Villain Protagonist: From Ashes [IC]

by **Lunas Legion** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 1:37 pm

Aella Piennar

"You exist, and you decided to come anywhere near me without purpose." Was all Aella said, her head flicking back to face towards Rick. No elaboration, no context, just a blunt statement of pure honesty. She didn't like people who were near her without a purpose that involved her in some way, whether it be the same purpose or whatever. Purpose was important, since purpose led to intent, and intent was a powerful thing to know about anyone. "And that's good enough for me."

She turned back to face Sage. "At least someone actually realises how people are." She stabbed her fork into her bacon, slicing off another chunk and eating it. "They all like pretending they're good at heart, they want what's best for you, whatever it is, and then they fuck you over somehow despite saying exactly that's what they won't do. It's why I sort-of like this place, no one really tries to play the nice helpful guy angle here since no one would believe it. Or if they were genuine they'd be chewed up and thrown out as a mangled mess. It's refreshing."

by **Talchyon** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:33 pm

Cafeteria
Rick Chevalis

Rick was glad when Maria had come back at just that time. There was something extremely off-putting about the Ice Queen. Rick knew then and there that if they were on the field of battle together, he'd have to watch for her. The girl would just as soon put a knife in him if she could. Rick was going to make sure she wouldn't.

Rick shook his head. "Nah, my throat was hurting too much." And glancing down at the mush that his cold cereal had turned into, he was glad he wouldn't be eating it." Then, responding to Maria, he shrugged. "Whatever."

To the redhead, he nodded. But to the brunette, he just looked at her without any emotion at all. More of a look of apathy than anything else. He wasn't going to reward her with any moral victories here.

Malaka Auva'a

Fair enough. Ashura had her own history. Malaka didn't mind her reaction. She finished up her pancakes - the joy! - and then drank the tea she had brewed. Warm, soothing, herbal. Smelled good, too.

"Well, it may yet turn out to be a pleasure. I guess we'll see..." She got thoughtful a minute, and then said, "Hell of a school, huh?"

by **Skaldia** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:37 pm

Gavin Lee
Shift

"You seemed to be the most isolated." He said with a smirk, resting his elbows against the table as he digested what she had told him. He had been worried that she might be a telepath, and he was glad to be right about it, but so glad as to be ecstatic about someone that could dig through his thoughts without a moment's notice."And as far as this school goes, I didn't have much of a choice." He said glumly, not willing to go in to more detail unless she pressed for it. It was either wait to be killed in Argentina, or go to the Academy. Sometimes he felt he had made the wrong choice but he was stuck with it now and looking back did nothing for him.

"As far as the instructors go..Ortega I can't make an opinion of. She seems neutral to us as far as I'm concerned." He sighed and leaned back, shaking his head slowly,"Apex, on the other hand, is a brute. We are here to enhance the Union and you only do that by sharpening a knife, not breaking it." He said, referring to the scenes of brutal violence he had seen enacted against the students. He understood why the Academy did it, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was the best way to handle those who you were supposed to train to fight cohesively together.

by **Forest State** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:33 pm

OOC: Both interludes collaboratively written with Lunas

Interlude: One Stupid Idea

Black clothes. Facemask. Shades. Hooded sweatshirt. Those were the things that Vail had as he showed up to the meeting point on the north campus, once the sun was down. The guard patrols stepped up around this time so he had to be careful, but the black clothes helped to not draw attention and this specific area, the courtyard in front of one of the classrooms, didn't seem to be patrolled or monitored by cameras. They'd have to plot their path carefully to avoid those cameras that seemed to be everywhere in public spots, but at least if they were seen, they wouldn't be identified. At least, that was assuming Mari would come wearing the correct gear.

Patience, Vail... She'll be here, eventually. And you're only going to spook yourself out of doing anything, if you keep thinking about it. Just stand still and wait, you aren't in danger.

Right.

Mari had never actually had to use her power for stealth, but it was... Suprisingly effective. You could hardly get to your destination if you got caught beforehand after all. She didn't exactly own much in the way of dark clothing, so a dark grey vest under her black leather jacket and tracksuit bottoms of indeterminate but brown-ish colour were the best she could manage along with a dark green facewrap.

Quietly humming the Mission Impossible theme under her breath to herself, walking in a low crouch, glancing around nervously. Sure, her power said this was fine, but she couldn't help but feel it would say she'd gotten there with a horde of guards chasing her. But she'd made it, and as she looked around, she couldn't see any guards.

"Yo." She said quietly, raising a hand as she approached the only dark figure in the courtyard whom she really, really hoped was Vail. "Where from here?"

The target was the staff quarters. They didn't know where they had to go in the staff quarters, but the material for future exercises would be somewhere over there. The teachers didn't just come up with everything on the spot, after all. Everything was carefully planned, except for maybe on the spot punishments. And that meant it was written down somewhere, and that there was a chance they could steal the plans for the latest round of training. Which admittedly, was easier when you had a speedster on your side.

"Staff quarters," Vail said, pointing in the general direction. "Stay close to the walls at all times. Don't give em a chance to catch us heading over there. The perimeter is guarded, so... We'll have to find some way around that."

Easier said than done. I have to admit it, even if this was my idea.

Mari nodded. "You know exactly what we're looking for? Better the description the better the location my power can provide once we're in, and it might be able to help with the perimeter too."

"From what I know there's multiple buildings but we're looking for the one where Apex's office is, which if it's consistent to the patterns, should be in the administrative building which is the same one that Page's office is at. It's also one of the more guarded ones, unfortunately," sighed Vail.

"Just brilliant." Mari groaned. "You got any idea what this thing is titled, I'm trying to plug it into my power but I'm getting nada so I'm putting in wrong combinations. I swear if it's written in fucking Russian or something..."

Mari gestured forwards. "Your plan, lead on."

"I have no idea. I know it should be around Apex's office somewhere but I haven't seen any of the training plans up close, only in the classroom since Apex usually has them around there," Vail said. But he started off towards the location they were headed to and carefully slipped around the guard patrols near the classrooms. They'd reach the area where the staff quarters were, and Vail waved Mari forward... She was more of a risk here, however, because she didn't have the dark clothes. As they pressed themselves against a wall, he pointed to the administration building. "There's two guards posted to the front, what are we going to do about them?"

"No other ways in?" Mari stopped behind him, hissing out her question. "If they're competent they won't leave their posts for anything."

"There's windows... Which make noise to break, and they're locked, not to mention we don't want to leave evidence of a break in. I think the back doors would be guarded, too. Maybe... Fire escape on the side? But the door is probably locked from the outside. I'm almost sure that it would be."

Emilia, if you have a plan, now is the time to tell me...

"Well that sucks." Mari shook her head. "Lemme throw something into my power, I'll keep throwing different offices until I get a door that's not guarded, alarmed, has a camera pointed at it or what. Give me a bit and I should have a way in."

"Right," Vail said, with a short sigh. "Better work quickly because there should be a guard patrol coming from behind us soon if the pattern stays the same."

"Well, I have a few plans." Mari grinned, full of false bravado. "One, I blitz in through a window, rely on speed and surprise to allow me to get in and out before they can do anything. Two, I blitz the guards since I can have them down quick if I get a charge from the side, but then the alarm will go up when they're found out. Third, I think there might be a fire escape on the side we can use to get up to the roof, then we can get down from the roof via skylights or a hatch or something up there my power's being vague about what it actually is. I can check the fire exits on the way up. Thoughts?"

"If you get in through the window, I might be able to pull the guards away with a small distraction and you can get out while I lose the guards, going in a completely different direction... We'll have to meet at the dorms, and it's going to be tough because we don't have any other clothes to change into and they might have picked up on our appearance. But it's not that bad of a plan," stated Vail. Which in reality was a massive miscalculation, but Vail wasn't the most strategic nor experienced person out there.

"No need for a distraction, I could get out just fine." Mari shook her head. "Like I said they won't move from their posts for anything if they're professionals, they'd report it and call for backup. Personally I think that the fire escapes and then the roof are the best plan, but I don't know cameras. Any help there?"

"I don't know, the cameras could be on the inside of the building but if you move too fast for them to pick you up, they might not be a problem. On the other hand, if they catch you as a blur, it's super obvious which person is doing this, so there's... A significant risk involved."

"Well, we're going to have to deal with them anyways so may as well go for speed inside." Mari waved dismissively. "Makes it easier to deal with the guards. I'll check the fire escape first, see if there's a way in there quietly, if not I can just brute force it. Wish me luck."

Make a move, Vail. Do it. Do it now.

“Hey... Mari, wait,” Vail said, stepping towards her and pulling down his face shield even though there was some risk involved with that if they happened to be on camera. He’d have to hope that they weren’t around one, which he didn’t think they were, but it was... A possibility. And shortly after pulling his face shield down, he put his arm around her back and pulled her in close for a kiss, which was a move he admittedly hadn’t executed in a long time. He hoped he was doing it right, although the immediate reaction didn’t seem too bad... He prayed that Emilia had given him good advice here.

“That’s for good luck. And, you know, I wanted to do it now because there’s a chance we both get dragged off to solitary for this and we don’t see each other.”

"Uh..." Was all she managed to say, confused by the unexpected move before shaking her head. No. She needed her head back in the game, she could think about anything else when she was back out and free. Or stuck in solitary and being beaten. Not like there'd be much else to think of.

Time to get this over and done. She hit her powers, both of them, at the same time; the route entered her mind, a line overlaid on the ground, instructions entering her mind as she zipped off, trying to keep low as she maneuvered her way around towards the side of the building, aiming to go up the fire escape and see what doors were easiest to bust through.

It wouldn't be hard for Mari to break into the building, which wasn't as secured as one might think. But as soon as Mari was inside, she would find that there were guards inside the hallway that seemed to already know she was coming, possibly because they had made too much noise or hadn't stayed away from the cameras properly... And those guards immediately raised their rifles and fired their tranquilizer attachments, quickly enough that Mari wouldn't even be able to back away and escape using her power.

"Aw fuck." Mari swore as she stared down the gun barrels. He power said there was no route out of here. The guns hissed as they fired and she dropped to the ground, world fading to darkness.

Interlude: Three Kitsunes

Outside of the hustle and bustle of inner Tokyo, there was something quite exciting going on. Well, both exciting and terrifying for the ones that had been assigned to handle it. It was one of the first field assignments for the New Shield, which was a bit of a strange thing as far as heroes went. It was both one of the international teams of Global Shield, which was prominent in stature and drew from all over the world... But like the name suggested, the New Shield was the one that was made out of young talent, unlike the more experienced Team Shield that they were named after. Although they wouldn't lack experience forever, and they were headed into their first field assignment in roughly three months. This one with higher stakes than the others, as they looked for a pair of metahumans in a live fire situation. One where they could actually be hurt if they didn't play this right.

The Bell helicopter dropped the team onto the roof of the massive concrete structure, the one that had been one of the largest apartments anywhere before it had shut down. Eden, it had been nicknamed by the ones that lived here before. Because for some people, it had been a paradise. When the interconnected network of apartments, all housed under the concrete superstructure, had went abandoned, it had given some interesting people control over the place. The project had been ambitious, and when it didn't work out, the streets had taken over, creating a sort of lawlessness within the massive complex. Not that the inhabitants minded. The rich that had been targeted for this complex never moved in.

The ones that ended up living there were rougher types... Many experts on the subject said that there were many metahumans within the walls of Eden, and that even after the place had been shut down and raided, there were still some there.

And that was the reason why the New Shield was being deployed here. Look for people that weren't supposed to be in this abandoned complex, and find two people in specific. Shinju Ieyasu, and Takeshi Minami. Two criminals that weren't much older than the New Shield team. Even if they weren't older, however, they had a significant crime record. Mainly a record of going after heroes, attacking them in ambushes or just straight up. But Global Shield had an idea on their location, and intelligence revealed that this was one of the places they kept coming back to. They would be a challenge for the New Shield, but according to that same intelligence, they wouldn't be too dangerous. Then again, intel could be wrong. And they had done quite well in terms of holding their own against heroes, with powers that Global Shield couldn't even explain at this point. They'd managed to keep those close to their chest.

"Everyone stand back," said Thorben, as Armory planted a charge on the roof of the concrete structure, which covered the entire complex of apartment blocks. In a way, it was a modern day wall around a full city, even if that city was shrunken down to a much smaller size than the one around it. When the team took some steps back, Armory pressed the button on the detonator, and there was a bang. Now, they would have to descend all the way to the ground inside the city, which was something that could be done with ropes and hooks. But the distance would be intimidating to anyone but the bravest person. They were pretty high up at the moment. "Esra, you want to rope down first and I'll rope down after you? Might as well set the example for everyone else."

"Sure." Esra answered, one hand already on the rope as she peered over the edge looking down into the hole, holding back a gulp. It was quite a drop, but she couldn't allow herself to show any fear, not in front of her team, not on their first mission for months. She let out a breath as she turned around, wrapping her gloved hands firmly around the rope, slowly backing up towards the edge behind her, stopping with the soles of her feet just over the edge.

Well, here went nothing. She knew how to rope, she'd trained after all, but that didn't stop the nagging fear that this one time would be the time she fucked up. She squatted down onto her knees, placing the soles of her feet against the rope, before shuffling over and off the edge. She left the rope rush past her gloved hands and tightened her grip, slowing her descent down to the proper speed she'd been taught, keeping an eye on the approaching ground. She winced slightly as her feet touched down, legs bending before standing up and stepping away quickly from the rope, looking around.

Thorben was the next one into the breach, connecting the rope to the ledge and dropping down once it was secure. He moved a bit more carefully than Esra, not because of the height but because of the darkness and the fact that they couldn't tell what was inside. The entire place had went dark when the authorities raided it and shut it down. And anyone that was left wouldn't exactly be friendly to them. Their entrance, which involved the use of explosives, would also draw anyone inside the place directly to them. Thorben turned on the head lamp that he had wisely decided to bring, illuminating at least the area in front of them. "I don't like how dark things are in here," he said, as Armory, Demoniste, and Mirage roped down next.

But he picked up his radio and told the others to hang back. "Guys, wait. I need you to hold up for a second, I hear noise and I need to see if it's coming from us or from somewhere else..." And it certainly did sound like there were footsteps. Demoniste readied his magic, making sure there was energy channeled, while Armory summoned an ARX-160 rifle and Mirage reached for her pair of knives.

Well, it wasn't them for sure, given in the light of Armory's head lamp she could see none of them were moving which meant they almost certainly weren't friendly. She focused inwards, drawing her power out. It was like drawing water from a well, she could only draw a certain amount at once into a pool she could actually use, and she couldn't both draw and use it, so best to draw as much as possible now for use when the fighting started even if it would drain out over time. She glanced around warily, hands remaining by her side as she waited for something, anything, to appear as a target. She didn't need to gesture to use her power.

The footsteps would continue. They grew closer, until there was visible movement in the shadows and someone could be seen in the light from the head lamps. Someone that looked like they hadn't seen the outside world very much, a man in an older track suit that was also holding a baseball bat. "You shouldn't have come here, trespassers," the man said in Japanese. It was at that point that another couple of men emerged. One of them had a bike lock in hand. The other one had a crowbar. They weren't moving to attack yet, but at the same time, none of them particularly looked like they were friendly.

"He said that we shouldn't have come here, called us trespassers," Mirage translated, moving beside Esra and keeping a tight grip of her knives, one of them in an overhand stance and the other one being held underhand. "Esra, what's the RoE here?"

"Tell them to get out of our way, we'll be done here quickly and then we'll leave." Esra spoke quickly, thinking things through. No sense in upsetting the locals too much. "If they refuse, try and get in our way, take them out. Non-lethal if possible, but if you have to kill them."

Mirage moved to the front of the group, speaking in Japanese with the group of people. The conversation wouldn't last that long, but there wasn't much progress made. The men were only moving closer, they still had their weapons in hand... And then one of them lunged, the one with the crowbar. The object nearly connected with Kiku's head, but she was able to duck just in time to avoid it, swinging back around with her underhand knife and connecting with the underhand knife as she dragged it across the man's neck. It was the dull side, but the tip was still able to do some damage when she shifted her hand as she swung the blade. There was shouting. Armory raised her rifle, but didn't fire just yet.

And then, the group of men froze. Froze because of a voice that was speaking to them in Japanese, one that went silent after giving an order of some kind. There was a long shadow approaching, visible against the wall of the nearest building, and Thorben held up a hand to tell the team to stay back as the rest of their eight members roped in from the roof. Mirage looked over her shoulder, a slight panic setting in. "Esra, if you have some kind of plan for this, now would be the time to tell us..." she said, her voice shaking. The shadow drew closer. But the figure that was casting it still wasn't visible, and they found themselves surrounded by five or six more armed inhabitants of the complex, with at least two of them holding handguns this time.

Saying she had a plan would be a lie. She didn't. She really, really didn't. But she wasn't about to admit that, not in front of her team or the enemy. "Steady." She raised a hand, her voice filled with false confidence. "Pick your targets, prioritise the two with handguns. Mirage, tell me what they were saying. If they aren't shooting they aren't shooting for a reason. We have to play this smart, I can't use my power without hitting all of us."

"They said the same stuff about how we weren't supposed to be here and they said some stuff about society and then the person that's approaching us told them to hold back because she wants to talk to us personally," Mirage said quickly, backing up towards her own team as that figure finally emerged from the shadows. Shinju Ieyasu. The girl fit the appearance. Late teens to early twenties, wearing glasses, Japanese in appearance, with black hair and dark clothes that were just as black. She didn't seem to be armed, although there was a knife visible at her wrist, in a holster. She was without her notable accomplice, Takeshi Minami.

But Shinju was the main one that they were here for, because Shinju was the ringleader in the attacks on heroes. Takeshi was just that, an accomplice. So that's why it was so surprising that they were seeing Shinju here and now, as she walked them down and stopped once she reached the perimeter set up by her men. "Heroes. I expected you to show up, and it took you a bit longer than I thought it would. But instead of bloodshed, I would much rather sit down and talk," she said, looking across all of them. "I have to ask, why have you come all the way here to kill me and my people? What have we ever done to you?"

She froze up, hesitating slightly, running through her thoughts. They were here under orders, yes, but why were those orders given? She'd acted without questioning them, just following them as usual. But now that she'd stopped to think about it, the reason was pretty obvious.

"We have orders. You and yours attacked some of our people, did you not expect us to respond in kind? It's only fair." She shrugged, almost dismissively.

Shinju chuckled in response. Paused a bit, said something to her men that was basically telling them to keep holding off and not to fight. "So they sent you to silence us. You, of all people. Esra Sarafian, daughter of Adrik Sarafian and adopted daughter of Daire Ward.. Grew up around Team Shield... I realize now, how much they care. They wouldn't have sent you, if they didn't. So it's unfortunate that you all hardly know the context for this, or know why you're being sent. No, they want you to do the dirty work because you're heavy hitters..." she said, speaking quickly and losing focus before turning around, lighting a magical flame in her hand.

It was purple and green, with a touch of light blue, the same colors as the energies that Esra manipulated and used in her attacks. "Go home, kid. Keep believing that you're special, that you're going to be the top hero in the world some day, that you're going to save the world. I don't want to spill your blood today. I don't want to spill Mirage's blood, even if they're going to force my hand here."

She stared at the fire. Her fire. It should have been her fire. It was her colours. Her mind was racing even as her eyes were transfixed by the flame; of course she was special, of course she was going to be the top hero in the world. Why wouldn't she be? She wasn't her father, she was nothing like him, nothing at all. She'd worked tirelessly to become his polar opposite, to prove parentage meant nothing.

"And what would you know about any of that, huh?" She snarled in response. She wasn't entirely sure what was up with her fire being over there and not here, but if he was a power copier, well, she wasn't about to risk that. Effectively fighting herself would just end messily for everyone here. "You're not a fucking pre-cog or whatever."

"Why are you so angry, Esra? Like I said, you have everything. You're on top of the world... I don't want to be the one to shatter it for you, nor do I want to slay you. I'm actually more intrigued, but I'm not intrigued by you, specifically. The world doesn't revolve around you," Shinju said, moving closer so she was standing face to face with Mirage, who was at the front of the group. She looked the girl up and down, holding her chin in her free hand, the one without the fire, for a moment. Looked into her eyes, leaning only about an inch away. And then she pushed Mirage out of her path, moving so she was standing directly in front of Esra, well within striking distance if she wanted to attack using Esra's own fire.

Her voice went low, so Esra would be the only one out of the group that could hear what she was saying. "I think we both know that you aren't the hero here... Heroes don't fly halfway across the world to silence those who have nothing."

"You're a villain, therefore by default I'm the hero here." Esra hissed back angrily. She wanted to use her power, but she'd just hurt everyone including Mirage and she knew her power's range and if she could hit Shinju, Shinju could hit her. She was the hero, she was always the hero, and she would always be the hero because that was who she was."Unless you're somehow the hero in this?"

“Unless I’m somehow the hero in all this? Now you’re getting somewhere. I rescue the downtrodden. You kill them. Just because you write it off in whatever way doesn’t mean that you’re in the right here. Just because Global Shield calls you a hero does not make you one and just being a member of Global Shield doesn’t make you good. Being a member of Global Shield did not stop one of their people from ruining my life, nor being ‘heroes’ stop the people that helped to clear this place out and destroy a thriving community-“

“Shut up! Leave her alone!” screamed Mirage, diving for Shinju with her knives. But Shinju extended a hand quickly and did something, causing Mirage to lock up and crash to the ground after losing her knives. In an almost catatonic state, where she couldn’t control her movements.

Shinju’s voice took on a darker tone. “So I ask you again. Leave my domain, please.”

"I'll let history and the court of public opinion decide which of us is the hero and which is the villain after all. And you know we can't do that." Esra shook her head, eyes straying over to the catatonic Mirage. One of them was down already and they hadn't even committed to battle, and that wasn't even including that their target had also demonstrated she could use the same powers as her. This entire situation was getting messier and messier.

"I don't trust you not to massacre us on our way out, and I'd hate to disappoint the higher-ups, but equally you do have us at a disadvantage. Team-" She didn't turn around, keeping her eyes darting between Shinju and the catatonic Mirage. "Fight or withdraw?"

"If I wanted to massacre you, you would be dead already. You all see the power that I wield, the same power that your proud leader holds. I had the advantage of surprise, I have more people, and I have more power. If I wanted you dead... There's not a lot stopping me. But I feel that you all have some innocence left, and I'm not a cruel leader," Shinju said, pacing back and forth in front of Esra, eventually stopping in front of her face again. "You should leave. But don't take my word for it. Listen to the testimony of your friend, I'm sure she'll tell you to back off," she said, before leaning in close until she was directly next to Esra's ear. "If friend is even the right word to describe what she is to you."

Mirage gasped and sat up, holding her head. "We need to leave... I saw things... We need to leave right now, Esra, we need to get out of here because after what I saw I know we don't stand a chance against her!" she started, her voice getting louder and louder as she continued to speak, her chest rising and falling irregularly as she breathed sharp breaths. "Get me the fuck out of here, please!"

"I'll be back." Esra promised, stepping around Shinju and moving over to kneel down beside the prone form of Mirage, placing a hand over her shoulders.

"And yeah, I'll get you out." She stood up, hauling Mirage up to her feet. "If anyone asks-" She turned and looked over the rest of her team. "We went in and our targets ran. Got it? Now we leave, and Mirage can explain whatever she saw on the way out."

"I didn't come here to be a fucking coward," said Mad Doctor, but even he joined the rest of the team as they nodded and headed back towards the extraction point, which was really just a hole in the concrete that their ropes were still connected to. Mirage, though, she would have a hard time even making it that far. She wasn't hurt physically but... Saying that she was disturbed by what she had seen would be a bit of an understatement. Shaken to the core was more like it.

"I've called the helicopter," said Thorben. "Esra, help Mirage get up the ropes... The rest of you, get to the roof as soon as possible. No hanging around a second longer than we need to."

"Neither did I, but there's a line between cowardice and stupidity." Esra snorted, glaring at Mad Doctor's back. "He could do what I can, and I can do what my..." Esra shivered slightly at the thought. "If we'd tried to fight it'd have been two nukes going off and everyone dying."

She nodded to Thorben. "I'll go up second-to-last with Mirage, you bring up the rear." She waited in silence as the others one by one climbed up the ropes before it was her and Mirage's turn. "C'mon you." She knelt, letting Mirage climb onto her back, wrapping her legs around her waist and her arms around her shoulders before standing and climbing up the rope, Mirage clinging onto her back as she did so.

By the time she reached the top she was breathing heavily from the effort. "So..." She opened as she gently set Mirage down on the roof. "You feel up to talking about what you saw?"

The helicopter was circling in the distance, but it wasn’t there yet. They’d have to hold on for a few more minutes as the pilots found the angle to descend to the rooftop. Meanwhile, Mirage was able to set up, but she didn’t look like she was in her best state. Far from it. “I saw life and death and what was in between. Light and darkness. Yin and yang. All of it embodied inside of three kitsune spirits... I saw a lot of things. You’re going to need to be more specific, E.”

"I can't be more specific when I barely know what you saw." Esra shrugged, turning to sit down beside Mirage. "But you really, really freaked out back there, so if you don't mind what the hell made you react like that? I've never seen you react like that and what you've described so far doesn't seem like it'd make you start all but begging to leave."

"I was taken to another plane where I saw Shinju and three kitsunes. Foxes, each one a different color. One of them was white, one of them was black, and one of the had a coat that was split down the middle, half of it white and half of it black. One black eye, one white eye. Each of these fox spirits had... Certain traits about them. I felt that the white one was good and just and in a way it was like it embodied everything that we fight for, and when I looked at that one, I saw life. It's hard to explain, just... Life. I saw the world as it could be, not the way that it is right now, with so many problems," started Mirage, doing her best to keep her tone steady.

"But when I looked at the black fox, I was shown conflict and death. Darkness. A heart of evil, of darkness that was... Concentrated. No goodness, no light was there. I saw a spirit that looked impossible to redeem, one that was all bad, as impossible as that sounds... The things that I was shown by that wolf terrified me. I saw a world burning. Death and destruction everywhere. An absence of light... And I never got a good look at the fox in the middle. The darkness was enough to stun me, trapping me as I was until... Until Shinju ended it. It meant something, Esra. I know it did. I don't think it meant anything good, either. But I just don't know what."

"That just sounds like a whole lot of pure symbolic bullshittery to me, to be honest." Esra shrugged. "Shinju wanted to fuck with you, fuck with us, fuck with the team by showing you some meaningless symbolic bullshit that's got no power in reality. The world's what we make it, how we shape it. Symbols don't have shit on actions."

Mirage suddenly jumped out, grabbing Esra by the shoulders for emphasis and pulling her closer. Her voice was one hundred percent serious. "It wasn't some fucking mind trick! I really... Saw things! I might not know what this means, alright, but I know that it's not just something that we should fucking shrug off!"

"You know, shit has usually hit the fan if Kiku is the one freaking out," stated Leandra, nonchalantly. "Might want to listen to her. Just a suggestion."

"Fine, I'll assume it isn't bullshit then. Not like we lose anything by doing so." Esra shook her head slightly. She hated mind game-esque things that were like this, things that weren't just straightforwards and easy to handle.

"But that doesn't mean we have any idea what the fuck it means. You saw three of these kitsune things, one white which sounds like a paradise, one black which was hell, and a third you didn't get to look at but we have no idea what any of that actually means or represents or what. And you said this was like yin or yang but there's two of those and there were three of these stupid kitsune and you didn't get to look at the third so... Urgh."

Esra shook her head, seemingly giving up in frustration. "It makes no sense. Tell the higher-ups what you saw, maybe they can figure out what it all means if anything at all."

"I could ask my father, since he's a mage, but... He doesn't talk about things like these, always told me to stay away from things that might be demons and the like," said Mirage, before reaching out and pulling Esra down and into a hug. A bit out of place for where they were, but she was disoriented enough that it made sense. "Esra, please promise me that you're not going to let anything happen to me. I just have a bad feeling about this entire thing. Don't know how or what will happen, but I feel like something is going to go wrong and that it will be related to this. That vision of death and destruction... It was terrifying. Please tell me that you'll be here, whatever happens."

That was when the helicopter descended, but even as some of the others started loading inside in preparation to pull away, Mirage held on and squeezed like a vice grip.

"I promise." She didn't even hesitate before answering, staring back at Mirage and wrapping her arms around her, returning the hug. "I'll be here until I die or I'm dragged away kicking and screaming. This is my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

There was no response from Mirage. She'd continue wrapping up Esra in the hug even as the others were getting into the helicopter, burying her face into Esra's neck. And when Esra finally separated and started towards the helicopter, she'd feel the distinct feeling of a mark forming on her neck around that spot. Mirage, on the other hand, sat for a few more moments before lifting herself up, climbing into the helicopter and pulling the door behind her as the last one inside.

"... We couldn't apprehend the perps. They escaped... Yeah, we'll get em next time," said Thorben, over the radio to the controller. The first statement was a lie, the second one hardly had any confidence in it either. "Yeah, we're fine. Just a bit disappointed in ourselves. We should have done better, you know? I'll have some things to talk to them about, for sure."

Thorben set the radio down, looking to the others. "I don't know what the hell that was. But trust me. We'll figure it out... Together."

by **Forest State** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 9:12 pm

TIME SKIP

February 11th, 2024

The days were counting down until the first field engagement for the students of Phoenix Academy, and before they could do that, there would be one large training exercise that would act as a final test or so to see if they had learned from the past months of training, and the more intense training that had began in the past three weeks. Capture the flag was the theme of the training exercise. One red flag would be hidden inside the jungles that were next to the campus area, if you could even call it that. The entire thing was artificial, for the purposes of more realistic outdoor training. It was how the island went from grass to jungle with only an inch of separation, the environment changing on a dime.

Within the jungle, there would be other challenges than just the ones from other students. Not that the other students weren’t threatening. There were melee weapons allowed, with the outward facing edge dulled, as well as firearms which would use a nonlethal training ammunition created by the Union for these purposes. While the entire exercise was meant to not be lethal, powers were still allowed. Which meant that the combat would be completely real, as would the danger. And there was room for accidents to happen.

The teams had been drafted the day before and everyone had been made aware of the circumstances. There was a chance to pick up modified weapons at the armory too, before the exercise started. And as the sun rose at about 6:00 in the morning, there was an announcement relating to the exercise. “Attention everyone,” said the voice of Angelique. “The capture the flag exercise will begin in forty five minutes. The cafeteria will be serving breakfast and the armory will have modified weaponry. Please handle anything you need to handle right now, and report to the entrance to the jungle section to begin the exercise.”

by **Lunas Legion** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 4:28 pm

Aella Piennar

Another early morning start, but this time they at least had breakfast first. She could fight on empty, hell, she'd had to fight on empty, it was just irritating and annoying to need to do so, so she much preferred to fight on a full stomach. She dressed herself in her combat gear; green-grey patterned trousers and T-shirt under a ballistic vest, her helmet and gas mask hanging from her utility belt.

She'd gone to the armoury next, claiming weapons; not hers, unfortunately, but she wasn't going to blunt her knives, any of them, for a mere training exercise. Instead, she found blunt-edged versions of her own knives, both throwing and conventional, sliding them into their assorted sheaths. She couldn't use actual grenades, so instead she pulled on a bandoleer and filled it with smoke grenades, finally clipping her helmet's thermal goggles onto it. Battle ready, or as much as she could be given the circumstances. She forewent any firearms; 2mm was, to be frank, pathetic. Not worth the weight in weaponry.

She found the breakfast hall barren; surprising, but not unwelcome as she assembled her usual assortment of breakfast foods and glass of apple juice, sitting down at a table to eat.

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

Three days in 'solitary' confinement had turned out to be three days in confinement with her 'co-conspirator' combined with occasional beatings, near-starvation conditions, more beatings and whatever else they could throw at the pair of them. She'd survived, though, barely, and unlike Drake who'd been thrown in actual solitary she'd at least had Vail for company. He wasn't the best company, but any port in a storm and all that.

She'd been eager for this particular exercise; it reminded her of the good old days, of training as a team of young heroes back home. Back when she'd had a team. When she'd been a hero.

She'd pulled on her jumpsuit, a pink and white and black thing in a disruptive camo pattern, before pulling her similarly coloured ballistic vest over it and tucking her helmet, also the same colour, under her arm before she headed off to get breakfast, sitting down alone at her usual table, placing her helmet down before heading off to assemble breakfast before quickly returning to her spot and beginning to eat.

by **Skaldia** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:41 pm

Rykanos Au'valo
Fury

He opened his eyes and smiled.

Stretching out, he looked over to the woman who sleeping next to him. Oh, the things she had done to him. He thought with some pleasure, thinking back to last night. He had just entered the bar, thinking the night would be much like the others. He would drink and fleece the patrons of the bars of their hard earned money until, as the night waned, one of women who inevitably ended up hanging off of him as his card playing got hotter and hotter (or he cheated his way to victory). And, when he was ready to leave, he would stumble away, no doubt with giggling girl (or two) following meekly behind.

Not last night. He had barely made his entrance to his favorite abode when a tall willow-thin Korean woman had walked in. Without preamble or word, she had grabbed him and led him out. He could only shrug in defeat to the other patrons, a few of the regulars grumbling and his prospective bed warmer pouting.

What had followed was an entire night of pure debauchery that he would forever treasure. Groaning, he sat up. She had rode him until he was sure he would break in half. Grinning, he gingerly made his way out of the bed without waking her. For a man his size, he was surprisingly stealthy when he needed to be. No doubt years of filching people out of their hard earned cash and having to make a dash without alerting suspicion no doubt explained that. Dressing, he looked at himself in the mirror, mentally patting himself on the back. For the first night in forever, he had woke up sober and next to a beautiful girl. It was fortuitous timing, considering what was to come this morning.

Turning back around, he noticed the woman beginning to stir.

Gavin Lee
Shift

The fact that Gavin had been chosen as a team leader for one of the three teams had not been surprising. For the most part, he had been pleased with the team he had chosen and had gathered them the night before to get an assessment of their particular powers and form a strategy. He had never been particularly strategically minded, instead more of a tactician than anything else. He had been aided by a surprisingly intelligent team for the most part and he felt they were as prepared as they were going to be for what was to come. He knew one thing, he was more than ready to win this.

Showering quickly after a quick work out, Gavin made his way to the cafeteria to grab a quick breakfast before the challenge began and before his team gathered to fight.

by **Union Princes** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:16 pm

Maria Ludwig

Those three weeks of intense training was harsh, really harsh as it made Maria stumble her way back to bed exhausted and close to weeping. Thankfully, her dove Hippocrates was there when she need him the most after a hard day of exercise. But she was improving even if her results was unimpressive. At least she can handle firearms adequately for this team training.

Since this was the day of the training exercise, maria had to ditch her usual attire for some dark green clothes. It wasn't really tactical to run around in a navy blue skirt in a jungle. After she dress up in long pants and a olive jacket over her shirt, Maria went the armory to pick out her weapons as she bid farewell to Hippocrates when she closed her door. It was a shame she couldn't use her own bonesaw and scalpels even if she did blunt the edges.

Grabbing what seems to be a P90 fitted with 2mm ammo, some blunted throwing knives, and a utility vest for storage, Maria then went straight to the eating area to grab her usual breakfast of sausage and gravy with biscuits. Spotting Aella at the table, Maria was quick to join her teammate for this morning as she greeted her with an enthusiastic hello.

by **Durmatagno** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 7:28 pm

Preparing for the exercise
Sage Kearney/Carolina Steiner/Ashura Mburu

Sage didn't need most of what the armory was providing, she made her own things in the field, and they were generally better than anything being offered here. She did, however, take trio of flash-bangs, and a pair smoke grenades. She was also no longer wearing her casual clothes, instead she was wearing a black and grey tactical outfit. She also grabbed a semi-automatic pistol that had a fair amount of weight to it. She still wasn't very good with guns, but she needed tactical options, and a gun was better than no gun. She exited the armory to make a stop at the canteen. She wouldn't be here long, she wanted to eat quickly and get to the meeting point so she could make sure she was ready for what was coming. Regardless of the point of the exercise, she'd take it seriously, even going up against both her sisters and Aella. She put together her plate quickly, and after filling her sugar pot to the brim with her powers, and a little effort to make it permanent, she navigated her way to Aella. Sitting across from her, and only glancing at Maria to acknowledge her presence, Sage took a few scoops out of the pot to put into her drink before putting it in front of Aella. It was easily double what she usually gave Aella, a little more, but Sage had learned over the past few weeks that Aella was fairly paranoid. Adding the sugar was mostly a show to reassure Aella that the sugar wasn't poisoned, she'd made a point to do it ever since she had figured out just how paranoid she was.

Sitting down, Sage begins stirring her drink before looking between Maria and Aella.

"I'd say good luck, but luck is rarely a strong factor in these things. I hope you're both trained enough, I won't be holding back if I bump into you during the exercise."

____

Ashura traced her hands over her newest toy, a giant Yellowlegged creeping scorpion, easily five feet long, with width, stinger, and pincers to match, and she hadn't even used her powers on it yet, besides the passive calming effect that prevented things from attacking her. This would be a fairly fun little toy, and this exercise would let her test it for the first time in a combat situation. She had already gathered her equipment, a scoped rifle, a SMG, and four flash bangs, as well as six knives, spares mostly, but she could use them in all her hands at once fairly easily. Her most valuable piece of equipment, barring her team, would be Kubwa here. She ate quickly, sticking to herself, so she could be one of the first to the entrance point. Once there, she had Mdogo and Kubwa on the ground next to her, and was checking them carefully, making sure they were in good condition. She outfitted small cameras on both of them, mounted on their heads facing forwards. She checked their connections before turning them off for the time being to conserve batteries. Ashura was wearing a tactical suit with jungle camouflaging patterns, and a armored vest with a gasmask by her side. She already had everything holstered, and had memorized their positioning. Now, now she would wait for her team.

____

Carolina wouldn't be far behind Ashura, dressed in similar camouflage with her own gas mask. She had a SMG of her own, a pair of flash bangs, and a pair of smoke grenades. She'd already gone over her piece of the plan with Ashura, and didn't expect to be anywhere near the majority of the fighting, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be equipped just in case, especially with Sage as an enemy. She didn't like Ashura's bugs much, despite how useful they could be, and now she had two really big ones. Carolina shivered slightly as she checked to make sure her knife was holstered properly, and her back up pistol was loaded. She was not going to be as easy pickings as most people thought, and neither would she easily let her team get picked off without warning. In the meantime, she was going to wait with Ashura for everyone else to arrive, as they were among the first there. Carolina had shortened her hair for this match, making it less likely to snag on anything.

by **Dreshand** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 12:33 am

preparing for the excericse

Athens was in his accommodations, he had been ever since the activity was announced. While others could just pop down to the armory to prepare, his preparations required precision.

Most of his time was spent growing his creations, something that would hopefully have a large payoff. It was unfortunate that so much of said time went towards the giant scorpion that would be used against his team. A very unfortunate situation for the game, but it would hopefully reap rewards outside of it. Athens grabbed a M9 he was growing familiar with, as well as a full assortment of flashbangs and something which was effectively an absurd amount of firecrackers in an explosive can. A blind knife, little more than a stick was also added. But his main weapon of choice would be something he had crafted himself.

A large scythe made of skin and bone, painstakingly melded onto his own neural system, this flexible yet deadly weapon would truly be a force to be reckoned with, Athens had some time to practice with it to make sure everything was ready, and made tweaks accordingly. There was also the matter of his guards, two unusually thin creatures he had also formed and put on ice. Things of hard wired reflexes and sharp claws with threatening Aesthetics. Wendigos, he would name them. It would be time soon, and he was ready.

by **Darasthia** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:29 am

~~Hua Xiaoting~~ Drake "Grand Chariot" Han
Drake's MP3: Weeknd - Starboy

[I'm back, bitches. The one and only Xiao-, er, Drake Han is back from the dead. The baddest mofo is back in town! Or rather the most idiotic...]

Hoo, boy. The last week was the worst, technically the best-worst of Drake's life. A punishment for a day, not limited to getting starved out of food, a prodding the gunshot as if adding insult to injury (as if being called a "chink" wasn't enough) and even a waterboarding session that nearly landed her to the morgue. For odd reason, although, she found solace in pain, as well as the deathly silence and within the claustrophobic solitary confinement cell. It reminded her of those rare childhood days, the examination periods at Tsinghua or just a conventional cyber-terror attack that required silence and concentration. Now that she's back, she's ready for some shit despite her injuries and despite the fact that rest now viewed her as stupid.

"Im tryna put you in the worst mood, ah..."

Drake tugs the collar of her grey bomber jacket like she's ready for some serious business. On her MP3 player is a Weeknd song. She struts throughout the hallway leading out to the jungles of the Phoenix Atoll. It reminds her of Fiji and Hawaii, where, in a collaborative operation with the MSS, she and her former unit organized covert operations. It wasn't exactly a vacation getaway, but Drake had took a liking for tropical places such as those. It was simply for the fact that in her tumultuous life and persona, she had a longing for calm deep inside of her. If only she could get off the troubles that gravitate towards her.

"P1 cleaner than your church shoes, ah..."

She fished out her 2000-era Nokia 3310. After entering a 4-digit PIN code she went to her draft messages, where she had information about the teams in the upcoming training exercise. She was assigned to Team Hayabusa, but she only knew her team members by name and face (she also downloaded info through her consciousness during the hack last week), not by attitude nor abilities. She figured that after last week's fiasco, the people here are scary, and definitely hated stupid people. [Stop it, Drake,] she thought, [it's hurting my ego]. So much for first impressions, perhaps.

"Mill point two just to hurt you, ah..."

She went into the clearing where her team perched by. Among the figures laid out like a small bamboo grove, Drake saw a figure that caught her eye. She wasn't scared or anything, she was more resentful and annoyed that she had to teamed with the very devil that shot her in the arm with a humongous .60 caliber pistol round. [If it isn't that 死棒子 (dead plank) that shot in the fucking arm. Yeah, the Devil's bitch.] Drake was sure that she murmured that thought and that they could probably hear it in the wind, if not surely. She further thought of other silent insults she could throw at Song Pyon as she walked towards the group, hands on the pockets of her jacket sans the thumbs.

"All red lamb just to tease you, ah..."

She coalesced with the rest of the group, standing beside a cool, tall dude with cool black clothes, cool shades and cool spiky blond hair to top it all off. She let her hands out of her pockets and patted her concealed Walther CCW in her navy blue jeans, looking at her PLA-issued combat boots for loose laces afterwards. After what seemed to be an in-team Mexican standoff, Drake made moves to break the ice.

"None of these toys on lease too, ah. Made your whole year in a week too, yah..."

[So what's the plan, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts? I'm not really in the mood to discuss my strategies by virtue that you see me as stupid and therefore illegible for decision-making. Who knows what crazy shenanigans I'd pull off on this. But, I am in the mood to get to know all of you. I know you but you don't know me. The name's Drake Han, and let's kick some ass!]

"Main bitch out of your league too, ah..."

Upon the end of her little speech she pumped her fist in the air. It was as if last week didn't happen. Drake was very, very optimistic and energetic. She had ideas on how to take the cake on this capture the flag, but she wasn't in the mood to share, nor would anyone in her team entertain ideas from the likes of her, she felt. Drake fixed her sights on Song Pyon and looked her really hard in the eye. [Mean face, tiger look...] Drake thought. Despite the Korean's prudence to return her laptop and a few of her gadgets to her, Drake just really hated the fact that she unprofessionally shot her out of spite and called her a chink. It hurts her ego a little, even now more so due to the fact that they just teamed up.

"Side bitch out of your league too, ah..."

[Yeah, you're out of my league, boy.]

by **Yuenaan** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 12:08 pm

Alexander William "Smith" Smithson

Smith had been up since four that morning, going through the motions that were quickly becoming routine at this point. Get up, chug a glass of water, regular work out (which itself was a novel experience, considering everyday exertion was enough to keep him fit back in the home country), and then do a Burst Pulse work out. A Burst Pulse work out mainly involved shadow boxing and martial arts practice while enhancing his body with Pulses. While his speed and power probably couldn't compare to most physically enhanced metas - 'Well I could,' he corrected himself, 'but I prefer my tendons not torn and my bones not broken' - he was still moving with a ferocity that could make most Olympic boxers blush. After that, he'd shower, deal with hygiene, eat, and then get on with whatever he needed to do that day. Today that meant going to the armoury to get ready for this 'live-fire' exercise.

He had to keep himself from snorting out loud as he thought about it. 2mm ammunition, what's the point of even having guns at that point? Even still, Smith picked up a small smg first thing upon arriving at the armoury, figuring he could at least use it for some suppressing fire, along with stuffing enough ammunition into his jacket and pouches to arm a whole squad for a actual mission. Smith knew they would be doing the exercise in the forest, and while not going all out on the camouflage, he had at least gone halfway. A green overcoat, with a dark brown undershirt and tan pants. Under all of that he had his usual body armour, and crossing every which way underneath his jacket were belts with pouches hanging off them. His arms and legs were covered in white wrappings. His slightly long, dark brown hair was pulled into a small ponytail.

Along with the smg, he picked up two blunted machetes. Before he had briefly entertained the though of sneaking in his own, still sharpened machetes, but ultimately decided that if the school wasn't going to take this seriously enough to let them go all out, then he wouldn't take it seriously enough to cheat. He then grabbed a dozen blunted throwing knives, along a couple flash and smoke grenades. He checked to make sure his canteens were filled and he still had his MREs, for although he doubted the exercise would last long enough for food and drink to become a problem, carrying them around was a habit he had no intention of ending anytime soon.

Finally, with his gear sorted out, he made his way to the meeting place for his team. Along the way he spotted Ashura and Carolina already standing there. He knew who they were, with everyone briefly meeting each other back when teams were announced.

"OI!" He called out to them. Striding up with something of a grin on his face, and upon arrival giving a mock-salute to Ashura. "If ain't our fearless leader, getting here early, lookin' all responsible and shit. You ready for what's to come?" He asked energetically. His voice, despite a clear British accent and a sharp, distinct annunciation of each word, seemed a bit unused to speaking English. The words themselves sounded fine, but when put together there were slight, non-fluid pauses in the flow of the sentence, making it seem like he was a bit uncertain what he was saying, despite his outward confidence and bravado.

by **Lunas Legion** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:52 pm

Aella Piennar

She didn't respond to Maria, just glaring intensely at her in silence as if trying to will her out of existence. Why would people not get the message that she just wanted to be left alone? Was it that difficult to understand her? Or was she a sociopath or whatever and simply didn't register her irritation with her? Regardless, it was annoying.

And then Sage showed up, putting the usual pot of sugar down in front of her after scooping a few scoops into her own drink. Aella leaned forwards, eyes narrowing even more than usual. There was at least double what there usually was, and that was suspicious.

"Relying on luck is for the ignorant and the foolish." Aella nodded. "And I don't expect you to, I don't hold back ever." She waved a hand over the pot of sugar. "Any reason you've given me double the usual amount or so? If it's an advance payment for next time or something say so so I don't complain when you show up without any."

by **Forest State** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:30 pm

Song "Noname" Pyon

At first, things were peaceful for Song as she stirred in bed. She had vague thoughts about last night, about getting some form of relief from all of her problems even if it had only been for a bit, for a couple of hours before heading to sleep… But then, she became fully awake and she realized just how much she had fucked up by sleeping in and not leaving as soon as she had wrapped up last night. There were things she needed to do today, and there was no way she would let that fall through because of sleeping in out of tiredness from last night.

“Motherfucker,” she cursed at herself when she looked at the time, and she flew out of bed quickly. She found her clothes quickly and decided that she would shower when she arrived back at her own room… Which was rushed, once she got there. She checked the time once again when she finished with that, and then started packing the equipment she was bringing to the exercise. The rocket artillery was the one that took the most time to pack up and unpack, but she handled that and then broke down the quadrotor into the pieces it would be carried as, throwing that in the same bag before throwing it over her shoulder along with her laptop and stepping out the door in her skin tight black shirt and a pair of cargo pants.

She had to stop at the armory next and when she was there, she picked up the modified version of an M16. It would be a better fit than the modified version of a shotgun, which was what she usually went with but would be less effective with the training ammunition. She also picked up a hatchet, which was blunted. So that was another thing out of the way. Finally, she went to the cafeteria and grabbed breakfast, and she made sure to eat it quickly enough that she could get to the training area with time to spare.

As she arrived, she ignored Drake, who she had played a personal hand in torturing during her prison sentence. This wasn’t the time to worry about the feud between them, but if Drake was injured in this exercise, she certainly wouldn’t help her out in any way. “Reporting in,” she told everyone in her group. “I’m sure Mitsuri will be here… Soon. We still have minutes to spare.”

by **Auphelia** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:37 am

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

Forest State wrote:
TIME SKIP

February 11th, 2024

Within the jungle, there would be other challenges than just the ones from other students. Not that the other students weren’t threatening. There were melee weapons allowed, with the outward facing edge dulled, as well as firearms which would use a nonlethal training ammunition created by the Union for these purposes. While the entire exercise was meant to not be lethal, powers were still allowed. Which meant that the combat would be completely real, as would the danger. And there was room for accidents to happen.

The teams had been drafted the day before and everyone had been made aware of the circumstances. There was a chance to pick up modified weapons at the armory too, before the exercise started. And as the sun rose at about 6:00 in the morning, there was an announcement relating to the exercise. “Attention everyone,” said the voice of Angelique. “The capture the flag exercise will begin in forty five minutes. The cafeteria will be serving breakfast and the armory will have modified weaponry. Please handle anything you need to handle right now, and report to the entrance to the jungle section to begin the exercise.”

Katherine woke up to another miserable day at the academy. Or, she supposed, it was a better day than usual? For the past three weeks she had been through the intensive training with the rest of the weaklings, though to to her tenuous medical condition she had been forced to focus on the basics like running and lifting weights because, as her instructor put it, she had the bones of a bird and the muscles to match. She had also joined in the gun marksmanship training, though she had ruined nearly a dozen guns by instinctively twisting them out of shape upon hearing the sound of gunfire. It had only cost her two days of meals, which was not missed much given that all of her pills were basically a meal in themselves.

Speaking of her pills, she decided that it was best to start getting ready. She wasn't sure what time it was, but today was important for some reason, so it was best to get ready as soon as possible. Leave it to the academy to demand their students do twelve impossible tasks before breakfast. One by one she swallowed the pills; by the end she could feel the slight buzz of too many drugs coursing through her system. She wasn't sure how healthy it was, but she had been put on an "accelerated healing" plan by the medical staff and told she'd "probably live". Probably wasn't exactly awe inspiring coming from a doctor, but she hadn't had anything bad happen yet aside from a few episodes of nausea.

Finished with her pills, she pulled on her academy uniform, slightly torn from accidentally getting caught on her metal armour. Speaking of her armour, she realised how little she had been using it for the past week. Perhaps the training was working! What fantastic progress! She could finally walk without the aid of a giant metal brace. Huzzah.

Still, today would likely be deadly, what with all of the competitive and dangerous students going into a dense jungle with free license to use their powers on each other. If she wanted to get back in one piece, she would certainly need her armour. This would be a fast moving game, so nothing heavy would be preferable. Sticking her clothes with several needles, she got to work, forming an intricate mass of metal for . . .

The announcement speakers blared and gave the announcements for the day. Katherine awoke from her meditative stupor to find . . . ack! She most certainly had overdone it. Instead of making a light suit of metal armour with plenty of room to move, she had nearly filled her room with a giant network of random pieces of metal of every imaginable variety. This wasn't a good start. Silently cursing her power for being so relaxing, she carefully extracted herself from the giant structure in her room. How unfortunate that her beg was now covered with a nest of spikes. She wouldn't rest well tonight.

It took her nearly ten minutes to make her way to the door, not wanting to accidentally melt her armour as well as the various obstacles in her way. The pieces of her armour tore from the structures that had grown out of it, creating a terrible groaning, screeching noise that filled the entire room. What she was left with at the end was her usual flowing dress of iron blades and crown of metallic thorns, though today she added a veil of intricately worked metal needles over her face and neck and another connected to both wrists that would protect her back if she raised her hands up or her chest if she made an X with her arms. The last thing she needed was someone to stab her in a vital area, especially if it was just a training exercise. She didn't even want to think about what kinds of pills she would have to swallow then.

Katherine walked down the hall, her dress creating a veritable cacophony of screeches as it scraped on the floor. If the others weren't up, they would be now. Slowly, weighed down a bit by her dress but able to walk better than before, she scraped her way down to the armoury. She didn't take much, just a small handgun like the kind she used in training, extra bullets (surely these non-lethal bullets had metal somewhere within them) and three machetes. Placing them on her back, she worked them into her armour and grew them out, creating an image of six bladed wings expanding out of her back. They would be there if she needed them, and might help cut through the jungle brush. She placed the gun in her dress, creating a small pocket that would hold it. All of these preparations took time, and before she knew it there was less than fifteen minutes left to get to the training. Walking as fast as she dared (which was incredibly quick . . . for a geriatric shut-in), she passed by the cafeteria and saw several people still eating, including her captain. With only fifteen minutes left to go? Some people . . .

She walked up to him and stared down at him as he feasted on the last of his breakfast. She understood why she herself wasn't a team leader, given her physical state and other factors that surely came up upon selection, but this man hardly seemed better. Then again, she hadn't had the chance to see him do much. Perhaps he would surprise her. Then again, nothing seemed to surprise her much anymore.

"Are you finished? The training starts soon and we surely cannot begin without our leader."

by **Forest State** » Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:15 am

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev

When everyone had gathered at the entrance to the jungle, Apex arrived and laid out the terms of the exercise. “This exercise is meant to test your mettle and see what you can do in a real combat environment. The weapons may be altered but the powers are real and the combat is very real, and just because the rules are to keep engagements non lethal does not mean you should assume that this exercise is safe. Because it’s not. There’s still a number of risks and if there weren’t risks like that there would be no point in conducting an exercise like this in the first place,” he started off, before diving into the rules.

“Now, the basics of this exercise is that there are three teams. Team Hayabusa, Team Lee, and Team Mburu. These three teams will proceed around the trail and get set up at the three designated starting points in the north, west, and east respectively. This point, which you are standing at right now, will be referred to as south and is not being used. When you arrive at your point, you should see a wooden marker in the color of your team. Red, blue, and green, in that order. The jungle area is designed in a circular pattern so there is no advantage to starting in one place or the other. All three of you are after one objective, the small white flag that is located in the middle of the jungle. The trail that leads around the perimeter does not lead to this flag, and you will have to brave the jungle terrain to be able to reach it,” Apex stated.

“The flag, however, will be hidden rather than immediately visible and you will have to use your heads if you want to locate it. Do not assume that everything is as it seems and that you won’t have to use any creativity or thought to win. After all, in a real battle, the objective is rarely completely static. You will also have to battle against each other, although your weapons have been modified to fire 2mm training ammunition that, while it will hurt, should not cause serious injury or death. Additionally, melee weapons have had their outward facing edges blunted, and the rules of engagement state that combat should be kept non lethal. We don’t need a death in our section before the upcoming mission. The winner of the exercise will be the team that can bring the flag back to the south point.”

With that, Apex gestured towards the circular trail that led around the jungle training area. “Good luck, everyone. The exercise will begin in ten minutes. During this time, you should all proceed to the start points and team leaders should discuss their strategies for taking the flag. There will be punishments for anyone caught outside of the starting points when the exercise begins. With that, I leave you to your own devices, and remind you that there will be more to this than there seems initially.”

by **Lunas Legion** » Wed Oct 24, 2018 5:39 pm

Aella Piennar- Team Mburu

There wasn't much else she could do but nod and wander off towards her team's area. She disliked teams, she was very much a lone wolf, always had been. Teamwork of any sorts wasn't something that came easily to her by any stretch of the word.

As she walked through the jungle, looking around at her surroundings, her mind strayed to Apex's mention of the rules. Seize the flag, then bring it to the south point. That gave you three options; push the flag with everything then drive to the south point, drive to the south point, dig in, seize the flag when anyone tried to deliver it, or send two teams out, one to the flag, one to the south point.

Rock paper scissors of strategy and three teams. The exercise wouldn't be determined by team composition but by who went where with how many and whom. She arrived at her team's point and pulled her gas mask over her head, followed by putting her helmet on. She was ready.

She also couldn't help but note that Apex had only said that punishment would be for anyone caught outside of the starting points, not that it was their own starting point.

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer- Team Hayabusa

Mari couldn't help but hum loudly, a smile on her face as she all but skipped through the jungle. God, this brought back memories. Good memories, back when she'd enjoyed being a hero, enjoyed everything, before... All this. Before she'd killed her mother.

Regardless, this was nice. Easy. Find the flag, run to the south point. No one here could catch her if she was running, and 2mm bullets were nothing against ballistic vests. The problem was finding it. Her power was being stupid again, 'flag' was too vague, 'white flag' also too vague, 'nearest flag' was not pointing this way, there was probably some torn one somewhere off in the jungle or something like that.

Well, she could manage. Would manage. She'd done stuff like this before, and by the time she reached her team's start point she was grinning, heart racing in anticipation.

It was good to be back.

by **Skaldia** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:54 am

Gavin Lee
Shift

Gavin had been annoyed with the woman who had interrupted his breakfast. He nodded and stood up. At his hips rode pistols that he had taken from the armory with their specialized ammo for the exercise. Nodding to her, they both quickly made it from the cafeteria and left the building to gather with the others and listen to Apex's speech. When that was finished, he followed those of his team to their starting point, all the while talking about what the plan was. He had spent near three hours last night going over what they needed to do and how they were going to do it but he felt he was well prepared with the team he had to meet the problems that the team were going to run in to.

Turning to his team, he eyed them all speculatively before he clapped his hands together."Right. Let's do this kids."

by **Talchyon** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:08 am

Team Lee
Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

Today was not the best of days. Wanting nothing but to be left alone in his room, preferably with the lights off, Rick Chevalis had been forced to come do a team exercise by the administration. There had been times like this before, when Rick was noticeably blue, but perhaps not like this one. He had sat alone at breakfast, thankful that no one had come to join him. While there, he put his head close to his bowl while he slurped up fruity cereal. Eating had helped - a little. But he was just so overwhelmed that he knew it was pretty hopeless.

Maybe he should have been taking his meds.

He had barely paid attention to the rules for the exercise. It didn't help that it was Apex saying them. Thinking about the last three months and Apex torturing him in classes was too much to bear today. Rick only knew that the winner had to bring the flag back to where they were.

Perhaps it was his prevailing depression that led him to think along a certain line. Perhaps not thinking he would ever be good enough to join a team, and not like anyone would really want him there anyway. While the forest was darker and offered shade, yet the pull for being alone was much stronger. He sighed, gulped a few times, and said, "I... I could stay here and prevent other teams from planting their flag. I'm... I could make whoever brings back the flag feel sedated. It's a nice sunny day. Hot. I just want to be alone." He muttered that last part more to himself than to anyone else.

Team Mburu
Malaka Auva'a (aka "Phenom")

The Polynesian girl grinned. The weather was great. The exercise was going to be fun. She had bunches of ideas how she could mess with the other teams. "What are they going to do when they sprout new arms on them that will both beat them up and try to steal the flag from their grip?" she thought to herself.

And the teams seemed pretty evenly divided. The Mburu team began marching off to their starting position, while Malaka beamed. She said to her group, "The other teams are not going to win this one. We've got this hands down." No pun intended for a girl who can make arms grow out of people or other things.

by **Durmatagno** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 10:43 am

Ashura looked at each member of her team, seeing how they were equipped and what they were ready for. She did one final check up on her two arachnid friends, ensuring they were properly rigged for the coming exercise. She pet each one in turn, whispering something in Swahili, which seemed to get Mdogo excited as it chittered and clacked at his master. Now that they were away from the other teams, Ashura took this as her chance to reveal one of her big cards for today, though it was only partial. Grabbing Mdogo in order to make room, Ashura tapped into the pool of magic inside of her, and Kubwa began to swell, growing until instead of being four feet long, it was ten feet. It wasn't as big as she could make it, but this would do or now. She'd rather save it's true card as a last resort, but this alone was undoubtedly a surprise for most people, who hadn't yet seen her inflate anything. She'd heard whispers that Mdogo was from a plane rather than natural, but they were wrong. Turning to the group, she smiled, not friendly, but confidently.

"Okay everyone, please gather round and listen up, for I have a plan. I will simply go in order, please save any questions till I have addressed each member in turn. The short version is that we are going to rely on stealth, and unbreakable communication to divide and conquer our enemy. Adam, I wish for you to work your way towards the center as silently as possible, and set up a trap with your pheromones near the center of the jungle. Stay hidden so that the enemy does not know your position. If you should be forced to engage, do so only against one opponent at a time, otherwise retreat as quickly as possible. Aella, your job is simple. I want you to stay out of sight, and identify how the enemy teams are moving, and if you spot anyone alone alert the rest of the team. You may move, and engage or avoid conflict at your own discretion. Carolina is our communications expert, she will be creating a neural network with most of us inside of it, sharing our surface thoughts as if we are talking. Due to some limitations, she will be cycling between Smith, and Aella every thirty seconds, giving each a thirty second window where they have no connection to the rest of the group. If she does not cycle to you, assume she has either been remove from play, or is engaged in an important conversation that does not immediately involve you. If you go two minutes without being contacted, assume until you are contacted that she has been taken from play, and proceed to the south of the jungle to try and intercept any opponents trying to capture the flag.

Malaka, I want you to head south as silently as you can, identifying any issues and enemies you spot for the rest of the team, once you reach roughly the mid-south, not the capture point, I wish for you to use your own judgement to divide, and take out isolated enemies. Any modifiers to this plan, and this goes for all of you, will be sent via Carolina. Maria, you are hanging back with me, and I want you to be ready to heal anyone you can, and otherwise stick close to me. Shuso and Vail, I will cover you at the same time as you have the same role. You will work together to target, and attack any targets we can isolate for you, preferring two on one when we can. Engage at your own judgement, but keep the rest of the time up to date on the positions of anything of importance you find. Smith, for the beginning you will stay back with Maria and myself, once we start having good intelligence of the field, I wish for you to find a good vantage point, and use information Carolina feeds you on positions to pick off any targets you wish. Naturally, all of you should keep your eyes out for the flag, but our first goal is crippling the enemy teams, and preventing them from capturing it. Mdogo will be my own advance eyes, while Kubwa shall be forming traps, finding traps, and possibly giving us burrows to hide or move in. My own role is mostly managing the team, but if you need assistance, inform me through the network, and my reinforcements shall move to assist you. My only real hard rule is that so long as the network is intact, you do not, I repeat, do not speak a word aloud for any reason."

by **Forest State** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:54 pm

Mitsuri "Shogun" Hayabusa

“I wake up screaming in my sleep every fucking night
Open up my eyes to cold sweat, bloody clothes from my nose, ech
Nothing nice, Father I’ve killed a man, but I had to do it
Only thing is ‘he’ is me, damn, how the fuck you couldn’t get me through this?!”

Mitsuri took her time getting to the exercise, taking a somewhat long walk around campus before heading to the armory to pick up her selection of weapons - two knives, two pistols, and a modified Uzi - and head to the jungle area. She was a bit… Lost in her own world with her headphones over her ears as she made her way around, and she only pulled them off momentarily as she made her stop behind one of the dorm buildings, where she found Breeze at their agreed meeting point. They weren’t covered by cameras here, it was why she had picked it.

“Here as I said,” she said simply, throwing down one of her knives with the dulled edge. She allowed Breeze to superheat it until it was easy to mold, and from there she watched as Breeze knelt down and used her bare hand to mold the thing. She was immune to heat damage after all, so she was the best one to handle this type of thing. Soon, there was a crude edge formed on the knife, and Mitsuri shoved it back into the sheath. Until she pulled it out, it would be impossible to see what the blade really looked like… And the fact that it was indeed a lethal weapon. It wouldn’t be that hard to stab someone with it and then lose the blade in the jungle training course, or even incinerate the entire thing to remove any trace of evidence. “Perfect.”

Mitsuri pulled her headphones back on, getting pulled into her own problems. The music she was listening to… It wasn’t much different from what she was going through, vaguely. She had been trying for the past weeks to talk with a demon, but just like everyone had said, it was hard. Above her skill level. And it was pretty fucking dangerous, required skill level aside.

“Gun in my pillow 'cause all I feel is this paranoia
Holes in my wall from all them nights that I was feeling for him
The devils here but I’m still awake, then I broke the mirror
Why? Cause I seen his face, even my bitch corrupted…”

She slowly made her way to the jungle. Her mind was on other things but her plan had fortunately been constructed right before. Followed by Breeze, she pulled her headphones off and looked around to her teammates that were gathered. Only some of them were key to the plan, and they’d make or break it for the others. She would address them first. Well, aside from a brief mention of where the others should start off once the exercise actually began and they were allowed to move from the starting points. She would only have three members of her team pushing at first, but that really just played into her strategy here.

“Sage, Kane, as soon as we’re allowed to move, you need to push forward and pursue the flag as soon as you can. It’s important that you move quickly and get closer to the inside of the circle than the outside. Now, for the important part. Mari, you’re going to carry Breeze in your arms and you’re going to make a three sixty degrees run around the trail, that leads to the other starting points. Breeze will catch the surroundings on fire and guarantee that anyone that isn’t already on the inner part of the circle will have a much harder time getting there. Edward, you’re going to help Song set up her rocket artillery and then you’re going to do your thing and stay right here, helping us with passive support and not active fighting,” she started, taking a pause to look around.

“Well, you aren’t going to fight, but your constructs will. Drake, you’ll operate Song’s drone and make sure that the rest of the team is aware of any communications that you figure out by watching the camera feed. I’m going to be on the inner part of the circle once it’s divided into two and I expect Song to be able to protect all of you. Oh, and Drake, you’ll probably have to help with the rocket artillery and aiming it,” she explained, taking a deep breath once she was done.

“If anyone has questions, voice them now. Otherwise, I’ll assume that you’re going along with what I just said and I’ll deal with you accordingly if you step outside of the plan. Kane, Mari, Breeze, Sage, we’ll be in communication on the inside of the circle once it’s closed off. Oh, and guys, Song made sure that we have radios. Use them, or you’ll have to deal with me,” she added, and then she pulled her headphones back on, going back to her music. Her mind really wasn’t on this, although there were some things that could happen that would shift her focus. Maybe.

“Do you know how it feels to be so mad you would kill?
Or to be so trapped when you scream your throat cuts like jagged pills?
And whenever you close your eyes everything inside you dies
And all the ‘high’s, crimes, and lies’ come alive muthafucka.”

by **Skaldia** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 2:15 am

Gavin Lee
Shift
Team Lee

When they reached their designated location, Gavin cleared his throat and began to speak."Okay, this is going to be quick and dirty so pay attention and listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself.

Leopold and Katherine are to create and maintain a platform and transport all of us to the center. Rykanos, Simone, Blake, and Alvagoth will be dropped off at the center of the jungle to begin searching for the flag. You four, once on the ground, will maintain cohesion and eliminate any threats you come across together. While I want you to find the flag, I expect our opponents to most likely find it first. If they do, take it from them. If you find it first, hightail it as quickly as possible to the capture point. Once we have dropped them off, the rest of us will immediately head for the capture point. Our job is to reach the capture point to begin immediately fortifying the capture point and to get there as quickly as possible.

Now, I don't expect Rykanos, Blake, Simone, and Alvagoth to be able to take on all comers. I know, that's a demoralizing statement but I'm not going to mince words for you. Delay is the name of the game until the rest of us can establish a nice welcoming party for our opponents. If you are too late in finding the flag, make your way to the South behind the flag carrier as quickly as possible so that we might close the jaws shut on them," He gave a wolfish grin, eyeing each member of his team."But it is imperative that we work together. No lone wolfing it.

Now, let's go out there and fuck those bastards up."

by **Yuenaan** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 7:52 am

Durmatagno wrote:Ashura looked at each member of her team, seeing how they were equipped and what they were ready for. She did one final check up on her two arachnid friends, ensuring they were properly rigged for the coming exercise. She pet each one in turn, whispering something in Swahili, which seemed to get Mdogo excited as it chittered and clacked at his master. Now that they were away from the other teams, Ashura took this as her chance to reveal one of her big cards for today, though it was only partial. Grabbing Mdogo in order to make room, Ashura tapped into the pool of magic inside of her, and Kubwa began to swell, growing until instead of being four feet long, it was ten feet. It wasn't as big as she could make it, but this would do or now. She'd rather save it's true card as a last resort, but this alone was undoubtedly a surprise for most people, who hadn't yet seen her inflate anything. She'd heard whispers that Mdogo was from a plane rather than natural, but they were wrong. Turning to the group, she smiled, not friendly, but confidently.

"Okay everyone, please gather round and listen up, for I have a plan. I will simply go in order, please save any questions till I have addressed each member in turn. The short version is that we are going to rely on stealth, and unbreakable communication to divide and conquer our enemy. Adam, I wish for you to work your way towards the center as silently as possible, and set up a trap with your pheromones near the center of the jungle. Stay hidden so that the enemy does not know your position. If you should be forced to engage, do so only against one opponent at a time, otherwise retreat as quickly as possible. Aella, your job is simple. I want you to stay out of sight, and identify how the enemy teams are moving, and if you spot anyone alone alert the rest of the team. You may move, and engage or avoid conflict at your own discretion. Carolina is our communications expert, she will be creating a neural network with most of us inside of it, sharing our surface thoughts as if we are talking. Due to some limitations, she will be cycling between Smith, and Aella every thirty seconds, giving each a thirty second window where they have no connection to the rest of the group. If she does not cycle to you, assume she has either been remove from play, or is engaged in an important conversation that does not immediately involve you. If you go two minutes without being contacted, assume until you are contacted that she has been taken from play, and proceed to the south of the jungle to try and intercept any opponents trying to capture the flag.

Malaka, I want you to head south as silently as you can, identifying any issues and enemies you spot for the rest of the team, once you reach roughly the mid-south, not the capture point, I wish for you to use your own judgement to divide, and take out isolated enemies. Any modifiers to this plan, and this goes for all of you, will be sent via Carolina. Maria, you are hanging back with me, and I want you to be ready to heal anyone you can, and otherwise stick close to me. Shuso and Vail, I will cover you at the same time as you have the same role. You will work together to target, and attack any targets we can isolate for you, preferring two on one when we can. Engage at your own judgement, but keep the rest of the time up to date on the positions of anything of importance you find. Smith, for the beginning you will stay back with Maria and myself, once we start having good intelligence of the field, I wish for you to find a good vantage point, and use information Carolina feeds you on positions to pick off any targets you wish. Naturally, all of you should keep your eyes out for the flag, but our first goal is crippling the enemy teams, and preventing them from capturing it. Mdogo will be my own advance eyes, while Kubwa shall be forming traps, finding traps, and possibly giving us burrows to hide or move in. My own role is mostly managing the team, but if you need assistance, inform me through the network, and my reinforcements shall move to assist you. My only real hard rule is that so long as the network is intact, you do not, I repeat, do not speak a word aloud for any reason."

Smith bit back a frown as he listened to the plan. When not knowing the full powers of their enemies, and not knowing whether their enemies would go around in pairs or maybe even stick together as one large group, splitting up and moving as individuals did not sound like the greatest idea. Beyond that, he couldn't see any advantage for going after the other teams first before worrying about the flag. He figured that getting to the flag first would offer a major advantage to any of the teams, because then they could dictate both the movement of the battle and coalesce all of their forces to focus on defense.

Of course, Smith's main issue with the plan was that he'd have to hold back for a while, which didn't sound very fun at all.

Irregardless, Smith didn't bring up any of the issues he had to Ashura. He had been in enough battlefield operations to know that a poor plan that everyone worked towards was far better than the best plan no one could agree on. If there was a time to voice his dissent, a few minutes before the exercise started was not it.

Instead, he opted to survey the immediate battlefield a little more. After all, he had to stay in this area until Ashura gave him the go ahead to move out, and consider both the team leader and the team medic were going to stick by his side, he wouldn't be surprised if one of the other teams decided to mount an assault on this part of the jungle. He spent his time till the exercise started making note of good vantage points, most likely paths an enemy would arrive through, and the nearest cover.

by **Auphelia** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:22 am

Skaldia wrote:Gavin Lee
Shift
Team Lee

When they reached their designated location, Gavin cleared his throat and began to speak."Okay, this is going to be quick and dirty so pay attention and listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself.

Leopold and Katherine are to create and maintain a platform and transport all of us to the center. Rykanos, Simone, Blake, and Alvagoth will be dropped off at the center of the jungle to begin searching for the flag. You four, once on the ground, will maintain cohesion and eliminate any threats you come across together. While I want you to find the flag, I expect our opponents to most likely find it first. If they do, take it from them. If you find it first, hightail it as quickly as possible to the capture point. Once we have dropped them off, the rest of us will immediately head for the capture point. Our job is to reach the capture point to begin immediately fortifying the capture point and to get there as quickly as possible.

Now, I don't expect Rykanos, Blake, Simone, and Alvagoth to be able to take on all comers. I know, that's a demoralizing statement but I'm not going to mince words for you. Delay is the name of the game until the rest of us can establish a nice welcoming party for our opponents. If you are too late in finding the flag, make your way to the South behind the flag carrier as quickly as possible so that we might close the jaws shut on them," He gave a wolfish grin, eyeing each member of his team."But it is imperative that we work together. No lone wolfing it.

Now, let's go out there and fuck those bastards up."

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

"As you wish."

They had already blocked out the plan yesterday, so she got to work doing her part. Breaking off a few blades of metal from her dress, she tossed them on the ground and began to spread out a thin layer of metal. From the middle sprouted a small pole, and once it was taller than Alvagoth and Rykanos she formed three thin metal blades, similar to those that were found on helicopters. She began to spin them around as fast as she could. While the speed she was able to spin them was limited, they began to gain their own momentum and she simply maintained it. The thin platform began to rise, barely brushing against the grass, but it wouldn't be able to do it on its own. Leopold would have to make up the bulk of the heavy lifting, the blades simply helping him with carrying some of the heavier teammates. The platform wouldn't last long with its combined thinness and the weight on it, but she was 90% certain they wouldn't all die.

Close enough.

She stepped on the platform, bringing it back down to the ground, and waited for the others to get on. She wasn't very tired yet, but she knew the worst was yet to come. Fortifying the southern point . . . it was necessary, but would most likely wipe her out. Oh well. Victory or punishment was the way things tended to go here, and she was not in the mood to be punished.

by **The Cyberiad Council** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:06 pm

Leopold Meckler

Moderately impressive Leopold thought to himself as he witnessed Katherine's abilities in action. He wasn't quite fond of the idea of them flying in, it could make them unnecessarily a target. But, it was what they had decided. He would be basically defenseless as the full strength of his power would have to be used to lift the team. His shoes evaporated as he made contact with the earth and formed a platform under Kathrine's, attaching it with earthen hooks on the sides. He also created some thin plastic material and molded them into a spherical shape, filling them with helium to help create buoyancy and get a little extra lift out of his powers.

"Get on," He ordered the rest of the team as he closed his eyes and concentrated. His powers spread through Kathrine's metal as he clenched his fist. They rose into the air slowly at first, but soon they were hovering above the trees. "You'll have to steer us, Kathrine. I can't maintain altitude and do both," Leopold said with strain evident in his voice.

Villain Protagonist: From Ashes [IC]

Who is online