Are We Heroes: Rekindled [IC]

[WhatsamattaU]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Snake Eyes walked down the hall as Rango stayed on his shoulders looked around. "Stairs on the right, Andrew. the boa constrictor told his master, "Be ready for anything, especially for a fight. You got your knives ready?"

The snake man checked his sides to make sure and nodded when he felt his blades. He continued onward, turning towards the stairs to climb them. The door was all that was there at the top and it was apparently open. Andrew stopped for a moment, thinking and planning, before moving forward to open the door.

BANG!

Something exploded loudly, not causing any harm or flash in Rango's eyes, but leaving a terrible ringing noise in the boy's ears. "Jesus Christ!" Andrew shrieked, putting his hands to the side of his head, "I'm blind! Not deaf! Christ, what was that?!"

Papillion

Merde! thought a startled Alice. Someone had already set off the booby-trap!

Though she was away and facing away from the opened door, the sound of the bang was still extremely loud! Who had found her, already? as Alice spun and drew back an arrow.

She soon sighted Andrew, a.k a. Snake Eyes. He was still recovering and she could have shot him, or his favorite snake, Rango. The blunt could likely kill the snake and would certainly be painful to Andrew.

Alice spoke softly into her com-link, "I have Snake-Eyes. I'd rather not shoot him and hurt him. Peregrine, I'm firing on the count of three. One, two, three."

Alice let the arrow fly....

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

GET DOWN NOW!

The ringing in Andrew's ears ceased quickly only to be replaced by a panic yell of his boa constrictor. Not bothering to question, as his eyes flickered open to see the bow and arrow, the snake boy fell onto the ground with a grunt. He felt the shot through his long hair, tearing some off with it as it passed above him into the hall inside.

"Fuck that was close..." Andrew muttered as he got back up and stared at Alice with his milk white eyes, Rango on the ground slithering to a corner.

"I don't need sight to fight you..." he hissed as he withdrew a pair of daggers from his sheaths as his vision returned to blindness.

[WhatsamattaU]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

GET DOWN NOW!

The ringing in Andrew's ears ceased quickly only to be replaced by a panic yell of his boa constrictor. Not bothering to question, as his eyes flickered open to see the bow and arrow, the snake boy fell onto the ground with a grunt. He felt the shot through his long hair, tearing some off with it as it passed above him into the hall inside.

"Fuck that was close..." Andrew muttered as he got back up and stared at Alice with his milk white eyes, Rango on the ground slithering to a corner.

"I don't need sight to fight you..." he hissed as he withdrew a pair of daggers from his sheaths as his vision returned to blindness.

Papillion

Serve me right for trying to be nice! Alice cursed mentally as she drew another arrow.... Andrew was almost upon her....

She drew back and switched her target, firing upon Rango, the shot traveling at 240 fps/164 mph. She hoped it didn't kill it.

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Rango saw Alice turn towards him and realized, thanks to the sentience given by Andrew, that he was about to be a target. The boa constrictor tried to make a break for it, yet before the arrow managed to strike him on the side, the snake found himself... somewhere else. I'm alright,
Andrew. Rango spoke to Snake Eyes, Get her now!

Andrew's milk white eyes flickered with anger at the attempted harm towards his snake and with a hissful cry charged towards the target, knives clutched and ready. Once close, Snake Eyes tackled Alice, bringing her to ground and holding her down with one dagger to the neck. With intent to finish, he brought down other blade to her chest, all with the luck of both being blunt for training.

If Alice tried anything, she'd be welcome with a spit full of venom to the face.

[WhatsamattaU]

Papillion

Snake Eye's tackle had knocked the wind out of Alice and she was soon pinned down and made helpless by him. She'd gambled that maybe he might sacrifice himself for his snake-familiar, or maybe by taking the snake out of the equation that Andrew could be lost without it. In the end, however, it was Alice that had lost her gamble.

Andrew's dulled knife could easily crush her throat, but he held back, perhaps waiting for her to struggle or defy his victory over her. However, all the resistance drained out from her.

Alice had lost again. She always lost. Each time she screwed up her courage to try again, she lost. She couldn't look Andrew in the face. She turned her head to the side and tried not to cry....

[Okayanos]

Fionn Szabo
Kaiju
Omega Base

CRASH.

Just like the one in the Central Park area, the manhole cover near the base of Omega Team’s base building bursts high into the air, thrown upward by a geyser bursting up from below. Fionn emerges through the explosion of water, propelled upward by it. He soars through the air with flag in hand, up 150 feet until he crashes through the base building’s window. He’s brought another mini-lake of sewer water with him through the bursted glass, flooding the room.

“...Huh.” Thanks to Allen’s pre-match set-up, it’s like someone had dunked a rainforest into the ocean. Fionn swims through the thick growth for a bit, then gets an idea. Touching down on the ground, he sweeps all of his water outward, launching it back out the window- many of the plants go with it. Of course, now there’s the matter of the thick trunks in the center.

“Guys, I’m in the flag room, but it’ll take me a second to get through the shit Allen set up. Keep the Omegas occupied.” And so he begins the long process of focusing the water into a sort of hydro-blade that can start chopping through the trunks, bit by bit.

[North Timeria]

Amethyst watched from the building as the fight went on down in the park area. Not sure what to do Amethyst would protect himself and wait for his chance to grab the flag there was so much action he wasn't sure if he could bring lighting down without injuring others in Team Alpha. His Samsara Eye was also still at full power. To give himself some time he took a chair and pinned it against the door, he also sent streams of lighting across the floor to protect himself from intruders. Sitting down he hid from sight and watched the fight play out from upstairs. While watching he observed everyone's abilities and thought of strategies for both teams.

"This is interesting... Our team looks to be doing pretty good, hopefully we can pull this win."

[Eisen]

Charles skidded to a halt as he caught empty space. He shook off the mild disorientation he caught from the flash bang and turned around to face Andrew. He had a scowl on his face, but the sneer soon turned into a wicked smile. Charles took one step forward as his fire bursted from his body, intense and growing more so as he took another step. Then another.

"Tell you what. Give up, and I won't punch you too hard. I don't have a lot of time, and if you decide not to cooperate, I'm going to drop this entire building on your face. See which one is faster: Peregrine, or gravity."

[Okayanos]

Andrew “Sheriff” Woods

Andy scrambled up from his dive and turned to face the behemoth. Sheriff looked him up and down- he’d forgotten about Charles’ fire abilities. However, the cowpoke knew that he wouldn’t have to win this fight, just stall it.

Sheriff took a solid stance facing the giant and unholstered his right gun. He reloaded it, holding the left gun in his mouth as he pulled out one of his speed loaders. Once reloaded, he gripped both guns in his hands and kept facing the titan. Andrew couldn’t hold back a quiet chuckle. “Truth is, game was rigged from the start.”

---

Fionn Szabo
Kaiju

"And I just hit the jackpot." Fionn's face is split by a grin as he hears Sheriff's molasses-smooth southern drawl over the comms. Charles is distracted, The Huntsman is down, and Overgrowth got taken down by his own team. The only thing left of the Botanokinetic's efforts were the growth of plants in the Omega team's base. And even those fell, eventually. The focused, cutting water had broken through the thick trunks around the center of the room, allowing Fionn to look inside and see what they'd guarded.

Identical to the Alpha base, a round slot is on the floor that looks to be the perfect size and shape to accommodate the seven-foot pole that the flag just so happens to be attached to. Fionn grips the sides of the hole he'd made in the trunks, pushing the opening further apart. His muscles strengthen in response, boosting his physical power- and with a CRACK of wood, the trunk splits. Fionn raises the flag above his head, holding it triumphantly for a sweet two seconds or so. Then, with all the pride of Neil Armstrong jamming the American flag into the moon's soil, he drops it into the hole.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we got 'em."

[Eisen]

Charles shrugged, sighing, and then cracked his neck.

"I didn't come to win."

And with that, Charles decided it was time to go out with a bang. His fire bursted forth with great intensity as he slammed both fists into the roof with all his might. The cracks spread in a split second before the entirety of the roof gave way, dust rising like smoke from an erupting volcano. Charles, himself, with his weight and strength, plummeted and continued to obliterate each floor of the building as much as he could. Each time he merely are the floor, he stomped to go down a level, before, eventually, he came to the bottom, covered in speck of building dust, or whatever one could call it...

He lost. But he wondered the damage he could do after the endgame.

[Valloria]

Nicholas Fowler

The team broke and ran as soon as the buzz signified the game's beginning, Fionn tearing a hole in the building's siding on his way out. Nick's powers, augmented by the adrenaline caused by the sudden action, began feeding him details of the world around him: the size and severity of the damage to the building's supports, how much weight down to the ounce had been redistributed, how much more damage the building could take and where the least amount of effort would be required to induce collapse — he was surrounded by imaginary mathematical equations in the air.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he saw the rest of the team filing down the stairs or entering the elevators to make a less showy escape of their starting location.His power made note of the speed of the elevators, the exact size of each step and how long it would take for him to make it down, the weight capacity of both — redirecting his focus, he endeavored for the elevator and began searching for Team Omega's members with his mind. His retrocognition worked best after some time had passed: the more people to come into contact with a piece of information, the easier and clearer it was for Nick to access it. The collective consciousness of mankind was a collection of cell towers for him to bounce a signal off of. He'd noted — uncomfortably — the similarities to Mastermind's powers.

But the short timespan since the exercise began did not stop him. The impact a person's actions were having at any given moment was the second scale on which Nick's retrocognition functioned. And as this was an exercise participated in solely by some of the most powerful individuals in the world, his image was clear as day. As he strode purposefully across the marble floor of the lobby of Team A base, he could see each and every one of Team Omega, all seven of th–seven? Nick thought, stopping in his tracks. I could've sworn there were eight... Collecting himself and resuming his speedy gait, he made his way out of the building behind the rest of his team.

"Zmey, I think we should hold off on Charles for the time being. He's making his way towards buildings, and I get the sense he's about to knock a few of them down. Nothing threatening to our overall goals, and it'll be good for us to let himself tire out. In the meantime, I have some things to investigate," Nick said offhandedly, disappearing down an alleyway before his crush could respond.

Reaching out once more with his mind, Nick found the emptiness again. The missing link. He knew who it had to be, but his mind just wouldn't allow him to think the thought. It was like someone turning his thoughts away every time he looked that direction. An uncomfortable sensation to be sure. So he changed tacks. Instead of looking for what was missing, he started looking for where he couldn't look. He investigated every part of the arena he could. Some areas, those the Russian had waved into existence without much thought, he couldn't access. But that was different than being forced not to.

He found his black hole huddled up in an alcove between two of the brownstones, three-quarters of a block from his location. Putting his mental sights on it, he sped up his pace and unclipped his bident from his back before turning the corner and finding himself face to face with none other than Phallus.

"Well, hello there."

Phallu

When the exercise began, Phallu made a turn away from his group, not to go off on his own, but to break line of sight, allowing him to activate his power. When he rejoined the group, he remained near the buildings, walking slowly in order to not draw attention. While his team began fighting, Phallu eyed the flag and quickly determined that he would be more helpful if he did not go after the flag. If he dived into the water, he would have attracted attention, and as such, he looked elsewhere. He eventually made his way to an alley and waited for anyone to call upon him or for an opportunity to arise.

+ • +

How did he find me? Phallu thought to himself as he looked at the bident now pointed to him. Maybe the third year made a lucky guess, and as such, Phallu decided to test if that was the case. He made a simple side step back and forth, while watching Nick's bident. Phallu watched as Nick kept the bident pointed square at him. It was no lucky guess, and now Phallu realized. He saw three options, run, fight or stall until the opportunity for escape presented itself.

"Ah, Adis..." Phallu smirked and lifted his hands. At this point, his power broke, and he was no longer hidden from perception. "Now then, since you found me I guess you're going to want to eliminate me. However, you could have just attacked without warning, which means you want something. Whatever the reason, I must ask, in order to further understand and sharpen my abilities, how did you find me? I can understand how the Huntsman can find me, but not you. After all, I could never figure out your power... and yes, I realize that this isn't the proper place to discuss this, but if I am going out, at least offer an answer, so I can improve. Improvement isn't just good for me as well, by improving our abilities, we can better support each other, right?"

"Hiding's like a circle. Not hidden enough? You get caught. You're too invisible, and someone comes looking for you. And if you think this will distract me from keeping tabs on the rest of your team, you're wrong. All you need to know about my powers is that they're damn good at finding answers." Nick studied the first-year for a moment. Thin, though not as thin as he. More wispy, though... somehow. Nick was wiry owing to three years of nigh-constant physical training. He could tell everything he needed to know: bone mass, muscle density, some rough estimates of reaction timing based on every attack Phallu had ever attempted to dodge — just five seconds into encountering him Nick knew just about everything about him.

"But that's not why I didn't dispatch you immediately. Unless my team royally fumbles this, I won't be needed to get the flag," Nick said, shouldering his bident and grabbing Phallu's wrist rather roughly. As he spoke, he removed the boy's comms unit and then destroyed it with the electrified butt of his weapon. "I'm going to enter this building," Nick motioned to the brownstone to their left, "and once I do I'm going to give you thirty seconds to try and run. You can try to make it back to your team, do whatever you have to do, anything. Then I come after you." Nick smiled evilly and turned, making for the brownstone, not giving Phallu a chance to reply.

"No choice then I guess." Phallu said to himself as he took off running. Where was he going to go? He could try to make it back to his other team members, but that would require him to locate them. He could remain on the run until the end of the exercise. Or perhaps, he could attempt something crazy. After a while of running, and occasionally taking a trackless step, Phallu ducked around a corner, and took a moment to activate his true sight. Right now, he needed a plan, and part of whatever plan he'd go with, he needed to know where Hades was. If Hades was within 200 feet of him, Phallu would know about it, and would be able to act accordingly.

Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight... Nick waited, keeping his mind's eye on Phallu. The picture was dimmer, the tracking less clear, now that he was alone. Less contact with others, less conduits for information. His mind might start fooling him if he wasn't careful — it was good that he'd had knowledge of the arena, and that it was such a small area, less distractions to prevent him from seeing his target. Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty... Running his fingers along the length of his bident, he examined the situation near the flag. It appeared that some of Omega was giving Fionn a hard time, but his fellow third-year was acquitting himself admirably.

Fourteen, thirteen, twelve... Focusing again on his target, Nick vision of the boy was interrupted a few times before he settled on a location to hide. No doubt his trackless step getting in the way, Nick cursed. Location, Phallu's place in relation to everything else in the present, that was the simplest thing. The most important thing in this case. The arena wasn't large, and Nick knew his surroundings well. It wouldn't do to have such an obstacle in true urban combat. His chase of Phallu was just as much about training his own powers as it was about testing the younger student. A little brusque, unsubtle, but the boy was a little too big for his breeches; getting on everyone's nerves. He reminded Nick of himself at that stage in his training; the constant witty asides that no one thought were funny, the need for validation from his superiors, even the powerset was similar. Three, two, one.
In that instant, Nick took off. Striding briskly between buildings, he used his power to find which steps would be the quietest, most sure-footed. He was in battle mode: his power supplying him with superhuman economy of motion, knowledge of target areas, where to hit. This extended to moving from one place to another. Each step was immaculate, calculated to grant the greatest peripheral vision, eliminate any unwanted noise, everything.

Nick considered his opponent. Each power operated independently, which gave him a glaring weakness. The fact that Nick could perceive him meant that he wasn't using hidden in plain sight. Phallu had to know Nick was coming after him now, which meant he was using true sight. Nick was getting dangerously close to the two-hundred-foot true sight radius. No matter. Nick's power over information would render that useless. Activating his own powers, he was instantly shrouded in darkness, a gap in perceptability. Although an enemy from outside the field of affect would be able to see him, a column of seemingly liquid darkness, he was imperceptible to any tracking powers while it was in use.

One small problem. Phallu appeared to be outside, back against a door. No way to sneak up behind, excellent visual on the one-hundred-eighty degree surroundings, and an escape route. One problem for the boy. The door opened inwards. And there was a second entry point. Hopping over a small brick wall blocking off the backyard of the brownstone his target stood on the porch of, Nick opened the back door and made his way through the rooms of the house towards the front.

He hesitated for a moment, then threw open the door. His target reacted, tensing, half-turning around, but Nick was faster. Thrusting his bident, he caught Phallu in the sternum. The blades were dulled, but it was no doubt painful for his lightly-armored opponent. Nick's thumb found the activation button and a burst of energy shone from the base of the bident's blades. A rapid air ionization system, courtesy of Arsenal, gave his weapon the extra 'punch' his own physical shortcomings denied. Phallu was thrown off the porch into the empty street, landing rather unceremoniously on his back.

"Oh, son of a... Didn't realize there was a door there." Phallu said as he staggered up. The suddeness of the attack was more than enough to break Phallu's concentration, knocking him out of his True Sight. After he got up, he took a quick look around and took notice of the black nothingness in the door way. It didn't take a genius to realize what was going on. Reaching behind him, Phallu took hold of one of his Metsubushi eggs, crushing it in his hand, there was only one thing he could do. Fight.

Without warning, Phallu teleported closer to the blackness, and quickly threw the contents of one of the crushed Metsubushi egg towards the blackness. He threw the powder of the Metsubushi egg, which contained ashes, ground-up pepper, mud, flour, dirt, fine-ground glass and eggshell. While they were normally used to blind his opponents, considering Nick's power, Phallu knew that blinding him would have no effect. What Phallu was counting on was the irritation caused by the powder, and the distraction that the irritation would provide.

The teleport had caught him off guard. He wasn't a precog — he couldn't see things coming, only what was currently happening and what had. Stumbling back, he raised his bident in defense only for Phallu to pelt him with a handful of sand. Not sand, Nick thought belatedly as it made contact. Luckily, his reflexes were in good shape and he was able to leap back from the worst of it. He could tell from the content that if it had gotten him good in the face it would've required some eye surgery. Not sure why it was allowed in the arena, but oh well, Nick grumbled.

A piece of ground up glass had nicked the corner of his eye, a fact he noticed when he blinked. It wasn't too painful, and he was able to nick it with his fingernail before it could cause too much damage. Cursing, he brushed off his clothing. Coughing and wiping his eyes to rid his face from the remnants of Phallu's distraction. Smoke and mirrors with this one, Nick thought bitterly. Steeling himself, he followed the fleeing Phallu at a rather leisurely pace. His opponent hadn't quite thought through his escape route; he was heading towards the edge of the map with no place to go.

"You're caught." Nick said, droll. Sizing up the boy, he noted that the Team Omega member had no melee weapons to speak of. A Ka-Bar knife. Pitiful. Wordlessly, Nick withdrew the rapier stored at the bottom of his bident. Throwing it up in the air and expertly catching it by the flat of the blade, he extended the hilt towards his opponent. Focusing his power for a moment on the map as a whole, he saw Fionn dutifully making his way through the overgrowth that gave Allen his moniker towards the flag. No immediate threats. Nick had time to draw this out.

"Here," he said, gesturing with the rapier. "We fight."

"I guess I have no choice..." Phallu sighed, and accepted the rapier, "Never used such a long bladed weapon. I much prefer my knife, but I assume some of my knowledge of knife fighting is applicable to this. Though, every time I see such a long weapon, I can't help but think one is compensating for something..."

As he spoke, he lowered his empty hand, and reached behind him. Phallu could have reached for another Metsubushi egg, but expected that Nick would see the reach, and prepare himself for it. So instead of reaching for something to cause irritation, he reached for something that could have a more severe effect. A throwing knife. Once he had his fingers on it, Phallu gave Nick a smirk as he pulled the throwing knife out of where it was being held, while also keeping it hidden behind his back, "Anyways, enough chat, shall we dance this final dance?"

Without a moments hesitation, Phallu threw the dulled throwing knife directly at Nick's chest, aiming for the heart. As the knife left Phallu's hand, he also dropped the rapier and reached for his dulled Ka Bar knife. While reaching for his dulled knife, Phallu began to rush forward. He didn't expect the throwing knife to hit its mark, but expect Nick to somehow avoid the throwing knife.

Nick saw it coming. The second Phallu's eyes moved, he knew his opponent was planning something. Tensing, Nick readied his bident for a quick parry. Phallu's affected form of speech was beginning to grate on Nick. No wonder Fionn isn't a fan of him, Nick thought. As he spoke, Nick's eyes traced Phallu's muscles, saw the ever-so-slight movement as his body tensed. The throwing knife was almost inevitable; an afterthought at that point. Nick saw the trajectory and batted it aside easily with his bident.

Phallu charged him. No doubt trying to close the distance, take advantage of my polearm, Nick mused as he readied himself in a defensive stance. Allowing Phallu to enter his range, he leapt back, the Ka-Bar making an audible swish as its wide arc missed Nick by half a foot. Narrowing his eyes, Nick flipped up his face mask to avoid any more debris eggs and spun his bident so that the lower shaft arced towards Phallu's unprotected left calf.

He expected Nick to be able to avoid the throwing knife, and by extension for him to avoid the Ka-Bar. Phallu couldn't help but smile at this point, not as a challenge, but simply because this was entertaining to say the least. The only reason he saw it this way however was because it wasn't a matter of life or death. That said, even if his life was at risk, Phallu probably would smile a little during the fight. Anyways, Phallu noticed the bident being swung at his left calf.

Classic polearm tactic... go for the legs. Phallu thought to himself as he jumped back, adding a backflip just for the effect. As he flipped back through the air, he reached for a smoke bomb and once he landed, dropped it. Phallu could have used this break in line of sight to attempt to escape, as he knew that hiding in the smoke wouldn't work with Nick, but he didn't. Instead, he made two quick teleports, one right after the other, to get behind Nick and made a stabbing motion, aiming for where Nick's neck should have been.

Nick's jaw set as Phallu dodged his swipe. He needed to take this combat more seriously — Phallu was no mere practice dummy. He'd been giving out advantages left and right to challenge himself, and here was the challenge. But Nick still had the upper hand. The smoke bomb was of no consequence; Nick's perception could work with suboptimal vision and he was already wearing a facemask to avoid any more egg attacks. Bracing himself, Nick twirled his bident. He felt the slight rush of air, the displacement of mass, as a Phallu-sized object ceased to exist in front of him and immediately appeared behind him.

Tensing, Nick wheeled around before Phallu could stab him and parried with the lower half of his bident. It was sloppy, uncontrolled, given the unfamiliarly close distance his opponent was attacking from, but it still made contact with the other boy's wrist. The Ka-Bar clattered to the floor. Nick wasted no time dispatching his opponent; he was too distracted here to provide updates to his team on the progress of Team Omega. Sliding his bident back, he rolled with the force of his spin and delivered a crushing blow to Phallu's chest. His thumb found the ionizer and Phallu flew back ten feet, crashing unceremoniously into a featureless dumpster. He drew his Glock, armed with practice bullets.

"I'll let you get your last words out after I shoot you. Perks of an exercise," Nick said, squeezing the trigger.

"And so, the Crimson Shadow becomes nothing but a Crimson Pool..." Phallu groaned after the practice bullets hit him and chuckled, "Thank you. Good fight. Learned quite a bit... Hopefully next time I can be more of a challenge. Now, looks like my time is up. See you later, Adis." With that, Peregrine swooped into the arena and took off with Phallu, leaving only a slight rustling of the breeze as evidence of his ludicrously fast presence.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Allen Crane

Allen's face fell as he watched Fionn plant the flag and heard the accompanying horn. He hadn't expected them to win, but he didn't expect them to lose by such a margin, and he certainly didn't expect to be taken out by his own team. He shot Marilyn another dirty look, but she was busy talking to Arsenal who was getting ready to repair her generator, so it wasn't likely she saw him, but he hoped she did. Then there was Erwin. Eh, he'd be fine after Dr. Gross got through with him. Allen's own biokinesis paled in comparison to the Doctor, but that didn't mean Erwin would get out right away as per the school's medical protocols.

The teachers and staff filed out of a door next to the students observation area and started walking back up to the school. Allen caught a glimpse of their headmaster's mask in the crowd, but Vindicator's trajectory caught his attention. Vindicator was easily the most striking of the staff when their powers weren't a factor. He was head and shoulders above them all, and most of the students save for Charles. And his eye patch didn't do anything to make him look more cuddly. "Shows over. Get to class everyone. First years, you have a class with Mr. Szabo in room 4213. Second years, you have class with Mr. Decker in Training site 1. Third years you have class with Mr. Hollands in room 1103. Get going!"

Ah, Mr. Giles' eloquence couldn't be understated. Allen climbed back onto Floran and started trudging to Training Site 1 for 'Innovative Combat'.

Vindicator apparently wasn't done yet. While he rambled off the classes over comms for both teams, he kept walking into the simulated city and yelled, "KEMP! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

[Eisen]

Quiet.

It was, strangely, awfully quiet as Charles got up from the pile of rubble. He shook his head before sneezing, white dust covering a decent amount of his body. He stepped out to the street before lighting himself up for a moment to burn everything off, so that he could be clean. The signal over the comms let him know that everything was over. Lovely. His team had lost, more importantly, but he couldn't help but smirk as he turned around to look at his handiwork concerning the building he had just destroyed. He didn't see Andrew anywhere, so he assumed he got him, which, while not too impressive, still made Charles grin his crooked grin.

Then, outta nowhere:

"KEMP! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

Good ol' Mr. Giles. Or Vindicator, one might guess. Charles generally just referred to him as Mr. Giles when he was talking politely about him. Though to be fair, he usually didn't find himself in conversations, let alone discussing other people amidst gossip and such. But when he did refer to the teacher, it was usually, simply, Mr. Giles, as opposed to Vindicator.

Charles jogged through the streets for a bit until he caught a glimpse of Mr. Files way down one of the streets. And then, Charles called back as he slowed to a walk.

"Did I get 'im?"

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

After a moment of victory, Andrew blinked as he suddenly found that Alice, the girl he had pinned to ground, was no longer there under his arms. He quickly came to the conclusion that the staff must have teleported her, as with Rango and the Sniper earlier, back to the school. Nonetheless, it became quite clear that Team Alpha had won, leaving Andrew only anxious to reunite with his boa constrictor quickly. Feeling his way out of the building, being without snakes to act as eyes at the moment, Snake Eyes took the elevator and went back outside. After summoning his snakes, Andrew went back to the Student observation deck, hoping to get Rango back as soon as possible before class started...

Standing with his peers, Andrew stroked the chin of the King Cobra, Lenny, who acted as his eyes in the absence of Rango. "Did my snakes and I do good?" he asked Fionn as Lenny turned his head to him, "Our team won, right? I just hope that our venom didn't kill anyone..."

Don't worry. I only gave enough venom to paralyze. They will be alright. Lenny replied to Andrew, Unless they are allergic to antivenom somehow...

[WhatsamattaU]

Alice Bélanger ("Papillon")

Dragging her feet, feeling powerless, Alice returned her weapons to the Armory.

They'd been told to go to their regularly scheduled classes after the exercise, but Alice didn't care if she was late. She needed to freshen up. She needed to shower and change her clothes, to get out of the camouflage (laugh out loud, a fat lot of good the color patterns had done her) fatigues and into something that would let her feel like herself.

Once in the shower, Alice began to feel slightly revitalized. She felt the bruises she'd gained from Andrew's tackling attack as she soaped up and rinsed.

Back in her room, Alice selected a black lace high low dress, a white lace bolero jacket and black sandals. She managed to smile at seeing herself, wearing her necklace, in the mirror.

Before heading off to class with her books, Alice stole a look at her room safe. At least one thing had gone right today. Maybe the rest of the day would not be so awful?

Alice wasn't the last student to arrive at Mr. Szabo's class. He did not give her a disapproving glare, so perhaps he'd expected the students to clean up after the exercise, yes? She took a seat and gave the teacher her attention.

[Okayanos]

Fionn Szabo
Kaiju
Previously, during the exercise

An earth-shattering impact echoes through the artificial city, making Fionn look back from the flag he'd planted victoriously. He stares through the streets, barely catching sight of a building collapsing in on itself. All it does is make him feel smug about his victory.
"Get a load of this fucking temper tantrum." He said over the comms, before the game was officially declared over and he exited the building. Fionn runs into Andrew Marks, better known as Snake Eyes, a First Year that'd been on Team Alpha during the exercise.

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks
"Did my snakes and I do good?" he asked Fionn as Lenny turned his head to him, "Our team won, right? I just hope that our venom didn't kill anyone..."

"Hm? Oh, you probably did fine if you weren't eliminated- and we didn't have any eliminations, so you and the snake gang pulled your weight just fine." He thinks for a moment, beyond his somewhat dismissive answer. "Oh, you took out Huntsman and Papillion, didn't you? Then, in that case, I change my answer. You were a beast out there, Andrew." He gives the blind, serpentine kid a friendly pat on the shoulder, then heads off on his way.

Fionn Szabo
Kaiju
Currently

Freed from his costume and having dried off any water that might've been left on him, Fionn takes a moment in his room to ready himself. Even when dressed normally, he stands out what with the white hair and possibly albino paleness. He's thought long and hard about how that makes him feel, and came to the conclusion that it's good for him. It makes him seem like something special. Maybe his appearance had subtly influenced his teachers and mentors to treat him like something special, and thus caused him to rapidly rise into being one of the Four's Four like he had.

The Four's Four was a dumb name that had been given to a group of students from Training Team 4- Fionn, Nick, Danica, and Allen. The four of them had always been consistent top scorers, though the order varied at times. Teachers and the like treated them like they were the kids that had a future, that'd go somewhere. Time would tell if the Four would end up going to the same somewhere, when their time finally came.

For now, however, the somewhere Fionn goes to happens to be Room 1103, for International Relations class, which is utterly riveting. He collapses down into his seat, taking his time to whip out textbooks and such. He wants to pay attention, but mostly wants to look like he's completely paying attention. It'd help keep a good reputation with the academy staff, and maybe his fellow students as well.

Dr. Iair Szabo
Visionary

Dr. Szabo's glare, directed at Alice, is not disapproving. More along the lines of irked, irritated, irate, or other words that start with an I and have similar definitions. The white-haired retired villain leans back against the edge of his desk, standing in front of it rather than sitting behind- the stereotypical 'cool teacher' stance.

"I'm glad you decided that my class was important enough to attend, Papillion. A training exercise doesn't give you an excuse to show up late. An apology and explanation when you came in would've been more than sufficient."

The somewhat-aged, likely still good-looking teacher takes a moment to run his hand through his long hair. Before snapping at late students, he'd been preparing a bit of a lesson, and now felt like a good time to get back on track before his train of thought left him entirely.

"I've taught you all plenty about supervillains. Motives, methods, famous examples, et cetera. Final exams are coming soon, so I want to know that you don't just have the lessons memorized, but that you can apply them. So, I want to ask all of you. Have you ever met a real supervillain? What was their motive, what were their methods, and how do you think a professional hero team would take them down?"

[The Cyberiad Council]

Andrew Giles, aka Vindicator

"Get him? GET HIM?" Vindicator's footfalls began to grow heavier until the pavement was cracking under his feet. When he finally reached Charles, it was more like he was walking through a few inches of snow instead of asphalt. "Yeah, you got him, along with any civilians that might have been inside. Did you think about that on your rampage? Yeah, you got your man, and little Timmy got a building dropped on his fucking head!"

Vindicator paced in front of the student, as if he was trying to figure out what to do. "That was a rookie mistake, Kemp. You're a tank, but the people you're fighting with and for aren't." He seemed to back off a bit and turned as if to walk away still fuming. Then, he pointed a finger upwards and spun it in a circle. "Ten laps around the training grounds. Get started."

[Eisen]

Charles shrugged. He didn't know what it was, but he was inclined to reply before he obliged with the run.

"We both know that that building was empty. If it weren't, I wouldn't have wrecked it. Besides," he went off, fast as his body would start off. He increasingly picked up speed with every running stride.

"Godzilla's a hero, too," he called from a distance.

Deep down, he knew. It wasn't exactly every day that he got to level an entire building. For once... He felt good. He smirked as he ran. He knew he probably shouldn't, for his own sake with Mr. Giles around, but, for once, he had genuine, pure fun.

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Andrew smiled wildly upon hearing Fionn's complement and approval on his work in the exercise, showing his fangs. The snake man, eager for recognition, found this to be an excellent change from life at the Orphanage with bullies. Perhaps he really could be making friends here in such a school for freaks like himself, even with his appearance. The pat on Andrew's shoulder only confirmed this good change in life from years of bullying.

Nonetheless, Snake Eyes regrouped with his fellow first year students and, after collecting Rango, followed them to Dr. Iair Szabo's, a pretty cool professor in Anderw's opinion. It was yet another "Know Your Enemy" Class with the Professor talking the about Super Villains and their motives. He began asking questions about whether students had encounters with "real" super villains, causing Andrew to raise his hand.

"I was mugged once when I was younger after getting lost from my caretakers at the park." Andrew replied, "This was before I began seeing with Snakes so I didn't, er, 'see' it coming. Don't know what he wanted, but I felt a knife and got so scared I spat venom at him before giving a bite with my fangs. Think I might have killed him, giving enough venom before he fled, but that was self defense. I don't think that was a super villain, but that was still pretty villainous attacking a blind kid like that. I only had twenty bucks given to me by my caretaker. Does that still count though? Started carrying knives with me after..."

[WhatsamattaU]

Alice Bélanger ("Papillon")

Merde, thought Alice, has the teacher lost it? The odds were, unless they counted 'reformed villains', like the teacher, that none of them had met a supervillain. They hadn't yet been enslaved and they would know if they had and they were still alive, which meant that they hadn't pissed off a supervillain..., yet.

Alice hoped that she wouldn't be called on, because, Lord help her, she might just share her thought on the subject.

[North Timeria]

Shawn headed to take a shower and throw on some fresh clothes. His team had won pretty swiftly and it didn't take much from him to help but he did learn a lot about his teammates and the Heroes from the other team. Shawn was pretty impressed with everyone and hoped he'd receive a good rating even without contributing much. Shawn noticed he didn't have much time before his next class and since he hadn't got the chance to use his abilities he used his Samsara eye to quickly get to class. As he used it he started to get a vision of a woman, the same one he saw the night he received his powers. In a rush to get to class he ignored it and simply walked.

Shawn found a seat in the back of Dr. Szabo's class and settled in. As the class started he noticed Alice walk in late and Dr. Szabo snarky remarks. He flashed her a smile as early he had almost been late and received the same treatment. As class started Dr. Szabo opened up with an interesting question and Shawn was a bit surprised. Shawn didn't know if he had the right answer but he thought he should at least share it.

"I've met a supervillain... Not the kind that uses powers to cause havoc or tear down governments but truly villainous people. Most of the time their motive is personal gain at all cost. They have no regard for others and would kill their own brother if the reward was high enough. They have a lot of methods but the one I see the most is intimidation. I think that goes the furthers because when you have someone's heart you've already won the fight. When I lived in Mexico I learned how they thought and I even came across a few that had some metahuman ability. Those were the worse because they caused the most fear."

Shawn shook his head and looked around the class. "A professional team could take these guys down easily... These class would be enough but that'll never happen because these guys are opportunistic. Most villains won't attack our school. They like to prey on easy targets and take advantage of those who they know can't defend against them."

[Parcia]

The Immaterial...
He was floating.

He felt like he was floating, at least. His vision was blurred and...saturated? He couldn't place his finger on it. He heard singing, soft, angelic singing that filled his ears and heart with dread.

Was he dead? Had the Snake finally taken him? He could see a great hall, approaching slowly and surrounded by people. as he drew closer this group came to in circle him, surround him as he drew closer. He saw them, at first they looked...ancient. They wore armors of leather and mail, toted weapons of steel and wood and held banners of cloth above them.

As he floated forwards, the clothing and weaponry became newer and newer. he saw soldiers in steel plate, uniforms of long dead Kaisers, and some wore Death's own head on their cap.

As he reached out to the large wooden door he paused...something was not right, his haze, this mind numbing, euphoric feeling that hung over him all the while was starting to...to...leave, to drain out of him as if he were bleeding it through every poor of his being.

Then a force, Something pulled him back. Back the way he came, with growing speed he began to rocket back forth down the immaterial path that he had floated along until he fell back in to reality.


The Infirmary

He woke with a start, sitting up in the bed and finding him self sitting in one of the many Hospital beds of the Campus's Infirmary. He had an IV drip in his arm and found he was stripped down to his pants and undershirt.

He sat up fully, and put his head in his hands. A feeling of sharp, cold dread set in his Stomach. He went through the memory while it was fresh in his mind. He could have sworn he saw, towards the front of the percession of souls lined up at the doors to the great hall, the face of his father among the crowd.

[Okayanos]

Know Your Enemy: Year 1
Taught by Dr. Iair Szabo, AKA Visionary
Co-written by Okayanos, Faal Lot Himdah, Triassica, The Cyberiad Council, Parcia, North Timeria, and San Har Jasta

"That's not a supervillain, that's just someone being a dick." Dr. Szabo answers Andrew. "Not that the two are mutually exclusive. But I mean metahuman criminals. Regardless of how well Cypher's cleaned the world up, there's still more of them out there than we'd like. Sure, the Tarot are all dead, but the Pantheon? Gold Diggers? Plenty active, plus the independents on top of that. And statistics say that one of you in this room's met one of them." Iair's eyes scan the room, all the faces looking back at him or at their desks. "So don't be shy about sharing."

"I met one, and fought them..." Phallu spoke as he raised his hand, "Nearly died, but that's beside the point. I believe they went by Marionette. They were kidnapping street children and turning them into puppets, mindless soldiers, however you wish to put it. They probably wanted to seize power, or force the government to give them something. Or maybe they just wanted to cause some chaos. I've never really cared for knowing the reason. I know that Marrionette's methods were fairly simple, as Marionette would use those under their control to kidnap street children from the street. And because they were only street children, no one but other street children and the homeless would notice. Marionette would then take control of the children with what looked to be strings, probably made of psychic energy, which entered into the body of a target. As for how I think a professional hero team would have taken them down, well I would like to think they'd approach the situation with caution, and not go running in brute force style. I would like to think they'd take the time to find a way into Marionette's lair, and take them down quick and silently, therefore not having to engage and risk injuring the children under Marionette's mind control."

Iair wheezes, chuckling at Phallus' example. "Marionette? That guy was a fucking joke. An idiot too big for his pants, who thought he could be the next Mastermind. Surviving a fight against him is a walk in the park." He takes a moment to compose himself again, pulling back out of the old supervillain mindset where he would always shit on up-and-comers who thought they'd be big. That mindset only got 'em killed.

"But, that is an excellent example. Power and Chaos are two of the most common motivations out there, to the point that you could call them textbook examples. The methods are also pretty typical for a control-type villain- the kind that uses telepathy or boring old charisma to pull people to their side. A professional hero team, however, might not bother going in silently. A large part of hero training focuses on ending a fight non-lethally, which is infinitely useful against mind-controlled underlings."

When he finishes his short lecture, he looks at Amethyst and shakes his head. The teleporting student clearly had his own disillusioned ideas of how the world worked. "That arrogant notion that any given hero team could beat any given villain team easily is exactly why Cypher founded this school. Because it's wrong. Let's take Phallu's villain, Marionette, for instance. If he turned this class into puppets and commanded them to kill you, how would you deal with that?"

Shawn shook his head "I'm talking about the ones that go unnoticed... There are a lot of villians out there that don't make the headlines, the ones that aren't famous. I've fought them and I know first hand that if we took a little time to stop chasing the big fish the world would be a lot safer."
"And if he magically made his way onto the grounds and turned the class into puppets out to kill me.... I guarantee none of you would be able to catch me." Shawn laughed and winked.

"...Excuse me for a moment." Dr. Szabo tells his class when a message from the infirmary arrives. "Some student is too weak to leave the infirmary because of your training exercise. If anything's out of place when I return, I'll have your heads." He leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Andy watched his professor leave the class to go deal with a student or something and decided he should get more comfortable. He leaned back and put his feet up on the desk, stretching himself out. "That's better." Andy muttered to himself. Seeing as the teacher was gone, Andrew decided to respond to Shawn's comment, "You may be able to scoot along a lot faster than me, but I don't believe you can out scoot a bullet."

Andrew Marks gave a dry laugh at Shawn. "Yeah, but after hearing my story, or just seeing the company I keep, would you want to be anywhere near me?" he said as he fiddled with the buttons of the braille device on his desk, typing some sentences, "I think villains of all sort can be more stupid than they seem, underestimating people like us... Not saying we should underestimate them in anyway either..."

The Infirmary

"Herr Doctor, please, I understand what happened and the risks involved, but it was just a snake bite, the venom is gone, the swelling is gone, Gott sei Dank it is, I am fine."

He took a moment to sit fully up, the Good Doctor standing in front of him, arms crossed and foot tapping. "No, Mr. Konig, you may not leave, you had a massive allergic reaction to the DHx03 Toxin found in Cobra venom, while yes, the swelling is gone and yes, Most of the nerve damage has been reversed, it is standard medical practice to keep the patient observed, in the event of a previously unobserved medical Allergy, for a period of 3 days."

The man's Tone was starting to Erk Erwin, something he kept well, well hidden underneath the surface. He chose to play up the "Young and slightly dumb" tone as he normally does. "Please, herr Doctor the professor will have mien ass if I miss another Class, and you know something like a snake bite wont dissuade him from Having both of our asses."

"Then you know what, Mister Konig, I'll call him down here." Erwin kept his face in the mask of a concerned youth, choosing to go along with the idea.

Iair's arrival in the infirmary has him just as irritated as his exit from the classroom. He throws the door open, shooting a glare at Gross, the kind that says someone's going to probably end up in a world of trouble by the time Iair's finished up here. "Which one is it?"

All personal tastes aside, Iair Szabo was a dangerous person to poke. "That one," Dr. Gross pointed out by nodding his head towards Erwin.

"Me, Herr Professor, I tried to convince the good doctor here to let me attend the class, he seems otherwise opposed to it.'

"He's the school's medical professional." Iair crosses his arms, listening to how played-up Erwin's accent has become. Possibly head injury, or a side effect of whatever he'd been hit with in the exercise. "So if he says that someone should be skipping class, I'm inclined to believe him."

Eriwn Shrugged "If you say so then you say so, I was just looking forward to class." The young lad let the persona slip for a moment, letting his disappointment ring true. He had, actually been looking forward to the class, and other then some residual pain in his leg (a side effect that the Good doctor either couldn't fix or didn't see reason to) he felt fine.
He did Enjoy his Studies at the academy, which was a surprise as the lad had often struggled with the regular schooling and had nearly flunked out of the academic portion of OTS had he not gotten his collective shit together in the final few weeks.

"Not my problem." Iair responds. "Either catch yourself up when Dr. Gross lets you out, or fail the final. Which is soon, if you've forgotten." The teacher turns around to leave the infirmary- he's left his class alone for too long, and he doesn't have the time or the investment to give Erwin any kind of special treatment.

Class

When Iair gets back to the class, though- the door swings open hard, slamming against the wall with a loud bang. "Hopefully you all had a good, provocative discussion. If anyone wants to add more to the discussion, please, feel free." He looks up at Andrew- Woods, not Marks- and grimaces at the cowboy's all-too-relaxed posture. There's no indication of his powers being used, but Dr. Szabo stares at Woods for a second or so- and then the student's chair tips over backwards. "Feet off of the desk."

Rango, once again sprawled on his master's shoulders, watched the Dr. Szabo's work on Woods, and Marks gave a slight snicker, only to hold it back out of fear of being the next example. He had a good relationship with almost all of his teachers, working hard to keep his grade up, but knew better than to upset them. He raised a hand to give another, hopefully more proper example.

"I'd give you guys a good spit of venom if any of you got possessed by Marionette and tried attacking me." He replied, "That is perhaps my least lethal use of my venom unless you are stupid enough to get it in your mouth. From screams I heard though, it does burn a lot. Perhaps enough to incapacitate... Or just set my snakes on you to restrain. Depends on the situation I guess... I'm not good with long range attacks of course, except with my vipers, but I'm pretty deadly up close."

“Smart. Creative use of powers like that gets you a lot further than hitting things harder.” Iair replies to Marks. “Most people, villains and heroes alike, would underestimate a power like controlling snakes. There are a lot of metas that have powers most people would find useless or too narrow that apply them in ways you’d never imagine. When you lot head out on a real mission later on, you’d do well to remember that.”

"I also think I make a good spy as well." Andrew added, smiling at the praise and wishing to show even more cleverness, "My snake manipulation has a pretty good range, a mile I think, giving me the ability to have eyes and ears almost anywhere close by... So if any of you guys get corrupted and my snakes notice, I'd notice too."

"Any meta that can use the senses of other organisms is a natural spy. Things like snakes, insects, birds, and the like are inconspicuous and average- no one would think it's weird to see one." Iair walks behind his desk, sitting down in the chair. "However, that diverges away from what this class is usually meant to teach, and we're out of time. All of you, get on with your day. Bring up some of this power talk with Arsenal and Chitin when you get into their classes. Dismissed."

[WhatsamattaU]

Alice Bélanger ("Papillon")

Andrew Marks was proving to be a real apple polisher and a show off. In the exercise, if Alice had wanted to kill him, she could have, but she hadn't wanted to hurt him, or anyone if truth be told. He'd fallen victim to her Flash-Bang-Booby-Trap. If she had had simulated high-explosives or fragmentation grenades he'd have been declared dead. In the real world, he'd be a corpse.

Time to take him down a peg, thought Alice. As they were exiting the classroom, Alice said aloud to Flo, making sure that Andrew would hear her, "It's good for Snake Eyes that I just carry flash bangs instead of high explosive or fragmentation grenades...."

[Sraelyn]

Johan Vermaak
Vektor

The horn signalled the end of the exercise, problem was, he was still on a collision course towards Forence at nearly 50 mph, and now with no motive to smash against her.
He tried to change his direction, redirecting his vector with a hard right, enough to miss her by a few inches yet throwing him directly into the dumpster right behind her.

"Kak!" He swore as he turned around mid air.

He smashed with his back against the container which surged forward a few feet, leaving a large dent on it's side, with Johan at it's center.
The kinetic shield had not absorbed the full impact as he had changed direction, his back bearing part of the impact which hurt quite a bit, he was definately going to be sore for a while.

"Damn, that was close." He said to Florence with a slight smile.

He reimained there for a few seconds and with a groan he picked himself up, before walking slowly towards the exit, and then the dormitories to take a second shower that day. He was probably going to be late to Professor Szabo's class, but that didn't concern him too much.

As he stood on the cold water, he thought of what had just transpired. Team alpha team had won, which was a good thing in the end, yet it didn't bring him much joy. What good was the win it if he had done shit for it. While Fionn and Andrew basked in glory, snake boy even managing to take down two opponents he did nothing. It wasn't that he coudn't do more or that he wasn't willing to, but his teamates simply outshined him. He knew he had a good power set, he was supposed to do more, and that bothered him more than anything.

Truly, what even was the point of that fucking win.

Once showered and changed he calmly walked towards the classroom, now probably really late to class, Professor was probably going to be rather pissed off but he would deal with that once he was there. When he finally arrived he sae everyone already leaving the classroom. Damn, that wasn't good. Still he entered, and saw only his fellow student's father.

"It seems Im rather late. Sorry boss."