camp - she was tireless as always, which meant that she could simply run at full sprint for however long she needed. She now realized that it was because she wasn't an organic person, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy being able to do that. Reaching the spot where she'd dropped off her things, she grabbed a frisbee, then thought better about it and grabbed a spare she'd brought, just in case more than a few people wanted to play. She also grabbed a cooler and a few other odds and ends before sprinting back to the lake.

After a bit, the lake came into view, and then the path that led down to the sandy beach, as well as the beach itself. Spotting the brunette she'd left behind a minute or two earlier, Alexis smiled to herself, briefly set down her cooler, one of the frisbees and the other things she had with her, and prepared to throw the other disc at her. "Hey April! Catch!" She shouted from the dirt path leading down to the beach. Then, she made the throw, before picking up her things and continuing the rest of the way down to the beach at a less frantic pace.

"Frisbee delivered. I got a spare too, just in case." The blonde said once she was closer. "And I brought drinks! I don't know what you like, but there should be something for everyone here." She added afterwards, placing the cooler on the ground and opening it, revealing, aside from a lot of ice, a few cans of soda, bottles of water and other assorted drinks. Nothing alcoholic of course - she wasn't allowed to buy any of that, after all, and she was sure that someone else would take care of smuggling that type of good into the camp regardless.

[Segral]

Whitney Alvord
December 10th

"Wh-" Whitney stuttered, frantically looking back towards the the end of her line dangling in the water and immediately beginning to reel the line back in the slowly dying hopes that Red was pulling a fast one on her. Of course, it was another stop in a full-blown subway line of embarrassments. The line quickly yanked out of the water with a few loose drops falling back into the lake and sending ripples galloping across its murky surface, with not a single piece of bait located in any of those details. How had she been so stupid? She had been fishing at least a dozen times, and she was still making elementary mistakes. The momentary shock of ripping her line out of the water to see no bait on the end quickly transformed into annoyance with herself, and in the span of a few more seconds, it transformed into annoyance at the ginger on her left having a good laugh at her expense, because nobody liked someone laughing at their expense. Even if his laughter was still infectious, and she was still kind of laughing at her own expense.

"Oh, shut up, chuckles. You could've been more proactive in warning me, y'know?" she said with a scowl, lightly punching Red on the arm to emphasize the point. Not hard enough to actually hurt him, she doubted she could've done that even if she had actually wanted to, just enough to nag him. She hoped nobody could tell how badly fuming she was on the inside, least of all Angie, who Whitney gave a quick wave back to over Red's shoulder. "That was just a warm up. Now starts the real fishing. Give me that." she said, quickly snatching the bait container from Red's out and quickly popping open the top. The immediate smell of water, dirt, and another distinct hint she couldn't quite identify by nose clapped her in the face immediately upon hooking open the bucket, telling her exactly what was inside; worms. Live ones too, as usual. She had reeled the line back to their patch of shore by this point, allowing her to set the rod down at her feet and grab the hook with a single hand. With the other, she reached down for a particularly long, fat worm crawling around in the middle of the bucket, rummaging around until she got a firm grasp on the slippery fuck and was able to yank it out.

Still working in total, frosty silence, she began to thread the worm over the hook with a slightly vicious amount of force, working carefully to almost completely hide the hook underneath the creeper's thick, wriggling form. It only took a few moments, and once she was done, she was fairly impressed with her handiwork. It looked just as good, if not better than Red's work. She knew she could match his casting too, likely aided with the slightly important contribution of the goddamn bait. It still weighed on her mind, even as she went through the now-agonizing process of adjusting the line with her finger and pushing her rod back into position. Maybe she had just made an innocent mistake, but over that, Whitney couldn't help but feel like she was compensating for something. Like she had been trying to show off. Well, that must've been obvious to Red, but the idea was still kind of alien to her. Everyone knew she wasn't a flashy person, a person who liked to take charge or compete. But you know what? Tough. She had something to prove now, and more importantly, one-upping Red would feel pretty damn great. This wasn't for fun now, this was for pride.

With a new energy, she lashed the rod back over her shoulder a second time, throwing it forward and letting the now-packed hook slip into the water before locking the bail back up and letting the reel bite in. For a bit, she was ready to start biting her nails out of anxiety. For a long period, she could feel whatever was inside that lake nibbling and brushing up against her hook, way more frequently than whatever had been going on last cast, but no bite, no sudden movement or shudder from the reel. For a test of her pride, she was flunking pretty stupendously. But then, her patience paid off. The reel suddenly began to rattle, line paying out at the end of the rod into some vortex lying underneath the surface. Immediately, she sprung into action, letting the rod fall into a 45 degree angle and keeping the pressure in place, bucking it up and down to avoid letting the fish rip the worm out and swim away. They chased each other for some time, locked in a game of Cops and Robbers until the fish began to slow up, giving Whitney the opportunity to take the reel in a vice grip and begin cranking it back, fighting with the creature to break it out of the water. It was slipping by second after second. One moment, she was still cranking, and next, she was sitting there with a shuddering fish dangling above the water, a rod's length of line dangling down as she swiftly cut the fish free from the hook and threw it to the mound sitting next to Red.

"Like I said. Way with the water." she said coolly, handing the rod back to Red with a slight smile curving across her lips.

[Galnius]

Mika

Mikaela Mynd is Being Creepy

Jan Sorok, the champion of Heaven!

---

Mika did not mind the answer - she quickly answered that she will be able to get a guitar for him and then wandered into her thoughts. For a bit, Jan considered taking it back. It'd be far too much of a burden if she was now forced to spend her savings on him. She wasn't particularly well off, right? And living with a single parent, too, while guitars, especially good guitars, were very expensive...

Before Jan could speak up again, Mika suddenly launched a question at him.

"Ah, uh..." the Virgil mumbled under his breath, caught off guard, and scratched the back of his head. "I guess... Green? Or blue? If you are asking about the guitar, then I honestly don't care about the color that much..."

Mika's antics, meanwhile, turned rather... concerning. The girl pulled out a notebook and a pen, pulling out pages until she reached a blank one, and began the interrogation. One question after another flew at Jan, each one increasingly personal - and there was no escape. He could not just turn around and fly away, he was unable to lie, so the only thing left to do was to take a breath, close his eyes, and answer to the best of his ability.

"Well I haven't really needed to eat for quite a while, but if I remember my first life correctly, I liked having cold borscht whenever possible. It's... Polish food."
"Closest thing to a favorite would probably be, um... Luxtorpeda. Though I haven't listened to them since their second album, I don't know if they've changed."
"I'm not particularly interesting in that regard, um... I read books. Geography ones, usually. I tried to catch up on all the years of education I missed, too... but that got cut short."
"I used to watch westerns when I was younger, and a few superhero films, too, but my parents wouldn't let me see the ones in big theaters. They said there's too much indecency and propaganda in them."
"Uhm-can-can I skip this question...?"
"Well I suppose playing football with my friends when I was a kid doesn't really count... I saw Olympic fencing on TV once and that caught my attention. It's why I usually summon a rapier when fighting someone."
"Uh... Penguins."

And finally, after a breath and a sigh... One last question. Can he visit during the holidays? Protect her from dying from loneliness, or being alone in the house?

"Well, it's a very holy time, isn't it? And I did say I could ask you to go to church more often, right?" the Virgil answered. "So we could make a deal. There are Catholic churches in this city, so if you visit one on the night before Christmas, I will show up to join you."

Mika quickly jotted down his answers, visibly rolling her eyes when he skipped a question. They weren't hard. Why did he needs to be difficult? The last answer, however, caused her to recoil as if struck.

"Um. You want me to go to a... Church? I thought you were joking about that before" she said, giving an mirthless chuckle. "I mean, sure, I guess, but that isn't really what I had in mind. At all. I meant you, well, here. The house? The area the two of us are currently presiding in? Why can't we just meet here? I could, I dunno, grab a bible and a crucified jesus thingy for the occasion of I have to. I'll even wear my cross necklace. But... A church? I'm not entirely cut out for churches. I've been before but that was years ago. I'd probably burst into flame just stepping inside. "

Mika gave a half grin, then paused, remembering how the two of them met. " Not literally, at least I don't think so. The creepy dudes that run them don't and I don't think I could be too much worse. Are you .. you sure that's it? You really can only visit at a uh... Church? "

---

Angelica Dalin

[b]

---

---

Seeing the effect that his words seemed to have on the blonde girl, Icarus frowned. He'd been taken aback by how forceful she seemed at first, but perhaps he'd been a little snippy himself. He knew that even if he had hurt himself, which was unlikely, the wound would be healed just as quickly, but seeing as he had only just met this girl, it stood to reason that she wouldn't know that. Besides, what she was saying was true, the Young Bloods weren't exactly good at staying safe or out of trouble. He wasn't either, the scar across his chest a stark reminder of that.

"It's fine, don't worry. I'm not... mad or anything like that." He said in hopes of reassuring her a little, before following her to her designated stone skipping spot, making sure to pick any other suitable rocks he could find along the way - it wouldn't do to have just the one, after all.

Standing by the water, he watched the girl give it a try and listened to her question. "Uh, well I used to do it back when I lived overseas, but that was when I was still a kid, so I'm out of practice too." He answered as he grabbed a stone and got into position. "On days when the sea was calm I remember I could consistently get a couple of skips, but I wasn't great at it or anything." He continued. As he made his first attempt with a flick of his wrist, he noticed that the stone did not skip once, quickly sinking beneath the water. Notably, it flew quite far, surprising the blond boy.

"...Oh, right. I haven't done this at all since I got my powers, I guess." He realized, before grabbing another stone. "Let me try again." He said, taking a little more time than before in order to try and apply the right amount of force - and also correct any mistakes made previously. Sure enough, this time the stone skipped twice over the surface of the water before going under.

"There we go! That's better." He smiled, happy to know that he hadn't forgotten how to do this properly.

After a moment, he turned to look at the girl. "By the way, you still haven't told me your name."

---

.

Angelica watched as Icarus' first attempt completely failed, even more so than her own. It was a little embarrassing to watch, so her eyes turned back to Whitney and Red, though that particular pair seemed to be getting a little hostile. At least, that's what Angelica assumed it was. She had never really seem Whitney mad, per say, but whatever Whitney was feeling definitely looked like it fit the bill.

Angelica was so distracted that she missed Icarus' subsequent success, and very nearly missed the question for a second time. "Oh! Right, ha, sorry. I'm Angelica Dalin. It can get a bit confusing with Frostbite around, so you can just call me by my last name or a nickname. Whitney, for instance", Angelica said, gesturing to the blond girl struggling with a fish in the distance, "calls me Angie, but that can get pretty confusing sometimes too."

Angelica tried skipping yet another stone, but it bounced off a rock that jutted out of the shallow water and bounced back to her feet, cracked in half. She looked at it with a look somewhere between distraught and resigned. How was she supposed to hold a conversation when she couldn't even skip a rock right?

"Ha..... Well, ummm." At this point the conversation felt lost. Dead. Six feet under. Shot and then shot again just to make sure it stayed down.

But it wouldn't stay down. Not if Angelica had anything to do with it. This conversation would be resuscitated, brought out of the cave like Lazarus. She had thought of a hook. The perfect thing to pull the potential new acquaintance back before losing him completely, much like how Whitney pulled in the poor, hapless creature that had been dim enough to bite upon her hook.

"Have you ever read anything from King Arthur? I just finished rereading the Knight of the Cart again, and you would make a great Lancelot."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

December 1st

---

---

Even though he'd asked for her name twice now, the blonde girl didn't seem to react at first, apparently distracted by looking at Red and Whitney's fishing shenanigans on the other side of the lake. After a moment, though, she did answer the question, finally introducing herself as Angelica Dalin. He thought it amusing that two separate Angelicas had found their way into the same team, but before he could even think of remarking on it, she went ahead and mentioned it, offering a few alternatives in case he found the situation too confusing. Amused, Icarus simply nodded.

"I don't get along with Frostbite that well, so I think the nickname should be fine. Nice to meet you, Angie." The blond boy said with a friendly smile, before watching as she made another attempt at skipping a stone... only to have it crack after hitting a rock on the lake. "...Ouch."

Angelica seemed pretty disheartened after the recent failure, but Icarus didn't really know what to say to encourage her. An awkward silence fell upon the pair, but rather than try and break it, he figured he could wait until the girl felt better and simply continued to throw stones at the lake and watch them skip or fail to do so, settling into a rhythm after a few throws and managing to reliably get about two skips every time.

As he was about to try yet again and hopefully break his own record so far, Icarus heard his new acquaintance speak up again, this time asking if he had read anything pertaining to Arthurian myth. The question seemed to come out of nowhere, and the last part even more so. Fortunately for the blonde girl, she happened to be with one of the likely few teens present at the campground who had any interest in literature.

"I'd make a great Lancelot?" Icarus repeated. "What makes you say that? My dashing good looks, or my tendency to abuse horses?" He added with a chuckle, before throwing another stone. Two skips again. To add to the disappointment, that turned out to be the last one he had found, which meant he'd have to look for more if he wanted to continue. Not wanting to end the conversation so abruptly, though - especially not when it was getting good - the blond boy instead opted to stay put, sitting down on the sandy beach.

"Yeah, I've read Le Morte d'Arthur, and a few fragments from other works." He answered the question at last. "I've always enjoyed a good story with tragic characters, there's just something about them that I find appealing." He admitted, briefly pausing afterwards. "Ironic, I know." He chuckled.

"So you like medieval romance books, then?"

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December 21st

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Success. Her gambit had paid off, and her fist found its way straight to her enemy's face, causing him to reel back. Kirisvala smiled at first, proud of herself for pulling that off, but her smile quickly vanished as she noticed a violet aura around the man, the same color as a strange beam that seemed to be connecting him to something else off in the distance. The man himself seemed completely unharmed by her attack, despite the amount of force she had put into it, which meant he was either a very tough superhuman, or the glowing aura around him had something to do with it.

Darn it. That's gonna be tough to deal with...

After complimenting her - something that surprised her quite a bit, coming from a criminal - the earth-bending villain used his powers to raise up the ground underneath him, now standing on a large pillar, about as tall as the broken wall and about in the same position as the hole he had ripped open in said wall, strangely enough. Stomping on the floor, he sent two boulders flying towards her, one after the other. She didn't know if she could overcome the attack with brute force, but dodging was a much simpler matter: a few flips here, a roll there, and she had successfully manage to avoid getting hit by either rock, and by a good margin too. However, it was clear that the suited man was a formidable foe. With that in mind, she spoke into the comms.

"This guy's pretty tough, I might need some-" She spoke, only to be blindsided by Dolce's flying gauntlet, which soon clasped around Kirisvala's mouth, sealing it shut. The girl's first impulse was to shout in surprise but she failed to do so for obvious reasons, only letting out muffled noises. The same noises would continue as she tried both to speak and to pry off the hand-shaped stone, to no avail. Either this man was well informed about her abilities or he had fought other Hadrians before, but either way, it was clear he knew how to hamper her abilities, and this frustrated her to no end.

She couldn't simply stay there and try to free herself from the stone gauntlet, though - while she had been working through her initial surprise, Dolce clearly seemed to have no intention of letting up the assault, summoning more ammunition from the asphalt below and sending several boulders towards her. In a hurry she began running, flipping and rolling out of the way, narrowly managing to avoid all of the attacks thanks to her acrobatic prowess, though it had taken her quite a bit of effort, perhaps moreso than before on account of the rock clasping her mouth and partially blocking her sight.

After the initial salvo, the heroine decided to change tactics. Rather than prepare to dodge the next incoming boulder, Crystal Heart grabbed one of the previous ones from the ground and hurled it towards the incoming projectile with all of her strength, causing a collision that turned both stones into a cloud of dust and debris. Without missing a beat, the Hadrian girl grabbed another one of her crystal shards, a viridian-colored one, and crushed it in her fist, vanishing from where she stood just in time to avoid being struck down by yet another incoming boulder.

Appearing just behind Dolce on the large stone pillar and grabbing him by the foot just as she tried to say something in an aggressive tone, though once more only muffled noises came out. Spinning him around a few times, she hurled him back towards the bank. If he was too tough for her to harm, or had a sort of force field around him, the least she could do was make sure he was far away from her wall and unable to tear it any further.