It was a warm Summer's day in Greenfield. The sun shined down on the city as if nothing at all was remotely a problem. Unfortunately, that was hardly the case. For reasons unknown, a great deal of big-name supercriminals had gathered in the city. Shadowman's Dark Crew had been spotted numerous times, and there had been a string of kidnappings attributed to none other then Doctor Pleasant, along with a host of other terrifying criminal acts. Worst of all, not a single one of them had been captured. Just what were so many supercriminals doing in one city? Why had they all congregated there? No-one knew. Their arrival had emboldened the criminal element already present in the city. More and more dangerous and brazen illegal acts were occurring in Greenfield by the day.

But it's reasons like this why we have heroes, isn't it?

This had not gone unnoticed by the superheroes of the world. Eager to put a halt to this threat to the innocent, many had arrived to discover just why so many supercriminals had congregated in Greenfield. Greenfield had once been a peaceful, relatively unknown US city, but now it was a burning signal to the superhumans and supernatural in the world. Something was going to happen there.

But what?

---

The explosion rocked the bank. The vault door tore open under the force of the blast, revealing what lay within. It was ripe for the picking, all that cash... Burnout grinned. The fiery-haired supercriminal was pretty small time, but with all the big guys running around, well... this city was basically, theirs, wasn't it? And you could do a lot when you could cause explosions with your fingertips... the yellow-jacketed villain adjusted his red goggles, then jerked a thumb to his armed cohorts. They were guys he'd picked up off the street and armed, competent enough to point and shoot and do a decent job. "Go 'n gather the money, all of you! There's no way that the cops are gonna get past the front door!"

Indeed, he'd set up a set of armed men outside the bank door. He didn't even keep anyone around as hostages. Why bother? Nobody was going to stop them. They'd just get shot, like those security guards. Or they'd face Burnout's explosive might!

---

Metal boots clacked on concrete. She'd heard the blast! It was hard not to... so, somebody had gotten some bright ideas about robbing a bank, huh?! It hadn't taken long at all for Alicia to change outfits, and now Blast Girl was sprinting down the street, past stunned and frightened civilians. There wasn't much time to plan, and on top of that people could be hurt! The young superheroine was just going to go in fast and hit hard before the bad guys got a chance. Bidding quick 'excuse me's' to the people around her, Blast Girl sprinted around the corner and skidded to a halt. There were guards out front... They had guns! Well no time to think, time to act!

Blast Girl's personal gravity lightened. This would give her the boost she needed to get close before they had a chance to fire! The superheroine burst into a sprint, then a full-blown run, the wind whipping past her as she hurtled on forwards. The first guard whirled, and brought his rifle up. He was just about to pull the trigger when she suddenly ducked low, one armored boot shooting forward to kick him in the legs. He let out a yelp of surprise and toppled forward, just as Blast Girl's right hand curled into a fist. It snapped up and caught the falling criminal in the stomach, and immediately discharged two shells right into him! The blast of energy sent the man into the air with a cry of pain, and he turned over and hit the ground on his back, and lay still with a groan. One down! There was a bit of panic among the guards as Blast Girl shot to her feet, raising her guantleted fists.

"You just think you can go hurting innocent people for your own gain, huh?!" she cried. The guards seemed a bit shocked. They clearly hadn't expected a superhero and they weren't sure what to do. Weren't they only supposed to go after the big crimes? "Well, I'm Blast Girl, and I'm gonna show you that was one big mistake!"

---

Charlotte Dyer sighed. Oh, certainly, there were plenty of problems in this town. It's not like she hadn't been helping out with that since she got here. But the thing was, well... where was Doctor Pleasant? She'd been tracking him for a while now. The sick bastard was up to something, and the Blackmoon Witch suspected it had something to do with one of her former apprentices. Oh yes, she had reason to suspect that one of them was here, and had also heard that the good Doctor-no, she couldn't even use that as a joke when referring to Doctor Pleasant-the Doctor had been dabbling in the occult. Just what everyone needed, a violently sociopathic nihilist who thought that everyone deserved to be miserable, dead, or insane... and had access to magic. But she had no doubt some of her apprentices would deal with Pleasant in order to gain access to his medical skills. There were particularly black spells that could benefit from having access to such a skilled medical practioner, and Charlotte had no doubt that Pleasant would wholeheartedly agree to do anything that spread pain and death.

But unfortunately, Doctor Pleasant was covering his tracks well and it was difficult to locate her apprentices. After all, they were both evading her and... their other pursuer. Charlotte sighed again. Some people looked at her, confused. She smiled a little. Their confusion was kind of funny. After all, even in a world of superheroes it wasn't every day you say a little girl wearing a witch costume strolling down the street as if it was normal, and it wasn't as if the Blackmoon Witch was one of the more well-known figures. To civilians at least. She did make something of a name for herself among other superheroes, and there were a few criminals out there who, well... let's just say any time they saw a little girl with black hair they would be cowering in their room for the next few days. Charlotte was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to realize she had taken a wrong turn into an alleyway...

Charlotte came to a stop. Oh, dear. Not only was this some dark alleyway, but that group of armed thugs were eyeing her curiously. It wasn't hard to guess what they were thinking. A little girl, by herself? Why, it'd be easy to kidnap her and ransom her or something. Or maybe they were the kind of sickos who just thought it'd be fun. Regardless, they were starting to surround her already. Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... your momma must care about you a lot, buying you a cute witch costume like that?" the largest one said. He was, in Charlotte's opinion, intensely ugly and bulging with muscles that looked like they had been stolen from a rhinoceros.

Charlotte shrugged. "And you have a face not even a mother could love. It's funny how things work out like that, isn't it?"

He snorted, and the men surrounded her.

Well, it looked like there was no getting around things. Charlotte calmly reached into one pocket. How best to take them all out...

The summer's day was annoying, in the opinion of one of the many residents of Greenfield utilising a fake name--though, in this case, it was because her actual name would be far too informative. Having risen from her bed shortly after lunch, the blonde had washed before setting out in search of a good place to have lunch; long life had enabled her to build up enough resources to live a comfortable life even if she spent her afternoons buying nice lunches and browsing various shops.

So, of course, when she decided to take a shortcut down an alley, there was a group waiting and presenting a target for Anne to vent her frustration at the day's weather out on: a group of men crowding around a young girl. If it weren't for the fact the girl could be in very real danger, the vampire would have stopped to mock them for their cowardice. Instead, Anne rushed forwards with alarming speed, inverting her parasol as she seized one man by the ankle.

It probably hurt to be used as a flail against your friends.

Life was not a cake walk; it hadn't taken Eli long to figure that out. The beginning of his wasn't a very pleasant time for him. He was faced with painful experiments and tests, his freedom stripped from him. But he was no longer sitting in a dog cage, counting the tile of the ceiling for the one hundred and fifth time. Now, he was in the grocery store, facing yet another one of life's trials: decision making.

He had five dollars to feed the family tonight, and so he had to choose. Should he get the loaf of bread that could feed several people for a couple days, or should he get the pound of meat that would feed them for one night? The bread was an obvious choice for your average family. It was cheap, did not require refrigeration, and was filling. However, Eli did not have an average family. Half of them couldn't even eat grain. Jabiko, Sammy, and Elsa were all strictly carnivores. Caleb could eat anything, but he preferred raw meats. Eli honestly didn't care either way. He scratched his head as he looked at the loaf of bread, then finally decided to go with the meat. They would be fed for one more night, at least. Who knew, maybe he would get another thank you card with a hundred bucks in it.

Eli took his purchase to the check out. He looked at all the wonderful little candies that he couldn't have while he waited in line, then turned to greet the cashier lady with a smile.
"Will that be all for you?" She asked pleasantly as she scanned the meat. Eli couldn't hear what she said, but he could hear the nice tone of her voice. She probably practiced that every day she worked here. Luckily for him, he could read lips fairly well.
"Yes ma'am," He said politely, earning an honest smile from the girl that was probably just a couple years older than him. That was kind of a cute smile. He gave the girl his wadded up five dollar bill and took the handful of coins that was his change, then grabbed the bagged meat as he headed away.

Once he was outside, he shrugged his wings loose, letting them slip through the slits cut in the back of his shirt. A couple people stopped to stare at the bird boy took flight, right there in the middle of the parking lot, and flew away. Subtly wasn't really his thing. Eli's secret identity was non-existent. He wasn't particularly worried about any villains following him home and hurting his family, since his family consisted of a wolf man with anger issues, a lizard girl, a devil child that threw one hell of a tantrum, and a giant, sentient larva that could bite through anything. They were a pretty capable bunch.

Eli flew across the city to his little hideaway: the attic of an old, abandoned catholic church. It was on one of the shadier parts of town, but it was high up enough that no one would think to come up there to mess with them. He could usually slip in and out of the broken out windows without drawing much attention to himself. The large, castle-like building was often passed by without a second glance.

As he landed inside, he was met by the typical sight of his ragtag little family. Caleb was snoozing on the floor, curled up with his head rested on his hands. Sammy was on his back, playing with his hair and giggling as his ears twitched. Elsa was reading a dusty old book with Jabiko curled up in her lap, one hand absentmindedly stroking the smooth, chubby little grub.
"I'm home!" Eli announced as he held up his purchase victoriously. The other perked up and scrabbled to make their way over. Caleb, jumped up so fast that Sammy was sent tumbling.
"Dinner?" Caleb questioned, his tail thumping happily as he sat back on his haunches. Sammy, upset at being abandoned, began to quiver his lip. Elsa scooped him up to put the waterworks on pause.
"What're we having?" She asked curiously as she peeked into the bag.
"There was a sale on roast chickens," Eli reported, "So I got a whole bird."
"Just one?" Caleb sounded a bit disappointed. He probably could have eaten one chicken all by himself.

As Eli set up to carve the bird, Caleb hung over his shoulder with extreme interest. Eli was too nice to shove the dogman, who had no concept of personal space, away. Or to even show that it might have bothered him. Luckily, Elsa was on the lookout. She set Sammy down with his lonely rubber chew bone and sat down to pat her lap.
"Oh Caleb," She called, getting the dogman's attention. Caleb's ears perked up as he looked past Eli and over at her. "Come here." He obediently shuffled over on all fours, curiosity piqued.
"Who's a good boy?" Elsa asked in a ridiculous baby talk voice. Caleb tilted his head. "Huh? Who's a good boy."
"Is it...is it me?" Caleb asked, a bit confused. Elsa made a very exaggerated gasp and grin.
"Yes it is, that's right!" She reached up to scratch under his furry chin, hitting that one spot that made him melt onto the floor. Caleb tilted his head back, his long tongue lolling out of his mouth as his bald tail thumped the floor furiously. The entire sight was completely ridiculous. Sammy took notice and began to laugh.

Meanwhile, Jabiko crawled his way over to where Eli was cutting up the bird. He climbed up onto the table and peered hopefully up at the man, chirring innocently. Eli smiled and let out a chuckle. He knew Jabiko's game: look cute and maybe he'll get a handout. Eli cut off a small piece and carefully snuck it into the grub's tiny, stumpy little front legs.
"Don't tell anyone," He whispered.

Jabby made a happy little chirp and scuttled away with his prize. Eli finished cutting a few moments later and set the chicken out for everyone to have at. The mismatched mutant freaks descended upon their prey like savage wolves. The roast didn't stand a chance. Within the half hour, the bird had been completely stripped clean of meat, with several larger bones being drug off to be chewed on.

Lizzie smiled grimly. The summoning circle had been scratched out in chalk, and it seemed to pass inspection. That was good. Even among evil sorcerers, what she was about to do was considered unthinkably dangerous.

She lit the black wax candle in the center of the circle. First came the offering of flesh, which was satisfied with a lock of hair. Then came the offering of blood, which was accomplished with a quick slash of her palm. Last, but certainly not least, was the invocation.

"Learsed. Learsed. LEARSED!"

A thick black smoke filled the circle, taking the form of a winged figure with ruby red eyes. The smoky being was careful to keep its form within the circle, as if it was a brick wall. "Who dares to summon Desrael, Master of the Abyss?"

"Lizzie Jones."

"What is your wish?"

"To see my sister's cancer cured."

"And what does a mortal like you have to offer me in return?"

"My body."

The red eyes narrowed. "Lizzie Jones, if that is all you have to offer a demon, then you should have summoned an incubus."

"You misunderstand me. We both know that you cannot physically manifest yourself outside of a summoning circle... unless you have a willing host to act as a vessel. I'm offering to serve you in such a capacity."

"Interesting offer, but there is a problem. Before I can use your body, I must clear a space for myself. What I'm saying is- I need to devour your soul."

Lizzie didn't flinch. "So be it. I will pay any price for my sister's life."

"Then step inside the circle, Lizzie Jones, so we may complete our transaction."

Lizzie did as she was bid. "Open your mouth, so that I may gain access."

Once again, Lizzie complied. The black smoke rushed into her mouth. The pain was beyond excruciating, like a thousand white-hot knives stabbing every inch of her skin, but it only lasted a few seconds. When it was over, Lizzie had taken on a new form, with black wings and flaming hair. "Such power," she exclaimed. "It's a wonder more people don't go through with this."

Zinnia Clark was driving around Greenfield in her car, enjoying the bright beautiful day with her windows rolled down and the radio turned up. She wore a simple outfit, not having planned on doing anything too devious in the middle of the day. The night time was more her forte. She already had a plan for this evening. She had dinner last with one of Greenfield’s wealthiest, having come up to him while he was about to be seated at a restaurant and introduced herself. Fake name of course. She’d complimented his speech he gave a couple days prior, all about how to clean up the streets, pausing when she spoke in breathless tone about how eloquent he was. He’d invited her to stay and eat dinner with him of course, which she obliged, ordering champagne to top it all off. He’d simply chuckled it off and enjoyed the company of a girl half his age. If that.

He’d taken her back to his place, but she’d drugged his drink. She interrogated him in his dreamy state about safes and locks and passcodes of his, and written them all down. She’d stayed til the morning and bid him a happy farewell- him none the wiser and assuming things had happened which had never occurred. But, it gave him stories to tell on the golf green, and she didn’t care. He would never suspect the lovely young lady he’d spent a romantic dinner with would be the one returning tonight to steal everything from him. Some people were too easy.

All these thoughts were running through her mind when she heard police sirens and the cars they belonged to, skidding past her and heading down another road. She frowned, flipping on the police scanner in her car and hearing about a bank robbery. Really? How cliché. She made a ‘tsk’ sound with her lips and shook her head. The light turned green and she continued driving, glancing to the side where a man driving his truck smiled at her. She grinned and winked back, mumbling under her breath about how she could own that truck by morning if she wanted.

Today was as peaceful a day as any in Greenfield. That is to say, not a particularly peaceful one. What with all these supervillains running around town, it was a necessity that so many superheroes converge here. Among them, Necrohead. The risen zombie of an evil necromancer who went good and even joined the International Forces of Justice. Which was how she'd heard about this place to begin with.

The only thing about Necrohead was that she was rarely - if ever - the first hero to arrive at the scene. She'd heard there was a bank robbery going on and that Burnout - a supervillain with the power to create explosions - was the one behind it. Necrohead's line of thought was simple. Explosions killed people. Zombies were pretty freakin' hard to kill. So she'd be fine. But now that she was stepping up to the bank, she saw a set of heroic hands already dealing with the grunts at the door. They were armed. Guns also killed humans, right? For all the lead Necrohead had taken in her life, she never really deemed guns to be fatal or anything. Though to be fair, a zombie and a human would probably have very different definitions of what was and wasn't fatal.

Best to help the girl out. Stepping in and putting her back to that of the other hero, showing absolutely no concern for the guns, Necrohead said "Which would you rather deal with, the grunts or the mastermind?" She was confident in her ability to eat up those bullets like the were just a minor pain, but is it was Burnout, she wondered how well this other girl could deal with explosions.

Zeta - The Bank

It didn't take long for the police to hear about Burnout's attack, especially in this day and age where news and information travelled almost as fast as light. Soon, the blaring of sirens filled the air as the Special Crimes Unit mobilized, a squad of officers specially equipped to deal with superpowered criminals marching out of an armoured van. And at the head of the group was the Greenfield Police Force's resident superhero, already clad in their instantly recognizable purple armour.

It was a good thing Zeta had already equipped their armour, really, seeing how a fight had already broken out. Rushing inside, the robot immediately recognized the gauntleted girl; whilst they had never actually met before, Blast Girl had been making a name for herself lately, and Zeta had seen her picture a few times in the news. As for the other girl, though... Despite her appearance, the zombie seemed to be on Blast Girl's side, so logic dictated that she was most likely another ally of justice. Neither of them had seemed to notice the cybernetic hero behind them yet, but that would be remedied rather soon...

"Stand down or I shall be authorized to use force!" Zeta's voice intoned, firing the Zeta Buster at a couple of Burnout's cronies who were dumb enough to try and attack an armoured robot; the guards own shots had bounced pitifully off the armour as if they were simply small hailstones. The bursts from Zeta's arm cannon sent them flying past Blast Girl and the zombie, crashing against the wall, knocking the creeps out. Not that Zeta could do anything more than that; after all, Zeta was bound by both the three laws of robotics and their primary commandments to serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the law. These men would go through the system like everyone else, and they would answer to the law.

"This is your first and only warning! Any resistance will be held against you! Come quietly or face justice at our hands!" Zeta's armoured head turned towards the two superheroines, bobbing in what could only be assumed to be a nod. "Please be careful. Burnout may not seem like much, but he can be exceptionally dangerous when cornered."

Jack Murphy sat quietly looking up at the sky as he was driven through the city in the bed of a truck. Of course the driver didn't know Jack was there or else he probably would have yelled at him but Jack could likely take the driver. The reason Mr.Murphy was in this truck bed was to get to a little known city of Greenfield where there had been a lot of villain activity and with villains came heroes. Jack had gotten a job to take out a certain person at a fancy restaurant today. Jack didn't know anything about the target and only had a photo of who to shoot at but that was all he needed. Jack quickly got up a few minutes after he heard police cars go by and the truck stop.

The metal man walked down the street past people who gave him funny looks about his cybernetics but luckily they just assumed him to be a hero of some sort. Yes the name Yellow-Jacket or Jack Murphy wasn't a very popular one and while it was bad for business it was good for blending into crowds. Soon Jack got to a building just across the street from the restaurant and went inside. The place was an apartment building that was for sale but luckily the door was left open likely due to there being people inside looking at the building. Jack silently made his way up stairs and went inside an apartment with a view of the restaurant. He took out his signature sniper rifle and began waiting for the man to go inside. He didn't know when he was coming but this place didn't look cheap and also didn't look like it was dining for singles so he would have to be extra careful with this one just in case someone decided to get too 'close' to the target. Now all Jack had to do was wait.

Charlotte Dyer

It turned out that Charlotte wasn't going to have to worry about this. No sooner then she had reached into her pocked did a somewhat familiar blonde figure erupt onto the scene, and grasp the league of the largest thug and proceed to slam him into one of the others, knocking the man over with a cry of shock. Well, that was quite plainly hilarious. Charlotte couldn't help but giggle after seeing that. Needless to say, after seeing something like that, the thugs were not nearly as confident as they were before. They staggered back, pulling out baseball bats, knives, and in one notable case a pistol. Ah, the stupidity of the kind of people who have so much muscle it has overtaken the space inside their skull.

"Wh-what the hell?!" cried one of the men, the one with the gun, bringing it up to point at the newly-arrived blonde.

Charlotte withdrew her hand from her pocket. A smile came to her lips, as she placed her other hand firmly on her hip. "Now, now, I don't think you want to do that."

There was a small 'woosh' as a purple and black ball of flame ignited in the palm of the tiny witch's hand. It pulsed and flickered, offering a clear insight into just what the men were dealing with. "You might get burned~ Or... actually, I'm not sure what this would do to a person..."

Oh, that wasn't true. Charlotte knew exactly what it would do to a human, and it certainly wasn't killing them. These thugs weren't exactly going to push her until she had no choice now were they. But it was always entertaining to see how they reacted if they thought it would do something terrible. And indeed, the thugs were backing up, terrified, until the one with a gun leveled his shaking pistol at her.

"Th-they're those freaks!" One of the men shouted. Charlotte sighed. Oh, how rude. Before the thug with the gun could pull the trigger, she was already throwing the ball of dark magic. It struck the thug in the chest and he let out a garbled cry of pain, toppling backwards and sending the gun careening into the air.

---

Blast Girl

There was only a brief moment when Blast Girl was surprised by the appearance of the other superheroine... but she swiftly shrugged it off. There were all kinds of superheroes, right?! It didn't matter if you had a bunch of stitches or something as long as you were a good person! The bankrobbers, who had been even more stunned by the arrival of a second superheroine, were only just beginning to gather their wits and bring their weapons up to fire as the zombie girl took a spot behind BlastGirl. "Heh, I'm up for either one! They've gotta go down somehow, right?!"

And then... they opened fire around them? Huh? Blast Girl had been plenty prepared to dodge gunfire, but what was... was... Turning around, she realized just what had happened. A third hero had shown up?! It only took a moment for Blast Girl to figure out who it was. The first robot member of the IFJ, Zeta! Wow, that was awesome! The armed thugs had been pretty freaked out by how their bullets had just bounced off the newcomer. "Burnout might be tough, but I can take him! He's in for one hell of a blast!"

She flashed one gauntlet up, giving the robotic hero the thumbs up. "And can I just say it's really awesome getting to meet you?! 'Cause this is just too cool! I'd ask for your autograph but we've got some bigger issues to deal with right now!"

Blast Girl turned back to the bank. The thugs who were still on their feet were retreating, starting to take cover inside the bank. They were probably going to tell Burnout, too... They had to act fast!

Lizzie exited the warehouse, looking for any opportunity to cause mayhem. Demons are sprits of chaos, and with one whispering in her mind, senseless destruction was rather higher on her list of priorities than usual.

She made her way to Greenfield's Main Street. Looking at the long line of parked cars, she saw a perfect opportunity. She couldn't toss around eighteen-wheelers, but the smaller vehicles were fair game for her superhuman strength. So that's what she did. Cars ended up through walls, in the street, and one of those little SmartCars even sailed over the roof of a restaurant to cause more destruction on the next street over. With a massive effort, she tore down a streetlight, brandishing it like the world's largest sword.

"All these superheroes, and not one of them comes to defend this city from me? Pathetic!"

If truth be told, though, she actually hoped a superhero came to fight her. Defeating a super would be sure to inspire fear in her name. But what name would suit her new Jekyll-and-Hyde state? A quick, clever thought gave her the answer.

"If any super can hear me, I dare them to face the fury of.... Jacqueline Hyde!"

After the family's predictably messy meal, everyone seemed to settle down once more to digest. Sammy gnawed on his chew bone, still growing his demonic little teeth. Eli was pretty sure the kid had at least two rows of them by now. Caleb was off in the corner, jealously hoarding all the best chicken bones while Jabiko tried to sneak one away. Elsa was back to reading her book, now reclined in one of the mattresses that was thrown down on the floor. Meanwhile, Eli was by the broken out window. He sat on the edge, peering out over the city and wondering if there was anything going on. He glanced back at the family, then decided that they could live without him for a few hours.

He unfurled his wings and leaped from the window, falling a few stories before letting the wind catch beneath his feathers. He slowly banked down towards the street before landing on the sidewalk, gaining the attention of a shabbily dressed fellow who was smoking on the curb.
"Sup Eli," The man said with a nod. Eli tucked his wings against his back as he came over to plop down next to the man.
"What's new, Deon?" He asked, watching as a puff of smoke left the man's lips. Deon gave a shrug.
"Ain't much, man. The wife kicked me out again. Forgot that yesterday was her birthday." Eli winced. "Yeah man. I guess I ought to be writtin' that shit down, but by the time I get back home, I already forgot again."
"I think that's what hands are for," Eli said, holding up his left palm that sported a few grocery items and other notes scribbled in pen. Deon laughed.
"Eh man, ain't you 'spose to be across town?" He asked out of the blue. Eli furrowed his brow.
"I don't think so...why?"
"I heard from a brother that there's some shit goin' down over there. Some crazy ass guy and some thugs are robbin' a bank. 'swhat I heard anyway."

Eli stood up and let his wings unfold. "That sounds pretty serious...I guess I should probably go check it out. Hey, keep an eye on the building for me, will ya'?" He took a running leap into the air, quickly ascending into the sky.
"You got it, man!" Deon called after him.

Eli arrived at the scene of the robbery a little too late, it seemed. There were already a few other heroes on the case, and they looked pretty capable. Eli landed on a rooftop across the street and folded his wings in. If nothing else, he could always watch. Maybe someone he knew would be down there. Still fairly new to the game, Eli didn't have all the local superhero names down pat, but he was working on it.

He saw a young girl arrive, one that he'd seen before. What was her name....Blaster, or something like that. Then there was a robot, that was pretty cool. Sayta? He wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce it. The next girl that arrived looked like something that came out of Schwartz's lab. Eli wasn't too sure about that one, but she seemed to be on the right side.

The day had been going rather well so far for one Ran Hoshigane, engineering student and sometimes vigilante. She had successfully moved into Greenfield for the strange congregation of heroes and villains, having checked into a hotel room. Money itself was no problem since she had several small-time patents out in the system such as nonflammable cotton and the automatic bottle opener due to her tendency to tinker about. Then she had a nice breakfast in an outdoor cafe, went shopping for a few materials for further inventions, and finally went inside a bank to withdraw her money. That was when things went horribly wrong.

The young inventor had been the next in line to be called, and thus it was when the robbery began by that rather hotheaded (pun not intended) hooligan and his band of cronies. She was rather irate for multiple reasons, such as unable to transform without people noticing in such a situation and having to wait longer than necessary to conclude her business and get home. Some of the things she bought were rather delicate and looked like it could sell for a pretty penny too. No, this wouldn't do at all. Seizing her chance while the guys on the inside were distracted by the loot, Ran palmed the fire extinguisher located underneath the teller's desk and crawled over to get closer to the villain. Then she silently let the thing rip and attempted to spray him with the iconic red foam flinging device. "Taste potassium bicarbonate, toasty!" The girl thought vindictively, making sure to try to liberally coat the guy as much as possible to hinder his attempts. Having only genius level intellect as her superpower, the girl simply did the most practical thing in her situation and improvised. "Who said you needed super strength or magic to be a hero anyways? Give me good old smarts any day of the week."

As Jack looked down the scope of his sniper rifle he heard some commotion from farther down the street. There was what looked like one of those magic freaks again but this one looked especially ticked and was throwing around small vehicles. If this place had been out in the middle of no where Jack would have just let it be but there were a lot of people around here and Jack couldn't just stand by and wait for someone to get hurt. Jack stayed for a minute watching the magic user tear up the block, he waited for a super to come and put a stop to her or it but when no one came Jack reluctantly decided to step up. He leapt from the window of the apartment and landed with a roll on the side walk with his pneumatic legs taking most of the fall. Quickly jack ran behind the cover of a truck and began firing off shots at the beast. Jack didn't think the bullets would do much as this thing was very demonic looking but he decided that something was better than nothing.

"Such poor specimens of humanity," the vampire said regretfully, grabbing hold of one man's arm and tightening her grip until there was an audible snap, "Willing to level firearms at unarmed girls."

Yanking on the injured arm, Anne pulled this particular man in close, smirking at his pain. It was with a predatory gleam in her eye that she released it, instead cradling his neck. "Even if all your friends run away, you are going to be sticking around just a bit longer..."

Maybe now all those other fools would take the hint and run? She did so hate to be watched in these situations.

Alice awoke with a start. There had been a ping, she looked up blearily to see that the seatbelt sign had flicked on above her head. Arching her back in her seat, she stretched as best she could, then folded her laptop. She had been studying since they’d taken off, or had intended to. Obviously she had fallen asleep at some point during the flight. She packed the compact computer back into it’s bag, before fastening her seat belt once more over her lap.

It was one of the perks of being a member of the IFJ, transport tended to be easily dealt with, for high priority transport there was usually a teleporter available to transport you across the globe in an eyeblink, for less vital operations there was a not insignificant fund in place to make sure you could travel in relative privacy. Or as close to it as the airline offered. True, other people could see her, but in the slightly angled first-class seat, no-one could see her computer screen without sitting on her lap, and it was set to lock if it registered her eye movements had halted. It was a fairly simple security system, but on top of that the laptop was encrypted, GPS chipped, and required a facial and retinal scan simply to turn on, if she fell asleep with it on her lap it was unlikely to fall into the wrong hands.

The plane set down a little less than fifteen minutes after the captain’s announcement, and she stood with the rest of the passengers, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She was almost completely clothed, the only bare skin being her face and neck, the hoodie was zipped up, and her hands and fingers were covered by expensive looking gloves, about the only expensive looking things she was wearing. When you were resigned to living most of your life wearing gloves, it helped to shell out for ones that wouldn’t prove too awkward.

She stepped off the plane and rubbed her eyes. Greenfield didn’t seem to be an important place. It was no centre of occult power, no space where the world rubbed thin between realities, and yet all of her research had been pointing here for months, worse than that, some of the most powerful and infamous villains in the world had come here already, it had to mean something, but all her simulations, all her calculations, all her analysis had yielded her nothing. It made her feel useless, powerless. It was worse that she had little in the way of abilities that really helped in a fight, sure she could memorise the entirety of a martial arts system in the time it took to pluck the information from its masters head, but all the things that made someone a good fighter, the instinctual reactions, the muscle memory, that she had to learn again. And that was only so much use when your opponent was so strong they could throw a tank without breaking a sweat.

And she’d survived, she’d survived, and she’d prospered, she might not be among the most powerful of the IFJ, but she knew for a fact she was the most hard-working, what else did she have?

Zinnia looked back to the road in time to see a girl with flaming hair tossing cars around in front of her. ”Oh for love of…” she cut herself off with a growl, upper lip twitching. She slammed on the brakes, but the beast of a girl was getting closer. Zinnia’s mind told her to exit the car, but she was just so stubborn. This was her car and she was tempted to just run the freaky looking chick over with it. People were running, leaving their cars behind and screaming. ”Where do these idiots come from?” she mumbled angrily, grabbing her things from the vehicle and exiting it with a huff. As she started away from it, she heard gun shots ring out. Oh great, now someone was trying to be a hero. She rolled her eyes and more people screamed and ran. She just walked calmly over to the sidewalk, leaning her back against a brick and mortar flower shop and watched. The people within the shop pulled the curtains down, making Zinnia glance over at the gesture and snort. Yes, pulling down the blinds made them invisible now. Surely a car could not go crashing through their window since they pulled the damn curtain over it. She shook her head and sighed with a smirk, crossing her arms and staying put. If her car didn’t get turned over or damaged by the idiot shooter’s bullets, she was so driving it back to her apartment.

”In the meantime…” she murmured, hearing the villainous girl shout something about Jack and Hyde while Zinnia pulled out her cell phone. ”Yes, police? I’d like to report a girl on fire and possibly steroids jacking up Main Street, and some idiot with a gun shooting up the place. Might want to send a car. Or one of your oh so special heroes.”

The gunshots cracked hard against Lizzie. Her new powers made it so they felt no more than bug bites, but she couldn't stop them from driving her backwards upon impact. Given that the shots were coming from in front of her, she had a rough idea where her opponent was.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" she sang, as she swung the streetlight, hoping to clear away the ground and maybe see her target.

Burnout

There was some commotion outside, but it had to just be the guards taking care of some cops. Burnout was so confident he didn't even notice that there was still someone else here. Or that the girl had grabbed the fire extinguisher. In fact, he only realized something was happening when he glanced to the side and suddenly saw a torrent of foam heading his way. There was no time to dodge at all as it covered him, causing him to stumble back and flail his arms. One hand hit a wall, and an unconscious explosion when off and blew a hole clear through it.

"Gaaah, what the hell?!" he snarled, waving his arms frantically, trying to shake the foam off. He raised his eyes after a moment to gaze at just who had the audacity to do this. And his eyes fell on her. The girl. "You... you bitch!"

He lunged forward, trying to grab at her.

---

Charlotte Dyer

The men backed away, terrified. This definitely wasn't what they were expecting from a pair of young girls. Charlotte grinned, and lazily gestured into the air. She'd got this one pre-prepared, just in case she did run into trouble... that last trigger was what called them into existence. The black forms started hazy, but soon there was a set of six crows drifting into the air. Corvid Murder was really quite useful. Scouts and explosives, all in one. The men turned to run, and the crows were immediately sent in pursuit. They swooped low, aiming for the thugs' feet, and the second they touched the ground they erupted into a blast of purple flame. Or, at least, it appeared as fire. In reality it was an explosion of dark magic. The men were catapulted forward and sent tumbling over and over, quite unconscious.

How pathetically easy.

Charlotte dusted her hands off, and then swiftly turned to face her fellow superheroine, immediately recognizing what she was about to do. "It's nice to see you again, Anne... really though, do you think you should drink from that? You don't know where it's been."

She gave another grin to the terrified, pained thug. However, Charlotte was also watching for another reason. She didn't want Anne to get carried away and actually kill the man. They weren't worth it, it was easy to handle these morons without actually killing them. Charlotte saved that for more dangerous enemies.

---

???

There was a faintly blue blur in front of the rampaging, demon-possessed girl. A hiss of cleaved metal, as the lamppost she had claimed for a weapon split neatly in half, one end collapsing onto the ground. Two armored feet hit the asphalt and skidded across it with a grinding sound, sparks flying into the air as the figure then were on spun where she stood, lifting the skirt of her armored dress slightly. Two green eyes fixed themselves on the girl, and blonde hair caught the wind gently, one errant strand bobbing. Both of her hands gripped the hilt of her glowing blade tightly as she stared her enemy down.

Just as the demon had driven her to ask for, a superhero had arrived to confront Lizzie. One of the IFJ's powerhouses, and a notable hero across the world, but most known in Britain, King stood gripping the hilt of Excalibur. The air swirled around the small blonde knight, as she planted one armored foot forward and took a combat-ready stance. The girl was ready, but she would not simply attack without ensuring there was no chance of surrender.

"Stand down," she declared, her voice unwavering. Excalibur faded from solid to translucent, signifying that she was preparing for nonlethal combat, "I am Arthur, King of the Britons, and if you do not cease your attack at once I will have no choice but to engage you."

'Anne'

Ah, that was a familiar voice--until now, Anne had been too focused on making sure that she had something to snack on than to notice that it was the witch girl. Charlotte was one of the few people that knew her original name--purely because they'd known each other for long enough that the endless chain of pseudonyms that the vampire relied on was more trouble than it was worth in private conversation.

"He's not high and not a plague-ridden invalid. Cheap wine, certainly, but that makes it all the easier to stop in time," the vampire explained, looking twice at the witch before shrugging and deciding that, if she did get carried away, at least someone was there to stop her. Not that it was a big fear of hers; unlike younger vampires she had long ago learned to tame her impulses to drink as much as possible.

A large part of that probably came down to having a rather small stomach, though.

---

Spartan

Though the Once and Future King was the first hero on the scene, they were followed scant seconds later by what first sounded like a passing vehicle... but quickly turned out to be an incoming motorbike that had a date with the enemy's face. Even most daredevils would find it outright suicidal to try and angle the bike like this, but it was all in a day's work for Allegra. She was somewhat miffed at being beaten to the scene by someone on foot, though the distraction would hopefully pay off to their mutual benefit: high speed, high mass metal, straight to flesh. Hopefully.

She really didn't want to wreck another bike. Small repairs, sure, but writing the whole thing off as a loss...

Jack had just about been caught by the swing of the demonoid thing in front of him but then an armoured hero came in and cut the thing clean in two. Heroes were still a marvel to Jack but he didn't show it. He decided that wether or not miss armoured knight wanted it Jack would help out since he had already put the first nail into this monsters coffin. Jack ran up beside the armoured hero with his sniper rifle at hand and stopped a few feet to the right of the armoured lass. Jack hoped that she wouldn't recognize him and he also assumed she wouldn't but better to keep some distance just in case.

Jack made no move to attack as right now the knight was trying to reason with the creature of obviously unfathomable power but Jack knew that the thing likely wouldn't go in with its hands up oh no, this thing looked like it would go down fighting. Lukily thats just the way Jack liked it.