Not-so-patiently waiting for her to be called for, Kurenai found herself rapidly mashing on the keys of her device once again. Even when she finally heard her name, she came in with an energetic salute, one hand at her head, the other hand at her side, still holding the device, and still hitting the keys.

Dropping her hand, she glanced at the device, before closing it. "So, it's a cult we're after?" Calmly askign such a question, she tilted her head slightly to the side, as she pondered in confusion. What was it that they have done to attract our attention?"

@Masaki Haruna

A man in a khaki trenchcoat remained silent as he sat still in the café, staring at his phone. His attention, however, lay in a particular maid that stood close by.

A horde of men hidden from the naked eye waited patiently, preparing to storm a building to claim a particular Esper. A lottery pick out of two Espers, to be exact, as they originally wanted two, but one did not seem useful to the ever-growing society of mystery.

A society without rules, so to speak.

The man suddenly stood up and turned slowly.

His feet carried him over to the exposed maid, his eyes dead set on the prize. Walking straight up to her, he reached for something in his undercoat pocket.

With a chloroform-dipped napkin in his hand, he suddenly reached out and put the chemically modified cloth, pulling Kotori away as he grabbed her hands to severely limit her movements. At that moment, the door burst open, knocking the rectangular object down on the ground as a bunch of men poured into the café.

.

.



.

.

The Clowns had arrived.

Grab more materials, get money; have fun. The ways of these anarchists remain mysterious to even the most careful of psychoanalysts, as there was no complete explanation as to how so many people were driven into a state of hysteria and greed.

The Clowns that entered the café ranged from men wearing yellow smiley masks to men wearing blue smiley masks. The Smileys; they were regular Clowns, and one of the most common ones. Rumors claimed that they were responsible for causing the disappearances of many civilians while expanding their numbers rapidly. No one knew how powerful they were except for the people who survived an encounter with these particular men.

A few Skinheads crashed through the window. These men wore the flesh of other human beings, using them to mask their bodies… from head to toe. They loved rotten things alike. Most of the Skinheads were extreme necrophiliacs. The Skinheads were infamous among thugs and mafias, as they rivaled even the Yakuza when it came to accessibility and flexible knowledge of their surroundings- including the powers of Espers.

As the Clown who caught Kotori ran out of the café with her body, the Clowns began to command everyone into a single corner. Some of them wielded baseball bats with nails pierced into them, some wielded machetes. Some of them, however, held onto small firearms, while the minority of the Clowns carried heavy firearms such as assault rifles. One of the Clowns carried a strange pistol with blue liquid able to seen through a transparent ammunition cartridge.

Bang blinked as he found a shotgun pointed directly at his face.

Mom, he thought as he slowly stood up with his hands raised, something cool happened today. I had a shotgun pointed at my face- and now my stuff is getting taken.

True to his word, the Clowns began taking the personal belongings of the people within Mocha Dreams. Most of the Clowns carrying firearms stormed into the storage room, though some of them remained by the windows just to make sure that the government authorities did not feel free in sending some Espers or Anti-Skills. They did plan on getting rid of the amount of hostages they had should someone outside interrupt them… that was, unless they noticed that their ranks were being reduced.

With the hostages now at the corner, the Clowns began shouting things at each other. They were apparently looking for something else other than the Esper, but they did not make it clear as to what they were exactly finding.

“Don’t do anything strange,” the Blue Smiley Clown standing in front of the now-crouching hostages spoke with a tinge of excitement in his voice. “Actually, please do something strange. That’d make things lovely.”

The fact that he carried an activated chainsaw did not make him look any better to the hostages. The Clowns positioned near the windows remained extremely aware of outside of the building. No authorities such as the cops arrived yet.

---

Meanwhile, the clown with Kotori ran into a dark alley. With the girl in his hands, he ran up to two other Clowns who stood next to a white van.




The Clown with the blue mask blinked at the sight of a pretty woman being carried over to the van. His white-masked comrade, on the other hand, simply sighed.

“Send her to Underground No. MDCCC,” the Clown with the Esper said as he tossed her over to the blue-masked man. “Just get her there and you’re done.”

“…Just get her there?” The Clown known as ‘Volt’ mumbled before shouting, “Listen, how about you drive? I’m really tired. I just got back from a heist not too far from here, and I was pretty lucky that those authority guys noticed it by the time I left. You should be able to drive… and dodge bullets… and stuff. Right?”

The Clown in the brown trench coat shook his head as he pointed at nowhere in particular with a lazy thumb.

“Madmin’s got something for me apparently. I’m hoping it’s the long overdue stash that should have been given to me three months ago.”

The blue-masked Clown put up a thoughtful look; a strange feature, considering he was part of the Clown faction.

“Fine,” Volt grumbled as he motioned for his comrade to get in the car. With the Clown who brought Kotori gone, Volt proceeded to open the right backdoor of the car and carefully placed her on the seat. He tied the girl’s hands up… though, the work was quite unprofessional and hastily done. After all, he decided that a frail girl like this one would probably remain affected by the anesthesia longer than the average person would.

“Get in the van, Vuvuzela,” the blue-masked man said as he ran over to the driver’s door. The white-masked man made an extremely annoyed grunt as he ran up to the other front seat.

“You’re either going to call me Vulzi’jiar or White-Face,” White-Face growled as he took out a reflector gun; a particular weapon designed to reflect projectiles. It was a simple device that remained fairly unknown to the public due to its less-than intimidating size, but it would not fare well against rockets and the like.

Volt shook his head as he revved up the engine.

“But I like vuvuzelas.”

“God fucking dammit, Bolt.”

“It’s VOLT!”

“SHUT UP!”

The van moved out of the dark alley, breaking out into the streets as quickly as possible.

Kotori Namashiya - A Caged Songbird

Concern still etched across her face as the conversation continued, for what had normally started off as a relatively uneventful day had swiftly turned into a tumultuous one. To start was Ria's...unbelievable boldness, only to be followed by something equally tragic. Someone in the Artist's family was in grave danger, and now she was part of the conspirators to help try and save her. Even still, was there honestly much she could do? Sure she was a Telekinetic, but certainly it was too dangerous for someone as meek as her.

Her lip trembled for a brief moment. Still ever worried about what might come, the little Songbird only hoped that she could at least help in some measure.

Heavy footsteps swiftly marching up behind her caused her attention to shift; after all, she had completely forgotten that she was at work! The tall, sinister looking man held a grave composure as his eyes affixed on her. Something seemed off, at least she thought as much. Was he so angry that she hadn't helped him quiet yet? Departing from her seat beside Sasaki, Kotori bit her lip hesitantly as he drew closer.

"Ah...s-sorry sir I-I'll be right with you please have a-..." Suddenly, the man grabbed her, forcing a cloth that held a funny smell against her mouth and nose. Why, so quickly, did the world begin to spin? Who was dimming the lights? Was this another prank of Ria's again? It couldn't be, this man wasn't feeling her up like the Cryogenic Esper had been.

It didn't matter. The world was dark now. She decided it was time for a nap as her eyes rolled back into her head, and the little Songbird went limp.

Heavens it was cold. And the floor was hard. Was this ice?

Uncomfortably, Kotori shifted in her fitful slumber. There had been no dream, that was the most peculiar part about it all. She always dreamed, but now there were voices. One was confused, and the other disgruntled. Blinking bewilderedly, she reached up to her eyes and rubbed them lightly to wipe the weariness from them. When the ceiling came into focus, she swiftly realized that it was no longer the warm lights of Mocha Dreams where she had worked.

Nor was it her home? And why was she rumbling about as if this place was on the move? Lifting her head slowly, she realized she was in the back of a truck. And not only a few feet from her sat a pair of menacing looking men. One of their sets of eyes began to drift back to the van, and out of panic Kotori pretended she was still unconscious.

He didn't come back and give her a dose of that funny smelling chemical again...her ruse worked, at least for now.

She was being kidnapped! IN A MAID OUTFIT NO LESS. This certainly doesn't bode well.

Frantically, she attempted to assemble her thoughts until she realized something: these men were the kidnappers? Perhaps...just perhaps they might have kidnapped the Artist's cousin as well? Surely, the chances of this were unrealistic at best, not to mention horrific at worst. But maybe these men didn't know what she was. Acting as if a sudden turn caused her to flop onto her side, the Telekinetic settled her fingertips upon the metal.

She could feel the vehicle that they were in, a thin, invisible wave of telekinesis extending outward from her fingertips as she gained a sudden, and instant understanding of her surroundings. The two men were all that resided in the van with her as they drove, an it seemed like they were clipping along at...eighty kilometers an hour or so?

Even then however, she could still not make out the finer details of her surroundings. They were moving too swiftly, but there was still an important matter. A turn left here, a turn right there. Memorizing the path by which they took as best she could, the little Songbird remained as quiet as a mouse as her eyes remained closed while she focused her ability into her power.

Maybe she was lucky while being unlucky, for once.

She could only hope that in the end, that the Artist's cousin was indeed within the custody of men like these two. Or perhaps allies of theirs, and that they were incompetent at best. If she were lucky, they could try an escape.

Sasaki smiled.

It wasn't a pleasant smile or the unsettling grin that graced the face of the tall boy. It was a soft expression that spoke of bitterness and disillusionment. "You're giving me too much credit, Kotori-chan," he murmured, eyes drawn downward, finger tracing a pattern on the table. Helped Kotori? No, he just stood around while the professionals fixed his attempts at 'helping'. Even carrying her back was just doing something somebody else could have easily done. The fact of the matter was the he wasn't an exceptional person. He was no hero on white stallion, charging in to save the day and vanquish evil. He couldn't peacefully resolve an altercation or All the strength in the world and he couldn't do a thing. Still, the songbird's innocent faith in him wasn't overlooked. It made him feel just a little bit better about himself.

The giant looked to the new arrival at their table, Aria. "Ara, nice of you to join us, Aria-chan," Sasaki said in a half-heartedly cheerful voice to stave away the somberness at the table, "Why don't you pull up a seat?" He glanced briefly to the maid beside him, hoping to see her face light up with recognition at the sight of the violinist who had (hopefully) done what he'd asked her to. The giant didn't get the chance to see though, because another maid approached their table. He briefly wondered what the other patrons thought of him and Kei, given that they were surrounded by ("hogging") three of the beautiful waitresses of this establishment. The unnamed newcomer was evidently some kind of manager, bringing even the mighty Level 5 to heel.

"Yeah, no problem," Sasaki said, bidding the Level 5 cryomaster goodbye, "You know where to find me." The giant leaned back in his seat and dropped his arms. "Anyway, I'm sure there's no need to worry; JUDGEMENT or Anti-Skill are probably searching right now," he reassured, gaze trailing, following the songbird as she made her way closer and closer to a particularly shady-looking gentleman. He knew it wasn't his place to judge a person based on how shady they appeared to be, but Sasaki had a very bad feeling about this.

'Don't panic.'

Sasaki just about jumped out of his seat when the man gassed Kotori not even 5 meters away from their table. Fortunately the giant managed to rein himself in. He had Kotori and evidently didn't care who did or didn't see. To say the situation was volatile would be likely apt.

The giant rose slowly, hand on the back of his seat. His eyes were steely as he spoke. "Excuse me, sir..." Sasaki said, voice frightening measured as his arm quickly rose simultaneous, chair in hand and stance lowered. He was about to take a step forward and slam the assailant with his makeshift armament, when at that moment he was stopped by the sudden sound of a door being kicked off of its hinges and the sickeningly sweet smell of decayed human flesh.

'Don't. Panic'

Now with a few guns pointed at his person, the Iron Giant gently set down his improvised weapon. As his friends and acquaintances were all penned into a corner, his own hands were raised over his head as the Clowns confiscated his belongings. His breathing was becoming increasingly less composed as the situation devolved further. Kotori was God-knows-where, everyone else was getting filed into a corner for who-knew-what, and it was all becoming very reminiscent of something he'd never wanted to experience again.

So naturally, he panicked.

Now, there was an old saying: "Be careful what you wish for". It was an oft taught lesson about how getting what one desired wasn't always as good as it was cracked up to be. It was a good lesson, as lessons go. It taught people to appreciate what they have and not want for more. This clown was about to learn that firsthand. After all, this clown wished for panic, but the Iron Giant's idea of panic was less 'scream and shout and let it all out' and more 'apply fist to face until the problem goes away'. Which was unfortunate, considering there were about 20 or so problems and just one Sasaki.

The poor clown didn't even see it coming.

'...Fuck, I shouldn't have done that,' Sasaki thought, cringing as the clown practically flew over the adjacent table.

The Clown flew through the window, though the damage did not seem to make him requestion his life. Instead, it fainted him.

Meanwhile, some of the other Clowns decided to take action.

One of the Skinheads carrying the modified Assault Rifles shoved his firearm to an assailant, leaving behind a confused comrade. Walking up to the boy, whose back was turned against him, the Clown decided to use some common knowledge that all Skinheads were familiar of.

After all, they knew the human body all too well.

Grabbing both of Sasaki's arms, the Skinhead pulled them towards him as hard as he could before kicking the Normalish's back. He then headbutted the back of Sasaki's cranium, the flesh covering his forehead mitigating damage done to his own head. Moving underneath the boy's right arm, the Skinhead smashed the elbow with a brutish, yet somewhat effective punch before throwing the Normalish on the ground.

With the Normalish on the ground, the Skinhead slammed a foot against Sasaki's left knee as he let it stay there, motioning over to his fellow Skinhead comrades who were now laughing with glee. The familiar crack of bones- it was a sound they knew of too well while they made their masks. They did not crack too many bones- in fact, it actually sounded like they just dislocated them due to the boy's surprisingly sturdy body.

"Get him in the Storage Room," the Skinhead who attacked Sasaki said. "Tear off his fucking dick if he tries anything."

The Skinheads proceeded to drag Sasaki into the Storage Room. There was only one Skinhead left at the main room. Having received his firearm again, the Clown told one of the Blue Smiley Heads,

"Contact the Wight that we got some interesting things. We'll think about something for that guy over there.

"You might be able to break him, man."

The Blue Smiley Mask Clown nodded as he returned to looking out his post for any attackers, and the Skinhead proceeded to roll his neck as he went into the restroom.

He came out with a frightened man, who soon joined the group of hostages. With the area completely secured for the time being, the Skinhead stood outside of the Storage Room.

Nishihara Kei
Mocha Dreams

It was frankly a bit weird for me to be suddenly offered help from both giant-san and the glasses girl out of the blue, considering we were just people who happened to be in the same school. Still, I was happy. After noticing that I had grabbed Ria's arm in my bout of worry, I let go, feeling just a bit ashamed for losing my cool for a second.

When I noticed the arrival of the violin girl also out of the blue, I experienced a sinking feeling. I had planned on properly speaking with her later, not among classmates and strangers. And why was she here of all places? Was there no limits to the coincidences of this cafe? "Hi. Uhm. I'm Nishihara Kei." I spoke a bit meekly, wondering how to admit my wrong doings. "I was the one sketching you this morning. Sorry..." Not really an apology, but it was all that I could think of on the spot while simultaneously worrying about my cousin.

In the meanwhile, a girl I did not know this time (thankfully!) came over to reprehend Ria and glasses girl. As expected, they were probably gonna delay the service of the café by chatting with us. Though, I could not help but feel annoyed. Right now, getting to Ria to talk was a priority for me, whether or not the orders were delayed was secondary. However, Ria, being the insane Ice Stripper she is, decided to take the opportunity to leave us and her work, unanswered questions remaining unanswered. "What do I do now...?" I muttered to no one in particular, wondering how to proceed. I could try phoning some of my relatives to verify the situation, but it would have been much easier if Ria had just told me what she knew. At least I probably would have the help of giant-san and glasses girl.

Then all hell broke loose yet again. Of course, in this city, a kidnapped cousing was not bad enough for a single day. Suddenly, a man dragged glasses girl away while people in bizarre outfits appeared. I could only watch as these bizarre criminals waved guns around. It would seem in this city even the criminals were something straight out of comic books. If they weren't criminals, I would applaud their courage for storming into somewhere like that. If they had been just a couple of minutes earlier, they would have stumbled upon Ria. Once again, that ice stripper was never where we needed her.

"Keep your head cool..." There probably wasn't anything that I could do as the clowns started taking the belongings of people. Having my things taken from me was most uncomfortable. Luckily, they did not seem to notice (or care for) the silver cross underneath my clothes, nor the secret pockets sewn inside my clothes holding my seven steel wires. Judging from what I could see, the clowns had quite a number of people, with some of them having guns. That chainsaw turned towards us was also fairly scary.

To make matters worse, Kirima-senpai turned out to be less logical than I had expected and decided to enact violence upon the clowns. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists while watching, just hoping I could help him somehow as another clown attacked him from behind. It was just like the Ghoul incident yet again. Completely powerless. All I could do for giant-san was take care of his injuries when this was over. Pathetic for a magician.

As giant-san was being dragged away, a thought ocurred to me. I still had my wires. If I could just, instead of setting them in place, send them lashing out forward... They were magically enhanced, they could probably cut through the clowns and save Kirima-senpai. Then I could redirect them towards the other criminals, taking them out and leading the hostages into safety away from that place. A second after, I caught myself wondering why I was thinking that. I was no good with the offensive uses of the wires, so, if my technique worked, I'd have no proper control over them, and the criminals might be killed. Still, a little part of me remembered the Ghoul and thought that maybe it would be better to kill criminals before they killed inoccent people.

Either way, I needed to cool my head. I was about to do something stupid just like Kirima-senpai. I simply waited and watched. I couldn't go after giant-san to check if he was okay, nor could I ensure the other people's safety if I tried something reckless, so all that remained for me was waiting for any opportunity to get my fellow hostages out of here. And pray that these clowns needed all the hostages alive and well.

Aria
Aria quickly was ushered into a corner with some other patrons as she watched Sasaki get ushered somewhere else. They took her violin and that was about it. She took deep breaths first her friend was kidnapped seemed they picked her in particular for some reason. Next she lost her main method of using her abilities. Third these clowns or whatever they were called seemed to be looking for looting the place and going by outside they had more as well. Patting at her chest she stilled had her pendant ocarina around it though she did not want to try fighting with just that.

Kishiko
She was fuming how there they come in here and cause a panic plus kidnap someone. She mad that was for sure but first things first was that she needed to do this with a calm head. Going to where they pushed some civilians at she needed to protect them first and foremost but right now she needed a source of water. Doing a quick scan there was a few things of actual water out. But it would have to do slowly as not to get the freaks noticing her she pushed trying to get one to move closer and closer to spilling the cup hopefully it would distract them long enough so that she could get the civilians to a safer place.

In district 7 is a girls school that preaches about exotic abilities and its entry level is level 2. This school is Kirigaoka Girls Academy; it produces intelligent students and saints. Rumor has it that there is a blur protecting its students and staff from danger, it is unknown how the blur looks like whether it is a girl or a boy but what is known is that the blur is one of the seven mysteries of Kirigaoka Girls Academy.

Now, our strongest team enters the territory of the girls school; Ria is disguised as Kaname her twin sister, Nobuyuki, Taiki and Marcus as well. They split up into partners to infiltrate the school and so far a lot of students are mistaking Ria as Kaname. Their goal is to get clues of the whereabouts of Nishihara Wendy however their leads aren't doing so well as the information about her was a dupe by Marcus rather half of it such as Ria dying in a day but it was indeed three days due to the serum that makes her wild. As time passes by in Kirigaoka the more time they spent, the more suspicion they get as rumor spreads about "Kaname" hanging out with a bunch of fools and being out of character.

Meanwhile in the Mocha Dreams Raid, is a young boy who swoop into save the day with all his heart because it is the right thing to do, Mishima Yuuma puts his life on the line. He had a flashback about Ria informing Taiki about the disastrous invasion in the cafe due to Marcus showing a surveillance camera on his phone and revealing the game plan, Kaori is told to get Yuuma involved by Ria to which she doesn't have much of a choice as time is ticking for her. The game plan became; Team Ria infiltrates Kirigaoka, Yuuma rescues the hostages in the cafe while Kaori is for faster means of transportation. And now, Yuuma covered in metal scraps in his body rushes to the clowns to deliver justice. According to Ria's calculations there are three outcomes depending on the conditions and situations of Mocha Dreams and the hostages. Scenario A is believed to be successful if Yuuma manages to work with a Kishiko, Aria, and Kei. If it fails then Scenario B is when Kaori have to come and bail them out. If it doesn't work. Scenario C is when Ria have herself save everyone. However time is ticking, if she isn't able to save Wendy she will be killed this 6pm. Ria is forced to make decisions thoroughly but deep inside her she wants to save her classmates and if she doesn't save Wendy or both, she will be in big trouble.

"Let everyone go or else. I'll bring you the steel fist of my hand you clowns." Yuuma said with confidence.

In Kirigaoka, Ria's plan seems to be backfiring at her when she herself becomes a hypocrite of her plans and not following it, she is booksmart but not smart enough the fact that she made ice clones scattered which likely spread the rumors.

In the stories where vampires are told and shown. The vampires we know are a lot different as some would call it true vampires or as the reverse on how vampires are portrayed, the epic of the vampires varies but now as night falls in our team of Hybrid Academy students and Anti-Skill faces the threat. Nishihara Sayaka a relative of Kei is part of the Amakusa Church, she possesses unorthodox magic of onmyoji styles. Silva is also part of the Church and his abilities are unnatural. A few vampires out of the blue grabs Akira out of sight. The team panicked but Sayaka didn't falter although it is their duty to escort her to safety, she puts her life on the line. The vampire that grabbed Akira was a girl with black hair covering the right side of her eye. Now they are cornered.

In the midst of worship lies the Nagaten students and hybrid academy students wondering about in the school campus of Nagatenjouki Academy. Note that this is an isolated event from the other two arcs. Afterwards Dylan and Ray are ordered by Toshiki beforehand as in prior going to the Nagaten, to go covert while everyone is asleep. Unfortunately they are being watched with someone and a flying bra and katana is thrown at them with such force. Kurenai is Ms. Kate so as Kendricks because he fanboys a lot for her, they are camping in the auditorium with other students.

Two stories blackest night spreads the thickest shades in cold night of the full moon. Little by little does it false apart into place. A scream is heard in the hallways and it appears to be a student death by unnatural phenomena of having dots that resemble holes in her body and a symbol of the dark mage Haruna is drawn into her breasts.

Allibi rising; some would even say weird things but the death of this girl remains a mystery and there is a mole as the culprit is within the academy. Glowing red eyes of doom watches afar from the bloodbath it had create, giving no care as it leaves a letter thus a few club halls exploded.

The end.

Akira

Akira didn't know what happened, one moment he was walking with the group, the next he was in the hands of some girl, and he saw that the others, as well as their escort, were in danger. Akira tpok a calming breath, red marks forming on his skin as he activated Red Devil, using his new found strength to try and burst out of the girl's grip, and if that didn't work, he'd sprout numerous blades odf blood from his body and spin them around him real fast, slicing up the girl and freeing him, but it would destroy his clothes for the most part.

Once free, he would bolt over launching powerful punches and kicks at all the vampires he passed by, hoping to at the very least damage them a little. He would then stop in front of Sayaka, releasing his signature to prevent any serious damage.

"Sayaka-san, I urge you to stay back," Akira said strictly, never taking his eyes off the enemy, "We were tasked to defend you from any threat, so please let us do our job."

@chukklehed
@Masaki Haruna

Dylan

Dylan was not enjoying undercover work, it was the exact opposite of fighting, it was just them waiting for something to show up and bite them in the butt. He and Ray had been snooping through some files when he heard something fly throught the air. Dylan scoot to the left to let the katana pass by him, waiting until the last moment to grab the handle and deftly swing it around to slash through. . . .a bra? That is weird, really weird. . . this cult is going to be full of perverts, isn't.

Dylan sighed before looking uo into the shadows, keeping his senses sharp for any signs of their assailant. "Oy, Bra-tosser, we know you're out there,,so come out and fight me like a fucking man."

@LokiLeo789
@Masaki Haruna

She lets go, "Dude..You idiot. Calm your blood lust, it's not me who is hungry even though you're turning mine on! It's them that you are turning on." The vampire girl seems to have shown allegiance with Tsumiki's group, Lin Min Hai is nowhere to be found. The vampires aren't even damaged as they are being powered up by Akira's blood power as the lady vampire state. "You're too slow; that's why I saved your back in the first place, I guess you believe vampires are the usual ones you see in the movies." Recalling what went down, Tsumiki's group were off guard the whole time, not being alert, rogue vampires started coming their way without notice and on jumped on Akira and this vampire girl saved him. In between this happened after letting him go.


Espers are still human, boosted or not by power; they can get one shotted by vampires if not careful.

Sayaka speaks, "I'm fine. Don't treat me as if I'm a Princess, we need to clear the mountain as I need to set the Feng Shui Barrier. This girl is Sora, she's a vampire ally of ours, no time for introductions. Tsumiki please cover me. Sunye please assist Akira. Silva help me with the barrier, Nadia stay close we need you to anticipate their movements."

A horde of vampires starts coming out from the shadows. "I'll handle this while you get lost, your ability as a Haemikinetisist is absolutely useless." She said in a mean fashion while she proceeds to smite her own kind.



The bra tosser girl with Katana appears to be none other than the invisible girl, Seo... she's quite naked right now. "I thought you were one of them. No time for explanation. And Ray don't look at me, I heard someone screamed let's all group up in one place and can I borrow your clothes? I don't believe this, how can a cult member infiltrate the campus?" She asked Ray. "Actually now's the time for explanation, Ray do you know anything about the Amakusa Church?"

@LokiLeo789

A Game of Old Maid

-Collaboration between NK and Feisty

Volt + White-Face - Girls, Cops, and Burning Thongs

As the van swerved through the streets like a raging bull, White-Face checked the van’s surroundings carefully. So far, no one caught up with the van. With his reflector gun still hidden from the windows, the white-masked Clown turned to the blue-masked driver.

“Guess they haven’t seen us yet.”

“…And you’d think that a ballsy van cutting the traffic like an elementary student would catch the cops’ attention,” Volt muttered as he hit the gas. “We’re still far ahead- there’s no hideout to park by anywhere here.”

White-Face turned to look out of the window again. “The heck are we doing again, anyway?” The white-masked Clown asked as he stared at the streets like a hawk.

“I don’t really know much about what’s going on,” Volt admitted as the road cleared up. “All I heard is that the Madministrator’s going to fill us in on this… thing he’s doing.”

“Thing?”

“Ye. Some sort of project or something. Which is weird, considering the fact that he never leaves his office for once. At some point- he told me- we’re gonna have to break into some of the academies. Y’know, cause they’re filled with people holding special powers. Grab some, make progress; he’s going to need lots of subjects… though, honestly, I’m kind of scared of what he’ll do.”

White-Face paused as he glanced at Volt briefly before looking out the window again. “…So we’re kidnapping a random girl for no real reason? This is the first time I’ve ever taken part of a kidnap thing.”

"A girl with unconfirmed powers.”

At this, White-Face turned to Volt, his heart seemingly skipping a beat.

“What?”

Volt shrugged as he told his partner,

“A girl with unconfirmed powers. Esper powers, but still unconfirmed. By the way, this is the first time I’m doing a kidnap mission, too.”

“…”

…

…

…

…

…

“…So it’s a good idea to just tie her up and pray that the anesthesia works?”

The blue-masked Clown raised his hands by his head before grabbing the wheel again. “You only live once.”

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! WHAT IF THIS GIRL FUCKS OUR INNARDS WITH A BURNING THONG ONCE SHE WAKES UP?!”

With a smirk, Volt opened his mouth to speak.

Only to realize that White-Face had a point.

“…You only live once. Oh God,” Volt whispered frantically as he kicked the gas to an admirable level. “You only live once, you only live- fuck it, I want another life.”

Suddenly, the van shook briefly as loud clanging noises shrieked throughout the van.

“We got company!” White-Face exclaimed as he loaded his weapon. Opening the window, the masked man fire swarms of nets that reflected bullets being sent from several Anti-Skill vehicles.

The sudden firefight ended quickly when some of the reflected bullets smashed through the engines of the vehicles. Getting back into the van, White-Face asked Volt,

“How much longer?!”

“About… a few more minutes!”

The van continued to move, though it was now shaking violently. A few sirens rang, though they were quickly taken out by the reflected bullets silencing them.

---

Kotori - A Caged Songbird

Attempting to gain a sense of her surroundings soon failed as she realized that she was moving at a quick pace in the back of a van. So quickly was this, is that she couldn’t distinguish finer details in the road signs or the like. Crossroads weren’t an option, as their signs didn’t bear any significant texture. All she could do was count the turns and guess the distance traveled.

For a moment, she experienced relief as the sound of sirens crying out in their shrill tones announced the arrival of at least some form of law enforcement. Only to have on one of the men quickly put a stop to the chase.

Then again, that in itself was good, right? Luckily unlucky was she, and it would remain so. She could only hope that the Artist’s kidnapped family member was also there. In the front of the truck, the two men came upon the realization that she was an Esper, which made her tense up. How much did they know about her? Did they know where she lived? They certainly must, after all, they knew where she worked; finding her home wouldn’t have been too difficult of a task.

Had they also come to take her acquaintances? Her friends? What did they want?! Why were they kidnapping her of all people?! She had done nothing outstanding or anything amazing of actual worth.

The van accelerated further as the two men began to panic about her being “unconscious” in the back of a van. She was bound and gagged, her wrists tied so tightly that it hurt, and they were nervous about her? It made her fearful of them, those in fear tended to lose control, especially even more noticeably when the vehicle itself began to shake.

Not good…not good! These lunatics are going to crash!

For now, the rope tied tightly about her wrists would unravel themselves as she kept her hands hidden from the two, pretending to roll onto her opposite side and face towards them instead of away. If they crashed, which she certainly hoped they wouldn’t, she needed to have both hands ready to help pad against the impact. Especially since she wasn’t seat belted in, like they were.

---

Volt + White-Face - His Name Is White-Lace

With some of the men off their tail, the two Clowns continued to remain wary of their surroundings. Volt began to repeatedly wham his hand against the steering wheel, beeping at any vehicle that dared to stand in his way. After about the tenth slam, however, he shook his hand as if he were in pain before continuing to press the horn.

Meanwhile, White-Face continued to reflect the projectiles of any Anti-Skill members who tried to shoot the van itself down. Since the gun did not actually have a set amount of ammunition, he was at an advantage despite the situation being a one-versus-dozen situation. Before the situation escalated into an “Army of Two” scenario, however, Volt needed to hurry up and find the hideout.

Then, the blue-masked Clown seemed to remember something.

“White-Lace!” Volt screamed, fully confident that he pronounced ‘White-Face’ correctly, “Punch the ceiling!”

"...What?!”

“Punch! The ceiling!”

Suddenly, the driver’s seat had its window shattered by an armor-penetrating bullet. Volt screamed as he dodged the thing by tilting his head. The front view window of the van was shattered as well.

“JUST PUNCH THE FREAKIN’ VAN!” He screamed as he ducked under a bullet that would have pierced through an artery located at his neck.

White-Face quickly responded by punching the ceiling of the van.

Suddenly, a grenade with a red color scheme fell on Volt’s lap.

“Punch it again!”

A blue grenade landed on Volt’s lap.

“Again!”

A yellow grenade fell on Volt’s lap.

“That’s enough!”

A purple grenade fell on Volt’s lap.

“I said that’s enough!”

A white grenade fell on Volt’s lap.

“I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!!!”

A bunch of grenades fell on Volt’s lap. He screamed incoherently as he quickly dug into the pile of grenades littering the driver’s seat, taking out the red one. Unpinning it, he quickly tossed the object at an incoming Anti-Skill chase vehicle.

A puff of red smoke covered the transportation, and it disappeared from thin air. All of a sudden, the vehicle burst out of where Volt previously threw the grenade in an explosion of red smoke, crashing into another Anti-Skill chaser.

Volt blinked as he stared at the chaos he caused.

“I didn’t even know it could do that.”

Now that he thought about it, it was technically his first time using the emergency tools the van was equipped with.

“We’re getting close! Once we get into the territory, it’s over for them!” Volt exclaimed, albeit angrily. “If any of them follows us into the hideout, consider them toast, White-Shank!”

“WHITE-FACE! I’M WHITE-FACE, YOU STUPID ARISTOTLE-SHITPILE!”

Ignoring White-Face’s anger, Volt reminded his partner, “Remember, once we get there, lead her straight to the ‘Warehouse’ section. Don’t put her anywhere close to the ‘Playground’ area.”

The white-masked man nodded. “What’re they going to do with her there?” He asked as he got back in the car momentarily.

“How am I supposed to know? This is the first time I’m ever visiting this place.”

“Wait, then how the hell do you know that the Clowns back there aren’t going to greet us with burning thongs as well?”

“Just- JUST… Just… I don’t even… I hate my luck. They’ll probably listen if we mention that we’re here on behalf of Madmin’s orders.”

The van continued to zoom down the streets, though it eventually flew straight into a roadless ground. The Anti-Skill continued to follow them, though they were having trouble locating the grounds that led to what appeared to be a completely empty harbor.

---

Kotori - A Caged Songbird

With one eye slightly open as she cautiously watched the two men in the front seat, the little Songbird remained tense and fearful of the ongoing madness. From multicolored grenades to strings of almost unintelligible curses as the pursuit continued onward, one of the first thoughts that passed her mind as this insanity continued was simply this: Have I been kidnapped by madmen? Or have I been kidnapped by completely insane idiots?

Next came the notion of something that sounded much more ominous.

They spoke of where they were taking her, a Playground or a Warehouse. The former sounded far more ominous than the latter, especially since she was dealing with what looked like an assortment of demented clowns. Thankfully it seemed at least they were going to take her to the Warehouse, whatever that meant.

As the chase and chaos seemed to calm outside of the fact that they were of course nearing the hostile territory, the timid Esper closed her eyes again and telekinetically bound her wrists; though not as tightly as they were tied before. Going as limp as she could, or at least as limp as she thought someone who was unconscious should be; the little songbird prepared for the worst to come.

Albeit, the knot about her wrists now looked different from the one before, she couldn’t remember what it looked like, so she mimicked it as best as her memory could allow.

---

Volt + White-Face - A Clown's Greatest Challenge

Soon, the ride came to an end.

The instant moment the van zoomed into an abandoned warehouse, it started going down a slope apparently constructed by the Clowns. It entered a hole that led them down into a large basement. Roughly parking the van in the middle of said basement, which had a few lights brightening the large, dark area, White-Face slammed the door next to him open as he ran up to the entrance of the basement. He hastily pressed a conveniently red button that said "Press to Die," causing a large blast door to pop out from the top. As it slowly shut itself, White-Face turned back and ran up to the van, finding an extremely dizzy Volt staggering out of his van.

“Ugh…”

The blue-masked man shook his head as he opened up the passenger seat. So far, the Esper did not look as if she were awake.

Therefore, she must be sleeping.

Wait, but what if it’s a trap? Volt thought, only to realize that they technically trapped her first.

So he plucked her out of the van.

It seemed ironic that he would walk deeper into the basement while carrying a person he was kidnapping in a bridal carry. He had his set of excuses: he never actually kidnapped someone until now, he never knew how to actually carry someone without dragging them through the ground, and he never ever thought about kidnapping a innocent woman in the first place.

They soon found themselves standing in front of small door. It looked like a regular steel door, but both White-Face and Volt knew that properties to Clowns were never to be underestimated. White-Face opened the door first, with Volt following him.

Behind the steel door was a long hallway, with two lights lighting up the dark place. There were several spots that were pitch-black as a result.

Sitting next to Volt and White-Face was the entrance to the Warehouse. It had a simple piece of wood with “Warehouse” crudely carved into it by the twin doors made of steel.

There were several more doors in the area, but the most notable one was the farthest room, which lay at the other side of the hallway. The door had colorful balloons surrounding it, with a puffy door contrasting greatly to the other steel doors. A rainbow-schemed “PLAYGROUND” was etched on the door, with a circus clown cardboard cutout standing next to the entrance with a hearty smile.

White-Face squinted and wondered why the door knob had blood on it.

Meanwhile, Volt decided to bail out and headed immediately into the Warehouse, repeating to himself, “Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. Nuh uh. We’re on the weird side of Role Player G- I mean, the Clowns again.”

“…You go on ahead,” White-Face muttered as a strange laughter emitted from the Playground. “I need to meet up with the Moderator. You won’t be seeing me until tomorrow.”

“What?” At the reveal of White-Face’s departure, Volt stopped, turning to him, then at the Playground, then at him again. “You’re not implying that you’re leaving me with some ominous thing even I don’t know about, right?”

“I’m not implying that; I’m confirming it.”

The blue-masked Clown(?) screamed internally. Tenser than ever, the man opened the Warehouse with Kotori in his arms. Meanwhile, White-Face walked into the darkness, eventually opening one of the doors near to the Playground. When the door shut, White-Face locked the door for whatever business he had to attend.

Volt, on the other hand, brought Kotori into the Warehouse. It looked like a larger version of the hallway, except there were several pieces of warehouse canisters placed against the walls. Picking the one closest to the warehouse, Volt carefully placed the hostage on the ground, making sure that nothing on the ground would do something weird to both of them.

“Whew!”

Turning away from Kotori, he briefly took off his mask and wiped his forehead before putting it on again. With his attention on the girl, he decided to stand by her, doing nothing in particular other than watching her.

He had no idea on how long he had to do this job, but he was (probably not) ready for it.

He took on what Clowns considered to be one of the most challenging scenarios…

…Waiting.

---

Kotori - A Caged Songbird

A sudden, grinding halt of tires against a road made of dirt and stone announced the end of her turbulent journey. She waited, listening as further chaos ensued upon the exit of the truck, and once the doors slammed shut upon their departure; the little Songbird steeled her nerves to steady her trembling hands. Barely managing to bring a halt to her nervous figure as the footsteps paused in front of the sliding door that confided her to the cage of the van’s prison, her breadth was stolen as it swung wide.

Playing unconscious still as she was plucked up and carried like a Princess of an age past, Kotori keenly listened in on their conversation. Meticulously all the same, she counted their steps and turns as they walked.

Left, fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight….Right, fifty nine, sixty! Impactfully reminding herself with each each tenth number as they passed, it seemed that hundreds would pass as the turns started simply at first, but turned into a labyrinth. Pausing in front of another door, she dared to slightly open her eye to see a doorknob stained in blood, fear crept up upon her then as she realized the true gravity of the situation she had gotten herself into

People are dying in there! What kind of monsters are these!?

Finally, she was brought to a room as one of the two departed. It was larger than the other, as the air felt less stagnant, but still nonetheless. And as he set her down, she waited and listened. Finally, she figured it would be time for her to stir, so she began slowly and warily, as if someone waking from a deep sleep.

The moment she was “fully” cognizant of her surroundings, she recoiled back against the wall, in both real and false looking fear as she finally looked up to see her captor. It was a peculiar, but intimidating looking man who wore a mask. For this moment, her terror was all too real as she struggled with her bindings about her wrists and ankles.

Normal circumstance would allow her to escape from these things using her power, but it seemed wise to keep as many cards up her sleeve tucked away as possible. The fact that she was still in her maid costume from before certainly didn’t help matters either. Ria had forced her into a skirt too short, and a cut too deep, and now she was sure it was going to make things worse.

“W-what are you going to do to me?” She inquired, her voice and heart alike fluttering and trembling. Looking up at the man with the most terrified eyes she could muster, she bit the inside of her lip to stop it from shaking. “Is there anyone else that’s been kidnapped?”

---

Volt - It's A Bird, It's A Maid! No, It's- Actually, It's A Maid

The dark-haired Clown blinked and put his attention on the girl, who stirred from her sleep.

She’s awake. Oh Jesus.

While he was a bit confident with his magic at times, facing an Esper whose powers were unknown proved to make him feel extremely nervous. He not only felt the urge to cast some magic on her as soon as possible, but he also-

The girl looked up to him, trembling with an extremely saddening pair of eyes that gazed into his.

Volt swore he saw the Holy Mother Mary embrace his heart as he flew into the skies, with the angels singing as he ascended into a new world. He swore he saw the pure child of light cry as he held onto it. It felt so right, and so good. So different from what the things he knew of.

Holy Mary; I beseech thee to show me more of this enlightment.

Thankfully, reality did not pass by when he woke up from his daze. He blinked a bit before turning around, analyzing the warehouse. Aside from the extreme amount of claw marks within the warehouse canisters, along with unknown fluids that Volt did not even think about touching littering most of the other canisters, everything seemed fine.

In other words, he was not in a position to make up some random bullshit and say that she got nominated for Miss Japan.

“I’ll be honest,” he said, pulling his composure as much as he could, “I don’t know that much aside from the fact that some peeps want something from you. We’re just collecting data, from what I know.”

His heart beat incredibly quickly due to how nervous he became. He still did not know what this girl’s powers were capable of.

“I… am pretty sure some others were, but I’m not affiliated with them. Not much info there, either.

…Anyway, this place is tightly packed. The people here are at that Playground thing, so I doubt you’d be in trouble for the time being.”

Volt sighed. He really did not get that much information on what they would do with the girl aside from the fact that they were extracting information out of Espers. What they would do after they extracted the information, he was plentifully concerned about. He did not question the Clowns, however, because he knew that literally anything can make them go crazy.

“So…”

The kidnapper of the maid glanced around the dark warehouse containment room before turning to Kotori. He took out a deck of Poker cards.

“Wanna play Old Maid?”

Despite the fact that he just kidnapped a woman, and despite the fact that kidnapping in general was considered to be an extreme crime, Volt proceeded to ask the person- a maid, at that- he kidnapped if they wanted to play a game of Old Maid. This simply exemplified the sheer lack of common sense he had, and the lack of hostility behind his face further reinforced his stupidity.

I feel like I’m being made fun of for some odd reason, Volt suddenly thought as he felt a shiver run down his spine.

---

Kotori – A Caged Songbird

As if being the standard henchman from a comic book, Kotori soon found out that he knew almost as little as she did about her current predicament. Her gaze only saddened further in the face of her dismal situation, and slowly the gravity of such came rolling down upon her. She was in danger, grave danger in fact; especially with the bloodstained doorknob as a foreboding mention.

He continued talking, but a key detail he revealed was that there were indeed others who had been kidnapped! It was a glisten, a mere thought of hope, and she clutched onto it tightly. Maybe she was truly luckily unlucky, and the artist’s family member was here indeed.

In the end of it all however, he requested something that was most definitely odd.

This kidnapper, this criminal who supposedly held power and grave consequence over her asked the little Songbird if she’d like to play a game of Old Maid. At first, she thought he was being condescending about the garb she was currently wearing; but the revealing of a deck of playing cards washed that presumption away rather quickly. Sadly, she didn’t know how to play the game he mentioned, but Kotori realized that it would be probably quite wise to get in this man’s good graces. Perhaps, if she played her cards carefully, she could get him to help her! His mental state and quality were still in question, but the hope she held still remained stubbornly.

“S-Sorry, I-I’ve never p-played Old Maid before.” She stated softly, almost shamefully to the towering Clown. Bowing her head slightly as her wrists twisted about in their bindings uncomfortably. “But even then, I-I d-don’t think I can play with my hands tied like this. Would you mind?” Glancing awkwardly over her shoulder at her hands, the splendor that was the curvature of her youthful neck came to bear.

“If you untie my hands, and l-leave my ankles alone…I-I can’t run, and you c-can teach me how to play Ol-Old Maid. Does t-that sound fair?” She started timidly, quietly as usual as she looked up to him with eyes that had changed to one of saddened curiosity. Continually, she sought to create a burgeoning sense of pity from this man for her. Keep pressing, and he just might help her! “So…I’ve been brought here for testing? I-I’m not e-e-e-even a powerful e-esper. D-do you think I-I’m a monster?”

---

Volt - How To Play

Volt barely prevented himself from picking Kotori up and stuffing her into a pile of teddy bears. Fortunately for him, the warehouse’s generally gritty atmosphere made him realize that such a thing was nearly impossible in a Clown hideout. So many of them looked identical to each other, though he had to admit, there was one particular hideout loaded with strange gimmicks. He would think about visiting the hideout later for a weapon upgrade.

But screw weapons for the time being. The poor soul did not know what Old Maid was. If she were to die, Volt would make sure that she knew how to play Old Maid before she died. Of course, he preferred not to have such a young girl die. It would make his bank heists nearly impossible to perform for… about a year.

This just tells me how much of a virgin I am, he thought, mentally flipping the bird at the bishounen males who made his chances of getting married lower than the possibility of seeing Jesus on a flying shark equipped with a unicorn horn and a laser-targeting rocket launcher. Truth be told, he was not even that old, yet people called him “old man”. Heck, he even remembered one woman who was fond of him.

Before said woman killed herself in a police chase while slaughtering a dozen Anti-Skill Officers, that is. Jesus, I’m definitely compatible with survival more than anything, and I actually like it that way.

Suddenly feeling demotivated to even continue his mission (in a very strange way), Volt sighed as he shook his head.

He then remembered that he needed to teach a young maid how to play Old Maid. Young maid. Old Maid… Young… Old… It took him a brief second to realize that he unintentionally made a pun.

“How the heck do you not know what Old Maid is?” Volt asked, both amused and startled. “It’s a really easy game, though. I can teach it to you in no time.”

The blue-masked Clown(?????? Is he even a Clown at this point?) proceeded to untie her hands. Had White-Face been the one to untie the bond, he would have instantly realized that the bond was tied differently. Alas, Volt was less skilled at memorizing things and more inclined towards reacting when the times called for it.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not that good with strong people. And I don’t really think you’d be able to take me on-“

Volt paused, thinking about what he just said before admitting as he continued to untie her, “Actually, nearly everyone beat me up even though I’m pretty strong… No one can beat me when it comes to luck, though.”

That last part was bullshit. He clearly remembered the time when he was chosen to shoot a bullet to his own head during a Russian Roulette face-off with some freaky Clown that just wanted people to die. That was one of the few moments where he legitimately wanted to destroy whatever that gave birth to the planet.

Thankfully, he was alive and well.

“Yes, you’ve been brought for testing,” Volt said as he tossed aside the thing that used to bind Kotori’s hands together. “But I don’t care about that. What matters is the fact that you don’t know Old Maid.”

And so, Volt proceeded to explain what Old Maid was.

Old Maid! A very simple game that required only a deck of poker cards, or a deck of cards specifically made for games like Old Maid. A card dealer would shuffle the deck and give a designated amount of cards to each player. In this case, Kotori and Volt would start off with five cards because Volt just felt like starting off with five cards.

For each player’s turn, the player takes a card that belongs to another player. Of course, the other player has to hide what their cards are, which are only revealed when the player picking the cards selects and takes a card. For each matching pair of card numbers (ie. a Spade 3 and a Heart 3), players get to discard the cards by simply putting them somewhere other than their own hands. There is one unmatchable card, however; that card is the “Old Maid.”

In this case- and quite fittingly, to say the least- the Old Maid is a Joker. Whoever holds onto the Old Maid by the time the game ends loses. In Volt’s version of the game, the winner gets to pick anything they want for a prize, whether it be a penalty or a simple thing.

He had no idea just what he incited upon the release of the particular statement.

“It’s easy, right?” Volt asked as he shuffled the deck of cards, an oblivious grin on his face. “Whaddya say; you think you’re up to it?”

On another note, he felt that he just said something weird, but he decided not to think too much about it.

At this point, he really just wanted to put his mind on something other than getting shot at.

---

Kotori – A Caged Songbird

His enthusiasm was bizarre to Kotori as he talked in earnest about this game she had never heard of. Much to her elation, her bindings were deftly removed and tossed aside; allowing the little Songbird to lightly rub her wrists and remove the painful stiffness that had possessed them. Yet she still didn’t move of course, with her ankles still very much bound by the ropes, making it seem that she was still very much not a threat. Gently moving her legs closer to her form, she struggled slightly with her freed hands to evenly set herself against the wall.

Acting like she was powerless before him as key, right? At least that was how it worked in all those innumerable criminal hostage movies. Befriend your captor, as best you can. They could very well be the one who saves you, after all.

Quickly, her mind traversed to two places, splitting their attention to other sources. A think veil of invisible telekinesis washed over her then, sliding across the sides of the floors, ceilings and walls. Creeping beneath doors and cracks in windows. The other half of her mind was then occupied by the man who was so excitedly talking to her about how to play the game of Old Maid. It seemed fairly simple and easy to understand, the matching of cards and the like in order to get as many points as possible.

It reminded her of a succinctly more complicated version of Go Fish. A much simpler child’s game she had played with schoolyard friends when she was little. Having grown to be a pretty decent guesser, she hoped similar skills would apply to this game as well.

Cards were deftly dealt with an impressive flick of his dexterous fingertips, and Kotori scooped up her hand to stare at it long and hard. Biting down on her lip on one side and her tongue sticking out on the other side in concentration; she tried to remain focused, for on two fronts her mind was working. She could feel it, she could sense it as her telekinetic touch spread throughout the entirety of the facility swiftly. There were two things she sought for; first, the location of the hostages. Second, an escape route that wasn’t so constantly clogged up with clowns.

Her opening hand was rather nice. To start she held a pair of threes, and she simply discarded them and set them aside. Glancing at him, the little songbird extended her slender fingertips forward to take one of his cards. Drifting, hovering across the top of each of them, she watched his eye’s expressions swiftly change as her grasp hovered over each card. Plucking the one where his face seemed the most unhappy about.

Assuming he didn’t have the best poker face, she got a decent card. And lucky she was indeed. A Jack of Clubs to match her Jack of Hearts. Settling the two down upon the ground and discarding them, she held up the two cards that remained her in hand, extending a playful little smile as best as she could muster while she spoke in return.

“Y-Your turn, mister…w-what was your name?”

---

Volt - VS. A First-Timer Who Somehow Gets An Early Upperhand

How smashing.

The girl was already having an advantage over him in a game she did not know how to play earlier.

My luck is overwhelming, Volt thought to himself as he stared at his own hand of cards. Biting a lip, he observed Kotori’s hand.

There was a certain trick he learned from a random Clown he knew of; mark each card with some kind of unique mark. For example, one could easily remember a King in another opponent’s hand if he or she folded a certain part of it on the card. It was a cheap trick.

Fortunately for Kotori, Volt did not have such a deck because he was one of the worst Old Maid players to ever exist anyway.

When she asked for his name, his idle expression suddenly turned into a wide grin.

“Volt Baron! I’m a magician who knows magic tricks- at least, I used to be until I suddenly bumped into this weird group of people. Now I’m just a guy trying to make a living.”

The blue-masked Clown reached out for one of her cards, taking it, only to reveal a supremely disappointed face. “Aw, crap.” The Clown muttered as he shuffled his current hand so that Kotori would not memorize what she should not target. There were currently nine more possible pairs before the loser would pop up.

“What about yours?” Volt asked before yawning, only to speak again. “What are your powers, anyway? You don’t look like someone who should get kidnapped for some ultra secret project, I’ll be honest.”

And honest he was for someone who was a part of a group filled with killer maniac psychopaths who enjoyed nothing but anarchy. Being one of the less crazy Clowns gave him the benefit of looking careless more than anything.

---

Several people squirmed in a room within the middle of the hallway. Interestingly enough, the room White-Face entered was completely empty. In fact, there was no room in where he went to- only a large void remained where he was last seen behind the door.

---

Kotori – A Caged Songbird

There was a minor moment of tension as the man’s hand hovered over her cards, there was a look of concentration on his face that she hadn’t ever seen a volume of before. Certainly she had gotten lucky to start, but for now the game was certainly afoot. Glancing at his cards as he stole hers away, she did her best to memorize where her lost card was; for she was quite determined to take it back. Whether or not she was going to be successful was another matter.

More importantly, her mapping of the warehouse was complete, and even more importantly is that she knew where the hostages were! They were close, oh so terribly close! A handful of figures whose legs and hands were bound just like hers, they had to be it!

Even then with such elation, the little Songbird remained keyed into Volt’s words. He was just a man who was deeply down on his luck, trying to make a living; though not in the brightest fashion. Perhaps…perhaps there was a way that she could convince him to help her after all!

Then came the dreaded question; this man asked her about her powers.

Always being one who was uncomfortable about discussing such things, Kotori looked hesitantly up to him. In order to build a form of trust from this man to her, she needed to be truthful. Yet should she be such to the fullest extent? That was the best option, tell a little truth, yet hide the majority of it like a precious gem; just in case he decided against helping her after all.

“M-My power?” She timidly asked, as if repeating his question shyly. “W-Well, I’m only really able to do things like this.” Quietly, she looked at his hands with deepened concentration, which made it seem as if she were trying to perform a monumental task. By itself, a card smoothly left his hand and rose to hover in the midst of the air. Then it floated towards her and then joined her other cards in her hand, the Ace of Spades…which was useless to her since it matched none of what she held.

“I’m what’s called a level zero telekinetic, I’m sadly not capable of much.” She admitted ashamedly, managing a very convincing lie and bowing her head guiltily. “Exactly how someone as weak as I am would be of any use to an experiment or test is a mystery to me. I-I just want to go home…and I want to keep going to school. Just like those other poor kids like me…why did this happen to us? What did we do to deserve this?”

Nervously, she glanced up to him in finality with eyes that pleaded for mercy from an evidently greater power. “Why d-don’t you u-use your p-p-powers for good and h-help us?” The little songbird begged, she pleaded, appealing to the masked magician. “Please! You can leave me behind if y-you have to!”

---

Volt - A Certainly Debatable Thought

When one of his cards floated away from his hand, he simply stared at the particular object as it snugly became a part of Kotori’s set of cards.

“Well then,” he stated simply, wondering whether he should throw his cards at her face and run or simply knock her out with his mask, “now I’m glad that you’re level zero.”

After an exchange of card selections, Volt eventually found himself holding onto the Joker.

Perfect, he thought as he began to throw around massive sarcasm in his head. This is ALL according to plan. Oh, BABY, a TRIPLE.

“…Like I said, I’m not sure why they wanted to take you,” Volt admitted. “I’m just following along because I need some money.”

The blue-masked Clown blinked as he saw Kotori glance at him.

She then asked something peculiar. Something about him getting her out of the place.

Now, by no means did he regularly listen to the pleas of those he kidnapped… because he never really kidnapped before. While he did find the Clowns to be a weird bunch, he found that making money in the groups was quite easy. And there was no need to worry about an audience when his magic was being used for heists and the like.

But good…? While it was a morally correct decision to help the defenseless(?) girl before him, he had to consider what he would do if he returned to living on the surface of the cities. After all, how he became a part of the Clowns was a tragic tale…

---

[i]Volt was walking down the streets with a bag of potato chips in his hands. It was noteworthy to point out that he still wore his blue mask even in this particular flashback.

Suddenly, a swarm of people burst out of nowhere, all of them wearing a bunch of masks.

“CATCH THEM!” A voice cried, soon being revealed to belong to an Anti-Skill officer’s. “CATCH ALL OF THE MASKED MEN!”

Volt dropped his shit, turned, and ran as much as he could. As he ran, however, he bumped into one of the masked men. The magician turned to a man with a blue smiley mask as he continued to run.

“You one of us, eh?!” The smiley guy shouted as the masked men continued to run.

“A-Actually,” the blue-masked magician began explaining, “I don’t know what’s really going on. I was just coming home from work-“

“If we outrun these guys, we’re getting a whoppin’ million yen! No questions asked!”

All of a sudden, Volt adjusted his mask as he grinned, suddenly changing his tone as he muttered, “Hmph. Of course I knew that.”

And that was how Volt became a part of the Clowns.

---

…

…

Now that he thought about it, his backstory was just terrible and embarrassing to remember.

Barely managing to prevent himself from meeting Mother Mary again, Volt adjusted his mask as he explained,

“Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the surface world would like to see me again. There’s probably no organization that would accept someone with a chaotic soul like mine. And by chaotic, I mean by the kind of chaotic that loves to be free and doing really random things.

I probably won’t be able to find any opportunities out there, honestly; even if I wanted to find a job that doesn’t involve me breaking into banks and stuff. At the very least, I can probably think about retribution at one point, but I do want to live too, you know.”

Though he may have been a fool, he knew that the reality of the society of the surface world was different from what many young souls imagined it to be. There was a trend of shunning those who could not stand for themselves. It was disgusting, and he did- at one point- try to do good things. Alas, his own fears of confronting potential dangers led him into a completely strange situation.

The dark-haired man sighed as he comically scratched his head with lightning speed. He seemed confused on how Kotori was still managing to remain with an upperhand as the game progressed.

Soon, he was left with two cards, with Kotori holding onto only one Ace of Spades.

But seriously, just pick the freaking Joker and I can finally claim my second victory out of fifty Old Maid matches.

Volt’s eyes squinted, glancing up at Kotori and at his cards.

---

Kotori – A Caged Songbird

The game, both sides of its thinly veiled plot of hope and drawn cards alike were coming to a precipice. Perhaps she had asked too soon as a look of contemplation overtook his eyes as she proposed her desperately put question. She was praying that he would accept the idea, hoping that he’d see the error of his ways and as a person who was trapped in a bad situation, he would turn to her side.

Rifling through what few cards she had left, the little Songbird waited patiently as through his thoughts, the masked man took one of her cards and paired it off in a stack of three.

Dismay came over her as her own turn began. Not only were there no longer any cards to draw from, but Volt had made his decision. He refuted the idea, continuing to explain that he would no longer be able to fit in the outside world as the chaotic being that he was. Shaking her head ever sadly, she looked up to the man still as her eyes glanced between the two cards that he had left.

As the end of the game lay in the balance, and the victor alongside that in a fifty-percent chance, she softly spoke.

“It’s hard, I know how hard it is being scared.” The Little Songbird softly whispered, as if she were speaking in confidence to Volt. “But that’s okay, as long as you put your best foot forward, you’ll succeed! I’m sure of it! I-I was scared once too….a-and I still am.” Biting her lip ever hesitantly, her fingertips extended forward beyond her form and dragged lightly across the upper edge of his cards, as if seeking the answer to be the victor in this little contest of simultaneous fun and wits; even in spite of her being kidnapped.

“I never knew my father…and my mother took her life because of me.” Kotori continued miserably, her eyes watering just slightly as the hopeless image of finding her mother hanging from a ceiling beam entered her mind. Her voice strained and cracked then, revealing the torn state she was in; no matter how well she tried to disguise it.

“I found in her diary that she blamed me, she blamed me for Papa leaving. All my life since, I’ve always thought I was a freak. Someone who was considered a monster by others—even by my own family. It is really, really difficult to approach someone, let alone talk to them; when…when you’re nothing but a monster.” Wiping her teary eyes with her sleeve, she bit her lip as she eyed his cards a final time.

“That in itself changed with this new school…people were nice to me. They even talked to me! One, one of them is the person I’ve first been actually able to call my friend, and that means the world to me. As…as pathetic as it sounds, I finally managed to find a place I can call home, I think.” Finally finding the courage, she plucked the last card picking it up and turning it about to see none other than the joker. “If someone like me, who is an absolute monster can find a home…you can too. You just need to try! I would be happy to help you if you let me. And does this card mean I lose?”.

---

Volt - Thinking For A Change

Volt nodded.

He personally did not know how it felt to be pushed around since he deliberately avoided making contact with society until he was ready with his dream of becoming a magician. Living in isolation, he could take well, but can the others who were raised with parents handle the lack of relationships? Perhaps so.

In a sense, he considered everyone other than himself to be freaks because the very thought made him drive towards his goals with effectiveness. A strange drive, if one were to try comprehending it.

But it made sense, considering how he did not learn the art of sympathizing others.

Volt quietly took Kotori’s Ace of Spades and placed the cards on the ground. He won, but for some reason, he could not appreciate it that much. Instead, his thoughts remained on what he should do.

The girl was technically someone he was supposed to oppose, but if he had no reason to oppose her, let alone serve anyone, what purpose could his existence serve for? Fodder?

No. He’d never be fodder. At least, he can hope that he would never become fodder.

I just met this girl, and she’s confusing my mind. Funny things the world can do to you, huh.

The blue-masked magician remained still.

He then remembered something that he himself proclaimed before the Old Maid game.

“…I won,” he said bluntly, a scheming smile slowly forming on his face. “And I have a penalty in mind.”

Raising his hand, he pointed at the timid girl as he told her,

“Find me a job where I can reside peacefully, and I’ll consider assisting you. Don’t think that you could get out of this hideout without some trouble, though.”

Perhaps being misled into a group of trouble did not always mean the end of one’s fortune? He wanted to know if it was possible for a society like the one that existed above would let him pass.

---

Kotori – A Caged Songbird

Letting the masked one slowly take the Ace of Spades away from her, the little Songbird remained just as silent as he did for a long moment of time. He was contemplating something, and she wasn’t one to derail the train of thought he possessed. Finally, his announcement of his victory made a slight smile creep upward on her lips as she noticed something different. Normally, one might be more jubilant with the announcement of their victory, but this one was pensive.

Had her words not fallen on deaf ears after all? The eyes behind the mask certainly seemed thoughtful, as if he were contemplating something.

Blinking bewilderedly as he pointed at her and declared his penalty for her loss, the Little Songbird looked absolutely perplexed for a brief moment. She was the child here, and he the adult; precisely why was she having to do the research to find him stable work in the normal outside world? Digging her teeth into her bottom lip in thought as she cast her gaze to the side in outright concentration, she considered the options.

The man that sat before her was a Magician evidently. He could use Magic among his talents, and he seemed like he was rather adept with this art. Perhaps not as fluently as those who taught at the Academy, but perhaps with a little refinement, he could. With a little force and verve, he could do something great with his life.

“You know what it is like to wander the world alone...” She stated hesitantly at first. “You know what it’s like to be lonely, unhappy, and not free to do as your heart desires. You know what it’s like to not have a home.” With a bittersweet smile, Kotori looked up to the masked man encouragingly. “Why not make the Academy your home? In the few weeks I’ve been there, there has been a constant sense of abnormality, it’s always been different! Never has the day been the same twice. People like you and I have always been told that there’s no place in the world for us, and they’re wrong! Help me locate the hostages, help me save innocent lives, and I’m sure if you asked to work there they would let you!”

Shaking her head softly, as if refuting the very idea of what the Clowns were attempting to do; the little Songbird continued to encouragingly speak to the masked man. “Life has dealt you a few unfair cards, this is your chance, your moment to stack the deck in your favor! Helping me and helping the others will only make your life better and happier. Trust me!”

---

Volt - A Morally Confusing Decision

Volt raised an eyebrow.

An academy…?

He never really thought about teaching others with his magic, but it did sound like a different concept aside from simply showing magic…

Before he could think any further, however, several rounds of laughter emerged from the hallway.

“…That doesn’t sound good,” the magician admitted as he turned to the entrance.

Standing up, the blue-masked man started walking over to the set of double doors. If he was going to leave the hideout, perhaps things would become extensively harsh for him? No matter. He still did not find his morality becoming weakened enough to believe that helping someone he kidnapped is technically the best decision he could make. He also believed that what he did was not exactly wrong, and that he still fit into the Clown group quite well.

But now that he thought about it, he never seen or heard of what actually happened to the Clowns’ kidnapped. And he never knew about what made people cry, and what made people laugh so much.

Maybe I can learn, he thought, if I leave this place.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was left in the dark about the reality of the underworld. He may have known well about the surface’s society, but he knew little about the group he spent time with.

Glancing over Kotori, he motioned for her to stand up as well before turning to the double doors. The blue-masked magician slowly opened one of the doors.

No one stood at the hallways. He poked his head out as he proceeded to look around, only to find that something was… different.

He swore he saw the entrance to the Playground closing right when he looked at it.

“It’d be a problem if you stayed here,” Volt muttered as he turned to the level-zero(?) telekinetic. “You’re either going to have to just run for it or wait at the car.”

The dark-haired man glanced at the Playground before turning to Kotori again. The more he looked at her, the less he desired to hear that such a frail girl would get butchered or something.

---

Kotori – A Songbird’s Determination

Time for Action

She did it! He was actually going to help her! Trying her hardest not to smile outright with joy as her hands clamored for the bindings about her ankles, the Little Songbird hurriedly untied the bizarre looking knot as quickly as she could. At first he mentioned just getting her to the car in order to get her to safety, but she shook her head. She had been luckily unlucky enough to be placed here for a purpose, and that was to help others in need. In a room barely ten feet from where she stood, there were several people precisely in need of her help.

With a slightly sheepish smile she spoke hastily in a hushed tone to him. “I-I’m sorry, Mister Volt…but I wasn’t being entirely truthful about my abilities. I couldn’t be, until you decided that you’d be so wonderfully kind to me. The t-truth is that I’m classified as a Level Four. I know where the Hostages are, and I know the route with the least clowns to escape from here. It’s still going to be rough…sadly. But we need to do something!”

Rising upon the ball of her feet, the Little Songbird dashed forward with an almost feline grace despite the rather revealing Maid’s uniform she wore. Pressing her back to the wall, her fingertips took the doorknob that sealed the way between her and the hallway, and she gently opened it. Peeking through the crack and seeing nothing more than emptiness, she placed her hand flatly against the wall one last time. With a brief flicker of concentration, an echo of a Telekinetic wave expanded swiftly like the radar from a plane. Highlighting the walls, the hallways, and the rooms with one last transference of information for Kotori. Finding the hallway to be empty and devoid of life in general, she slid the door open just enough for her little frame to step into the abysmally dark and bloodstained hall.

Steeling herself and her courage, she tip-toed her way through the dried blood-caked floors, and found the door handle to the room that held the hostages. Her fingertips tested the door to see if it were actually unlocked, and much to her surprise it was!

With an antagonistic creak, the door swung wide, and the scene of absolute horror that met her made her eyes widen in shock. There were seven people there, each of which were bound to the walls in chains and blindfolded. Her presence did not go unnoticed, as each of them in their weakened state flinched and tried to escape away from the noise that she had created. Chains dragged, bodies trembled, and her heart ached terribly at the sight of the suffering that they had been dealt. Beyond any doubt, the people that had done this should be made to pay for their heinous crimes.

Now however, was the much more critical matter of freeing those who had suffered far more than she ever had.

Upon their arms and legs were chains, bound fast by digital locks that caused the Little Songbird to frown. If they were normal lock and key, she wouldn’t have had any troubles unfastening them…but this was another notion of difficulty entirely. Wordlessly, she strode towards the nearest person and ran her fingertips across the wide metal bar that held his legs fast. With her touch, the boy jerked his limb away in fear, and she only offered a slightly hushing noise past her lips before quickly talking.

“Shhhh! It’s okay, it’s okay! I’m here to help you!”

Everyone’s blindfolded head turned to look in the direction of her voice. A long silence hung over the room before one of them spoke in a fearful voice. “It’s not a joke? Not a trick?!” She asked fearfully of the Songbird, “Who are you? Where are you from? Judgement? Anti-Skill?!”

Biting her lip and suddenly realizing how poorly the people were going to take this information, Kotori spoke truthfully. “I’m neither, I’m just a student who escaped with the help of a good person! Let’s get you guys out of here! The Blue-Masked guy is here to help too!” Realizing that there were explosives attached to the chains that would likely detonate a few moments after she released the Hostages, she made her decision. These could both be a tool for murder, or a tool for salvation, and the maid-dressed girl would certainly choose the latter.

A think veil of ever resilient telekinetic energy surrounded each of the chains with a growth of focus from Kotori. And before the eyes of Volt, all twenty eight chains would suddenly and simultaneously snap open to release the limbs of those imprisoned; not only that, but they would be literally torn from the very walls they were bolted to. In a split second, they were clustered together, and then thrown down the hallway towards the entry of the Playground.

“Off with your blindfolds, run!” She cried as calamitous thunder roared overhead. Announcing of course that there was certainly something amiss in the Clown’s Fortification. In a terrified hurry, all the Hostages unfurled their blindfolds and ran with her as the hallway that the explosives had been thrown into collapsed. Creating a thick barrier of shattered and broken concrete and stone for those in the Playground to work through before they got to the prisoners.

“Follow me this way! Quickly now!” Turning on heel, the Little Songbird took the front as she bolted down the winding hallway with the Hostages close behind.

---

Volt - Betrayal for... Good???

It turned out that she wasn’t a level zero telekinetic.

Well then, he thought as he followed her, my luck is amazing as ever. I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t help her… She’d probably…

Screwing his intestines with a burning thong sounded plausible now that he knew she was level four.

With Kotori freeing the hostages, Volt poked his head out of the entrance to the room filled with hostages (which, he had no idea on how Kotori found instantly), only to find several Clowns breaking down the entrance to the Playground. The Clown at the front, which was a Deathhead, kicked the explosive shackles before leaping away from the objects, causing the things to explode between the hostages and the Clowns.

He saw a huge barrier of concrete block the entrance of the Playground. Only one Clown made it out.

From what he heard, Deathheads were extremely explosive.

“Ooooh crap. Girl, we gotta run NOW!” Volt screamed as he motioned a small wall of fire to cover him as he followed the group. Taking out an assault rifle, the Deathhead launched a spree of bullets upon Volt’s wall of fire.

“Get to the van! I’ll drive!”

As they entered the hallway, the faint sound of an explosion emerged behind the Deathhead that followed Kotori and Volt. Suddenly, the Clown stopped shooting and tossed aside his weapon.

The Deathhead proceeded to take out a grenade launcher, loading it without any hesitation.

The instant moment a grenade shell flew out of the firearm, Volt pushed his wall of fire forward, causing the Deathhead to roll to his right as the explosive blew up.

Volt growled as he suddenly fired a beam of ice at the Deathhead. The hands of the Clown frozen, the Deathhead soon turned into an ice statue. It would not take long for the Clown to break out of the magic.

As Volt swung the passenger door open, he motioned for the hostages to move in, only to duck instinctively when the unmistakable sound of a shotgun going off echoed in the large basement.

“You’re an Esper, right?!” Volt asked for reconfirmation as he told Kotori, “Block their weapons off from us!”

Soon, multiple Deathheads and Smileys emerged from the entrance of the hallway. Though the Smileys’ weapons were being held, the Deathheads armed with shotguns had the weapons practically fused into their hands. Volt quickly moved over to the driver’s seat as he sat on it, hotwiring the car engine as quickly as he could because White-Face apparently took the keys.

Volt then remembered something important.

The blue-masked magician reached over to the other front seat as he took out what appeared to be a pistol. Pointing it directly at the red button nearby the entrance of the hideout, he fired multiple times, eventually hitting the button and causing the blast door to slowly open.

“GET IN!”

The man prepared to hit the gas.

---

Kotori – A Songbird’s Clipped Wings

Without any hesitation, she heeded Volt’s stressed warning and broke into an all-out run, bringing the Hostages with her.

A cacophony of chaos to her back signified that they had been pursued after all. Hurrying along the winding labyrinth of hallways, Kotori swiftly lead the group of Hostages towards the exit with the van with Volt close behind. Once they arrived at the garage with the getaway vehicle within, the Blue-Masked Magi bolted ahead of her as she remained protectively with the victims that had been treated so cruelly at the hand of the Clowns.

Wheels screamed and screeched to a jarring halt as he hastily pulled the van out of its parking spot and out into the open. Once the door swung wide open, Kotori hurriedly ushered the hostages into the large vehicle.

She didn’t even hear the gunshot that rang out from behind her. Like a sledgehammer, a wall of force collided into her side as she slammed unceremoniously into the flank of the van. Blurred vision sharply cleared to agony as tears streamed down her cheeks from pain while she saw dozens of Clowns armed with lethal weaponry running towards the van. Raising her hand, she drew the entirety of her focus together as the Clowns who charged suddenly found themselves no longer in control of their bodies. Those who had guns that could be separated from their forms would be sent flying away into walls and pillars alike with a devastating crash of sudden, violent velocity.

With the sudden silence and lack of gunshots as a while, the wounded girl struggled to rise to a stand but failed; sinking back to the paved texture of the garage as crimson began to rapidly blossom across her black and white uniform on her right side. The Little Songbird’s wings had suddenly been clipped, and she could barely move.

Desperate, bleary eyes looked to Volt as she willed for something that most would never imagine doing.

“G-GO! I-I’ll be f-f-fine! GET OUT OF HERE AND DRIVE!” She screamed despite the blood that steadily flowed and left her.

One of the Hostages however, grabbed another and seized her arms and dragged her inside the van and she collapsed into the seat. All she could do then was cry out in pain as one of the smarter ones was able to lean over the seat and put pressure on the peppered shotgun wounds that lined her right hip. Her blood, her life-force seeped through the hostage’s fingertips as Volt punched the gas pedal; and the unorthodox rescue team rocketed through the exit in the ungainly vehicle.

Kotori’s time left was ticking down…quickly.

---

Volt - Next Move

As some of the hostages mitigated Kotori’s bleeding, Volt decided on his next route. He would drive to the hospital first, then the police station to drop off the people who were once held hostage.

The blue-masked magician directly brought Kotori into a hospital, once again in a bridal style, but this time with intentions that did not pertain to kidnapping. As soon as she was taken away from emergency medical procedures, the magician vanished, moving on to driving the rest of the people to the police station.

When he arrived at the station, the once-frightened people thanked him, but he did not tell them his name. Instead, he dismissed them and drove off into a different path with the battered van. Now that he was the only one in the van- without White-Face or any other recognizable Clown- no one paid Volt any hostile attention, though some did give a curious glance to the damaged van. He eventually vanished from the streets, from the Clowns- he would plot his next move in finding his place in society once again.

(Wendy Arc)

Another day of grueling effort to survive.

Standing on top of the roof of an uneventful building, Cain End’rana stared off into nothing in particular. He had discovered several more Clown hideouts, which were disposed of easily. The previous day when he fought a certain group of Skinheads, he was not feeling his best. Even now, he felt tired, but he knew that there was no excuse for the weak to complain in a world where mistakes led to things worse than death. It was once a scary thought when he was younger; now, it had become a mere reminder for who he was.

A blade rested on his back; it was the same blade that kept him alive. It was a reminder that he was not like others in more ways than one. He wanted to be like others, but he also wanted to be different. The internal conflict within him had died down long ago once he accepted his fate of running, hunting, and slaughtering.

Cain End’rana had every right to be pessimistic, but he refused to look down when he could always look up. If people died every time he looked down without the energy to move, he would force himself to move forward by looking up. As he moved, he would make sure that he could alter a seemingly unalterable destiny and change it to something nice.

Something that he could enjoy, hopefully. Perhaps it would be something he won’t be able to see in the end.

A static noise entered his right ear as he blinked, looking over the city beneath him.

”Cain,” his brother started, ”I got news on a sector around District 22’s mountainous regions.”

The End’rana sighed.

“Shoot.”

”There’s some sort of… situation going on there. I can’t tell for certain on what it is, though.”

Moving away from the edge of the building, Cain headed to a flight of stairs as he asked, “And what makes it look suspicious?”

”Well, I’m pretty certain there was a brief signal of a civilian being lugged around by this group of men. You might as well check it out incase there are any civilians kidnapped-”

“If that’s the case, I guarantee that there will be hostages being held, then. You said District 22, right?”

”Yup. Be careful, and don’t forget to get my help if you need it.”

The dark-haired plasma manipulator mentally agreed as the transmitter fell silent.

Running out of the building, Cain headed towards the mountainous region of District 22. He chose a route containing a few amount of people in it as he occasionally went through several shortcuts.

As he was thrust into the ground like nothing more than a mad dog to be put down, the tall student couldn't help but feel a warped sense of complacency. It was like he wasn't entirely there. As if it were all just some surreal situation and he was just watching the events unfold from the outside, detached from his mortal body and helpless to stop anything even if he wanted to. There was no resistance, just the familiar feeling of his body being subject to pain designed to incapacitate mundane men with fragile constitutions. It hurt, but it far from crippling.

Sasaki's lips curled into a small, grim smile as his body was dragged into a storage room and isolated from the outside, from his friends and allies. With every fiber of his being, he desperately hoped that they'd all come out of it unscathed, that the price for his mistake wouldn't be paid by his friends.

Sasaki was pushed into the center of a circle, four armed terrorists encircling him like vultures while the other four stood away, like their own little island of evil. The storage room smelt of decayed flesh stuffed in a pantry, but moreso the decomposing tissue now that he was in an enclosed space fenced in by assailants. The smell didn't help much with the headache he'd received from the anarchist beforehand. The room itself was sparesly decorated, shelves lining the walls, themselves lined with all the usual materials one would expect a cafe to stock. The titan's stomach growled. 'Thinking about food at a time like this,' Sasaki thought, 'How pathetic of me.'

The Iron Giant lay crumpled on the cold storage room floor, like a puppet with cut strings. Though his powerful frame took the free blows nicely, his joints still ached and his arms were dislocated by the precision strikes of these terrorists. His two arms hung uselessly at his sides as he counted down the long seconds, paying close attention to the sounds of the outside. There were no gunshots or screaming, that was a good sign at least. He could take solace in that fact. Even so, Sasaki couldn't help but feel surrounded by a bitter sense of despondency. '...What are you doing, Sasaki? Clinging desperately to an absence of noise like it means anything? Thinking naive bullshit like 'everything will be okay so long as I don't know for sure that they're dead'? How pitiful. It's just an excuse. Another shitty justification to wash your hands clean of guilt.'

'That's right. In the end, I'm just leaving them behind again.'

Sasaki's empty eyes began flickering to life, his thoughts permeating his very being like some kind of warped rationalization. 'I want to save them, right? Why am I doing this? Why am I allowing this to happen? Why am I keeping everything under wraps? For justice? Without my strength I can't save a single soul, help a single person. For those I turned my back on? The dead cannot forgive the living; they don't care what happens. For the sake of my newfound friends? Hah. Admit it to yourself. You're afraid of loss. You're afraid, so you're denying who you are so you can pretend that it's all okay. You're ust playing around. Playing at fighting. Playing at friendship. Playing at youth. You're just using them. They're your excuse.'

'In the end you haven't changed one bit, have you?'

The giant's mouth was a firm line, eyes directed at the ground, staring holes into the tiling.

'...Am I really happy with the way I'm living?'

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

...No.

He hated it.

He hated it from the bottom of his heart.

He hated his strength. He hated how he was a two-faced monster who couldn't do anything but hurt, rend, and destroy. He hated how no matter how hard he tried he could only just keep it all from boiling over, from turning everyone away from him. But more than that, he hated having to smile when he was unhappy. He hated how he had to lie to his friends, how they were just one misstep from disappearing forever. He hated the way he was living. He hated it a lot, but he wouldn't live like that. He couldn't live like that. Not anymore.

'That's right, there were only two ways this was ever going to end.'

Sasaki lifted his head, eyes scanning the room. There were eight of targets in total, four roughly three meters in front of him, and four in his immediate vicinity. Of them, six of which were equipped with assault rifles. Kalashnikov's, of course. Why was he even surprised? His gaze fell upon the rocket launcher brandished by a Clown in the further off group and moved to the one with the revolver. Those two would be his main targets; nobody walks around with a gun like that unless there's a trick, and a rocket launcher fired incorrectly at this range would bring the entire damn building down. He tensed his legs and rotated his pelvis. Good, even with the wounds he could still run.

Glass shattered elsewhere in the building as Sasaki heard what vaguely sounded like some kind of shounen pre-combat one-liner. But that was his chance, their attention was broken. This battle would be decided in the next second.

Not even bothering to stand completely, the oni kicked off from the ground, a sizeable crack left in his wake. His aimed at the launcher-wielding terrorist, having made it about two meters in when his foes regained their senses. The sound of gunfire filled the storage room, but was rendered silent as Sasaki altered his charge to avoid the incoming rocket, the gunslingers attempting to get away from the resulting blast zone. As the explosion rippled through the area, sending dust, debris, and a single enemy flying everywhere, Sasaki slammed his shoulder into the now-unarmed heavy weapon user and then into the wall behind him. There was a loud CRACK! as the Clown's spine shattered on impact with the cracking wall, the reactive force driving Sasaki's humerus back into his rotator cuff. He rotated his shoulder experimentally under the cover of dust. It hurt, but it would do. Now for the oth-

Bullets cut through the dust cloud, sending white-hot pain shooting up Sasaki's body. His dislocated arm had sustained three bullet wounds, his left leg two, and his clothes were torn by bullets he'd avoided by the skin of his teeth. He tossed the body to the side to momentarily distract the gunmen in the confusion, taking cover behind the contents of a fallen shelf. He mentally counted down the shots, throwing a stone or two to incite further waste among their ranks. But the cloud of dust was quickly fading away, rapidly stripping the giant of his concealment.

Sasaki picked up series of stones and threw them like fastballs at the Clowns as he charged, striking at the closest one with spear-like fingers. His forefingers tore into the Clown's ocular tissue like needles through skin. The warm, almost jelly-like constitution crumpled under his fingerd he hooked them along the bottom of his victim's frontal bone to hold up the thrashing, screaming body. A swift knee to the forearm resulted in another loud crack and the clatter of a rifle on the floor. Sasaki slammed the poor bastard headfirst into the ground as his companions finished reloading.

'Three down, five to go.'

Aria "resolved"
Aria couldn't take it anymore she refused to allow someone else to die in front of her. Resolving herself she played a sharp note on her pendant ocarina causing the clowns to clutch their ears in pain. Seeing that they were busy she charged forward but rather unknown to her one wasn't as affected and was able to get a gun ready. Though while she didnt know this she managed to pull out her violin was playing it to try and get them to fall down. Though while she was doing this shots was fired at her one hitting her violin and another straight in her leg. Collapsing From the pain she gasped as and clutched her leg as she eventually fainted from pain and blood loss.

Kishiko(Archer of water)
Trying to protect the civilians was her goal her only goal at the moment Drawing on the water she forced open with the sprinklers and some pipes to create a solid wall of water stopping most of the damage. Though seeing the help from Yuuma she dropped part of it and started to shoot at the attackers releasing waves and waves of watery arrows as she tried her hardest to fight and protect but it was all she could do she had water she had enough to fight but with the civilians in potential danger she wasn't able to do much more.

Kaname "A Maiden on a Hunt"
She was having a odd day first she heard rumors of a double of her though like most things she waved it off as nothing more than a rumor. Though while she was walking down the hallway she saw it clones that looked like her so that mean only one thing Ria was here. With a large grin spreading across her face "Ignis 999 I am the will that burns away falsehood." So with that simple phrase she set out whips of blue flames in each hand a she swung them around with expert precision going through ice clones as she hunted her sister. This was to much for her first she was mother's favorite than she had to live in "HER" shadow and now she comes to the one place where she was free from that? No more she was a hunt and a certain level five was her prey.

CIS = Character Induced Stupidity
PIS = Plot Induced Stupidity
PIS is off right now.
CIS however is on for the villains and everyone. Note that Level 5's, strong characters etc is applied by this rule to make sure the story is interesting. Too much common sense kills and leaves no fun, too much stupidity is no fun either. This rule balances it out.



The events that wrought upon our heroes is more than pleasing to the person who watches them from afar, the expressions, the struggles; it was all due to Marcus. He is the very ideal bait and mole that makes the instruments move in its own accord, the clowns and skill out are all working together in spite of teeth clenched teamwork, the Akurans are still not on the move. One who adheres to his entertainment will move the mountains and break it like a domino.

















Post Credit Scene of my post



(GM's note: I have organized everything with my unconditional and non biased love for you guys. Please take your time to read everything carefully.

Pace in what I have observed:
Wendy Arc, good job guys! We're picking up the pace.
Vampire Arc, keep on going! You'll make it.
Nagatenjouki Cult Arc. Guys! Chop chop! You're all falling behind! Pick up the pace please.

I have to control other people's characters for variety and exposition. Characters that are abandoned by their owners due to hiatus or dropping of the RP. I took control of LokiLeo789's especially.

Advise: Collaboration is strongly recommended to pick up the pace as well as patience. Ask sensible questions. But it's okay, take my word for it and trust me; we are all having busy lives. Patience is the key for us to accomplish!

@NarayanK, PM me and leave a message on the ACCA pad. We'll discuss the matchups.)

"..."

The boxer blinked as havoc shrekt the entire cafe. People with guns were pitted against people with super weird powers. It was as if he were stuffed into an action hero movie as an innocent bystander who somehow got dragged into the heat of battle.

With that said, he tried to sit at a nearby chair, only to have a Clown smash through it due to an ear-penetrating sound wave that Bang barely managed to withstand due to his distance from the source of the noise. The boxer glanced at the now shattered chair before turning back to the cafe.

Suddenly, some sort of mumbo jumbo dude went into his head and started talking. Bang blinked, surprised to find a voice in his head that did not belong to him.

The voice said something that caught his attention.

The people, Bang realized as he turned to the hostages who were stuffed into the kitchen. I need to help the people.

Though he barely accustomed himself to the voice in his head, the boxer listened to what it said and dashed towards the cafe from the other side of the building. When a suspicious man attempted to hit him with a baseball bat, the boxer suddenly reached out for something behind him... only to take out a pair of boxing gloves.

Tossing them into the air, the boxer shoved his hands into the gloves without tying them up before swinging a right hook towards the incoming bat. As the weapon flew towards the counter and knocked aside several coffee machines, the boxer grabbed the back of the Clown's neck before repeatedly delivering body blows to the attacker's gut. After a good set of eight body blows within two seconds, Bang punched the man across the face, knocking the strange smiley mask off and sending him toppling over the counter. With the Clown incapacitated, the boxer quickly went to the kitchen and found a group of people huddled in fear.

Bang then remembered something before dashing back out to the counter... only to bring a baseball bat with him.

"Who wants this?" He asked simply. When a man slightly taller than Bang raised a hand, the boxer immediately handed him the bat.

Bang then looked around the kitchen, only to grab what appeared to be a square, metal table with several brownies on it. Without any regard for the food, the boxer quickly grabbed the metal object as he lifted it up with some effort.

It was heavy, but he had no right to complain when it was one of the few things he could use to defend people.

"Okay, let's go," Bang commanded the hostages as he power-walked out of the kitchen with a metal table in his hands.

Soon, the boxer power-walked his way down the cafe with many of the hostages running in a single file line to the exit. The man with the baseball bat swung his weapon at a Clown, effectively knocking the Clown on the ground, before following the line. As the hostages filed out of the building, however, Bang heard a scream and turned to its direction. One of the maids was held captive by a Clown who had wrapped an arm around her with a knife on his other hand.

"Bruh, you better watch what you do," the Smiley Clown said with a smug tone. "We like doing this stuff! What could possibly get you to stop-"

Bang suddenly dropped his table and picked up a white mug and threw it directly at the man's face with intense speed, causing it to shatter upon impact. Some of the shards fell into the man's eyes, causing the masked Clown to scream as he shoved the woman away. Taking a step onto a wooden table, Bang propelled himself towards the Clown with a tightly clenched boxing glove above his head.

The boxer delivered an airborne haymaker and used his momentum to knock the man out. As the Clown fell, he dropped his knife, which Bang proceeded to pick up...

...before realizing he had no idea on how to actually use a knife. He would look forward to Cooking class should he ever decided to master the culinary arts-

This isn't the time to be thinking about culinary arts, Bang interrupted himself naturally as he turned to the frightened maid. "Let's go, don't stop moving," he said in a calm, yet strong voice.

...

...

...In his first week, he faced the dilemma of getting sent to detention right after sparring with some sort of dracula guy. He then experienced the feeling of being within a building that slowly flew apart.

...

...

...

...

...

And now he was getting people held hostage out of a cafe from a terrorism filled with armed people, super power heroes, and Wilhelm screamers.

.

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.

Once the maid ran out of the building, Bang turned to the cafe one last time before running out of the building as well. Thanks to the many things that distracted the Clowns, no one paid any attention to the hostages leaving.

The boxer took a deep breath and made sure the hostages left the building safely. He then wondered what he should do.

---

Slamming open the restroom door, a man wearing a gas mask and a pitch-black trench coat entered the cafe. Yuuma had called him out; not that it mattered. It was inevitable that he would be found in the end, anyway.

Walking up into the cafe with a heavy machine gun- which, the tip of the weapon seemed to let out a never-ending stream of smoke- the masked man glared at Yuuma with dead silence.

"..."

Without saying anything, the man raised his weapon at Yuuma as a faint, orange glow appeared at its tip. He then launched a streak of magma-coated bullets towards the Esper and his friend (Kishiko).

Akira

Akira cursed silently, they were very much outnumbered, and while he did his best to fend off the vampire horde, he wasn't even close to his full ability, unable to use even Red Devil as it just made them go into a frenzy. He had suffered a few grazing blows in the scuffle, but they were strong enough that it felt like he probably fractured a few of his bones from how much it hurt. And to top it off, another one appeared, obviously the leader from the look of him and how he caused the other vampires to scatter with but a gesture. But all that left his mind when the monster named him in particular, or to be precise, mentioned the situation surrounding his past.

Akira's blood ran cold as he felt his anger build with in him, but he was barely able to hold it back. If just one more thing was said, however, he'd lose control of himself, of that he was certain.How does he know that, the only people should no that would be the heads of the Academy Even after hearing Nishihara's warning, even with him holding back his anger as much as he could, knowing full well he was basically helpless against this foe, his feet started moving before he could comprehend what was happening, rushing him forward as he activated Red Devil, no longer caring about how it was basically a boost to them as he just wanted to punch this man right in his arrogant face.

"If you want to dance, then fine, let's dance!" Akira yeled as he rocketed forward, aiming to launch solid jab to the Man's face as he sat in the throne.

Dylan

"Fuck if I know, I'm still wondering why you're invisible friend decided to throw her bra along with her sword if she though we were the cultists, maybe be the culprit stabbed her with some kind of spike, which is plausible since we're dealing with a cult and they have shit like that, or it could be dealing with some kind of magic as well." Dylan looked down at the girl for a time, before he reached down and closed her still open eyes, his other hand clenched in a fist. While he liked to fight, he despised killing, seeing it as a last resort for when their is no other choice. To see this poor girl's life taken so easily and so mercilessly, it enraged him and made him want to punch something until it was broken. "I hope these cultist show up soon, cause now I'm pissed off."

[@Masaki Haurna]

Akira vs Damian

Vlad Damian
Seating in his throne, he snaps his fingers at the young Esper, releasing a wave of miasma which blocks his vision briefly and then a few stakes erupted from the ground as a warning. "Stakes of Wallachia." The stakes are 15 meters long in height and as it erupted it shows to kill nature itself. And in the four corners, four stakes have been formed. Still seated on his throne. He explains his magic. "When these stakes are launched, this territory will be mine and no one will enter Vlad Damian. Vlad Damian is able to transform the surrounding areas into the land he rules over as Lord for I, the Vlad Damian reigns superior over all vampires. Did you know....In 1436, Vlad II Dracula ascended the throne of Wallachia? He was ousted in 1442 by rival factions in league with Hungary, but secured Ottoman support for his return by agreeing to pay the tribute to the Sultan.."

Isolated from the rest; he commands more vampire horde on the rest of his teammates. "If you beat me, your friends would live but I guess it would be overkill me to not let you have a companion." Lots of bats appeared and throws Sunye on Akira. "I guess it is fair on my end. A receiving death of blood and shredded cold." He rushes to them head on with just melee combat. Damian's actions are vague at the moment.

Kishiko - Resolute Archer
This was not good in fact it was the opposite of it Magma bullets who the hell heard of magma bullets?!! "Yuuma!!!" She screamed as she extended her wall to cover for Yuuma she might not fully grasp how these Magma bullets work but heat and steel never mixed that was just common sense. With her command the water wall surged forward blocking the bullets which to her surprise just stopped after going through a bit of "This has gone on for way to long!" Kishiko yelled as she dropped the wall to form a large bow the size of herself as she pulled the string taught before releasing the water arrow at the one "clown".

Kaname - Confused Sister
She hated her sister yes that much was a fact she was always perfect was always the loved one she could do no wrong after all. But to here she was dying really put a damper on her own personal thoughts. She would never wish death upon a family member she was her sister her twin after all and despite her being the apple of her family's eyes she still loved her deep down. "D-d-oes Otou-Sama know this? Sureley there must be something that can be done sister?!! I hated you yes since you were always perfect in their eyes I was nothing of the sort but I would never wish for your DEATH!! Ria I will not pity you no that does not solve anything but fight there must be a solution right? Come on you baka have you given up already??!!!"

Justeaze - Budding Scientist
"I wouldn't know really what is going on." Justeaze said with a sigh sometimes she wondered what she was doing here. She would rather be somewhere else than dealing with some supposed cult worshiping some black mage. "Situations like this first we must remain calm" she stated calmly as she shifted from foot to foot. "Dylan has a point though it is a shame to see life taken before it's time though beyond that I would suggest to calm down Dylan it does one no good to get mad at what has been done rather we must remain calm so we can end this situation."