Nova Infinitum Headquarters
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.
5:00 AM on Tuesday, May 24th

A scientist walks in to the common room of each half of the building and tacks a paper up on the bulletin board. He walks out, and the door locks behind him.
Today is a special day. Every few weeks, a group of well-behaved Stars gets to go on an excursion, usually to find new Stars. But there’s been a sudden influx of discoveries, several all in the last week, and all hands are to be needed on deck to go talk to these new people, and hopefully recruit them for NI’s research programs.
Mission Assignments

@duck55223 @clocktowerechos @orynae
Astraia, Berthold, and Bayakko: Cassiopée and Andromeda


@card captor @blazegamma @theseriousjoke
Libra and Raheem: Estrella


@blazegamma @doctachyon @onenote @Karamonnom
Aquarius, Del, and Lyra: Vespira


@doctachyon @eschatologist @meridian @karamonnom
Ursa, Richard, Virgo: Malachi

---

Scripps National Spelling Bee
Preliminary round
Oxon Hill, Maryland
9:30 AM on May 24th
“Andromeda Fowler, Speller 29. Your word is: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.”
“H-i-p-p-o-p-o-t-o-m-o-n-s-t-r-o-s-e-s-q-u-i-p-e-d-a-l-i-a-p-h-o-b-i-a. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. The fear of long words.”
“You are… correct.”
Andromeda returned to her seat to applause, grinning at the other spellers. Inside she was seething that she would get such a long word, but she kept a peaceful, elated look on her face even as she filtered through her memory to see if that was even on the words list. It wasn’t.
The judges were looking at her strangely, like they couldn’t figure out how she managed to spell it. Finally one of them shook her head and threw her hands up in the air.

~12:30 PM~
“All spellers who achieved a correct response in this preliminary round have qualified for the quarterfinals. We will now take a three-hour break and return for the quarterfinals at 3:30 promptly.”

Andromeda followed the other contestants offstage. She had exactly five seconds of calm before the twins Anna and Isla cornered her. Childhood friends of hers, who were also the most annoying people in the universe.

“Andie, how did you manage to spell that?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t even on the list!”
“I bet they think you’re cheating now!”
“Girls, really. I’ve seen the word before and I remembered it. I’m weird like that.”
“That’s your star power, isn’t it? Spelling.”

“You two know what it is! I see something and I remember it!” she said, trying to keep her voice down. Some of the people here resented her for being a Star, ever since a five-year-old starred girl had won the bee two years previously. Anyway, based on the looks she was getting from the audience and the eliminated spellers, they weren’t happy.

“—It’s not fair that they let Starred kids compete--”
“It’s a disgrace, that’s what it is!”
“Taking all the glory away from us hard workers because of some sucky Gift--”
“I say we disqualify her now.”
“We take a petition to the judges--”

“ANDIE!” Isla was shaking her.
“S-sorry, what was that?” Andromeda replayed the last thirty seconds in her mind.
“Don’t let it get to you, silly. Haters gonna hate.” Isla grinned.
“And taters gonna tate.” Anna stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes.
Andromeda laughed and linked arms with the twins, though she felt the hateful stares burning into her back even as the three girls walked out.

---

Solitary Confinement
Corrupt Wing of Nova Infinitum Headquarters
6:15 AM on May 24th

Astraia woke up to the sound of Velcro being undone… How odd. Usually they left her Velcro-ed to the table for hours in the morning, shocking her and burning her to try and make her submit to the power demanding to be let out of her mind. But here she was, waking up, nice and refreshed from getting eight full hours of sleep.

“Wakey wakey, little Astie!” the scientist spoke with a sing-song voice. “You’re so lucky! You get to go on a mission today!”
“Wh-why would I w-w-want t-to go o-on a m-m-mission for y-you people?”

“Because you want to further our cause. Of course, it does mean that if you decide you can’t take the pain and you finally give in to the power like you’re supposed to, you might take some innocent lives out in the process.”
“I-I’ve held out f-for a y-y-year… wh-what’s a-another w-week?” her voice shook as she said it, though, and she gasped as a wave of pain blanked out her mind.
The scientist just laughed. “Well, alright… But you’ll be in a suuuper-populated area… we don’t want anyone getting hurt…”

“S-so s-send me w-w-with p-pain meds… A-Acetaminophen a-at l-l-least, b-but I k-know y-you’ve p-put me o-on Ox-Oxycodone before, wh-when I’ve needed t-to be at l-l-least a bit f-functional… Ahhh--” Whenever she let her power work even a little bit, it would surge and send a wave of pain out. She knew that...

“Or just don’t use your powers. You’re just dead-weight. The rest of the group is a supergenius named Berthold and a crazy-powerful boy with temporal distortion capabilities named Bayakko. You’re not needed.”

“H-how n-n-nice to know--” God, this headache was going to kill her. She changed the subject. “Wh-where would I be going?”
“D.C. and then Oxon Hill. One girl you would be talking to is competing at the Scripps Bee.”
“I didn’t g-get to compete th-this y-year, because I w-won when I was f-five… T-the j-judges w-were so furious a-at--” She doubled over, agony shooting through her head.
“Darling, don’t fight it. Give in, and it will quit hurting you. Child, why do you torture yourself in this way?”
“Because t-to give in w-would be to q-quit b-b-being h-human!” she shouted, before the pain blanked out her consciousness entirely.

~7:20 AM~

When her eyes opened the door to her cell, room, whatever it was, stood wide-open. She could see a few kids milling around in the common room, looking at the daily bulletin paper.

She sighed, half-falling off the table as she got up, the dull ache in her head so ingrained in her that she didn’t even notice it. She stripped out of her pajamas and put on a winter-issue uniform. Although it was summer, she always seemed to get cold, and the thicker material of the winter uniforms helped her hold in all of her body heat.

She stumbled out to the list posted on the wall, ignoring the other kids in the room around her, and read that paper, although she had to squint to get the page to come into focus. As she read her name on the list a wave of dread washed over her. She didn’t want to be sent on a mission.

Although, she supposed, it did beat the alternative, being alone in the facility with the most sadistic of the guards and scientists.

Rather than stare at the paper anymore, she walked over to a table in the corner and sat down, staring at the sad-looking deck of cards that was strewn messily across it, and absently gathered them up and shuffled, trying to not let her mind wander.

DEL HALE
Del had only woken up fifteen minutes ago, being ushered out of his room by some scientist or other telling him to look at some board thing outside. He stumbled out of his room and now found himself staring at a cork bulletin board with 'mission postings'. His half open eyes, practically glazed over from lack of sleep that night, scanned the board, slowly looking for his own name.
He found it towards the bottom, next to somebody else's. "Aquarius and Del". His eyes scanned the mission details, and he saw three pictures attached- His own, a picture of a little girl, and then a picture of the person they were going after... Aw, come on, working with a little girl? One of the few things Del had liked about being taken in by these people, even if it was only a few days ago, was that he didn't need to baby sit or really do too much work to keep himself fed. Now here he was, running an errand across the country to find someone else with the star, all while taking care of a little girl.
"Lovely." Del thought, walking slowly back to his room- well, perhaps the term room was a stretch. More like tiny mattress which he had to defend with his life against hordes of other star children who wanted more space as much as he did. He walked to his bunk, rummaging underneath, to produce a backpack with his civvies and a few other essentials- Deodorant, few packs of gum, spending money, the works. He shouldered the pack, heading towards the bathroom. Like hell would he be caught dead out in the city in his 'uniform'. Del figured he could reason with the higher ups that civilian clothes were the best idea. Wouldn't want to frighten the kid they were going after. Two kids in pseudo space age looking uniforms telling them "we are like you. Come with us, my child." didn't exactly give off the greatest vibe.
He stepped inside, quickly changing into his standard attire. As he stepped out he pulled he beanie on, drawing glances from people in their normal uniforms all around, staring at the kid wearing something different. he pulled his beanie lower and kept his grip tight on the skateboard, one hand on the shoulder strap of his bag. In the back of his mind he wondered if they'd be provided with plane tickets or if he needed to stage one hell of a road trip.
He walked through the halls, towards the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee- It'd been too long since he'd had one. He stepped inside, pushing quietly past two people and into the kitchen, making himself a cup as they stared at his civilian clothes. As he poured his black, tasteless coffee into the cup, the gravity of his mission assignment hit him. Who the hell was this chick? "Aquarius, don't switch anyone's souls." The image of a friendly little girl that Del held to in his mind was replaced in his mind's eye with a psychotic little girl who asked her daddy for a knife sharpening kit for Christmas as opposed to a Malibu Barbie House. He shuddered slightly and put the cuppa to his lips, taking a long sip, not stopping once.
"Right, breathing."" Del put the cup down, all the coffee drained down his gullet, remembering that he should probably breathe more or else he'd get a great number more of weird stares. He smiled awkwardly as the two other kids in the kitchen shuffled out after watching Del swallow a scalding pot of coffee in one go.

-----

URSA
Ursa was trying to put the sniper rifle aimed directly at his head. He stood in the work out room, doing battle with a punching bag. Perhaps punching bag was a understatement. Per Aspera would probably go through a few hundred dollars worth of punching bags every time Ursa hit the gym if they used regular ones. They'd used regular ones, once- Suffice to say after about an hour they had a half dozen broken punching bags and Ursa wasn't even remotely tired.
Now Ursa unleashing his strength on a reinforced steel punching bag. Weighing in at a few tons, Unrsa knuckles pounded into it, the skin on Ursa's hands long cracked and bleeding from the sheer impact force, causing a boom that would resonate through the base if not for a reaosnable degree of sound-proofing.
"You tired yet Ursa? Been wailing on that thing for an hour." The sniper mused, keeping the cross hair trained on Ursa's head. It was Jace- Ursa's handler for many years, and one of the few who Ursa mayhaps have considered a friend.
Ursa shook his head and threw a devastating punch, causing a dent on the steel brick.
"Nice one." Jace commented idly. Ursa contemplated what would happen to a targets body if he did that. he pictured a body being viciously ripped in half like it was hit by an anti-material sniper round, like the gun that was being constantly aimed at Ursa's frontal lobe. he hit the bag again- again. Again. Harder. Faster.
"Slow down there, champ. If it was me I'd tell you to keep wailing, but the desk jockeys don't want you getting too 'antsy'." Jace said. Ursa watched as Jace's fingers twitched to the trigger, as if Ursa wouldn't notice. Ursa lowered his fists as a singular bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, he turned, slowly walking to Jace. Ursa now stood in front of the many, the rifle of the sniper pressed directly into his forehead, and he spread his arms and legs. Jace produced a pistol from his belt and held it against Ursa's temple, shouldering his rifle and patting Ursa down. For some reason or other they saw fit to assure Ursa wasn't carrying any weapons upon exit of the work out hall. Ursa wondered how he would even get a weapon in there while a sniper was kept on his head, just asking for any reason to pull the trigger.
"Clean as always." Jace put the pistol in his belt again as Ursa walked out the door, for the significantly older man to fall into step behind him again, handing him a Manila file folder.
"New mission, Ursa. Not like they usually give ya, though."
Ursa slowly took the folder, opening it and examining its contents. He and a high-class agent would be deployed for the Silicon Valley for the retrieval and subsequent extraction of another one with the star. The security chief would be going with them as well. Ursa wondered what about the one they were going after required such a show of force. Perhaps the kid had the capacity to create some kind of nuclear threat with that power of his. Providing weapons to terrorists? All possibilities.
"What's my ordnance this time?" Ursa asked in his first sentence out loud that day. This time he'd want a sniper. Probably some grenades and C4 to deal with whatever mechanical monsters the target would have protecting him.
"None." Jack said. "Higher-ups figure this is a more peaceful mission. Plus if things get hot, they say your fists would do all they work they'd need."
Ursa frowned softly, imagining Jace's brains splattered across the floor while his broken skull rested in a fresh hole in the wall. He shook the thoughts aside. That was no way to imagine a superior officer for a minor disappointment. He wondered when he'd meet the security chief. Moreover, he wondered when they'd hit the road...

Nova Infinitum Headquarters
Berthold slammed a fist down on his desk, leaning back in the chair he was sitting down in and sighed, his normally sleek black uniform slightly wrinkled. Frustration was expressed throughout his face, as he looked around for a minute, and sighed again. Turning back towards his laptop, he browsed through more files on the star marks.

“One year here and I have yet to get any closer to discovering the origin of the star marks.” thought Berthold to himself. Despite throwing most of his free time at it, he wasn’t one step closer then he was when he stepped foot in headquarters a year ago. Sighing once more, he stood up and opened the door to his room, quickly straightening out his uniform but leaving his hair to cover up his star mark.

He looked around, noticing a few people in the common room casually chatting. A few tried to strike up a conversation with Berthold, but he responded that he was to busy or with a simple hello before walking off.

Taking notice of a small crowd gathered around the notice board, Berthold pushed his way to the front, towering over a few of the younger children due to his height. Quickly scanning over the assignments he noticed his name along with the names of those who were to go with them. He had heard of the two before, they were both corrupts.

Berthold’s look of boredom that he had taken on after leaving his room quickly turned to one of anger. He had expressed to the scientists of Nova Infinitum many times before that he disliked corrupts, mainly due to their instability and threat to other people. He had managed to avoid contact with corrupts for the most part and the few missions he had been on before he had been with uncorrupts, but it appeared he was stuck with them now. Quickly grabbing the mission file left for him.

Taking a quick read over it, he memorized the two names that they were to talk to about Nova Infinitum. He realized that he probably be the one taking the lead on this mission, mainly due to his intelligence.

In a few moments Berthold and ran back to his room and grabbed his laptop, putting it in a nice leather case strapped to his arm. He headed out into the Atrium to await his companions for the mission, taking another look over the files he had on the stars.

((I promise longer posts in the future.))

Sol yawned as he sat in the dining hall. He was the oldest at the table he was sitting at, and had just finished getting food for everyone he was sitting with. For the time he tapped his fingers as he sat, eating some eggs with toast. He'd been at the organization's headquarters for only a few days, and didn't really know what they did or why he was there, but they'd promised to care for his family, so he'd reluctantly accepted their offer to take him in.

As he continued to drum his fingers on the table, a soft splat was heard, and two children began arguing. He quickly walked over to them and tried to figure out the situation. Neither of the two were from his family, and from the looks of things, neither of them spoke English, nor any shared language. He knelt down and quieted both, flawlessly speaking their native tongues. By the time he'd finished talking, both the children had calmed. There had been an accident, the older child bumped into the younger and knocked over his plate by mistake. He'd tried to apologize, but a combination of a gruff voice from some rough history or another, and the unfamiliar language he used, meant the younger child could only see him as threatening.

Sol sorted it all out, and then went back to his plate. He took some of the egg and toast he had left, then gave it to the younger child whose food had spilled, then smiled. "There you go, you don't need to go hungry," he told the child before returning to his seat and yawning as he drummed his fingers on the table once more, blissfully unaware of the mission he'd been assigned.

~~~~~

A room filled with toys. In the center of the room, a girl sat smiling and laughing. It could be said she was well behaved, but that was only because she'd not exactly been given much opportunity to act up. She touched a cloth doll on the ground. As she removed her hand, the doll sprang to its feet. She did the same to a teddy bear, and the process repeated. The girl giggled as she sat back. She goaded them on without a word, and the two toys started mercilessly fighting, attempting to tear each other to shreds. All the while, the girl sat back in the corner, laughing her head off.

It was around the time that the doll had ripped the teddy bear's arm off that a knocking came on the door. The girl looked up with a yawn and a smile as the door opened and a young man wearing padded clothing and a helmet entered. The girl huffed. Everyone who came in the room was dressed like that. She couldn't touch them and her friends couldn't tear them apart either.

Not that she wouldn't try. Several other toys had already been moving about, minding their own business, and they all, including the two that had bean tearing into each other, turned on the new entrant to the room. The man had not taken two steps in, when he was suddenly swarmed by toys who tried to viciously attack him. Mind, they weren't able to do much so long as he wore the padded suit. He gulped as he approached the girl. She made him uncomfortable. She made EVERYONE uncomfortable. They knew what she was capable of, that's why they always wore these suits. Still, he couldn't believe they were letting her actually leave the premises. It was too dangerous.

Perhaps that's why he was in there. He was holding a small pair of white gloves and polished gold plated steel bracelets. "Come on, hold still," he said to the girl.

"Why don't you take off those dumb clothes so we can play?" The girl asked. Her voice sent chills down the man's spine, and he wasn't about to take off his protective clothing, especially not around her, nor while her toys were attacking him.

"Just hold still," he repeated as he moved in quickly. He just wanted this over with. He overpowered the girl, forcing her into the gloves and then latching the bracelets around their wrists. Were it not for the toys, he'd have now been able to safely remove the padded clothes, knowing the girl's abilities were neutralized. He led her out of the room, where another awaited, and took off the helmet. "She's all yours," he said, tossing a teddy bear that was missing an arm off of him and back into the room and shutting the door. "I need a break."

The other man nodded, then led the girl along to the mess hall. "Del Hale!" He called out in a stern voice. "Please present yourself."

Lee was currently in a chair made of harden air, that itself was in mid air above the roof of the Nova Infinitum Headquarters. Munching an a chocolate cake he had baked not too long ago, as something of a snack. After he finished it, he made a staircase of hardened air down to the ground, as he grabbed a cooler that had been on a block of harden air right next to him, he descended down to the ground and made his way to the dining hall. Today was going to be a good day for Lee, since it provided him with the rare opportunity to make a bunch of new friends, something he was planing on taking full advantage of.

Skipping his way over the the dining hall, he found one of the people he was looking for "Aquarius!" He called out to the younger girl as he skipped over to her. "I heard about your mission, and I thought this might help" he said as he held out the cooler for her to take. "You're supposed to bribe her with sweets, so I made a fudge brownie cake for you to use. I hope it helps" he said before leaving. Lee knew that people were afraid of her, but he couldn't understand why. As far as he was concerned, she hadn't tried to kill him, and that was good enough for him.

He next saw his partner for his upcoming mission; Sol. "Hiya!" He chirped in greeting "are you ready to hit the road and add another member to our ever growing family of misfits?" he asked. "Oh who am I kidding, of course you are, who wouldn't be after all. Come on, let's go!" He cheered

Mal Carver

Mal hadn't slept for at least two days now. The boy had locked himself up in his room with a mountain energy drinks and Doritos, scared to fall asleep in case he forgot what he was working on. It had happened before. Although Mal's Gift meant he could build any machine he saw, once in a while he had a flash of inspiration for a completely new device, seeing all the plans for it in his head. If he fell asleep now, he'd forget crucial details and that would be a project halted for months until he had that flash of insight again. The plan that was in his head right now for a working hoverboard was a glorious one, and he was currently halfway through getting the plans onto the laptop he'd specialized. He typed, clicked and dragged furiously, getting all the specs down and writing additional notes on the tablet beside him. He'd noticed that most of the problems with existing prototypes was getting a power source that could generate enough energy to keep a board and rider in the air as well as getting them to move fast enough to be useful. Well, he was pretty sure he'd fixed that problem. It would take a few days to build-

"Malachi Carver!" His mother knocked on the door pretty loudly, interrupting his flow of thought. He didn't respond, which would just distract him more, but he kept typing. He was almost done with the plan, and it was going to be perfect. a Meanwhile, his mom stood impatiently outside the door, debating whether or not sh should knock again. She knew Mal liked his space when he had ideas, and he would be furious with her if she made him lose track of this one, but they'd been having a very serious conversation when he'd suddenly spaced out, clapped his hands in excitement, jumped up and ran to his room where he had all the things he needed to work- darkness, junk food, and all his computers. She tapped her foot impatiently, heaving a sigh of exasperation. This was what she got for having a Gifted child.

Mal exited his room a couple of hours later, giving a yelp as he walked into the bright corridor. "Argh, the light! It burns." He said melodramatically, shielding his eyes and squinting until he adjusted. "Mom! I'm done, what is it?" He shouted, walking down the minimalistic stairs of their minimalist house. The design was spacious and future-y, just like every other residence in the area. Mal liked it. He saw math in all the designs of the house, and it made sense. His mother was sitting in her favourite couch with her laptop and a coffee by her side, looking busy. She looked up when she heard Mal's voice. "Goodness, sweetheart, you look awful. I take it you got your plans down?" She asked fondly.

He nodded, sitting down next to her. "Yep, and I got a list of things you and dad need to try and get." He answered, handing her a sheet of paper. She looked at it and nodded. "I don't know what half these things are, but we'll see," she said doubtfully. "And you need to shower, you stink and you're getting orange crumbs all over the couch. And the couch is cream! You'll leave a stain. Go and get clean, then we can talk after." Mal rolled his eyes, but he got up anyway.

He returned a few minutes later in a fresh set of clothes, tool belt round his waist as always. "You wanted to talk to me?" He asked, sitting by her again.
She nodded. "Military contracts. How do you feel about that?"

Malachi frowned. This again. His parents were taken with the idea of him working with the U.S. military on new combatant technology. He could do it, he had no doubt. He knew how most of their machines worked and had already figured out how to improve a lot of them, but he didn't think it was a good idea. He wasn't sure if anyone official knew about his skills, but he preferred to keep it that way. Every single movie ever told him that letting the government near a person with skills, a mutant, a freak, whatever was bound to lead to painful experiments. He preferred his life as it was now, making robots that he tested in their spacious backyard garden and now, his hover board. No organizations for him.

"On a dark silent night, not a single soul in sight, Was a girl in the woods, so alone in fright."

Bayakko sang from the chains of his solitary confinement, he was once again caught smuggling weapons in somehow. By this point the guards where completely baffled at how he got them in, having go as far as checking the air vents for RC cars and using those TSA full body scanners. Yet, if they found one handgun, Bayakko some how managed to get two more, a handful of grenades and an assault rifle in. He almost came to enjoy the room searches that became an almost daily routine in which the guards would attempt to empty out his armory only for him to restore it back to normal soon after. Some of the more impatient guards let him carry some weapons out of annoyance of having to constantly find and be outwitted by the smuggler in hopes he would just stop time and kill them all. So far that's worked out okay.

As the heavy door open, Bayakko could hear the foot steps of several men walk in, "Ahh... come to see me at last boys? I know we all have our fetishes, but I didn't know you enjoyed blindfold this much."
"Shut it, you're free today since there's a mission waiting for you." Bayakko heard what he presumed as the main bitch head guard say as the rest unshackled him from the board on wheels he was strapped to with a blindfold over his eyes so his power would stay inert.
"Oh goody, time for me to pla- Ow! Hey watch the uniforms fellows, do you know how hard it is to get stains and wrinkles out?"

The guards silently finished removing his bonds and took off his blindfold, revealing a left eye with a pure black star in place of a pupil. With a hard shove, he was pushed out of the door and had a folder slapped into his hands. He looked through it and saw it was some sort of mission involving a french girl. Walking down the corridor, he threw out papers of miscellaneous contents which he didn't find useful, took a pause to examine her picture from several different angles and scanned to see if he was allowed to break dress code or bring weapons. It didn't say anything about not having weapons, so he helped himself to his classic switchblade and whatever handgun he managed to hide this time.

As he was almost out of the common area, he saw some poor girl milling about at a corner table with a deck of cards. If his memory served him right, she was a newer corrupted, still not used to it. Astralia it was, something like that. She was also going to be with him on the mission, might as well break the ice, or a bone. All are good ways to get to know someone.

"Hello love," Bayakko pulled up a chair and sat in it reversed as he played around with his knife, ignoring the glares and worried looks from everyone else in the room, "How are you doing on this fine day in this fine asylum?"
@RomanAria

Estrella stared at the book harder than she had stared at anything in her entire life. It's like the book was taunting her, laughing at her face from her inability to figure out what page to go to. She stared at it harder, as if it had just made a mean comment about how her hair looked today, as if it knew she spent a little longer on it than usual today. She stared until-

"Estrella, did you find that recipe?" A voice from the kitchen broke her concentration. She sighed heavily, realizing the intense strain she felt.

"I could have found it if you hadn't stopped me." She said, defeated. The woman popped her head in to the living room to see Estrella with the book closed in her hands. She sighed.

"Estrella, please just use the index." She said with a frown.

"But I can do it, I really can!"

"Estrella." Her mother looked at her with a look full of emotions, but Estrella didn't care to identify them. She opened up to the back of the book and searched for the recipe. Her mother hesitated before sitting next to her.

"Listen. I know you want to practice your powers, but it might not be the best idea. What if it gets out of hand or some non-star supremacist finds out about it?" She started. Her mother often chose to share her worries and feelings rather than hide them, a practice that seemed to cause less tension and more tension at the same time, but everyone agreed that it worked.

"What's a supremacist?"

"It means they think non-stars are better. My point is that you've been given a gift. A gift that could do all sorts of things for you, good and bad. And I'm worried about the bad. And it's not like I don't trust you to handle it, because I do trust you, it's just... I don't know what I'm saying. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Estrella smiled. She hugged her mom before responding.

"Yeah, I do." Estrella felt bad, because she knew she would practice just as hard anyway. She never felt good disobeying her mom, but she thought that practicing her power was just about as important as studying for a big test. In her mind, she had to do it.

"Okay, good. Just be safe, okay?" Estrella nodded. Her mother reached across from her to grab the book Estrella had put down. She flipped a couple of pages before landing on the recipe, "Why don't you go outside with your sisters? I'll call you all in when dinner is ready." Estrella got up with a burst of energy and put on a pair of shoes.

"Okay, love you!" She said as she ran out, nearly slamming the door behind her. Outside, her three sisters were passing a ball between one another when they saw her come out.

"Hey Estrella, wanna come play with us? We saw a lizard before we started, so that means good luck, right?" Sarah asked from her spot in the pseudo-triangle the girls had formed.

"Good luck for what, we're just passing a ball?" Lily asked, and Sarah replied with a shush.

"In a moment." Estrella said as she took a seat on one of the chairs the left out front. She closed her eyes and tried to focus really hard.

"Oh, are you using your power thing?" Estrella didn't respond. Sarah tried to ask it louder, but the other two shushed her. She put all of her focus into trying to answer the long lingering question in her mind. It was just about the most important question she could think of. In fact, she had asked the question daily when she got the power, but was starting to hurt her, so she settled for once a week. She put every last ounce of energy into finding the answer. But no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't any closer than she was those few months ago. She sighed, eventually giving up due to exhaustion. When she opened her eyes her sisters were once again looking at her.

"No luck." She said quietly.

"... Were you looking for Momma?" Vicky asked after a pause. Estrella nodded.

"She's pretty far away. She could be just about anywhere in the country. Or Canada." Silence took over the group. Estrella had wanted nothing more than to know what happened to her. She had left years ago without telling anyone where she was. They had tried everything since then, and they spent months looking. But not a single clue was found, and eventually they had to call off the searches. They could only assume she was dead. Even Estrella wasn't sure if she was alive. She couldn't answer those types of questions. But she was hopeful that one day she would find her and they would become a big happy family once again. After a few moments, Lily spoke up.

"Well, come on, let's get back to playing."

Astraia blinked rapidly, trying to get her eyes to focus on the tall Asian boy sitting across from her, and playing with a… How the hell did he get a knife in here?

“I-I’m o-okay, I guess…” her stuttering was very unconvincing. “Y-you know, y-you sh-shouldn’t h-h-have a k-knife i-in here…th-they’ve killed p-people for less than.. l-less th-than that, and it would b-be most u-u-unfortunate to see--” she doubled over, clutching her head, as a bolt of agony shot through it. Damned big words and big concepts.

“D-d-don’t give in, don’t g-give in.” she muttered, more to herself than to anyone around her, as she clenched her hands into fists and dug her nails into her palms to try to distract herself.

When the pain subsided, she appraised the boy again. “Y-you’re B-Bayakko, a-aren’t you? I th-think w-we’re g-going on a m-mission t-together…” she winced as another jolt of pain went through her head.

“I-I’m s-s-sorry. M-my h-h-head h-hurts because i-it wants m-me t-t-to l-let my p-power o-out a-and I d-don’t w-want to…” God, he probably thought she was crazy. Well, crazier. No one in the Corrupted wing was ever entirely sane.

Such thoughts made her headache come back in full force and she weakly dropped her face into her hands, trying to make the pain go away by rubbing her temples.
But the evil thing was inside, not out.

“B-before w-w-we l-leave, c-can we go p-petition D-Doctor F-Faust…? A-ask h-him i-if I c-c-can’t take a bottle of i-ibuprofen w-with us, a-at least? I c-can’t th-think…” She let that train of thought go away and resumed shuffling the playing cards, rather than looking at the crazy boy with the knife, rather than trying to think.
@ClocktowerEchos

Vespira A. Watson

It was raining in Seattle, not that it was a surprise as it rained more than half the year there. Vespira was home from a long day of school and as much as she wanted to just go to bed and sleep for a few hours before dinner, she couldn't. She dragged her feet up the stairs to her room and flung her backpack onto her bed. She plopped her tired body onto her desk chair and turned on her laptop. She had piano lessons today and her teacher was coming any minute now. She, of course, had not practiced a single note yet, but with her special abilities, she only needed to watch someone on the internet play the song she was supposed to play once before being able to perform it. And though she had all week to do that, she procrastinated as usual.

As her laptop started up, she tried to recall the name of the song she was supposed to play. "Oh, it was Rondo Alla Turca." She quickly looked it up and tried to find the best video she could. After going through a few of them, some of which were not perfectly played while others were a bit too blurry or did not show the pianist's fingers, she found one that was satisfactory. Watching the video, she was quite pleased with herself and grateful that her piano teacher did not know about her star mark. Her long bangs conveniently hid it and she didn't want her piano teacher to start expecting more from her.

Now that she has mastered the song she was supposed to be practicing the past week, she jumped into the comfort of her bed. She could afford to take a nap now and when her teacher arrived, she would probably wake up from ring of the door bell. Within the next thirty seconds, she had already fallen asleep.

Virgo Knightly

Virgo had a mission today. One of her fellow Starred friends had told her while she was eating breakfast this morning. Caught off guard by the sudden news, she decided to check for herself and walked over to the bulletin. Sure enough, her name was right there. She was a bit nervous to be going with the head of security himself though what was even more terrifying was the fact that she had to work with Ursa. She never had the chance to meet him personally, but she had heard some rumors and while she was not one to believe in rumors, Ursa still had an incredibly intimidating presence and her intuition told her to watch out for him. Still, they were pretty much partners for this mission, with a supervisor with them, so it should be fine... she hoped.

She went back to her dorm to get ready. They were going to Silicon Valley; how exciting! She'd always wanted to go to California! It shouldn't be a long trip, but it never hurts to be prepared. After she had packed to her heart's content, she headed towards the Atrium where she expected to meet Ursa and Richard. She was the first one of the trio there, and sat idly in one of the chairs. Despite being here for more than three years, this was her first mission and chance to leave the Headquarters. Her stomach seemed to be doing back flips and she couldn't tell whether it was from excitement or anxiety. To help pass the time, she began to hum a soft tune as she waited for her teammates to arrive.

It was hot out. Too hot to be walking around in the sun, and Cassie said so. Her sister Artémis rolled her eyes.
"It's not that hot", she said. Cassie thought she sounded smug. "You'd know if you'd put your hair up."
"It looks better down", she retorted.
That got her another eye-roll from Artémis. "If you weren't so vain we could at least walk around without people gawking at us. You could've made your skin white so your star wouldn't stand out so much. And if you were smart, you'd have bangs or at least a hat to cover it up."
"Blah, blah, blah..." Cassie opened and closed her hand to mimic a moving mouth. "You're just mad cause you refused my edits again, and now you're regretting it."

Papa sighed. "Stop it, you two."
"Hey", Cassie protested, "I thought you were too busy looking at the map to pay attention to us... At least that's what you said when we wanted ice cream." She and Artémis smirked complicitly at each other.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, complaining, following Papa's grunted directions, looking around, and half-listening to his explanations about monuments and stuff they were passing, Papa finally gave the OK to stop for lunch. Artémis said something about finding a hot dog stand, since they were in America. "I don't care as long as it's food", Cassie groaned. Papa agreed, with the caveat that it also had to be affordable enough, and hot dog carts seemed to fit the bill. They quickly spotted one and made their way up the line, heads turning when people noticed Cassie's star. They made Artémis do the talking, since the Americans seemed to understand her accent the best. A busy-looking man with a mean farmer's tan handed the girls three Cokes and three hot dogs with all the trimmings while Papa fumbled with dollar bills.
"Haven't you gotten used to the money yet? We've been here for, like, three days."
"Shut up, Cass", snapped Artémis. She was always grumpy when she was hungry. Cassie grimaced at her.

They picked their way to a relatively people-free piece of lawn, shooing away the pigeons, and sat down. "Look, you can see the Washington Monument over there", pointed Papa. The girls didn't look up from their food and drinks.

Whistling was the first thing that Lyra heard that morning, but not because there was someone in her room, but because that was her ringtone that was going off, which confused her for a moment as her alarm clock was the first thing that usually woke her up. Worried that she had overslept and they were calling to tell her that (though it would have been weird for them to do so to be honest) she quickly picked it up. "Hello?" She said, trying to not sound as groggy as she felt. The person on the other end, who introduced themselves just as a member of the staff, just told her she was going on a mission with two others, a recruiting mission. After saying she understood and thanking the person for calling her, Lyra hung up. So she was finally going on a mission. She was wondering when she was going to get to (and how she was going to get that information since it was too dark for her to see in the hallway with the lights on when they had the info up and computer and texts would have been just as unreadable to her). She had already spent a few months in this place. Well, she was still getting used to her powers, she had had trouble just functioning as a normal human being for the first month that she had them, not to say she didn't love her powers they just took a lot of getting used to.

"Ugh, that's enough reminiscing!" Lyra said to herself as she got, shivering a bit as her feet touched the cool floor, and slowly made her way to the light switch, flipping the lights off and engulfing her room in darkness, but to her the room lit up instantly. "There we go! Now let's see...What does one bring on a recruiting mission...I think it's supposed to be rainy in Seattle? Better bring my umbrella and this and..." Lyra muttered to herself as she started to pack, finally putting on her civilian clothes. She wasn't quite sure she matched, coloring matching was still something new and foreign to her since she had been wearing a uniform since she got here, but she thought she look pretty good. "Alright! Let's go meet my partners!" Lyra grabbed her cane and headed out. She could have just put on her sunglasses, but unless it was already somewhat dim, they didn't help much. Besides, her other senses were enough to help her along and she already had a feel for the facility. She made her way over to the kitchen first, just long enough to get some quick food before quickly heading over to where she was supposed to be. She was almost there when she heard a guy's voice call out, calling out for Del. Was that Aquarius? She wasn't too sure on the person's gender, age power...she still didn't know too many of the people here. 'Have to work on that when I get back...' Lyra thought to herself as she made her way closer to where she heard the voice. "Um excuse me. Aquarius? I'm Lyra, I'm also on this mission as well. Nice to meet you." As Lyra got closer, she noticed that she could hear two people breathing, one sounded like an adult, the other a child. Wait...so was Aquarius a child then? Well, that was hardly surprising considering the organization. Was the adult a handler then? Was Aquarius...corrupted?

Lyra took a deep breath, she didn't like the corrupted...no. That wasn't the right way to phrase it. She didn't like the idea that they had been corrupted. She had heard rumors about how they came to be corruputed, horrible horrible rumors, and...she didn't like the sound of them. But she could at least treat the corrupted like people. So she knelt down some to where she thought the Aquarius' head was (it was hard for her to gage height without her sight) and smiled at him/her. "Hi! Let's be friends!"

@RomanAria

Baihu laughed, "Bayakko is my last name love, please call me Baihu. They won't get me out on this knife, not when I've gotten assault rifles and dynamite into here."

NOticing the little girl knee over clutching her head, he popped over and brought and eyeglass from somewhere and began examining her head and face. She was pretty cute, almost like a doll. He poked at her temple and the top of her head with a finger and gave his professional doctor's remarks, "Why don't you want to let your power out? Too dangerous hmm? Can you destroy Mulenburg with it? Can I see it? Pretty please?"

When Astraia proposed a petition to old Doctor Panzer Faust, Baihu brought out an unmarked bottle and put it on the table, "Have this instead. Much more effective than whatever ol' Faust-me-pants can give you. Just don't drink it with alcohol, carbonated liquids and napalm. At least until you know how it affect you, in which case I still advise against drinking napalm. Side effects include: high pressure nose bleeds, cardiac arrests and a sudden boost in intelligence of subjects relating to industrial strength adhesives. Contact a doctor if you experience blurry vision or have an erection lasting more than four hours. In short, its perfectly safe, see, it even has the FDA seal of approval!"

Baihu pointed to a sticker on the bottom of the bottle which looked suspiciously like one of those stickers you'd find on an apple. Casually opening up the blank bottle, he popped one into his mouth like candy and offered it to Astaria, "Take one. Its for your health love."

---

Qinglong Bayakko, a strapping young man of near infinite talent and potential, was currently somewhere over the Pacific in a private charter plane, enjoying the wealth which his good friend and sponsor had given him. It seemed that his stirring speeches and calls to action against evil and corrupted Stars had found its way to people in high places.
"Sir," a servant approached Qinglong as he took a sip of water melted from the snow in the Alps, contained in a delicate crystal glass, "Do you require anything else?"
"Thank you, but you have already pleased my very well." Qinglong gave his prince charming smile at the man which prompted muttering amongst the female maids also on board the plane, "Although, if its not too much of a bother, can I request an update on my forces?"

The "forces" he was talking about was of course the "Black Orchestra", a large group made of a mix of hired PMCs and die-hard loyal followers of his ideals that dedicate their lives to purging evil and helping the weak and innocent. They were Qinglong's personal army, he knew he'd need one when he set out hunt down Baihu's and his own army of vile scum and dirty criminals.

As the butler walked away to go find a manilla folder of papers, Qinglong looked at a framed picture. Inside its fine golden frame was a picture with cracked glass faithfully protecting it. The picture itself was a simple on, just four kids, two girls, two boys, together posing for a picture in front of the gates to the Forbidden City.
"Xixi, Zhue, I will avenge your loss," Qinglong traced his finger along the cracks in the glass until he reached the bullet hole that cause it spider web of cracks, "Baihu will pay for his crimes."

He pressed against the bullet hole until he bled a tiny bit, his blood flowing right above the one person that was right under the scar, the ten year old Baihu

DEL HALE

Del was still in the kitchen, stuffing his sixteenth doughnut down his gullet. he swallowed, patting his belly, now full after seveal mugs of coffee, donuts, and somewhere approaching a pound of bacon. A few of those still in the kitchen stared at him in his beanie and civilian clothes, marveling at the massive amounts of food he'd just consumed. Del turned, blushing slightly, nodding to those watching and quickly walked out. He looked around to see the standard fare of people milling about their daily tasks. Getting food, using a water fountain, a few games of rock paper scissors here and there...
Del yawned and continued walking around HQ, wondering where in sam hill he was expected to meet his partner. He was just in the mess hall/kitchen and she wes nowhere to be found... Maybe the rec room? Del dodged past a few people, jogging slowly the the recreational room. He entered to see some people playing fooz ball, others partaking in a game of ping pong.
He watched the ball bounce back and forth, losing himself in it, slowly allowing himself to retreat to his thoughts. What was he really doing here? Why was he here? Sure, there was food, social interaction, all that, but he still had an underlying... Distrust of this place. They bag you, tag you with their own little number, slip you into a uniform and they put you in here unless they need you again. Del's grip tightened on his skateboard, slightly messing up the paint on the bottom side. The worst part, though, was they weren't doing anything outwardly bad. All Del had to go on was an underlying distrust, and beyond that, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Suddenly, Del heard his name being shouted, very faintly, as though from across the HQ... Oh no. The other side. That's where he was supposed to be. Del dropped his skateboard on the ground and hopped on it. Time to go fast. He kicked off, darting out of the rec room and agilely avoiding people as he went, some screaming and diving out of the way while others observed quizzically. He zoomed down the halls, doing a kick flip over somebody who was tying their shoes, finally stopping in front of the door where a burly agent, a little girl, and another girl stood.
"This is Del." Del said, getting off his board and picking it up as he did so.
The burly agent gave him the evil eye and he sneered in response. He turned his attention to the two girls. He realized the older one, the one that distinctly wasn't Aquarius, had glazed over eyes. A blind girl and a little one to look after. Lovely. He turned his attention to Aquarius, noting that she was wearing gloves, for one reason or another.
"Hi... I'm Del..." He extended his hand to Aquarius, still unaware who the other girl was, having not seen her on the assignment board... Maybe she was recently added...?

-----
URSA
As Ursa walked down the halls, Jace on his heels, he could feel the eyes on him. Dozens of people stopping and staring. He wasn't a telepath, but he knew what they were thinking. "Bastard." "Monster." "Scary.". Officially, Ursa's exploits as an assassin weren't released to anyone in the HQ that wasn't officially affiliated with the Ursa program, but these people seemed to have thier suspicions. Ursa mainted his deadpan look while he continued to walk, and the eyes slowly turned away.
Ursa heard a ringing and his muscles tensed, flinching towards his thighs were his pistols were usually housed. It was only for a sdplit second and he quickly calmed, realizing it was only the ring of Jace's phone. The man answered, talking for a moment. Ursa stared down at his feet, hoping it was a reassignment. Hoping to get informed there was a mix-up up top and he had a real mission to attend to.
"Change of plans, Ursa." Jace said, hanging up the phones. The barest traces of a smile graced Ursa's lips. Finally, an assassination. "The Security Chief is unreachable, apparently. Something about interviewing new staff. Point is, I'm now assigned to your mission. So is another one with the star, called Vespira."
Ursa's smile disappeared as quick as it had come while Ursa give a quick nod. Jace turned him to the atrium and they made thier way, Ursa silently turning over why he may have been sent on this mission. The Military tech angles were always possible, but what if it wasn't that... What if they were planning to kill him, they wanted him off his guard. Where had it gone wrong?
They arrived in the atrium, and almost instantly Ursa's trained eyes picked out the girl. Blone hair, green eyes. He gestured to Jace and they went over, sitting beside her.
Jace stared at Ursa expectantly, waiting for him to introduce himself. The Bear simply stared forward. Jace sighed and turned to the girl,, extending a hand.
"I'm Jace, your handler for the mission. Richard will be unable to join us, but I'm more than capable of filling his shoes. This is Ursa. Say hello, wouldn't you, Ursa?"
Ursa remained silent.

((OOC: Sorry for the bad posts, kind of in a rush right now and I've been busy over the past few days.))

Nova Infinitum Headquarters
Common Room

“A-alright…” Nervously the girl took a capsule from the bottle and swallowed it. Instantly the agony in her head dulled to an ache, then subsided completely.

“O-oh… g-goodn-ness… Th-that… o-oh… I-it d-doesn’t h-h-hurt a-anymore… wh-what n-neurot-transmit-ter d-does th-that b-block, I b-bet i-it’s s-seraton—o-oh…” she covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head. “I sh-shouldn’t h-have t-taken that… I w-w-won’t b-be a-able to k-keep i-it in, a-and th-then i-it might st-till t-take me o-over... I sh-shouldn’t let it c-cont-trol m-me…” She gave a shaky smile, appraising the boy Baihu again. A tall boy, probably sixteen or seventeen, at ease in a way that she’d never seen another Corrupt be like before.

“W-we sh-should p-p-probably h-head o-out there… I b-bet o-our partner i-is w-w-waiting f-for u-us…” she put the lid on the pill bottle and handed it back to Baihu. Her uniform didn’t have any pockets. Then again, she didn’t have any possessions, other than her uniforms and her hairbrush and toothbrush, and so rarely had anything to put into pockets.

She rose from the table, sighing slightly, and pushed her hair behind her ears and into some semblance of order. She grinned at Baihu, feeling much better for not having such a bad headache, and walked to the main doors. A guard looked at her and glared at Baihu, made her walk through a metal detector, but didn’t even bother with scanning Baihu.

As they walked through the corridor teeming with white-coated researchers, Astraia reached up and took Baihu’s hand, nervously, though she winced at the childish mannerism.

They walked out into the atrium, and Astraia blinked at the sheer number of people. She scanned the crowd to find Berthold, based on the picture they’d been provided. She thought she saw someone who looked like him, leafing through a thick manila folder.

“E-e-excuse m-me… w-w-would y-you h-happen t-to b-b-be B-berth-hold…? I th-think w-we-re going o-on a m-m-mission, t-together… I-I’m Astraia, a-and th-this is B-Baihu…” She realized she was still holding Baihu’s hand and blinked rapidly, slowly dropping her hand to her side.

Wow, way to make a first impression, Astie, you fool.

---

Somewhere above the Pacific Ocean, in a charter plane with her dreamy intelligent and resourceful young employer

“No, I don’t care that you have a scheduling issue. We are arriving in the States today and I fully expect you to have all the amenities ready for our traveling party. Surely you would not want to disappoint the great Qinglong Bayakko, not when he specifically requested your establishment out of all the other establishments in this fine city.” Caixia spoke somewhat forcefully, talking to the terrified young receptionist at a hotel—she couldn’t remember which one, only that it was the finest one in the city. Her pretty voice was filled with disgust, though her face and eyes remained perfectly neutral.

As she spoke into the telephone, her perfectly-manicured fingers flew over her laptop keyboard. She was responding to business email for Qinglong—She loved answering this kind of letter, from weak men who doubted Qinglong’s abilities as a leader and an investor, who doubted that he could do as he claimed. She was allowed to take liberties with how she answered these, and she used every shred of her intelligence to absolutely destroy these men and whatever sense of self-worth they might have.

The butler came back into her tiny cubicle of workspace, which was still a luxury compared to what most people had on the plane. “Where’s the folder?”

“I’ll get it. I have a stack of messages that must be passed on at any rate.” The girl turned her face away from her earpiece and spoke quietly to the butler, allowing her irritation at him to show in her eyes. How dare he interrupt her work?

“Of course, Caixia.” The man averted his eyes and shuffled away.

Caixia rolled her eyes. The person she had been talking to had long-since hung up on her, and was probably now trembling in a corner. She tended to have that effect on people.

Caixia sent the email and rose to her feet fluidly, gathering up the manila folder and a pad of paper that had messages transcribed onto it. She tugged lightly on her dress, a dark red cheongsam, to get it to drape properly, put her usual professional mask on her face, and walked purposefully out of her micro-office to meet Qinglong.

“Sir, here is the information you have requested. The most recent printouts were received seven minutes ago. I also have here a message from the director of IBM asking for an appointment for conference call as soon as is convenient for you.” She held the file and the notepad out for Qinglong’s inspection, keeping her eyes down, although she could not stop a faint blush from dusting her cheeks as she did so.

Virgo Knightly

Virgo gave her two teammates a sweet smile, and while shaking Jace's hand replied, "I'm Virgo, though you probably knew that already. I look forward to working with the two of you."

She wasn't really bothered or offended by Ursa's behavior; she had a feeling that was just how he was. However, it was a bit strange that the Headquarters would send Ursa on a recruiting mission like this. Maybe they wanted him to work on his people skills? It was very apparent that he needed to improve on them.

Virgo glanced over at the clock hanging on one of the atrium's wall for the time; they only had about an hour until their flight. "We should probably get going," she said, not wanting to waste any time. "We can discuss the mission more on our way to the airport."

She got up to exit the building and assumed that Jace and Ursa were following behind her. There waiting for them was a car, ready to take them to the airport. She got in the back of the car and gave a polite greeting to their driver before putting on her seat belt. Once she was situated, she took out the file they were given about their mission. Once they arrived in California, there was going to be another car that was going to drive them to the home of Malachi Carver. From there, it was all them. It seemed simple enough; maybe the Headquarters gave her this mission since it was her first one. But it was still baffling to her that Ursa was here too. Maybe there will be some dangers that requires his abilities?

Other than that, she didn't have any questions or concern. "So...Ursa?" she began, trying to see if he would ever say a word or seem to acknowledge her existence. "Any thoughts on our mission?"

Biahu - Now a Responsible Guardian (?)

"Morning Jim! How's the family?" Baihu waved at the metal detector guard as he walked through it, alerting red sirens that the guard promptly shut off and glared at the Clown Prince of Crime. Baihu greeted several other guards in a similar manner as if they were close friends or family which prompted any manner of glares and foul language. With little Astie next to him, he made sure to give a good scolding to those guards who used bad language, saying there were children nearby. As he finished telling off one guard and lecturing him on 19th century British table manners, he looked down as he something tugged on his sleeve.

Baihu smiled as he felt Astie's tiny hands grasp on to his sleeve, he felt as if he was now responsible for the well being of this doll. Maybe it would be his gate way to maturity and cure him of his insanity so that he could- who the hell was he kidding? Baihu loved the way he was right now, utterly charming and hilarious. There was no need to change anything about him, a poster he once saw said that he was special and unique and great. Obviously the creator of that poster was smarter than most people.

As the main hall opened up, Astie spotted Berthold and dropped her grasp soon after. Baihu listened to her soft voice as she attempted to introduce herself but sighed as she falttered. Being the older and theortically the more mature and wiser one, he took his turn and imdeiately slung his arm over the Uncorrupted's shoulder and put on his best British accent (which sounded very authentic mind you), "Old Berty, old chap! It has come across my attention that you and me are going on a mission together with this little dollface of a girl! Isn't she cute mate?" Baihu pointed at the little girl who was next to them as he dropped his head close to Berthold's ear as if he was telling him scandolous gossip, "A real creme o' the crop if you ask me mate. And I've seen a lot of creme and a lot of crop old boy."

Baihu laughed as he swung around and went back behind Astie and picked her up as if she was a doll that he planned on giving to the genius. He had a feeling that this mission would be so much fun!~~

---

Qinglong - Red wine and Turbulence

Qing put down his challis as he heard Cai walk over, turning around, he was greeted by her beautiful figure in a red qipao, "My, my, don't you look gorgeous Miss. Ci?" Qing flashed his swooning smile as he accepted the files from his secretary. He flipped through them revealing recruitment reports, training regimes, investment reports, recommended investments, the latest science and technology and his favorite wine catalogue.

Taking out a few papers and setting them a side on his desk, he handed the folder back to Cai and opened his mouth to compliment her before another servant dashed over, "S-sir! Your s-sister is trying to c-contact you!"
Qing sighed but quickly regained his smile, "Thank you good man, please have everyone leave this part of the plane, I'd like to keep my family matter between my family."

The young man bowed and shuffled everyone out as retractable walls were raised and the video projector came on. A flash of blue later, Xixi appeared on the screen; her blind little eyes closed as usual but you could feel the innocence over flowing from her as she sat in her wheelchair as her own personal servant, Cyakako, fixed the camera angle, "Nii-sama! Are you doing okay? Did you get my present?"
"I'm doing well, thank you." Qing smiled, "And of course I got your gift, it was very pretty."
"Yay! I'm glad nii-sama like the gift, I had Cyakako help me with all the paper cranes."
"I've already given them out along with the Zodiac Humanitarian Aid boxes like you've instructed."
"I'm glad you found the time to, I know your work as an international businessman must keep your time tight."
"No, no, I'd do anything for my dear little sister. Are you doing well?"
"I'm doing fine, I'm having Cyakako look into good places where we can have a new years party nii-sama. Make sure Baihu also comes! You told me last year he'd come but I waited all night and he didn't show up. I don't care if you have to drag him home, just make sure you two come back for new years!"

Qing's smile flattered for a split second, he had never told Xixi what was truly going on in fear of breaking her heart. He didn't want her to end up like Zhue. She didn't know what he and Baihu actually were, instead of a hero going after his blood thirsty, insane brother, he told the young Xixi that he was an philanthropic billionaire who made his fortune in stock markets around the world and Baihu famous magician/comedian in America.
"Don't worry princess, I'll get him home, even if I have to drag him there myself." Qing's voice went ominous at the end but Xixi didn't seem to notice."
"Okay then! I'll make sure to order the duck from one place. What was it called again? Umm... umm..."
"Lao Li Bao's, Xixi. I have to go now, some one else wants to chat with your brother."
"Oh! Sorry nii-sama! Good luck in your work!"

As the projector shut off and the walls sand back down, Qing's expression was solemn at best. He sighed a long breath before calling Cai over again, "Tell IBM I will be ready in about an hour. Also, could you get me the 1912 Henri Hayderne Grand Cru Romannee and a ginger ale?"

As Cai scurried off and the crew returned to their normal Buenos, Qing sank into his soft chair and leaned back, his thoughts on how he'd deal with both his brother and his precious Xixi as the captain's voice came on, "Attention everyone, we seem to be hitting a spot of turbulence, the auto adjustment thrusters should kick in soon but I'd recommend everyone stay in their seat for a short bit as me and my co-pilot get through the first part."

Turbulence indeed, Qing thought as he looked outside and saw tiny blue lights balance the plane, A real storm was brewing and Baihu was right at the center of it.

Aquarius would have smooshed the cake in the smarmy boy's face had he given her the chance. Instead she was left to wait until her so called partner had arrived. It felt as if three whole days had passed, and in the meantime she'd found someone else trying to talk to her.

The girl who'd arrived was wholly unfamiliar to Aquarius, but then again, so was most everyone. She didn't even know who the cake boy was, nor how he knew her name, but she didn't think too much on it.

"Do you like dollies?" Aquarius asked, holding up the doll she'd been playing with before, which now lay lifeless.

It wasn't long before Del Hale arrived, interrupting Aquarius right as she was about to rip the doll's head off in a gigglefit. She turned to him, now distracted and impatient.

By the time he held out his hand, she decided she'd had enough. She stared at the boy with the skateboard, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

She stared for an uncomfortable amount of time. While it may have been less than a minute, it would feel as if another three days of waiting had passed, as she stared a hole right into this Del Hale boy. She would stare until the hairs on the back of his neck crawled, and only then would she move in.

The girl leapt into him, tackling him to the ground with a surprising bit of force. "You're my new big brother," she giggled, nuzzling into the older boy.

~~~~~

Sol yawned sharply at Libra's peppy entrance. "Hm? No idea what you're talking about." He said, his accent matching Libra's almost perfectly. "Sit down though." He said, pulling out a seat. "You're a bit too young for coffee." He said, pulling aside a pitcher that he'd been drinking from and poured a glass of black tea for the boy. "It's decaffeinated, with mint and plenty of sugar. A favorite where I grew up. I'm sure you'll enjoy it," he said with another yawn.

"I've only just arrived a couple days ago, so I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with the culture here... People keep coming and going... Reminds me of the airports. I'm guessing that's why you're here?"

Stergann Scythe

The young woman gazed out the window, chin resting on her palm. One corner of her mouth was lifted up into a smile, slightly dimpling her cheek. The room was small, but it contained everything a girl needed to thrive: a bookshelf crammed full of books, a neat desk, a small bed and closet, and a large window open to the smoggy sky of New York. She had been preparing for the next week's lessons, but her pen had slipped from her fingers and her mind was far away. In her dreams she never saw herself as a Star. Not that she minded having powers; her unconscious just didn't seem to have caught up to her reality yet. Daydreams, however, were under her control, and she often dreamed of what it would be like to be able to read a little from the minds she was putting her own thoughts into. Today her flights of fancy were unrelated to Stars and powers. She was imagining that she lived in the countryside, and had met a mysterious young girl who looked eerily similar to Stergann herself when she was about five years old. The two of them were walking through a gloomy forest in search of the wise old beetle-king who lived deep within it, in hopes that he could tell them who the young girl was, as she herself could not remember.

They had just crossed a charming little brook full of water-spirits when Stergann shook herself out of her reverie. She glanced down at her papers. She didn't need to finish them today; she'd just thought she could get a little bit ahead on her work. She tapped the sheets of paper into a nice, neat stack and stood up. She stretched and then stood there for a moment, her mind blank. She decided to see what the commotion was outside; the noises in the hallway were different from usual, so there were probably a lot of kids going out on missions. She closed her window. It was getting a little too hot to have it open anyway.

Stergann opened her door just in time to see Del whoosh by on his skateboard. Always in a hurry, that one. She stepped out and looked down the hallway. He'd stopped just down the hall, in front of the mess hall, and was talking with two other students, only one of whom she recognized. There was a staff member standing with them, but he didn't seem too friendly, so Stergann to go see if they needed anything. And she'd get to chat with Del, ask him about all the missions going on that day. Del was a regular in the cooking club, just because he was in the kitchen around the clock.

The girl Stergann didn't recognize tackled Del just as she walked up. Seemed friendly enough, but it occurred to her that the girl might be corrupted, since Stergann didn't know her, and there was that burly man standing nearby. She smiled at Lyra and greeted her -- she knew the girl wouldn't be able to see the smile, but maybe she'd hear it in her voice. She glanced back at Del. "You doing okay there? What's all the fuss today?"

"Dollies? They're nice." Lyra told the girl, smiling, unable to see the doll that was being held up to her face, but hearing something being brought up. She also noticed the girl smelled like...Chocolate cake? No, not Aquarius...There was chocolate cake right next to her. Had she brought it along as a snack? Then again, Lyra remembered that using sweets as a bribe had been mentioned in that phone call, so perhaps she or the man she was with had brought it for that reason? Before Aquarius could respond though, Lyra heard a skateboard coming their way (along with shouts of people that might have nearly gotten run over?) and soon there was a boy near them, saying that he was Del.

"Hello!" Lyra said as she stood up to face where she thought he was. "Hello, Del. I'm Lyra." She told him before something quickly went by Lyra and there was a kind of bang, like someone falling back on the floor. "Uhhh..." Lyra said not sure what happened, but she heard Aquarius talk to Del so...had Aquarius tackled Del? Ugh...this was where she wished she could see in the light just so she could know what was going on.

Lyra was so distracted by her partners that she didn't notice someone else walking towards them until she spoke. "Oh! Hello, Miss Scythe! We're going on a mission together!" She told her happily, facing in the direction her voice came from. Miss Scythe had to be Lyra's favorite teacher here, as she was not only nice but also helped introduce Lyra to the world by showing (putting pictures into her mind really) and telling her about things so she wouldn't be so confused when she came to be in darkness. "Did you come to see us off or did something happen?" News didn't get to Lyra quickly around here...