Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[Anxiety Cafe]

Algiers, Algeria

The man offered they go their separate ways, relieving Asha of a burden she had thought she had been hiding well. While the offer was tempting—she almost snatched up the offer immediately—she knew she couldn't just leave him. He was her responsibility now, no matter how much she disliked it. That meant leaving him to roam the streets of such a large city would be on her. She doubted many others could take him down should the monster inside him choose to reappear, and there was nothing to stop him from going back to his old ways, consuming life forces indiscriminately. No, she had to go with him.

"If it's all the same to you," she started, sighing. "I'd prefer to come with."

Now all she had to do was find the prison. It shouldn't have been too hard, but she was worried about the strange looks they were already getting, just showing up out of the beach.

"Come on," she turned to her companion. "We'd better get going."

---

Los Angeles

Despite being bombarded with questions when turning around, Nathan revealed no actual information to the press around him, talking as little as possible. That didn't seem to deter the reporter and the crowd that had gathered, no matter how much Nathan attempted to escape them. He barely caught sight of the three girls exiting the building, luckily ignoring the crowd. They weren't heading back to the helicopter, that was for sure. He couldn't help but wonder how any of their actions could possibly tie into breaking out Red. After all, what could they have possible offered the Stars to coerce them into helping?

Oh, how I wish I could fly, he inwardly moaned, continuing to ignore the reporter. Knowing his window was rapidly closing as the girls became increasingly harder to track, Nathan miraculously got an idea. The reporter's camera went dead, as well as the phones of all the bystanders.

"Well, as it seems we're, uh, done," Nathan said, still masking his voice. "I suppose I'll be on my way."

He ran out of the crowd, pushing and shoving his way towards the girls before noticing them enter a little ice cream shop not too far away.

Perfect, he thought, changing out of his costume and into regular clothes. He could just run back to the helicopter and stash the costume there. No way they'd be done with their ice cream by then! Starting on his way, Nathan whistled nonchalantly as he passed the dwindling crowd.

[Absolon-7]

From what he could feel the wound was pretty bad although he had been injured worse before. Casimir waited for Wendy's turn to be healed and he noticed that the duo they had picked up at the docks were deep in a conversation which seemed like they didn't want anyone else to hear. They didn't seem like the bad sort but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on them while they were in the same room. Sooner than he expected, the nurse gestured for him to sit next to her. Once he sat down, Casimir took of his bloody rag of a shirt and helmet placing them next to where he sat so they wouldn't be a bother. Softly he could hear her whisper how children shouldn't be around violence which he agreed with but regrettably he had been exposed to it too long ago.

"My name is Hope, it is nice to meet you." She told him conversationally.

"Nice to meet you too, Ma'am," he cheerfully greeted her. He wanted to tell her his name too but the previously mentioned duo made him wary of revealing it.

"You said you could heal this yourself, do you have a healing ability?"

"Oh...Uhm yeah I do. It's pretty handy but it's not like I can regrow my entire arm in an instant. Wounds take a few days at least. Really bad ones are about a month or so. It also doesn't make wounds hurt any less." She seemed pleasant to talk to and Casimir would not have minded having a conversation the previously mentioned duo in the room made him wary. Before a conversation could be born Amir sauntered in, surprisingly jubilant. Casimir was surprised by how much his teammate had said before Casimir could even word a response with it all of it coming out as if it was all in one breath.

"Hey, Amir. The mission went fantastic! Oh, I left the bag of Blood Drug samples in my room. Once Hope is done we can go get it. Hope we get something good out of it. Fighting ten drug up psychos at once was not pleasant. Nothing I couldn't handle though." Casimir really hoped that there was something to gain by analyzing those samples considering he was literally back-stabbed for them. From Amir greeting the new guys, Casimir learned that they called themselves Stella and Blackout which were obviously they're hero personas since who in their right mind would name a child after a synonym for a power outage. Soon after Amir, Roy came in eyeing everyone in the room. Naturally, the Young Blood's honorary leader gave a warning that he'd be keeping an eye on Blackout. Casimir sighed in relief that Roy didn't start a fight cause it would certainly leave a bad impression on the new people in the room. More importantly Casimir was dog-tired and not in the mood for stopping any grudge matches.

Once the business with Amir was over with and if there was any team meeting or the like afterward, Casimir was going to shut himself in his room and spoil himself with all the food he wanted. And nothing was going to get in the way of that pleasure. But before that happened, he'd have to go and see how this current situation played out.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

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---

A brief awkward silence followed the statement he made to Renata about his reasoning for being so wary of Roy and other superheroes, and ultimately, Icarus couldn't blame the girl. After all, she seemed like a very orthodox heroine, likely not at all used to exploring the motivations of someone such as him, who was nominally on the wrong side of the law, despite having largely the same aims as a regular hero. When she finally spoke up, picking her words carefully but clearly intending to confront his ideas, he simply frowned. On the one hand, he knew his reasons would not be very persuasive, as they were based purely on his life and experiences, some of which had marked him, but on the other, they were his reasons, and even if he knew they were limited, he did not enjoy having them called into question. Even then, however, he at least appreciated that she seemed to be confronting him in a rather diplomatic manner, rather than trying to impose a foreign worldview upon him.

Regardless, the girl's confrontation of his ideas did not last very long at all, as they were interrupted by the arrival of a boy, yet another person he recognized from school, though it was, once more, someone he had never spoken to. At the notion that he was going to join the team, he simply frowned and looked elsewhere; he didn't have any reason to bear animosity towards any of the members of their team, sans Roy, but he still did not quite enjoy being lumped together with them when their alliance had been temporary and they had fairly different outlooks and means of getting things done. He said nothing, however, and simply let the boy continue addressing his teammates, thinking it unnecessary to respond, especially when Stella had already spoken up to introduce them and clarify the situation.

Then, shortly after Amir, Roy walked into the infirmary, and Blackout's eyes immediately went towards the shadow hero, though he did also notice that Renata had immediately stood up upon seeing the boy walk inside; in contrast, Icarus simply remained seated on the side of the hospital bed, though his wary eyes took in every single one of Roy's movements. However, as the hero spoke, it turned out there was no reason for Blackout to be so cautious and suspicious of him and everyone around him. His wariness, perhaps bordering on paranoia, had clearly been misplaced, as the de facto leader of the Young Bloods was willing to just let him walk out of there with no issue.

At this revelation, the vigilante simply laughed. It was not sardonic or hostile, just loud, earnest laughter.

"And here I was, thinking I was going to have to break out of this place by force." He said. Despite everything, it was quite relieving to hear that the vampires had been his last battle of the night, and that what little energy he had regained after spending some time unconscious and receiving Hope's treatment wouldn't have to be spent escaping a hostile facility. "But I guess that won't be the case today." He continued, slowly standing up from the bed where he sat.

"I'm well-rested and I can walk, so unless your friend has any objection, I'll leave now." He said, nodding in Hope's direction. Then, he turned towards Renata. "Thanks for everything." He told her sincerely, in a much quieter voice, referring not merely to the act of saving him, but also to her lending an ear and not being hostile. Taking a few steps towards the door after that, he cast one last glance around the infirmary, and saw something that immediately caught his attention. It was the first boy that had entered the infirmary earlier, who had now removed his helmet, revealing to be none other than Casimir. While Icarus had already begun to suspect it, having these suspicions confirmed did not please him, and he ended up staring longer than what would be considered normal, thinking about how this might affect him in the future.

"...Well, at least I suppose this is another good reason to be happy that I did not have to fight here." The boy thought, before continuing on his way.

---

---

Kirisvala smiled brightly yet again, both at Mars' words of kindness and at the fact that she had made him laugh, her tail swishing eagerly from side to side and occasionally drawing circles in the air, a clear indication of happiness to anyone who was acquainted with Hadrian behavior. Hearing the boy's suggestion about seeing if he and Cassandra could cook something for dinner to help the team regain their energies, the alien girl nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds like a great idea!" She said, clasping her claws behind her back and walking alongside Mars as the two of them headed towards the main tower at Wonder Island.

"Do you think she'll want to make pasta with meatballs?" She commented, both to keep the conversation with her friend going and because she was genuinely curious, for reasons Mars would likely understand, as she had in the past expressed that it was her favorite dish. "Oh, actually, what if I help you instead?" She asked, briefly moving ahead of Mars and then turning to look at him. "I know it may not look like it, what with my claws and all, but I can help you out with a few thing while you do the cookin'!" She offered, hoping he would agree. She didn't often cook, but it was fun, and it was also a good reason to continue to spend time with him.

[Finland SSR]

Icarus

Renata Martínez, the heroic Stella!

---

To say that Renata was surprised by how this meeting between Blackout and Nightshade went would be an understatement - she fully expected this to go poorly, like, in a "firefight with Nightshade and a dramatic escape out of the island" levels of poorly. And, apparently, Blackout thought so too, confirming that after a genuine laugh, then accepting the gesture of goodwill. Well... if you think about it somewhat, this resolution does make a bit of sense. This is an infirmary, they're surrounded by healing Young Bloods - if Roy is trying to be a hero, then he wouldn't attempt to attack someone in what was basically a hospital, while Balckout would not try to fight all the people gathered here and risk even worse than just being brought here, so both of them had to accept the next best alternative...

And yet, Renata still stood there, confused, with a feeling that this was not supposed to happen. I mean, it's nice and all that they decided to part their ways, but still...

After the quick joke and the aforementioned acceptance of the goodwill, Blackout turned to Renata for one last time, quietly saying thanks, for everything, leaving the heroine with a slight blush on her cheeks, then began to make his way out of the infirmary, only stopping for an unnaturally long time to stare at Casimir. You know... maybe that's what happened. Blackout changed. He looked much more at ease now - when he was first woken up, he watched Renata and Hope with the eyes of a cornered animal, and that's not even talking about the events in the docks, where he and Nightshade almost entered a brawl while vampires were about to attack them both... Was it the chat with Renata? He certainly revealed a lot about himself and his ideology there. Maybe he just needed to vent on someone, and she, being an outsider, was the person who could accept that venting and not lash out in response...

That would make sense - but this also means that she can't stop here. Especially when she was planning to confront Blackout on his ideology, propose alternative counter-arguments, in the name of heroic meddling - so they might need to talk in the future. And hey, getting a friend is always a good thing - especially a friend who is loosely in the same field of work as her.

Renata pulled out her smartphone and checked the battery - phew, 30 percent and the phone wasn't even scratched by the fight. Usually, because of the heat Renata always emits in and out of battle, her phone loses charge in mere hours, if not faster - but this time, it actually lasted for some time. Putting it back in its pocket, Renata ran towards Blackout, exclaiming:

"Wait up!"

After stopping in front of the vigilante, she took a breath and immediately continued:

"...First of all, I should respond to you in kind. Thanks, for everything."

For lending a hand during the Vampire encounter, for stating your thoughts and case instead of keeping them bottled, for resolving this meeting with Roy without any fighting. There was a lot to be thankful for here.

"Actually, I was thinking..." Renata continued, stumbling a little bit, looking down. Oh god, this is getting awkward. "There's still going to be the Blood drug cartel to deal with, and various other villains, and we both operate in the same town, so it's both of our responsibility, if we're being honest... I was thinking that we could exchange phone numbers, so we could contact each other if necessary. And, I guess... if you want to ever vent on something, I'd be there to listen, I'm free most of the day these weeks. How does that sound?"

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Nick sat alone in the new base of operations for the team, which desperately needed a name. Having only set everything up there in the past few hours from his apartment. He was in a abandoned section of the San Diego subway network, underground in a literal and metaphorical sense. Nick had set up his quarters in what used to be a security room, that was filled with monitors and computers which he had brought in. Move in a few generators and he could run power to the whole hideout. Most of it was used in his own domain though. While Raven had scouted Red as a possible recruit for the team, in the past few days Nick had secretly been doing the same. Going over news reports of various headlines in the past several weeks. Looking for someone who seemed the vigilante type but shared the more extreme methods of their team.

Just a couple days, Nick had found that man. A man with a gym named Sebastian. He has been building a pattern of beating the hell out of criminals the past few weeks. The mainstream media has not seemed to pick up on him, but a observant eye with the right skills could trace him. And with both Raven and Shield Maiden about to go head to head with someone who has a body count very likely in the hundreds.

Just finishing his twenty seventh cigarette of the day, Nick exhaled a plume of smoke as he wearily decided to bring in the reinforcements. From his command center underground, Nick started to hack Sebastian's cell phone. Typing up a message that would appear on his smart phone's text screen in real time as he typed.

Sebastian. I know you do not know me. But I know some good people who share your fight against monsters in this city. Right now, they need your help. I am sending you their current location. A cathedral just five blocks from your Gym. They are two young women, one a white haired European fighter and the other a heavily armed local vigilante. I am asking you to go there so that they do not die tonight. I know you must ave some doubts if you can trust me, I can do nothing to earn your trust at this moment. But if you do this, I can assure you that you will trust us soon.

The message carried a urgent and somewhat desperate tone. All of it genuine. Nick had spent most of his years surviving by himself. Alexis and Brianna were the only friends he had. And he would be a damned man indeed if either of them died before he did. That being the case, he still waited anxiously for a response from the lone vigilante on his screen.

Sebastian Miller

It wasn't the first night he spent like that, on the gym, practicing his moves. Even if he got fame and money through MMA, he grew up at the side of a boxing ring: He spent countless nights practicing his moves on the punching bag. With the gym closed, no one bothered or interrupted him at all.

However, the sound of a notification echoed through the silent gym. Stopping his exercise routine, Sebastian reached his phone. He rarely got any messages that didn't come from the administration when he was away, but this time the message came without an identity behind it. It called him by his name - not a nickname, or Mr. Miller - and referred to his "private" activities.

How? He kept it a secret for himself. No one knew of the things he was capable of doing except himself so far, and if even the police failed on tracking him down, it was someone with a different level of skill and a different mentality than the usual hero. The person knew the kind of thing he did, and wasn't opposed to it: Instead it looked for his talents to help two women that apparently needed the help of someone like him. Quickly, he wrote a short answer before he left.

On it.

Quickly putting on a sweater, he ran to the cathedral mentioned. It had a certain dark feeling to it, and with the amount of noises that came from inside, this was probably the place. An inhuman growl was heard from a theater near the cathedral, and then he knew that it was the time to intervene. Opening the front doors of the theater he saw the two girls the person who sent him the message described: A white haired, European fighter, along with a heavily armed vigilante.

"Before you shoot or stab me, your guardian angel sent me here. The white haired one put the bigger one down, I'll grab the one with the burn marks. By now you need to know that I can take her heavy hits better than you. We'll talk once this is over."

Taking his sweater off, his skin became metallic in a few seconds and he quickly ran towards the girl. He presumed that her abilities were around fire, but unfortunately, his talent wasn't medical. Quickly she threw acid at his eyes, and even if didn't burn through his metallic skin, it burned and blocked his vision. Like a blind bull, he hit the wall behind the girl, who simply dodged his charge. Fire he could stand, but his high school lessons taught him that acid could burn through metal. Hopefully not through his skin.

Before he could see where the hell she was, another spray of acid hit his eyes. Of course, she knew that a man of his size could easily kill her in two hits. However, this time she increased the strength of the acid, as if she tested how much it would take to pass through his metallic shell. She kept her distance, continuously trying to wear him down.

Maintaining a full guard, the acid slowly went away from his eyes. However, he was cornered: He could feel, slowly, the strength of the acid against his forearms. Sooner or later, she would get that point: The point where his resilient skin would be broken by her acid. As if forgetting the difference between them, the woman started to take slow steps towards him. And finally, she was in his reach.

And then, he started. Normal boxing routine, just like the one he was practicing a few minutes ago. Hooks and jabs connected, fluid, showing that Sebastian knew exactly where and how to hit. Light attacks seemed to give her the hope of a possible counterattack, but every time the acid gathered on her hands, Sebastian punished her with a strong attack.

Taking two steps behind her, he allowed her to gather consciousness for a few seconds, and took some steps back: She stood once more, sure that one strong hit of her powerful acid would do the trick. Unfortunately, Sebastian never had the intention of letting her test it, as he delivered a haymaker strong enough to put her down. Her neck was broken at the moment of the impact, and one would notice that her jaw was broken in half at the right side, as the acid fell on the ground around her, destroying the materials of the theater. Now he needed to keep his guard up: He arrived in the middle of a fight he knew nothing about, with allies he knew only by description, and against a group of enemies he saw at the very moment.

"Another one down, another one to go."

[Segral]

Grant Ball

"So what's so special about this guy?" Grant asked as he slowly glided through the crowded sidewalks of Manhattan atop a plain skateboard, perfectly balanced. The bumping of briefcases nor the loud haze of noise could cause him to topple off his steed, he was in his zone. Odd that it would strike here of all places, in a narrow side street of Manhattan choked by bad Irish pubs and dirty Fiats, but what can you do. It wasn't something you controlled.

It was crazy that he was even here of all places. Beside a superhuman Chinese chick who could turn into a tiger, dog, rat, and snake from what he had seen so far, going on a paid mercenary quest to recover a five year old girl from a bunch of psycho entertainers in late-night Tennessee. Going to find a 12th century medieval knight. He had to seriously pinch himself a few times just to check if he wasn't dreaming.

Admittedly, he had some doubts about the idea of going with a superhuman shape-shifting Chinese chick and a deranged Englishman in a cool suit to find a five year old girl and take her from a band of psycho entertainers in late-night Tennessee. It seemed like he was just going to get himself killed, and that was the last thing he wanted. He had everything he wanted. A criminal empire, turf control, superpowers, a decent egg nest, what else could you ask for? Why would he give it up for this?

Simple; money. The sum she offered was ringing to a tune of $100 000, and that was a payment he couldn't pass up. The weapons they could buy, the apartment he could rent so he didn't have to live in a warehouse, the skateboards he could buy! It was a high risk, but it was a sky-high reward.

Li Yang Zhang

What an insufferable twit.

This Hawaiian idiot wouldn't stop talking the whole plane ride, and cab drive to the airport, tending to piss off the cabbies and hit on the attendants with horrible one-liners wherever he went. Li thought he would've been a valuable asset, or at least a decent fighter, and while the latter assumption hadn't been proven or disproven yet, she was beginning to seriously doubt the former was true. He was loudmouthed, rowdy, wild, and arrogant, exactly what she didn't need. Hopefully, at the end of all this, maybe when everything had settled down, she could pay him his bounty and send him on a Business Class ticket to Hawaii.

"For the last time, Grant." she sighed as the two headed down the sidewalk. "This man is used to be a knight in the 1100's. One of the best, in fact, a great warrior apparently. He was recently resurrected with the use of certain black magic, and fled here to New York."

"Okay, two questions. What can he do that's so special that he can potentially help take out the Circus and not get his ass slaughtered in five minutes, and how did you find this guy and know so much about him if he was just a knight?"

"He is a superhuman, the same person or group that resurrected him, well...they enhanced him. Gave him supernatural qualities, as well as his horse. As for the second question...well, I have sources."

"Ooooh, have you been spyyying on cute wittle Edward?"

"Grant, shut up or the deal's off."

"Ahhh, I love you so much, Li."

This banter continued on for quite a while, until they reached the door of the apartment building. It wasn't exactly the prettiest of places, a tall high-rise, made of brick of a very ugly shade of gray. Everything about the apartment screamed old, crumbling, and poor. The cracked steps. The rusty handrail. The gum and stomped-out cigarettes caked around the sides. The old homeless man sleeping on the steps, his cardboard collecting box tilted to the side with a few pennies spilling out. The faded and chipped wooden door. The grimy windows, covered with old fashioned and thin drapes. It was hard to believe a great warrior lived in this decrepit sewer of a building.

Grant almost seemed to fall silent. He just stared at the building for a little while, as if it reminded him of something. But it was only for about ten seconds or so, and with a deep sigh, he stepped over the homeless man casually, heading for the revolving doors, possibly the only nice and clean thing about the building. Li soon followed suit, only briefly pausing to drop a nickel in the box.

---

The lobby wasn't much better than the outside. The walls were grimy, a color long gone past white. The carpets were equally as grimy, and quite ugly in strange shades of brown, orange, and green. The pot lights were quite dim, it all gave this worn feel to the worn out building. There wasn't even a lobby, it was just a hallway with several storage lockers on one side, and a bank of elevators on the other.

The elevator took quite some time to arrive, and the interior was cramped and filled with mirrors. The slow, jittery ride up was silent as the two figures rode up, not speaking, apparently both upset at the state the building was in. It had hints of former grandeur, but all of it was lost to age and debt.

Edward Whilton resided on the tenth floor, Room 1004, only two doors to the right of the elevator. The hall was just as decrepit and dirty as the entrance hall, low ceilings, humming lights, tightly spaced walls. Grant moved out of the elevator car first, stooping slightly to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, which was only an inch or so taller than him at full height. Li smoothly strided out of the car, her head a good half a foot below the ceiling.

Both seemed to pause in front of the door, Grant's hand fluttering towards the door slightly, but seeming to have hesitation. One of them had to do it. Neither of them wanted to do this to poor Whilton, who was probably worn and confused as it was. But did they have a choice? He was needed, and he was unaffiliated. They needed him.

Li's hand soon found the door as Grant's dropped to his side, rapping her knuckles against it three times lightly, a dull, hollow noise emanating out. And two words.

"Knock knock."

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Algiers, Algeria



"If it's all the same to you," she started, sighing. "I'd prefer to come with."

Now all she had to do was find the prison. It shouldn't have been too hard, but she was worried about the strange looks they were already getting, just showing up out of the beach.

"Come on," she turned to her companion. "We'd better get going."

Jonathan Jackson

Bummed. He couldn't get out from this agreement. Well, better keep this in mind next time he did this. Better kill her, but he really tried to not think of that. He shook his head intensely. "Sure, let's go there. Lead the way, you know this country better than me. I'm just a trespasser, walking by trying to avoid things," he said.

[Tomia]

Roy
Hope nodded when Icarus asked if he could leave. Roy didn't look like he very much liked the idea of letting him go, but he wasn't going to start a fight in the infirmary. Besides with the people behind this blood drug still out there, and Red in trouble, they clearly had other things to worry about. After seeing Hope nod he turned back to Icarus. "Well, guess you better be going now. I'd prefer it if you didn't linger." Roy said bluntly before he saw that Renata was interested in talking to Icarus so he backed away silently and returned to the corner of the door where he had stood before.

Mars
Mars was a little surprised by Kiris' suggestion that she would help him cook, but it was a pleasant surprise. He doubted Kiris knew much about cooking, especially human cuisine, but he liked the idea of getting to spend more time with her. "Well sure Kiris, you can help me instead, thanks." He said and then turned to her with a smile. "So I'm guessing you want to make pasta and meatballs?" He asked, a little amusement in his voice. He led Kiris out of the infirmary and upstairs towards the kitchen. "Pasts and meatballs are pretty easy to make, we'll just need to make a lot of it for everyone." He said as he started going through the fridge for the ingredients that'd he'd need. "Uh, do you think you could get the big pot out and start boiling water Kiris?"

[New Neros]

Mustafa Gaul | Nile Cannan
Muerte de Los Muertos

Armed with information, Gaul charged the group of seven superhumans directly like a mad man. Each one stiffened at he approached, the master martial artist taking notice of the subtle cues in body language each one projected, watching them all react more as a group than as individuals, reasoning that Espina's control grew limited as she brought in more bodies to play. Still, Gaul knew that there was a slight delay of executing orders, as he knew himself to be faster than Espina and her puppets, but their reaction times were just incredibly weak. He landed a solid straight punch on the speedster's temple, reasoning him to be a bigger concern than the others and even the two unknowns, as his harassment potential would be too great to leave unaccounted for.

Feeling the shattering of the man's skull under his knuckles, Gaul knew he gave out a death blow to his opponent, and sent him crashing hard into the superhuman clad in rock, breaking some stones free from the man. As Gaul pivoted on his ankle to defend the counter-attacks from the others, he took note that the speedster still tried to move, his bones forcing themselves to do so despite the eyes of the man glazing over, showing he was no longer with us. Gaul's eyes flashed to the three newcomers, one of whom was a stout, well-built man with powerful green eyes. The puppet swung fast and hard, Gaul unable to dodge in time, slamming the villain right on the chin with some considerable force. "Super strength, huh," Mustafa stated, reeling from the hit and returning with a strike of his own, "Always a pleasure to see it executed so well."

Gaul slammed his open palm into the green-eyed superhuman's chest and caved it in, cracking apart his sternum and ribcage, unable to see him fly away as Gaul's body was engulfed with flames and boiling water once more. As the physically imposing Orion member handled seven other superhumans, Nile turned to go head on with the head of the organization herself, hopefully guessing correctly that her powers would be diminished since she's controlling so many people at once instead of leaving three in reserve. It was clear that she was desperate, and hiding in a secure spot away from the action. Nile began his pursuit by phasing through objects and running around the factory, trying to determine the best vantage point for the girl to control her puppets.

Conveniently, Nile stumbled upon the managers' office in the middle of the second floor overlooking the production floor, and found the gang leader carefully in thought and entirely focused on the battle going on between Gaul and the people under her control. Careful, so as to not disturb her or break her concentration, Nile walked close to the girl and softly sat next to her, never once arousing her suspicion. She muttered under her breath some curse words as Gaul was going to town on her little army, just handing out the beat down like it was on sale, never once considering that physically confronting Gaul is damn near impossible given his ability to get power-ups from physical damage. "Don't." Nile said quietly, not wanting to fully break Espina's concentration, but watching her breath deeply and heavily as he phased his hand into her back. Behind Nile stood a wall of bones the girl has amassed, intending on unleashing them all at once to surprise Nile, but she was found out. "We're going to just talk, because I know you can't feel it, but right now, I can just grab your heart and rip it out like some Jet Lee shit."

Espina breathed out steadily, continuing her fight while Gaul while Nile so carefully kept her own life in check. She wondered what these men were truly after, was it her death? If that were the case, Nile would end it here and now, perhaps he was into torture and wanted to see the fight crushed out of her. Either way, she couldn't help but feel like there was more to be done. "What do you want to talk about so late in the game, Senor Canaan?" She asked wearily, growing more sloppy in her control as Gaul had reduced much of her forces to shattered bones and meat bags, no signs of life coming from them despite their continued, jerky movements. "You've destroyed the cartel, those men and women were truly the scum of Tijuana, so I can die happy, I suppose."

"Yeah," Nile said, "I figured you're not exactly the greatest fighter in the world. Even with seven puppets, they're all kinda basic in their movement. No offense to you, but I was skeptical that you managed to run this organization all on your own." He admitted, Espina slowing her control down and just ripping the bones out of some of her warriors, causing them to attack Gaul in a shower of spears, but the man had been tanking so much damage that they could not pierce his durable hide. "There was a lack of ruthlessness that was needed to succeed in villainy, and it seemed to be kind of... Forced, I would say."

"You could say that."

"Well," Nile continued, "Tell me a little bit more about yourself."

"Why do you care?" She said, weak and defeated, retracting her armored skeleton and fully stopping her meat puppets, Gaul looking directly at her position as she practically gave up.

"Why shouldn't I?" He asked back, removing his phased hand from her chest. "There's a story here and that you aren't telling us."

Sighing, Espina relented and began to recount her story. "I was raised on these streets, my mama and papi worked in these factories, so we lived fairly well for the area. I had my powers since middle school, but kept them a secret for a long time, my parents didn't like superhumans, against God, they'd tell me. Well, I started hanging out with the wrong crowds. Thought stick-ups and rolling with sets was a good idea, lots a fun. I had no prospects, no trade, no path to college, but these powers made me somebody, so I used them. I got what I wanted and I eventually got respect, but that all went away when these Los Muertos cabrones came up. They had drug money, they were running Blood up and down the border."

"Blood?" Nile asked quickly.

"Vampire stuff, superhuman drugs, anyways. I wanted to join up with these guys, they had the big hustle, lots of money and power. Well, they told me that there was no family but the Muertos, so they killed my mom and dad and told me I was alright to join."

"Jesus." Nile muttered, letting Espina continue.

"And I joined up, you know, but that wasn't going to fly with me. I couldn't fight, like you noticed, but I knew I could control the bones of other people if I touched them, so I got in contact with everyone in the clique. At first, I was going to kill them all in one go, but then I got to thinking, if I do that, I have no one, and under my control was like seven powered bastardos. So, I tried running the Muertos, but I guess I wasn't cut for it. This was about a month back, and here we are. I don't know what to do, where to go, I just feel... Lost." For a moment, silence hung the air as Nile digested Espina's story, watching as the villainness peeled away herself and became exposed to the villains, turning to look at him for some sense of comfort.

"Then come with us." Gaul's booming voice shouted, ascending the stairs quickly, his imposing form coming into view, complete with it's cuts and bruises, burns and every other form of injury thrown together. He looked like he stepped out of a train wreck, yet was still able to not just stand, but give some encouragement to a former adversary. "We're a home for people with no place to go and no goal to work towards. You have a gift, why not make something of it? You can either better the world or better yourself, either way, you're still fulfilling a purpose. I want to end the struggles villains face when dealing with heroes unfairly, Nile wants to keep himself occupied and not bored, we're different people with different goals and aspirations but we can work together in Orion. It's not just some evil organization, it's a brotherhood, it's a family." With that, Gaul peeled off the rest of his tattered shirt, revealing his right shoulder tattoo'd with a signature Spartan helm, along with the number four.

Nile rolled up his left sleeve and showed her the same tattoo, except his held the number seven. "You have great potential, and a great personality, and even though we were ready to kill each other just moments ago, I think we can work together moving forward." The words of encouragement made Espina blush slightly and smile, feeling a sense of accomplishment to earn praise from Gaul, who single-handedly would have decimated the Los in their original state, had she not been controlling their bodies. Tears welled in her eyes slightly but she fought them back and nodded, becoming determined and hopeful for the future. "If you need to take care of some things before we head back, that's fine, but-"

"No," She firmly stated, "There's nothing else I need, have, or want here. I'm ready to go, right here, right now." With that, Gaul and Nile cracked a smile each, knowing that they had been successful in bringing in another powerful asset to the table.

[Bentus]

Yoshiro
Somewhere, later that day

---

Looking around her, Yoshiro tried to make sense of her surroundings.

She was still sitting in the same, bland chair from Voice’s house but found herself suddenly in the middle of a sea of rich green. The deep and verdant forest was dotted with the occasional flower in bloom and Yoshiro could see the looming peaks of mountains rising before the horizon. Looking over her shoulder, her brow furrowed as she recognised the small traditional Shinto archway that stood behind her.

“Voice, where am I?” Yoshiro asked the question to thin air, feeling the presence of the other telepath nearby. Her eyes continued to scan the scenery, something about it all feeling ever-so-slightly off to her.

You tell me.

“It’s Nikk¬o park, in Tochigi. We’d go camping here whenever we visited my grandparents.” There was a hint of doubt in Yoshiro’s voice. She knew what this place looked like, but the undeniable feeling of something being wrong continued to pick at the back of her mind. “My dad would always take me on a hike to the shrine to watch the sunrise. But we never left your house, did we?”

This is your mindscape. It is the manifestation of your thoughts in a way that your senses can comprehend. Voice responded plainly. It felt like she was speaking from every direction at once, as if her words were coming from the breeze itself. She paused for a moment before continuing. You’ve never entered your mindscape before, have you?

The question caught Yoshiro by surprise, and she shifted sheepishly as if she’d done something wrong. “Um, no – at least I don’t think so. Should I have?”

Voice didn’t respond, instead thinking over this new information. For Yoshiro, the silence was answer enough. Frowning, she wondered if there was anything else that she’d been missing.
It doesn’t matter. Let’s get started.

It was all Yoshiro could do to open her mouth to ask Voice what she was going to do when she felt the chair shoot forward from under her, pushing her along with it. The sudden acceleration thrust her into the chair’s back, the immense weight that she felt pressing down on her chest immobilising her. The sound of the wind screamed past her as her stomach was left miles behind her, a wave of vertigo washing over her senses. Straining her neck to look forward, Yoshiro’s eyes widened as she saw a tree trunk rushing up to meet her, before finding herself stumbling into the middle of the San Diego Zoo’s information centre.

Blinking in surprise, Yoshiro steadied herself, still feeling a little bit dizzy from earlier. Glancing around, she found the building to be entirely empty, looking much the way that it had done during the villain attack from the previous week. Taking a few cautious steps forward, Yoshiro felt shards of glass breaking beneath her shoes, the entire lobby looking like a tornado had just blown through. The main window that looked out into the zoo proper was completely gone, and the whole room was shrouded in shadow with all the power having been cut off. Nervously, she began to make her way towards the opening in the wall – determined to see what the rest of the zoo looked like. Each step was greeted by the cracking sound of broken glass.

“Hello, is anyone there?” Yoshiro called out, beginning to think that she was all alone. Thinking to herself, she began to wonder what it was exactly that Voice had been planning. She paused, hesitating momentarily as her nose scrunched up at a strange smell. Was that strawberries?

From behind her, Yoshiro heard a feminine giggle that sent a chill rocketing down her spine.

“Nope! It’s just you and me, sweetie.”

Before she could even turn around, Yoshiro felt something wrap around her ankle and swing her crashing into the wall on the far side of the room. The impact sent the air fleeing from her lungs and shot a stab of pain up her back. Looking up, she felt a sense of dread as she saw the girl in pink standing coyly at the back of the lobby, her parasol resting gently on her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, Yoshiro ignored the pain and forced herself back to her feet, desperately scrambling forward in an effort to avoid any further attacks. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, fear driving her legs into action as she tried to put some distance between herself and Marionette. Focusing on some of the old magazines that still lay on the lobby’s counter, Yoshiro used her powers to hurl them towards the villain, hoping that they would act as at least a token distraction.

The doorway at the far end of the room was a glimmer of hope, and Yoshiro forced herself to run faster than she ever had in her life, putting all of her energy into a desperate attempt to escape. However, she hadn’t even made it more than five steps before something slammed into her back with enough force to send her keeling over onto all fours. Coughing as she was once again winded, Yoshiro heard the cracking of glass behind her as a pair of footsteps approached. Looking around the room for something, anything, that she could use to fight back, Yoshiro felt a sense of powerlessness wash over her. There was nothing besides the souvenir trinkets that sat behind the counter and what was left of the overpriced food counter that tended to hungry visitors. Eventually, the footsteps came to a stop. Terrified of what would greet her, Yoshiro glanced to her left to see a pair of pink, heeled boots.

“Oh come on, you can’t be done that quickly. This is boring!”

One of the feet lurched forwards and slammed into Yoshiro’s exposed torso with superhuman force, sending her rolling over onto her side and evoking a sickening crunch from her ribs. Now on her back, the Young Blood roiled in agony with a freshly broken rib, looking up to see the face of her tormentor looking down on her with a sadistic glee. Reaching down, Marionette picked Yoshiro up by her neck, lifting her up off of her feet without breaking a sweat. Immediately, she began to struggle as the girl’s fingers clamped down hard on her throat, cutting off the vital supply of oxygen. Yoshiro’s feet dangled in the air as her own hands tried desperately to peel away her opponent’s vice-like grip. Marionette offered the suffering heroine a friendly smile.

“Don’t worry – I’ll make sure that the rest of your friends join you soon, okay?”

That was when a bottle of ketchup that had been levitating just out of Marionette’s sight unloaded its contents into her eyes. Recoiling, she let out a cry of surprise as she was suddenly blinded. Released from the villain’s grasp, Yoshiro didn’t hesitate it once again bolting for the door with a painful limp. Thankfully she managed to make it before Marionette could fully regain her senses, but froze in terror as she was greeted by the lifeless stares of three corpses. Lacerated nearly beyond recognition, she nonetheless picked out the features of the small family whom she had rescued during the attack. Refusing to allow herself to stop running, Yoshiro forced herself to turn away and press on deeper into the corridors of the building. The sounds of rage from behind her could still be heard, insults mingling with crashes and impacts as Marionette threw a tantrum in her effort to locate the hero.

“WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BITCH?!” The yell reverberated through the building, Marionette making no effort to hide her anger at having her new dress spoiled on its first day of use. “Why do you even call yourself a hero if you just run and hide! Do you think that everyone else is going to do the fighting for you so you can just emerge and steal some of the glory? How selfish can you get?”

Eventually, Yoshiro limped into a supply closet, closing the door behind her so that she was totally immersed in darkness. Turning to face the entrance and backing up until her back pressed against the wall, Yoshiro felt her legs give way beneath her, slumping onto the floor as her whole body shivered in shock. Clamping her mouth with her hands, she shuddered as silent tears began to stream beckoned down her cheeks. She felt fear gripping her chest, the faces of the family – especially the young child – etched into her mind’s eye. A few muffled cries escaped from her lips, but Yoshiro stopped immediately as she heard more footsteps from outside. She tried to shrink herself further into the recesses of the closet, hoping that she hadn’t made enough noise to be found. If Marionette did open that door, then Yoshiro was backed into a corner – there was nowhere left to run. To her dismay, the footsteps stopped at the other side of the door. Not even daring to breathe, Yoshiro felt a pit forming in her stomach as the doorknob began to move. Carefully, she forced herself back to her feet with grim determination. The moment the door opened, she would leap forward and go on the attack – she simply had no other option left. Almost in slow motion, the knob turned and the door began to move aside. With a cry of effort, Yoshiro flung herself forward with the last of her strength, determined to at least put up a fight at the end.

But she found herself stumbling out of the room and onto the sunlit beach on Wonder Island. The sound of waves crashing against the shore was mixed with the occasional cry of a seagull, a far cry from the chaos back at the zoo. Surprised by the unexpected change in scenery and the disappearance of all of her wounds from earlier, Yoshiro tripped over herself. Letting out a shriek as she tried to brace herself against the coming impact, she was instead caught by a pair of arms.

“Whoa, Yoshi! Careful where you step.”

Finding herself caught in an embrace, Yoshiro’s head was resting on someone’s chest. Confusion was swiftly replaced with a rush of pink to her cheeks as she quickly realised exactly who it was that had been standing next to her on the beach. Looking up, she saw Red looking back down at her with a warm smile, his features bordered by the evening sky. The fear and pain from moments before seemed like a distant nightmare, increasingly hazy in Yoshiro’s memories as the present moment dominated her attention. The sight of Red only caused more colour to rush to her face as Yoshiro’s mouth opened and closed, unable to force any words to manifest themselves. Red was wearing his swim trunks, the appearance of his chiselled figure causing her own heart to miss a couple beats. She wanted to apologise to him for being so clumsy, but instead found that her body refused to pull away from his. Red also seemed to be in no rush to remove his arms from around her.

“Red, I – “ Whatever Yoshiro was about to say was cut off as Red’s lips come into contact with her own. Her eyes shot open in surprise, but quickly relaxed as she returned the sentiment. She felt her arms clasp tighter around his back of their own accord, doing whatever they could to keep him close. Red’s own hands moved gently along her back, beginning to explore as they roamed down towards the back of her shirt. Yoshiro felt her heart flutter, her mind awhirl as she allowed herself to give in to the excitement that was bursting from her chest.

Everything seemed to be moving so quickly, her entire world spinning on its head as she struggled to keep up with. What was she doing? This wasn’t like her at all.

Nerves and anticipation competed for dominance as Red continued to explore downward. How did they end up on the beach? Did it even matter, really? The questions clashed and fought within her head, a whirlpool of thoughts and doubts that sent Yoshiro’ mind into a tailspin.

“Enough!”

Yoshiro shouted, the inside of Voice’s house bursting once more into existence. She was shaking, a cold sweat having broken out on her skin as she gasped for air. Her eyes were wild as they searched the room around her, convincing herself that everything around her was really there. Her gaze fell upon the woman sitting calmly in the chair opposite to her. “What the hell was that? What did you do to me?”

Voice seemed unmoved by her outburst and outwards appearance, sitting with her arms crossed as she watched Yoshiro’s reaction.

Exactly what I told you I would do. I warned you that it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.

“Not pleasant? I felt my bones break! I thought I was about to die back there, and then…” Yoshiro paused as the rest of her memories continued to return to her, a hint of colour tinting her cheeks as she recalled standing on the beach. Shaking her head, she tried to push the thought aside. Yoshiro felt uneasy, like someone had just been trespassing in her own head. “You didn’t have to take it so far. Those were my thoughts, my memories, my – whatever, but they’re meant to be mine.”

Voice’s eyes narrowed. Oh I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Would you rather I put the kiddy gloves back on for you and bring you some hot chocolate? Somehow, despite not having a voice of her own, the woman’s tone was vividly condescending and sarcastic in Yoshiro’s head.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Yoshiro’s voice wavered slightly.

Really? Cause that’s what it’s sounding like, and I’ve got news for you kid – that was with the kiddy gloves firmly in place. I was along for the ride as much as you were. I just let your mind take us where it was scared and nervous. What do you think is going to happen if you come up against someone who isn’t so hands-off, huh? Voice was leaning forward now, her eyes boring a hole in Yoshiro’s skull. What about when they start pushing and pulling on your mind, guiding it to where they want it to be? Or how about someone who can change things in there, alter your memories so that your most treasured moment becomes a tragedy? Do you think you’ll just be able to cry time-out then?

Yoshiro had retreated further into the chair, feeling flustered at the verbal onslaught. She felt angry, like she had been misled or used in some way. Why was she putting up with this?

“You know what, I came here to learn how to help people and how to use my powers better. I thought that I was going to meet a great hero who I looked up to, and who had worked tirelessly to make the world a better place.” The words were just spilling out, Yoshiro found herself venting freely at Voice. “Instead, it turns out that you’re just some alcoholic living alone in a rundown house in the suburbs. At every turn you’ve done everything you can to convince me to turn away from doing this, and that’s exactly what you’re still doing. I am sick and tired of people treating me like I might break at any moment.” Pushing herself to her feet, Yoshiro began to make her way towards the door.

You know what, I’m doing this because I’m trying to help you. But fine, if you’re so dead-set on getting yourself killed, then be my guest – don’t expect me to lose any sleep over it! Get out of my house and don’t come back.

"Asshole!"

Yoshiro didn’t even look back as she stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her. The Sun was already on its way below the horizon, but she relished the fresh air as she began to make her way back to the bus stop. Who did Voice think she was? That whole time, she had been taking Yoshiro for a ride, putting her through all of that in an attempt to scare her away from being a hero. Angered, Yoshiro kept her eyes on the path in front of her until the sound of her phone vibrating in her pocket nearly caused her to jump. Glancing at the caller ID, she registered the contact under which she’d put Naja’s number.

“Hi, Naja. Look, this whole thing with Voice isn’t going to work out.”

“Doesn’t matter, you need to come back now.” Naja’s voice was stern, stopping Yoshiro in her tracks. “It’s Red, there’s been a prison break.”

[The Rebel Alliances]

Alexis Cain/Raven-San Diego

Brianna took spear and shield to the wolf man. Which left me with the burn bitch and the butler. Aiming my UMP from the hip I sprayed the wall in front of me. The butler vanished in an instant as the burn victim dove behind a row of dusty seats. Then, in a moment the dagger wielding butler appeared to my immediate left, swiping at me with a blade. Fuck, he teleports. I cursed mentally throwing myself on my back to avoid the lunge and spraying some more bullets ahead of me. Each one failing to make contact as he vanished again.

"Fuck!" The tactic was starting to really piss me off. I made my way back to my feet, scanned the room just as another man burst in through the doors. I almost swiveled my gun to shoot at him as I heard him announce himself.

"Before you shoot or stab me, your guardian angel sent me here. The white haired one put the bigger one down, I'll grab the one with the burn marks. By now you need to know that I can take her heavy hits better than you. We'll talk once this is over." Nick you are a fucking life saver. As the new arrival shifted his attention to the acid girl, that left me with the teleporting servant.

With a whoosh he appeared behind me and slashed by back with the dagger. Before vanishing again.

"Gyah!" Screaming aloud I could feel that it hurt, but it was just a flesh wound.

The fucker is toying with me...

With the other two occupied, I was able to focus more on my fight with the teleporter. So, I started to move myself back into a corner, giving him less options to ambush me. Then, just like before he showed up, this time crouched in front of me as he attempted to drive his dagger upward and into my stomach, but I blocked the incoming strike and fired one round off into his leg, bringing out a primal scream of pain from the man. Who once again vanished.

Thats right. Now, run from me...

Stepping out of my corner I reloaded quickly. My nerves on edge not knowing when he would appear again. By now both Brianna and the new guy have dispatched their assailants. That just left me and the damn help. He is alone now. Desperate. He could run, teleport away. But...no. This man took a job from Marionette, a job that he is failing. And I dont really want to imagine all of the things she would do to anyone who fails her.

Almost as if on cue, he appeared once more. This time, in front of the small arsenal that I had stashed here as he tried to go for the RPG. I quickly aimed a shot off at his shoulder, throwing him to the ground next to the weapons as I ran over to him and delivered a swift kick to the temple. Then, planting one more bullet in his remaining leg. Another howl in pain as I looked down on him, a rapidly expanding puddle of blood beneath him, staining that excellent suit he wore.

Grabbing the RPG for myself I allowed the UMP to fall to my side on a sling. As I used my one free hand to draw my glock. As I debated what to do with this asshole.

"You. Your an assassin right? You certainly fight like one." He nodded through gritted teeth as I decided on judgement. I could end him here, quickly. But for an assassin? One who kills for money? That would be a mercy. And of mercy, I am fresh out tonight.

I fired off every round in my glock rapid fire except for a single bullet. Leaving only one in the gun as I then tossed the glock to the far side of the room opposite of the wounded man. Then arming myself with the grenades alongside the UMP and the RPG as I spoke to him.

"You are in a world of shit assassin. With those wounds, you are a dead man. You will bleed out pretty soon. But let me ask you something. What would Marionette do to you if she escapes us? And knows you failed and still live? Even if it is for a few more minutes? I cannot imagine her as the understanding type. So, the way I see it you have three options. A, you stay here and risk bleeding to death before Marionette find you. B, you wait for her to find you and she ends your life in ways I cannot even fathom...or C, you crawl your bleeding ass across this floor. Take that glock there, and end it yourself. Any way you slice it..." I then stepped away from him. As terror began to take his eyes.

"Your fucked."

Walking away at the doomed man as he swore curses at me I nodded to both Brianna and the new guy as I exited the room and descended the stairs down to the ground level. Until we finally exited the theater and prepared to storm the Cathedral. I was exhausted, tired, bleeding and in no shape to plan an elaborate entry. So, I instead turned to my team.

"Look, to the best of my knowledge. Marionette is in there by herself with Red." I then realized that we had a new recruit who likely did not know who these people were. So, I simplified it for him. "New guy, the target is the barbie looking bitch in a doll dress. The hostage is a severely exhausted red haired teen dressed in prison orange. Kill the bitch, save the hostage. Simple. Oh, and before I forget, call me Raven and this is Shield Maiden." I explained. As I locked eyes with Brianna and then giving the lets do this shit nod as I led the way and kicked in the door to the Cathedral. Immediately spotting Marionette and Red. Aiming the RPG-7 at he doll faced bitch I made an announcement that was anything but subtle.

"Hey BITCH, got something for ya!" I exclaimed as a plume of smoke fired from the anti tank weapon and sped towards Marionette.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Walking out of the infirmary, Blackout was once more reminded of the reality that he was in an area that was completely strange to him: unfamiliar walls and hallways stretched out before him, and even though he wanted nothing more than to comply with Nightshade's unfriendly suggestion, he didn't know which one was the path that led him out of the tower. This ignorance, which led to indecision, caused him to freeze on his tracks.

It just so happened that this coincided with the moment Stella called out to him, asking him to wait.

"Hm? What is it?" He mumbled as he turned around, more to himself than to the pink-haired heroine who was trailing behind, coming to a stop right next to him. The girl's earnest demeanor, coupled with the words she spoke, surprised him a little, and yet again he was thankful his mask concealed the lower half of his face. Momentarily at a loss for words, the blond boy simply nodded at her. Unlike Renata, he didn't think there was anything that she should thank him for, barring perhaps when he stepped in to fight the vampires alongside her, though he believed that she had paid that in full when she helped keep him safe; of course, he wasn't going to say that, he might not have been a very sociable person but he still knew better than to ruin the moment.

As the girl continued speaking, Icarus listened, noticing her stumbling over her words and wondering what might have caused it, as she had spoken rather confidently throughout their conversation earlier. When the subject was finally brought up, however, the boy quickly understood, the awkwardness of the situation spreading to him. Fortunately for both of them, Stella handled the whole thing more or less professionally, explaining that exchanging phone numbers could be beneficial for fighting against crime and threats such as the vampiric drug.

Having heard the whole thing, the vigilante remained silent for a few moments, pondering whether or not to accept the heroine's proposal. He was fairly inclined to just agree, despite being feeling a bit embarrassed, both at the fact that a pretty girl was asking for his phone number and at the fact that something like that was affecting him. But on the other hand, it was a potential hint to his identity that he was not sure he wanted to share.

"...Sure. Sounds convenient. And I won't say I didn't enjoy talking to you." He finally said, reasoning that it was very unlikely that his phone number would tip anyone off to his identity, as only a very small number of people used it to contact him anyway. Patting one of the pockets of his black cargo pants, Blackout extracted some energy from a battery inside and fashioned a small bluish plaque of sorts, with empty space forming the digits of his phone number. He offered it to the heroine, thinking it was much simpler and less prone to eavesdropping than simply telling her (and fancier as well, though he refused to admit that was one of his reasons). "Here you go. I'm not great with numbers, so just text me later or something so we can stay in touch." He casually suggested.

Once the heroine had taken the plaque, Icarus continued, in a more serious tone. "We might not have... very similar outlooks on what we do or why, or what's acceptable and isn't. But I owe you, so if you ask for a favor, I'll abide by your rules." He spoke sincerely, a bit of a solemn air about him. He had plenty of potentially controversial opinions on heroes, but those considerations weren't as important compared to aiding a friend.

"By the way, would you happen to know the way out of here?"

---

---

Kirisvala nodded eagerly when Mars accepted her proposal, and followed him as he led her from where they were standing outside the hangar towards the kitchen that was located inside the island's main tower, all while listening to his small talk. When he asked her if she wanted to make pasta with meatballs, she nodded again, her bright smile betraying her enthusiasm. Hearing that it was an easy dish to make was pretty good news, as she hadn't known that or even tried to make it before, despite it being her favorite dish out of all the human cuisine she had tasted during her stay on Earth.

The alien girl watched attentively as Mars rummaged through the fridge, picking out various ingredients and setting them aside for later use, as she was pretty sure she could learn more by watching him. However, when he asked her to boil some water, she moved to work on that instead. "Right, on it!" She nodded. Before getting to work, she moved over to the sink and splashed her face with water a couple times to wash out the blood on her face, as it wouldn't do to act as an assistant cook like that. Then, she moved to where the pots and pans were stored and picked out the largest of the former, filling it with water and putting it on the stove, a task that was fairly simple to accomplish, even for someone with less fine hand skills than a regular human.

"Yup, done! What else?" The Hadrian asked as she turned to look at Mars, clasping her hands in front of her and waiting for him to direct her.

[Aidannadia]

???: hey al
???: I found some new shit
???: meet me tonight if you wanna check it out

Aleta opened her Snapchat to a message from her plug and raised an eyebrow. It was rare to get a message from James these days; she had run out of things to try, but every few months there was some new pill that didn't do jack he was trying to peddle. She swore that one was just sugar pills...

Al: Will do
Al: You know I appreciate it, JamJam

---

"You know I hate it when you use my name in the chat." A voice pouted from the shadows.

Aleta smiled. "And I know you know I know. Now, whatchu got?"

"Oh, I think you'll like this one. Hold on." She could here rummaging in a bag, and rolled her eyes. He insisted on carrying his supply in a briefcase, saying it makes people take him seriously. Ridiculous. "Here it is."

A small vial of glowing red ichor appeared in the darkness, lightly revealing his unkempt neckbeard and tacky green jacket. "Yeah, so this stuff is supposed to make you feel fuckin' great. Like you could lift a ton of cars and shit. Heard some supers couldn't take someone on it." He chuckled slightly. Aleta's interest had been peaked.

"You mean what happened at the docks? Is this what caused that?"

"I mean, people talk. Anyway, your always complaining about how weak my shit is, so I figured you'd be interested?" He knew he had her trapped, but he hadn't the slightest clue the real reason for her interest. "But yeah, so apparently this stuff normally doesn't work out to well for the user. It was silly of me to-"

"Don't fuck with me, James. Here, take my money and hand it over." The exchange was over quickly and without incident. Now, to up the ante.

Aleta started to walk away, but as soon as she turned the corner, she kicked a trashcan, sending it flying down the alleyway and screamed, making sure that James could here her footsteps run away. "Here, just take it and leave me alone!" Another few pieces of metal and plastic being shifted around created the desired effect. It was then that she felt the Pitch rise out of her pores and cover herself, becoming a superhero once more.

A whip of black tar shot out of her arm and she pulled herself towards James, her appearance completely changed. The rest was simple voice lessons. "Hello, scum."

James was already trying to run. A beam of tar grabbed each leg and dragged him across the alleyway back towards the capeless crusader. "What's this?" Pitch held up the vial, but James was still paralyzed with shock. He was slammed against the wall, mostly as a threat rather than a real hit.

"I call it uh.... Vampiroglobin... No, that's dumb. They told me its called Blood Drug. I just sell it, I don't knowmuchaboutitpleaselet me go oka-"

"They?" Pitch's sly smile was concealed by the suit.

"My distributor. His crew. I was just trying to push the stuff after... Well, dead customers don't make great clients, yknow? I had already bought some of it to push and then when the news-"

"Where!" The voice nearly reverted back to Aleta's normal tone. Pitch became frustrated, knocking a few crates down the alleyway. His tangents were always so annoying.


"Well, I don't exactly know where they are right now, but on Wednesday..." James explained how to find them, only occasionally getting sidetracked. "Now, please, let me go, man."

Pitch chuckled, released the dealer, but without his suitcase. "I'll be taking this though." And just like that, the hero disappeared up the side of an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese's and into the night.

[Finland SSR]

Icarus

Renata Martínez, the heroic Stella!

---

After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, Blackout finally gave his answer to Renata's suggestion - a "sure, sounds convenient", which swiftly cleared away the embarrassment in her head and converted it back into useful energy, resulting in a wide smile. After the vigilante handed her a plaque with his phone number, Renata swiftly dialed it in, saving the number in the span of seconds.

Hm. Interesting. This is a new number, not a repeat - her phone would have sent a warning message otherwise. And Renata's list of saved numbers was pretty long - she had made sure to collect the numbers of all the most important teachers and closest classmates, just in case any of them were needed, so Blackout was either using a designated "superhero phone" or wasn't someone close to her out of costume. But he said things would get awkward if he were to reveal his secret identity to me... What a mystery. Renata decided to brush that mystery to the side, however, and instead listened to what the vigilante had to say about their future encounters. Stating that he'll try to abide by the rules of heroes if they join forces again.

"That sounds great!" Renata replied, her voice brimming with energy like always. "Honestly, though - I'm not trying to challenge you on your views or something, but I think you should be more careful next time. I think we both can agree that we got pretty lucky today - I wouldn't be able to get you out of jail, you know?.."

With that out of the way, the conversation went to a much more practical topic - how to get out of here. Obviously, Blackout didn't know the way out - he was carried to the infirmary while unconscious and thus was a complete stranger here. Not that Renata had much more knowledge about the ins and outs of Wonder Island and the tower they were in - this was her first time here, too - but she knew the way from the infirmary to the jet and back, and that's what mattered.

"Of course! Follow me!" the heroine exclaimed, immediately running towards the closest set of stairs and motioning Blackout to follow. The way out wasn't too far away, now that Renata got to experience it a second time, only a few floors down and a few corridors to the right to reach the main hall, and thus the frontal entrance - it just appears to be so much farther when you're exhausted and carrying a body on your back, you know?.. It didn't take long for them to walk out through the entrance, with the jet which brought them here in plain view. Naja was still standing there, in the same place she had greeted the Young Bloods - except this time, she was, as it appears, talking on her phone.

"Well, that's as far as I know of this place. Roy was the one who flew the jet, but I don't think you want to ask him to fly you back to San Diego," Renata stopped and spoke. Now this is a bit of a problem. How is someone supposed to leave this island? "Maybe you can ask Naja for help?"

[Bentus]

Marionette
San Diego

---

Marionette’s smiled broadened as the look of confusion slowly transformed into one of horror on Red’s face. His mouth moved of its own accord, defying his commands as it confessed his undying love for her. She felt a sense of glee rising in her chest, the excitement at her plan coming to fruition nearly bubbling over. The only outward sign of the tug of war going on within Red’s mind was a gradual relaxation of his expression, his desperate efforts to cling to his past self being swiftly overwhelmed by the dark magic that was twisting his thoughts to Marionette’s desires.

”Of course, my dear, I’ll do anything for you and kill anyone who tries to come between us.”

Her heart fluttered at Red’s words, a hint of colour returning to her cheeks at the sweet sentiment. He was hers, and he was finally able to admit his love for her now that she’d cleared out all the pesky distractions that had been running around in that cute head of his. Marionette opened her mouth to respond to Red, to give him her next command, but the sound of a door being kicked down interrupted time with her newest play-thing.

Hey BITCH, got something for ya!” Marionette recognised the voice instantly, her mind only able to register an anger at the obvious incompetence of her hired help before a plume of smoke erupted from the group of heroes. Her eyes widened as she saw the rocket screaming towards her, unprepared, Marionette could only watch in shock as the projectile flew straight and true. She felt a wave of fury, it wasn’t fair! She had just won! And now this street rat was about to take it all away from her. Suddenly, Red slammed into Marionette’s stationary figure, launching them through the air as the rocket flew past where they’d been standing mere moments ago. The pair landed with a solid thud, sliding along the cathedral floor as the RPG detonated on the far wall. For the briefest of moments, Marionette wanted to simply remain there with Red lying on top of her, securing her safely in his arms. But unfortunately such a luxury would have to wait.

Quickly standing back onto his feet, Red offered a gentlemanly hand up from the floor.

“Are you ok? Did she hurt you at all?” There was real concern in his voice, and Red’s eyes looked at Marionette nervously. The villain felt her heart flutter. Blushing, she turned and gave the shocked Raven a sly wink as the other woman tried to figure out what she was witnessing.

“Oh hi Raven, you know I’m glad that you didn’t die back there! I think that having you here now is going to make this so much more fun. Although don’t you think it’s a bit rude of you to bring uninvited guests?” Marionette giggled, feeling a sadistic excitement for being able to put down the annoying mutt herself. She turned towards Red, placing a hand on his cheek as she did so. “Darling, would you mind taking care of the blonde for me? I’ll make sure that this nuisance won’t bother you ever again, I promise.” With a flick of her wrist, Marionette sent a strand of thread out to grab a belt with a pair of holsters that she’d hidden behind one of the decrepit pillars of the cathedral, returning them quickly to her own hands. Smiling gleefully, she handed Red back his own gun, the hero taking the weapons and turning his attention towards Brianna.

Looking at her own opponent, Marionette began to walk calmly towards Raven. She was still standing in the door way, doubtlessly trying to make sense of what was happening as Red began his attack on her teammates. Smiling, Marionette relished the sweet feeling of victory, wanting Raven to realise how thoroughly she had lost before putting her out of her misery.

“I really have to thank you for bringing my sweetheart to me, you know. I guess all it took was a few minutes alone for him to realise what he really wanted. I just can’t wait until we’re alone again though, you just had to come and interrupt our fun as things were getting interesting.” Marionette purred, lines of thread beginning to extend from her fingertips. The red strings seemed to dance in the air, moving of their own accord. “But don’t worry, this won’t take too long.”

And with that, she began her attack, attempting to grapple Raven’s firing arm and ensnare her where she stood.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Raven vs Marionette

Fight Scene Theme

Alexis Cain/Raven-San Diego

Marionette's threads were faster than I had believed. Even still the distance advantage was on my side and as her threads raced towards me I moved backwards from her keeping myself out of her reach. I fired off a burst from my sub machine gun as Marionette ducked behind a wall only to quickly retaliate by snatching up a pew with her freakish threads and hurled it at me. I threw myself to the ground as I avoided the attack with a crash. My eyes picked up the scene of Red charging Brianna with very unrestrained tactics. The new guy standing between both me and Brianna not sure which one to help. I pointed a finger towards Brianna as I shouted at the new guy to help her. "Red's been brainwashed! Help her! Just don't forget that Red's a victim here!" I ordered only to have Marionette's pitched laughter bounce off the Cathedral walls.

"Oh you are starting to disappoint me Raven, where is all of that struggle I love to see from you? You have not even begun to entertain me." Still on the ground for the moment as a chair flew overhead of me as I could feel Marionette getting ever closer, I needed to put some distance between us again. As long as I stay out of range of her threads, I should be fine. Grabbing the M67 grenade, I pulled the pin and held it for a couple seconds, a move that I saw done in war movies to give the opponent less time to throw it back. Finally tossing it at her she retreated backwards to get away from the blast radius giving me time to move further away as I took aim with the UMP again, firing another burst at her.

The bullets impacted the wall behind her as she deftly evaded to the side and running low on ammunition I tried to pin her down as I was about to throw another grenade. I heard a gunshot come from the theater across the street. Damn, man actually did it.

"Hear that? Thats your assassin offing himself." I yelled back at her as I ducked behind one of the pews to check the ammunition I had left.

"Good help is soooo hard to find. I certainly hope he was a better butler than a assassin. He deserves to go to hell for the mess he has allowed you to make." Marionette retorted. Taking my last frag grenade and hurling it at her, I swore curses as she intercepted it with her thread mid air and threw it back. Only for it to detonate in transit and blast windows out of the Cathedral for being so close to the walls.

With ringing ears I bolted from my position as I continued to skirt my way around the cathedral ducking as several small objects were thrown at lethal speeds at me. I needed to create an opening. Taking cover behind one of the pews I lifted my gun over head and fired blindly as I kept Marionette at bay. Giving me time to toss over two smoke grenades as rather than running to a new position, I rolled under the pew to another one and slowly crept around the murderer as she was encased in a thick smoke. Listening to her voice as she tried to goad me into attacking her and revealing my position to her.

"Oh Raven, you just do not get it do you? Your almost out of toys. And you cannot keep this wonderful game of hide and seek up forever. But just like the mutt you are you insist on fighting to the bitter end. It is inspirational, really, I think I will have it etched on your tomb stone you know? Try to deny it all you want to, at the end of the day you are nothing more than a scared girl trying to compensate with automatic weapons. Come on Raven, why don't you let me hear some last words before I find you and end out little play time together." I started to cackle with laughter.

Even though the smoke, I knew that this was not a response that she was searching for. Then, the laughter grew even louder, to where now I was certain even Red and Shield Maiden would be able to hear me clearly in their own battle. Even if I was hidden among the smoke.

"I was watching everything Marionette, ya know that?" I paused for a moment to give the deranged killer time to respond. "Whatever do you mean?" I smiled to myself as I could make out her outline in the smoke, but it was clear that by keeping low to the ground myself. I still evaded her senses.

"Your entire date of course. What did I say when we spoke before? Oh, I remember, that you would set all of this up only for Red to dump you in person. Was that it? Oh I saw it when he refused your temptress advances on him. When he stood up and tried to escape you. You had to actually resort to brainwashing your date!" I cooed, as I tried to incite an angered response from Marionette.

"Say what you will about me babe, but I never had to hypnotize a man to sleep with me. I am actually laughing right now, only because it was so pathetic. Hahahahahahahahaha!" The mind games were having the desired effect. As Marionette was stamping her heels as she screamed at me through the fog.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" She retaliated by slicing through both pews and into the walls with her threads, seemingly at random as she tried to flush me out, however, by now I had maneuvered to her back and saw my opening. Now. Springing into action I sprinted over to her and aimed for her to spin on her heel and face me. Threads rocketed towards me as our forces collided, each of us racing to beat the other to the punch.

Then came the gunshot.

The smoke began to finally clear. And to any onlookers would be a site to behold. Marionette, sweat beading down her face, as she clutched her lower gut as blood seeped into her fine dress. Then you had myself, who was motionless as pain shot forth through my arms and legs, stitched into my skin as Marionette held one hand out towards me with a sadistic grin of glee on her face. Breathing heavily, she took a single step towards me, then another as I was locked in a glare with her. The madness showing in her eyes.

"Play time....is over." Marionette hissed. Clearly becoming exhausted. If I have any manner of luck at all, it is a sign that her powers will soon be weakening along with her stamina. But a look of realization dawned on my face as she willed my gun hand to move, it was slow at first, as I battled against her influence, but surely, her threads won out.

As she forced me to aim my own gun to my temple.

"Every time we say goodbye...Raven." My mind raced as I racked my brain to deduce if there were any remaining bullets and honestly...I hadn't a clue. Everything had happened so fast. I just didn't know.

So...this is it then. I thought to myself. As I closed my eyes. Brianna, you had better get this bitch.

Click.

As Marionette roared in rage, the threads loosened around me until they slipped away. I was running off of pure adrenaline now. Blood seeping out of me where the treads were previously stitched in as I lunged at her, slamming her face first into a wall. I certainly had no problem with killing her with my own hands, and I was certain the feeling was mutual. She slammed a elbow into my gut as I staggered backwards. Giving her enough room so that she could turn around and swing a kick at me which put me on the floor.

For her small frame, her blows were not natural. She was certainly an enhanced individual. I grit my teeth as I waited until I felt her presence over me before I aimed a punch straight into her gut wound, the pain shot through her body as she doubled over to her knees. Capitalizing on the move I then slammed my knee into her chest and lifted her up for a left hook across the chin. The psychopath had spirit, as she rebounded and threw a sharp blow which I managed to block, but still felt a lot of blunt pain. There was no doubt, she was physically stronger than me. But I have been fighting with my bare knuckles my whole life. And as if t prove that I shot a punch into her lower gut after faking another left. It was brutal how the fight had devolved. From RPGs and meta human powers to street fighting. Even so, she tumbled backwards as she lost balance as I landed on top of her. Slamming her again and again with bare fist I repeated the process of pummeling her until I began to choke, a single thread wrapping around my neck and cutting off the air slowly as it pulled me up off of her.

As the thread constricted, I was now on my feet and almost forced to my toes as Marionette, breathing pained and shallow breaths bleeding as she was, filthy and exhausted slowly pulled herself to her feet. Never taking her eyes off of me as she started to hang me. I could not even see satisfaction in her expression, just pure hatred at this point.

With one hand I grasped at the thread and tried to claw at her with the other. But just as the lack of air had caused me to remove my attention from her, just as suddenly I was dropped. Gasping for breaths, I scanned around to see what it was which had spared my life. Only to see that the battle around us was winding down. And that Marionette and I, stood in the middle of what was now a surrounded arena. Figures which I had not recognized started to close in around us, young faces.

Marionette, baring witness to this as well. Seemed to resign herself. Surrendering with a very weak voice.

"Cant a young couple have a honeymoon is peace?" She sneered at the Young Bloods who had just arrived. And despite this night not ending with my hands around her throat. I was thankful that this seemed to finally be over. As I allowed myself to collapse against the cold brick wall to catch my breath. Only in time to wonder if they would be throwing me in the cell next to Marionettes.

[Tomia]

Roy
As Roy was on his way back to his room, he was suddenly approached by Naja, who had a very serious look on her face. "Roy, Red has been broken out of prison. There's a fight going on there right now, I don't have the details." Roy's face hardened, damn it Red, he thought to himself. Roy wasn't sure what to think of this now, but they needed to respond. "Meeting room now" he said in a message to all the Young Bloods before heading there himself with Naja closely behind. They both stood there in tense silence while they waited for everyone to gather. Even as people showed up Roy didn't speak, it wasn't until everyone had arrived that he said, "Alright, there's something you need to know. Red has broken out of prison, or been broken out we're not really sure. We don't have any details beyond that, but I'm going after him. I need to know what's going on and if Red is friend or enemy. This one isn't mandatory, and I can't promise anything when we get there. So if you want to stay behind, I understand."

"I'm going with you as well." Naja said to Roy's surprise. "I either need to help Red, or ensure that he isn't a danger to society. Either way he is my responsibility." She said sternly. Roy nodded, "Alright, let's get going."

A Short While Later at the Prison
As the YB ran out of their jet and headed towards Marionette, Roy saw her surrendering. He approached her, dropping his staff and grabbing her by the collar, and lifting her into the air. "Where is Red? I'm not going to ask twice!" Roy said to her in anger as the others fanned out to search the area as was the plan.

[New Finnish Republic]

Brianna

---

Brianna flicked the blood off of her spear as the wolf-man transformed back into his human form, his eyes blankly staring at the ceiling above as his soul was now vacant from its body. Reaching down, Brianna closed his eyes, grateful to have had such a worthy opponent to have fought. She doubted this man would find any comfort in the afterlife, or if he even deserved it, but she hoped that he would have been proud to have his final moments be in battle.

Glancing over to Alexis, she saw a new face had entered their ranks. A large and metallic man, Brianna couldn't help but be grateful he was on their side. She gave the man a quick nod in acknowledgement before following Alexis down to the cathedral building. She was about to ask what their plan was, when she suddenly held up what Brianna recognized as a rocket launcher. Brianna's eyes widened as she was about to tell her to wait, but her comrade's patience had apparently worn thin.

"Hey BITCH, got something for ya!"

A loud whoosh followed by a deafening explosion made Brianna's ears ring as she cursed in her native tongue. Glancing back to what remained of the inside of the cathedral, Brianna couldn't help but give her a sidewise glance.

"You certainly do know how to make an entrance, Raven."

It appeared that the blast had done little to help their cause, outside of piss off the oddly dressed girl before them. Brianna caught a glimpse of Red shielding her, and was confused as to why he had done such an act. She supposed that he had done it due to his inclination to be a hero, but soon the truth became very apparent as Marionette handed him a pair of firearms, instructing him to take care of the "Uninvited Guests". Red seemed more than pleased to obey her command, a look that Brianna recognized as one that belonged to a man preparing to kill in his eyes.

"Raven, this doesn't look good. What do we do?"

Alexis seemed to pause, trying to figure out what to do before she finally made up her mind as she pointed at their new addition.

"Red's been brainwashed! Help her! Just don't forget that Red's a victim here!"

Brianna gritted her teeth, her weapons appearing in her hands once more to do battle.

"It appears we're going to be doing this the hard way after all."

In an instant, the two sides clashed as Red unloaded both of his firearms at her and the other man. Brianna cursed as she ducked behind her shield, Traust protecting her from the oncoming projectiles. The metallic man shielded himself as well, the bullets seeming to do little to no damage at all to him. Peeking up from her shield, it seemed as if Red had realized that he needed to change up his tactics, as he charged straight at a surprised Brianna.

Before she could react, he had grabbed ahold of her spear, using the end of it to smash the side of her knee and cause her to painfully kneel down. The metallic man tried to swing at him, but his blow missed entirely as Red gracefully sidestepped it, the man's fist momentarily getting stuck into the ground. Using the flat side of the spear blade like a club, he swung at the man's head with a massive blow, causing a bell-like sound to ring out.

This seemed to stun the man enough that his formed changed back into a regular human, providing an opportunity for Red to follow up with an elbow to the man's nose, causing him to stumble back in pain. With a grunt, Brianna tried to bash Red in the chest with her shield to cease his offensive, but much to her surprise he used the shield as a springboard to launch himself backwards with a backflip, giving himself room to breath.

Brianna staggered back up onto her feet, her knee throbbing with pain as she did. Staring the vigilante, Brianna let out a battle-cry as she rushed forward, determined to retrieve her weapon back from him. Placing her shoulder behind the shield, she charged at him, planning to knock him back with sheer force. Red retaliated with a charge of his own, raising the spear up in an apparent attempt to slip past her guard as get a stab at her face. Brianna prepared for this, placing the shield up just enough so that only her eyes were exposed.

Unfortunately for her, this had been Red plan all along, as at the last moment he suddenly slid onto his knees, slicing at her ankle as he went by. Brianna cried out in pain as she felt blood erupt from the wound. She only had reinforced leather surrounding the area, so even though much of the potential damage that could have occurred had been avoided, the blade had still done well enough to dig into her flesh. Her eyes momentarily shut as she grimaced in pain, doing all she could to stay on her knees as her wounds continued to throb.

When she opened her eyes, she barely had enough time to register another blow coming towards her as Red thrust down with the spear tip in an attempt to finish her off. She managed to bring her shield up just in time, although as the spear deflected against it it managed to catch the side of her helmet, sending it skidding across the ground. Red seemed frustrated, his eyebrows furrowed as he saw that he had missed his chance to finish her off. However, his offensive was not over, as he used the end of the spear to smash the side of her face, causing Brianna's vision to blur as a new sense of pain reached her skull. She could taste blood pooling in her mouth, the bitter taste of iron being the only thing that kept her conscious. Red had the spear tip pointed at her once more, this time being certain to finish her off. Brianna was still far too stunned to even try and dodge the oncoming blow, so with a small whisper she prayed that Odin would grant her parents mercy even in her failure.

Before the spear tip could pierce her, however, she heard a roar as their new comrade drove his shoulder into Red, sending him flying into a nearby wall. The spear was sent skittering across the floor, far from Red's reach. Much to Brianna's confusion, the man was no longer in his metallic form, instead into what she assumed was his regular mortal form. Even still, the man seemed strong enough to knock the wind out of Red, even managing to unleash a flurry of punches to the pinned Red.

If he had just gotten one final blow in, that might have finally finished their battle, but just before he could put down his opponent he suddenly felt a pair of legs wrapped around his neck and arm. With a twist, Red managed to throw the man off of him in a violent toss, the man's body rolling across the floor. Before he could get up, it was now Red's turn, as he delivered a swift kick to the man's exposed sides. The man curled up in pain, his internal organs likely screaming at him right now.

Realizing it wouldn't be long until Red tried to do something much more lethal to her comrade, Brianna gritted her teeth in pain as she wobblily stood back up to her feet. Even with her face swollen and bleeding, she managed to find the energy to let out a massive roar as she threw her shield like a disc towards Red. The attack seemed to catch him by surprise, as the shield caught him square in the ribs and sent him tumbling across the room.

Standing there, Brianna let out a small grin before suddenly her vision went dark. As her knees gave out, she caught the sight of several figures suddenly bursting into the building. They were young, likely the same age as Red and Alexis. Were they friends? Enemies? She had no idea, but she prayed to the Gods that they could at least save Alexis. She tried to whisper out a warning to Alexis, but found that she was unable to even move her mouth as she fell into a heap onto the ground below.

---

Red

---

While the battle raged on inside the cathedral, inside Red's mind an equally dramatic battle was taking place. While most of his mind had indeed been won over by Marionette, a small sliver of his old self remained inside, screaming for his body to stop. Unfortunately, his efforts were unsuccessful, as the majority of his brain was devoted to following Marionette's command to kill off Alexis and her companions. It was almost as if he was watching a POV horror film, as he watched himself brutally strike at Brianna and the new addition. He could feel every strike he made as well as received, but otherwise he was completely cut off from any aspect of control.

He continued to try and mount a resistance, but it was clear that it was not going to work. Worse, as time went by, he could feel his true self slowly begin to fade away. Memories of those he knew and even cherished were disappearing like leaves being scattered by the wind. At first, it was the less important memories that faded. His early childhood, his time in school, his various times fighting crime as a vigilante. But soon, more important things began to fade. His time with the Five, meeting Quick Shot, joining the Young Bloods, meeting Raven, everything that he had fond memories of, all slowly eroding from his conscious. The only thing that remained in his mind were memories of Marionette, and these were becoming warped as he remembered her not as a cold-hearted mass murderer but instead as a beautiful woman he wanted to protect more than anything else in life.

As his consciousness faded, he barely noted the fact that it appeared that his body had been tossed across the room, the acknowledgment only being the sensation of a shield impacting his ribs painfully. He could sense that the blow had done more than enough damage, possibly cracking them as he could feel his lungs struggle to get enough oxygen. The part of his mind that was in control seemed to acknowledge this, as he retreated away from his two opponents. Ducked behind a pillar, he reached down to reload his pistols. He saw that the man was no longer in his metallic form, and the armored girl seemed to be nearing the edge of passing out, and thus he reasoned that it was finally time to finish the two off.

However, before he could do that, a sudden crash was heard followed by the sound of pounding footsteps. Peeking from his cover, his eyes widened as the sight of several figures had surrounded Marionette. Red could feel the majority of his mind fill with rage, furious that someone would dare threaten the love of his life.

It was here that Red could feel his true self slipping away, almost as if he was hanging onto a ledge by his fingertips. He wanted to continue to fight it off, but he found himself unable to muster any sense of urgency. Even if Marionette was captured, there was no chance for him to ever return back to how he was before. He would forever be a slave of that psychotic woman, and until someone finally did the mercy of putting a bullet in his head, he'd likely continue to kill and kill whomever she desired. He prayed that someone would do him that much mercy, as he felt his fingertips slowly begin to slip from the metal ledge. It was almost a sense of relief as he finally felt himself lose his grip, prepared to embrace the black hole that waited below him.

However, before this could happen, he felt something keep him from disappearing, almost like a hand reaching out to stop his fall. He was confused, not knowing what was happening. He was no longer trying to fight it anymore, so why was it now that he suddenly found himself holding his ground. Before he could wonder any more, he felt a sense of warmth fill his conscious, and as it spread, he felt his memories slowly begin to return to him. These memories composed of all the best moments in his life, as well as all of his worst. It was an emotional rollecoaster that made him want to both scream in joy and sob in agony.

Through all the pain and joy, however, he suddenly began to feel his body once more. And not just that he could sense his surroundings, but he felt as if a sliver of control had returned to him. His fingers twitched just barely, as this new found sense of warmth burned like a sun within him and gave him the power to fight off the enslaved part of his mind. It was a grueling battle, one that went back and forth as his body twitched and shook, unsure of who's commands to follow.

The other half of his consciousness seemed to win temporarily, however, as the sight of Marionette being lifted up forcefully into the air reached him. Part of him recognized this figure as Roy, while the other saw this as a threat to his beloved. His other half commanded his body to move out from the pillar, pointing a pistol at Roy as he prepared to fire a round straight into the boy's head. However, his finger could not seem to pull down enough to squeeze the trigger, as Red's true self did everything within his power to stop him from killing someone Red acknowledged as someone he deeply cared about. Hell, for a better lack of terms, he was his family, and there was no way he would ever betray that bond.

The other Young Bloods seemed to notice Red's appearance, some taken by surprise while other prepared to combat an obviously hostile Red. As the seconds ticked by, Red found himself slowly losing the battle, as his finger slowly squeezed harder and harder onto the trigger. Red screamed within his mind as he could feel the trigger only a hair's distance away from being activated, when suddenly a voice rang out to him.

"Red?"

[Charmera]

Host Shot
"I have four older brothers, I've never run from a fight." Katie said to her alien opponent as she pulled her composite bow string as far as she could and fired two arrows with incredible speed towards Kona. The second the arrows were discharged from the bow, Hot Shot broke into a sprint to avoid the car door that Kona was clearly about the throw. She shot another two arrows before sliding gracefully behind a parked car. Hot Shot took a moment to check her quiver. fourteen arrows left, need to preserve them. She thought to herself quickly as she peered over the car to see what her opponent was doing.

Kona was about to throw the Car door at Katie, but the sudden shot from the arrows forced her to use it as a shield, putting it in front of her face. She grunted as both arrows thumped into the car door, snapping off as they dropped onto the ground. She then attempted to throw the car door at Katie, but she seemed to have prepared for that by sprinting away from it, so all the door was able to hit was the pavement. Next came two other arrows, which forced Kona to react. She moved, but one of them hit with a kinetic force. She grunted, the mere arrow causing her pain like the bullet did, but no damage. She paused, noting that the arrows themselves did very little damage, but she had a gut feeling her opponent had some way to alter them, after all the other weapons the cops used were faster, so why not use them? There had to be something else, something she could bait out.

Force your foe to exert themselves, then punish them for their recklessness Kona recalled a lesson from her tutor. She had been punished by that strategy quite often, but turning it on her opponents had worked out. She had the stamina and strength to force them to exert themselves.

Kona decided to take his advice and force her opponent to deal with her with all she had. It might take some of her stamina, but worst case scenario it might get her to leave cover. She quickly grabbed the car she had been standing next to, grunting as she lifted it over he head with both hands.

"Well, lets see if this gets you!" She shouted, before tossing the car at her. She didn't want to kill her, so she made sure that her opponent was warned, but she needed to know what she was dealing with. She would almost certainly have enough time to dodge.

At least, Kona hoped she would.

San Diego, Parking Lot
Nighraven
"Shit, shit, shit!" A panicking man screamed as he ran away from what appeared to be darkness. A spot in the shadows which seemed darker than the rest to an observant eye. That moving figure might only be noticed if you were looking for something in the inky void, and only just.

"The man is named James Wu."

Wu suddenly hit a car, falling backwards onto the hood. He groaned and cried out, but tried to move when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He yelled out as he realized he was pinned to the car by what looked to be a very sharp feather.

"Wu works as a courier for the Dragon Gang."

"They're the new gang in the city aren't they?"

Wu looked up to see a dark figure in a Raven mask.

"They are, but the ones who they call master have had their claws in the city for a long time."

"And are they the ones I am looking for?"

"Find Wu, and you'll find the answer young one."

Wu pauses, recognizing the mask. Those from the operations down at the warehouse and in that bank talked about this. He had been warned. But he smiled. At worst he would get a few broken bones. Heroes did not kill, and perhaps more importantly they likely wouldn't care enough to search him for the keys to his apartment and lockbox.

"So, you're the one whose been giving us trouble?"

The one called Nightraven simply looked at him.

"You're either very new or very stupid. You don't have anything on me. Nothing. You can hand me to the police if you want, but I;'ll be out by tomorrow."

Nightraven simply continues staring.

"Aren't you listening bitch? Fuck off. No one's afraid of heroes anymor-" Suddenly he screams as another knifelike feather pierces his skin.

"You must be very unlucky then." She remarked. Her hand on the feather she just pierced him with.

James grunted, noticing the blade had gone through his other shoulder. "What the fuck are you doing!"

"I want to know who you are working for."

'What? Are you fucking stupid? The Dragons of course!"

"Not. The. Dragons." She replies. "I want to know who you carry orders from. Who is behind the Dragons

James went deathly silent. He croaked out something under his breath. "I don't know what you mean." He said, with surprising calm.

She noted that mentioning his other employer left him terrified, more so than she was making him.

"I will kill you if you don't answer."

James laughed at that. "Fuck off. You can stab me with your little knives, but you're fooling no-one." He paused to groan in pain. "Even if I believed you, the people I work for are bigger than you can even imagine. They're way scarier than you are."

Nightraven paused, then sighes. "Well that's unfortunate for you."

"...How so?"

"Because I believe you." She explained. "And that means you are useless to me, and you alerting your masters would be problematic for me. I don't want them to know I'm hunting them."

James' eyes widen as a final featherknife was shoved strait into his eye and through his brain. He gasped, then his head simply rolled back.

"At least, not yet."

Nightraven paused, looking over him. She quickly patted him down, finding a set of keys.

I always think that is harder than it ends up being... She thinks to herself, surprised at the lack of emotion she was feeling. Mother was wrong about me I suppose.

[Bentus]

Yoshiro
San Diego

---

The sound of gunshots drew Yoshiro to the rundown cathedral. The Uber had dropped her off a couple blocks away from the prison, with some spare cash having convinced the driver to run more than a few red lights. She hadn’t wasted any time changing into her costume, instead simply donning her mask to at least offer her identity some protection should she be caught on camera. Her mind was still trying to process what Naja had told her. Who had broken Red out of prison? She was certain that it hadn’t been one of the team, but that left very few possibilities. Yoshiro’s gut felt queasy, if they were right about Red being framed, then she doubted that his rescuers had the best of intentions.

Glancing around the corner of another dark alley, Yoshiro’s eyes narrowed at the church. It was decrepit, clearly having been abandoned for years as the surrounding area was emptied of its inhabitants – leaving little more than some extended storage facilities and a warehouse in the neighbourhood. The sounds of a struggle could clearly be heard coming from inside, with the sound of gunshots mixing with indeterminable shouts and crashes. Reaching out with her mind, Yoshiro could make out at least five people – maybe six. Concentrating, she thought that she recognised Red, but something about the texture of his thoughts felt all wrong, as if they’d been coiled and twisted haphazardly together. Two of the auras were practically on fire, exuding an anger and hatred that caught Yoshiro by surprise – but her shock turned to dread as she recognised one of them as being Marionette. Freezing in place, she felt her heart miss a beat as the experience in her own mindscape came flooding back. Yoshiro was about to move in to get a closer look when a loud crack from outside the structure caused her head to whip around in surprise. Her mouth opening in shock, Yoshiro saw a body dressed in what was probably once a crisp suit – a pool of dark crimson spreading out from his head. She remained motionless, her mind trying and failing to process the sight of a dead body – the sickening reality of it hitting her like a freight train. It was then that an explosion rocked the church, blasting out some the windows and causing Yoshiro to lift her arms in an effort to shield herself from the glass shards that rained down onto her. Wincing as she felt the cut and scratches etching themselves onto her arm, Yoshiro ignored the pain as she got her first glimpse of the pitched battle going on inside.

Red seemed to be taking on two foes at once, one of them seemingly encased in metal while the other seemed like she was taken straight from the pages of history book. A woman in a police uniform was taking on Marionette at the far side of the room, her weapons barking in defiance of the thread-wielding villain. Yoshiro couldn’t recognise her, but the enemy of her enemy may as well have been her friend at this point, and she was definitely thankful for having at least one ally. Making her way towards the church wall and peering in through the now open hole where the window once was, Yoshiro tried to think of how she could best help Red without just getting in the way. He seemed to be holding his own against his two opponents, but Yoshiro couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She’d never seen Red fight like this before. His movements were smoother and more interconnected than usual, each blow carrying a far greater force behind it and without the slightest hint of hesitation. And then we he managed to get his hands on the woman warrior’s spear, he seemed to wield it with a brutal and lethal intent. Wavering, Yoshiro tried to figure out why Red was fighting with such intensity, stopping herself from simply leaping in to his side. She felt like she was watching a wild animal, his attacks meant to maim and murder. It was a sharp contrast to the actions of opponents, who seemed to be holding themselves back, throwing their punches with caution and care. Once again reaching out to feel Red’s thoughts, Yoshiro felt a sense of pain and confusion, almost as if a whole separate battle was going on in the currents and eddies of his psyche. Something was very wrong.

Sitting down behind the cathedral’s outer wall, Yoshiro tried to make sense of what she was seeing. There was something in Red’s thoughts that wasn’t him, she was sure of it. But it also seemed like he was fighting against this whatever-it-was. Hesitating for the briefest of moments, Yoshiro crossed her legs and tried to make herself as comfortable as she could – or at least as comfortable as was possible given the circumstances. Closing her eyes, she reached out and tried to once again feel for Red’s mind – but instead of observing it from afar, she tried to reach out and touch it. The alien presence, that abnormality that stained his aura seemed to pulse as she approached, almost in response to her presence. Ignoring the strange feeling of being watched, Yoshiro focused on Red’s thoughts, ignoring everything else until her whole world went black.

---

Yoshiro’s eyes opened onto a white landscape, and she immediately felt the deep chill of the Siberian breeze eating into her bones. Wrapping her arms around her chest, she tried to peer into the darkness in order to make anything out around her, seeing nothing but snow stretching out in and endless field. Shivering, she turned in place, each step burying her leg up half-way her shin and sending a stab of cold into her muscles. Gritting her teeth and ignoring the sensation, Yoshiro kept looking around for something, anything that could give her a guide on what to do next.

”Who are you?”

Whirling around, Yoshiro’s eyes fell on a small child standing in front of her – seemingly uncaring about the harsh environment surrounding him. He looked up at her with a suspicious expression, his furrowed brow framed by a mane of bright red hair. The child was carrying a backpack that seemed a few sizes too large for his stature, although he seemed to be carrying it without much effort. An ice-pick dangled from its side, while a sleeping bag was rolled up under its top-flap. Ignoring the details, Yoshiro tried to respond without having her chattering teeth interrupt.

“My name is Yoshiro, I’m uh – looking for a friend, but I think that I got lost. You wouldn’t know where I might be able to find him?”

The child’s suspicions seem to deepen, although he considered the teenager carefully – noting that she was hardly prepared for the Siberian elements.

”Why do you think that he wants to be found? Maybe he’s happier out here.”

Yoshiro was taken aback by the question, not quite sure how to respond. The younger version of Red simply continued to watch her, patiently waiting for an answer. She thought back to the team meeting, to Carter and Roy’s reactions to Red being found guilty of murder. For a moment, she hesitated – did she really know what Red wanted? Or was she simply hoping that she did?

“No. He needs to come home. There’s people who depend on him, who care for him.” Yoshiro paused for a moment. “And some people still need to tell him how they really feel.”

The child looked at her with a quizzical expression, but eventually shrugged his shoulders. Gesturing behind her, he stated matter-of-factly. “Have you checked inside the cabin yet? If I was your friend, that’s probably where I’d be.”

A look of confusion flashed across Yoshiro’s face as she turned around to look where he was pointing. “Cabin? What are you talking about there’s nothing…here.” Sure enough, the stone structure was standing clear-as-day, it’s windows illuminated by an internal lighting that masked whatever was inside. Turning back to thank the child, Yoshiro was not even surprised to find that he was no longer standing in the snow, having vanished without leaving even a pair of footprints to mark his presence. Setting her expression with grim determination, Yoshiro began to trudge towards the cabin’s door, planting each foot firmly in front of the other. She whispered quietly to herself, despite the wind whisking her words away the moment they left her lips.

“Don’t worry Red, just hang on. Help’s coming.”

---

Standing on a hill overlooking the cabin, the younger Red watched Yoshiro struggle through the built up layers of snow. He was smiling in amusement, curious about the strange visitor. He seemed to be completely oblivious to the cold or the wind, content to simply stand on the edge of the cliff as the teenager carried on oblivious to his presence. He was holding his icepick in his right hand, wondering exactly what she was going to find on the inside. There was a shade of crimson on the end of the climbing tool, a dried blood having long frozen over in the elements, and a simple black tattoo of a beetle was engraved on the outside of his palm.

---

Yoshiro sighed in relief as a wave of warmth washed over her, the inside of the cabin being warmed by a large fireplace as the firm oak door shut out the harsh elements. Shaking off whatever patches of snow had accumulated on her clothes, she glanced around the large living room, seeing a number of doors and hallways branching out from it that seemed to extend far past the physical limits of the building. She was alone in the room, though it had a certain cosy feel to it that made Yoshiro feel like it was recently inhabited. The heads of a few animals were stuffed and mounted to the wall, clearly trophies from earlier hunts, while a few leather couches sat around a coffee table by the fire. Walking over to the fire, Yoshiro’s attention was focused on a series of picture frames that sat happily just above the fireplace. Picking one up, she recognised the child from earlier standing with four others, all of them wearing wide smiles while looking like they were out camping somewhere. Red had a hunting rifle swung over his shoulder, and had his arms wrapped around the shoulders of two of his friends. Yoshiro couldn’t recognise anyone else in the picture, wondering for a moment if she was looking at his old family. She thought that she could make something out on Red’s palm, but a sudden crash drew her attention away before she could look too close. Looking up, Yoshiro took a step back as she saw that the entire room had been turned into a sight of destruction and chaos. The coffee table was broken, and the couches were torn up into shreds, their innards spilling out into the room. Picture frames lay broken on the ground, pieces of glass lying around them like shrapnel while the curtains by the window were torn and only hanging by the thinnest of threads. Looking back at the image in her hand, she saw that it was now just Red on all fours, alone in the snow – tears streaming down his face.

Slowly returning the frame to its place on the mantelpiece, Yoshiro turned to look at one of the doors that lined the walls of the dining room. The crashing sound had come from behind it, and at the moment she didn’t really have much else to go off of. Cautiously making her way towards the door, Yoshiro thought that she could hear the sound of voices and…music? She grabbed onto the handle, slowly pushing the door open as she did so. “Red, are you there?”

The sight that greeter her was the last thing that she’d been expecting.

Yoshiro’s eyes widened in surprise as she walked into the middle of the Summer dance, suddenly surrounded by her classmates in their best dresses and suits as they mingled and talked among themselves. Music was blaring from the speakers, the DJ midway through his set while high school students half-danced-half-waved to the rhythm with drinks in their hands. Confused, Yoshiro scanned the crowds, trying to regain her bearings. Where had she and Red been that night? The music began to fade out, the DJ’s voice coming over the sound system as he announced that he was about to put on something slow.

This was when we danced, is Red remembering this right now?

Looking into the crowd that had begun to migrate onto the dance floor, Yoshiro saw herself hanging by the punch bowl, her gaze darting over to where Red was still sitting on the edge of the party. She could feel her actual-self blush, embarrassed at the realisation of how brutally unsubtle she had been. Oh my God, was I really this obvious back then? The memory of Yoshiro seemed to eventually build up her courage, cementing it with a long drink from the undoubtedly spiked punch bowl, before making her way over to where the boy was sitting. Too far away to hear the exchange of words, Yoshiro could see herself shifting nervously, once again feeling a familiar sting of embarrassment at seeing herself from an outsider’s perspective.

“Is that your friend?”

The younger Red asked casually, causing Yoshiro to jump as he suddenly appeared beside her. She sighed as she realised that it was just him.

“Yeah. I asked him if he wanted to dance.” Yoshiro watched as she and Red made their way onto the dance floor, gradually beginning to sway to the music as they became more comfortable.

”Huh, so he’s your boyfriend then?”

“What, no!” Yoshiro responded, her voice raising as colour rushed to her cheeks. “We were just friends – I mean – we are just friends. We work together and stuff and it was a school dance, so you know I figured, that you’re meant to dance at those.”

The child was unconvinced, but shrugged his shoulders, not caring enough to push the point.

“Well, whatever you’re going to do – it better be quick. He can’t hold on much longer.”

“Hold on? What do you mean he can’t hold on?” Before she got a response, the music track skipped and came to a halt as the lights switched off, plunging the whole room into total darkness.

Effectively blind, Yoshiro could only hear the sound of her own breathing. Reaching out with her hands as she tried to figure out her surroundings, she felt a tightness in her chest. Nervously, she began to inch her way towards where she thought she and Red had last been dancing. “Red? Are you still there? I can’t see anything, please say something!” She was greeted only by silence. Taking one more step, Yoshiro felt the ground vanish beneath her.

Letting out a cry of horror and surprise, she found herself suddenly sliding down a snow bank, her eyes widening as she saw a massive maw at the bottom of the slope. Digging in with her heels and clawing at the ground, she tried to slow herself down desperately, succeeding to halt her descent just as she reached the edge of the large hole.

“Red!” She cried out, seeing her friend dangling from the edge – his fingers clinging on to the cliff ledge as he struggled to maintain his grip. Leaping towards him, Yoshiro shot out her hands to grab onto his wrist just as his grasp gave out. Groaning at the effort of holding all of the boy’s weight, Yoshiro struggled to try and pull him back up. “Red, please you have to help me – I can’t pull you back up on my own.”

Blinking as if he was waking up from a daze, Red looked around at his surroundings in confusion, still wearing his suit from the dance. Looking up, his eyes widened. “Yoshiro? What are you doing here? It’s not safe!”

“Look, can this wait for later? You’re really heavy.” Red nodded in response, reaching out with his free hand for the ledge. With a heave, the pair both worked together to pull the Young Blood out of the pit and onto the snow. The two of them collapsed beside each other, both panting from the physical exertion. For a moment, neither one of them said anything. “Red, what did you mean it’s not safe?”

“He meant to watch out for whomever had thrown him down that hole in the first place. Which would be me, actually.” The younger Red spoke confidently, shrugging his shoulders as if he was explaining something that should’ve been obvious. “I’m impressed though, you clearly have absolutely no idea what you’re doing – but your instincts are good.”

Yoshiro narrowed her gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on the boy. His backpack was gone, but he was holding the icepick in his hand – blood slowly dripping from its point. Glancing at the older Red, she realised for the first time that he was actually injured, a deep gash visible on his left leg.

”Tell me, Yoshi – do you even really know who he is? What he’s done? I do. I’ve seen behind pretty much every one of these doors by now and a lot of them aren’t very pretty. What makes you so sure that he’s worth saving?”

Looking at the boy, Yoshiro noticed the tattoo on his hand. “I don’t need to know all that. We all have stuff in our pasts, what matters is what you do now to try to make up for it. I may not know who Red was, but I know who he is now: he’s my friend, and you’re hurting him.” Pushing herself back to her feet, Yoshiro adopted the fighting stance that Naja had drilled into her on the island. “And I’m not going to let you do that anymore.”

With a grunt, the older Red stood up to stand beside Yoshiro, adopting his own stance despite his wounded leg shaking slightly under his weight. He looked at her, his eyes offering her thanks but shining with a renewed determination. She felt a surge of confidence – knowing that they’d be doing this together.

To Yoshiro’s surprise, the younger Red simply laughed in response, the sound echoing through the void. Smirking at the duo, he lifted his icepick as he bent his knees. “Very well then. If you want him so bad, come get him.”

Looking at each other, Red and Yoshi nodded firmly. With a yell, the two raced towards the child, determined to do their best and one way or the other, end this together.

---

“Red?”

Yoshiro’s voice was weak. She was leaning on the wall of the church, using it to support her own weight as she felt an exhaustion wash over her. She smiled faintly as she looked over at Red. He was standing in the centre of the room, the rest of the Young Bloods standing around him as his gun hand shook under the internal battle going on within his mind. Her face was covered in blood, her nose bleeding profusely from the mental exertion of the past few minutes.

“It’s ok. We’ve won – it’s gone.”

With clear effort, Yoshiro pushed herself off the wall, making her way unsteadily towards Red – supporting herself on the wall as much as she could. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his gun, forcing his arms to lower. She looked into his eyes in an effort to see how he was reacting.

“You’re you.”

Marionette watched the whole scene with as much confusion as the rest of them, but as Yoshiro’s words began to sink in, she immediately began to struggle in Roy’s grip.

“No! Kill her, Red! Kill her now! Kill all of them!” She tried to summon a thread from her fingers, but was unable even to muster enough strength for that. As Red lowered his weapon, Marionette growled in anger. “You bitch! What have you done to him? Give him back! You can’t take him from me, I won’t let you!” There was a hint of desperation in her voice, but her struggles were for naught. Eventually, her limbs fell slack, accepting defeat. She turned to look at Red, a pleading expression in her eyes. “Red, please. Don't leave me.”

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

"That's a pretty smile..." Icarus thought briefly, before swiftly discarding that judgment, somewhat embarrassed at letting his mind get carried away like that when he was still in his vigilante mask. Fortunately for him, Renata did not notice his reaction, as she was busy saving the number he had handed her into her phone, not paying much attention to him at that exact moment--in fact, it seemed like there was something on her phone that had caught her attention for a couple of moments, but he did not consider it necessary to ask. He was fairly certain she was a lot more popular with people than he was, so it didn't seem at all strange to her that she would stop and look at something on her phone every now and then.

The girl's response to his statement that he was willing to play nice if his assistance was requested surprised him, as he hadn't so far seen her act that enthusiastically; perhaps this was what she was really like? It made sense for her to focus on combat during their struggle against the vampires, and it was easy to think that the serious tones of their conversation in the infirmary prevented her from showing that enthusiastic side of hers then, but now that there were seemingly no more concerns to be had, her behavior was much more energetic, despite the fact that she appeared to have been tired earlier. She even went as far as to run straight towards the stairs and gracefully slide downstairs, leading the way to the outside of Wonder Island's main tower, and the vigilante had no choice but to wordlessly chase after her. He was fairly surprised, but overall, not displeased.

"You're, uh... really excitable, aren't you?" The boy clad in black asked as the pair finally made it outdoors, the jet that had taken him back from the docks coming into view, the Young Bloods' matriarch standing right next to it with a concerned expression on her face and a cellphone in her scaled hand.

Hearing Renata's remarks, Icarus simply chuckled at the thought of Roy being willing to fly him back to the city proper, and then scoffed at the notion of asking Naja for help; even if Nightshade had been reasonable enough not to confront him or give him shit back at the infirmary, he had no guarantees that Naja would be like that, and she was far more powerful than the Young Bloods' playboy, not to mention likely in a foul mood, so he preferred not to risk it.

"Yeah, right, I'll just walk up to her and ask her to escort me outta here while hoping she's never heard of the Stars guy I sent to the hospital." The boy remarked sarcastically, though without hostility. "No, I think I'll just use that bridge over there and try not to be seen. It's probably going to be a PR disaster if someone sees me walking out of here as cool as a cucumber." He said, pointing at the conveniently placed bridge that connected Wonder Island to San Diego, somewhat visible in the distance. "Not that these guys are new to PR disasters, but I'll keep that to myself." The boy thought, before turning to look at Renata, thinking his words through a little bit before speaking again.

"Er, well... I don't like being redundant, but thanks for everyting again. It was nice to meet someone willing to hear me out instead of lunging straight at me." He admitted, sincerity in his words, as he once again recalled his run-in with Armorer and thought of how pleasantly different his meeting with Stella had been. "I hope we'll meet again soon. Give me a call if you need me to beat up any more vampires." He said afterwards, a bit more confidently, offering the girl a smile and a nod before walking off towards the bridge that connected San Diego and Wonder Island. As he reached the island's borders, he increased his pace, running forward and disappearing into the shadows.

---

"If you really got treated by Hope as you claim, and felt no discomfort whatsoever afterwards, why did you come here and got me to waste my time looking at you?" The old doctor said as he retrieved a beer and a soda from a nearby fridge, walking back to the table and placing the latter down, uncorking the other and taking a swig. Sitting on a chair next to him, with his hands occupied fidgetting with a certain device and his eyes sending a glare towards the man, was Icarus, still clad in his black mask and attire, but significantly more at ease than he had been while surrounded by Young Bloods that he had considered, until his talk with Renata and Roy's intervention, as potentially hostile.

"I told you, I wanted a second opinion. I'm grateful and all, but it pays to be cautious when the good guys want you in jail and the bad guys want you dead." The blond boy stated, eyeing the soda and bringing up a hand to grab it, bringing the cap up to his teeth and clamping down on it before twisting the bottle to remove it.

"Don't do that. It's bad for your teeth." The grey-haired man cautioned, receiving only a grunt in response as the boy took a good drink from his soda bottle, the fizzy drink refreshing him. He tended to neglect his health when out and about doing vigilante work, and hadn't had any liquids during all the time it took him to track down a Blood dealer, find the factory, pass out and then leave the Young Bloods' base, so having something to drink felt great.

"It's none of your business, old man." The vigilante replied at last, before returning to looking at the device in his hands.

"You say that, but this is my grandson's house you're hanging out in and that's my other grandson's soda you're drinking, so I think I have every right to give you advice or call you out on your bullshit." The doctor replied flatly, but instead of a shocked reaction or anything of the sort, he only received a grunt in respnse, which caused him to frown. "This is the first time I've seen you playing with one of those, and you're real absorbed by it too. Did you get a girlfriend or something?" He questioned, attempting to peek over Icarus' shoulder at his cellphone. The boy shoved him away while looking up at him with an even angrier glare than before, a bright flush hidden behind the black mask that covered his lower face.

"It's none of your business!"

[New Finnish Republic]

Red

“It’s ok. We’ve won – it’s gone.”

Red froze, the shaking within his arm ceasing as the sight of Yoshiro unsteadily approaching him suddenly quelled the battle that was going on within his mind. Blood was running down her face, her skin deathly pale even as she managed a weak smile. She could barely walk, but she somehow managed to make her way over to him. She forced him to lower his arms, causing them to hang limply from his sides. Red could see that she was on the verge of fainting, but even still she put on a brave face as she whispered to him in a small voice.

“You’re you.”

The feeling of warmth vaugely seemed to return to him as he watched her staring into his eyes, seeming desperate to look for some kind of response. Marionette, who was now weakly trying to struggle out of Roy's grip, called out to him. She wanted him to kill her, to kill everyone else, and to not leave her side. Red glanced towards the girl, who was frantically staring at her former slave. There were a million different ways Red wanted to respond to her. He wanted to yell at her, to tell her she was rotten to the core, that she deserved no sense of happiness or satisfaction ever again in her life. But out of these million ways, Red decided on the one that would hurt her the most, and most importatntly, was something he had wanted to do for quite some time.

Dropping his guns at his feet, he reached forward, and much to the surprise of everyone in the room, he kissed Yoshiro.

He heard a small startled yelp from Yoshiro, who clearly had not expected this, but soon she closed her eyes. And for what Red had wished could have lasted for an eternity, he enjoyed the feeling of the girl's soft lips meeting his own. No words could describe exactly how he felt, but the closest he could compare the feeling to was a combination of a massive barrage of fireworks that lit up a night sky on the Fourth of July.

Red would have loved nothing better than to continue this embrace, but he eventually sepearted his lips from hers, which seemed likewise reluctant to let go as well. Pulling her in close, he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace, a pair of tears gently rolling down his face as he softly whispered into her ears.

"Thank you. I'm glad to be back."

An akward cough could be heard, followed by the shrieking of Marionette who was now furiously trying to escape the clutches of Roy. For a brief moment, Red froze as he realized everyone was staring at the two. His ears felt as if they were on fire as the blood rushed there, the realization of what he had just done suddenly registering within his brain. With an awkward jump backwards, he put some space in between him and Yoshiro, whose face was likewise a shade of red. He quickly rubbed at his eyes, wiping away the pair of tears that had escaped him earlier.

Glancing back at the scene before him, he couldn't help but feel an immense weight of guilt over what had occured. He had let Marionette get the upper hand over him, and in the process he had nearly killed the people who were trying to rescue him. Thankfully, it looked as if Brianna had regained consiousness, as she propped herself up on her spear. Glancing at the others, they still seemed to be a bit wary about Red. He didn't neccesarily blame them, for both what they had likely heard as well as just witnessed.

He was far from in the clear, as there would no doubt have to be a lot of explaining to do. Raising his hands up so that the others could see him, he nervously looked over at the crowd before him.

"So...uh...how was the trip guys?"

[New Neros]

Orion | The Labyrinth, San Diego

In a large, newly constructed room deep within the subterranean fortress, twelve large chairs sat affixed to podiums, all arranged in a semi-circle, large enough to fit two or three people sitting side by side comfortably. Nine of the seats were filled, all of the members present were cloaked in a shadowy haze, invoking tremendous imagery of secrecy and stealth, yet a sole ray of light bathed the center, where three figures stood. At the forefront, clad in a faceless metallic mask with red clothing and armor, stood the leader of the villainous organization, Legion. "Welcome," He said, his voice travelling a bit, "It's been a while since we've all been gathered together like this."

"We built this room specifically to host our meetings, tailored to my standards and equipped with Walt's technology." He continued, laughing a bit, "I suppose we all were tired of having our meetings over dinner. Still, I would like to report to you all of the successes we've had throughout our absence from San Diego. A strike team composed of Black Luminous and Cannon successfully dispatched two high-ranking upstarts with eyes on the West Coast, luring them to a pitched battle in Alaska." As he spoke, two of the figures nodded, making their identities known. "We sent two teams north in order to foster recruitment in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and we are proud to open two branches of young villains in each city due to their efforts, AWOL, Saga, and Blaze Luminous."

The three mentioned members sat motionless as Legion moved on to the next mission brief. "Our next mission saw two our of finest soldiers go south of the border in an attempt to put down a cartel trying to garner influence in San Diego. What they found was the cartel in ruins, and successfully under the control of a woman whom we are officially extending an offer of membership in our ranks. Espina, are you prepared to give up what remains of your life in order to become something greater? To be part of something more than yourself?"

The woman, cloaked in a tattered cloth and masked with a bird skull, swallowed hard and responded, "I am."

"Then welcome to our brotherhood. You may take a seat. There are other conditions that must be met, but you may continue in our meeting for now." Legion stated, motioning to an empty podium. Espina nodded in agreement, and quickly hurried to make herself at home within the shadows. "Walt and I have been hard at work developing technology, strategy, and momentum to carry Orion forward into the future. We have also been making attempts at recruiting established villains, one of which we like to introduce as yet another member."

"Hello," The woman said clearly, stepping into the spotlight, showing off a curvaceous figure and flowing red hair, in addition to several immaculate, golden blades. "I am less a villainess and more a miracle worker." She said with a sly smile, "I am known as Crimson and I am a mage, and I specialize in blood and using it to it's fullest potential as a magical medium. I make excessive use of it for summoning rituals, but that is only a small part of my arsenal. I hope to serve this organization well, as Legion and I have some history of working well together." She concluded, looking at the leader for a brief moment, before taking her own seat several paces away from the center.

"Now then," Legion said in a commanding tone, thundering across the room, "We have twelve full members in our Inner Circle, with the addition of Espina and Crimson, as well as chapters in other regions to extend our reach and influence. This will conclude Phase One of of scheme, and we will now move on to Phase Two. This phase will involve missions in two-man teams similar to what we have undertaken already, but their motives will prove to be increasingly difficult and sinister. We are out to rebuild our society in our own image, and put a climatic end to the celebrity-hero phenomenon once and for all. We have several plans in motion, and I will discuss the full details at a later date, but we will become more fast paced and action-oriented in the coming days and weeks. Be prepared to risk life and limb for everything you believe in."

He cleared his throat and dismissed the group. "That's all for now. Forever Evil." "Forever Evil." The group repeated, Legion exiting the room, each of the members finding their own way down from their podiums and out into the inner network of the Labyrinth, many silently remarking at how over-the-top the new meeting room was, and that it's dramatic appeal was probably to stroke Legion's ego more than anything, as they all knew each other to begin with. No need to hide around each other, especially since when the meetings over, you have to see your co-conspirator in the hall seconds later. Regardless, Orion was on the move.

---

AWOL | Nile Canaan
Raven Hunting, Part I

-Nightraven-

With his robotic eyes, AWOL was able to track the man's movement carefully, watching him struggle adamantly against the vigilante's might. She wasn't a hero by any stretch of the imagination, but she had a file on her and Legion wanted her investigated as quickly as possible. "All of this information probably comes from Crimson." AWOL stated bluntly to Nile, who sat idly beside the cyborg and watched the struggle down below as well. "We wouldn't bother with someone like this if we didn't have hard evidence to warrant investigation."

"Seeing how she moves and conducts herself," Nile commented, "It could be a way to gain another member or start a local Junior Orion chapter. She'd probably fit right in with us if we push her in a darker direction. After all, I was a hero once, everyone has a falling out with the good side." Both men watched as Nightraven sunk one of her quills into the man's brain and eye socket, unflinching. "Er, she'd probably fit in right now as we speak." AWOL positioned himself in a ready position, causing Nile to straighten up and fully stand up. "So what, am I supposed to follow your lead?" He asked, AWOL nodding, and fully disappearing from view. "Huh, well, time to find a way off of this building..."

As the vigilante finished patting down the corpse, AWOL appeared behind her, bathed in the aura of a parking street light, his metallic body easy to spot. "Seems like you have everything handled." He said suddenly, cracking a smile, showing half of his organic teeth and the other half studded with metal and circuits. "By the looks of things, you're after the Dragons and everyone around, above, below, and behind them." He continued, "Well, what if I told you I knew some things that you didn't, and that my buddy over there," He said, motioning to the dead body, "Had some of those same answers?" He lied, knowing nothing about the Dragons or anything, just wanting to test the girl.

Nile quickly appeared after AWOL finished his sentence, running up behind the cyborg and in plain view of Nightraven. "Just so you know, I took the stairs." He shot at AWOL, turning to look at the masked girl intently. "Not sure what my man just said to you, but I can tell you aren't the happiest of campers."

[Finland SSR]

Icarus

Renata Martínez, the heroic Stella!

---

Blackout's response to Renata's offer of talking to Naja and asking for a ride was blunt and obvious - why bother risking it by having him talk to a superhero who may know about his incident with the Stars when you can just sneak out through the convenient bridge leading to San Diego. Renata... didn't even notice that it was a thing. Oh boy, who could have thought that she could get even more embarrassed, this time by appearing like an idiot...

"Oh, right, yes, the bridge... I knew that." Renata muttered to herself, in a barely audible voice. Thankfully, Blackout was not too keen at pointing out this mistake, as he soon shifted the topic away from talking about his escape plan and towards giving his last goodbyes. He was aware of sounding redundant, thanking her yet again, but Stella accepted it all, nodding through, then, as he began to walk away, replied:

"Stay safe!"

It didn't take long for the vigilante to become a tiny dark speck moving across the bridge to San Diego. Renata pulled out her smartphone yet again. "Blackout (???)" has been listed among all the numbers in her phone for a while now. What should be the best time to contact him again, then?.. Well, probably when the Young Bloods move out to the docks to eliminate the vampires once and for all, obviously. After all, he did say "call me if you need to beat up more vampires", although that was probably just an example.

Oh, and speaking of the Young Bloods moving out, that was exactly what was happening right now. A message rang out across the island, calling the Young Bloods to get to the meeting room, now. To join or not to join...

...Join.

It wouldn't hurt, would it?

Yoshiro
San Diego

Red

Alexis Cain/Raven-San Diego

Roy

Renata Martínez, the heroic Stella!

---

This mission, apparently, was not related to the Blood drug at all - however, it was just as interesting, if not even more so. It was dealing with the prison break of Red, a jailed vigilante who, as it turns out, was a member of the Young Blood before law enforcement kicked down his door. Renata, unsurprisingly, had heard of Red's trial beforehand - how could you not when all TV stations from San Diego turned into the breaking news of the day - but not that he was a Young Blood. Actually... now that she thought about it, the fact of Red being sent through trial was the only thing she even had heard - no context, no details, nothing. So it wasn't too hard for her to be convinced that Red was worth saving.

And hey, she befriended one vigilante on the run earlier today, so it would be a little hypocritical of her to not at least take a second glance towards an another one. So Renata decided to volunteer for the mission, somewhat surprisingly getting accepted, and now, she was standing in the cathedral, among the rest of the Young Bloods, surrounding Marionette and watching her stand down. A bus to the closest bus stop and then a jog towards the target cathedral may have been enough to have Renata arrive here before the team moved out, but it did mean that her breathing was the heaviest among all of them.

With Roy incapacitating Marionette, demanding to know where Red is, and the aforementioned hero lowering his weapon after... some form of intervention from one of the Young Bloods, Renata decided to do something practical as well - and her eyes set sights on a wounded body, wearing a police uniform, laying next to Roy and Marionette, which, when the team burst into the building, was in the process of being beaten into a bloody paste by the villain. Now that the oddly dressed psycho was held tightly, it was safe enough for Renata to sweep in, running as fast as her body would let her, and stopping behind the battered woman.

"Sorry, I can't exactly tell where your bones are broken and where they're not, so please tell me if I'm tugging onto something painful," the heroine muttered, carefully picking up the woman by the shoulders and pulling her away in a quick, though not running pace. Renata stopped and gently let go as soon as she reached the rest of the team. Just in time to watch Red and the unnamed Young Blood share a tender moment, only interrupted by Marionette screaming and demanding him to kill her.

"Oh, that's so cute..." Renata muttered to herself as she watched the scene, then lowered her eyes towards the injured woman she had just dragged out of the battlefield. "If you don't mind, uh... miss, what's your name? I presume you're a Young Blood too, right?"

[Charmera]

AWOL | Nile Canaan
Raven Hunting, Part I

-Nightraven-

With his robotic eyes, AWOL was able to track the man's movement carefully, watching him struggle adamantly against the vigilante's might. She wasn't a hero by any stretch of the imagination, but she had a file on her and Legion wanted her investigated as quickly as possible. "All of this information probably comes from Crimson." AWOL stated bluntly to Nile, who sat idly beside the cyborg and watched the struggle down below as well. "We wouldn't bother with someone like this if we didn't have hard evidence to warrant investigation."

"Seeing how she moves and conducts herself," Nile commented, "It could be a way to gain another member or start a local Junior Orion chapter. She'd probably fit right in with us if we push her in a darker direction. After all, I was a hero once, everyone has a falling out with the good side." Both men watched as Nightraven sunk one of her quills into the man's brain and eye socket, unflinching. "Er, she'd probably fit in right now as we speak." AWOL positioned himself in a ready position, causing Nile to straighten up and fully stand up. "So what, am I supposed to follow your lead?" He asked, AWOL nodding, and fully disappearing from view. "Huh, well, time to find a way off of this building..."

As the vigilante finished patting down the corpse, AWOL appeared behind her, bathed in the aura of a parking street light, his metallic body easy to spot. "Seems like you have everything handled." He said suddenly, cracking a smile, showing half of his organic teeth and the other half studded with metal and circuits. "By the looks of things, you're after the Dragons and everyone around, above, below, and behind them." He continued, "Well, what if I told you I knew some things that you didn't, and that my buddy over there," He said, motioning to the dead body, "Had some of those same answers?" He lied, knowing nothing about the Dragons or anything, just wanting to test the girl.

Nile quickly appeared after AWOL finished his sentence, running up behind the cyborg and in plain view of Nightraven. "Just so you know, I took the stairs." He shot at AWOL, turning to look at the masked girl intently. "Not sure what my man just said to you, but I can tell you aren't the happiest of campers."

Nightraven whirls at the voice. Her Raven helm turning to face the person behind her. She frowns, annoyed that someone could sneak up on her like that. She does not conjure a featherknife yet, merely looking at the person in front of her. A robot she assumed, but closer inspection told her that the man was a cyborg. It was not unheard of in a world of superheroes. Judging by the lack of an attempt to arrest her, the man before he was no superhero. That either meant he was the sort to approve of methods such as hers, or he was a pawn of the other side. Either way, she decided to hold off on attacking. Recklessness would be punished either way with injury or death, though she was tempted to throw something at this person just to see what she was dealing with.

His words confirmed he was not working for the Dragons or their shadowy overlords. If he were, he would already be trying to kill her, there would be no point in artifice. Beyond that, she was somewhat tempted by the idea of getting the information she wanted, but also was wary. Especially with the appearance of the second man. This was starting to smell more and more off.

"Information is never free and you both don't look at all like a charity." She remarked, looking at the both of them, first AWOL and then Nile. She prepared to move should they try and attack. "Who are you? Why are you here? And what do you want?"