Heroes of Tomorrow Redux [IC | DONE]

[Theyra]

Jack Dredd

"Cool. Let's head out; if you're looking for a photo op, may I siggest the beaches? I saw them a bit earlier; absolutely beautiful."

Jack was happy. Off to explore, a friend by his side. Truly a dream after the batterings he'd taken the past month or two.

"Or, if you're hungry, I spotted a few decent looking restaurants?"

"I do plan on visiting the beaches later, right now I just want to see the island and I am not hungry at the moment". Zekulu walked outside and stepped back to get a good view of the hotel. He took a picture with his camera, the hotel was nice and might as well have his first pic be the hotel that they are staying at. He placed his camera back into his pocket and just looked around for a bit. This was nice and with some company, he was bound to forget what happened in Saudi Arabia. Hopefully at least and he went to join with Jack as they started to walk around. He remembered some details about Jack, like what his powers were and other stuff he remembers from their mission in New York City. Come to think about it, this is probably the few times he will get to know someone at the Angel's Village. He did not mind the solitude from people and it felt nice to talk to someone once in a while. Zekulu turned his head to Jack as they walked, "so Jack how have things been for you back at home base? Okay, I hope."

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

"Well... above all, it's been interesting. I've had a lot more excitement on the 2 missions I've been on than half my vigilante career. I'm gonna be honest, I'm worried about Chicago. I grew up there, you know? But I'll just have to hope it works out. What about you? Been having a good time?"

Jack hadn't had the opportunity to just talk in a while. It was quite nice, letting little things off his chest.

[Skaldia]

Elias Naan - Reaper
Moscow, Russia

The target was just leaving the opera house and it was about bloody time, if you were to ask Elias Naan. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, the renowned nuclear physicist Author Brom. Mr. Brom was a leading figure in the study of fusion technologies and was making a name for himself in Eastern Europe. Within a few years his scientific papers might earn him a Nobel Peace prize.
However, he was not the target.

The woman on his arm was.

Elias Naan had been learning all he could about the metahuman known as the Muse.
It had taken six months to identify her. That had only after been VI-TAC-SEC had noticed an odd string of peculiar scientific or artistic breakthroughs occurring in Eastern Europe. They had traced it all back to an unregistered metahuman codenamed the Muse by VI-TAC-SEC. Apparently she had the ability to inspire individuals. The limits of this power was unknown. However, if Arthur's breakthroughs in nuclear physics was anything to go by, it was a powerful one.

Normally, an unregistered metahuman would be prime material to be snatched up by STU and sent to the Institute or kept in one of dozens of black sites that VI-TAC-SEC owned for just this kind of purpose. However, she had proven elusive and always operated in public spaces. It had been deemed that if there was no way to bring her in, she would have to be terminated as it was only a matter of time before another organization noticed her.
If VenIN could not control the Muse, no one could.

And so that's how Elias found himself standing on a cold, Moscow night smoking a cigarette and standing outside the opera house. He was lucky as most traffic had cleared and this part of the streets had no visual surveillance systems he had to worry about. He had at first thought about plugging the broad in the opera house as the noise and theatrics and music would go a long way to canceling the noises of a gunshot. However, he had changed his mind as drone surveillance had told him that traffic was clearing on the outside streets as the night deepened.

The play had held a packed house. Luckily, it was mostly couples or singles filtering away in the long night. Elias held back in the shadows and watched, almost touched, as Arthur and the Muse began trekking down the sidewalk beneath the dusky lights on the beautiful, almost picturesque Moscow night. Thinking about it, Elias could have called in STU and they could have snatched her on this very night. However, it had taken Elias thirty seven hours to pin her down and he was tired of eating the shitty Russian food and drinking vodka.
He followed fifty meters behind, a blot of darkness in the snowy evening.

He was closing in after they had turned the road, moving to within twenty meters of his target when an angry buzz announced his private phone ringing. Cursing, he halted and removed his phone from the vest pocket of his jacket.
"Go." He answered
"Abort mission. Proceed to Echo-78. You'll be briefed during trans-po." The line went dead and Elias cursed loudly as he dropped the phone and crushed it beneath his shoe heel. A day and a half of reconnaissance, on the cusp of completion, and he's pulled to another mission. Walking quickly away, he instead turned his anger to moving off the streets and towards the eta level facility he had been tasked to head to.

---

Twelve hours later
Pyongyang, North Korea

The plane bumping on the tarmac was enough to awaken the sleeping Elias. He didn't have to look through his window to know he was touching down in Pyongyang. Sighing softly, he pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache threatened to slide in. It was going on two days since he had seen his little ones and he was beginning to miss them. Emilia had been unconcerned. She was used to him being out on work for long periods of time. But Jason and Erica were just beginning to get old enough to wonder where their dad was going. It hit Erica particularly hard; she would cry every time he headed towards the door and it would just break his heart to step away from her. A frown. She might not understand now, but what he did would set up his family for generations to come.
Sacrifices meant absolutely everything.

He had reviewed the operation files sent to him on the way over the cold Siberian wastes. The stealth plane had been one of few developed by VecIN but like everything else designed by the corporation, it was flawless in it's design, able to stay off the radar of advanced Russian fighter planes as it entered North Korean airspace.
He had whistled when he had run over his mission parameters. Before he had been contracted by VecIN, he had never done these sort of diplomatic overtures before. However, due to the reclusive and secretive founder of VecIN, he had become quite adept at dealing with these sort of corporate deals. He had had to clench his teeth as he realized just exactly what VecIN intended to do with the North Korean government but he wasn't about to make a stink about it either. For this contract, he was being promised a bonus of half a million after completion.

The plane taxied to a stop and Elias stood up from his seat and stretched his legs. He had changed to a simple, but expensively cut, black suit with red silk tie and hand stitched Italian dress shoes. He was not allowed to wear a weapon and that had made him feel incredibly naked. He wasn't about to risk the mission though by trying to sneak a blade past North Korean security, especially when he was aware of just how important this particular deal was to Mr. Kruger.
Despite that, it still felt like he was stepping into a hornet's nest. His father had been of South Korean descent and had held some bitter opinions on the North Koreans before the Swarm War had claimed his life.

The North Koreans employed impressive metahumans and the last thing Elias wanted to do was get noticed by them. After all, he'd killed far too many of them and for some, that was a crime worse than anything one was capable of.

It was just after four in the afternoon in North Korea. It was a muggy, humid afternoon, the smell of rain heavy in the air as he stepped down the airplane stairs, lugging a heavy suitcase with him. It contained detailed briefings on just what VecIN would put in to developing what the North Koreans needed to achieve their goals.
As he watched, a group of Koreans began to approach him. Swallowing, he put on his best businessman's face and went to meet them.

[Forest State]

---

Arc Three: The Valley of Death

---

Time Skip
July 3rd, 2024 (Sunset)

---

“She was the one with the broken smile
Now that's done, she was the one
She was the one that was worth my time
Now that she gone, I know that I'm wrong
She was the one with the broken smile
Now that's done, she was the one
She was the one that was worth my time
Now that she gone, I know that I'm wrong…”

The room was pretty dark and empty as the sun started to go down at the resort, and one person sat at the desk by the window. Bellamy had told Sage to head away for now and to spend the time with Kodiak and Shyla and the other newcomer that had shown up, Elex. They were out getting dinner, somewhere, or maybe they had already finished that and they were doing something else, and Bellamy was catching up on some things that she had to do. Or at least, that was what she had said to Sage. She had her headphones on, her laptop on the desk but set to the side as she had some sheets of drawing paper in front of her, an ink pen in her hand as she worked on something, anything, to distract her from the things that were stuck in the back of her mind.

The numbers. The fucking numbers.

Like a throbbing headache, she couldn’t get rid of them completely, she could only ignore them. Couldn’t get them out of her head, just get them to go away for a little bit before she thought about them again eventually. She gripped on the pen tighter as she felt the numbers coming back to the front of her mind. But the thing was, she had a bit of a morbid fascination with them, as much as she hated them, she couldn’t stop herself from running the numbers. And with her ability, her ties to the Guardians’ AI system, and access to more processing power than possibly anyone else… She could simulate what would take thousands of hours for someone else.

She could look at things from every angle. Run every possibility. And the power was intoxicating, even if she hated it.

“Give me some time and I will make you mine again, yeah
Give me a line so I can write you a line again, yeah
Give me some time and I will make you mine again, yeah
Give me a line so I can write you a line again, yeah…”

Suddenly, Bellamy’s hand tightened on the pen and it exploded, the glass not hurting her much but ink spilling all over the page. She sighed, slumping back and taking in the sound from her headphones without moving or making a noise of her own as she looked at the ruined image, one that was hyper-detailed and showed her own smiling face next to another one. Sage. Except, the ink had spilled on most of Sage’s face, and her eyes were now not visible, almost as if the photo had been censored. It was a bit fitting, reflecting the situation that Bellamy was thinking of.

Because as into Sage as she was, she knew that it wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen. It couldn't happen. It wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t fated to happen. And even with her power, how could she fight what was written so clearly? Would it be right of her to even fight with this when everything that she looked at told her that it just wasn’t going to work the same way as… As the other things that she saw when she looked into the metaphorical crystal ball? She had everything to help her in figuring this out… Some of the most powerful computing in the world, neural networks of the likes of which hadn’t been seen before, deep learning, and she was constantly feeding it new information.

That was her one purpose in life, wasn’t it? To take the mass of raw power that was the Providence AI and act as the brain that was controlling it, the face that others saw, the mouth that related all of the info to other people in a way that they could understand and work with? The one that would direct the powerful AI on which sims to run and how to run them, the one that would add a more ‘human’ element and show the most powerful computer system in the world just how to use the innate power that it held? The proverbial general behind an army, a director above a large company, a beastmaster controlling a monster that was far too large for most?

And right now, those simulations, those numbers, they were telling her to back off. Telling her that she was only priming herself for heartbreak. That it would be worse the longer she stayed in because… They weren’t made for each other like she thought they were. Even if she had ironically been the one to encourage Sage to get out more and spend more time with other people to get used to being in this world. Because she cared about Sage, she really did, she wasn’t sure why she did since at a base level it wasn’t the most logical thing, and someone like her usually acted on logic. It was hard to not act based on logic when you had access to numbers that most people couldn’t imagine. Probabilities on small things, neural networks that could practically read a mind and tell what someone was going to do before they ever moved their body or even said anything, just based on watching their past actions and feeding it into an algorithm which only improved over time.

And all of the improvements from watching everyone around the Young Guardians Program and even some people outside of it had made Bellamy very good at reading people. Made it easy for her to see who fit together well and who didn’t, and for her to see how compatible she herself was with someone… As friends or otherwise. So why was she so upset about Sage? It didn’t make sense. She didn’t know why she cared about Sage this much when Sage wasn’t different from any of the others in the Program.

She didn’t know why she had the desire to look after Sage. It couldn’t be because Sage had a bad background. There were others that had backgrounds that were just as bad and she didn’t care for them any more than she cared about others, and it couldn’t be because of looks since there were plenty of others who were just as good looking or more and they didn’t receive any favoritism from her. Was it because Sage was nice to her? But there were others than had been nice to her too and she hadn’t done anything different because of it, such as Dagon. The entire thing… It perplexed her.

She stared at the ruined drawing once again, the one where the spilled ink from her broken pen was now covering much of Sage’s face, leaving only her perfect representation of herself as the visible part of the drawing. And it wasn’t that hard for someone like her to draw herself perfectly, with her memory and her enhanced coordination and dexterity, really. It was ironic, really. The picture had been a happy one, showing both her and Sage smiling, but… Her thoughts right now were anything but happy. They were angry. They were sad. They were broken. But they weren’t happy. They were pretty fucking unhappy, in fact. She was feeling every emotion but happiness right now, practically.

Because she could only ignore the truth for so long. And she had reached the limit for that. No more could she just ignore… Ignore what everything else was telling her.

She reached for one of her other pens and dipped it into the ink before making a quick slash over the piece of paper that was in front of her, drawing a straight black line over her own eyes which expanded once the ink hit the paper. This one was much more intentional looking than the accidental censor on the other half of the image, where random spots of ink had fallen to cover up the eyes.

And then she stood up, kicking the chair across the room. She didn’t know why she was doing it but she had to take things out somehow. She started walking away but she stopped at the table, reaching for the gun that was there. A Glock 45 pistol, which she had been carrying with her just in case anything happened to kick off. Not that she had imagined that it would, but she was now glad that she had brought it because she could think of one good use for it, but- No. She wasn’t going to let herself think of that. It wouldn’t solve anything, it would just end up hurting her, hurting Sage, and not helping any of them. If she was going to do something like this, there had to be… Some kind of net gain for someone. Either her, or someone else, but she wouldn’t do something like this where both parties would suffer for nothing gained.

She turned the pistol towards her own face, but she couldn’t bring herself to put her finger on the trigger. What would this even do? She knew the thing wouldn’t kill her. Not completely, anyway. She wasn’t normal like that, she knew she wouldn’t be able to take the easy way out like some people. But why did she even care enough to think about this? Why did she even care enough to think about this? Why did she even care enough to think about this? Why did she even care enough to think about this? Why did she even care enough to think about this? Ẃ̫̲͙̥̻̥h̪̗y̵ ̴͇͙̼̭̗̯ḏi̲͓̝͎̦d̜͕̝͎̘ ̬s̭̖̹̕h̹e̤̭͖͓̬ ̟̟͍͇̘̪͙͢e̞̭̫̪̙͚̻v͘e͕ͅǹ͉̠͙̞̦̫ ̨̮͚̟̘c̵̝a̱͖͔̫̥͔̠r̘͇̫̥͎̰̪e ̥͢en̠̙̥̙̮̹ͅo͇͓͙̼̞ư͍̼g̀h ̵̺̜t̖̹̩̩͖ͅo͓̩͔͓̱͘ ̱̹̳͎̼̮̥t̟͔̙͈͖ẖ͖̙̩̲͢i̴͇͎n͍̯͈̰̰k̟̱͉̗͝ ҉̹a̵̮̦̲̰̯b̛̫̞̪̮̝̜̹o̠̥̞͕u͈̟t͙͇̖̘̼ ̴̞ṱ͈͞h̩̹̤͞i͕̦s̡̙̺̲͎?̸̘̪̲̩̻̟̻ W͇̗̯̮͝ͅh̗͎̱̳͔̘̜̯͞y̷̷̴͖̮̺ ̸̧̞̯͈̲͔̻̀d̛͖̭ͅi̭̙̳̠̖̣d̥̖̞̞͍͉̪́ ̨̞̗̬ͅs҉͏̹͉̙̺̗͙h̷̰̯͔͘e̵̡̬̥̞̘̮̟ͅ ̖̲̘̟͖̝̣ͅe̻̦̠͇̙̮͘ͅv͎̟̦̝̠̮̲̀͠͡e̶̳̮͍̮̗̟̣͟n̢̗̟͎̼̤͕͎ͅ ̹̖͕̀c̢͈̖̩̫̮͘a̷̵͙̺͇̳͙͇̹͟r͞҉̥̻̠̮͚̠̯̯e̵̗̖̰͇ ͈͎̖̺̯̞̺͝e̬̳͡n̛͉̘̭͓̮̥͡o̫͕̻͇͢͡u̧̢͚̮͔̭͝g̶̸͈̝h̵҉̢̻͎̤̺̬̼͓ ̷̗̻͖̠̮̦͕̮͓t͉̯͡o̙̹̺̫͙͙ ̴̨̙̪̥͇ͅt̹͍͔́́̀h̵̶̠̮̥̟̼̲͡i̡̦͘͝n͇̭͕͕̰̥͢͡ͅk̪̻͈͓͞ ҉̷̦͕͓̤͈͕̝̝̮a̘̩b̝̼̼̘̞͢ͅo͍̣͢u͕̪̲͙̳̖̳͕t͉̘͇͇͖̼͟͡ ̪t҉͖̻͢h̗͕͞i̠̠̖͢s̰͘?҉̸̻̱͙̝ͅ W͇̗̯̮͝ͅh̗͎̱̳͔̘̜̯͞y̷̷̴͖̮̺ ̸̧̞̯͈̲͔̻̀d̛͖̭ͅi̭̙̳̠̖̣d̥̖̞̞͍͉̪́ ̨̞̗̬ͅs҉͏̹͉̙̺̗͙h̷̰̯͔͘e̵̡̬̥̞̘̮̟ͅ ̖̲̘̟͖̝̣ͅe̻̦̠͇̙̮͘ͅv͎̟̦̝̠̮̲̀͠͡e̶̳̮͍̮̗̟̣͟n̢̗̟͎̼̤͕͎ͅ ̹̖͕̀c̢͈̖̩̫̮͘a̷̵͙̺͇̳͙͇̹͟r͞҉̥̻̠̮͚̠̯̯e̵̗̖̰͇ ͈͎̖̺̯̞̺͝e̬̳͡n̛͉̘̭͓̮̥͡o̫͕̻͇͢͡u̧̢͚̮͔̭͝g̶̸͈̝h̵҉̢̻͎̤̺̬̼͓ ̷̗̻͖̠̮̦͕̮͓t͉̯͡o̙̹̺̫͙͙ ̴̨̙̪̥͇ͅt̹͍͔́́̀h̵̶̠̮̥̟̼̲͡i̡̦͘͝n͇̭͕͕̰̥͢͡ͅk̪̻͈͓͞ ҉̷̦͕͓̤͈͕̝̝̮a̘̩b̝̼̼̘̞͢ͅo͍̣͢u͕̪̲͙̳̖̳͕t͉̘͇͇͖̼͟͡ ̪t҉͖̻͢h̗͕͞i̠̠̖͢s̰͘?҉̸̻̱͙̝ͅ

There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹ W̤͜h̻̖͍̀ͅọ̧s̗ẹ͖ ͚̟h̤͔̮̺͙͈a̛͈n̷̠͇͙̜̟ͅd̛̤̥͕?̥̰̰̘̹

“Bellamy…” said a voice coming from behind her. Her own voice. Her own voice. Her own voice. But not her voice. Not her voice. A different voice. A darker voice. But also a softer voice. A tempting voice. A treacherous voice, most importantly. The kind of voice that all her experience had told her not to listen to and yet right now the only thing she wanted to do was listen to the voice and everything it had to say. She wanted to listen to the voice. She wanted to listen to the voice. She wanted to listen to the voice.

Bellamy turned around and found herself looking into a pair of eyes that were just like her own and yet they were a bit more… Human. She wasn’t sure why it was. Maybe it was because these eyes were more experienced, the eyes of someone that had spent a lot more time around people and become used to their ways. As if she knew that she wasn’t normal but she had worked around it, something that Bellamy herself, the real Bellamy, was still working on.

Her attire was a bit different too, as she wore a black leather jacket and a grey shirt underneath, the jacket decorated with a couple of pins such as an ironic yellow smiley face, where the irony mainly came from the fact that the person standing in front of her was, well, anything but happy at the moment, at least in the traditional sense. There was a smile on her face but it was more like the smile of a predator, someone that was used to eating things alive. Not things. People. The person in front of her had the smile of a predator, someone that was used to eating people alive.

“The way I see it,” the other Bellamy said, the one with darker hair and a darker outfit and a generally darker demeanor, but still just like the original that was standing across from her in basically every way. “You have two options here. You can either do what they want you to do and you can show them that you’re fangless, that you aren’t going to do anything, that you’re harmless and won’t turn on the people that hold your leash. Or you can decide that you care more about your own goals and you’ll realize that you can’t do anything with those goals until you break your chains, either immediately or down the line.”

The dark Bellamy paused, chuckling. “Actually, I’m getting ahead of myself. The breaking your chains, that would only come later. Really, what I’m trying to say is that you have two options here. You can just roll over and accept what the numbers tell you. You can accept what you call destiny and what I would call the narrative. Or you can do something that’s not expected of you and you can fight back. You can fight for yourself, you can fight for what it is that you want. For who it is that you want. You have more power than anyone else would like to tell you, you can use it. There’s little they can do to stop you if you-”

She paused again. “I’m getting ahead of myself once again. Let me put things simpler, and focus on what you’re thinking about right now, instead of some abstract ideas off in the future. I’m saying that you can fight, and that if you feel like it, you can just, well, get rid of your competition. You think you wouldn’t be able to do it? Think again. I’m sure you know it deep down, how strong you are-”

“I’m not doing that,” Bellamy, the original Bellamy that is, said as she backed up slightly from the darker and edgier version of herself that was easing towards her, walking slowly and silently but still gaining ground until they were standing nose to nose. “That’s not… That’s not what I’m supposed to do. My father always tells me that I’m meant to help people, not use my abilities for… For what? For myself and my own interests-”

Dark Bellamy gave her a hard shove, sending her sprawling backwards. She continued approaching, standing over the original Bellamy and looking down at her, the same predatory smile on her face. She was so carefree about all of this, as if it was nothing. As if she was even enjoying this exchange despite the nature of it. “Who even are you?” asked the first Bellamy, backing away without turning away from her opponent or getting up. Somehow the other Bellamy had been able to throw her back like she was nothing, despite her strength.

“You could call me something of a phantom or maybe an apparition, maybe a poltergeist, fact of the matter though is that I’m a part of you whether or not you want to admit it,” said the Dark Bellamy. “I could be your best friend or I could be your worst enemy, just so happens that I felt like giving you good advice. Are you going to follow it and benefit yourself? Take what you want? Snap the chains that are so clearly around your neck? Or are you just going to go back to your life and watch the stuff that you care about so much slip away? You don’t know what it’s like to care about something so much that you’d consider putting that pistol to your head, do you? Well, I mean, I guess you do now. And you’re just going to let that thing, or should I say, that person, slip out of your grasp…”

“You know that I’m not meant to use my abilities the way that you’re saying… I break the rules plenty. But when I break the rules I don’t do it to hurt people. If anything, I try to help them even if it’s… Even if it’s in my own way and not everyone appreciates it,” the original Bellamy said finally, forcing herself back to her feet and turning her head towards the door. “I don’t want your advice. I don’t want your help. You’re… You’re only going to get me in trouble, make me do things that-”

“You think that you can get rid of me, that’s cute,” said the Dark Bellamy, stopping the other Bellamy in her tracks as she ran to leave. Because as much as she didn’t like her advice, she wanted, no, she needed, to hear what she had to say. For some reason, there was just a strange draw to it. Maybe she had more to her argument than Bellamy had thought initially, because there was just something reasonable about everything she said, at least to Bellamy. Even if she wanted to be able to say that she hated the idea. “You’re going to get the advice whether you like it or not. Because you want to know something funny? Something really funny?”

“What,” growled Bellamy, not even raising her voice at the end of the word to pronounce it as a question, but instead keeping her tone a low hiss. She wasn’t in the mood for this, but if the other Bellamy had information, then… She couldn’t resist taking it. Information was something she was always after, she didn’t care what the source was.

“Everything that I’m telling you about right now, every piece of advice that you reject because of your masters, everything that you say would be immoral, and that you can’t do… These are all things that you yourself have come up with. Who do you think you’re looking at right now? Why do you think that I have this form, that I appear as you? Because I am you, regardless of what you want to say otherwise. Why do you think my abilities can dominate yours? Because you’re fighting a battle with yourself, one that you aren’t going to win. The depths of your mind are mine, sweetheart. I was here first. Just because you don’t remember it… Doesn’t mean that it’s not true. And when they tried to kill me off, you’d better believe that I gained experience from it all. Enough experience to hit back harder than they ever hit me.”

The other Bellamy gritted her teeth and took another couple of steps towards the door before stopping once again, her fists clenched at her side and her head lowered, her hair casting a shadow over her face. “Tell me,” she said. “What the hell is it that you want…”

Dark Bellamy just replied by spinning the other Bellamy around, reaching for her phone and taking a snapshot of the room, looking through her contacts for a moment and finding the right one before sending the image to Sage, showing her the broken chair and the spilled ink and the picture which had been ruined, the ink now mostly dry on the sheet of paper by now, as well as Bellamy’s headphones which had been thrown on the table at some point, and the broken bits of glass from the pen. She knocked the bottle of ink over at the same time, just for added measure, just before taking the picture, and then she sent it off to Sage.

And it had a rather simple text message to go with it. Just two words.

“Your fault.”

---

Night Whispers

Another day, another mission. That was what it was like for a hero in a major Guardians team and the Young Guardians would have to get used to it, and the idea that a vacation could be interrupted at pretty much any time if one was needed somewhere and there were no others to respond closeby. In this case, there was an incident that was only fifteen to twenty minutes away from Cagliari that needed responding to, and there had hardly been any preparation or time to gather a team. They had been told that they needed to move NOW. Because in this case, the Guardians were competing with just about everyone else and being there first was important.

That was because in a matter of an alien craft crashing into Earth, especially one that was confirmed to not be any known type of Swarm vessel, and quite possibly one belonging to an enemy of the Swarm, every faction in the world wanted their hands on it. There was a lot to potentially be gained. Technology was one, but there was also the idea of making first contact with an alien species that might even possibly be an ally rather than an enemy. Or finding something that was left over from an empty crash site which could prove valuable. NATO wanted to be there, and the Guardians had agreed that NATO could check out the crash site and that they wouldn’t object, but it didn’t mean they weren’t sending their own team also to look into the incident.

Ainsley was the leader of the team being sent off to the crash site, which was made up of the Young Guardians because sending in the closest team from the Italian mainland, or from France, would take too long. Here, being first was important, as they were competing with their allies. Ainsley was leading the team, and she was finishing with recapping the situation to the others as they travelled.

“We’re headed to a crash site for an alien vessel which was apparently being pursued by two Swarm interceptors before appearing here. It went off the radar but appeared to crash in Sardinia according to reports from NATO IADS, and we’re headed there to check it out before they can. If we run into people from the Italian military or NATO in general, we’re supposed to play nicely, but also hold our ground and try to make sure that any gains from this end up benefiting the Guardians before any other organizations. For example, if there’s any survivors, we would want them to come with us rather than them. However, the rules of engagement are to not attack unless attacked first. That goes for both hostile aliens and for any other organizations that get testy with us.”

They landed by the tree line, not far from where the wreckage was, in a field. “Alright everyone, come on,” said Ainsley, leading the small team out of the VTOL. They were about six hundred meters away from the wreck but one of the first things that they would notice about it was that it was smoking and burnt, like it had just exploded. Whether it was an explosion after the landing or it had been detonated afterwards, Ainsley couldn’t be sure. “Although, it looks like there’s a good chance no one is alive. Come on...We’ll have to be careful about an after explosion, but we might as well go check the wreckage out for ourselves. I don’t see anyone down there.”

[Imperial--japan]

Kallen Rossweiss - Night Whispers

"One, two, three, pose!" Kallen shouted in her head as she tried her best after-combat victory pose with both of her handguns across her chest. It was important that she look impressive for anyone that they might come across. If anyone tried to get testy with the Young Guardians, White Comet would be there to put them in their place! She moved on to another pose with both her handguns stowed and both her hands on the grip of each. Despite the importance of her current practice, she was moved out of her vanity from a voice in her head.

"It might be best to listen to your briefing." It sounded just like her, but spoke as if she was someone else. Her eyes glazed over for a solid second before she nodded, ceasing her posing and giving field instructor Ainsley their full undivided attention. She mentioned a variety of situations from the crashed alien ship to possibly getting into a friendly scuffle with some of their allies. Well if the Guardians really wanted the alien ship so badly, it was very possible that some weenies would need to get knocked out if they weren't fast enough. Luckily, Kallen was an expert at incapacitating people in a relatively low pain manner.

"I'm sure it'll be fine! What're the odds we get even MORE hostile aliens? Our luck couldn't possibly be that bad!" Kallen remarked positively, practically skipping out of the VTOL without a care in the world, both her guns in each hand as she twirled around like she was in some old Magical Girl-esque anime and allowed a three pairs of yellow magical wings to generate at her back.

"Now, prepare to be impressed field instructor!" Kallen effortlessly jumped from the VTOL entrance into the air as she utilized her low level flying. She kept an eye out on anything that might be of interest to the team of Young Guardians, or maybe even an entrance on the top of the ship as she hovered above it, but did maintain watch for any possible further detonations she might have to warn her allies about. They were practically her children to the majestic White Comet after all!

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Jack stepped out of the VTOL, slightly irritated at having his vacation interrupted, but hey. Whatcha gonna do about it?

Stepping off the VTOL, following his hyperactive teammate, he moved to the aircraft.

"So, what exactly are we looking for here Ainsley? I'm not seeing any signs of life."

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Andrew shrugged at Sophia's comment on feeding his snakes. His concept of "seeing" was obviously different from everyone elses'. "I have no problem with it." Andrew said, "I have been feeding Rango when he was the Orphanage's pet long before I found myself able to see with snakes. Couldn't see a thing back then except maybe shadows. Still can't without my snakes. Smells, sounds and touches were and still are distinct though and Rango always talked to me and kept me company."

The serpentine-like man stroked the chin of his boa constrictor gently as he got up. He was feeling generous today and wanted to impress a girl if he could. "Anyway, I'll go check the lobby for my bag." said , "Wanna come with me for dinner? On me. Could use some one to vouch for me in case people start being uneasy. After all, I'm not exactly among the most handsomest guy if you know what I mean..."

[Forest State]

---

Night Whispers
This Post Will Have Consequences

---

The group was out of the VTOL quickly and headed towards the site of the wreck, which was now even more twisted and blackened by what looked like another explosion. Black smoke rose from the site and well, Ainsley could agree that it didn’t look like there was anyone there. At all. If anything, the best comparison for the site in front of them was one of those ghost ships where there were no people and there was just as husk left, such as the ones that had been abandoned with the drying up of the Ural Sea. It was just that kind of sight.

A bit creepy, but also a bit intriguing, but definitely eerie from the lack of, well, anything or anyone around the wreck site. They were here to see if there were survivors, among other things, but it didn’t look like they were going to find anything while they were here. “We’re looking for survivors but there might not be any. Still, there’s probably something to be learned from this and we don’t want to let it fall into the hands of anyone else. We want the Guardians to be the first ones to get our hands on anything and any info around here so we’re meant to investigate and put our claim down, so to speak,” Ainsley said to Jack as they walked towards it, her shield strapped to her arm.

She rolled her eyes slightly at Kallen acting hyperactive, but Kallen could act however she wanted as long as she was effective. And she seemed good enough when it came to performance from what Ainsley knew about her, she was slightly more experienced than most of the Section C members. When Kallen went into the sky, she would see that there was indeed an entrance near the back of the ship, which was sticking into the air at an awkward angle. While it was twisted just like the rest of the wreck, there was some kind of hatch that could be opened.

But it wouldn’t just be that easy, it rarely was just that easy. Not when things from out of this world were involved.

The world around them, it started to change. One moment, they had been standing in what was basically an empty field with trees surrounding it. The next moment, they were in the middle of what seemed like a dense forest, one that was… Blue. It was a bit darker, and more shadows were cast over the area, with a bluish glow coming not from the sun, but from the moon, which seemed to appear in the sky in an instant as if it hadn’t been sundown only a minute or so ago. It didn’t take a scientist to know that the moon didn’t replace the setting sun instantly like that. This forest, it also had what could be described as… A strange atmosphere, to say the least.

There was fog lowering the visibility drastically, and the wreck that had once been seen was nowhere to be seen. There were also trees now blocking the path that they had entered with. They were left with one option… Head forward and see if they could figure out where they were, exactly. “This… Could be some kind of complicated alien illusion, the Swarm are known to have mental based powers after all,” said Ainsley, taking a few steps forward. “I’m pretty sure there’s no one here, we should be fine. Come on, guys.”

There was a path leading deeper into the forest, and if they wanted to go forward, that was the one they would have to take. But they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it if they wanted. Suddenly, their radios were being strongly interfered with by something.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Well, this was a twist. Where were they? That was the million dollar question.

"Well, only forward to go. Let's move out; no point staying here."

He really didn't like the radios going out. Something was off here, he could feel it. Add that to the fact he couldn't see anything, and it was a recipe for unease.

[Endem]

Tadeusz Rybinski

"I have a bad feeling about this"

He said more to himself than to the people standing near, but they could hear it, definitely could, well what should they do, obviously follow Ainsley, and Tadeusz started to walk too, maybe just to be a smaller target he transformed into a cat

Elek Mohave

Elek noticed as it has become late, sunset, he got his new and at the same time only book and his towel and carried them to his and Jack's room, speaking of Jack, Elek noticed Jack has disappeared somewhere. Well, now Elek had nothing to do, maybe time to go to the gym or to Cagliari... Yes, Cagliari will be a better option, Elek took some money ( about 200$ ) and started to walk in the general direction to the city, maybe he will find someone to not be the only one in the city he knew, maybe...

[Forest State]

---

Night Whispers
This Post Will Have Consequences

---

They moved through the dark forest but the dark forest didn’t behave the same as it should. “Good to know we’re going to be down a man if we get into a fight, because someone decided to turn into a cat like a bitch,” said Serge, looking down at Tadeusz while trailing behind the rest of the group and taking up the rear, his hand on the edge of the high caliber pistol at his side in case anything kicked off. Not because they could see anything now, but because there was only about a hundred meters of visibility in front of them and less on the sides.

If something wanted to ambush them, they weren’t going to have that much time to protect themselves before the gap was closed. And if their enemy had ranged weapons and could see better than they could, it was certain that a few shots would be fired off before they even knew where it was coming from. Serge didn’t like it. “This is a bad situation… We don’t know what we’re dealing with here that could make the entire landscape change. Seems like a bad fucking idea heading forwards.”

“I don’t see a path out of this,” Ainsley fired back quickly, looking over her shoulder at her son. “So we’re going to see what we find if we keep going forward, better than just hanging around and seeing what happens.”

“And you’re not able to make any radio contact with the outside?”

“Too much interference, no idea what’s causing it but it’s definitely there.”

“Son of a bitch,” muttered Serge, drawing his pistol just in case. He didn’t really trust that there wouldn’t be trouble, time on the street said that anomalies like this almost always did result in that. Not that Serge had really been in a situation like this before. This was brand new, and that was the terrifying thing. They didn’t know how to deal with what they were looking at, because they didn’t know what it was that they were looking at here.

And then something appeared behind them. Fire. It appeared in front of them, too. It formed a ring, around the entire group, and they found themselves unable to move without crossing over the flames. Whether or not the flames hurt remained to be seen, but who wanted to be the one to test that out? It took a daring soul, especially when the reddish flames were about a foot and a half in height, as they formed the perfect circle that forced the group to stop. And in the distance, in the fog, there was something they hadn’t seen before….

A silhouette.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Well, this was some twilight zone level shit.

"Group up. Keep all viewpoints covered. I'm gonna try and get over that fire. Cover me."

With that, Jack walked forward. He reached the ring of flame, and stepped forward through it, eyes clenched shut.

[Lunas Legion]

Sophia Anya Rykova a.k.a Euclid

"Huh." Was all she said, shrugging. She couldn't imagine talking to animals, it just sounded... Distinctly odd and unnatural to her. But she was the one who twisted the laws of spatial relations and distance like it was nothing more than child's play, so she shouldn't really be complaining about things being unnatural. She couldn't imagine being blind either, well, if she'd been blind she'd probably have died long ago. Norilsk wasn't kind to those who could see, but being blind there? She'd have died for sure long, long ago.

"Just don't get any ideas about it being anything or whatever, da?" Sophia grumbled, rolling over. "And it depends where you find, but I'm not picky." You couldn't be picky out on the streets. Food was food, you ate it, no matter what it was or where it came from, and you just prayed you wouldn't die from whatever diseases you got from it. "I'll see you then."

[Imperial--japan]

Kallen Rossweiss - Night Whispers

Kallen's rush to find anything of use was unfortunately, a bust, but she was able to discover something that her superior might be interested in. It seemed to be a hatch near the back of the ship that would grant them access, and Kallen began to lower herself so she could inform Ainsley.

"Bingo, White Comet always delivers!" She thought to herself. After all, she believed she was likely the most effective and or strongest Young Guardian here. Unfortunately, the praise would have to wait as the landscape decided to shit the bed on the laws of physics and felt like completely shifting into something else.

"Awwwww COME ON?!?!" Kallen complained exceedingly loudly as the realization that this mission might take a bit longer hit her.

"I thought this was supposed to be something quick! Now we're stuck in...nasty old nature! Nobody can see how awesome I am out here except.....you guys I guess." She flashed a quick pose to see if she received any signs of adoration. As the group continued to move, Kallen continued to float and even attempted to see over the treeline at one point to only receive...well more trees. Descending so that she remained close to her comrades, she still maintained her slight float to avoid coming into contact with what she described as 'yucky nature'. She would draw her pistols at the appearance at the fire however, but held her current position, unsure of how to proceed.

"Uh...I don't think we have to cover you since it's just us and and the mysterious stranger over there-" she waves towards the figure, attempting to be friendly and polite. By then, Jack had marched forward already and she shrugged. Her orders were not to attack unless attacked, so she was content to stay back and make sure Jack didn't hurt himself.

"Stay safe now! You have no idea how much of a pain it is to patch you fellas up!" Kallen called out for Jack.

[Triassica]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Andrew frowned just slightly when Sophia reminded him that this dinner outing wasn't really anything, like a romantic relationship or even a friendship, and nodded in understanding. The snake man knew that he shouldn't really be surprised by this,having very little success in making friends as a child, more often being called a freak for his reptilian appearance and bullied by other children. Andrew was just glad that he had yet to get any of that from his peers in the Young Guardians, including Sophia, who most likely wasn't judging him either.

"Great! I was thinking we could do pizza." Andrew exclaimed with returned smile. He loved pizza and along with burgers, french fries and such. Despite his lanky and skinny appearance, the snake man was a big eater. "We're in Italy. So there must be countless places that have that, right? I'll go look for my bag first. I'll come back and we can go off together."

Rango moved his head towards the doorway and Andrew turned before walking out into the hallway of the hotel. His bag was indeed inside the lobby and wasted no time bringing it back into his room. "Here we go..." said Andrew, putting the bag onto his bed and going through it. It wasn't a big bag and it only had needed things like clothes, toothbrush & toothpaste and other necessities, along with mentioned food for his snakes.

"That's all good now." said Andrew as Rango turned towards Sophia, "You yourself ready to go?"

[Forest State]

---

Night Whispers
This Post Will Have Consequences

---

The ring of flames didn’t hurt Jack. Didn’t really register at all, even though the height and the intensity of the flames and the feeling of heat that was coming off of them for those that were standing inside the circle made it seem like there would be some kind of stronger effect for it. But that figure that was standing off in the distance in the fog was still there, and somehow it didn’t seem like that figure was good news. It was unmoving, watching silently as Jack approached, but there was still some distance before Jack would be close enough in the fog to see who or what the silhouette was.

“Hey, maybe we should wait up,” said Ainsley, but Serge spoke before she could finish that.

“Natural selection is a thing, if someone is going to walk into the mysterious stranger, I’m just glad one of us doesn’t have to be the one to test out whether the thing is dangerous or not,” Serge snarked, glancing at Kallen and then to Jack who was still walking forward towards the thicker thog where the figure was standing-

The fog was blown back suddenly, not by a natural cause but because of some kind of artificial power, or rather, the effect of some kind of special weapon. It looked like a lance, or maybe it was a type of spear, but whatever it was, it was sending gusts of air off the tip of it that were powerful enough to clear the area. And anyone walking towards it would be pushed back a bit by the force of the wind, or at least, most normal people would. Leaves were blown back, as were small rocks and pebbles, and pieces of dead wood and grass. The effect was like that of a leaf blower. But on a much larger scale.

And the fog getting pushed back from the lance revealed the figure that was holding the weapon, someone in grey body armor who looked anything but human. But not Swarm either. The Swarm were grey in appearance and this person… This person was blue, his black hair cut short but his face undeniably a deep blue, with darker dots on the cheeks and other parts of the face such as above and below the mouth and both eyes. This was someone of the likes of which hadn’t been seen before on this planet.

“Tell me,” said a male voice, coming from the figure that was standing in front of them, with the lance that was still blowing powerful winds in the direction of the incoming heroes. “What is your reason for being here? If you want to walk away, answer correctly.”

[Endem]

Tadeusz Rybinski

After what Serge said, Tadeusz turned into a tiger and growled, it wasn't meant to be hostile but more of, "Better?" Type of thing but if he understood him somehow, but that was very unlikely, he didn't have the time to think as a ring of fire appeared and Jack stepped into it, Tadeusz turned into a human form and said to others

"I can carry someone over the flames, let me just check one thing up there"

He then transformed into a Hawk and went over the fire to find one spot was surprisingly clear, around some kind of lance, no it wasn't the time to investigate, he returned back and transformed into himself again

"As I said I can carry someone over as some kind of Pterosaur, there is a lance in one spot that has no fog around it"

Elek Mohave

He did not meet anyone who he knew on his way to Cagliari and having no consultation about where to go whatsoever he went into the nearest place with a bar in its name and immediately regretted it, it was a bar for another kind of people and Elek ran from it as soon as he realized where he was. Elek needed another place to go and decided on some coffee shop, ordered a Cappucino ( not knowing how it tasted so he was very pleased when he tasted it ) and once again started to read "Dune" ( yes he took it with him )

[Imperial--japan]

Kallen Rossweiss - Night Whispers

Kallen's face grew confused a bit towards Serge's remark. "I may not of passed science enough to know what this Natural Selection thing is, but we wouldn't actually let him get hurt would we? That doesn't seem very heroish ya know. We have to look out for each other!" She proudly remarked, fully confident in the justiceness and truth of her words. When the fog cleared due to the gust of air, Kallen's attention shifted. Appearing was a blue-ish individual who seemed to start with questions.

"Well he certainly came out of the blue!" Kallen remarked, waiting for any cheers or laughter from her gathered crowd or fans before remembering that she was in bullshit nature. Maybe one of her allies found it funny however? None of that glory here. Kallen floated forward only by a few meters, taking care to keep ker handguns within her grasp, but not to aim them as to provoke hostility.

"Really though, ya kinda crashed on our planet! Obviously wasn't no shooting star so the proper authorities need to investigate, duh!" She stuck her tongue our playfully as if what she was explaining was the most obvious thing in the world.

"MORE IMPORTANTLY!!" She shouted and turned to her allies. "I told you no new aliens were gonna be hostile! So you're welcome for my blessing!" She did a little mock bow before turning back to the alien, her smile from being oh so very right still present.

"Seriously though, natures like really not my style. Can we go back to the burning ship or something." She casually requested.

[Durmatagno]

Sage Shields

Sage sipped her sweet drink, mostly staying quiet as she barely knew Shyla, didn’t know Elex, and didn’t want to get between them and reuniting with Kodiak. Still, it brought back old memories, some of the few good memories she had from Eclipse. In her pocket, she felt her phone buzz. For a second she considered ignoring it, not the interrupt the happy moment. Despite that, she pulled out her phone, not many people had her number, and she didn’t get many alerts. Huh, a message from Bellamy. That was something she actually should check. She opened it and froze. A cold, twisting feeling invaded her gut. She dropped her drink and rushed to her feet.

“I gotta run, something came up with Bellamy. I’ll see ya’ll later.”

Sage didn’t even wait for a responde, she just turned, and moved quickly away. She didn’t know what was wrong, or what had happened but she was going to find out. She put her phone back into her pocket before she could crack or break it in her anxious state. She tried to keep her head focused, not thinking about the more and more unlikely, and ever worse scenarios in her head. She avoided the elevator, taking stairs instead so that she could avoid the crowds and stares while she was in a rush.

She stopped in front of Bellamy’s door, and swallowed the fear, knocking on the door.

“Bellamy? What’s Wrong? Are you okay in there?”

She wasn’t going to force her way in, not yet anyway. She was going to see if Bellamy was going to let her in of her own accord. She tried to keep her worry down, but Bellamy was important to her, not worrying about her wasn’t easy. Sage didn’t like abandoning Kodiak and the others out of nowhere like that, but she was more worried about Bellamy.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

"What my... hyperactive, teammate says is true. We seek no conflict; we were simply investigating the crashed ship. I assume you were shot down by the swarm?"

Jack had a feeling his life might be in danger. He really hoped he didn't get disintegrated or something. It'd be an embarrasing end, to be sure.

[Forest State]

Bellamy "Rook" Lys

Bellamy had been standing in the middle of the room gathering herself and figuring out just what the hell had happened once the other version of herself left her and allowed her to be at peace again, in control of her own body, when there was a knock on the door and Sage showed up. Of course Sage had shown up even though it had only been minutes since she sent the picture. That was just the kind of person that Sage was. And that was part of why it was going to hurt to lose her, it wasn’t a matter of if it was going to happen but when.

“Sage…” she said after opening the door, looking surprisingly calm given the situation. Things were still a bit of a mess as she opened up, the things behind her still just as strewn around as they had been when she had taken the picture. Or when Dark Bellamy had taken the picture. She wasn’t sure what had really happened and she would need some time to process it all for herself. She didn’t know what was real, what had been the doing of herself, what had been… Something else. It wasn’t often that someone like her had no idea what reality was, and when it happened, the result was this: confusion.

“Let me start off by saying that I’m fine. I just had a little bit of a breakdown, that’s all. It’s not… It’s not your fault, I didn’t mean to say that, to accuse you of it,” she said, not finding her words instantly like she usually did. She was running them through her mind hundreds of times before she said each word, something she didn’t usually take the care to do. Because this time, she really cared how it came out.

She lowered her head as she turned her body towards the wrecked chair and the spilled ink on the table. “That was unfair. You… You don’t have to stay here and talk to me or anything, I’m going to be fine. Everything that went wrong… Has passed. And I don’t think I really want to talk about it, it’s kind of, um,” she continued, her voice not having the same confidence that it did in every other situation. “I guess you could say it’s kind of personal.”

[Durmatagno]

Sage Shields

Sage stepped forward, and hugged Bellamy, she knew by now just how tough Bellamy was, so she hugged her tight. She didn't care if whatever it was had passed, she didn't care if it was or wasn't her fault. Bellamy had had a breakdown, she wasn't acting like herself, and the room was still a mess. Whatever had happened had been serious, and even if she didn't want to talk about it, Sage wasn't going anywhere. Her girlfriend needed her here more than Shyla, Elex, or Kodiak needed her out there, and she didn't have any other friends to speak of, even if Shyla and Elex didn't count.

"You don't have to tell me anything, but I'm not going anywhere, I don't have anything else important to worry about, so I'm staying here."

Sage was firmer than she usually was, she generally gave Bellamy more wiggle room than that, but Sage wasn't going to go have fun, or sleep in her room, or anything else while she worried about Bellamy. She was going to stay here with her girlfriend, and make sure she stayed okay. Breakdowns happened, but Sage was going to do what she could to keep it from happening again.

[Forest State]

---

Night Whispers

---

Something stepped out of the tree line behind the others that were in the middle of the ring of fire, another figure, this one with a more feminine form and longer hair as well as a body that was thinner but still plenty in shape. That figure snapped her hand back, and caused the fire to disappear, allowing her to look directly at the group of heroes. However, she wasn’t visible through the fog behind the group, and on the other side, they still had to worry about the male with the lance. Because that male seemed to be the one doing the talking and negotiating here.

“Proper authorities? What the hell are you talking about, girl?” asked the male figure, in perfect English. Maybe it was because of alien technology, but there was no language differences here. If anything, the awkwardness came from the fact that the aliens could speak English in a flawless way that was better than that of a native speaker, pronouncing every syllable rather than speaking in a more colloquial manner. “As far as I know, you aren’t one of the wardens of this planet. And as far as I’m concerned, all of you are encroaching on us and we don’t owe you any answers.”

The female alien that was standing behind the group extended a weapon, a spear which started off small but has one side extend to a length of about seven feet before the other one did the same, forming a weapon that was longer and had a spearhead on each end for a total length of about fifteen feet. She gripped the middle of it with both hands, one of the points facing the heroes as if she was expecting some kind of attack.

“I don’t know what Swarm you’re talking about but we’re not being ‘investigated’ by a lower species. I’m telling you again, leave this place right now,” said the first figure, still holding the lance, which no longer had wind coming off of it but was still seemingly more capable than a regular weapon. An that alien figure leveled the lance towards the group in the same way the female counterpart did with the spear.

Bellamy “Rook” Lys

“Really, don’t let me be the reason that you don’t do something fun. I wouldn’t do that to you and you know it, and you can already see that I’m fine and that I’m… Not going to do anything regrettable,” said Bellamy, but she let out a soft sigh and turned around to walk back towards the desk once Sage released her from the hug. “But I can see that you’re not going to change your mind so whatever. Might as well make yourself comfortable or something if you’re insisting on staying.”

She stopped at the desk and picked up the piece of paper which was now stained by ink, the idea behind the original image now hard to see since some spots had been covered by so much. “Started making this for you, but well, it didn’t last through the breakdown either,” she said, letting Sage see before putting it back down. She went to the closet to find a towel and moved to start cleaning up the ink that was spilled on the desk, making a bit of a mess and probably leaving stains that would be hard to get out of anything.

And then in an instant, as she was reaching down to clean off the ink using the towel, something appeared in the corner of her eye. No, she appeared in the corner of her eye, but it wasn’t the regular her, it was the darker version of herself she had seen earlier. During the breakdown. The one she referred to in her mind as Dark Bellamy. As soon as the image came into view, she felt like she was out of control of her own body, and she slammed her fist through the table like it was nothing. Didn’t feel it either, despite her hand going all the way through and exiting through the wood.

“Motherfucker,” she cursed, pulling her hand out and staring down at it, in control of her body once again after seemingly only losing it for an instant. But why would her other side target her like this, taking control of her just for a moment?

[Lunas Legion]

Sophia Anya Rykova a.k.a Euclid

Sophia gave him a flat, unamused look as she sat up, swinging her legs around so that they were hanging off the side of her bed, her feet on the floor. "As ready as I'll ever be." She sighed as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head. She might as well get this over with, she was already greatly regretting to agreeing to something like this in the first place when she'd much rather be by herself, not in Italy, not having to deal with people or anything in general.

No, she probably wouldn't do something like this again. Not for a while, at least.

"Lead on to wherever." She gestured, half-sarcastically, towards the door. Hopefully this wasn't too agonizing, nor would it take too long. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, but equally, this wasn't exactly high or anywhere on her list of things to do ever.

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Damn. This just turned bad. He could've done a better job with word choice, but hey. He was still alive, right? But he had a feeling that could very quickly change if they stayed. He deigned to back up, hands raised at his sides and moving back into the relative safety of the rest of the team.

"Alright, I meant no disrespect. If you want us to leave, we will, but I would like to emphasize that we mean you no harm. Now, team, I say we leave."