LIVING LEGENDS // Generation Next // [IC #2]

[Forest State]

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FOUNDED BY YOUNG REJECTS and outcasts, the metahumans of Team Next have to deal with some very human problems of their own. The team is known for its young age - the members typically come from high school and college and the team doesn’t actively recruit anyone over 23, but don’t underestimate them because of it. Team Next burst onto the scene in the extremely dangerous city of Oakland, a place with an abnormally high population of metahumans and plenty of amateur heroes and villains. The team has had early success after its founding in 2024 and began to see an immediate crime reduction in its local area due to their great output, but that success isn’t without trials.

Vigilantism is still illegal and Team Next was never sanctioned. Its members are young, which makes keeping a secret identity and avoiding arrest or retaliation attacks a hard task. Furthermore, with little experienced guidance, it’s quite easy for this team to bite off more than they can chew. As a member of Team Next, will you be able to balance the life of a hero with school or college while getting dragged deeper and deeper into more dangerous situations as the infamy of this group of vigilantes grows with each outing?

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This is one of the IC threads for Living Legends. If this thread interests you, please check the OOC hub out here.

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[Lunas Legion]

Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
SAN FRANSISCO-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE, SAN FRANSISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Dakota 'Monster' Vernon, and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 10th, 2025 - Night

Oakland, California, wasn’t a place for anyone to be around at night - despite some of the billboards in the city displaying horribly outdated graphic design and offering phone numbers to call for metahuman security services, the city wasn’t safe at all. Oakland had one of the highest crime rates in the country, owing to not just regular crime but to metahuman crime committed by the abnormally large Homo Anoteros population in the Bay Area. At some point, Oakland had transformed from a place that was vaguely dangerous to one where, in some areas, the police just wouldn’t go and where it was wise to not stop at any of the stop signs. It was also one of the most dangerous cities to serve as a superhero or a vigilante. Everywhere, there were plenty of people waiting to do harm to anyone who aligned themselves with the side of the law.

Which made the current battle that was going on all the more impressive, and made the vigilantes that were fighting said battle all the more brave for their actions.

The Bay Bridge was the most important one in the area, moreso than the tourist trap of the Golden Gate Bridge, and it connected the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Usually, a night on this bridge would be perfectly calm, even beautiful in a way. There was the serene sight of the waters on either side of it, the magnificent construction of the bridge itself. And yet tonight, the bridge happened to be the sight of one of the battles between the forces of good and the many, many criminals that resided in this area. Well, the bridge itself wasn’t where the battle was happening, but on the traffic that was driving over the bridge - the battle was rapidly moving, shifting, and at any moment, someone could meet their end.

The Bay Bridge is the most important of the region, and on June 10th, was the site of a metahuman duel...

Neither Amalia “Psycher” Huerta or Dakota “Monster” Vernon would have it any other way, and they felt that the third member of their team felt the same way as well as the enemy they were facing. The cannibal villain they had been chasing for the past couple of weeks and had finally come across in the streets, who seemed to be just as into the fight as they were. Somehow, it was like everyone in this battle was close to each other in a certain way - sure they had a lot of differences, but they were all out here for the thrills to at least some extent.

“Regroup!” Amalia shouted as she landed on the back of an SUV after jumping from the same car that their enemy was standing on - narrowly avoiding an attack by a tendril, which seemed to be connected to this person and whatever power they had. They weren’t known on the scene but they had gained a bad reputation quickly for a string of cannibalism related crimes, and their particular flair had made them get noticed quickly by the internet, particularly the clown mask that they happened to be wearing right now along with a hoodie that made it hard to see any other details.

They were inches away from death in this battle in traffic. Amalia herself had nearly been forced to land in a spot that would’ve seen her get run over. And yet none of the four people here fighting this battle on the bridge, the city of Oakland and the waters of the bay setting the backdrop along with the light of the moon, exactly regretted their choice of getting into it. No, they embraced it.

There was a wide range of reasons for people to take up vigilanteism, but for Olympia "Gladiator" Galatas, this was it. The rush of adrenaline, the feeling of the wind in her hair as the truck who's cab she'd positioned herself atop of sped across the Bay Bridge. That simple ability to revel in knowing that each and every moment could oh so easily be her last.

She leapt forwards, off of the truck and landing on the back of the car in front with a thud, quickly rolling to her feet and moving up onto the roof for a better view. Amalia's SUV was just in front of her own car, she couldn't see Dakota from where she was and their quarry was just on the edge of her vision. She grinned.

"Why?" Olympia shouted out, hoping to be heard over the sound of the traffic as she sprinted forwards, leaping off of the hood of the car to grab onto the ladder on the back of a van alongside Amalia's SUV. She, at least, needed to get in close since she didn't have any firearms on her currently. Oh, she'd paid for that mistake this time.

“We’re getting too far away from each other, we need to stay together and coordinate better or we’re going to have a bad time,” said Amalia, as the other member of their team descended from near the top of the bridge using the set of wings that came with his alternate form - because of the unpredictable nature of his abilities, Dakota didn’t like bunching up with the rest of the team. Too easy to slip up and end up hitting someone that wasn’t hostile, and yet right now, they were on the verge of being picked off one by one by an enemy which could handle any of them individually easily.

“Look out-”

Dakota didn’t get to finish his sentence before the clown’s tendril reached out and slammed through the side of the van that Olympia was hanging on, going through the metal and retracting just as quickly. If it had hit, it could have killed her, but aiming such things wasn’t the easiest task - which was maybe the reason why the three vigilantes were alive right now.

“And get close enough and I can give you a gun,” added Amalia, glancing to Olympia as she reached out with a telekinetic attack and pushed the car that the clown was standing on into the side of the bridge, causing a non lethal incident but not doing much as the clown simply used the tendrils to reach for the bridge itself, climbing on the structure and then grabbing hold of one of the beams to use it to swing on - doing things this way, which was slightly grotesque looking, it was quite easy for the clown to keep up with them while moving at the same speed as the cars, covering a lot of distance for little effort.

"Ai gamisou, you missed!" Olympia shouted as the tentacle retracted, leaving a gaping hole in the side of her van as she flipped their attacker the bird.

Maybe someone else would've cared about all the damage they were doing, all the people that could've been killed if it went wrong as she watched the clown's car slam into the side of the bridge, their enemy simply leaping to the side and swinging along the structure with his tentacles. But not her. All she saw was their enemy getting away. "Not sure even with my power I can make the shot, but-" Olympia said as she climbed up the ladder she'd been clinging onto onto the roof of her fan, taking a running jump over onto the front of Amalia's SUV. She missed, instead slamming into the roof, wincing slightly as she landed.

"I should get a helmet cam or some shit, get all the Internet views and bitches." Olympia said as she quickly got back to her feet. "This close enough?" She snarked, still grinning wildly under her own mask as she held out a hand towards Amalia.

Amalia didn’t reply by taking Olympia’s hand but by grabbing her telepathically to make sure she was steady, as she kept her head moving and her eyes on the enemy in front of them who was rapidly changing positions, swinging into a jump and coming down somewhere in front of them. The clown landed on the van that Olympia had just been riding on, a pair of four more tendrils sprouting from the back as Amalia reached inside her black leather jacket and passed her spare weapon, an M1911 .45 ACP pistol, to Olympia.

“Let’s try and think about not dying before we think about that,” she said, looking to their enemy but not moving because she knew if she used a telekinetic attack in this place, it would create a large accident. And so she was forced to rely on her main weapon, a FN Five Seven. “Because right now, that’s not exactly a given.”

Not that they would want things differently.

"Just go with it, eh?" Olympia hadn't even considered that she could die. Well, she knew she could, but she'd always been at peace with that. This was fun, after all, and damn well worth the risk. She snatched the offered pistol, and everything shifted ever so slightly.

It always did whenever she had a weapon in her hand. Her view of the world shifted just so, details became sharper, she gained instincts and reflexes she'd never had. She knew exactly what she held, and she knew exactly how to employ whatever that was to its most possibly lethal extent.

Seven rounds. She'd have to make them count. She raised her pistol in one hand, hand steady and firm as she aimed it squarely at their enemy's chest and fired.

The gunshot ripped into the chest of the enemy and it looked like they might have finally did some damage to the knockoff Joker that they were going up against. However, it didn’t seem like the wound did much damage for very long - the clown would be staggered but didn’t fall off the top of the van and was eventually standing straight again. Which was concerning because they had limited options here and the guns were the best chance they had of winning this fight right now. They now had to redraw their gameplan and it remained to be seen whether or not they would be able to do it quickly enough to win.

Strangely enough, the past weeks have seen an upswing in clown related violence.

After the failed attack the clown poised the tendrils to strike but was kicked in the side by Dakota, who had used his wings to get around the enemy and had tried to knock him off the van - actually, Dakota succeeded in that, but the clown just reached for the ground with the tendrils and used them to propel himself onto the roof of another nearby car. This was like a game of whack a mole. If they managed to knock the clown off one of the cars, they would just have to wait a few moments for him to manage to move to another unharmed.

“Fuckin hell,” growled Amalia, growing frustrated with the current state of things. However, she did have to appreciate certain elements of it such as the scenery. It was beautiful even though they were having a dance with death and there was nothing like the adrenaline rush of knowing that there was no margin for error. Everything about this, from the scenery, the fight itself, the rush of the air and the feeling of moving so rapidly while being on unstable footing… The bridge itself, the waters beyond it, the city that they were headed into and that they were fighting to protect… This was why Amalia had become a hero. Experiences like this rather than some cut and dry books about regulations and doing everything according to the manual.

“I guess we really are California dreaming, huh?” asked Dakota, firing off a couple of blasts of dark energy before landing behind Amalia and Olympia, wings spread. They had a moment of separation for now. The car with the clown on top of it had sped up and went around a truck - leaving the rest of them behind and it didn’t seem like the villain was following for now. Of course the villain wasn’t following. The villain mainly wanted to get out of here and continue his crime spree later. It was the heroes that wanted to continue this fight and bring him to justice.

“We chasing this guy or…?” asked Amalia. If they waited until they were at the end of the bridge, there was a good chance they’d lose the person completely and would have to go through the entire process over again just because they hadn’t been able to put the enemy away without getting into a chase.

"May as well have a shot." Olympia shrugged, her eyes locked forwards like a hound with the scent of blood. She stepped forwards, balancing precariously on the hood of the car the three of them were standing on. "But I think he's gotten away this time unless you can catch up to him, Dakota?" She'd gotten a shot into him but given it hadn't put him down for good, he'd probably be back. No, scratch that. Would be back. And they'd be ready next time.

"Looks like we lost him-"

Amalia hardly finished spitting out her words, somewhat angrily, before the sounds of gunshots could be heard. She couldn't ID the sound of the gun that quickly and figure out exactly what it was that had been fired but... It sounded like it was more than a pistol, like it was some kind of serious weapon, and it was coming from the area around the end of the bridge, where it seemed like the clown had escaped to. "There's there's around here," said Dakota, looking from left to right to try and spot the source of the sound. "But whether they're friendly or foe, I don't know. I wasn't told of any other vigilantes operating in this area."

"Not like we share information much." Olympia replied, her face forming into a strange look, somewhere between a scowl at the loss of her prey and an eager grin at the prospect of future violence. "Let's go poke the gunshots, eh?"

Olympia's face formed into a full, eager grin. "Unless you two are gonna be spoilsports about it, of course." Just because she enjoyed fighting didn't mean she went after it like a bloodthirsty maniac all of the time. Just some of the time.

There was a pause as Amalia waited for a few moments to pass before speaking, wanting to make sure she was making the right decision as Dakota went into the air above them to look for the source of the gunshots. It was no use, however, as the gunshots seemed to be coming from a couple of blocks or so away - meaning the enemy, if they were indeed aimed at him, had managed to travel a good distance already. Against her better judgement, she turned back to Olympia, deciding to satisfy her team member's thirst for fighting. "This is a shitty fucking idea," she said, letting out a long sigh. "But let's get off this car and move."

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[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Dakota 'Monster' Vernon, and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas - Feat. XFactor and XPect
June 10th, 2025 - Night

It wouldn't take that long for the three vigilante heroes to chase after where the Clown had went, and as they entered the area which was only about a couple of blocks from where the bridge ended and one stepped away from the Bay and into the city of Oakland, there was already a battle going on. They didn't know where the gunshots were coming from... But there were indeed gunshots happening and they weren't targeted at the heroes but at the villain in the clown mask, who was desperately trying to escape and was using the tendrils sprouting from his back to work on climbing a building which was about five or six stories tall, flat for the most part. Windows shattered and chunks of the building flew off as impacts happened over and over - but it didn't seem like the shooters could secure the kill, with a couple of shots hitting but not putting away the enemy when said enemy used some kind of regeneration ability.

"I can probably get one of you on that roof but... Might not be the best idea until we figure out who the shooters are," Dakota said, looking between Amalia and Olympia.

"For all we know they could just be another gang of villains the cannibal fuck's pissed off with his... Activities." Olympia said after a few seconds of silent thought, nodding slowly. She wouldn't mind having been on the roof; she and that guy had a score to settle now over her professional pride.

"So yeah we don't go up there until we know we're not just jumping headfirst into a fucking metaphorical bear trap and getting our necks sliced or whatever." She watched the building as she fell silent, arms crossed under her chest. She wasn't exactly happy that she'd shot him in the chest and he had the gall to live afterwards. Stupid regenerators.

They didn't have to wait that long to find out who the other party in this was. Except, it wasn't because of spotting one of the other heroes or villains themselves, but because of the fans of the said hero group. There was... A crowd forming at about the same time as the team showed up, in fact, it had sort of already been there but it hadn't been the most notable thing at first. Right now, however, it was pretty clear that this wasn't the ordinary crowd of people who had gathered to watch the commotion of a fight. No, they were here to watch someone, or multiple people, specifically after hearing the news that something was popping off.

"XGang!" someone from the crowd screamed. They seemed to be noisy, almost as if they were the fans that some of the larger hero teams around the world had, the ones who were absolutely fucking insane enough to put themselves in the middle of a major battle because they would be able to witness it. Of course, there were plenty of cameras recording everything, too.

"Yikes," said Amalia, looking from the crowd to the scene of the battle. "Looks like we do know who it is."

"Remind me to shoot anyone who ever screams out Gladiator like that in the middle of a fight. Fucking crazy fanboys." Olympia grumbled, a sour expression on her face. She didn't exactly like sharing at the best of times, especially when it came to fights, doubly so when those fights were against someone who'd offended her. "So we going to go meet them or fuck off, since I can't stand their fans so fuck knows if I'll be able to stand them."

"They have a cult following around this place, you're going to have to see a lot of them if you want to be a hero around here," said Dakota, a hint of jealousy in his voice. Although, he personally didn't have something against XGang. What they had done as a team was impressive. They were independent, there were only two of them as of now, and yet they had managed to amass a legion of fans that were both in Oakland and other cities, and they had become the face of the west coast hero 'scene' on the independent level. Like a band who had made it more mainstream than they initially thought they would, while not selling out and becoming part of the machine they had once complained about.

The building in front of them shook as a blast of electricity hit it and caused a large break down the middle of the upper part, near the roof. It was meant to have hit the clown, but it went just wide - it did slice two tendrils off, however, even if they seemed capable of regrowing quickly. "And that will be XFactor, that slicing thing is his ability," said Amalia, turning to look as the crowd roared and a figure vaulted over a fence and ended up in the middle of the street - wasn't like any traffic was going to drive through with this scene as the background anyway.

"Whether we talk to them or not is up to you, you're the one that dragged us here after the dude escaped," Amalia stated, eyes traveling back to XFactor. The gunshots were still happening, which meant that the other half of the team, XPect, was somewhere else. It seemed like she must be perched on... One of the rooftops. Amalia looked around, and she did indeed see what looked like a dark purple dot posted on one of the taller buildings a decent distance away. No wonder the shots were missing. They were being fired from long range.

"No sense in not finishing what we started, even if it means having to put up with their moronic pack of a fanbase temporarily." Olympia grumbled, her own inner bloodlust and sense of pride overcoming whatever dislike she had for XBand as a pair and their fanbase. "Let's get up there and kill this fucker, for good this time, and then if you two wanna talk with Ten-Band after you can but I'm gonna head elsewhere, kay?"

"You even have a plan?" Amalia said, grabbing Olympia by the shoulder to keep her from running off. "I'm not sending you back there without a plan, it's clear that the pistol isn't going to do shit against whatever that guy has in terms of powers. Looks like they have it handled, but... I wouldn't want you to get stuck in a spot where you can't do anything, you know?"

"He's a regenerator, so I just gotta shoot him somewhere he can't survive to regenerate from, a.k.a blast his brains out." Olympia said as she stopped, feeling Amalia's hand on her shoulder. She wasn't the type to stop because you told her to stop, there had to be some physical element to it even if it was more of a signal than something that could actually stop her. "And if I get in a spot like that then it's my own damn fault and I'll get myself out of it. Always have done." Olympia shrugged, grinning widely.

"Don't get yourself killed."

It was the only thing that Amalia was able to say before Dakota moved and grabbed Olympia by the waist, lifting her up and taking her in the air towards their target on top of the building. It was... To the surprise of the crowd and to the XGang hero, XFactor, to say the very least. This development meant that it would be much harder for XGang to attack without hitting the other hero, and it was something that they complained about as Olympia was dropped on top of the building by Dakota, who would fly up and above the entire scene afterwards, watching for the sirens that were approaching rapidly.

"The fuck are you doing?" screamed someone from the ground. XFactor, particularly, even seeming to draw the attention of the villain who was standing safely on the roof right now, facing Olympia but taking a moment to watch the scene unfold before attacking. "You don't know there's a sniper firing your way? Oh my fucking-"

The villain lashed out at that moment, four tendrils all barreling towards Olympia in different directions almost as soon as she was able to land on the roof.

Olympia just kept grinning as she landed, the pistol she'd borrowed from Amalia earlier still clutched firmly in her right hand. She raised her head, looking for a shot initially, but that went straight down her list of priorities as she noticed the tendrils. She scrambled up to her feet, lunging forwards into a roll, aiming to narrowly scrape through the gap between two of the tentacles.

She just needed one shot. One good shot into that clown bastard's head, and they'd have won. But to get a good shot she needed a good position first.

Olympia would find herself getting into the position that she was looking for. She had a good opening, a chance to raise the pistol and end this, however, there was a good reason for the commotion on the ground earlier. The commotion which she had ignored and which Amalia had been unable to talk her into paying more attention to. At the same time that Olympia landed after her roll and went to get to her feet again, she would get hit squarely in the back by a bullet which had been fired from a number of rooftops away. One which wasn't meant for her but one that she had also put herself directly in the path of.

"No!" screamed Amalia, but screaming wouldn't do anything. Because Olympia had put herself in danger and paid the price for it by not communicating first with the other group of vigilantes who had gotten to the fight quicker than Team Next once it crossed into the city of Oakland.

Olympia fell forwards, flopping to the ground. Everything... Everything hurt. She'd never been shot before, but the sudden lance of pain through her back before she'd fallen onto the ground was roughly what she'd imagined being shot felt like, even if it was far more painful than she'd imagined.

Even so, she did't scream. It wasn't in her nature to scream no matter how much it fucking hurt even just to lie there, her mind running at a thousand miles an hour. Was there an exit wound? Was the bullet still in her? What was the rate of blood loss, and how long did she have left? What was the clown doing? She couldn't tell, couldn't see through the shock and pain and the confused, undirected rage at everything around her. She'd had a shot. Just a few seconds longer and she'd have had that clown's brains littered across the rooftop.

Fucking sniper. Fucking useless sniper that hadn't hit anything but her that entire fight from what she'd seen. Ah well. There wasn't much she could do now, it hurt too much to even move, let alone stand. She could see the faint form of her pistol, dropped just outside of her reach. Yeah, nothing she could do. So she just lay there, breathing heavily.

The sniper fired off another shot and tried to hit the clown, but it instead impacted with the building and sent particles of dust and rock as it missed. Dakota was left to move in to try to do something about their downed member on the roof - even if she had been stupid, they still had to get her out of here - and moved in to try to kick the clown in the head and potentially knock him off the roof entirely. Dakota was, after all, coming in with a massive amount of momentum. However, the clown was able to stop that momentum with the four tendrils, which wrapped around Dakota's foot and kept him from moving - until the person let go without putting up a fight, jumping off the edge of the building and using the tendrils to slow their descent, grabbing onto the side of it and vaulting off of it. Impressive use of powers, but it wasn't the time to admire this.

"Fucking hell, should have paid more attention to the warnings," growled Dakota, after landing on the roof next to Olympia, now alone with her. He was... Noticeably more short tempered in his monstrous form. However, he picked her up in his arms and started carrying her down to the ground, where Amalia was waiting with anxious eyes. "You were fucking told that there was a sniper in the area, you saw the shots yourself, so why the fuck would you jump in the sniper's path?"

"I don't think she's in the state to answer," Amalia replied as Dakota landed in front of her, still carrying Olympia bridal style.

"Then maybe she shouldn't do stupid shit and get herself in jams like this."

This outing had... Ended in defeat. And even worse, they had a lot to think about. Dealing with the injury, keeping their identities secret while they did. But they had something more important to attend to right now. And that was just getting out of this place without any more trouble.

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[Lunas Legion]

Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 14th, 2025

It was days since the clash on the Oakland Bay Bridge and the members of Team Next had been forced to withdraw from their activities for a while while they cared for the injured member that was being visited often in her own apartment by Dakota and Amalia. In this case, it was Amalia coming alone to see Olympia, with Dakota being off at work at that specific moment. She unlocked the door, stepped inside the apartment, and set down more food that she had brought with her... She was doing more of the work in this case. More than Dakota, more than Olympia herself was able to do to take care of herself right now after being shot.

The apartment didn't have many things in it...

"I finally have some good news," she said, although her tone wasn't happy. It hadn't been happy with Olympia for awhile, it was safe to say being pissed was an understatement when it came to what she had done. Getting shot was entirely Olympia's fault, and her interfering with the fight and allowing the villain to get away had ruined relations with the team that was the face of the city's independent hero scene. "I found a metahuman healer down in San Mateo. We're headed there today and it should let you get back in the action. The downside, of course, is that this isn't free and I've went in debt with my parents to pay for it. Made myself look like more of a loser to convince them to give me money."

"So I hope you're happy," she practically spat, still not the happiest person with her friend.

"Fuck no I'm not happy." Olympia shook head from where she was slumped over on her couch. "You didn't have to do that all for me. Sure, I may not exactly like having to sit around here like a fucking useless sack of shit, but that's what I fucking deserve, y'know?" Olympiaa sighed, wincing as she rolled over onto one side to look away from Amalia. Even after several days it still hurt like shit if she moved wrong, and she wasn't entirely sure how long she'd even be able to keep the lights on for since she'd had to call in sick while she recovered.

"I don't like letting a friend suffer when there's a chance to avoid it. But doesn't mean I'm not a little pissed at the circumstances around that, if you had... If you had even waited just a bit to start the fight, if you had paid more attention to your surroundings and where the shots were coming from, you wouldn't have jumped in front of XPect and gotten shot," Amalia sighed, kneeling down next to Olympia. "You have to learn these things. I'm not happy that your actions ended up fucking things up with XGang, too. I'd rather have them as friends than enemies and because of you it looks like that's going to be impossible."

"But I don't think you deserve to suffer for weeks," she added, eventually sitting down. "And I'd miss having someone to raise hell with during those weeks that you'd be out."

"Maybe you don't think so, but suffering... It's the only way I actually ever learn anything. Get it through, into and sticking in this thick skull of mine." Olympia said, looking away from Amalia as she sat down. "Always has been. Like Pavlov and the dog if I remember high school science. I fuck up, I take whatever fallout from that fuckup exists straight to the face, I get back up with the lesson from the fuck up smashed into me and learned from and don't repeat it." She snorted. "Besides, their shooting was fucking trash. They'd have needed a headshot to waste that fucker and that wasn't gonna happen. If they wanna get pissy over me almost actually putting him down they and their fanbase can go fuck themselves."

Amalia sighed, standing up and walking towards the door. "You say that suffering makes you learn, and you're still being stupid anyway. Look, I know you're stubborn but... I'd rather not have you dead, so don't make me worry again. Think about your actions some more, be more willing to work with people. Let's not have something like this happen again, and you're not going to be able to convince me you're in the right on this... Regardless of whatever the hell you want to say about it."

She paused, standing in the doorway as she opened it. "I know it hurts but come on. I've already set things up, we have a trip to San Mateo to make. We're healing you, even if it's going to cost me."

"Wasn't enough suffering." Olympia joked as she sat up, wincing noticeably from the movement before she stood up slowly, face creasing in pain. "Believe me, I know I seriously fucked up, I just gotta get it to stick. And I'll pay you back for this, and since you're not giving me a chance to say no I'm not giving you one. I'll stuff however many hundred dollar bills it is..." Olympia made a confused expression, her mind seemingly only just catching up with her mouth as she walked unsteadily over to the door. "Somewhere? Not sure where I was going with that. Don't bother locking it, nothing worth stealing in there."

[Confederation of the Equator]

Collaborative post between Forest State, Novia Soviet Socialist Republic, and Confederation of the Equator
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Damien 'Firestorm' Banks, and Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson
June 16th, 2025

It took nearly a week but the team was just about recovered from their outing on the Bay Bridge. Olympia had been healed almost fully... Even if it came at a cost to Amalia. And they had been able to move on from the incident and shift focus to trying to make things go better on their next outing. Not that they knew what that outing would even be, yet. They monitored different sources closely - the news, Heroes Underground, independent sites like Meta News West that covered the metahuman "scene" so to speak. And one thing stood out to them. The fact that there were supposedly four or five missing person reports in the past month that all involved people connected to a metahuman group.

The Men of Nature claimed to be a health based group that used magic to help people grow closer to nature and improve their lives. However, it seemed people had recently gone missing after being seen at their meetings or at their camp in the woods outside of San Rafael, to the north of the bay. It was something that the police weren't looking into, busy with other more pressing issues, and something Dakota and Amalia felt that their team should handle.

Amalia had called up Damien, and said to get over to her apartment. Preferably with costume. And she had sent another similar message to Shay. "We have something to look into... More minds are better than one," she had said, before hanging up quickly. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for them, as she moved away from her roommates and closed the door to her own section of the loft, where she lived with a number of other artists.

Damien sat on his PC with his headset on as he played his favourite game, Counter Strike Global Offensive "Listen asshole whatever space you occupy can never be sanitised because it's contaminated by your god damn homose-" Damien was cut off when he heard his phone ring. Pulling his headphones off and answering it, he heard Amalia talking about how he needed to get over to her apartment .
With a sigh Damien set about turning his computer off, grabbing his things and throwing them in his bag including a bandolier of shotgun shells. Walking towards the living room and kissing his girlfriend whom was staying a couple of days "Hey listen I gotta deal with some bullshit out so I'll see you later" He said softly as he walked back out to the exit "When will you be back Damien?" She yelled over to him as he opened the door "In a few hours! I'll be stopping to get some of that milk!" He yelled once again before running out the door.
Walking through the street past run down buildings and gangs of people hanging about street corners he eventually got to Amalia's apartment and knocked, loudly "Open up asshole it's me!" Damien yelled as he continued to knock on the door, hoping to get Amalia nice and annoyed before they set about on their mission.

Amalia practically expected the banging on the door from Damen. "I see that you haven't changed at all in the past few days since we've seen each other," she remarked, looking at the visitor as she opened the door wider and stepped inside the loft, gesturing towards her part of it, which was fortunately separated by a door. "I'm sure my roommates are just as confused every time, however," she added, eyes glancing around the large common room, which wasn't entirely empty at the time.

"Come on. Good idea to not spend more time around here than we have to," she added, waving towards the open door to her own part of the loft. "They already think it's weird enough that my strange friends visit a lot..."

Damien laughed "Maybe your room mates need to mind their own god damn business how about that bull shit" Damien said a little too loud maybe as he followed Amalia to her side of the loft. He dug into his pockets and pulled a pack of chewing gum out where he then threw about half the pack worth of them into his mouth and began chewing aggressively.
Damien pulled up a chair nearby and sat down, still chewing loudly and aggressively as if he put way too much gum in his mouth "So. Who's bullshit are we fucking up today then?" Damien asked between chews "Is it those asshole kids that keep spraying those gay ass tags on the wall outside my apartment? I'd love to beat their ass" Damien rambled as he opened up his bag to get ready.

"Let's wait a bit before going into it, I'd rather not have to explain all over again when Shay finally shows up, wherever she is. Can't bring Olympia on this one yet as she's still recovering from what happened before... The whole 'getting shot' thing," sighed Amalia as she thought back to that night and that battle on the bridge. "I can say that we're handling something more important than some street tags, however. Has to do with missing people, five of them in the past month that are all connected to one metahuman group. As usual, cops are busy handling other things instead of looking into it."

Shay found herself in her bed, looking at her phone while immersing herself in a different world, one which involved browsing through playlist after playlist trying to find something entertaining. Being able to pick up on the smallest detail of each track certainly didn’t do her wonders for such entertainment, considering patterns eventually became explicit, although the girl supposed that listening to something rather repetitive would work better than hearing everyone who was banging in a thousand kilometer radius.

Her room was dimly lit and her only company was Neza, a seemingly loyal feline who was actually a fucking brat, and a bag of chips. The girl eventually gave up on her playlist adventure, quickly getting up from her bed and heading out the room. “Everyone wanna be a damn mumble rapper these days, geez…” At that point, she was really just considering going outside to seek something entertaining to do. However, she eventually heard her phone ring from the room she’d just left. For someone with as many ‘weird connections’ as Shay, it was quite the rare tune, and it almost always meant something good… from her perspective, at least. A grin appeared on the girl’s face, who immediately set out to gather her usual equipment after replying.

Mere minutes passed before Shay showed up at Amalia’s apartment building, her motorcycle riding skills definitely assisting the girl to get there fast, although the law wasn’t always respected in that regard. The girl, who sported a black hoodie that, combined to a mask, covered pretty much all of her face, walked up to her teammate’s apartment’s door, knocking a couple of times. “Yo, it’s da’ police!” She exclaimed.

"It's not going to be my fault if one of my roommates shoots you after saying that!" Amalia replied, walking back from her end of the loft and opening the door, peeking slightly before opening it up more fully and stepping out into the hallway. She was looking at her teammate but one thing in particular, the mask. Looking side to side, she offered a long sigh. "Look, can you uh... Not come to my door in uniform? My roommates are home and they don't know about all this, you know. Better take that mask off before coming in, fortunately my own room is more or less private," she continued.

“They can’t do that, that’s illegal!” Shay said sarcastically. She couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as she removed her mask, despite having legitimately disregarded Amalia’s roommates. Oh, how convenient things would be if she had the entire place for herself. “Alright girl, my bad, though you coulda’ just told them I’m cripplingly insecure ‘bout my appearance.” she said in an obvious joking tone before putting the mask away in one of her hoodie pockets. All things considered, it would probably be easier to explain than the scar right under her right eye. “Lead the way now, will you?”

[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State and Confederation of the Equator
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Dakota 'Monster' Vernon, and Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson
June 16th, 2025

Amalia just sighed slightly, pushing the door open as she walked into the apartment. "It's all fun and games till someone sees something and posts about it on one of the hero forums... Or decides that all of this is a problem," she said, leading Shay to the entrance to her own room, the one where Damien was already waiting. "Just waiting on Dak, I believe," she added, looking down at her phone to check the time.

"That your girlfriend?" someone shouted from elsewhere in the building, the large common room that they had just passed through.

"What? No, I don't even have one! Don't assume just 'cause I played football!" Amalia shouted into the other room before closing the door behind her.

"Anyway..." she said, moving to the laptop that was in the room and opening it up to show a page from Heroes Underground. "I think you should take a look at this. There's something weird happening in San Rafael, has to do with... Uh... This place sounds like some kind of nature cult, supposedly there's magic involved. It's pretty weird, take a look."

“Right, right, whateever.” Shay followed her teammate into the apartment, walking right past the large common room where she could see some of her friend’s roommates... and hear the awful mumble rap they were listening to! Jesus… All things aside, she kept her most charismatic look on, after all she had to pass the impression of being just another guest. Eventually, both of them arrived at the room. “‘Sup!” Shay briefly greeted Damien as soon as she could see him, the door behind her quickly shutting as the girl giggled at the roommate’s question.

“Ah, we only waitin’ on the old guy now? Alright.” She took a seat by the laptop as Amalia opened it, the metahuman then taking a look at the page. “...weird, usually these 'nature' people are inside their apartments smokin’ weed or something...” Shay reflected for a bit, that was a rather unique way to kidnap people and do God-knows-what, something she'd never heard of before... but still, that kind of detective work kept her blood pumping and hyped, and that one looked promising. A smirk appeared on her face. “So what are we doin’?”

Dakota showed up somewhat unannounced, letting himself in. He had a key to the apartment which led to plenty of theories from roommates that he was Amalia's boyfriend, however those weren't a concern at the moment. Dakota opened the door to Amalia's room and closed it after stepping inside, looking at the screen on the computer. "Ah, so we're looking into this case. Amalia already told me about it," he stated upon arriving, while Amalia pondered just what they were going to do.

She opened another tab in the browser and looked for the website of this strange organization, hoping it would have more info. It wasn't that hard to find the site in question, but surprisingly... Everything was fairly professional. It didn't seem like a group that was responsible for missing people, but that was how a cult looked. They didn't just go around advertising that they were in a cult, after all. "They have an address here for the camp in question. They also have an actual office in San Rafael but that one wasn't listed in any of the reports while the camp is. Either one could be a target for investigation but I have the feeling we're going to need to go there ourselves and try to gather... Some more info on just who these people are."

"But I doubt they're going to let us walk right in, this task might require sneaking around. I doubt they would be willing to talk openly about the missing people that are tied to them," said Dakota, with a sigh, taking out his phone and using the maps app to look up the location where the camp was, examining the layout using the satellite imagery. "Don't think there's multiple entrances, however, unless we cut through the woods. Ugh. Not my thing, might have to be done anyway."

Shay had already shifted her look to the door moments before Dakota was even anywhere near. “Incoming.” the girl said out of visible context a couple of seconds before the newcomer arrived, which was seemingly unannounced for the rest of the team.

The metahuman couldn’t help but agree that, save for the post on Heroes Underground, the whole thing looked really professional, but she knew that having an aesthetically pleasing website and an office in town didn’t disqualify any potential criminal activity. Maybe the whole post was a made-up story to begin with, but from her experience it didn’t set off any such bells.

Either way, Shay knew that they were likely worth investigating… if not for the greater good, then for her own sake. It had been a little while since she did something interesting, and she was always up for that kind of work.

“Why all the hate on sneakin’ around? That’s where the fun at.” she said with a smirk, but actually meaning some of it. Trying to remain undetected gave a much stronger adrenaline high than just going in guns blazing. “Anyway, I can help by tryna’ figure out where they at when we get there, make it as easy as possible y’know.”

Dakota sighed slightly. "While it may be fun to punch hings, it's also... Going to be harder to investigate that way. Even if we win the fight, attacking them still gives them time to hide any evidence, report that there's trouble to their higher ups, whatever. At least if we come in without them knowing, we'll have a better look at what life is like around there if they aren't aware of us watching. Also, we don't know one hundred percent if they're guilty or not. But the writing on the wall... Sure makes it seem that way."

"It will be a help," Amalia said to Shay, turning away from the computer for a moment. "If no one has any objections or anything to do... Tomorrow evening might work as a time to check this place out in person. I might be able to bring Olympia then, might not. Depends on how she's feeling, she has a couple days of recovery time."

[Lunas Legion]

Collaborative post between Forest State, Novia Soviet Socialist Republic, Confederation of the Equator, and Lunas Legion
MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Dakota 'Monster' Vernon, Damien 'Firestorm' Banks, Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson, and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 17th, 2025

One day had passed since the impromptu meeting. Since then, another morning and afternoon had gone by and it was time for Team Next to begin their investigation of the Men of Nature... Which was easier said than done. Their members had to make the trip across the Bay to San Rafael, with Amalia and Dakota being the first ones to show up. "Let's not do anything before the others..." said Amalia, as Dakota parked on the side of the road near the entrance to the camp they were headed to. The one that only had one entrance, which they would soon have to sneak through. Not the easiest task, but they did have enough numbers that someone could potentially make a diversion for the others to slip in.

From there, it was just a matter of finding what it was about this place that made people disappear when they were around it.

A dark purple motorcycle passed like lightning on the streets from Oakland to Berkeley, and across the bay to San Rafael, leaving a mark wherever it went, its rider’s hair flying back freely as she raced. Not against time, not from the law, but for no particular reason other than the thrill it brought her, none other than feeling the wind on her face, because that’s what life was about. The girl sought meaning in every action, and she only really did something when there was something to be gained from it, regardless of whether it was purpose in life, the thrill of adrenaline, or one more second by herself in a dark, quiet room.

Shay eventually began to approach the entrance to the camp they were headed to, slowing down to avoid detection. The girl then proceeded to put on her helmet as she grew ever closer to the destination, immediately recognizing the car that was parked nearby. Despite not needing to, Shay still looked around, but assumed the surroundings to be safe given she had not heard anything suspicious

The girl pulled up and parked her own motorcycle, promptly getting down from it, hood covering most of her appearance, although her frame was recognizable. Approaching the vehicle, she lightly knocked on the bumper a couple of times with the back of her hand, a common smug expression on her face. “Wassup.”

Amalia waved, Dakota remaining silent and keeping his hands in his pockets. Both of them were getting ready to head in - and putting their masks on and pulling hoods up before they would be seen by anyone associated with the Men of Nature. Last thing they wanted was some strange nature cult exposing their activities on the streets to people who weren't supposed to know... Or to the public in genera. That could be the death of a vigilante, and they were both careful to avoid that fate.

"We're about to check this place out, but we'll have to make some quick decisions on what plan we're rolling with," said Dakota, gesturing behind him towards the place down the road where they would soon head towards. "Either one of us can try to distract the guards and the other one plus you can head in, or you can try your luck distracting, well... The guards, officials, and anyone else who might get in the way of what we want to check out. The best option would be to empty the place out completely somehow."

Amalia sighed and spoke up, finishing for Dakota. "But totally emptying the place might not be possible. Unless you happen to have any ideas, that preferably don't involve burning the place down entirely."

Seeing how her teammates reacted, Shay followed up by pulling up her own mask which, combined to her hood, effectively disguised her face completely. Even then, it was almost like one could see her usual expression of excitement even behind it that disguise. Listening to what her more unenthusiastic, considerably older comrade had to say, it was clear to Shay what role she wanted to play... and she definitely wouldn't try her luck attracting the attention of guards. No, there was something she was better at.

“Well… I don’t think I’d be able to distract any guards y’know, so I’ll be leavin’ that to one of you.” the girl said while taking a glance at the place that lay down the road. “But even if we ain’t making everyone leave, having most of them out would make everything much easier y’know? I could easily keep on the ‘look’out for anyone who remains nearby while we’re searching the place.”

A distinct chewing noise could be heard behind Shay as they planned on how they were going to go about getting inside this place. Then a voice spoke "Hey assholes are we going in or what?" Firestorm asked between chews, which could be heard distorted from behind his gas mask "I'm chewing about 8 pieces of chewing gum simultaneously. Kind of considering going back home and getting some more pieces" Firestorm once again asked. Firestorm was known to be fairly light footed so it wouldn't be too much of a shock to see him having got here without being spotted.

"We're not going in just yet," Amalia said, looking to the new arrival in slight annoyance at the question that had, well, already been answered in a way. She'd said that they needed to come up with a plan and she meant it. "And we don't need anyone on lookout. We only have a small team, we need anyone that's able to look around to look around and help us find whatever the hell is going on in this place. And one person to distract the people at the gate while we handle that. Preferably, that same person would be able to make a big enough distraction to lure some of the other guards outside of the camp, but... If that's not possible... Just occupying the gate would be fine."

"The first plan would give us a lot more room to operate, however. Hell, I could probably do the plan well enough if I was sure you guys would be able to search the place well enough while I hold up the gate security, but Dakota's the only one to volunteer so far and this isn't a one person job," she continued.

She let out a brief sigh, looking off in the distance. "This is why I need Olympia here."

Olympia was breathing heavily as she approached on foot, a hand pressed against the mass of bandaging still over her gunshot wound. Sure, that metahuman healer had done a good job, but she'd done quite a bit of walking and gotten the bus owing to not having a car, so it hurt a little every time she moved a bit too much, but it was nothing unbearable.

She waved tiredly as she approached the group, stopping just short and slumping slightly, resting her hands on her knees. "Remind me next time I say I'll get a bus that they suck ass majorly." She said tiredly, still breathing heavily as she looked over the others. "So, what's the plan?" There was no doubt in her voice that they didn't have a plan, or seemingly any bitterness that they'd done any planning without her.

"Simple enough. Just explained it to the others but... One of us is going to have to distract the guards, preferably more of them than just the ones at the front gate, and from there we'll try to figure out what's happening on the inside. Still haven't figured out who's going to play what role. But... Only one of us should be handling the distraction. The rest of us should be looking for evidence," said Amalia, before sighing and looking to Olympia with concern in her eyes.

"And you shouldn't be here right now, you're not fully healthy. Something kicks off here and you're going to end up hurt again," she added, touching Olympia's shoulder. "Pretty sure I told you before not to show up today."

"If you wanted me not to show you shouldn't have told me anything at all about this." Olympia shrugged. "I'd much rather be out here rather than stewing in that room I generously call an apartment wondering about what's happening out here. If you absolutely insist I'll slog it back home, but I'd rather not. Was kinda hoping I could leech a lift off someone actually." She admitted reluctantly.

"Anyways, that sounds like a decent enough plan, just don't rely on me to play distraction. I'm mildly keen on not getting shot, stabbed or otherwise injured now I know how painful it actually is, and searching sounds a great deal safer."

Amalia shoved herself into Olympia, grabbing her by the collar and pushing her against the car. "I don't understand you, sometimes!" she snapped, her voice raising before she lowered it and sighed, apologizing and keeping a hold of Olympia's collar as she leaned into her slightly, eventually pushing herself off and standing straight once again. "Right. Shouldn't have snapped. But if you don't want to get hurt again, why are you out here while you're still hurt? You're... Practically begging for something bad to happen like that."

"Because better I get hurt than I get to sit back in my excuse of an apartment chewing over what's happening all the way out here?" Olympia answered, slightly confused by Amalia's sudden outburst as she looked down at her, pushing herself up off the car. "I'm not about to risk anyone getting hurt like I did through my own stupidity by not being here. If you really want me to go, I'll go, even if then I'll hate myself even more if anyone gets hurt since I wasn't out here."

"You're really going to put me in a position where I have to make a call like that, eh? Risk you getting hurt or risk you being miserable?" Amalia asked, turning away and raising an eyebrow before moving to pull Olympia away from the others slightly, allowing her to speak her mind a bit more honestly without them hearing every word she said.

"I don't really want either of those options," she added, with a sigh. "Why can't you just... Why can't you just take care of yourself like anyone else would when they're hurt like this? It's not like I'm asking you to sit out for weeks, just another day or two. I'm just saying that if these guys are actually dangerous and someone pulls out a gun or a knife or something, I'd rather not have you in the firing line. Especially when you're still hurting."

She paused, turning to Olympia once again. "And stop and think about how I'd feel," she added, a hint of fire rising in her voice. "If you somehow ended up getting hurt or worse because you were out here and I didn't do anything to stop you."

"Yeah, I know I'm being a bit of a hypocrite. Well, more than a bit, quite a lot." Olympia admitted. "You don't want me out here since you don't want me getting hurt, I don't want you out here without me in case you get hurt. Or any of the others do." She let out an irritated groan. "I'm just bad at sitting back and admitting I shouldn't do something, I guess." She glanced down at her side, rubbing it. "It's how I got this stupid thing isn't it? Not listening to you or Dak. I guess I'll be getting the bus back then. Whenever it shows up." She let out an almost disappointed sigh. "Try not to get yourself hurt, would you? For my sake as well as yours."

Amalia reached out to grab Olympia by the collar once again, pulling her in and keeping her there, also looking her in the eye in that moment. "No. You already came all the way out here and you said yourself that you're going to sit around miserable if you don't come. So come and help us with this. But if you manage to get yourself hurt before you're even healed from last time... Just know that I'm going to be pissed," she warned, not releasing her grip.

"Only because you insist on keeping me around." Olympia sighed, only just moving her eyes to meet Amalia's rather than looking at the ground. "And I'll do my level best not to get myself shot, stabbed, injured, impaled, beheaded, crippled, maimed or some other combination thereof for your sake. And I'll pay you back for that healer eventually. Some day." She finally added. "And what I said about not getting hurt still applies. You get hurt then I guess we get to swap positions in screaming at each other."

Finally, Amalia released Olympia and turned around after the semi-outburst, facing the others now and walking back towards them without saying another word to her friend, gesturing for Olympia to come on and follow her. "Fine. And since no one else is volunteering to distract the guards, I'll handle it. The rest of you, wait until you see them occupied by me and do your best to get in without getting noticed... If you draw any heat from them, just get out of there. We're not looking for a fight right now. We're looking for evidence that something is happening, and we can get out as soon as we get it."

[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State, Confederation of the Equator, and Lunas Legion
MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta, Dakota 'Monster' Vernon, Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson, and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 17th, 2025

Shay just stood around during the whole thing between Amalia and Olympia, having surprisingly skipped the opportunity for a sarcastic remark here and there. Despite not really involving herself in her teammates’ affairs, she couldn’t help but agree with Olympia, although more due to the fact that she firmly believed in a person’s liberty to make a choice for themselves, even if it came at the risk of harm. That’s what living was about, after all.

“Alright gal’, we’ll be waitin’ here.” The metahuman then proceeded to take another look at the place down the road, already trying to figure out how to best find her way in once the guards were distracted. Adrenaline slowly began to fire in her organism, and Shay visibly began to get more and more excited.

Firestorm watched the back and fourth between Amalia and Olympia, quietly chewing his gum before Amalia volunteered to distract the guards. Firestorm quickly chirped up "Hey I could distract the guards. I can distract them with my magicky bullshit, make it all flashy and shit" He said aloud as he summoned up a tiny ball of plasma in his hands, burning white hot before he extinguished it.

Amalia paused, looking to Damien with questioning eyes. "I guess that would be possible. But you're not going to want to use your powers for this and show them what you're capable of. We're trying to keep a low profile for now, you know... We want to stay anonymous, not give them hints on who to come looking for if they want to get back at us. I think this is something that requires... Talking skills more than anything," she stated. "Just let me handle this. The rest of you, move quickly and try to cover as much of the place as you can before we have to leave."

At which point she started down the road, pulling her mask off and pocketing it before reaching her destination, now in visual range of the guards at the front gate as she dropped to the ground, apparently feigning a collapse and drawing the attention of the guards who came over to see what the problem was... And she immediately worked on striking up a conversation with them and gesturing the other way, apparently saying something to get them to look down the road in the opposite direction of the group, before pushing herself up and getting them to start walking in that direction.

The gate was clear and the group would be able to move on. But there was no telling whether or not they would be able to move freely on the inside without getting seen by anyone who knew they shouldn't be there.

"Well, I guess we just walk on in and act like we're supposed to be there." Olympia said as a small, eager grin crept onto her face. "I figure if it works in college it works here." She didn't know how much time Amalia would distract the guards for, but they had to make use of what they'd been given. So Olympia began to walk down the road at a fast pace, not quite breaking into a run so as to potentially aggravate the remains of her wound as she all but strolled through the unguarded front gate.

"Does anyone have any idea what we're even meant to be looking for, or where we're supposed to look for it at?"

Shay got to work as soon as she realized the gate was clear, removing her face mask and tucking it somewhere in her hoodie as she lowered the hood itself, showing off a more casual vibe that would fit infiltration better. The girl got to making her way through the entrance, doing her hair in a way that would at least partially cover the scar under her right eye. It was a quiet kind of excitement, the thrill of potentially being discovered while in a place they weren’t supposed to be was a silent but powerful trigger.

“I dunno… Maybe corpses that clearly frame them as the bad guys.” Shay said sarcastically to Olympia as she giggled, obviously being low enough as to not be heard by any normal person. When it came to her own hearing, she would likely be able to tell any incoming threat from a mile away. “From what I recall, anythin’ that gives us some better insight on who those people are and what they do y’know? So I’m guessin’ it’s pretty damn broad.”

"I think corpses would be a rather obvious hint about something, but I doubt it's going to be that obvious," Dakota replied, following the others inside but not ditching his mask. If they were seen, they would likely have this organization after them to some extent. It wasn't a great idea to expose their actual faces to them if that did end up happening. Still, no one was approaching them right now or telling them they couldn't be there, but then again, they hadn't run into anyone so far. Not civilian or part of this strange organization.

There were tents around the camp, and one or two buildings that were made from wood, in something of a log cabin style. The buildings were likely for administrative purposes... And might have something inside of them that was useful. On the other hand, however, they had closed doors while the tents were open. The buildings likely had more high profile hints in them, but investigating them was a risk. There wasn't as much keeping them from looking into the tents, but said tents were... Much smaller and less likely to have evidence.

"It looks like," started Dakota, turning to Olympia. "We have a choice between the buildings or the tents. One might have a bigger payoff. But it's also a bigger risk. While I'm not sure those tents have anything of note."

"I mean, there's no reason we can't check both of them." Olympia said, her previously eager grin gone, replaced by a more relaxed, contemplative expression that seemed distinctly off on her face for some reason, like it didn't match her properly. "Tents should be fairly easy, quick and risk-free, we check those first, if we find nothing we can go check the buildings. If we find nothing there either we can go home with nothing and try again another day or some shit."

"Fine. We start with the tents, then," said Dakota, moving to look through the first row of tents while pointing for Olympia to look for anything of note in the row on the other side. About four tents had been searched by the time they came across something that could count as evidence towards what they were looking for... The fact that something strange was happening around here, something that wasn't good. "Might want to check this out," said Dakota, gesturing to a pile of guns within one of the tents. They didn't look like the kind of guns that were easy to get legally, especially here in California, but were rather military styled. And there were a lot of them. A stockpile rather than someone's private collection.

But Olympia, meanwhile, would have found her own discovery within one of the tents by the time Dakota said something. She found something that was rather big when it came to what they happened to be looking for... An actual person, apparently still alive. The young woman looked about the same age as most of the others in the group of vigilantes, and like another average college student from the local area, except her hands were bound behind her and there was a gag stuffed in her mouth. And as soon as Olympia pulled back the opening to the tent, her eyes widened and she moved to back away.

"Yeah, whatever you found, I've got better, so get your ass in here." Olympia said, raising her hands in a defensive gesture as she slowly approached the bound and gagged woman. She hadn't been entirely sure about, well, any of this, but that was obviously something that was not a good thing. "Look, I'm not with the freaky nature hippy people, okay?" She said as she slowly approached her, moving to kneel down beside her. "I'm going to take the gag out, don't scream, don't say anything, I'll untie you and we can talk when we're not in the middle of hippy prison camp."

She didn't bother waiting for a nod of confirmation, right now speed was of the essence. Get in, get evidence, get the fuck out. She roughly pulled the gag stuffed into the woman's mouth out before quickly moving to untie her hands.

"And things just got more interesting," said Dakota, walking over to where Olympia was tending to the prisoner. He took a quick look over the situation before gesturing over his shoulder to point to the pile of guns in one of the other tents. "As far as what I was able to find... There's a gun cache there. Saw a couple AR-15s, an M16 or two, pretty sure there was an M70 or a Type 56 in there too. Whoever is behind this is arming up for something serious, it's not just pistols and the like."

The prisoner, meanwhile, began speaking rapidly as Olympia removed the gag. "There's... There were... More of us... They took some of us... North. North for a... A ritual... Me and... A few others are next," she blurted out, still backing away slightly as if they themselves could be the threat she was talking about when she explained what the nature group had done. "Thought you were... One of the ones sent to take us... Away..."

At which point Dakota was going to say something but stopped as his phone buzzed. Taking a step to the side, he answered it and listened for a moment before hanging up and turning back to Olympia and the prisoner. "Shit," he sighed, arms folded. "And now Amalia is in trouble out there. We lurk around this place too much longer, we're likely getting a fight."

"Well, let's get the fuck outta here." Olympia said, a slightly disappointed frown on her face as she turned to walk out of the tent. As someone who's power primarily revolved around using guns given their effectiveness as a weapon, she'd been sorely tempted to simply grab one. It wasn't every day one found a bunch of rifles, military-grade no less, lying around. But they'd had a job to do, they'd done it, and as much as she wanted to grab a little something extra... It wouldn't do to do something that risky or stupid while she was still injured or while Amalia was in trouble.

Shay had spent her time tagging along Olympia, going from tent to tent in the hope of finding something that would make their visit really worth it. Any discovery would be a profit, preferably something incriminating, given that anything would likely give them better insight of that mysterious organization. When they hit the jackpot, the girl couldn’t help but feel that they had found something way more significant than she had expected.

A prisoner, and she was clearly terrified.

“Damn…” Shay let Olympia handle the prisoner, given the girl didn’t really trust her skills at calming down others. That was what they were looking for… right? That, added to what Dakota said as he walked over, pretty much confirmed their suspicions. Prisoners, shady rituals, and military-grade weaponry. It truly was gold. “I was certain we would be findin’ something, but all of this... You sure none of y’all have paranormal luck?”

As the adrenaline rush in her organism got stronger, Shay’s senses were put to even greater use, the girl never letting even a second pass without full awareness of her surroundings. Eventually, news from Amalia arrived, and they clearly weren’t good, putting a ticking clock on the time they had to get out before the situation escalated.

“Fuck, we already gotta go? Nevermind what I said ‘bout luck.” The girl said, her sarcasm always present despite the situation they found themselves in. Sticking with her teammates, Shay made sure their path to relative safety would be clear, the danger never repressing her unwavering concern for the teammate who currently wasn’t with them.

[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State & Confederation of the Equator
MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
Dakota 'Monster' Vernon & Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson
June 17th, 2025

"Don't know if we have to move already but we have to do something, Amalia says she's in a bind with a couple of guards that are armed. Not that I don't think she can handle herself. Might be a good idea to give her some help but on the other hand if the guards are chasing her, there's less of them to deal with us," Dakota said, before turning his attention to Olympia and Shay fully as he shifted into his alternate form, the one that included wings. "At risk of making a scene, I can get one of you over to her location fairly quickly. The other one will have to stay behind, which one of you wants to head over to see what's happening with Amalia?"

Shay’s eyes suddenly lightened up as Dakota spoke of Amalia’s situation. It’s not like she was glad her dear teammate was caught up in something unexpected, but more due to the fact that things suddenly got exciting. The girl didn’t even think twice before immediately stepping forward. “Me! I’ll be gonna help our gal’ out!” she said just as quickly as she moved. Her confidence when it came to shooting was obviously non-existent, but if there was a chance she could use her sneaking and close-quarters abilities, she wouldn’t turn it down quite easily. Not even waiting long enough until Dakota’s reply, she instantly got to action by pulling her hood up again as she put her mask back on.

"Get ready to hold on, then. You don't want me dropping you right now," Dakota said, wings fully extended at this point as the vigilante dropped his hoodie, revealing a white tee shirt which already had slits in the back for the wings to poke through. Additionally, he reached for the machete that was at his side, pulling it out of the sheath and handing it to Shay after a moment of contemplation. "You need this more than I do. Your power isn't going to help you as much with this kind of thing."

At which point Dakota grabbed Shay from behind and took off suddenly, straining slightly from the extra weight but managing it as they went over the tree line and looked for where the battle was taking place. It seemed it was further down the road - which itself was lined with trees on two sides and had only one way to go, either forward or backwards. However, it was clear that there was one place where a right turn was possible. A gas station down the road. It seemed like this was the place where the battle was taking place.

"This is it," said Dakota, dropping down to the ground and releasing Shay as a couple of figures lurked around the general area, civilians remaining in their cars as the pair of men, who seemed to be dressed in matching olive clothes that could be called a uniform, crouched behind cars and slowly made their way around the gas station premises.

Shay quickly got hold of the machete, a kind of blade she was already familiar with. Added to the combat knife she already had on her, it would certainly make the girl live up to her potential, but only if she managed to get close and personal. “Thanks, see I ain’t into senior dudes but I appreciate it.” she said in her usual teasing tone.

The vigilante watched the gas station from above as the location turned out to be the only possible zone where that conflict was taking place. Touching down, she immediately went low profile, scanning her surroundings with her hearing. Then, she suddenly started humming a bit loudly - though only audible to Dakota - utilizing what was essentially a form of echolocation to see if she could identify anything that could’ve missed her ear.

She eventually spotted the two men dressed in olive clothes, the duo apparently having some sort of assault rifle with each of them. Shay wasn’t really a gun nut, so she wouldn’t know for sure.

The girl eventually started moving up as close as she judged possible without alerting the men, although trying to conceal themselves in the woods. “They got rifles or somethin’, that’s nasty. We better off not lettin’ them know we here… though we won’t be able to help Amalia out this way. If they’re moving ever closer to that station, that can only mean that...”

Without thinking twice, Shay picked up the nearest decently-sized rock she could find and threw it at the first window of the first car she could see, immediately moving back into the woods and towards the opposite direction, hoping the distraction would be enough to draw out the two men and allow them to link up with Amalia.

The men seemed to turn at the sound of the rock but didn't see the two figures who were moving carefully to avoid being seen - at the edge of the gas station, they had one of the pumps to use as cover. Which was a tight fit for two people but Dakota was able to position his wings to not protrude, and the two men in the olive uniforms looked like they were more focused on heading towards the car than they were looking for the two intruders they hadn't seen yet.

One of them pointed a rifle at the windshield but it seemed they were only checking to see who was in the car... And it wasn't Amalia, the one they were looking for. Or any of the others. "Not her," a voice said. One of the guards, of course. But while they were focusing on this, there was a good chance presented to do something.

"Yeah well, I heard something..."

"Check behind the car, then."

It sounded like the guards were getting frustrated, which was why Dakota finally spoke up in a low whisper and prepared to burst out from behind the cover at any moment. "If you want to look for a fight, this is the best chance. You might be able to catch them off guard. On the other hand, we have a chance to look for Amalia... And I haven't seen her yet. But if we find her and those guys are still lurking, we might have trouble."

[Lunas Legion]

Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 17th, 2025

"Well I guess we might as well haul ass." Olympia said, offering a small wave to Dakota and Shay as they flew off. As much as she'd wanted to volunteer to help Amalia, well, she was unarmed, injured, and the last time Dakota had flown her into the middle of something she'd screwed up beyond belief. So she wasn't taking that chance again.

"C'mon." She said, gesturing to their newly-freed companion. "It's been quiet so far, so lets see if our luck holds and we can get outta here with no trouble." It was a simple plan, really. Walk out the front gate just like they'd come in and keep an eye out for anyone that seemed to be inclined to stop them.

"T-t-t-there's others," the prisoner said as she stood up to follow after Olympia. On one hand, there were still others here and it seemed like they were going to head to a bad fate if nothing was done to them. The ritual didn't sound like one that would benefit anyone's health. But she wasn't about to reject help with getting out of there, not when she had felt only minutes ago like she was heading for the same fate... "But if you insist on getting out of here..."

"Of fucking course there are others." Olympia swore under her breath as she turned around to face towards the former prisoner. "How many, roughly? And any idea where they're at?" Saying it was a difficult choice was an understatement. The heroic thing to do would be to save all the prisoners and waltz out the front gate.

But this was a stealth mission; they hadn't come here expecting to fight nor intending to stage a prisoner breakout, they'd come here for information. And she'd promised not to get hurt and she was quite intent on keeping that promise. She'd make the call for herself once she knew more. She wasn't about to charge headlong into a situation like she had last time after the bridge fight. Never again.

"N-n-not sure, I think there were at least three others, they were rounding us up for some kind of... They said it was a r-r-ritual up north s-somewhere, but you showed up before they could come back for me. I think they're going to come soon, they're putting us on some kind of t-t-truck," the stuttering prisoner explained carefully, trying to recall all of the details.

"Alright." Olympia let out a breath. More than one other made it... Problematic, but if they were moving them all to one location, that made things a lot easier. "Okay. I think I have a plan. You have any idea where they'd park the truck? We can talk as we move." Olympia said as she turned, moving to head back to the tent with Her plan was... Slowly coming together. She didn't know how to drive, but her power did. She was unarmed now, but Dakota's cache of guns meant she wouldn't be for long. She'd have surprise on her side too.

"Here's what we're going to do." Olympia said, her voice calm as she picked up the guns one by one, eventually settling on one of the M16s and moving to grab a magazine from one of the ammo boxes, moving to load herself up on weapons, handing one of the AR-15s to her new companion.

"We're going to blitz in towards that truck and before they know what's hit them we're going to drive off with it and all those prisoners they've loaded in the back, then you guys can all go to the police and whatever and tear these shits a new one." Olympia sounded confident enough, but really she was still unsure of the plan. It was very, very risky, to say the least. But if they were moving to do the ritual soon then they simply didn't have time to wait and regroup, and given that they were moving the people soon that was a fairly surefire indicator in her eyes. "Sound like a plan, or would you much rather get out of here? We didn't come here looking for a fight so none of us are prepared for one."

The question seemed to elicit a floored reaction from the prisoner. "I'm from Berkley, you think I've e-e-ever touched one of those b-b-before?" she asked, taking the AR-15 in her hands and looking it over slowly like it was a foreign object. She didn't even know the name of the thing, let alone how to operate it properly or how to use it safely. "We should d-d-do something but... I don't know how much help I'm going to be."

But she did point to the direction behind the cabins. "Keep going past those cabins and there's some kind of t-t-t-trail through the trees that should take you... Somewhere. I don't know what's down there, I only know that they took the others there... And some of them have guns, too."

"Point at bad guys, hold trigger, hold the rifle like I'm holding it." Olympia shrugged dismissively, turning to show how she was holding her own M16 to the prisoner. "You don't need to actually hit anything if you're coming with me and not going out the front gate alone, don't worry, I'm a good enough shot with mine for the pair of us. It's mostly just so you can defend yourself if need be."

It was risky, giving a rifle to someone who had no idea what they were doing with one, but it'd mean she didn't have to look after her quite as much if she was also capable of defending herself to a degree, however limited. "Let's go." Was all Olympia said as she set off at a slow walk in the direction that the prisoner had pointed, keeping her eyes open and ears peeled. She needed to put the advantage of surprise to the best use possible if this was going to work.

"Uhhhhhhh...." said the girl, before eventually nodding and deciding that taking a risk here was better than being left behind entirely. She started after Olympia, and they found themselves moving slowly down a trail... At which point the girl stopped when she heard the sound of footsteps, and Olympia would see in front of her a dirt road that cut through the trees, and some of the guards from earlier standing around and talking, wearing olive colored 'uniforms' that looked like they might as well have come from an army surplus.

"That's them," the girl said in a quieter tone, the men not yet noticing the intruders as they were mostly turned around and focused on speaking with each other. In the background, a number of prisoners were visible on the flatbed of the truck, which had no driver just yet but had the engines running.

"Hmm." Olympia made an uncertain noise as she pulled the girl aside, behind one of the trees to the side of the dirt road. "Stay low to the ground, move slowly and quietly, we're going into the trees on the side of the road. When all the guards are down, you run for the back of the truck. I'll run for the driver's seat. Anyone comes running up the track, shoot at them. Don't need to hit, just keep shooting wildly." Right now, she wished she had a grenade. Five made things... Tricky, since she could kill one in the opening with a shot to the head, making it four versus one, but she couldn't afford to get stuck in a firefight which might happen if she went for precision here.

But they were all in one group, which made things easier. Full-auto burst across the center of mass, drop them, follow up with lethal shots on the move. She didn't need to kill, just render them ineffective and unable to shoot back.

Taking a position behind one of the trees with her back to it, she raised her M16, flicked it to full-auto, sighted it on the right-most man's chest and pulled the trigger, her M16 barking as she moved her rifle across the group, holding it level as instructed by her power.

[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State & Confederation of the Equator
MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
Dakota 'Monster' Vernon & Shay 'Sparkplug' Hudson
June 17th, 2025

Shay was glad her attempt at distracting the two men had worked much better than expected, but now she once again faced a tough decision. She could risk it and maybe get both of them at a later, better opportunity, or she could go with her current odds and take at least one of them down. Either two flying birds, or one in her hand.

Distracting them had already been a huge gamble, and she wouldn’t push her luck any further.

Shay smirked. “You know I ain’t the best shot around, so apologies for what you ‘bout to see.” the girl said mere moments before emerging from her cover, giving Dakota enough time to understand exactly what she meant. Drawing her pistol as she emerged, Shay didn’t waste any time before taking a few shots at the man who was the most exposed of the duo.

Some of the shots did indeed miss. They were coming from someone that wasn't the best shot after all, but one of the advantages of guns was that a volume of attacks could be sent down range and not all of them could always be avoided. Not all of them would miss and that was the case here as one bullet buried itself into the head of the uniformed man that had been targeted. The man dropped dead immediately, leaving his partner in shock and giving Dakota time to ascend straight into the air, preparing to let himself drop on the second man to hopefully knock him out of the fight for now at the very least.

It was at that point that Amalia burst out from behind the store building, pistol of her own raised as she looked around at the current scene - but rather than seeing the men coming for her, she saw Dakota slamming down to the ground... Right in front of the uniformed man, who had left his shocked state and had been able to sidestep the jumping attack. Well, that was just great. Dakota, however, drove an elbow from point blank range into the side of the man's head, his enhanced strength enough to split the skull of the guard without a second or third attack even being required. The body dropped backwards before shots could be fired, and Dakota turned to Shay to see if she was alright.

"Well, fuck, looks like the cops are going to have something to investigate which is never a good thing," Dakota stated, his voice... Sharper in this alternate form, more to the point.

"No shit," said Amalia, running to the others to regroup. "What the hell happened in the camp, by the way? You find anything?"

"Prisoner and a weapons cache, Olympia is still there by herself. Well, with the prisoner. Can't give any further updates, we left after your call," Dakota explained to her briefly before looking to Shae. "I think we need to get out of here before the sirens show up, and we need to get Olympia out of here, too... Don't think the cops are going to be keen on believing us when we explain they were attacking us first, with guns."

The sight of the man dropping dead by one of her shots was a shock to Shay, for obvious reasons. Suddenly, her hands started shaking ever so slightly. Violence had been part of her life, from witnessing it as a horrified kid to practicing it on a daily basis as a vigilante, but the thing is that a human that had had a taste of civilization would never find themselves mentally at peace with such a sight.

In the girl’s case, adrenaline and fear mixed into one, and at some point it became impossible to tell what caused her to act the way she did. Nonetheless, the relief of seeing Amalia unharmed was enough to at least minimize her current emotional state.

“Yeah… True, we need to get the hell out of here and regroup with Olympia. Do you have the strength to carry two fragile girls at once, big man?” Shay said in her usual tone, trying to use some sarcasm to do away with the shakiness. "Altho' I'd be up for some runnin' if your poor muscles can't take it."

"I don't think it's going to be quite as easy, but I can try. And Amalia isn't light, for the record..."

"Hey!" Amalia said, before the both of them were picked up by Dakota, who immediately took off in the skies above the gas station... As Dakota moved, there were sirens sounding off in the distance, showing that the chaos had drawn the attention of the authorities on some level. Someone probably called in. It wasn't going to take long before they inevitably ended up reaching the camp where the Team Next members were headed, and while the police attention on the camp would be a good thing, the chance of getting arrested wasn't.

Dakota set the pair of them down at the camp entrance after arriving, gesturing down the path. "Look for Olympia, or follow sounds, or whatever. Just catch up with her. You can walk the rest of the way, I'm going to need to save some strength for the actual fighting assuming we need to free some more prisoners. Actually, wait one second."

Right away, Dakota flew into the air and went forward, looking for the sight of Olympia, eventually spotting the trail and the dirt road where she was located. "And there she is. Keep going behind the cabins and there's a trail, that's where we need to go," he said upon landing once again, gesturing for them to get a move on and reach Olympia before the fight around the truck ended.

[Confederation of the Equator]

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TEAM NEXT - M0UNT@1N_R0ADS_P1.ISO

DATE // JUNE 17TH, 2025
LOCATION // MEN OF NATURE CAMP, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
CAST // DAKOTA 'MONSTER' VERNON, SHAY 'SPARKPLUG' HUDSON, AMALIA 'PSYCHER' HUERTA, OLYMPIA 'GLADIATOR' GALATAS
Collaborative post between Lunas Legion, Forest State, and Confederation of the Equator
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“Alright, let’s get movin’!” Shay said as Dakota landed a second time, giving them her teammate’s actual location, which the girl already had an idea of. As she grew closer, however, she began to pick up the pace, given Shay could already hear a pained voice that became more and more clear by the meter. There was no way that wasn’t Olympia, and by her tone she was either shocked or injured. “Fuck, seems like Olympia’s in some deeper shit than we thought.” she said to Amalia while moving.

The girl eventually reached the end of the trail, although not without running, catching sight of a retreating Olympia. As she’d guessed, she had been wounded during the fighting. From what she could hear, the remaining men were still taking cover behind the truck, but there was no telling how long they would be on the defensive… especially with a frightened prisoner doing a lot of the suppressing. “Fuck, you ok? We gotta move outta here fast!”

A few more gunshots sprayed from behind the truck but they didn't hit anything as the guards climbed into the front of the truck and pulled away, escaping with the prisoners but relieving the Team Next members of the pressure that had been on them. That was good. Not that the prisoners would be taken off to some unknown fate but that they wouldn't have to worry about getting shot at while trying to help their injured teammate. "I'm n-n-not hurt but she is," said the one prisoner that had been freed. She gestured to Olympia, as Dakota shifted back to his normal form now that the danger was over.

"Goddamn it," muttered Amalia, frustrated that they arrived too late to make a difference. At least, however, they had one person that would probably be able to help them with getting closer to the truth. Maybe they would be able to find the northern location the prisoners were heading, and still save them from the fate that had been talked about. Some kind of ritual that didn't sound good.

"Come on," Dakota said, gesturing in the opposite direction. "If they're gone, we need to get the hell out of here. Before the cops show up and start asking questions. Hopefully, they'll investigate this place and get distracted from us."

"Knew I should've shot the tires out and it's just a scratch." Olympia grunted out, waving dismissively while she tucked her M16 under her shoulder as she watched the truck that she'd originally intended to steal drive off. "Don't worry about me, I can still run. Let's go. Rituals take time probably, we can catch up."

Olympia fell into a bitter, angry silence as she stalked off in the direction Dakota had gestured. She hadn't fucked up anywhere near as badly as she had the first time, but she'd still gotten hurt, still failed to stop them from driving off with the truck and both of those were fuck-ups in her eyes.

[Forest State]

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TEAM NEXT - R41S1NG_TH3_SC0R3.MP3

DATE // JUNE 19TH, 2025
LOCATION // OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
CAST // DAKOTA 'MONSTER' VERNON, ASIA 'AZURE DRAGON' XU XIULAN
Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
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Team Next had been... Somewhat stumped recently. They had arguably lost against the mysterious cannibal they had fought on the Bay Bridge, and while they had saved one person when looking into the Men of Nature, they'd also increased the heat around the case and made it harder to get back in. Which was something they would need to do soon if they wanted to help the other people they had been unable to save. However, they had no leads to go on at this moment and they were stuck figuring out their next moves. They needed a win, that was for sure.

And it was on the mind of Dakota Vernon specifically, who was around his own apartment looking into any potential internet threads which could give them the leads they needed... However, finding leads this way wasn't easy, it required good skill with search engines, and it also required skill at knowing which statements were real and which were fake.

There were a lot of unverified rumors going on, after all, about any of the main heroes on the streets. Hell, there were unverified rumors about even professional heroes. Sorting through it all effectively could be the difference between making a major difference and heading somewhere that was a complete dead end... And to get help with that, Dakota happened to be expecting help from someone. However, that person wasn't here just yet.

If there was one thing that Asia honestly, genuinely disliked, it would be walking. Oh, most people suffered through it, but most people didn't have that constant temptation to just fly at a whim instead. To just say 'fuck you' to the ground and gravity and fly effortlessly. It just always felt so liberating.

But she had to plod around on the ground like everyone else because otherwise she'd blow open that she had powers and that she was a vigilante and that was, well, illegal. It wasn't as bad as it had been back home for her where she hadn't been able to use them at all, but it wasn't being able to fly wherever and whenever she wished like she dreamed, so she suffered on.

Which, sadly, meant driving and then walking to Dakota's flat rather than just flying on up to the window and knocking. She'd have to do that some day, just for the look on his face. Still, there was a slight skip in her step as she walked up the stairs, levitating herself just the tiniest, barely noticable amount every step. She figured if she could make it look like she was walking when she was actually flying a tiny bit off the ground, it would make that itch to soar more bearable. Plus she was actually, finally able to do something, having been unavailable on the team's previous excursions owing to real life.

University was a real bitch at times.

She stopped outside Dakota's apartment, smoothing out her skirt and giving a brief fuss over her appearance before knocking twice.

"Took long enough for you to show up." said Dakota, opening the door and gesturing for Asia to come inside. The place was decently well taken care of.... But nothing special. Wasn't the largest apartment in the world but it seemed Dakota had more space than Amalia did, at least when only considering her own personal space and not the large common area that was in the same apartment she lived in. Dakota's, on the other hand, had only ever been built for one or two people. Perhaps living here in this larger place was a testament to how Dakota had perhaps put in more effort than all of them in living two lives at once - working as a hero by nights, and a civilian by day.

"I'm sure you're already familiar with the cannibal incident that happened earlier in the month. I'm looking to see if we can figure out anything more about that, I think there's a thread on the Underground that might be of interest to us," Dakota explained as he walked further inside the apartment. "But... It's not a solid lead as much as I found something that might let us take a flier on discovering something. Could be dead ends, could not be."

"Better a potential dead end than absolutely nothing." Asia shrugged lazily as she walked in through the door, pushing it shut behind her, levitating slightly off the ground and flying after Dakota as he walked further inside. Damn, it felt good to finally get her feet off the ground, even just a little.

"And even if it is a dead end we might find something useful along the way." Asia continued, shifting herself around until she was in a position as if she was lying down, resting the side of her head on an outstretched arm. "What do you have anyways, you can't just say you've gotten something then not tell me what you've gotten? Don't taunt me like that."

"Scoreboard thread on Underground says that the same group behind the cannibal we fought on the bridge has bodies on a couple other hero groups around Oakland... Fought a couple others without losses on either side, too. Most notably would obviously be XGang, who we ran into out there. Don't think there's any hard details on these guys but if we talked to one of the other groups we might find something to go on," Dakota stated, sitting down in front of the laptop on the desk and turning back to the tab that had the Heroes Underground page. "Of course... Things aren't the best with XGang after what happened in the last fight."

"So your genius solution is basically ask the rest of the scene for information?" Asia rolled her eyes, levitating herself to lie just behind Dakota, peering over his shoulder at the laptop. "I mean, if any of them have info they're not going to just hand it over for free, and if they did know anything they'd probably have acted on themselves." Asia let out a small sigh, falling back into silence. "Well I figure it's worth a shot if nothing else, we can always try tracking down that Eye guy that's an information broker if we come up with nothing. I'm assuming you can actually contact them to ask to meet to trade info or whatever they wish for what we need? If they have it in the first place."

---

---

"The scene didn't know shit about these guys before, it's not like I'm suggesting something that was an option in the past but we just didn't accept," Dakota replied, frustrated. It was true, this new wave of villains had come somewhat out of nowhere, and they had taken many of the more experienced hero teams by surprise. Even experienced or well known groups, like the Golden Gate that had been mentioned in the thread, as well as XGang, had suffered losses or injuries when trying to deal with the clowns. "No, I believe what I'm suggesting here is something new. And I doubt we're going to be able to talk to the Eye given his reputation. Even big shots like politicians and the like have trouble finding him, and we have less leads than we do on the other group. The Eye operates on his... Or her own terms."

"A group like that doesn't just come out of nowhere." Asia said, whining slightly. "They're too... Coordinated in their theme, too effective in how they've been able to use their powers and fighting to just be new to all this. Have we tried seeing if they've come from out of state or something? Hell, what are they even in it all for? They've just been picking fights with every single team on the scene left right and center, killed people from a good few of them..."

Asia groaned, rolling over to face away from the computer. "I don't think anyone knows much more than we do really, but maybe someone's holding back or realised something or I'll take tinfoil hat theories at this point. I just want to do something. I do enough crunching of bits and pieces of information at uni."

"Just doing something without knowing what we're jumping into is what ended up getting Olympia shot and fucking things up with another group for no gain when we had the bridge fight. We jumped into something against that cannibal and look what happened. This time, I think we should do more research... We can't take another L here," Dakota said, scrolling down on the page to see if there were more details about the current cases. "Looks like the guy we fought on the bridge is called Kraken. Makes sense based on his powers."

Dakota paused, reading the details of the case. "Apparently XGang have been after him for a bit too, since they had a second fight with him out west in Daly City. But both of them were apparently bleeding afterwards, there's pictures of it right here. Whatever this guy really does, it was strong enough to shred their body armor under their costumes," he continued, analytically. He leaned back in his seat, scratching his head. "If you want to do something useful, helping us talk to XGang would be that. But thanks to what happened on the bridge..."

Dakota's voice trailed off and picked up. "Thanks to Olympia being a dumbass, they don't even want to talk to us. Not when we cost them their chance to end the feud a while ago without needing another fight where they ended up getting hurt. On the other hand it looks like Kraken is accomplices with Yokai, but I don't know who Yokai is at all. Don't even know if it's a he or she or what they look like when not in those baggy clothes, or the power. But Yokai killed Lazer from Golden Gate for... What? Should we ask Golden Gate what that was about? Like you said, there has to be a motive right here."

"I mean it isn't like we have any other leads..." Asia shrugged helplessly as she sat up, rolling over so she was standing behind Dakota, looking down at the laptop screen. "We talk to Golden Gate, see what the whole thing with Lazer was about, give them a spot of revenge if possible on Yokai. It says they knew enough to launch a retaliation strike since Rocky got arrested just this morning after one, XGang..." Asia groaned again. "Olympia really can be an idiot at times, but if we come up with something useful they'll come around. They'll want revenge."

"But they're seven for naught. How many of those freaks are even out there? Midnight are out for blood too, so that's four teams at a minimum..." Asia paused, thinking. "Yeah, we talk to Golden Gate. Then we pull in XGang and Midnight with the promise of revenge, keep Olympia out of the way so she doesn't do anything excessively stupid and that should be more than enough to handle them. Do we know which of them killed Midnight's people?"

Scrolling down in the thread further, Dakota pointed out a post giving a few of the details. Apparently the fight had broken out in Livermore because of... Clown World trying to commit some kind of attack to cause mass panic and the Midnight Riders replying to it by sending a couple of their people. Obviously, the result of the fight was already clear. "Looks like these guys aimed to release a bioweapon in the middle of Livermore. Not sure why they did it but it says here that they've done a crime or two just for shock value. Why they actually want to shock people, I'm not sure... Maybe visibility. Get in the news, get on TV, spread their message inadvertently," said Dakota, making a guess based off the available evidence.

"Looks like the one responsible for that goes by Mystic. Female, looks Asian in origin, not hiding her face for some reason. No hi def pictures of her but I'd say she's from Vietnam or somewhere from what we can see here," Dakota continued. "But this is just taken from security footage, it's not a profile shot or anything like that. Details are grainy, colors are faded... Could be a lead but the Riders are going to have a better idea about this kind of thing than we do from looking at this. I... Don't know what we're going to do but we need to talk to someone about this before this crime wave or whatever it is continues. Have the feeling we'll get caught in the crossfire again when it does."

"So there's at least three of these... Can we come up with literally anything to call them other than clowns?" Asia whined. "It just feels odd. But bioweapons are serious stuff, they aren't something you just pick up off the shelf." Her theory that they were connected to someone out of city or state or, perhaps even worse were just a proxy for such a group, suddenly had more fuel.

"I say we talk to whichever of the Golden Gate and Midnight is available to talk first, then we talk to the other. Try and pool info, see if we get anything at all." Asia sighed. "Not the kind of thing I thought I'd be doing as a vigilante, it's basically detective work."

"Golden Gate is the larger team. Based in San Fran which is a bigger city than Livermore and they're more well known already, they've got press attention and they've worked more with the official heroes around the region. Might be harder to get in contact with them considering we, you know, don't have that much of a rep of our own compared to them... Even if people have started to notice that we're out there, just like the other more known groups," Dakota stated. "On the other hand, the Riders are based further out of here in Livermore... They stem from the militia movement originally, they're further removed from everything and they're off the radar for their own reasons but they might be interested in help getting back."

"Alternative option is that we try to get Rocky out and use it as leverage but that has a bunch of problems by itself. Messing with the law always makes things complicated, usually not in a good way. I'd say we have better chances with the Riders. But that's not to say that our chances are really great with any of them."

"Yeah, we don't want to stage a breakout." Asia nodded her head vigorously in agreement. "Knowing our luck we'll fuck it up, get him killed and then we'll have both XGang and the Golden Gate pissed at us and then we won't be able to do shit against the clowns. I hate every time I have to say that word, I really, really do. But we talk with Midnight, if that doesn't work out we talk with the Golden Gate and if that doesn't work out I guess we make it up as we go along."

"Well, looks like we have our plan. I'll work on more research on exactly how we're going to meet Midnight, but you and me can do that sometime later while Amalia and the others keep looking into the Men of Nature and figure out what the hell we're going to do with the info we have... About there being some other site for rituals and the like to go on. For now," said Dakota, standing up and looking back to Asia. "I'm headed out to experience some of the nightlife this week before it's over. Feel free to join me if you want."

"Why not?" Asia shrugged, smiling as she finally set herself down on the ground. "I've been stuck inside basically all week writing essays or reading for uni or going to or from whatever class I'm barely avoiding failing in owing to not showing up enough." She let out an annoyed huff. "I need some alcohol and stuff in my system and to relax too, so c'mon. Let's go."

[Forest State]

Collaborative post between Forest State & Lunas Legion
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Amalia 'Psycher' Huerta & Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas
June 27th, 2025

She wasn't sure how it was going to go, but Amalia Huerta knocked on the door of her friend, composing what she was going to say in her mind as she considered her options. There were a number of different things she could do... But regardless, she had told herself that she was going to do something with Olympia today, and she hadn't brought it up ahead of time. This was the kind of thing she felt she had a better chance with if she sprung it on Olympia as a surprise. And so... She waited as she stood outside the door, wondering just when it would open.

"I'm coming, gimme a bit!" Olympia yelled, knowing full well that the thin walls of her apartment meant whoever was knocking would be able to hear her clearly. She didn't exactly have anything planned today, didn't even know the time as she crawled out from under the small pile of blankets on the mattress she used for a bed.

Getting shot several times had meant she'd spent a few days off of work, 'sick', and a few days off of work meant she'd been unable to pay her heating bills. Sure, it didn't exactly get cold in California, but she quite liked being warm, hence the pile. Yawning, she stood up, grabbing a T-shirt and pair of jeans off out of her drawer, dressing herself as she yawned again, only half-awake as she made her way out of her bedroom and into the tiny hallway, staggering down it before pulling back the pair of deadbolts and opening it.

"Oh, hey Am." Olympia said, her voice slightly groggy as she fiddled with the door chain before pulling it open fully. "Come in, wasn't expecting company."

Amalia nodded, stepping inside, looking down slightly as she did so. She... Felt somewhat bad about the state of this place, but she couldn't afford just yet to help all of her friends. Her family had money but it didn't mean she did and she was still working on taking care of herself and convincing them that she was indeed not a loser. Which with their expectations, was easier said than done. "Was wondering if you wanted to go out and do something since it's been a crazy past few weeks and we've hardly gotten to do anything fun between the shit like the last battle," she said straight up, not sure what the reaction would be. "I don't think I can look over news stories for clues or anything like that anymore this week unless I get something else done first, it's... Been weighing on me a bit. Had a few ideas on what we could do."

"Sure. Didn't have anything planned for today beyond stew and wonder if I'm gonna get fired or not." Olympia said, scratching the back of her neck with one hand and pushing the door shut with the other. "Lemme get myself breakfast first, you can tell me whatever ideas you've got while I eat." Olympia continued, turning and walking back into her small kitchen which was just off the tiny hallway.

"You want me to get you a drink or something?" Olympia asked, getting herself out a bowl and pouring cereal into it, followed by a small amount of milk, leaning down to rest her elbows on the counter as she began to eat. "Not sure what I have but there's probably something that isn't milk somewhere."

"You need it more than I do, I'll be fine. Besides, if we do what I was thinking of, we're both probably going to end up drinking sake in a bit ," shrugged Amalia, leaning against the wall and looking towards Olympia, slightly concerned about the state of the place but not saying anything just yet. "As for that... I thought you should finally come around my parents' place in Palo Alto. They're gonna get on my ass soon if I don't come visit since I haven't been for a while, and well, they're always bugging me about wanting to meet the crowd I'm hanging out with. So you might as well finally meet them, right?"

"Suit yourself." Olympia said in between mouthfuls of cereal, shrugging. "Should warn you that I don't drink much, stuff's expensive-"

Olympia froze as Amalia continued, slowly setting her spoon down in her finished bowl. "Am." She spoke slowly, looking her straight in the eyes. "Of all the people in our little gang of miscreants, you're choosing me to be the first to meet your parents. You know, the mostly-broke, barely clawing onto multiple jobs high school dropout with bullet wounds and anger issues?"

Olympia let out a groan. "Are you absolutely sure about this, since there's no way in hell I'm letting you meet my mother. We get along, but she's less violent and has a... Very tenuous grasp of English. If you really, really want me to, I will, but..." Olympia groaned again. "I guess I better go find some actually decent clothes somewhere. Joggers and a tee ain't gonna cut it in Palo Alto I imagine."

"Dakota and Asia are probably busy looking into the clown stuff or with working and, aside from that, I'm sure my parents want to meet the best friend that I've told them about but never shown them. You know how they are, from what I've said about them. They like keeping up with me... And that means they're going to keep asking about you 'till they finally meet you," Amalia said, sighing. "Don't have to go if you don't want to, but they're already pissed and I'd rather not get lynched for disappearing on them and never listening when they ask for stuff like this. I think they just want to make sure you're not some sketchy person that's dragging me down, really."

"Are you sure I'm not some sketchy person dragging you down?" Olympia let out a small laugh as she stood up, shoving her bowl over in the vague direction of her sink. She'd wash it when she got back. If she got back, and Amalia's family didn't crucify her or something. "And on second thoughts, Asia or Dakota... Have their own issues. I'll go, if just for your company for the day since I figure we're not gonna be trapped in a fucking box with your parents all day. Lemme go get some actual clothes while I try to come up with creative ways of explaining everything about myself and you that are close enough to the truth but also don't make me look like a completely broke skeela or involve me getting shot multiple times."

Olympia hummed to herself as she walked out of the kitchen, brain already moving at a few million miles per hour. She wasn't the type to panic for long, but she didn't really want to embarrass herself or Amalia in front of her parents.

"Pretty sure, and I've also brought some... Interesting acquisitions to try out, so I don't think we're going to be stuck at the dinner table or something for too long. Can't promise they won't interrogate you when we are there, though. Probably are going to have to explain to them the whole, uh, dropping out of high school thing. And they might judge you for it. Well, probably will. But they're friendly enough when you get to know them?" Amalia said, trying not to make this sound like too pessimistic of a situation, even if she wasn't exactly confident right now.

"At the worst you can say that you're one of my starving artist friends or something. That excuse has worked well enough for me for a bit," Amalia shouted after her as she walked out, awkwardly looking down at her phone afterwards.

"I wasn't going to bring that type of thing up at all if possible." Olympia shouted back, her voice clear through the thin walls of her apartment. She probably didn't even really need to shout, but if upstairs liked playing loud music at 3AM then they could put up with her shouting.

"Vague idea was going to be saying I teach Greek at the uni-" Which wasn't wrong, she did teach Greek, and normally to students too since it turned out that degrees in classics or something meant you had to learn ancient Greek, but just not with the university. "Which is how we met in the first place. Can't keep using the same excuses over and over, it doesn't work eventually." Olympia continued, walking back into the kitchen, now actually dressed. "And it was either that or martial arts instructor. I thought teaching Greek was slightly more respectable and was easier to explain how we met. You ready to go?"

"We'll figure it out, and yeah. And hey, would make sense for you to be teaching me how to fight. Oakland is dangerous and well... You kind of look the part," said Amalia, turning to step out of the apartment and into the hallway. She stopped, however, looking back at Olympia. "And if you get provoked, don't punch anyone, 'kay? I'll handle it if it happens, just saying. At best we can use it as an excuse to move somewhere else."

"Fine, no punching anyone." Olympia sighed as she stepped out of the doorway, turning and locking it behind her. "No kicking either, or anything else from my vast arsenal of martial arts moves of varying degrees of usefulness and I'll let you handle it." Olympia paused. "Given what happened last time I didn't listen to your advice, well, I'll be sticking to it this time."

"I'll make sure things don't get too bad. But they probably won't, either way... I am finally giving my parents something they asked for, after all."

Amalia stepped out of the apartment and started towards the outside and to her car which was parked on the street just outside. Even she couldn't deny that she was a little nervous here, but well, that was just life and how it went sometimes. She'd done far more dangerous things in the past than taking her rough around the edges friend to dinner with her parents. And so, she was determined that she could also handle this well enough.

[Khasinkonia]

The Modesto Bee Est 1884 Wednesday, July 2, 2025 1:33 am Local: New Developments at Stanislaus By Josef Leisagh This summer will mark the fifth anniversary of the Stanislaus Event. For those unfamiliar, the Stanislaus Event is the name given to a massive explosion that leveled the greater part of the Stanislaus National Forest, and caused burns all the way over to Modesto. The Stanislaus crater is almost as large as Meteor Crater, and is by far the largest confirmed crater in California. The cause remains unknown. No astronomical events are on record, nor are we aware of any metahumans, weapons, or other objects with such a payload having been in the area at the time. So what could have caused this? A few geologists have put forth the theory that it 'was a result of an anomaly in the San Andreas fault line'. The key issue with this explanation is threefold: There is no record of geologic activity on the date of the event, the San Andreas fault is a bit far for such focused destruction, and satellite imagery does not match with the geologic theory. Naturally, there are conspiracy theories surrounding this event—some of which provide tantalizingly easy explanations. Secret weapons testing, Pyramid secret agendas, aliens, the supernatural, the Chinese, and many others have been assigned guilt for this disaster, but, while we could certainly write a separate article on these theories themselves, the fact of the matter is that we simply don't know what caused it. The crater is barricaded, and residual biohazards are being dealt with. That was the end of the story, or so it seemed. Eyewitness reports, drone footage, and recently acquired security camera footage suggest the presence of a humanoid anomaly that effected the surveillance and security surrounding the Stanislaus Crater. Images attached below portray a glowing humanoid figure which appears to be highly energized. Drone pictures from the previous year showed what appeared to be a glowing infant, while leaked security camera footage dated to just four days ago portray a glowing entity that is presumably either related to or the same as the smaller one from last year. These images show it escaping by melting through galvanized steel chain-link fence. No close-up images of the entity, nicknamed "The Stanislaus Girl" have been obtained due to its luminosity and heat, but eyewitness accounts indicate that it is on a western march, with no known objective. One Jamestown resident attempted to contact the entity using a megaphone. Ron Waterson describes his interaction with the creature below: "So I was sitting on my back porch with some iced tea Monday evening when the wife came hollering to me saying 'Ron! Ron! That fire-girl Ellie was telling me she saw while driving the 108's near the Rawhide Intersection!' And I sat there for a moment and then asked her if she knew what that kid's deal was—if any of her friends had any clue. She didn't. So, as a member of the neighborhood watch, I thought I ought to go out and check, and so I told her I'd got have a look. Then she tells me that the girl was glowing real hot. 'Don't get too close now; Ellie said her boy looked back and saw a road sign curl up and melt when the girl got like two yards away from it.' So to be safe I grabbed my megaphone, and hurry down the street. She was a bit past, looked no older than ten if I had to guess, but pretty darn tall for a ten-year old. Glowing white-hot too; I supposed Leslie was right. I held up my megaphone, and said 'Hey kid?' Y'know, trying to be friendly and non-threatening, and then I said 'What's your name?' She stopped walking about a moment after, but didn't respond. So then I said 'Are you lost?' and when she heard that she totally turned around and stared for a second and responded, I think, but it wasn't in any language I knew. She like cried something like "Woh smaw frey-er. Ee-oo shoon-tee-em too-wohj" and then turned around and kept marching The strangest thing though was that her voice sorta sounded like what you'd expect it too, but it sounded distorted and creepy. I told myself nope a thousand times, and backed off, and went into a store to make sure she wouldn't follow me home. If you ever see her, I'd keep my distance and mind my business; doesn't seem to me that she wants to talk." Aside from its heat, luminosity, and anti-social tendencies, the entity is known to possess a voracious appetite, as four convenience stores and counting can attest. Approximately once per day, usually late at night, the entity will walk into a convenience store, usually simply melting through the wall, and suddenly drop in temperature, glowing a significantly less blinding red, and will immediately begin to gorge itself, flickering between red, yellow, orange, and white as it does so. The carnage left in its wake has a whopping calorie content of between 60,000 and 125,000 calories. Further, security reels suggest it possesses some degree of levitational abilities. Further capabilities are yet unknown. Local authorities recommend that residents, upon encountering the Stanislaus Girl, should make no attempts to interact and keep distance. "The entity is not openly hostile, but is nonetheless dangerous" says Jamestown PD. So who, or what, is this? Where did it come from? What does it want? Where is it going? Nobody knows, and nobody knows how to ask it, or how to stop it. As the Hero League seems plainly unconcerned, one can only hope its intents are not malignant.

[Lunas Legion]

INTERLUDE // FAM1LY_AFFA1R$.MOV
DATE // JULY 1ST, 2025

Collaborative post between Lunas Legion and Forest State

LOCATION //PALO ALTO, USA
CAST // Amalia 'Psycher' Huertas and Olympia 'Gladiator' Galatas

"Well, this is the place," said Amalia, pulling up outside of a house in Palo Alto, which was considerably larger than any of the ones located around the neighborhood they had come from. The ride had been a bit long because of traffic, but heading all the way from Oakland to Palo Alto had helped with showing the differences between the two cities. One was upper class, the other seemed to be getting worse every year. It was surprising in a way that Amalia, who fit in with Oakland so well, was even from here. And now she was bringing someone that hardly belonged at all.

"Try not to start a scene, punch anybody, or anything like that... But I already said that," Amalia stated, stepping out of the car and walking up the large steps. "Other than that, be ready for questions immediately. As much as I complain about it, they do like interrogating anyone I bring over."

She walked to the porch and unlocked the door, taking a tentative step inside and not seeing anyone just yet. The noise from the rest of the house did seem to indicate that a decent number of people were home, however.

"You already told me not to use my usual methods of winning arguments like five times on the drive over Am." Olympia rolled her eyes as she got out of the passenger side of the car, looking around. She might as well have gone to Mars or something, given how she most certainly did not look like she belonged here. She followed Amalia up the stairs in silence, slightly tensed, ready to spring as she followed Amalia through the unlocked door.

At least there was no one at the door waiting for them as she followed Amalia inside. "Pretty sure I could fit my entire flat in this lobby." Olympia commented as she looked around warily.

"Doesn't come for free. The place is big but they expect all of us to keep working so the family can have the money to live places like this. I just happen to be one of the few that's not living up to everyone else... You have to put in a lot of hours to get a place like this," Amalia said, used to the size of her family's house as she started walking through it, leaning Olympia through winding living rooms and recreation rooms before showing up at what seemed like a massive kitchen, with industrial ovens and refrigerators.

"Konnichiwa," she said in greeting to those inside, before going into a conversation that Olympia wouldn't be able to understand at all... It seemed like it was in Japanese.

Olympia just stood there awkwardly in silence, hands tucked into her pockets to prevent her reflexes from taking over and punching just about anything. Saying she was out of her depth would be an understatement, so she figured the best thing to do was simply keep her mouth shut and not risk insulting anyone and let Amalia say whatever she was saying.

Amalia was there for a few minutes before moving away from the room of people in the kitchen. Most of them, as it turns out, weren't even members of her family... Just some of the many associates they had, who happened to be around right now. It was fitting. They tended to throw a lot of parties and similar events. "They said my parents are at the dinner table already. Come on," she said, grabbing Olympia's hand and pulling her through a couple more rooms - it was hard to tell the exact purpose of all of them - until they ended up in one with what was likely the longest dining table Olympia had ever seen.

"Don't stare, but my dad is at the end of the table... My mom is on his right side. My brother and sister are on the other side. The rest are... Well, cousins, aunts, uncles, family associates... You don't need to know all of them," Amalia said in a low voice, before giving Olympia a slight push into the room and following after her, quickly making herself smile for the others. They were all about appearances, after all. To a certain extent, at least. "You might want to introduce yourself," she added in the same low tone.

Olympia said nothing, but did give a small glare towards the back of Amalia's head as she was pulled through yet more rooms- God, this place was huge - until she was finally hauled into the dining room, staring awkwardly around the table.

"So, uh..." She shuffled awkwardly, unused to being the center of attention quite like this. "I'm Olympia, I'm basically Amalia's best friend and its nice to meet all of you?" Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke, hints of her accent creeping in.

Amalia's parents, Nanako Itou and Armando Huerta, were known to be somewhat demanding people - everyone around the neighborhood knew them for their success and everyone within the family that was younger than them knew the expectations to succeed and to keep the family legacy going. In fact, both sides of Amalia's family were settled in this area for the most part, a rich area where just about everyone wanted their kid to grow up to have the next big Silicon Valley startup. And so, it was safe to say they had big expectations on Amalia's friends. As they said, they didn't want anyone to drag her down, she was slacking enough in 'performance' without even having the help of anyone else after all.

"Come in, sit down," Nanako said, flashing a bright smile that looked a bit fake on second glance. Well, on second glance, it actually looked a bit predatory, as if it was the smile of a hunter that was about to pick apart some prey in front of her... Which might be an accurate description of the situation. "We've all heard so much about you... Except for what you actually do. You're quite the mystery girl, aren't you?"

Olympia walked slowly into the room, eyes straying somewhat nervously over Amalia's parents as she pulled a chair out and sat down.

She was more used to being the one asking the questions than answering them, and it made her uncomfortable as she sat on her hands. It'd make it harder for her to punch someone if they pried too much.

"Currently?" Olympia slouched back, trying and failing to relax in the extremely unfamiliar environment. "I'm a martial arts instructor, also teach a few other related combat sports but those are on a one to one basis usually." Assistant instructor, technically, but they didn't need to know that. She'd taught groups by herself before and she could beat the head instructor in a bout, she was just still working on getting all the formalities in place. "And I'm not a mystery girl by intention, I just like my privacy."

"Martial arts instructor? Surely our daughter is hanging around someone more prestigious than that, right? Is that just a side thing while you're in law school? Medical school? Do you know how to code, perhaps?" Nanako pressed, causing Amalia to sigh slightly as she sat down next to Olympia.

"Mom, not everyone has to have some job that makes six figures..." Amalia said in protest, but her mother didn't seem to take the complaint seriously.

"All I'm saying is that surely this best friend of our daughter is on the path to doing something relevant."

"I'm going to, hopefully, run my own martial arts place once I manage to get enough money, either that or I'll take over running the one I'm currently working at when the head instructor retires." Olympia offered. She'd never been a particularly ambitious person, she'd known she'd never go to college or do anything like that, she was just too physically minded, and because it all came from her power she couldn't channel it into sports or something.

"Mmm," muttered Amalia's mother, generally not seeming impressed with the career path that Olympia had proposed. It just wasn't as... Prestigious as her family would prefer for someone that was this big of an influence on one of their children. "Can't say that's what we imagined exactly when Amalia told us about you..."

"It's not like I said that much," Amalia fired back, slightly annoyed at the fact that her parents seemed insistent on dragging her into this.

"How's our daughter holding up, anyway? We know you're around her more than us these days, with her being out in Oakland and all," Armando asked, as someone came out of the kitchen to serve the food... Japanese styled food for the most part, and higher class food at that.

"Pretty well, she sometimes joins in on whatever I'm teaching at the time and we chat whenever I don't have something to teach." Olympia didn't really feel the need to elaborate, nor did she particularly want to elaborate right now as her eyes instead moved to the food. She mostly cooked for herself, and that was normally simple, cheap stuff, so she just... Stared at it.

And realised she had literally no idea what the hell she was actually looking at. She let out a small, barely noticeable sigh. Why couldn't food be simple? It wasn't her fault any cooking implement she held gave her instructions on how to murder people with it which it made it difficult to learn to cook anything, and she could barely afford to eat out.

One of the large parts of the food that was being served was sesame fried chicken, but Olympia would find that the hard part for her in this case would be figuring out just how to eat it with chopsticks - it wasn't like they were handing out forks here, Amalia's family was somewhat traditional on things like this and they didn't deviate from the regular customs that would've been used in Japan. Even if the family was somewhat removed from actually being there.

"Don't make me look bad," Amalia said in a low voice, nudging Olympia to try to get her to do something to overcome her confusion and eat. It... Didn't look good on her if her friend wasn't cosmopolitan enough to know how to use chopsticks properly.

"I've never used chopsticks before in my life." Olympia hissed out. She disliked eating with a knife and fork at the best of times, since it was more than slightly off-putting knowing the most effective way to use those in a fight was normally to go for the eyeballs. Hesitantly, she picked them up, trying to ignore her power-provided information that once again told her the best way to use these was like long, thin, breakable daggers, and once again to go for the eyes with with.

It always had to be the eyes, didn't it? She shifted the pair of chopsticks around in her hand, obviously uneasy and unused to the new implements as she began to slowly eat, trying to copy how the others were using them.

The dinner was going awkwardly, to say the least. Just about everyone at the table could tell that Olympia didn't know how to use chopsticks and was just figuring it out for the first time, and Amalia was trying hard to not just drag herself and her friend off somewhere less awkward right now. No, they had to stick this out. And the awkward questions weren't going to stop. "So since you're around her all the time," Amalia's mother started, looking towards Olivia. "Surely you know what she's spending all her time with? Being an artist doesn't take that much time, does it?"

"Depends entirely on what you're drawing or painting, at least from all the places I've been dragged off to keep her company while she does art. Not that she exactly has to drag me off, as much as I enjoy my job it gets tiring after a while." Olympia said, careful to talk in between small mouthfuls of food. She wasn't sure if she even liked this, but it would be rude not to eat.

Olympia continued. "You've got to find the right subject to actually turn into art, you've got to find the right perspective, the right lighting, and then you have to sit down and draw or paint whatever the original subject matter is. Sometimes it can be quick if it's a small thing, or it can take half a day if not longer, depends on the level of detail and how tricky the subject is to draw and if it's outside or not. I've learned more about art from Amalia than I ever wanted to know, but it's kinda interesting to learn about something I knew pretty much nothing about."

“I dunno how she stays patient with me when I’m drawing her,” Amalia added, as if to sell the story about the art... It was around that time that someone was coming out of the kitchen with a ceremonial container, one that held sake within it. It tended to be a mainstay at formal dinners around this house given their origins and their traditional nature, and the person who’d come out of the kitchen made their rounds pouring a glass at each spot of the table.

“Sake,” Amalia whispered into Olympia’s ear as if to explain what it was. “Don’t get yourself too drunk just yet,” she added, still attempting to avoid... Any problems.

"I don't drink much anyways." Olympia whispered back. Alcohol was expensive, she was poor, they did not mix together much, if at all. Besides, one glass of sake couldn't get her that drunk, now could it?

Olympia almost asked about the 'just yet' but decided against it, turning her eyes back to her glass of sake but deciding against drinking any quite yet. For all she knew drinking it now would be rude, or you were meant to let it air or something like that. If in doubt wait had worked well enough so far to avoid too much awkwardness.

"You're supposed to sip the drink from your cup," Amalia hissed, elbowing Olympia slightly once again to tell her she was doing the wrong thing by just letting it sit there. Risking the ire of her parents, she looked down at her phone just long enough to see what the time is. "Not all that much longer and we'll be able to get upstairs and away from the others. If this is hard... Just remember that I've already 'secured the bag' for us."

"I have literally no idea what I'm doing here, don't blame me." Olympia hissed back, picking up the cup in one hand and sipping at it. She wouldn't say she liked it, but at the very least she didn't cough or spit it out at the taste. Really she just wanted to get out of here before something happened that made her want to punch something, or worse, stab something with chopsticks. She all but glared at the cup as she sipped at it, as if challenging it, resisting the urge to just gulp it down in one.

"You could look more comfortable right now..." Amalia said with a slight sigh, eyes subtly glancing back to her parents who also had their eyes on the duo. It might as well have been awkward for both sides, and this was when Amalia decided that it was time to end it. "Excuse me... Just remembered we had something to work on with my art stuff and I needed something from my room for it, so uhhhhh... We need to get up there before it gets dark," she said to the others at the table, standing up and practically grabbing Olympia by the collar to drag her away and to somewhere considerably less awkward.

"You're going to make me lose social credit points with the parentreich if you keep acting the way you were," she said once they were headed up the stairway to her room, and a safe distance away from anyone else in the house. "I get you're not from around here... But when in Egypt, walk like the Egyptians do."

"Hey, this entire thing was your idea." Olympia offered in protest, not bothering to break out from Amalia dragging her away. She wanted to leave just as badly, if not more than Amalia. "I'm not entirely sure how you expected this to go but this... You may as well have dragged me to Mars or something, I have no idea what I'm doing here Amalia." Olympia sighed. "Hell, even if I knew what I was supposed to be doing I'd be about as comfortable as a cat in lava being in there. Big social things are not my thing, especially when they involve sitting down for too long." Olympia scratched the back of her head. "Could've been worse though."

"Yeah... Misjudged idea on my part. Guess I knew they were going to drag me over here today anyway, or at least pressure me to come, and I wanted to spend time with you," Amalia said, shrugging eventually, as they reached her door and she stepped inside, shutting it behind her. She would have locked it but, well... That tended to freak her parents out when she did so, even though she was grown now and old enough to be near graduating if she had decided to attend college. She reached into her jacket, however, and tossed a small bag on the bed.

"But the good side is that I was able to get my hands on some molly. Let's just make sure no one sees us during the high," she said, flopping down on her bed. "Going to be hard for me to live that one down if it happens..."

"Hah." Olympia let out a chuckle, patting Amalia on the shoulder. "Knowing me, I'll probably end up going all karate master on them if they open the door, and then they'll have something slightly worse to worry about. Let's get high, not like I get the chance often."

[Forest State]

INTERLUDE // TH3_C0NN3CTI0N.???
DATE // JUNE 30, 2025
LOCATION // MISSION DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO, USA
CAST // ‘King Hayden’ and ‘The Overseer’

---

“As for the reason why I do what I do… I don’t act because of money or because I’m looking to get something out of it, per say. Other than the companionship of plenty of cool people who share similar ideas with myself. You could say I do this for the love of it - I do it because I get something out of it. In a world that has both the absurd and the regular, the people that are extraordinary and the people that are entrenched in their regular day to day routines with nothing ahead of them except for work, mundane social interactions, and more work… I’ve decided to embrace the more wild side of life. To live on the edge. To not be normal. That is what my group represents. The abnormal. Perhaps you can see it in our outfits, in our names - the fact that we call ourselves clowns. I can tell you that the reason for this name is that we embrace the absurd game between heroes and villains - something so far from ordinary life that it might as well have been dreamt up by clowns. Something shared by many things in the world these days,” said the masked figure, sitting sideways on a makeshift throne on the interior of some kind of building - it was somewhat dark in here, much of the light was coming from neon, casting everything with a light pink glow due to the coloring of the lights.

Whose world is this? The world is yours, the world is yours...

The figure was King Hayden, the leader of the group which had been terrorizing northern California in recent months. The one that branded themselves as clowns, the one that had come out of nowhere and claimed a number of bodies, the one that had caught the attention of the news and the internet alike… Clown World had a certain level of infamy to it and yet King Hayden hadn’t even appeared in the picture yet for the group’s public perception, moving from the shadows and pulling the strings behind them without stepping in overtly. It was the way that Hayden preferred it. Even right now, the face under the mask wasn’t visible - the details of the mask were somewhat interesting. It was solid black, with red horns at the top as if it was meant to represent a demon, the eyes underneath the mask still being visible… A hood covered the rest of the head and just about every other inch of King Hayden was covered up by one thing or another. Even the hands, in this case, were covered up by black gloves, only the fingertips visible.

Whoever was under the mask had a leaning towards privacy, it seemed, which was understandable given the fact that he was at the head of one of the most infamous rising villain groups in the western USA, and if they kept going on their current path, they would soon be one of the more infamous new groups in the USA in general. That was the goal. But of course, pressure stepped up as one became more and more infamous, and it was much easier for that pressure to get to someone if their identity as a villain was connected to their real identity. How long the secret of this real identity would stay in the bag for King Hayden was unknown. For now, though, the person under the mask was an enigma.

The enigma, however, wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for the Overseer, the man in the sharp dark suit that was standing across from the throne, looking at King Hayden as if the villain was nothing special, as if he had seen a thousand people like this in his time and like this one was nothing special. It wasn’t that he was that old - he was maybe in his thirties - but he just had that look about him like he was someone experienced. Someone to be respected. Someone that moved like an alpha and commanded respect with his presence… Surprising, for someone that was serving as a middle man at best in terms of ranking and position.

“This organization isn’t like any that you’ve dealt with in the past. You can’t roll over every organization… This is one of the ones that you would have a bad time with, if you tried,” the Overseer said, arms folded as he showed little fear speaking to the leader of a newly infamous group. Most would be more cautious, but even being amongst such danger, the Overseer simply… Wasn’t. And maintained a calm as Hayden looked on, back resting against one arm of the throne and legs dangling over the other one.

“Is that the truth, or do you just not realize my strength yet because I haven’t spread my wings? I can have the best hitters with me… I choose to not head down that route because I prefer going for people that fit my ideal for the group. Do not mistake that for weakness. We’ll see how this organization of yours does in an all out clash - I imagine poorly, from the fact that you think you can walk right over us and flex your strength right now,” Hayden replied, calmly, the electronic mask altered voice the only noise in the building right now except for footsteps and low talking coming from one of the other parts of it.

“Or maybe it’s you that doesn’t know the strength of the organization that you’re dealing with and doesn’t know the potential for greatness on both sides if we… Align our interests. Your skillset is valuable, both to your own team and to our organization as a whole. Bring that skillset to us and we can make sure that your own team is… How shall we say this… Properly rewarded for your efforts,” the Overseer said. “This isn’t a threat as much of a push in the right direction-”

“It’s a threat,” Hayden said simply, not beating around the bush and coming out with a blunt opinion of the offer. “One that I have little desire to listen to, because if I wanted to go down this route, I would have done it from the start rather than forming my own team. But I did. Just as the person who starts their own business instead of working from nine to five at some job that they hate. I decided that freedom is more valuable than whatever you’re offering - I’ve decided I’m not interested in partnerships because every partner is one more person to compromise with… The reason this team has exactly zero partners right now. We do what we want, we do things when we want them, and we move how we want to move. Adding a partner into the mix would throw off those plans.”

“And if we told you that our organization is not interested in getting into your way and telling you how to move, so to speak?”

“Bullshit. No such thing as a deal like that between people that have ambitions such as ours… California is only our stomping ground for so long. At some point we leave this shithole and move onto bigger and better things - the legend of this team will stretch from the Bay Area to New York City by the time everything is said and done. Maybe further, but hey, I’m being humble right now. You may not be in the way right now. But you will - I’m a boss, not a worker. I’ve made sure to plan for the future as such,” Hayden replied, cooly. Shifting in the throne, Hayden was now sitting down and looking directly at the Overseer, one gloved hand on his chin. “I would rather be the one setting up such arrangements with another side than being the one caught in an arrangement like this if you know what I mean. The kingpin, not the one working under him. It’s just who I am. I do this for fun… Not going to bring in someone to get in the way of that fun.”

“Yokai!” called out Hayden, causing a figure to emerge from another room, one that was completely covered up and wearing a demonic mask similar to the one that Hayden himself was wearing. “Have this man taken back to the outside. I think we’ve talked enough, and I don’t think these talks are going to get anywhere… Mystic!”

Someone appeared out of the air next to Hayden, a female of Asian descent who had a neutral expression on her face, awaiting orders. “Now that this is over with… Head out and start on the next assignment. I believe it’s time that we get back into hunting season. Get out in the streets and start scouting… We have a date with the next name on our list.”