Today was Jack's big day now that he was newly joined member of the Sanctum agency which allowed titans like himself to use their powers for the greater good. He just hoped that the people in this agency were at least half as talented as he was. Jack had his cowboy hat on and he looked around the building for the briefing room. He was new to this place and didn't really know his way around the facility. All of Sanctum's stuff and equipment were in very big supply but Jack wouldn't really have need for any of that sutuff since he preferred his Bowie knife over most firearms.

He soon found the briefing room and entered the room to see if he was the only titan there. It didn't really matter to Jack since he preferred to be on a team with titans who were just as powerful as he was. He couldn't wait until he was given an assignment since he had hopes to try and test out the heat of his burning oil. Jack looked around and saw a couple of the superhumans already there and he looked at the others with curiosity since he had never really personally known a titan and was interested in knowing these individuals would good enough work as a proper team.

Capable, Magara sat and wondered, More potential than even many people in this room, including myself. Magara had been described as many things in her life, capable had not been among them before. She tried to let that though settle into her mind, find a comfortable place to rest and become fixed, but the terrain was fraught with doubt, her head still spun from the fairy dust, the pain, the punch.

She tried to sit calmly while the others fought, not saying anything to Brooke, her teachers or anyone else. The dust made her powers more intense, she clenched her hands on her lap through the next few fights. The effects of the dust did begin to fade, and Magara was left unsure if she should be relieved that the intensity of her feelings had returned to normal, or if she should bemoan the clarity that had been achieved. She wondered if that is what seeing was like.

Linn drew her out of herthoughts, taking her hand and guiding her toward the debriefing room, where they would have a mission assignment. Linn had a sore stomach and an ice pack, she had lost her own duel. Everyone had a bruise developing, a sore joint or ego, Magara seemed to be the only one to come out of the duels unscathed. “I hope they let me take Carl.” She said to Linn.

“Someone new…” She leaned toward Linn and gave away the surprise just before they passed through the doors into the debriefing room. She wanted to ask Linn what they were like, but now that they were in hearing range it would be a bit awkward. No doubt Linn would tell her, or that the new recruit would reveal themselves in time. Without the dust they were merely a presence, a bundle of excitement and anxiety much like they had all been yesterday.

Chapter One: The Ghosts of Sanctum

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Those first few days seemed like only an introduction of what was to come. That day in the briefing room, we got our mission, The overseers would be prepping us for field work for a month before we began the investigation. Day in and day out, we were training: combat, firearms, strategy, power management- it felt like we had only the last few hours of each day to really talk to one another. There were some budding friendships sure, but for the most part we all seemed to be just as unaware of each other as those first days. Guardian said that the training we endured was only the beginning.

The little down time we did have was largely dedicated to doing activities with Vita. If anything we had all at least become used to one another, for good or for bad. We even had a few new members in the form of Jack and Azrael. Jack seemed like a pretty big hothead, but a cool enough guy. Azrael on the other hand, he didn't speak much. He kept a black headband tied midway around his head, covering his eyes.

Others left the group, and the overseers kept oddly quiet about them after that, saying only that they decided that this lifestyle wasn't for them. We all had one thing in common, we were all tired of waiting. They had briefed us on our first assignment last night, and everyone was already up getting suited in their costumes for the first time. We were headed down to New York City. There we'd be split up into small groups, and would be tasked with locating the rogue titan nicknamed Ink, capable of bringing her tattoos to life. The Sanctum carrier was our current location, and before us stood none other than Commander Nunez. She had given us our words of encouragement and now simply guided us onto the aircraft. I strapped myself into something straight out of a war movie, now more determined than ever to make a difference.
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After Press was strapped in, he double-checked to see that everything was fully charged and in working order. He had integrated his quick-access glove into his armor, and he had given his cube some armor plating to keep it from getting too damaged. He checked to see that his visor was working, his rocket launcher was fully loaded, and his laser gun on his gauntlet was set to stun. He also checked to see that his jetpack was in fully functional condition, and finally checked Horus' joints and lenses. Naturally they were all deemed to be in perfect (as can be) condition. His visor sprang up, revealing his grinning face. "So, who else feels nervous about this?" Press asked, trying to make some conversation among the others.

"I'm more excited than nervous, I'm so ready for this." Linn stated eagerly as she glanced down at the touch pad in front of her with all the information relating to the case. She was always an excellent note taker in school and was finally making good use of it in her actual life. Finding a titan was not what she was expecting their first assignment to be considering all the unstable and powerful ones out there but this person's M.O was too fascinating to Linn. Actually being able to bring her tattoo's to life meant that she had to have a lot of them and for some reason excited her more. She lowered the tablet in her hand to her lap and reached up to adjust her hair which these days always seemed to be in a ponytail. Glancing next to her she wondered how Magara and the rest of them were feeling surely she couldn't be the only excited one.

Unlike some of the others, Nathan was pretty relaxed. This wouldn't be his first fight, since that would inevitably happen, and he knew that he wasn't the smartest. In the end, Nathan knew that it would either be Linn or Press who figured where the target was. Nathan was just here to put them down. Turning his neck from side to side, giving pops from each turn, Nathan began to check on the gauntlets that Sanctum had made for him. They were tough, sturdy, and packed one hell of a punch. As he inspected the gauntlets, Nathan idly scratched at his back. The new sedative pump was much better than the old one, instead of making him loopy they just calmed him down.

Nathan dug through his pack for a bit before finding what he was looking for, his mask. The mask was from before the Alaska incident, it was a miracle it survived. It was a little slagged on one side and scorch marks covered the mask, but it was still there. Turning the mask around in his hands, Nathan pulled it over his head and strapped it in place. Tossing his gaze over to Linn, Nathan said "Hey Linn, can I see those notes you got on the target? I just need to get a better idea of what were are going against." As he waited his answer, Nathan began to check the straps on his boots. There was nothing more embarrassing than tripping in a fight.

"I'm just glad to finally get to roast some scumbags with my blazing juice" Jack said to them as he held his right hand up in front of his face and watched it become covered in flames thanks to his powers. He felt no pain and his skin didn't melt. He sometimes gave his flaming oil funny names to amuse himself more when he used his destructive power. Some thought he was out of his mind, Jack just thought of himself as your classic Texan. Ether way he was ready to go out and do his duty by dispensing justice and making criminals suffer.

He still wasn't sure if working as a member of a team was the type of work he would put up with but this was his only way to use his powers in a legal way. He watched the others use their gadgets and he didn't really touch his, he wasn't a big fan of gadgets, he preferred to rely on his instincts and the tools he was handy with. Jack was equipped with his Bowie knife and also had a shotgun strapped onto his back. He was dressed in the proper attire for going out to fight crime was an outfit similar to riot officer but instead of a visor or helmet, Jack wore his cowboy hat. Now he was simply waiting for them to get to their target

Linn found the urge to roll her eyes at Jack for the millionth time in just the few hours the group was together. She just cleared her throat and pinched the bridge of her nose, giving him a hard look, ‘No one wants to see your little spark trick..’ Linn had always wanted to know what it would be like to meet someone with a fire based Titan gene and see if truly water and fire didn’t mix…and she was right…so horribly right. As much as she wanted to like him everything he did annoyed her and got on her nerves.

She snapped out of it when she heard Nathan’s voice next to her and she scrambled to get the touch screen tablet out of her lap and held it out to him offering a smile, “Here you-AH!” She yelped as she held a hand to her thudding heart. Linn took a deep breath and started to laugh at him, “Oh my god you nearly made me jump out of my skin! What is that?” She giggled again as the heat rose to her pale face as she looked at him, over the past month Linn and Nathan talked and sparred and he even gave her a few pointers with her fighting and she hoped he saw her as a friend as she sees him, even though she couldn't shake the shy stupid feeling when she was around him.

Cora withdrew from the crowd, avoiding rather than antagonizing the group. She became focused on training. She honed her skills and avoided eating dinner rather than talk to the others. People left, the wimps, and people arrived -both of which Cora couldn't bring herself to care about. Now this, Jack -the mere idea of his name made her cringe- was flame powered and his power left her more irritated whenever he used it.

"Either extinguish the fire, or I'll spear you through the chest. I have no interest in trying to close my eyes the whole journey 'cause some idiot keeps forgetting that I have light sensitivity. Not to mention it smells." even now, her eyes were shut behind her sunglasses and her hood was up like usual. She never bothered with costumes, never seeing the point of a secret identity. She didn't have anyone to protect anyway, and her teammates were as boring and useless to her as always, but she'd rely on them in a fight. After all, while they were trying to work together, she had received the same training.

What would Mark say if he saw me now? Cora thought as she was jostled back and forth from the turbulence. Nothing, 'cause he's a scheming bastard and he got what came to him. the reminder of her past life made her smile. She had a warm bed, decent food, and legal allowance to kill people. Well, people who were allowed to be killed. Nothing with the lower level villains or annoying innocents. Would it kill those morons on the street to clear out when a fight starts? Geez, it's like we're just a freak show for them...

Azrael managed to smirk at Cora's statement, though his eyes remained hidden by the black headband that covered them. Azrael didn't speak much at all to anyone, and the overseers gave very little info on him. Vita even avoided her typically probing when it came to this young man. His facial features were reminiscent, mocha colored skin, sharp cheek and jaw structure, yet smooth skin. He also had dark brown shaggy hair.

Azrael at least thought most of his teammates were amusing, though in the short time that he'd been here, about two weeks, they'd already proven themselves to be rather dysfunctional. Cora seemed to pique his interest most, especially given her abilities. Her powers relied on shadows-darkness- but where her powers needed light, his were based in something much more unknown. Shaking his thoughts, the young male looked forward, he saw a few of his new comrades including Ambrose, who had seemed to take on the position of a de facto leader of sorts.

In all honesty Azrael was more focused on the mission, but wished that his and his allies' abilities weren't being squandered on a game of hide and seek. Sighing to himself, Azrael leaned back in his seat, now strapped in, he was surprisingly quite built in terms of musculature. He rested his palms against each other, as they both rested on his lap.

Press' visor slid back into place as if on automatic, although it was really Press moving it back using his abilities. "Alright, settle down, guys. Let's save our energy to take down this 'Ink' person," Press said, his voice sounding like it came out of a speaker, which it actually was. Normally he wouldn't get involved in arguments and such, but he had been getting practice on such things, and having his armor on helped him feel quite confident.

Nathan was just thinking about the mission as he heard “Here you-AH!...Oh my god you nearly made me jump out of my skin! What is that?" from a surprised Linn. Taking the notepad, Nathan could only guess she meant the mask. The mask has been with Nathan for years, back to when he first discovered his powers. Back then it served to protect his identity from the from the less than stellar company he held to just get by. Those days from the fight pits weren't his proudest, but he wasn't about to regret them. Feeling the melted bit on the right side of his face, Nathan was given a grim reminder of what happened that day.

Giving a chuckle to suppress the feelings, Nathan said "This ol thing? Me and the mask have been together forever. Its just been on some hard times, truth be told I like its new look." Well the truth of the matter was the opposite, but he wasn't about to admit that. Skimming through Linn's notes, Nathan got a good idea of what they were going after. Giving a hum, Nathan said "So this chick can bring her tattoos to live. What kind do you suppose she has?" Talking to no one in particular.

Jack gave Cora a glare and replied harshly, "If you intend to order me around with teenage threats then you're a bigger idiot than I am. And you think I'll give in to threats? My oil will melt any weapon you have along with the hand that carries it, so watch your tone with me girl."

He took a bullet out of his ammunition container and melted it in his hands with his burning oil. Jack wasn't going to be intimidated by Cora and let her do whatever she pleased, he wouldn't be a pushover like the rest of his teammates. He could already tell that he wasn't going to be liked by the lot of them, his powers would be scary because it would be so easy to kill someone and destroy the environment and his temper would also not help much.

Jack then heard Press tell them to settle down and he frowned, "that's easy for you to say since you didn't have a threat made against you."

Linn felt her temper rise yet again at Jack’s actions. His gloating and disregard for anyone’s opinion but his own really rubbed her the wrong way. She gritted her teeth and gripped the sides of her seat as she watched him produce more of that foul oil that made Linn want to gag. Everything about him made her angry and she had maintained her composure for the past month but she couldn’t take anymore. She knew that Cora wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but Linn respected her as a formidable teammate and a regular badass. Maybe it was time to show them just how much of a badass Linn could be. “This is so immature…” She muttered to herself as she took off the black gloves from her hands and two shinny thick white metal bands glistened on both of her index fingers.

They were specially designed for her by Sanctum’s scientists to help her control her abilities, especially her ice making. Linn unbuckled herself from her seat and rose up stalking up behind Jack allowing her entire left hand to turn to the coldest ice she could muster and shot it out putting Jacks hand in a vice grip around hers. She smirked as she heard their joined hands sizzle and steam began to rise off of them. She leaned in and got in his face, “You think you’re so tough with your little heat trick? Well. Let’s not forget WHO is actually more powerful than you are shall we? If you continue with this brass and idiotic behavior, provoking our people and blatantly exposing your abilities and putting them in danger? I will not hesitate on turning you into an ice cube and sending you on your merry way. Are we clear?”

Jack was taken a bit by surprise when Linn grabbed his hand with her frozen grip and he felt the cold cool down his hand. When he heard her claim to be more powerful than him, he chuckled in amusement and made his hands become even hotter, even though he was tempted to do serious harm, he only made it hot for it to hurt the same as touching a pan that just come out of an oven. Jack was able slip out of her grip thanks to his oil making his hand very slippery and he turned to face her.

"I am only going to say this once, don't try that again or the next time I'll give that hand some of the worst third degree burns that any doctor will ever see, am I clear?" he said with a growl as his orange eyes glowed more intensely. He wanted to turn up the heat and cover himself in intense flames out of anger but he knew he couldn't because if he did then he would fill the air with toxic fumes which would be very dangerous to his teammates and that wouldn't help with their mission. Jack knew that the ice powered girl would not get along with him, it was obvious by the fact that their powers were the exact opposite. Now he knew that this mission would probably have a big number of mistakes happen, and he would probably have to deal with it.

Training had continued for about a month. Her own progress had been slow, but not unremarkable.

They had trained her in firearms. Of course, Magara's aim was atrocious, but she learned her way around a few guns, their parts, how to load them, how to clean them, and how to fire them (always with a guiding hand to be sure she was at least facing the cardinal direction of the target). She supposed that in the field she could aim at a cloud-of-emotion… but, unable to distinguish individuals at a distance she thought such a strategy would be to risky. So did her trainers. She was not supplied with any firearms for the mission, instead they equipped her with a modified walking stick. Retractable, black instead of white, and made of a much sturdier metal than the old one. Perhaps they thought she would do better with a familiar object.

They trained her in combat. They did not allow her to enjoy any more of Brooke’s dust, she was sure she would have been hopeless without it. Yet they taught her where to put her feet, how to put her hands in a proper guard. They worked a lot on her form before they put her in a few practice-rounds where her teachers went easy on her. Sometimes they put her in the ring with Vita so that Magara would use her other non-empathetic senses to detect an enemy. Who knows, perhaps one day she would be fighting robots instead of people. There was also the matter of these living-tattoos, Magara was unsure if she would be able to sense them.

They trained her to control her powers. In this she did not work closely with her fellows as the nature of her power was so different. She would go off by herself and do the breathing exercises they taught her, then find one of them to try her powers out on. She would try to block them out, or extend the range of her senses. This is actually where she made the least progress over the past month. More than once she found herself retreating to soon and falling apart.

They trained her in crime investigation. This was enjoyable for Magara, it was more studious than the other types of training. When people were thinking hard their emotions tended to pacify, and the company of her teammates was more bearable. They learned methods of collecting and organizing evidence, identifying suspects, the kinds of questions to ask witnesses… things like that.

Her own costume was a dark black and purple jumpsuit of sorts, loose but not so loose as to get caught in anything, it buttoned on one side of her torso giving her a few pockets inside the suit. Her hair and her face were wrapped up in a matching bandana of sorts, the cloth came down over her eyes and left only her small nose and pursed lips exposed to the open air. Carl, her guide-dog, was along for the ride his own harness colors matching her’s, he had a small dog-shaped face-mask as well… his training consisted of convincing-him-not-to-paw-at-his-face-mask.

Magara came to the plane a bit late because of Carl, she want to make absolutely sure that his ‘business’ was taken care of before the long flight. Magara was more worried than Carl about this mission, he had been on many aircraft trips in the military. Magara appreciated the dog’s calm demeanor, scratching him affectionately behind his ears as he guided her to the ramp.

As she walked halfway incline toward, then stopped in her tracks, turned right about, and walked toward the bottom of the ramp. She knelt there beside Carl and stroked his neck. Carl had his ears forward, suddenly alert as he realized that something inside the aircraft was distressing his dearest human. He growled in the back of his throat.

Inside the aircraft was hot-and-cold, rage-and-spite. Magara was disappointed by her teammates, the mission had not even begun and some argument had escalated this badly? The intensity of it had stunned Magara, she felt her hands shake, it was only getting worse inside.

“I… I don’t think I can go in there right now…” She told Carl. She had spent the past month trying to control her powers, like learning how to turn the volume on a stereo up or down, with little improvement. She tried her breathing exercises now anyway. Breathe in for seven-Hold for seven-Breath out for seven-

It wasn’t only the intensity that bothered her, but she feared violence might actually erupt between her comrades. A fight in an aircraft, in the air, between super powered titans would be the worst time for for such a thing to happen.

“I’ll just, wait for them to calm down.” She reasoned with the dog, Carl tilted his head and licked her face. “It would be better for them to calm down first… Or they can leave me behind. I’ll probably get in the way…”

"Enough, both of you..." Ambrose's voice rang out. Over the last month, it had seemed that he had taken the role of leadership, and he was really only one of the few people to try and get to know everyone. He kept his head up, and eyes straight ahead not looking at anyone in particular. "We've been trusted with a capture mission, now I don't know about you too, but I do not want to go back to training day in and day out without any missions to show for it. You don't have to like each other, but you will get along. We're a team, and that means we fight together, not against each other. So please Jack put your powers away, and Linn the same for you, it's not very becoming of you." With that Ambrose sighed, before looking back down. His accent had influences from languages around the world, and was a bit hard to place.

Ambrose wasn't surprised to see people fighting, he knew that the anxiety of the mission was making tensions high, and only time an experience would fix that. However, at least for now, he'd maintain control the best way he knew how.

"Of course, your majesty," Cora said, mocking Ambrose, "next time, I won't bother making threats. That'll clear things right up and we'll be better off." Jack didn't know how lucky he'd been that Lynn had reached over. Cora had been one second away from creating a shadow spike that would puncture his hand. Though, it looked from the area around him that she'd have to use some other shadows and been creative. Another reason she hated him. Whenever he fought, she was almost always useless.

Cora, of course, sat back and waited for Magara to settle in and the dog to relax. She'd slip him some treats after the mission was done. Cora had always had a soft spot for animals, even if all she could do was try and find them decent places to stay like kennels and what have you. One time she even tried to leave a box of puppies on someone's doorstep. The puppies had merely been moved as opposed to actually been given a home. For now though, Cora focused on cooling her emotions, hiding them from Magara and her stupid empathy powers. She didn't like anyone being able to poke around in her mind, even if it was only her emotions. She felt vulnerable around the blind girl, and she hated that feeling. I hope Jack burns to death one day, that'd be great.

Nathan was a little pissed. While Cora was a little bitchy, ok she was usually bitchy, she was still her teammate. Plus Cora was at least bearable compared to this punk. The only thing that kept him in his seat was the notion that sometimes Cora deserves to get her buttons pushed a little bit. However that didn't help his mood in the slightest, "swear to got its the goddamn bagel incident all over again." He thought to himself. Shaking his head, Nathan let out an exasperated sigh when Linn got up. Guess its true that fire and ice don't get along, which was dumb cus he and Linn got along fine.

His exasperation quickly turned to anger when Oily head McDickface threatened Linn. Nathan was halfway through getting his seat buckles done before the pump kicked in and forced him to not really care. Well he did care, he just couldn't help but not be angry at the situation. He finally gave up trying when Ambrose spoke up and told the pair to get along. Giving a hum of disapproval, Nathan strapped himself back in. Turning over to Linn, Nathan said "I know the guys a dick, its just like Cora. You know, except lacking any redeeming qualities. We just gotta stick with it." With that said, Nathan brought his head to rest on the wall of the transport.

Idily, Nathan turned his head to gaze at Margara. "Poor girl." he thought to himself, it couldn't be easy for her to be part of this dysfunctional little family they had here. Especially since her powers were so tied to emotions, ones that were brooding with negativity as of now. Giving another sigh, Nathan tried to relax some while they still had time for it. Nathan had a sneaking suspicion that this investigation is going to be a lot more trouble than it seemed.

"You're shadow trick doesn't scare me, and I'm warning you, if you make any attack against I'm going to make my body so bright that your eyes won't be working properly for days" he said harshly to Cora as he sat back down in his seat. He didn't mind making challenges to the punks of this organization, it would probably keep them alive longer and make them learn proper discipline. Jack would have said something to Nathan but Ambrose told them to stop fighting so he stopped himself and just clenched his fists trying to keep them igniting as they began give off smoke.

"So what is the situation that requires are attention?" he asked Ambrose assuming that he knew the details of the mission. Jack was also trying to calm himself down after almost being pushed over the edge because it wouldn't help the mission if he fried all of the electronics in the vehicle if he lost his temper.