Villain Protagonist: From Ashes [IC]

[Forest State]

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OOC Thread

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January 21st, 2024

It seemed like a regular day at Phoenix Atoll. The sun rose over the missile silos and cast a light over them from the east, the campus area coming to life as it did so. Of course, this was a regular day but it was anything but a regular campus. A regular college campus didn’t have a fenced in airfield that was guarded by 12,000 pound guns which would fill anyone who came too close to them with rapid fire 20mm ammunition. Or missile silos that, while they weren’t clearly marked, were somewhat obvious in terms of what they were. It was clear that they weren’t grain silos, after all. The security around them was a bit too strong for that.

Most colleges also didn’t have armed guards patrolling the area with battle rifles, ready to put lead into anyone who caused a problem. But then again, the vast majority of colleges didn’t have the kind of students that this one had, some of whom were walking superweapons and others of which could probably destabilize a country through more subtle means if they were given enough time to work with. Phoenix Academy wasn’t your ordinary school, whatsoever. Nor was it a school that you could apply for, or one that anyone outside of it knew about. For now, it didn’t officially exist. Anyone here had been invited, and they weren’t here because they had filled out some application.

But those guards weren’t there to police every dispute, and it was far from that. This was a rough place, one where the school didn’t always jump in because of certain things happening. Assaults were broken up and the perpetrators were punished… If they happened in public places. Antisocial behavior was not tolerated… If it happened in front of the staff. Some areas, like the dorm hallways and the bathrooms in class buildings, were the wild west. No cameras, no evidence, and therefore, no punishment. The same applied to things that happened in the woods to the north of the campus.

As the sun rose and the campus started waking up in the morning, an announcement in a monotone voice blared over the speakers that were mounted to the lights around the campus. Probably something that was being read from a sheet of paper by some intern, who was completely bored with this assignment that involved being stuck on a remote island in the west Pacific, with no contact with family or other regular people. “Attention, students of Section B… This is a reminder that you have thirty minutes until your Theory class. Missing this class will result in punishment, as will being late. Attendance will be taken, so make sure that you are in your seats by the time class begins.”

The announcement ended like that. It meant that it was an important class, one that the school really wanted butts in the seats for, or they wouldn’t have made the threat explicit. Not that they didn’t have punishments for skipping classes at other times. They definitely did, the threat just wasn't always as obvious as it was now, and just about nobody at the academy would want to miss this class and suffer the punishment that had been mentioned. Punishments around here tended to be a bit stricter than just detention, after all.

But for now, everyone would have a bit of time to wake up and get ready before they would be required to be in their seats.

[Skaldia]

Rykanos Au'valo aka Fury

"Oh, now now little lady, it's nothing like that. You heard the intercom. Hand me my pants will ya?" The girl handed Rykanos his pants and he shrugged in to them with as much grace as someone almost as tall as seven foot could. The blue jeans had a ripped hole in the knee and stains that looked like old blood on the thighs but they fit, and for Rykanos, that was pretty much all that matters. The woman in his bed, a waitress that had been hanging at the Academy Bar last night in her off time, was giving him a surly look, pouting lip and soft glare, that told Rykanos that the fun had come to an end.

"Will I see you again?" She said plaintively, once she realized that her surliness was like water on stone for Rykanos.

Buttoning his pants, he leaned over and ran his index finger along her neck and up to the bottom of her chin to her lips, brushing the skin but barely and eliciting a shiver from the woman."The fun's over sweetheart." He said with sudden mischief in his eyes, moving out of the way of the halfhearted punch she threw at him, surprise and barely concealed hurt contorting her features.

Pretending to ignore the hurt, he slipped on a shirt and walked over to the nightstand, grabbing his pack of cigarettes and grabbing the bottle of gentleman jack that graced it. Opening it up, he took a halfhearted swig. The burn of the alcohol was like a stimulant for him, opening his sleep-full eyes and running through his body like a crackle. Putting down the bottle, he gave a mocking bow to the girl and strode from the room without another thought of her.

If he saw her later, he hoped it would be long enough for her to have moved on to someone else.

He exited the dorms to find the hated sun waiting for him. Glaring up at it in his semi-inebriated state, he put his head down, brushed long strands of raven black hair behind his ears, and trudged as quickly as possible to the classrooms but not so fast as to draw undue attention to himself. A difficult proposition, considering his size and the obvious Cyenthan features. Theory. What the bloody fuck were they going to talk about now? He thought with his normal brusqueness.

The trip to the classrooms were blessedly brief and finding the right one not too difficult. When entering the classroom, he discovered he was fashionably early. Taking a desk near the back, he slouched down in to it and scanned the room. Once satisfied, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes, tapped them on his palm and pulled out a fresh one. He took out his bic and lit it, savoring the pull of the smoke in to his lungs, and expelling out from his nose like some dragon. He looked up at the phosphorescent lights, watching the smoke dance in the harsh light, and waited for his peers to join him.

Kestos Illrion aka Void

To any passerby who peeked in to the room, they would see an empty and austere bedroom, lights off and appearing empty. Kestos wouldn't blame them for assuming that. He had been Sumere for over three hours, watching the Sun rise from his bedroom window, and hardly moving in that entire time. While in Sumere the natural world was a shadow, edges blurring and solidifying randomly and at odd moments. The Sun rising in Sumere had been a black hole of dark light, prisms of darkness stabbing through the fog that made up the world while in Sumere. For Kestos, it had been a stunning sight, and gave him hope for his eventual goals.

While he could teleport to the classrooms and save himself the trouble of walking, he preferred walking in the open while invisible to the world around him. Reaching out, he touched the window and was amused to observe the effects when 'touching' something in Sumere. The shadows that permeated everything seemed to retract from his touch, almost as if the world was magnetic and were reacting to the polarity of his touch. He knew that, while in Sumere, he couldn't actually effect the physical world, but the physical world reacted to his presence regardless. It was an interesting concept that he would have to explore further once his goals here had been reached.

With the thought running through his mind, he left the darkened bedroom and made his way out of the building, just in time to avoid the giant Cyenthan marching out by him. As per usual, the Cyenthan had the appearance of being drunk and a lout, so no surprises there. He hadn't even sensed the presence of Kestos, which was unsurprising. While in Sumere he was almost undetectable by most normal means. Sure, there were a few students that could sense his presence or actually see him, but for the most part he went undetected. Which was fine by him. Part of the allure of his powers were the ability to go unnoticed. Combined with his wealth and he had enjoyed relative anonymity compared to most other meta-humans.

On Academy Atoll, that privilege had been shirked from him and he still resented it's loss. It was a loss he suffered in silence, as was his wont when dealing with any negative. He could endure long periods of suffering as long as he kept his eye on the target and attained his goals. Nothing on this island would stop him from accomplishing his mission. He would endure and rise stronger than he was. It wasn't just probable, it was inevitable.

Despite taking his time in a leisurely stroll towards the classrooms, Kestos' quick no-nonsense pace let him reach them only minutes after Rykanos had entered. Slipping in to the classroom, he took a position in the very far back corner and observed as others began filing in to the room, making sure to avoid the awful smell and stink of Rykanos and his cigarettes as he did so.

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

It was always a strange thing, waking up. She always found herself pleasantly surprised whenever she did so, half-expecting to wake up and discover a knife sprouting from her ribs or something similar. She rolled out of bed, feet sliding out of the covers and onto the floor as she let the momentum carry her into a standing position.

Her room was just as she'd left it when she'd gone to sleep the night before, nothing at all out of place. The announcement said thirty minutes, which meant she had twenty four. Those six remaining minutes were a safety margin.

Normally she'd get breakfast now, but she had no food in her room, and the caferteria wouldn't be serving breakfast until after class. Stupid schedules. Food was the most important thing. Followed by clothes and cleanliness, but since she had a good half an hour, well, she could take her time. And so she assembled her dress uniform, placing it all on the ground outside her little bathroom before she showered. That took a few minutes before she emerged, still dripping slightly, and dressed herself. The white blouse and black skirt went on first, followed by the rest of it. She didn't know why they insisted on the cream jacket or the black sweater, they made it a bit warm, but such was life. She'd grown up in Tunis, she could deal with heat just fine.

She pulled her boots on, black high-heeled things with golden studs, and left with plenty of time to spare. The walk across campus was always something... Oddly tense for her, eyes darting around, looking for anything threatening, anything at all. This place was full of villains, after all, villains with powers, and what did she have by comparison?

But she made it to class just fine and walked in slowly with several minutes to spare, not glancing at those who were already there as she slid into her seat. Classes were easy for her, and she had to be the best, because skills were all she had. And if she let herself get trumped anywhere, well, that was the beginning of the end for her.

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Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

It was something of a running joke in the Margaryan family that Mari slept like a hibernating bear. In this case, that meant waking up when the announcement came on, glancing at her watch and deciding she could have a lie-in for a bit.

Naturally, said lie-in lasted for longer than a bit, and so she bolted upright in panic, eyes darting for her watch. Right, six minutes. No time for anything fancy, speed was of the emphasis. She dressed quickly, pulling a black vest top over her head, a pink skirt up over her legs and black trainers before sprinting off like a rocket, following her power and the 'fastest route to my chair that doesn't go through a window.' The campus zipped by her, a blur in motion as she weaved around obstacles, trusting in her power to guide her past anything before she came to a halt in front of the classroom door, not even breathing heavily as she casually waltzed in with less than a minute to spare, as if nothing was wrong, and took her seat.

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

January 21st, Morning in the Section B

Three months had arrived and pasted but the strictness of Phoenix Academy remained the same. Oktoberfest, Christmas, New Years; they were all celebrated with beer and rest is history. Its not like the Academy cared about holidays at all to stop her from honoring her memories with her father. If the announcement stirred Maria in her sleep, then it would be her dove that woke her up.

"Hippocrates...." Maria groaned as her bird made a nest on her golden blonde hair. "Weg von mir! (Get off me)" She turned her head to face the ceiling as Hippocrates peck at her forehead. His feathers was whiter than blank paper thanks to his owner's regular cleaning. "Guten Morgen (Good Morning)..." she greeted her bird by brushing his head with her thumb.

Getting off of her bed, Maria took off her oversized pajama shirt, one of the few shirts she was that her father worn, and walked to the bathroom in her pink underwear. The sunlight shone in her room highlighted her pale fair skin and luscious hair. She grabbed her electric toothbrush and went to work cleaning her teeth, the kind of teeth that would make every dentist and orthodontist proud. Her sapphire rich eyes stared intently at the mirror as Maria quickly brush her hair before changing to her black schoolgirl attire complete with matching stockings and turquoise necktie and ribbons.

The entire time, Hippocrates was watching on the desk as usual at his master preparing for another day. On top of the desk was syringes, scalpel knives, some empty jars, and a notebook that used to belong to Maria's father. Given his field of being a respected surgeon and medical specialist before being reduced to madness, the notebook contained much of his private experiments and discoveries. Thanks to his mentorship, maria was able to read and perform the procedures detailed in the book with competence.

"Auf Wiedersehen(Goodbye) Hippocrates! Watch the room for me!" Maria waved at her bird, accidentally switching to English with her German accent.

Decorated with her logo of a skinned man on the red Star of Life painted in her blood on the outside, Maria locked her dorm door and sprinted down the hall to her class with a cheerful attitude on her face. "Good morning!" Maria greeted out happily as she arrived at the classroom. Rot Augen Maria thought, looking at Rykanos. Since she was the second to arrive(due to Kestos being invisible), Maria took her seat near the front and center.

"Hello, Stahlwolf!" Maria addressed towards Aella though she ignored Maria's courtesy as she brushed past the blonde.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Leopold Meckler- The Lepidopterist

"Fünf... Vier... Drei..."

The intercom crackling to life caused Leopold to lock himself into the upward position of his push-ups to listen to the droning message. Leopold let out a short, breathy laugh as he finished his last two reps. They were probably trying to catch them all off guard. Not the first time they had attempted that trick, and there was a sneaking suspicion that it defiantly wouldn't be the last. But they were going to have to try a little more specifically to trip Meckler up. He was breathing heavily as he sat up on his knees. He had woken up a little earlier than he planned, making his regimented hour of morning exercise slightly more grueling, but he welcomed the challenge.

It seemed the peaceful solace and mental meditation of his routine had to come to an end. Leopold's bed, the sole object in the room aside from a few weights, seemed to break apart into physical pixels of varying sizes. They swirled through the air along with the pixelated metal dumbbells, coming together and forming a silvery cube in the center of the now barren room. Satisfied with the organization, Leopold stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. He was already shirtless which made the process easier as his sweatpants and remaining clothing dissolved into thin air.

The shower came to life under the influence of Leopold's telekinesis and he stepped in. He treated it with machine-like precision. Every movement working towards his goal. Once he was sufficiently clean, Leopold stepped out and the water immediately whisked off his skin. The microscopic particles of clothing he kept hidden in the air around him moved towards his body. The school's uniform took form once again on his body, and in a matter of seconds he was dressed without ever moving a muscle except to lift his foot for the sole of the dress shoes to form. Leopold checked his appearance by pulling some aluminum from the center cube and making a quick mirror on the wall. He was satisfied and the aluminum flew back to the cube as he made for the exit.

"No time for food. Wunderbar," Leopold muttered sarcastically. He focused on his palm as he waked towards the exit of the dorms. He began pulling carbon, water, and various trace elements together. He formed cellulose, glucose, fructose, and several other organic compounds. An object began to take shape in his hand like it was coming from a 3D printer, but from every direction at once. When he stepped through the doors of the dormitory, there was a red apple resting in his hand. He took a bite and it tasted sweet, "but not quite 'apple'." He thought to himself. There was something wrong with the texture and the proportion of compounds. Regardless, he was hungry so he continued to munch away as he walked with a brisk pace to class.

Leopold flashed his classically smug smile as he entered the room. He took a seat near the middle of the room and looked back to face Rykanos and Aella. "Apple?" He asked, presenting another replica of the fruit. He also looked towards Maria and gave a slight tilt of his head, extending the offer to her as well through body language. He had made some adjustments and wanted to see if he had gotten closer to the real thing.

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Dixon & Harrell

"LATE!"

Dixon bolted up right in his bed. The thought had screamed through his head, jolting him from an already fitful sleep. His hair was a mess and he was wiping drool from the corner of his mouth. He felt tired, a sign Harrell had been up all night. It had to have been Harrell getting his attention, right? Dixon rubbed his eyes and looked at the walls of the room. The one farthest from the door had writing scribbling on it, beginning just above the limit of Dixon's reach and slowly tracking down towards the floor. It looked like a kindergartner had gone to town with a black crayon, and the truth wasn't far off. Dixon's eyes wandered the newest message.

"You have a class in 12 minutes-H."

"Fucking bastard," Dixon growled as he quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt he scooped off the floor. He had to do a double take when he pulled the shirt over his head. Among the sea of wrinkled clothes on the floor there was underwear that didn't belong to him. Or his gender. "You motherfucker," Dixon fumed as he hurried toward the door pulling his boots on. He didn't bother unlacing them, which would prove to cost more time than it saved as he hobbled down the hall before breaking into a sprint.

He was nearly exhausted as he made it to the building the classes were held in. But he was going to make it. Barely. He took another step toward the door and a blur and a gust of wind nearly sent him scrambling. "Fucking useful powers," He mumbled as he shuffled to the door.

[Talchyon]

January 21st, 2024

It seemed like a regular day at Phoenix Atoll. The sun rose over the missile silos and cast a light over them from the east, the campus area coming to life as it did so. Of course, this was a regular day but it was anything but a regular campus. A regular college campus didn’t have a fenced in airfield that was guarded by 12,000 pound guns which would fill anyone who came too close to them with rapid fire 20mm ammunition. Or missile silos that, while they weren’t clearly marked, were somewhat obvious in terms of what they were. It was clear that they weren’t grain silos, after all. The security around them was a bit too strong for that.

Most colleges also didn’t have armed guards patrolling the area with battle rifles, ready to put lead into anyone who caused a problem. But then again, the vast majority of colleges didn’t have the kind of students that this one had, some of whom were walking superweapons and others of which could probably destabilize a country through more subtle means if they were given enough time to work with. Phoenix Academy wasn’t your ordinary school, whatsoever. Nor was it a school that you could apply for, or one that anyone outside of it knew about. For now, it didn’t officially exist. Anyone here had been invited, and they weren’t here because they had filled out some application.

But those guards weren’t there to police every dispute, and it was far from that. This was a rough place, one where the school didn’t always jump in because of certain things happening. Assaults were broken up and the perpetrators were punished… If they happened in public places. Antisocial behavior was not tolerated… If it happened in front of the staff. Some areas, like the dorm hallways and the bathrooms in class buildings, were the wild west. No cameras, no evidence, and therefore, no punishment. The same applied to things that happened in the woods to the north of the campus.

As the sun rose and the campus started waking up in the morning, an announcement in a monotone voice blared over the speakers that were mounted to the lights around the campus. Probably something that was being read from a sheet of paper by some intern, who was completely bored with this assignment that involved being stuck on a remote island in the west Pacific, with no contact with family or other regular people. “Attention, students of Section B… This is a reminder that you have thirty minutes until your Theory class. Missing this class will result in punishment, as will being late. Attendance will be taken, so make sure that you are in your seats by the time class begins.”

The announcement ended like that. It meant that it was an important class, one that the school really wanted butts in the seats for, or they wouldn’t have made the threat explicit. Not that they didn’t have punishments for skipping classes at other times. They definitely did, the threat just wasn't always as obvious as it was now, and just about nobody at the academy would want to miss this class and suffer the punishment that had been mentioned. Punishments around here tended to be a bit stricter than just detention, after all.

But for now, everyone would have a bit of time to wake up and get ready before they would be required to be in their seats.

Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

The thick black eyeliner underscored the young man's eyes and the bags under them. His partially bleached, partially dark unkempt hair had been moussed straight up, though it remained unruly. Even with the heat, he still chose to wear black slacks, black shirt, black coat, black shoes and socks, and for today. Hmm. He chose a bright orange tie. Scrutinizing the character one more time in the mirror, Rick Chevalis decided he looked intimidating enough.

And it was then that the loudspeakers went off. Just in time for school. The man in the mirror got a creepy grin, just as Rick himself got one, too.

This school was nuts. So far, it was doing its best to pass as a prison, and it rubbed him the wrong way. Guards with guns everywhere. Cameras, too. Not the best way to increase your school spirit. If this place had such a thing. Even though they had been brought to who the hell knows where, some remote, uninhabited island somewhere close to Gilligan for all Rick knew, it was here that he and the others of this school would be trained and sent out. The students he had seen, had only been seen in passing. But now. Ha. First day. Big deal. Rick Chevalis had been lucky to be a straight "C" student before in school, and had gotten through, mostly because none of the other high school teachers wanted to keep him around an extra year. So they shuffled him on to the next grade despite the fact that Rick could never answer test questions about Suleiman, Genghis Khan, or what a quadrilateral was.

Something told Rick this place was going to be a far cry from anything he had seen before.

Skipping breakfast was second nature. He had done that for many years when various foster homes wanted only a government check but not the responsibility of feeding the mouths that came with them. Rick sauntered down to the room, and stood outside. He was toying with not going in. Standing right in the doorway but not entering the classroom. Leaning against the side of the wall and looking annoyed. Doing just enough to disobey the rules. He wondered what the discipline was that the loudspeaker had so monotonously announced for not being at the class, and if they would enforce it on him or let him slide. If they let him slide, it meant he could push even more boundaries and he'd know that the assholes in charge did not mean what they said. But if they did mean it, and broke out the discipline? Whatever it was, well, so what. It wouldn't be the first time Rick would be in trouble. He'd survive it. And it would show everyone and their dog that Rick Chevalis wasn't the kind of person you could just order around, if he didn't see the need for it.

Not only would Rick survive the discipline. He'd show people a thing or two. He couldn't fail at anything he put his will to. And in the case, it meant pushing boundaries and seeing where people were at.

[Forest State]

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev, Beatriz "Machina" Ortega

The staff seemed a bit agitated today. And that wasn’t really something that was good for any of the students here, since the staff could be rough enough on a good day. At least, they seemed agitated as Beatriz Ortega and Rolan Alekseev made their way to the classroom, talking about something that the students wouldn’t have heard about yet. There were a lot of things that happened behind the scenes, that the students weren’t privy to, and this was one of them. But whatever it was, it was serious, or so it seemed.

“Then tell the big shots to go fuck themselves. I don’t give a fuck, if they disagree they can send boots down here themselves and make these orders themselves,” Beatriz said, both her body language and her tone making it clear that she was indeed as angry as her choice of words made her sound. Pretty much anyone that was too close to her path backed off at that moment, as she made her way through the hallways along with Apex. None of the support staff wanted to get into it with her at the moment.

“You know, it’s not my call. I’m simply going with what Selina says they told her. You want to change things, you have to win over Selina, but I doubt that’s going to work because we both know that she has her own agenda in all of this… And this plays right into that agenda if she plays her cards right. She’s the one calling the shots here and even if this is bullshit she has more of a motive to go for it than anyone here does, you know that and I know that but we aren’t exactly in a position to change it,” Apex replied, stopping when they got closer to where the Section B students were filing into the classroom.

“Just because Selina is going along with it doesn’t mean that all of us do. Some of us give a shit about our jobs, even if she’s on a power trip right now,” Beatriz stated, also stopping. “And you’re right. I don’t think that even I can stop another Selina power trip. Even if we’re fucked if this one ends up happening.”

Apex just slapped Beatriz on her metal arm, starting towards the classroom. “We’ll talk about this later… We can either sit around and bitch about it, or we can work on making this thing less of a clusterfuck. I choose to do my best to avoid the clusterfuck and get the best out of the situation,” he said, before heading towards the room where Theory class was happening. It was then that he noticed the one student that was standing around the entrance, not going in and generally… Looking a bit too defiant. Defiance was encouraged, sometimes, at a place like this. But not on a day like this, and not this openly. Defiance was something that should be a bit more subtle than this.

The Russian didn’t even bother saying anything when he punished Rick. This wasn’t the kind of crime where the victim would be told what they had done wrong, and punished with something like solitary confinement or a public beating. No, the punishment would be straight and to the point, and wouldn’t stretch on for long. There were other things to worry about, but something like this wouldn’t simply be ignored. Apex simply picked up Rick by the throat, slamming him down into the ground with enough intensity that it would shatter the tiles below and create a person shaped crater where Rick had landed.

As if that wasn’t enough, Apex would add a swift kick to the side of the head while his opponent was still downed. “Do not repeat this stunt,” he warned, staring down at Rick before proceeding to the inside of the classroom and sitting down to prepare for the class. Although, there were more things on the instructor’s mind than just theory. That was really the last thing that was important at the moment, even if it was the only thing that the students knew about at the moment.

[Talchyon]

Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

Getting grabbed by the throat was unexpected. So was getting slammed into the ground. Professor Alekseev, or Apex, was tough enough. Rick was surprised, but with his adaptive mind, not stunned into a mental paralysis. His mind racing, he did what he could to soften the landing. It seemed that the best course was to straighten his back, and have the damage be spread out over everything. Better that than bruising a bone, or worse, breaking one of them. Straigthtening his back seemed to help. The floor hurt, but not as much as his neck was. That was going to be sore.

Even on the floor, Rick's adaptive mind was working overtime. Fighting against a professor had serious consequences, and Apex was no laughing stock. Doing any kind of move against a professor would be suicidal. So the best action to do was no action. That meant Rick took the kick to the head full on. And it hurt. A lot. A tiny amount of blood spilled out at the impact site. But his head seemed alright, other than the metal band drummer using the inside of his skull for trap set practice.

The professors had gone in, pissed off. And slowly, Rick sat up, not in defiance, but in hurt. And stumbled his way into the classroom. He spoke no words, nor gave any expression of suffering any kind of shame. Just kept his poker face on, and took a spot close to the door that was thankfully still empty.

Guess he knew now what the limits were. But sometimes you have to push boundaries.

[Forest State]

Mitsuri "Shogun" Hayabusa

Monsters. Monsters surrounded Mitsuri as she stood in the dark forest. Monsters that she knew she was immune to, but even so, they were almost just as intimidating. They couldn’t kill you unless you let them, but if you allowed them to strike fear into you, you could do that without ever intending to. Mitsuri didn’t show that fear, and she stood still, blade appearing in her hand as she watched on and kept her arms to her side, not panicking or turning to run. Glowing red eyes cut through the fog covering the forest, and the beasts started to move closer. Still, Mitsuri stood still.

Her heart was racing under her shirt, but she didn’t move and show that. If she stayed as still as a statue, she wouldn’t shake and show her hand. If she didn’t look down or away, they wouldn’t sense any fear because of her eyes. Mitsuri took a deep breath in, and then out. A deep and slow breath where she was careful not to move too sharply, something else that would be an indicator of fear. She had sweating palms, but those were covered up too, by her blade in one hand and by her other hand being closed up into a fist. If they wanted to sense some kind of weakness in her, they were going to have to look deeper than this.

The monsters lunged into action, and Mitsuri moved nearly just as fast. One of them tried jumping into her but ended up getting impaled on her blade as she quickly shifted her right foot forward and brought her blade forward with it… That one seemed to be some kind of zombie dog, twisted by the dark plane and turned into something much more intimidating and beastly. Intimidating to most people, at least. Mitsuri knew that it couldn’t hurt her unless she let it, and she threw it off of her blade and stepped into an attack against the next monster, which was quite similar to the one that had jumped out on her.

Her swing was enough to take the head off the second one, but there was something else coming from behind her. A long tendril that she wouldn’t turn around in time to stop. It ended up digging into her shoulder, causing her pain, but she couldn't panic. Didn’t turn to face the thing and hack at it, because it would waste time and wouldn’t be very effective. Rather, she took advantage of the abundant dark energy in this place and used it to fire a massive concussive blast in the general direction of where the tendril was coming from. There was an explosion shortly afterwards, and the tendril went limp after something dropped dead behind the cover of the fog. Mitsuri was left with cuts, but not much else.

She could deal with cuts.

Something else jumped out at her before she could fully recover. You were never safe around here, really, and she was experiencing that firsthand. It was a being made of energy, but it was in the rough shape of a person and it was set on getting its clawed hands on her. Fuck that. She took one of the thing’s hands off with a sharp swing, as she backpedaled and tried to stay out of its range. It was fast, she would give it that much. But she was the more precise attacker, able to shear off limbs while the other thing had to get in close and connect with the claws. If she played this calmly, she would win-

It turned out there was another energy being, causing her to briefly recalculate her moves and cease her backpedaling. The first one was on her at that point, but she drove her blade straight through it and pushed it back with her hands while she ducked under the swing of the second one and then turned around to chop into its side, an expert move that she had picked up through experience. The first being, though, it wasn’t dead despite being impaled. That one took another swing at her, forcing her to chop the other hand off from the elbow as she went for another tight but aggressive swing. While the being was stunned, she hit it with a finishing blow that cut straight through the middle and sent the thing into two parts. She wasn’t sure if it was down and out at this point, but she could worry about the other two parts later.

Another zombie dog leapt at her, but she was able to throw up a wall of darkness just in time to vaporize the thing as it passed through. It did take her focus away long enough, however, to be knocked back by the second of the two dark beings she had been fighting earlier. The bastards moved quicker than one would think, and all it took was one second off guard for them to floor you. The being brought its own claws close to Mitsuri’s face, but she stabbed upwards before it could rip at her and impaled the thing. She drove the blade as deep as she could before allowing a second to appear in her free hand, stabbing that one into the being too before crawling backwards as fast as she could. It was a gamble, but fortunately, it was one that worked.

She watched the being collapse onto its back, and called the blades back to herself. There had been other monsters in this forest, but it seemed that her actions had scared them off. She let the blades disapparate back to the dark energy they were made of, and then ran deeper into the forest along the road that she was standing on. The fog made it impossible to see what was further down the road, but she had some idea. It was the reason why she was here, even. She continued down the road and stopped when she saw a figure in the fog, the one that she was looking for.

“I found you, now help me find who I’m looking for,” she demanded. Maybe a little too harshly. The being said nothing at first, and she couldn’t even make out anything other than the figure of the being through the fog. But then, it turned around and the attack was much more sudden than she could have predicted. It didn’t leave her with time to strike back, or form a defense, or even bring back the weapons she had held before. No, she was knocked back, and she felt the world around her start to fade away from what should have been a lethal blow. She wasn’t quite sure that kind of blow she had just taken, but she knew it had done major damage, whatever it was.. Enough damage to knock her out of this realm entirely, as she felt the rush of air around her and the feeling of being stuck in limbo as she went back to the land of the living.

***

Sometime after Mitsuri awoke from her journey in the dark plane, there was an announcement to get up and head to class or there would be some kind of punishment. Great. She found herself pretty sore when she woke up, as if the injuries she had sustained in the fight were real. Well, they were real in a way, but they shouldn’t apply to this realm. She hurt less because of the injuries, and more because of exerting herself in the other realm and pushing herself as far as she could go.

She rolled out of bed and went through her morning routine quickly, lamenting the lack of alcohol before heading out to get to the classroom. Day drinking was usually something advised against, but if she had access to it, she’d usually slip herself at least a little bit of alcohol before the time came to do anything important. That wasn’t possible now, as none of the students had earned any money yet to order anything. And the school didn’t exactly let anyone walk into the storerooms and take what they wanted. They could be broken into, but it was stupidly risky, so there was little point in even bothering to try.

She met up with Breeze Beverley in the hallway, hitting her in the arm to get her attention. “Had another dark plane adventure that ended in the same way that the first one did. Managed to get further this time but the same shit happened in the end. I’ll make sure to tell you and Blake all about it after class,” she said to the brunette, leaning in close to speak just to her rather than anyone else. What they were saying wasn’t exactly something she wanted to spread around to everyone.

“All I’ll say is don’t fuck one of these things up someday, the dark plane… Isn’t a nice place,” shrugged Breeze, as they neared the classroom. “I’ve heard some stories about it. Just make sure you can handle yourself there is all I’m saying, especially with the kind of shit you’re messing with these days.”

Mitsuri just nodded, without another word. They'd talk about it later, like she had said. For now, she went into the classroom and took her spot. It was best to not be late on a day like this, when they were specifically told that there would be punishments for that. At the very least, it meant that something out of the ordinary was going on right now.

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

She noticed Apex and Rick out of the corner of her eyes, but paid the situation no mind other than letting out a small breath. Idiot. Rule number one of survival was you never tested the rules of survival or indeed any rules whatsoever. There was no gain from testing them, and only punishments from doing so. But if someone else wanted to try and test them by pulling some stupid stunt, well, she wasn't going to stop them.

Anyone here who died was one less potential threat to her after all. One less hand to watch for a knife.

She turned back to face the front. Even though he'd been an idiot here, sometimes it was the idiots that were the most dangerous. You never knew when they might do something... Stupid and unpredictable.

---

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

She'd barely made it with seconds to spare, slumping over forwards in her seat, resting her hands on her crossed arms, hair cascading over and down the back of her chair in a mess. The sound of someone slamming into the floor, tiles shattering under the force, and followed by the distinctive sound of flesh being kicked, served as a brutal if poignant reminder of why although she might cut morning lessons fine, she was without fail always there on time.

By a few seconds, yes, but always on time by the letter of timings, and that was what mattered. She yawned into her desk. Urgh, why did this have to be before breakfast and more importantly before coffee? She needed her caffeine goddamnit.

[Okayanos]

Alvagoth Akafiloga

Sanguine Morningstar

"Come on, baby, you knew this wasn't going to be a serious thing." Alvagoth purrs, simultaneously cruel and soothing in the way that only a demon could be. The wide, baby blue eyes staring back at him are filled with nothing but purity, tainted with sadness and betrayal. He's seen the look a hundred times. "Don't give me those eyes, baby girl. We don't gotta never meet again." He leans down and presses his face against the other's head, kissing her softly and venomously all at once. Brown hair tickles his nose as he does it. "But for now, get your cute little self skedaddling." The demon commands.

The little brown, blue-eyed stray cat that he'd been bonding with meows at him, clearly not understanding a word of what he's said. "Lillie, I mean it. I can't bring you to class, and I can't have you being seen 'round here with me." Lil simply pushes her little cat head against him and lightly purrs. Alvagoth more or less pouts with discontentment as this little creature disobeys him. He pushes the sharp nails of his left hand against his palm until blood is drawn, smoking a luminescent purple color as it comes out of him. He holds the fistful of smoke for a moment, then, Swoosh, throws it at Lillie. The cat vanishes in a puff of the same, removed from his presence and blasted off to Lucifer knows where.

Freed of his feline friend, Alvagoth dresses himself- as much as he usually does, that is. His long, red, patterned coat with the moons and stars all over it, worn over a bare chest and a bit of pirate-y, circus-y, swashbuckler-y pants. No point in dressing normal when you're purple. He gives himself a moment of consideration, pure red eyes focusing on the self-inflicted cut on his palm. With a resigned sigh, he turns his cut hand so that the palm faces downward, and so- clatter- two curved, red-hilted swords drop seemingly out of thin air. He affixes them at his sides, such that he'd blend in perfectly with the rest of the emotastic, edgy crowd. Funny that a big purple demon with magic swords, a peacock tattoo, and a fancy coat blend in to a crowd so well.

Alva makes his way through the student crowds, clearly prepared to do something stupid and unpredictable. He leaps up onto his designated desk within the classroom, turning himself towards the few other gathered members of the academy. He gives them a nice, sweeping, very low bow- just enough that he can see his chair behind himself. With a puff of smoke, he vanishes from view- and reappears barely a second after, sitting in his chair and waving the residue of his teleportation aside as though nothing at all had happened.

"I'll take that apple, if it's all the same to you." He speaks up towards Leopold, as his wonderful demon nose catches a whiff of fruit.

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson
The Hype Man

Kane's eyes sprung open the second the announcement was made prompting him to yawn. Flinging his covers off revealed he was sleeping next to a pile of empty whisky bottles, before he went over to his bed side table and snorted the line of coke he prepared the night before, nothing like it to wake you up in a morning. After which he wiped his nose and downed the half bottle of Bells whisky on the same table, pulling another bottle out from one of it's draws. Kane filled a hip flask up with the cheap whisky as he walked towards the shower while whistling a cheerful tune to himself. After a brief shower Kane walked out and styled his hair, looked at his beard to make sure it didn't need to be touched up and winked to himself in the mirror "Damn, think I'll add that to the wank bank tonight" He said in a hushed way to himself before putting a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it up.

Kane threw his clothes on while he smoked before strolling out into the corridor, making sure he blew his second hand smoke in such a way that everyone got a nice breath of the stuff. He saw this as generous considering cigarettes were hard to come by and they should be grateful just to get a nose full of tobacco smoke...and cancer "Good morning everyone! Hey Amy, had a nice time last Saturday!" Kane called over to a brunette girl with bags under her eyes who scowled at Kane "Fuck you Kane you mother fu-" She began but was cut off when Kane flicked a cigarette butt at her and walked off laughing "You son of a bitch Kane just you wait..." Kane turned the corner and got out of ear shot of the angry girl as he made his way to class, eventually seeing Rick stand up from a heap in the ground and limp into class. There was a crater in the ground where he assumed he had been slammed into. Kane also walked into class and sat down at the seat right at the back where he rolled a piece of paper up and threw it at the back of Rick's head to get his attention "Oi Ricky! Bite off more than you could chew again lad?!" Kane yelled towards him, trying to ignore the purple guy trying to put on a weird show on his desk for some reason.

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

Given that Maria was in the front row and in the center column, she easily saw Rick's defiant attempt fail spectacularly. Dummkopf! (Idiot!) Maria shouted in her mind when she looked at her classmate get grabbed by the neck and slammed into a floor to create a crater. He should've known better, even after three months. However, the German's scorn for rick was replaced with mild pity when Apex kicked his head in. For second, it reminded her of the times she failed and suffered for it. When she saw drops of blood on the shattered floor, an urge woke up inside of Maria to give medical attention to Rick as fast as possible. But given his poker face, he doesn't seem concerned at the slightest as he took his seat near the door.

Meanwhile, that reckless performance distracted Maria from something even more personal: L was offering her an apple. Unfortunately, Alvagoth showed up to claim it first. Halbdämon Maria thought as she looked upon his purple skin and devil horns. As much as she wanted to study his half-demon biology, Maria's inner instincts told her to back off from approaching him. Waiting until Alvagoth took the fruit, Maria tugged lightly on L's sleeve to get his attention.

"Leopold?" Maria asked quietly in German, "Kann ich auch einen Apfel haben? (can I have an apple too?)"

[The Cyberiad Council]

Leopold Mecker- The Lepidopterist

Leopold tossed the apple with the aid of his telekinesis towards Alva, glad someone took him up on the offer. He would make it a note to see if he had any reactions to the recreation. The demon had a charisma and a bit of a stage presence. Both traits that made him feel a bit more difficult to manipulate in Leopold's eyes, but his demonstrated abilities made it seem like it would be worth the effort. Especially with Mitsuri to contend with. Magic was a bit too dangerous for him to want to deal with unless he had someone who could help even the playing field in his favor. Then there was Aella. She was intelligent, even more so that he was, but she was extremely guarded. Getting to her would be next to impossible. Mari raced into the room and Adam came in after her while Rick hovered by the door. Mari was quick, a good skill to have. Leopold made it a point to learn more about her. Adam seemed scattered, and agitated most of the time. L noticed he always tried to be alone, whispering to himself. That could possibly be signs of mental instability, and a potential opening. He had displayed skill with firearms, something Leopold himself wasn't.

A crash broke Leopold from his strategizing stupor and he snapped his head to the door to see Rick slammed into the tile. His smug grin returned to his face as he felt schadenfreude at Rick's humiliation. He seemed a bit too much of a hassle for the little team Leopold was trying to assemble in his head, and he hadn't shown any flashy abilities to indicate to Meckler that he was worth the effort. But he would do his due diligence and look into him further.

The slight pull on his sleeve caught his attention, and he turned to see Maria, and his smug smile took on a more friendly appearance. "Für dich, Fräulein Maria, natürlich." (For you, Miss Maria, of course,) Leopold replied in their native language as he held out his palm and rapidly generated the sugars, and pigments that made up the fruit. Her powers may prove invaluable to have on his side if he ever found himself injured. He quickly deposited it into her hand, but his eyes darted to the door to see the newest arrival. Kane fit into a similar category in his mind as Rykanos: Possibly useful.

[Darasthia]

Hua Xiaoting Drake "Grand Chariot" Han

---

"East is up, I'm fearless when I hear this on the low..."

At exactly 5:30, an LCD alarm clock emitted a cadence of shrill cacophonous sounds, reverberating throughout the dorm's four corners. A smooth, bony hand lazily brushes towards the edge of the dresser table, then softly grazes towards the sides of the alarm clock.

"East is up, I'm careless when I'm on my rebel clothes..."

After a second or two of seemingly caressing the alarm clock, it finally gripped the alarm clock by its side, raising it in a slope a few centimeters from the tabletop. A second later, the alarm clock suddenly ceases its shrilly cacophony. But her hand is way off the 'Off Alarm' switch.

"East is up, when bishops come together they will know that Dema don't control us, Dema don't control..."

Drake stretched like a dying chicken under a mess of tangling sheets and covers while covering a delicate yawn with a hand. In a quick motion, she rose at stretched even further, her balled fists trying to reach the ceiling, then relaxed herself in a crossed-legged sitting position, her sterile white covers spilling on her lap. Groggy, she tried to ponder something for a while before she could asleep again,

"East is up"

As if all of a sudden, flash of a thought occurred to her. [Well shit], she thought. She's going back to school, one more freaking time. But its not just some vanilla college like the Tsinghua or whatsoever. She was going back to college, situated in an atoll unknown to most people in the world. A college full of meta-humans just like her, but most likely even more dangerous and scarier than her. She thought about it, thinking about the scary strangers she would meet and what they'd do to her before deciding it was kinda kinky. She sprung out of her bed, paused her music player playing a Twenty One Pilots song, took off her headphones, then rushed to the bathroom for a shower, toothbrush and then a change of clothes.

Afterwards, Drake beheld herself in the to mirror atop the dresser table. She wore a gray-and-black bomber jacket festooned with geeky patches, black t-shirt & jeggings and a pair of red-and-white 1985 Nike Air Jordans. Her headphones drape around her neck. A few seconds later, she blew a puff of air at her mirror self and raised her heels, the soles of her shoes poofing on the floor afterwards. Before traveling to Phoenix Atoll, she had made the necessary preparations, such as removing an ultrathin tracking device on her passport provided by Global Shield. She already anticipated and knew the tracker was there since San Francisco thanks to her cyberpathic abilities and managed to embed it on a pizza delivery motorcycle wheel back in Busan. She pretty nervous and excited at the same time. It was a new environment after all, a school full of meta-humans like her.

[Today is your big day, Xiaoti- er, Drake,] she told herself at the mirror, her eyes fierce and persuasive. [You're gonna rock; hardcore!]That's what she said, flashing a rock-n-roll sign on both hands at her reflection, then abruptly laughing at herself thanks to her juvenile, perverted humor. A split second later, she reverts back to her fierce look,but this time, it had her signature idealistic, confident and brassy attitude, one that is looking for thrills just for the sake of thrills. Pointing at her reflection, she said, [Let's do this. Let's make some scary, cool, new friends], then bolted out of her room, towards the classroom.

"Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me..."

Drake broke out of her door, almost unhinging it, strutting like a familiar green ogre as she slammed the door closing it. She wore her headphones, playing a Smash Mouth song. She strutted towards the hallway then into the stairs leading downwards. There, she used the railings to slide down the stairs like a water park slide. Using her momentum, she dashed through the hallways after dislodging herself from the rails, letting out a whoop. She collided on a man carrying a stack of paperwork, almost stumbling. While she did keep herself from falling down and kept on going, the man unfortunately didn't. That man let out a string of curses as Drake continued careening towards her classroom, apologizing and flashing a peace sign as she went along.

"...Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid..."

Drake slowed down as she approached her classroom, but was stilling running very fast. Without thinking of what might happen next and totally oblivious of the tension inside the classroom, she used her momentum once more, sliding towards the door and kicking it like a total action hero, swinging it open. The door banged loudly as it hit the wall, and inadvertently got the attention of everyone inside.

[I totally DID NOT do that. TOTALLY didn't.]

[Auphelia]

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

She paced about her room, feeling her legs work to propel her forward. It seemed like such a simple task, yet it was something she had to work to get right. For over a year she had been unable to leave a single room, trapped in a state of agony and boredom of equal measure. While many at the academy were learning how to master hand to hand combat and long distance running, she had to practice how to walk, hold objects, and not exacerbate the mass organ failure that still wasn't entirely healed. The doctors had said an hour a day was her goal for this week, but ten minutes seemed close enough. Artfully staggering to her bed in a way that upset her fragile legs the least, she flopped down and reached for her case of pills. The red and blue ones were for the heart, the white was for her liver, orange for blood, green was for . . . she wasn't quite sure, but she had every colour of the rainbow and more to swallow every morning, midday, and evening. She was just glad she had never had problems with swallowing pills.

As she popped the last large purple capsule into her mouth and swallowed, the speakers crackled, signalling the beginning of the day. Theory class. She didn't mind it normally, though it seemed a bit pointless to her. Nonetheless, it was a class and if she didn't go to classes then she would be punished, and she knew that punishment was something she did not like in the least. She had never actually bothered to step out of line, but threats were enough to dissuade her. Just because she didn't understand what "right" and "wrong" were and was a "monster" that "brutally slaughtered hundreds of people" didn't mean she didn't care about anything! She did care about one thing: herself.

Preparing herself for the day, she shrugged out of the academy issued sleep wear and slipped into the academy issued day wear. Some of the other students wore their own clothes, but she didn't actually have any other clothes and found the academy uniforms were issued for a purpose. They were comfortable, allowed a full range of motion, and cooled very easily. In a word, they were the perfect combination of function and function, throwing style out the window and opting for a side of extra function. There were even these amazing little pockets everywhere, a relief in a world where women's clothes never had anywhere to store anything larger than a speck of dust. Fitting the last button in place on the sleeves, she brushed her hair to get it presentable and began to place her metal. She pushed two needles into her pierced ears and quickly grew a pair of chandelier earrings, put a coin to her neck and grew a necklace, and placed another needle to her right wrist and grew a bracelet. It was her daily ritual to practice and stretch her powers, and it helped her limber up for the day. Now it was time to really push it. She didn't know why, but she was feeling reckless and daring all of a sudden. Perhaps the most annoying thing about her life was how she could be sensible one moment and completely brash the next. It was infuriating, but she was a slave to her whims nonetheless. She picked up another needle and held it in front of her chest. Thin spikes of metal began to branch out from it, each forking out into more and more. Slow at first, the network of metal slowly encompassed his chest, travelling down as it wrapped around her waist and legs, then crawling around her shoulders and arms. Thin blades of metal rotated around her, fitting together in an interlocking weave. She grew several curling spikes out of her shoulders and waist, finishing with a tiara that looked like a thicket of metal thorns curling around her head. When she finished she had a ballgown style dress make of an interwoven latticework of needles and blades that slowly undulated, creating a hypnotic if not dizzying effect. It looked impressive, and served as a less weak looking cane. She had been given one by the academy staff, given her mobility issues, but preferred the dress. At least now no one could see when she let her legs go limp so she could effectively sit and rest while appearing to stand. It wasn't that she cared what others thought or even that she was too proud to appear weak. No. She knew that if any sign of weakness was given she would be set upon by a horde of jackals the staff called students.

Finished with her wardrobe, she made her way to class, stopping several times to rest. By the time she made it to the classroom nearly everyone was there. Seeing several empty spaces, she decided that the safest bet was to sit next to the female speedster one. While still a villain, that student didn't seem as irrational and likely to maim her as some of the others.

She then patiently began to wait for class to start, staring straight ahead and turning her mind to autopilot.

[Forest State]

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev

Once the classroom was filled up by the students of Section B, Apex stood up to gesture to the material written on the whiteboard… Mainly displaying different words related to the things that he was about to get into. Things about ideology, and the things that different groups within the Union of Villains fought for. “Everyone, I’m sure you know that our organization is not a monolith. You could even argue that the Union of Villains is not one group, but an alliance between a number of groups who have found out that it’s better to stick together and fight the authorities of the world than it is to battle each other and fall while divided. Within this alliance of groups, you will find a number of different philosophies, goals, and motives. That’s what we’re talking about in today’s class.”

“There’s a couple of prominent ideas that have risen to the top within the organization. One of them is anarchism, although this is very different than the kind of anarchism expressed by many regular humans as a political ideology. With metahumans, anarchism tends to revolve around dismantling the structures that have pushed many metahumans to the edge of society. Society has, at times, discriminated against metahumans. Those who have dangerous powers but are not in uniform as heroes are looked down on in many places. They may be avoided by peers, may find it hard to get a job, and can face ridicule… Even from family who do not understand their situation. Many of these people, after becoming outcasts, turn against the world entirely. If the system won’t accept them, they’ll tear down the system. This is the foundation of several groups, with Rage being the most notable one in the modern day,” Apex started.

“Anarchism, in this sense, has the goal of creating a more free society for metahumans by taking down society as a whole. It’s a philosophy not chosen by many, out of the overall numbers of metahumans around the world. Few resort to such drastic measures as crashing the entire system to get back at one part of it. However, these few have become very notable because of the damage they’ve managed to cause worldwide, and their tendency to stage high profile attacks against the systems that they want to take down. Anarchists have engaged in fights with governments, superheroes, and others, and they generally have a more broad style of attacking rather than going after carefully targeted goals. These broad attacks help their goals more than targeted strikes, leaving destruction in their wake and, at least temporarily, establishing the same kind of anarchy that they want to see worldwide. Groups such as Rage are well known for using these tactics and have caused damage in major cities with aggressive attacks targeted at wide areas. And each time, they have left lawlessness in their wake and given a taste of the world that they want to build,” Apex continued.

He then looked directly to the class. “We’ll get into the other main idea soon, the one that could be considered the opposite of anarchism. But first, I want to hear from the class. Do you believe that lawlessness would benefit the cause of metahumans, or do you believe that it would only be another setback? What do you believe are the pros and cons of the anarchist belief system? And can any of you name the most effective use of these scorched Earth tactics in recent memory?”

[Auphelia]

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev

He then looked directly to the class. “We’ll get into the other main idea soon, the one that could be considered the opposite of anarchism. But first, I want to hear from the class. Do you believe that lawlessness would benefit the cause of metahumans, or do you believe that it would only be another setback? What do you believe are the pros and cons of the anarchist belief system? And can any of you name the most effective use of these scorched Earth tactics in recent memory?”

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

Raising her hand and being acknowledges by a nod of the instructor's head, Katherine decided to let her opinions be known. Well, perhaps not her opinions, but the ones she had been told were good by other instructors and based on the general course this class had taken before.

"Lawlessness only helps the humans demonise us and creates a moral point for them to rally around as one. While this is not inherently bad for us, anarchy on our side does us no good, as out enemies are already semi-united. As has been shown throughout human history, a united force will always crush a disunited one. It was the same for the Greek city-states against Rome, the American natives against the Europeans, and nearly everyone else against Britain in the 19th century. The very foundation of the Union of Villains is that no groups could survive entirely on their own, which is the core of anarchism. If we decide to become disunited factions, even if we do not wage war on each other, it will reduce the power we have and one by one we would be extinguished. Anarchism in today's world simply cannot sustain itself. Of course, it would give us the ability to cut losses as we see fit and not deal with the extra weight that comes with large organisations that would slow us down, but overall the benefits are too good to pass on," she said, finally taking a breath. "The Battle of Sao Paulo was the most recent example of anarchists waging a large scale war. A local anarchic group known as the Loons caused the city to fall into anarchy after defeating Team Shield Brazil in a devastating ambush. The city burned for days and thousands died. Eventually Team Shield Brazil recuperated, but Sao Paulo has never been the same since. Nonetheless, I would argue this is an isolated incident. It happened over a decade ago and was one of the last of its kind. The very fact that we have not seen anything like this since is the perfect example of why anarchism doesn't work. Cooperation and mutual support is the best tactic to staying alive and relevant in order to make a platform to be heard. When society rejects you, the solution isn't to tear down society. The solution is to make a new society."

[Skaldia]

Rykanos Au'valo aka Fury

The first person to arrive was a lady, and instantly Rykanos perked up, giving her a grin as he continued to puff away at his cigarette. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was a shy little thing, which was just perfect for Rykanos. He liked them submissive. He was beginning to feel a need for another shot of whiskey and wishing he had remembered to bring his flask. A mental shrug. He would adapt and survive the next little bit without the liquid courage corroding his veins.

The next was a demure blonde who was all smiles and rainbows, shouting out a morning to everyone. He nodded his head to her, turning on his usual charismatic smile."And a morning to you sunshine." He said with his usual come hither voice. She had nice skin. Shame for him to dirty it.

The next was a tall, blonde gentleman who offered an apple to whoever wanted it. Before he could say nay or yay a purple horned monstrosity walked in and took the apple without so much as a hey, say, thank you, fuck you or anything. A frown creased Rykanos' features briefly before he took another liquid sip of smoke. The cigarette was on it's last legs. Putting it out daintily, he flicked the butt away with some pleasure and then pulled out another cigarette, eyeing it speculatively and wondering whether he should light it just yet.

As he contemplated the future of the cancer stick, another guy walked in, seemingly in a hurry and Rykanos gave a nod of greeting before deciding the fate of the cigarette. Lighting it up, he took the first pleasurable inhale of smoke before turning towards the front of the class once more. He stretched out his long legs to the front of the desk in front of him. Being almost seven feet tall wasn't always a good thing, especially when dealing with cramped desks.

A woman squeaked on in and took her seat and he barely had time to admire her looks before, suddenly a shudder ran through the floor and Rykanos perked up? Battle? Fighting? Where?! He'd show them what's what, as soon as he finished his cigarette.

Instead, an instructor named Apex walked in and followed by the one person Rykanos was looking forward to meeting, some guy named Kane who was making waves already. Rykanos would have to get to know the man sometime; drinking with strangers was always a way to get to know who they were. Drinking period was a good way to forget who they were.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and a petite Chinese woman walked in, all badass and blustery in her badassness. He grinned widely and tipped an imaginary hat for her action. Yet another potential drinking victim. The last person was much like the first, taking a position near the first lady and staring forward with ramrod straight back. Rykanos shook his head and began to list to Apex as he began his spiel.

Once he was done, Rykanos blinked stupidly and did his best to shrink in his seat. He was terrible at public speaking.

Kestos Illrion aka Void

Kestos had remained silent in the back corner of the room, allowing everyone to file in. He ignored them all. They were beneath notice as far as he was concerned. If he needed to learn of them, he would when the time came. Not a moment sooner. He had only perked up once he had heard the shuddering in the floor, preparing to release Sumere and become visible again. His fears were unfounded when the cause of the shuddering entered the room. Kestos was not one to make a scene, one to remain silent and invisible for as long as possible. When Apex began speaking, Kestos turned his attention to the man and listened from his shadows.

When no one was eager to answer, Kestos was about to when a woman spoke up and Kestos frowned, waiting for the garbage to stop falling from her mouth. When she was done, he gave her a glare and responded to both Apex and her. As he began to speak, Sumere slipped away and Kestos slowly materialized in the back corner, his golden eyes the first thing to appear. His voice was silk, with no distinguishing accent and seeming to be an amalgamation of several voices in one, "Anarchy can be unleashed on our foes. It shouldn't be the overall goal and still has it's uses. We are already going to be demonized by humans. It's their only useful talent as far as I am concerned."

Once he was done with that, he turned to Apex and spoke,"Lawlessness serves as a distraction, a cover for actions we meta-humans may take while the focus of those who call themselves Heroes and the authority deal with it. It is ultimately a setback and shouldn't be the main goal of any one group or other. It is a sword that is likely to cut both ways if allowed to flourish too long. The most effective use would be the 2007 attacks in Sao Paolo. Stupid, but effective for the lawlessness it generated."

As he spoke, Kestos moved forward and took the first empty seat he came to, sitting down with both grace and silence that was a bit disconcerting to watch. He kept staring at Apex, waiting for a response, his features devoid of emotion and shouting arrogance to anyone with eyes to see.

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

"Danke schön! (Thank you very much)" Maria responded when she took the newly formed apple of Leopold's hand. She immediately began eating the fruit as her mind began to wander in waiting. The taste was a little off but it did give some memories of her father. To this day, Maria still wonders why her father stopped eating apples. They will cancel me out! he would say whenever she asked him.

Listening to Apex's lecture and following questions, Maria steadily raised her hand as if she was intimidated by her teacher's reaction.

"Well... law-less-ness would... not... be very good for me, as a medic. I need...a stable environment for my operationen (surgeries) and I can't do it if people keep break down...walls or steal my knives. So it would be a setback when treating patients...and disease. Plus, in my opinion, the anarchists are flawed in that they do not think that there are some people...that need order to survive."

Already, Maria was slightly scared that her English wasn't good enough to convey he message as her German accent was still prevalent. Nevertheless, she continued. "For the...last question. What I can think of was the Führerrichtlinie 21 (Fuhrer Directive 21) that would lead to the Reds burning...down their own countryside to slow down the...advance of the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War)."

Maria shuddered a bit in her seat as if she could sense everyone that was watching her.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Leopold Meckler- The Lepidopterist

"Why should we care for 'the cause of metahumans'?" Leopold asked in his carefully metered speech, heavily dripping with his accent. He posed they question to the class as a whole, but directed his speech towards Apex. "Are we suddenly supposed to be charitable towards our brethren? Anarchy is just another attempt to create a form of society. Granted, it is a society that prizes itself as not having rules or rulers, but still. It unites people under the greatest equality possible. It will do nothing to help metahumans, we are inherently outcasts, separated by the epitome of our powers and personas. And what I think my class mates were trying to argue wasn't the question asked. I think you all were arguing on whether or not it would help a villain. And yes, it might be useful to cause a distraction as you all immediately defaulted to, but we aren't villains with anarchy. We aren't villains without rules to break. We are just another accepted morality among thousands: stifling in mediocrity and acceptance. Its just another solution that isn't compatable with the problem. Anarchy offers nothing to villainy that we don't already have. And as for metahumans, well, they'll still be outcasts. Just outcasts under a different name for the same idiocracy."

Leopold paused for a breath and absentmindedly traced the anarchist' symbol on his desk, converting the air around his finger to pigment. "I don't think we should care about Anarchy, or communism, or capitalism, or any other 'ism' or ideology. We need merely concern ourselves with what we want, who stands in our way, and what we have to do to crush them. Sure, anarchy may be a viable means, but to establish it... Well, I think its ridiculous as anything the heroes strive for."

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

Theory wasn't her thing, not really. Sure, she would memorise it all, absorb the knowledge like a sponge for whenever it might turn out to be useful, but knowing it was not immediately useful to her, so she didn't know it. Ideology, larger causes and benefits and downsides, the history of scorched earth tactics...

She knew none of it, because it wasn't relevant to her. Ideology was a word with meaning yet meaningless to her. So she said nothing, and merely watched and listened in unknowing silence, listening to the answers given by her fellow students. Cooperation was... An awkward thing for her. She knew it was useful, yes, yet that did not stop her from disliking it. It was so easy, oh so easy, for you to be backstabbed by a so-called 'ally', abandoned, left to rot...

No. Cooperation was only possible with those you could trust, and for anyone willing to be a villain to be trustworthy would be... Unexpected. And ideology was meaningless. What mattered were results, not means or motive. She didn't voice her thoughts, of course, simply leaning forwards in her chair, her face impassive, crossing her arms across her chest. It was pointless, and would just draw unnecessary attention to her for minimal gain.

---

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

She'd always seen anarchy as a pointless thing. She'd never really gotten into the whole ideology thing when she'd been a hero, it was the family business, they were in it because they had powers and they were good at it, and as far as she was concerned she was just a flashier cop with powers and a lot, lot more celebrity surrounding her.

Was what she'd fought for as a hero meaningless? Well, probably. One fuck-up had thrown all of that away. But the girl in the oddly fancy get-up or whatever the hell it was had decided to answer, so she felt she was obligated to as well.

"Anarchy is meaningless, really, both as a weapon and ideology. It's temporary and ineffective. The whole hero-villain split ultimately comes down to those who want to keep the status quo versus those who want to change it or are simply unsuited to dealing with it, if you poke deep enough. The whole anarchy and tearing down what's there is just one aspect of the whole 'change it' thing, one goal or means of doing it or whatever." She shrugged. It wasn't the best answer, but it was what she had.

[Auphelia]

Leopold Meckler- The Lepidopterist

"Why should we care for 'the cause of metahumans'?" Leopold asked in his carefully metered speech, heavily dripping with his accent. He posed they question to the class as a whole, but directed his speech towards Apex. "Are we suddenly supposed to be charitable towards our brethren? Anarchy is just another attempt to create a form of society. Granted, it is a society that prizes itself as not having rules or rulers, but still. It unites people under the greatest equality possible. It will do nothing to help metahumans, we are inherently outcasts, separated by the epitome of our powers and personas. And what I think my class mates were trying to argue wasn't the question asked. I think you all were arguing on whether or not it would help a villain. And yes, it might be useful to cause a distraction as you all immediately defaulted to, but we aren't villains with anarchy. We aren't villains with rules to break. We are just another accepted morality among thousands: stifling in mediocrity and acceptance. Its just another solution that isn't compatable with the problem. Anarchy offers nothing to villainy that we don't already have. And as for metahumans, well, they'll still be outcasts. Just outcasts under a different name for the same idiocracy."

Leopold paused for a breath and absentmindedly traced the anarchist' symbol on his desk, converting the air around his finger to pigment. "I don't think we should care about Anarchy, or communism, or capitalism, or any other 'ism' or ideology. We need merely concern ourselves with what we want, who stands in our way, and what we have to do to crush them. Sure, anarchy may be a viable means, but to establish it... Well, I think its ridiculous as anything the heroes strive for."

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

Katherine listened to each of her classmates and thought about their points. She found the points to be thought provoking, the last one most of all. And yet she still disagreed.

"I am not so sure that ideologies are entirely separable from any goal or movement like the one we have here. The world we live in is one based on the concept of aesthetics, the spectacle of ideology and its exploitation. Nothing is free from the influence of a rampant culture that labels everything with some sort of 'ism'. We do not exist in the cerebral world of a Grecian forum where we can establish clear goals with a line of reason that can influence the thoughts of others; instead we must become an act in the great circus of the modern age, or else we risk becoming just another prop for our enemies to toss around and use to their whims. With the rise of metahumans came the rise of a potentially permanent world where image is everything. It is our duty, our very key to success, to label ourselves with some sort of ideology that is inherently familiar to the general public that also aligns with our values, if only roughly. If we do not and simply dismiss it as frivolous and ridiculous, we hand the power to label ourselves to the heroes and world governments, who will certainly use it to alienate us and push our cause further down. Of course, if we claim to be something but consistently show to be something else, are we the thing we claim to be or the thing we have shown to be? In the case of the Loons in 2007, they claimed to be anarchists, and yet they had enough organisation and structure to pull off an attack that destabilised a major world city. They became part of the circus and took on the title of anarchist, and so that is what they are seen as today. But think about the previous attacks of the Loons, if you know of their work. Before they had been seen as a militia by the Brazilian media, with organisation and structure, because the heroes had been able to control the image of what they were. Disunity in Brazil and the uprisings made the word militia far more negative, garnering public outrage at them. But by changing the perception of themselves to anarchists, they became a symbol of revolutionaries and garnered some public support in the buildup to the attack. Part of the reason Sao Paulo could not recover for nearly a year was because the people saw the heroes as the enemy who were working to systematically oppress them.

What is essential for any group is to first find a label, a niche in the market that can be filled, and to exploit that niche. Of course, a cohesive goal is needed, which I still an not sure the Union of Villains has. After all, what even is the goal of "the cause of metahumans"? It is what the Union of Villains claims to be for, but it is a phrase that is meaningless without context. Do we want equality, dominance, or to erase all normal humans from the face of the earth? Do heroes count in our plan? If we plan to overthrow governments, how do we expect the people to react if we do not have a positive image? Unless we suddenly become a significant majority, we cannot oppress a people without some measure of their support. That is the purpose of labels. 'Us' and 'them', with the 'us' a far more attractive option than the 'them'. Pageantry and optics are the key," Katherine said, blinking in surprise at how long she talked. Honestly, she wasn't sure what the point of what she had said was, but it had needed to be said? Maybe? She hated when her brain acted without her! Come to think of it, what had they originally been talking about? "What was the original question again?"

[Okayanos]

Alvagoth Akafiloga

“I like you, apple lad.” Alvagoth speaks up unannounced after Leopold gives his thoughts. He takes a bite of the apple he’s been gifted with a loud crunch. “But I disagree. With that one last little bit, about Anarchy being a viable thing. It really ain’t, the whole thing falls to pieces as soon as their goal’s accomplished. Can’t rebel against a system if there isn’t a system. It just makes a big ol’ power vacuum for the next government system or what have you.” Another crunch.

“It’s one of the dumber political stances, really. Dumber of the ones that humans have, at least. Demons have way stupider ones. So, in short, I’m of the opinion that metahumans wouldn’t be benefitted by lawlessness unless they create it, that Anarchy’s a no-pro all-con deal, and that the most effective use of scorched earth tactics was Elijah in the Bible. He made some false idol erupt into a fire tornado or some such. I’m not intimately familiar, ‘cause I can’t read the book.” Apple crunch. There were other replies between his and Leo’s, but Alvagoth does not care. He might have even cut one of them off.

[Talchyon]

Theory Class
Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

Still reeling from the beatdown, Rick tried to gather his thoughts to anything but how his throbbing neck or the migraine from the side of the head was feeling. To no surprise, he wasn't able to focus much. What other students were doing in the class mattered little to suffering through the next hour and a half or so, and then hitting the Excedrin.

Which was why, it did more than annoy him when that prick Kane started in.

Kane Davidson
The Hype Man

Kane's eyes sprung open the second the announcement was made prompting him to yawn. Flinging his covers off revealed he was sleeping next to a pile of empty whisky bottles, before he went over to his bed side table and snorted the line of coke he prepared the night before, nothing like it to wake you up in a morning. After which he wiped his nose and downed the half bottle of Bells whisky on the same table, pulling another bottle out from one of it's draws. Kane filled a hip flask up with the cheap whisky as he walked towards the shower while whistling a cheerful tune to himself. After a brief shower Kane walked out and styled his hair, looked at his beard to make sure it didn't need to be touched up and winked to himself in the mirror "Damn, think I'll add that to the wank bank tonight" He said in a hushed way to himself before putting a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it up.

Kane threw his clothes on while he smoked before strolling out into the corridor, making sure he blew his second hand smoke in such a way that everyone got a nice breath of the stuff. He saw this as generous considering cigarettes were hard to come by and they should be grateful just to get a nose full of tobacco smoke...and cancer "Good morning everyone! Hey Amy, had a nice time last Saturday!" Kane called over to a brunette girl with bags under her eyes who scowled at Kane "Fuck you Kane you mother fu-" She began but was cut off when Kane flicked a cigarette butt at her and walked off laughing "You son of a bitch Kane just you wait..." Kane turned the corner and got out of ear shot of the angry girl as he made his way to class, eventually seeing Rick stand up from a heap in the ground and limp into class. There was a crater in the ground where he assumed he had been slammed into. Kane also walked into class and sat down at the seat right at the back where he rolled a piece of paper up and threw it at the back of Rick's head to get his attention "Oi Ricky! Bite off more than you could chew again lad?!" Kane yelled towards him, trying to ignore the purple guy trying to put on a weird show on his desk for some reason.

Granted, it was only a wad of paper. But the yelling wasn't helping. Neither was being called "Ricky," what some of the punks in his history used to call him - at first, before the real insults started. And then, Kane treating him with literal insult after literal injury, did little to brighten Rick's already sour mood. His eyes narrowed. Maybe what Kane really needed right now was to calm down. And, knowing the hot, sunny weather outside, Rick knew just the way to do it.

Reaching out with his ability, he tapped Kane's mind. Due to the heat and sunshine outside in the weather, endorphins rushed through Kane's mind, filling him with the most serene, peaceful, and sedate calm. Kane's mind relaxing, so soothing, so relaxed, so drowsy...

That done, Rick turned his attention to Prof. Alekseev, as he began to drone on about anarchism. And Rick thought to himself, "I got strangled and got my head kicked in just because I wasn't on time to hear this? Seriously?!."

The only one of the students who responded who made any sense to Rick was Leopold. Despite himself, Rick started nodding when the guy started talking about how anarchism was a tool, nothing more, nothing less. But the girls! Man. Talk about losing him quick. It's not that Maria had droned on like Prof. Alekseev. It's just that, who knew what she was talking about? The one thing Rick picked up on that was of interest was that she was a med student, or medic, or something like that. As for the other girls, most were all forgettable and long-winded. Rick would have laughed out loud that Katherine had caused herself to forget the original question by speaking too much. That is, he would have laughed, if his head wasn't hurting as much.

For Rick, there was no real point in answering the question. The class was almost half-done, and Rick could wait out the rest. With a head full of blood and wounds, no doubt, but relief would come soon after. However, after class, he might approach Maria and see where her healing skills lie.