Fates And Futures [IC | Heroes & Legends]

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson

Kane watched as Kodiak simply stared at him before running off "Manners aren't your strong point I guess..." Kane muttered to himself before spitting another globule of blood to the floor and looking around to see both Jenny and Jim coming over to help him, pulling chairs up and such to let him sit down. He looked a little wide eyed at the two before clearing his throat "Honestly it's nothing you don't have to worry, just a spot of the old minor internal bleeding and possible fractured vertebrae" Kane coughed up some more blood and sat down in the chair that Jim pulled up "Honestly mate, I think anything bad that could have happened has happened. It literally cannot get any worse than this" Kane preached to both Jenny and Jim, gesturing with his hands before putting his hands on his face and sighing "In fact I take that back. The only way this could get worse is if a car hit me somehow right now. That would be pretty fucked" Kane rambled, he sounded sick and tired of this place. In truth, he just wanted to go home now and no amount of stamina boosters and alcohol was going to make him feel like this was an alright place to be.

[Forest State]

Things seemed to be calming down. The veteran heroes were headed outside to secure the perimeter and make sure that there were no more threats, while some of the others stayed inside and watched over the donors as an evacuation began. “Please do not panic. The threat has been dealt with and all guests will be evacuated in an orderly manner,” said someone over the sound system, picking up the microphone that had been knocked over when Nguyen kicked the sound table. The voice belonged to Stefano “Angelo” Gatti, one of the Syndicate’s more by the books heroes. If they’d listen to someone, it would be him, since he was known for being as trustworthy as someone could be. “I repeat, all guests will be evacuated in an orderly manner. Please form a double file line towards the front door, and avoid the urge to stampede or push your way through. The threat has been neutralized.”

Gatti set the microphone down and moved to a group of other heroes, including the returning Zara and Kodiak Marsden. Zara was the one leading, while Kodiak lingered behind her and said nothing, deciding not to speak unless her teacher ordered her to. “The perimeter seems clear,” said Zara, as Chandler Marin also made his way to the group and listened in on the conversation. “We can’t know for sure, but we haven’t seen any movement from anywhere around the building. The roads are being closed off by the Thai police, and they’re sending a larger team to sweep the area and investigate what exactly went down here. We should be good to send everyone to the parking lot to the east.”

“I want all the staff that were involved in this event lined up and brought to the front of the building for questioning,” Chandler stated. “The shooter was very obviously someone who was working on the event. If the person came from within our own ranks, we need to make sure that there aren’t more traitors in this building right now that are potentially armed and dangerous. Be sure to pat each one down for weapons or explosives before lining them up, and radio the forces outside and tell them to not let any of the event staff out of the area. Mark my words, we’re going to find out who did this.”

“Will do. And Kronos, you should find your family and take a break with all of this. Me and Angelo and Apex have it handled,” said Zara, a hint of sympathy entering her voice. “You just lost a daughter, and Candace and Cassius and Cassandra lost their sister. They need you right now, and like I said, the rest of us have this handled-”

“I don’t need to face the music just yet. Better to stay effective… Especially in the eyes of the public. The facade won’t drop until we’re on the plane to wherever,” Chandler replied, turning and starting to walk away towards the front entrance, as police sirens could be heard in the distance. It had taken them long enough to get here, but there wasn’t really a police presence on the resort. Things like this never happened, but now that it did, there were cops in tactical gear surrounding this place and forming a second barrier to the ones that the heroes had made.

Zara just stood for a moment and wiped the sweat off of her face, feeling a little sick. She wasn’t the most moral person or the one that didn’t have a stomach for violence. After all, she had spent ten years as a mercenary and more time as an assassin of sorts. But there was something about seeing a teenage girl die after not doing anything at all that shook her, that reminded her of when her own family members had been gunned down. Of when she herself had nearly died, back when she was just a teenager and didn’t even have powers like she did now.

She told Apex and Angelo to handle the rest of the tasks that needed to be completed, and she walked through the back door near the stage. She was looking for someone that she had seen leave, Cassandra Marin. One of the many people that she helped instruct, but a student that was especially close because of Zara’s closeness to the entire Marin family. As she found Cassandra sitting at the back of the building and crying into her hands, she sat down next to her and looked straight ahead rather than making eye contact. “I know that most people would say that they can never understand the pain that you’re going through. But the truth is, I can. My family was murdered when I was younger than you, and it came out of nowhere, just like this,” Zara said, picking her words carefully and wisely. She let out a long sigh, a sympathetic one. “I’m going to be real with you. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. I’m here, though, if you need any support. Or if you just want to spar, and take your mind off of it. Never forget that you’re family to me. I’ll do whatever I need to do to help.”

“This is all because of me,” Cassandra blurt out, burying her face further in her hands. “I… Don’t know how it’s all connected. But when Team Liberte was attacked in France, I got a call and I ended up speaking over the phone with the Hand. And he said it was because of me and then said that there would be another attack… One that was closer to home. I assumed home would mean Santa Marina, and I was waiting on something to happen, but I never thought that “home” would mean here and that something would happen at the resort. I thought about saying something but all I really had was my word because it wasn’t like I had recorded the call, and… I guess I didn’t think anyone would believe something as far fetched as this just because someone that’s still rattled by loss says it happened. And now look where I got with that.”

“Well, at least you saying something now has given us a starting point on where to look to figure this thing out. You might have made a mistake, but you can’t predict things like this. You never could have known that it would be an attack like this, never would have known that they would go after everyone at a party and not on a battlefield. We’ve all made stupid mistakes that cause things to break down way more than we ever could have imagined. There’s a reason people talk about the butterfly effect, and how the wings of a butterfly could start a hurricane,” Zara continued, doing her best but failing to comfort Cassandra.

“But it doesn’t make it feel any better, just because we’ve all made mistakes. And most people don’t make mistakes that leave other people dead.” Cassandra finally rose her head, her face stained with tears. “Most people don’t run from it too, after leaving someone dead. I managed to do both.”

Zara nodded, offering a light sigh.”We don’t have to talk about it,” she said. “If you just want a shoulder to cry on… I’m here.”

Back inside the building, however, things suddenly grew hectic. The wind picked up around the stage, and a glowing circle began to form along the back wall of the building, a flat surface large enough to support the circle as runes appeared around it in a similarly glowing white color. It was the mark of a mage, definitely. Judging by the size of the portal and the quickness that it opened with, it was also a damn good one. The sound of engines could be heard, as if they were distant and approaching, and they grew closer and closer to the back wall despite no vehicles moving in that direction outside. Then, there was the sound of a truck horn.

The first of the two trucks roared through the portal as soon as it was completed, causing a panic and a scramble from the heroes that were on the scene. The members of the Marin family that were still inside the building dodged to the right to avoid getting run over, since they were near the stage. Other guests screamed and stampeded for the door, breaking the double file line that they had formed under the orders of the Syndicate. Suddenly, the organized retreat was a much worse situation. Moving into action quickly, Kronos fired a tightly packed blast of energy at the left front tire of the lead dump truck, which was accelerating rapidly towards them after leaving the portal. The tire exploded, sending shrapnel and rubber in the directions around it.

Then, the truck tipped over and the other one slammed into it, both of them being thrown off of their courses by the quick tire attack. When the lead truck tipped over and the other one found itself stopped in its tracks after slamming into the back side of the flipped truck, everyone could see that the thing was filled to the brim with explosives, which started pouring out of the container as soon as the truck tipped over. “Truck bomb!” shouterd Kronos, and the heroes and civilians that were in the building at this point hastened their retreat. If it was the driver that was detonating the payload, they seemed to have a bit of time. The driver was having a hard time just getting out of his seatbelt as the dump truck sat on its side, suffering a bit of damage in the process with the crash that had drawn blood from that driver.

Kronos charged up a stronger energy shot and fired right through the wall, making an impromptu escape path through the right side of the building. Brooklyn, carrying Candace, went through it along with Gaia and Cassius, and a mob of others who were looking for any path that would take them outside before the trucks exploded. After all, there were two, and maybe the second one wouldn’t suffer from technical difficulties. Kronos blasted another two holes in the wall, allowing more people to get a quicker route to the outside. Most of the Cadets should have been able to get out of the building too, and most of the heroes had already cleared the place out and left only a few of their own to manage the evacuation.

Finally, Kronos ran out of the building himself. It wasn’t like every single person could be saved, and at some point, a retreat was needed from him too. He, and the rest of the Marins and the team that had been assembled inside, reached the outdoors with no problems, and put more distance between themselves and the ballroom just to protect themselves from shrapnel from the future explosion. They advised the crowds outside to keep moving and not stand within shrapnel range either, although they didn’t know how far that range was. After all, they hadn’t had time to look and see how much explosives were in the trucks, specifically.

As they fled, however, the building exploded in a burst of fire.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Imogen Vaughan and JJ Triggs
The Gala and elsewhere

Kane Davidson

Kane watched as Kodiak simply stared at him before running off "Manners aren't your strong point I guess..." Kane muttered to himself before spitting another globule of blood to the floor and looking around to see both Jenny and Jim coming over to help him, pulling chairs up and such to let him sit down. He looked a little wide eyed at the two before clearing his throat "Honestly it's nothing you don't have to worry, just a spot of the old minor internal bleeding and possible fractured vertebrae" Kane coughed up some more blood and sat down in the chair that Jim pulled up "Honestly mate, I think anything bad that could have happened has happened. It literally cannot get any worse than this" Kane preached to both Jenny and Jim, gesturing with his hands before putting his hands on his face and sighing "In fact I take that back. The only way this could get worse is if a car hit me somehow right now. That would be pretty fucked" Kane rambled, he sounded sick and tired of this place. In truth, he just wanted to go home now and no amount of stamina boosters and alcohol was going to make him feel like this was an alright place to be.

"Oh boy! It can get so much worse!" JJ remarked in response to Kane, though it was said with a slight smirk, "Take it from someone who regenerates, you're only half-way up the ziggurat of pain... which is why I'm suggesting you sit down and let put your leg up. She brought a second chair, propping it in front of Kane as he sat down before giving him a quick look over. He looked like he'd be okay until proper medical attention arrived, "Try not to move it. I'm no doctor but I reckon that will need stitches and you don't want to tear it open any further."

There was a caring side to Triggs, though it was well buried under the joking and frequent snarking.

Which was when the portal started opening up near the stage, "Oh let me guess, this is Syndiate HQ's idea of how to bring in the emergency services... "

Imogen meanwhile, frowned. The Syndicate's man body would need to be complete morons if they thought that was a good idea... plus that was a truck horn, not an ambulance siren. She twisted, grimaced, dipping her finger into the spreading pool of blood under her, then drew a hasty circle on the floor, beginning to fill in the details in crimson.

Back inside the building, however, things suddenly grew hectic. The wind picked up around the stage, and a glowing circle began to form along the back wall of the building, a flat surface large enough to support the circle as runes appeared around it in a similarly glowing white color. It was the mark of a mage, definitely. Judging by the size of the portal and the quickness that it opened with, it was also a damn good one. The sound of engines could be heard, as if they were distant and approaching, and they grew closer and closer to the back wall despite no vehicles moving in that direction outside. Then, there was the sound of a truck horn.

The first of the two trucks roared through the portal as soon as it was completed, causing a panic and a scramble from the heroes that were on the scene. The members of the Marin family that were still inside the building dodged to the right to avoid getting run over, since they were near the stage. Other guests screamed and stampeded for the door, breaking the double file line that they had formed under the orders of the Syndicate. Suddenly, the organized retreat was a much worse situation. Moving into action quickly, Kronos fired a tightly packed blast of energy at the left front tire of the lead dump truck, which was accelerating rapidly towards them after leaving the portal. The tire exploded, sending shrapnel and rubber in the directions around it.

Then, the truck tipped over and the other one slammed into it, both of them being thrown off of their courses by the quick tire attack. When the lead truck tipped over and the other one found itself stopped in its tracks after slamming into the back side of the flipped truck, everyone could see that the thing was filled to the brim with explosives, which started pouring out of the container as soon as the truck tipped over. “Truck bomb!” shouterd Kronos, and the heroes and civilians that were in the building at this point hastened their retreat. If it was the driver that was detonating the payload, they seemed to have a bit of time. The driver was having a hard time just getting out of his seatbelt as the dump truck sat on its side, suffering a bit of damage in the process with the crash that had drawn blood from that driver.

Kronos charged up a stronger energy shot and fired right through the wall, making an impromptu escape path through the right side of the building. Brooklyn, carrying Candace, went through it along with Gaia and Cassius, and a mob of others who were looking for any path that would take them outside before the trucks exploded. After all, there were two, and maybe the second one wouldn’t suffer from technical difficulties. Kronos blasted another two holes in the wall, allowing more people to get a quicker route to the outside. Most of the Cadets should have been able to get out of the building too, and most of the heroes had already cleared the place out and left only a few of their own to manage the evacuation.

The trucks whizzed past where JJ had been standing, crashing into each other in a mess of tables, chairs and explosives... more blood explosives. This party was just getting better and better. A piece of flying debris from the blow tire carved a path across her shoulder, which probably would have hurt a whole lot more if she wasn't quite as amped on adrenaline as she was at the moment. It would heal anyway.

JJ ducked under Kane's shoulder, hoisting him up to his feet, but support to his injured leg, "Jim!" she called, having apparently decided to take charge, carry Imogen, you look strong and she's pretty light."

"No, wait!" Imogen held up a free hand while she continued to draw in her own blood, "We'll never make it out of there in all this panic. Give me a few more seconds... They aren't the only ones who can play at portals."

There was a sudden flash of otherworldly light and another portal opened up, this time on the floor. It was strangely angled, the entry would involve jumping down into it, though when you came out the other side you would end up flipping ninety degrees as the portal had been drawn side-on. It was a room in a house with a double bed, a neat desk and a plain white wall. Imogen dragged herself forward, tipping through it without hesitation, appearing on the far side, dragging a bloody trail behind her as she scrambled back from the exit point, "Okay, no idea where that is, but I can't see any bombs!" JJ concluded and without waiting to be asked, jumped through, pulling Kane with her.

Imogen kept the portal open long enough for Jim to follow them, along with anyone else who was standing nearby, then shut it off. As a consequence, anyone in their party completely missed the explosion that levelled the building they had been in...

Wherever they were seemed quite peaceful. To the right of where the portal had been a big leaded window opened out onto a pleasant rural vista. It looked to be much earlier in the day and somewhere a bird sang unseen. To the left of the portal was a simple wooden door. The view showed there were on a second floor, though there was very little else to go on to reveal where Imogen had taken them, "I'm sure you have questions." Imogen sounded ever so slightly slurred when she spoke, "I'll explain soon, but I'm bleeding out and I'd rather not die. Go out into the hall, you'll see a telephone, dial 999 and get am ambulance here. We're at St Mary's Farm on Lyndhurst Lane, TN25 8XT."

"Err... okay." JJ looked like she had a lot of questions 'where the hell are we?' being top of the list, but she realised they weren't out of the woods yet, so opened the door, which led onto an upstairs corridor, and went to find the phone. Kane though, would definitely recognise the emergency number and the post code nomenclature. He might even recognise the outbound postcode as being in Kent. Imogen had opened a portal to the only place she knew well enough to teleport them to safely: her bedroom at her family home.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Michelle Raphaella Sara Bianchi-Costa a.k.a Tetrarch
Phuket, Thailand
February 18th, 2018

The three of her left the dining hall by the main entrance at a brisk walk, aimless in direction except for away from the dining hall. She wasn't entirely sure where she should go now beyond away from here. Her villa was out, since no doubt Candace would head there to collect her things and she didn't want to face her, not so soon. She'd give her time to figure things out alone, and let her approach her on her own time, in her own way. Then, once the emotions had died down, they could... Just talk. Figure things out, like she'd tried to do.

Even if that had just ended up making things worse.

And so the three of her walked, meandering aimlessly through the resort, just heading away from the resort proper. She heard something explode in the distance, but she paid it no mind. No doubt those able to do something about it would do something about it. She wasn't one of those able to. Eventually, she found herself at the far end of the beach, and the three of her found themselves carefully picking their way over rocks until they couldn't even see the beach, where they all perched on a rock large enough.

Sirens wailed in the distance, but she didn't care as the three of her, finally alone, leaned against one another for support and let the tears flow freely, the sirens going silent so the only sound was the lashing of the waves on the rocks, the sound of her crying lost beneath it.

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson, Head Hunter

Kane looked over to JJ with a smirk and gave a small but weak laugh towards her "Apparently a mass shooting and a bombing isn't enough to take that smile off your face is it JJ?" Kane said trying to sound as happy as he could before coughing up more blood and watching as she pulled another chair over to prop his leg up and look at his leg "It's the same fucking leg I got shot in when we were shutting down that fight club. I mean, I can't feel any pain because implants and stuff but still look at that shit" Kane gestured towards the rag wrapped around the wound, now saturated with blood from the heavy bleeding that was happening "That doesn't sound like an ambulance..." Kane spoke absently as he looked around trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.

Then a portal opened up and the horn got louder. An entire dump truck came flying through the portal at top speeds "Oh my god I knew it! It got fucking worse! This gala was a stupid idea we're all going to die!" Kane struggled to move but was helped to stand when JJ slung his arm over her shoulder, watching as Imogen drew a circle out of blood "You can draw as much as you like when we get out of here Imogen! holy shit..." Kane stopped talking as a portal opened up where Imogen had drawn here strange circle and runes. JJ wasted no time as she threw herself and Kane in the portal with her where they landed in the second floor of a building where it appeared to be light outside. Kane stood up and looked out the window to see a rural landscape "Awwww mateeee we're in England. Great, means we can get a proper pint" Kane started to feel dizzy and slid down to the ground by the window, looking at Imogen as he sat up "Imogen if I die, bury me with my money" Kane mumbled towards the girl bleeding out across from him "I want some fuckin chips..." Kane finally let out before his eyelids started to feel heavy. Maybe he'd take a short nap before the ambulance arrived.

[Durmatagno]

Sage Wilder/Sage Knight/William Wilder
The Gala Outside the Ruined Resort

Sage had only just barely made it out in time when there was a flash of light, and a roaring sound from behind them. Another, much larger explosion had just went off. Sage had no earthly idea of what to do anymore. They'd only been with the Syndicate for a fraction of their life, and their life was a short one so far. Steeling themselves, they stepped out to the side to get out of the way. They weren't going to be in the way, and needed to calm the adrenaline still in them before anyone tried to help treat them. Sage knew they had an issue with basically anything to do with medicine, and didn't want to hurt anyone. In this this time they would wave off anyone attempting to help them in favor of of helping those that were worse off than Sage.

Sage touched their fingers to the gash on their face, pain was no stranger to them, but all these wounds had happened at what was supposed to be a PR event. It had been a PR event alright, a terror attack had been unleashed here, and it was fairly obvious who the targets had been. A clenched fist, and a burst of anger later Sage had bleeding knuckles, and anger steeled in their heart. They weren't mad at Cassius or Kodiak, they had reacted in completely understandable ways. They were pissed because of an attack on innocents. Whatever personal vendetta was involved here hadn't stopped the perpetrators from targeting civilians and others here at the Gala. There had been personal stakes in it, but that wasn't all there was, this was a bigger statement than that, and it had cost far to many lives.

Deep down in the back of Sages mind, there was also an inkling that this definitely wouldn't be the end. Something big was coming, attacks of this scale and against VIPs meant that whoever was behind this had something big coming. The question was what. Another burst of anger and the bleeding knuckles were worst, and some splintered wood had found it's way into the open wounds. Sage ignored them for now, that would be for someone else to treat once they were calm enough to let them. Instead Sage stood from their seat, turned their eyes to the sky, and wondered what was next.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Nev Hurn

Surrounded by flames, debris and the like, Nev had only began to wake up from his alcohol induced nap, which was spurred on by the explosions from the bomb trucks of sudden appearence. As his eyes opened, he quickly began to realize his current situation, and the absence of Jenny’s sisters that were with him. Though he was likely to question them later, his main priority was staying alive, as most people in this situation would.

“I am never going to another one of these again...” He said to himself as he groggily got himself up and grabbed his mask from the table which somehow was left standing. However, he was trapped without any actual route to safety, aside from the window that was nearby. Taking the chance, Nev ran towards the window and lept as his arms and legs pulled to him as if he was a ball, and crashed into the glass and to the outside. This was not without some harm though, as a shard of glass imbedded itself into Nev’s cheek. Luckily it wasn’t especially dangerous, but it still hurt as he landed.

[The Empire of Tau]

O O F

Oof, looks like everything would to a shit-hole fast. The Beholder had no plans to stay for anymore longer then he needs to be, especially after the truck-fest. “Call the helicopters in. We’re moving out ASAP,” the Beholder orders over to his radio, walking down the shoreline with a pistol in hand, flanked by bodyguards. Stopping for a second, the strange entity would reach into his vest and pull out a road flare. He pops the cap and lights the flare, setting it on the sand. After an hour, a Kaman HH-43 Huskie came about and hovered over the landing zone. “I’ll see you all in the PR meeting,” the Beholder says, knowing that this whole shit-fest would not go down well for the Syndicate. Pig meanwhile was asleep on the beach. It appeared that the whole truck-going-boom-boom and the school shooter really got him tired after escaping the now-gone-building.

[Union Princes]

Jennifer Jane Doe

"Look out!" Conagher shouted, altering Jenny while he was pushing Spy to get to an exit while the sound of truck horns filled the room. Jenny had some difficulty running through the debris and scattered chairs with her heels but thankfully Kronos made some holes that allowed her to escape. Being one of the last people who managed to exit last minute, Jenny ran out of the building as it erupted into flames behind her.

While she met up with Spy and Conagher, Jenny quickly remembered Nev being dead drunk and was about to run back into inside to retrieve him when the trio heard a window break. Jenny ran towards Nev like a bloodhound giving off cries of worry as she gingerly picked him up and removed the shard of glass out of his cheek. She kissed his wounded cheek before giving him a bear-crushing hug.

"Ahem," Conagher interrupted as he walked over to the couple, his clothes having come tears to it, "I think your sisters are over there waiting for you. You should go meet up with them. Spy and I will call it a night."

While the two boys walked their way back to their rooms, Jenny was stomping her way to talk to her sisters as she dragged Nev along. The girls relieved faces were soon replaced with slight panic as Jenny was staring up a storm that would level the city of New York.

"How can you guys leave Nev behind?" Jenny demanded, shouting like a drill sergeant as she looked at her sisters all lined up.

"I asked Rhona to take Nev with her while I find an exit." Jean protested.

"I told Davina to help me carry him." Rhona blurted out.

"I said Flora and Fiona should be the ones to carry him since they were closer." Davina answered

"We wanted to make sure that Lachina was near us when we exited." the twins explained in unison.

"I didn't know that Nev was still drunk and asleep when we had to leave." Lachina whines.

"I was counting on you, Jenny, to carry him out since you love him so much." Ann mumbles.

And with that ill comment, Jenny struck the left cheeks of her sisters in one fell slap to the face. The seven sisters grew bright red in shame and from the marks of their eldest sister's hand.

"Fucking unbelievable!" Jenny spat out furiously, "We don't leave each other behind and that includes Nev. And you guys will love his presence in the house, understand?"

They all nodded solemnly and apologetically with Jean tearing up from the slap.

"Let's go back to our room." Jenny suggested, her anger calming down as she hug her sisters. "You joining us, Nev?"

[Talchyon]

Outside the burning hotel
Chambi Uro

Chambi, having followed his instructor outside, was a little annoyed to see that he had been the only one. Out of everyone else there who had been told to move, he was the only student to have followed. He tried to calm himself, and tell himself for the thousandth time that he really wasn't an outsider, he really did fit in here with everybody, even though he grew up among a backwards ethnic tribe in the Andean highlands no one had ever heard of. Maybe, those who stayed behind were trying to help the others. It was a noble thought, and hopefully the one that was true, though Chambi secretly wondered about those who looked like they had had too much to drink at the reception.

And then, the building exploded! A plume of black smoke began billowing up through the broken windows and shortly after, through the outside door. Chambi quickly shifted gears from feeling isolated to rushing to help survivors. There might be people still alive there, but might not be able to breathe! He had to do something!

Nev Hurn

Surrounded by flames, debris and the like, Nev had only began to wake up from his alcohol induced nap, which was spurred on by the explosions from the bomb trucks of sudden appearence. As his eyes opened, he quickly began to realize his current situation, and the absence of Jenny’s sisters that were with him. Though he was likely to question them later, his main priority was staying alive, as most people in this situation would.

“I am never going to another one of these again...” He said to himself as he groggily got himself up and grabbed his mask from the table which somehow was left standing. However, he was trapped without any actual route to safety, aside from the window that was nearby. Taking the chance, Nev ran towards the window and lept as his arms and legs pulled to him as if he was a ball, and crashed into the glass and to the outside. This was not without some harm though, as a shard of glass imbedded itself into Nev’s cheek. Luckily it wasn’t especially dangerous, but it still hurt as he landed.

Just then, as some people ran out through the door coughing, Chambi saw an obviously impaired Nev crash through a window. Somehow, that glass had withstood the bullets and the explosions, but it could not withstand Nev. Crashing down on his knees, Nev looked like he could use some assistance. Chambi was on his way, but someone else got there first.

Jennifer Jane Doe

"Look out!" Conagher shouted, altering Jenny while he was pushing Spy to get to an exit while the sound of truck horns filled the room. Jenny had some difficulty running through the debris and scattered chairs with her heels but thankfully Kronos made some holes that allowed her to escape. Being one of the last people who managed to exit last minute, Jenny ran out of the building as it erupted into flames behind her.

While she met up with Spy and Conagher, Jenny quickly remembered Nev being dead drunk and was about to run back into inside to retrieve him when the trio heard a window break. Jenny ran towards Nev like a bloodhound giving off cries of worry as she gingerly picked him up and removed the shard of glass out of his cheek. She kissed his wounded cheek before giving him a bear-crushing hug.

"Ahem," Conagher interrupted as he walked over to the couple, his clothes having come tears to it, "I think your sisters are over there waiting for you. You should go meet up with them. Spy and I will call it a night."

While the two boys walked their way back to their rooms, Jenny was stomping her way to talk to her sisters as she dragged Nev along. The girls relieved faces were soon replaced with slight panic as Jenny was staring up a storm that would level the city of New York.

"How can you guys leave Nev behind?" Jenny demanded, shouting like a drill sergeant as she looked at her sisters all lined up.

"I asked Rhona to take Nev with her while I find an exit." Jean protested.

"I told Davina to help me carry him." Rhona blurted out.

"I said Flora and Fiona should be the ones to carry him since they were closer." Davina answered

"We wanted to make sure that Lachina was near us when we exited." the twins explained in unison.

"I didn't know that Nev was still drunk and asleep when we had to leave." Lachina whines.

"I was counting on you, Jenny, to carry him out since you love him so much." Ann mumbles.

And with that ill comment, Jenny struck the left cheeks of her sisters in one fell slap to the face. The seven sisters grew bright red in shame and from the marks of their eldest sister's hand.

"Fucking unbelievable!" Jenny spat out furiously, "We don't leave each other behind and that includes Nev. And you guys will love his presence in the house, understand?"

They all nodded solemnly and apologetically with Jean tearing up from the slap.

"Let's go back to our room." Jenny suggested, her anger calming down as she hug her sisters. "You joining us, Nev?"

Seeing that Nev was being cared for, Chambi put his less than fancy suitcoat over his head and loosened his brand store tie, putting his nose and mouth under his t-shirt and button-up. Then he rushed back into the burning hotel's dining room, seeing if there was anyone that needed assistance. The black smoke and the heat in the room stung his eyes, but he was able to see just enough that there were people left. One, a lady lying down on the ground, and another, a coughing man. Chambi went over, put the man's shirts up over his nose and mouth just like Chambi had done for himself. The man, stunned, took the help without any sign he had noticed. Chambi urged the man to his feet. Then, he checked the pulse of the woman. It was there - weak, but still there. Chambi picked her up in his arms, and nudged the coughing man forward through the burning room.

The fires were spreading. Though the hotel sprinkler systems had been going for a while now since the first blast, the new explosions brought more life to the flames. The walls were charring black, and the thick heavy smoke was filling the room. Chambi urged the dazed man out the door and brought the woman right behind him. They made their way a good distance away, and Chambi called for medical help. Someone - Chambi barely had time to register who - rushed over and began taking care of the woman, while the coughing man was coming to his senses and was getting better each moment.

There had been no one else in the hotel dining room except some bodies. The hotel staff seemed to be keeping the fires from spreading through the rest of the hotel, but the smoke damage was going to cost them eventually. Not knowing what else to do, Chambi put his suit coat over his head, his shirts over his nose and mouth, and went in to bring the bodies of the lifeless. Their families might want their remains, to honor their dead. He made several trips and brought out at least three of the fallen, before it became too unbearable for him. Chambi sat down outside on the grass, a safe distance away, and breathed hard. He thought he had gotten everyone. Hadn't he?

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Nev Hurn

“It wasn’t all thier fault.” Nev replied, his voice quiet yet clear, as if he had become sober all of a sudden, which was odd considering that he was passed out drunk a minute earlier.

“I shouldn’t have drank that beer. If I was sober, I might’ve been actually useful in whatever happened and not end up worrying you. So, if you had to punish them, then punish me as well. I was the one worrying you after all.” Nev continued, lowering his head.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Imogen Vaughan and JJ Triggs
Kent, UK

Kane Davidson, Head Hunter
Kane stood up and looked out the window to see a rural landscape "Awwww mateeee we're in England. Great, means we can get a proper pint" Kane started to feel dizzy and slid down to the ground by the window, looking at Imogen as he sat up "Imogen if I die, bury me with my money" Kane mumbled towards the girl bleeding out across from him "I want some fuckin chips..." Kane finally let out before his eyelids started to feel heavy. Maybe he'd take a short nap before the ambulance arrived.

"You're not allowed to die... not after I went to all the effort of teleporting you out of there, it would just be rude. If you do die though, I'm taking your money: not like you'll need it on the other side." Imogen retorted. Her voice sounded thicker than usual, slightly slurred. She just needed to stay awake and alive. So did Kane. She wasn't having him die on her bedroom floor. She dragged herself the couple of feet across the floor to where he was, then lashed out, slapping him across the cheek. It would definitely sting... Imogen could hit surprisingly hard for her size, "Stay with me! And if I look like sleeping, you slap me right back."

As it happened, there was only a five minute wait for an ambulance. They were quite close to Ashford and JJ hadn't mucked around in calling it. She reappeared, "Okay, ambulance is inbound. Where are we Immy? It doesn't look like anyone is home."

"Can you leave a note for my mother explaining why there is blood on the floor?" Immy asked, "Then don't forget to call into Santa Marina to tell them we're in Ashford, Kent... unless we get taken to another hospital. Also, keep an eye out for anything odd that might mean we're accidentally gone to some other world that looks a bit like ours. I drew that portal quite quickly."

"We're at your parents' house!" JJ seemed to find that quite amusing. She ignored the bit about other worlds, "Of all the places on the planet you could have taken us and you decided to come back to your parents' house.... but yeah, I'll sort that out."

It was probably quite important to let the Syndicate know where they were.

[Forest State]

Interlude One: End of an Era

The docks of Santa Marina weren’t a place where many celebrities walked around at night. And yet, that was where Candace Marin and Vivian Shaw were right now, just like old times. They walked near the harbor, watching the waves crash against the barriers in the far distance. Vivian had a fever but she told Candace not to worry about it, not saying the full truth about how it was all part of an experimental procedure to give her immunity to the Nova parasite. According to her, it was just an ordinary fever that had come from a common cold gone bad. Eventually, the two of them settled into one spot, taking turns tossing rocks into the ocean.

“I know I messed up,” Candace said, throwing a rock and then pausing and leaning on the railing. “I’ve been tricked by a lot of people, so I should have been able to spot that she had her own interests in mind. But sometimes, when you’ve been tricked so many times, you want to see the good in people and you don’t want to believe it’s going to happen again. You want to think that it’s just paranoia-”

“I warned you about her, it’s not like it was only your paranoia talking. If there’s one thing I am, it’s a good judge of character. I’ve hung around devils and I’ve hung around saints. I know the difference between the two,” Viv replied, tossing a rock of her own. It landed slightly further than the last one Candace had thrown. “I might not know which one I am. But I can tell which one other people are.”

“Right. I was blinded by having someone that could understand me and I pushed you away because of that. Felt that you couldn’t get me enough because you aren’t in my head-”

“But I’m still the one that’s always been there for you. For anything you’ve ever needed. When have I said no to you, Candace? You can’t even remember the last time. I might not be in your head, but I’m loyal. I always thought you valued me because I’d stick with you no matter what shit you go through. She probably won’t. Or wouldn’t have, rather. I don’t get why you would want someone in your head when their love for you isn’t true.”

Candace sighed, closing her eyes. “Because I’m a fucking idiot that let myself get tricked by someone again. I don’t know what to say. I was a stupid idiot and I hope you’ll forgive me and let things to back to the way they were.”

Viv tsked. “I’m not the one that brought things to the point that they’re at now. You’re the one that never showed up anymore when I asked if we could play games. The one that rushed through talking to me every day because you were trying to get to Gabriella before class. I would text you with things and you would reply hours later with some half assed response, instead of actually taking the time to talk like you did before. You would tell me that we’d hang out in five minutes and you’d show up in an hour. This is your doing, Candace. Not mine. Why should I be the one to let things go back to how they were when I’m not the one that messed it up?”

She lit a joint and put it to her lips as Candace watched her, silent. “I told you face to face what a mistake you were making, back when you said you and Gabriella were a thing. Tried to keep you off this path. You just ended up in a shouting match with me and told me to fuck off. To fuck off with what I had been telling you for the past six months. Now you want to listen? Why should I even care? As soon as something else comes along, how do I know you aren’t just going to tell me to fuck off again because apparently my advice doesn’t matter?”

“I didn’t tell you to fuck off-”

“Yeah, you didn’t. You told me to leave your room if I was just there to bitch. Same difference.”

“Well, I was frustrated because I was in love and you weren’t accepting it-”

Viv took a drag from her joint and frowned. “I think I had the right to be frustrated too, considering my lifelong best friend was suddenly ready to cut me off over falling in love with someone that they’ve only known for six or seven months. You weren’t exactly ready to give me the benefit of the doubt, were you? You would rather give that to someone that’s never been with you at your lowest, that wasn’t there with you growing up and who wasn’t at your hospital bed all night after you overdosed. Your parents weren’t there. Your siblings weren’t there. I was the one that was. Apparently that doesn’t win me many points with you-”

Candace held up a hand to silence her. “I know I did wrong, okay? Again, as I’ve said, I was blinded. I made mistakes, you know? People tend to do that. I might have powers, doesn’t make me perfect. I wasn’t willing to throw away the love I had for someone just because… Just because one person warned me. And you ended up being right, but we both already know this, and I’m just asking you to forgive me.”

There was a long silence as the two stared at the crashing of the waves, with no other soul around at this hour to listen to their conversation. “I’m sorry, Candy. I can’t just let things go back to the way they were. Can’t trust you enough for that. This is all because of what you did, and now you have to live with it. Maybe you’ll finally know how it felt when you did the things that you did. I wish you the best… But I won’t be around for it.”

Candace started to speak up, but by now, Vivian was turning and leaving, walking back in the direction of the city. There really wasn’t much she could say, after that. No words could rebuild the trust that she had thrown away, and she knew that Vivian was right on this one. She was the one that had messed things up, and she would have to live with the outcome. She didn’t like it, but as Vivian said, it was only fair. This, after all, wasn’t that far from what Candace had done to her.

---

Vivian had been close to death a few times by now. There had been times when she felt like she was leaving her body, other times when she had double vision and couldn’t see straight through the aches. The pain varied, between being intense and feeling more constant but not as strong, like a throbbing that wouldn’t go away. None of it felt good, and she lost track of time as she laid on her back and sweated out most of her fluids on the hospital bed. Well, they weren’t in a hospital but in one of the old rooms at Syndicate HQ, which had been deactivated and blocked off from the rest of the building before it would be renovated later in the summer. Now, however, it was being used for the makeshift procedure that she was undergoing.

The door opened, but she couldn’t move much to see the source of the sound. Someone stepped inside, and there were footsteps approaching her. The person that had entered the room stood over her. Beatriz Ortega, otherwise known as Machina. She could hardly see straight but she could recognize that much, picking out the scars on Ortega’s face and the mechanical arm that stood out because of how Ortega made no effort to hide the metal it was forged from. She had never cared about making it look natural. “You’re on the brink of death because the one handling this procedure doesn’t know enough about biology. I’m here to take it over from here,” stated Ortega, removing the IV from Vivian’s arm. “Are you strong enough to walk?”

“I don’t really think so, no,” Vivian managed to say despite her condition, squinting to see Ortega clearer as she stood next to the bed. She tried to get up but she could hardly find the strength to do that, until Ortega finally moved to pick her up. She was probably going to bring her back to one of her labs, since her knowledge of science often intersected with the realm of medicine. And Ortega had claimed to know more about biology than Troy Covaco, the one that had been managing the procedure before. Covaco was also the one that allowed her to get to this point, convinced that it would increase the effects of the toxins and build her immunity at a more reliable rate.

Instead, she carried Vivian towards the hangar, passing through the smaller doors that led to the catwalks stretching around the edges of the larger room. They went down a stairway, and Ortega approached one of the guards on the ground level of the hangar. “I have a sick Cadet here, the result of a power related procedure going wrong. It was being administered by Troy Covaco, off of the official record at the request of the student. However, her condition has deteriorated and I need to take her back to my company’s building in Miami to cure the… Ill effects of the attempted procedure.”

“We can have a plane ready in the next ten minutes,” said the guard, picking up his radio and directing Ortega and Vivian to the transport that was in the middle of the hangar. A pilot would come later, to take them some ways southwards to Miami. Ortega wasn’t even lying when she said she needed to take Vivian to her office there to reverse the ill effects, but she didn’t exactly explain the offer that she intended to make. The offer, of course, was based on the information she had gotten from Vivian’s mother, after Ionie explained the situation and asked her to ensure that her daughter didn’t die.

“So, Vivian,” started Ortega, looking down at the girl that she was still holding. She felt that if she placed Vivian on the bench, she would simply slump over onto the ground. She was that weak right now. “Why is it that you wanted the Nova parasite embedded into you in the first place? I’m sure you were already aware that the process is… Risky, and that the parasite itself is not easy to find. Typically, it’s an option for the desperate,” she said, even though she already knew the answers. “And you never struck me as the desperate type.”

“It wasn’t my idea. It was my mother’s idea, because I told her that I didn’t want to be a part of the Syndicate anymore.” Viv managed to talk, but her words were raspy and strained. “She said I wasn’t strong enough to survive going solo, that she would be worried about me. All I can do is heal, after all, and I never really learned fighting. I used to hate it. Now, I just don’t really care. But she told me that she would find a way to make me stronger. So I could leave the Syndicate and do my own thing, away from there, without worrying about getting killed because I’m not tough enough to survive the metahuman underworld.”

“Underworld, you say?”

“It’s impossible not to run into it. Even if you’re a hero, you’ll eventually get in trouble with villains and people that don’t want the best for you-”

Ortega shushed her. “Believe me, I already know. But tell me, Vivian. Why do you want to leave the Syndicate and do your own thing? As my favorite student, I’ve had my eyes on you. I know that you used to be happy to represent this organization and your team. Now, you say you want to survive the underworld alone. What exactly changed? Is it the subject that you came to me for advice about? Candace?”

Vivian just sighed. “I’m never trusting someone again. She took my feelings and crushed them, and I guess I don’t see a reason to stay around anymore. I didn’t really care about being some big shot Syndicate hero. I cared about being Candace’s teammate and she replaced me. Even now that she says I was right, that she got burned by someone and I saw it coming from miles away, I can’t trust her. I just want to get away from it all. Don’t want to be around her. Not around the Syndicate. I need to find myself, and I need to go alone-”

“Are you sure you need to go alone? Because I have an offer for you. I can complete the procedure, give you your new powers, and let you loose into the world. You would have no guidance or direction, and considering you’ve never even lived on your own before, I doubt you would have very much success. You can’t find yourself if you’re busy trying not to starve to death, as a homeless person on the streets. Or you turn to petty crime, and the Syndicate comes after you because your’re a metahuman and metahuman crime isn’t something that gets ignored,” Ortega said, before pausing to give the scenario some time to sink into Vivian’s mind. “On the other hand, you can join the group of people that I know. You’ll have a fair reward for your services and your individual needs will be taken care of. Much unlike the Syndicate. This is a group of people that will listen to you, that will put you on a team that fits you and your experiences and won’t just expect blind loyalty because they think you should be thankful to even be there. Which of course, the Syndicate is guilty of. I know, because I’m on the Council of Ten.”

“It’s easy for people to say they care. Most people don’t really mean it, though. At least, they don’t really care about someone like me-”

“You know, I felt the same way. My methods aren’t always popular with the Council of Ten, you know. Pragmatism isn’t befitting for a hero, even if it’s the most effective way to deal with the things that threaten the world. And my loyalties have always been towards the world rather than the Syndicate. I work with defense companies and not just the Syndicate engineers because it does more to protect the world rather than just give the Syndicate exclusive technology. It’s also why I have my own company still, even after joining the Syndicate. The other Council members don’t all appreciate that, but my other group of friends, they understand. They’re perfectly happy with letting me have a life outside of the Syndicate and they realize that I can help them more with their goals if they let me have one. I don’t even spend most of my time with them, obviously, and they treat me just the same-”

The doors slid open and the pilot entered the vehicle, greeting Ortega and Vivian before heading to the front of the VTOL and starting the process of powering the thing up and typing in the coordinates for Miami. Ortega ended her speech there, but she gave a smile to Vivian. “Just think about it. You’ll have a chance to get some more details once we’re at my lab and you’re feeling better.”

---

Days after being taken to Miami, Vivian found herself sitting on the edge of a bed, tracing her finger along the stitches of the insertion site. The parasites had went into her abdomen, and now she had entered the next phase of pain. The one that would come with her body changing in reaction to their poisonous secretions, to which she was already immune to. Her bones would be pushed by her muscles that would grow denser and expand, and she would feel a new kind of hunger as her metabolism picked up. Some other things would improve in more subtle ways, too, such as her eyesight. As she was sitting on the bed, the doors to the room opened and Machina entered with a group of others.

The first two people behind her were twins with black hair and contrasting red outfits, the style of clothing making it clear that they were either heroes or villains rather than normal civilians. Then, there was a young man dressed in sparkling silver that had shaggy brown hair that went down to about his shoulders, and a confidence to his walk that Vivian hadn’t seen in a good while. Additionally, he had a red cape that almost went to the floor, adding to his… Dramatic look and posture. Then there was the member of the group that Vivian recognized, dressed in black leather but not hiding her glowing green eyes. Lillian Harel, otherwise known as Alpha. As far as Viv knew, Alpha was the leader of the Riot and one of the more wanted villains around the world.

“Vivian, I have some people to introduce you to,” said Ortega, gesturing to the group. “First, we have the Reinholt twins, Lena and Rohan. Experts in magic, of the black kind. If you ever need help with something, there’s a chance that they have some kind of spell that can help you with it. Don’t be alarmed by them finishing each other’s sentences. It’s a side effect of the mental link that they have. They can get you in and out of a pinch quickly, too. Behind them, you’ll see Case Hier. Otherwise known as Argentum. Counterintelligence expert and the brain of the team. The most down to earth person I’ve met that can still devise a hundred different plans to take over the world within a few hours.”
Ortega then turned to Lillian. “And this, of course, is Lillian Harel, formerly known as Alpha. Yes, she was the former leader of the Riot. Now, she’s the leader of the New Riot. She’s split from her old team and we’re currently building up a new team around her, because she’s one of the more… Useful elements of our organization. Tread carefully around her, however, because she lost her girlfriend at the hands of your allies when they fought in Colombia-”

“Liu wasn’t my girlfriend,” snapped Lillian, a bit on edge. “That’s just some bullshit theory that Overlord is convinced of.”

“Right, right. Anyway, Lillian, this is Vivian Shaw-”

“Ionie’s girl. The hell is she doing here? You said you had a new member for us-”

Ortega held up a hand. “If you listen, I’ll explain. Miss Shaw is quite dissatisfied with the Syndicate, and was planning on leaving. Instead of letting her go out onto the street by herself, I decided that she would be a good addition for this team. Naturally, she possesses the ability of healing, but she recently underwent a modified version of the procedure to implant the Nova parasite. As a result, she’ll be quite the battle medic for you all. I’m already preparing a combat uniform for her. In the meantime, Vivian, meet Lillian. Your team leader.”

Lillian stepped forward and extended her hand to Vivian, who took it. “Step out of line and I will break you, kid. Don’t think that I’ve forgotten that your mother is the one that killed Liu. Butchered her body, too- Wait a second.Where the fuck did she get the parasites from, Machina? It makes perfect sense. Liu fights Ionie and Ionie kills her. Liu’s body is found cut open, with all of her parasites removed. Ionie’s daughter is implanted with parasites weeks later, despite them being a hard to find commodity on the market. You think I appreciate it that you have part of my friend inside you, Vivian?”

“Tougher people have tried before,” Vivian growled, standing to her full height and bumping chests with Lillian, despite her weak state. She wasn’t done recovering from the procedure, but that didn’t mean she was going to take shit from the person that was supposed to be her new leader. “Try it and see how far you get. We can go right here and now, if you feel like it.”

“Nice try, but fighting my own battles isn’t my style. Doesn’t mean I won’t carry out my words,” Lillian stated, turning to Ortega. “If she really is our newest member, I trust you to get her prepared and ready for combat. I’m not dealing with deadweight on my team, whether Overlord thinks it’s a good edition or not. I’ll be heading back to my quarters if that’s the only thing that you have to show us.”

[Forest State]

Interlude Two: Death and Peace

The large beast of a plane shouldn’t have been able to fly at all. The propulsion system was state of the arc, all new, and designed in house by the Legends and their brightest minds just to get it off the ground and prevent it from crashing back down to Earth. Somehow, despite the struggles in getting the thing developed and assembled over the past year, and getting the technology that was needed for it ready, the thing had been completed. And it was in the air, cruising through the stratosphere at a decent pace as they looked down on the clouds themselves. The passengers of the plane were firmly above those clouds, making it oddly… Peaceful.

There was hardly any noise on the bridge, as the engines were designed to run quietly and without leaving a trace in the air behind, whether that was through a trail or through heat. The computers and equipment at the front of the plan were state of the art, too, operating silently and the only sounds coming from the people that tapped at screens at sometimes adjusted levers or handles to keep the plane running at top efficiency. But for the most part, things were controlled by the central computer system, which ran on the same technology that the Syndicate used for their own artificial intelligence back at the base in Santa Marina.

Cercei Hara liked the peace.

She had never been one for chaos, one for the wildness and destruction that came with being a villian. That was a means to an end, not the means. Even if some of her subordinates believed that it was. Well, a number of them embraced chaos, really. The Horsemen, the New Riot, the original Riot before them. Her own daughter definitely had a strong appetite for it. But Cercei was all about control, and in a way, this plane was the manifestation of that. Every aspect of the flight was controlled, everything was accounted for and nothing was working out of order. They could have completed it earlier, but she chose to make it perfect instead of having it rushed out ahead of schedule.

Her peace was disturbed when the doors slid open and she turned around to see who was entering the bridge, flanked by guards on both sides. Beatriz Ortega, someone that wasn’t as chaotic as the others but who had a tendency to throw wrenches into her plans. She was a wild card, someone that they needed desperately but they couldn’t trust. She had enough disloyalty to play both sides at the same time, but without her, this thing wouldn’t be in the air. And so they tolerated her, and rewarded her fairly for her work to keep her from going off and giving her all to the other side again after feeling slighted.

“You can’t hide forever, bitch,” Ortega said, moving closer to the front of the bridge while the guards trailed her at a close pace, not doing anything about her sudden burst of erratic behavior. If anything, they were walking in lockstep with her, seeming completely comfortable with her. “I held up my end of the deal. This thing is in the air ahead of schedule and under budget, and that’s because of the work that I’ve put into this project of yours. Your wacky idea? It never would have come to life if it wasn’t for all the time I spent making sure it flies without crashing. And I believe this is crucial to your larger plans, and I guess that makes me crucial to your larger plans too, since I’m the one that understands how to keep this thing running in this condition.”

Ortega paused, the guards standing still as she continued to move forward until she was standing behind Cecrei in the middle of the bridge, while the others mostly turned and watched or kept working their duties near the front and sides of the oval shaped room. “You hate to admit that you need anyone else because that would mean that you don’t have as much control as you would like, but you know deep down that you need me like most people need to breathe. Which would make it a bad idea on your part to shaft me here and not give you what you said you would give me in the partition if I did the goddamn work.”

Cercei didn’t turn around or respond, and Ortega placed her mechanical hand on her shoulder and moved it up until the cold metal was touching skin, particularly underneath Cecrei’s chin. “You have a lot of enemies, from the Syndicate to your own organization at times, to your rivals to the east and west in the other branch of the Legends, and the authorities that would oh so love to imprison you and try you for your crimes against humanity in Egypt, North Africa, and Barcelona, among other places. And I’m sure you’ll manage them and fend off their attempts on your life and your liberty. But me? It’s a good thing I’m forgiving, because you and me both know that I’m not the person you want as an enemy of yours. I’m not the person that you can afford to make an enemy out of. It would break you. It would break this movement. Would give motivation for someone else to launch a coup against you. So instead of going through all that, just give me what you already promised.”

Cercei finally spoke, turning around to stand face to face with Ortega. “You’ve already taken a lot, in terms of population, you’ve taken more than anyone else. India. Burma. Malaysia. So excuse me if I don’t put too many of my eggs in one basket by adding an entire continent into the mix on top of everything that you already have. No one person can even manage that much. The reason why the Legends originally began the practice of dividing territory is that having one world ruler is inefficient and doesn’t work in real life. Smaller pieces of territory means that you can effectively manage each one rather than being able to pay attention to none of them-”

Ortega put her metal hand around Cercei’s neck, squeezing somewhat tightly. “You promised me Africa,” she growled, pushing Cercei back until they were at the front window. With the clouds in view behind them, it made for quite the dramatic scene. “And unless you want to do exactly what I warned you about and make an enemy out of me, you’re going to deliver on that promise and update the partition. Giving me three territories there is not the same thing as giving me Africa, and the fact that you seem to think it’s the same thing is insulting. I don’t care about having the most power, like some of the others. I want the land that actually needs me, that I can actually do something with. Tell me someone else who actually cares about their territory in the way that I do. You won’t find anyone like that.”

“Guards,” said Cercei, backing up further into the wall as Ortega used the enhanced strength of her metal arm to lift her up slightly. She made a gesture, but nothing happened. Gestured harder, and they just stood there like they were statues, or like they couldn’t even see what was happening. “Guards…” she repeated, louder. Nobody, either the guards of the crew of the bomber, moved.

“It’s not going to work. Their checks are coming out of my pockets and not yours. I’ve been the one putting food on their tables while you’ve focused on your other projects such as the payload for this plane that we’re standing in right now. So I don’t think it’s very surprising that they’re loyal to me rather than you. If it was you handling all of this, you would have had to make cuts to their jobs, after all,” replied Ortega. “So I say it again. Don’t make an enemy out of someone that you can’t beat. Give me what you promised, and I’ll back down and keep working with you.”

“Fine,” Cercei said, without much doubt. She didn’t fold on things often, but she also knew not to fight a battle that she couldn’t win. And both she and Machina knew that she wasn’t going to win, and that fighting here would benefit neither of them in the short term or the long term. It was better to give away more than she should, then it was to send both of their plans up in flames because she didn’t go along with these demands. That didn’t mean that she was happy about the outcome, though, or that Machina was particularly happy about it either. There would be more clashes between them in the future, but for now, both sides were putting down their proverbial weapons after a display of sabre rattling.

---

It was just as peaceful as it had been earlier, once the bomber reached the skies over France. Paris, particularly. There were truly no borders up here, too high for another plane to run into them and too well hidden for radar to pick them up. Even if Cercei didn’t like Machina’s power play, she couldn’t deny her talent and her commitment to innovation. It was that commitment that had made Cercei approach Machina in the first place, knowing of her talents after hearing about them from other sources both within the Syndicate and outside of it. Now, they were reaching the culmination of their partnership, as they neared their first target while the world slept. At least, this part of the world was sleeping as the bomber made its flight, cruising silently.

All of them, Cercei and Overlord and Ortega, were in the room as the computer console at the front of the bridge showed them how close they were to the spot where they would drop the first warhead. “And now comes the time when I will punish the father for the sin of the daughter,” Overlord said cryptically, walking closer to the front window and staring at the clouds below. Of course, they couldn’t see anything other than those clouds from this height in the stratosphere, but it was a good view nonetheless and the computer in front of Overlord said that they were right above Paris.

“I could care less about that. The only thing I care about is change. If this is what it takes to bring the first world down a notch and user in a new era, so be it,” Ortega said, still standing next to Cercei with her arms folded over her chest, watching the clouds from a further distance. On the ground, most people were sleeping right now. Some were out enjoying the city at night, however, partying or heading to tourist spots to get a different view of them.The lights of the Eiffel Tower could be seen in the distance for many, and many of the city’s other old monuments were lit up similarly. All of it meant there were plenty of people on the streets right now.

Seconds later, they were no longer there.

The people that were within the actual blast range would be vaporized without even knowing what had happened to them. This wasn’t a missile attack, but an unguided bomb. There were no warnings or alarms telling people to get into underground shelters or to take cover in their homes. France wasn’t a country at war, and the entire event… Was a black swan. Something that the people on the ground just never prepared for because it was the last thing that anyone imagined would happen. Metahumans could cause trouble spontaneously, but never on a scale like this. Never resulting in this many deaths within a few seconds. This was the stuff of legends, the stuff that TV shows were made about, not the kind of thing that really happened.

But it was happening, and others were blinded by the bright flash of the explosion. They would die too, they just hadn’t been vaporized instantly like the others. The bomber continued flying peacefully, as all of this happened, passing over the city center that had just been obliterated by the first bomb. The streets would be as chaotic as they had maybe ever been in the history of the city, with car wrecks happening in the area around the explosion. The area that wasn’t directly affected and destroyed by it, that is. In other areas, people stepped outside after hearing the blast or seeing the panicked online updates coming from the city. They would be met by radioactive ash, raining down lightly like snow on the first real day of winter.

For those that had survived, it was a surreal scene mixed with the sound of shouting and chaos in the distance, and car horns sounding incessantly as traffic stopped. The city of Paris stood still. At the same time, it was in complete chaos. And above the clouds, the people that had carried out one of the most destructive acts of all time were too far up to even see the effects of it, as they continued on towards the second city that they intended to hit, Lyon. Paris was the political and cultural capital, but it wouldn’t be enough to just strike Paris. Three of the largest cities in France would go down, and then they would move into North Africa as their mercenary forces took advantage of the global chaos to aid their metaumans in establishing control.

The new world order had arrived and their attacks wouldn’t just stop in France, but would continue all on the same night in the span of hours, to Algiers, Tripoli, Cairo, and Tehran. The first three were the capitals of nations that were notoriously anti-metahuman, and it was believed by the Legends that they had it coming and that the metahuman populations there would be prime candidates to hold the “liberated” territory. The ones that survived the blasts would, anyway. The latter was a regional seat of power and the destruction of much of the city would further destabilize the region. It had also been picked out for somewhat personal reasons, yet another favor from Cercei to Ortega. “By the time we step off of this plane,” said Cecrei, looking to her allies around the bridge. “We will be in a new world.”

---

By the time the attacks in France happened, the New Riot had already been on their way to the nation. So were the Horsemen, on a separate flight, and they had been told that they would meet the new replacement member for their team there. How Overlord had talked the Horsemen into remaining in a partnership even after the death of Famine, few people knew. While the New Riot headed in from the north, there was another group of metahumans coming in from the east, remnants of the Tribe. Otherwise known as the feared group that seeked only riches and power rather than an ideological goal, terrorizing countries around the world for years as the number one most wanted villain group before being split up by Syndicate informants turning its members against each other.

Not all of them were out of the game, though, and they were one of the three groups that was heading independently towards France without any knowledge of the other two. The flights had all been paid for by Overlord, but the actual details hadn’t been explained, and the only thing they knew was that they were going to find work here. The Tribe was accompanied by the Eye, the infamous information broker that only left his Turkmenistan bunker when there was something worth pursuing outside of it. If he was here, it meant there was a chance for the Tribe to make big gains. And the Eye, he had gotten his information not from his ability, but from the whisperings of a blonde girl with a white painted face that simply called herself Ibis. Her true name was a secret that was kept closely guarded.

“Death and destruction await on the ground in France, and everyone will scramble for power. We will be one of the ones in the scramble,” she told the Eye, who simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and used his power to see if he could find out anything about what she was talking about. But it was fruitless. Because when she had given the warning, nothing had yet happened to France, and it was just a regular day in Paris. When the news finally came in, the Eye wasn’t amazed by it. No, this just fit the words that Ibis had given him, and if there was one thing that Ibis had learned over the years, it was that Ibis didn’t get things wrong.

“Ibis, what are the chances that we end up in sole possession of this territory when everything's said and done?” the Eye asked, posing a question that was maybe too broad for her. He watched as she put a hand to her head, her irises glowing slightly as she used her power. And then she closed her eyes, strained by the task, before opening them again.

“I don’t know. It’s unclear.”

“Let me rephrase. Will the Tribe, rather than the Syndicate, the government, or any other factions that may or may not be in the area, gain control of the territory of France.”

Ibis paused before answering. “It’s quite possible.”

---

Interlude Three: Hell Day

(Written with Tau, Union Princes, Novia, Durmatagno, Lunas, and TCaDS)

An away trip to the area outside of Monroeville, Alabama, wasn't what anyone in the Futures Program had asked for. But it was what they were going to get, as a select group of select Cadets were brought in for preparations surrounding the battle in France. It wasn't that the Syndicate wanted to send them into the line of fire, but they didn't have many options when the situation was continuing to get worse and their teams were either already deployed to the area or were busy holding down the fort in their own areas to prevent the crime increases that would come with living. And that left the Cadets. But if they were sending Cadets into danger, the least they could do was put them through a week of some of the tougher Syndicate training programs to ensure they had the best chance of coming back alive.

As the buses carrying the Cadets pulled into the complex, they were led into a garage of sorts where there were similar vehicles. Not designed for comfort, or appeal. They were painted in simple grey, ran quite noisily on diesel, and the interiors only had metal benches rather than more comfortable individual seating. The Cadets hadn't been told a ton about the place on the ride over, either. Their first real introduction would be when they stepped off the buses after being waved down by the guards in the garage. When they were assembled in that building, which smelled of leaking oil and had a somewhat dirty concrete floor, they were approached by the lead figure in the formation of guards.

"My name is Stathis Giannopoulos. But because it's easier, the vast majority of people refer to me as either Captain or Sir. As the leader of Special Operations Team Two, I will be part of your training to bring you up to the standard that we're expecting in France. I expect you to work your hardest, but not because I'm telling you to. Slack off, and you may find yourself in the field with a skill that you need but didn't have in crunch time," the officer said, before gesturing towards the door at the edge of the room. "You will begin by heading down the hallway beyond that door and turning right. You'll see signs telling you which room the locker room is. There, you'll find your training outfits. I expect to see all of you changed and prepared in ten minutes, sharp."

Although Pig knew that this was a temporary placement into the Special Operations Team Two, because of the news that he would later be transferred into the United States Army 75th Ranger Battalion, Pig would be happy to at least have some fun with his training. This reminded Pig of his old Cuban military training in the Cuban State Security Service without all the brutality and harshness that he had to endure back in his service. Following directions, the big man that is Pig heads down the hallway, turning to a left. Now in the locker room, he opens up a locker, taking out his outfit, he puts ‘em on without much issue, etc, etc.

"Sir, yes sir!" saluted Jenny joyfully before making a mad dash to the locker room. After ditching her usual attire, Jenny don the training uniform with a giant smile on her face. This was the first time she would be training with methods not used by her grandpa and Jenny wonders what she will be learning under Stathis's guidance.

Nev remained silent as he made his way over, unsure of the reason why he and the others have been assigned to this, but remained indifferent despite that. He was, however, unsettled by the fact that the locker room was apparently co-ed, which was made obvious despite his mask and attempt at emotional ambiguity.

Sofia scrunched up her face and looked at everyone before looking back at Stathis, keeping the same scrunched up and somewhat angered expression "perra qué? No llevo ningún uniforme de culo apestado!" Sofia flicked her fingers as she yelled at the Captain in her native tongue "Ugh. Fine I'll wear your bruto uniform" Sofia pushed her way through the crowd heading towards the locker room before grabbing one of the uniforms. An pair of MTP pattern combat fatigues and a pair of sandy coloured combat boots "What the fuck is this crap?" Sofia questioned loudly as she took her sneakers and tight jeans off to slide her new fatigues on. She didn't need to take her white cropped tank top off thankfully. She simply zipped the fatigues up and aggressively shoved her boots on, tying the laces with a sour face on the entire time. It felt baggier than the tighter and more form fitting clothing she was used to wearing.

"No sirve de nada discutir, solo hazlo." Sage said before going to the locker room herself. Sage was fast, and efficient at changing her clothes, finishing it off by tying her (currently) long, black hair into a ponytail. Sage ignored the others as she changed, and then popped a wad of gum into her mouth, emptying her old outfits pockets of it's various hidden caches of candy, and stashing them once again in the new uniform. With a yawn, Sage left the locker room to wait for whatever was next.

"We need to wear these for training." Jenny remarked as she hang out with the girls. "I don't see why we need to wears these since we have our own uniforms but them's the rules."

"Because training is different than field work, most people don't train in the exact same things they use in the field, usually similar though. Mmm, I should probably have gone with shorter hair..."

"At least you can change your hair without cutting it." One of the Gabriellas snorted loudly. She didn't want to be here. The buildings were dank and disgusting; the clothes she was wearing now probably cost more than them. "Mine's going to be ruined after this." She added, placing her clothes away in a locker as one of her other bodies, already dressed, handed her a set of military fatigues and combat boots.

The three of her were quickly dressed in military, hair in hastily done ponytails and scowls on their faces. Stupid conditioning training.

“Sucks for you all, I don’t have any hair yet.” Nev rebuked, already getting his own fatigues and replacing his clothing with it with haste. He wasnt too fond of being undressed among women, so he had his fatigues and boots on quickly.

“Its a bit baggy, but it is pretty comfy.” Nev said , putting his mask into a space in his fatigues just in case.

"Awwwww, don't be sad, Nev." Jenny laughs as she walked over to Nev to give him a hug. "Your hair will grow back, I'm sure of it."

“At least I’m safe if they plan on buzzing our heads.” Nev said jokingly as he gave a smirk of a smile.

Jenny grab hold of Nev and gave him a comforting hug. "In all seriousness, I hope your hair grows back."

“So do I. Though for now I’m just stuck with the dome of a head.”

Sofia looked at Sage with a disgruntled expression plastered on her face "Hoe you got something to say?!" Sofia yelled towards Sage feeling defensive towards Sage's otherwise innocent comment "Pick your battles better next time mami or I'll freeze those little A cups right off your chest puta!" Sofia put a hand on her hip before throwing her jeans and sneakers in the locker and slamming it shut with great force, making a loud metallic clank as she stormed out of the locker room muttering to herself in Spanish.

"Oh she's going to be a joy to work with..." said Sage.

"She'll keep the instructors focused on her." One of the Gabriellas said, with a small shrug. "More attention on her, less for us, we can slack off more. It's win-win really."

"Slack off on the battlefield? That's not how we win wars or triumph over our enemies. I just hope she uses her anger as a weapon direct at them rather than us." Jenny chimed in, offering her two cents as she continued to hug Nev.

"I just hope I don't have to be in a squad with her, that kind of of crap can cause problems on the battlefield," replied Sage.

"She's almost like Nev except more aggressive and full of fury." Jenny joked.

The sound of an alarm rang out to signal that the time for changing had finished, and another group of guards arrived to lead the Cadets through a winding series of hallways and into the main complex. The entire place had been recently renovated, but was in the same state as the locker room: not that great. Candace could only guess that it was designed to be like a real battlefield, as in a place that would make them uncomfortable to be in. The real world wouldn't have nice amenities in the middle of a war, after all. They were taken into a room that was about two hundred meters long, and fifty meters wide. When they reached the place, they were greeted by Stathis.

"This is the warmup drill," said Stathis, gesturing to how the floor of the room alternated between sand traps, pools of water, and synthetic grass. "I want each one of you to sprint to the other end of the building, touch the wall, and sprint back. There is no time limit, but this must be completed five times by each and every one of you, to test you conditioning and prepare you for the next exercises. And if I see one of you slacking off, or if anyone else on the staff does, there will be consequences. Now, begin! Don't let me catch any of you hanging around and not running!"

Sage spends a quick moment to stretch before setting off on the course. Sage didn't push herself to full speed, though she was definitely running, instead she saved that extra energy, and used the lower speed so that she could navigate the water and sand with greater ease. This was a great warmup, Sage hadn't had a chance to push herself like this for a couple of months, and had honestly started growing restless. This wasn't going to be to hard for Sage, while most of their limits were still human, high human, they were human nonetheless. The same couldn't be said of her stamina, Sage didn't tire easily, and this sort of thing would be a good way to get the blood pumping. Anyone that paid attention would notice a smile, a small one, but a smile nonetheless plastered on her face, she was enjoying this.

Alright, running. Running Gabriella could do. Even if it was in a dingy building that by all rights should've been demolished. Even as Gabriella looked out over the imitation hellscape, her confidence remained high. She'd grown up in rural Switzerland, she'd hunted in rural Switzerland. Terrain wasn't the problem. Now, sprinting that, that was more of a problem. She wasn't a sprinter. But these people weren't going to take that for an answer, so the three of her formed up in a line on the far side, picking a part with as little water as possible in the straight line from one wall to the other that also happened to be away from Candace.

No sense in opening that can of worms, not here. She could only have just had one of her running, but, well, that was very much a loophole unique to her, and she wasn't about to waste that so early on something that was merely irritating and not beneath her or distasteful. They broke into a sprint as one, almost in lockstep; one fell slightly behind almost immedately, but the other two kept up a decent speed as they turned back. Her speed lagged slightly as she ran, panting lightly, partially from tiredness, partially because she was just feeling lazy and not keen on putting all that effort in that early on.

Jenny blitz through her laps like mad as she ran back and forth across the sand, water, and fake grass. She was clearly putting too much effort into this but she didn't care; this warm up got her heart pumping and blood flowing. The main exercise was on Jenny's mind as she sprinted on with a wicked smile on her face. What could it be? she wonders, her hair flowing while she sprint, I doubt it will be bobcat wresting.

Nev followed close behind Jenny, as his cybernetic enhancements gave him more than enough speed and stamina to keep up, though he kept quiet as there was no need to speak, yet he kept track of where everyone was, especially the Gabriella that was lagging behind, which made him question if the Gabriellas truly did act under one consciousness.

Sofia put her hands on her hips as she listened to Stathis speak. After listening his speech, she moved to stand in position and get ready by taking a band off her wrist and tying it back in a pony tail "Ugh...cabrón" Sofia said under her breath directed towards Stathis though not too obviously. Sofia channelled cold winds behind her as she began to run at a shockingly fast speed with little effort on her part, making her way to the other end of the track and touching the wall, coming back again with no effort. Running and jumping around wasn't an issue for Sofia especially with her ability pushing her. She was quite able to keep up with the faster runners without even trying so long as she maintained her ice cold winds behind her.

Pig simply did what he was told and that was really it. It took Pig some time to do the course, but he did it. Errr....

"Faster!" shouted Stathis, as a group of guards ran down the track towards Pig with batons drawn, hitting at his back to make him pick up the pace. There were going to be a few extra challenges, of course, and part of the design of this exercise was mean to simulate the stress of being in actual combat. That also involved some hidden traps. In front of one of the Gabriellas, a fake IED exploded and would have enough concussive force to send her flying, as she stepped into one of the sand traps.

“Oh sunovabitch!” Nev yelled as he saw the Gabi get sent flying. He realized that now was no longer the time to be distracted, which meant that he had to focus on staying behind Jenny and doing what she did, learning from her example.

Pig would get hit a lot but it did jack shit against his body. This was more of a calm training day for him, when compared to his young days in the C.S.S.S. You see, Pig got shot many times by rounds of many kinds when he failed to pass these courses like this by Cuban political commissars. Pig would nevertheless pick the speed to simply just get this over other.

"Great, explosives. What fun..." Sage panted through their measured breaths. Sage used their physicality to their advantage, simply jumping over the obvious obstacles in her way. She took a slight detour this time, making sure to help the Gabriella up that had been sent flying, before continuing forward as crystalline armor grew around her, a small layer of shock absorbent liquid crystal nestled between an inner and outer layer. A new trick Sage had started to work on since the bomb at the Gala. The armor also meant that Sage wouldn't be sent flying as far, or as fast by any explosions she managed to find, which also meant that part of the field would be partially covered for the others.

The explosions weren't the only extra challenge to be present here. Gunshots, not fake ones but actual shots, flew over the heads of the Cadets, and sometimes between them. It was another way of simulating the danger of a real battle, and it would ensure that none of them wanted to step out of their current lanes. The shots came from the back of the room, where there were both guards with rifles and a couple of heavy machine guns that sprayed fire between the lanes and made things a bit more realistic, especially in the sound department.

There wasn't much she could do, really. One of her stepped into a normal-looking sand trap and then something exploded under her. She went flying back, past her body that was lagging behind while her other body continued to run onwards. She shook her head slightly, her head ringing as she sat up. Urgh.

Her face was caked in sand, and no doubt she'd need to shower to wash it all out of her hair too. Just brilliant. She felt a hand grab her and haul her up to her feet. She didn't see who it was, since her vision was still hazy, but Sage's mind was quite unique. She nodded silently in thanks, resuming running behind Sage. Someone else to take hits for her. And then they started shooting.

That made her jump, but little else. There was no anger, no hostility. Just stay in your lane and keep running. So all three of her kept running, one of her cursing under her breath about sand and how it got everywhere and ruined her hair as she ran.

"Hey, it's just like my grandpa's simulations!" Jenny hollered as she weaved through the bullets while she jump around the sand traps, "Except the bullets are aimed at me directly and I'm not being chased by a steam roller!"

“What kind of loopy land have I entered?!” Nev shouted as he let out what could be considered as nervous laughter as he followed Jenny’s every step, hoping to whatever higher being existed that he wasn’t going to be accidentally shot.

Pig was calm the whole time, barely paying any attention to the bullets and sound. Pig went about the course as normal, running, climbing, etc. Hell, this was fun for him.

"Oh fuck!" Sofia screamed all the way through the course as bullets whizzed around her and sound deafened her. Not like she'd been shot at before but she didn't like it and she absolutely loathed it right now "You gringos are fucking crazy!" She screamed towards everyone in general, mostly directed towards the people shooting at them. Almost done though, just one last lap.

“You’re telling me! What maniac uses live rounds in conditioning training?!” Nev shouted back.

"Only the most caring of drill sergeants!" Jenny yelled to her boyfriend. "How else are they gonna prepare us to fight in chaos?"

“Letting us shoot back would be nice!” Nev yelled back.

"We're dodging Nev!" She shouted over the bullet storm, "Shooting comes later."

“Im just gonna follow you since you know what you’re doing!” Nev replied, following behind at a safe distance.

"Now this, this is fun!" shouted Sage. "Dangerous sure, but fun. You never feel more alive than when your blood is pumping like this."

"How the hell anyone could find something like this fun is beyond me." The Gabriella running behind Sage mumbled out in response. "It's nothing but pain."

“I have nothing but panic. If I wasn’t with someone who actually knew what they were doing, I would’ve hid in one spot for the rest of the time.” Nev interjected.

"Panic is good, Nev." Jenny laughs. "It shows that you are aware of your surroundings. Pain is great to have. It tells you that you're still alive. Unfortunately, I had to train with only one of those as my teacher."

“Well can I only have panic? Pain is not fun!” Nev retorted.

"Come on, Nev! You know you're going to get both." She snorted.

“This is not gonna be fun....” Nev said to himself.

"They're making things challenging for the best of us so everyone else just dies, great." Gabriella groaned. "Let's just get this over with so I can clean up afterwards."

Eventually, another group of guards entered the room and a door opened on the far side, the one that the Cadets had originally been running towards. There had been more gunshots, more of the fake explosions, but all of the students had passed. Even if some of them required more help than others, in the form of creative motivation tactics. Stathis returned to the front of the group, leading the students towards the doorway. "Now that you have completed the warmup, proceed to the next room to cool down from the exercise... The firearms and tactics training will begin shortly."

---

Interlude Four: Break

(Written with Lunas)

Candace... Hadn't been in the best state, since things started piling on her and her family. First, the leaks had targeted her parents. Then her sister, and things had gotten physical when her and her sister's friends in France had died. She had hardly had time to mourn them before losing Cassia, and now her country itself was under attack by a merciless and relentless enemy that had no visible clear motive for everything they did. Some of their actions could be explained. Other ones were stranger. And she didn't even know who to direct her anger and thirst for revenge towards. By the time the bombs fell over France, she was already numb, and the millions of deaths were just another statistic on the timeline of death in recent weeks.

Instead of joining the preparations to deal with the ongoing crisis, she sat herself in her room in Calero Hills and tried her best to make herself more numb than she already was, with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a joint in the other. The others needed her. But she couldn't save them if she couldn't calm herself down. Somehow, though, the drugs and the alcohol didn't seem to relax her. Because of her emotional state, it just made her more on edge. So she laid on her back, staring at the ceiling and waiting for the storm to pass, until she could bring herself to be useful again.

It'd been three weeks since, well, since she'd watched everything blow up in her face. Not literally, but it might as well have. Her carefully-constructed image was gone, sacrificed to protect her honour on the bomb plot. Candace was gone, because she'd been selfish in the days afterwards, and hadn't said something, anything, about the damn bomb plot. So she'd spent three weeks alternating between hungover and drunk, with occasional interludes when she was actually expected to be functional, so she projected her destroyed image as if nothing was wrong, nothing had changed.

And then France was nuked, and her parents were killed in the resulting fallout, dying of radiation poisioning. That was just adding insult to injury. Their investments hadn't exactly collapsed, but suddenly she was a good deal poorer and the last of her family. To most people, that wouldn't be important, but she was nobility, with a line that stretched back centuries. It was expected of her to continue the dynasty. But she had plenty of time to worry about that.

Now, well, now she was dealing with the Candace issue. Or going to try.

The first issue had been catching her alone, without Cass or her family around. Easy enough to check with telepathy. The second had been timings, which was why she was here. She didn't want to try talking to her too early, when everything was still completely raw. She'd given her a few weeks to approach her on her own time, but with this highly dangerous mission to France now looming, well, she'd been forced to make the first move. Getting into her house was an easy thing, she had a key.

Of course, even as she stood there on the porch, key in hand, the other two of her safe back in her room at Syndicate HQ, that didn't stop her gulping nervously and letting out a long, slow, deep breath. No point in backing out here and now, depending on how things went down in France, she... She might not get another chance. So, with trembling hands, she put the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open. The house was silent as she entered, hearing no response from anyone, and so she breathed a small sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her. Candace was, from where her mind was, probably in her room upstairs. Well, she might as well get on with it, and so she made her way upstairs, following a path she'd walked many times before under better circumstances. She reached Candace's room, the door shut, so she knocked twice, just to be polite. She always knocked.

"Fuck off, the room is full!" shouted Candace, somewhat instinctively even though she didn't know who was at the door. Didn't care if it was her parents, Cassandra, Cassius, or anyone else. The only person she would have let inside was Vivian, but Vivian didn't want to see her and had apparently fucked off to somewhere else by now. According to the report she had been sent by her Soulja, Vivian had escaped after taking a trip to Miami to deal with a power related procedure gone wrong. Where she escaped to, or the reason she ran away in the first place, was unknown. And so Candace really was alone in the world, with no chance of salvaging things with her best friend for now. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone else, or the right mental state.

She rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't entirely sure what else she'd expected other than being told to fuck off. It was just so Candace as it were.

"Look, it's me." She spoke up, summoning the courage to raise her voice. "I wanted to talk before we're all sent off to France tomorrow. Can I come in?"

Candace froze at the sound of Gabriella’s voice, taking another sip of the whiskey and sitting up. Her eyes went wide and her heart rate picked up, but she didn’t say anything at first. It took her a moment to ponder this, but then she spoke with an edge to her voice. “Don’t you think I have enough heartbreak? With Cassia, and with millions of my countrymen dying? Now I have to talk to you on top of it all?”

Gabriella winced slightly as she heard Candace's biting tone. Still angry, then, despite all this time. "Well, if you don't want me to talk, I can just stand here and listen. Or I can just leave, if you really want." Her voice was calm, barely hiding the shaky nervousness underneath. She didn't want to blow this up like she'd done with everything else.

"You're manipulative, you know that? You break into my house and come to me when I'm at my lowest because you know that I hate you but that I love you and that I don't have the heart to kick you out," Candace blurted out, her tone... Explosive. The combination of drugs and alcohol just added to that, adding an extra layer of instability that wasn't normally there. "Just come in and tell me what the fuck you want, you're probably going to find some way to tell me one way or another anyway. You've already ruined my chances of sleeping the rest of the afternoon away."

"I didn't break in, you gave me a key so I used it." Gabriella rolled her eyes as she opened the door, turning and shutting it behind her before turning back around to face Candace, hands behind her back as she leaned backwards against the door. "And perhaps it is, but whenever else am I going to be able to talk to you? It wasn't even intentional, but, well, all my many fuck-ups are unintentional it seems." She didn't even smile at that. It was just a fact.

"As for what I wanted to talk about, well..." She took a breath before she continued. "Us in general really. Your feelings towards me are, well, mildly complex to say the least, and I know I've fucked over you and yours far more than I could ever repay, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to. So I was thinking we could... Try and figure out what the hell we're going to do. For both of us."

Candace gripped the bottle of whiskey tighter and tighter as Gabriella entered, until the pressure caused the thing to explode in her hand. "Agh!" she shouted, blood running down her hand and wrist and shards of glass falling to the floor where they mixed with the remnants of the bottle, which wasn't that much but was still enough to make a mess. "Fuck!" she screamed, and the scream was somewhat reflective of her entire mental state right now. Basically, it wasn't good. "I said that I didn't want to talk to you again! Why can't you just... Respect my wishes instead of making things worse by showing your face again?"

"I did, for three weeks." Gabriella answered, her tone rising ever so slightly in panic as Candace crushed the bottle in her hand, trails of blood leaking out of her hand. "I was going to wait for you to approach me on your own time, originally." Her gaze was almost transfixed by Candace's injured hand. "But France accelerated that since, well, we could both die out there, and I don't think either of us wants to die with unfinished business with anyone, and that includes each other."

She nodded vaguely to Candace's injured hand before speaking in a noticeably worried tone. "You want me to patch that up here and now, go find some bandages for it so you can, what? After picking out the glass, of course."

"Unfinished business wasn't something that was on my mind until you decided to show up here," Candace growled, frustratedly looking at her hand and rubbing it against her jeans to get some of the blood off of it. "Look, I don't fuckin' know, just let me clean it up and see how bad it is," she said, tucking her joint between her lips and moving to the bathroom to rinse off the deepest cut with water and soap. She was still on edge. Her movements were sharp and jerky, she seemed like she was pent up and ready to explode at any moment. And yet she held it in.

She made her way back to the room, blood still running down her hand, and reached for the P9 pistol that had been resting on her nightstand. She said nothing about her intent, pacing back to the opposite wall and leaning against it, her open wound smearing blood on the wall as she placed her hand on it. "I didn't say not to talk to me for three weeks... I said we were done. I said I didn't want to talk to you again, didn't want to see you around my house and that I didn't want you to contact me! You think I care what happens to you in France? I hardly care about what happens to myself out there!"

"Maybe I interpreted this whole thing all wrong." Gabriella admitted. She hadn't exactly expected things to play out this way, she'd expected that Candace had wanted to talk but simply couldn't bring herself to, but she'd been wrong. "But I still care about you, Candace, you know? Despite everything. No amount of hate or distance or derision from you is going to make that love stop. I... Don't know what I'd do if I lost you out there." Although she probably wouldn't care about that.

"Besides, you still have other things to deal with other than me. Things... Things I can help with, things I want, no, need to help with. I... I know I screwed up, and I know I can't just say sorry and expect you to forgive me. Hell, I'd... I'd be disappointed if you did. I sort-of said it earlier, but I... I just wanted to ask if there's any way, any way at all, that I can help try and patch together everything I ruined. Just name it. You know me and my whole thing with honour, you'll know whatever it is, I'll... I'll do it. No matter what." She was putting a hell of a lot at stake here, but, well, despite everything she still trusted Candace enough for this.

Candace paced back and forth after the offer was made, squeezing the gun tighter and keeping her finger on the trigger, placing it to her temple and closing her eyes as she grimaced and gritted her teeth, hand shaking as she held it there, unable to make a decision on what to do. She said nothing, her breaths rapid and shaky as the barrel of the gun pressed against her skin. She couldn't make herself pull the trigger, and she instead threw the gun at Gabriella. Hard. "You really want to help, you can end this. I'm broken, Gabriella. Shattered. There's no hope, everything keeps getting worse and it's not going to fucking stop because someone is out for my family and they hate our guts, whoever it actually is," she said, tears running down her face.

"Vivian left me. You let my sister get killed. Cassandra is just as broken as I am and Cassius isn't that much better, and my parents are in trouble. Just end this. There's a full magazine, it won't take you that long to empty it. It will be quick, so if you want to make yourself useful, that's what you can do," she continued, smearing blood across her face as she ran both hands over it, including the injured one that hadn't been bandaged yet.

She said nothing as Candace pressed her pistol to her own temple, shutting her eyes. She shut her own, mentally bracing for the loud crack of a gunshot, but when none came, she cracked open an eye. Candace stood there, the gun off her temple, breathing shaky, almost rasping. She let out a yelp of surprise as Candace threw the pistol at her, hands scrambling and barely catching it in her hands, wincing slightly as she caught it. Reflexes went to life as she gripped it with both hands before she pointed it down at the floor, checking the safety and if it was loaded. She shook her head slightly, a tear carving a line of moisture down her face before more followed as she raised the pistol at Candace, a shaky finger on the trigger.

"I'm sorry." Gabriella shook her head as she talked, feeling the barrel of the gun against her chin. "I guess I lied to you again, since I... After Thailand, I said I'd never hurt you again. Not to you, but to myself." She jerked her arms back, placing the pistol under her chin, barrel up.

"You want it to end. I know you do, I can tell. But you couldn't do it and... Neither can I. I'm sorry." She smiled a small, sad smile. "But if only one of us gets to leave this room alive, I'd much rather it be you than I, and you made your choice on who decides. You shouldn't give up so easily, Candace. That's what whoever it is that's after your family would want. I'm... I'm not helping them, even... Even if I have to not help you to do that. Hope only dies when we let it."

It was like honour, in that way. It only died when you chose to let it. And even when things had gotten as bad as they had, she still had hope to push her forwards.

Candace lashed out angrily, striking the mirror in front of her and shattering it with her hand that was uninjured. More blood quickly dripped down to the floor and down her wrist, this time coming from her knuckles as her fist went straight through the back of the mirror and into the wall, leaving a dent and causing a slight cry of pain as her hand slammed into the hard wall that was behind. She threw the broken frame of the mirror aside, frustrated.

"And you can't even do this for me! Of course you fucking can't!" she shouted, tears still running down the face. She turned and stormed out of the room, stuffing her bloody hands into the pocket of her hoodie and making her way downstairs as quickly as she could, She fumbled with the keys to her Lamborghini, having a hard time even picking them up with her hurting hands. She found herself dropping them, and had to crouch down to grab them again. It was all a bit too much for her, she needed to get away from the situation. And she finally managed to unlock the doors, climbing into the driver's seat and resting back, closing her eyes for a moment as the grey leather interior was suddenly stained from her blood.

She let Candace leave. It wasn't like she was strong enough to physically stop her, and she couldn't bring herself to shoot her. She stared at the shattered mirror on the wall. Had she blown this up too? No. Not yet. She wouldn't let it blow up while she could still salvage this.

She shook her head, standing, and ran after Candace as best as she could in her heels, her two bodies back at HQ waking up and preparing to move, just in case she couldn't stop her from doing something stupid right here, right now. She made it out of the house just seconds after Candace had climbed into her Lamborghini, the same one they'd spent so much time together in. She ran onto the driveway, stopping just near the side, raising her pistol and levelling it at the front tyres, shaking her head slowly.

Managing to start the car, Candace accelerated. It lurched forward, the tires spinning aimlessly for a few moments as she put too much gas into it to move smoothly. The car sped out of the driveway but as soon as Candace turned to head down the street, the sudden acceleration and her poor handling caused it to spin. going out of control and coming to a stop in the middle of the street, making the car in front of it sound its horn as it came from the other direction. She blinked a few times, her mind absorbing what had just happened.

She couldn't bring herself to shoot as Candace accelerated out of the driveway, so she stepped back, letting her pass before moving to go after her at a sprint for as long as she could, silently praying that traffic would be on her side.

She needn't have bothered, as the car spun, coming to a stop in the middle of the street, another car blaring its horn. She didn't hesitate again, and raised her pistol, firing a single shot aimed at the front tyre of the Lambo that she could see. Hopefully Candace wouldn't be going anywhere.

Great. So now she was being shot at. Candace hardly registered where the shot was coming from, as blood ran down the steering wheel as a result of her grabbing it with her injured hands. She could hardly feel the pain, there were other things occupying too much of her mind. The feelings that her actual body was experiencing almost felt distant in a way, as if her mental mess was the thing that was much more relevant to her right now. She was about to put her foot to the pedals again and reverse her way out of the spot she was in. But then, as she continued to take shallow, raspy breaths, she fainted. From a mixture of stress and exhaustion over the past few days.

She missed. Somehow. The bullet ping'd off the road next to the tyre, and so she ran forwards, expecting Candace to just floor it and accelerate away or reverse and then do that, leaving her in the dust, but nothing happened. She approached the stationary car cautiously, edging forwards. She reached out with her telepathy, and found Candace's mind... Not exactly at rest, but dulled, a scrambled signal. Either sleeping or unconscious. So she abandoned her cautious approach, striding up to the car and looking in through the driver's window.

Candace was sprawled over, out cold, the steering wheel stained with blood. She opened the door, dropping the pistol in the car as she reached in, picking up Candace's unconscious form with both her arms and turning and walking off back into Candace's house. She carried her back upstairs to her room, setting her back down on her bed before leaving her there to find some alcohol to use as antiseptic, a pair of tweezers for the glass, and some bandages. It didn't take her long. There were bandages and tweezers in the bathroom, and she'd found another bottle of whiskey quite quickly in Candace's room, which she poured over her injured hands after picking out the shards of glass before doing her best to bandage the wounds.

Candace opened her eyes again when Gabriella was bandaging her wounds. Something that she hadn't asked for. She hadn't even been focused on the injuries, on the physical pain at the time. But she didn't say anything, as her chest rose and fell a bit quicker. She just let Gabriella work, but eventually some words did come out her mouth. "Why coulnd't you have just shot me?" she asked eventually, not sounding angry but sounding disappointed and well, sad.

"Because I can't hurt you again, or let you be hurt if I could do anything about it. Ever." Gabriella shook her head as she talked, her voice soft as she continued to bandage Candace's wounds. "If you'd done it yourself, I'd have let you. It's your right to choose, after all, but you gave it to me, and I could never hurt you again, so I didn't. I meant everything I said back there, you know. Killing you is, well, it's the one thing I can't help you with. Everything else is fair game."

She smiled down at her, grabbing the bottle of... Scotch? She hadn't been paying attention when she'd grabbed it and it tasted horrible. It took all her effort to not just spit it out as she held out the bottle to Candace. "I think you could use a drink after all this. I know I will. I don't know where you keep your stash of weed and everything else, but if you want me to go get you some of that instead, I will."

"I don't want it. Hasn't helped me, recently," Candace said, rejecting both the drink and the weed. Her mind was a mess, but it had only become more of a mess when she was under the influence. It hadn't done much to calm her down, at all. She took a deep breath, sighing as she waited to tell Gabriella what she had come up with during her silence. "If you really want to make up for what happened, if you really want to stay with me... You need to change some things. I've been through enough, I don't want to keep dealing with your ego and your arrogance too. If you want to lose those, fine. We'll see where things go... Even though my feelings about you are rather complicated and... Contradictory."

"Suit yourself. This stuff's positively vile, so I'll be leaving it too."

Gabriella set the bottle of vile scotch down on the floor beside her leg, leaving it there. She was silent as Candace said that she needed to change. They'd both known that since the beginning, to some degree. Too much of them clashed, so it had been a conflict over who changed and on what and when. "Some things I can change, or at least try to, some... Some I really can't. I make no promises, since changing is a...Difficult thing." Gabriella gave a small shrug. "And I can understand how complex things are, to a degree. You hate me for what I did but still love me for, well, me." She finished bandaging Candace's hands and gently, hesitantly, placed a hand on her shoulder. "But we can figure something out between us, I'm sure. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that."

[Forest State]

---

---

The arc began in the shadow of scandal, with the Marin family having evidence of tax fraud leaked by the White Dragon Triad, through a reporter named Madison McCreary. The White Dragon Triad is of course, led from the shadows by Regan Hara, the estranged daughter of Cercei Hara who is working with Hara and her Western Legends for unknown goals. Those goals, though, seem to involve targeting the Marin family and Cassandra Marin in particular. While it is known that Regan was a previous partner of Cassandra Marin, who Cassandra abandoned, it is unknown what her motive is for working with the same mother that is responsible for her torturous past, or why the Western Legends are interested in helping her in the first place.

Blackmail was the defining aspect of the early arc, as the White Dragons were able to obtain further leaks. They initially used the threat of leaking a lewd video to try to blackmail Gabriella Bianchi-Costa into planting a bomb at the Syndicate fundraising gala in Thailand, with the intention of having her get caught after the fact, something that would remove the triad from the list of suspects. Gabriella would refuse, and the series of leaks continued as her video made its way to the public internet. However, Gabriella didn’t tell anyone about the blackmail, something that would become very important later on.

A separate attack happened halfway across the world before the gala would arrive, with the Hand, who is seemingly the main servant of Overlord, attacked the French based Syndicate team known as Team Liberte and killed two members before firebombing the team base and luring the others into a trap that would wipe out the team with the exception of Sapphira Lefevre, who was with Team Diamond in Thailand at the time of the attack. The members of this team were known friends of Cassandra Marin, and the Hand spoke on the phone with Cassandra after killing one of the team members and warned that the next attack would hit closer to home.

When the gala rolled around, the triad struck again just before the event could begin. This time, Cassandra was the target of their leaks, of which the source of their information is still unknown. Her well crafted image was destroyed when pictures and videos of her partying and doing drugs with her sister, Candace, came out. Furthermore, pictures and video outed Cassandra as lesbian and revealed past relationships with both a hero and a villain. The hero would be Team Novus Canada member Daniele “Shieldmaiden” Lachapelle, who now holds a grudge against Cassandra for recording their leaked video in the first place. This has major implications for relations between Team Novus and the Syndicate. The villain was, of course, Regan Hara, further damaging Cassandra’s reputation as Regan is the daughter of the most wanted villain in the world.

All of the Cadets were thrown into a dangerous situation when the gala was attacked by a gunman who turned out to work for the Syndicate. This gunman, Tu Nguyen, had arrived early to hide a number of weapons and explosives and began firing at the Marins, managing to kill sixteen year old Cassia Marin but only wounding Candace and Clementine Marin, while Chandler was protected by his armor. The shooting came after Candace saw flashes of it in a vision, but didn’t recognize what the vision was until it was too late. Furthermore, as Candace had never seen a vision prior, she didn’t understand what she was looking at and was shot twice when she finally ran to protect Cassia.

Nguyen was taken down by Cadets who then had a debate about whether he should be killed, interrogated first and then killed, or turned over to police after interrogation. The debate would prove meaningless when Beatriz Ortega, secretly working for both sides, detonated the explosives in Nguyen’s bag and killed him, leaving no body to examine. A look back on Nguyen’s record with the Syndicate would indicate nothing suspicious on his part in the past, leaving the Syndicate without a motive to figure out what was behind the attack. When the first attack was over, most of the veteran heroes went to the outside of the building to guard the perimeter during the evacuation of civilians, but the Cadets and civilians had to scramble outside when a magical portal opened up and two truck bombs emerged from within. These exploded, with all of the Cadets getting out but fifteen civilians dying when the building went up in flames.

After the Syndicate members return from the disaster in Thailand, Vivian Shaw switches sides at the request of Beatriz Ortega, and joins the New Riot after “escaping” from Ortega’s medical care in Miami following a procedure to implant Nova parasites. The faction made of Overlord, the Triad, and Ortega under the leadership of Cercei goes through some new challenges as Machina makes a power play, asking for more land and having her request granted because of her work on the Legends project known as the hyperbomber. This large heavy bomber is equipped with the most cutting edge stealth and propulsion technology in the world, and is used to carry out a string of nuclear attacks (using warheads created with the help of Cercei Hara’s power) on Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Algiers, Tripoli, Cairo, and Tehran, signalling the start of the Second Legends War as Legends mercenaries move into action shortly afterwards to take over this locales in the chaos, with promises of “reform.”

Deaths

• Opponents
  
  • Tu Nguyen
• Friendlies
  
  • Cassia Marin

---

Time Skip

March 14th, 2018

France had fallen… Quickly. The reports said different things and which one you believed depended on which sources you trusted. Some said the country had been taken over in days, others said a week. It was unknown if the French leadership was even alive at this time or not, after the capital had been devastated by the nuclear attack that came from the clouds. They hadn’t found the attackers yet, nobody had. Before anyone could figure out what had happened, before anyone could discover who had been responsible for the deaths of millions, the attackers descended on the country.

First it had been the mercenaries, the ones that the Syndicate recognized as working for Overlord. They could be identified by their red or white body armor, which was pretty durable and was a cheaper version of the rudimentary power armor that existed in some places. They hadn’t been considered much of a threat by the Syndicate, but until recently, Overlord hadn’t been on the Syndicate’s radar at all. Now, that mercenary army under Overlord’s command turned out to be larger and more dangerous than anyone had imagined, as it marched on France with the support of a limited number of tanks and planes that seemed to be knockoffs of Chinese designs. Ironic, but effective in this case. Despite their smaller numbers of supporting assets, the mercenary force would defeat the remnants of the French military in the destroyed areas easily. After all, their command structure had been shattered, at least until the process of figuring out who was dead and who was alive was completed.

The flag that was raised over the captured territories was the one of the Legends, dark red with a black diagonal stripe running across the length of it. The flag waved over the government buildings, or what was left of them. It could be seen hanging from windows of buildings that had been occupied by the mercenaries or the metahumans that were largely in control of the attacking force. Because the Legends were firmly an organization of metahumans, and while they had human foot soldiers working for them, their leadership was mostly made up of those with some kind of abilities.

The first announcement from the attackers since they had initially staged the nuclear strikes on a number of countries came directly from the media department of the Western Legends, circulating on onion sites because they had been banned from distributing their content on most mainstream social networks and other platforms. But even though it started off there, the video would soon be reported on by every major news outlet in the world. The background of the video displayed the globe, the night lights of many cities being visible in the background. In the forefront, there were three different people, each of them with their own story and their own agenda as well as a different set of skills brought to the organization. But when they were together, they were quite hard to stop.

On the left was Beatriz “Machina” Ortega, Syndicate Council of Ten member. Or, ex member after the release of the video. As it turned out, her true colors didn’t lie with the Syndicate, but with the Legends. Nor were they with the American defense companies that she worked with. What her agenda actually was, that wasn’t something that was known to many. And not known to anyone publicly. Still, she stood with Cercei and Overlord as they looked into the camera with her, Cercei in the middle and Overlord on the right.

Cercei had already been the most wanted woman in the world before all of the most recent events, but this would only increase her infamy. This was her second attempt at hegemony, rather than her first. The first one hadn’t had her at the forefront, but Shyler Kruger. Still, Cercei had been Despot’s right hand man and that position came with quite a lot of power, even if she wasn’t the leader of the movement. She had been his equal in just about every way, and had been one of the heaviest hitters in the entire organization, someone who would gain much power when the Legends made their takeover. And then it had never happened. Now, she was on her second attempt, and she was at the front of the movement this time.

And Overlord was… Overlord. Nobody knew who the person under the mask was, nobody knew their motive, and nobody knew their organization beyond the fact that they were tied to the Legends and employed mercenaries. But they did know that Overlord was potentially the most feared information broker in the world, after making a turn to villain and seemingly knowing everything that the heroes were doing, a step before they acted. Overlord was one of the most dangerous people on Earth, and they were working with people that had the worst of intentions. It was a dangerous combination.

In that video, the Legends had outlined their plan. Hegemony. They wanted to take over, they wanted to establish their own system, and according to Ortega, they would advance the parts of the world that lagged behind, even at the expense of the first world. The deaths in France were worth it if it took down the status quo, they said. They claimed that their movement would grow as people who agreed with them joined them, and that France was just the beginning. And scarily enough, it seemed like they had the power to carry that threat out, and continue with the attacks.

---

The Syndicate response came only two weeks after the fall of France. Well, it wasn’t a Syndicate response as much as a NATO one. SYNFOR was the name of the Syndicate force being sent to France, composed of members from various teams and even, because of the shortage of numbers, members of the Futures Program. SYNFOR had been attached to the invading NATO militaries that were staging a counter attack, primarily from Britain, Germany, and the United States but also from a number of other countries that could afford to send forces as part of the coalition. The forces from the Futures Program were placed with two units in specific, the British Parachute Regiment and the American 75th Ranger Regiment.

Both were headed in from the staging area in Britain, with the Cadet team that had been labeled Javelin traveling with the Brits and the HQ squad and Falcon squad traveling with the Rangers. But Falcon Squad was officially under the command of Special Operations Team Two, which was part of the Syndicate and was under the command of Stathis Giannopoulos. One of the non powered teams in the Syndicate, Special Operations did their best to deal with metahumans in ways that heroes couldn’t easily do. Now, they would play a large role in handling the metahuman threat that the enemy had in France.

Despite the different assignments of the SYNFOR units, they were headed in through the same point in Belgium after taking boats from Britain. The forward operating base, Camp de Gaulle, was just on the outskirts of Lille. Particularly, it was to the east of the city. The place was still under construction, but the Army trucks rolled through the gates and unloaded the Cadets and their instructors at the center of it anyway, before driving off to the half finished garage area. The Cadets group was then gestured towards the barracks area, where lists of team assignments were posted on the walls and each barracks had a different team listed on it. The instructors would have their own housing, slightly down the way.

“Get unpacked, everyone,” said Chandler Marin, addressing the entire group. “If you have things that don’t fit in the barracks, they’ll need to be discarded or sent back to the base back in Santa Marina. Inside, you’ll also find a few pairs of the military uniforms that you may find useful for this… Operation. They’re a bit more functional than the street clothes that most of you are wearing right now. We’ll have a number of NATO affiliated soldiers coming into this base fairly soon, so make sure you get settled in before this area becomes crowded with more new arrivals. You will be contacted once you’re all needed.”

[Higher Japan]

Forward Operating Base

"We're here, get up." 'Theresa' was shaken slightly, getting up as her helmet lights turned from red to blue. Looking out all she could see around her was the movement of military vehicles from her position in the vehicle. Looking across she only saw her supervising officer sitting across from her, energy unit on her back with her gun in her hostler. Taking a whiff from a cigar, she set it down as she put her cap back on. Looking at her tag, 'Theresa' saw the name 'Aeona Vakin', taking note of it for the moment.

"Out." Aeona simply said, 'Theresa' exiting calmly as she levitated above the ground for a moment. Her hands at the moment were still cuffed with her legs being bound as well, levitation now her only form of movement. Likewise her saber was currently still on Aeona as she was brought over to the barracks area. "Sir, here's the new recruit. Her codename is 'Theresa', here's her file." Aeona reported to Chandler, handing him a file as 'Theresa' was brought over to her barracks. "Where are we going." 'Theresa' asked, looking up slightly as she floated above the ground while Aeona pushed her forward. "Your new home for now."

Once in the barracks, 'Theresa's' cuffs and restraints were removed as she was given her saber, with a sheath and belt to be attached underneath her hoop skirt frame. "Get changed, if anything comes up remember, I'll be back for your head." Leaving the room, 'Theresa' moved in silence as she quickly got changed into a military uniform before sitting back down on a bed. Her helmet's optics were still moving around, scanning most things as her hair laid slightly on the bed. So this was her home now.

[Talchyon]

Forward Operating Base: Camp de Gaulle
Men's Barracks
Chambi Uro (aka... )

He had stayed awake the whole flight to London from Santa Marina, and remained awake the whole day on the boat ride to Belgium. Though the shock from the recent weeks had worn off somewhat, it had been replaced by a whole new kind of loathing that had kept him up. The video testimony had shown Ortega(!) - their former teacher (!?) - as a willing partner of mass murderers. For Chambi Uro, he had never felt more disgusted than he did when he thought of her. And to be honest, that thought was seldomly far from his mind.

At Belgium, they hopped off boats and onto trucks. The quiet former tribesman rode the trucks without a word, thinking and looking resolute. Getting to their barracks, they were given instructions, much of which was that they needed to wait and get adjusted. Chambi went into the men's barracks (thankfully, Belgium was still civilized enough to keep men's and women's barracks separate!) and claimed a bunk. He set his things down on the military-quality bed, and, with military uniform in hand, got changed. His boots were laced up to the very top, which felt more snug on him than the footgear he typically preferred. But no matter. They would serve nicely if he got to stomp on Ortega's head. If he only got that chance.

But Ortega was not the only thing on Chambi's mind. Chambi had long been trying to come up with a super name to little avail. Not knowing English as well didn't help, but no one he had asked had been able to give him any decent sounding names for a guy who could make other people hallucinate, and then make those hallucinations real. Some of the suggestions had been so lousy Chambi didn't even want to remember them. Ridiculous names like "Tripper Man," or "Far Out Guy" made him want to heave up the food on the boat he had tried to get down. But, there was one idea that was circulating in his shielded mind. It all began when he was talking to one of the sailors on the boat about his background, and the man heard him wrong. Instead of the sentence Chambi said, "I am a Bolivian," the sailor heard him say, "I am Oblivion." When the boat man looked at him and said, "That's a great name," Chambi was a little confused at first. Fortunately, someone who was near him explained that "Oblivion" was an English word too. Curious, Chambi got his phone out (that, thankfully, had been outfitted with a European plan), and had enough signal to look up the word in a dictionary. A strange word. A mixture of forgetfulness, obscurity, empty void and nothingness. And yet, each of these words could apply to his abilities. His hallucinations could make people forget what was real. The hallucinations were often obscure. They came out of an empty void where before everything looked normal. And the new realities were made out of nothing except Chambi's ability.

Maybe that was as fitting a name as any. "Oblivion..." Chambi began to picture how that would sound and look in print. He tried speaking the name a few times, and it sounded good off his accented tongue. It didn't sound too bad. Was this how others got their nicknames?

Chambi was more than warming up to the name. He was ready to claim it as his own. Oblivion it was. That's who he could also be known as. It was a calming kind of peace that enveloped him because of this, that this task that had borne such little fruit before was now over and the name so fitting. With that on his mind, and all dressed and nowhere to go, Chambi decided to lay down on his bed and think.

[Imperial--japan]

VERONICA CRAWFORD

Veronica had been typing her report to the Order of the Arcane when she had received word at what had happened in France. At first she refused to believe it. Who would sacrifice millions of innocent lives for the selfish dream of 'upsetting the status quo'. Whatever they claimed their end goal was, whatever dream they sought to create, it was not worth the bones and ashes it would be built upon. When Veronica finally realized the true extent at which the incident in France had proceeded, she subconsciously crushed her desk under the strength of the grip of her demonic arm. Taking a deep breath, she proceeded to finish her report as she awaited orders on what she was to do. They didn't take long to come, and shortly thereafter she was attached to the 75th Ranger Regiment alongside other metahumans. For someone who had promised that she would shoulder her duty as a hero upon herself to protect others, she couldn't help but feel that what had happened in France was a personal failure of hers. Though she had no prior engagement with any of these villainous sorts currently being pursued, that was exactly the problem. Veronica debated on whether being chained to an organization was allowing her to pursue heroism as efficiently than if she went it alone. Playing fast with no rules...swift justice before disaster such as this could strike once more.

"The Order would frown upon such dereliction from its desires." The voice in Veronica's head told her. It was absolutely correct. At worst the Order would label her as having succumb to the arm. At best they would cut of any and all support they already provide her. She decided she would wait until the current crisis was resolved before returning to mind such treasonous thoughts. Currently, there were innocents who needed to be saved, and she would waste no time in carrying out justice against those responsible.

When they had arrived at Lille, Veronica wasted no time in scanning the area to remember the face of her comrades. Whether it be physical indicators, nervous twitches, or tone of voice, she wouldn't take the risk of an enemy in the field taking advantage of any form of disorganization. While she was unsure if the enemy was willing or able to do such a thing, she had no intention of finding out. She wasted no time in making personal preparations in the barracks, deciding to change from her usual torn clothing into military attire as ordered. Although she would rather of remained in her current clothing, she saw no reason to bring attention or ill will to herself by disobeying the orders of a seeming superior.

"Not like I needed the functionality anyways." Veronica said to herself in resignation. She began to change albeit reluctantly. Luckily she had no personal belongings so to speak, only what the Order sent her occasionally to cope with the stress of the arm. When she was unable to bear the pain or the nightmares became too much, she would often have someone supply her with something 'extra'. Luckily nobody in the syndicate was aware of her little habits. For all her good deeds and services to others though, she certainly believed she deserved it.

Looking over to the woman at the bed next to her, she narrowed her eyes as she scanned this one too before speaking up.

"Name and Age". She asked Theresa. They were comrades. The introductory courses and what she had read suggested that familiarity and teamwork was a key component to success. No better way to start than to get the identifying details out of the way.

[Higher Japan]

Barracks, Forward operating base

Looking up slightly, 'Theresa' stared at the new woman for a moment. Her optics spun for a quick second as they all blinked in unison.

"My name is Subject-246, my assigned code name by the syndicate is 'Theresa'. You need not worry about my age for it does not matter now. Now that I have identified myself, it is your turn to likewise identify yourself." She replied, looking back as she continued to sit on her bed, optics moving around and still scanning the surroundings and now this woman who had appeared before her.

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson/Head Hunter
Lille, France

Kane felt the truck stop, which jerked him out of his half asleep haze. Kane yawned and jumped out of the truck, putting a cigarette between his lips and lighting it up. Kane took a large drag and blew out a cloud of smoke. He was told to go get changed into some uniforms they had in the barracks but Kane knew better. At least, he thought he knew better. Kane had packed several ballistic jumpsuits he always wore for more open jobs where concealment wasn't necessary. He made sure they were in the necessary camouflage pattern before they set out and even had a British flag patch on the arms. Kane pulled two big bags out of the truck and headed towards the barracks, pushing inside with the cigarette between his lips before dropping the bags on his bed. The bags had his choice of weapons, his exo suit and all the other things he needed for this operation. He noticed the uniform on the bed however simply ignored it as he took his civilian clothes off and pulled the boots, ballistic jumpsuit and boots out of the bag. Kane slipped these on and laced his boots up tight before pulling out a hip flask of whisky out of the bag, slipping it into one of the jumpsuits pockets with his cigarettes and cigars for safe keeping. The bags would remain on his bed for now till he could be bothered to shove them under the beds.

Kane stepped outside and stretched, pulling the cigarette out from between his lips before blowing out a cloud of smoke "What a shit tip" Kane mumbled to himself as he huffed on his cigarette to finish it off before he would care to go back in the barracks. After all, smoking inside was a fire hazard.

Sofia

Sofia also jumped out of the truck. She was wearing jean shorts, navy blue canvas sneakers and a white cropped top. He hair was immaculate and her makeup appeared perfect in her eyes with eyeliner and dark red lipstick being the notable pieces of her work. Then she heard Chandler say something about a uniform which made her let out a groan "Jodidos uniformes por supuesto" Sofia grumbled to herself as she stomped into the barracks, clearly annoyed now. Though when was she never not annoyed? Inside she saw her bed with multiple camouflaged uniforms and a syndicate patch on the arm along with boots "Ugh...I don't want to look like a soldier, I want to look good cabrones del cerdo!" Sofia screamed allowed out of the barracks making sure the military members would hear though she'd probably just get laughed at disciplined for being whiny. Sofia begrudgingly took her clothes off leaving her in her underwear before putting the uniform on. She shoved her boots on and laced them up with a scowl on her face and aggression in every finger movement used to tie the boots up. At least she still had her bag of stuff that she could simply shove under the bed.

[Durmatagno]

Sage Wilder/Sage Knight/William Wilder
Lille, France


"Es una zona de guerra, ¿qué esperabas? Tiros de gelatina y un buen momento?"

Sage rolled her eyes as she slipped into her teams barracks behind Sofia, and quickly changed into one of the uniforms, once more keeping her back where no one could see it, packing away the small handful of things she had brought with her. The only exception to this was the large locket she always wore, which was tucked beneath the uniform. Her hair was naturally bound into a ponytail, after all, they weren't true soldiers, so she'd take a little leeway on this. Sage sat down on her bunk, one hand placed gently over the locket.

"Don't worry, I won't forget my promise."

She whispered to herself before migrating one hand to the inside of her left arm, now hidden by the uniform, and instinctively tracing her finger horizontally across part of the arm.

"To any of you."

Sage quickly stopped, not wanting to seem any weirder to the others than she already was. At the very least, Gabriella was still the only person that knew of the oddity that was Sage's head, and Sage would like to keep it that way, for now at least. Sage wasn't a particularly religious person, any faith in her had been squashed by what she had been through, but still, if there was someone out there, please let the D'Amboise, and Monteil families still be alive. They didn't live directly in any of the bombed cities, but with the chaos in France these days, there was no telling.

With that, Sage stood up and stretched, moving to sit outside for a little while, let anyone else have one last short stint of privacy if they want it. Sage turned her gaze to the sky, yellow eyes hardened towards what was to come. Still, Sage couldn't deny that getting the chance to kill people that deserved it once more wasn't entirely unattractive. Some part of her still longed for the thrill of taking a life, some part Sage would usually rather forget ever existed, but would now serve to help keep her alive. Sofia wasn't going to be fun to have on the team, but considering the people on it, it meant she could probably handle herself. Wasn't a fun thought, but one that meant Sage probably wouldn't have to worry about her teammates, at least, she'd keep telling herself that.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Michelle Raphaella Sara Bianchi-Costa a.k.a Tetrarch
Phuket, Thailand
March 14th, 2018

It wasn't that she disliked the military. She respected them, mostly because they did things like this that were oh so very much beneath her and not worth her time, like fighting in wars. Like this. She was a hero, she had powers, she was supposed to be treated better than some... Some common grunt with a rifle. But they'd treated her like that anyways, and she hated it.

She hated the training they'd done before they'd been shipped out, she hated the flight over, she hated the truck ride to the FOB with its stupid uncomfortable benches and bumpy French roads and non-existent suspension. She was not meant for military work. But here she was anyways. They'd driven into the so-called Camp de Gaulle, although why they were naming it after a very overrated figure she had no idea, been offloaded in a half-finished vehicle area and then vaguely waved off towards the barracks areas.

Naturally, things only got worse from there. The sole shard of good news was that she was with the 'HQ' squad as it were, which meant she'd be shot at slightly less hopefully. The next part of bad news was when she got a look at who she was in a squad with. People she either did not know or actively avoided for various reasons. And she'd be stuck in a barracks with them. Perfect. Just... Perfect.

And so she headed inside the barracks, and groaned at what she saw. Stupid uncomfortable military beds, stupid combat uniforms. It was a good thing she hadn't brought any of her clothes she actually liked out here, only bringing the clothes she wore whenever she had to exercise. The three of her grabbed beds next to each other, all quickly changing into the stupid combat uniforms from her exercise clothes. She didn't like military clothing, it... Brought her down, as it were. She should be able to wear what she wanted and be able to choose the circumstances to fit that.

The three of her ended up sitting on the bed in the middle of the three they'd claimed, scowling and glaring at the world around them.

[Impeck]

Aaron Cartier
Lille, France
These last two weeks have been shit, Aaron thought as he wandered around the barracks. Aaron was not handling the countless nukes that dropped well at all. He had nearly had a mental breakdown the day of, and was pretty close to having one now. The villains were what he called "invasive species", heartless egotistical idiots who had no clue about the democratic process. There was no reason why he wouldn't fight to take France back. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to bring the homicidal idiots that caused the mass homicide to justice.

After brooding a bit more, Aaron figured that he probably needed to talk to someone and share the burden. Besides, he should get to know his team. He strode outside and saw a black haired woman (Sage) sitting down. I'll probably be able to talk to her just fine, Aaron thought. After walking towards her, Aaron opened a conversation. "I really wish we could just un-shit this shit."

[Wulf Da Guy]

Artemis Hunter
Nighthawk
France

Artemis had expected to feel something, fear, anger, anything, just something. Yet he hadn't felt a thing, just like they said he wouldn't. Arty even tried to enrage himself over the loss of life, yet he felt as peace. As to why he wondered if his upbringing and their preparation for a war like this somewhat soothed him.

Made him feel as if he were at home, Artemis only made it up to the barrack doors before he began to rummage through his bags. Artemis sure as hell wasn't going to wear an average uniform, no he had a variant of his average one all prepared. However, instead of switching into all of his combat equipment just yet, Artemis pulled off his shirt and put on his chest plate. As well as ensuring he had his pistols on him.

Ever since the attack at the gala, he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere without being armed. After he put on his chest plate, and secure his sidearms. Artemis went into the barracks. Where he not too long after began to combine bits of armor with the average military uniform, of course, that would only serve him while he was within the base.

As he nearly finished, he heard a voice he hadn't in over a decade. 'Spartan, I see you've done as we expected.' At first, Artemis nearly jumped, but he quickly recalled watching his father rip the mans head off with a single punch.

'Eu posso estar em guerra, mas não estou em casa.' Artemis replied in his native tongue, speaking loud enough for anyone another him to hear. 'Nor are you real my friend. Simply a dead man plaguing my mind. Saia antes que outro Hunter mate você.' He said once more, blocking out the man before he spoke again.

And with that Artemis would soon seek his fellow cadets, before his mind began to play with him once more. Namely that certain pretty girl he'd seen not too long ago.

[Durmatagno]

Sage Wilder/Sage Knight/William Wilder
Lille, France


"Otro momento silencioso en ruinas..."

Sage sighed as her brooding time, because yes, that's what it was, was interrupted.

"First, that's a really bad way of summing up this situation. Second, couldn't you tell I wanted one last quite moment before the shit hits the fan for us personally? Third, why do you just walk up to people like that, it's a crap first impression?"

Sage said as she stood up, rising to full height, standing just slightly taller than Aaron in front of her, eyes narrowed in annoyance. Things were already had to get bad enough, and now Sage was surrounded by people that had no concept of personal space. This was going to greeeeat.

"So, what do you want?"