Heroes of Tomorrow Redux [IC | DONE]

[Durmatagno]

Sage Shields

Sage was humming quietly to herself as she finished the next batch of bacon. It'd been a...strange day, so breakfast for dinner seemed fine. She had a stack of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and more. Probably more than even Carolina and herself could probably eat, but that just meant they had leftovers. No big deal. Just as she sat down a plate for the visibly excited and happy Carolina, she heard a light knock at the door. She summoned a knife, and approached, looking out into the hallway where she saw....Kodiak. She sheathed the knife, instead of getting rid of it, and after unlocking the door, opened it up, letting the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes spill out into the hallway. She looked down at the smaller girl and opened her mouth to speak.

"Hello Kodiak, you need something?"

She wiped the grease on her hands on her pants, and could hear Carolina happily digging into her plate of food in the room behind her. She could eat in a moment, Kodiak needed something, and considering the fight.....well, she'd better see what it was. She still wanted to know just what had happened back there, though she didn't care that Kodiak had left her there.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Nev Hurn

Floor 32

In one moment, Nev was running for a castle while carrying an angry cripple above his head, and the next he was back in reality, the simulation having been cut short unexpectedly. And then there was gunfire, which caused Nev to instinctively duck his head. He had no idea what was going on until Samson explained, though it still left Nev a mite confused.

That confusion quickly turned to anger as he heard a voice, one he recognized that belonged to the cripple he was carrying minutes before. With that sentence alone, calling him a gnome, Nev was about to smash out of the cubicle and let her have it on a Russian tirade. However, Nev decided it was too much trouble in the end and got up to leave, besides, he had a bike to test out and no insult would turn him away from that, though he did get the satisfaction of punching a hole through the wall on his way out. If Kana wanted to follow, she had better watch her mouth.

[Forest State]

Kodiak Marsden

Almost out of instinct when she showed up and knocked on the door, a hand ran through her hair nervously. She found herself brushing it out of her face not because she couldn’t see, but because she was suddenly nervous and it was an easy motion to use to deflect from the situation at hand, even subconsciously. It wasn’t quite something she knew she was doing, but she found herself doing it regardless as she stared at Sage with wide eyes, at a loss for words suddenly. Kodiak did know how to talk to people. She had even translated for people before, because of the language training she had underwent as a member of the Hawk Institute. But something about this situation was different.

It was different because unlike the other times, she had run from a battle and she was now facing up to the ally that she had abandoned, perhaps unfairly. She hadn’t had her life at stake, she hadn’t had a valid reason to run other than checking on Aqua, it was just a case of her giving in to her own inner cowardice for once. Or maybe that was her selfishness and she had done a good thing for herself to survive, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel quite bad about how she had just up and ran while the fight was still going on. In the past, that was the kind of thing that would never happen.

But she wasn’t with Hawk now and she didn’t know if every aspect of that was for the better or for the worst. Some aspects of Hawk, such as teammates never thinking of running from a fight before it was over, were better. There were, however, plenty of reasons that made her escape justified. She didn’t have to think very far back to remember them. Maybe it was a mixed bag. That was just life sometimes, you traded in one set of circumstances for another and things changed because of it. Whether or not she would be forgiven in this new place for taking the more selfish route and betraying an ally in their time of need would be found out soon-

Sage didn’t sound angry from her voice. So maybe Kodiak had been overthinking this. There was a brief sigh of relief from her, knowing that she wasn’t going to get chewed out for this, even if she wasn’t quite comfortable with forgiving herself completely for something that would have been unimaginable for her a couple of years ago. “I came here about the fight,” she said, managing to speak in her usual level and confident tone once she finally opened her mouth and started talking. “More specifically, I wanted to apologize. I know I ran off. I know I shouldn’t have done it, too. If there’s anything you want from me to smooth things over between us after I ran like that, just tell me and… I’ll see what I can do.”

[Theyra]

Zekulu Alemu Nazwari

"Frick", he thought as Zenkulu rolled out of the way incoming crystals. Getting grazed by two of them in the process. Hitting her is going to be tricky since she can just send out a wave of crystals knock the bolts out of the sky. He heard what she said about why should they protect normal people as he got up and went to get a beat on her. Zenkulu did not say what his thoughts were to Nighthunter, he knows why he wants to be a hero and it has nothing to do with how the public views him or if he has any fans. Rather live up to his mother's example and not was going to dissuade him otherwise.

After Nighthunter launched her attack at Jack, Zekulu took aim and instead of shooting straight at her, he fired a spread of bolts, emptying his magazine. Some were fired at different parts of her body and some were fired for the area near her, hoping that she would dodge into and so she could not block out all of his bolts with her crystals.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd
Super Strain

"I'm sorry, but you seem to be thinking of genocide.", said Jack as he lunged forward, eyes closed shut in case any crystals went that way as he barreled through the crystals, letting them bounce off his skin. He saw Zekulu's bolts fly, but he was already charging. Too late to stop now.

Opening his eyes, Jack leaped upwards and fell in a full strength plunging strike, a few feet above her head. At the moment of the jump, Jack said "And it wouldn't exactly be natural evolution if you're influencing it so heavily. To think, I thought I was battling an intelligent foe."

Jack really wished he knew just how strong her armor was. At the moment, he'd just have to hope a full power strike wouldn't kill her. And of course, that was assuming he hit her.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Alasdair Francis Damon, Blackfire
New York City, New York, USA
June 16th, 2024

---

There was no reason to respond to Nighthunter's taunts, after all it was just talk that revealed more about her. But someone did respond, Jack. And after responding, Jack jumped straight into action followed by Zekulu, with absolutely no communication between the team. Against mindless opponents such as zombies, they could get away with that. But now, they were facing a more intelligent foe, and a foe that knew what they were doing most likely. So, having more communication between them would have been ideal. But, this was the real world, so Alasdair would have to go with the flow as you could say.

"Keep her busy..." spoke telepathically to his allies, while turning to fire at the approaching zombie, aimed for its limbs and fired into it until it was incapable of moving. "I need some time."

[Durmatagno]

Sage Shields

Sage studied Kodiak, curiosity twinkling in her eye. Once Kodiak had said her piece, obviously nervous about something, Sage opened her mouth to respond. She had to suppress a sudden urge to laugh. Someone was apologizing for abandoning her, what a strange new world she had stumbled into it. After a moment, she finally spoke.

"No no, it's...it's fine. I'm used to having to deal with everything alone, this is far from the first time I've been left to do with a problem on my own. Make that twenty.....nine and counting times in fact, maybe more, but my memory is.....fuzzy that far back. I-"

Sage, invite her in for dinner. I'm curious about her. Besides, it's a common enough way for people to apologize.

Sage stopped speaking for a moment and turned to look at Carolina, who had stopped eating, and was watching the two of them, before making a get on with it gesture. Sage raised an eyebrow, and slowly turned back to Kodiak.

"I....Carolina wants me to invite you in for dinner, said something about it being a common way to apologize. I dunno, whatever you're comfortable with."

[Forest State]

Fallen Angels

“My name is Seung Kim, but most of you would better know me by the name that I’ve fought under, Jinx. As the leader of the New Order, I will be the one explaining the job that you’ve volunteered to take,” said the black and blue clad young man that met Bryanne and the rest of her team once they were taken to the inside of the building by the men in suits. The outfit was a pretty intricate one that seemed more like something a hero would wear, just because it had been carefully put together and wasn’t one of the scraped together outfits that many villains wore out of necessity. The black leather parts had been carefully measured and cut, the blue highlights seemed to be made out of metal and they were stunning looking, and the entire outfit fit the body perfectly, covering everything except for the head and the face. It was another sign that the New Order were more serious than some other villain teams.

Seung turned and led them deeper into the building, taking them through hallways that were lined with things like art, much of it of the modern type. Someone had obviously spent a lot of time working on the place, it was just a matter of who had been the one to do it. It didn’t seem like the New Order owned this place, considering they were a young team and they hadn’t accomplished enough to get this far, but that meant they definitely had connections to someone who had. Those connections had likely helped them in their work as villains, and Bryanne made a mental note about that. If they were going to work for the New Order in any other jobs in the future, it was worth memorizing what they were working with here.

They eventually headed down about five floors by elevator and they reached the place where they were headed, which was a large and open room that had chairs placed around a table which displayed a digital map of the world, the top of the table being some kind of computer screen which showed a zoomed out version of Earth. There was another screen on the far end of the room that looked like it was used for video calls or something similar, but it was turned off right now, and there was only one person in the room other than Seung. Female, relatively young, and she was dressed somewhat fancily, with a white skirt and a red vest over top of a white button up shirt, which wasn’t tucked in. On her head was a matching top hat which was also red, and it showed… That she was a bit of an eccentric type. The clothes were worth a lot individually, but she had an unorthodox way of wearing them together. “Mariel Ortega. Yes, she’s the daughter of Beatriz Ortega, top engineer in the Living Legends. She’s inherited her skills, too. This table, it was made by her.”

Mariel offered a wave to the new group that had entered and she turned to the table, pressing a few buttons before some red arrows appeared in the air above the table holographically, pointing to certain locations. It was rather impressive, as the technology wasn’t common yet. And Mariel had seemingly made it on her own, without the help of any engineers who had worked on existing holographic projectors. “Each of these red marks is one of the potential locations that you can hit to retrieve the object. They all have the same thing that we’re looking for but they have varying levels of security and they have different people protecting them,” Mariel explained. “You can pick the location that you’re the most comfortable with, but we don’t have one hundred percent knowledge about any one of them, so there’s always going to be some element of the unknown, unfortunately. Trust your gut and your past experiences.”

“The first arrow is located fifty miles to the east of Sapporo, Japan. There’s a research base and it’s guarded by the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force, otherwise known as the fourth strongest army in the world by some measurements,” said Seung, pointing to the relevant arrow. “They aren’t used to fighting metahumans, which offers you a bit of an advantage, but they’re a powerful conventional force and because the research base handles some military matters, they’ve made sure to guard it well. You’re looking at a SAM site outside of it, with AAA present too, and a lot of infantry with small arms in the general area regardless of the time of day. This site, after all, is where they work on some of their experimental technologies. It might be related to the object that we want, might not be, but they think that whatever they’re working on there is something worth guarding well.”

Mariel pointed out the second arrow. “The second one is to the north of Vladivostok, Russia, and is a facility maintained by the DMR, the Department of Metahuman Regulation. The successors to the CCAA, the DMR has a well earned reputation for being a fighting agency rather than just one that handles paperwork and the like and allows others to do the hard work. They might not be a conventional army but don’t expect an attack on a facility run by them to be easy in any way. They may even have metahumans present to help with the defense of the facility, they seem to have set it up for the research of important things like the object that we’re trying to retrieve for ourselves. Furthermore, because of the DMR owning this place, it’s been hard to get proper information on it. We have the least amount of info on this place when it comes to the layout and the like.”

Seung gestured at the last arrow, which was located on Jeju Island, South Korea. “The last potential site would be Jeju, South Korea, where there’s a DRMA blacksite being operated outside of the borders of their usual jurisdiction. While the DRMA does not typically have overseas bases, this is one that you won’t find on any books. It’s possible that our reports are wrong and that there is no such site at all in the area, but satellite imagery shows that there was a dirt runway created, helipads, and then several buildings which appear to be barracks and a couple of main buildings. Satellite imagery also shows helicopters which appear to be the kind operated by the DRMA, and the presence of a Patriot air defense site, which would indicate a western presence in the area. With that being said, this is the smallest of the sites but the Patriot system and the radars aren’t going to make it easy to enter. You’ll have to head in on foot after traveling to the island by boat, or fly very low.”

Someone appeared out of thin air behind the group of newcomers that was standing around the table, clad from head to toe in black and armed with both pistols and knives. Dairine Quinn, the right hand woman to the leader of the organization and someone who was quite dangerous in her own right because of her extensive stealth abilities. “I’ll be with you during this mission, if you accept it, to aid in the retrieval of the object. Considering that I know what it is, while you don’t. The important thing for you is that you get us far enough to grab it… Something that we’re not willing to try ourselves, because of the risk involved. Hopefully, the five million makes it worth it for you.”

---

The private jet, which was currently flying over Europe after departing from London Heathrow Airport, was set up more like an office. There was a room that had everything set up just like one, with a desk and an office chair and a laptop set up and connected to the internet even when they were thousands of feet off the ground. Every luxury that could be on a jet, it was there. Every luxury that the majority of regular people didn’t have, whether they were in the air or on the ground, it was there. There was expensive food, plenty of flight attendants ready to make sure that the few passengers of the jet were in comfort, and the lone person sitting in the office was drinking out of a bottle of quite expensive wine while working on the laptop and answering a phone call.

“No, I don’t think I’m being overly ambitious here. I know I’m making big moves against some powerful factions and governments but that’s the entire point of using Astra and the New Order to do this,” said the young woman, spinning in her chair as she rose the glass of wine to her lips once again, downing about half of it as she listened to the reply. “You know what I’ve been saying, you should relay that to everyone else. I’ve been ambitious from the start, if the electors think that they made a wrong decision then you should tell them that they knew what they were getting into when they cast their votes towards me.”

“It’s not that they think you aren’t the right person for the job, but at this rate, you’re practically the most ambitious head we’ve had since… I don’t think anyone can really remember. You should know how things are. ‘Move from the shadows’ and all that. Everyone is used to one thing and you’re shaking things up-”

“I have never once promised to do anything but shake things up, if people want to get cold feet now after I’ve already started doing that, you can let them. Too late for them to change their decision,” she replied, setting the glass down after finishing it off and returning to her laptop, where she was looking at a number of figures from a number of different companies. At least, that was what the spreadsheet looked like it was showing. “And if they think this is ambitious, just wait until after I’m done making moves with this. This is just the beginning, a move to increase our capabilities-”

“And if you face powerful enemies from within?”

“I fear no one. I’m not going to be another puppet that values the idea of ‘move from the shadows’ more than I value getting things done. If any of them regret their decision that much, you can tell them to make a public disagreement about it and that will either be the end of my reign or I’ll destroy them for it. If they’re so confident that the former is what will happen, there should be nothing stopping them from doing it.”

The young woman hung up and dialed another number, this time calling up the head of the New Order. “Turns out I need this success more than I imagined. Tell you what, I’m going to up the price you get out of this. Fifteen million, and I’ll throw in the Astra office in downtown Tokyo since Astra is moving to a larger one anyway. That’s ten million more than your original cut, in case you can’t do the math. Just to show that I’m counting on you guys and that I expect you to bring me a victory here.”

---

Kodiak Marsden

She wasn’t angry? The lack of anger in Sage’s voice, and Sage’s own obvious nervousness when it came to talking about this, made Kodiak freeze as she was confused. This was new. What she had done would have been unacceptable before but… Maybe things really were different from when she was with Hawk. Still, just because Sage was used to fighting alone didn’t mean she had done the right thing, and it didn’t mean she didn’t feel guilt about it. Why was she asking her to come over for dinner? Wasn’t that just giving her something good in exchange for doing something bad? That was the part that really perplexed Kodiak.

This was sure a far cry from Hawk, but then again, most aspects of the regular world were. Sure, Kodiak was good at keeping a calm exterior that didn’t show her lack of experience as much, but she was just as confused about some aspects of it as Sage was.

Still, she nodded. If that was what Sage wanted, she wouldn’t turn it down, even if she thought having dinner, especially after what had just happened, would be awkward. “Um, yeah. I can do that. I don’t know why you would ask me, though, after I did something bad like running away. It sounds like you’re rewarding me for doing something I shouldn’t have done.”

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Kana Kaleikaumaka, Gyges
Floor 32, Guardians Building, Angel Village
June 16th, 2024

"What. The. Fuck." Kana said after the whole shooting up in the 32nd floor was finished and Samson finished addressing them. Only after Evelyn finished speaking, did Kana point to her and looked at Samson, "Yeah. What she said. A little explanation would be very much appreciated... Also, where is that gnome who picked me up in the simulation?!"

Klara Jönsson

Klara thought for a moment and answered Kana, saying, "I think it was Nev.., Mekboy. I'm sorry he ruffled your feathers, Kana. I don't think he meant to insult you. Still, if it had been in real life, I'd rather be sure that you'd be alive.... I just had a thought, I know you can create arms and hands, maybe you could create a leg?"

She thought that Kana still wasn't pleased over the matter, so Klara decided to try another tactic. "I brought some toscakaka, I mean almond caramel cake from home. I haven't unwrapped it yet and it's really too much to eat by myself. Would you like come have some with coffee?"

Thinking that maybe she was on the right path in putting Kana at ease over the simulation and what Nev did..., and she really did want a new friend, Klara gave Kana a smile and added, "It's really delicious, so will you join me?"

[Durmatagno]

Sage Shields

"It's not me, it's Carolina that's inviting you. Personally I'm not all that offended, everyone abandons me, it's nothing new."

Sage turned and stepped back into her apartment, allowing Kodiak to follow her. She busily made Kodiak her own plate, something with more normal proportions, and set it at the table, before sighing. She knew she should be angry, it made sense to be angry when an ally possibly left you to fend for yourself. She should be mad, she should be furious, but she just...wasn't. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, she straightened and turned back to Kodiak. She pursed her lips as he struggled to find something to say, before finally making a decision.

"Look, I know I should be angry, abandoning an ally isn't a good thing. I'm just....no one ever sticks around or helps me, so it no longer bothers me. I don't know what I would ask you to do to say sorry because, despite knowing I should be mad, I'm just....not. I don't know where to begin, but I do know that I'm not going to hold it against you."

Carolina tilted her head at Kodiak, wanting to see her reaction, a small smile on her lips.

[Lunas Legion]

Nike and Aella Mezerova

None of them said anything to Jinx as he introduced himself; introductions were overrated in Nike's view. Names were dangerous things to be throwing around under any circumstances, especially around strangers. Besides, they probably knew all of theirs anyways. And if they didn't, well, that was just extremely poor research on their part and showed the type of people they were dealing with.

They followed him deeper into the building, still silent. They remained focused on the hall, while Raph's eyes roamed to the side, admiring the art as she walked. She'd always had more of a taste for cultural things like art than some of the others, but her hand didn't leave the grip of her sword as she walked. They reached an elevator and filed in, riding it down five floors, Aella tapping her heel against the floor and memorizing the number; tiny things like that could save your life, and when you had an eidetic memory, well, it made memorising tiny facts that much easier.

They exited the elevator into what appeared to be an ops room, Raph taking a position leaning against the wall next to the elevator, watching warily while Nike and Aella each took a seat at the table, Nike slouched and relaxed as if she owned the place, Aella ramrod straight, hands in her lap. They listened intently as Mariel briefed them, Raph placing a hand over her mouth as she yawned.

"Aella, thoughts." Nike said as Mariel finished, placing her somewhat on the spot, but Aella didn't even hesitate.

"We hit Jeju." She declared. "Sapporo has too much conventional firepower around it, while Vladivostok has too much metahuman firepower and too little knowledge of the site itself. We land on Jeju by RHIB off of a boat out of Japan or China, head in on foot. Recon the place over two days, identify guard patrol patterns, gates, perimeter defences, communications structures. The blacksite nature means it won't have the ability to mobilise reinforcements potentially like Vladivostok or Sapporo would to close off our exfil routes, and provided we move fast enough there won't be any ability to bring in naval assets to close off our exfil. Being the smallest site also means the least personnel and less area to search for the object. I do believe that is everything, although if I have missed anything, please, do raise it." She glanced to Nike, then over to Bryanne, awaiting approval.

[Union Princes]

Repo Duty

Glory swung around once the jester in front of her disappeared into the air, and she had some idea about where she had went. Well, she didn’t know where she had went, but people didn’t just disappear. She had went somewhere, obviously. She would likely be on her way to alert anyone else in the building, because heroes rarely worked alone and especially not a young hero like the one she had approached. She also knew that even if her enemy had teleported away, she was likely still in the building and Glory knew to move as if there was a hostile around. She lowered the gun, moving to the table and taking two of the shorter blades there, which weren’t the katanas on the wall and rather were suited for close combat. They’d be useful in a tight area like this.

Both of them were enchanted to give different advantages. One was a blade of enhanced speed and would rapidly accelerate when it was thrusted or swung towards the enemy, being hard for even the fastest swordsmen to keep up in a prolonged engagement. The other one? That was an anti-material blade, designed to slice through normal protections. Power related protections or magic would work against it, but it was very good against regular body armor. After shoving both of the blades into sheaths at her sides, Glory reached for her phone and made a call to the nearest member of her team that was near the house, Kendrick Rogers. “Hostiles in the house, get back as soon as you can, there’s likely more than what I can see now,” she said in a low whisper, before ending the call and creeping into the hallway as silently as possible, moving to hunt down the enemy that had slipped out of her grasp.

Szarlota Raczkowska
It was a game of cat and mouse, cloak and dagger, hunter and hunted on the second floor. Szarlota needs to alert her teammates on the first floor of a potential ambush or counterattack. No doubt the woman in the original bedroom was already notifying her comrades of the situation and grabbing the swords and daggers on the desk and walls. But here, in the bedroom next door? Nothing that resembled a gun or a longer ranged weapon to the Pole's eyes when she did a quick scan while she plot out her next move.

Szarlota has to alert her comrades without getting herself silenced in the attempt. Maybe I can cause a distraction long to divert her attention She quickly rationalize in her head. I might just be able to link up with my teammates downstairs.

Looking down at her hands, Szarlota only has her one-handed/two-handed sickle and a dirk. Not much range capability compared to someone with a gun but it will have to do. There was no time to wait as the woman might just be around the corner. "Here goes nothing." Szarlota whispered after making a short silent prayer before initiating her plan.

A dummy was spawned inside the bedroom before immediately running before turning around the corner to perform a faint attack on the woman with its dummy sickle and dirk at hand while Szarlota run out a couple seconds behind it. She needs the woman to attack the dummy even for a brief second so that Szarlota could brush past her. The Pole's dirk was in position to be thrown at her just in case there needs to be another distraction for the woman's eyes.

[Forest State]

Super Strain

Nighthunter jumped straight into the air to avoid the bolts but still managed to catch one in the leg which seemed to stagger her slightly when she came down on top of the car, contorting her body to land in the spot where she had previously attacked from. The same move put her out of range for Jack’s attack, and as soon as Jack was in the position that would have been occupied by her, she fired off another dozen crystals in rapid succession and aimed for the face, making sure that even if she didn’t break the skin she would cause an annoyance and force Jack to close his eyes for a moment while she hopped to the other side of the car, looking to Alasdair but seeing that he was busy immobilizing the zombie that she had sent.

She stopped puppeting the thing and put all her attention on the others, now that it was just about immobile anyway. “That was fun, but I don’t think I exactly should fight you right now. Not much to gain from it, you know? I’m about to head out,” she said, and she started scaling the building that she had come from originally, using the special armor to help her climb. It seemed that the Young Guardians had won this encounter, but it had been a relatively small horde and they had the Dynamo keeping the main group away from them. Whether or not they could repeat this performance in a fight that lasted longer, time would tell.

“Someone dig around the chest of that thing and look for the parasite,” said Ainsley, gesturing towards the dead super zombie. “Needs to head back to the lab for analysis. We’ll grab it and RTB immediately, the Dynamo will clean up the rest and we don’t want to get ambushed again.”

---

Repo Duty

Glory dove backwards but the dummy would disappear quickly enough and she dug her heels in, stopping herself from moving anymore as her eyes focused on the real thing. The feint attack hardly did much because it only meant that Glory was even more on guard by the time the actual Szarlota showed up, her first weapon already raised to block some incoming attack. The second one, the one that could obliterate armor, was at her side and she could raise that one at any time if she needed it too, but the one that was in prime position for use was the one that moved quicker than any other in her collection.

And that’s what she would do as Szarlota attacked. She moved fast. Faster than most people could attack, the speed of her attack enhanced by the special properties of the blade. She went low as Szarlota closed on her because it would take a longer time for Szarlota to move her own weapon down to block, or to see the attack coming for her leg and get out of the way, but it would cut deep if it struck and was the kind of attack that could knock someone off their feet in a single blow.

After all, with the velocity of the blade, there would definitely be more damage than there’d be from a normal swing of a weapon like this.

---

Kodiak Marsden

Kodiak sat down with her food but she wasn’t quite comfortable, she never was when it came to sitting down and eating with people. That wasn’t a luxury that she was used to, even when she had spent some time as a hero rather than a member of Hawk. Back in the day when she was with Hawk, she would usually eat in her quarters or in the field, and it usually wasn’t a real dinner but some kind of rations. She had gotten used to eating real meals, but she hadn’t gotten used to sitting down with others and eating a full diner. She felt vulnerable, too, when she set her weapon to the side to sit down. Like someone might stab her with a knife and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, even if it was a completely irrational fear.

“Why would you ask me over if I ran away? You realize that I put your sister in danger…?” she started asking Carolina, before realizing that there wasn’t much point in arguing and that she was never going to really understand anyway. So she just dropped it, lowering her head slightly and pausing as she ate. “Thanks, I guess. Even if I don’t really know you and your motivations confuse me.”

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Phew. All done. He clenched his eyes shut against the bolts, already feeling the bruises from the other crystals. By the time his eyes were safe to open, she was already scaling the building.

Jack was glad the fight had ended well. Seemed like minimal injuries all around, and he himself had come out near unscathed. Now for the parasite.

"I got it guys", called Jack. He moved forward, sword drawn, and cut a hole in the super's chest, grabbing the parasite when he saw it.

"Looks like mission successful guys! Let's head home.", said Jack. He was quite pleased with how it had gone, overall. Sure, Nighthunter got away, but she'd never been an objective in the first place. At least they'd gotten some more data on her powera. And more importantly, they got the parasite. A rousing success, in his opinion.

[Theyra]

Zekulu Alemu Nazwari

Zekulu reloaded his crossbow as he watched Nighthunter escape. She got out of sight before he could get beat on her. Well, Nighthunter is gone and he did manage to land a hit on her at least. He some small pride in that and he never had faced someone liked Nighthunter before. Never had to face a target that fast and with only his normal bolts. He guessed it was a good thing that Nighthunter left and he wondered why she attacked them in the first place, only to leave just like that. At any rate, his first mission was more eventful than he would have thought.

Putting his crossbow on his back, he spoke, "It looks like we are almost here guys and perhaps...." Jack had said that he was going to grab the parasite. Zekulu did not stop Jack from doing so, watching him cut into the Super Zombie and tearing out the parasite inside. Hearing him say that the mission is done, "Guess we are done and we survived an encounter with Nighthunter as well. "I say that is a good job for us and a nice way to end our first mission". He said and went on to check on his cuts which he figured would need some bandaging.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Park In-hyun / Speed

Park did followed the training simulation, but she hardly ever do anything. In fact, there are others who were involved in missions. It's to be expected, they all volunteered first while she contemplated whether she would join or not. And thus, she returned to the housing area. Since she just arrived some time ago, she hadn't got the time to packed her things out from her pack. Her stuffs from back home, for instance. After a short while, she managed to clear things up in her room. She'd rather rest here, but she knew there would be events outside the housing area, thus she returned to the non-housing area.

[Endem]

Tadeusz Rybinski

Tadeusz was on the VTOL, unfortunately, Section C has already started and there were just possibly one or two other recruits, latecomers just as he, the VTOL was also bringing something into the village possibly just supplies, he got off the VTOL and went to his room. In the room, he threw his backpack on the bed and his packages on the floor, he will use them as needed now it was time to explore. He locked the door and transformed into a cat, why cat specifically? I don't know I would need to ask him, he then proceeded to see most of Angel Village, HQ ( although he wasn't on any floor ), Cafeteria, Training Centre, Gardens, what was left was the R&D facility.

[Forest State]

Fallen Angels

Seung Kim stepped away from the table to take a phone call that seemed important in nature, and Bryanne pondered the plan along with Enzio, as the two most experienced members of the teams and the ones that made most of the decisions at the end of the day. They had their strategists, yes, but planning also took someone to pick the final decision in the end and they were who that duty usually fell to. Right now, neither of them seemed too reluctant to go for this specific course of action, even if they weren’t exactly thrilled with it either. They’d have to stay on the island multiple days and the more time they spent involving themselves with this, the more potential for trouble there was.

The promise of cash, though, that was intoxicating. They were supposedly going after a canister that could fit in someone’s hand, but they would receive five million for it. A payday like this that gave them way too much money for a real simple object was usually a good thing, but for this much money… There had to be some kind of catch. Bryanne had the gut feeling that breaking into this facility would be harder than they said initially. “I don’t think the DRMA is the faction that we want to piss off, which should be considered. They have a rather wide reach, you know. Especially in the countries that we normally work in,” stated Enzio, pointing out an obvious fact that had become something of an elephant in the room. “It’s a matter of… Are the profits worth it?”

Bryanne was the one to come up with the answer for that, unfolding her arms and resting them on the table as she looked at the map and the three arrows on it, sighing and running a hand across her face to remove any sweat that was there. She hadn’t noticed how stress inducing this planning could be until just now. “We’ll go with Aella’s plan and hit the DRMA blacksite. Less resistance overall, less potential for backup to show up, and the fighting force holding down the fort there isn’t as formidable as the DMR, at least when it comes to pure combat. Also, getting in and out of the Sapporo area is going to be much harder than this, unfortunately. Here, heading in by boat and traveling the rest by foot is a legitimate tactic.”

Seung was walking back to the table after finishing up with the call, and tapped the screen a few times to change the layout to one of the facility they were attacking. It included another red arrow, this one pointing to the location where they would allegedly find what they were looking for. “You can see the more detailed overview of the Jeju base here. What you’re looking for is rather small, it should be some kind of container, possibly a box or a canister or something similar. Dairine should know it when she sees it… But what’s inside, it’s well worth what we’re paying you here, and more. You manage to bring it back and we both win.”

[Durmatagno]

Carolina/Sage Shields

Carolina took another bite of pancakes, watching Kodiak with curious grey eyes. She could see plainly that Kodiak was uncomfortable, and more that she was anxious. She sat down her fork and knife, and sighed. After a moment, she tentatively, nervously reached out and touched Kodiak mind. She resisted the urge to dig, to look deeper at what could be there. Instead, she brushed only the surface, just enough to talk to her.

Sage has seen plenty of danger in her life, she lives in it. Fighting is about all she has ever known, it is more natural to her than trying to raise me. I don't want her feeling as if she needs to maker herself angry when she isn't, and I don't want you to feel guilty for something she doesn't think you did long. Her first concern was for me as your's was for Aqua. If....if you are that uncomfortable with this, then you and Sage can figure something out for yourselves. I'm sorry I interfered.

Carolina cast her eyes down a the table, fidgeting nervously. Sage for her part, reached out and put a hand reassuringly on Carolina's shoulder, thinking this was her normal shyness, not knowing what she had told Kodiak. Sage took a small bite, and watched Carolina carefully, making sure her younger sister was alright.

[Forest State]

Super Strain

Ainsley stood and watched as the parasite was extracted from the super zombie while calling for the VTOL to return and pick them up as soon as possible, before they could be ambushed once again by another group of enemies. The Dynamo had mostly cleared out the rest of the infection, and there was no sign of Nighthunter being around but still… It was worth being careful. “Make sure that thing doesn’t get free,” Ainsley said, gesturing at the still alive parasite. “Can’t hurt you usually unless you ingest it, but still. This is a new strain, be careful that it doesn’t have new capabilities.”

That VTOL that had been called for would arrive not much later, descending quickly as it turned around in place and touched down slightly, still hovering about a half a foot or two off the ground as the hatch in the back opened. They had been trained in entering and exiting, that would be enough for them to get in and take off. “Come on,” said Ainsley, lifting herself onto the ramp and stepping into the back of the VTOL, waving to the others as they prepared to head out after a job well done.

Kodiak Marsden

Things were going relatively normally and then- There was a voice in her head suddenly, something that made her almost jump in surprise as she instinctively clenched her muscles and started to reach down to her side where her weapon would be under normal circumstances, finding that nothing was there as she desperately grasped at the air for one to two seconds before realizing that there wasn’t anything there and that her weapon was resting against the table. Shit. But she didn’t need the weapon right now because there wasn’t a hostile in the area, it was just a surprising situation.

Of course, that was something surprising to say, because usually, any time there was a surprise this big it was a bad one. Something like an ambush or an ally running into some big trouble that wasn’t expected. That wasn’t the case here, but it didn’t stop her from reacting out of instinct as if she was in danger. She relaxed slowly, and if this voice was in her head… She would talk back in her head and see what happened.

I can’t say I’m not uncomfortable with this entire thing but it’s not my place to decide what I should do based on something as simple as comfort. If you want me here, I’ll stay here, I kind of owe it after fucking up earlier anyway. But… Well, I could question it further, but I won’t. You made your decision, I’ll abide by it.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Alasdair Francis Damon, Blackfire
New York City, New York, USA
June 16th, 2024

---

"No one got seriously injuried, and no one died." Alasdair spoke as he let the Black Scales and the Balance of Vuphu disappear. His gaze turned to the direction Nighthunter had escaped in. He would have preferred not letting her get away, and possible cause harm to other people. But there was nothing he could do, and as Zekulu and Jack pointed out, they had got some more information on what she could do. "Returning in one piece is always a success, no matter if the mission was completed or not. Fortunately we have completed the mission..."

"Not to mention not only have we gotten information on Nighthunter's powers, but may have also got a look into her as a person, at least from her actions and words." He said and looked at the rest of them. "Talking is a good way of giving up information about yourself. Hence why I must say, I do like it when opponents are very talkative. Good way of finding out more about them, as they are likely to let something slip."

With that he joined the rest of them on to the VTOL.

---

Kana Kaleikaumaka, Gyges
Floor 32, Guardians Building, Angel Village
June 16th, 2024

---

"I had an idea of who he was." Kana spoke and looked at Klara before looking away and chuckling, "Obviously you don't know much about my namesake, Gyges. Gyges was one of the three Hecatoncheires, or Hundred-Handed Ones, of Greek Mythology. They were said to have one hundred hands, and fifty faces. So, can I create a leg? No. Only arms and hands."

With that she sighed, "I guess I can join you... got nothing else to do right now anyways."

[Forest State]

---

Shanghai Hustle
Collab with Lunas Legion and Vanquaria

---

Unlike the atmosphere around the airport, the downtown area of Shanghai was practically ready for a party. The crowds were large, there were plenty of banners and signage advertising the visit, and there were TV cameras as Chinese and international stations prepared to broadcast or stream the event, where there was going to be some kind of reveal. The exact details of that reveal, of course, were still unknown. But whatever it was, it was big enough to generate quite the hype around the country and even around the world, with international Guardians being flown in to witness the event. Aubrey Boudier, though, hated it. More people, more difficulties in making sure that nothing went wrong.

More heroes from different teams to work with, more difficulties for the DRMA to do their jobs. "We're arriving downtown," Boudier said over radio, speaking to fellow DRMA agent Rico Lapahie. "Expect us around the backstage in about five minutes. I take it that you're on overwatch duty?"

"Correct," said Lapahie. Those in the convoy wouldn't be able to see it from their position, but Lapahie was watching them through a scope as they arrived at the plaza where the event was taking place. Minutes later, after they navigated through the slow traffic, they arrived in the packed square where a stage had been set up, the doors opening when they reached the area behind where Alexander Klausen's delegation was waiting for them. This was it. They'd get to meet the person they were here because of, and they would see for themselves what this announcement was for.

It was... Somewhat surreal to Gabriella as their convoy drove slowly through the streets of Shanghai. Mari had been dragged off to who knew where on charges of espionage, and that made her tense, to say the least, watching the crowds with nervous, wary eyes. They were already down one person, and that was a very bad sign.

But they still had a job to do. Missions didn't stop just because you took losses. They arrived in the square without incident, thankfully, and she climbed out in silence, eyes flicking from side to side, muscles tense. Something was going to go wrong. Something always did.

The fact that Jess emerged alone from the interrogation room caused Sun to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. Nonetheless, he put whatever worries he had behind him, there were more pressing matters to attend to. China was already proving to be an innately hostile place for the Guardians and they'd only encountered the authorities so far. Sun flicked his eyes to Atom and Ursula, he could not feel more relieved to know he could depend on those 2 veterans for the mission.

Sun stepped out and glanced at Gabriella, a frown beginning to appear on his Ray-Ban covered face as he noted her tense posture. He made sure to follow suit, reminding himself to remain wary.

The backstage area was a crowded one. There were plenty of people, yes, but there were also some vehicles parked there that looked like they had computer equipment set up around them, and there were some crates that were being carefully guarded as the Klausen delegation looked them over. It was most likely what they were going to unveil, and the crates were... Large enough that it was safe to say this was more than just a new phone or computer or something else of that sort that was launching.

"Guardians," started Klausen himself, offering a wave to their team as they were lead in that general direction, approaching the rival team of heroes from the Shanghai Stars in the process, one of the Guardians' Chinese teams and the ones that were standing around the area in their distinctive entirely red and gold outfits, the only colors that the Guardians teams in this country were permitted to wear. "Welcome to Shanghai. You're all here just in time for our biggest announcement... I have to apologize in advance for that, I believe it's going to put you out of the spotlight a bit."

"We don't do what we do because of the spotlight-" started Atom, before Klausen chuckled and gestured towards the crates. "Have a look for yourselves and you'll know what I'm talking about," Klausen continued, as the crates were opened up. And inside them, there seemed to be what looked like a metal exoskeleton in each one. No, not an exoskeleton, but an actual metal body. Not armor, but a full figure, with what roughly looked like a face. They appeared to be... Robots of some kind?

"So, these would be... What?" Gabriella asked, stepping forwards and leaning on one of the crates to look over the contents. "Androids?" She'd never been a fan of robots, or anything artificial and alive in general. It just felt unnatural. Just looking at the metal bodies, even deactivated, made her skin crawl a little, knowing that they could activate.

Sun tilted his head downwards to look at what Klausen was showing them. Humanoid metal figures in each crate, he looked up at the billionaire then at the other Guardians. He didn't know what exactly they were but he bet that they would be of extreme value not just for Klausen.

"Fact of the matter is that the government of China would rather replace you. Turns out it was a pretty lucrative deal for us to sign up to help with that, but I do hope the rest of the world doesn't catch onto those trends. Always been a fan of superheroes, there's a reason I've brought some of you on this tour instead of just the usual security dudes," Klausen stated matter of factly, "Well, you don't have to worry about being replaced as much as the Stars here do, as long as the rest of the world continues to see the value in, you know, individual choice and not making people act like robots. Pun intended."

"I see..." Sun observed aloud. He felt slightly skeptical as to the capabilities of these machines but it was a natural feeling, after all, no human would like to entertain the idea that a machine can do their job better than they can. It was pretty frightening to look upon the metallic figures, at least for Sun it was. It was like having a glimpse into the future.

"Pah." Gabriella snorted, waving dismissively as she stepped back from the boxes, crossing her arms. "They're robots. Only as good as their software, no versatility, no powers of their own... No offence, but I don't see how these can replace heroes unless you're deploying them in large numbers, unless they have some secret weapon or something. There's a reason heroes exist, after all. They won't catch on." She wasn't frightened of these things. A waste of time and resources, a solution to an already solved problem.

"I'd agree. Some people think differently, though, and this should be a gateway into future... Products of this sort. You might have wondered why China was the place we're having this big demonstration, turns out their government is the one that wanted to fund this kind of research the most. Hard to turn down, even if I've always believed in human grit and creativity-" started Klausen, before there was an interruption in the form of a widespread panic. People were suddenly shouting, the Stars were moving for the perimeter, and there was a burst of movement from a crowd that had been still before-

"Gas!" shouted Ursula, pointing to a canister that had seemingly come from one of the higher floors of a nearby building, where there was a notably broken window that someone had thrown something out of, or shot it out of a gun. It seemed that despite all the security, every flaw hadn't been addressed. Someone had either made their way in undercover, or they had stayed in the building since before the security sweeps began and hid. And now, there was a canister spraying out what was almost definitely toxic, and there were plenty of people fleeing in what was... An enclosed area, to say the least, with plenty of points where they were getting bottle necked and nearly trampling on each other.

"When there's an enemy around," started Atom, moving into a fighting stance and looking towards the window. "You fight. I'll handle this, kids." And so the leader of their group and the one they were supposed to look to for instructions flew into the air, rocketing towards the open window and leaving everyone else to deal with the gas on their own.

"Fucking hell," muttered Jess, and that summed up just about everyone's mood.

"So..." Gabriella said uncertainly, looking around, breathing deeply to avoid panicking. Their leader had just gone charging off to fight... Someone. Who might have just run away. Without giving them any orders, or knowing their capabilities, or anything at all.

"What do we do now?" She asked the obvious question, even though there was an obvious answer. Stick to the reason they were here. "If they start firing more gas directly at us, huddle around me. I can probably keep us alive for a while. Or until it gets me, at least." She'd never had the chance to test out how her power and toxic gases mixed.

Sun moved back to stand beside Klausen, even under the sudden stress he still remembered the mission. "I got you, sir," he assured to billionaire as he stretched his limbs, preparing for possible combat though he hoped that the already heavy security and the presence of so many veteran heroes would be enough to deter any assailants.

There was a second canister of gas fired by the time Atom's approach forced the person in the window to retreat, and at this point, Ursula was struggling to come up with a plan. "Uh... Stay away from the gas," she said, stating the obvious practically. They didn't know what the gas was but there was no way it was good considering some enemy was firing it on them from above. "There's a crowd out front so we can't exactly get out that way, the exit to the main road that we turned on heading in here is blocked-"

"Parking lot to the north, on the opposite side of the stage and the crowd," said Aubrey, the DRMA agent, thinking quicker and coming up with a route of escape. "Not as crowded but we'd have to head across the gas if we want to get there. Someone get Klausen into one of the trailers, it will be safer in there for now. Everyone else, form a perimeter outside of the gas and watch to see who isn't avoiding it," she added, her instructions fast and snappy. In a time like this, it was what they needed. "We should have covering fire as soon as it becomes clear what we need to cover."

As she said that, however, it became clear that there were some members of the crowd who weren't fleeing, but rather, putting on gas masks. They looked normal enough. Until they opened up their bags, put on gas masks, and picked up high caliber battle rifles. They looked like girls, probably younger than the Guardians team, but it made perfect sense... Sneaking backstage would be far easier for them than it would be for hired guns that looked the part. And before the heroes would be able to react to them, the ground in front of Ursula was raked by gunfire.

"Damn it! We're boxed in!" she shouted, growing frustrated quickly and losing her head from the fact that they had the stage and a crowd behind them, a fleeing crowd blocking off the exit next to them, and gas and gunfire keeping them from doing anything about the apparent enemy in front of them.

And their second-in-command was... Just as incompetent. Powers didn't always fall to the most tactically-minded people, it seemed, but at least someone had a plan. She'd ducked behind one of the crates at the sound of gunfire, cursing her lack of any ranged weapons or powers or the ability to close the distance without dying to a hail of bullets. Alright, okay. Behind on the other side of the stage was a panicking crowd, the plaza in front was filled with a panicking crowd, hostiles and toxic gas.

So... Well, she'd just follow Aubrey's lead on this. She hadn't had time to memorise the layout of the local area or really get a good look at any of it.

[Doughertania]

Samson Bastani

“The person that ran out of the room is the person that was responsible for operating the simulation. Her designation is Rook, and she’s responsible for more than just that… Or she will be when we officially clear her for activities, at least. It’s hard to explain exactly what Rook does, and there’s still some red tape around this subject, so again, it shouldn’t go outside of this room for now. But the truth is that Rook’s body is what you could call… Special. It allows her to control the processing power of the AI system, in a way that would require a number of normal operators to do. However, there’s still some things to work out with this,” Bastani stated, speaking carefully and picking the right words.

“Rook can also prove to be troublesome at times,” Bastani said, gesturing towards the window. “She was meant to run a simulation to test the quick reactions and the physical skills of the participants. While the test did begin as that, the spike in difficulty and the addition of enemies as well as the change to allow the participants to feel pain is not something that was planned. Obviously, with how dangerous the Providence system could be in the wrong hands, you can see why it’s concerning that Rook thinks it’s acceptable to act outside of her orders. As a result of today’s test, we intended to sever her bond with the AI once again, robbing her of her ability to control it. Something that we knew from the beginning she would fight, which is why the security team arrived.”

Bastani pointed towards the guards that were still on this floor as they waited for orders to head elsewhere, still brandishing FAMAS rifles. “I assure you that her body can stand up to gunfire. It may not be the most pleasant option, but if Rook didn’t want to be apprehended, apprehending her peacefully is just about impossible. You all saw what she did, after all, and that was with live fire. Trying to catch her otherwise is just an impossible task, something that everyone here should realize. But the next time you see her, I’m sure, some of her… Problems, will be smoothed out.”

Evelyn Morrow
Out of the Matrix
Evelyn listened carefully to her instructor, doing her best to keep her expression neutral. He didn't appear to be lying, but he certainly wasn't telling them the whole truth. And the way he talked about Rook was strange, especially the part about having her problems sorted out. Was he implying brainwashing? Reeducation or psychic indoctrination? In any case, Samson didn't speak about Rook as a student in need of a reprimand, but a tool that was malfunctioning. She could understand the need to keep things secret, especially in front of young, untrained, and impressionable heroes, but the way he described Rook made her uneasy, especially coming from someone who she was suppose to trust

Convinced she wasn't going to get any new information about the girl, and doing her best to stay respectful to her teacher, she nodded her thanks and left the group. Gathering her things, she let out a small, tarantula-sized creature from her bag, letting it crawl up her arm and onto her shoulder. The Bubbler chittered happily, glad to be near its mother once more. Patting it absentmindedly, she looked around at the remain students. She'd been trying to make friends with her fellow trainees, and figured she'd find someone to walk with as she returned to her room.

As she made her headcount, she noticed a shoe sticking out from under one of the desks. Curious, Evelyn knelt beside the desk, finding herself face to face with an anxious-looking Lora. She must of ducked for cover when the security forces opened fire. With a reassuring smile, Evelyn extended a hand to the worried girl. "It's alright Lora, the danger's gone. They're not going to hurt us."

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Lora, Dichotomy
Floor 32, Guardians Building, Angel Village
June 16th, 2024

---

"I... I know that..." Lora whispered as she tried to control her breathing, "Th-Thank you Evelyn... But she d-doesn't know that. I can feel her. I can feel her... I can feel her bloodlust. S-She's so close. I just... I just need some time... Some time to allow my body and mind to slow down. Time to just focus my thoughts... Just until she's no longer trying to take control. The feeling of my back against a corner just helps with that..."

After a few more moments, Lora's body seemed to relax a bit and her breathing returned to normal. It was only then that she reached out for Evelyn's hand and took it. Once she took the hand and left the spot where she was hiding, she gave Evelyn a little smile. "Thank you. I... I was able to keep her away for once..."

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Kana Kaleikaumaka, Gyges
Floor 32, Guardians Building, Angel Village
June 16th, 2024

"I had an idea of who he was." Kana spoke and looked at Klara before looking away and chuckling, "Obviously you don't know much about my namesake, Gyges. Gyges was one of the three Hecatoncheires, or Hundred-Handed Ones, of Greek Mythology. They were said to have one hundred hands, and fifty faces. So, can I create a leg? No. Only arms and hands."

With that she sighed, "I guess I can join you... got nothing else to do right now anyways."

Klara Jönsson

Klara thought it was a shame that had not come up with a solution to Kana's mobility issues, but then Kana had likely done some experimentation in that area. Klara imagined the other girl creating a hundred arms in every direction to propel herself like a ball and had to fight back a laugh, which would likely be considered disrespectful. She did not think that they had achieved anything like the friendly intimacy required for such thoughts to be considered harmless to the beginning of their relationship, so that would have to remain a secret thought.

She walked along side of Kana, as the crippled girl wheeled her chair. She did this because her father had quoted something attributed to the philosopher, Albert Camus: "Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

In a short while they reached Klara's apartment, with Kana's place not far away, in the same hall. Klara invited the girl in and suggested a place at her table while Klara went to brew the coffee and plate the toscakaka. It was quite pretty, almost a shame to cut, but one couldn't eat their cake and have it, likewise one couldn't make an omelet without breaking eggs.

"Kana, how to you take your coffee?" asked Klara. "Do you like it black, or maybe with sugar and some cream?"