---

_{@ToadRopes@Maxx@Raijinslayer}

---

She's... not from around here, is she...? Jennifer thought to herself as Taylor explained that she wasn't afraid, and that she didn't have anything to hide. It was either pride or ignorance. Well, when the Pure is kicking down her door... Ugh. The Pure. She couldn't even think about them without flashing back to that one moment. She shook her head, and looked around. This girl probably thinks she's weird as fuck. Time to fix that, say something. Jennifer stood straight up, and stared Taylor in the eye, "I'm... not afraid of you." Because I'm just like you. Jennifer thought to herself after saying it - almost blurting it out. "It's just that, with all the gangs, and the Pure, I'm surprised you're so... open... about using your powers." Jennifer scratched the back of her head. Jennifer mostly kept her powers a secret out of fear of what would happen if the Pure found out. Maybe she should stop being so timid - or just afraid in general - and come out. Tell Meifeng about it, so she can tell her mom... Um, maybe she's getting ahead of herself. Maybe she should just go find Penny, and see about getting this reversed. The girl introduced herself as Taylor, and Jenny returned the favor, "Jennifer Caspin, it's great to meet you, Taylor." And daaaaaamn, she's the daughter of a fashion designer. Jenny herself was born to lawyers, but it isn't anything like a fashion designer. She was surprised that Taylor was even talking to her - she wondered if they could even become friends. She wasn't even sure if this chick would even time her the time and place.

Watching the demonstration, Meifeng quickly realized that Taylor was the one that stopped the crook. She was too busy being angry to pay attention. Second she realized it, Taylor was someone she liked a lot more. "Oooooooooooh, you did that, girl?" Meifeng asked Taylor. "That was tight. Thanks for that." Meifeng smiled, and put her fist out for a fist bump. "Since we're doing introductions, name's Meifeng." She did hear that Taylor introduced herself as the daughter of some rich fashion designer - but that didn't matter to Meifeng. If you were too "sophisticated" that you can't interact with some lowly commoners, you need to get that sandpaper covered stick out of your ass. Though, continuing off of what Jen said, she just had to comment. Since she was a Metahuman herself, she planned on joining NEST, and her mother was currently a NEST agent; she had a bit to say. Meifeng slung her bag over her shoulder, until it was hanging off her back. Holding the bag with her strap. "But, yeah, most Metahumans keep their powers low-key around here." She closed her eyes, and shrugged. "Mostly because of the Pure, but... let's be real; a fair bit of people just don't like us." She kept her mouth shut about it because she didn't want to drive off her friends. "People should be used to it by now, but hey. Some people like to live under their rocks."

"... Still feel a little betrayed that you never told me." Jennifer chimed in.

Ooooooh boy, she feels betrayed. Meifeng had to roll her eyes. She would crescent kick Jen square in the face if she kept this up. "...C'moooon, Jen. Can you really blame me?" Meifeng looked at Jen, with a half-smile on her face, shrugging yet again. "You're pretty timid. I thought you'd freak if I told you I was a waterbender." Meifeng spoke as casually and confidently as she could. "Besiiiiiiiiides.... you might get some badass superpower from me. Hehehehe..." Meifeng laughed.

"Well, I..." Jen was about to reveal that she had a power of her own, when someone approached them... Someone mean.

"Well then, you're a bit of a show off, ain'tcha."

He said, and Jennifer and Meifeng turned towards him. He was a tall something... and he looked very inhuman. Eyes, scales, and... that bestial vibe he just gives off. And he was acting like a fucking douchebag.

"Not only must you show everyone your abilities, but you also have to drop names as well. As if people are going to give two shits that you're dad's some glorified tailor, who's greatest contributions to the world is making people pay outrageous amounts of money for stupid shit. Tell me, Taylor, what has your father, and you for that matter, done that really makes a difference in anyone's life? I really doubt you can come up with anything that really counts, but hey, maybe you'll prove me wrong."

Once he finished talking, Jen loudly cleared her throat. Okay, this guy's got some problems... Jen thought to herself, and realized how awkward the situation was getting for her. Um. Yeeeeeeah. Jennifer looked around, and saw the crowds staring at them. He was causing a scene. Trying to rile them up (For whatever reason). There was no need to even stick around. All they had to do was shake their heads and walk away. Jennifer lightly grasped Meifeng's arm, and tried to pull her away, "Hey, we should just-"

Unlike Jen, it's simply not in her nature to back down like she's some lapdog. Especially when some ugly prick rears his head and starts talking shit. It's not even to her, but still. This guy was just... a creep. Probably the king of all creeps. She'll be surprised if he isn't doing this because "girls won't bang him". Well, duh! 'Course they won't! When you're the ugliest, freakiest, creepiest, you tend to be a natural vagina repellent. More importantly, she stands up for other people! Though, if it was Jen, she would have skipped straight to the dick kicking. So, when Jen grabbed onto her arm, Meifeng quickly took a few steps forward and broke out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where the hell did you come from?" Meifeng crossed her arms, and stared King Creepo in the eyes. Unafraid. Because that's how you really get rid of them. You stand up to them, look them in the eye, and show them you're not afraid of them.

"Oh, here we go..." Jennifer muttered to herself, facepalming. No stopping Meifeng now.

"Because, last time I checked, she probably does a lot more than you ever will." Meifeng continued, and she was unmoving. She was strong. And she's getting even stronger. "So, how about you back off, and stop talking shit to a bunch of girls you don't even know and go back to your mom's basement to play some World of Warcraft? You god damn loser."

---

_{@Raijinslayer}

---

She reached the intersection, and the light was red, so she had to stop. Lihua watched, patiently, as the cars drove by.

"Lihua,'

"Hm?" Lihua turned around and saw the giant man wade through the crowds. She held that purse a little tighter, and waited for whoever to approach her. And as he gotten closer, his distinctive skin and eye color, and his height, instantly reminded her of who he was (Mostly because she's been reading every NEST file available). Aleksander Volkov. The big case that they made when his power crystallized him during an operation, and they brought him to the Verthaven branch in order to fix him up. Looks like he choose to stick around, instead of heading back to his home city. Hmph. Out of the other branches of NEST, this one most likely had the most Metahumans. Other cities likely had to deal with smaller amounts of Metahumans, so they had less of them to join their ranks. Lihua shrugged. Nothing of concern, at the moment. Though, she was very curious as to why he's walking over to her, like she's a friend. She was mostly left to her business. On and off duty.

"Nice to see you here, mind if I join you on what I assume is your lunch break."

Oh, he just wants to join her for her break. Lihua simply shruged. She didn't see why not. She didn't hold anything against Alek, and he likely felt the same. "Not at all, Agent Volkov." Lihua started off. Only thing that the request caught her off guard. Other than a few passing conversations, they didn't know each other - that was probably because of the way Lihua operates. She'll have to see what he really wants from her, but no need to push him away just yet. "I'm heading over to a Chinese restaurant to get some food, if you're fine with that." Who was she kidding? These Americans loved their Chinese restaurants. Just that Lihua preferred the real thing than the knockoff shit they sell in corner stores. The light turned green, and the steady flow of cars in front of her came to a stop. Lihua motioned for Alek to follow her, before she casually crossed the streets.

Down the street was her destination Paradise Oriental. A large building, with a large, and stylized neon sign (currently inactive) announcing it's name. Through the window, the blinds were closed, and there was a pull door in. This was, in Lihua's honest opinion, was one of the best Chinese restaurants in Verthaven... if you're willing to pay the price, that is. She could - long as she restricted herself to coming here every now and then. Though, there was a bit of a walk ahead of them, and Lihua had a few questions to ask Alek, which were probably better off being asked out here.

"What are your thoughts on the current events, Alek?" Lihua asked Alek, just out of the blue, really. Though, she felt that her question was a bit too... general. So, she narrowed it down a bit to avoid confusion, "About the Fiends, and their horrid attack on the Festival." She nodded her head. "I'm glad that I arrived late... if I was there with my daughters... I don't know what would have happened to them." Lihua trailed off for a moment. "But, at the same time, I'm quite amused that all these resources are being allocated to handling the Fiends, now." Lihua laughed for a bit. If it was the Gai Hexin Yaun, the organization would have long came down on them before they could even amass the strength to threaten such an event. Khan would have been assassinated by Lihua personally. But, America only really operates after the threat has made a mess. Evident now.

"These Fiends were a longrunning threat to the city." Lihua nodded her head. "I honestly doubt if NEST would have made any real attempts to apprehend Khan, or her lieutenants." Hmph. At least they're being handled. If they're out of the picture, maybe this city will get a little safer.

... Maybe.

---

_{@Maxx@SepticGentleman}

---

Haaaaahaaaaaaa... The Corner Reserve. Michelle came here a few times herself, and it was pretty great if you ignored the hipster shits. It had that quaint, charming, look to it that Michelle loved. Either way, she came to get her drink on! Michelle sat down on the stool lightly as possible (Because these guys are too cheap to buy reinforced stools), and once the bar tender got to her, she grinned, "Bottle of Hennessy, and some hot buffalo wings, please! Hope you don't mind me putting this one on the NEST tab." She started laughing, as the bartender walked off with a smirk on his face. Yeah, she should pay that tab. Though, she quickly felt like the third wheel when Carl, Sam, and CONDOR, started their own little conversation. Michelle was always so interested in KINGFISHER, but at the same time, she knew they wouldn't accept her. She just wasn't KINGFISHER material! They were subtle, and she charged into danger like a Rhino on crack. Eh, she might as well say something. Not like they'll kill her for intruding on their conversation.

"Heh, you KINGFISHERS, think you got room for my giant ass?" Michelle jokingly asked, with a playful grin on her face. "Haha, I know you guys won't let me in your special club - I hate birds anyway. So I think I'll go form my own special club. I'll go call it the... Uh, BESTIAL Unit? Yeah, BESTIAL unit. Everyone's named after a badass animal." Yeeeeeeah, Michelle closed her mouth. She knew that she was just rambling. I just want to be hip with the kids. Michelle thought to herself.

"So, sounds like ya'll have some interesting stories to tell," Michelle started off, just as her Hennessy arrived. She stopped to take a chug out of it - the other agents needn't worry, it's hard as hell for her to get drunk. "Hate to be cliche, but what sort of crazy shit have you guys encountered on the job?"

---

---

Martin’s musings carried him through much of Lower Union Point Hills. He suspected that any other time he would have seen much more crime, or at least disturbance. Though boat loads of soldiers do tend to have a pacifying effect on the common criminal. Martin had been staying away from his home turf in the Bazaar. That was a can of worms he didn’t want to open yet. His direction was firmly in the other direction. From the incline he was standing on he could see the edges of Chinatown. Funnily he hadn’t spent too much time there before he left and much of that time had been spent running or fighting.

He figured whilst he was out and about he should get some groundwork done. Walking down a nearby alley he checked for urban outdoorsmen. Finding none he confirmed he had the other thing he needed. A manhole cover. Looking over the alley again he spotted a discarded piece of piping. Laying the piping across the cover he stepped back and found a relatively clean spot to lean against.

In ten minutes or so he would have a small tool for lifting any manhole cover he might wish. He was sure he’d have business down there sooner or later. Gangers used the tunnels to creep around the city unseen. He could kill two punks with one bullet by travelling there himself when he needed the secrecy. Like anytime he went anywhere with his battledress. Damn inconvenient that people find full combat gear suspicious.

Pocketing the palm sized loop of metal with a blunt hook like tab Martin thought maybe he could go for something to eat right about now. Beef curry with beef rice maybe. It’s not possible to have too much beef in one dish.

@Mr Allen J
@Raijinslayer
@Maxx

---

Ratchet was quite impressed with Taylor's swift trick with the ice. She seemed a bit snooty, but hey, how bad could someone who stopped a thief in his tracks be?

"Nice moves, pal," Ratchet remarked. "Just don't get too full of yourself, Elsa," Ratchet added with a shrug. Of course, she was being facetious; she made this quite apparent in her tone. She stopped; something in her gut told her that that was a little offensive. "You get FROZEN jokes a lot?" Ratchet asked, her face withering to a slightly-embarrassed half-smile. "I'm Injae, by the way. Though folks call me Ratchet because I'm handy with machines. Despite, you know." She held up her flywheel.

As Aiden walked up and began to talk some serious sh*t to Taylor, Ratchet felt a twinge of distaste. Not because of his reptilian looks and imposing size (standing 3 inches over Ratchet), but because of those spiteful words he spoke to the cryogenic. Ratchet folded her arms and picked at her flywheel, before glancing up to Aiden. "Listen, buddy, I'm not exactly a fan of people flaunting their titles and all that," she said, after letting Meifeng speak, "but this girl's pretty chill (if you don't mind the pun). She just stopped a purse-snatcher (or, rather, gym-bag-snatcher) literally in his tracks, and I'm pretty sure that warrants a bit more than trash talk."

Ratchet leaned over to Taylor. "Um, you might want to split," she suggested in a whisper. "From the way Meifeng's looking at Dragonite here, I can tell that things are going to get pretty ugly."

Ratchet considered telling Jen about her power over kinetic energy as well, although she did seem somewhat reserved about hearing of the powers of others. Especially about Meifeng's water-bending (that's kind of the best way to put it). But Jen had made mention of a group that seemed to be among those that oppressed Meta-humans. "Jen, who exactly are the Pure?" Ratchet asked quietly.

---

@Mr Allen J
@RaijinSlayer
@Toadropes

---

"Ah, I did not know that," Taylor said to Jen. "Where I come from, powers are generally accepted. It is nice to meet all three of you." As Taylor was about to comment on Ratchet's arm, a voice came from behind her.

"As if people are going to give two shits that you're dad's some glorified tailor, who's greatest contributions to the world is making people pay outrageous amounts of money for stupid shit. Tell me, Taylor, what has your father, and you for that matter, done that really makes a difference in anyone's life? I really doubt you can come up with anything that really counts, but hey, maybe you'll prove me wrong."

There are three things that you generally shouldn't do in this world. The first one is smoke. Smoking cigarettes is gross and disgusting. Just don't do it. It makes me want to punch you (This has been a public service announcement from the Maxx campaign to end cigarette smoking). The second one is scream "fire!" at a microphone at anything involving the White House, FBI, CIA, or NSA. You will get tackled and tasered and beat the fuck up.

The third thing you should never do is talk shit about Taylor Pierpoint's father in the presence of Taylor Pierpoint.

The moment Aiden's words escaped his mouth, the surrounding area got very cold. Taylor had opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and turned around. Frost was accumulating across the boards and on the snowflake floating in Taylor's hand, making it look more like an oversized shuriken. She stared him down with her intense blue eyes, thinking of what to say. She thought of just kicking his ass, firstly, of turning him into a little ice sculpture. But, as Jen had mentioned, people didn't use their powers as freely around here, and she didn't want to draw anymore attention to herself. Then she thought about answering the question directly, about donating to charity and her father's non-profit organization which he used to bring clothing and shoes to people in poor nations. She herself had run clothing drives at the Academy. Then, after Meifeng spoke, she decided to just tell him to go fuck himself.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" she shouted. "You know nothing about me! I don't have to justify myself to you, you asshole! Maintenant tu es perdu avant que je vous geler à mort et laisse votre corps au fond de l'océan!"

---

@He Who Walks Behind
@Mr Allen J
@SepticGentleman

---

The bartender went off and got the rest of the drinks, placing them in front of the customers. Someone from the back brought out an order of wings and sat it next to Sam. His eyes widened and he whispered "thanks". He dug into a wing as Michelle talked. He smirked at the "I hate birds" part, and laughed when she mentioned "stories". He exchanged glances with CONDOR, and they both smiled.

"Oh hell yeah," Sam said. "We've been through some crazy shit back in Mendel, let me tell y'all. I remember there was this one raid we went on against the Skulls, up on ol' Watson Street. Our intel told us that this was one of their big hideouts, y'know? This was supposed to be where they were keeping all of their heroin and it was guarded by a substantial number of men. Mooks, mainly, no metas. Ol' Skelly always let the humans get mowed down first, y'see. The hideout was in this old school building, abandoned a few years before, and we figure out that the heroin is being stored in the old principal's office in the center of the building. So we bust through, kick ass, CONDOR straight decked this one poor fucker. This one agent we called OSTRICH walks in with a fucking machine gun and starts mowing down everything that moves.

"We finally get to the principal's office, and y'know what we find? Jack shit but this one really fat guy with tusks. We walk in, tell him to stand down, ask him where the drugs are, and this guy is real fucking ugly. Like, brown mohawk, a literal pig nose, tusks coming out the corners of his mouth. Real fuckin gross. He looks at me, goes "oink!" and then turns into a giant fucking warthog! I'm not even joking this thing look like it was out of fucking Mario Party or something! And he was real fuckin tough too! Bulletproof skin, resistant to electricity, whole nine yards. The fucker starts chasing us down the halls. Just imagine; me, CONDOR, and this guy who looked like a damn powerlifter sprinting down a hallway chased by a giant bulletproof pig! It was ridiculous!"

s

---

Under the hail of gunfire, Red raised his arms and shielded himself. The two strange creatures clung to his skin, and he felt them injecting… something. After a few seconds, he snapped out of his little defensive state and roared again, tearing off one of the phages and smashing it against the sewer wall. The other one, he grabbed it and swung at the charging Fiend, breaking the strange glass head of the creature over the assailant. The white, milky covered the Fiend, but all it did was cause him to rear back from his charge.

Red grabbed the Fiend by his neck and lifted him off the ground. The saw blade dropped onto the sewer floor. Red roared once again and, under more gunfire, charged at the group of intruders with the Fiend’s head slowly being crushed between his meaty fingers. The group’s firing began to cease as Red closed in, and a few of them began turning in the other direction and running down the tunnel. Red caught up to one of them, a young woman, and swiped at her with his free hand. She was launched towards the sewer wall with and audible thud, landing on the floor and clutching her arm. The retreating group turned and began firing once more as one of them moved closer to aid the woman.

Red held up the Fiend to use him as something of a shield, but it didn’t do much. The prior assaults had weakened his exterior some, and whatever those phages injected him with was getting to him. In the heat of the moment, he took the Fiend in his hand, who was probably already dead by now, and grabbed one of his legs with his other hand. It didn’t take much for the Fiend’s thigh to split apart, severing the leg. There were muffled screams, but they quickly silenced themselves. Red tossed the leg at the retreating group, but they were already well away. He breathed some in exhaustion, and tossed the rest of the body to the floor. He turned and he began lumbering back to the cistern.

Veronica sat there, having seen everything through Red’s eyes. Not all of that was her doing, the actions were… overtaken by Red’s fearful rage. She widened her eyes as the crimson brute weakly stumbled back into the enclave, dropping to his hands and knees. Veronica stood up and rushed over to Red’s side, placing her hands on his shoulder. He breathed and breathed, slowly dropping to the cistern floor. Veronica grew a look of worry, but it was slowly replaced with the usual, monotonous gaze.

Whatever the creatures injected him with, it was acting fast. And it was tainting what would become Red’s remains very soon. But it didn’t matter, she had plenty of jars for him in the stockpile. She stood back up and stared at Red for a moment more. She watched as he pushed himself off the floor, head raised, neck extended. He grabbed the front and back of his head with his hands and he… tugged in both directions. A bit of creaking, followed by a snap that would unsettle most other folks.

Not Veronica. She’d already heard it many times before.

As Red’s body keeled over, Veronica returned to the wall of the enclave and sat down, hugging her legs. She was, to say the least, worried for her own safety. Maybe she’d have to start relocating in the midst of all this turmoil. Maybe she’d have to leave Verthaven and find somewhere else to scrape by. But she wasn’t going anywhere at the moment. Best she could do was hold out until Red returned.

She grabbed a jar of the crimson remains from one of the crates and waited, watching as the current Red’s body began to disintegrate.

This one’s sludge was tainted, and useless. She took none of it.

---

_{@He Who Walks Behind}

---

Yeah... Lynn was right. Someone's definitely pulling the strings here. The Fiends are just a bunch of junkies. Maxine didn't know about chemistry, but there was a big-ass gap between cooking meth, and giving people powers. Or... There was a lot of possibilities here that she thought of. Her parents were NEST Agents, and they talked about their stories in the dinner table a lot. While Maxine hated them, it did teach her one thing: Metahumans are capable of all sorts of freaky shit. NEST being behind it was a possibility. Maxine wasn't an idealist, she knew that NEST has it's share of bad apples.

Problems arises when the bad apples get too much power.

But, Maxine had a more logical theory (Other than the Fiends sucking the right dicks). "Could be NEST, yeah. Those bastards are so shifty I wouldn't be surprised if that giant ass tower was built on top of all the people they killed." Maxine started off, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette, and it was in her mouth the very next second. She pulled out her lighter, and the second she flicked it on - bam! The fire was much bigger than expected. Three inches of flame. Hell, that surprised her.... Oh yeah, that. Maxine should have remembered Lynn's power. Lynn can enhance fire, if she remembered correctly. It's funny. The two of them have such a similar power (One that supplements the other, actually), and they could pretty much only trust each other. Maybe it was that power that drawn them together. Though, before she continued, she figured that she'd at least offer Lynn some cigarettes. "You want a cigarette, sister?" She put the box out towards Lynn, tilting it somewhat so Lynn could reach in and grab a cigarette.

After that, Maxine took a few steps away, and her back was to Lynn for a few moments. She looked around Chinatown's streets for a few moments, looking to see if anyone was spying on them (I always feel like someone's watching me). The coast appeared to be clear? Either way, Maxine took a puff of cigarette smoke and blew it out through her nose. "But, you know, given all the freaky shit us Metahumans are capable of..." Maxine turned back towards Lynn, and an orb of fire (no bigger than a quarter) appeared in her hands. She held onto it tightly with her fingertips, before she closed her hands, and rolled it over to her thumb. She started flicking it in the air with her thumb, over and over again. "... I wouldn't be surprised if the Fiends have some poor bastard chained up in their bastard, that jizzes some magical superpower giving juice into a syringe, and they go sell it to the highest bidder." Maxine blew some smoke out of the side of her mouth - which was absorbed into her body. "Which I'm hoping for. Because..." She was unsure for a moment if she should tell Lynn her plan. This can go many ways; Lynn joins up with her on her quest, Lynn runs off and pulls the score on the Fiends alone, or Lynn declines. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained - and Maxine Carter has so much to gain. "... Fuck it, I'll just to the chase; I wanna pull a score on the Fiends. Jack some of that stuff they got, sell it to the highest bidder, and get the hell out of dodge."

The second was already burnt to it's end. That fast? Damn. Lynn's power was starting to irritate Maxine. She rolled her eyes, but kept her cool. No biggie. Maxine has lots of cigarettes. Whatever was left of her poor cigarette (mostly ashes) was funneled into her body, and absorbed. She gave Lynn an aside-glance. "That, or use it get some leverage over NEST. Use them to get me out of this city. Whatever." She shrugged. "And I know I can't do it alone. While the Fiends are nothing but a bunch of drugged up fuckers... it takes a special kind of dumbass to think you'll be able to get an easy one over them." Maxine continued, and wondered if she was talking too much. Heh... this was as tense and stressful as asking someone to the prom. She smiled like an idiot.

"What I'm asking is for a bit of help. I know you're trustworthy... well, relatively speaking." Maxine laughed a bit. "We nab a few, and divide the pay off, then go our separate ways. What do ya' say?" Maxine proposed. Though, she tilted her head when she thought about it. Though... I could always cut you out of the "deal" and take the reward all for myself. The classic after-heist betrayal.... She thought to herself, putting her hands in her pockets. Underhanded as hell, yeah... but here in Verthaven, there are no saints. Or rules. You only look out for yourself... Maxine continued.

Nah... Lynn deserves to get out of this as much as I do.

---

_{@Maxx@SepticGentleman@He Who Walks Behind}

---

Mendel? Yeah, Michelle heard it was some crazy shit going on in that city before KINGFISHER swooped in and took them all out. It was probably a completely different beast than what happens in Verthaven. Heh. Michelle been to Black Fall when the really bad things cropped up. She preferred Verthaven. It was too damn cold up there. Though, Black Fall was just a bunch of interesting faces. The kind of faces she wouldn't mind seeing again. But, going back to the story, Sam described one of his adventures where the KINGFISHERS were raiding a school and kicking ass... then getting their ass kicked by a pig. Not just any pig. A bulletproof pig. That made Michelle bust out laughing. "Haha! If I was there, you bet I would'a slammed his ass through the floor!" Because there was no way she'd lose to a pig. She'd just whoop it's ass like any other animal Meta. There were few that could fight the Bestial on equal footing. Especially other animal types. Though, oddly enough, the jukebox went silent. Michelle leaned back into her chair to look, and shrugged. Well, that was a little bit less noise for her to worry about. However, Michelle's attention briefly fell onto the Nightingale for a moment. The girl was strangely silent - no, no, she wasn't talking about how she never bloody talked, but Michelle just couldn't hear her. Like, she couldn't even hear her heartbeat. But, strangely enough, could smell her just fine. It has to be the work of her power. She would have asked, but looks like the little Nightingale was mysterious as the dark side of the moon.

Eh. Nothing big. Michelle will leave the Nightingale alone. Time for her to share her own stories! "You best believe some crazy shit goes on in Verthaven." Michelle took a moment to pause in order to down some more Hennessy. Damn, she loved this stuff, but it could never give her that buzz. "There was this Fiend terrorizing Chinatown a few months back, and they sent me to go stop him. So I track him down to this apartment, aaaaaaaaaand, I'm staring him down, pointing a taser at him, telling him to freeze and all that jazz... His fists turn into magma, and he screams, quote on quote, "step aside bitches, the Master Fister has arrived" then goes on this giant ass rant about how he fists women with the full heat and intensity of magma, and how I was next." Michelle paused for a moment, to start laughing. "And I was standing there, frozen, because I was like "what". Then he tells me to bend over his "super duper special fisting table". I shot him in the face with a taser and he dropped cold. I slapped a collar on him, and went home to contemplate my life choices." Michelle started laughing again.

"Because, you know, I joined NEST to put my powers to good use, to help people... And I end up fighting pyromaniac sex freaks."

@Mr Allen J@Maxx@He Who Walks Behind

---

“You two just ran into all the fucking cartoon villains, didn’t ya?” Carl piped up, after Michelle had finished her story. “Heh. I got one. Story, from out east. Not as funny but uh… eh, if we’re all sharin’.” He took one more sip of his drink to finish off, and he began. “Get ready, this is a long one.”

“When I was doing a few turns in Idaho, there was a call made from a police department somewhere in Wyoming. Forget the name of the place, it was pretty out of nowhere. They issued a report to NEST because they were convinced something was up in one of their nowhere-towns that would be best handled by a meta or two. And seeing as jack shit was happening in Idaho, I was selected for the detachment op. Just me and a group of five other agents, all humans. Lenny, Powell, Justin, Ellaine, and Catherine. We get to the report location and it’s literally out in nowhere. Cornfields and grassy plains all over. Real farm country, but there were a decent number of folks around.”

“Anyway, people around there were mixed about us showing up. Some of the kids were interested in what we were up to, older folks just wanted us to do our thing and leave. We start asking around and sure enough, we get told some folks are missing, plus a lot of pets and cattle. At first, myself and the team were pretty confident it wasn’t a meta at work because, I mean, since when does a nowhere-town get metas? But we still had to figure the thing out nonetheless so, we start running forensics, collecting more witness accounts, the boring stuff. Eventually things start coming up showing that whatever was pulling this shit weren’t no human, and certainly weren’t no random animals. We end up in this rundown barn that was further away from the concentration, and we got there at night.”

“I should have probably mentioned before that some of the older folks were, uh… creepy. As in some Twilight Zone or Children of the Corn bullshit. They stared at us whenever they were around, lookin’ all weird like cannibals or something. Turns out we weren’t far off. This barn, it had a pretty big basement, and the weird folks were using it as a little hideout for their cult. They… had this kid chained up down there. Early teens, I think. She was definitely a meta, super-system. She just straight up looked like some kind of chupacabra on steroids when she shifted. The cultists were letting her run free to snatch up anything with a heartbeat and bring it back to the barn. They’d let her eat the bodies and then… they would eat her shit. Like they’d churn it with other stuff and… nevermind, details aren’t necessary.”

“Things didn’t end up so great. There were a lot of folks and they weren’t afraid to go up against a team of NEST agents. They had quite their own stash of guns too. They let the girl loose and she chased half of us out of the house, myself included. Lenny, Ellaine, and Justin worked their way through the house and took down the cultists, while the rest of us dealt with the girl out in the nearby cornfield. When it’s late at night and all you’ve got are flashlights on your guns… that shit’s unsettling, to say the least. It didn’t take long for Powell and Catherine to end up dead, the girl… probably knew it was better to take out the normies first. She starts huntin’ me down and I decided my rifle’s not gonna cut it. So I uh… I get naked, in the dark, in the middle of a cornfield, and I just start flashing Hans-Pacer – that’s a pretty strong calming agent – and just wait for her to charge me. Guess it’s a good thing I glow in the dark ‘cause she came runnin’, fell flat on her face once she got close enough. I get redressed and bag her.”

“Morning comes around and we have one knocked out meta, three dead agents, and a house full of mixed-status cultists. NEST says the examinations showed the cultists had the girl, Megan Waller, chained up since she was a kid. Brainwashed to high hell. The uh… full details, about their agenda, is pretty sick so… not gonna divulge, if that’s alright. I get back to Idaho after the wrap-up and take a break for a while. Never going back to Wyoming again.”

He was staring at his empty glass.

“So uh… yeah. That’s the most of it. Sorry if I uh… killed the mood. I don’t got any funny ones.”

---

---

Aiden continued to chew his snacks as Taylor and one of the other girls yelled at him, the grin never leaving his face. Somewhere in his mind, he was being an a complete asshole, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care during this moment in time. A part of him even found their anger to be somewhat amusing even, in the way people find it funny when a tiny dog starts barking at you. Their words were about as meaningful to him as a tiny dogs barking, just not as mind numbingly annoying, though they were harder to shut up. The thought brought a slight chuckle from him before he decided to respond, first to Taylor, than the girl who was missing an arm, then to the loud mouth.

“You’re right, I don’t know you, but I’m free to form any idea in my head about you from what I’ve seen and heard. If you have a problem with that, then do something about it and change my mind, cause at least I had the courtesy to tell you straight to your face. And if you’re going to go to the trouble of verbally insulting me, at least do it in English so I can understand what the hell you’re saying, unless you’re afraid of a little retaliation.” As he spoke, Taylor would notice a bit of a warmth beginning to radiate off of him, not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. His eyes were also beginning to slowly shift from their light, icy blue, into a slightly luminescent red, and the scale-like markings on his neck and lower face would begin to spread up his face, though it was a slow and barely noticeable progression.

His eyes would then shift over to Inaje, the look in his eyes being very predatory in the face of weak prey. For a split-second, Aiden was consumed by predatory instinct, his body tensing up as if he was about to pounce, but he quickly regained his senses by sheer force of will, looking away from the girl before he lost control of himself. “True, she did take care of that idiot, but it wasn’t like the loud-mouth over here needed it. From what I can tell, she was about to deck the guy with that water of hers, but if she hadn’t been a meta, it would’ve been a good deed.” Aiden took a moment to consider something, and whether or not he should tell these people, but decided why the hell not. “To be honest, I was about to take the guy down myself, but for . . . less than noble reasons. As you can see, I’m a bestial-type Meta, and with that distinction comes these annoying things known as predatory instincts, of which I’ve little to no control over. When I saw that guy running away, picking up the subtle scents of fear that only a predator can truly detect, I was a split second away from hunting the guy down. So this girl did a lot more good than she realized, know that I think about, cause if she hadn’t have intervened, your little bag snatcher would be in a lot worse shape than he is know and I’d be in trouble with NEST again.”

That would’ve made it the third attack this month, and the only reason he wasn’t already in jail because of it is because he had technically been making a ‘citizen’s arrest’ when he apprehended the occasional purse snatcher and pickpocket on his walks. Just the thought of NEST made him paranoid, as he couldn’t help but look behind him as if he was expecting an agent to appear behind just by speaking their name. After that little episode of paranoia, he finally turned his attention to the loud mouth, who was to him the most bothersome out of the whole bunch, especially with her insults. With a face like his, he had heard a lot worse, especially from those fuckin’ Pure-supporters. Besides that, he could never really get into World of Warcraft, he was more of a MOBA kinda guy, so his main source of long sleepless nights in front of a computer was League of Legends and Smite. Thus, her insult had no effect on him besides making him snicker a little. “If you want to be specific, I came from my dorm room at Academy 12, getting in my daily exercise for the day. As for backing off, I’d really like to see you fucking make me. If you can, that is?” Out of everyone here, this one was the closest to getting mauled. Not because he wanted, quite the opposite, but because she was challenging him the most, both with her words and her actions. Every cell in his body was pushing him, screaming at him to shift into his halfling state and show this girl her place in the food chain, and he was having a rather hard time keeping it in check. If this went on for much longer, he was more than likely going to lose it, but he couldn’t just walk away. That be showing weakness, and right now, that was the worst thing he could ever imagine doing.

@Maxx
@Mr Allen J
@ToadRopes

---

---

“Lihua, no need for such formalities outside the office, please, just call me Alek if you will. As for food, I’d love to try some of the local flavor around here, as I don’t usually come this way. I had a delivery to make for my shop, a custom necklace for the client’s grandmother, made with blue diamonds and topaz, wrapped in a beautiful silver casing. It took me a couple days to get it just right, but in the end, I think it was on of my finest works.” Alek spoke with as much pride about his side job as he did for his work with NEST as he followed Lihua down the street, his colors changing to a bright gold as he did so. Turning to Lihua, he remembered that she had a daughter as well, though the child’s name escaped him at the moment. “Hey, would there happen to be any celebr-.”

Alek began, but was caught off guard by his fellow agents question, though he really shouldn’t have been. The Fiend attack on Festival was all anyone had been talking about. His opinion on the matter would be seen before it was heard, as his hair and eyes became a deep, dark red color. “I feel that it was despicable and could’ve been avoided if NEST had taken the Fiends more seriously. They think that just because their forces are made up off drugged up nobodies that they aren’t a big threat, but to me that was what made them more so. They have no rhyme, no reason, no clear motives for what they do and why they kill. If I could ever get my hands on this Khan . . .” He let the statement hang in the air, his hands clenched into fist for a sometime before he took a calming breathe. His color returned to it’s neutral, lighter red coloring as temper faded away. Once he had calmed down enough that he could trust himself to speak, he continued. “Anyway, I believe that the entire situation was poorly handled, but at least now NEST is going to do something about it. A pity that it had to come at the cost of 50 peoples lives.”

Alek let out a sigh, thinking to his own daughter, who was turning 15 this year. Luckily, she hadn’t been anywhere near the fighting. He would’ve been there as well if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d been assigned to another part of the country to deal with some Meta-human terroist cell in Nebraska. They were untrained, but had some powerhouses that could cause a lot of damage if left unchecked. He’d taken two of them out, but had to kill the last one. He had to see some good men die on that mission, and it sickened him how he was able to so calmly live on with that. But that was the life he’d signed up for, the life he’d lived for over 20 years, and he wasn’t about to start complaining now. “I just hope we can stop them before they strike again, as well find out the truth behind those missing scientists and their equipment. Something about the whole thing just doesn’t smell right to me.”

---

_{@Maxx@Raijinslayer}

---

Not only did your mother fuck a dinosaur, but apparently you have autism, too. Meifeng thought to herself as she listen to King Creepo. Okay, there was something legitimately wrong with this guy. Like, he sounded like a fucking serial killer in the making. This guy was just weird. He's probably thinking about murdering them as they speak. This guy was wack! Meifeng wrapped her arms around her body as the area suddenly got a lot colder. Holy fuck, Meifeng immediately got the shivers. She wrapped her arms around her body to try to get warm. It had to be the work of Taylor, Meifeng noticed the snowflake in her hand was getting bigger. Hope you're ready to put that through his eye. She thought to herself. Aiden was now talking about how he would have handled the gym-bag snatcher. By apparently attacking him so badly that NEST would send him to the slammer. Oooooh, looks like King Creepo is trying to be King Edgy. And that wasn't even the kicker! He turned to her, and told her that he's from the Academy (Like anyone fucking cares.), and told her to make him leave. Now, THAT made Meifeng roll her eyes up into her head. Look here, Meifeng, so far, wasn't impressed by King Creepo even in the slightest. In fact, it made her realize something.

This guy ain't going anywhere.

And neither is she.

That means there's only one way this will go. And, more importantly, one way this will end. Part of her just wanted to turn away, but if this fucker goes to Academy 12, then they'll be seeing each other once the school year starts up again. Meifeng depressed her shoulder so the gym bag would easily slide off. She tossed it a few feet away and faced King Creepo with a stern facial expression. She took a few steps back - not out of fear, just so this fucker has to get close to her - and let her hands rest at her sides. "Alright, Creep, you're not leaving, and I can tell you that I'm not leaving." Meifeng started off, and quickly activated her powers. Large amounts of water appeared out of Meifeng's hands and formed a large puddle at her feet, with the water reaching upwards to touch her hands - yet, if one was observant, they'd notice that the puddle formed around Meifeng. "So, let's just cut the shit, and get your asskicking out the way so I can continue enjoying this day at the beach. Unless you want to actually be smart and run off back to the Academy, before the medics are dragging your ass back there."

Looks like it's time for Meifeng to put that Academy training to good use. Hopefully Taylor will have her back here.

---

_@ToadRopes

---

Of course, things escalate rather than cool down. Jennifer knew this guy was trouble, but why didn't they just walk away? There was no reason to even talk to this guy from the way he talks, Jennifer could tell he was a sociopath or something. She took a few steps back, and kept her eyes on Aiden. Pride and aggression runs high here. Nobody wanted to just walk away, and Meifeng was just adding fuel to the fire (Despite having such blatant control over water)... Which is why Meifeng gets into these problems in the first place. Jenny knew that trying to talk her - or anyone - down at this point would be pointless. Every instinct in her body was telling her to run away, but she didn't want to abandon her friends. If things went too far, she might be the only person capable of stopping it. Stopping this from becoming a bloodbath. Ratchet came back and asked Jen about the Pure she and Meifeng mentioned. At this point, Jennifer started biting her fingernails. Her vision jumped from Ratchet, to Meifeng and Aiden, and back to Ratchet. She took a few steps back, with her eyes wide, and tightly wrapped her arms around her once the cold hit her pale skin. She was honestly surprised Ratchet didn't know who the Pure are. Anyone who knows of NEST, and Metahumans, has to know about the Pure. "T-th-the P-Pu-Pure are..." Jennifer was stuttering so much that nobody could understand her. So she just went "screw it" and just cut to the case. "... T-th-they kill Metahumans."

Meifeng dropped her water, and it was way too cold in here. Things were spiraling out of control, and Jennifer just can't handle it. She moved over to Ratchet, and put her hands on the tall girl's shoulders. "Look, Ratchet, we gotta go."

Everything was just too much for her.

---

_{@Raijinslayer}

---

"Isn't it obvious?" Lihua looked back at Alek as she stopped. "The Fiends are just expendable puppets of another group no one even knows of yet." She put her fingers on the sides of her glasses and adjusted them. "All eyes are on the Fiends, and they get taken down while the men behind them get to do whatever they please. Fortunately, they assigned me to investigate." Lihua paused for a moment to sigh. She had a few... ideas, as to who could be behind it. But really, that brought up the question of who she should really be investigating. The ISD, or NEST. Irrelevant, she figured that she should get some food. Lihua started walking again. "I'll probably be working late into the night trying to get to the bottom of this... I think I'll take a day off tomorrow though. Spend some time with my daughters." Lihua casually said.

Eventually, they stepped inside Paradise Oriental, and the first thing that met their eyes was the fancy looking dark-brown wooden frame. Along with tables and various people far as the eye can see. It was dimly lit, which built a distinct atmosphere. The first thing that met their noses was the strong aroma of food being cooked. Shortly enough a waitress directed them to the first available tables by the windows.

"What would you like?" The Waitress asked.

"I'd like the spicy noodles, please."[/color] Lihua said.

"And you, sir?" The Waitress turned to Alek.

@Mr Allen J @Maxx @Raijinslayer

---

...Okay. How's that for a straight answer?

"Oh. Wow." Ratchet said, exhaling. Shit, she thought. She decided not to touch the somewhat unpleasant subject for a while.

She turned her attention back to Meifeng and Aiden. "Um, Meifeng, you just... kick Garchomp's ass for a little bit and catch up with us later," Ratchet said awkwardly. "I'm just going to get Jenny safely out of here, 'kay?" Her eyes darted over to a parked bicycle leaning against a brick wall. Of course, Ratchet thought, Stealth Rock support always helps.

She turned right around, but secretly pulled her left arm in front of her and ripped the key. The wheel whizzed silently as Ratchet concentrated on the bicycle behind her. The bike wobbled, then abruptly lurched into Aiden's back. Likely she was just throwing gasoline onto the fire, but she did so covertly and without any intent of letting Aiden know that she was responsible for the bicycle. Throwing a bike at someone from behind required a bit more effort on her part, but not by that much.

Ratchet didn't like to fight; neither did she like turning away from folks who gave them fightin' words. But the bicycle thing gave her a bit of reassurance. (She didn't say a word about the bicycle, however.)

"I haven't a doubt that Meifeng's going to be fine," Ratchet said, looking down at Jen. "She looks like she plays pretty rough. And Play Rough is a move that's super-effective against the Dragon type in Pokémon." She smirked at Jen, hoping that she'd get the reference.

She stopped, then turned around, craning her neck to see if her aunt's moped was still there. Thankfully, it still was, and she had the key in her overalls pocket.

She turned to Jen. "You want to wait for Meifeng?" she asked. "We can wait for her to finish whipping Mushu's booty if you want."

Her iPhone buzzed. She checked the phone; it was a text from Kate. You enjoying your beach day?

Friend getting into a fight, Ratchet texted back. Like WTF.

---

---

"As for backing off, I’d really like to see you fucking make me. If you can, that is?"

That pushed Taylor over the edge. She clenched her fists and the snowflake dropped to the floor. Instead of shattering, however, it transformed into snow and began to swirl around Taylor's feet. The other water bottles in Taylor's bag then bursted and joined it, causing her amount of available ice to increase. She pulled as much water from the air as possible as quickly as she could and borrowed some from Meifeng's seemingly unlimited supply of water. Now knowing that she had enough resources, Taylor stomped as hard as she could. A thin layer of ice spread out twenty feet in every direction, coating any solid object that it touched (it did not, however, freeze Meifeng's pool). People all around began to back away as they could feel a meta fight about to begin. Some took out cameras and iPhones, videotaping it to put on Instagram. At Taylor's command, a thick palisade of ice shot forth from the ground, its razor-sharp edge stopping close enough to Aiden's throat that he could feel the point just above his scales. It did not touch him, however. If she could, she'd write this off as self-defense. Behind herself, Taylor caused six daggers of ice to form, all of them pointing towards Aiden.

"Yes, get her out of here if you'd like," Taylor said behind her. "Meet us at the piers in five minutes." She turned to Aiden.

"You have two choices," Taylor said to him. "You get your scaly ass out of here, or you freeze to death. Which would you prefer?" Taylor slid her flip flops off, allowing her bare feet to touch the ice. It was cold as God-knows what, but it would prevent the ice from melting, giving her a definite advantage in combat. The teachers at Academy 218 had taught her well. Control the battlefield, and you control the battle.

---

---

Carole Elias was renowned for her ability to completely ignore entire situations that were right in front of her nose. In the past, she had completely ignored the fact that Academy 218 was being attacked by terrorists and took the time that everyone was away to figure out how much more closet space she'd get if she kicked Taylor out. Now, she was ignoring a fight between three rather powerful metahumans whilst flirting with an attractive boy named Brayden. This is what she had learned:

-Brayden was seventeen
-Brayden was cute with really good hair
-Brayden had very pretty eyes
-Brayden also had a very pretty voice. She wasn't sure exactly what he said, though. That stuff was never important
-Brayden liked her for her personality and extrovertedness, not for the fact that the more they talked, the more Carole puffed out her chest to make her large breasts even that much more fantastic.

Carole turned around finally when a very cold breeze touched her shoulder. She saw quite a standoff. Taylor had her icicles out, meaning there was about to be a fight, and there was a water manipulator with her. She looked at the guy. He didn't seem that strong. Hopefully NEST didn't show up anytime soon. Taylor would be fine, though. Carole was certain that anything her friend couldn't take, she couldn't help her with. She turned back around.

"Woah," the boy said "There's about to be one hell of a throwdown."

"Yeah, yeah," Carole said. "I see metahumans fight all the time." Oh God, she was losing him. Carole thought about how to get his attention back. She sat back on a table, placing her hands behind her, and casually tossed her hair with one hand. She began to speak in a much more sultry voice.

"So Brayden," she said "I'm having a party tonight at my penthouse. Maybe you should come. It'll be fun." She ran her fingers gently across his chest. That got his attention.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "I'll be there. Damn, this fight is going to be off the hook!" He took his phone out. "This is what people really come to Verthaven for. They come to see these freaks beat each other up!" She was losing him. Fucking Taylor! She always stole the show! She had more boyfriends than Carole did back at the Academy, and she always attracted more attention than she did by showing off her stupid powers! This one wasn't going to get away from her, though. Not this time. Not again. Carole took a few steps forward and leaned her head on the boy's shoulder, as if looking at his camera.

"Hey," she said. "You know, I really like you. How about we, um, get out of here and go do something else. She placed one of her hands on his hip.

She got his attention again.

---

---

"Well fuck," Sam said, drinking the end of his second beer. He nodded to the bartender, and he brought Sam a third beer. This was a fine amount of alcohol, especially considering that he was off-duty. Michelle's story had made him roll with laughter, but Carl's sobered him up a bit. He was reminded of exactly how dangerous this job could be. He sighed, and the bar counter became momentarily silent. At this point, the bar was beginning to fill up with more people, some NEST agents and some citizens just off of work. As no one else spoke, Sam figured it was his turn to tell another story.

"Oh, I've got a good one," Sam said. "Back in Mendel, there was this meta who was known by the name Titus MacArthur who acted as an enforcer for the Fiends." Condor looked down at his beer and tried to prevent himself from bursting out into laughter. "Now this guy was big. Like, really big. Probably a tad taller than Michelle and at least five hundred pounds. Now Titus was a really belligerent guy, and so the Skulls would have him run down people who owed them payment money and beat the tar out of them. He was strong, like, strong enough to lift a train car, and he had regeneration that made wolverine look like a sickly orphan.

"But this guy was, how do I put it gently, an idiot. My god, he was dumb. But this guy had killed a few people so NEST decided to send CONDOR and I to go take him out. We find him in an alley, straight running down a guy who owed the Fiends some money. We jump out, start shooting him. Doesn't do shit. We might've well been shooting him with beebees. Guy gets all pissed off, starts chasing us. Seeing that a literal giant was chasing us, we move our asses, jump over CONDOR's car, and make a break for the other side of the street. But dumbass is paying so little attention to his surroundings that he trips over a fucking car and landed on his face in the road. Like, he tripped over a damn Crown Victoria. Car was crushed, but he literally took himself out. We chained him to a flatbed and shipped him down to the prison. He's still there, the damn idiot. Tried escaping a few times, every time he does something so monumentally dumb that they catch him again effortlessly." As he spoke, Sam noticed Nightingale's eyes on him. She had such beautiful eyes. Shame he was married.

---

---

The monster attacked, and Plague and his troops responded. The Fiend mook was killed effortlessly. The monster broke his neck and then tore him clean into pieces, throwing his leg at the retreating crowd. That drew some muffled screams from the group, Plague included. It tossed Talia, sending her flying against the wall and, as Plague correctly predicted, breaking her arm in two places, as well as bruising her right side pretty badly. Seeing no alternative, the group of Fiends ran away, running down the tunnels and finding the nearest grate to enter the rest of the sewer system. Byon carried Talia after a while, as she was lagging behind. They came to a grate, and using his last RPG Daniel blew a hole in it. They climbed through and got to the city's main sewer lines.

They walked across the maintenance paths on the side of the tunnels, being sure to stay away from the diseased sewer water. Every once in a while, Plague would stop and spread some of his sweat on the walls. If investigators followed them, he could infect them. He wasn't worried about fingerprints. He was already one of the six most-wanted people in Verthaven. Roark kept his eyes on the water with his gun at the ready. He had heard stories about these tunnels containing giant sewer monsters, and he wasn't convinced that the red behemoth was the only one. At one point, he swore he saw the head of a salamander staring up at him, but he convinced himself that it was his imagination. Daniel walked at the front of the group, his flashlight lighting the way. He was always the one who came prepared for things like these. The pipes were narrow here, and they absolutely reeked. Plague assumed these were the pipes spanning the channel between Estella Isle and Isabella Isle.

Soon, the group arrived in a wider set of tunnels, which Plague assumed was Knightdale Rows. This was now a rather hairy situation. NEST Headquarters and Academy 12 were both on Estella Isle, and both would be under tight security at a time like this. If they got caught by NEST agents, they'd be in deep trouble. Plague scoured his mental map of Verthaven. There was only one place on this island where they could be safe. He sighed.

"Follow me," he said. He took the flashlight from Daniel and led the way.

s

---

---

Walking through the twist of alleys towards china town Martin’s ears pricked at the sound of low conversation round the next turn. Looking round the corner he saw two men at a sort of intersection Standing around. Waiting. Probably for some poor drunk bastard to come round the corner. They looked shifty and not in a suspicious way. More like they were jonesing for a fix. Fiends perhaps?

Maybe he’d find out soon, he could hear footsteps coming down the alley. The trap was about to be sprung.

A Twenty something girl walked into view apparently not noticing or not caring the men moving to bar the way. Another man followed behind. Well, it was decided then. They started talking but Martin didn’t really care what they were saying. He pulled the sleeves and hood of his thermals out and checked his pistol was loaded and the safety on in the holster.

"Move," Lynn said, coming to a stop. She kept one hand high on the strap of her backpack, letting the other fall to her waist. Her fingers started dancing and curling, ready to roll up into a hard-knuckled fist. She slid one strap off her back, ready to drop it or swing it around if she had to. The two turned and eyed her-then eyed somethig behind her. Lynn's eyes narrowed, a couple years of hard living letting her feel the eyes of the third man in-between her shoulder blades. "Fine. We'll do it this way."

Walking swiftly Martin approached the two fucks in front careful not to disturb the assorted crap littering the alley. As he got close the nearest one turned just as Martin stepped in squaring his shoulders and threw a right jab.

Lynn rolled to the side as some stranger-who, hey, if homeboy wanted to kick some ass on Lynn's behalf, she was not about to object-started taking on both of the thugs by himself. She was caught entirely off-guard-long enough for a second, maybe two to pass before the heavy footsteps of the third assailant snapped her back to attention. Lynn spun, half-crouching and dropping her center of gravity even further. The man had put on too much momentum to come to a stop now, but if he had been able to, he might've done so-were that girl's eyes...glowing? And her hair had been blonde not five seconds ago, now it was-

“Who thefu-GURK” the punk commented as he fell to the ground clutching his throat. The other goon reached for something at his waistband but a kick to the gut doubled him over. The axe kick to the back of the head left him sprawling on the ground bleeding. Turning to the third goon Martin saw he’d already been dealt with. Lynn stood over him, which is something Lynn very rarely gets to do. She knelt down and delivered another rabbit punch to the man's kidneys, the acrid smell of burning fabric rolling off where her knuckles made impact. Lynn patted him down, liberating him of his wallet and switchblade. This process was accompanied by an extremely colorful description of the man's paternity, maternity, and sexual orientation.

“Well that’s a pleasant surprise” Martin said as he kicked the first goon in the head as he started to struggle up. Kneeling to tie the punks to alley fixtures he continued “here I was all set to offer you a lift home with advice to keep to the streets, heh.” Patting the goons down he found a couple pistols and a half decent knife.

"Lift home? Jesus, Batman, don't they tell you not to pick up shady-looking hitchhikers where you're from?" It was, fun fact, illegal to pick up hitchhikers in California, but this rule had never really applied to Lynn much. She was too young and small and not gaudily dressed enough to be taken for a hooker, and any others who were interested in a quick generally decided otherwise when they had more than a line or two of dialogue with her. Rough around the edges was our Lynn.

Standing he tuned to look at the girl. She weren’t no sight for sore eyes but doing better than plenty Martin had seen. Seemed younger than he first thought too. Sharp eyes, too thin and scars from hard won victories or at least well earned defeats. Hmmmm. “The offer of a lift is still open but I think you might be able to help me out. See I’m just back in town after being away for about two decades. I could use some uh, direction. So how about this, you help me out and I’ll get you whatever supplies you need? Within reason.”

Lynn frowned, standing up as she tucked away her recently-acquired goodies. The man below her groaned and Lynn kicked him in the ribs to shut him up. Generally was a poor idea to stay at the scene of a fight, but Batman was throwing out some real interesting bait. Enough to make Lynn bite. This felt like a set-up-this guy knew how to handle himself, that was for damn sure. And a seeming guardian angel swoops down to save her not twenty-four hours after metas turn the Festival into Verthaven's biggest clusterfuck? Lynn was smart enough to turn down such a deal.

Normally.

Her back throbbed with pain and her stomach had an empty sort of growl to it. As the adrenaline rush petered out, that backpack weighed twice as heavy on her shoulders. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. I'm going to get taken in by this ISD sting operation fucker, aren't I? "...Yeah...yeah that could, work. I'm good at giving directions." She eyed Martin's piece-well, one of them. He'd taken a couple off the hood rats. Lynn knew how to handle a gun, roughly speaking. "But I just want to be clear-if you try and pull some shit on me, if you're NEST or ISD or the Cross or anything like that, I'm a hell of a lot tougher than these pussies." One of the men on the ground started to moan, as if to say something, and Lynn whipped around, hair and eyes glowing faintly for a moment. "I will fucking end you." She turned back to Martin, calm. "Yeah. I'll..." she paused. This is a stupid idea. This is dumb. This is how you die, Lynn.

But in a way, this consoled her. She figured death was coming at some point. Eh. Might as well go out on a full stomach. "Oh, fine, I'll take a ride from a stranger. Not the dumbest thing I've done this week. Lead the way."

---

_@ToadRopes

---

Yeah... yeah... Pokemon. Just distract herself from her best friend about to go head to head with a sociopath. She didn't know. Part of her wanted to go back and drag Meifeng off, but she felt better with Ratchet. She seemed to be less keen on fighting Aiden, and thus, she felt a bit more comfortable with her. Though, what caught her attention was a bike suddenly breaking off it's chain and flying square at Aiden. She jolted, and her eyes were wide. Jennifer quickly looked around for a perpetrator. ... A Metahuman had to be behind that. She thought to herself. With the amount of Metahumans in this city, she wondered just who in this crowd could have been behind it. Though, she was more concerned about her friend than anything. Ratchet tried to reassure her, but there was that welling feeling in her gut that this was about to get a lot uglier. "I... hope she's fine. I... just don't like violence. Especially for stupid reasons. Ugh." Jennifer shook her head. "We could have avoided all this if we just turned around and walked away...." Yeah, but who listens to Jennifer? It seems Meifeng and company are far more concerned with proving a point than, say, worrying about the ramifications of their actions. If NEST gets involved, or someone gets hurt in the crossfire, Meifeng might get into some real trouble. Worst of all, Meifeng never told her she was a metahuman.

"... but, let's wait for Meifeng, this doesn't feel right...."

---

_{@Maxx@SepticGentleman@He Who Walks Behind}

---

The urge to roll her eyes was so great that Michelle just couldn't resist it. That Carl guy. Michelle downed some more Hennessy, and didn't say a word. Because of Carl, the group went from fun stories to the horrors of the job! Well, if Carl had a clue, he'd realize that they're trying to get away from that, just for a second. Eh. No problem, Sam got it - thus, he talked about a story where he was back in Mendel, fucking up some Skulls. He apparently fought a giant Skull with super strength - that took himself out. She laughed for a bit - but went silent once she noticed, from his stories, that Sam, and his KINGFISHERS, gets out-muscled a lot. Where Michelle can fight those who rely on brute strength with ease, but has trouble with some of the trickier powers. She saw a bit of a contrast between them. Though, before she could even bring that up, little miss mysterious walked out, and came back in a few minutes later with a communicator. Michelle perked up, as there was mentions of an impending fight by the Crystal Shores between some Metahumans.

Ooooooooh boy... This has to be the work of some kids. Michelle has seen it a thousand times before. She stood straight up, and quickly downed what was left of her alcohol. She wiped her mouth, and shown a large teeth-baring grin. She slammed the (now empty) bottle on the table. "You KINGFISHERS ready what NEST is really about?" Michelle asked. It was pretty obvious who she was asking. "Probably just some kids who don't know how to act - none of you even have to do anything; all I have to do is walk up and they'll know they fucked up." Michelle was referencing her size, and how intimidating she was to normal people - even Metahumans. She took a few steps back, and started walking towards the door. She raised a finger towards the bartender, and shouted, "Give those wings I ordered to someone else. NEST tab!"

Michelle quickly walked out the door, and walked over to her black Humvee. She choose that truck because she needed something big. There's no way she'll stuff herself into some tiny sedan. She pulled out the keys, and pressed the unlock button, and climbed inside. The others have their own rides, and if Carl wants to hitch a ride with her, she would push him out while she's driving. Michelle turned the ignition... and turned on the radio....



... And she was off, Michelle hit the gas pedal and went straight for the beach. She, and the rest of NEST, would be there in no time.

---

_{@He Who Walks Behind}

---

Getting slapped on the ass was unexpected (and unappreciated, given all the other times people put their hands on her ass without her consent). Maxine put her hands on her behind, and quickly realized what happened. She went from surprised, to giggling. "Hehe... thanks sister." Maxine said, sarcastic. Lynn was already walking off, and Maxine said to her, "I'll give you a call if I come up with anything too." At least Maxine gained her first alley in all of them. Could they pull a score this big on the Fiends alone? Probably not. At best Lynn's tiny ass could make a good meatshield. Now, that isn't to say that Maxine is going to stop here. She'd rather take the easy route out of this city, than sit on another corner. And it'll only be a matter of time before another incident pops up like that one in Knightdale Rows.

Only next time, she won't dodge in time.

Maxine shook her head - trying to get those thoughts out of her head. You'll make it out alive, Maxine. You're too tough for that. Maxine thought to herself, as she pushed the door open to the Kushi Bar.

---

@He Who Walks Behind
@Mr Allen J

---

Sam nodded quietly to Nightingale and got up from his seat. He still had about half of a beer left, but there was a battle to be fought. He looked down at his communicator and saw the message. Meta fight at the boardwalk. From the sounds of it, it wasn't too serious, but Sam could never be sure. Shrugging, he slapped a twenty on the counter and left the bar. By a happy coincidence, Sam's parking permit had yet to be accepted, and so he had parallel parked along the street. His car was a black 2013 Chevy Silverado. With police lights under the hood and a big ol' ram bar on the front, the car practically screamed "cop".

Sam, Condor, and Nightingale got in the car. Condor, who had drank the least of the three, drove while Sam sat shotgun and Nightingale sat in the back. Sam sighed and put his aviators on as Condor pulled out of the space. When a few asshole drives tried to cut him off, he flashed the lights and blared the car's siren. That got them to move right out of the way. Nightingale began to change into different clothes. Sam couldn't help but take a peek or two.

"Hopefully this is just a bunch of stupid teenagers," Sam said. "I beat the tar out of enough people yesterday."

---

---

In the middle of a street in the northeastern area of Knightdale Rows, a manhole cover popped off and quietly slid to the side. One by one, the Fiends crawled out into the street, Roark carrying the injured Talia. Plague was the last to come up, and as he stood in the sunlight he looked around to get his bearings. Luckily, there were no people around to see him and no cars to drive past. This was the Ghost Town, an abandoned area of Knightdale Rows where no one was permitted to go. At least temporarily, this would be a safe haven for Plague and his men.

They made their way to a nearby office building and, seeing that the elevator wasn't functional, took the stairs to the fourth floor. They entered a large office space with rows of cubicles all around. It smelled of mold and rats. Cobwebs stretched between corners of the cubicles, and the windows were covered in a thin layer of grime. Everything was coated in a layer of dust. Plague found a table in an adjoining copy room and tossed all of the paper onto the floor. He and Daniel dragged it into the open, and Roark laid the wounded Talia on it. Byon, meanwhile, searched the floor. He returned a minute or so later.

"Floor is empty, sir," he said. "No one but us."

"Good," Plague replied. "Keep patrolling the area. We don't want anyone walking in on us. We may be staying here a while." Byon nodded and sped off. Daniel pulled up a few rolling office chairs. Talia took her shirt off so Plague could examine the wound. Her entire right side was bruised badly, and her radius was fractured. From what he could tell, she didn't have any broken ribs. If worst came to worst, he'd get someone to take her to the hospital. She wasn't a known member of the Fiends, so she'd get ample care.

Daniel and Roark, meanwhile, looked around the room for supplies. They searched tables, turned desks inside out, and broke into closets. They found little. Any food had been ravaged by rats and mice, and the water was filthy. On one of the walls, Roark found a first-aid kit containing a bottle of Advil, and Daniel found some cleaning supplies that he could turn into a bomb on the next floor up. It became obvious that the only way they could stay here would be for them to make it into Knightdale and buy supplies.

Plague used some ace bandages in the first aid kit to make a sling for Talia's arm (it wasn't a total fracture) and she took some Advil to deal with the pain. She would be down for the count for some time though, Plague feared.

"I have an idea," Plague said. "I think I'll be setting up a permanent base in this area. The Fiends do not have enough of a presence on Isabella Isle. This way, we may be able to eventually spy on NEST. It will be an excellent strategic advantage should we figure out a way to move between the area and the outside unseen. In the meanwhile, search the building. See if there's any supplies we can use, and see if there's a way into the sewers from here. Kill anyone who you find." Daniel and Roark nodded. Byon joined them as they walked down the steps towards the bottom of the building. Plague walked towards the windows and surveyed the land below him. This wouldn't be a bad place to setup his new digs. This way, Khan would finally see how capable and useful he could be when not in the shadows.

---

Carl sat there, at the bar, alone with a plate of wings and few glasses, not all of them empty. He watched the others vacate the bar to go and handle this Crystal Shores situation. The bartender, Hudson, crossed his arms and leaned forward a bit. “You gonna join ‘em?”

“Nah.” Carl replied, “I have a feeling it’s gonna be a shit-show. They can handle it, I ain’t interested.”

“Isn’t that shirking duty?”

“They didn’t ask for me by name, did they?” Carl said, turning his head. “I’m not cut out for the big fights. Not with top kinds of metas. And how many do you think are about to be on that beach?” He leaned over and snagged one of the wings left behind. “I’m good for now. Besides, got ops tomorrow on the Fiends, that’s enough for me.”

“Alright.” Hudson replied, “What about soccer practice?”

“Same time. I’ll bring like… two kids.” He pulled the plate of wings over and piped up, “’Nother Shock Top, please.”

---

---

“Good, though before we go.” Martin takes both pistols, checking and replacing the safety on both flips them grip out in his hands toward the girl. “If you want em their yours. Both nine millimetre and pretty good condition, I’d say stolen. They’ll fence for a few bucks if nothing else.”

Lynn was very rarely caught entirely off-guard. Martin intervening in the fight had been...surprising, but not completely shocking. This fell into the latter category. If...if he was a narc, then this was...unprecedented. Could they do that? Lynn took the handguns and stared at them for a moment, swiveling them around (demonstrating rather abysmal gun safety and getting a raised eyebrow from Martin) to look at the serial numbers. Filed off. If he was a cop, he was walking a very, very grey line.

Lynn liked that. She tucked both of the handguns into her backpack rather quickly and followed after Martin, her curiosity well and truly piqued.

“Before we go, do you know who these punks are?” Martin was curious, they had a lot of firepower for junkies but they don’t fit most of the gangs round here. “I’d thought maybe Fiends”.

"Yeah, they, uh, could be Fiends. Didn't see any tats on 'em that said so, and they weren't wearing any shit that makes me think they're working for one of the lieutenants, but that doesn't mean shit. Fiends are about as organized as an orgy of blind men. I don't recognize 'em, though, to be honest. If they did they probably wouldn't have jumped us. Or tried to. I got a rep for..." Lynn paused, glancing down at her bloodied knuckles. "Being a little hot-headed."

“Well, that’s that regardless. Since you know the place best why don’t you show me the quickest way back, I’m on Julian Street.” Martin said meeting the girl’s stare with mirth in his eyes and a relaxed stance as he rolled his sleeves up under his shirt and tucked the hood into his vest.

"Julian Street? Huh. Those apartments?" Hope you're not on the ground floor. I broke into there a while back and stole some of the landlord's weed. Hope you can afford some steep-ass rent, Batman. "About three blocks south, just right up here." Lynn jogged after Martin, casting a few leary glances at the disoriented thugs behind them. They were slow to recover, and very wisely feigning unconsciousness until the two were well and truly clear of the place. Lynn was pretty sure they hadn't heard Martin mention where he lived, but figured even if they had, they weren't going to come knocking anytime soon.

“I’m Martin by the way” keeping pace Martin used the walk to consider how similar he probably was at her age. No parents to speak of, not so much of the state education and doing some fucked up shit to get by. Course the big difference would be the fucken Cross. Snorting he figured she was a fair bit smarter than him on that point alone.

Well, she figured the guy'd earned her name. "Lynn." It had been a long, long time since Lynn had done the proper introduction thing. When she spoke, her tongue felt rusty, the words coming slow and awkward. "Nice to meet you." She paused, her pride twisting her tongue even further. "And, um, thank you. That...yeah. Thanks." She didn't say any more, because gushing like a pussy was both gay and made you seem weak, neither of which Lynn was. Well, the gay thing was sorta up in the air, she was a bit too busy to worry about that kind of stuff.

“No problem Lynn.” Martin barely recognized the streets he walked though. Not that what the city was had changed but the whole thing seemed white washed. Like people were actually trying to make the place appear normal. Though the wash was running thin with all the commotion recently.

“Damn that was quick” Martin hadn’t even registered his building till he was almost inside. Cesar wasn’t at the desk which in hindsight was probably good though little dark eyes tracked the pair across the lobby. Lynn returned the stares with equal fury. They probably think we're going to fuck. Damn, I must be the tiredest looking hooker anybody's brought back home. And I know that one chick who has mono.

A considerable number of stairs later the door to 71 swung open. Lynn memorized every corner, every way out, the fire escapes, the floor, the room number. Such was secondhand nature. If she woke up to those fuckers kicking in the door, she wanted to know the first, second, and third fastest ways to get her skinny white ass out of there. Martin escaping was preferable, but not the highest on her list of priorities. A twinge of guilt rolled over her gut, but Lynn didn't let it bother her too much. Yeah, that was cold, but Verthaven was not very forgiving. “It’s been mine for less than a day but mi casa su casa.” Martin’s fastness sat as he’d left it. Lynn recognized the Spanish. She was halfway decent at Spanish, primarily profanities and business-related phrases. Deseas comprar mis drogas o no, puta gorda? Couch opposite the kitchenette with a table and two damn comfortable chairs between. Treadmill and rowing machine in against the far wall facing a TV. Nearby the workbench sat with bits and pieces spread across its surface. Tools arrayed across a back board in perfect condition. Grey plastic crates were scattered around on the floor stacked to chest height. Lynn let out a cat-call at the man's equipment. Dude wasn't loaded, per se, but certainly had money to burn. And he was organized, if he had all this set up in one day. Hm. She was getting a feel for Martin, but...well...the good news was that this place didn't look soundproofed, so if he tried any shit, the neighbors would hear. Those tools were a little worrisome. She didn't see anything that screamed "rape dungeon", so she continued to let her hunger override her common sense.

Walking in Martin threw his coat on the couch sending his holster with it. Lynn stared at him, looking for bulges under his clothes. If he was still packing, it was concealed real well. Cautiously, Lynn let her bag slip off her shoulders, keeping it close to the door. Looking out the window at the street he shrugged out his shirt and pulled off his vest. Fully revealing the undershirt he’d worn in the alley, white material, long sleeved with a hood. Getting rid of it into the pile on the couch he pulled his vest back on and the shirt over that.

“There’s some MREs in th- *growl* uhhh. I was going to get Chinese before I stumbled across our little friends. You know a good place that’ll deliver?” Martin said turning round

"Um, yeah, if you're cool giving 10% of your take-out bill to the Triads, there's this kick-ass place called Imperial Palace like, two blocks from here. I can help cover it." Thanks to that guy's wallet.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not hurting for cash. Whilst we’re waiting why don’t you bring me up to speed on the gangs. It’s been years since I had anything to do with any of em and the fiends weren’t shit when I left for Iraq.” He said watching her inspect his apartment with mutual candour.

Lynn didn't reply for a moment. She slipped off her red hoodie, folding it with the sort of meticulous care that Lynn didn't demonstrate frequently. She gently laid it on top of her bag and looked around Martin's crib, perusing his things. It wasn't entirely polite, but Lynn had always been somewhat lacking in that regard. She picked up a hammer off Martin's tool bench and rolled it over in her right hand, making the phoenixes on her arm twist and writhe. She laid it back down, trying to get it the way it was before but pretty sure she messed up. Eh, oh well. Lynn ran her hands through her hair, taking a breath or two to help force the last of the combat high out her system. Her hair had settled into a light red, and while it resisted its mistress' efforts, she eventually got it bound back in a ponytail. "I...no, hold up. I'm not telling you shit until I hear more from you. I can't figure out if you're the world's worst deep cover cop or the dumbest person I ever met. Did you get fucking shot in the head in Iraq? What..." Lynn turned, sizing over the apartment once more. Something this pristine could potentially be set up by, say, the police. The more realistic explanation for Lynn's suspicion was that it had been a very long time since someone had approached her with the respect and altruism that one affords people and not criminals. She stared at Martin, one hand real close to the blade in her pocket. "I want some answers first. I appreciate the help but I could've taken those fuckers myself, I don't owe you anything. I can dig a business partnership much as the next girl but....what the hell do you really want, man? This...you don't do shit like this unless you want something. No, unless you need something." Lynn walked closer, a solid foot and eighty pounds Martin's lesser but showing no hesitation. "You need something, Martin," Lynn emphasized his name, making clear her suspicions it was not, in fact, his real name. "I wanna know what 'fore I get dragged any further in this. I don't take candy or 9mms from strangers. This 'cause you pity me? Or you just need a scapegoat?" Heat rippled off the girl, something entirely unintentional-merely the result of questionable self-discipline.

Martin had figured the girl was meta from the burn on the punk she put down but this confirmed it. He could feel the sweat breaking out across his face and arms in seconds, seems like a lot of heat but the carpet was unsigned and the paper on the bench didn’t move or burn. Selective power maybe?

“What I need? I owe a debt that has to be paid.” Martin said as he walked around her to his coat and dropped his military ID on the table. “And I want to pay it by putting the hurt on the gangs.” Rummaging in a crate he pulled out a battle scared helmet and dropped it beside the ID. “I ran from this city once, all the way to the middle east. It was easier than facing the music but I’m back now and I can’t run anymore.”

“Still need more?” Walking to the wall Martin put his hand there and waited a few seconds. Pulling open the secret compartment he reached in and pulled the AN-94 assault rifle and placed it on the table beside the other things.

“Maybe you think I’m too trusting, taking too much of a risk. See I was an EOD for five years in Iraq. That means it was my job to lie next to bombs with a few inches between it and my face and defuse it. EODs can get killed by a stiff breeze. Risk is relative.” Taking a seat on the couch he put his booted feet up on the table before continuing.

“I don’t believe you’ll try and kill me so worst comes to worst I have to find a new place to set up. I don’t fear the reaper Lynn; I’m aware what my chances are against the gangs alone. I need all the help I can get. I won’t ask for more than you’re willing to give though. I wouldn’t expect you to dive into the line of fire with me. But I do need eyes on. I need to know where to hit and who needs to die first.”

“This ain’t charity its barter and I don’t intend to have anyone but me take the fall for what I do. And since cops don’t have Russian assault rifles in their walls I assume I’ve covered all the bases?” Looking her dead in the eye Martin leant back on the couch wondering what she would make of it all. Perhaps even after what he said he had been too trusting.

---

"I-Imani, is this really a good idea? I mean, with the attack yesterday and everything... don't you think this is a little too soon?" Passing out flyers since noon, Imani and her friend Sophie were the only two from their activists group working the Crystal Shores. Delayed advertisement had forced the group to work overtime, passing out flyers since Thursday for their upcoming equality event. So hearing Sophie question the rally felt like a huge middle finger to all the hard work the committee had put in. Narrowing her eyes at the tall, baseball capped blonde, Imani's face suddenly pulled on a cheery smile as she handed a flyer to a passerby, "Hey there! Please join us at the Meta-Humanity rally tonight!"

Once the stranger was a out of sight in the crowd of shoppers and beachgoers Imani twisted on the heels of her runners and glared at her friend, "Are you serious, Sophie? The attack is the main reason we need to have the rally tonight. I rewrote my speech and everything -- Hi! Please come support the Meta-Humanity rally tonight in Ferris Square!" Handing out another flyer to a young couple, Imani smiled brightly as they walked away reading over the printed poster. Turning her attention back to Sophie, her angered features had died down to a frustrated look as she tried to reason with the other girl, "Look, some real shit is going down in this city, and I'm not just going to stand on the sidelines while a bunch of criminals give metahumans a bad name." Almost hissing out her words as she spoke in a low tone, Imani's jaw clenched in frustration. "The Fiends didn't just attack regular people, Sophie. They're coming after people like us, too, and if we don't all come together -- humans, and metahumans -- this city is going to fall apart thanks to a stupid gang. Besides, if we don't act fast The Savior Foundation is sure to send some goons to picket the Academy and the NEST building, so right now we have perfect opportunity to reassure a lot of scared people before they do." This was an all too touchy subject for Imani, and just thinking about the terror her brother and niece had gone through in downtown made her stomach curl with guilt. Maybe if she had been there like she promised, she could have gotten them out of downtown safely and soundly. Unfortunately, Imani could not change the past and she didn't have the time to waste on any could have, or should have thoughts, so she had no choice but to focus on future and do what little she could for her brother and niece by using her voice.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sophie was still apprehensive, but Imani understood why, she wasn't going to be mad at her friend for being scared -- hell she was scared too. The attack had hit so close to home, but unlike her friend, it only fueled Imani's belief that the rally needed to happen, she was thankful that her friend was still willing to help. "Thank you, Sophie." Sharing a soft smile with the other girl, Imani turned her back to the crowd as she her stomach flutter in warmth. "Well, let's finish handing out these flyers then. The rally is only a few hours away, so we better hurry."

"Hi there! Please join the us at our equality rally tonight!"

"Hello! Join us tonight in Ferris Square for our equality rally!"

"Hi! Please support the Meta-Humanity campaign tonight in--Hey!"

Flyer torn into shreds, Imani made hard eye contact with the middle aged man she had passed it to, "You didn't have to take it if you didn't want it!" Tossing the torn pieces of paper on the ground the older man's reply forced Imani's blood to boil, "Fucking freaks." Before she could say anything back a gentle hand fell on her shoulders, "Just let him go, don't give him the reaction that he wants." Turning her hard glare at Sophie, the blonde gave the other girl a soft look in return. "He's not worth it, Imani." Jaw clenching, and teeth grinding, a hard huff rushed through Imani's nostrils as she threw one last glance at the asshole who tore up her flyer. Fuck ugly camo hat, dark blue heineken t-shirt, paint stained denim jeans, hillbilly ginger beard, and a pair of worn out dirty sneakers. She may have let it go this time, but if the asshole mouthed at her next time she was gonna take that ugly hat of his and shove it right up -- "Imani."

Scowl pulled on her face, Imani's dark eyes returned to the blonde as Sophie pulled on a reassuring smile, "It was just a flyer. Besides, it's getting late and we need to get back to everyone else so we can help them set up the stage."

"Yeah, alright."

Rolling up the rest of the flyers and stuffing them in the back pocket of her shorts, Imani followed behind Sophie as they walked past shops and casinos. As the beach came into view, Imani raised her hand and tried to shade her eyes from the sun as she looked over the beach, "Man.. I haven't been to the beach in so long." If everything hadn't been so hectic, and her schedule so busy, today would have been a perfect day to go. "Hey, doesn't she go to our school?" Pulled from her thoughts and following Sophie's finger, Imani's eyes landed on two young girls, teenagers mostly like, standing off to a monstrous looking figure in front of them. Before Imani could even answer Sophie's question they both caught sight of jagged shards of ice rushing at his position while a motorcycle while a bike was thrown towards the giants position in front of the girls, "Oh shit!"

This was going to get bad fast if someone or something didn't stop them. NEST was sure to show up soon, but with no word on how long that would be, both girls hurried out onto the sandy beach, "Hey, come on! Don't fight! There's too many people!" Sophie's shout was drowned out by the crowd, people trying to edge the three on while they brought out there phones. Hurrying past people until they reached the inner circle of the crowd, Imani was finally able to get a good look at the girl Sophie had been pointing at. She did go to the Academy. "Stop fighting! This isn't the place to be showing off at!" Sophie shouted again, almost shoved to the ground as a taller boy pushed forward to get a good shot of the fight. "You know NEST is already on it's way, do y'all really want to be arrested for fighting in such a populated area?" With the risk of someone getting hurt, especially with the growing crowd, NEST was gonna come down hard on them if they didn't shape up quick. Sirens could already be heard in the distance, and it only added to Imani's argument.

---

_{@Maxx@Raijinslayer@Valhalla}

---

Every bone in Meifeng's body was prepared for the inevitable brawl with Aiden, and she was, quite frankly, okay with that. This motherfucker needed to go down, and Meifeng was the one that's going to cut him down to size. She knew that he'd be taken out in one shot! All he's going to do is rush her, and she'll slam him with a wave of high-impact water and send him flying into a wall. Now that would teach him who to fuck with. People were gathering around, and watching, and that Taylor chick was showing force too. Yeah, yeah, Meifeng didn't need any help, but Taylor took the blunt of his dickitude. Meifeng will let her get a few shots in before she goes in for the KO. Just to be courteous.

"[color=7bcdc8]Hey, come on! Don't fight! There's too many people!"

"[b][color=7bcdc8]Stop fighting! This isn't the place to be showing off at![/b]"

"[b][color=ed145b]You know NEST is already on it's way, do y'all really want to be arrested for fighting in such a populated area?[/b]"

Two girls jumped out of the crowd and started shouting about how they shouldn't fight. To which Meifeng directed an eye at them, and rolled them as her focus reentered on King Creepo. Pttf. Bet if they had this creep on them, they'd be ready to break him up too. She was ready to just say, "Stay out of it". Yet... her eyes drifted around a bit, she saw the crowd around them. Only this time, she paid attention to them. These people... they came to watch the fight between several Metahumans about something as trivial as a few words getting thrown around. If she were to go all out, she could really hurt some people. Worst of all, she didn't know Aiden, and if she were to trigger something that makes him lose control... No, no. Meifeng didn't want to be responsible for the injury of innocent people. Plus, NEST doesn't approve of violence, and collateral damage. And... what would Lihua think? The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to do this. Yet, she felt that she had to. It was a monumental effort for Meifeng to swallow her pride, and let it go.

Meifeng sighed, and closed her eyes.

The water she had summoned simply disappeared - sent back into her watery pocket dimension. She shook her head, and turned away. Choosing to simply walk away from Aiden, grabbing her gym bag in the process... and get the fuck out before NEST shows up.

Anything Aiden, or anyone else, said would be promptly ignored.

---

_{@ToadRopes@Maxx}

---

The first person to notice that Meifeng pulled out was Jennifer. Suddenly, she felt mighty relieved. It was pretty crazy, honestly. Everything - revelation of her friend being a Metahuman, Aiden, the crowds - came at her so fast that she couldn't handle it. Honestly, that's why she felt better off just leaving in the first place. She's glad that Meifeng decided against fighting Aiden. She exhaled, and started following behind Meifeng. She had plenty to say about what happened. "... That was unnecessary, you know that, right?" Jennifer asked Meifeng.

"I know, I know; let's just get the hell out of here before NEST shows up." Meifeng snapped back. Because she didn't want to get lectured. NEST was the real problem here, not Aiden. She rather not have this incident reach her mother, and she gets in trouble for being somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, on top of getting into a fight.

The group quickly left the Crystal Shores, and went inwards towards Knightdale Rows. They were a sufficient distance away from the beach, and that's when Meifeng stopped, and leaned up against the wall (Dropping her gym bag in the process). She crossed her arms, and looked off to the side. "... Now that was bullshit. I don't know what the fuck that guy's deal was...." She sighed again. "Hmph. If we were under the boardwalk, or in an alley, I'd really put the hurting on him."

"But you did the right thing - walking away." Jennifer intersected. "That guy must have had some serious problems... and you don't know what he would have done."

"... And he doesn't know what I would have done."

"Let's just..." Jennifer trailed off, taking a moment to scratch behind her neck. "Forget about him, yeah. We probably won't ever see that boy again. So, I think we can just stop huffing and puffing about it."

"Yeah, yeah..." Meifeng rolled her eyes. If this Creep goes to Academy 12, then there's definitely a chance that they'll meet again. And Meifeng will be sure to let him have it. Maybe she'll spray him in the dick with water. Really cold water. She shrugged. "There... anything else you want to go over?"