Gods Among Us: Academy of the Gods (IC|Superhero|AlwaysOpen)

[The Flutterlands]

Filia Umbrarum

Filia sniffled as Ashly hugged her and hugged back clutching onto her roommate as sge had done with Michael earlier on the bus. It seemed that this was all that she's been wanting since the horror of the Death House, hugs to comfort her. Hugging was always something she and Sophie would do when ether of them were sad for hugs were the best medicine for sadness

The young girl was still scared of losing her friends after what she had done though because of her stupidity. Of course she still had Michael, Ashly and all of those who have had stayed behind at the Academy as friends, though most don't know about her mistake. So she wasn't sure how long that will last. However, Filia wasn't sure if her relationship with Mateo will ever be the same. Heck. Nothing will be the same, the young girl thought.

"T-thanks, Ashly." Filia spoke softly, wiping away tears from her face, "It's just that I-i don't how I can g-get over t-the... p-pain, a-and... I think that Mateo and I won't be dating anymore... e-even though we never actually gone on a date. I-i... I-i'll talk to him later. ...O-one day."

Few days later

For the next few days, Filia, despite being glad that J.J has returned to full health, had been more detached from her friends, especially Mateo. Now that everyone pretty much knew that she released an ancient evil upon the world, again, the young half-demon felt that they might be upset with her. Thus, Filia have tried avoiding most of everyone, returing to her room after meal time and spending most of her time reading novels and comic books, while talking to Ashley. Even her appearance have changed, now wearing plain clothes rather than her beautiful dresses. Filia hated it of course, as she liked being with her friends and liked being the sight of attention with her dresses. However, she just didn't feel like it was worth it right now.

At night, Doctor Dwight would come to her in Nightmare infested dreams of Pitch Black, cleansing them of his horrors. Replacing the worlds of terror with more comfortable worlds of dreams the Good Doctor would council Filia and she would tell him about her mistakes at the Death House that continues to haunt her. While Dwight comforted her, of course, providing therapeutic advice. Though, the young girl couldn't help but notice something off about him. In fact, it seemed to some how taint the counceling in a way Filia couldn't put her finger on.

The day of the Mission to get the Second book was quite rainy. So the young half-demon, didn't have to worry about the sun while looking out the window in the rec room after a good breakfast. As she watched the Professor and the other teachers load the omnibus, Filia, wearing a simple black and white dress, sighed and left the room. There was a new teacher to look after them while the other teachers left for Russia. She seemed nice, but her trustfullness towards others diminished a little after being tricked by Pitch Black. So, she wasn't sure what to truly make of her.

Walking into the library Filia sat down and looked at Muirin before her. Glancing down she saw all the weapons on the table, her eyebrows rising as she wondered what they were for. Is Muirin going to explain to them how weapons work? She never used a gun before. So Filia wasn't sure how she'd do in this sort of class. As her peers filled thr room, the young teenager, frowned upon seeing Mateo among them. She grimaced and quivered in worry, showing real fear in her eyes. Is he still made? Filia thought, looking at the older teenager from under her comic book, Is he still angry about me not listening to him and breaking that cup? What about Pitch's words about my kleptomania? D-does he actually believe him? I-i... I-i don't know.

Filia's attention was then brought back to Muirin as she briefe them on what happened over the past few days. Her hellish eyes narrowed darkly as she listened to her, feeling quite insulted. This woman obviously had no idea about the horrorific pain she and her friends have gone through. If Muirin did, she wouldn't be calling what they gave upon their return simple tantrums. The mere mention of Pitch Black makes her want to break down and cry.

When Muirin motioned Filia and her friends up to the table, the half demon slowly got out of her seat. Her eyes widened as the teacher explained what they were going to be doing and she slowly picked up one of the blades. "S-so... we're going to be fighting each other?" Filia asked in unsurity as she examined the weapon and glanced at her peers, "I-i... I think we could that... I-i think... Are we going to be doing this downstairs where we normally train?"

Raphael Raymond

Raphael was most distressed to learn that yet another evil was unleashed upon the world. At first, he found it utterly laughable and ridiculous that a unicorn could be evil. However, hearing from the accounts of what happened caused the french boy to hold back a laugh. Part of him was in fact beginning to find the Academy's staff quite incompetent when it came to looking after children. Heck, he thought he did a better job babysitting his younger sisters than than the likes of Brookes and Cohen. Not that Raph ever thought of actually leaving. After all, where else could he go as an orphaned Vampire? Certainly no place with pretty girls who understood him and a neat place to watch the Sports Channel with another pretty girl.

That being said, Raph was most certainly not angry with Filia despite being duped into releasing Pitch Black. In fact, he was actually worried about her as he thought of it unlike the half-demon to be this seclusive. One thing that got his attention was how skittish she has been around Mateo. Werent they once a couple? Filia used to think of it at least. Mateo has changed too, as well, in a way that Raph couldn't quite make out, but sense from him as his roommate. He certainly wasnt as talkative as he use too and was more distant than usual.

Aside from the news of Pitch Black's release, the past few days were most uneventful, aside from getting a new teacher. While keeping his blood feeding in check, Raph spent most of his time playing soccer with J.J, and later watching a game in the Rec Room. The young vampire have also been trying to get close with J.J, but couldn't find the appropriate words to express himself to her Today, however, was unfortunately quite rainy, meaning be wouldn't be playing soccer today. Instead, today, he'd having a lesson from the new arrival, Murrin, that he hae no idea what it'd be about.

Following his friends into the Library, staying close to J.J and Mateo as he carried a blood pack, Raph noticed that Filia was among the first in the room. He frowned and looked up at Mateo, wondering if the two would ever talk again. Again, they were a couple once, but Filia keeps acting like she expects her boyfriend to yell at her or something. Looking further around, Raph also noticed that there many odd looking weapons on a table behind Murrin. It didn't take long for Raph to figure out what they were for and Murrin's lecture only confirmed his thoughts. "Aside from trying to capture a flag, what exactly are you expecting from us, Mademoiselle?" he asked, "I'm good at sports and my vapirism certainly enhanced my skill. However, I'm not much of a fighter, only knowing what little I learned with the dummies..."

He glanced over at J.J and made that blushing expression in admiration before looking back at Muirin with a more confident smile. "I think I could do this." he said with a grin, before glancing over at Roc "So, what, are we going to be wearing some sort of body armour or something that'd keep us from getting too hurt? Forgive me, but there are some of us who could crush someone just by giving a hug... Sorry, Madem Roc..."

Professor Jonathan "Invisible” Orlovsky

Professor Jonathan was most displeased upon hearing about the failure of the Spain Trip. Sure they have gotten one of the three books needed to defeat Slaggep. However, the Professor wasnt sure how they would deal with this new threat. The Good Doctor seems to know more about Pitch Black, but no new word has made yet. In the meantime, Professor Invisible have been doing his job of keeping his eyes on the children while getting ready for the coming trip to Russia for the retrieving the second book against the current threat at hand.

Professor Jonathan was a bit annoyed by the outcome of harsh stormy weather when the day of his trip to his home country of Russia finally came. The bright side was that the weather in the Russian Federation would much more pleasant. Not to mention that Jonathan was looking forward to returning to the country after having been away from since the fall of the Soviet Union. However, as they packed the Omnibus, something came into the bandaged Russian's mind. "That's everything." said the professor, once they were done loading up the trunk, "Time to get out of here and get that book to defeat Slaggep. Though, I must ask, Ms. Cohen. Any plans for dealing with that Pitch Black character? Surely, we have not heard the end of this new danger that so unfortunately tricked our youngest student?"

[Granis]

Over the next few days since they returned from Spain, Michael trained.

Much like the days between the "fight" with Slaggep and their departure for Spain, he spent almost the entire time beating himself up over his failure to do... well, anything!

Considering there weren't any classes, he at least knew he could still safely ignore that aspect of the school, rarely leaving the arena for anything that wasn't a quick meal break or sleep.

Thanks to this constant, repetitive schedule, he managed to drift back into a state of mind that might possibly be considered healthy.

Yeah, he was still worried about his classmates, particularly the rift that had formed between Mateo and poor Filia, or more accurately, the rifts Mateo was trying to create between himself as every other student in the damn manor! However, he also thought he might be able to come up with a way to break through to him, remembering a time when he had... gone through something similar. There was only really a couple of things that could tear a hole in the walls Mateo was building right now, actual, pure competence, which might get him to open up, or complete and utter ignorance of the walls existence in the first place.

If he tried hard, Michael was probably capable of both.

Another thing that he worried over was that he wasn't quite sure how to address the fact that Jojo was most assuredly not dead. She was essentially the first proper friend he made at the manor, after all, and it had been her apparent death that triggered his rage towards Slaggep. The fact that she was alive didn't cause that anger to dissipate of anything, but it was weirdly difficult to approach her like he'd planned to.

For whatever reason, he was too scared to.

However, at this current moment, Michael couldn't afford to think of any of that, as he sat in the centre of the arena, amidst several still disintegrating dummies and a set of five large swords, which were currently imbedded in the ground.

This time... Please let it work this time... He needed to be stronger by the time Slaggep and Pitch Black managed to escape their respective prisons and come after them, and that meant he needed power beyond what he was currently trying to attain.

Slowly, in front of his closed eyes, a number of glowing, blue particles began to congregate, taking the shape of a sixth sword.

However, merely the act of beginning the creation process caused him to begin sweating severely.

Come on!

Ever so slowly, the tip of the blade took shape, turning from scattered particles to solid metal. This was matched, however, by the coppery flavour that appeared in his mouth. As the sword continued to turn to metal, he could feel a searing headache coming on.

Please!

The metallisation had almost reached the swords cross guard when the blade snapped in two, knocking Michael on his back as his vision went white.

For a moment, he simply lay there, blood trickling from his mouth, as the other five swords vanished around him.

"Shit."

Before he could do anything else, however, he heard an unfamiliar voice over the intercom, asking the students to come to the library.

Sighing, he stood up and began to make his way there.

---

Michael arrived to see, unsurprisingly, a new adult talking with an irritated looking Imogen. On a nearby table, however, was what could only be called a treasure trove.

A great variety of weapons, most of them either blades or firearms, lay before him, and it was to his pleasure that a good chunk of them weren't even already part of his collection.

As the woman contributed to 'chat' with Imogen, Michael made a show of running his hands over every single weapon on the table, giggling wildly the entire time. Part of this was because he wanted the others to underestimate him, just in case this was meant to be some kind of competition.

The other, much larger part was lack of sleep due to his training.

When the woman began her speech, however, he turned to face her, a small frown growing on his face. It seemed like she didn't exactly care about the details of what happened in the Death House, casually belittling them about the disastrous mission. He even began to wonder if she might actively be trying to cause tempers to flare. However, he put the thought aside for now, focusing on the woman's other words.

However, it was when she said they're teaching had been soft that he nearly exploded.

Yeah, she probably didn't know just how hard his teaching specifically had been, only knowing him as a student of the academy, but hey, he was still recovering from the headache caused by his failed summoning, and he was pretty sure his entire right eye was red from popped blood vessels. His inhibitions weren't doing great.

She then continued on to bring up the game of capture the flag, something he had played regularly over the last several years. It was a fun game, but it was also an incredible exercise in things like teamwork and strategy. This made it the perfect way to train small squads, which he guessed was probably the woman's intentions.

However, there were a couple of things he needed to say before anything else happened.

"Excuse me." He said, putting his hand up. "I know you probably don't care, but I feel like I need to make this clear to you. Pitch Black wasn't just 'a scary black unicorn'... The guy was an extremely powerful mage, possibly not much weaker than Slaggep himself. Along with that, a good chunk of our team had practically no experience in missions like that, so even the act of comparing them to the kind of people who probably worked under you is stupid and dangerous in the best of cases."

He winced, bringing his hand up to his head as the final waves of his headache began to hit. However, he looked back up after a few moments, the pain in his skull finally passing away properly.

"Also, are you somehow related to Brookes in anyway?" He asked. "Or are you at least aware of how similar you sound? Because you sound like a female version of Brookes right now, and its kind of freaking me out."

Finally he turned to Filia.

"We'll probably be playing outside." He said, yawning. "If its anything like the version I used to play, we'll need a lot of room to run around, and preferably multiple environmental factors to make it difficult. This rain for instance. People will also care less if the area outside the mansion is destroyed by people punching a bit too hard."

He turned to Roc.

"Like Raph said, no offence Roc."

And then he turned back to Filia.

"Anyway, considering the number of weapons here, its probably at least somewhat similar to the way I used to play it. Of course, that's all assuming Miss New Teacher isn't completely fucking insane, which given the what she thought about Blacky, cannot be discounted at this point."

---

Joseph had spent his days pretty boringly compared to Michael, trying to concentrate on living his life the way a normal guy his age would.

A good chunk of the time, he was trying to make friends with Roc, J.J. and Raphael. Imogen too, although she seemed kind of more distant than the others.

When he wasn't stuttering his way through conversations with his new potential friends, he was typing away on his laptop. While he was good friends with the others, he was worried to mention his passion for writing. He liked them well enough, but they all seemed to range from "Sports is my passion!" to "I can suplex a fucking building!" What if they thought of writing as all nerdy and stuff?

Currently, however, Joseph was just planning to leave his room and try and act like a normal teenager when an announcement came over the intercom, asking him to go to the library.

When he arrived, he saw an annoyed-looking Imogen 'arguing' with a woman he hadn't seen before, who was calmly answering all the girls accusations of 'trapping her for three years'.

He'd have to ask about that one later.

However, he froze when he saw the weapons table.

It wasn't the weapons themselves which caused him to freeze though, so much as the blonde, glasses-wearing boy who was currently giggling unnervingly and apparently trying to touch everything on the table. Quickly making his way to the other side of the group from Michael, he peeked out slightly, nervousness clear on his face.

He still hadn't talked to him since he noticed his presence at the academy, too nervous to even approach him. At first, he'd hoped that it was just a coincidence, that maybe they just looked similar, but it seemed that fate was out to get him.

His childhood acquaintance, Michael Evans, really was attending the academy.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if the other boy felt the awkwardness, but with him it was almost overwhelming. They hadn't spoken in so long, that it would have felt weird even if nothing had happened. Then there was the fact that, when his mum died, Michael was one of the people he pushed away, despite the fact that Michael had just lost both his parents around the same time. He was too worried that he might resent Joseph because of it that he never even made the effort to approach him.

However, any more thoughts were interrupted when the new woman began to explain what was going on. He frowned a little when she talked about the Death House mission, which he'd heard was a disaster, but she apparently thought it was more of a joke than anything too serious. When she mentioned capture the flag though, he tuned her out slightly, realising what was going on. Briefly glancing back to Michael again, he turned to Roc.

"H-hey, so do you have any idea what Michael was d-doing with those weapons?" He whispered, quietly enough that most people shouldn't be able to hear it, but hopefully loud enough that Roc would. "Does he normally a-act this weird?"

[Primordial Luxa]

Roc and Nevermore – Library

Roc stole a glance around the room after Muirin explained her plan. It was not what she had expected in the least. It sounded dangerous and reckless even if their was a degree of logic too it. She looked to J.J. to see her reaction then to Filia who she expected would have her own opinions.

Filia seemed a bit distracted by Mateo for Roc to get a read on her but she piped up when the girl asked about location. “I bet we’ll use the backyard yes? The basement’s nice but it’s a little small for all of us.” She stretched her wings indicating the other reason she wanted to try something outside. More freedom for her.

Nevermore meanwhile looked positively giddy at the prospect of some action. He had been locked up and dead for so long that he missed the feeling of fighting, he wasn’t as bloodthirsty as some others he knew but he was Nevermore for a reason. He started thinking tactics but stopped when he realized he didn’t know enough. Teams, enemies, resources, so many variable, he just wanted to be in the thick of it.

Roc on the other hand was thinking with a greater degree of concern. “I can try to hold back,” she said directed at Raph and Michael, “And we have Dwight, he seems to be able to heal nearly everything besides death. A few broken bones shouldn’t be an issue.”

She then nodded to Joseph. “No clue what’s he doing, I’ve seen him make weapons before, maybe it has something to do with that power?”

Cohen and Dallas – Omnibus

Cohen gave the Professor a raised eyebrow as she checked the weapons they had brought with them. A series of assault rifles and a couple of grenade kits. Nothing major, but Dallas had this sort of stuff lying around for a rainy day. “What do you mean? I see no indication that Pitch Black will pose any kind of immediate threat. And even if they did whatever risk they pose is dwarfed entirely by the threat of Slaggep. He has the potential to kill at minimum several million people and is only a few miles from where we sleep. Forgive me if I’m not concerned about some magical unicorn in the face of such destructive power.”

It was keeping her up at night, they idea they had a trump card with Brookes magic and these books seemed almost too good to be true and she had a strong suspicion that there would be more to this than met the eye. Something, unfortunately, they would need to do, or some opening where they would suffer.

Dallas started the bus and the group began driving away, they only made it to the local freeway before Dallas triggered the inlaid brain and created the psychic wormhole. Everything blurred together into a black and white sheet, that was burning and freezing at the same time before they were spat out in the middle of a snowy plateau. Instantly the temperature burned deep into all of those present. It was impossibly cold and the group immediately began donning the winter wear they had brought along.

“The Gulag should be a ten-minute walk over the hill if I got the coordinates correct. I’m going to put on the snow chains now so we don’t have to worry about it later. Give me a sec” Dallas said as he stepped outside.

[Serah]

A few days had passed since the tremendous failure we suffered.
If I had to say who suffered the most- No. This isn't a contest, they all suffered, each in their own use- no, let's not go that way.
As for me...? I... Well. I'm another story, there's no point in dwelling over what happened with me.
Let's just leave it at what I said then and cut it short, yeah?
In the mean time that passed between the operation and the next, I trained. Mostly alone, if there was someone, I usually made it clear that I acknowledged that they were talking to me, but unless it was of paramount importance, the 'conversations' I had recently were... Flat, at best. Not that I did anything to help it.

I trained my body, my mind, subjected myself to the absolute worse the simulation could give me, which was a questionable decision if one was to judge my day to day wounds.
As for the general work they gave us... I mostly never did it, either because I had seen it before and knew how to tell of it, or simply because it was useless to know.
I was a cop, and at the very best, an operator. Not a bloody mathematician or literature critic.

But all that didn't really matter, my wounds healed reasonably fast, and didn't hinder me as much as I thought they would when I received them.
What bothered me were the psychological checks, somehow they all assumed I was just as weak of mind as the rest. Needless to say I wasn't, having seen my fair share of horrors during the years on the field, yes, I had PTSD, yes, I had anger issues. But that didn't mean I couldn't keep it in check most of the time.
With enough personal training, I think I could even get rid of the PTSD altogether.

Today, I was once again training, mostly in martial arts, as usual, since I couldn't do much else.
However, I progressively tried to put more electricity in my body, or at least concentrate it a bit more while retaining the same level of power. It would then lead to the same thing, but widespread through my entire body. Could prove to be useful somehow.

The AI in front of me gauged me, analyzed, and predicted. I did the same.
While I couldn't exactly predict each and every single one of their movements, I was getting there, my reflexes had gotten significantly higher since I started training at max difficulty. I couldn't predict, but I could react, and usually that reaction allowed me to take over the entire fight for myself, assuming he didn't do the same thing.

Yet, they learned. And they learned fast. And as soon as I thought we were both locked, they went for the first blow, a low uppercut to the stomach.
It hurt, it hurt like hell actually, like a goddamn burning knife was being seared into my whole torso, I couldn't even take a single breath. However, that sort of pain was starting to get natural. And while my face distorted to show my gritting teeth, I retaliated, coating my hand in electricity, I grabbed the soldier's neck and smashed him to the ground, the impact caused his fist to leave my stomach, allowing me to breathe for a second. The electricity that followed then tazed him, not so much to kill him, but to stun, and although my hand was close to his brain, my goal wasn't to kill immediately. Even if my basic instinct told me otherwise.

But it wasn't over, as I finished the first one off, a second one came and kicked me hard into the wall, saving the first one from having his neck effectively snapped.
The goal of this training session was to take at least one prisoner for interrogation. So I had to knock out one, and kill the rest. But I felt like subduing all of them was ideal. I knew it was entirely impossible without my death though, and realized it as soon as the first punch landed.

Grunting in pain and holding my side, I stood back up. As much as I was hit, I wasn't so weak as to just fall from a kick and a punch.
My two foes then pulled out their weapons, the first pulled a machete, close range. I could deal with it. The second one however pulled a pistol. It was notably way more dangerous than the first one, but with enough skill, I could turn the situation to my advantage.
In response, I beckoned them to come to me. Which made the second foe miss his first shot. However, the other ones followed, and I had to run. Sending electricity to my legs, I circled the gunman, while keeping an eye on the one with the machete.
Once I saw I was outrunning the shooter, I went for a downward strike with my leg, aiming at his head. However, just as I thought, the swordsman came to the other's aid, and attempted to let my leg fall on the sharpened end.

However, this was one of the few times where I could predict the movements of the enemy. And with relative ease, given the electricity coursing through my leg, I managed to retract and grab the machete for myself.
Once I had it in hand, the stunned reaction of the swordsman allowed me to take him as a human shield, and hostage.
Holding my hostage's throat close to the sword made him less prone to movement, at least for a bit. In that moment, I tried to subdue my shield, there were several ways to deal with it, but I found that testing out a new technique could be interesting. So I concentrated my electricity within my body and spread it out, trying to electrify my entire body.
It was... difficult, more so than I had anticipated.

I could feel the electricity course through me, keep itself within, concentrating itself. It hurt like hell, and it felt like I couldn't even move, truth was, I could. But frankly, it was more painful than anything else and just wasn't practical. Yet, the intended first effect of electrifying my whole body to subdue someone else did happen.

Right afterwards however, I fell to my knees in sheer exhaustion and pain. I'd feel that one in the morning.

"Cazzo di merda..." I muttered as I laid on the ground, the simulation wearing off.

I was about to drift off when a voice got me back to my senses, a voice I didn't recognized beckoned us to get to the library. Post haste.
Guess my little nap was going to wait.

Once I arrived, I saw an odd looking woman, something about her didn't feel right.
But I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was just the weapons in front of her. As per the last operation, I looked at her like I looked at everyone. With dead eyes.
What else was I supposed to do either way? Get angry? It wouldn't help anything, we failed, that's all there is to know.

At least she had the right idea. Hindering our powers and keeping us from using them was horseshit.
In response however, I didn't say anything, just a slightly grunt of acknowledgement.

[Dyelli Beybi]

"So many questions!" Muirin exclaimed, sounding positively gleeful, "First off I will deal with the easy questions. Yes, we will be outside. Downstairs is too small for all of you. No, there won't be body armour. If you get hurt it's good incentive to move faster next time."

Muirin, it seemed came from the 'if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball' school of thought when it came to training the students. Imogen shifted slightly as if she had something to say, but before she could, Muirin's eyes swivelled to Michael, "So we have a would-be comedian in our number. No, child, I am not related to Mage Brookes. He is, perhaps, not the wisest individual to have taken up the mantle of magician over the years, but if he is echoing what I have to say then I would commend him on his common sense."

"I am not particularly interested in why you failed. Just that you did." she let that hang for a moment before continuing, "When the Enlightenment started to take hold in Europe, and then the rest of the world, people stopped believing in anything that wasn't dangling straight under their nose which ushered in a surprisingly pleasant century for creatures like me, Miss Umbrarum and Mr Raymond. Life is so much simpler if people imagine you are just a fairy tale; no pun intended. You meta-humans changed all of that. You lit a torch and drew the supernatural creatures out into the light with you, whether we wanted to be there or not. The normal humans know we exist now and what you need to understand about them is while they are no match for us individually, they are legion and they are well resourced and there are many meta-humans and supernatural entities who will take the King's Shilling."

"So what does this mean for you? You may be hunted. You may find yourself press-ganged into an organisation that serves a State. You might find yourself at the mercy of a scientist with a lot of sharp implements and a keen interest in what makes you tick. In the end, you will have to fight. Fight for a State, fight for your freedom or fight for a cause. Hiding is no longer an option... unless you are me." she gave a small tight-lipped smile.

"As for Pitch Black. Yes, he is powerful. Individually I would have expected you to fail to defeat him, but you considerably outnumbered him. A good team is more than the sum of its parts. You were not a good team.
You were lucky you aren't having to explain your failure to someone's grieving parents." she added bluntly.

"So." she clapped her hands together, "Red Team will be made up of Mr Michael Evans; Miss Jocelyn Triggs; Mr Mateo Vasarelli; Miss Ashley Taylors, if she shows up; and the person known as 'Nevermore'."

"Blue team will be made up of Miss Mercy Carew, Mr Raphael Raymond, Miss Filia Umbrarum, Mr Joseph Moore and Miss Imogen Vaughan." While she didn't acknowledge it, it looked a lot like she was trying to split friendships/relationships up as much as possible, make people work with people they usually wouldn't... and also fight people they usually wouldn't. Presumably there was a lesson in there somewhere.

JJ meanwhile did not look exactly thrilled about what was going on. She was not, in any way, shape or form, combat ready. This seemed like a sure-fire recipe for her to get hurt...

[Serah]

Cohen and Dallas – Omnibus

Cohen gave the Professor a raised eyebrow as she checked the weapons they had brought with them. A series of assault rifles and a couple of grenade kits. Nothing major, but Dallas had this sort of stuff lying around for a rainy day. “What do you mean? I see no indication that Pitch Black will pose any kind of immediate threat. And even if they did whatever risk they pose is dwarfed entirely by the threat of Slaggep. He has the potential to kill at minimum several million people and is only a few miles from where we sleep. Forgive me if I’m not concerned about some magical unicorn in the face of such destructive power.”

It was keeping her up at night, they idea they had a trump card with Brookes magic and these books seemed almost too good to be true and she had a strong suspicion that there would be more to this than met the eye. Something, unfortunately, they would need to do, or some opening where they would suffer.

Dallas started the bus and the group began driving away, they only made it to the local freeway before Dallas triggered the inlaid brain and created the psychic wormhole. Everything blurred together into a black and white sheet, that was burning and freezing at the same time before they were spat out in the middle of a snowy plateau. Instantly the temperature burned deep into all of those present. It was impossibly cold and the group immediately began donning the winter wear they had brought along.

“The Gulag should be a ten-minute walk over the hill if I got the coordinates correct. I’m going to put on the snow chains now so we don’t have to worry about it later. Give me a sec” Dallas said as he stepped outside.

Heamet piped up from the other side of the bus when Pitch Black was mentioned.

"I wouldn't discard a threat from him, sure, he may be a magical unicorn that is hardly a thing to be taken seriously, but the threat is very literally mental. He's one of those that takes control of your fears and makes your body think it's undergoing massive amounts of pain. Hell, I'm sure it could trick us into thinking we have the black plague or something.
If he shows up, I suggest we proceed with caution. Although I have my doubts about him moving that fast from Spain to Russia. Unless said house moved over here maybe."

Heamet would seem surprisingly knowledgeable on a threat he hadn't faced himself, but in truth, he had faced the same thing during his freelance years, before the NYMD, before the Irish Incident.
While it hadn't been Pitch Black, it had been someone that toyed equally well with fears and other such things. Needless to say, he had gotten his fair share of nightmarish visions.

Once they arrived, Heamet dealt with the cold remarkably well even without winter wear. He hadn't grown into a place that was exactly cold, but he dealt with it without much issue and as such needed to wear way less than the others. Of course, for safety measures, he wore every single thing that was meant for him. This wasn't the time to be a special snowflake.

"A gulag, huh. Always thought I'd be sent to the gulag by someone, but not under such circumstances.
Wonder what kind of super bullshit we're going to find."

[The Flutterlands]

Filia Umbarum

Filia nodded at the confirmations that they'd be going outside. That would mean that she's going to need to change after this meeting. Wearing a dress isn't exactly keen for exercising, especially out in the rain. Though, Filia wasn't exactly sure how'd she do out against her friends. Outside of the training room, the cambion have not actually used her powers aggressively except emotional outbursts in such incidents like the pyromaniac back in Africa or their unfortunate meeting Slaggep that still haunts Filia along with Pitch Black. Nonetheless, Filia saw that quite obviously that she may have no actual choice in this training. The young teenager didn't exactly feel like she had to worry about beimg hunted by scientists or mercenaries. However if Filia wanted to grow and extend her powers to take on the evils of Slaggep and Pitch Black, she'd have to take the training and utilize it to the best of her abilities.

Filia grimaced a little when she learned that she'd wont be on the same team as Mateo. However, part of her felt that this might be for the best. Filia still wasn't sure exactly what to say to the boy after making such a terrible mistake that nearly got them all killed. However, at least she'd have her other friends like Raphael and Immy on her side. "So should we all get changed into more appropriate clothing before heading out?" she asked, "I don't exactly want my dress to get all we and muddy out there..."

Raphael Raymond

Raph had his fangs in his blood pack as he continued listening to Muirin. The fact that he'd be running around outside trying to catch a flag while avoiding getting pulverized by another student was reason enough to keep his bloodthirsty appetite filled. He'll also have to go get a couple pack from the fridge just in case. Like Filia, Raph didn't exactly feel keen on going toe to toe against his fellow classmates, including J.J, in anything other than a sports competition and this seemed quite different from soccer or baseball. Nonetheless, Raph did see the purpose of this and saw that it's best for him to participate.

"So let me get this straight, Mademoiselle." said the young vampire, "You are expecting us to be protecting our flags while trying to get The other team's flag in the rain? If it weren't for various super powers that could make this a disaster, I'd say this would be a fine game. Should we take time to come up with strategies and techniques to take full advantage of our abilities and our opponent's?"

---

Professor Invisible

Jonathan tilted his head in confusion. Of course Slaggep was the immediate threat. Did they not listen to him? "Madem Cohen, I thought I said we should go after Pitch Black after we handle our Immoral Immortal." he said questioningly as he got into the van, "Of course taking down Slaggep is the immediate goal. However, this Pitch Black deceived and tortured our students and would have most likely slaughtered them if he wanted too. I highly doubt we'd like that to go on answered. Our students would deserve justice..."

When they arrived at their destination, Jonathan met with the cold as if it was nonexistent. He grew up in this cold and he actually found it to be most welcome after being away from Russia for so long. "Mind you I never been inside a Gulag before." the professor warned his compatriots as he took out his revolver, "However, I agree once again with Heamet. Whatever lies within, I suggest the upmost caution. We might run into yet another Elderitch Abomination..."

[Primordial Luxa]

Roc and Nevermore - Talbot Manor

As soon as the teamlist showed up Nevermore was on his feet and moving.

“Do you expect her to do everything for you?” he asked pointedly at Filia and Raphael. “You can dress yourself, you a big girl, and maybe you should ask your team fangface, she’s the ref not your boss. Dear lord.”

Roc gave the boy a hard look as she put a reassuring hand on Raphael's shoulder and nodded at Filia. “Hey watch it,” she shot back. Nevermore merely shrugged. His rudeness wasn’t appreciated and Roc decided to translate in a more friendly manner. “Yes Filia go change, Raph we’ll figure something out. ”

Nevermore snapped up a pistol on the table and could tell by the weight it was filled with rubber rounds. Inconvenient, he thought, higher chance of jamming and not much use against the more resilient member. He locked back at Michael and smiled remembering the boy was on his team.

Roc didn’t get any weapons, she felt like that would have been unfair. Others were granted a chance to pick any of the weapons from the table before they began following Muirin outside to the field and forest behind the manor where they would be playing.

Cohen - Russia

“You’re all under the impression that he will show up again in the future, I’m not discarding the possibility but what, pray tell, makes you think he has nothing better to do with his time than harass a group of kids? From what Brookes has described this indeed seems like a powerful magical creature with its own personal agenda that doesn’t seem to involve us in the slightest. It would be highly uncharacteristic for him to hunt us down if he got free, a waste of his time as much as ours.”

Cohen stepped off the bus and was thankful for the thick furs and jackets. The wind was weak which was blessing in its own right but the snow was deep and each step was loud and slow.

“And Professor you’re talking about revenge not justice. Against a force we have little ability to combat at this time. We are a school not some paramilitary group. If you want justice go tell someone who can deal with this sort of thing, call the police. You might be a Knight in America but here I need you as a teacher.”

The group crested the hill, Cohen and Heamet in the lead followed by Dallas and the Professor. Dallas had an assault rifle slung across his shoulder and a pair of pistols holstered. Cohen meanwhile had a pistol but was more likely to rely on her shield and sword. Items she was more familiar with.

Looking from the top of the hill they could see the Gulag. It was a strange sight from the distance. Two large buildings made of thick concrete in the dull grey style of the late soviet era. It was meant to look utopian to the dictatorship, but Cohen thought it looked more like a cross between a parking lot and a prison.

Dallas handed out a pair of binoculars and the group shared them as they assessed the structure. The most eye grabbing detail was the tower nuke. A nuclear bomb that looked outdated and defunct sat in a tower ready to drop and detonate on the ground with the flick of an unseen switch. The tower stood in between the two buildings and was clearly designed to destroy the place if something went wrong.

However there was also movement. A squadron of silvery metallic robots marching in a five by five block with mechanical precision. Each was designed with strong cues from 1950’s science-fiction and had a skeletal face that was equal parts unnerving and comical. Rivets covered every thick gleaming panel and the jointed moved with a stiff but expert system of joints.

Each was armed with with a large cannon of some kind that glowed faintly with orange light, each was as big as a human torso and left little doubt as to their lethality. They connected via long snaking cords to canisters on the robot's back which hummed with more orange energy.

“Well at least it’s not an eldritch abomination,” Dallas said sarcastically. “Just deathbots and a nuke.”

“I’m betting one of those buildings is the prison and the other is a barracks for the robots and any humans.”

“Should we engage or try to sneak in? And should we do anything about the bomb?” Dallas asked. Cohen turned to the Professor and Heamet looking for their thoughts.

[Granis]

Michael looked around briefly as they made it to the field, before going over to the members of his team. When he felt that they were a good enough distance away from any members of the other team, he put his hands together in thought.

"Ok, so I think I have a plan, but it probably sucks. Hopefully though, it'll keep everything from going too crazy, and we'll be able to make up for the massively overpowered parts of their team."

He looked around, paranoid that the other team might still be listening in for a moment, before continuing.

"Alright, so first off, we're at a big disadvantage merely from the fact that they have Roc. Her physical strength is bad news for us, and the fact that she can fly gives her greater mobility than everyone except me and maybe you, Nevermore, if there's a secret you haven't told me. There's also the fact that Ashley isn't here yet, so we have one less person than them as well. However, it seems like the biggest problem could very well be Joseph. It was just raining, and most of the area is still wet. There's no way he won't try to take advantage of that. However, this plan should be able to cover most of those weak points. Tell me if I miss anything important."

He took another quick look to the other team. They definitely seemed like they were out of hearing range, but Raphael was a vampire. It was entirely possible that his sense of hearing was strong enough to hear everything he said.

Then again, what could he do if that were the case anyway? May as well just get on with it.

"Alright, so I'll start with the obvious part." He said. "Mateo, I think you should be a member of the attack team. Don't go for the flag straight away though. Instead, do whatever you can to find Joseph. I reckon you'll be able to slow, if not outright incapacitate him with your electricity, which would take away one of their biggest assets. Next is Nevermore. You would also be on the attacking team, due to your apparently extensive knowledge of firearms. You could use them to whittle down the members they have on defence from afar, or possibly even distract them from Mateo if he defeats Joseph quickly enough."

He sighed, worried about how everyone would feel about his plan. It had been a while since he'd had to make one, and then his last one had ended... well, badly. Therefore, it was probably natural for him to be more nervous than usual.

"Next is me and Jojo." He said, forcing his nervousness down. "We'll be on the defence team, and it will practically be for the exact same reason. Roc. I feel kind of bad for essentially using you like this, but the fact is that you're her best friend. What with your lack of combat oriented powers, I doubt she'll go all out against you, which would end up being an advantage we desperately need. Meanwhile, I can act like a form of mobile artillery with my weapons. Some of them are big enough that they might even have a chance against her. And then if she flies, I might be able to tangle her up with a large enough number of chain weapons..."

He looked over the members of his team, looking nervous but determined as he tried to think of every possible variable he could.

"Again, I'm not saying that this is definitely what we should do." He said. "If anyone else has a plan, I'm ready to hear it."

---

Meanwhile, on the other side with his team, Joseph stretched his arms out and yawned.

"You know what?" He asked Roc, a tired smile on his face. "Call me crazy, but I think we've got a pretty good shot here. Everything is pretty wet, so I might actually be able to absorb enough water to just tsunami the other team and get the flag. Then you're on our team too, and you're stronger than friggin god."

However, he paused for a moment once he'd finished, frowning slightly as he hesitated.

"Then again, you guys said that Mateo guy used electricity, right? That might make things kind of difficult..."

[Serah]

Mateo
Talbot Manor

Looking at the table, I noticed that a lot of the guns I would've used personally to give an advantage to my team were absent, or definitely powered down.
So instead I went with the choice of capitalizing on my main strength, CQC.
Once I grabbed one of the many swords laid out, I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline that I quickly quelled.

She did say not to kill them. However great the feeling was. So I wouldn't.
The sword was long, akin to Johanna's as a matter of example, albeit not made of silver, or titanium. Making it heavier and overall bulkier than it needed to be.
Yet, it would do.
At least, I thought it would.

Shortly after sheathing the blade, Michael pulled us away to make a plan.
He explained my role, and generally how the others needed to act, I had my orders.
From the looks of it, I'd be a flanker and a hard counter to one of the members forward.

Yet, Michael missed something.

"You forget Filia." With how little I had talked, my voice came out as if I had eaten gravel a few days ago.
"Her shadows, while we're still in the open can be problematic, and if she realizes that I'm going for Joseph, I'm going to need backup, because she's going to be there.
Granted Joseph probably won't do much unless he manages to outflank me, Filia can and will."

Heamet

Once Heamet had joined up with the rest, he saw just about the same things. robots, robots everywhere.
Had it been before the last operation, he would've just ran in, acting as a decoy, but here... He could hardly think of doing that.
His powers had been modified to a rather hefty degree and as such could hardly believe that his barriers would be able to stop radiation, which is exactly what he expected from them.

"It'd be better if we actually knew what they shot with those guns. But I'd say we sneak in, we don't know if there's any valuable information about anything else in there and the nuke will just be our escape tool.
Kind of a 50/50 though, since it could blow up in our faces just as well... We'd probably need someone able to defuse those robots, too..." He mused, not really sure about any of his possibilities, however, just as a manner of precaution, he covered himself in a personal barrier.

"Or maybe we can split up. One storms one building and the other sneaks into the other. Of course, that's one of the riskier plans. Your call."

[Dyelli Beybi]

As the teams split off, Muirin tossed a blue and red rag to each team. They looked a bit like faded towels that had been through the wash a few too many times. "In ten minutes time, go outside and find somewhere you want to set up. The first team who takes the other team's flag and brings it back into the building wins."

JJ had picked up a shotgun, a pistol and a knife though she didn't look particularly thrilled about any of them. Really, she couldn't use any of them, but at least she could sort-of fight back like this. It beat standing around waiting for someone to punch her in the face or electrocute her.

Imogen, meanwhile had picked up a rather vicious looking machete, which she could use to unpleasant effect... and a marker pen.

Blue Team: Imogen Vaughan

Imogen arrived just as Joseph began talking, adjusting the way the machete hung at her hip, "I don't think we can underestimate the other team, although I agree we are in with a chance if we work together. Michael can make weapons and use them, however, we have access to weapons here, so make sure you have what you need before you go out. Matteo worries me. He's like the young Emperor Palpatine. Getting rid of him fast would be a good call. Triggs I suspect we can ignore for a bit. She's unlikely to seriously hurt anyone but keeping her from getting up again could be an issue. Nevermore... I know nothing about. So I'd say stick together as much as we can, work together to take out Matteo and figure out what Nevermore can do, then we go for Michael or Nevermore depending upon who looks like they can hurt us the most, then finally tackle Triggs. If everyone is immobilised getting the flag should be easy."

"I'll look after the flag." she volunteered, "Oh... and watch out for Morríghan." she nodded at Muirin, whom she apparently knew by a different name, "I've heard what you've said about Pitch Black... it's like he's her Unicorn twin or something. Do not believe anything you see or hear around her; she loves screwing with people's heads. If she doesn't throw a few extra spanners into the works during this exercise I'd die of shock."

---

Red Team: JJ Triggs

JJ was still looking distinctly unimpressed about the exercise they had been given, "I'll go with that plan." she shrugged, "You haven't mentioned Raph or Immy... I saw them fighting earlier and they're both worryingly dangerous. Raph is faster and probably stronger than most of us... definitely me. I don't know exactly what Immy can do, but I know there are energy bolts, barriers and portals in the mix."

[The Flutterlands]

Filia Umbrarum

Filia gave Nevermore a look at the way he talked to her, feeling most insulted. This Nevermore person was the most unpleasant person she have meant out side of actual villians like Pitch and Slaggep. Of course she could dress herself. She was just making a suggestion that her attire wasn't appropriate for running around in mud and wet grass. The half-demon was about to say something but his weapon, even though it was fake, made her stand back. Filia instead scoffed and nodded at Roc before leaving the library. Mph. What a jerk. thought the young teenager as she went up to her dorm, What haw gotten Nevermore's feathers all so ruffeled up?

Filia went into her room and changed out of her dress before getting into a pair of black sports pants and a purple long-sleeve shirt. Returning to her friends downstairs, she smiled at thr group and took note of each of their teammates. They really did to seem to have it in the bag here. The made up of strong and mostly supernatural folk compared to the other team. "I think we can get this done as easy as pie." Filia said quietly with a grin, "I think I can pin down several of the guys down with my shadows while taking the flag. ...Though Mateo's electronic powers can be quite a problem. So be careful."

Filia looked onto the table and notice two small blades that caught her eyes. She picked them and examined them. "I think I could do well with these." she said, "Would be useful in a close-range fight..."

Raphael Raymond

Raphael grimaced at Nevermore's insult and glared at him baring his fangs. The only thing that kept him from actually making a responding was Roc's hand on his shoulder. The vampire looked up at the winged girl before returning his attention to Nevermore and snarled at him. Out of all the students here, Nevermore was becoming one he genuinely disliked. Snappy and rude, the bird person was becoming more and more someone Raph wouldn't mind taking a bite out of.

Nonetheless, while Filia left to get changed, Raph gatherd with Roc, Immy and Joseph. He looked onto the table and noticed twin pistol-like guns. He picked them up and smiled as found great use for them. "These would be great for anone whi might try to get me from afar." the vampire noted to his team, "Might do well against Electro-boy..."

When Filia returned, Raph gathered with the blue team for some actual planning. It did seem that they had the advantage. However, the vampire was smart enough and played enough sports games not underestimate the underdogs. However, his ears flickered a little and his glanced slightly to the other side of the room where Raph could clearly hear their opposing team. The young boy did find it quite troubling, and annoying, that his vampirism have allowed him to, most unintentionally listen in on conversations that were meant to be private. Sometimes, it got to a point rhat he could hear mutilpe conversations at once which gave him a headache. However, that wasn't exactly going to stop him from taking advantage in this scenario as this was meant to get them ready for real life threatening situations. His hearing would come in great handy when it comes to detecting threats.

"Okay guys," he told his team in a very low voice, "Sounds like they're going to be having Nevermore and Mateo as offensive and J.J and Michael as defensive. So we're going to have to work with that. Immy and I could help you protect the flag while Joseph helps with Filia. Roc you could give her air support."

---

Professor Jonathan "Invisible” Orlovsky

"Well for one thing, our children are responsible for Pitch Black's release." noted the Professor, "I would be surprised if someone like hom wouldn't want to 'return the favor'. Besides, if he is a threat, he is our mess and our responsibility to take care of. Pitch Black is just as much a mess of our creation as Slaggep is. That being said though, if you insist, I shall send a message to my superiors in New York when we return, informing them of the new threat. Perhaps they would be smart enough to burn the Death House to the ground with him inside."

As they approached the gulag Jonathan sighed when he saw the sight of the nuke and the army of robots. The soviets sure liked to overcomplicate things. No wonder his memories in the U.S.S.R's service wasn't exactly fond. "I could take care of the nuke and robots." Jonathan said, "I could use some assistance though. Been an awful long time since I have dome this... Unless you'd prefer sneaking in..."

[Primordial Luxa]

Team Red - Nevermore - Talbot Manor

“I doubt I’m faster than roc if those wings act like how they look,” he said “I could probably whip up something to reduce Filia’s effectiveness if I had some silver to melt down. Together I think we could make a small anti-cambion bomb.”

Nevermore shrugged, he didn’t like people giving him orders. Not because he thought he could come up with better plans or because he was better, but because he knew that his method of doing things was simply different. He had been trained to operate alone in the field and rely only on himself. He was used to formulating his own tactics which involved only him and simply wasn’t use to having teammates who couldn’t follow along or wanted to disrupt his process.

“Look if it’s all the same try not to give me any jobs. I’m fine because I was already planning on something similar but just know, I’m not good at the whole ‘team’ thing.” His tone was a bit more condescending than it needed to be but mostly it was matter of factly stated.

Team Blue - Roc - Talbot Manor

Roc found herself in an odd position as her team got ready. Looking around she wasn’t sure she agreed with Joseph’s statement. Sure they had a lot of raw firepower between herself, Filia and Imogen but the other team seemed to have all of the skill. Mateo had been doing this for a long time and Michael was a take-charge type who wouldn’t hold back. She didn’t have a particularly good read on ‘Nevermore’ but if he had even a drop of relation to the Nevermore of the Knights then this battle might be already over.

On her side she knew that Imogen had a great deal of skill and she was no novice. But Raph seemed to rely more on raw instincts and letting his powers guide him than the other way around. Filia was powerful but she rarely seemed to use her powers and was nowhere near as battled hardened as the others. Joseph was hard to place but Roc got the vibe he wasn’t used to fighting many other Pseudo-humans like Mateo and Nevermore likely were.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Let's not get cocky. We certainly have the power but I think they have experience. Imogen, you want to take the lead?”

She volunteered the girl for a leadership position because it wasn’t the first time she had taken the lead. Roc was still impressed by how she had fought Slaggep and knew the girl had it in her to be a leader.

"All I'm good for is hitting hard and fast," Roc said to Raph punching her fist into her palm with enough force to cause the grass to sway a bit.

Cohen and Dallas – Russian Gulag

“I get the feeling that the Nuke isn’t there to keep people out,” Dallas said. “If it was it would be a missle not a bomb. No that thing is there to prevent an escape.”

Cohen nodded agreeing with his assessment. “I think a stealthy approach would be better. Look!”

They waited a few minutes as Cohen pointed out that the robots seemed to have a preset route. They would walk in a circuit of the right buildings five times then enter the left building and a second group of robots would leave to conduct the same routine.

“They have a pattern, if we time things right we might be able to slip past the robots into the second building.”

“We’d only have a few minutes to do so, when the patrols shift their only about a three-and-a-half-minute delay,” Dallas posited.

“Professor could you get down there and get the door open without being seen? You would have to stagger things a bit but if was open when we got down there we could slip in before the guard changes.”

[Kingdom of Irhk]

William Brookes - Talbot Manor

A lengthy ritual and a lengthy, complicated reading together with some vomiting were the items needed for Brookes to read the first Tome. He found out some interesting, yet worrying things about their foe, and this forced him to remind himself that every single piece of knowledge in his magical life seemed to inhabit this place: The frontier between safety and interest, where things started to get dangerous. Where people often walked back, William made his home and walked, trailblazing and sometimes leaving marks for other explorers.

However, Slaggep was different. It was a different level of danger. A creation made by Gods and Goddesses, an amalgam of the cardinal sins, all in one beast, held by a carefully created barrier that was about to disappear, next to him... Quite the accomplishment. Carefully, he walked through the grounds until he found Dwight, the man Cohen told him about.

"Bad news and good news, Dwight. I know what Slaggep is, his origin, an the location of the next tome, but... If you don't mind, I want to talk with you about it in a more private place. Follow me?"

[Primordial Luxa]

William Brookes - Talbot Manor

A lengthy ritual and a lengthy, complicated reading together with some vomiting were the items needed for Brookes to read the first Tome. He found out some interesting, yet worrying things about their foe, and this forced him to remind himself that every single piece of knowledge in his magical life seemed to inhabit this place: The frontier between safety and interest, where things started to get dangerous. Where people often walked back, William made his home and walked, trailblazing and sometimes leaving marks for other explorers.

However, Slaggep was different. It was a different level of danger. A creation made by Gods and Goddesses, an amalgam of the cardinal sins, all in one beast, held by a carefully created barrier that was about to disappear, next to him... Quite the accomplishment. Carefully, he walked through the grounds until he found Dwight, the man Cohen told him about.

"Bad news and good news, Dwight. I know what Slaggep is, his origin, an the location of the next tome, but... If you don't mind, I want to talk with you about it in a more private place. Follow me?"

Dwight nodded with a smile and followed Dwight.

He wanted to stay closer to Muirin so he could keep and eye on her and also the students, he figured that he would have to heal someone by the end of the day. He was thankful the new teacher hadn't given any of them live rounds and stuck to rubber bullets.

"What were you able to find out?"

[Granis]

Michael Evans

Michael sighed as he listened to the feedback from his team. Honestly though, it wasn't really from any negative feelings so much as relief. Thankfully, it looked like Matteo was at least somewhat back to normal emotionally, which was great. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to handle 'angstbomb' Matteo and Nevermore at the same time...

Still, there were quite a few problems with their situation.

The least of which happened to be a possible leak of information that was really beginning to bug him.

"Alright, your concerns are noted, lets all work through this together." He said. "Remember, even with all our individual powers, we're still a team. We need to work together on this as much as possible here, otherwise we're all screwed."

And then he pulled out a notepad from his pocket, holding it out to show the others.

"Alright, now I know I've already said quite a bit, but I think its about time I give in to my well founded paranoia." He said. "From hear on, we should write our planning down. After all, one of our opponents is a vampire after all, and while I tried to ignore it because I'm nice and this is really just a training exercise, I'm almost entirely sure he can hear everything we're saying. Now though, we're gonna be taking the kiddy gloves off and play like I played back at the Helling Foundation. That means it'll be a little harder to eavesdrop on us, right Raphy?"

Honestly, he wasn't sure if Raphael had even gained enough control over his vampirism to reach the whole 'super-senses' part yet. The level of control they needed seemed to vary between individuals whenever he'd encountered them. That being said, it was also a risk he had decided he didn't really want to take. He may have been content to just work through this normally before, but for some reason he was beginning to get quite excited now.

So, first things first. He scribbled down onto the paper. Jojo, you mentioned portals? Is it possible that Immy could just make a portal to our flag? If so, do you possibly know if there's any way to prevent her from making them? I've seen her fight plenty of times in the training area, so I feel like I might have a basic idea of her fighting style, and I might be able to hold her off if she gets here.

He then looked to the other two.

As for Filia, I will admit that I'm not entirely sure how to handle her without going into territory that could possibly be accidentally lethal. I'm afraid anything like melting my weapons would be a pretty bad idea, because just [i]cracking one of them by accident is the equivalent of a flashbang going off right in front of me. Something like melting them might actually cause massive brain damage, which is something I'd really rather avoid. The best I can think of is planting crucifix shaped swords into the ground to try and ward her off. Even if she does pin is down with shadows, though, will it work for anything that isn't touching the ground? Because if it doesn't, I could still fend her off with my weapons.[/i]

Then however, he looked from side to side shifting before pulling out a bundle of cloth and holding it out to Matteo, before continuing to write something more on the notepad.

I don't know if this will help much, but over the last few days I've been making you a little present.

After writing this, he unfurled the bundle to reveal a dagger with a long metal cord sticking out of the base of the hilt.

If you've ever watched Darker than Black, you'll know what to do with it.

After he'd finished writing, he held the notepad out between the other three, eager to get their thoughts.

---

Joseph Moore

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna underestimate their powers or anything..." He said, waving his hands in front of him in a nervous manner. "I'm just saying that it could be possible for us to attack them quickly enough to possibly overwhelm them before they can put all their strategies into place. We do have the raw power that should be necessary to pull it off, after all..."

Once he'd finished speaking, he turned to Imogen, an uneasy expression on his face.

"So you said the teacher might try to make things more difficult. Do you have any specific ideas?"

[Kingdom of Irhk]

William Brookes - Talbot Manor

A lengthy ritual and a lengthy, complicated reading together with some vomiting were the items needed for Brookes to read the first Tome. He found out some interesting, yet worrying things about their foe, and this forced him to remind himself that every single piece of knowledge in his magical life seemed to inhabit this place: The frontier between safety and interest, where things started to get dangerous. Where people often walked back, William made his home and walked, trailblazing and sometimes leaving marks for other explorers.

However, Slaggep was different. It was a different level of danger. A creation made by Gods and Goddesses, an amalgam of the cardinal sins, all in one beast, held by a carefully created barrier that was about to disappear, next to him... Quite the accomplishment. Carefully, he walked through the grounds until he found Dwight, the man Cohen told him about.

"Bad news and good news, Dwight. I know what Slaggep is, his origin, an the location of the next tome, but... If you don't mind, I want to talk with you about it in a more private place. Follow me?"

Dwight nodded with a smile and followed Dwight.

He wanted to stay closer to Muirin so he could keep and eye on her and also the students, he figured that he would have to heal someone by the end of the day. He was thankful the new teacher hadn't given any of them live rounds and stuck to rubber bullets.

"What were you able to find out?"

William Brookes

Taking a sip from his canteen filled with some alcoholic drink, William turned to the resident doctor with a smile that showed that the detective solved the mystery. If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle imagined Sherlock's return after he defeated Professor Moriarty, the eccentric English detective would have a smile inferior to one that William had in that precise moment. He always loved these moments, when he knew what other people didn't.

"Well, I suppose the good doctor doesn't want a drink... Here we go. 'Slaggep' isn't a name made by some satanic ritual in Woodstock. It is a double acronym, as it is written in the tome we retrieved: Sloth, Lust, Anger, Greed, Gluttony and Pride. It also serves as indicators of the Gods and Goddesses that made him: Satan, Lamashtu, Ahriman, Guecufu, Gaunag, Eris and Pan. Which means he has the power of three and a half divinities, or putting in simpler words, we probably can't kill him.

This makes him a... dangerous thing to deal with. His powers are extensive: He can know random things without leaving his place, if he is sexually active he can feel the smallest piece of an atom moving through his body, if he is angry he hits like a nuclear bomb and if he wants you, his body will move with enough speed to get you. The last two aspects are... curious. If he is jealous of you he can and will infect you and if he is feeling certain of his skills, he can use the prime essence of magic itself. However, the writer of this notes that during the battle in Poland our dearest neighborhood could only use two of these aspects at a time.

At last, I think I know at least a part of how they held Slaggep in place. The use of Ley Lines to keep away the energy from the Dreamlands to converge towards Slaggep, which prevents him from using his powers. Now, for the bad news mixed with the good ones. The last tome, that can explain to us how we can actually recreate the spell, well... It is in Venus. Again, not the name of a hippie camp for young hipsters, but the planet Venus. Good news is: Some... mages who liked to show off created a way to travel through space without the need of oxygen and without feeling the differences of pressure. Such wonderful company of ladies and gentlemen named it 'space mead'. Yes, I think the name is ridiculous.

However, I need to travel to London to get them. Maybe other towns in England too. I can get the materials, I can brew it, but it will be under my ways. Can't reveal my contacts and the places I buy from. So, if you don't have anything to say... London calling to the underground mages, because now apocalypse is declared and the battle is coming down, which means I have to travel as soon as I can."

[Serah]

The plan progressively moved along.
I must say, I was somewhat surprised, despite it being essentially barebones as all hell due to lack of intel, it felt like some genuine thought went into it.

However, I had been watching the others as well, and oddly enough the one I knew the most was Filia.
I'd need to take her on myself, even if I felt like shit doing this, I knew that the emotional trauma I had wrought on her with my anger and the general pits I kept between each and every member of the group did enough to reduce any personal emotional strain I could have fighting any of them.
After all, once the fighting started, they would be my foes, no room for feelings there. Then again, minding the objective was also a concern.

I don't think Filia will be warded off by mere sword crosses, you'd need something holy in nature, or something you really believe in.
I'll try and take care of her. It wouldn't make sense for them to send someone like Joseph away and not protect him. I'm willing to bet Filia will protect him. If not, I'll make dispatching Joseph my priority and fall back immediately. Dealing with Roc, or Imogen is just going to be stupid if I do it alone.

When Mike unfurled the knife however, I knew exactly what to do with it. And it would make my initial plan that much easier.
I nodded at Mike, giving him a semblance of a smile, which was distinctly hard, since I hadn't smiled in several weeks. He probably wouldn't have noticed it either way.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Team Red - JJ Triggs

JJ sat down, listening to her team, looking a little sullen about the whole affair. She had said, right from the start, that her powers sucked and now it looked like she was about to get squished, zapped or otherwise violently put-down by one of her class mates. Roc had taught her a few things but she wasn't under any illusions that she was at all likely to offer much of a challenge to her class-mates. Hopefully Michael would be able to pull something incredible out of the bag...

When he passed her the note she looked up, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

Michael Evans
So, first things first. He scribbled down onto the paper. Jojo, you mentioned portals? Is it possible that Immy could just make a portal to our flag? If so, do you possibly know if there's any way to prevent her from making them? I've seen her fight plenty of times in the training area, so I feel like I might have a basic idea of her fighting style, and I might be able to hold her off if she gets here.

She took the hint though, grabbing Michael's pen and writing underneath, She's nervous to use them. I don't think she will. She needs to be able to draw exactly what the flag area looks like or she could end up in some alternate reality or something.

Wasn't Jojo a man who thought he was a loner (but he knew it wouldn't last)?... What's Darker than Black? she finished, wondering if he'd get her music joke.

---

Team Blue - Imogen

Team Blue - Roc - Talbot Manor
...
“I don’t know,” she said. “Let's not get cocky. We certainly have the power but I think they have experience. Imogen, you want to take the lead?”

She volunteered the girl for a leadership position because it wasn’t the first time she had taken the lead. Roc was still impressed by how she had fought Slaggep and knew the girl had it in her to be a leader.

"All I'm good for is hitting hard and fast," Roc said to Raph punching her fist into her palm with enough force to cause the grass to sway a bit.

"Me?" Imogen looked surprised for a moment, giving a moment for someone else to contest that. When they didn't she smiled, "Okay. I will try my best to avoid any of you getting hurt."

"I'm going to suggest we do things a little differently. Logically we're playing capture the flag. What are you going to do? You'll split up into an attacking team and leave some folk behind to look after the flag. The Morríghan didn't say where we had to put the flags, so lets get creative. Let's look for some denser terrain to set up shop in, somewhere that gives us a good field of vision and instead of attacking straight off we hold position, then we go for local superiority in numbers, take out the attackers, then we go for the defenders once they are out for the count. Yes, I know it's not the most exciting plan but I think it is the one with the best chance of us inflicting hurt without too many of us getting hurt ourselves."

"While we're waiting, Joseph, see what water magic you can whip up. I'd love a Sharknado but would settle for something less violent."

"Also." she added, "Roc and Raph... keep away from JJ, let the rest of us handle her. Filia, keep away from Mateo. I want to see if we can avoid ruining friendships or romances if possible and there is very little that does that faster than hitting them with an edged weapon." she said, swinging the machete at the air by way of demonstration.

"Anyway, defensive position..." she pointed vaguely in the direction of the treeline, "Over there looks good to me. Maybe, Roc, you can hide in the canopy somewhere, act as a spotter, plus you can ambush from up there."

Joseph Moore

"So you said the teacher might try to make things more difficult. Do you have any specific ideas?"

"Yeah... She's a powerful mage who is particularly proficient at illusions." she paused for a moment, grimacing slightly as she realised that wasn't as helpful as it could have been, "Unfortunately, she is also creative and unpredictable. I wouldn't want to guess at what stunt she might try to pull. I'd almost certainly get it wrong."

---

"Alright boys and girls!" Murin's voice seemed unnaturally loud, though still conversational in tone, and seemed to come from everywhere at once, "I'll give you two more minutes, then it's game on. I'm counting down, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and nineteen...

There wasn't much time left to finish planning.

[Primordial Luxa]

Nevermore - Red Team

Can’t stop portals. Nevermore wrote down. Would need more materials. Specific stuff. Portals tend to give signals before opening. There not like teleportation which just happens. You’ll see or sense something. There will be a tell. Look for that.

Then Nevermore got an idea and confidently said, “Okay yeah, if you give me a couple of minutes I can turn that into a weapon that will knock Filia out cold. Could be better, but this material will channel the light and act as a kind of...what? Oh right.”

It was misdirection. If Raph was listening hopefully he would think that the team had worked out something to hurt Filia. If they were lucky even he would inform his team and potential cause Filia to stay back. Psychological combat was something Nevermore had picked up from his namesake.

A bit of misdirection, he wrote down. Sucks but fake that we all have something I whipped up. Could give an edge if we bluff it well. I’m heading out. Put the flag somewhere while I take the fight to them.

And with that Nevermore was gone. He didn’t quite disappear but he moved quickly towards the forest next to the field and vanished into the tree line. His pet raven moving quickly after him and he moved. He was skilled at surprise attacks and would quickly turn the forest into a lethal kill zone where even superpowered enemies like the others would quickly find themselves in trouble.

It helped that he was likely to go up against a small number of foes. He thrived at one on one combat. So much so it could be said that his skill would grow exponentially for each person not involved in a fight with him. He was confident he could even take out Roc, one on one if it came down to it.

Roc - Blue Team

Roc nodded, and looked over towards the trees. From there should would have a clear vantage of the field and some areas of the forest but it would be likely that movement in certain parts of the forest would be obscured.

“Can do captain,” she said beating her wings and rising up. “I’ll play defense and spotter from there. If anyone gets in trouble, give call for help and I’ll swoop down and bail you out.”

She figured she was fast enough to engage in a quick fight and scare off potential enemies before getting back to the flag and acting as a guard.

She liked that Imogen was stepping up and was happy that she could give the girl a time to shine. Everyone needed on, hers was when she got to hit stuff, and she felt that Imogen would do well as a leader.

Dr. Dwight - Manor

Dwight sighed but his smile didn’t falter. “Well by Kuranes’s golden locks, this truly is bad. I’m surprised anyone was able to imprison him at all if he has such power. Dear Outer Gods. Seven Gods of Earth? Ahriman? Eris? And Lamashtu?”

Dwight eye’s said it all. If Slaggep was even half as power as the books implied then any fight with him was doomed to failure. It had taken Archon several days to defeat him, if they didn’t figure out this ritual there likely wouldn’t be anything to fall back on.

“How can I help?”

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Dr. Dwight - Manor

Dwight sighed but his smile didn’t falter. “Well by Kuranes’s golden locks, this truly is bad. I’m surprised anyone was able to imprison him at all if he has such power. Dear Outer Gods. Seven Gods of Earth? Ahriman? Eris? And Lamashtu?”

Dwight eye’s said it all. If Slaggep was even half as power as the books implied then any fight with him was doomed to failure. It had taken Archon several days to defeat him, if they didn’t figure out this ritual there likely wouldn’t be anything to fall back on.

“How can I help?”

William Brookes

"Well... Don't let any of your students see this. You saw how they were after they faced Nolan's My Little Pony, if they read the things that are there, they will be probably be more terrified than they should be for a fight like this. Lock this Tome in your room, along with some notes I wrote for Cohen.

I will get ready for my trip to London. I need to call some people I know, ready a place to stay there... It will take some time, and I can't guarantee the safety of possible companions, before you suggest that. In other words, don't let the kids read this until we get the whole picture. Well, I'll be packing my things up in case you need me."

Putting the tome in Dwight's hand, William went back to the place he was staying. Picking up his cellphone from one of his pockets: It was time to call an old friend.

"Eve? William. Need a place to stay in London, dear."

[The Flutterlands]

Filia Umbrarum

Filia nodded at her own teammates while reflecting on her own abilities. It was still quite cloudy out. So the lack of much light out there gave her an advantage to create all sorts of structures out of the shadows. That and like Immy, she had her own ability to teleport from patches of darkness. All she would need is a good image of their flag and she could get there in a jiffy. It would be handling the likes of Mateo that would be an issue though... Filia may have to use some of the new tricks she learned if shd crossed paths with him.

"I don't think I'd have much of a choice about Mateo." said Filia grimly, gulping a little, as she began rubbing her arm. She was really not looking forward to this now that she might not have any other option. "Our relationship have been quite... strained, and we'll be both going after each other's flagd. Oooooh... Though, I think I might be able to take him on if I play my cards right."

The young girl then shifted her orange eyes towards Murin before returning her attention to her team. "Yeah she does give me the creeps a little." said Filia, "If she is anything like Pitch Black, I'd avoid her as if she has the plague... Anyway... Let's get moving... We should get started before it begins."

Raphael Raymond

Raphael listened to his teammates discuss what they were going to do and nodded. Considering his enchanced strength, speed and senses it wouod be best that he himself stuck to guarding the flag. Though the vampire of course felt that he should make sure he has bloodpacks on him. Raph didn't want to get someone killed because he lost control over himself. The very thought of that have been haunting him since arrival.

The young vampire's attention was then brought back to the red group, unintentionally overhearing their conversation again. Raph glanced over at them and suddenly saw they were now writing to each other. It seems like they have caught on to the fact that he can, albiet uncontrollably, overhear people, wither he likes it or not. Raphael bit his lip and looked back at teammates. "Uh, guys, it sounds like they're planning on making some sort of anti-cambion bomb..." he told them quietly, "I'm not sure exactly what kind but just watch yourselves, especially you Filia..."

At the sound of Muririn's countdown, Raph groaned a little. They haven't made much of a plan like the other team might have. "Er, anyway, I'll stay in the rear along with those protecting the flag. Just got to make sure I myself don't go overboard with my... tendencies..." he said, frowning a little before smiling, "I think I can handle myself as long as I got blood on me... Just do what you can to protect pur flag and get the other's at all cost, okay? And be careful..."

Professor Invisible

Jonathan sighed and shook his head. So his previous theory about some evil abomination might be correct. Ether that or the Soviet Union didn't want the book itself from leaving the gulag. Nonetheless, the routine the robots were following seemed easy to follow. So this would be easier than he thought it would be a few minutes earlier. "I can stealthily get by these machines." he said, adjusting his goggles, "Still wont be easy, but can be done nonetheless..."

The professor got closer to the robots, hiding behind a ruined wall as the robots reset their shift. After a moment of preparation, Jonathan made a break for it, silently running by the robots. Upon reaching the door, the bandaged man gave it a nice push to open, before giving his colleagues an affirmative nod to make their own move.

[Primordial Luxa]

Dallas and Cohen - Russia

Cohen raised a hand and made a motion for the group to move forward as soon as the robots entered their barracks. Trudging through the snow she ran with Dallas, Heamet not far behind either of them. She didn’t look at the door she new the manipule of robots would exit from, she didn’t need the distraction, her eyes glued to the open door the professor was standing next to.

She could hear the metal moving and panicked with each step afraid it would be the one where her foot got caught. Dallas was in front of her and slid through the door into the interior she moved through just after him and turned around to see Heamet lagging behind as the garage doors slid open showing the silver legs of the metal robots. She extended a hand and helped pull him through just as the Professor closed the door behind them all.

They were all breathing raggedly as they surveyed their surroundings. The inside of the building was one long hallway with asylum style doors on both sides. Cohen gave them all a moment of respite then motioned for them to begin looking at the rooms.

Dr. Dwight - Manor

Dwight nodded and move along to put away the tome securing it in a lock box in his room and hiding it beneath a stack of scrolls in a corner.

[Granis]

Michael Evans

Right before their planning session could end, Michael's eyes widened, as he quickly grabbed the notepad and frantically scribbled a couple of notes.

New addition to the plan. Jojo, you and me are going to dig a hole. We won't say anything, and we'll be as quiet as we can about it. We need to convince them we're burying our flag, without making it obvious enough that they might think its a trap. If I'm right, Raph will hear us digging, and assume that that's what we're doing.

Matteo, we're actually going to have you hide the flag within your clothes somehow. They won't suspect that one of our attackers would have our flag, so they should be concentrating on us. They'll see the disturbed dirt, and I'll try to fight in a way that makes me look desperate enough to fool them. Meanwhile, you'll keep the flag on the move, and they should be none the wiser.

If they want a proper area for our flag, then we'll give them one. It just won't be the right one.

You may still need to run though, Jojo, and possibly cover me from afar if you think you can. We don't want you getting hurt if we can help it.

After he finished, he passed the flag to Matteo with a nod. He was a perceptive kid, and he'd caught that smile, even if a normal person would have needed a microscope.

"Good to see you finally coming back to your senses, Matty. I was wondering what happened to the guy who helped me find my glasses when I first got here..."

And the he summoned a large, wide bladed sword, stabbing it into the ground hard enough to leave a large gouge mark.

"So, I'll be honest Jojo, I didn't get the reference you made in your note, but I'll do what I can to explain the Jojo I'm referencing while we're defending. I'll explain the other thing afterwards, because part of our plan might depend on it, and I don't want to risk the others hearing about it. Its bad enough that Nevermore mentioned the anti-cambion stuff... Anyway, we should get to work though, before our new teacher decides our prep time is up."


Joseph Moore

"O-oh... Well, its not really magic... Or I don't think it is, at least..."

Ok, alright, he needed to keep it together. Yeah, he'd never actually talked to Imogen properly before, but the same could be said for any of the students not that long ago, and he could talk with Roc, JJ an Raph fine!

Clearing his throat, he shook his head slightly and nodded.

"Anyway, it might be a little difficult without more water, or sharks for that matter, but I'll see what I can do."

[Dyelli Beybi]

Team Blue - Imogen Vaughan

Perhaps surprisingly, Imogen had been considering doing exactly what Michael was planning on the other side, but in the end opted to tie the flag around her neck, like an oversized neckerchief, tucking it into the collar of her blouse so that it was visible but couldn't be easily yanked off her. If it got to the point where someone had her pinned down and was prying the flag from around her neck they had pretty much lost anyway.

Murin's countdown was getting quite low as they reached the tree line, "Okay... stay hidden but try to keep a good field of vision and make sure that you don't lose sight of everyone else. I would prefer it if nobody got separated. If Matteo arrives and starts throwing lightning around, Joseph, try to douse him in as much water as you can summon up then Roc... keep hitting him until he gives up."

"Seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... alright boys and girls, time to find those flags!" Muirin sounded positively gleeful.

---

Red Team - JJ Triggs

"Can your powers make me a spade?" JJ asked, out loud this time. The countdown was getting towards the end and she really didn't think the young vampire was going to be able to hear them; Roc and the rest of her team had headed off in the direction of the nearest forest. Besides, if he did hear them it would probably help to reinforce Michael's deception, "I don't really want to do that with my bare hands. I'd definitely break a nail."

JJ kept her nails rather short. That was definitely not meant to be taken seriously...

"Seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... alright boys and girls, time to find those flags!" Muirin gleefully announced.