Gods Among Us (IC|Superhero|Open)

[Mandicoria]

-snip-

Phoenix Arizona
David and Kurt Harrington
Home at last...

It was a long night for Kurt, with the flight and wait time taking almost all afternoon and evening. The drive with his dad also being hellishly long due to Phoenix's traffic, of course, being pretty shit. As usual. It was good to be back at his home at least. He could notice familiar homes and streets on the way over, his parents' home was drawing near. Yet the drive felt even longer than it did at the start, with this awkward silence overtaking Kurt.

"Hey Kurt, I know you're tired and all but... We need to talk about your mother." David broke the silence, giving a quick glance over to Kurt.

"Look, I know. I was thinking things over recently, and I just think it's time to quit the petty shit..."

"Glad to hear!" David seemed to turn from a serious tone to outright jovial, with him patting his son on the shoulder. "I'll keep my mouth shut until you talk to her... You know, she's really missed talking to you."

Their car finally pulled up to the Harrington residence at around 10:43. It was a bit on the outskirts of Phoenix, close to the countryside very nice location. Surrounded by a good amount of land before they'd be anywhere close to a neighbor. Wonderful little property for Patriot's parent's to happily spend their retirements in. Along with being a wonderful place for Patriot whenever he'd visit every now and then.

The Duo exited the car, grabbing baggage and other belongings Patriot's brought along for the trip. Not much due to the fact Patriot's own home isn't too far off from their residence, and it was mainly just trip stuff he brought home from New York. Regardless, the uncomfortable air about Patriot was undeniable. Following his dad up the stone path to the door, he could only feel his heart sink when he heard his Mother at the door. Even when he saw her holding the door for the two.

"Hey dear, do you need any help with the baggage?" She asked David.

"Nah, we got it. We're big and strong, ain't that right Kurt?" David kept his jovial attitude, patting Patriot on the back.

Patriot could feel his throat choking up, the sight of his mother really hitting him like a truck. He could only feel that hellish fire of guilt overwhelming him, and it was not letting up in the slightest. All he could do was nod alongside his dad, and move along. Following David all the way to the guest room, setting his belongings by the room's door. Sighing right before he felt David's hand on his shoulder.

"Your move, son. I'll let you have your moment." David gave a light smile to his son before heading off to the back of the house.

Patriot gave a deep sigh as he looked down the hall, seeing his mother in the kitchen. He didn't know how to really... well... appropriately tackle this. He wasn't the touchy feely type, and this was unknown territory for him. His breathing became more restricted, almost as if he were about to have a panic attack. The closer he got to the kitchen, the harder his heart pounded. Then he saw her, his mother. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Opening his mouth "H-hey, mom.... I, I need to talk with you."

His mother turned around, an expression of joyful shock on her face. her voice trembling as she tried to respond. "Kurt? Oh, um, w-what did you need?"

A short moment of silence took over the two, before Patriot let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry about all those years I acted like you didn't exist. A-all because some petty bullshit. I don't think I can ever forgive myself-"

He was immediately cut off by his mother embracing him in a hug. Her warm embrace calming his nerves once more, with her looking into his eyes. "Kurt, I forgive you. I know you were just being foolish, and I want you to know I still loved you even through those years of silence from you..."

Patriot actually managed to relax, returning his embrace over to his mother. For once actually feeling a warmth in his heart that had been absent for so many years prior.

[Anowa]

"Jawhol Mein Fuhrer! I separated my blood and my plasma just as Gauss told me to do!" the blondie saluted with great pride in her voice, like she got a Nobel peace prize, "She didn't want me going around using syringes to transfer my healing blood to the patients so I had to get the help from EMT squads to separate the plasma from my blood."

Anthony sighed, somewhat heavily, slumping in his chair a bit as he did so. Sure, separating blood plasma from the red cells wasn't difficult, just like making butter from milk, you just had to shake it extensively. The problem arose when you didn't shake it enough. It would separate a bulk of the blood from the plasma, but without a proper centrifuge you wouldn't be separating it very efficiently. By what maria said, it just made things more problematic, "If what you said is true, it just means that your blood plasma has a lot more negative effects than expected. I very much doubt that the EMTs had centrifuges casually sitting in their ambulances." a pause as he sat back up straight, an idea popping into his head, "I'll get you a portable centrifuge, until then do not use your blood to heal anyone unless you're 100% sure it's been separated. If you have a vial of unseperated blood I want to run some tests on it as soon as I can to make sure it's not gonna do anything worse. We know your plasma has adverse effects an AB blood types right now, and I want to make sure the rest of our personnel aren't going to undergo AIDS like symptoms in the future."

In reality, yes, Anthony was telling the truth, he'd be using the blood to run tests and make sure it didn't negatively affect anyone else. However, he was both a scientist, and a businessman. Witnessing the blood's mechanism of action could help monumentally in his own projects. And this was a better cover than simply walking up and asking her for more blood. People would get the wrong idea in that case... or would, some 15 years ago.

[Gudmund]

Fulldive, New York

Releasing a long sigh, Ethan leaned back in his chair, idly watching the news of the calamity he'd just escaped. Hours upon hours of sifting through rubble, he couldn't have spoken more than a dozen words in the process, mechanically doing his job like any other. His less than satisfactory performance had been very... insightful. Despite summoning several constructs for assistance he still felt like he could do more. His job was done now, and now he was back in his room avoiding social interaction. Spinning his chair away from his computer screens, Ethan took in the sight of a couple skeleton summons cleaning his room. A sight that, albeit weird, wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

"I could make anything I put my mind to," he said aloud, looking at the sparks flickering across his palms. "I could make a triple-A game in a month, coming up with something for superhero duty shouldn't be this hard."

Rising from his chair with a frustrated huff, Ethan briskly walked out of his room, heading in the general direction of the training center. Perhaps the other heroes would have some new ideas. Hell, he might even consider asking on social media now that he'd broken his anonymity. Although, now seems like a bad time given the current situation.

[Europa Undivided]

The Inventor | At Long Last

A quartet of individuals sat in a closed off and quiet room on Staten Island. Part of the same compound the training center was in, and only across the parking lot from the actual physical training center.

Inventor had been rather swiftly taken aside after returning at JFK. Given that an application had been sent in, 'Inventor' was a individual who needed to be interviewed. Although such a brute force method of obtaining an interview was not normal.

Outside of the man in question, Wolfram Herrman, Mother Russia, and Dr. Bruno Hummans sat at a table across from Inventor, tablets in hand, most likely with a list of questions.

Herrman began, "Mister Kravchuk, under normal circumstances I would thank you for your arrival. However I'm to understand it wasn't wholly of your own volition that you arrived here. We'll make an attempt to keep this interview as normal as can be, and as such we'll be going through a list of questions, we ask that you answer truthfully. Mother Russia will begin."

The obviously Russian soldier spoke, "Over the past 5 years have you come into contact with any nationally or internationally wanted persons accused of capital crimes, such as murder, espionage, rape, trason, terrorism, crimes against humanity, sedition, piracy, or human trafficking?"

"Well, I admit that I did.", Inventor answered, spilling out the truth either ways. "But I only found out about this person's dubious affiliations... far too late. And when I did, out of rage of finding out that I have been deceived for a whole year, I... took the shot."

A pause. "I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't my choice to make."

"What was the alias of the individual you contacted?"

Inventor didn't flinch. "I wouldn't say that I 'contacted' him, more like he was the one who came. Two years after I first got my powers, he moved into the house next to mine, introduced himself as a neighbour, and was very friendly. His alias was Replicant."

Doctor Hummans typed rather swiftly on his tablet, and after a few moments, Herrman hummed, "Alright. Over the past 5 years, have you committed any crimes?"

"If damaging the Chinese Consulate and breaking some cars while in pursuit of serial killers count, yes."

The trio of individuals paused, giving each other a few looks, Mother Russia continued, "Well, it seems this interview has... evolved into something... different."

"Those damages have already been paid for.", Inventor said in response. "A day or so ago you might have gotten a deposit in the bank. So... yes. I truly apologize for my rash actions that night. And I'm here so that it doesn't happen... again. I can say that I need a leash."

A pause. "Being a vigilante simply doesn't cut it, anymore."

Doctor Hummans spoke up, a thick Germanic accent making itself known, "This interview, as with all interviews we conduct, are being recorded for our own insurance. As such you have just confessed to a few separate crimes, and this recording can be presented in court." a pause, "As such, you have very few options. In cases such as this, where you are technically on international ground, we have full jurisdiction. However the moment you leave this building we will be required to alert the authorities."

Herrman inturrupted, "You join us and get a compliance regulator and a warden, thereby skipping all the red tape typically associated with being arrested for several capital crimes. Or you leave this building, and bankrupt you and your family with legal fees."

There was a few moments of silence, before an answer came. "Yes. I know how this works. This is just me taking in the consequences for my bad judgement, so do what you must with this... compliance."

Herrman nodded, putting the tablet down, "Right, so, under normal circumstances we'd install the classic 'dog collar' and be done with it, but it's unlikely the funding nations are gonna like that on someone who can manipulate machinery. So, we'll have to surgically implant a different model. Mother Russia," the one eyed man hiked his thumb over to the tall Soviet man, "Is going to be your new handler alongside Miss Majestic. Until that compliance regulator is installed, you're not to leave his sight."

The Inventor simply nodded. "Fine by me."

Mother Russia stood, the eight foot parasitically endowed man speaking as he did so, "That being said. I do suppose I should follow you for the rest of your day. It is unlikely that the surgery will be scheduled any time today, perhaps not even tomorrow."

Inventor shrugged, and then stood up himself. "Well, if that is how it is, then. But if you're not someone who likes being around computers, you'll be bored waiting around for me very quick... at least until I go to dinner with mom at 7..."

A pause. "I suppose we will get going then...?"

The Russian shrugged, "Lead the way d'Artagnan."

---

True to his word, Inventor would eventually come across a black painted trailer truck near the facility that. There were a pair of short metal black rods protruding out of the roof. These were no other than a 360° camera array.

He opened the back doors of the trailer, revealing at least five computer screens arranged in a stereotypical hacker den fashion. There were two keyboards, while a rather comfy chair was also placed in front of the computer array. On the roof of the trailer were hollow sounding pillars that were placed underneath trap doors that led outside. And, or course, there was a small cage containing a pair of ferrets on the side, and another one with a crow. It seemed that Inventor was one that liked cute, fluffy animals.

"I have chocolates and tea.", he said to Mother Russia as he picked up the Maine Coon cat that was waiting on the floor. He petted and sniffed the cat; he didn't seem overly concerned that he was going to undergo a surgery in a few days time. "Or do you prefer pirozhki?"

A pause. "Or maybe you can hear how I got my powers."

[Union Princes]

"If what you said is true, it just means that your blood plasma has a lot more negative effects than expected. I very much doubt that the EMTs had centrifuges casually sitting in their ambulances." a pause as he sat back up straight, an idea popping into his head, "I'll get you a portable centrifuge, until then do not use your blood to heal anyone unless you're 100% sure it's been separated. If you have a vial of unseparated blood I want to run some tests on it as soon as I can to make sure it's not gonna do anything worse. We know your plasma has adverse effects an AB blood types right now, and I want to make sure the rest of our personnel aren't going to undergo AIDS like symptoms in the future."

Maria squinted as if Anthony had an ice cream cone as his head. Her smile wavering from the confusion spawned by his offer. A centrifuge would make a pleasant gift that may assist her in the near future. However, when Another forbid her from using her healing blood, the faux happiness Maria was emitting disappeared completely. The scorn was written all over her face as silence returned to the room. No healing? What other excuse could she find to stick knives and needles into the flesh of her victims? Not even her father or guardian would deny it as a punishment. The rage from within was seething underneath her skin the longer she was in his office. Maria made up her mind at the moment that she would never want to give Anthony the pleasure of denying her ability to heal.

But when Anthony requested a sample of her healing blood, Maria only scoffed in annoyance as she opened up her bloody handbag to reveal a set of crimsoned filled vials. She tossed a vial to Anthony with as much reluctance and bitterness as a hostage being forced to strip herself down. The vial containing $10,000 worth of healing blood flew through the air towards Anthony as Maria turned to leave his office in disgust. "You don't need to ask, Anthony." She spat out his name like an infected tooth, "Just take. My door is always open to doctors like you."

With the door slamming behind her, Maria fished out her phone to find some notifications from Ophi. It seems she is needed elsewhere. I'm leaving Dr. Anthony's office. Where am I to meet up?

[Lessoni]

In which a child nearly dies
Starring Ophiuchia, Blink, Maria, Shadowshock, and Ṇ̴̢̪̻̻̞̋̒̈̍̈́̄̉̎̀͝͝ì̷̠̻̳̫͑͑͗̆̄̏͛̾̉̚͝g̶̢̛͍̣̦̹̦̰̍͂̂̎͋́͑͐̏̽͜͠ͅḩ̵̪̗̗̪̖̊̿̈́̓͘t̵̡͎̲̝̻̰̳̞͎̪̖̔̿̾̚ͅͅṃ̷͖̮̬̟̘͘͘a̸̢͖͈̜̞̗͔̹̗̿ͅr̷̡͖̮̖̞̖̤̺͋͒̎̅̌͋͐̌͘e̷̩̰̻̖͌̈́̿̏̌
Written by Cybernetic Socialist Republics, Lessoni, Union Princes, Europa Undivided, and M̸̡̤̬̭̦̞͖̜̃͐̇́̎͂͐͌͘a̴̢̧̧͔͇̮̮̭͔̪̪̝̬̿̓̔̉͊̽́͛̓̿̕̕͘͠͝ń̴̡͕̤̦̘̭̝̼̖̺̹̫̲̉͘͝ͅͅd̵̢̙͉̥̰͎̮͗͆̀͐̀͌̂͗̈́̅̕͝͝ị̶̛͇̭̭͉͍̼̮͈̟͕́̊́̌͂̕̚͜͜͠c̴̦̮̝̰̖̩̓̈̌̽o̸̧̯̩̹͔̱̘͙̗̪̫̍̄̒̋̒̇͐̅r̷̰̠͍͋͌̋͂̿͝i̶̡̛̮̭͎̱̯͓a̸̢̺͂̑͂

Jack Dredd


He looked up at Ophi as she spoke to him, not jumping or startling, which he considered an improvement, especially considering he hadn’t slept in a day. Now he just had to control his stutter and he might actually seem like a human being for once. He took the bag, not yet opening it.


“I uh... don’t suppose you’d take fashion statement as an answer? I’m just gonna rip this bandage off quick, I don’t really have a place to stay in the city, I got here like... a week or two back? And holy heck it’s hard to find someone who’ll rent to a seven-eighteen year old... I’ll rip that bandage off to, I’m a 17 year old with no ID, bank account, parents, or co sign, and I can’t even cash my checks so I just carry them around all the time, and I got like 4000 dollars from Chris but I wanted to save it to deposit when I turn eighteen in like two months but- I’m rambling. My bag with my clothes got stolen, and I didn’t feel like buying new ones.”


No stutter, at least. He seemed to notice the bag in his hands again, and opened it, taking the binoculars out and peering through them, half expecting to come back with black shoe polish rims around his eyes. He made the conscious effort not to check as he tilted his head at Ophi once again.


“Oh, uh, thanks, Ophi. These are... alright I’m gonna be honest I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with the- wait, I gotta... look at things to teleport and... okay yeah I get it now. These are actually like really useful. Thanks.”

Ophiuchia listened to his story, the generalities she had assumed, the specifics, she didn't know. The boy was a mess, and frankly needed a mentor. She likely didn't have time for that, but she could help him with his ID problem.

"You can probably contact the Department of Meta-Humsn Affairs regarding your ID problem, which should go a long way to helping with your other, problem."



As for his reaction to her gift, Ophiuchia was glad to know the implications of his own powers came to him more slowly than they did to her, as it took him a few moments to recognize the usefulness of the binoculars.



"You're welcome Blink, you're my teammate, what helps you, helps me."


Ophiuchia wasn't sure about when Gauss would show up and she wasn't to wait around doing nothing until she arrived so that she could give Gauss her gift. They were already near the gym, might as well do some training while they waited for her.



A thought then came to Ophiuchia, perhaps a bit of sparring would be a good use of time. 

"Hey, how about we have a friendly sparring match in the gym while we wait for Gauss? You probably need some practice slowing down a powerful assailant and I need practice efficiently can careful restraining an inferi-, uh  less physically powerful target." 

Ophiuchia didn't actually stumble over her words, she was just curious to the extent of Blink's pride and if he'd shrink or rise in response to her 'letting slip' that she saw him as weak.

Blink hated that she was right. No, not hated; he liked his powers, wouldn’t trade them for the world. But he was... he subconsciously rubbed at his bicep. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually lifted something more than ten pounds, at least for more than a few seconds. He was in terrible shape.

“Wait, there’s a department of- alright, I was never told about that... I think... alright I’ll figure that out later, sparring sounds pretty cool right now. It uh, has been a while since I’ve had a proper fight, and I’ve actually never fought a meta like you... th-that’s not to say- alright I’m gonna stop myself there let’s just do this.”


Ophiuchia smiled at Blink's response. Truth be told, she was starving for a chance to participate in some violence. The opportunity had escaped her twice, recently. Bkth in the bronx and at the lucky strike she had been practically limited to deflecting guns, munitions and explosions with her forcefield. She hadn't gotten to slash, kick, punch or otherwise hit anyone, or more importantly, relish in observing the pain caused by her doing so. Of course, she'd  have to be extremely restrained with Blink, but it was better than nothing.

"Excellent, I'll change into my workout gear. Don't worry, I won't go too hard on you, but, as we're training for actual combat, I can't make it painless, either. See you on the mat." 

Ophiuchia headed off for a change room. On her way, she used her neural connection to Aethelind to relay a message to Holiday, informing her that her healing expertise might soon be required in the gym.


Changing... for Blink, that would be nice. All he could really do was take off the zip up hoodie he wore and meet her in the gym. He brushed what little dust he’d missed off his shirt and pants, and stood awkwardly, waiting for Ophi.


Ophiuchua generally didn't reveal all that much skin with her clothing, though she usually wore form fitting clothes. She'd make an exception in this case, mostly for the intimidation factor.

She entered the gym, wearing tight shorts that showed off nearly all  of her thighs and a sports bra. As she made her way to a mat, she carried Gauss' gift bag, which she had put off to the side. Ophiuchia called Blink over, with a wide closed mouth smile on her face. She carefully watched him using her augmented reality  contacts, which were the only part of her usual equipment she'd be using during their match. She closely watched his eyes, expression, heart rate and mannerism.

Her outfit was not at all what Blink had been expecting her to wear. He’d more than half expected her to come out costumed up, not significantly more than half naked. He only hoped this wouldn’t get... awkward.

A light tinge of red on his cheeks he stepped on the mat, turning around to face Ophi, though making carefully sure his eyes didn’t wander.

“A-alright are we doing like... first one to say uncle or get knocked out or- cause I’m cool with anything, I can h-handle it.”


Ophiuchia found Blink's willingness to fight her to a knockout hilarious, but if she wasn't so sure of that he was oblivious to her abilities, she'd feel a little insulted. Even her muscle definition and size alone would suggest he'd have a bad time, nevermind the superhuman strength she had that was far beyond what was obvious and the experience over him that he knew she had. Perhaps she needed to teach him a lesson. She smirked before speaking.


"To a knockout? Are you sure? I'll hold back, of course, but if we're going to a knockout there's a threshold I'm going to have to pass." Said Ophiuchia, her inquiry was less out if concern and more of case of wanting to make sure she had permission to give him what he was asking for.

Perhaps he was just putting up a brave face, expecting her to look after his interests and pull back for him. Gauss would probably be pissed if Ophiuchia didn't give him at least the chance to avoid being hurt too much.

Blink now entirely regretted bringing knockouts into the equation, but he’d be lying if he said her words didn’t incense him.

“Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A knockout, I can handle it. Probably. Alright I’m gonna think myself out of this if we don’t start, let’s just do it.”

"Well, then. Let's not waste any more time." Ophiuchia smiled, before it faded into a look of focus, but her amusement hadn't left her after all. She couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed as if might have slightly upset Blink.

She made her way near to the center of the mat, facing Blink, then proceeded to get into a southpaw stance, before beckoning for Blink.

"Come on, Blink, try to hit me." Ophiuchia smirked again and her tone was subtly meaner than she'd ever used with him before. Additionally, If Blink had known her for longer, he'd definitely recognize the look in her eyes was one of violent intent.

It now seemed she was almost trying to hurt his feelings. Mission accomplished, at least a little, but he didn’t let it get to him.

He took his impromptu boxer’s stance for only a moment, then raised his foot as if going for a kick. Not attempting to get closer, he let it swing, teleporting halfway through. He reappeared behind her, foot already halfway through the kick aimed at the back of her knee.

Ophiuchia didn't have a full compliment of sensors that she fought with in the field, on account of her workout gear. Now she could have had Aethelind make gear with sensors, but it made sense to practice using her normal field of view and her natural senses.

She watched him raise his right foot and then begin to teleport. She had expected as much, of course he knew attacking her head one would be stupid, but seeing him begin is kick before he teleported further informed her. Ophiuchia was aided by a reaction time 10 times faster than that of a full human, and the fact that the move she was about to execute was one she could do by reflex.

The moment she heard the subtle displacement of air behind her created by his teleport, she quickly turned her eyes left, he wasn't visible, so it was pretty clear that he must be aiming for some part of her right leg.

Good, thought Ophiuchia, she had already been going down on her her right leg and moving her left leg out upon his teleportation, intending to execute backsweep with her left leg, her southpaw stance making it an easy transition. Additionally, her stance mean't that her left leg was already closer to Blink than her right leg was upon his teleportation behind her.

She spun, aiming sweep to his left foot from underneath him while his right foot was still in the air, additionally, she pulled her right hand back into a fist.

Blink knew something was coming; the trick was figuring out what. The sweep was easy to spot, at least with a little warning. He let it happen, falling to the ground. Before he did, he teleported upwards, grabbing her hair as he fell. Not exactly an honorable strategy, but it would be a good trick if it worked.

Blink successfully grabbed Ophiuchia's hair as he fell, pulling her head downward.

If Ophiuchia was a more empathetic person, she'd accept that as someone weaker than her, Blink was just doing what he needed to in order to hold his own. Instead she was rather ticked off he dared to grab her hair, ticked off enough that she wasn't going to spare him by trying to knock him out easily, she'd show restraint precisely so she could keep hitting him.

She carried around her already balled right fist and aimed a punch at Blink's abdomen.

It worked! Somehow! It had an unfortunate side effect, though. The landing, flat on his back, knocked the wind out of him, just enough to throw him off. And now he paid the price.

The punch landed squarely, and just most definitely squarely enough to hurt. Really bad, actually. Much more than it logically should’ve.

He teleported away, rolling to the side of the mat. For a moment he lay, before standing back on his feet, if a little shakily. Still, he could stay on his feet, with a little effort.

“Alright, I deserve that.”

He teleported once more, starting a punch as he did. This time he was swinging for the side of the head, teleporting directly in front of her. His gut burned, but it didn’t... yeah it was probably a problem, but it was one he could deal with later.

Ophiuchia's punch was far less than what she was capable of punching. Yet, unfortunately, after Blink teleport away and Ophiuchia scanned for the damage she'd done as he 'apologized' for grabbing her hair, she realized it was still clearly too hard.

Ophiuchia sighed, the ratio of injury to pain of this fight was clearly inverse of what she intended. When Blink wound up a punch from where he stood, she knew another teleport was coming and prepared to parry it so that she could talk to Blink.

Now this was weird. He wasn’t getting hit, like he’d expected. Ophi seemed content stopping him from swinging.

“Hey, w-oh fuck that hurts- what’s wrong? Did I actually- wait did I actually hurt you with that hair thing?”

Blink didn’t quite seem apologetic; he actually seemed quite proud of himself.

Ophiuchia continued scanning Blink's insides, she had burst the top of his bladder and the smashed section of his intestines that were in the way.

"No, not in the slightest, however it appears my punch hurt you a lot more than you realized. We need to stop, now. I'm going to change, I'll explain when I get back."

Ophiuchia turned around, she had seen Shadowshock earlier and sure enough, he was still there. He had given Blink some Powergloves the day of the bronx bombing, so it could be trusted he cared enough about him to look after Blink for a bit.

Ophiuchia waved and called over Shadowshock while she headed in his direction.

Shadowshock had been watching both rookies and veterans train in the gym when he heard a rather familiar voice call out to him. It was a voice he often heard when he watched her political commentaries on YouTube. Of course it was her...

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite blogger.", Shadowshock said as Ophiuchia walked over towards him. "What is it?"

Perhaps Ophiuchia would ask Shadowshock about what he thought of her online content later, right now she had something a bit more time sensitive to deal with.

"Can you watch Blink for me until I get back? I kind of perforated his bladder and smashed his intestines when I punched him. Now, of course we could bring him to the hospital across the street, but I think it'd be better if I track down Holiday for some of her blood rather than use up those hospital resources." Ophiuchia explained

"Oh, by the way, if you see a tall redheaded woman come this way, it might be Gauss. If it is and she starts asking questions, just answer only as much as she asks for. Also, leaving a gift bag next to the mat for her, I'd rather give it to her in person. Thanks."

Ophiuchia headed off to the change room with her gym bag, as she did, she did, she neurally dictated another message to Holiday:

"Where are you? Need to come and pick up some of your blood, respond as soon as possible."

Shadowshock stared at Ophiuchia for a second as she just said that she had just given Blink a potentially... fatal injury. At least that is what it sounded to him, as he had been watching Grey's Anatomy for some time. "Girl, what the actual hell? That kid has like less muscle tissue than my cat and yet... you punched him?"

The man scratched his head, and then put his palm on his face. He didn't have the Stormclaw Gauntlets on at this time, as they were in the suitcase he was carrying. Sighing, he nodded his head. "Okay, okay, I'll watch over him. He's in good hands."

He and Ophiuchia parted ways right there as Shadowshock went towards Blink, who seemed alright at the moment. Emphasis on at the moment.

"We meet again, huh...", Shadowshock said to the 17 year old that was a few good inches taller than his good self. "Ophi told me to watch you while she goes gets some... thing. You not dizzy, or anything?"

Blink blanched when he heard Ophi describe the extent of his injuries. He wasn’t a doctor, but he knew fairly well that those two things were pretty not good. Shadowshock at least seemed concerned for him, so that was nice.

“What? N-no, I feel- ah, okay yeah that hurt- no, I feel fine. Just a little stomach ache, just gotta- ok fuck me we’re sitting down.”

He did just that dropping to one knee on the mat. The extent of his injuries did worry him; it was one punch. He’d taken hits like that... no, he hadn’t, actually. People usually didn’t get a chance to punch him.

Shadowshock was looked at Blink all this time rather intently, as he was one that panics when rookie members got beaten up. Or something like that. He had a concerned expression on his face, and looked worried on top of it. He wasn't particularly pleased when Blink swore though.

"Ey, language!", he said to Blink as he frowned a little bit. "You kiss your mother with those lips?"

Great. So the guy had a morality thing against swearing, of all things.

“No, but I’ll kiss yours after- alright that was overly aggressive, it’s the burst organs talking, not me, I’m just gonna shut the hell up now.”

Shadowshock didn't seem to take offense at all at Blink's short retort, and just gave him a pat on the head. "Just... don't move, and Ill watch over you here. Hopefully that Überfraü comes in time..."

With the door slamming behind her, Maria fished out her phone to find some notifications from Ophi. It seems she is needed elsewhere. I'm leaving Dr. Anthony's office. Where am I to meet up?

Anthony's office? That meant that she was at the WTC, which meant a quick flight there wasn't a particularly good idea, especially given the recent bombing in the bronx. Would have to be more creative. Ophiuchia also couldn't imagine Holiday, of all people, being summoned to Dr. Cross' office for any good reasons, so it wasn't unlikely he was monitoring her messages.

"Hey, thanks for replying, we have a bit of a situation in the TIAMA Staten Island training facility that requires your blood. I don't want to have to use up hospital resources for something we can fix ourselves. The thing is since you're at the WTC getting to you in a timely manner would be difficult. On the other hand, since it's Blink that needs help, I can just get him to teleport to you. Now, all I need for you to do is make your way to the front entrance of the WTC and wait for Blink. You're a great help, thanks, message me when blink gets to you." Ophiuchia messaged back.


Ophiuchia soon stepped out of the change room as she, in her full  suit, sword sheathed and headed back to quickly speak to Blink.


"Alright, Maria is at the One World Trade Center, flying there is not particularly advisable, however we want to get you her blood in a timely manner. So here's the plan, it involves the binoculars I bought for you. I'm going to fly you up high enough that you can see the world trade center through your binoculars and you're going to teleport there and find Maria near the entrance."

Blink almost expected Ophi to hit him with the “April Fool’s”, despite it being March. It was... it was theoretically possible.

As she flew him up, he distinctly remembered his heights problem.

He looked through the binoculars, marveling at the idea. Why hadn’t he thought of this? Looking through them, he made one of the riskier jumps in his life.

The falling sensation told him it worked. And that he was in the air. And by a very significant amount, a couple hundred feet at least. He yelped, teleporting his way down. He never really appreciated solid ground till then.

He looked around and realized he was close to the entrance. With that goal accomplished, he laid down, resting his eyes.

Blink needs help? Go to the front of the WTC and wait? Maria ponders if this is just like the last time she had an encounter with Blink: rather than going to a normal doctor, her want to her. The German felt honored at this request, if only Anthony could replicate it the feeling. But it doesn't matter. She can always poison his morning coffee, spike afternoon iced tea, or garnish his evening milk at a later time. Now, Maria has an expectation to meet and someone to possibly heal.

Snaking her hand inside of handbag polka dotted with red fingerprints, the blondie grabbed hold of a vial containing her healing blood in anticipation. Passing by the TIAMA staff with as much acknowledgement of a earthworm dying on a sidewalk in a summer day, Maria wandered her way towards the entrance of WTC to meet up with Blink. Beyond the doors on the building, she spotted him lying on concrete beyond the glass windows.

Exiting the WTC, she made her way towards Blink. "What seems to be the damage today?" Maria asked as she delivered a sharp kick to the back of his head to alert him of her presence.

He started, holding the back of his head, letting loose a groan.

“I-I... I got some internal bleeding, apparently. And I’d like to not have that. Please.”

"Internal bleeding, how nice." Maria sighs with her face meeting her palm. "Come inside the building first before I can begin treatment." She extended her hand to help pull Blink on his feet.

He took the hand gratefully, though the other rubbed the back of his head.

“So uh, don’t you just do the... pokey thing? With your blood?”

The macabre nature of her healing still freaked him out, though he tried his best not to show it.

"Really?" Maria was surprised, "You want to experience the needle again? Here I was willing to provide a less painful alternative." she chuckled to herself as she led Blink indoors in the direction of the bathrooms.

“Ah wait there’s other options? Can we do... that one, instead?”

"Sure," Maria discreetly handed him the blood vial that she had pulled out as she kept. She kept an eye out for cameras and security as she still remembers Anthony's words. It feels like a drug trade yet Maria knew she should be this cautious. "Go to the bathroom and drink the healing blood. All of it. Since it will go through your digestive system, the healing process will take perhaps 3 to 6 hours to repair your internal bleeding."

Drinking. Drinking blood. Great. Not at all weird. Making the conscious effort not to reply, he took the vial, walking into the bathroom. Going to the mirror, he uncapped the vial. Before he could lose his nerve, he downed the thing whole, gagging at the taste. He walked back out after a healthy drink of water.

“T-thanks Maria. Be nice to not die. Listen I’m just gonna... go home. Let this kick in. I’ll just... see you later.”

He walked out of the building, fully intending to splurge on himself that night. For now? He was finding the nicest hotel he could.

"You're welcome, Blink." Maria called out after him. "Try not to get kidnapped."

It didn't take long for Blink to run into further trouble. With someone trying to rush past him, only for the two to accidentally collide each other's shoulders. The figure passing out of view before Blink could even realize what happened, but a quick look back revealing a semi-panicked figure screeching to a halt and turning to Blink. An uncanny glare coming from the man as he turned around, clearly exhausted, seeming as if he'd been walking around the entire city all day.

"Excuse me." The uneasy man said in a semi-hushed tone, sounding almost slightly offended of such an interruption.

The pain in his abdomen prevented Blink’s usually snarky remark. The best he could manage was politeness.

“Oh, uh, sorry man. Had a long day.”

The figure would only stare at Blink, a few tense moments of silence following before they rose their hand. An awkward chuckle coming from them, followed by a few uneasy waves. "Oh it's alright, I know how those go! Heh..." He'd immediately turn around, slowly walking off. Slightly lumbering in his walk as he left Blink's presence.

[Scotatrova]

Mateo Serrano
Midtown, New York City

The moon hung high overhead as Mateo was on his way back home from a friend's house. It was pretty chilly out, so he had his sweater on and his beanie as he was making his way to the subway station. He bobbed his head back and forth while he was jamming out to his music on the way. By the time he got to the station, he coudl feel what was probably a migraine. Mateo rolled his eyes at the thought, as migraines weren't usually how he liked to pass time waiting for the train. Little over 5 minutes had went by before the migraine really set in. He buried his hands in his face as he began to become overwhelmed. He got up and started to exit the station when he looked down at his hands. His magical energy began to seep from his hands, against his will. "What's happening to me?" he thought to himself. Before he could even make it out of the station, he sat down on the stairs, his head a fury of pain. He held on to his head as he started hearing eerie whispers. Then it clicked, he knew what was happening. Just like back at the store, the entity inside of him was attempting to break through. As he looked down, his amulet was glaring brightly and vibrating. He grabbed onto it as he silently recited a calming enchantment. With his concentration weak, it took some time before the whispers and the migraine subsided. Mateo sighed and laid back, looking up at the moon. "So much for a calm night of relaxing."

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Imogen Vaughan and William Brookes
(Co-written by Dyelli Beybi and Irhk)

As William envisioned the space cleared by the workers, he quickly got rid of his suit's jacket, rolling up his sleeves as he allowed his eyes to examine the place he was about to work with. Opening his case, he picked up a small box of chalk, throwing one to Imogen, who swiftly picked it up mid-air.

"Let us start our work, Picasso. One big circle, one smaller circle. In the space between them, the runes I drew back then. Got it?"

"Ok, prepare to be impressed," Imogen made a show of cracking her knuckles before getting down to work. Despite the flippant comment, it was clear she was taking her work seriously, falling silent as she set herself to the task at hand, working quickly, efficiently and, most importantly when it came to magic, accurately, refering frequently to the photos she'd taken before to make sure that her runes were picture-perfect. Even if William wasn't ready to admit it, Imogen had a serious and respectful dedication to her trade. There was no banter or friendly provocation between them while they were at work. Even if she was younger than him, both knew that spells misfiring - or better, misfunctioning - weren't a pretty sight to see and there was enough collateral damage around them. The result of their work was approved by William, who carefully stood in the exact center of the circle, carefully checking the order of the runes and how the circles were drawn, with positive nods from his head to let her know that it was alright.

"Now, Imogen... I want you to stay on the outside of this circle. If anything starts to act funny, and believe me, you'll know if it goes funny, I want you to make a line over the first rune of the sequence. Though be warned, they might dance a little. It'll probably send me flying but we'll avoid giving TIAMA a reason to cut our wages. Don't mess with the outer circle, don't mess with the inner circle, and we all should be fine."

Slowly, the British mage took deep breaths. The hurry, the tongue-in-cheek humor and the witty responses seemed to be, at the very least for the minutes to come, to give the spotlight to William's focus on the spell: Closed eyes, lifted arms, a steady pace of breath... Thin, opaque white threads intertwined themselves through his forearms, making a slow path through the air to the first circle, who lit up in the same color, while the thin threads danced around the runes initially, as if whatever energy was cast acted according perfectly to the wishes of its caster. With both circles enchanted, the magic seemed to finally spread to the runes, creating a magical projection of them that danced around the circle, getting in and out their designated order frenetically until they finally rested, connected by the same threads William projected. Once he opened his eyes, one could observe that the drawing was now slightly different than what they initially did. The threads were now visible in the form of chalk on the ground, located between the inner and the outer circle, and connecting the runes.

"It is done... Damn I forgot how this gets me hungry and tired. Think we should grab lunch after this is done."

"Sounds good to me..." Imogen tucked the chalk into a pocket, in anticipation that it might be needed again. Probably soon, "Out of interest Brookes, could you channel some of that power through me to release the strain on you? I've known people who can do that." She let the offer stand, looking up at William, waiting for his next instruction. Apparently she was happy to play his apprentice. For now.

"Alright..."

Slowly walking out of the circle, William extended his hand, embracing Imogen's hand firmly as the same thin threads seemed to dance between their hands for a second, as William shared the burden of keeping the circle magical with his newfound duo.

"Isn't hard to do it. And don't worry, if you want to part ways you don't need to call a lawyer to grab your money to write some divorce papers. Guess we should let them know that everything is ready for some wounded, at least."

"Are you meaning to say you don't intend to keep me in the manner to which I'm accustomed?" Imogen joked, though there was a bead of sweat forming on her forhead; letting someone use her as a magical conduit was not something she was used to... though it was worth the discomfort if he could use it to heal the injured. Brookes, for his part, would have realised that the magic energy he was drawing from Imogen was not exactly human, "Do you need me to yell to get someone's attention?" she asked.

"Please, don't let me stop you from your yelling duties. They are probably getting used to your lovely voice already. Oh, and make sure to tell them that it doesn't do miracles... At least not in that current design. Oh, and please let the other saviors in suits along with the caped crusaders that we don't need more damage around here..."

Certainly he had to address her... different nature of magic with her, but William knew very well how to keep such questions reserved to more private and certainly less hurried situations. A destroyed neighborhood and the victims - dead or in recovery - didn't make for a nice scenery for that type of conversation after all.

[Aserais]

Taela M'reen, AKA Miss Majestic
Staten Island Training Facility

Taela let out a breath as she fought the mass of her bright red hair into a ponytail, having to wrap the elastic tie around her hair twice to keep it in place, and even then the end of the ponytail brushed against her mid-back. The alien wore light workout gear, a sports bra and a pair of stretchy yoga pants, and no covering on her face--there was no point, at least not here. No one in TIAMA would out one of their own who wished their identity kept hidden, and very few of them would be able to recognize her, unless they consumed op-eds from the Times near-religiously. Taela crossed one arm over her chest and wrapped the other around her elbow, stretching out the joint until she heard a satisfying pop sound, before repeating the process with her other arm. Moving debris last night had left her stiff, but hadn't been much of a workout beyond her endurance. She lunged out to one side, stretching out her hip and knee, before moving to the other side and pressing down on her thigh until she felt the tendons in her leg cry out in protest.

Taela was never going to get over the amount of violence that these humans were capable of against members of their own species. It really did baffle her, the self-centeredness and arrogance of this species who looked so much like her own. A Muteran would never imagine doing this kind of thing, even prior to the Lorissians. Miss Majestic sighed and opened up the wireless headphone case she had brought with her, pressing the buds into her ears and pressing the button to turn them on in order to allow them to connect to the phone that was strapped to her arm. She pressed the screen and allowed the sounds of the Civil Wars to fill her ears--one thing that these humans did better than anyone else in the galaxy, in her opinion, was their music.

Acoustic guitar sounded in her ears along with the steady beat of a drum as she walked up to the enhanced deadlift, setting the weight at 101 tons on the dial before she began to roll out her shoulders and neck. This would be a personal best, if she could manage it. She had already exceeded many of the strongest warriors among her own people, though she wasn't the strongest example of her species--something that she intended to change.

If they ever came looking, she was going to be ready. She'd make sure of that.

Taela squatted in front of the bar, taking care to grip it at equidistant points, before she tightened her muscles and pressed down, a grunt escaping her as she felt the strain begin immediately. Her thighs burned and arms protested against the strain, but she ignored them both as she fought through the pain, slowly bringing the bar up off the ground as the electromagnet fought to keep it pressed flat against the ground with an audible hum. Slowly she stood, bringing the bar past her knees, and further up until it hovered around her waist with her knees still bent, struggling against the weight that Taela had chosen to burden herself with. Taela let out a grunt and flexed as she forced her legs to straighten, finishing the deadlift and holding the weight there for a moment despite the burning protest of her every muscle. Taela let out a long, slow exhale as she held it there for a solid ten seconds before she couldn't take it anymore and released the weight, causing the bar to slam to the magnet with a resounding CLANG that could be heard throughout the facility.

Taela flexed her fingers and shook out her hands as she bounced on the balls of her feet with a smile on her face, rolling out her neck to hear the vertabrae pop.

"Alright, now just nine more reps," she muttered to herself, moving back up to the bar. Now that she knew that she could do it, she needed to train her muscles to continue to operate at that level.

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock | Hello Your Majesty

"Take... care. Okay they just flew off. Typical..."

Robbie sighed as he watched Ophiuchia carry Blink off towards the sky right before the 17 year old disappeared in a puff of air and energy. What a shame. Why didn't she use boxing gloves when sparring with Blink? Did he ask for her not to? Was she too confident in her propensity to pull her punches? Or was this merely another twang of fate playing with men, causing them to do things that logic would tell them not to otherwise?

With his charge now gone, he didn't have much to do anymore. He watched as the other heroes strained in the training facility's equipment, trying to break through their uppermost limits in a bid to get stronger and stronger. There seemed to be one common trope all over the place: massive muscles. Superstrength was a rather common power for metahumans to have, and even he had some degree of it, courtesy of being able to manipulate his own molecular density. Right now, it seemed that he was the only one who had this kind of abilities. It felt nice to be unique for once.

Either way, it was just as he had thought since the beginning of the day: downtime. He had nothing to do but wait, and now, striking up a conversation with someone was a better thing to do than just stand around and watch everyone else do their thing.

There was a resounding clang from nearby, behind him to be exact. Shadowshock turned around just to see an absolutely unit of a woman in front of the electromagnetic deadlift. She was huffing and exhaling with some strain, though she looked like she wouldn't have much difficulty in the long run. She didn't look familiar, though... but he did recognize her somewhat. After all, someone who wasn't a human at all would be marked on his memory.

"Well, well, you look great, your majesty.", Shadowshock said to Miss Majestic as he leaned on a nearby wall while biting off a cookie. "Miss Majestic, am I correct?"

---

Simikiel | Memories

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am Astrad Lungren. This is Victoria and Ramon. We are here to invite you to our brotherhood of... gifted individuals."

---

"What happened to you in there, Erik? What did they do to you?"

"Oh, nothing much. They drained some blood and spinal fluid, took an organ or two, and I think drilled into my skull once... this one person though took pity and handed me some mice to leech off so that I could regenerate. A jewel in the rough, she is. But... she's dead. What about you?"

"I caused an earthquake. And then I ran away because my appearance was too warped."

"I see..."

---

"My children were also gifted, Hive. Thomas could read minds and Jemma can tell a person's future. But... they were murdered for being 'freaks'."

"What did you do?"

"Thirty men would lie dead later that night. Vengeance is justice."

---

"Big brother, were are they taking us?"

"Hush, Ana. Everything will be alright."

---

"I had to carry their bodies into the furnace myself, or else the guards were going to shoot me. My mom, dad, and two sisters."

"It is only right that you seek to slaughter every last herald of their wretched ideology, Simikiel."

"Thank you, Spectrum."

---

"Why are you doing this? Why do you find joy in bloodshed so much?!"

"We had only suffered as much as we did because I tried to be good. It doesn't work."

---

The Cell, South Brother Island

One hadn't come to the cells for awhile, though the guards were still posted outside, rotating in shifts every few hours. This was a situation that Erik was no stranger to; this was, in fact, better in most aspects than the past ones. There was the concentration camp from 1941 to 1943, where every day was hell and the ashes of the dead filtered into one's nose every hour. Then there was that CIA facility in the 60's, which was by far the worst. There, they drained his blood, poked needles and caused excruciating pain. He would have probably died if not for her.

Still, this isn't a very good one, either, as there was that walking sepulcher of the dead that was probably guarding the place. At least he had company inside...

"Big brother, why was that man so mean?", the ethereal voice within asked. Erik leaned on the cell wall, seemingly drifting off to sleep, though he was actually speaking to the other mind that was he sharing his body with.

"He thinks I did something bad.", he answered, with every bit of the brotherly affection that he had for her when she was still 'alive'. "They do not know what we have endured. They do not understand. They do not know what it is like."

"Are you afraid, dear brother?"

"I am, dear sister, not for me, but for you."

"Just remember. Together until the very end."]

[Union Princes]

Holiday

After graciously helping Blink solve his internal bleeding crisis, Maria was at a loss of what to do next. Standing inside the lobby of the WTC 1, the German wondered on her next course of action. Returning to Anthony was not viable after walking out of his office without reaching a formal conclusion and neither staying in the WTC 1 in general. Maria simply opted to go to the training facility where the rest of her comrades are at. While everyone else was stealing glances at the chainsword on her back, the blondie exited the building to hail down a taxi.

“Any destination in mind, miss?” the taxi driver asked Maria while she got into the backseat. The man was in his mid-40s with a beard and glasses. His skin was olive-brown with some wrinkles at his fingers and knuckles. He had a casual smile on his face and a calm look in his eyes despite seeing his client bringing in a weapon. “Are you the TIAMA agent?”

“Yes, I am.” Maria nodded cheerfully, “Can you take me to the TIAMA Staten Island Center?”

“Indeed I can, miss.” the driver answered happily as he pulled away from the curb and drove back onto the main road. While he was focused on driving, Maria was in the back shuffling the objects around in her bag

Unfortunately, the traffic flow turned into a traffic jam midway to Maria’s chosen destination.

“Busy day, isn’t it?” the driver chuckled, attempting to make small talk with his passenger.

“Yeah, it sure is.” Maria smiled, trying very hard not to look threatening with her chainsword resting on his seat. “I assume I can compensate for the journey and the traffic jam with this?”

Reaching over his shoulder, he felt his fingers wrap around a vial. The driver brought it to his face to examine it since the traffic jam seems to have come to a full stall. The vial was filled with a bright crimson color the swirled as he moved his hands.

“Of course...Lady Maria.” the driver accepted the payment as he carefully stored the vial of healing blood into his glove compartment. The casual demeanor was dropped entirely as he adopted his more professional attitude. “Thank you for your patronage.”

Like the driver, Maria had straightened her back up like a noblewoman in a royal carriage. Her phone was turned off and returned to her pocket. The casual young adult personality she displayed earlier ceased to exist.

“Lady Maria, if I may insist,” the driver addressed to the German girl while the traffic started to resume. “Your adoptive father requests an audience with you. He misses your presence, if I may add. You haven’t been to his meetings for a week or two now.”

“Thank you for bringing this subject to me.” Maria grinned. “But I will see him when my time allows for it.”

“Of course.” The driver responded as he continued to drive towards the training facility in silence.

Upon arriving at TIAMA Staten Island Center, Maria thanked the man for the safe trip to her destination as she got out of his taxi. While she carefully extracted her chainsword to prevent damaging his seat cushions or cutting herself, the driver leaned over his seat to wish Maria one last goodbye in perfect German.

“Happy Harvesting, Lady Maria.”

Sparing a glance and a grin, the blondie closed the taxi door and watched the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and back into the city. Turning towards the training facility, Maria’s smile returned with full devilish cruelty as she marched right in.

[Anowa]

Hannah Konig and Skye Cross
A co-write with Aserais

“Oh--Hey!” Skye said, almost dropping the frame in their hands as they jumped at the sound of Hannah’s voice--she sounded tired, there’s another pang of worry--and turned back to the door. Their friend looked like hell. Not totally unsurprising, considering what happened last night. Their own knuckles were scabbed and bruised from the punishing blows they had delivered to the Armadillo, and they had eaten three ration bars before the night was out as they helped clear smaller debris and evacuate those that could be moved to the triage center. They definitely had bags under their eyes from a lack of sleep, and they hadn’t had time to sleep for more than an hour or two, but Hannah…

Without the armor, Skye could see wear and tear that went beyond what had happened the night before. There was evidence of sleep deprivation and a general lack of care that Skye had never seen in Hannah before--well… before Syria. She’d obviously taken a shower, recently, and groomed, but it was a bare-minimum effort deal that Skye had seen before, when they’d pulled all-nighters studying.

“Hey, uh, sorry--I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you, but, uh… Sorry,” they rambled, trying to get their words out through the alarm bells that were ringing in their head. Something was wrong. Hannah smelled like liquor--no, that wasn’t just her, it was coming from the house.

“I wanted to, uh… I just realized, last night, that I never gave you this. It’s a photo of us. It was that time in the cafe when I’d made that pun, and John took that pic of me laughing at myself and you were giving me that ‘You’re a dumbass’ look--Well, I just realized you never had any pictures of us, you know, before…” they trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence as they held out the frame.

---

Hannah's eyes were drawn to the frame, as she gently took it from Skye's grasp. It was simple, blackened aluminum. The picture within was taken by an old friend that Hannah had, well, lost contact with after her time at NYU. Last she heard, John had gotten an offer to work in CERN, they both had their thesis built around similar principles, namely electromagnetism. Hannah honestly forgot what John had written it about.

She remembered the day that photo was taken. It was, maybe thre days before she landed in Syria, a desert Hell. In days long past, Hannah might have smiled, even started tearing up a bit. But in her time since Syria, she had taken some of her father's words to heart.

'Don't get attached top physical objects.' Back when he said it, when Hannah was 11, she thought he was just being an ass, but now she knew better. She'd live for more than a thousand years. Everything she owned or ever would own would be dust by then. The pain of losing so much had already hardcoded itself into Hannah's soul. She didn't want the photo, a physical reminder of how much of a mistake she made going to Syria...

No, Syria wasn't a mistake, Hannah helped, without her, what would've happened? Who else would've wound up with horrific night terrors? Ungodly nightmares, and more skeletons in her closet than a fucking mausoleum? hannah didn't want the photo, fond memory or not, but she what wanted even less was to hurt the one person she still cared about.

Hannah's face, most shockingly didn't contor, it barely even shifted. Dead pan and unemotional, she stared at the photo for a good 5 seconds in silent contemplation. She looked up and took a few steps toward Skye before pulling her into an embrace. Careful not to do any damage to the figuratively tissue paper composed woman. hannah, gave a simple "Thank you."

An almost too simple one in fact, it was hollow, nigh dead, as if a puppet had said it, and not a person.

---

Okay, something was definitely wrong with their friend. Hannah had never hugged them so…. Mechanically. That was the only word for the reaction they were getting. Hannah was acting like a robot, trying to produce the reaction that she thought Skye would want without any of the emotion behind it. That, combined with the heavy reek of alcohol coming out of her mansion and the hug-without-warmth they were getting, was too much for Skye to ignore any longer.

“Alright, woah,” Skye uttered as they placed their hands on Hannah’s shoulders and pushed back, knowing that if Hannah wanted to, she could keep them there. They looked at their friend’s face, studying it for a moment with supreme concern written across their own.

“Hannah, I haven’t said anything since you got back--I thought when you were ready, you’d tell me what was going on, what happened. At the very least, I thought you’d tell me if… I don’t know. But I’m worried. I haven’t seen you out since you got back, unless it’s at work. Your place stinks like booze, I can smell it from out here,” they said, gesturing at the mansion behind Hannah. Their voice was near-frantic, though they did their best to keep the emotion suppressed. Hannah didn’t need to hear how they’d spent weeks on end waiting for a call that never came, how they’d had nightmares about what their best friend was going through in the most dangerous assignment in the world, how they’d almost cried in relief when they heard she was coming home.

“Please, I can’t stand it anymore. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. I can’t sit here and watch you spiral like this anymore. You don’t have to talk to me, or tell me anything you don’t want me to, but please don’t shut me out completely anymore. You’re my best friend,” They said, reaching out to place a hand on the dhampir’s shoulder.

---

Hannah's hand simply came up to rest on Skye's. Visions of Skye being literally sandblasted to pieces, or stuck in a slowly crumpling APC, or seizing from nerve gas flashed across her mind. Venting about her time in Syria was suggested, she had told Anthony from time to time, but the man wasn't a great listener, or therapist. For that matter neither were the TIAMA hired therapists. Hummans was creepy, not in a bad way, the man earnestly tried helping, but the whole, telepath thing, still didn't sit right.

Hannah could talk to Skye... but where the fuck did she start? Was it actually Syria that fucked her up, or was it underlying regret and shock from... Marcus...

Hannah got a pained expression on her face, as tears started flowing, her knees gave out as she sat down on the stairs leading into her home, she started speaking through sobs, "Th-They just keep fucking dying Skye. Everyone! Twelve of us would go out on patrol, and only 4 would come back! Sometimes no one came back at all! W-We'd fucking go out to search, and find a fucking crumpled up APC wi-with meat just being fucking squeezed out of it! Or we'd find charred fucking corpses with their teeth ripped out and pelvises shattered so we couldn't identify them anymore!" a shuddering breath "15 faces! 15 fucking people a month on average! I fucking see them, hear their fucking screams every night Skye! It was just me, from fucking day- day one to coming back I was the only fucking one who made it! Why!?" Hannah's face went into her hands as she all but squeaked out a quiet, "Oh God why did it have to just be me?"

---

Skye sat on the stoop next to their friend and wrapped their arms around her shoulders as she spoke, not letting the horror Hannah’s description roused show on their face. They should have gone with her, they shouldn’t have let Hannah talk her out of going, maybe they could have made a difference, help her come back in one piece--but none of that mattered right now.

“I’m sorry, Hannah,” they murmured, rubbing their friend’s back as she sobbed openly. This was the first time that they had seen honest emotion out of the dhampir since she’d gotten back, and it reminded her of how Hannah was after Marcus died. She’d been inconsolable, and all Skye could do was be there. She’d sat outside the girl’s room all night, listening to her sob, refusing Mrs. Konig’s offer of the couch, until Hannah had let them in. Marcus had been close to both of them, and Skye had viewed him like a brother--much as they viewed Hannah as their sister. Hannah had been through far too much pain in her life, more than anyone should have to deal with, especially with her ass of a dad

“Come here, come on,” they murmured as they helped Hannah to her feet, guiding her back inside the mansion she lived in by herself--which was something else they were going to have to fix. They’d talk to her about it once they were finished helping her get herself together, but for now, they had other things to do. The house was trashed, dusty, and reeked of garbage and alcohol. Skye clocked the brown stain on the ceiling, something that they’d seen before, when they’d arrived to the scene of a suicide call too late, but they could deal with all of that later.

Skye set Hannah down on the couch in the common room, speeding into the kitchen and filling a glass full of water from the fridge, before they rushed back into the common room and set the glass down on the table in front of the couch. They sat down next to their best friend and placed a hand on her back, rubbing the space between her shoulder blades soothingly.

“None of that--and you hear me this--none of that was your fault. You went there to help, Hannah, and you did help, that I’m sure about,” Skye said quietly, knowing that their words wouldn’t be believed at first. That was gonna take work, they knew. They’d spent their share of nights lost in a bottle after they’d been too late--even being the fastest person alive didn’t mean you were always there in time. Last night was a showcase of that.

“You surviving isn’t a crime, Hannah. It’s not your fault that any of them died. And I know that’s hard to hear and harder to believe. Being the one who lives isn’t easy. I can’t imagine what it was like over there, and I don’t want to pretend I can understand your pain--but I am your friend. You’re family to me, and I am glad you made it back,” they said quietly, calmly, with as measured a tone as they could manage past the knot in their throat.

“You’re my sister. I can’t imagine being in a world without you. I believe that you make this world better for being in it. And I don’t have an answer for you, beyond that.”

---

Hannah couldn't imagine a world without a lot of the people she served with. It didn't change that they were dead though. No matter what she or Skye felt, words didn't bring back the dead. She knew who was at fault, but her mind was plagued with what else she could've done to help. Thomas, she could have scalped him entirely, sure he'd have needed reconstructive surgery, but at least he'd be alive, he wouldn't have screamed... wouldn't have suffered.

Hannah jammed her eyes shut, trying to block out the sights that flashed across her eyes. she gingerly opened them, wiping the tears away she took a shuddering breath, then a few more, deep, trying to calm herself. Compartmentalize.

The first thing, even before how to properly fight, that her father taught her: buckle down and do what needs to be done, fear, pain, and horror can be felt later, but crumpling in the moment can occupy your mind for hours, if not days. Hannah had things to do today, people who she made promises to. Burglar Bill didn't care about her feeling, and while Blink might, he certainly wouldn't understand all too well.

She wiped her eyes and took a final deep breath, "It hurts, Skye. Everyday, the same routine, wake up either screaming or hung over, try to get on with my day, break down, suck it up, get on with it, come home, have nightmares. Repeat. Sunday evening it all came rushing back, I was afraid of having another night terror. So I didn't sleep, not until last night where I downed enough booze to kill most people." a pause, "You know how fast I metabolize things? being a Dhampir and a fucking," she waved her hands a bit, looking for a word, "walking capacitor? Every drug I take rips through my blood stream like a fucking F1 car." a pause, "Nothing helps any more. It's like dragging a rake across a river bed. All it does it drag everything I try to forget back up."

Hannah looked down at her watch, It was getting close to 1:15, "I gotta head out soon, Skye."

---

There was nothing Skye could say or do to make this better--this was something that was going to take a lot of work, time, and effort. This was something that Hannah was going to need an actual trauma therapist for, someone who wasn’t a TIAMA employee, someone who would actually listen rather than try and read her mind to help. Maybe their dad knew somebody, or maybe Anthony could help. First step to all of this, however, was going to be helping Hannah in they ways they could help.

“Yeah, uh, you go ahead, Hannah. Listen, I don’t have a magic wand that can fix any of this--but I’m not going anywhere. Like I said, you’re my sister. So you go, get what you need to get done finished, and I’ll clean up here,” Skye said, patting the dhampir on the shoulder.

“You aren’t alone in this, at least not anymore. If you’re dragging that rake across the riverbed, I’m gonna be right there with you until we change the flow of the river. I don’t care how much time it takes, or how much work needs to be done. I don’t care about any of that, and you can’t discourage me from it. You’re stuck with me now,” the speedster said with a smile, before giving what was probably one of the most dangerous women in the world a warm hug. They stood and stretched out their arms before taking off the jacket they had been wearing, tossing it so that it hung over the back of a nearby chair that was probably worth more than their entire apartment.

“Might need to get some bleach and hydrogen peroxide, wonder if there’s a corner store near here,” they muttered, looking around the trashed common room.

---

Hannah stood, taking a few more breaths to calm down, "Thank you." There was a sense of longing in the woman's tone. Not so much from what she';d been through, but because actually hugging anyone but her father was an astronomical risk. It was simply Hannah gently draping her arms around someone, and putting a little pressure into it.

Last time she'd actually hugged someone with some effort was, what? Second Grade?... It was Skye then too. It was the last time Hannah had to worry about turning someone's spine and rib cage into powder. It was a feeling she had a longing for, considering her father wasn't one for any physical contact... or any emotional support.

Hannah sighed, grabbing her gym bag again, and spoke as Skye pondered about Bleach and peroxide, "Laundry room is downstairs, nestled between the armory and freezer." a pause, "I uh... Don't have a ladder, so getting... uh." Hannah paused, calling it 'the dried out remains of my inner skull' didn't really feel tactful, at all. "Getting 'The Stain' is gonna be difficult."

Hannah's phone started vibrating in her hoodie pocket, her hand went for it instinctively, answering without checking the ID, "Hello?"

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Taela let out a long, slow exhale as she held it there for a solid ten seconds before she couldn't take it anymore and released the weight, causing the bar to slam to the magnet with a resounding CLANG that could be heard throughout the facility.

Taela flexed her fingers and shook out her hands as she bounced on the balls of her feet with a smile on her face, rolling out her neck to hear the vertabrae pop.
"Alright, now just nine more reps," she muttered to herself, moving back up to the bar. Now that she knew that she could do it, she needed to train her muscles to continue to operate at that level.

There was a resounding clang from nearby, behind him to be exact. Shadowshock turned around just to see an absolutely unit of a woman in front of the electromagnetic deadlift. She was huffing and exhaling with some strain, though she looked like she wouldn't have much difficulty in the long run. She didn't look familiar, though... but he did recognize her somewhat. After all, someone who wasn't a human at all would be marked on his memory.

"Well, well, you look great, your majesty.", Shadowshock said to Miss Majestic as he leaned on a nearby wall while biting off a cookie. "Miss Majestic, am I correct?"

After having helped deliver Blink to Maria, Ophiuchia made her way back to the gym. On her way to her gym and gift bags, she observed Shadowshock complimenting the red haired Muteran parasite, or as her deposed royal family would know her as, 'Princess'.

Ophiuchia knew of the Muterans from what her guardian A.I. construct Aethelind taught her. She knew of their invasion by the Lorrisians that had more or less wiped them out.

There was no way around treating the death of trillions as anything but a tragedy, but it was a tragedy that Taela M'reen's family contributed to. The fact that they'd die by those numbers rather than seek refuge in the Lyzsurkrakian Lattice, the multi-species realm founded by Aethelind's creators, or really anywhere where significant percentages, was evidence enough of the dangerous cult influence the M'reen royal family had over 'their' people.

The Pan-Galactic Council had no business going out of their way to save a insular people so slavishly loyal to a single family and as such the Lattice opposed providing such as. The Muteran system of government was anathema to what Aethelind's people believed, in anyway. As far as they saw it, the mobilizing ideology of the Muterans had appeared before in their history, with devastating consequences.

Bringing things back to earth, Ophiuchia saw Taela Masters as must one of many annoying centrist hack reporter that worked at the New York Times, the type that happily kept America chained to a national policy of degradation delivered by the billionaire-centric status quo. Ophiuchia didn't really read her rubbish, but upon entering TIAMA, Aethelind made a point of keeping track of her output. Ophiuchia had seen her before while she's been TIAMA and mostly avoided her, but given recent events, she figured she might be able to get a word in edgewise. Luckily, Ophiuchia was already nearby so it wasn't particularly awkward for her to interject.

"Actually, despite the misleading advertising, it'd be your highness, not, your majesty, as she's a princess." Said Ophiuchia, with more than a hint of sarcasm. "She'd needed to be a Queen to be addressed that way and I suspect that she won't be crowned as such for the foreseeable future". Ophiuchia said, maintaining her tone, along with a small smirk.

[Endem]

Hans and Chris
co-written by Endem and Remanants of Exilvania

"Three triple cheeseburgers, six portions of bacon fries and 5 vanilla milkshakes, roger that. We'll have them ready for you as soon as possible. In the meantime, could you please pay the price displayed before you? Yes, thank you very much."

It was a busy shift in the Burger Lord Hans worked in. Customers had been forming lines in front of practically every counter and in the back they were struggling to cope with the customers' demands.

And yet Hans was content. This was work and he was sure that one day, one happy day, he would get to work in the back and grill burgers like Spongebob.

A quick look at the time told him that the end of his shift was approaching so he finished up the customer whose order he had taken, handing it over to the kitchen before heading over to the workers' restroom and changing out of his work attire into a more casual one, featuring a worn down white shirt and blue jeans shorts.

The restroom also featured a phone for the workers to make use of and Hans, having already meticulously planned out how the end of his shift would play out, headed over to it, produced a small slip of paper from his pocket with a number on it and dialed the number, waiting for someone to pick up.

He did have news afterall that he desperately wanted to share.

Chris hated when this happened, even if at this point it was just a normal Thursday, the landlord also hated it, and the other residents, and the street, basically everybody within gunshot range hated when this stuff happened.

And at this point, the phone rang, one of the five people now pointing guns at Chris, the one which had a shotgun unfortunately definitely did not like it

"Chris, please, tell whoever it might be to f*ck right off, we have some friendly business to do"

Chris, who at this point managed to grab only one of his guns decided to not comply

"Nah"

Before anybody could react Chris kicked the man, if memory served right his name was John, onto the one with the shotgun, thankfully John was close enough, Chris fired off his gun, hitting another one of the thugs guns, disabling it before making a quick dodge towards the doors to his apartment and slamming them, he managed to grab the phone and jump to his bedroom before a sizeable hole was blown in the door.

"this is Chris, who is it?"

He answered the phone

It took Chris a little bit to answer the phone but that was normal. Not everyone was Synapse afterall and so Hans jovially greeted his teammate, exclaiming:

"Hello there Chris! It's me, Hans! You know, from TI-uhm, your team!"

Oof that one was close. Just shouting out at work that he was a member of or working at or with TIAMA likely wasn't something smart or safe to do and he was glad he had caught himself just in time. And lucky that he didn't remember all those other times he slipped up.

Chris promptly rolled away as a bullet just made it's way into his mattress before returning fire, killing the thug

"What is it Hans?"

He could only hope Hans could not hear gunshots, which, was in vain as gunshots were probably very clearly heard, Chris jumped up just in time to kick another attacker through the doorframe, unfortunately he was now back in the main corridor

"By the way Hans"

He made a jumped to his kitchen as splinters flew from his bathroom door, which received bullets intended for him

"If you hear any screams from my end, ignore them"

Hans heard a lot of of noise in the line. Perhaps some sort of static? Though it did seem to come from Chris' end. Perhaps Chris needed a new phone? Hans wondered if he should gift Chris one but then decided against it. He had to buy a spade so the next time evil people blew up the entire neighbourhood, he could actually dig for people. When he had come back to his senses, he had felt woefully useless and decided that that was due to a lack of tools of his for such an occasion.

He decided to ignore that, focusing instead on the good news he wished to spread.

"Oh, you haven't heard? I got word that one of the training seminars is supposed to take place today! This could be a great chance for our team to get to see how good we all are so we can coordinate better!"

When Chris mentioned that there'd potentially be screams, Hans' brows furrowed. If he wasn't supposed to worry about them, then he guessed that they probably weren't real screams. Perhaps Chris was watching a horror movie? He decided to be understanding about it:

"Okay, will do. We can take that seminar later anyway, you can finish your movie till then!"

"What? Hans, I'm not watching anything"

Chris said into the phone as the pan he just threw knocked out a handgun from a thug's hand just as the bullet Chris fired flew past that guy's head and impacted the back of the head of the criminal which Chris previously kicked and who was just getting back up.

"I'm just dealing with"

Chris got cut off as he dodged a attempted stab by the guy whose handgun got knocked out of his hand, he moved out of the way and fired his gun at point blank range into the thug's head

"Some unwelcome guests"

Hans plugged his other ear, straining to better hear what Chris was saying but the line was either very poor or there was a lot of commotion on the other end. He just heard something about guests and wagered that perhaps Chris had been visited by someone unwelcome. Oh! Like a stepparent! Like in all the fairy tales they could be really mean and Chris would have to spend the entire day with them and not be able to say anything against them!

With as much pity as the ever excited Hans could muster, he tried consoling Chris, saying:

"Ah, alright. Sorry about that then. But look at the bright side, atleast they are visiting you so somewhere they've got to love you, right?"

Chris was in the middle of using John as a human shield to get closer to the shotgun guy, it was now a proper standoff in one hand a knife pressing against John's neck, and in the other his phone, he unfortunately needed to dotch his pistol when it run out of ammo

"Hans, they definitely don't love me"

He got close enough, he let John go with a kick to the back of his knee before jumping on nearby furniture, bouncing off the wall and into the shotgun guy, who missed by a few inches, Chris stuck the knife in the shotgun guy eye and grabbing the shotgun he turned towards John, pointing the gun at him

"They're literally trying to kill me"

Hans' brows furrowed at that. Now things were getting a little bit too much like a fairy tale. Stepparents trying to kill their children felt like it was straight out of Hänsel & Gretel or Snow White. He figured that Chris was likely overdramatizing things.

"Now that's just rude Chris and you know it. Maybe their cake was a bit bitter, maybe the microwave they bought you exploded, maybe they accidentally slipped and cut you with the kitchen knife but that's no reason to assume they're trying to kill you! Such accidents can happen!"

Hans had obviously never had any parents. Not even parental figures trying to fill in. And so all his ideas of parents were rather idealized. They were there to love and raise their children unconditionally, even stepparents, regardless of what the fairy tales said!

"Anyway, yeah, there's a training seminar scheduled for this afternoon, over on Staten Island. Wanna take that offer and polish up your CQC skills while I make new friends?"

"Hans! They brought guns!"

Chris said to the phone as he shot from the shotgun at John, who miraculously managed to dodge, thankfully it gave Chris the time to jump to John and knock him out by unceremoniously slamming him in the face with a said shotgun, before turning John's face to mush, once again, with the shotgun

"Anyway, sure Hans, I'll be there, I just gotta phone a few friends"

He assured Hans he will come to the training seminar in between panting

Hans sighed in exasperation. How could Chris not get it? Clearly they were showering him in theit appreciation.

"Of course they are guns Chris! There is no better gift to make to a gunman such as you! I even considered gifting you some guns myself!"

He massaged his forehead for a moment before continuing:

"You know, they just love you like family does. And you should be happy you have such! Because I had none!"

Things calmed down on both ends of the line, Hans still a little bit shocked about his outburst, afraid of having scared Chris or something. But as he listened he could hear only heavy breathing from Chris' side. Was he heaving? Was Chris on the verge of tears? Had Hans' words hurt him?

"...hey, you know I didn-"

And there already came Chris' reply, informing Hans that he'd be coming as well as phoning some friends. Hans' ears perked up at the mention of that and a wide smile formed on his face. Friends were great. Hopefully Chris would bring them with him. He loved making new friends.

"See you on Staten Island then!"

He shouted happily before enthusiastically slamming the phone down, turning around and heading over to his private clothes to change while humming a happy little tune. He couldn't whistle afterall.

Hans thought family visited him, Hans thought family visited him, Hans thought family visited him, Chris broke down in a mix of nervous laughter, and holding off tears, he was an orphan, he never had a family, it was a somewhat paradoxical image, a grown man, whose seen enough deaths and killed enough people for a lifetime, was nearly on the verge of crying because he was reminded of himself as a child, orphaned and in the slums of New York.

He lifted himself up to see that Hans has already disconnected, he'll tell him what really happened when they'll meet in the training facility, he made a few more phone calls, mainly a trusted grave digger and a trusted repair crew, and then left his apartment, purposefully stepping on the bright red mush that once was John's face

[Union Princes]

Holiday
Feeling confident that her time will be well spent in the training facility, Maria couldn't wait to put her chainsword to the ultimate test. Upon entering, she spotted several of her companions that arrived before her. Shadowshock, Miss Majestic, and Ophi seem to all be together for this session. Walking up to Ophi as her chainsaw clinked in the background, Maria thought she could get involved.

"Hey Ophi," the German asked, while snide comment from the TIAMA hero went over her head, "I healed Blink, he should be fine by tomorrow. In the meantime, do you think you can also help me train?"

[Aserais]

Taela M'reen, AKA Miss Majestic

The first thing that caught Taela's attention was the muted sound of one of her fellow heroes saying something that sounded suspiciously like flirting, which caused her to drop the deadlift and look back to catch the sight of him and... Her. Taela had very specifically avoided her, for the simple fact that she was not entirely certain of her ability to contain her desire to put the half-silicon parasite into the ground. A hypocritical braggart, who used her position and privilege as a member of society with some influence to unduly affect the cultural mindset of a under-developed society, in flagrant disregard for the right of all people to develop without interference. She kept her own impact on the world as minimal as possible, only seeking to help, while this showboat went on TV and disparaged the poor for their inability to afford more expensive heating systems for their homes.

As if her own people hadn't let trillions burn for the sake of political expediency.

Taela bit back a vitriolic insult at the sound of the rocks' parasitic propaganda machine opening her diseased lips in her presence, fighting back the instinctual urge to put her fist through the vehicle of the people who had directly caused the destruction of her own. But none of this showed on her face as she pressed the button on the sides of her headphones, deadening the noise, and took them out of her ears as she turned back to look at Shadowshock, completely ignoring the other female hero in their presence. He wasn't hideous, as far as these humans went, though he was short, which seemed to be a trait that most of these humans shared. Darker skin, which was something almost non-present on her home planet, with brown eyes--so far removed from the iridescent natural color that her own people possessed. Right now, unburdened by cosmetic disguise, her eyes shone in a veritable rainbow of color that slowly shifted as time went on.

"Just Taela to my comrades, Mr... Ah... One moment, I know this... Shadowshock, yes?" Taela asked with a smile, her exotic accent further demarcating her away from the human species. It wasn't like anything on earth, exactly--the closest comparison would probably be something in the middle east, though that wasn't quite right either.

"I haven't been royalty for quite some time, and it is more appropriate to simply address me by name. After all, we are all friends here," she assured him, pointedly refusing to look at Ophiuchia. Perhaps if she acted like the stain on the face of this planet did not exist, the half-living propaganda machine would choose to simply move along and they could avoid causing mass destruction in TIAMA's training facility.

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock - I'm not simping I swear

Robbie blushed a little as Taela replied to him in a rather friendly manner, though he did his best to hide it as he put his arm over his mouth to keep his expression hidden to some extent. Oh, what were you thinking? This is just a co worker, right? One that was an Amazonian alien with the power to shoot big bursts of energy out of her hands and fly around... but just a co worker...? Right?

No, being more than just co workers was something he would like. Shadowshock wasn't sure what was going on inside his mind, but... what was this? What was the term again... ah yes. Simping.

Still, there was the other elephant in the room. It didn't take Robbie long to notice that these two definitely did not like each other, what with Ophiuchia's snark comment and Taela simply ignoring her, as if she was never there to begin with. There was this aura of negative energy that was emanating like a tidal wave from both of them; it was as if two mortal enemies had just crossed paths.

"Yeaaaaas...", Shadowshock managed to reply to Taela as she assured him that they were all friends here. Well, except for that leftist vlogger standing there. "Friends indeed. So, uh, are you... busy later? I'm thinking of... hmmm, going-"

"You're going on a date without telling me, Robbie?", a certain familiar voice said from behind as a pair of light footsteps came in. There, behind them, was the Inventor, sporting the trademark black coat and a grey fedora. Funnily enough, he looked like he was about to snicker but was barely holding it in. Plus there was Mother Russia following him around...

"I mean, I could give you dating advice, maybe recommendations on what to do when your partner doesn't know what to pick, but I can't do anything about your absolute hopelessness and fear of long term commitment... oh, wait."

Nicholas looked at Taela a little more intently, as if trying to remember if she was an old friend or acquaintance. "Oh, right. You're my other teammate. Have you been, err, informed? Well, nice to meet you. I hope we can work together well."

Looking back at his nephew, he snickered, which seemed to be something he did a lot. "But then I think you had something going on with someone else... I guess you swiped left..."

Shadowshock was just there, aghast. "I was just... starting."

A chuckle, and then a funny smile. "I think you should just be more upfront with them... that's how I rose out of mediocrity." Inventor then looked at Taela, and then whispered to her. "I promise you, though. He's a very nice guy, just scared of commitment. Heh."

[Gudmund]

Fulldive, New York

Strolling down the hallways on the training facility, hands casually stowed in his jean pockets as he motioned towards the closest printer. Finding it, Fulldive touched it for a moment, transferring the documents directly into the machine which shortly produced several prints. Holding one up, Fulldive frowned before shrugging, the printout's title reading 'Construct/Power Ideas for Fulldive'. His power wasn't exactly well known among those of TIAMA, and this friendly document sought to fix that, detailing the basics of his power and limitations. He fully expected some joke ideas, especially from the regular staff, but hopefully some of the other heroes could think up something clever. At the least, he could always post the results online for some instant gratification.

Checking over the printout one last time, Fulldive wandered throughout the training facility, taping his printouts in several rooms until finally reaching the gym; a room he should frankly visit more often. Arms occupied, Fulldive lightly kicks open the door, only to immediately spot several other heroes already present. Shadowshock, Miss Majestic, Ophiuchia, Holiday, Mother Russia, and Inventor. To be perfectly honest, Fulldive contemplated turning around right then and there, but knew for a fact he'd already been noticed. For one, he was somewhat informed on the origins on these people, both from official reports and snooping around through secure databases himself. It was just a tad concerning, and incredibly weird being around such prevalent people. He didn't really take notice back at the explosion site.

His walk suddenly felt awkward, trying his best to hide it as he made way to the cork board on the opposite side of the room. Breathing a sigh of relief once there, he proceed to tack one of his printouts onto the board, his thoughts stuck on the most ridiculous of things. With his random task now done, Fulldive felt empty-headed for a moment, opting to take a seat on a nearby bench where he'd pull out his phone to browse aimlessly.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with me..."

[Mandicoria]

A Beginning Nightmare
Collab Post between Lessoni, Mandicoria, and Anowa

It wasn’t often that Blink had money. Not the kind of money he had now, at least. He’d stashed most of it away in a storage locker, along with the gauntlets Shadowshock had given him, but he’d kept 500 on him. Risky for a normal person, but when you could dodge bullets, getting robbed became much less of an issue.

Now he searched for a half decent hotel. At first he’d intended to head straight to the Ritz Carlton, but good sense had kicked in. He didn’t have unlimited money, though the tip Ophi had given him about an ID was going to come in handy. No, for now he’d satisfy himself with a dodgy motel and a delivered pizza. He was just getting into one of the poorer areas of the city when he heard something. It was said that curiosity killed the cat; Blink was fairly certain it wouldn’t kill him.

It had almost sounded like a scream, coming from an alley. He stepped into it, walking cautiously. He reached the end, looked around. Nothing. He checked again, though there wasn’t much to check. Only boxes and a dumpster, out of which emerged a cat. Blink sighed; that would explain the noise. Probably. He stooped down, petting it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just slowed down like this.

Deep inside the alley, a loud symphony of screeching metal suddenly let itself be heard to Blink and the cat. Its deafening noise hitting like a truck with the sudden shock. Then after only a few seconds, it quit. Perhaps it was just someone moving something heavy further down.... Yet the sounds felt extremely close, almost as if they were right beside Blink. With the alley's interior being almost completely pitch black, without a single visible item or person deep down.

Then he could hear it clear as day, the sounds of boots stomping on the pavement. Many boots, all definitely running, and heading right for him. Followed by the renewed sounds of screeching wires from the darkness, and deep, exhausted gasps. The moment he could feel like the sounds rushing at him would reveal the people within the darkness, they quit. Leaving a deathly silence in the alley.

Blink nearly jumped out of his skin as the surge of sensations hit him. Immediately he reached for a weapon, picking up a loose brick and whirling around in a circle, trying to figure out what the fuck that was, but smoothed down when he noticed no one. Normally he’d put it down to nerves, but decided better of it. He needed to be careful.

Looking up at a rooftop, he blinked, expecting the usual sensation of movement, only for it not to come. His powers were gone once again. He’d have to ask Maria about it, but for now, he needed to move.

He hurried out of the alleyway, just short of sprinting as he looked around for a restaurant or convenience store. Somewhere he could dodge into, preferably with another person in it. There was nothing, though, so he simply kept moving, now not so sure a hotel was a good idea.

Behind him he could hear the all too familiar sounds of boots on the pavement. Not panicked or rushed, just behind him. Very similar to the sounds of what he heard in the alley. Then he could hear it again, the loud screeching of metal. Accompanied by the sounds of multiple people running with their boots stomping on the pavement. Then he could hear it... breathing. Right behind him, almost as if it were right down his neck. Yet he didn't feel the familiar sensation running down his neck, just the ambient air.

The screeching deafened out the sound of boots stomping pavement. With a horrifying sensation suddenly hitting blink. He could feel his shirt getting tugged from behind. But as soon as he could react to it, the sounds, and the feeling slipped away. Yet the sound of calm walking behind him remained, but with no figure to see.

Blink once again whirled around. Someone was definitely on his ass, and that was not good when he was down a powerset. “Alright who the fuck was that?!”, he yelled into the empty air, brick still in hand. No response came from the darkness behind him, but the bright lights of a car cutting right through the black and zooming right by. One of the passengers giving Blink an odd look, noticing the brick in his hand as they passed. Awkward.

Blink nearly jumped out of his skin as the car passed. He looked around wearily one last time, before tossing down the brick. Maybe his nerves were more shot than he thought. He stuck his hands in his pockets, still looking over his shoulder, as he continued on his way. He made a mental note to ask Gauss about the TIAMA therapy department.

As he continued, the outline of a small diner came up on a street corner. Its neon "Open" sign on, and a few cars out in the parking lot. Safety, and a good way to cool down the nerves. It was one of those homey, classic American diners too. Slightly uncommon sight in New York, but a welcome one nonetheless.

The sounds of walking behind him never subsided, and of course nobody being truly there every time Blink looked back. Yet the Diner was so close it didn't matter even if someone was after him, there was safety.

The diner looked inviting. And he was hungry. Internal organs bursting could do that to a man. He walked in, sitting at the counter, ordering a cup of coffee. No energy drink, but it would do.

It was a comfy setting, really a classic interior design with some 50's style chrome outlines on everything. The smell of burgers and fries wafted in from the kitchen. With the all too familiar 80's rock music playing from the jukebox. The diner was almost a time capsule, and it was quite comfy. Truly safe and secure compared to the paranoid hell of outside.

Then he heard it, the door's bell ringing as another person walked in. The sound of boots on the floor, close to what was audible earlier. Looking back there was actually someone there. A young man, barely older than Blink in appearance. Wearing some old clothing, almost looking like an old military fatigue. A tan baseball cap on the young man's head. There was this odd air about him as he sat a seat away from Blink at the counter.

The young man next to him also ordered a cup of coffee, before turning over to Blink. A warm smile on his face. "Man, it sure is weird out there these days..." He spoke with an out of place, but very subtle southern accent. Must be a tourist.

Blink turned to the man, taking a drink of coffee as he did. He was dressed odd, but he'd seen odder. His voice had an almost soothing feel to it. He could nearly feel himself calming down, surrounded by people and with the promise of food on the table.

"Y-Yeah, been having the weirdest day. Feel like I'm going crazy, almost."

He drained the rest of the coffee, signaled the waitress for more. It wasn't great coffee, but it was good enough. He considered ordering some food, but decided against it for the moment. Something felt... off.

"Well, I just got this feeling everyone's goin' crazy these days... First that whole robbery at the reserve, now that big explosion? Heh, I get the feeling that things are only gonna get a whole lot stranger..." The man gave a soft chuckle, nodding to the waitress as he received his own cup. "Say, didn't I see you before? I feel like we met."

The jukebox flickered in the background, distorted and gurgled static overtook the 80's tunes for a hot minute. Then a garbled old timey tune played, just for a few brief seconds before switching back to the regular tunes. The waitress heading over to check it out, giving it a few audible thumps to make sure it worked.

"Eh, forget I said anything. It don't matter if we met before or not, could just be my eyes playin' tricks on me. After all it's been a very long day..."

The man didn't seem too familiar. He also didn't seem so friendly, all of a sudden. Still, he put it down to burnt nerves and long nights."No, uh, don't think we've met. Though, I don't got the best memory, maybe we have. Regardless, name's Bl-Jack. Jack."

The man looked to him, his face giving a straight expression. Almost unnervingly straight. Keeping his face like that for a few seconds before having his warm smile return. "Well Jack, nice to meet you. The name's Tacitus. Tacitus Callahan. Normally I don't like to give my full name to total strangers, but I like you friend." The man took a deep gulp of coffee, shaking his head as a reaction to its bitterness.

Odd name, but he'd heard... no, he hadn't. He knew that Tacitus was a name, but damn if he'd ever seen it on a person. Callahan was a little more reasonable, but it was still odd. "So, Tacitus, where you from? Trying to place that accent, but it's just evading me. I'm a Chicago man, myself."

The waitress came back around. Jack ordered a burger, extra bacon.

"Originally? Ohoho, I'm originally from North Carolina, but I've been all over. From Sacramento to Boston. Been in Europe quite a few years back. You really seem to forget what some places look like, or looked like after quite a bit." Looking at the clock his eyes widened, cutting himself short. "Ah, shoot. Forgot I gotta be meeting an old friend here in a few minutes."

Standing up, he left quite a sizeable tip for the waitress. 20 dollars for a damn cup of coffee? "Miss, take whatever's for the coffee out, and have the rest for yourself." He smiled to her, giving a wink. "And Jack, it's been nice to meet you. I hope we get an opportunity to meet again, be it soon or long from now." Then after a short rush, Tacitus was gone.

Odd man. Generous, or maybe insane, though the line could be blurry. Jack drained his own cup of coffee, waiting for his burger. He was starving, all of a sudden, though he signaled for another cup of coffee. Caffeine was at least half of his diet, empty calories the other half, but by God he wanted this burger.

Lo and behold the burger did indeed come out. The waitress setting down a plate with the large piece of artwork that was the food laid out before him. It had the works. 4 slices of thick cut crispy bacon, pickles, tomato, lettuce, and an onion ring. Served alongside with it was a pile of thin cut, delicious fries. With a bottle of ketchup, mustard, and shockingly even mayo being set right by him.

It was cathartic, serene, wonderful. Yet the odd aura of something being wrong never could be shaken. Even with such a delicious burger, the feeling that he would have to go right back out in the darkness of the outside world crept like an unceasing dread.

Jack finished his burger quickly. It was partly that the burger was delicious, partly that something was definitely wrong. He couldn't quite place it, but something was fucked, and he didn't intend to stick around long enough to find out. He was nearly frantic when he pulled out his wallet, tossing a hundred on the counter. He could've waited for change, but he didn't. He just wanted to get to a room with a lock on it and pass out. On the sidewalk, he nearly jogged, looking for anywhere with a vacancy sign.

Luckily for him, one showed up right on the next street. Unfortunately for him, it was a Motel 6. It was clean, yet as everyone knows, a Motel 6 deceives you into thinking it's good. Until you realize the beds are uncomfortable to the point of sin, and the services offered never fully work out. Yet, it was definitely safer than being alone out in the streets of New York.

Then the noises hit again, the screeching metal coming from afar. This time, however, looking behind revealed something was indeed following him. With the outlines of multiple figures darting into the alleyways to the sides of the street. He definitely wasn't getting stalked by a single person.

This was where Blink lost composure. The noises, he could put down to nerves. But he didn't much want to take chances when he had what seemed like a gang on his ass. He doubted any Motel 6 door would hold against one guy, let alone multiple. So really, without powers, he had one option. Cry for help.

He darted into the motel's lobby, not bothering to approach the desk, and pulled out his phone. He was glad he had Gauss' number; one, he wanted to explain why he was missing their training session, and two, he was scared near out of his mind.

Phone to his ear he waited for her to pick up, taking a glance around the lobby more often than strictly normal.

Hannah's phone started vibrating in her hoodie pocket, her hand went for it instinctively, answering without checking the ID, "Hello?"

Blink nearly laughed with relief as Gauss picked up the phone. He was sure his voice would come out a shaky mess; he didn’t much care. “Oh thank the lord, listen it’s a long story but I need a place to crash could I maybe stay at your place for the night cause there’s a bunch of shadows stalking me and- listen it’s a long story, like I said.” It all came out as one breathless sentence, though oddly devoid of a stutter.

Gauss broke into a jog towards the armored vehicle she called her third home. Sure, Blink could just be high as a kite, but in the event he wasn't he needed help, and it was better to make sure he wasn't knee deep in something than just letting him deal with it on his own, "I'm coming to pick you up, where are you?"

Blink looked around. He wasn’t actually entirely sure, though he could take a guess... “Motel 6 closest to the WTC. Maybe hurry, please?” In his voice was a genuine plea, combined with something like relief.

Hannah climbed up into the MRAP and pressed the start button, the WTC was quite a drive, , but it was also pretty close to a rather public landmark, "Alright, get to Foley Square, stay there until I show up." hooking her phone into a GPS stand, she put the phone in speaker mode as she dug something out of her Gym bag.

The MG3E she bought a while back was closer to the KWS variant now, but being the way it was, it just needed a barrel and receiver spring change before the intended wax round conversion was back to the expressly lethal standard. Sounds of the weapon being deftly taken apart and put back together would echo over the phone as the engine roared to life, the MRAP pulled out on to the street as Hannah put her foot to the floor.

Foley square. He definitely knew where that was. Plugging it into his phone, Blink started heading in that direction, also known as a street over, leaving behind a bewildered desk clerk. On the pavement he hurried, short a walk as it was, until he found himself in Foley square, standing on a street corner, assuming he looked like the kind of person his mother crossed the street to avoid.

Being New York, the area was full of cars and people driving around. Not as busy as usual, but it was sure as hell safer with all those people around. Yet this uneasy atmosphere kept up, the shadow of dread lingering. Then he heard the sound of familiar boots on the pavement.

"Well well well..." A voice came from behind him, a familiar one with friendly tone. "Jack was it? Hell Wasn't expecting to see you so soon!" Upon turning it was that friendly guy from the Diner, Tacitus. A smile on his face as he waved over to Blink. Approaching quickly and standing right by Blink within a few moments. "Hey, something wrong friend? You look a lil uneasy."

This guy again. Blink stepped back as he stepped forward, not eager to let the man into his personal space. “Oh, it’s uh... it’s just that weird day I mentioned. Just, waiting for a friend. Hey, would you mind just, backing up a little? Please?”

"Oh, terribly sorry friend." The man stepped back a good few paces, clearly taking heed of Blink's request. Tacitus clearly maintaining an air of politeness and cordiality. "Oh I understand, it's just how things are these days. Say, I'm actually waiting for a friend myself actually, heh." He gave a friendly chuckle, looking to his side as if he were expecting a car to roll up soon.

"He didn't show up at the Diner, nor the Motel back there." He pointed over in the direction of the Motel 6 Blink just came from."He's a bit of a strange guy, though. Poor guy kinda lost some of his marbles after losing his mother." He sighed, before giving a smile once more. "Well regardless I hope your friend comes to get you soon, it's a shame whenever you get ditched. Trust me I know how it feels, friend."

It wasn’t often that Blink told someone to fuck off, but he was close with the friendly stranger. All he really wanted was to stand there, preferably with his back against a wall, until Gauss arrived, yet the man seemed intent on conversation.

“Yeah, it does... suck. Listen, I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood to chat, at the moment. Could you maybe... just go away? No offense intended, you’re a nice guy and all, but just... go wait somewhere else, please?”

"Oh? Terribly sorry friend. I'll actually make my way outa here, after all can't keep you all tied up in some petty conversation now." A slight smirk went across his face, not noticeable as he turned and walked away. Waving a "goodbye" from behind as he made his way further from blink. Yet his departure didn't offer relief, not in the slightest. Even when he clearly kept walking away, the feeling of being watched kept creeping in.

Blink just caused the only possibly friendly face to walk away. Even if he were in a public area, nothing would stop some creep from approaching him and doing some messed up things in a short period of time. Hell, what if there was some meta hating gang stalking him, or a gang of metas. This paranoia wouldn't be helped by the peering eyes of everyone else around. Each one stabbing through him like daggers.

The guy was gone. Great. So why didn’t Blink feel alone? It was like someone was just behind him, preparing to whisper in his ear. He brought his phone up, eyes darting in their sockets.

“Gauss, please hurry. Please. Cause I definitely think I’m in a not insignificant amount of danger right now, and I know it sounds insane but someone is definitely watching me.”

As time flew, more and more people filled the area. More and more eyes darting around, locking onto him, and exchanging judging looks. Then a group of... less than savory vagrant looking types came. Roughly 3 of them, yet something was off about them. Face masks were common in New York, yet their faces were covered in tattered, grimy rags. The smell they gave off almost quite literally resembling that of a corpse.

While they'd be roughly "normal" to see in New York, even in the nicer areas, (gotta love New York doing nothing about its poverty.) they felt extremely off. No visible skin, their eyes weren't reflecting from the sunlight, and their clothes had this odd grime to them. Almost a black ooze. Yet two of the three came and went like everyone else, their stench still lingering. One of them, however, gave Blink the true hint as to what was really going on.

A quick peak into the hood of the individual, just from them standing by for a few seconds, revealed a horrifying fact. They had no eyes, hell, half of their partially visible face looked outright decomposed. A loud HACK HRRRK WHEEEEZE coming from them, full of phlegm and other nastiness. Then it happened, they turned, looking right into Blink's eyes. The blackness of that skull within peering right into poor Blink. Then as the horrifying sight reached its tensest moment, the "vagrant" departed. His stench lingering beside Blink for a good moment.

Blink gave a shout of surprise and fear as he looked into the eyes of what seemed to be death. He couldn’t help it; he’d never seen something like this in his life.

But he was done being scared.

Finally he had something he could see, something he could fight back against, and by god he would fight. He grabbed the vagrant by the arm as they tried to depart, determined to figure out just what these things were.

Grabbing the Vagrant did very little to actually help his situation. As his grasp immediately slipped off, leaving a thick layer of blackened ooze on Blink's hand. A tense moment of silence overtaking them both as the Vagrant stopped, turning its head slowly to Blink. Dread overtaking the situation as he could see blackened ooze begin to drip from the Vagrant's face rag.

The Vagrant kept its head turned at a slight angle for a good few more seconds. Their fists clenching as they gave a final warning of "Fuck off" through a toughened up body language. Then their head turned, the Vagrant continuing their way forward. Lumbering and shifting as if their were drunk. Was Blink truly seeing corpses? Or was he going crazy at just the sight of a drunk homeless man.

Great. Whatever this thing was, it was... slimy. And also dripping. So it definitely wasn’t human, whatever it was, and that scared Blink. But not enough.

He was acutely aware that if he didn’t have proof that something was off, Gauss would think he was batshit insane. He’d also think he was batshit insane. So, mustering up all his courage, he dashed forward, diving into the man and hoping to whatever god happened to be looking down that this thing wouldn’t kill him. And that the slime was machine washable.

His plan was solid, the tackle definitely hitting the vagrant. Blink's body forcing it to the ground, the both of them landing harshly on the pavement. A thick layer of blackened bile and ooze smearing all over Blink from the collision. Yet, when he could get a good look on the vagrant, they were gone.

No, the Vagrant didn't run away. The tattered rags were on the ground, burbling and boiling in that blackened bile. Yet there was no man there, nothing even resembling a man. The clothes settling down into the ooze, melting away as they sunk into the pavement. A quick look around could see everyone staring at Blink specifically, as if he were the crazy one. Yet there was the remains of the "vagrant" bubbling away right in front of them all.

"Hey moron, nice fuckin' magic trick but can you fuck off? World needs less of you fuckin' freaks..." Said a man in the small crowd around, clad in business attire. The crowd sharing a similar sentiment as they began slowly dispersing, a few muttered insults over at Blink. The ooze still covering him in a thick grimy layer.

In response to the businessman‘s jabs, Blink raised his middle finger as he stood up. He’d gotten what he needed. He doubted this stuff was tar, and he doubted Gauss would believe he was making anything up. Now he found a bench and sat, waiting for Gauss, oddly pleased with himself despite being an absolute mess, torn clothes and slimed up.

To say it was a challenge, to change from her clothing into the small caliber resistant undersuit she wore under her actual armor, while driving through NYC traffic without rolling over a vehicle half the size and mass of her own, would be an understatement. The current regulating gloves also weren't on that menu since they had to actually sync with the computer in her suit, via the semi-powered oversuit, to make sure she didn't accidentally fry the circuits in the rifle she usually used. And the actual armor plating typically took nearly half an hour to bolt on to the oversuit fixtures. And it took her pretty much the entire ride over to get the undersuit on. A part of her wished it wasn't basically skin tight, but at the moment, she could be a chooser considering Blink's predicament.

Her helmet was another story, since it was a preassembled piece, she could just slip it on and off.

It was maybe 20 minutes until the black MRAP rolled up to the sidewalk closest to Blink, a big old "TIAMA" stenciled across the back.

Stepping out, Gauss approached Blink, MG3 in hand. She paused as the absolute rank emitted from the drying out sludge coating him brute forced their way through her helmet's filters.

"Finally here to arrest him, huh?"

Gauss didn't even look, "Fuck off or I'll make the Rodney King beating look like a McDonald's Play Place."

The woman approached, "Hey Blink. You uh... Don't look great, I'll be honest... Don't smell great either."

Blink looked up as Gauss approached, a sheepish look on his face, mixed with relief. She was dressed weird, but the big ass gun in her hands brought him enormous comfort.

“Hey Gauss. I tried to tackle a ghost. Didn’t try, actually, I just tackled a ghost. This happened. Got slimed. Also, there were like 4 ghost guys. I think they were stalking me. Don’t think, actually, know. Don’t think they wanted me dead, cause if they did I would be. Do you uh... do you have a shower, cause this stuff feels really uncomfortable.”

Gauss shuddered, thinking about the smell it would leave in her drains, she spoke with a somewhat incredulous and mildly humorous tone, "Not at my fucking house you aren't." The lad, based on how he was dressed.... it was the same clothing from when he was at the bombing... Hell, gauss could see some of the dust still adhered into the folds.

She beckoned to the MRAP, her voice taking on a sudden and clear voice of understanding and what an untrained ear would take as... pity? "Come on, there's showers at the training center, I'll see about digging you up a spare pair of clothes."

“Alright, yeah, that sounds nice,” said Blink as he climbed into the vehicle, trying his best to avoid getting the slime still on him all over the place.

“Oh yeah, thanks for the assist. I don’t think those ghosts had Christian intentions. Actually I think they wanted to kill me, or maybe just fuck with me. They did a lot of that.”

The Hydraulic door closed behind Blink as he climbed the 5 feet into the passenger seat. He had barely gotten sat down and got the words out of his mouth before Gauss asked a very plain question, "You're will wearing the unwashed clothes from 3 days ago, and you asked me for a my shower." a pause, "You don't have anywhere to go, do you?"

Blink very deliberately avoided making eye contact, a slight blush on his cheeks. Chris had managed to figure it out, Ophi knew, he doubted Gauss had a lot of trouble figuring it out. He was too easy to read.

“I uh... am... between places. Not between, actually, that would imply I ever had one. I um. I don’t have a bank account. Or an ID. And like, without those, there’s very few people who will rent to me. And frankly I’d probably get shanked or worse if I lived in those places, so I’ve been kinda... alley surfing, yeah.”

There was a factual "Mhm." from the woman in the driver seat. She stowed the machine gun in a rack between the duo and pressed the ignition on the vehicle, letting blink squirm a bit in the silence. Her thoughts drifted to what Skye had said earlier, she pulled away from the sidewalk and back into the street, tapping away on the GPS mounted on the dashboard, "So, what size mattress did you want?"

Blink took a moment to comprehend what she said, failed to, took another moment. It clicked with him. “W-wait, I’m assuming that- yeah I don’t need to explain it, you obviously understand it and I also do, so that means- alright, alright, not gonna ramble, I prefer a twin bed, I guess. And... thanks. It’s... it’s been a while, since someone did something nice for me, like this. Wow, that came out much more pathetic than I intended it to.”

Gauss gave an almost half hearted chuckle, "I have a 13... well, 12... 11, bedroom house and an ungodly trust fund. Better to spend it all on someone that needs it over another trio of these things" she finished, rapping her knuckled on the vehicle's dashboard.

"So, that out of the way. Outside of just absolutely starching the other fucker, how much actual fighting experience do you have?"

“Uh... does swinging a brick at the back of a guy’s head count? Cause if it doesn’t, my fighting skill extends to about... aiming for the crotch and pulling up the shirt.” There was no shame in Blink’s voice, though he didn’t talk like he was proud of his unorthodox style. It was almost like he was reading off a sheet.

A pause, Gauss sucked her teeth, "Well technically that's Jailhouse Rock... Not exactly great if you want the other guy to live though."

Her mind ran through what she could actually teach him. Capoeira was out, it was highly unlikely he had the upper body strength to do half the maneuvers it had. LINE was expressly lethal or crippling in any facet. Krav Maga was mostly grappling or close contact, Gauss gave a look at Blink's general frame, and immediately ruled it out. Wing Chun was in a similar boat due to the kid's lack of leg development. Aikido was almost useless if you wanted to actually hurt your opponent, and Hannah had only actually learned it to avoid obliterating people's arms when shoulder tossing them. Hannah hummed.

"What're your thoughts on swords, or knives for that matter?"

“No. Don’t do explicitly lethal. Which is ironic, considering I swing heavy things at people’s head, but I can control the lethality of that a lot better than the lethality of like... stabbing someone. Also, swords are tacky.”

He felt slightly awkward, talking about not killing to someone who was so obviously a dealer of death, but there were lines he wouldn’t cross.

Gauss hummed, his answer certainly narrowed that field, non lethal. Striking nerve clusters and forcing spinal nerve reactions was pretty far from lethal, painful, yes, but lethal no, "SPEAR, SCARS, and Sambo it is then."

Rolling over Brooklyn Bridge, Gauss changed the subject a bit, "What's the most you've lifted from the ground to your waist... without hurting yourself?"

“Now that’s... I um... I haven’t actually... my power’s do this funny little thing, right, where I don’t actually need to lift things, just have a grip on them, to move them, cause of the whole teleportation bit. If I had to take a wild guess I’d say I lift around... 75?”

That was a baldfaced lie. Blink knew he lifted around 50, but he wasn’t gonna admit that, though he didn’t want to stretch the truth too far.

Gauss gave a bit of a frown behind her helmet,It wasn't great, but it was decent for someone who probably lived off of dumpster strawberries, "Welp, that's good, because an empty bar is 45." a pause, "Listen, I get you probably aren't in to the whole, bulk up to look like Arnie thing, but given how your knee went a few days back, you should really start building up the strength around your joints, especially your knees."

The pulled off Brooklyn bridge and towards the Gowanus Expressway, "Since it's dislocated once, it's just gonna get easier and easier to pop out of place. Joints are asshole like that, if might actually start hurting if it rains now. Since your body is trying to repair it long term, you're gonna find yourself putting more weight on the opposite leg, which is gonna wear out the joints in that one, which is just a shitshow waiting to happen." she sighed, "And given our line of work, joint injuries are probably gonna happen a lot, not just your knees."

Stopping at a red light, Gauss dug around in her gym bag, producing the myostatin inhibitors from within, handing them to Blink "They're myostatin inhibitors, they override your body's will to make fat and basically dump it straight into muscle development. They're expired, but they're technically fungus, so they'll still work. Take one before you go to the gym or before a jog... For the love of god don't take them like you would anti-biotics or else you'll end up looking like a godawful muscle fetish drawing."

Blink took the pills with some apprehension, holding them slightly awkwardly, and making a mental note to buy a new bag.

“Gee, uh, thanks. Sucks about the knee, though. Think Maria fixes that? Cause if so that should be all better. She uh, just healed me up.”

Gauss shrugged, "Dunno, typically dislocations cause air pock-" her sentence ground to a halt as her mind caught up with her ears and fully comprehended exactly what Blink just said, "Why did Maria need to heal you?"

“Oh, Ophi and I sparred and she ruptured some of my organs, I think. Probably an accident. It’s actually why I was wandering out there, she like flew me up and I teleported to the World Trade Center where Maria was, and then I was going to find a hotel when those ghost jumped me.”

He said this all frankly, like it wasn’t an unusual occurrence in his day to day life.

The static like, ozone feeling that Gauss had almost filled a whole room with 2 days ago was back, but now, instead of playful, it had a menacing air to it, The vehicle was also accelerating, perhaps a bit more than was safe for a normal car... not a veritable tank though, "You used boxing gloves, right?"

Great, she was doing the thing again. That was wildly uncomfortable, for Blink.

“Um... I-I really wanna say yes, but I’m almost 99% certain that will turn out bad in the long run, so... no, no we did not. It’s fine, though, I’m pretty sure she would’ve done it with boxing gloves. I mean, not that s-she meant to or anything, I’m just saying...”

Blink had the sudden feeling that he’d said something wrong. He stared into his lap, hoping Gauss would slow down.

"Was it your suggestion to spar or hers?"

“It was hers, but it was my idea to go to a knockout, but, you know, hindsight’s 20/20 and everything turned out fine.” Blink now regretted opening his mouth about Maria.

Gauss sighed, the vehicle maintained it's speed, but the static feeling in the air subsided, "Blink, she outright ate an explosion that killed some 150 other people. people like me and her can outright kill people if we're not careful, Hell, I shattered a friends shoulder blade patting him on the back when I was 15." a pause as they turned down the off ramp.

“What? No, I didn’t think anyone was gonna... alright, I did, but like, it... I don’t know. I thought I’d get something out of it. I guess I did, technically, just, not what I expected,” he said, slight shame in his voice., the training facility now in view, "You can say no. No one's gonna make fun of you for it."

Gauss pulled into the parking lot, the MRAP she was currently driving pulled in alongside the other red one she had parked here 2 days ago. The engine turned off and she squeezed Blink's shoulder a bit, recoiling pretty quickly when she realized her hand was now covered in slime, "Mmm. Don't feel bad, everyone fucks up every once and a while. It wasn't your fault this time, Ophi has a liability here to make sure she doesn't kill her co-workers." a pause, "Just, go take that shower, I'll get you a set of clothes from the front desk. After this we're gonna get you some furniture... and probably burn the clothes you're wearing, because no amount of peroxide is gonna get those grease stains out, sorry to say."

“Yeah, that sounds nice. All of that, really, I never wanna wear this outfit again. I smell like a corpse, and not a dry one.”

He disembarked the vehicle, heading for the shower. He was glad he knew where it was; he’d been there about an hour ago, after all.

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

Ophiuchia could tell that Taela was ignoring her, it was doubtful that it was out of fear and most certainly out of disgust. She had likely recognized the energy signature of her sword as Lyzsurkrakian at some point. Ophiuchia guess that she must have held the slaughter of the Muterans against her due to her connections.

Sure, she agreed with the Lattice's reasoning and sure she shared much in common with their means of cognition, due to her engineered genetic structure, but she hadn't been there when the decision was made, nore could the Lattice have prevented the council from intervening without widespread agreement.

Ophiuchia wondered if the presumably deep disgust Taela felt for her through her alien benefactors extended to all those that voted with them and all those even tangentially connected to them. If she could be disgusted at her, that'd only be logicslly consistent.

If so, that sort of hate mongering was precisely why the Muterans were more dangerous than the Lorrisians. Should they have ever moved beyond their insularity, it'd have likely been through a desire to dominate rather than cooperate with the rest of the galaxy. Disorganized warlords were far safer to have around.

"Hey Ophi," the German asked, while snide comment from the TIAMA hero went over her head, "I healed Blink, he should be fine by tomorrow. In the meantime, do you think you can also help me train?"

Ophiuchia turned to Holiday, who informed her that Blink was ok (Ophiuchia quickly fired off a message to Blink's phone to confirm that) and asked Ophiuchia if she'd be willing to train her.

Ophiuchia hadn't paid too much direct attention to Holiday at the Lucky Strike, she was more concerned with the vials of healing blood she brought with her. Looking at her now, Holiday wasn't really diminutive, she was about as tall as Shadowshock and Ophiuchia knew that Holiday had extensive regeneration capacity, which would likely help with her building strength and stamina. With proper training, she could be made a formidable combatant and Ophiuchia could play a critical role in helping her become that, which given the blood she produced, might be a very good relationship to build.

If this was more or less any other hero of her experience, amateurishness and problematic nature, Ophiuchia would find some excuse to avoid working with them, but here she would give it a try.


"Sure, Holiday, just a moment, seeing as some of us clearly aren't willing to notice all of us, there isn't much point in remaining here." Said Ophiuchia, more than alluding to Taela ignoring her.

"Yeaaaaas...", Shadowshock managed to reply to Taela as she assured him that they were all friends here. Well, except for that leftist vlogger standing there. "Friends indeed. So, uh, are you... busy later? I'm thinking of... hmmm, going-"

"You're going on a date without telling me, Robbie?", a certain familiar voice said from behind as a pair of light footsteps came in. There, behind them, was the Inventor, sporting the trademark black coat and a grey fedora. Funnily enough, he looked like he was about to snicker but was barely holding it in. Plus there was Mother Russia following him around...

"I mean, I could give you dating advice, maybe recommendations on what to do when your partner doesn't know what to pick, but I can't do anything about your absolute hopelessness and fear of long term commitment... oh, wait."

Nicholas looked at Taela a little more intently, as if trying to remember if she was an old friend or acquaintance. "Oh, right. You're my other teammate. Have you been, err, informed? Well, nice to meet you. I hope we can work together well."

Looking back at his nephew, he snickered, which seemed to be something he did a lot. "But then I think you had something going on with someone else... I guess you swiped left..."

Shadowshock was just there, aghast. "I was just... starting."

A chuckle, and then a funny smile. "I think you should just be more upfront with them... that's how I rose out of mediocrity." Inventor then looked at Taela, and then whispered to her. "I promise you, though. He's a very nice guy, just scared of commitment. Heh."

Ophiuchia, observing Shadowshock and this 'Inventor' (who's gear and build, Aethelind said, looked suspiciously familiar) felt a mixture of pity and disgust at their attempt to get Miss Majestic to go out on a date with Shadowshock. Muterans were bigoted even more so a 'royal', who, for all her pretense, no doubt still saw herself as above mere commoners, particularly human commoners.

"You're wasting your time, Shadowshock. You're just riff raff as far as she's concerned, no way she'd go out on a date with you. Don't feel bad, it's her, not you."

Ophiuchia turned to Holiday again.

"Right, follow me, I have something to pick up, then we can get to training."

As Ophiuchia lead Holiday away, she made a point to pass by Taela. Ophiuchia wasn't going to let how she ignored her slide.

"Bye, Paslikhe." She whispered, with a smirk as she headed on her way.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
Staten Island TIAMA Training Facility
Hans

Things had gone smoothly after Hans finished his shift at his Burger Lord. A smooth ride, straight from his workplace over to TIAMA on Staten Island. Not exactly a short ride though but Hans was well accustomed to longer rides with his bike, seeing as it was his primary mode of transportation through the city.

Once he reached the training facility, he quickly locked his bike at one of the few bike stands they had, taking the completely free bike stand entirely for granted. A hero relying on his bike was, while not unseen, something on the rarer side of things. Most seemed to either have some form of "special" or custom transportation or had cars. Which reminded Hans that he wanted to save up for a car. He waited for a moment, staring longingly the cars, specifically Gauss' MRAP, dreaming of how it would be to have a car...before slapping himself in the face, muttering:

"Stupid, stupid Hans! You first need to buy a new shovel so you can help better!"

With that being said, he elected to quickly make his way into the facility, changing on the way. Quickly unzipping his pants and hobbling around a bit trying to get out off them without stopping to move forward, walking for a bit with only his short, socks and underpants untill he stuffed his trousers into his backpack and retrieved his sports shorts, quickly slipping them on while hobbling around a bit more. Next up was his shirt whic he quickly pulled off before walking into the primary training room shirtless.

He didn't mind that very much though, enthusiastically waving at the others with one hand while searching in his backpack for his sports shirt with the other.

Now, one had to say, in terms of physical fitness Hans was...decent. He was certainly in shape and quite fit, some might even say attractive if he wasn't paler than he had any right to be, that paleness being contrasted harshly by the dark hair growing on his body and the nevi he seemed to be having quite a lot of. Luckily he produced his shirt but a moment later, covering up his torso so they didn't have to see any of it. He sat down on a simple bench nearby, pulling out a pair of Adidas sports shoes before undoing the laces on his street shoes, stuffing them into a plastic bag which promptly went into the backpack as well before starting to tie his laces after he put on his sports shoes.

"Hi everyone. Sorry that I'm a bit late, I had to ask Chris first if he too was going to come. And guess what?!? He is going to come! We're all going to have lots of fun together!"

[Union Princes]

Ophiuchia turned to Holiday, who informed her that Blink was ok (Ophiuchia quickly fired off a message to Blink's phone to confirm that) and asked Ophiuchia if she'd be willing to train her.

Ophiuchia hadn't paid too much direct attention to Holiday at the Lucky Strike, she was more concerned with the vials of healing blood she brought with her. Looking at her now, Holiday wasn't really diminutive, she was about as tall as Shadowshock and Ophiuchia knew that Holiday had extensive regeneration capacity, which would likely help with her building strength and stamina. With proper training, she could be made a formidable combatant and Ophiuchia could play a critical role in helping her become that, which given the blood she produced, might be a very good relationship to build.

If this was more or less any other hero of her experience, amateurishness and problematic nature, Ophiuchia would find some excuse to avoid working with them, but here she would give it a try.


"Sure, Holiday, just a moment, seeing as some of us clearly aren't willing to notice all of us, there isn't much point in remaining here." Said Ophiuchia, more than alluding to Taela ignoring her.

"Awesome!" Maria cheered, almost jumping down with glee. Her chainsword rattling from her excitement. "I'll wait for you at the gym!" The German sped off to quickly claim a sparring room for herself and Ophi. Once she found a room, she dropped her bag in a chair sitting near the corner. With a mad glint in her eyes, Maria whipped out her chainsword and revved it up. It produced a low whirring sound as the teeth sliced into the air as she waved it around haphazardly before turning it off. Quickly remembering that she was fighting Ophi of all people, the blondie retreated towards her bag to grab some clean scalpel knives and empty syringes to use for later.

"This is going to be fun." the blondie smirked as she waited for her partner to arrive.

[Endem]

Elias Sayid

Soon after Hans had entered the room where everybody was present the door opened again, through walked in Elias, as always not sporting a shirt, mostly because it would rip what was left of his skin, and he definitely did not enjoy the idea of having to look like a doctor's muscle chart.

Speaking of skin and muscles, unfortunately you could see his muscles through the wide, open holes in his skin, the sight was unsettling to say the least, thankfully some skin was left.

"Hello, I'm Elias and I've come for the training seminar"

After introducing himself he asked

"Is anybody missing a training partner?"

He asked.

[Gudmund]

Inventor and Fulldive | One Hacker to Another

Inventor stared at the piece of paper that the other hero had posted on the wall, investigating it with utter scrutiny. Apparently, this guy called Fulldive wants people to suggest ideas on what constructs to make. It seems that some other people had already put it some ideas, like... what the hell are these even... Were these anime characters... no, it's some kind of magic girl. So strange. Weaboos, they must be.

Inventor tapped a pen of his on the paper, pondering on possible suggestions. "What to suggest, hm... oh, yes. SAILOR MOON! No. That's overused. Nazi Zombies...? No, he will be cancelled by the entirety of Twitter... Hmm... Oh. I know. The Avengers."

Hastily, he scribbled on the paper. Moving back, he sighed and shook his head. Ever since he was a kid, his hand writing had been terrible. Surely Fulldive would be able to read it... right?

Glancing around, he found his eyes to set upon the Fulldive, who was tapping on his phone like the average millennial or Gen Z. From the looks of it, Fulldive was younger than himself. One thing was certain, though. The Asian was technokinetic, just like himself, if not exactly the same.

With nothing better to do and with Mother Russia just... hanging around like a helicopter, he walked over to the young man tapping on his phone, and cleared his throat, tapping his foot and looking around for a bit before speaking. "So, it's you. Hm. What can I say... seems that we are alike in ways more than one."

He held out a hand in greeting, trying not to let his fedora fall off as he hadn't exactly put it on his head in a secure manner. "Inventor... fellow technopath. Nice to meet you."

Fulldive looked up from his phone, having been observing the results from a similar poll on Twitter, staring at Inventor for a bit longer than necessary. He hadn't expected someone to approach him, choosing to simply shut out his surroundings in favour of being quiet. Rising from his seat, he quickly took Inventor's awaiting hand and shook it while introducing himself, "Oh, nice to meet you as well, can't say I've met many others with a similar powerset."

Looking sideways at the paper poll Inventor just added to, he squinted at the results, frowning for a moment at some of the more peculiar ones. Returning his focus to Inventor, he smiled and thanked him for adding to the poll regardless, "Maybe I should've added I'd like to avoid a lawsuit' as well."

"Oh, yes. Copyrights, what a bummer, right?", Invented snickered a little bit just as a little white mouse popped out of his coat's chest pocket. "Don't mind her. I always carry a fluffy animal with me wherever I go. So..."

He frowned a little, contemplating on what to say next. "So how long have you been here...? I mean, how long have you been a part of this... group? As for me I just got in. I used to, you know, do my own thing. Until, well, it started to suck without being part of something bigger."

Eyeing the mouse, Fulldive shrugged it off internally, knowing that most supers had more than a few quirks. He nodded back, "Me? Umm, I've been here for about a year, paid off six months of training by helping out in TIAMA's IT department and some... less public matters. It's nice being around other competent supers, too."

Fulldive paused, unsure of whether or not this dude's powers were a touchy subject, "So, what kind of technopath are you? Again, I haven't really met another, so I'm just kinda curious."

Inventor put his hands in his pockets, sitting down beside Fulldive so that this wouldn't be too awkward of an exchange. "Well. From what I have done so far, I can control nearby machinery... and access the content and networks of computers within short reach. Plus...", he said as he glanced over at the door. "I can open doors that need keycards without... you know, keycards."

"Oho, very nice," Fulldive hummed, sitting back down. "I can do all that, too. Aside from the stuff mentioned briefly on the poll, y'know, projecting digital creations into energy constructs, I can basically speak with machines by thought."

For a moment, he wondered if he should be explaining all of this to someone he just met. "Oh well," he thought, realizing he'd already told most of this to TIAMA. Other people could guess the basics easily easily enough just from video footage of him in the act.

Speak with machines

"Wait. Machine spirits... are real?!... No, of course not, what am I thinking, hehehe... hehe... he. Uhm."

Awkward... pause. Of course... Nicholas wasn't much of a talker. Not like his nephew over there... though at least he didn't fall for every fifth person he met. "So, I guess... we can, hm, exchange numbers, FB accs, Twitter handles...? I think you were in my recommended feed but I'm not sure..."

Nodding profusely, Fulldive pulled up his phone to show his contact details, seemingly unfazed by Inventor's machine spirits outburst. He exclusively used encrypted services, so it was rather sparse, but even he couldn't avoid the giant that is Twitter. "Sure, feel free to shoot me a message. Maybe we could get together sometime, work on a project or two."

Inventor showed his phone in turn, his contact details written on the screen in the middle of what look liked to be a moving wallpaper made from a GIF taken from the Matrix. "Projects, yes yes yes yes yes yes, indeed... we computer people need to stick together, no? Hehehe... hehe... he."

Awkward pause... Again. At the end of it though, he smiled at Fulldive as took his fedora off as some kind of gesture. "Anyway. Nice to meet you, Fulldive... see you around, I guess. I really hope to do a project with someone like me."

"See you later, man. I'll look forward to it," Fulldive replied, smiling awkwardly. For a moment he seriously had to question whether Inventor might be more... volatile than previously thought. He was, after all, being followed by some hulking figure that seemed to have vanished. During the brief conversation, Fulldive was channelling his power into his phone, frantically scanning the net for any details on this man. He found nothing which, in hindsight, made sense considering they were also apparently a technopath.

[Anowa]

The locker room was usually quiet. it was a bit of an unwritten rule that you kept your eyes to yourself and spoke as little as possible, given the whole 'secret identity' thing most of TIAMA's personnel had. That being said, it was pretty empty this time of day anyways, right now it was just one of the support staff a bit further down and Gauss. Her undersuit safely packed back into her bag and in her locker, she was in the process of getting back in the garb she put on this morning, sweat shirt and sweat pants, a very typical grey.

Gauss found herself on the luckier end of the spectrum, at least involving physical fitness. Her cartilage would never be ground down to nothing for a very very long time, at least comparatively speaking. Her time in Syria had resulted in five seperate uses of the strike team's Stem-Packs, from things ranging from shredded limbs, getting her abdominal cavity shredded, internal bleeding of her femoral cavity. It was all brutal and well her own healing properties were good, they were only good enough to stop her from dying in the moment most of the time. For instance, hole in her neck, arm and abdomen from Sunday. They had healed, but they were at the ugly stage of healing where the scabs were crusty and pinkish around the edge. The one that went through her forearm most definitely bruised or cracked one of their bones it went in between. But it was still mobile, and it didn't feel broken or terribly achy, so it was likely healed or at least resurfaced by this point. Biologically speaking, from a vampire's perspective, she was likely older than her century old mother. Hell, Gauss had started growing scar tissue at some point, she hardly remembered when, likely after her shotgun suicide episode... which she didn't remember, only waking up a few months after her last memory with a shotgun in hand.

But yeah, Gauss found herself lucky, she was genetically robust to make it a real long time, her compatriots however weren't. She told Blink to keep his joints stable and developed because of a dislocation and some bullshit about imbalance. In reality, she didn't have the heart to tell him that in their line of work his knees and ankles were gonna be absolutely fucked before he was 24, hips too maybe, and probably his back as well if he carried anything more than he was now. Every time Gauss walked into this locker room she always got hit with the knowledge of existential disgust. She was going to live longer than everyone she would met here, or earlier in her life, every time it threatened to rip out a chunk of her already shattered soul.

With a sigh she closed the locker as she tied her hair up. Walking out through the halls and into the gym proper, she frowned at the sudden collection of people. She only recognized roughly half of them, and on a normal day, she found it unlikely most of them would even be present. Though at this, a small switch flicked in the back of her head. TIAMA was always trying to get Gauss to help out bring some of her own skills to the wider number of personnel, however she pretty much always told them to fuck off. Group teaching was neither something she was good at nor was it something she enjoyed, and given the degree of surveillance TIAMA had over their personnel -known or otherwise- it was well within the realm of possibility that Herrman had just roped everyone here together just so she'd be forced to instruct them.

"Fuck sake."